World Road Cycling Championships, San Sebastian

Spain, October 7-12, 1997

Elite Men's Road Championship, October 12, 265.5 kms


Start List

LIVE COVERAGE

Course Map, Profile and Km by Km

Results

  1. BROCHARD Laurent           FRA    6:16:48 (40.84 km/h)
  2. HAMBURGER Bo               DEN  
  3. VAN BON Leon               NED  
  4. BÖLTS Udo                  GER  
  5. MAURI PRAT Melchior        ESP  
  6. DUFAUX Laurent             SUI  
  7. AUS Lauri                  EST       0.09
  8. MUSEEUW Johan              BEL       0.16
  9. MAGNUSSON Glenn            SWE       0.16
 10. BARTOLI Michele            ITA       0.16
 11. JALABERT Laurent           FRA       0.16
 12. GIANETTI Mauro             SUI       0.16
 13. CASAGRANDE Francesco       ITA       0.16
 14. REBELLIN Davide            ITA       0.16
 15. VIERHOUTEN Aart            NED       0.49
 16. ZEMKE Jens                 GER       0.50
 17. VOGELS Hendricus           AUS       0.57
 18. TCHMIL Andrei              UKR       0.57
 19. VASSEUR Cedric             FRA       0.57
 20. TAFI Andrea                ITA       0.58
 21. CAMENZIND Oskar            SUI       0.58
 22. MICHAELSEN Lars            DEN       0.58
 23. PLANCKAERT Jo              BEL       0.58
 24. JALABERT Nicolas           FRA       0.58
 25. UGRUMOV Piotre             RUS       0.58
 26. HUNDERTMARK Kai            GER       0.58
 27. PEETERS Wilfried           BEL       0.58
 28. HORNER Christopher         USA       0.58
 29. PIATEK Zbigniew            POL       0.58
 30. EDO ALSINA Angel           ESP       0.58
 31. MCRAE William Chann        USA       0.58
 32. VOSKAMP Bart               NED       0.58
 33. BARANOWSKI Dariusz         POL       0.58
 34. BORTOLAMI Gianluca         ITA       0.58
 35. HENN Christian             GER       0.58
 36. THIBOUT Bruno              FRA       0.58
 37. VAN PETEGEM Peter          BEL       0.58
 38. AERTS Mario                BEL       0.58
 39. HAMILTON Tyler             USA       0.58
 40. GUESDON Frederic           FRA       0.58
 41. CLAVERO SEBASTIAN D.       ESP       0.58
 42. KNAVEN Servais             NED       0.58
 43. VAN HEESWIJK Max           NED       0.58
 44. ROUX Laurent               FRA       0.58
 45. GARCIA CASAS Felix M.      ESP       0.58
 46. FARESIN Gianni             ITA       0.58
 47. MEIER Armin                SUI       0.58
 48. MOLLER Claus Michael       DEN       0.58
 49. BREUKINK Erik              NED       0.58
 50. BOOGERD Michael            NED       0.58
 51. MOERENHOUT Koos            NED       0.58
 52. HERAS HERNANDEZ R.         ESP       0.58
 53. MERCKX Axel                BEL       0.58
 54. DIETZ Bert                 GER       0.58
 55. GONTCHAR Serguei           UKR       0.58
 56. BUGNO Gianni               ITA       0.58
 57. FONDRIEST Maurizio         ITA       0.58
 58. ALONSO MONJE Marino        ESP       0.58
 59. RIIS Bjarne                DEN       0.58
 60. VIRENQUE Richard           FRA       1:04
 61. LAFIS Michel               SWE       7:35
 62. JASKULA Zenon              POL       7:35
 63. SYPYTKOWSKI Andrej         POL       7:35
 64. OZOLS Dainis               LAT       7:35
 65. IVANOV Serguei             RUS       7:35
 66. ANDERSSON Michael          SWE       7:35
 67. MATTAN Nico                BEL       7:35
 68. JEMISON Marty              USA       7:35
 69. KONECNY Tomas              CZE       7:35
 70. MCCORMACK Frank            USA       7:43
 71. CASTELBLANCO R. Jose J.    COL       8:32
 72. SCINTO Luca                ITA       8:32
 73. KUMMER Mario               GER       8:32
 74. CHMIELEWSKI Piotr          POL       8:32
 75. SIVAKOV Alexei             RUS       8:32
 76. OUSLAMINE Sergei           RUS       8:32
 77. SERRANO RODRIGUEZ M.       ESP       8:32
 78. HENRIX Sascha              GER       8:32
 79. PETERSEN Soren             DEN       8:32
 80. GARCIA ACOSTA Jose         ESP       8:32
 81. VAN DE WOUWER Kurt         BEL       8:32
 82. HOLM Brian                 DEN       8:32
 83. HOJ Frank                  DEN       8:32
 84. JAKSCHE Jorg               GER       8:32
 85. ZAMANA Cezary              POL      11:55
 86. WADECKI Piotr              POL      11:55
 87. MUNOZ FERNANDEZ Federico   COL      11:55

