STAGE 3 (19 May)
No surprise, 3 km to go and the peleton is preparing itself for again a mass sprint. This time Daryl has taken de Jongh (QSI) his wheel. It's again Proni (QSI), who does the lead out for de Jongh. We're not so happy to see that Farrar (COF) is in Daryl's wheel.
1 km to go, Farrar has taken the lead and again he's looking very strong. Daryl and de Jongh are battling for second.
Daryl passes de Jongh, but is not able to challenge Farrar, who takes his second win of this race. Daryl's 2nd place also moves him up to 2nd overall.
STAGE 3
1 Tyler Farrar COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE 2h10'00 2 Daryl Impey TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
3 Steven De Jongh QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
4 Tom Veelers AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
5 Robert Hunter BARLOWORLD s.t.
6 Jérôme Pineau BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
7 Mathieu Drujon AUBER 93 s.t.
8 Max Richeze CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
9 Pierrick Fédrigo BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
10 Antonio Bucciero CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
75 Rodney Green TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
80 Travis Allen TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
104 Christoff Van Heerden TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
110 Mario Ganuchi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
140 Benhadj Zahouania TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 6'59
141 Salvatore Hadrioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
147 Kacem Frenda TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 8'59
GC
1 Tyler Farrar COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE 10h43'01 2 Daryl Impey TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 24
3 Robert Hunter BARLOWORLD + 32
4 Tom Veelers AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 40
5 Vincent Jérôme BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 42
6 Steven De Jongh QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 44
7 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 46
8 Max Richeze CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 48
9 Christopher Sutton COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 50
10 Arnaud Lesvenan ROUBAIX LILLE MÉTROPOLE s.t.
Edited by snoep_de_hond on 27-02-2009 02:11
STAGE 4 (20 May)
Last stage of the race and last chance for Daryl to pick up a stage win. It's again coming down to a mass sprint and it's clear Farrar is the man to beat.
As it turns out Farrar again is looking for Daryl's wheel. Daryl isn't too keen on that. With Daryl and Farrar looking at each other they almost get surprised by a couple of outsiders.
With about 800 m to go Farrar has just come out of Daryl's wheel, but it's Der Zolt (RLM) who is in the lead.
Farrar is just unstoppable at the moment. He storms in to the lead and again wins it. It's not only his 3rd win of the race, but this is also more then enough for winning this race.
Daryl passes Zolt just in time to again be the best of the rest.
STAGE 4
1 Tyler Farrar COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE 2h03'19 2 Daryl Impey TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
3 Der Zolt ROUBAIX LILLE MÉTROPOLE s.t.
4 Denis Flahaut JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
5 Robert Hunter BARLOWORLD s.t.
6 Magnus Bäckstedt COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
7 Antonio Bucciero CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
8 Jean-Luc Delpech BRETAGNE - ARMOR LUX s.t.
9 Mickael Buffaz COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
10 Ludovic Turpin AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
15 Rodney Green TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
62 Benhadj Zahouania TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
76 Travis Allen TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
85 Christoff Van Heerden TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
141 Mario Ganuchi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 4'11
143 Kacem Frenda TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
145 Salvatore Hadrioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 5'49
GC
1 Tyler Farrar COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE 12h46'00 2 Daryl Impey TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 32
3 Robert Hunter BARLOWORLD + 52
4 Tom Veelers AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 1'00
5 Vincent Jérôme BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 1'02
6 Der Zolt ROUBAIX LILLE MÉTROPOLE + 1'04
7 Steven De Jongh QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
8 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 1'06
9 Juanma Gárate QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
10 Max Richeze CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 1'08
38 Rodney Green TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 1'12
59 Travis Allen TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
90 Christoff Van Heerden TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 3'38
132 Mario Ganuchi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 16'07
137 Benhadj Zahouania TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 17'59
144 Kacem Frenda TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 26'50
146 Salvatore Hadrioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 31'52
Conclusion
It's disappointing that we didn't get our stage win, but Farrar was just a bit too strong this race. Nevertheless Daryl also gave a very strong performance with a top 3 finish in every stage. He showed he's ready for the Tour de Belgique 2.1 (30 May-3 June).
SportingNonsense wrote:
Some great results for Konica Minolta over the last few days - whereabouts are you in the rankings at the moment?
