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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 5 - October 22: Blancoe Fall - Koombooloomba, 75 km
Heinz Zörweg surges to the lead
Mechanical dramas dent hopes of Italy's World Cup Champion
By John-Michael Flynn at Ravenshoe, Far North Queensland
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It may go down in history as the best ever 'pure mountain bike' stage of the Crocodile Trophy.
It will certainly go down in history as one of the most dramatic!
On paper, today's 75 kilometre journey from Blencoe Falls to Koombooloomba Dam in Far North Queensland appeared perfectly suited to Marathon World Cup Champion Mauro Bettin. And when the riders hit the trail, it was the leader of the Felt-Shimano Dream Team who surged to the front, his superior technical riding skills evident as the Italian edged away from fellow protagonists on the steep climbs and technical rocky descents.
But somehow, during a stage where the Crocodile Trophy shook its tag of being a 'road race on dirt', things just went wrong for the self-described 'Premier' rider in this year's race.
Whether due to bad luck or bad planning, Bettin was caught out on a steep rocky descent at the 25 kilometres mark of today's stage with a leaking tyre which couldn't be repaired and with the race rules stipulating 'no mechanical assistance' his Crocodile Trophy campaign was immediately in severe jeopardy.
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Bettin chose one of the most remote points of this year's event to find trouble, but the Italian's resilience and ability to ride for more than 20 kilometres on a rim before borrowing a wheel from team-mate David Wood, kept him in contention for the General Classification of the World's toughest mountain bike race.
Bettin wasn't the only hard luck story emerging from today's tough and technical stage. Belgian Christophe Stevens, who took over the stage lead from Bettin when he flatted, suffered the same fate just ten kilometres further up the track. Alone on the road, with only a foam spray to inadequately repair a seriously punctured tubeless tyre, his Crocodile Trophy campaign was also left in ruins.
At the end of it all, Austrian Heinz Zörweg, a picture of consistency at this Crocodile Trophy powered onto the finish amid the spectacular Rainforest of Ravenshoe to claim the stage victory and in the process the outright lead on G.C.
Heading into today's stage Zörweg was 12 minutes down on reigning champion Adam Hansen in the General Classification, but after pulling in a massive 16 minutes on a course which clearly suited him, the Austrian now leads the Crocodile Trophy with a buffer (provisional) of around four minutes.
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"It was a short stage but definitely the hardest so far," Zörweg said after crossing the finish line at Koombooloomba Dam. "It is similar to Austrian terrain, I live in the mountains and this is similar terrain to what I am training on every day."
In a display of sportsmanship, Zörweg tried to help the Marathon World Cup Champion in his hour of need as Bettin worked desperately to repair a flat tyre. "I gave him my pump and then I continued with my rhythm," Heinz recalled of the mishap which has re-shaped the race.
For Adam Hansen, a road rider still adapting to the finer points of mountain biking, the hard-luck of his fellow competitors worked very much to his benefit. The Cairns Coconut Caravan Resort team leader finished the stage in second place and requiring stitches to a busted knee, after a surviving a crash mid-stage.
"It was really really technical, I came off once pretty bad and had to walk ten metres back to my bike," Hansen recalled. "But the climbs were too steep way too steep that you had to walk them."
Still, Hansen's outcome was far more fortunate than that of Belgian Christophe Stevens, who briefly held the stage lead today before himself falling victim to a puncture.
"It was a s..t day," a shattered Stevens said. "I was on this steep climb going about three kilometres per hour and a stone got into my tyre...that was about it."
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The puncture brought to a halt what was a remarkable turnaround for the Belgian. Stevens, who struggled to finish stages during last year's Crocodile Trophy, may have claimed the overall lead on G.C. had the cards fallen differently today. But both he and World Cup Champion Mauro Bettin will be doing plenty of soul searching tonight, after entering today's stage clearly under prepared for what lay ahead on the stony mountain trails of Far North Queensland.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Mark Watson/mwphotography.com.au
- Heinz Zörweg (ARBÖ Wienstrom Lamster Fadewa) won the stage and took the lead
- Christophe Stevens had the lead for a while, until disaster struck and he flatted
- Belgian Christophe Stevens uses a can of foam to try to repair his puncture
- Mauro Bettin (Dream Team 1) didn't have the best of days
- Anyone got a spare? Asks Mauro Bettin, whose Crocodile Trophy dreams went up in smoke after he destroyed a tyre
- Adam Hansen (Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1) found some of the terrain tough going
