September 21/98 8:53 am - Commonwealth's, Netherlands, Hokkaido, Vuelta

Posted by Editor on 09/21/98
 

Commonwealth Games

Men's Points Race - 40 km

1. Glen Thompson (New Zealand) 35 points
2. Rob Hayles (England) 29
3. Greg Henderson (New Zealand) 24

Women's Points Race - 24 km

1. Alayna Burns (Australia)
2. Sarah Ulmer (New Zealand)
3. Anne Gariepy (Canada)

Canada finished the Commonwealth Games with 7 medals in cycling - 3 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze.

Story - Women's Points Race, Annie on the Podium!!
(courtesy Steve Lund)

The Women's Points Race was controlled from the gun by a very strong Aussie team working for Alayna Burns, who took most of the early sprints to establish an insurmountable lead by half way. The Canadian riders finally started to crack the Aussie domination with many mid race attacks by Annie Gariepy and Andrea Hannos. Annie stayed off the front for one sprint and picked up a few points in the sprints to be in position to challenge for a medal. Annie and Andrea kept attacking, wearing the Aussies down. With 5 laps to go, Andrea got away and stayed away, at about a half lap till the finish, taking the final double points. Annie marked the Aussies as they tried to catch Andrea, then jumped on Sara Ulmer of New Zealand as she went for the last sprint. Annie placed third in the final sprint and took 3rd spot from the Aussies.

1 Alayna Burns Australia
2 Sara Ulmer New Zealand
3 Annie Gariepy Canada
6 Andrea Hannos Canada
DNF Lyne Bessette Canada

The Men's Points Race was controlled by the New Zealanders who finished first and third in an exciting race. Brian Walton was clearly a marked man, and was shadowed by the entire pack when ever he tried to get away. Brian was among a group of 12 who gained a lap at mid-way - the break contained all the top riders. Brian finally got away late in the race, but it was a bit too late. He stayed away to take the final points sprint, but still ended up in 5th place after a very courageous ride.

The final medal tally for the Canadian Cycling team was 7, 2 more than 1994 in Victoria.


Learning the Hard Way - Tour de Hokkaido, Stage 5
(courtesy Kris Westwood)

With Charles Dionne wearing the leader‚s jersey for the points classification, the Canadian team in the Tour de Hokkaido had a very simple task today: keep that jersey. Dionne‚s closest rival was Takehiro Mizutani (JPN/Nippon Hodo). Simple is not the same thing as easy, however, especially with a 30 km mountain pass at the beginning of the stage. All of the riders on the team are young, and they were fatiguing quickly.

The peloton left Noboribetsu in brilliant sunshine under a cloudless sky. The riders had no time to appreciate the weather or the famous spa town, as the road tilted immediately upwards. The opening 30 kilometres of this stage climbed over the Orofure Pass, at 890 m the highest point of the Tour.

Only 63 riders strong at the start, the pack quickly shed its weakest members as the pace picked up in the first few kilometres of the climb. When the grade steepened even more, with still 15 km of climbing left, Canadian champion Alexandre Lavallée, struggling, lost contact with the bunch. He gamely chased back on when the grade briefly leveled off, but was soon dropped again. Completely shattered, he climbed in the broom wagon near the top of the pass.

Higher up the mountain, Alexandre Bernard was also in difficulty but he was with a few other riders so he at least had a chance to chase back on. Charles Dionne, wearing the points jersey, was in a group immediately behind the leaders and not in danger of losing contact, while Pascal Choquette, even though he was still sore from his crashes earlier in the Tour, stayed in the front group. This group split up as they crossed the mountain sprint line, but immediately regrouped on the descent and Dionne was soon back at the front.

There followed a long gentle uphill, leading to a hot spot sprint. Mizutani (Nippon Hodo) won this while Dionne wisely decided to save his energy for the next mountain pass. At the feed zone, not long after the sprint, Bernard gave up the chase and abandoned. A brief downhill brought the riders to the shores of Lake Shikotsu and a second hot spot sprint. Mizutani came second, while Dionne got one point for third. Irish rider David O‚Loughlin broke away alone here, but he was only able to build up a 30 second lead. A crash in the lead group caused panic in the caravan, but it happened at the back of the group so none of the key riders were involved.

Immediately the race left the lake the next climb began, the Mt. Soranuma Pass (590 m). The first kilometre of this climb was very steep, which cracked the weakest riders in the group. Seven riders drifted off the back, then Choquette lost contact as well, though he was still able to keep up a decent pace. Dionne was suffering to stay with the leaders, but he toughed out the climb and 27 riders crested the top together with only 26 km to go, all downhill.

The descent was wide and not particularly steep, so the leaders made good time while Choquette, chasing with a Korean rider, had virtually no hope of rejoining. By the same token, solo attacks were also futile so the group sprinted for victory in front of the Sapporo Olympic stadium. Though Dionne came fourth, Mizutani won the stage and re-took the points jersey by 12 points. Choquette rode in with the Korean three and a half minutes later.

In one sense, this stage was a catastrophe for the Canadian team: we were left with only two riders in the race and we lost the points jersey. On the other hand, it will be possible to take the jersey back tomorrow in the criterium, and Choquette is still in the race to give Dionne a hand.


