FRENCH IRON TOUR UPDATE

From Triathlon Digest dated 28 - 09 - 99 - to subscribe to the digest
http://www.TriathlonCentral.com

Yesterday's stage was at the Bourget-du-Lac, over a sprint distance. As
usual, Benjamin Sanson is not able anymore to break away from the other
swimmers. Richard Stannard and Simon Withfield are usually on is heels (even
Olivier Marceau managed Monday to swim with Sanson).

The news of the day was the mechanical troubles of Simon Whitfield out of
the transition area. He had to take one of the Mavic  assistant's bikes. He
lost three minutes in the process and that drawback lead to a seven-minute
gap with Reto Hug on the finish line. So he lost his third place on the
general standings.

Monday's big news was the meeting of Mark Lees' foot with his Spinergy wheel
during transition. He was cut severly and had to get three stitches. He also
decided to withdraw from the race as the Australian season is coming in
focus.

Today's finale at Evian (classic short distance) will be very difficult with
a monstrous climb of two kilometers, sometimes over 10 percent, to be
covered eight times!

Last year's winner, Olivier Marceau, is seventh but today's bike course will
suit him well and the tremendous difficulty and tireness of the competitors
could lead to massive changes in the final ranking.

Ranking as of today (Evian times missing)

1. Paul Amey, NZL, 4:25:58 (Gilette)
2. Reto Hug, SUI, 4:26:32 (TriTeam)
3. Andrew Johns, GBR, 4:27:41 (TriTeam)
4. Craig Watson, NZL, 4:27:46 (Sartrouville)
9. Bevan Docherty, NZL, 4:30:31 (Gilette)
27. Matt Reed, NZL, 4:38:45 (Gilette)
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MURAKAMI TRIATHLON - Japan

Men
1. Miles Stewart       AUS   01:44:15
2. Hideo Fukui         JPN   01:45:09
3. Jamie Hunt          NZL   01:45:48
4. Hector Llanos       ESP   01:46:03
5. Jose Barbany        ESP   01:46:15