Recently on Cyclingnews.com |
 Dauphiné Libéré Photo ©: Sirotti |
MTB index page for all MTB content
Crocodile Trophy 2002
Australia, September 10-22, 2002
Main Results Previous stage Next stage
Stage 8: September 18, Laura - Orange Plan Waterhole, 114 km
The hell of the outback
By Christi Valentine-Anderson
 |
Dust and corrugations accompanied by deep hidden ruts were the name of the game today! In the pre race briefing it was not the cyclists but rather the support vehicles who were warned about the conditions. The word was to watch the speed and ride the corrugations with caution as it is easy to roll a car under these conditions. The warnings were taken on board as the entourage rolled out of Laura at 9 am.
After a night of Aboriginal dancing and music at the make shift pub, built to replace the pub which burned to the ground last week, it was back to the race for the field of 42 remaining riders.
For race leader Jaap Viergever and his teammate Denis Teeuwen it was a stage of success. The two Tom Taylor men attacked in the deep sand from the gun, they eventually made 11 mins on Jurji Robic, Phil Anderson and Chris Lapere, who chased in earnest for the last 50 kms. It was in the high 30's and extremely dry on this stage. The only tactic today was to ride powerfully and stay alert. Even Mieke Deroo, the leader for the women struggled on the terrain. Deroo is a slight women and technically superb, but deep sand is creates a course for the big strong ones, not the little lightweights. Deroo told her husband Wouter Declercq, who is normally by her side, "Go ahead, I will make my own race." There was very little advantage in the first two thirds of the stage for the cyclists to work together.
 |
Tonight the camp sight is by the beautiful Orange Plain Waterhole. Unfortunately the dusty Crocodile Trophy race entourage was told in no uncertain terms - Don't swim in the river! There are lots of fresh water crocodiles!" No one is questioning this!
Many of the cyclists are struggling with injury and with ware and tear on bums and feet. Phil Anderson can't even cut his own food as the corrugations have rendered his forearms and hands useless.
Yesterday Australian Adrian Lang was sporting a beautiful dual suspension bike, which he was counting on for the last big corrugated section of track. Unfortunately, if not ironically Adrian´s seat post snapped with 30 kms to go and we had to ride the last 30 kms standing! So the course length as well as its topography is taking its toll on the field. Nothing is certain until we reach the end in Kuranda on Sept 21.
Photography
Images by Mark Watson/MW Photography
- Adrian Lang rides his dual suspension bike, before the seat snapped
- Three riders make their way through the termite mounds during stage 8
- The corrugations really made life tough on stage 8
- Wouter Declercq (Team Mieke) on his own during stage 8
- Anthony Michelle (Team Brett) struggles through the sand
- Dennis Teeuwen and Jaap Viergever (Tom Tailor/Santos) finish 1-2 in stage 8
Results
1 Dennis Teeuwen (Ned) Tom Tailor/Santos 2.58.07 (28.97 km/h) 2 Jaap Viergever (Ned) Tom Tailor/Santos 0.01 3 Jurji Robic (Slo) Team Robic 13.44 4 Phil Anderson (Aus) Dream Team 13.45 5 Kris Lapere (Bel) Cycling Team Limburg 6 Oyvind Aas (Nor) Team Kelly/Hi5 Norway 20.48 7 Thomas Riegler (Aut) Team Riegler 8 Clemens Mühsinger (Ger) 23.17 9 Filip Claes (Bel) 23.23 10 Hans Henrik Nielsen (Den) 28.13 11 Bart Bosmans (Bel) Cycling Team Limburg 28.53 12 Martin Kellermann (Aut) 29.45 13 Paul Meyvis (Bel) 37.37 13 Wouter Declercq (Bel) Team Mieke 41.59 