- Adam Hansen (Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1) makes another creek crossing
- Adam Hansen (Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1) finds a way to cool off and fix punctures at the same time
Results
1 Heinz Zörweg (Aut) ARBÖ Wienstrom Lamster Fadewa 3.43.44 2 Adam Hansen (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1 16.11 3 Christophe Stevens (Bel) 24.31 4 Sibl Radoslav (Cze) Favorit Brno - Bikezone 29.09 5 Matthias Buxhofer (Aut) VAV-Versicherung R. u. R. Völkl 30.43 6 Mauro Bettin (Ita) Dream Team 1 31.20 7 Tim Northy (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 2 33.57 8 Lars Erik Johnson (USA) Dream Team 2 37.48 9 Salvatore P. Albano (Ita) Team Bike Tarvisio 2005 39.50 10 Robert Vlug (Ned) team.hollandonline.nl 41.02 11 Peter Stenico (Aut) Peto 53.27 12 Mikkel Brinch Norgaard (Den) Team ACM 56.24 13 Jens Zemke (Ger) Dream Team 1 58.44 14 Kai Hundertmarck (Ger) Dream Team 1 1.02.59 15 David Wood (Aus) Dream Team 2 1.06.31 16 Struan Lomont (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 2 1.09.00 17 Macor Loris (Ita) Pedale Tarvisiano 1.14.34 18 Guido Van Olffen (Ned) GTI team 1.16.47 19 Knud Juul-Jensen (Irl) Team ACM 2 1.22.58 20 Markus Eibegger (Aut) Team Rapso 1.38.32 21 Johannes Reiser (Aut) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1 1.38.34 22 Joe McDonnell (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 2 1.38.36 22 Stefan Rucker (Aut) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1 24 Kim Proctor (Aus) 1.53.20 25 Johannes Huber (Ger) Team Huber 1.53.33 26 Harry Ensink (Ned) GTI team 1.54.57 27 Cristophe Desimpelaere (Bel) Team ACM 2.04.40 28 Bart Machiels (Bel) Belgium Bikers Marathons 2 2.04.43 29 Karl Frank (Aut) SV Panaceo Post 2.08.17 30 Eric Paquay (Bel) Belgium Bikers Marathons 1 2.27.14 31 Jos Kerkhofs (Bel) Belgium Bikers Marathons 1 2.32.17 32 Günter Rafeiner (Aut) Sport Nora 2.34.00 33 Beat Lustenberger (Swi) Trek-VC Züri 2 2.36.06 34 Giancarlo Schönberg (Ita) Pedale Tarvisiano 2.47.18 35 Paul West (GBr) Endura/Shred 3.10.45 36 Han Vaalt (Ned) GTI team 3.30.03 37 Claude Dabaliz (NZl) 3.35.54 38 Rudi Donckers (Bel) Belgium Bikers Marathons 1 4.00.11 39 Astrid Boehm (Den) Team ACM 4.35.44 40 Ejnar Fausing (Den) Team ACM 2 41 Reinhard Hörmann (Aut) VAV-Versicherung R. u. R. Völkl Women 1 Astrid Boehm (Den) Team ACM 8.19.28 General classification after stage 5 1 Heinz Zörweg (Aut) ARBÖ Wienstrom Lamster Fadewa 19.19.54 2 Adam Hansen (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1 4.15 3 Christophe Stevens (Bel) 21.13 4 Mauro Bettin (Ita) Dream Team 1 28.03 5 Matthias Buxhofer (Aut) VAV-Versicherung R. u. R. Völkl 42.51 6 Sibl Radoslav (Cze) Favorit Brno - Bikezone 52.23 7 Kai Hundertmarck (Ger) Dream Team 1 1.15.55 8 Jens Zemke (Ger) Dream Team 1 1.36.12 9 Lars Erik Johnson (USA) Dream Team 2 1.42.25 10 Salvatore P. Albano (Ita) Team Bike Tarvisio 2005 1.46.28 11 Robert Vlug (Ned) team.hollandonline.nl 1.56.25 12 Markus Eibegger (Aut) Team Rapso 1.58.46 13 Tim Northy (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 2 2.16.47 14 Johannes Huber (Ger) Team Huber 2.40.18 15 David Wood (Aus) Dream Team 2 2.44.54 16 Joe McDonnell (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 2 2.53.54 17 Stefan Rucker (Aut) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1 3.08.07 18 Guido Van Olffen (Ned) GTI team 3.28.23 19 Johannes Reiser (Aut) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1 3.31.50 20 Struan Lomont (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 2 3.39.23 21 Peter Stenico (Aut) Peto 3.56.46 22 Macor Loris (Ita) Pedale Tarvisiano 4.07.21 23 Mikkel Brinch Norgaard (Den) Team ACM 4.40.44 24 Harry Ensink (Ned) GTI team 4.59.33 25 Kim Proctor (Aus) 5.51.56 26 Beat Lustenberger (Swi) Trek-VC Züri 2 5.57.49 27 Bart Machiels (Bel) Belgium Bikers Marathons 2 6.12.01 28 Knud Juul-Jensen (Irl) Team ACM 2 6.12.35 29 Cristophe Desimpelaere (Bel) Team ACM 6.31.26 30 Jos Kerkhofs (Bel) Belgium Bikers Marathons 1 7.33.37 31 Karl Frank (Aut) SV Panaceo Post 7.33.50 32 Eric Paquay (Bel) Belgium Bikers Marathons 1 8.35.42 33 Han Vaalt (Ned) GTI team 8.41.17 34 Giancarlo Schönberg (Ita) Pedale Tarvisiano 8.51.00 35 Paul West (GBr) Endura/Shred 10.53.50 36 Rudi Donckers (Bel) Belgium Bikers Marathons 1 11.35.47 37 Claude Dabaliz (NZl) 12.12.23 38 Günter Rafeiner (Aut) Sport Nora 14.05.29 39 Astrid Boehm (Den) Team ACM 14.43.14 40 Ejnar Fausing (Den) Team ACM 2 16.14.44 41 Reinhard Hörmann (Aut) VAV-Versicherung R. u. R. Völkl Women 1 Astrid Boehm (Den) Team ACM 34.03.08 Points classification 1 Christophe Stevens (Bel) 47 pts 2 Adam Hansen (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1 47 3 Mauro Bettin (Ita) Dream Team 1 45 4 Heinz Zörweg (Aut) ARBÖ Wienstrom Lamster Fadewa 37 5 Markus Eibegger (Aut) Team Rapso 30 6 Kai Hundertmarck (Ger) Dream Team 1 20 7 Matthias Buxhofer (Aut) VAV-Versicherung R. u. R. Völkl 14 8 Sibl Radoslav (Cze) Favorit Brno - Bikezone 10 Team classification 1 Dream Team 1 61.20.15 2 Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1 3.23.54 3 Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 2 5.29.31 4 GTI team 13.48.40 5 Team ACM 22.34.51 6 Belgium Bikers Marathons 1 25.09.22
