GP Lillers (Bruno Comini), Cat 1.5

France, March 14, 1999

1998 Results     Past Winners

Brief

This race is held in the North of France on a flattish route with a loop of hills at around 60km. The noted climb of the Estree-Blanche is where the decisive moves tend to be made. The race saw a combination of professional and Division II and III teams competing:

France: Cofidis, La Française des Jeux, a mixed Festina-Casino, Team Besson-Nippon Hodo (Div III), VC St Quentin-Oktos-MBK (Div III) and the amateur team VC Roubaix.

Belgium: Lotto-Mobistar, Collstrop-Federale Verzek (Div II), Home Market-Charleroi (Div II), Tönissteiner-RDM-Colnago-Elro (Div II) and the amateur teams Kortrijk Groeninghe Spurters, Charleroi and Booischot.

Other teams included Chicky World from Denmark (Div II), the Dutch Axa Cycling Team (Div III) and the German Hohenfelder-Concorde team (Div III).

Stéephane David reports that the race started under a sunny sky in the centre of the small town of Lillers near to Béthune. Just before the start it was announced that there had been a motor accident near to Lillers involving Cédric Vasseur's younger brother who was scheduled to ride this race with his team VC Roubaix. He was unable to ride but it was reported that his injuries were not serious.

The first attacking move came from Angelo Van Melis (Axa Cycling Team) but he was soon brought back. Then a more serious move involved 4 riders who created the first genuine break after just 10 kms of 172. The riders - Bert Roesems and Davy Delme (Tönissteiner-Colnago), Manu Lhoir (Lotto-Mobistar) and New Calendonian Jean-Michel Tessier (La Française des Jeux) worked well together but soon broke up with only Delme remaining alone at the front of the race. The gap steadily grew until at km 50 he had his (maximum) advantage of 4.10. At that point Linas Balciunas the Lithuanian rider from the Saint Quentin-Oktos-MBK team rode off the front of the peloton. After 90 kms, he was able to join Delme at the front. The two riders had 2.45 on the peloton. The first two KOM sprints went to Delme but by km 110, the break was over.

Then it was a series of attacks until 18 riders went clear. By the climb of Estree-Blanche (with 36 kms to go) there were only 3 in front - Chris Peers, Björnar Vestöl and Tour of Argentina winner Martin Rittsel from Sweden. They gap to the chasing 15 then grew from 25 seconds to 55 to 1.36 with 20 kms to go.

The top 3 passed by the finishing line with one finishing circuit to ride and an advantage of 3 minutes or more. They were safe and it was down to the last sprint for the three. In the last km, Chris Peers tried to break to avoid the sprint but the 2 Scandinavians were able to match his move. In the sprint the Norwegian Björnar Vestöl beats Peers and Rittsel.

Race distance 176 kms:

 1. Björnar Vestöl (Nor) Acceptcard		    	     4.06.52 (42.780 km/h)
 2. Chris Peers (Bel) Lotto
 3. Martin Rittsel (Swe) Team Chicky World
 4. Damien Nazon (Fra) La Française des Jeux			1.12
 5. Andy Flickinger (Fra) Casino				1.12
 7. Steffen Kjaergaard (Nor) Team Chicky World
 8. Michel Van Haecke (Bel) Tönissteiner-Colnago 
 9. Wim Feys (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar
10. Jean-Michel Thilloy (Fra) Saint Quentin-Oktos-MBK 
11. Wim Van Sevenant (Bel) Collstrop
12. Laurent Pillon (Fra) Home Market-Charleroi
13. Gregory Barbier (Fra) Saint Quentin-Oktos-MBK 
14. Svein Gaute Hölestöl (Nor) Team Chicky World
15. Allan Johansen (Den) Team Chicky World
16. Jean-Michel Tessier (Fra) La Française des Jeux		1.18
17. Rik Claeys (Bel) Kortrijk
18. Bradley McGee (Aus) La Française des Jeux
19. Jimmy Casper (Fra) La Française des Jeux 			1.35
20. Ludovic Capelle (Bel) Home Market-Charleroi 
21. Saulius Ruskis (Lit) Saint Quentin-Oktos-MBK 
22. Jurgen De Buysschere (Bel) Home Market-Charleroi
23. Oleg Kozlitine (Kaz) Saint Quentin-Oktos-MBK 
24. Patrick D'Hondt (Bel) La Française des Jeux
25. Franky De Buyst (Bel) Tönissteiner-Colnago 
26. Janek Tombak (Est) Cofidis
27. Sébastien Van Den Abeele (Bel) Charleroi
28. Mark Tune Madsen (Den) Team Chicky World
29. Soren Petersen (Den) Accept Card Pro Cycling
30. Sylvain Lajoie (Fra) VC Roubaix
31. Christian Hirsch (Ger) Hohenfelder-Concorde
32. Peter Wuyts (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar
33. Danny Daelman (Bel) Collstrop 
34. Danny Baeyens (Bel) Collstrop
35. Koen Beeckman (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar
36. Bart Everaert (Bel) Collstrop
37. Steve De Maeseneer (Bel) Kortrijk Groeninghe Spurters
38. Phil Zajicek (USA) Kortrijk Groeninghe Spurters
39. Joona Laukka (Den) Accept Card Pro Cycling
40. Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) La Française des Jeux
41. Holger Sievers (Ger) Hohenfelder-Concorde
42. Jerôme Bernard (Fra) Home Market-Charleroi
43. Christophe Gauthier (Fra) Besson Chaussures-Nippon Hodo
44. Jacob Moe Rasmussen (Den) Accept Card Pro Cycling
45. Nicolas Fritsch (Fra) Saint Quentin-Oktos-MBK 
46. Manu Lhoir (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar
47. Florent Brard (Fra) Festina-Lotus
48. Nicolas Coudray (Swi) Tönissteiner-Colnago 
49. Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar
50. Fabrice Gougot (Fra) Casino
51. David Lefevre (Fra) Casino
52. Christophe Oriol (Fra) Casino
53. Miika Hietanen (fin) Saint Quentin-Oktos-MBK 
54. Bjarke Nielsen (Den) Team Chicky World
55. Ronny Lerche (Den) Team Chicky World
56. Niki Sörensen (Den) Team Chicky World
57. Bert Roesems (Bel) Tönissteiner-Colnago 
58. Jan Karlsson (Swe) Accept Card Pro Cycling
59. Dennis Rasmussen (Den) Team Chicky World
60. Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar
61. Gilles Maignan (Fra) Casino
62. Torsten Schmidt (Ger) Team Chicky World
63. Sébastien Demarbaix (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar
64. Vincent Cali (Fra) Home Market-Charleroi 			2.02
65. Charles Guilbert (Fra) Home Market-Charleroi
66. Stéphane Cueff (Fra) Home Market-Charleroi
67. Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) Home Market-Charleroi 		8.35
68. Davy Delme (Bel) Tönissteiner-Colnago 			9.51
69. Johan De Geyter (Bel) Tönissteiner-Colnago 
70. Erwin Bollen (Bel) Collstrop
71. Dominique Hennebert (Bel) Charleroi
72. Wesley Debuysser (Bel) Kortrijk Groeninghe Spurters
73. Thierry Masschelein (Fra) Kortrijk Groeninghe Spurters
74. Bart De Trooyer (Bel) Kortrijk Groeninghe Spurters
75. David De Wulf (Bel) VC Roubaix
76. Philippe Mauduit (Fra) Besson Chaussures-Nippon Hodo
77. Takehiro Mizutani (Jap) Besson Chaussures-Nippon Hodo
78. Benoit Luminet (Fra) Besson Chaussures-Nippon Hodo
79. Linas Balciunas (Lit) Saint Quentin-Oktos-MBK 
80. Vincent Van Thielen (Bel) Charleroi
81. Sergei Yakovlev (Kaz) Besson Chaussures-Nippon Hodo
82. Kristof Johansen (Swe) Tönissteiner-Colnago 
83. Roméo Hernandez (Bel) Home Market-Charleroi
84. Cédric Dedoncker (Fra) VC Roubaix
85. Masahiko Mifune (Jap) Tönissteiner-Colnago 
86. Andreas Riedel (Ger) Hohenfelder-Concorde
87. Sven Biermann (Ger) Hohenfelder-Concorde
88. Robert Regeling (Ned) Hohenfelder-Concorde
89. Nathan Dahlberg (NZ) Hohenfelder-Concorde
90. Maurice Van Rijn (Ned) Hohenfelder-Concorde
91. Eddy Torrekens (Bel) Tönissteiner-Colnago			9.51

Past Winners

1981    Jean-Philippe Pipart (Fra)
1982    Jean-Philippe Pipart (Fra) 
1983    Rudy Ansens (Ned)
1987    Yvvan Frebert (Fra)
1988    Bruno Bonnet (Fra)
1989    William Perard (GB)
1990    Jean-Francois Laffillé (Fra)
1991    Jean-Francois Laffillé (Fra)
1992    Bennie Gosink (Ned)
1993    Jeroen Blijlevens (Ned)
1994    
1995    Gregory Barbier (Fra) 
1996    Nico Eeckhout (Bel)
1997    Nico Eeckhout (Bel)
1998    Gert Verheyen (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar 182 kms in 4.21.12
1999	Björnar Vestöl (Nor) Acceptcard 176 kms in 4.06.52 (42.780 km/h)

Mario Stiehl from Berlin compiles the winner's lists