Tako Molanus of The Netherlands has won the Internet Tour de France Game 1998. He has been on the first place in the overall rankings since the 11th stage. In the final stage he has extended his lead over number two to 23 points. Molanus has participated in all five editions of this game and his best final overall ranking up to this year was 28th in 1994 and 1995.
The 21st and final stage in the Tour over 147 km to Paris resulted in the usual sprint finish. For the fourth time Tom Steels of Belgium was the fastest. Marco Pantani of Italy won the yellow jersey. He is the first Italian in 33 years to accomplish this. The Tour winner of 1997, Jan Ullrich of Germany, finished on second place and Bobby Julich of the USA became third. Erik Zabel of Germany won the green jersey for the third time in a row. The polka-dot jersey was for Cristophe Rinero of France.
The stage in the game was won by Lutz Frommberger from Germany. Earlier he won stage 9 and thus Frommberger is the only player to obtain two stage wins in this year's edition of the game. Carl Koot (The Netherlands) and Shane Moore (Ireland) finished on a joined second place. Tako Molanus of The Netherlands did not give away his leading position in the overall rankings. Behind him there was a big struggle for places two and three. Lee Rusk of the USA retained second place but is only two points ahead of a Dutch pair on place three: Hans Splinter and Rob Spaans. Three more players finish within five points of second place.
The Tour of 1998 will be remembered for the many high-profile dropouts. These were caused by the disqualification of the Festina team, crashes, sprinters giving up in the mountains and the decision of six teams to leave the Tour as a protest. The large number of dropouts has caused damages for many teams. The average team size at the start of the game was 14.9 but in Paris the average team only contained 6.1 riders.
Our robot participant Jan Modaal only managed to bring five cyclists of his team to Paris, an all-time low. As a consequence the robot finished on a disappointing 353rd place. The largest teams that arrived in Paris contained 10 cyclists. Eleven participants have managed this: Arie Altena (The Netherlands), David Fink (USA), David Marshall (Australia), Ian Thomson (Australia), John Plaschke (USA), Kevin Shade (USA), Marlon Familton (USA), Mike Johanson (USA), Mike Page-Hanify (Australia), Peter Toftsoe (Denmark) and S. McCarthy (USA).
The most unfortunate participants with regard to team member losses are Gianni (Italy) and Jordi Blecua (Spain). They have started the game with complete teams of fifteen cyclists but only two team members of each team have managed to arrive in Paris. Ronald Nijman of The Netherlands started with seven cyclists in his team but none of them was present in the final stage. The top three participants of the game completed the Tour with six or seven cyclists.
1. 63 Lutz Frommberger (Germany)
2. 57 Carl Koot (The Netherlands)
57 Shane Moore (Ireland)
4. 56 Howard Hobson (UK)
5. 55 Rob Spaans (The Netherlands)
6. 52 Erix Schokker (New Zealand)
7. 49 Edwin van den Berg (The Netherlands)
49 Jose Nicolas Glez. Perez (Spain)
9. 48 David Marshall (Australia)
48 Tato Uribe Ortiz (Colombia)
11. 47 Freek Lotsma (The Netherlands)
47 Joe Fritsch (USA)
13. 46 Akke Vel (Belgium)
46 Remko Achten (The Netherlands)
46 Rien Post (The Netherlands)
16. 45 Erwin Losse (The Netherlands)
45 R. van Dijk (The Netherlands)
45 Ronald Prins (The Netherlands)
19. 44 Hans Splinter (The Netherlands)
44 Jeroen Vanlerberghe (Belgium)
44 Peter van der Eng (The Netherlands)
44 Rik Cornelissen (The Netherlands)
23. 43 Anton Cozijnsen (Australia)
43 Barbara Hoffellner (Austria)
43 Michel Ranzijn (The Netherlands)
43 Paolo Quaglia (Italy)
43 Richard Best (UK)
43 Tako Molanus (The Netherlands)
29. 42 Gaas (The Netherlands)
42 J. Andersen (Denmark)
42 J. Paul Donkervoort (The Netherlands)
42 Jeroen van Koert (Australia)
42 Olaf Oudendijk (The Netherlands)
42 Sander Kaspers (The Netherlands)
42 Stuart Passmore (Australia)
36. 41 Arie Hoogendoorn (The Netherlands)
41 Dimee van den Ende (The Netherlands)
38. 40 Daniel McQuillen (USA)
40 Ernest Mendez Jr. (USA)
40 Erwin Tijms (The Netherlands)
40 Gerard Creemers (The Netherlands)
40 Hernando Uribe Ortiz (Colombia)
40 Rene van Buitenen (The Netherlands)
40 Stuart Dwight (UK)
40 Stuart Gilchrist (UK)
46. 39 Bert Boetzkes (The Netherlands)
39 Berthold B. Journaille (The Netherlands)
39 Ed van Elteren (The Netherlands)
39 Hub Moens (The Netherlands)
39 Marco van Rooijen (The Netherlands)
39 Peter Toftsoe (Denmark)
39 Stefano Heyer (Switzerland)
39 Steve Harrison (Australia)
39 Steve Willmott (New Zealand)
55. 38 B.G. Van Tuil (The Netherlands)
38 Jean Onrust (The Netherlands)
38 John Groen (The Netherlands)
38 John O'Mahony (Ireland)
38 Klaas Reijne (The Netherlands)
38 Mike Page-Hanify (Australia)
38 Peter Trkman (Slovenia)
38 Randall Cockroft (USA)
38 Rob van Eijk (The Netherlands)
38 Robert van Lunteren (The Netherlands)
65. 37 Erik Stokkentre (The Netherlands)
37 Jens Bulla (Germany)
37 Peter Wyatt (The Netherlands)
37 Ric McCorkell (Australia)
37 Sjammie Jokhan (The Netherlands)
70. 36 Giovanni Flamand (Belgium)
36 Hans Udink (The Netherlands)
36 Marcel Liefbroer (The Netherlands)
36 Michael McQuillen (USA)
36 Nathan Troia (USA)
36 Richard Somerset (UK)
36 Vanessa Lennon (USA)
77. 35 Eeuwe Zijlstra (The Netherlands)
35 Huib van Grol (The Netherlands)
35 Jeroen de Bruin (The Netherlands)
35 Johan Naeyaert (Belgium)
35 Larry Nolan (United Nations)
35 Marten de Blecourt (The Netherlands)
35 Martijn Staal (The Netherlands)
35 Paul Abbott (UK)
35 Robert van Well (The Netherlands)
35 Timo van den Berg (The Netherlands)
87. 34 Arnaud Heijmerink (The Netherlands)
34 Bjorn Frijns (The Netherlands)
34 Chris Minns (UK)
34 Frank Tempelman (The Netherlands)
34 Ian Thomson (Australia)
34 Martin Hoffellner (Austria)
34 Philip Huisman Jr. (The Netherlands)
34 Rene van Oorschot (The Netherlands)
34 Rutger Boers (The Netherlands)
96. 33 Andrea Bibi (Italy)
33 Brian Roth (USA)
33 Constant Martini (The Netherlands)
33 Darren Dean (Australia)
33 Fran Mackaravitz (USA)