News and Race Reports for September 29

More French Tears

"Guimard leaves a desert" lamented the headline on L'Equipe's main cycling
story today (27 September 95). "In the absence of a new sponsor," the
standfirst went on, "the Castorama manager has freed his riders from their
contracts. In 1996, French cycling may only have one top-ranking team,
GAN." Guimard says he made contacts with the Pinault-Printemps company and
even explored the possibility of Systeme-U returning to cycling, but to no
avail. The loss of the team marks the end of a continuous run going back 20
years for the France Competition company, which owns the team, starting
with Gitane and working through Renault, Systeme-U and finally Castorama.
Among other things, Guimard's teams won seven Tours de France (Van Impe
1976; Hinault 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982; Fignon 1983, 1984), three Giros
(Hinault 1980, 1982; Fignon 1989) and two Vueltas (Hinault 1978, 1983).

The failure to find a new sponsor leaves ten team members without
contracts: Jacky Durand, Thierry Marie, Thierry Laurent, Laurent Roux,
Gilles Talmant, Philippe Gaumont, Franck Bouyer, Sebastian Medan, Stephane
Petilleau and Benoit Salmon. Francois Simon and Laurent Desbiens have
signed for GAN and there is a good chance they will be joined there by
Emmanuel Magnien, who is also being sought by Festina. Laurent Madouas and
Bruno Thibout are to go to Motorola. Armand De Las Cuevas has been
effectively unemployed since the Tour because of a dispute with Guimard. He
has contacts in Spain, Italy and with the Monegasque team Aki.

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Sorensen to Rabobank

Rolf Sorensen is to join Jan Raas's new Rabobank. There are to be 19 riders
in the team including the following 15: Rolf Sorensen, Johan Bruyneel,
Viatcheslav Ekimov, Erik Breukink, Erik Dekker, Leon Van Bon, Danny
Nelissen, Michael Boogerd, Koos Moerenhout, Adri Van der Poel, Richard
Groenendaal, Edwig Van Hooydonck, Michael Blaudzun, Rob McEwen and Henk
Vogels.

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Dutch Worlds Road Team

Six Dutch riders will take part in the Worlds road race: Erik Breukink, Frans
Maassen, Raymond Meys, Patrick Eyk, Michael Boogerd and Erik Dekker. Breukink
and Maassen will also ride the time trial.



Worlds (day 1)

Americaine/Madison:

  1. Martinello/Villa  Ita
  2. J & G Guruchet    Arg
  3. Risi/Betschart    Sch  -1 lap


UCI Classification, Post-Vuelta

  1. Laurent Jalabert 	3204
  2. Rominger          2397
  3. Indurain          2098
  4. Museeuw           1444
  5. Zulle             1366
  6. Chiappucci        1323
  7. Berzin            1265
  8. Casagrande        1055
  9. Richard            988
 10. Tchmil             979
 also;
 12. Virenque           956

Teams:
  1. Mapei    8218
  2. ONCE     7194
  3. MG       6272
  4. Gewiss   6141
  5. Banesto  3837		

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Johan Bruyneel

Belgian ONCE rider Johan Bruyneel, third in the Vuelta a Espana, has signed
a two-year contract for Jan Raas's new Rabobank team.

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"Rider Off" -- Fabien Galateau

French cyclist Fabien Galateau, whose palmares include two stages of the
Tour de France, 1938 at Reims and 1939 at Marseille, died on Saturday at
the age of 82. His funeral took place today, 26 September, in Avignon.

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Tour of Emilia (Italy, 23 September 95):
  1. Davide Cassani (Italy, MG) 205km in 5.16.21
  2. Donati (It, Mercatone Uno)              +02 secs
  3. Di Basco (It, Amore e Vita)           +1.14
  4. Missaglia (It, Brescialat)
  5. Sorensen (Den, MG)
  6. Puttini (Swi, Refin)
  7. Caruso (It, ZG  Mobili)
  8. Belli (It, Lampre)
  9. Tafi (it, Mapei)
 10. Sunderland (Australia, Lotto)       all s.t.