This is the top 10 of the continental rankings on the 17th of May BEFORE the Tour de Picardie 2.1 (17-20 May):
1 BARLOWORLD 1235
2 COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE 1002 3 TEAM KONICA MINOLTA 988
4 BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM 912
5 RABOBANK CONTINENTAL 619
6 AGRITUBEL 473
7 ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO 453
8 KARPIN GALICIA 450
9 TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS 339
10 MICHE 275
As you can see it will probably be a fight between 4 teams. Barloworld has build up a lead of more then 200 points, but Farrar has just scored a lot of points for Cofidis and I can already tell you that Bouygues will have as strong team for the Circuit de Lorraine Professionels 2.1 (23-27 May), which is our next race.
We indeed have had excellent results so far, but I hope we can get some more wins before the summer vacation. If we're too far behind when we start racing again, promotion will be a tough job to accomplish. Although I expect we'll be capable of a strong finish at the end of the season, because we'll, more then likely, have fresher riders then our competition.
Edited by snoep_de_hond on 27-02-2009 02:44
Profile
This is a 5 stage race over a pretty hilly terrain. Two of the five stage are marked as hilly, but the other 3 (flat) stage aren't easy either.
Team Erik Hoffmann
Pieter Seyffert
Rafaâ Chtioui
Rodney Green
Benhadj Zahouania
Taufik Ben Ali
Goals
We have Pieter and Rodney here for the sprints, however Pieter hardly has raced since March and the terrain will probably be a bit too tough for Rodney, so high expectations there.
We do hope Erik is able to finish inside the top 10 of the GC. It's his last race before his summer vacation, we hope he is able to go away with a good result.
Tactics
Two riders have to be protected by the team, Pieter for the sprints and Erik for the GC.
For Rafaâ this is his last test before Belgium. However this is not his terrain, so he will mainly act as super helper here for Pieter and Erik.
Race
STAGE 1 (23 March)
The first stage was over before we knew it and on the very slightly uphill section towards the finish it was Thomas Voeckler (BTL) who surprised all the sprinters here and won the sprint. We were happy to see that Pieter was able to come in 2nd, this was also thanks to Rafaâ who dropped him of in an excellent position.
14 Erik Hoffmann TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
17 Rafaâ Chtioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
33 Rodney Green TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
89 Benhadj Zahouania TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 2'29
102 Taufik Ben Ali TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 11'25
STAGE 2 (24 March)
Even though their was a small hill 8km before the finish, the second stage of this race also ended up in a mass sprint.
Rafaâ and Erik do a excellent job keeping Pieter (In the green points jersey) at the front.
However Pieter gets locked in behind, Maaskant (RB3), Saïd Haddou (BTL) and Lucas Haedo (AUB).
Pieter still manages to get 3th behind surprising winner Stéphane Bonsergent (BAL) and Haddou.
24 Erik Hoffmann TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
26 Rafaâ Chtioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
101 Taufik Ben Ali TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 6'37
103 Benhadj Zahouania TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 7'57
104 Rodney Green TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
STAGE 3 (25 March)
this is the first of two hilly stage. Time to see how Erik can today.
The whole team did their best to protect Erik on this difficult terrain.
Not much happened besides the peleton playing a cat and mouse game with the 5 men breakaway. With 5 km to it was Samuel Plouhinec (AGR) who was the only one left and was about to be reeled in by the peleton.
Rafaâ brought Erik to the front, because the stage finished with a steep 3 km long uphill section.
It was again Voeckler (BTL) who showed his power. He attacked, stormed past Plouhinec and immediately got a gap. Just like Nick Nuyens (FDJ), Matija Kvasina (PER) and Yann Huguet (COF), Erik countered.
Voeckler couldn't be caught and won his second stage of the race.
Erik did a good job coming in 6th.
STAGE 3
1 Thomas Voeckler BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM 2h35'21
2 Nick Nuyens FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 38
3 Yann Huguet COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 51
4 Matija Kvasina PERUTNINA PTUJ s.t.
5 Pavel Brutt TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 1'02 6 Erik Hoffmann TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 1'10
