April 19/04 2:08 am - Amstel Gold: brief report from Ryder Hesjedal

Posted by Editoress on 04/19/04
 

Amstel Gold Netherlands

Ryder Hesjedal sent us a note about his first World Cup.

Just wanted to let you know things went well in the race Sunday, my first World Cup road race. We were protecting Floyd for the day as he was our best chance for a result from his showings the last week. It was a hard task to stay in the front but the team managed pretty well with Mike Barry also doing huge work, being with Floyd `til close to the final.

250KM is a tough game and you really have to conserve the whole time to be good at the end. Stay in the front, and conserve, a tough combo. My day was over at about the 5 1/2 hours (200KM) mark so it was still a tough day, but those last 50KM really beat people up so I was happy to get a head start for Wednesday, Fleche Wallone, a beautiful race.

Also the roads in Holland are crazy and somewhat dangerous in this
profession but the fans were unreal and the race was incredible.

Ryder


1. Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner, 6:23:44
2. Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank, at 0:01
3. Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick.Step-Davitamon, 0:18
4. Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Saeco
5. Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Lotto-Domo, both, st.
6. Matthias Kessler (Ger) T-Mobile Team, 0:26
7. Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank, 0:41
8. Sergei Ivanov (Rus) T-Mobile Team, 0:52
9. Mirko Celestino (Ita) Saeco, 0:53
10. Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Liberty Seguros, 0:55
11. Oscar Camenzind (Sui) Phonak Hearing Systems, 0:57
12. Luca Paolini (Ita) Quick.Step-Davitamon, 1:00
13. Axel Merckx (Bel) Lotto-Domo, 1:12
14. Oscar Freire Gomez (Esp) Rabobank, 1:16
15. Michele Bartoli (Ita) Team CSC
16. Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team
17. Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Saeco
18. Frank Vandenbroucke (Bel) Fassa Bortolo
19. Arcos Serrano Rodriguez (Esp) Liberty Seguros
20. Steffen Wesemann (Sui) T-Mobile Team, all st.

27. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) T-Mobile Team, 1:28
29. Floyd Landis (USA) US Postal Service-Berry Floor, s.t.
31. Jose Azevedo (Por) US Postal Service-Berry Floor, 1:44
32. Jose Luis Rubiera Vigil (Esp) US Postal Service-Berry Floor, 1:54
35. Michael Barry (Can) US Postal Service-Berry Floor, 3:43
67. Benoit Joachim (Lux) US Postal Service-Berry Floor, 6:13
DNF. Ryder Hesjedal (Can) US Postal Service-Berry Floor


World Cup standings
1. Steffen Wesemann (Ger) T-Mobile Team, 116 pts
2. Oscar Freire Gomez (Esp) Rabobank, 115
3. Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner, 100
4. Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Alessio-Bianchi, 100
5. Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick.Step-Davitamon, 94
6. Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Lotto-Domo, 94
7. Leif Hoste (Bel) Lotto-Domo, 84
8. Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile, 80
9. Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank, 79
10. Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank, 76