News for January 26

Today is Australia Day

For overseas readers, today is Australia Day and it has two meanings. It was the day Europeans landed in Botany Bay (Sydney) more than 200 years ago, and it was also the day the Aboriginal people who had lived here for 30,000 years prior to that were invaded by a colonial force. We have to recognise both. It is a great nation but its past is a bit mirky. Now to bike racing.

Veggerby-Madsen wins Stuttgart Six Day race

Jens Veggerby and Jimmi Madsen won the Stuttgart Six Day 37 points ahead of Bruno Risi and Kurt Betschart. This was their second win this season, the first came in Herning, Denmark.

Stuttgart Six Day - final result (1/24/96):

 1. Jens Veggerby-Jimmi Madsen (Den)            453
 2. Bruno Risi-Kurt Betschart (Sch)             416
 3. Danny Clark-Gerd Dorich (Aus/Ger)           377
 4. Etienne de Wilde-Matthew Gilmore (Bel/Aus)  328

    One lap behind:
 5. Silvio Martinello-Marco Villa (Ita)         373
 6. Olaf Ludwig-Carsten Wolf (Ger)              274
 7. Urs Freuler-Pierangelo Bincoletto (Sch/Ita) 215

    Twelve laps behind:
 8. Uwe Messerschmidt-Andreas Beikirch (Ger)    117

    19 laps behind
 9. Patrick Vetsch-Thorsten Schmidt (Sch/Ger)   210

    21 laps behind
10. Peter Pieters-Erik Weispfennig (Ned/Ger)    284

    23 laps behind
11. Laurenzo Lapage-Rik van Slycke (Bel)        100

    29 laps behind
12. Jens Lehmann-Lars Teutenberg (Ger)          267

    31 laps behind
13. Michael Sandstod-Marat Ganeev (Den/Rus)     160

    32 laps behind
14. Werner Stutz-Didi Ruegg (Sch)                59

    33 laps behind
15. Andreas Walzer-Frank Kowatschitsch (Ger)    109

    35 laps behind
16. Markus Hess-Kurt Herrmann (Ger/Sch)         170

    36 laps behind
17. Eric Magnin-Jean-Michel Monin (Fra)         100

The 18 riders of Roslotto ZG-Mobili 1996 as presented in Venice:

 Igor Bonciukov (Mol, neopro, 22)
 Stefano Cattai (28)
 Andrea Chiurato (30)
 Vassili Davidenko (Geo, 25)
 Viaceslav Djavanian (Rus, 26)
 Andrea Ferrigato (26)
 Marco Fincato (neo, 25)
 Maurizio Fondriest (31)
 Alexandr Goncenkov (Ukr, 25)
 Pascal Lino (Fra, 29)
 Mario Manzoni (26)
 Paolo Savoldelli (neo, 22)
 Dimitri Sedun (Kaz, neo, 25)
 Daniele Sgnaolin (neo, 25)
 Alexei Sivakov (Rus, neo, 23)
 Juri Surkov (Kaz, 25)
 Piotr Ugrumov (Rus, 34)
 Marco Zen (33).

Manager: Moreno Argentin
Directeur sportifs: Massimo Ghirotto, Dario Mariuzzo and Nikolai Gorelov.

Lance Armstrong to ride DuPont

Lance Armstrong of Austin, Texas, a two-time Tour de France stage winner, will defend his 1995 Tour DuPont title.

The eighth annual race, the most lucrative cycling event in the United States, will begin May 1 in Wilmington, Del., progress 1,200 miles through Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, before ending May 12 in Marietta, Ga.

Armstrong, who has also twice finished second in the Tour DuPont, won three stages and defeated 1994 champion Vyacheslav Yekimov of Russia by two minutes last year.

"The Tour DuPont is the Tour de France of America," said Armstrong, who will lead Motorola, one of five teams, which also announced their participation Tuesday. "With the race ending near Atlanta, I will have extra motivation because of the Olympic Games."

Festina of Andorra, Ceramiche-Refin of Italy, two 1995 Tour de France team entrants, Vlaanderen 2002 of Belgium and U.S.-based Saturn, will also be among the expected field of 18 teams and 126 cyclists.

Norman Alvis of Colorado Springs, Colo., the reigning the U.S. Pro champion, will lead Saturn.

Armstrong, who finished 36th in last year's Tour de France, is the 14th-ranked cyclist in the world. He became the only U.S. rider in history to win a World Cup race with his triumph last August in the San Sebastian Classic.

Last year, Armstrong won the 18th stage of the Tour de France in honor of teammate Fabio Casartelli, who three days earlier died from injuries in a one-rider crash.