1997 Results
Teams
Report
Results
Preview:After 8 years, the GP Rik Van Steenbergen has finally grown up. In place of a post-Tour race for guest riders, is a hungry peloton who are finalising their preparation for the National Championships this coming weekend. Four days prior to the Championship races throughout Europe, the main contenders in each country are in Aartselaar to contest this race. This very fast race over tough roads is an ideal springboard for the weekend.Last year, the semi-classic had an impressive starting list and also there were paid-riders like Ullrich and Zabel who used the race more as rest because they were both contracted to race in Maastricht later in the day in the Ritterronde. (Ullrich did not start in Maastricht). Luckily, Johan Museeuw and Andrei Tchmil created a memorable finale, but it remains that there was a bitter feeling. That is now gone. The shift of the Tour de France to July 11 has given the organisation problems with the usual date - the first Wednesday in August. Spokesperson Rene Vermeiren has reacted enthusiastically. Why not put the race on in the week before the National Championships? An ideal time for the aspiring riders to fine-tune and also an uncontested slot on the calendar. The results can be seen from the starting list. Tchmil and Planckaert, Steels and Vandenbroucke, Svorada and Zanini, Leoni and Loda, Ugrumov and Berzin, Zberg and Aebersold, Baldato and Casagranda, Zabel and Lombardi, Blijlevens and Capiot, Bomans and Hoj: a better peloton that Aartselaar may have ever seen. There will be thousands of spectators and lots of early attacks. It is to be hoped that there are no falls. In his own home town, Charles Palmans is hoping that his own team wins the race. He is banking on Frank Hoj, who is having his best year yet, with wins in Veenendaal, Hoboken and most recently the Franco Belge. Palmans has in Hoj, a very talented rider who is in top condition. After the race, Hoj will travel to Copenhagen for his national Championship. But in this race he is up against a number of very fast riders. The race route is as follows: Aartselaar, start at 12.05 via Rumst, Duffel, Walem, Battel (12.30), Heffen, Heidonk, Leest, Kapelle op den Bos (13.08), Nieuwenrode, Grimbergen, Sint-Brixius Rode, Strombeek, Heizel-Atomium (13.30), Wemmel, Meise, Merchtem (14.00), Steenhuffel, Meise, Londerzeel, Ramsdonk (14.30), Breendonk - bevoorrading (14.37), Liezele, Puurs, Hingene, Eikenvliet, Ruisbroek, Boom (15.26), Reet, Aartselaar. Then first time around finishing circuit (15.32) - 3 20 kms laps Kontich, Reet, Aartselaar. Second lap at 158.5 kms (16.03), third laps at 179.5 kms (16.34), then finish at 200 kms (17.06) Brief:Tom Steels may not be the Mapei sprinter in the Tour after he once again failed to show that he is riding fast at the end of a race. And his teammate, Jan Svorada showed in the GP Van Steenbergen that he has the legs to beat the best of them.Jan Svorada, who is nearly 30-years old, was the strongest in the final stages of the race solo after receiving fabulous support from teammate Bart Leysen. Svorada has not appeared on the winner's list for a Belgian race before. Since his entry into professional cycling he has ridden in Italian teams and he rarely comes to Flanders to ride. Also since he has been with Mapei the Belgian interest has been in Tom Steels as the major sprinter for Belgian races. But Steels is not in good form at present and the Czech champion is aiming at a Tour spot. He scored his 6th win for the season and is in great form. "I have the Tour of Switzerland in my legs, but a race as fast as this was ideal preparation for the Czech Championship. It was also notable that in the final stages of the race I was very strong when I launched the attack with Tcmil and Planckaert from the top group. Luckily Bart Leysen worked hard for me in the top group. After Tchmil had attacked fromt he group, Bart worked