STAGE 6 (15 April)
This is the last stage of the race. Our last chance for success. With a 3km long, steep climb starting 15 km before the finish it looked like an opportunity for Hassen.
With a few climbs on the menu today Ab also saw an opportunity to grab the KOM jersey, when he managed to pick out the right breakaway. He got away with 10 others and they build up a maximum gap of about 6 or 7 minutes.
With 30 km left the break had shrunk to 8 riders and the lead to just under 3 minutes on a peleton lead by Caisse D'Epargne. This might make it possible for Ab to pick up points on the top of the last climb and win the KOM classification.
The Caisse D'Epargne riders couldn't keep up the high pace and at the foot of he climb, with 15 km to go, the break still had more then 2 minutes and it even began to looked like the break could fight for the stage win.
However at the foot of the climb Marico Soler (BAR), 2nd in the GC and wearing the under 25 jersey, attacked. Hassen immediately countered with Jay on his wheel.
Ab pushed hard and came over the top first, securing the KOM jersey.
In the decent, behind the breakaway, a chase group of 9 had formed containing Soler, Hassen, Jay and 3rd overall Joaquim Rodríguez (CGE). They had a small gap with the peleton still containing GC leader José Serpa (CGE). Would this cost Serpa the GC win?
Anyhow, it began to look more and more that the breakaway wouldn't be caught. Ab felt he was the strongest and with 3 km to go he tried to jump away.
He didn't get a big gap, but it was enough to hold of Commesso (TCS) for the stage win.
Behind him every gap was closed down in the sprint, leaving the GC at it was.
STAGE 6 1 Abdelkader Belmokhtar TEAM KONICA MINOLTA 4h27'51
2 Salvatore Commesso TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
3 Fabio Borghesi SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
4 Raúl García de Mateo RELAX - GAM s.t.
5 Rui Sá BARBOT - HALCÓN s.t. 11 Hassen Ben Nasser TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
16 Jay Thompson TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
92 Taufik Ben Ali TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
94 Kacem Frenda TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
110 Ahmed Bara TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
117 Benhadj Zahouania TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 4'37
119 Mario Ganuchi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 5'14
GC
1 José Serpa CAISSE D'EPARGNE 20h57'50
2 Mauricio Soler BARLOWORLD + 20
3 Joaquim Rodríguez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 26
4 Jan Hruska RELAX - GAM + 28
5 Joao Cabreira BARLOWORLD + 31 16 Jay Thompson TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 53
67 Abdelkader Belmokhtar TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 1'55
71 Hassen Ben Nasser TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 4'20
81 Benhadj Zahouania TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 5'48
108 Mario Ganuchi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 12'51
128 Kacem Frenda TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 23'09
134 Taufik Ben Ali TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 26'52
139 Ahmed Bara TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 45'22
KOM 1 Abdelkader Belmokhtar TEAM KONICA MINOLTA 12
Conclusion
Not Hassen but Ab gave us the stage win and he also picked up the KOM jersey along the way. Both of them showed they are ready for the important upcoming one day races:
- Tour du Finistere 1.1 (21 April)
- Amstel Gold Race UPT (22 April)
Jay didn't do better then expected and ended up 16th in the GC, but we can't be anything but happy about the performance of the team thanks to the last stage.
Next up the Tour de Georgia 2.HC (16-22 April)
Edited by snoep_de_hond on 23-02-2009 12:31
With 3 flat stages, 2 hilly stages, 1 mountain stage, 1 ITT and 5 ProTour teams at the start (Discovery Channel, Team CSC, Predictor-Lotto, Saunier Duval and QuickStep), the Tour de Georgia promises to be an exciting race. Stages 3 (hilly), 4 (ITT) and 5 (mountain) will determine the GC.
Team David George
Abdelbasset Hannachi
Tiaan Kannemeyer
Rodney Green
Christoff Van Heerden
Dennis Van Niekerk
Ahmed Bara
Goals
Our main goal here is to get David in the top 5 of the GC. He finished 3th here last year. It would be brilliant if he could do better this year.
We don't expect stage wins. Our sprinter here is Rodney and we are satisfied if he leaves here with at least a top 3 finish.
