1997 Results
Brief:Hans De Meester finally gave his supporters something to cheer about after he took the two-person sprint victory against Michel Vanhaecke. He was rewarded in the end for his hard work. He has lost count of the number of times he has been highly placed. He gave his strongest performance in the National Championship on July 5.For this race in Sint-Niklaas, he was at his best but had to contend with Vanhaecke in the final kms of the race. Earlier, there had been a large attacking move at the 20 kms mark involving some 26 riders. They quickly established a lead of 2 minutes but the Collstrop riders worked hard and brought it down to around 30 seconds. Then 4 riders attacked: Danny Baeyens, Johan Verstrepen, Etienne De Wilde and Koen Beeckman, but they could not get away and a new leading group of 19 formed. In the final kms, Ludo Dierickxsens gave it everything but he was also countered. Then Michel Vanhaecke and Hans De Meester made their jump from the peloton. Sint-Niklaas, 160 kms:1. Hans De Meester (Bel) Tonnisteiner-Colnago 3.33.10 2. Michel Van Haecke (Bel) Ipso 3. Bart Heirewegh (Bel) Ipso 0.10 4. Jans Koerts (Ned) Rabobank 5. Mario De Clercq (Bel) Palmans-Ideal 6. Koen Beeckman (Bel) Ipso 7. Ludo Dierckxsens (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar 8. Johan Verstrepen (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 9. Wim Omloop (Bel) Spar-RDM 10. Geert Glorieux (Bel) Elite 11. Stephane Hennebert (Bel) Ipso 12. Hans De Clercq (Bel) Palmans-Ideal 13. Danny Baeyens (Bel) Collstrop 14. Matthew Gilmore (Aus) Spar-RDM 0.30 15. Eric De Clercq (Bel) Collstrop 16. Rik Van Slycke (Bel) Spar-RDM 0.50 17. Peter De Corte (Bel) Elite 18. Pascal Lievens (Bel) Elite 19. Andy De Smet (Bel) Ipso 2.40 20. Lorenzo Lapage (Bel) Collstrop 21. Brian Dalgaard Jensen (Den) Spar-RDM 22. Tim Lenaers (Bel) Collstrop 23. Patrick Van Hoolandt (Bel) Elite 24. Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar 25. Michel Cornelisse (Ned) Spar-RDM 26. Yves Petereyns (Bel) Elite 27. Oleg Pankov (Ukr) Ipso 28. Patrick D'Hont (Bel) La Francaise des Jeux 29. Sammy Vercruysse (Bel) Elite 30. Kurt De Roose (Bel) Elite s.t. Started: 84 |