Sport Today

1. Lance Armstrong (US, Motorola) 5.31.17

2. Stefano Della Santa (It, Mapei-GB) +2 secs

3. Johan Museeuw (Bel, Mapei-GB) +27
4. Jalabert (Fr, ONCE)
5. Bugno (It, MG-Technogym) same time

6. Piepoli (It, Refin) +30
7. Sciandri (GB, MG)
8. Vandenbroucke (Bel, Mapei)
9. Indurain (Sp, Banesto)
10. Cenghialta (It, Gewiss)
11. F. Casagrande
12. Lanfranchi
13. Dufaux  all same time

14. Tchmil +2.01
15. Skibby
16. Missaglia
17. Elli
18. Chiappucci
19. Ferrigato
20. Cassero
21. Ulrich
22. Zberg
23. Hamburger
24. Ballerini
25. Merckx
26. Cassani
27. Podenzana
28. Olano
29. Pellicioli
30. Mauri
31. Scinto
32. Faresin
33. Simoni
34. Jimenez
35. Ekimov
36. Caruso
37. Bonca
38. Pantani
39. Escartin
40. Fondriest
41. Heppner all same time

42. Cattai +2.10

43. Dekker +2.47
44. Magnien
45. Den Bakker
46. Simon
47. Gonzalez-Heredia
48. Laukka
49. Lecchi
50. Imboden
51. Sierra
52. Fernandez Gines
53. Jaskula
54. Thibout
55. Zaina
56. Furlan
57. Conti
58. Echave
59. Belli all same time

60. Vanzella +5.41
61. Sunderland
62. Odriozola
63. Roux
64. Van Hooydonck
65. Henn
66. Baudzun
67. Serpellini
68. Zamana
69. Fornaciari
70. Madouas
71. Gianetti
72. Boogerd
73. Santamaria
74. Desbiens
75. Luttemberger
76. Fagnini
77. Chaurreau
78. Van De Wouver
79. Mejia
80. Audhem
81. Milesi
82. Nino
83. Cerezo
84. Piziks
85. Bouwmans
86. Elissaide
87. Arenas
88. Herve
89. Meinert
90. Bartoli
91. Bettin
92. Vona
93. Bolts
94. Van Petegem
95. Richard
96. Galletti
97. Cuesta
98. Capelle
99. Rooks
100. Gorini
101. Colage
102. Totschnig
103. Rous
104. Breukink
105. Zulle
106. Perona all same time

107. Bramati +5.48
108. Arrieta same time

109. Yates +10.35
110. Giner
111. Weltz
112. Palacin
113. Zanatta
114. Menegotto
115. Knaven
116. Fidanza
117. Zanini
118. Ledanois
119. Lemarchand
120. Goubert
121. Bobrik
122. Anguita
123. Baguet
124. Kummer
125. Galdeano
126. Espinosa
127. Diaz
128. Nijdam
129. Galarreta
130. Vicario
131. Swart
132. Colombo
133. Pelliconi
134. Gouvenou
135. Chepe Gonzalez
136. Kappes
137. Tebaldi
138. Puttini
139. Giraldi
140. Galdeano all same time

141. Wust +14.46
142. Mattan
143. Radaelli
144. Martinelli
145. Petilleau
146. Rossi
147. Colotti
148. Contreras
149. Dietz
150. Gonzalez Salvador
151. Verdonck
152. Roscioli
153. Rodriguez
154. Irusta
155. Van Hyfte
156. F. Simeoni
157. Teteriouk
158. Rubiera
159. Biasci
160. Massi
161. Dernies all same time

L'Equipe's film of the race:

** Champion of Switzerland Felice Puttini (Refin) attacks at 41km and
breaks clear, his maximum lead is 12.19 at km95 and he stays away for
133km in all.

**ONCE sometimes helped by Festina, make the pace at the front of the
peloton. Puttini is caught at 181km. On the approach to the Jaizkibel
climb, the principal difficulty of the day, ONCE's Zulle, Mauri,
Stephens and Diaz Zabala continue to work at the front of the peloton.

**Zulle and Mauri go all out at the foot of the Jaizkibel. Thir***
riders break clear, including Jalabert, Bruyneel, Sciandri, Museeuw,
Della Santa, Piepoli, Cenghialta and Armstrong. At 10 seconds is
another group which includes, notably, Bugno, Indurain and Dufaux.
Bugno bridges the gap near the summit and crosses it first; Indurain
doesn't get up to the front group.

**Armstrong and Leeds Classic winner Sciandri break clear on the
descent which is slippery from the humidity. They are joined by
Jalabert but lower down Sciandri punctures and falls out of the
picture. Jalabert and Armstrong get as much as 34 secs on Bugno,
Piepoli, Della Santa and Museeuw.