Tactics
The team will protect en help David when needed.
Bassie will be his last support in the mountains and/or if possible ride for his own GC.
In the flat stage the team will also work for Rodney.
Ahmed and Tiaan will be our riders that our allowed to try to get in a breakaway.
Race
STAGE 1 (16 April)
The first stage was long, flat and not much exiting. So let's see what Rodney can do in the mass sprint.
It was clear very soon who the fastest was today.
Edvald Boasson Hagen (PRL) was far better then the rest today. Rodney couldn't find the right wheel and didn't get any farther then 10th place.
STAGE 1
1 Edvald Boasson Hagen PREDICTOR - LOTTO 4h50'55
2 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
3 Andrew Randell SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM s.t.
4 Taylor Tolleson TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
5 Boy Van Poppel TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
6 Huub Duyn TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
7 Uros Murn DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
8 René Weissinger BMC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
9 Nick Ingels PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t. 10 Rodney Green TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
73 Abdelbasset Hannachi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
74 Christoff Van Heerden TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
82 Dennis Van Niekerk TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
83 Tiaan Kannemeyer TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
86 David George TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
102 Ahmed Bara TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 4'00
STAGE 2 (17 April)
the last 100 km of the second stage where flat, so the team had to get Rodney through the first 87 without letting him spill to much energy. That went pretty well. Also because Rodney was having a good today. He showed his form by winning the battle for Boasson Hagen's wheel before the sprint started.
When the sprint started Boasson Hagen again turned on his turbo and pulled Rodney to 2nd place. Would Rodney be able to challenge Boasson Hagen for the win?
No, not a chance what so ever. We can only be satisfied with this 2nd place.
STAGE 2
1 Edvald Boasson Hagen PREDICTOR - LOTTO 4h33'14 2 Rodney Green TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
3 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
4 Taylor Tolleson TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
5 Boy Van Poppel TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
6 René Weissinger BMC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
7 Greg Henderson DRAPAC PORSCHE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM s.t.
8 Uros Murn DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
9 Roy Sentjens PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
10 Chad Hartley BMC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
45 Abdelbasset Hannachi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
58 Christoff Van Heerden TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
64 Tiaan Kannemeyer TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
66 David George TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
67 Ahmed Bara TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
73 Dennis Van Niekerk TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.Edited by snoep_de_hond on 23-02-2009 12:30
STAGE 3 (18 April)
There are a lot of KOM points to earn in this hilly stage and the difficult terrain and the uphill finish will more then likely prevent a mass sprint finish.
Ahmed had a good day, made the break and saw his chance to pick up a lot of KOM points and the KOM jersey.
With over 40 km to go Ahmed was the last to be reeled in by the peleton. He was just able to pick up full points on top of the 3rd to last climb.
CSC, Saunier Duval and Tinkoff set a high pace over the penultimate hill. As a result the peleton contained less then 30 riders with less then 10 km. David, Bassie and Tiaan made the cut.
In the uphill sprint to the finish Bobby Julich (CSC) proved to be the best, won the stage and even managed to make a 9 seconds gap with Koldo Gil (SDV) and Andreas Klöden (DSC).
Bassie and David ended up 6th and 11th, both losing 20 seconds to Julich. Not a bad start.
STAGE 3
1 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC 4h17'07
2 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 9
3 Andreas Klöden DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
4 Rémy Di Gregorio PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 20
5 Uros Murn DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t. 6 Abdelbasset Hannachi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
7 Dmytro Grabovskyy QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
8 Edvald Boasson Hagen PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
9 Chris Sørensen TEAM CSC s.t.
10 Jussi Veikkanen NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t. 11 David George TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
