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10th Crocodile Trophy - NE
Australia, October 16-31, 2004
Main Page Results Gatorade Dream Team diary Previous Stage Next Stage
Stage 9 - October 27: Dunbar - Moya, 161 km
Second stage win for Czech Fojtik
No pot of gold at end of heartbreak ride
By John-Michael Flynn At Imooya, Queensland Australia
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In the local Aboriginal dialect, Imooya is said to be a word meaning 'sandy place'.
While the British who colonised Australia 200 odd years ago might have said that was 'stating the bleeding obvious', the road conditions on today's soul-destroying stage of the Crocodile Trophy Mountainbike Race came as an unpleasant surprise to riders contesting the event.
Officially the race booklet described the 149 kilometre stage nine as, "Wide gravel road, some parts very rough and sandy."
Belgian Jurgen Van de Wale (Gatorade Dream Team) described it as his 'worst ever' day on a bicycle, race leader Adam Hansen (Cairns Coconut Caravan Village) came close to pulling out and eleven-time Tour de France veteran Alberto Elli (Gatorade Dream Team) vowed to retire from all racing 'effective immediately' when the Crocodile Trophy of 2004 comes to an end.
Even Czech Ondrej Fojtik who won today's 'hell' 9th stage of the world's toughest mountain bike race from Dunbar Station on the Mitchell River to the Alice River Gold Mine at Imooya in Australia's remote outback, was too overwhelmed to smile about his triumph.
It was a race hard-won by the in-form rider heading into the back end of the event, who achieved his feat with a solo breakaway of almost one hundred kilometres.
"One hundred kilometres alone was very sandy and hot," an exhausted Fojtik whispered as he sought shade near a miner's hut upon finishing.
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The Czech, who completed today's marathon stage in just over six hours (6.01.36), more significantly sliced close to eleven minutes (10.57) off the gap between himself and race leader Adam Hansen in the general classification.
"Yere very happy," was the softly spoken Czech's reply when told of the winning margin.
The man of few words, at least in the English language, preferring to let his pure power and bike riding skills do the talking.
A crash course in race etiquette
Stage nine of the Crocodile Trophy began in controversial fashion, when the race director decided upon a staggered start.
Riders out contention for the general classification, who due to a litany of health and heat related issues had failed to finish previous stages, were forced to wait until fifteen minutes after the main peloton had gone, before setting off.
It was no secret the riders in the chase pack were going for broke. The group containing Marzio Deho and Jurgen Van de Wale, (both Gatorade team-mates of Alberto Elli) along with Christophe Stevens, (Van de Wale's team-mate in the Cholocade Jaques road team) set off in hot pursuit of the main bunch.
Up front, the crafty Elli controlled the bunch and waited as the pace barely topped 20kph, meandering through the cathedral-like termite mounds of the Gulf Country. With Stevens, Van de Wale and Deho slamming the big gears, it wasn't long before the difference was whisked away, and the bunches came together. But the intense effort of the three key chasers would soon prove fatal as one by one they blew to pieces.
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The stage defining moment came shortly after the late starters tacked onto the peloton. With the road surface getting sketchy, Elli crashed, taking down Hansen and at least one other rider in the process.
"Alberto crashed, someone went over the top of him and that took me out," Hansen recalled of the incident.
"We sort of got up and checked each other.
"Alberto's seat came off so we told him to swap bikes with Lars (Gatorade team-mate Lars Eric Johnson) because Lars was there."
The dose of 'hard luck' one the long time professional could have done without as he tried to make up time lost to Hansen in earlier stages.
"Yes I broke the saddle after fifteen kilometres, so I wait for my team-mate, we swap the bike," a shattered Elli said post-race. "We changed the saddle and start after five minutes but was not my position because the saddle was not in a good position."
What happened next according to Hansen and Elli was an attack by Fojtik, who they claimed ignored race etiquette to seize the moment. Fojtik later denied any wrongdoing, backing it up with real proof of his mental and physical toughness by riding one hundred kilometres alone to the finish line.
Punishing day for Gatorade Team
With the peloton disintegrating as quickly as the road surface (which had now become a combination of double trail and sand pits) so too the hopes of a resurgence by the Gatorade team were reduced to dust.
Having achieved their primary objective of keeping the cunning Elli in the race, the Gatorade riders were falling like flies. Italian Marzio Deho was the first to blow apart. His tour which had begun so promisingly with a prologue victory in Darwin, unraveled in grand fashion before an audience of green machine team-mates who appeared to care less for his demands to return home to Italia poste-haste.
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Worse - much worse - was to come for the Gatorade team when the popular Jurgen Van de Wale fell victim once again to his over enthusiasm. Tended to by the race doctor at stage end, Van de Wale was a blithering mess. The Belgian struck down by a panic attack, which his wife at least doesn't want to see again, and won't during the remainder of this tour with her Belgian beau ruled out of any further participation by the race medic.
"Didn't have myself really under control today, just took off and go, not a really good idea in this race," Van de Wale said after finally cooling down. "The last 30 kilometres I had to do only breathing through the nose stopping every 4 or 5 k's and here I had a panic attack, incredible could hardly breathe so this is over."
