July 25/97 10:16 am - Tour Stage 19, Ontario Track Meet

Posted by Editor on 07/25/97
 

Stage 19, Montbeliard to Dijon - 172 km  1. Mario Traversoni (Ita) 4:03:43 2. Peter van Petegem (Bel)  3. Francois Simon (Fra)  4. Marco Saligari (Ita)  5. Christian Henn (Ger)  6. Thierry Bourguignon (Fra)  7. Rolf Sörensen (Den)  8. ERIK DEKKER (Ned)  9. SERVAIS KNAVEN (Ned)  10. Sergej Oetsjakov (Oek)  11. Vjatsjeslav Jekimov (Rus)  12. Arnaud Pretot (Fra)  13. BART VOSKAMP (Ned)  14. Jens Heppner (Ger) all s.t.  15. Cedric Vasseur (Fra) at 17:31  GC  1. Jan Ullrich (Ger) 95:19:17 2. Richard Virenque (Fra) at 6:22 3. Marco Pantani (Ita) 10:13 4. Fernando Escartin (Spa) 16:05 5. Abraham Olano (Spa) 16:40 6. Franc.Casagrande (Ita) 17:14 7. Bjarne Riis (Den) 18:07 8. Jose Maria Jimenez (Spa) 23:42 9. Roberto Conti (Ita) 28:20 10. Laurent Dufaux (Sui) 29:29 11. Beat Zberg (Sui) 31:39 12. Oskar Camenzind (Sui) 32:38 13. Peter Luttenberger (Oos) 38:16 14. Manuel Beltran (Spa) 43:00 15. Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) 53:07 16. MICHAEL BOOGERD (Ned) 55:11 17. Daniele Nardello (Ita) 56.24 18. Bobby Julich (VS) 59:31 19. Christophe Moreau (Fra) 1:00:37 20. Stephane Heulot (Fra) 1:00:54   Marcel Thysman Memorial Track Meet - July 26th  Racing at Wind Del Community Park, Windham Centre starts at 10.30a.m. with Registration at 9.30a.m.  The event is sanctioned but one day licenses will be issued to any rider wishing to race.  Open to all comers, the program includes Handicap Sprints, Team Pursuits, Olympic Sprints, Miss and Out, Point Race and Scratch events etc. The final program will be tailored, on the day, to give all riders equal opportunity to compete in events regardless of category. The day includes the Ken Pew Memorial Sprint - taken from the last three riders of the Miss and Out and the Top Notch Handicap Sprint.  The day's program features, as the last event, the Marcel Thysman Memorial Madison, a 100 lap event in memory of the man who laid the original asphalt by hand.  In recent Track League Meets, a madison school has been held (shades of the late '80's) which has included a number of women riders. Women riders will be allowed to compete in the Marcel Thysman (as will Juniors and Vets who prove that they are capable) but, it is hoped that enough women will attend to have a Women's madison event prior to the main feature. This would certainly be a new development in Delhi's track racing history.  The Marcel Thysman Madison is scheduled to start at 3.00p.m, Entry Fees for the day's racing are $16 for Seniors and Vets., $12 for Juniors and below.  As a point of note, only slow progress has been made on the refurbishing of the Delhi track since the last OCA Board Meeting for personal, business reasons on the part of the main coordinator for this project, Keith Davidge. However, interest has recently been shown by several people to help and the Wind Del Community Centre is certainly keen to get cracking. Meetings will be held this weekend during the Thysman meet to get the ball rolling. Rumours that no contractor can be found to undertake the work are unfounded. No-one has tried very hard yet and there are now several major construction experts from the Toronto area offering to assist. Everyone is confident that the track will be in fine shape for the 1998 racing season. It may be taking time but everyone involved is a very busy volunteer in various areas and it is difficult to get them all talking together.  During the summer months, the Forest City CC has held a regular Tuesday evening track league at Delhi which has proved very successful and should herald a new future for Track Racing in Ontario. That Delhi is isolated etc. etc. is a smokescreen for the naysayers. Have any of them been to T Town? Yes, it is an absolutely fabulous facility - esp. compared to Delhi but it is just as isolated, being located in the small village of Trexlertown in the middle of a bucolic farming community, some 15 km or more from Allentown and a good hour to one and one half hour drive from Philadelphia.  What T Town has that Delhi does not is local people to run their programs. When you rely on Toronto enthusiasts to keep the facility going, it is very hard and takes a great deal of time and committment. That track racing is alive and well, indeed thriving in terms of women's participation, is due to those good people who take the trouble to drive there week after week to run the events and take an interest.  Three small bikes are available for young children to 'come and try it'. From time to time, the volunteers are asked to have bikes available to fit certain people. More times than not, these requests are accommodated but only by going around to various riders and borrowing their personal machines and taking them to the track for the day. However, often, it is not possible. It has been noticed that people do not respect that these bikesare personal equipment - they actually have the audacity to demand why machines are not available and are quite unappreciative. This only adds to the load of those keen volunteers running the program.  Ontario has the best track in Eastern Canada - it should be proud of that, cracks and all.  (Thanks to Val Davidge for the above info)   Attention Cyclo-crossers!  The fax number for the Cyclo-cross Nationals was incorrectly listed awhile ago. The correct number is: (905) 824 - 8329