12 Evgeni Petrov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
13 Andrea Tonti QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
14 Mauro Facci QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 46
15 Luis Ángel Maté HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS + 54
16 Taylor Tolleson TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
17 Xavi Tondo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
18 Chris Wherry TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT s.t.
19 David Millar SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
20 David Cañada SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'15
22 Tiaan Kannemeyer TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 1'30
83 Dennis Van Niekerk TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 9'12
85 Christoff Van Heerden TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 9'26
93 Ahmed Bara TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 10'49
98 Rodney Green TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 15'25
GC
1 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC 13h40'56
2 Edvald Boasson Hagen PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
3 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 17
4 Andreas Klöden DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 21
5 Uros Murn DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 40
10 Abdelbasset Hannachi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
12 David George TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
34 Tiaan Kannemeyer TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 1'50
73 Dennis Van Niekerk TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 9'32
74 Christoff Van Heerden TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 9'46
89 Ahmed Bara TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 15'09
90 Rodney Green TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 15'33Edited by snoep_de_hond on 23-02-2009 12:31
STAGE 4 (19 April)
Today on the program is a 25 km long ITT. Let's see what David can do.
First up is a stage favorite, David Millar (SDV). Although he sets the best time, to which he would hold on for a long time, he would end up 3th today.
Then our boys:
Dennis rides a good TT, ending up 14th.
Bassie's performance is reasonable and would earn him 20th place.
David disappoints a little bit only finishing 10th. He does move up to 6th overall only 12 seconds away from 4th place, but the top 3 will be hard to catch and in tomorrow's mountain stage he will have to watch out for some strong climbers that are not that far behind him in the GC.
Andreas Klöden (DCS) takes 2nd today and also moves up to 2nd overall.
Edvald Boasson Hagen (PRL) again shows he is in great shape here and finishes 8th today. He only loses one spot and is now 3th overall.
However the man of the moment is Bobby Julich (CSC), who just as yesterday wins the stage and increases his overall lead to 26 seconds to his biggest tread to for the race victory, Andreas Klöden.
STAGE 5
1 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC 34'21
2 Andreas Klöden DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 5
3 David Millar SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 6
4 Olivier Kaisen PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 18
5 Dmytro Grabovskyy QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 23
6 Christopher Baldwin TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT + 25
7 David McCann TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 27
8 Edvald Boasson Hagen PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 28
9 Evgeni Petrov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 29 10 David George TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 35
11 Michael Blaudzun TEAM CSC + 40
12 Xavi Tondo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 41
13 Jussi Veikkanen NAVIGATORS INSURANCE + 44 14 Dennis Van Niekerk TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 45
15 Chad Hartley BMC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
16 Piotr Mazur SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 46
17 Taylor Tolleson TEAM SLIPSTREAM + 49
18 Heath Blackgrove TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT + 50
19 Pavel Padrnos DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 52 20 Abdelbasset Hannachi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 54
24 Christoff Van Heerden TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 1'05
73 Tiaan Kannemeyer TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 1'57
88 Ahmed Bara TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 2'13
95 Rodney Green TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 2'18
GC
1 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC 14h15'17
2 Andreas Klöden DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 26
3 Edvald Boasson Hagen PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 28
4 Dmytro Grabovskyy QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 1'03
5 Evgeni Petrov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 1'09 6 David George TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 1'15
8 Abdelbasset Hannachi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 1'34
36 Tiaan Kannemeyer TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 3'47
71 Dennis Van Niekerk TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 10'17
74 Christoff Van Heerden TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 10'51
91 Ahmed Bara TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 17'22
92 Rodney Green TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 17'51Edited by snoep_de_hond on 19-02-2009 03:05
ringo182 wrote:
nice to see you back. what was the reason for your long break, if you haven't already said?
In November and the beginning of December I had to put all my time and effort in finish writing my graduation report. The last week was almost 24/7. So when I graduated I felt like I had done enough writing for a while.
I did play the game, but I started an other career with Chocolade Jacques and road a lot of cobbled races, which was a nice change. When I got to the end of April (or in other words the end of the cobbled season) I wanted to start again with this career .
STAGE 5 (20 April)
Decision day. It's a though climb up Brasstown mountain. Can David get the top 5 spot in the GC we're aiming for?
A break of 11 got away and got a big gap with the peleton. Ahmed managed to get in the break and was able to reinforce his lead in the KOM classification.
When the lead grew over 12 minutes, CSC and Predictor Lotto joined fores and hit the gas pedal. On the first steep part of the final climb, with 35 km to go, the remainders of the break had a lead of less then a minute.
