1998 World Cycling Championships ITT - Campeonato Mundial de Ciclismo CRI - Valkenburg - Olano

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• published: 07 Aug 2015
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Preview Well, it is cold and wet in Limburg this morning. The weather has worsened each day of the week. The Time Trial circuit will demand even more precision riding than if it was dry. In addition to being cast as a favourite in the road race on Sunday, the local news is saying that Lance Armstrong is also now a favourite for today's time trial. He is strong and has a lot of form coming out of the Vuelta. His form in the time trials (2) held in tough conditions was particularly notable. Other big contenders are Abraham Olano and Chris Boardman. My personal view is that neither are well suited to the course. It has a lot of sharp little hills that require strength rather than smooth riding. It also demands a lot of quick exits from corners and not a lot of the middle section of the course (over half of it) will be conducive to a full tuck position. A quite favourite is Ukrainian Sergei Gontchar who was second in this event last year. He was riding smoothly yesterday and said he was in good form. http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/results/1998/worlds98/timetrialmap.html http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/results/1998/worlds98/timetrialprofile.html VALKENBURG (Hollande), 43.5 km ITT 1. Abraham OLANO (Esp) en 54'32" (47.859 km/h) 2. Melchor Mauri (Esp) à 37" 3. Serguei Gontchar (Ukr) à 47" 4. Lance Armstrong (Usa) à 56" 5. Uwe Peschel (All) à 1'07" 6. Beat Zberg (Sui) à 1'11" 7. Jonathan Vaugthers (Usa) à 1'13" 8. Michael Sandstod (Dan) à 1'34" 9. Vjatceslav Ekimov (Rus) à 1'47" 10. Erik Dekker (Hol) à 1'49" 11. Christopher Baordman (Gbr) à 1'50" 12. Martin Hvastija (Slo) à 1'54" 13. Marco Velo (Ita) à 1'55" 14. Peter Meinert (Dan) à 1'57" 15. Fabio Malberti (Ita) à 1'57" 16. Serguei Matveyev (Ukr) à 2'27" 17. Filip Branko (Slo) à 2'28" 18. Francisque Teyssier (Fra) à 2'29" 19. Lauri Aus (Est) à 2'29" 20. Bradley McGee (Aus) à 2'32" 21. Grischa Niermann (All) à 2'38" 22. Andrei Mizourov (Kaz) à 2'58" 23. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) à 2'58" 24. Milan Kadec (Tch) à 3'05" 25. Servais Knaven (Hol) à 3'31" 26. Marc Streel (Bel) à 3'33" 27. Gilles Maignan (Fra) à 3'42" 28. Stuart Dangerfield (Gbr) à 3'44" 29. Dainis Ozols (Let) à 4'09" 30. Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) à 4'11" 31. Jan Valach (Slq) à 4'26" 32. Jose Azevedo (Por) à 4'34" 33. Igor Bonciukov (Mol) à 4'52" 34. Michael Anderson (Sue) à 4'59" 35. Piotr Przydial (Pol) à 5'02" 36. Amar El Nady (Egy) à 6'28" 37. Vasilis Anastopoulos (Gre) à 6'34" 38. Bruno Boscardin (Sui) à 7'00" 39. Miroslav Liptak (Slq) à 7'28" 40. Tomokazu Fujino (Jap) à 7'32" 41. Benjamin Loberant (Isr) à 8'01" 42. Kyoshi Miura (Jap) à 9'23" Partants : 46 http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/results/1998/worlds98/results/elitettresults98.html#results Report In biting cold conditions, Spaniard Abraham Olano took his second World Championship title in 3 years but indicated after the effort that he is struggling with a sore knee. His ride over the tough 43.5 kms route was done at an average of 47.8 km/h and he easily beat fellow Spaniard Melchior Mauri by 37 seconds. Last year's silver medallist, Sergei Gontchar was third at 47 seconds. Lance Armstrong rode very quickly over the first 80 per cent of the route but faded slightly at the end to take 4th at 56 seconds. Lance was besieged by reporters after the effort and was at first uncertain of his relative placing. He was asked why he didn't take the advice not to go too hard at the beginning and he replied that he didn't have any such advice. As to whether he was pleased with his time, he said the others had not finished and so the race was not over yet. He also said later that: "Every race is a special victory for me. I never believed it was possible that I could do well in a world championship. I did not feel so good as I expected but I don't think any rider feels great when it is cold and wet. My main focus, however, is Sunday's road race championship. I think I will be a factor in that but it is a lottery. Anyone could win." Olano told the press afterwards that: "It was so painful I thought that I would not make it to the midway point and that I would have to stop. I told myself to forget the pain and give everything. It was most important to win today but I am not sure if I will contest Sunday's road race championship. If I have to leave then I will go but I just hope that my knee will improve." For Olano, it was his second world title having won (or being given) the world road title in Colombia (1995) from Miguel Indurain. He was second to Indurain in the time trial at those championships. He was second in the Olympic time trial at Atlanta (1996), again behind Indurain. Three riders were excluded from the final classifications because they removed their helmets before they crossed the finishing line. The most notable was Russian Sergei Ivanov who had ridden a fast 56.25.52.