7 Quique Gutiérrez TEAM LPR s.t.
8 Sébastien Minard AUBER 93 + 1'44
9 Martin Mortensen TEAM TENAX - MENIKINI s.t.
10 Scott Nydam CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE + 2'00
34 Rafaâ Chtioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 2'32
84 Benhadj Zahouania TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 4'24
86 Pieter Seyffert TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 4'32
105 Rodney Green TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 8'00
107 Taufik Ben Ali TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 9'04
GC (after STAGE 3)
1 Thomas Voeckler BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM 12h04'26
2 Nick Nuyens FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 1'06
3 Yann Huguet COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 1'23
4 Matija Kvasina PERUTNINA PTUJ + 1'31
5 Pavel Brutt TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 1'42 6 Erik Hoffmann TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 1'50
STAGE 4 (26 March)
4 riders got a big gap with the peleton. Marco Corsini (TEN), Benoit Sinner (AGR), Riccardo Chiarini (LPR) and Ilya Chernetskiy (TCS) almost got 16 minutes.
But when Bouygues took there responsibility and upped the tempo the gap shrunk very fast. With 65 km to go they were about to catch Sinner. Corsini, the only left at that point, would shortly follow.
Nobody seemed interest in testing this Bouygues force. so at the top of the last hill, with 9 km to go, the peleton still contained about 80 riders and nobody was in front.
Nico Sijmens (LAN) won the sprint for the KOM points.
Sijmens got a small gap and saw his chance. He kept going and with 1 km to go he still had 20 seconds on the peleton.
A nice win for Sijmens. With Pieter dropped by the peleton it was Rafaâ who showed his from and sprinted to 4th place.
STAGE 4
1 Nico Sijmens LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER 5h22'56
2 Martijn Maaskant RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
3 Martin Mortensen TEAM TENAX - MENIKINI s.t. 4 Rafaâ Chtioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
5 Pieter Ghyllebert CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
18 Erik Hoffmann TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
45 Benhadj Zahouania TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
89 Pieter Seyffert TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 6'35
99 Taufik Ben Ali TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 9'55
102 Rodney Green TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 11'47Edited by snoep_de_hond on 28-02-2009 23:58
STAGE 5 (27 March)
This is the easiest stage of the race and with Bouygues controlling the race it of course ended in a mass sprint. Rafaâ again shows he is top fit and with less then 2 km to go he pulls himself and Pieter into the lead.
However Pieter hasn't much left after an exhausting race for him. He can't finish it of and only comes in 5th, just in front of Rafaâ who takes 6th.
It's Aivaras Baranauskas (AGR) who wins the stage.
STAGE 5
1 Aivaras Baranauskas AGRITUBEL 4h21'01
2 Nico Eeckhout CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
3 Lucas Haedo AUBER 93 s.t.
4 Graziano Gasparre TEAM TENAX - MENIKINI s.t. 5 Pieter Seyffert TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
6 Rafaâ Chtioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
20 Erik Hoffmann TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
75 Rodney Green TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 3'08
79 Benhadj Zahouania TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 3'48
93 Taufik Ben Ali TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 8'13
GC
1 Thomas Voeckler BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM 21h48'23
2 Nick Nuyens FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 1'06
3 Yann Huguet COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 1'23
4 Matija Kvasina PERUTNINA PTUJ + 1'31
5 Pavel Brutt TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 1'42
6 Quique Gutiérrez TEAM LPR + 1'50 7 Erik Hoffmann TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
8 Martin Mortensen TEAM TENAX - MENIKINI + 2'16
9 Nico Sijmens LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER + 2'20
10 Sébastien Minard AUBER 93 + 2'24
28 Rafaâ Chtioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 3'12
60 Pieter Seyffert TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 11'27
78 Benhadj Zahouania TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 19'18
96 Rodney Green TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 31'32
106 Taufik Ben Ali TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 45'54
Conclusion
This race hasn't any priority for us, so we're happy with Pieter's sprinting and Erik's top ten place. Perhaps even more important is Rafaâ's performance, because he is 1 of our aces for Tour de Belgique 2.1 (30 May-3 June). He did some excellent work here and seems to be in top shape.
Profile
This 174 flat German one day race basically is a sprinters race.
Team Daryl Impey
Rafaâ Chtioui
Antar Buadis
Pieter Seyffert
Rodney Green
Dennis Van Niekerk
Goals
We have strong team here. Beside Dennis their all fast and with Rafaâ and especially Daryl, who both are in good shape for Belgium, we should be able to compete for the win here.
Tactics
We don't want to be forced to chase everything down, so Pieter or Antar will try to get in the break. We hope it will come down to a mass sprint, so Daryl has a good chance to win and with Rafaâ we have an other aces up our sleeve that can force something or counter attacks.