With everybody caught and 23 km to the finish the remainders of the peleton arrived at the second steep part of the climb. Suddenly all CSC riders were gone at the front. What is this? Julich is in trouble!
15km to go and 23 riders left in the first group. We still had David, Bassie and Tiaan. Surprisingly Julich was still hanging on although Discovery and Predictor Lotto kept the pace high.
7,5km to go and 13 left. Julich was looking better and even put his last helper, Chris Sørensen (CSC), to set the pace. All the riders in the top 10 of the GC were present still including David and Bassie.
5 km to go and Julich finally had to let go and so had Bassie, but were was David?
He wasn't in the front group of 5 consisting out of (from left to right) Evgeni Petrov (TCS), Koldo Gil (SDV), Rémy Di Gregorio (PRL), Andreas Klöden (DCS) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (PRL).
David had gone in the red and was even behind Julich. Bassie had dropped back and was pulling David to the finish.
Koldo Gil won the stage and Boasson Hagen picked up 8 valuable bonus second by winning the sprint for 3th place from Klöden. Boasson Hagen would again be in the leaders jersey after today.
Bassie did a good job in minimizing David's loss. They even passed Julich to come in 10th and 11th. We can forget a top 5 spot, but both of them are still in the top 10.
STAGE 5
1 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 4h55'07
2 Rémy Di Gregorio PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
3 Edvald Boasson Hagen PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
4 Andreas Klöden DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
5 Evgeni Petrov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
6 Saul Raisin NAVIGATORS INSURANCE + 29
7 Andrea Tonti QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
8 Jussi Veikkanen NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
9 Chris Sørensen TEAM CSC + 1'16 10 Abdelbasset Hannachi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 1'29
11 David George TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
12 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 1'46
13 Dmytro Grabovskyy QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 2'08
14 Xavi Tondo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'30
15 Luis Ángel Maté HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS s.t.
16 Thomas Peterson DRAPAC PORSCHE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM s.t.
17 David Millar SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
18 Taylor Tolleson TEAM SLIPSTREAM + 2'44
19 Nicki Sörensen TEAM CSC + 3'45
20 Gerrit Glomser DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
22 Tiaan Kannemeyer TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 5'28
53 Ahmed Bara TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 12'28
75 Christoff Van Heerden TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 16'52
79 Dennis Van Niekerk TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 17'56
96 Rodney Green TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 22'40
GC
1 Edvald Boasson Hagen PREDICTOR - LOTTO 19h10'44
2 Andreas Klöden DISCOVERY CHANNEL 6
3 Evgeni Petrov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS 49
4 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'02
5 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 1'26
6 Rémy Di Gregorio PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 1'30
7 Jussi Veikkanen NAVIGATORS INSURANCE + 1'33 8 David George TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 2'24
9 Andrea Tonti QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 2'42 10 Abdelbasset Hannachi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 2'43
24 Tiaan Kannemeyer TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 8'55
70 Christoff Van Heerden TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 27'23
71 Dennis Van Niekerk TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 27'53
77 Ahmed Bara TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 29'24
95 Rodney Green TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 40'11
STAGE 6 (21 April)
This stage was marked as hilly. However I didn't seem that difficult, so we don't expect that any of the top GC riders will try anything. Especially after yesterday's energy consuming stage.
A break of 6 got away with Tiaan in it. He was the best placed rider with just under 9 minutes behind Boasson Hagen (PRL).
Halfway through the stage it was clear no team had any interest in casing down the break. Tiaan even was the virtual overall leader for a while.
So was this our chance on a stage victory? ....No, Tiaan didn't have a super day. With 40 km to go Mauro Facci (QST) and David Millar (SDV) left the rest of the break behind.
Facci beat Millar in the sprint to take the stage win.
Tiaan came in 4th, more then 4 minutes behind Facci and less then a minute in front of the peleton, moving up from 24th to 20th in the GC.
As expected no GC rider tried anything today. Boasson Hagen won the bunch sprint making it certain he will win the points classification and with only a flat stage left tomorrow it is as good as certain he will also win the race.