 Abandons
 
  5   FARAZIJN Peter                   BEL
  6   WAUTERS Marc                     BEL
 11   DIERCKXENS Ludo                  BEL
 12   VAN BONDT Geert                  BEL
 13   BOMANS Carlo                     BEL
 14   AEBERSOLD Niki                   SUI
 18   JAERMANN Rolf                    SUI
 19   JEKER Fabian                     SUI
 21   MEIER Roland                     SUI
 22   RICHARD Pascal                   SUI
 23   ROMINGER Tony                    SUI
 24   ZBERG Beat                       SUI
 25   ZUELLE Alex                      SUI
 26   BARONTI Alessandro               ITA
 32   FERRIGATO Andrea                 ITA
 34   GUIDI Fabrizio                   ITA
 40   BARTHE Stephane                  FRA
 43   HERVE Pascal                     FRA
 45   MOREAU Christophe                FRA
 47   TEYSSIER Francisque              FRA
 55   LARSEN Nicolay Bo                DEN
 58   KYNEB Mikael Holst               DEN
 59   JACOBSEN Marc S.                 DEN
 60   SANDSTOD Michael                 DEN
 61   JONASSON Danny                   DEN
 67   VAUGHTERS Jonathan               USA
 70   JIMENEZ SASTRE Jose              ESP
 73   GONZALEZ GALDEANO Igor           ESP
 74   DOMINGUEZ D. J. Carlos           ESP
 77   LEANIZBARRUTIA Alb               ESP
 80   KONYSHEV Dmitri                  RUS
 83   GONTCHENKOV Alexandre            RUS
 84   DJAVANIAN Viatcheslav            RUS
 86   ZINTCHENKO Andrei                RUS
 92   GOTTSCHLING Stephan              GER
 97   KLIER Andreas                    GER
 99   STEINHAUSER Tobias               GER
 101  WUST Marcel                      GER
 105  NELISSEN Danny                   NED
 111  HOFFMAN Tristan                  NED
 112  DE JONGH Steven                  NED
 113  DEN BAKKER Maarten               NED
 114  SCIANDRI M.                      GBR
 115  HUNT Jeremy                      GBR
 116  MILLAR David                     GBR
 117  STEPHENS Matt                    GBR
 118  TANNER John                      GBR
 119  WALSHAM Mark                     GBR
 120  SMITH Dan                        GBR
 121  WINN Julian                      GBR
 123  BACKSTEDT Magnus                 SWE
 126  ZIVKOVIC Dragomir                YUG
 127  SVORADA Jan                      CZE
 131  SUNDERLAND Scott                 AUS
 132  ROGERS Peter                     AUS
 133  HALL Johanton                    AUS
 134  AGUIRRE CABRERA Julio Cesa       COL
 135  CONTRERAS CANO Carlos A.         COL
 136  HERNANDEZ MONTOYA Jairo          COL
 138  PALACIO MONTOYA Hector I.        COL
 140  RAMIREZ CALDERON Diego           COL
 141  PENA GRISALES Victor Hugo        COL
 142  ARROYO ROSALES Miguel            MEX
 145  POULNIKOV Vladimir               UKR
 146  PROKOPENKO Youry                 UKR
 147  ROTAR Alexandr                   UKR
 148  NAKAZNI Alexei                   UKR
 149  KIRSIPUU Jann                    EST
 151  LUPEIKIS Remigijus               LTU
 152  WOHLBERG Eric                    CAN
 153  ANAND Mat                        CAN
 157  MICKIEWICZ Jacek                 POL
 162  IVANOV Ruslan                    MLD
 163  HVASTIJA Martin                  SLO

Did not start

 87   TONKOV Pavel                     RUS
 88   BERZIN Eugeni                    RUS

Report

Laurent Brochard went against team orders on Sunday to win the elite men's road race and give France their third title of the world cycling championships.

His powerful finish took him past Dutchman Leon van Bon in the last 25 metres of the 256.5-kilometre race which closed the six-day championships. Denmark's Bo Hamburger edged out Van Bon for the silver.

The French plan was to control the race over the last 100 kms for world number one Laurent Jalabert, who won Thursday's time-trial title.

But Brochard had ideas of his own. ``I did not feel obliged to follow orders because I felt so strong,'' he said.

``I was working for the team but when I saw them lagging I decided to act. My role was to neutralise breakaways but I was alone and I could not see any of my team coming, so I made my move.

Frenchman Laurent Brochard won the men's road race at the world cycling championships here today -- giving France its eighth win in the event.

The 29-year-old Brochard, who won the first mountain stage in this year's Tour de France, won in a sprint finish with Bo Hamburger of Denmark second and Dutchman Leon Van Bon third at the end of the 256.5km race.

The pony-tailed Brochard, who was the first French winner since Luc Leblanc in 1994, admitted that he was really riding for French captain Laurent Jalabert, who had claimed the time-trial championship on Thursday.

"We worked really hard for Jalabert. However, I found myself among the escapees and I waited and waited until I finally played my ace in the sprint," Brochard said.

Brochard, part of the successful Festina team which claimed several stage wins in this year's Tour de France and saw team captain Richard Virenque finish second overall, was part of a six-man breakaway on the final lap.

Van Bon tried in vain to make a decisive break in the last couple of kilometres but was reeled in by Hamburger, Brochard, German veteran Udo Bolts, Spaniard Melchior Mauri and Swiss rider Lurent Dufaux.

British hopes were extinguished when their Olympic bronze medallist Maximilian Sciandri, the Italian-born naturalised Briton, crashed out on the 17th lap. ``I dedicate this victory to myself because I worked hard for it.''

He tried to escape one kilometre from the finish but was reeled in by Van Bon as six unfancied riders shaped up for the medal battle.

Van Bon's sprint for the line was no match for the stronger Brochard. ``He played a very smart game and my only chance was to sprint,'' the Dutchman said.

Brochard's biggest previous success was winning a Tour de France stage in the Pyrenees on Bastille Day this year. But for some years he was considered a clumsy and awkward rider who was prone to crashing.

``I have had several crashes in my career but little by little I am making progress,'' Brochard said.

He has suffered with a back problem and last year had an operation to correct a ruptured disc. ``Sometimes my legs feel stiff but my back is improving,'' he said.

Five victories this year underline his progress and Sunday's triumph over a wet and windswept course was built on an escape in the last five kilometres.

Spain's Melchor Mauri raced away, chased by Brochard and van Bon. Less than two kilometres from the finish Hamburger, Germany's Udo Bolts, and Switzerland's Laurent Dufaux joined them.

Belgian Johan Museeuw, last year's champion, finished 16 seconds behind them in a pursuing group which included Jalabert.

The first of the three French golds at these championships was won by Jeannie Longo in the elite women's time-trial on Wednesday. Augmented by a bronze from Catherine Marsal in the elite women's road race, France finished top of the medals table.