Race
With Antar in the 14 riders strong break we got our wish. This forced Wiesenhof (for Radochla) and Gerolsteiner (for Stamsnijders) to do the dirty work.
However with 12 km to go the break still had 1 and a half minute and it didn't look like Wiesenhof and Gerolsteiner would be able to close it down in time.
We had Antar in front, but he weren't that sure our young talent could beat all of his breakaway companions.
We felt this was the time to force something, so we ordered Rafaâ to attack.
We told Daryl to wait his chances. However, when he saw Peter Wrölich (MST) counter Rafaâ's attack, he felt he couldn't wait any longer and also attacked the peleton. We weren't happy to see he was bringing Radochla (WIE) along with him.
Just over 3 km to go and 4 'fresh' riders managed to jump up and over the break. Wrölich had taken a small gap to Markus Reich (VBG), Blazej Janiaczyk (INT) and Rafaâ.
Daryl, with still Radochla in his wheel, was closing in fast.
As it turned out Janiaczyk was the fastest of the 4 in the front.
With 1 km to go it was Daryl, who in his impressive rush to the front, caught on to Janiaczyk his wheel. Radochla decided this was the moment to benefit from Daryl's work and he jumped out of his wheel.
700m to the finish line and this was turning into a nail biter. Janiaczyk only had a a wheel left on Daryl and Radochla, who were side by side.
Janiaczyk cracked, but could Daryl hold of Radochla?
The difference was a band width, but it's Daryl who wins the race.
Results 1 Daryl Impey TEAM KONICA MINOLTA 4h03'12
2 Stefan Radochla TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
3 Lucas Schädlich THÜRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.
4 Blazej Janiaczyk ACTION - UNIQA s.t.
5 Dariusz Rudnicki ACTION - UNIQA s.t.
6 Peter Wrölich MOSCOW STARS s.t.
7 Vytautas Kaupas JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
8 Waldemar Stenzel SPORT LISBOA E BENFICA s.t.
9 Jurgen François JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
10 Danail Petrov SPORT LISBOA E BENFICA s.t. 11 Rafaâ Chtioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
12 Markus Reich TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK s.t.
13 Nico Graf THÜRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.
14 Alexander Gut ATLAS - ROMER'S HAUSBÄCKEREI s.t. 15 Antar Buadis TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
16 Vojtech Dlouhý PSK WHIRLPOOL HRADEC KRÁLOVÉ s.t.
17 Sven Teutenberg TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK s.t.
18 Tom Stamsnijder GEROLSTEINER s.t.
19 Sören Hofmann TEAM 3C-GRUPPE LAMONTA s.t.
20 Petr Kubias PSK WHIRLPOOL HRADEC KRÁLOVÉ s.t.
21 Carlo Westphal GEROLSTEINER s.t.
22 Wolfgang Murer ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
23 Karsten Vogel TEAM REGIOSTROM - SENGES s.t.
24 Peter Pichler ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
25 Andreas Henig ATLAS - ROMER'S HAUSBÄCKEREI s.t.
31 Pieter Seyffert TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
32 Rodney Green TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
84 Dennis Van Niekerk TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
Conclusion
After the different top 3 places our team scored the last couple of weeks, we finally got another win.
We gambled and almost lost, but luckily Daryl put on an impressive show and showed he was the strongest here today.
This is a great boost for Tour de Belgique 2.1 (30 May-3 June). Hopefully we can also pick up a win there.
Edited by snoep_de_hond on 01-03-2009 01:03
Here are the continental rankings on the 30th of May:
1 BARLOWORLD 1375
2 COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE 1214 3 TEAM KONICA MINOLTA 1205
4 BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM 1142
5 RABOBANK CONTINENTAL 672
6 AGRITUBEL 502
7 KARPIN GALICIA 484
8 ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO 453
9 TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS 363
10 JARTAZI PROMO FASHION 293
As you can see the top 4 is even closer together then 2 weeks back.
Our program before we send the whole team on vacation is: Tour de Belgique 2.1 (30 May-3 June) Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling (3,7 and 10 June):
- Lancaster Classic 1.1 (3 June)
- Reading Classic 1.1 (7 June)
- Philadelphia International Championship 1.HC (10 June)
So there are only 8 race days left. However we're expecting good result in these last two weeks as we'll be able to send a couple of strong and fit riders to Belgium as well as to U.S.A..
