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Crocodile Trophy - NE
Australia, October 18-30, 2005
Main Page Results Overall standings Felt Dream Team diary Previous Stage Next Stage
Stage 4 - October 21: Lake Lucy – Blancoe Falls, 134 km
German Hundertmarck wins stage 4
By John-Michael Flynn at Blencoe Falls
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In his days as a professional cyclist with Team Telekom, Kai Hundertmarck would have suffered many a long lonely day off the front of the race peloton. But nothing could have prepared the Felt-Shimano Dream Team cyclist for today's epic stage four of the Crocodile Trophy, when the enduring German power house rode virtually from start to finish in a two man breakaway through a soggy Australian Outback.
Along the way, Hundertmarck had to confront many obstacles - Slippery muddy tracks, creek crossings, the humid heat and even a lightning storm - but nothing compared to what the eventual stage winner experienced a few kilometres from the finish line.
"I saw a whole family of kangaroos, a mother and three kids sitting completely crossed the road," Hundertmarck recalled of his Outback experience. "When I come closer I saw they were real and they looked really also astonished like me, because I was the first mountain biker they saw."
If the kangaroo and her joeys could talk, they would have told the German he was 'home and hosed' as Australians would say. As by the time Hundertmarck was within reach of the finish, his fellow competitors, including breakaway partner Austrian Markus Eibegger, had vanished into the vast expanse of Australia's inland.
"It was another long day in the outback," Hundertmarck said. "In the beginning I was a little bit angry because I was attacking a couple of times and they went with me and they weren't pulling, so I decided to attack harder."
A day of Outback survival
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Today's race route, a 144 kilometre journey between Lake Lucy and Blencoe Falls in Far North Queensland, took in a captivating variety of classic Australian Outback scenery, made all the more glorious by overnight thunderstorms which gave the Crocodile Trophy campsite a soaking.
If the country was familiar to many European eyes, it was only because the scene was the same region where the second series of Mark Burnett's popular 'Survivor' series was filmed some years ago. After the overnight downpour, it was challenging enough for riders just to pack up their tents and reach the start line, then when they did, what lay ahead was certain to prove a great mental test.
Perhaps that was why the pace of the peloton was incredibly slow for most of today's stage, with the bulk of riders just content to save their diminishing energy levels as the race drags on. With key protagonists Adam Hansen (Cairns Coconut Caravan Resort) and Mauro Bettin (Felt-Shimano Dream Team) watching each other in the main peloton, the situation was ripe for another breakaway effort from Kai Hundertmarck. The German, accompanied by Austrian Markus Eibegger, quickly established a sizeable lead on the main bunch, a gap which at one stage reached 25 minutes.
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With their faces soon becoming encrusted in mud, many of the European cyclists in the main bunch were beginning to crack mentally. Hansen's team-mate Stefan Rucker, among those to admit post-stage that he was considering with each pedal stroke, the prospect of throwing in the towel.
"My day was horrible, first a puncture then at twelve k's to go my chain broke," a severely deflated Rucker said. "The chain didn't work so I had to walk for 3k, then a team-mate came and he helped me and we went to the finish together, but I'm mentally totally destroyed."
Rucker wasn't alone in his mental battle to survive the Crocodile Trophy.
As competitors endured section after section of muddy puddles, many of the road riders involved in the race, who are not so experienced on mountain bikes, had to learn to adjust quickly. One of those who did was GC leader Adam Hansen's team-mate Joe McDonnell. Sensing an unpleasant scenario with one of rival Mauro Bettin's team away up the road, McDonnell spent plenty of energy when he too dropped the slow moving main bunch and attempted to cross to the leaders who were already long gone.
But as the road turned steep heading towards the picturesque Blencoe Falls it soon became painfully clear that McDonnell's effort was in vain. "A lot harder on a mountain bike, the hardest thing I've ever done," the seasoned Australian road racer admitted after eventually finishing the day in eighth place."
Plenty of Europeans would have happily agreed with his assessment as a lightning storm struck the Blencoe Falls area just as most of the competitors were completing the final kilometres.
The race for GC honours
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Four stages into the Crocodile Trophy of 2005, the battle for general classification honours is becoming captivating. Today the sabre rattling continued between key protagonists, Adam Hansen of Australia and World Cup Champion, Mauro Bettin of Italy, as Hansen effectively held onto his overall lead by not letting the Felt-Shimano Dream Team leader out of his sight.