STAGE 6
1 Mauro Facci QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 4h05'14
2 David Millar SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
3 Christopher Baldwin TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT + 4'18 4 Tiaan Kannemeyer TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
5 Paul Brousse SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM + 5'02
6 Edvald Boasson Hagen PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
7 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
8 Boy Van Poppel TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
9 Roy Sentjens PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
10 Taylor Tolleson TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
60 Christoff Van Heerden TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
62 Abdelbasset Hannachi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
71 David George TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
79 Dennis Van Niekerk TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
94 Rodney Green TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 8'46
97 Ahmed Bara TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.Edited by snoep_de_hond on 23-02-2009 12:33
STAGE 7 (22 April)
The last stage is 126 km long and flat, so no surprise that it ends in a mass sprint. Is it going to be an other win for Boasson Hagen (PRL)? And what can Rodney do at the end of this race?
Rodney lost the battle for Boasson Hagen's wheel to Wouter Weylandt (QST).
Less then 1 km to go and Rodney has passed Weylandt. Boasson Hagen is to far, but can Rodney again pick up a top 3 finish?
3th stage win for Boasson Hagen. Rodney finishes strong and sprints to again a 2th place.
STAGE 7
1 Edvald Boasson Hagen PREDICTOR - LOTTO 3h02'44 2 Rodney Green TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
3 Matthew Goss DRAPAC PORSCHE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM s.t.
4 Taylor Tolleson TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
5 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
6 Boy Van Poppel TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
7 Greg Henderson DRAPAC PORSCHE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM s.t.
8 Andrew Randell SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM s.t.
9 Marsh Cooper SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM s.t.
10 Luis Ángel Maté HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS s.t.
40 Christoff Van Heerden TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
44 Dennis Van Niekerk TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
48 Abdelbasset Hannachi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
49 David George TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
59 Tiaan Kannemeyer TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
84 Ahmed Bara TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
GC
1 Edvald Boasson Hagen PREDICTOR - LOTTO 26h23'24
2 Andreas Klöden DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 26
3 Evgeni Petrov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 1'09
4 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'22
5 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 1'46
6 Rémy Di Gregorio PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 1'50
7 Jussi Veikkanen NAVIGATORS INSURANCE + 1'53 8 David George TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 2'44
9 Andrea Tonti QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 3'02 10 Abdelbasset Hannachi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 3'03
11 Dmytro Grabovskyy QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 3'11
12 Chris Sørensen TEAM CSC + 3'28
13 Saul Raisin NAVIGATORS INSURANCE + 4'04
14 Xavi Tondo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 4'25
15 Taylor Tolleson TEAM SLIPSTREAM + 4'47
16 Luis Ángel Maté HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS + 5'25
17 Thomas Peterson DRAPAC PORSCHE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM + 5'40
18 Gerrit Glomser DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 7'13 19 Tiaan Kannemeyer TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 8'29
20 Stefano Barberi DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 8'40
21 Michael Lange TEAM SLIPSTREAM + 8'58
22 Chris Wherry TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT + 9'07
23 Serguei Klimov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 9'15
24 Pavel Padrnos DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 10'28
25 David McCann TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 11'11
63 Christoff Van Heerden TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 27'43
66 Dennis Van Niekerk TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 28'13
84 Ahmed Bara TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 33'28
93 Rodney Green TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 44'03
KOM 1 Ahmed Bara TEAM KONICA MINOLTA 76
Conclusion
We came here for a top 5 place in the GC and didn't succeed. Although this field contained some strong contenders we still believe a top 5 was possible. David was good, but not super.
He did finished 8th and with Bassie on place 10 and Tiaan 19th we do have 3 men in the top 20. We also had a rider in the top 10 on every stage and Ahmed goes home with the KOM jersey. So overall a good performance of the team.
Next up is what happened in Europe during the Tour de Georgia 2.HC (16-22 April).
We send teams to 3 hilly one day races:
- Paris-Camembert Lepetit 1.1 (17 April)
- Tour du Finistere 1.1 (21 April)
- Amstel Gold Race UPT (22 April)
Team Hassen Ben Nasser
Bab Kuider
Mario Ganuchi
Salvatore Hadrioui
Taufik Ben Ali
Antar Buadis
Kacem Frenda
Benhadj Zahouania
Goals
This is a last test for Hassen, because there are 2 important races coming up for him. However we do expect Hassen can get a good result here. Top 10 should be possible.