Italy also had three golds. Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Russia shared the remaining four titles in the 10-event championships.

An American Perspective

Laurent Brochard of France proved to be the strongest man among a field dotted with the world’s best as he won the 256.5km elite men’s road race, the final event of the 1997 UCI World Road Championships.

Brochard was among a front group of five riders down the 19th and final descent of the 13.5km circuit along the coastline of the Spanish city. Once down from the rainy descent, Brochard jumped with 1km to go and then held off five riders for the win. Bo Hamburger of Denmark was second and Leon Van Bon of the Netherlands was third.

The top American finisher was Chris Horner, Lemon Grove, Calif., who was 28th.

"It was a good race," said Horner, who did not finish this race a year ago. "It’s hard to tell. You try to pick the right moves, but every time you look up the road, everybody up there is good."

After a few tentative opening laps -- which included a delay caused by a brief protest by Basque separatists which stopped the race near the start-finish line -- the pace picked up as the Italians were forced to work to bring back a nine-rider break midway through the race.

Perhaps the strongest American on the day was Chann McRae, Austin, Texas, who was near the leaders with two laps to go. At that time, a group of 19 riders had formed at the front, including Laurent Jalabert of France, Davide Rebellin of Italy and defending world champion Johan Museeuw of Belgium. McRae was instrumental in helping a group of six riders chase down the 19 leaders. He couldn’t sustain the pace and finished 31st.

Several other Americans, including Marty Jemison, Salt Lake City, Utah, were caught behind a crash that occurred just past the feed zone with four laps to go.

"It just split the field," Jemison said. "The (caravan) cars were blocking the road. I thought I was surrounded by strong guys. We worked to bring it back, but not hard enough."

Jemison finished 68th.

The French won their third gold medal of the championships, tying them with Italy. The United States failed to win a world championship road medal for the third consecutive year.