"I've got the edge over Bettin on the hills and he's got it on me on the descents," was Hansen's assessment of the on-course duel. "I'm just not a mountain biker that's the thing."
But Bettin may not be the only rider Hansen needs to watch out for. Kai Hundertmarck, despite promising to have an easy day tomorrow, is rising up the general classification and Christophe Stevens of Belgium continues to have a much better Crocodile Trophy than he did in 2004, today finishing third.
"It was really good until this steep climb about 4k away from here and suddenly the lights went out," Stevens recalled. "Mauro came over me but I saved my third position. I think that's about how the Croc Trophy will go, will be Mauro and Adam and me close behind."
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Mark Watson/mwphotography.com.au
- Danger: Ants
- It is advantageous to be first through the water
- The term 'track' is often used loosely in the Croc Trophy
- The peloton through the Australian bush
- Stefan Rucker (Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1) had a tough day, and thought about quitting
- The Red Bull girls hand out the sponsor's product
- If you drop it you'll have to come back for another one
- Service with a smile
- Race leader Adam Hansen
- Mauro Bettin (Dream Team 1) saw his teammate Kai Hundertmarck win today
- Kai Hundertmarck (Dream Team 1) with Markus Eibegger
- Markus Eibegger (Team Rapso) held down second place
- Kai Hundertmarck (Dream Team 1) en route to victory
- Kai Hundertmarck (Dream Team 1) does a finish line skid
- Kai Hundertmarck (Dream Team 1) finishes it off
Results
1 Kai Hundertmarck (Ger) Dream Team 1 4.54.28 2 Markus Eibegger (Aut) Team Rapso 6.23 3 Mauro Bettin (Ita) Dream Team 1 9.01 4 Adam Hansen (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1 9.02 5 Christophe Stevens (Bel) 9.49 6 Heinz Zörweg (Aut) ARBÖ Wienstrom Lamster Fadewa 13.41 7 Jens Zemke (Ger) Dream Team 1 13.42 8 Joe McDonnell (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 2 17.37 9 Tim Northy (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 2 18.56 10 Johannes Huber (Ger) Team Huber 18.58 11 Matthias Buxhofer (Aut) VAV-Versicherung R. u. R. Völkl 19.12 12 Radoslav Sibl (Cze) Favorit Brno - Bikezone 13 David Wood (Aus) Dream Team 2 22.07 14 Lars Erik Johnson (USA) Dream Team 2 15 Robert Vlug (Ned) team.hollandonline.nl 26.14 16 Salvatore P. Albano (Ita) Team Bike Tarvisio 2005 29.19 17 Peter Stenico (Aut) Peto 39.46 18 Guido Van Olffen (Ned) GTI team 40.08 19 Harry Ensink (Ned) GTI team 20 Kim Proctor (Aus) 55.41 21 Cristophe Desimpelaere (Bel) Team ACM 55.44 22 Loris Macor (Ita) Pedale Tarvisiano 1.00.33 23 Beat Lustenberger (Swi) Trek-VC Züri 2 1.05.59 24 Struan Lamont (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 2 1.08.25 25 Stefan Rucker (Aut) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1 1.10.29 26 Johannes Reiser (Aut) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1 27 Bart Machiels (Bel) Belgium Bikers Marathons 2 1.15.53 28 Mikkel Brinch Norgaard (Den) Team ACM 1.17.21 29 Knud Juul-Jensen (Irl) Team ACM 2 1.17.48 30 Han Vaalt (Ned) GTI team 1.23.36 31 Jos Kerkhofs (Bel) Belgium Bikers Marathons 1 1.23.48 32 Karl Frank (Aut) SV Panaceo Post 1.26.06 33 Günter Rafeiner (Aut) Sport