Profile
This race has 3 flat stage, 1 hilly stage and 1 ITT. The hilly stage, although not looking very tough, the ITT and perhaps the two cobbled climbs in the 2nd stage will determine the GC.
Team Daryl Impey
Rafaâ Chtioui
Herman Fouché
Dennis Van Niekerk
Ahmed Bara
Kacem Frenda
Bab Kuider
Dion Botha
Goals
Our sponsor has marked this as an important race. Our primary goal is to go away here with a stage win.
With Rafaâ trying to do well in the 3th stage (ITT) he might, if he can survive the hilly 4th stage, be able to claim a top 10 place in the GC.
Tactics
Daryl and Rafaâ are our team leaders here. The team will try to guide Daryl to a win in one of the flat stage and they'll try to prevent Rafaâ from losing time in any of the stage and keep him fresh for the ITT.
Race
STAGE 1 (30 May)
On our rainy first day in Belgium we expected Daryl would get his first opportunity for a stage win. And indeed on this 182 km long flat course the break had no chance and it would come down to a mass sprint.
The team did their work and brought Daryl to the front and with 1 km to go he was in second position chasing... AGAIN a Cofidis rider! This time it was not Tyler Farrar, but Christopher Sutton (COF). Would Daryl be able to beat this Cofidis sprinter?
No, at least not today. Sutton wins it and 2nd place is all that's left for Daryl.
STAGE 1
1 Christopher Sutton COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE 4h11'02 2 Daryl Impey TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
3 Steven De Jongh QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
4 Edvald Boasson Hagen PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
5 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
6 Leonardo Duque COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
7 Lars Croket DAVITAMON - WIN FOR LIFE - JONG VLAANDEREN s.t.
8 Huub Duyn TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
9 Kevyn Ista PÔLE CONTINENTAL WALLON BODYSOL - EUROMILLIONS s.t.
10 James Vanlandschoot LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
14 Rafaâ Chtioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
39 Herman Fouché TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
102 Kacem Frenda TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 6'58
106 Bab Kuider TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 7'46
108 Dion Botha TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 8'50
109 Ahmed Bara TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
113 Dennis Van Niekerk TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 12'26
STAGE 2 (31 May)
The second stage of the race was flat apart from 4 bumps halfway the course. Two of these climbs were cobbled, but with the top of the last 62 km before the finish we didn't think they would have a big impact on the race. We were wrong.
At the beginning of the stage 9 riders had gotten away and build up a lead of over 9 minutes, so Cofidis started to chase them down.
On the hills the breakaway fell apart. It was Evert Verbist (JAC) who was the strongest and was the first to reach the top of the last climb.
His lead on the peleton was still about 4 minutes when it were two Belgians, Rik Verbrugghe (COF) and Staf Scheirlinckx (COF), with race leader Sutton (COF) on their wheel, who powered up the last climb.
This tempo from the Cofidis riders, the windy circumstances and the tough cobbled climbs had as a result that the peleton brook apart.
With 40 km to go it was still Verbist in front, but 2 minutes behind him it was a chase group of 15 riders that was closing in fast. With Daryl (in the yellow points jersey), Rafaâ and Herman we luckily still had 3 riders in this group.
However when with 30 km to go Verbist was reeled in by the chase group, Sutton (in the black leaders jersey) was suffering and had to let a gap to the rider in front of him. Our riders, who were also having a hard time keeping up, were on the wrong side of this gap and couldn't anticipate fast enough.
The 3 Chocolade Jacques, 2 Quickstep and 2 Predictor-Lotto riders in the front group didn't hesitate to set a fast pace and quickly distanced Sutton's group, still containing Daryl, Rafaâ and Herman.
With 15 km to go they had build up a gap of more then 2 minutes. Sutton's group was powerless and grew to about 20 riders, because a few riders came back from behind.
Herman still had something left and attacked.
In the front group it was Andy Cappelle (LAN) who also felt it was time to attack. De Jongh (QSI) countered.
De Jongh went up and over Cappelle and with 5 km to go he had a gap of 30 seconds to a group of 5 riders; Cappelle, de Ketele (JAC), Trofimov (QSI), Boasson Hagen (PRL) and Kevyn Ista (PCW).
De Jongh was the strongest today. He managed to keep the gap around 30 seconds and soloed to the win.