1ST TAKEHIRO MIZUTANI (JPN/Nippon Hodo) 148.6 km in 3h45‚44"; 2nd M-S. Park (KOR); 3rd S. Fukushima (JPN/Bridgestone); 4th C. Dionne (CAN); 5th X. Tan (CHI/Ravanello) all same time . . .63 riders started, 48 finished

GC

1st HIDETO YUKINARI (JPN/Miyata Subaru) 17h15‚10"; 2nd M. McNena (IRL) at 33"; 3rd S. Fukushima (JPN/Bridgestone) at 41"; 4th O. Sumida (JPN/Shimano) at 44"; 5th X. Tan at 2‚13". . .

POINTS CLASSIFICATION

1st TAKEHIRO MIZUTANI 80 pts; 2nd C. Dionne (CAN) 68 pts; 3rd T. Xuezhong (CHI/Acom Ravanello) 58 pts. . .

BEST CLIMBER CLASSIFICATION

1st OSAMU SUMIDA (JPN/Shimano); 2nd H. Nodera (JPN/Shimano); 3rd; H. Imanishi (JPN/Nippon Hodo) . . . 15th C. Dionne (CAN) . . .

TEAM STANDINGS:

Stage: 1st Nippon Hodo; 2nd Shimano; 3rd Nippon University . . . 12th Canada . . .
Overall: 1st Shimano; 2nd Nippon Hodo; 3rd Inoac Deki . . . 12th Canada. .

CANADIAN RIDERS CLASSIFICATION
Stage / Overall
Alexandre Lavalée Abandon / -
Pascal Choquette 31st at 3‚28" / 35th at 18‚22"
Matt Hansen - / -
Charles Dionne 4th (same time as winner) / 9th at 2‚38"
Alexandre Bernard Abandon / -

Manager: Kris Westwood
Mechanic: Bruno Roy
Masseuse:Karine Jaouen


Tour of the Netherlands

Stage 6 - Valkenburg to Valkenburg, 109 km

1. Elsbeth Vink (Ned) Opstalan 3:03:44
2. Yvonne Brunen (Ned) Dutch National Team at 0:09
3. Kendra Wenzel (USA) 0:15
4. Wenche Stensvold (Nor) Norway 0:18
5. Leontien van Moorsel (Ned) Opstalan 0:47
6. Deirdre Demet (USA)
7. Leigh Hobson (Can) Canada
8. Marie Höljer (Swe)
9. Ingunn Bollerud (Nor) Norway
10. Debby Mansveld (Ned) Dutch National Team all s.t.

15. Sandy Espeseth (Can) Canada 1:01
34. Kathleen Millar (Can) 1:25
38. Stacey Spencer (Can) Canada 1:43
40. Heather Cole (Can) 1:48

Final GC

1. Elsbeth Vink (Ned) Opstalan 14:19:20
2. Leontien van Moorsel (Ned) Opstalan at 0:37
3. Ingunn Bollerud (Nor) Norway 1:10
4. Heidi van de Vijver (Bel) Belgium 1:20
5. Janneke Vos (Ned) Greenery B 1:28
6. Debby Mansveld (Ned) Dutch National Team 1:32
7. Marie Höljer (Swe) 1:46
8. Ghita Beltman (Ned) Greenery A 2:24
9. Petra Rossner (Ger) Tempo Soest 2:40
10. Jorunn Kvalo (Nor) Norway 3:28

38. Leigh Hobson (Can) Canada 21:07
39. Sandy Espeseth (Can) Canada 21:28
40. Kathleen Millar (Can) 22:21
42. Heather Cole (Can) 23:09
44. Stacey Spencer (Can) Canada 28:56


Vuelta Espana

Stage 15, Zaragoza - Soria, 178.8 kms:

1. Andrei Zintchenko (Rus) Vitalicio Seguros 4:06:06
2. David Plaza Romero (Esp) Cofidis at 0:03
3. Fabrizio Guidi (Ita) Polti 0:56
4. Marcus Zberg (Sui) Post Swiss Team
5. Peter Van Petegem (Bel) TVM-Farm Frites
6. Serguei Smetanine (Rus) Vitalicio Seguros
7. Salvatore Commesso (Ita) Saeco
8. Laurent Brochard (Fra) Festina-Lotus
9. Martin Hvastija (Slo) Cantina Tollo
10. Oskar Camenzind (Sui) Mapei-Bricobi all s.t.

GC

1. Abraham Olano Manzano (Esp) Banesto 64:36:06
2. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) ONCE-Deutsche Bank at 0:35
3. Fernando Escartin (Esp) Kelme-Costa Blanca 0:51
4. José Maria Jiminez Sastre (Esp) Banesto 1:17
5. Daniel Clavero Sebastian (Esp) Vitalicio Seguros 2:01
6. Alvaro Gonzalez Galdeano (Esp) Euskaltel-Euskadi 2:09
7. Alex Zülle (Fra) Festina-Lotus 2:19
8. Roberto Heras Hernandez (Esp) Kelme-Costa Blanca 2:24
9. Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal 2:44
10. Oskar Camenzind (Sui) Mapei-Bricobi 2:47


On the Road...

We are in travel mode today, tearing down our setup in Mont Ste Anne and heading home. Expect to see more news sometime this evening.