Tactics
We have a very unexperienced team here, so we are not going to control the race.
We put all our cards on Hassen. the rest of the team will protect him as long as they can or try to take the heat away from him by joining any early breaks.
Race
Benhadj Zahouania gets in the break and with less then 100 km to they have buil up a lead of over 10 minutes.
However when the peleton starts riding the lead rapidly drops and with 40 km to go the break is already reeled back in.
With 27 km to go the real race starts, when Sergei Kolesnikov (UNI) attacks, followed by Nick Nuyens (FDJ), Hassen, Martin Elmiger (AGR) and others.
Kolesnikov and Nuyens get a gap to a chase group that, besides Hassen, contains Moncoutié (COF), Elminger, Sprick (BTL) and Zaballa (CGE).
The last obstacle lies on 11 km before the finish and the chase group does everything thy can to close the gap, but they even fail to get it under half a minute.
So Kolesnikov and Nuyens will fight it out for the win. Kolesnikov doesn't rely on his sprint and jumps away in the last 3 km.
It works, because Nuyens never manages to get back on his wheel. The Russian takes the win.
But we were more interested if Hassen is able to pick up the last podium spot. He is fast in the sprint, but sadly so is Elminger. Hassen takes 4th.
Results
1 Sergei Kolesnikov UNIBET.COM 4h56'00
2 Nick Nuyens FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 29
3 Martin Elmiger AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 1'15 4 Hassen Ben Nasser TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
5 Constantino Zaballa CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
6 David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
7 Mathieu Sprick BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
8 Xavier Florencio BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 3'07
9 Alexandre Usov AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
10 Samuel Dumoulin AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
11 Pierrick Fédrigo BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM
12 Tom Veelers AG2R PRÉVOYANCE
13 René Mandri UNIBET.COM
14 Cyril Gautier BRETAGNE - ARMOR LUX
15 Dariusz Rudnicki ACTION - UNIQA
16 Cyril Dessel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE
17 Johan Coenen CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN
18 Yannick Talabardon CRÉDIT AGRICOLE
19 Jonathan Patrick McCarty TEAM SLIPSTREAM
20 Oliver Zaugg CRÉDIT AGRICOLE
21 Jean-Patrick Nazon AG2R PRÉVOYANCE
22 Christophe Mengin FRANÇAISE DES JEUX
23 Jérémy Roy FRANÇAISE DES JEUX
24 Steve Chainel AUBER 93
25 Pablo Lastras CAISSE D'EPARGNE
60 Bab Kuider TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
68 Mario Ganuchi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
73 Salvatore Hadrioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 5'33
81 Taufik Ben Ali TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 6'42
82 Antar Buadis TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 7'30
84 Kacem Frenda TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
117 Benhadj Zahouania TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 10'54
Conclusion
this was a good race from our team. Our youngster did what they could and did a good job in protecting Hassen.
Hassen reacted a the right moment, but just couldn't reach the front two. We're more then happy with 4th.
Team Hassen Ben Nasser
Abdelkader Belmokhtar
Jay Thompson
Salvatore Hadrioui
Benhadj Zahouania
Kacem Frenda
Mario Ganuchi
Antar Buadis
Goals
One of our season goals is to finish top 10 in this race. The idea behind it is to test our team in a hilly one day race. We didn't anticipated on that we would get an even better chance, but that is for tomorrows Amstel Gold Race UPT (22 April).
Tactics
Again Hassen is our man here, but we have two other riders here that could play a role in the final of this race. Hopefully Jay and especially Ab can help Hassen to an even better result then in Paris-Camembert Lepetit 1.1 (17 April).
the rest of the team is filled up again with 5 of our young riders that will have to work there asses of today to protect our three leaders.
Race
A very large breakaway of 17 riders got a away. We were happy to see that Salvatore Hadrioui represented our team.
AG2R, Bouygues and Française des Jeux take there responsibility (Because of being in France and missing the break) and don't give the break to much space.