**Jalabert and Armstrong are caught at the 4km banner. Bugno essays an
attack but his intentions are all too clear. Della Santa counters and
makes a gap. Armstrong tries again and gets in his wheel. Behind them,
everybody sits and waits for Jalabert to make a move. He won't play so
nobody budges.

**The sprint is a formality for Armstrong who beats Della Santa by 10
metres. Jalabert winds up his sprint for third place too far out and
is outpaced by Museeuw who thus consolidates his World Cup lead.

Notes from Roger: Jalabert was complaining after the Leeds Classic, as
here, that other riders were waiting for his move, and he wasn't going
to play. Shades of Liege--Bastogne--Liege too.
Della Santa, who thought he'd done the right thing by breaking clear
and therefore eliminating Jalabert, didn't understand very well why
[his team leader] Museeuw after crossing the line, worked himself up
into a fit of anger, repeating in a guttural voice: "Verdomme!
Verdomme! [Damn it! Damn it!]. I guess he thought he could take the
sprint had it all held together...

World Cup standings

1. Museuw 149 (+25)
2. Jalabert 106 (+20)
3. Gianetti 100
4. Sciandri 79 (+14)
5. Tchmil 79
6. Baldato 77
7. Fondriest 72
8. Armstrong 66 (+50)
9. Bartoli 65
10. Ballerini 58
11. Bugno 53 (+18)
12. Frattini 50
13. Zaina 47
14. Chiappucci 46
15. Skibby 44

Next World Cup event: 20 August, Championship of Zurich  

Following is a great story that appeared in the "Style" section of the
Washington Post, 14 August 95.  Credits to the author - Anne Swardson.

PUTTING PEDAL TO THE METTLE
Bicycle Couriers Flock to Toronto for Competition

The most they usually get from us is a grunt and a signature.  But this
weekend, the world's bicycle messengers got their very own world
championship competition.

They came 600 strong, from 15 countries.  There were couriers with
tattoos, couriers with green hair, couriers with dreadlocks, bald
couriers, couriers with British accents, couriers with no clothes on,
couriers who speak Danish, couriers smoking cigarettes, and couriers
smoking pot.  Nearly all were lean, tall and hairy, and all, during
this weekend when Toronto's climate resembled Washington's, were very
sweaty.

The competition attempted to replicate the conditions under which a
courier works.  So in an industrial district west of downtown Toronto,
couriers riding in heats of 60 competitors had to deliver three
packages to preset locations, pick up three more and deliver them too.
No cars were present in the closed-off competition area, but to keep
things realistic, the couriers did have to lock their bikes.  And
apparently, as in real life, the addresses were hard to see, as
Washington courier Andy Zalan found when he missed a delivery point.
That put him out of competition for the final round.

Some 20 couriers had come up from Washington with high hopes.  This is
the third year of the competition, which was held in London last year
and in Berlin the year before.  Both were won by Germany's Andy
Schneider.

The iron-thighed Germans swept the event again this year, with Lars
Urban of Bremen coming in first and Thomas Sauerwein of Karlsruhe
second.  Ivonne Kraft, also of Karlsruhe, a part-time courier and
part-time ***oline teacher, won the women's division.

Urban, who aced the title of German national champion courier in a
competition six weeks ago, said he had whipped himself into shape by
bicycling, with a group of fellow competitors, from New York to Toronto
in five days.  Some 100 couriers from Germany competed in the event,
the largest delegation from any country.  Urban explained the secret of
his success as "a combination between the legs and the brains."

The top finisher from Washington was Urk the Commander, he of the green
hair and no other name, who placed somewhere around 20th.  Urk, who has
been a courier for 13 years, said he dyed his hair because "I just like
green.  It's like the driving range and the putting green." He stopped
doing courier work six months ago because "Washington is a very angry
city.  I got beat up by 10 street vendors at one time."

Bad luck hit the members of the Washington delegation even before they
arrived:  One group got in a car accident on the way up, damaging
several bicycles.  A courier named Cisco bent his frame back into
shape, but was skeptical it would last long.  "A $2,000 frame, and now
it's worth 50 cents," he said.

Zalan said he usually rides nine hours a day in Washington, with 20
minutes for lunch if he's lucky.  It's not a bad job, he said: You get
in shape, and you can pull down $100 a day.  More for big jobs, like
delivering boxes of candy to every Member of Congress.  "I've delivered
cigarettes, candy, mugs, all kinds of bribes.  Wine bottles are a pain
in the ass, and big architectural rolls are annoying," said Zalan, 23.
"Generally you're pretty much ignored.  But what are you gonna say to a
courier?"

To Ben Stewart, 25, being a courier "is really capitalism in its purest
form.  If you work hard, you make money." For him, that means bicycle
deliveries to National Airport or to Maryland; astonishingly, he said,
some couriers turn down such opportunities.  

The weekend was a chance for couriers to commune, to share their love
of bicycles and dislike for authority.  Fretting at a delay in the
start of one heat, a courier shouted, "Waitin' time don't pay!"
Responded the race official: "Have a mental beer.  Chill out, man."