15 Anthony Michelle (Aus) Team Brett 46.51 16 Theo Molenbrugge (Ned) Tom Tailor/Santos 52.25 17 Dominiek Sacre (Bel) Team www.reevax.be 52.26 18 Peter Paelinck (Bel) Team www.reevax.be 54.03 19 Rudi Donckers (Bel) Cycling Team Limburg 54.14 20 Bart Schols (Bel) 1.01.31 21 Charles Blanc (Fra) 1.07.48 22 Mieke Deroo (Bel) Team Mieke 1.10.53 23 David Olle (Aus) Dream Team 1.10.53 24 Peter Nejsig (Den) 1.14.07 25 Adrian Laing (Aus) Team Brett 26 Jack Oldfield (Aus) 1.19.04 27 Ronny Potter (Bel) 1.19.05 28 Carrie Edwards (USA) 4.29.48 29 Stefan Schlett (Ger) 30 Franz Hartmann (Aut) Bike Drive/Rapso 31 Reinhard Hörmann (Aut) Bike Drive/Rapso 32 Peter Dammerer (Aut) Bike Drive/Rapso 33 Peter Brett (Aus) Team Brett 34 Joe Schifano (Aus) Team Brett 35 Jon Spar (Aus) Team Brett 36 Joachim Rintsch (Ger) 37 Toru Watanabe (Jap) 38 Kim Lindberg (Den) 39 Steven Pauwels (Bel) Team www.reevax.be 40 Wolfgang Kristinus (Aut) Team Baustoff & Metall 41 Kurt Poisinger (Aut) 42 Debra Eason (Aus) Team Australia Women 1 Mieke Deroo (Bel) Team Mieke 4.09.00 2 Debra Eason (Aus) Team Australia 3 Carrie Edwards (USA) Light 1 Claudia Kristen (Ger) 2 Phil Best (Aus) 3 Dominic Barber (Aus) General classification after stage 8 1 Jaap Viergever (Ned) Tom Tailor/Santos 36.39.56 2 Kris Lapere (Bel) Cycling Team Limburg 26.20 3 Jurji Robic (Slo) Team Robic 39.09 4 Phil Anderson (Aus) Dream Team 1.02.00 5 Clemens Mühsinger (Ger) 1.21.26 6 Oyvind Aas (Nor) Team Kelly/Hi5 Norway 1.53.01 7 Thomas Riegler (Aut) Team Riegler 1.58.38 8 Bart Bosmans (Bel) Cycling Team Limburg 2.30.37 9 Martin Kellermann (Aut) 2.31.33 10 Filip Claes (Bel) 3.03.58 11 Paul Meyvis (Bel) 3.12.02 12 Peter Paelinck (Bel) Team www.reevax.be 3.48.57 13 Hans Henrik Nielsen (Den) 3.54.28 14 Adrian Laing (Aus) Team Brett 4.18.49 15 Dominiek Sacre (Bel) Team www.reevax.be 4.41.05 16 Bart Schols (Bel) 4.51.34 17 Peter Nejsig (Den) 5.21.00 18 Dennis Teeuwen (Ned) Tom Tailor/Santos 5.31.26 19 Anthony Michelle (Aus) Team Brett 6.15.19 20 Theo Molenbrugge (Ned) Tom Tailor/Santos 7.47.48 21 Rudi Donckers (Bel) Cycling Team Limburg 8.02.12 22 Mieke Deroo (Bel) Team Mieke 8.27.21 23 Wouter Declercq (Bel) Team Mieke 8.32.24 24 David Olle (Aus) Dream Team 8.48.44 25 Jack Oldfield (Aus) 9.47.04 26 Charles Blanc (Fra) 10.52.52 27 Peter Brett (Aus) Team Brett 14.06.29 28 Jon Spar (Aus) Team Brett 14.12.16 29 Ronny Potter (Bel) 15.25.34 30 Steven Pauwels (Bel) Team www.reevax.be 17.12.24 31 Peter Dammerer (Aut) Bike Drive/Rapso 17.33.52 32 Reinhard Hörmann (Aut) Bike Drive/Rapso 17.50.18 33 Joachim Rintsch (Ger) 18.12.29 34 Franz Hartmann (Aut) Bike Drive/Rapso 18.28.10 35 Kim Lindberg (Den) 18.42.17 36 Wolfgang Kristinus (Aut) Team Baustoff & Metall 18.52.35 37 Carrie Edwards (USA) 19.09.27 38 Joe Schifano (Aus) Team Brett 21.35.11 39 Debra Eason (Aus) Team Australia 24.04.48 40 Stefan Schlett (Ger) 24.08.47 41 Toru Watanabe (Jap) 25.30.36 42 Kurt Poisinger (Aut) 26.05.39 Women classification 1 Debra Eason (Aus) Team Australia 50.44.44 2 Mieke Deroo (Bel) Team Mieke 3 Carrie Edwards (USA) Light classification 1 Claudia Kristen (Ger) 2 Phil Best (Aus) 3 Dominic Barber (Aus) Points classification 1 Jaap Viergever (Ned) Tom Tailor/Santos 120 pts 2 Jurji Robic (Slo) Team Robic 75 3 Kris Lapere (Bel) Cycling Team Limburg 66 4 Phil Anderson (Aus) Dream Team 52 5 Bart Bosmans (Bel) Cycling Team Limburg 35 6 Dennis Teeuwen (Ned) Tom Tailor/Santos 20 7 Clemens Mühsinger (Ger) 17 8 Filip Claes (Bel) 15 9 Oyvind Aas (Nor) Team Kelly/Hi5 Norway 7 9 Peter Paelinck (Bel) Team www.reevax.be 7 11 Hans Henrik Nielsen (Den) 2