With 70 km to go the break has just over 2 minutes. 7 riders attack the peleton, including Ab and outsider Marcus Ljungqvist (MST).
They need 10-15 km to close the gap with the break, which now is 24 riders large. With 50 km to go they have got a lead of 1 and a half a minute on the peleton.
The peleton, which is still lead by the French teams, isn't planning on giving the break any more space and slowly reels them back in.
With 28 km to go the break is almost caught, when Gadret (AGR) decides it's time to give it go.
A couple of riders, including Hassen, tried to follow Gadret, but no one could get on his wheel.
With only 10 km to go the situation is Gadret in front with behind him Pineau (BTL), followed by Mazzanti (FDJ) and Lesvenan (RLM).
Then follows a group with Hassen, Jay and 3 riders that were part of the break; Ab, Ljungqvist and an Agritubel rider.
Not far behind them follows the peleton.
Gadret powers home and takes an impressive solo victory.
Pineau comes in 2th behind Gadret.
Mazzanti, who has dropped Lesvenan, takes 3rd place.
In the meantime Ab and Hassen have left the rest of their group behind and with the finish line in sight, they are closing in fast on Lesvenan.
Hassen and Ab manage to take 4th and 5th place, passing Lesvenan before the finish line and just keeping the closing in peleton behind them.
Results
1 John Gadret AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 4h18'24
2 Jérôme Pineau BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 40
3 Luca Mazzanti FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 1'22 4 Hassen Ben Nasser TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 2'12
5 Abdelkader Belmokhtar TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
6 Thomas Lövkvist FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
7 Cyril Dessel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
8 Nick Nuyens FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
9 Arnaud Lesvenan ROUBAIX LILLE MÉTROPOLE s.t.
10 Marco Marzano FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
11 Pierrick Fédrigo BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
12 Maryan Hary COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
13 Patrice Halgand CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
14 Martin Elmiger AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
15 Jean-Marc Marino CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
16 Freddy Bichot AGRITUBEL s.t.
17 Benoit Salmon AGRITUBEL s.t.
18 Yannick Talabardon CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
19 Alexandre Botcharov CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
20 Rik Verbrugghe COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
21 Anthony Charteau CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
22 Grega Bole AGRITUBEL s.t.
23 Yann Huguet COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
24 Eduardo Gonzalo AGRITUBEL s.t.
25 Romain Feillu AGRITUBEL s.t.
40 Jay Thompson TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
124 Salvatore Hadrioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 11'11
125 Benhadj Zahouania TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 12'58
126 Kacem Frenda TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 13'24
127 Mario Ganuchi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
128 Antar Buadis TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
Conclusion
We succeeded in our goal and even have 2 riders in the top 5. However we do have a bit of mixed feelings. The team road an excellent race and we always had at least one of our team in front of the peleton. However after Hassen's 4th place in Paris-Camembert Lepetit 1.1 (17 April), we secretly hoped for a podium spot here.
But we're not going to mourn about that any longer, because tomorrow is an exiting day!
It's up to Holland for the Amstel Gold Race UPT (22 April).
Edited by snoep_de_hond on 23-02-2009 12:34
Team Hassen Ben Nasser
Abdelkader Belmokhtar
Jay Thompson
Chris Froome
Rafaâ Chtioui
Dan Craven
Daryl Impey
Pieter Seyffert
Goals
Show the team colors, that means get in the breakaway. Besides that we hope one of our riders can get in the top 25 here.
Tactics
Rafaâ, Chris and Dan are our riders here that are trying to get in a early break.
Jay and Ab will be spared till the second part of the race to, depending on the situation, attack before the final starts or assist Hassen, who of course is our leader here.
We think, with his current form, Hassen is capable of finishing inside the top 25.
Race
It was Chris who manages to pick out the right break and earns the team and himself some valuable live TV-time.
When with 120 km to go the lead has gone over 10 minutes, several teams react. Some big names are setting the pace; Pellizotti (LIQ), Andy Schleck (CSC), Moreau (A2R) and Kohl (AST).
With the lead down to 3 and a half minute home rider Lars Boom (RB3) makes a fruitless attack. However it would be the most we would see of any of he two Rabobank teams, who both road a disappointing race in front of their home crowd.