Herman came in 10th, 4 and a half minutes behind de Jongh, and 14 seconds later Daryl and Rafaâ crossed the line.
Our guys lost a lot of time and we can now forget our GC chances. We also lost 3 of our riders who couldn't reach the finish line in time. Hopefully this stage doesn't have to much effect on Daryl and Rafaâ's performance in the rest of this race and one of them can still deliver us that stage win we were aiming for.
STAGE 2
1 Steven De Jongh QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 4h50'19
2 Edvald Boasson Hagen PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 29
3 Kevyn Ista PÔLE CONTINENTAL WALLON BODYSOL - EUROMILLIONS s.t.
4 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
5 Yuri Trofimov QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
6 Andy Cappelle LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
7 Kenny De Haes CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 1'40
8 Nikolas Maes CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
9 Wim De Vocht PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 2'05 10 Herman Fouché TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 3'53
18 Daryl Impey TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 4'19
24 Rafaâ Chtioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
100 Dennis Van Niekerk TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 20'05
102 Kacem Frenda TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
DNF Bab Kuider TEAM KONICA MINOLTA
DNF Dion Botha TEAM KONICA MINOLTA
DNF Ahmed Bara TEAM KONICA MINOLTA
GC
1 Steven De Jongh QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 9h00'47
2 Edvald Boasson Hagen PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 47
3 Kevyn Ista PÔLE CONTINENTAL WALLON BODYSOL - EUROMILLIONS + 53
4 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 1'03
5 Yuri Trofimov QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
6 Andy Cappelle LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
7 Kenny De Haes CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 2'14
8 Nikolas Maes CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
9 Wim De Vocht PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 2'39 10 Herman Fouché TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 4'27
12 Daryl Impey TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 4'41
19 Rafaâ Chtioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 4'53
100 Kacem Frenda TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 27'37
102 Dennis Van Niekerk TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 33'01Edited by snoep_de_hond on 01-03-2009 23:18
STAGE 3 (1 June)
Stage 3 is a 16,6 km long ITT. With Rafaâ we have one of the stage favourites in our team. For his competition we have to look at, Danish ITT champion, Brian Vandborg (DSC), Rik Verbrugghe (COF) and Laszló Bodrogi (FRA).
Because Rafaâ is placed 19th in the GC he starts as one of the last contenders for the stage win. At that moment the fastest time is surprisingly set by Brazilian Pedro Nicacio (DSC).
Rafaâ shows his form and beats Nicacio's time with 31 seconds. Is this enough for the stage win?
With only 3 riders to go Rafaâ still has the best time, so it's looking good. However Ista (PCW) and Boasson Hagen (PRL) are both decent TTers.
First up is Ista. He's fast, but doesn't come close to Rafaâ's time. His 5th time is enough for the provisional lead.
We're happy to see that Rafaâ's win becomes as good as certain when Boasson Hagen also doesn't beat his time.
Boasson Hagen had a lead of 6 seconds on Ista in the GC. He finishes 7th losing 9 seconds on Ista, so Ista still has the provisional lead.
Last riders to finish is race leader de Jongh (QSI). No surprise, he doesn't come close to Rafaâ's time. He is also going to lose time on Ista, but will it be more then 53 seconds (his lead in Ista in the GC)?
De Jongh loses 1 minute and 30 seconds on Rafaâ and 56 seconds on Ista.
We're very happy we have our stage win. Rafaâ shows he is a very talented TTer. He moves up to place 10 in the GC, but after yesterday's stage their is little chance on improvement.
Ista is now the surprising race leader, but with 2 sprinters only 3 seconds gehind him it will be difficult for him to hold on to the lead.