Fortunately both Elli and Hansen were more conservative in the Trophy's most taxing stage. Hansen crossed the line second to maintain a 47 minute buffer on Fojtik and 1 hour 29 minutes over Elli on G.C.
Germans climb the rankings
Slowly but surely it is the Austrians and Germans who are emerging as the unheralded success stories of the 2004 Crocodile Trophy. Just like the Australian team from the Cairns Coconut Resort who now dominate the teams category, several German and Austrian amateur riders have collectively brought a definitive character to the event.
Tilo Kock, a salesman from the Black Forest region and Andreas Dunn a German University student whose parents paid his race entry as a present for graduating, were never expected to feature in the event. Yet the pair, who finished today's stage together, also stand alongside each other at eighth and ninth in the General Classification.
"My target was always I will come to Cairns," Kock said of his desire to finish the Crocodile Trophy. "I'm in touch with the professionals and why should I not try to hold my top ten place."
Kock has come to the Australian Outback on something of a personal mission. It is all about honouring a promise to a friend who died of cancer that he would not waste his life.
"Before he died he said Tilo, do everything you can do and do it as long as
is possible for you," an emotional Kock recounted. "He cannot do it, I do it
for him."
For Andreas too, this has been something of a life defining experience. The
cross-country mountain bike purist admits to growing tired of the long flat
road stages through the outback and can't wait to get his teeth into some hard-core
mountain biking when the race reaches the Daintree Rainforest in three day's
time.
"The finish is just three stages and one of them I really look forward to, the stage from Cooktown to Daintree," said Andreas.
Hot Austrians
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"It felt like riding on the moon really, it's not a track, it's the moon here." Austrian Robert Hotter's assessment of stage 9 of the Crocodile Trophy was without question 'on the money'. It was a day Hotter would rather forget, breaking his seat early in today's stage and being forced to make a lengthy repair job before getting going again.
"The casing of my saddle broke completely in two pieces," Hotter recounted after examining his bike. "I had an Allen key with me so I push the saddle in front of the clamp, fixed it again it's really kind of great hassle there in the desert which was not nice because all the others passed me."
In what has developed into one of the great friendly rivalries of the Crocodile Trophy, Hotter is now chasing the tail of countryman Gerhard Gulewicz who sits in sixth place on the general classification.
While Gulewicz has mastered the 'tough man' look with his linebacker frame and shaven head, the ultra-lean Hotter has earmarked stage eleven of the Crocodile Trophy as the day he will attempt a second stage win.
With plenty of sand and bull-dust patches, it's a stage which could favour the lightweight riders in the pack and Hotter has made no secret of his intentions to give it a go. "I've had a stage win and really looking forward to a second one," Hotter said.
Croc capers
With stage nine of the Crocodile Trophy at an end, it was a pleasant change when members of the rival Gatorade Dream Team and Cairns Coconut Caravan Resort Team lazed together on deckchairs for cinema under the stars at Imooya.
With the help of race photographer Mark Watson who provide the video projector, the Croc Trophy media team who provided the tent fly / big screen and 'the coconuts' who gave up their generator for the night, the showing of part two of the Lord Of The Rings Trilogy went down almost as well as the Jacobs Creek shiraz supplied by team Gatorade.
Special guests at the cinema screening were the owners of the local cattle station, who were very amused to hear of what went on at the previous night's campsite on the Mitchell River, where riders and teams bathed in the deceptively calm waters.
"You're kiddin, the Mitchell's full of crocs," the Station Manager remarked.
Perhaps that's why it's called the Crocodile Trophy!
Photography
Images by Mark Watson/mwphotography.com.au
- Christoph Stephens, Jurgen Van De Welde & Perry Moerman dodge sand and termite mounds during Stage-9 of the 2004 Crocodile trophy
- A Jackaroo looks bewildered as French cyclist Charlie Blanc pushes on through the heat and dust of the 149 km Stage-9 of the 2004 Crocodile Trophy
- Three riders find their own shadows to be the only shade during the 149 km Stage-9 of the 2004 Crocodile Triophy
- A massive termite mound towers over Czech cyclist Ondrej Fojtik on his way to a stage win during Stage-9 of the 2004 Crocodile Trophy.
