ound the supe rfast and dangero us Talkessel Circuit in the former East Germany, Danish vet eran Brian jorgensen, riding for
the Mart in Honda team, shocked the world and won his firstever Grand Prix ove rall. jo rgensen wen t 1- 1 in his com eback
'de from the surgery that kept him out of the previous Grand
Prix in Holland.
jo rgensen has raced the World Cham pionship since 1995, yet it's taken
him 10 years to finallywin a GP. When his time came, he didn't disappoint.
The Dane fi nished ahead of series leader Stefan Everts with anoth er Belgian,
Cedric Melotte , taking third.
"This is fantastic for me," jorgensen said. "I prepared hard ove r the winte r to make a push for the World Champ ionship, or at least to be one of the
top guys. I felt good to be one of the regulars at the front, but arriving at the
first GP. I not iced I was having some trouble with my hand and losing sensation in my lower arm when I was on the bike. The pain was getting worse
through Zo lder and into Be llpuig. At Port ugal, I on ly slept two hours because
I was in so much pain. We decided to make the operation then , but I had to
rest afterwards because I had some te ndon itis in the wrist, and this meant
that it was wiser to miss the GP at Valkenswaard and get ready for the race
this weekend, where I really like the track ."
jorgensen never expected to win in Germany, yet he felt confident he
could race with the leaders. Pain from his injuries and a lack of race fitness
didn't stop the Honda rider from prod ucmg his dream weekend.
"Aresult in the top five today wou ld have been good," jorgensen said. "It
is an incred ible feeling to win the way I did and be on top of the podium. I
basically got my head down and did the job. I had some pain towards the end
of the second rnoto, but when someone like Stefan [Everts] is chasing you, it
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MAY 19, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS
