Recently on Cyclingnews.com |
 Mont Ventoux Photo ©: Sirotti |
MTB index page for all MTB content
Crocodile Trophy - NE
Australia, October 18-30, 2005
Main Page Results Overall standings Felt Dream Team diary Previous Stage Next Stage
Stage 7 - October 24: Irvinebank - Chillagoe, 115 km
Bettin lands another during nightmare day for Felt-Shimano Dream Team
Broken bikes, scorpion bites, car crashes, flesh wounds, electrical storms... What next?
By John-Michael Flynn at Chillagoe - Outback Far North Queensland
|
It is a tradition in cycling to celebrate a stage victory with a glass of champagne at the team dinner. And even in the wilds of Outback Australia, such traditions are vigorously upheld.
But the Felt Shimano Dream Team had much more to be joyous about tonight, considering all five of its riders made it to the finish line today, relatively intact and ready to fight on for their team leader. That in itself could be considered a minor miracle!
As it stands, the Dream Team’s main man, Marathon World Cup Champion Mauro Bettin, is locked in an enticing battle for the General Classification of the world’s toughest off-road cycling event and will need every ounce of energy his teammates can muster as he tries to peg back a 23 minute gap to reigning Crocodile Trophy champion Adam Hansen.
How it unfolded
The Dream Team’s day begin with drama this morning when 'super-domestique' David Wood fell victim to one of the many hazards of Outback Australia, a scorpion sting. The native North Queenslander ignored the pain and rode on. Had he known what lay ahead, he might have been better off not to!
"Yere I got bitten by a scorpion, hurt I s’pose," Wood said in his unique Northern drawl. "Christie’s (team Directeur Sportif Christie Valentine-Anderson) been at me all week for wearing sandals instead of boots."
|
It was just the beginning of the nightmares for the Felt-Shimano Dream Team. In no particular order, team member Jenz Zemke collided with a support vehicle which became stuck in a ditch (fortunately he wasn’t seriously injured), Kai Hundertmarck required a minor operation on course when a stick became lodged in his arm. He also broke a rear seat stay on his bike during a punishing technical stage and Wood was forced to walk the best part of twenty kilometres after handing his bike to the German.
"It was a really bad day for me today," Hundertmarck admitted with little need for reflection. "I hit a tree then a piece of wood got in my arm, then like three k’s later my frame broke, then I got stuck on the hill, start walking."
Still, had Wood not turned up to offer his bike, Hundertmarck’s day might just have got a lot, lot worse. "He’s a great guy and I’m really happy he gave me his bike," Hundertmarck said of his faithful domestique.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Mark Watson/mwphotography.com.au
- The start of today's stage
- The bunch makes some dust
- Adam Hansen
- The breakaway
- Some Australian livestock on the road
- David Wood
- Stefan Rucker flying by
- Hundertmarck in black&white
- Kim Proctor
- Markus Eibegger likes to pose
- One of the many mechanicals
- Peter Stenico also wonders what he's doing here...
- Dutch Robert Vlug
- Heinz Zörweg on the rocks
- So is Bettin
- Some Outback flora
- Sibl and Zemke wheel to wheel
- Struan Lomont... through the woods
- ..under Aussie sky...
- ...on the "road"...
- ...but heading towards the rain!
- That's a good gap
- What a day!
- Giving everything in the rain: Stevens and Bettin
- Hansen and Zörweg in the rain
- Bettin alone in the rain
- Bettin wins again in stage 7
- Stevens placed second today...
- ... and had to cool his hand
- That's a broken frame, indeed
- A close-up of Hundertmarck's frame
- Wood fixing the broken frame to continue
- True state of the art!
