June 12/12 9:42 am - Tour de Beauce: Stage 1 Updates
Posted by Editoress on 06/12/12
The riders are setting out under sunny skies for the first stage of the 2012 Tour de Beauce. Stage one is the traditional Lac-Etchemin to Lac-Etchemin circuit of 162 km.
112 riders from 17 teams will contest the first of 6 stages.
As always cell coverage in the area is spotty at best, so we will do our BEST to provided coverage as the race advances. Rider are expected to finish sometime between 1:15 and 1:45
On the start line there are former stage and overall winners. As well 4 of the Team DS' are former Tour de Beauce contenders: Mark Walters, Eric Wohlberg, Gord Fraser, and Steve Rover.
9:48 am and there is already a break of 3 away
David Williams ( Competitive Cyclist Racing Team), Flavio De Luna (Spidertech powered by C10) and Ken Hanson (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) have a gap of 40 sec at the 8 km mark.
9:54 am
Gap is now 1:25 for the 3 leaders
9:58 am
Gap is 2:15
Williams takes the points at the first sprint at Saint-Pierre
Sorry - Cell coverage is bad today
10:20 am
Gap is now over 7 minutes
38 km - gap 8:20
10:28 am
As they approach 1 hr of racing the gap the 3 leaders have is over 9 min
10:38 am
~44 km. The peloton has stated to wake up and TT1 and Champion SystemPCT have started to mass at the front and chase. Optum riders and Frank Parisien (Spidertech) at the front too. The pace, so far has been slow, slower that estimated. The race guide show 3 estimated times of finishing and the average speed so far is slower than the slowest estimated. So they have some work to do.
10:54 am
The work by the peloton is starting to have an effect. Gap, now starting to fall- albeit slowly, is ~ 8 min
11 am
Gap continues to fall, now 7 min
11:06 am
60 km done, 102 km remain
11:12 am
Leaders are approaching the GPM at 67.7 km, after which they will descend for 17 km and enter the feedzone before they start to climb again.
Gap is approaching 6 min
The day is hazy and humid, temp in mid 20's with just a hint of a breeze.
11:18 am
Leaders hit the KOM/GPM with Hanson getting the max pts, followed by De Luna and Williams
11:41 am
Peloton continues to chase the 3 leaders: Williams, De Luna and Hanson and the work is paying off. Gap coming down, now approaching 5 min mark - 77 km done. Feedzone starts at 85 km
11:47 am
Feedzone!!!!
Gap now ~ 5 min
Gap ~ 4 min mark with 90 km done.
72 km to go
12 pm
Team Canada at the front with Meier, Wight, Woods and pulling hard.
12:05 pm
Pure Black has now come to the front to help Team Canada. Leaders are now over the 100 km mark.
12:13 pm
110 km done and gap is now 3:40
12:15 pm
De Luna took the points at the Second sprint of the day
12:18 pm
116 km done. Gap down to 3:25
12:25 pm
The peloton is getting serious, the gap is now down to 3 min but falling rapidly as more teams come to the front.
12:29 pm
Gap 2:40 now
12:32 pm
Gap 1:24.
12:37 pm
The peloton is starting to dither a bit on the climb. Leaders are approaching the 2nd and Final KOM (120 km) and the gap is back up to 2 min. after that they will have 25.5 40 km to go. Peloton needs to get it together, but then they do have a near downhill run to the line....
2nd KOM. Hanson takes the points, making him the KOM leader
12:46 pm
David Williams (Competitive Cyclist Racing Team) has been dropped from the lead group.
12:48 pm
Now the gap begins to fall again as the peloton passes the final KOM and start to chase in earnest.
12:49
Leaders back together and peloton backs off on the final short climb of day.
12:52 pm
Shouldn't be long now. Gap is just over 1 min
Williams rejoins leaders
12:57 pm
@ 130 km mark
2 riders are attempting to bridge: Marc de Maar (UnitedHealthCare Pro Cycling Team) and Chad Beyer ( Competitive Cyclist Racing Team). They caught De Luna Hanson who was struggling on the last climb of the day and have Williams and Hanson in their sights.
1pm
Gap 20 seconds
1:04 pm
Attack falters on the climb and the eaders have stayed away- 25 km to go and gap is 40 sec
1:12 pm
2 Leaders have found some extra umph....20 km and the gap is up to 1:12
1:23 pm
Break is caught. Less than 15 km to go and the teams will now start to jockey to get their sprinters in position.
1:37 pm
Less than 7 km to go, and peloton is all together. Sprinters chomping at the bit!!!
1:43 pm
Less than 5 km to go
1:46 pm
ATTACK with less than 3 k to go. F Mancebo (Competitive Cyclist Racing Team) , R Sutherland (UHC) and Sebastien Salas (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies)
1:50 pm
Mancebo shows he wants to be Beauce Champ again, wins Stage 1 and will be race leader on Stage 2
Unofficial
1 Francisco Mancebo (Esp) Competitive Cyclist Racing Team
2 Ryan Roth (Can) Spidertech powered by C10
Stage profile - courtesy Tour de Beauce
Stage map - courtesy Tour de Beauce
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