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Memorial Josef-Vogli, ITT, (Switzerland, 24 September 95):

  1. Vladislav Bobrik (Rus, Gewiss) 29.6km in 43.16
  2. Rominger (Swi, Mapei)                      +30 sec
  3. Zberg (Swi, Carrera)                       +42
  4. Tafi (It, Mapei)                           +49
  5. Yates (GB, Motorola)                     +1.01
  6. Tonkov (Rus, Lampre)                     +1.27
  7. Pianegonda (It, Polti)                   +1.42
  8. Cenghialta (It, Gewiss)                  +1.59
  9. Pierobon (It, Refin)                     +2.24
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Duo Normand (France, 24 September 95 -- open two-up time trial):

  1. Magnien-Petilleau (Fr,  Castorama) 452km in 1.03.33
  2. Mentheour-Urien (Fr, amateur)                 +1.36
  3. Harel-Balland (Fr, amateur)                   +3.22
  4. Morin-Auguste (Fr, amateur)                   +3.41
  5. Themanna-Keusch (Swi, amateur)                +3.47
  6. Laurence-Guilbert (Fr, M.de Seine-et-Marne)   +3.52
  7. Agnolutto-Marie (Fr, amateur)                 +4.22
  8. Backstedt-Selin (Sweden-Finland, amateur)     +4.26
  9. Coualan-Bresset (Fr, amateur)                 +4.40
 10. Hardy-Carr (GB, amateur)                       ????
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Vuelta a Espana Final overall FULL list.

1. Laurent Jalabert (France-ONCE)    95:30:33
2. Abraham Olano (Spain-Mapei)          +4:22
3. Johan Bruyneel (Belgium-ONCE)         6:48
4. Melchior Mauri (Spain-ONCE)           8:04
5. Richard Virenque (France-Lotus)      11:38
6. Roberto Pistore (Italy-Polti)        11:54
7. David Garcia (Spain-Banesto)         13:50
8. Daniel Clavero (Spain-Artiach)       15:03
9. Michele Bartoli (Italy-Saeco)        19:14
10. Steffano Della Santa (Italy-Mapei)  19:42
11. Serrano +20.24
12. Garcia Casas +21.18
13. Casero +26.18
14. Rodrigues +27.21
15. Uria +28.49
16. Plaza +29.20
17. Gianetti +30.12
18. Echave +31.04
19. Garcia Espana +35.50
20. Zulle +37.49
21. Merckx +38.02
22. Ugrumov +43.50
23. Pascual +43.57
24. Pellicioli +45.28
25. Ekimov +46.48
26. Goubert +47.09
27. Bouwmans +54.38
28. Brignoli +1.00.31
29. Stephens +1.00.41
30. Benitez +1.00.53
31. Meinert +1.01.04
32. Dietz +1.03.50
33. Rodriguez Gil +1.05.25
34. J-M Garcia +1.06.50
35. Pena +1.07.33
36. Arenas +1.08.35
37. Montoya +1.09.04
38. Moller +1.09.28
39. Herve +1.10.01
40. Ayarzaguena +1.13.42
41. Beltran +1.15.48
42. Boogerd +1.16.10
43. Leanizbarrutia +1.20.48
44. A. Sanchez +1.25.42
45. Henn +1.28.21
46. Alonso +1.30.55
47. Maya +1.34.30
48. Skibby +1.35.22
49. Fina +1.39.41
50. Ozols +1.39.54
51. Miranda +1.42.55
52. Saitov +1.43.25
53. Cerezo +1.44.23
54. Garcia Camacho +1.45.40
55. Sierra +1.46.57
56. Tebaldi +1.49.07
57. Espinosa +1.49.31
58. Diaz Zabala +1.53.50
59. J-L Sanchez +2.04.45
60. Borghi +2.06.30
61. Gainetdinov +2.07.13
62. Rincon +2.09.48
63. Uriarte +2.10.28
64. Cabello +2.16.17
65. Dominguez +2.19.51
66. Fornaciari +2.10.19
67. Baffi +2.25.12
68. J. Rodriguez +2.26.00
69. Vasseur +2.26.19
70. I. Gonzalez +2.33.55
71. G. Petito +2.35.49
72. G. Galdeano +2.39.45
73. Vieira +2.41.20
74. Nijboer +2.42.55
75. Abreu-Campos +2.43.15
76. Laiseka +2.49.56
77. Vidal +2.50.14
78. Leysen +2.55.09
79. Peron +2.55.15
80. Irusta +2.56.32
81. Pretot +2.57.28
82. Jarque +2.57.40
83. Ajuria +2.58.20
84. Chaurreau +3.02.12
85. Chanteur +3.03.16
86. Cordes +3.04.07
87. Cembali +3.09.02
88. Pinho +3.09.28
89. Hundertmark +3.10.23
90. Weltz +3.12.21
91. Crepaldi +3.16.07
92. Van Steen +3.18.49
93. Wust +3.18.55
94. Loacatelli +3.19.37
95. Tcherkachine +3.24.29
96. J. Pascual +3.26.28
97. Gouvenou +3.27.15
98. Andersson +3.28.14
99. Wesemann +3.33.00
100. Lezaun +3.38.13
101. Ozers +3.38.44
102. Van Hooydonck +3.40.06
103. Knaven +3.45.51
104. Van Petegem +3.45.54
105. Poli +3.45.58
106. Livingston +3.49.45
107. Kummer +3.49.55
108. Meier +3.50.42
109. Zamana +3.54.31
110. Hincapie +3.54.33
111. Rossi +4.03.31
112. Chiesa +4.04.26
113. Teutenberg +4.05.37
114. Vogels +4.08.20
115. Calcaterra +4.09.28
116. Hoffman +4.10.36
117. Thebes +4.20.57
118. Simeoni +4.25.04