STAGE 3 1 Rafaâ Chtioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA 19'33
2 Tim Mertens DAVITAMON - WIN FOR LIFE - JONG VLAANDEREN + 25
3 Pedro Nicacio DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 31
4 Laszló Bodrogi BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
5 Kevyn Ista PÔLE CONTINENTAL WALLON BODYSOL - EUROMILLIONS + 34
6 Brian Vandborg DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 36
7 Edvald Boasson Hagen PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 40
8 Bram Deprez PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 41
9 Rik Verbrugghe COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 43
10 Andy Cappelle LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
33 Daryl Impey TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 1'22
39 Steven De Jongh QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 1'30 60 Herman Fouché TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 1'54
77 Dennis Van Niekerk TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 2'11
94 Kacem Frenda TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 2'30
GC
1 Kevyn Ista PÔLE CONTINENTAL WALLON BODYSOL - EUROMILLIONS 9h21'47
2 Edvald Boasson Hagen PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
3 Steven De Jongh QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 3
4 Andy Cappelle LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER + 19
5 Yuri Trofimov QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 26
6 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 45
7 Kenny De Haes CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 2'19
8 Nikolas Maes CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 2'21
9 Wim De Vocht PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 3'10 10 Rafaâ Chtioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 3'26
15 Daryl Impey TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 4'36
19 Herman Fouché TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 4'54
100 Kacem Frenda TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 28'40
102 Dennis Van Niekerk TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 33'45
STAGE 4 (2 June)
Stage 4 is a hilly stage. In the last 65 km the Mur de Huy, the Côte de Fraiture and the Côte de la Redoute have to be climbed. Especially the Redoute with it's top 8 km before the finish could play a crucial role.
We were a bit surprised to see that a break of 6 riders was aloud to build up a 13 minutes gap with the peleton, because one of the 6 riders was Kenny De Haes (JAC), who is placed 7th overall on 2'19 of race leader Kevin Ista (PCW).
When the peleton finally woke up, Pôle continental Wallon (for Ista) and Predictor-Lotto (for Boasson Hagen) joined forces. With 10 km to go, just before the Côte de la Redoute, they managed to catch the last rider left of the breakaway, Valentin (FLA).
The peleton stormed up the Côte de la Redoute, but no one managed to get away. Martin Gilbert was the first to reach to top with the rest of the peleton on his wheel. Rafaâ did a great job to keep Daryl at the front.
With 5 km to go Daryl saw a chance and attacked a stretched out peleton.
With 2 km to go Daryl still had a small gap with the peleton. De Ketele (JAC) sprints away to try and reach Daryl. Rafaâ tries to jumps to his wheel.
But Daryl is the fastest, strongest and smartest today and delivers the team our second win of the race.
STAGE 4 1 Daryl Impey TEAM KONICA MINOLTA 4h41'23
2 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t. 3 Rafaâ Chtioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
4 Christopher Sutton COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
5 Huub Duyn TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
6 Geert Omloop JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
7 Kevyn Ista PÔLE CONTINENTAL WALLON BODYSOL - EUROMILLIONS s.t.
8 Uros Murn DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
9 Lars Croket DAVITAMON - WIN FOR LIFE - JONG VLAANDEREN s.t.
10 Edvald Boasson Hagen PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
64 Herman Fouché TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 3'48
93 Dennis Van Niekerk TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 7'20
94 Kacem Frenda TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
GC
1 Kevyn Ista PÔLE CONTINENTAL WALLON BODYSOL - EUROMILLIONS 14h03'10
2 Edvald Boasson Hagen PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
3 Steven De Jongh QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 3
4 Andy Cappelle LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER + 19
5 Yuri Trofimov QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 26
6 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 33
7 Kenny De Haes CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 2'19
8 Wim De Vocht PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 3'10 9 Rafaâ Chtioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 3'18
10 Tim Mertens DAVITAMON - WIN FOR LIFE - JONG VLAANDEREN + 3'51
12 Daryl Impey TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 4'16
31 Herman Fouché TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 8'42
99 Kacem Frenda TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 36'00
102 Dennis Van Niekerk TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 41'05
STAGE 5 (3 June)
The top 3 of the GC is still within 3 seconds of each other. However stage 5 is a flat stage, so any change in the top of the GC will more then likely have to come from bonus seconds. And indeed the stage ended in a mass sprint.
With 3 km to go there are a couple of sprinters trains that are fighting for the lead. On the left is the 'GC' train with Proni (QSI) pulling 3th overall de Jongh (QSI) followed by race leader Ista (PCW) and 2nd overall Boasson Hagen (PRL).
Daryl was in the train next to them in the wheel of Sutton (COF), the winner of stage 1. Is Daryl able to pick up his second stage win of the race?
No, Daryl again ends up second behind Sutton. Boasson Hagen finishes 3rd and thereby takes the needed bonus seconds to win this race.