Elite Men's Road Race Starting List

  
    1. MUSEEUW Johan                   BEL
    2. PEETERS Wilfried                BEL
    3. MATTAN Nico                     BEL
    4. PLANCKAERT Jo                   BEL
    5. FARAZIJN Peter                  BEL
    6. WAUTERS Marc                    BEL
    7. AERTS Mario                     BEL
    8. VAN DE WOUWER Kurt              BEL
    9. MERCKX Axel                     BEL
   10. VAN PETEGEM Peter               BEL
   11. DIERCKXENS Ludo                 BEL
   12. VAN BONDT Geert                 BEL
   13. BOMANS Carlo                    BEL
   14. AEBERSOLD Niki                  SUI
   15. CAMENZIND Oskar                 SUI
   16. DUFAUX Laurent                  SUI
   17. GIANETTI Mauro                  SUI
   18. JAERMANN Rolf                   SUI
   19. JEKER Fabian                    SUI
   20. MEIER Armin                     SUI
   21. MEIER Roland                    SUI
   22. RICHARD Pascal                  SUI
   23. ROMINGER Tony                   SUI
   24. ZBERG Beat                      SUI
   25. ZUELLE Alex                     SUI
   26. BARONTI Alessandro              ITA
   27. BARTOLI Michele                 ITA
   28. BORTOLAMI Gianluca              ITA
   29. BUGNO Gianni                    ITA
   30. CASAGRANDE Francesco            ITA
   31. FARESIN Gianni                  ITA
   32. FERRIGATO Andrea                ITA
   33. FONDRIEST Maurizio              ITA
   34. GUIDI Fabrizio                  ITA
   35. REBELLIN Davide                 ITA
   36. SCINTO Luca                     ITA
   37. TAFI Andrea                     ITA
   38. JALABERT Laurent                FRA
   39. VIRENQUE Richard                FRA
   40. BARTHE Stéphane                 FRA
   41. BROCHARD Laurent                FRA
   42. GUESDON Frédéric                FRA
   43. HERVE Pascal                    FRA
   44. JALABERT Nicolas                FRA
   45. MOREAU Christophe               FRA
   46. ROUX Laurent                    FRA
   47. TEYSSIER Francisque             FRA
   48. THIBOUT Bruno                   FRA
   49. VASSEUR Cédric                  FRA
   50. RIIS Bjarne                     DEN
   51. HAMBURGER Bo                    DEN
   52. HOLM Brian                      DEN
   53. MOLLER Claus Michael            DEN
   54. MICHAELSEN Lars                 DEN
   55. LARSEN Nicolay Bo               DEN
   56. HOJ Frank                       DEN
   57. PETERSEN Soren                  DEN
   58. KYNEB Mikael Holst              DEN
   59. JACOBSEN Marc Strange           DEN
   60. SANDSTOD Michael                DEN
   61. JONASSON Danny                  DEN
   62. MCCORMACK Frank                 USA
   63. HAMILTON Tyler                  USA
   64. JEMISON Marty                   USA
   65. HORNER Christopher              USA
   66. MCRAE William Chann             USA
   67. VAUGHTERS Jonathan              USA
   68. ALONSO MONJE Marino             ESP
   69. GARCIA ACOSTA José Vicente      ESP
   70. JIMENEZ SASTRE José Maria       ESP
   71. CLAVERO SEBASTIAN Daniel        ESP
   72. GARCIA CASAS Felix M.           ESP
   73. GONZALEZ GALDEANO Igor          ESP
   74. DOMINGUEZ D. J. Carlos          ESP
   75. HERAS HERNANDEZ Roberto         ESP
   76. SERRANO RODRIGUEZ Marcos        ESP
   77. LEANIZBARRUTIA ABAUNZA Alb      ESP
   78. MAURI PRAT Melchior             ESP
   79. EDO ALSINA Angel                ESP
   80. KONYSHEV Dmitri                 RUS
   81. IVANOV Serguei                  RUS
   82. OUSLAMINE Sergei                RUS
   83. GONTCHENKOV Alexandre           RUS
   84. DJAVANIAN Viatcheslav           RUS
   85. SIVAKOV Alexei                  RUS
   86. ZINTCHENKO Andrei               RUS
   87. TONKOV Pavel                    RUS
   88. BERZIN Eugeni                   RUS
   89. UGRUMOV Piotre                  RUS
   90. BÖLTS Udo                       GER
   91. DIETZ Bert                      GER
   92. GOTTSCHLING Stephan             GER
   93. HENN Christian                  GER
   94. HUNDERTMARK Kai                 GER
   95. HENRIX Sascha                   GER
   96. JAKSCHE Jörg                    GER
   97. KLIER Andreas                   GER
   98. KUMMER Mario                    GER
   99. STEINHAUSER Tobias              GER
  100. ZEMKE Jens                      GER
  101. WUST Marcel                     GER
  102. BOOGERD Michael                 NED
  103. BREUKINK Erik                   NED
  104. VAN BON Leon                    NED
  105. NELISSEN Danny                  NED
  106. VIERHOUTEN Aart                 NED
  107. VAN HEESWIJK Max                NED
  108. MOERENHOUT Koos                 NED
  109. VOSKAMP Bart                    NED
  110. KNAVEN Servais                  NED
  111. HOFFMAN Tristan                 NED
  112. DE JONGH Steven                 NED
  113. DEN BAKKER Maarten              NED
  114. SCIANDRI Maximilian             GBR
  115. HUNT Jeremy                     GBR
  116. MILLAR David                    GBR
  117. STEPHENS Matt                   GBR
  118. TANNER John                     GBR
  119. WALSHAM Mark                    GBR
  120. SMITH Dan                       GBR
  121. WINN Julian                     GBR
  122. ANDERSSON Michael               SWE
  123. BACKSTEDT Magnus                SWE
  124. LAFIS Michel                    SWE
  125. MAGNUSSON Glenn                 SWE
  126. ZIVKOVIC Dragomir               YUG
  127. SVORADA Jan                     CZE
  128. KONECNY Tomas                   CZE
  129. OZOLS Dainis                    LAT
  130. VOGELS Hendricus                AUS
  131. SUNDERLAND Scott                AUS
  132. ROGERS Peter                    AUS
  133. HALL Jonathon                   AUS
  134. AGUIRRE CABRERA Julio Cesa      COL
  135. CONTRERAS CANO Carlos A.        COL
  136. HERNANDEZ MONTOYA Jairo         COL
  137. MUNOZ FERNANDEZ Federico        COL
  138. PALACIO MONTOYA Hector I.       COL
  139. CASTELBLANCO R. José J.         COL
  140. RAMIREZ RODRIGUEZ Duban A.      COL
  141. PENA GRISALES Victor Hugo       COL
  142. ARROYO ROSALES Miguel           MEX
  143. TCHMIL Andrei                   UKR
  144. GONTCHAR Serguei                UKR
  145. POULNIKOV Vladimir              UKR
  146. PROKOPENKO Youry                UKR
  147. ROTAR Alexandr                  UKR
  148. NAKAZNI Alexei                  UKR
  149. KIRSIPUU Jann                   EST
  150. AUS Lauri                       EST
  151. LUPEIKIS Remigijus              LTU
  152. WOHLBERG Eric                   CAN
  153. ANAND Mat                       CAN
  154. BARANOWSKI Dariusz              POL
  155. CHMIELEWSKI Piotr               POL
  156. JASKULA Zenon                   POL
  157. MICKIEWICZ Jacek                POL
  158. PIATEK Zbigniew                 POL
  159. SYPYTKOWSKI Andrej              POL
  160. WADECKI Piotr                   POL
  161. ZAMANA Cezary                   POL
  162. IVANOV Ruslan                   MLD
  163. HVASTIJA Martin                 SLO