Nora 1.33.04 34 Giancarlo Schönberg (Ita) Pedale Tarvisiano 1.40.27 35 Paul West (GBr) Endura/Shred 2.21.36 36 Eric Paquay (Bel) Belgium Bikers Marathons 1 2.21.37 37 Rudi Donckers (Bel) Belgium Bikers Marathons 1 2.21.38 38 Claude Dabaliz (NZl) 2.21.41 39 Astrid Boehm (Den) Team ACM 3.10.34 40 Ejnar Fausing (Den) Team ACM 2 3.10.35 41 Reinhard Hörmann (Aut) VAV-Versicherung R. u. R. Völkl Women 1 Astrid Boehm (Den) Team ACM 8.05.02 General classification after stage 4 1 Adam Hansen (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1 15.24.19 2 Mauro Bettin (Ita) Dream Team 1 8.34 3 Christophe Stevens (Bel) 8.35 4 Heinz Zörweg (Aut) ARBÖ Wienstrom Lamster Fadewa 12.01 5 Matthias Buxhofer (Aut) VAV-Versicherung R. u. R. Völkl 23.59 6 Kai Hundertmarck (Ger) Dream Team 1 24.47 7 Markus Eibegger (Aut) Team Rapso 32.05 8 Radoslav Sibl (Cze) Favorit Brno - Bikezone 35.05 9 Jens Zemke (Ger) Dream Team 1 49.19 10 Johannes Huber (Ger) Team Huber 58.36 11 Lars Erik Johnson (USA) Dream Team 2 1.16.28 12 Salvatore P. Albano (Ita) Team Bike Tarvisio 2005 1.18.29 13 Joe McDonnell (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 2 1.27.09 14 Robert Vlug (Ned) team.hollandonline.nl 1.27.14 15 Stefan Rucker (Aut) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1 1.41.22 16 David Wood (Aus) Dream Team 2 1.50.14 17 Tim Northy (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 2 1.54.41 18 Johannes Reiser (Aut) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1 2.05.07 19 Guido Van Olffen (Ned) GTI team 2.23.27 20 Struan Lamont (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 2 2.42.14 21 Loris Macor (Ita) Pedale Tarvisiano 3.04.38 22 Peter Stenico (Aut) Peto 3.15.10 23 Harry Ensink (Ned) GTI team 3.16.27 24 Beat Lustenberger (Swi) Trek-VC Züri 2 3.33.34 25 Mikkel Brinch Norgaard (Den) Team ACM 3.56.11 26 Kim Proctor (Aus) 4.10.27 27 Bart Machiels (Bel) Belgium Bikers Marathons 2 4.19.09 28 Cristophe Desimpelaere (Bel) Team ACM 4.38.37 29 Knud Juul-Jensen (Irl) Team ACM 2 5.01.28 30 Jos Kerkhofs (Bel) Belgium Bikers Marathons 1 5.13.11 31 Han Vaalt (Ned) GTI team 5.23.05 32 Karl Frank (Aut) SV Panaceo Post 5.37.24 33 Giancarlo Schönberg (Ita) Pedale Tarvisiano 6.15.33 34 Eric Paquay (Bel) Belgium Bikers Marathons 1 6.20.19 35 Rudi Donckers (Bel) Belgium Bikers Marathons 1 7.47.27 36 Paul West (GBr) Endura/Shred 7.54.56 37 Claude Dabaliz (NZl) 8.48.20 38 Astrid Boehm (Den) Team ACM 10.19.21 39 Günter Rafeiner (Aut) Sport Nora 11.43.20 40 Ejnar Fausing (Den) Team ACM 2 11.50.51 41 Reinhard Hörmann (Aut) VAV-Versicherung R. u. R. Völkl Women 1 Astrid Boehm (Den) Team ACM 25.43.40 Points classification 1 Mauro Bettin (Ita) Dream Team 1 45 pts 2 Christophe Stevens (Bel) 37 3 Adam Hansen (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1 32 4 Markus Eibegger (Aut) Team Rapso 30 5 Kai Hundertmarck (Ger) Dream Team 1 20 6 Heinz Zörweg (Aut) ARBÖ Wienstrom Lamster Fadewa 17 7 Matthias Buxhofer (Aut) VAV-Versicherung R. u. R. Völkl 12 8 Radoslav Sibl (Cze) Favorit Brno - Bikezone 5 Team classification 1 Dream Team 1 47.36.00 2 Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1 2.23.36 3 Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 2 5.41.01 4 GTI team 10.29.56 5 Team ACM 17.31.06 6 Belgium Bikers Marathons 1 18.42.43
