June 22/03 1:17 am - Beauce Final Stage has less than 40 km remaining

Posted by Editor on 06/22/03
 

Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce

This report made possible through the sponsorship of Evolution by Oryx

Stage 6 - St Georges circuit race, 154 km

In the final stage of Beauce we are past the 110 kilometre point, and down to the last 40 kilometres. The break has restructured - the two chasers; Tesar and Alvarez caught up, but then all three Tecos riders (Alvarez, Alamillo and polka dot jersey holder Aguilar) were dropped, as were ZVVZ's Kejval and Ryan Roth (Jet Fuel). So, at the front now are Cory Lange (Canadian National), Lubo Tesar (Ed's System - ZVVZ), Burke Swindlehurst (Navigators) and Bert Scheirlinckx (Flanders - Iteamnova.com). The lead dropped to less than 1 minute, with 7 Up and Health Net chasing hard. On the 10th climb only Swindlehurst elected to continue on alone with the rest of the break sitting up for the peloton. Swindlehurst now has a lead of 1:18 - this guy deserves to win, after being in almost every major break of the week...

Gord Fraser has abandoned after doing a lot of work, as has his team mate Rusty Beall. The speed is high, with lots of riders coming off each lap on the climb. Eric Wohlberg (Canadian National) and Dominique Perras (Flanders - Iteamnova.com) are staying at the front, ready for any moves, and ZVVZ is obviously awaiting a chance to attack Lieswyn, with 4 riders on Lieswyn's wheel. There are less than 50 riders in the main group now.