STAGE 5
1 Christopher Sutton COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE 4h05'07 2 Daryl Impey TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
3 Edvald Boasson Hagen PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
4 Lars Croket DAVITAMON - WIN FOR LIFE - JONG VLAANDEREN s.t.
5 Leonardo Duque COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
6 Kevyn Ista PÔLE CONTINENTAL WALLON BODYSOL - EUROMILLIONS s.t.
7 Steven De Jongh QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
8 Huub Duyn TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
9 James Vanlandschoot LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
10 Uros Murn DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
15 Rafaâ Chtioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
23 Herman Fouché TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
81 Dennis Van Niekerk TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
89 Kacem Frenda TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
GC
1 Edvald Boasson Hagen PREDICTOR - LOTTO 18h08'09
2 Kevyn Ista PÔLE CONTINENTAL WALLON BODYSOL - EUROMILLIONS + 8
3 Steven De Jongh QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 11
4 Andy Cappelle LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER + 27
5 Yuri Trofimov QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 34
6 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 41
7 Nikolas Maes CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 2'29
8 Wim De Vocht PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 3'18 9 Rafaâ Chtioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 3'26
10 Christopher Sutton COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 3'40
12 Daryl Impey TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 4'12
30 Herman Fouché TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 8'50
95 Kacem Frenda TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 36'08
100 Dennis Van Niekerk TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 41'13
Conclusion
After a disappointing 2nd stage, Rafaâ and Daryl showed their talent. We're more then happy with the 2 stage wins and 9th place in the GC.
Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling (3,7 and 10 June)
Lancaster Classic 1.1 (3 June)
Profile
This is the first race of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling. It's a very flat 132 km long race.
Team Rodney Green
Pieter Seyffert
Antar Buadis
Benhadj Zahouania
Salvatore Hadrioui
Taufik Ben Ali
Bab Kuider
Dion Botha
Goals
We have a unexperienced team here, so we would be more then happy with a top 10.
Tactics
We'll have a couple of our stronger riders fly in for the other two races here in the U.S.A., but today we're hoping our sprinters, Pieter and Rodney, can get us a top 10 result. We hope their are other teams here looking for a mass sprint, because we don't have the team to control the race on our own.
Race
Just like in Neuseen Classics Antar is able to get in the break of 5. This creates an ideal situation for our team: We have a fast rider in the break and Slipstream is doing the work.
However there are still 20 km to go, when Slipstream is already about to reel in the break. That's when Adam Hansen (TMO) attacks, countered by Bobbie Traksel (CSC) and William Ford (SAI).
Hansen ,Traksel and Ford sprint past the break and quickly build up a lead of around 30 seconds.
With 2 km to go the lead is still half a minute and it's clear the leading trio will fight it out for the win. Hansen surprises the other two and gets a little gap.
In the peleton Rodney and Pieter have come to the front to get in good position for the sprint for 4th place.
Traksel closes in on Hansen, but he comes to late. It's Hansen who wins the race.
Rodney takes a nice 5th place behind Baumann (TMO). Pieter also makes the top 10 coming in 8th.
Results
1 Adam Hansen T-MOBILE TEAM 3h06'49
2 Bobbie Traksel TEAM CSC s.t.
3 William Ford SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS s.t.
4 Eric Baumann T-MOBILE TEAM s.t. 5 Rodney Green TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
6 Alexei Zaitsev NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
7 Wes Sulzberger SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS s.t. 8 Pieter Seyffert TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
9 Taylor Tolleson TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
10 Sebastian Forke T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
11 Nathan Mitchell TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT s.t.
12 Frank Pipp HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS s.t.
13 Zak Dempster SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS s.t.
14 Bobby Lea NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
15 Cameron Meyer SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS s.t.
16 Hannes Blank SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS s.t.
17 Jaroslaw Marycz HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS s.t.
18 Andrew Randell SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM s.t.
19 Andrew Pinfold SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM s.t.
20 Viktor Rapinski NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
21 Jackson Stewart BMC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
22 Ivan Fanelli TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT s.t.
23 Mark Jamieson SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS s.t.
24 Peter Dawson SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS s.t.
25 Brad Huff TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
39 Benhadj Zahouania TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
61 Antar Buadis TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
78 Salvatore Hadrioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
81 Taufik Ben Ali TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
84 Bab Kuider TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
90 Dion Botha TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
Conclusion
Our two sprinters bring in some valuable continental points, so we're happy with this results. You can't ask more from this mostly unexperienced squad.
We expect to have a bigger chance for a win in the other two races, when we'll have Daryl (Impey), Chris (Froome) and Dan (Craven) joining the squad.
