June 16/00 5:40 am - Reports from Stage 3

Posted by Editoress on 06/16/00
 

Grand Prix Cycliste Oryx de Beauce 2000 reports for St-Georges to Megantic Stage 3

9:15am - After a 4 km neutral start the racing is underway.

The race has been very aggressive so far. Lots of attacks, counter attacks. Mercury and Saturn are attacking and ZVVZ and Ville Charleroi are chasing everything that both temas can attempt. ZVVZ has the GC with Tomas Konecny and Ville Charleroi has the rider, Vincent Cali, who most consider to be the biggest threat on the climb, so they have their work cut out for them.

At the 30 km mark there is a lone rider away. Jeremy Sartain (USA) who rides for Grand Performance/Bianchi has a 20 second gap on the field.


9:40am - 30km into the race

After a 4 km neutral start the racing is underway.

The race has been very aggressive so far. Lots of attacks, counter attacks. Mercury and Saturn are attacking and ZVVZ and Ville Charleroi are chasing everything that both temas can attempt. ZVVZ has the GC with Tomas Konecny and Ville Charleroi has the rider, Vincent Cali, who most consider to be the biggest threat on the climb, so they have their work cut out for them.

At the 30 km mark there is a lone rider away. Jeremy Sartain (USA) who rides for Grand Performance/Bianchi has a 20 second gap on the field.


10:15am - 50kms - Break off of the front working well together

A group of 11 riders is away and they have a gap of 1:00 on the pack. In the break are riders representing Saturn (2), Mercury (2), ZVVZ (2), Ville Charleroi, Volkswagon, Alexia Alumino, Canadian National, and ORYX-Procycle.

Ville Charleroi rider Vincent Cali missed the break and now 5 Ville Charleroi riders at the front of the pack chasing hard.


10:35 - Break is caught

The break was caught at the 56km mark. Immediately Will Frishkorn, of Mercury, went off alone. He was chased down and caught by a group of 5 riders (Michael Barry, Sylvain Beauchamp and 3 others). They were away until 60 km when they were caught by the main pack.

The pace being set plus the rolling terrain is talking its toll on the pack, which has shed roughly 25 riders since the start of the race.


11:35am - Pack is back together

After tackling the first 2 major climbs of the day, the pack went through the feed zone (85km). At the end of the feed zone Peter Wedge attacked and went clear for 5km. He was brought back by very aggressive riding by ZVVZ, Mercury and Alexia Alumina. These 3 teams are controlling the pack quite well but have had their work made very difficult by Saturn, who has been launching attack after attack trying to get riders away before the climb at Megantic.


11:55am - Through the Town of Lac Megantic

Alexia Alumina is at the front controlling things as the pack goes through the town of Lac Megantic. The pack seems content, for the moment, to ease off a bit - current speed of the pack is 42km. Many riders dropped on the climbs are now getting back on and the pack is back up to 60.


12:15pm - Lone rider away

Volkswagen rider Jean-Sebastien Beland has gone off the front alone and now has a 50 second gap on the field. The pack does not seem too concerned as they are about 10 km from the start of the Mont Megantic climb (25 km of climbing, with the last 5km being between 8 to 18%).


12:55pm - 20 kms to go

The climbing has started. Jean-Sebastien Beland, who was out on his own for 22 km, has been caught by the pack. Alexia Alumina is still at the front controlling things. No one seems to know why. The team does not have any riders known to be climbers, so the speculation is they are working with Ville Charleroi who has climber Vincent Cali who is favoured to win today.


1:15pm - 10 kms to go

The pack is still all together as they approach the final 5 km and the major climb of the stage. Saturn has tried to send riders off, but nothing has stuck. It will come down to who is the best climber today.


1:45pm - 1 km to go

The climb split the pack down to 15, which then split to 5. Stefano de la Santa of Alexia Alumina has taken the lead with just a km to go. Scott Moninger (Saturn), Petr Bencik (ZVVZ), Tomas Konecny (ZVVZ) and Vincent Cali (Ville Charleroi) are chasing.

unofficial
1. DELLA SANTA Stefano (ALEXIA ALLUMINIO)
2. KONECNY Tomas (WUSTENROT- ZVVZ)
3. MONINGER Scott (MERCURY)
4. ANDRLE Rene (WUSTENROT- ZVVZ)
5. BENCIK Petr (WUSTENROT- ZVVZ)
6. CALI Vincent (Ville Charleroi - New Systems)
7. BILEK Jaroslav (WUSTENROT- ZVVZ)
8. JANSEN Harm (SATURN)
9. DICKEY Duane (GRAND PERFORMANCE / BIANCHI)
10. WALTERS Mark (NAVIGATORS)
11. BARRY Michael (SATURN)
12. RANDELL Andrew (CANADIAN NATIONAL)
13. BEAUCHAMP Sylvain (CANADIAN NATIONAL)
?
15. KELLY Paul (CANADIAN NATIONAL