for a full 5 kms to bring back the gap. For hard work, no-one can go with him. And in the sprint I just worried about myself. Who was second?" Now, that was Andrei Tchmil, last year's winner. The GP Van Steenbergen seems to attrack East European winners. In the 8 editions to date the victories have gone to was Olaf Ludwig (ex-DDR), Djamolidine Abdujaparov (Uzbek), Tchmil (then a Russian) and now Jan Svorada (ex-Slovaak, now Czech who lives in Brno). The Van Steenbergen was fast from start to finish. Ludo Dierckxsens - who is making is return after a bad break in his hand - tried to force the pace. But after 120 kms there were still 19 riders leading: Detilloux, Daelman, Volar, Vanderaerden, De Meester, Torrekens, Willems, Leysen, Van Petegem, Wegmann, Heirewegh, Hammond, Scheldeprijs winner Servais Knaven, Zanini, Ugrumov, Mengin, Schmidt, Pauwels and Gilmore. A pretty mixed group who had a 2 minute lead on the chasing peloton when they came through Aartselaar for the first of three finishing laps. But Vlaanderen 2002 and then Lotto worked frantically and reduced the gap to 30 seconds. The scene was being set for the strong duo of Lotto, Tchmil and Planckaert. But while all eyes were on them, Jan Svorada was the strongest. Aartselaar, 200 kms:1. Jan Svorada (Cze) Mapei-Bricobi 4.32.21 (44.118) 2. Andrei Tchmil (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar 3. Peter Van Petegem (Bel) TVM-Farm Frites 4. Roger Hammond (GB) Palmans-Ideal 5. Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Ballan 6. Jo Planckaert (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar 7. Fabio Baldo (Ita) Riso Scotti 8. Eddy Torrekens (Bel) Tönnisteiner-Colnago 0.03 9. Eric De Clercq (Bel) Collstrop 10. Karl Pauwels (Bel) Palmans-Ideal 0.06 11. Bart Leysen (Bel) Mapei-Bricobi 0.18 12. Hans De Meester (Bel) Tönnisteiner-Colnago 0.53 13. Carlo Bomans (Bel) Palmans-Ideal 14. Stephane Hennebert (Bel) Ipso 15. Hendrik Van Dijck (Bel) 0.59 16. Tom Steels (Bel) Mapei-Bricobi 17. Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) La Francaise des Jeux 18. Jean-Pierre Heynderickx (Bel) Home Market-Charleroi 19. Wim Omloop (Bel) Spar-RDM 20. Endrio Leoni (Ita) Ballan 21. Christophe Detilloux (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar 22. Olaf Pollack (Ger) Agro-Adler Brandenburg 23. Matthew Gilmore (Aus) Spar-RDM 24. Ludovic Capelle (Bel) Home Market-Charleroi 25. Arne Hohenstein (Ger) Agro-Adler 26. Johan Verstrepen (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 27. Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 28. Franky De Buyst (Bel) Tönnisteiner-Colnago 29. Danny Daelman (Bel) Collstrop 30. Mario De Clercq (Bel) Palmans-Ideal Teams and Main RidersLotto-Mobistar: Tchmil, Detilloux, De Waele, De Wolf, Dierckxsens, Feys, Marichal, Peers, Planckaert, Willems.Mapei: Steels, Vandenbroucke, Ballerini, Leysen, Peeters, Mattan, Svorada, Zanini. Agro Adler: Blockwitz, Grabsch, Podlesch. Ballan: Ugrumov, Leoni, Loda, Tossato. Collstrop: Baeyens, Bracke, Daelman, De Clercq, Lenaers. Continentale: Beikirch, Wegmann. Home Market: Bouillon, Assez, Brentjens, Meirhaeghe, Debuysschere. Ipso: Beeckman, Heirewegh, Vanhaecke, Volar, Verbeken. La Française des Jeux: D'Hont, Berzin, Mengin, Nazon, Morelle. Lada: Ganeev, Zakirov. Palmans-Ideal: Bomans, Hans and Mario De Clercq, Hammond, Hoj, Janssens, Pauwels, Spaenhoven, Vanderaerden, Vermeersch. Post Swiss: Zberg, Aebersold, Huser. Riso Scotti: Baldato, Bobrik, Casagranda, Ferrari. Spar: Claeys, Geert and Wim Omloop, De Wilde, Gilmore. Team Deutsche Telekom: Zabel, Aldag, Henn, Lombardi, Schaffrath, Wesemann, Baldinger. Team Nürnberger: Zemke, Weissmann, Diewald. Tönissteiner: De Meester, Herijgers, Hordijk, De Buyst. TVM-Farm Frites: Blijlevens, Capiot, De Jongh, Hoffman, Knaven, Van Bondt, Van Dyck, Van Petegem. Vlaanderen 2002: Cretskens, Gerits, Hoste, Renders, Trouvé, Vanfrachem, Vereecke, Vermaut, Verstrepen, Wuyts. |