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French Teams

Marc Madiot met French economy and finance minister Jean Arthuis this
weekend. M. Arthui indicated to him that he was going to re-examine the
file on the creation of the new La Francaise des Jeux team, which was
vetoed by the secretary of state of the budget at the beginning of the
month.

Should the venture once more get back on the road, Madiot will of course
once again face the problem of finding a star team leader. Bjarne Riis, who
was on the point of signing when the carpet was pulled from under the team,
will not be among the possibles. He signed with Telekom for one year at the
end of last week.

Castorama team manager Cyrille Guimard promised last week that he would
inform his team members today (Monday, 25 September 95) or tomorrow about
the future sponsorship, if any, of the team. He would say no more than that
an earlier announcement was due to factors beyond his control.

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Patrice Sulpice

French sprinter Patrice Sulpice, who crashed at high speed while training
on the track at Bogota has, as reported earlier in this news service,
suffered grave injuries including a fracture of the eighth vertebra
involving compression of the spinal cord.

French doctors' prognosis is far from optimistic, but not as categorical as
that of the Colombian doctor quoted by news agencies who stated that
Sulpice would never walk again.

French team doctor Michel Provot says "the prognosis for future functioning
of the lower limbs remains very uncertain". However, he says that he has
hopes for a favourable outcome since "there are cases where once the spinal
cord is completely freed it completely regains its functions. All I can say
is that it is a matter of time, a long time."

Patrice Sulpice will be repatriated to France Thursday where he will be
taken into the care of Professor Saillant at La Pitie-Salpetriere hospital
in Paris. For, in the words of L'Equipe, "the longest race of his career".

Obree to Challenge

   30-year-old Scot Graeme Obree will challenge for the world hour record
at the Superdrome 2 meeting at the Manchester Velodrome on October 13-14.
Obree will employ his new "Superman" position for the record attempt. To
regain the record, Obree must ride 3.69 kilometres (2.3 miles) further than
on the last occasion he held it. Obree will make his attempt for cycling's
blue riband during the Saturday session.

Obree to Sue

   Graeme Obree on Thursday followed up his victory in the world individual
four-kilometer pursuit by repeating his threat to sue the World Cycling
Union (WCU) for disqualifying him at last year's world championships. The
angry Briton said prior to this year's championships that he would sue the
WCU for loss of income if he won the championship title in Bogota.