Busy Wegmann happy with Worlds

Fabian Wegmann is satisfied with his country's job at the World Championships in Stuttgart - with the German team's result and the race itself. Despite all the discussions of doping and excluding riders, he revealed on his web site, fabianwegmann.de, that the mood in the team was good and that the race was great. The race was especially good for the spectators as there was a lot of suspense until the last centimetre. "I think with Bettini as World Champion, cycling can live," he said. "Kolobnev second and 'Schumi' Stefan gets bronze in his hometown area. What else could you want?"

A question he immediately answered himself. "Good question, because after the race I wasn't quite happy with my ninth place. Sure, a top ten in such a difficult Worlds race is great, but my form and motivation was just like the spirit in the audience -- terrific."

In the end, though, he was happy what the team had achieved and placed Schumacher on the podium. He also acknowledged the performances of his other Gerolsteiner team-mates, who did well. Italian Davide Rebellin was in a breakaway, in the next to last lap, and still finished sixth, while Swiss rider Beat Zberg ended his career with a good 17th place.

Fabian Wegmann spent the time after his win in the Altstadtrennen in Nürnberg as planned in his domicile in Freiburg. He then traveled to the team hotel in Stuttgart with a slight cold, as he revealed on his web site, fabianwegmann.de. After the Worlds it was back to his home in Freiburg (200 kilometres), where he spent a few hours before heading off again, to his hometown area in Münster for the Münsterland Giro.

Instead of heading to Freiburg right after the race, Wegmann got together with his team-mates and Italians, Dutch and some other riders in a disco on Sunday night, to "just celebrate and finally forget all the stress and tension of the last weeks."

He will head to Münster, where he and the other local boy, Linus Gerdemann of T-Mobile, "will have the honour of signing the Golden Book [book where guest of honours sign in] of the city." After the Münsterland Giro he'll do a few races in Italy, before trying to do as well as in 2006 in the Giro di Lombardia. "I wouldn't have objections against winning, either."