 |
Results & Report
Course Map
 |
Liege - Bastogne - Liege
86th Liege-Bastogne-Liege - CDM
Belgium, April 16, 2000
Mapei still too good
 |
Italian Paolo Bettini's win was not entirely unexpected, although he was not placed with the top favourites and Axel Merckx's fifth placing was hard earned, showing that Wednesday's Flèche Wallone result (10th, but in the final break) was no fluke. The team has certainly recovered from its disappointment at the Ronde van Vlaanderen when they had no-one in the top 20.
The early action in today's race started after the first climb, the Côte de Saint-Roch at 81 kilometres. After Richard Virenque (Polti) gained the prize for being the first over the top, a group of 10 riders escaped after the descent. These were later joined by six more, including Andrea Tafi (Mapei), Udo Bölts (Telekom), Grischa Niermann (Rabobank), Matthew White (Vini Caldirola), Christophe Moreau (Festina) and Bobby Julich (CA), Andreas Klier (Farm Frites), Luca Mazzanti (Fassa Bortolo), Kurt van de Wouwer (Lotto), and Jacob Moe Rasmussen (MC-J&J). No riders from Davide Rebellin's Liquigas team or Laurent Jalabert's ONCE team, and these two forces were chasing at the front of the peloton.
 |
Twenty riders remained after this climb and things really started to sort out. Bettini, Camenzind and Jalabert were involved in a brief move, but were caught by the bottom of La Redoute through the efforts of Maarten den Bakker (Rabobank, 3rd last year).
Another more promising break formed a few kilometres later, with David Etxebarria (ONCE), Wladimir Belli (Fassa Bortolo), Bettini (again) and Rebellin. Although Etxebarria had no interest in making it work, the remaining three managed to maintain a 20 second advantage over the peloton, which was peppered with attacks from Rabobank (den Bakker) and Telekom's Vinokourov who get away. No-one was willing to let Jalabert go of course, and he wasn't strong enough to ride away on his own. Mauro Gianetti (Vini Caldirola) and Axel Merckx (Mapei) bridged up to form another quartet chasing the front four.
 |
Rebellin was trying to keep the pace up, as Bettini had Merckx behind and Etxebarria refused to work. He attempted an attack within the final kilometre but this was fruitless and it came down to a three up sprint. Bettini managed to beat the fresher Etxebarria for the win, with an exhausted Rebellin coming in third. Belli aqcuitted himself well in fourth in front of Merckx and Gianetti, followed by Vino and den Bakker who held off the peloton led home by Casagrande (VC) and Jalabert (ONCE). The latter having a little compensation for not making the break.
It was a day for the 'second stringers', as predicted by a few although winner Paolo Bettini is certainly more than a super-domestique. In Mapei though, everything is relative and everyone gets their chance if they are prepared to wait.
Results
1 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 6.28.32 (40.769 km/h) 2 David Etxebarria (Spa) ONCE Deutsche Bank 3 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Liquigas Pata 4 Wladimir Belli (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 0.10 5 Axel Merckx (Bel) Mapei-Quick Step 0.12 6 Mauro Gianetti (Swi) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 0.30 7 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Team Deutsche Telek 0.33 8 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Rabobank 0.40 9 Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 0.44 10 Laurent Jalabert (Fra) ONCE Deutsche Bank 0.48 11 Dario Frigo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 12 Peter Farazijn (Bel) Cofidis 1.06 13 Oskar Camenzind (Swi) Lampre Daikin 1.12 14 Markus Zberg (Swi) Rabobank 15 Zbigniew Spruch (Pol) Lampre Daikin 16 Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto Adecco 17 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 18 Christian Vandevelde (USA) US Postal Service 19 Marco Velo (Ita) Mercatone Uno 20 Unai Osa (Spa) Banesto 1.16 21 Laurent Dufaux (Swi) Saeco-Valli&Valli 22 Niki Aebersold (Swi) Rabobank 1.25 23 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 3.14 24 Geert Verheyen (Bel) Lotto Adecco 3.20 25 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Team Polti 26 Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) Banesto 27 Alessandro Spezialetti (Ita) Liquigas Pata 28 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto Adecco 3.22 29 Steve Vermaut (Bel) US Postal Service 3.23 30 Tyler Hamilton (USA) US Postal Service 31 Victor Hugo Pena (Col) Vitalicio Seguros 32 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 