June 18/98 9:04 am - Beauce Stage 2

Posted by Editor on 06/18/98
 

Beauce Stage 2

It was a case of second time lucky for Skip Spangenburg of the Navigators squad in todays 166 kilometre third stage of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce. In stage two, the 10 year veteran pro stayed away from the field for nearly 100 kilometres, before being swallowed up in the peleton. Today he rolled off the front of the lethargic pack only 21 kilometres into the race, and held on for a nearly 3 minute victory. He was helped by a field that was, to put it bluntly, lazy and in no mood to race.

"Yesterday I was trying to take some of the pressure off of our other guys. Today I saw guys trying, and figured that I had nothing to lose". At one point, Spangenburg was over 9 minutes up on the field, putting him into the leaders jersey on the road, however, the field started to pick up steam in the closing kilometres, and brought him back to an acceptable 2 :42. Tomas Konecny (ZVVZ) won the field sprint, with overall leader Frank McCormack (Saturn) finishing second and general classification second place Czeslaw Lucaszewicz third (Mroz). Unfortunately, this has not moved Spangenburg up too much in the rankings (51st), since he lost 6 minutes in the rain swept opening criterium.

Tomorrow, the riders face their toughest challenge - the 170 kilometre Mont Megantic stage, which ends with 30 kilometres of steady climbing (from 470M to 1112M vertical).

Stage 2 - St Gedeon to St Gedeon, 166 km

Stage 2 Course Profile

More Canadians (all pack time)

15. Antoine Vargehese Je t Fuel
16. Jason Crookham Jet Fuel
17. Alexandre Lavalle Espoirs de Laval18. Excellence Sports/Harveys
20. Dominique Perras Espoirs de Laval
21. Michael Barry Radio Energie
23. Pierre Chevrier Radio Energie

 

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