Results
1 Mauro Bettin (Ita) Dream Team 1 4.14.56 2 Christophe Stevens (Bel) 0.01 3 Adam Hansen (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1 4 Heinz Zörweg (Aut) ARBÖ Wienstrom Lamster Fadewa 0.02 5 Radoslav Sibl (Cze) Favorit Brno - Bikezone 4.11 6 Stefan Rucker (Aut) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1 4.12 7 Matthias Buxhofer (Aut) VAV-Versicherung R. u. R. Völkl 7.55 8 Markus Eibegger (Aut) Team Rapso 7.56 9 Lars Erik Johnson (USA) Dream Team 2 15.07 10 Tim Northy (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 2 17.31 11 Jens Zemke (Ger) Dream Team 1 12 Salvatore P. Albano (Ita) Team Bike Tarvisio 2005 25.12 13 Struan Lomont (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 2 34.25 14 Macor Loris (Ita) Pedale Tarvisiano 34.54 15 Guido Van Olffen (Ned) GTI team 38.21 16 Robert Vlug (Ned) team.hollandonline.nl 40.13 17 Joe McDonnell (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 2 41.13 18 Johannes Reiser (Aut) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1 19 Johannes Huber (Ger) SC Bergen Team Powerbar 20 Mikkel Brinch Norgaard (Den) Team ACM 47.33 21 Peter Stenico (Aut) Peto 47.34 22 Knud Juul-Jensen (Irl) Team ACM 2 49.25 22 Kim Proctor (Aus) 56.19 24 Christophe Desimpelaere (Bel) Team ACM 57.39 25 Bart Machiels (Bel) Belgium Bikers Marathons 2 1.06.15 26 Kai Hundertmarck (Ger) Dream Team 1 1.16.48 27 Harry Ensink (Ned) GTI team 1.18.15 28 Beat Lustenberger (Swi) Trek-VC Züri 2 1.27.10 29 Eric Paquay (Bel) Belgium Bikers Marathons 1 1.28.56 30 Karl Frank (Aut) SV Panaceo Post 31 Han Vaalt (Ned) GTI team 32 Jos Kerkhofs (Bel) Belgium Bikers Marathons 1 33 Günter Rafeiner (Aut) Sport Nora 1.30.57 34 David Wood (Aus) Dream Team 2 1.37.45 35 Giancarlo Schönberg (Ita) Pedale Tarvisiano 2.06.50 36 Paul West (GBr) Endura/Shred 2.14.29 39 Claude Dabaliz (NZl) 2.29.45 37 Astrid Boehm (Den) Team ACM 3.04.21 38 Ejnar Fausing (Den) Team ACM 2 3.04.22 Women 1 Astrid Boehm (Den) Team ACM 7.19.17 General Classification after stage 7 1 Adam Hansen (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1 26.40.33 2 Heinz Zörweg (Aut) ARBÖ Wienstrom Lamster Fadewa 6.22 3 Mauro Bettin (Ita) Dream Team 1 23.37 4 Christophe Stevens (Bel) 27.32 5 Matthias Buxhofer (Aut) VAV-Versicherung R. u. R. Völkl 47.32 6 Radoslav Sibl (Cze) Favorit Brno - Bikezone 1.16.39 7 Jens Zemke (Ger) Dream Team 1 2.00.50 8 Markus Eibegger (Aut) Team Rapso 2.15.42 9 Lars Erik Johnson (USA) Dream Team 2 2.26.43 10 Kai Hundertmarck (Ger) Dream Team 1 2.32.12 11 Salvatore P. Albano (Ita) Team Bike Tarvisio 2005 2.41.00 12 Robert Vlug (Ned) team.hollandonline.nl 3.00.26 13 Tim Northy (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 2 3.03.29 14 Stefan Rucker (Aut) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1 3.21.19 15 Johannes Huber (Ger) SC Bergen Team Powerbar 3.41.27 16 Joe McDonnell (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 2 4.04.18 17 Johannes Reiser (Aut) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1 4.33.19 18 Struan Lomont (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 2 4.44.23 19 David Wood (Aus) Dream Team 2 4.51.50 20 Guido Van Olffen (Ned) GTI team 5.17.46 21 Macor Loris (Ita) Pedale Tarvisiano 5.24.41 22 Peter Stenico (Aut) Peto 5.29.13 23 Mikkel Brinch Norgaard (Den) Team ACM 6.14.31 24 Harry Ensink (Ned) GTI team 7.03.47 25 Kim Proctor (Aus) 7.39.01 26 Bart Machiels (Bel) Belgium Bikers Marathons 2 8.04.45 27 Knud Juul-Jensen (Irl) Team ACM 2 8.10.06 28 Christophe Desimpelaere (Bel) Team ACM 8.19.15 29 Beat Lustenberger (Swi) Trek-VC Züri 2 8.29.03 30 Jos Kerkhofs (Bel) Belgium Bikers Marathons 1 10.33.00 31 Karl Frank (Aut) SV Panaceo Post 10.39.07 32 Eric Paquay (Bel) Belgium Bikers Marathons 1 11.35.05 33 Han Vaalt (Ned) GTI team 11.46.34 34 Giancarlo Schönberg (Ita) Pedale Tarvisiano 12.22.36 35 Paul West (GBr) Endura/Shred 15.37.55 36 Claude Dabaliz (NZl) 16.38.53 37 Günter Rafeiner (Aut) Sport Nora 17.02.45 38 Astrid Boehm (Den) Team ACM 19.58.40 39 Ejnar Fausing (Den) Team ACM 2 21.30.11 Women 1 Astrid Boehm (Den) Team ACM 46.39.13 Points Classification 1 Mauro Bettin (Ita) Dream Team 1 85 pts 2 Adam Hansen (Aus) Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1 72 3 Christophe Stevens (Bel) 62 4 Heinz Zörweg (Aut) ARBÖ Wienstrom Lamster Fadewa 44 5 Markus Eibegger (Aut) Team Rapso 30 6 Kai Hundertmarck (Ger) Dream Team 1 25 7 Matthias Buxhofer (Aut) VAV-Versicherung R. u. R. Völkl 24 8 Sibl Radoslav (Cze) Favorit Brno - Bikezone 12 Team Classification 1 Dream Team 1 84.58.28 2 Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 1 2.57.54 3 Cairns Coconut Caravan Simplon 2 6.55.21 4 GTI team 19.11.18 5 Team ACM 29.35.37