33 Martin Rittsel (Swe) Memorycard-Jack&Jones 3.31 34 Jens Voigt (Ger) Credit Agricole 4.58 35 Raimondas Rumsas (Ltu) Fassa Bortolo 6.26 36 Xavier Jan (Fra) La Francaise Des Jeux 6.28 37 Steven Kleynen (Bel) Farm Frites 6.35 38 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Banesto 7.16 39 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 7.34 40 Massimiliano Lelli (Ita) Cofidis 41 Serguei Ivanov (Rus) Farm Frites 42 Giuseppe Di Grande (Ita) Festina 43 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Festina 44 Steve De Wolf (Bel) Cofidis 45 Juan Cuenca (Spa) Kelme Costa Blanca 46 Philip Vereecke (Bel) Ville De Charleroi 47 Oscar Mason (Ita) Mercatone Uno 48 Inigo Cuesta (Spa) ONCE Deutsche Bank 49 Roland Meier (Swi) Cofidis 50 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Ag2R Prevoyance 51 Serge Baguet (Bel) Lotto Adecco 52 Thomas Brozyna (Pol) Banesto 53 Michel Lafis (Swe) Farm Frites 54 Armin Meier (Swi) Saeco-Valli&Valli 55 Igor Pugaci (Mda) Saeco-Valli&Valli 56 Andrei Tchmil (Bel) Lotto Adecco 57 Christophe Brandt (Bel) Saeco-Valli&Valli 58 Bobby Julich (USA) Credit Agricole 59 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Team Polti 60 Cédric Vasseur (Fra) US Postal Service 61 Juan Carlos Vicario (Spa) Vitalicio Seguros 62 Matthias Kessler (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 63 Marco Serpellini (Ita) Lampre Daikin 64 Daniele De Paoli (Ita) Mercatone Uno 65 Andrea Tafi (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 66 Jens Heppner (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 67 José Javier Gomez (Spa) Kelme Costa Blanca 68 Fabian Jeker (Swi) Festina 69 Stéphane Heulot (Fra) La Francaise Des Jeux 70 Dmitri Konyshev (Rus) Fassa Bortolo 71 Mikel Zarrabeitia (Spa) ONCE Deutsche Bank 72 Gabriele Missaglia (Ita) Lampre Daikin 73 Massimo Donati (Ita) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 74 Andrea Ferrigato (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 75 Sebastien Demarbaix (Bel) Lotto Adecco 76 Benoit Salmon (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 77 Marty Jemison (USA) US Postal Service 78 Sergio Barbero (Ita) Lampre Daikin 79 Udo Bölts (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 80 Jörg Jaksche (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 81 Richard Virenque (Fra) Team Polti 82 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 83 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Lotto Adecco 84 Patrick Jonker (Ned) US Postal Service 85 Alberto Elli (Ita) Team Deutsche Telekom 86 Jorgen Bo Petersen (Den) Ville De Charleroi 87 Rolf Huser (Swi) Festina 88 Luca Mazzanti (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 89 Giuliano Figueras (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 90 Johan Museeuw (Bel) Mapei-Quick Step 91 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Farm Frites 92 Marcelino Garcia Alonso (Spa) ONCE Deutsche Bank 93 Matthew White (Aus) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 7.51 94 Pedro Horrillo (Spa) Vitalicio Seguros 10.41 95 Ricardo Otxoa (Spa) Kelme Costa Blanca 96 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) ONCE Deutsche Bank 97 Vincent Cali (Fra) Ville De Charleroi 98 Marco Della Vedova (Ita) Lampre Daikin 99 Juan Miguel Mercado (Spa) Vitalicio Seguros 100 Franco Ballerini (Ita) Lampre Daikin 101 David Delrieu (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 102 Marc Lotz (Ned) Rabobank 103 Rossano Brasi (Ita) Team Polti 104 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 105 Guido Trentin (Ita) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 106 Filippo Casagrande (Ita) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 186 starters 106 classified
World Cup Standings after round 4:
1 Erik Zabel (Ger) 190 pts 2 Johan Museeuw (Bel) 111 3 Andrei Tchmil (Bel) 110 4 Paolo Bettini (Ita) 100 5 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) 94 6 Fabio Baldato (Ita) 84 7 Zbigniew Spruch (Pol) 82 8 Romans Vainsteins (Let) 82 9 Tristan Hoffman (Ned) 76 10 David Etxebarria (Spa) 70 11 Dario Pieri (Ita) 70 12 Davide Rebellin (Ita) 50 13 Oscar Freire (Spa) 50 14 George Hincapie (USA) 41 15 Wladimir Belli (Ita) 40 16 Markus Zberg (Swi) 40 17 Axel Merckx (Bel) 36 18 Serguei Ivanov (Rus) 36 19 Stefano Zanini (Ita) 36 20 Rolf Soerensen (Den) 36 Teams: 1 Mapei 37 pts 2 Rabobank 34 3 Fassa Bortolo 27 4 Lampre 22 5 Farm Frites 18 6 Telekom 17 7 ONCE 12 8 Lotto 12 9 US Postal 12 10 Vini Caldirola 9 11 Polti 8 12 La Française des Jeux 8 13 Vitalicio 6 14 Banesto 3 15 Cofidis 3