50 km to go and the lead is almost down to a minute when Rebellin (GER) attacks. Some other favorites immediately react. Within no time Rebellin reaches the break with Rinaldo Nocentini (A2R), Laurens ten Dam (UNI), Fränk Schleck (AST) and Karsten Kroon (CSC) not far behind.
After the Wolfberg and the Loorberg with 30 km to go the front group consists out of 9 riders; Rebellin, Nocentini, ten Dam, F. Schleck, Kroon, 3 riders from the break that are still hanging on (Chris, Tom Veelers (A2R) and Torsten Hiekmann (GER) and Danilo Di Luca (LIQ).
Di Luca first hesitated when Rebellin attacked, but decided he could not longer wait and has just made the jump to the lead group. With the foot of the Gulperberg nearby he doesn't stop attacking and immediately tries to leave the rest of the lead group behind.
At this point the lead group hesitates and Di Luca quiclky is able to take a 20 second gap. A peleton of about 40 riders (with Hassen, Ab and Jay still in it) aren't far away only 30 seconds behind the chase group.
On the Gulperberg Chris his lights go out. He and the two other riders of the early break (Veelers and Hieckmann) have to let go of the chase group and will quickly be caught by the peleton.
However no one in the peleton is able or is interested in chasing down any of the other escapees. This is not bad news for Hassen, who is able to follow this tempo and even sit at the front of the peleton when with 13 km to go they climb the Keutenberg (the last climb before the finish on the Cauberg). Hopefully Hassen has something left for the Cauberg, because a top 25 finish is within reach.
Jay, Ab and of course Chris had to let the peleton go.
On the other end the hill Karsten Kroon can forget the win in his home country, when with 9 km to go he gets a flat tire.
It also looks like there is no hope for the rest of the chase group as they are only losing terrain to Di Luca, who manages to keep a high pace. His lead is now over a minute.
6km to go and Rebellin isn't giving up jet and jumps away in an attempted to reach Di Luca on his own.
Rebellin didn't even came close and Di Luca wins this race for the second time, also having won it in 2005.
Rebellin does take 2nd with ten Dam taking 3rd.
About 5 minutes after Di Luca a group of 25 riders reaches the foot of the Cauberg. It's Valverde (AST) who attacks to try and pick up 7th place.
And is that....Yes, it's Hassen who is trying to jump to Valverde's wheel.
Can Hassen finish inside the top 10 in his first ProTour race?
He can't keep up with Valverde, but he does take in impressive 8th even making a 9 second gap with the peleton. It's the first time 8th place feels like a victory.
Results
1 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS 6h22'44
2 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER + 1'07
3 Laurens Ten Dam UNIBET.COM + 1'41
4 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
5 Fränk Schleck TEAM ASTANA + 2'50
6 Karsten Kroon TEAM CSC s.t.
7 Alejandro Valverde TEAM ASTANA + 5'19 8 Hassen Ben Nasser TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 5'27
9 Fabian Wegmann TEAM CSC + 5'38
10 Andriy Grivko TEAM MILRAM s.t.
11 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
12 Stefan Schumacher EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
13 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS s.t.
14 Juanjo Cobo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
15 Giovanni Visconti QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
16 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS s.t.
17 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
18 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
19 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC s.t.
20 Manuele Mori TEAM MILRAM s.t.
21 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 6'01
22 Samuel Sánchez CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
23 Sylvain Chavanel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
24 Paolo Savoldelli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
25 Johan Vansummeren RABOBANK s.t.
34 Jay Thompson TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 8'15
35 Abdelkader Belmokhtar TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
55 Chris Froome TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 12'57
68 Rafaâ Chtioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 15'51
84 Dan Craven TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 16'51
107 Daryl Impey TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 19'03
148 Pieter Seyffert TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 25'55
Conclusion
We're trilled about the result. What a performance from Hassen.
Besides Hassen also Chris road an excellent race. He was able to stay at the front of the race for well over 200 km and that without racing for 2 months.
Today we showed we deserved this wild card. This is a great boost for the team and we made our sponsors very happy.
Edited by snoep_de_hond on 01-03-2009 00:59