Preview

Johan Museeuw has fought ``the curse of the rainbow jersey'' since he first donned the world road race champion's colours in Lugano, Switzerland a year ago.

His build-up to Sunday's title defence has been hampered by a recurrence of a urinary infection which brought the Belgian close to being a non-starter.

After a work-out on Tuesday he declared himself ready to line up with the rest of the world's best for Sunday's 256.5 kms race but the problem is just the latest of a troublesome season.

``Before this happened I was confident about myself but now I am not sure anymore. I feel well but that is not the same as being in good shape,'' he said on Friday.

He first suffered the inflammation in the lead-up to the Tour de France. ``The Tour was to be my preparation for the classic races, but instead of improving my condition it ruined it,'' he said.

Four times he has had to restart his season, but said: ``Because of the jersey I had the morale to keep coming back.''

Five months after winning the 'rainbow' colours, Museeuw injured his knee in a mountain bike crash and needed an operation to get him fit for the season.

Then in the opening classic, the Milan to San Remo race, he was involved in a finishing-sprint pile-up.

His misfortune in classics continued in the Tour of Flanders when he was brought down. Then a week later he was with the leaders in the Paris-Roubaix race when a puncture wrecked his chances.

So Museeuw's name was added to the list of champions whose careers have been blighted after winning the title. Over the years it has become known as ``the curse of the rainbow jersey.''

``Before I won the title, I had had only one mishap in my career, -- a broken hip two days before the 1995 world championship,'' said Museeuw.

Rudy Dhaenens, Belgium's previous world number one, was winless in the year following his 1990 triumph. Then in 1992 he had to retire because of heart trouble.

Stephen Roche's 1987 victory for Ireland was followed by a season of knee problems, and Frenchman Luc Leblanc also had physical trouble after his 1994 win.

Despite the 'curse' it is still the prize all the riders want. Sunday's race has 163 starters and a string of contenders, notably world-ranked number one Laurent Jalabert, and Bjarne Riis, the Danish winner of the 1996 Tour de France.

After his unexpected time trial title win on Thursday Jalabert said: ``I just hope I have something left for Sunday.''

Alex Zuelle lost that title mainly because of two punctures, and the Swiss rider, who scored his second Tour of Spain victory last month, will be looking for a consolation.

Riis is also highly motivated after a disappointing 1997 Tour, but the race is without a firm favourite.