- Robert Hotter shows his broken saddle to officials at the end of the 149 km Stage-9 of the 2004 Crocodile Trophy
Results
1 Ondrej Fojtik (Cze) 6.01.36 2 Adam Hansen (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Resort 10.57 3 Alberto Elli (Ita) Gatorade Dream Team 1 23.16 4 Martin Kiechle (Ger) 23.18 5 Sibl Radoslav (Cze) Team Sport Nora 27.53 6 Gerhard Gulewicz (Aut) bikestation-salinenimmobiloen.com 42.26 7 Robert Hotter (Aut) Team Sport Nora 51.49 8 Salvatore Paolo Albano (Ita) Pedale Tarvisiano 53.06 9 Tilo Koch (Ger) 54.30 10 Andreas Dünn (Ger) Baier-Qantas-German A. 54.33 11 Mario Amann (Aut) Baustoff + Metall 1 55.10 12 Andrew Wegener (Aus) 57.26 13 James Grant (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Resort 1.04.23 14 Lars Erik Johnson (USA) Gatorade Dream Team 2 1.20.33 15 David Woods (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Resort 1.23.48 16 Adam Socha (Aus) 1.25.09 17 Thomas Moderbacher (Aut) skinfit TEAM AUSTRIA 1.46.45 18 Perry Moerman (Bel) Gatorade Dream Team 2 2.04.54 19 Hans Weber (Aut) Team Fluxus 2.06.53 20 Stephan Adelsmayr (Aut) Drahteselklinik 2.14.46 21 Anita Waiß (Aut) skinfit TEAM AUSTRIA 2.20.44 21 Andreas Mühlbacher (Aut) skinfit TEAM AUSTRIA 23 Loris Macor (Ita) Pedale Tarvisiano 2.23.58 24 Peter Dammerer (Aut) Team Hervis NÖ 1 2.35.03 24 Willi Wagner (Aut) Team Hervis NÖ 1 26 Peter Raymann (Aut) Team Hervis NÖ 2 2.46.57 27 Toru Watanabe (Jpn) Team Sport Nora 2.50.16 28 Giancarlo Schoemberg (Ita) Pedale Tarvisiano 3.06.36 Fastest Woman 1 Anita Waiß (Aut) skinfit TEAM AUSTRIA 8.22.20 Category B 1 Jurgen Van de Wale (Bel) Gatorade Dream Team 1 7.08.11 2 Thomas Pichler (Aut) Team Hervis NÖ 1 29.17 3 Kim Proctor (Aus) SOHO 1.14.24 4 Jochen Doll (Ger) 1.58.43 General classification after stage 9 1 Adam Hansen (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Resort 42.39.30 2 Ondrej Fojtik (Cze) 47.30 3 Alberto Elli (Ita) Gatorade Dream Team 1 1.29.04 4 Martin Kiechle (Ger) 1.55.28 5 Sibl Radoslav (Cze) Team Sport Nora 2.19.13 6 Gerhard Gulewicz (Aut) bikestation-salinenimmobiloen.com 4.24.45 7 Robert Hotter (Aut) Team Sport Nora 4.36.32 8 Andreas Dünn (Ger) Baier-Qantas-German A. 5.07.40 9 Tilo Koch (Ger) 5.15.48 10 James Grant (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Resort 6.00.27 11 Andrew Wegener (Aus) 6.49.41 12 David Woods (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Resort 7.19.54 13 Adam Socha (Aus) 7.22.53 14 Salvatore Paolo Albano (Ita) Pedale Tarvisiano 7.58.29 15 Mario Amann (Aut) Baustoff + Metall 1 8.33.18 16 Thomas Moderbacher (Aut) skinfit TEAM AUSTRIA 8.33.56 17 Lars Erik Johnson (USA) Gatorade Dream Team 2 9.28.54 18 Peter Dammerer (Aut) Team Hervis NÖ 1 10.31.25 19 Willi Wagner (Aut) Team Hervis NÖ 1 11.24.37 20 Perry Moerman (Bel) Gatorade Dream Team 2 12.13.40 21 Loris Macor (Ita) Pedale Tarvisiano 13.51.25 22 Anita Waiß (Aut) skinfit TEAM AUSTRIA 14.08.50 23 Andreas Mühlbacher (Aut) skinfit TEAM AUSTRIA 15.47.26 24 Hans Weber (Aut) Team Fluxus 15.47.52 25 Peter Raymann (Aut) Team Hervis NÖ 2 17.34.43 26 Giancarlo Schoemberg (Ita) Pedale Tarvisiano 18.00.54 27 Toru Watanabe (Jpn) Team Sport Nora 18.02.24 28 Stephan Adelsmayr (Aut) Drahteselklinik 19.19.18 Points classification 1 Adam Hansen (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Resort 120 pts 2 Alberto Elli (Ita) Gatorade Dream Team 1 100 3 Ondrej Fojtik (Cze) 85 4 Martin Kiechle (Ger) 51 5 Sibl Radoslav (Cze) Team Sport Nora 31 6 Robert Hotter (Aut) Team Sport Nora 20 7 Jurgen Van de Wale (Bel) Gatorade Dream Team 1 17 8 Lars Erik Johnson (USA) Gatorade Dream Team 2 15 8 Mario Amann (Aut) Baustoff + Metall 1 15 10 Marzio Deho (Aus) Gatorade Dream Team 1 10 11 Gerhard Gulewicz (Aut) bikestation-salinenimmobiloen.com 2 11 Perry Moerman (Bel) Gatorade Dream Team 2 2 Team classification 1 Cairns Coconut Caravan Resort 118.39.10 2 Team Sport Nora 8.51.27 3 skinfit TEAM AUSTRIA 20.08.25 4 Pedale Tarvisiano 21.33.23