Courier styles differ from city to city as well.  Stewart noted that
German couriers run six or seven deliveries a day, Washington couriers
30 to 40.  Toronto couriers, not surprisingly, obey the law, as
Canadians usually do.

"We run red lights.  We're intersection artists," said Stewart.  "They
don't here.  Of course, if they do, they get a $200 ticket."

Among the countries represented were Germany, Denmark, Norway, Britain,
Japan and, reportedly, Afghanistan.  At a local courier hangout called
the Standby Cafe, participants partied extensively, which may explain
why one Washington courier vomited at the finish line.  About 40 of
them also took a *** bicycle ride around downtown Toronto in the wee
hours of this morning.

The final round of the competition was a grueling marathon, in which
couriers just kept going until all but the fastest were eliminated.
That meant that by the time Urban crossed the finish line, he had been
sprinting, stopping, locking, delivering, picking up, and unlocking for
an hour and 10 minutes.  He must have wanted to keep going too: At the
finish line, he failed to put on his brakes in time and crashed into
the waiting crowd of photographers, knocking several over.  Then
Saurwein collapsed as he got off his bicycle and had to be revived by
the many German team assistants.  

For the Washington group, it was a chance to show the flag, literally.
A courier named Wally cycled up from Washington, roughly a 12-hour
drive by car, in 13 days carrying a District flag, which at the
competition was proudly displayed with a Canadian flag.  

There was some dissatisfaction at the considerable level of
disorganization of the race officials, but also a recognition that
disorganization is an occupational hazard.  As Stewart put it,
"Anything we do that we don't get paid for is going to be pretty
disorganized."

End of Story

Bruce Hildenbrand

Jean-Luc

But then again this is the same guy who blew the finish of the 1994
Liege-Bastogne-Liege as a teammate of Rominger's.  Tony flatted
with not that far to go, and Della Santa neither helped Tony nor
did he cover the finish very well, and ended up 5th out of the 5 man
break.  

At any rate, here are his Palmares:
Stefano Della Santa
b. May 22, 1967, Lucca, Italy

1995: Team: Mapei
Wins: Ruta Del Sol
Major Placings:
      2nd, Hofbrau Cup
      2nd, Tour of Burgos
      2nd, Clasica San Sebastian

1994: Team: Mapei-GB
Wins: Ruta Del Sol
      2 Stage wins, Ruta Del Sol
      Semana Catalana
      Stage win, Semana Catalana
      Bicicletta Vasca
Major Placings:
      8th, Laigueglia Trophy
      9th, Tirreno - Adriatico
      26th, Milan - San Remo
      5th, Fleche Wallone
      5th, Liege - Bastogne - Liege
      3rd, Tour of the Apennines
      7th, Tour of Romandie
      3rd, Tour of Galicia
      5th, Coppa Agostino

1993: Team: Eldor  /  Mapei  
{Started year with Eldor, signed with Mapei before Giro)
Wins: Tour of Campania
Major Placings:
      2nd, Laigueglia Trophy
      2nd, Tour of Valencia
      3rd, Tirreno - Adriatico
      3rd, Tour of Tuscany
      9th, Tour of Trentino
      3rd, Bicicleta Vasca
      21st, Giro d'Italia
      15th, San Sebastian Classic
      3rd, Milan - Vignola
      2nd, Tour of Galicia
      7th, Coppa Agostino
      9th, Three Varesine Valleys
      6th, Championship of Zurich

1992: Team: Amore & Vita
Major Placings:
      5th, Tour of Trentino
      6th, Coppa Agostino
      6th, Triptyque Premondiale - Race 2 - Marostica
      10th, Tour de Venetia

1991: Team: Amore & Vita
Major Placings:
      5th, Tour of the Apennines
      22nd, Giro d'Italia
      2nd, Futa Pass Hill Climb
      4th, Tour of Emilia
      7th, Milan - Turin

1990: Team: Amore & Vita

1989: Team: Pepsi
Major Placings:
      3rd, Nice - Alassio
      10th, Sicilian Week
      6th, Tour of Emilia
      15th, Milan - Turin

So maybe he won't get the "best teammate" award,
He hasn't had a bad career.

Joe Bailey

Only 320 days to go!  (TIOOYK)

Rominger broke a spoke 6km from the finish, which was probably too late to
catch back on, even if Della Santa had stopped to help.  Berzin attacked
almost immediately after Rominger stopped.  Chiapucci and Armstrong each
watched each other while Berzin went up the road since neither wanted to
drag Furlan (who had already won Tirreno-Adriatico, Milan-San Remo and
Criterium International that spring) along.  Della Santa didn't go because
he had been working for Rominger and was waiting for him.   Anyway it came
down to a four man sprint for second place which went to Armstrong
followed by Furlan, Chiapucci and Della Santa.  

Regards,
Joe Bailey