HEW-Cyclassics Cup - CDMHamburg, Germany, August 6, 2000Complete Live Report11:30 - Actual start time 11:47 CET- 12.0 km The riders are off on the 2000 edition of the HEW Cyclassics Cup, Hamburg. A total of 251 kilometres have to be covered, most of it in a figure eight loop, before two laps of a 41 kilometre finishing circuit. The start is quite calm, with Mapei's Paolo Bettini experiencing a few mechanical difficulties. He is OK though, and he should be happy as well - he signed a three year contract with the team recently (until 2003). 11:53 - km 14.0 Soren Petersen (Team Cologne) is the first to attack, and he gets a 30 second gap to the steadily moving peloton. In the peloton, Mapei's Oscar Freire has a puncture, but he quickly gets back in. 12:04 - km 21.0 Petersen is well ahead now, pushing the gap to two minutes and beyond. Today is a day where the second division teams like Cologne can have some exposure in a World Cup race, and Petersen will try and make the most of it. The weather is typically German: 15 degrees Celsius, light rain and a NW wind. 12:22 - km 34.0 Sören Petersen (Cologne), perhaps bouyed by his compatriot Rolf Sörensen's success in the Tour of Denmark, has taken a flyer. He leads the main peloton with all the favourites by over 5 and a half minutes after 34 kilometres. He will have his day in the sun - or the rain as is the case at the moment. 12:48 - km 54.0 Petersen shows no sign of abating, and he now has a lead near to 10 minutes. The peloton appear to be quite relaxed while Petersen is averaging around 42 km/h. Maybe they are celebrating Marcel Wüst's birthday, as he is 33 today. He is from Cologne, but rides for Festina. 13:06 - km 67.0 While the field lags some 7 kilometres behind, Sören Petersen is forging ahead, cheered on by thousands of German fans that have lined the route, in spite of the weather. 13:33 - km 81.0 After two hours of racing, Dane Sören Petersen (Cologne) has got a quarter of an hour lead to the large, compact peloton. Sören is averaging 39.5 km/h, while the bunch is cruising at about 35-36 km/h. There's still a lot of riding to be done though - another 170 kilometres including a few short but sharp climbs. 14:01 - km 90.0 Some action at last in the main field: Luca Scinto and Andrea Tafi (Mapei) put in an attack to stir things up, but they do not last long. A few riders in the bunch take some time out to answer the call of nature. 14:16 - km 98.0 Tafi attacks again now, although he has little hope of catching Petersen. The field allow him some freedom and he gets 52 seconds. 14:23 - 103.0 km Andrea Tafi has gone away now, quickly gaining three minutes on the disinterested (as yet) peloton. Petersen's gap is now clos to 23 minutes, and climbing! 148 kilometres left to travel for the Dane. 14:34 - 110.0 km Tafi is putting his best effort in here, riding flat out to pave the way for himself and his team. The Italian champion of 1998, and winner of Paris-Roubaix in 1999 is an expert at fast tempo riding, on his own or at the head of the peloton. At the moment, he's on his own and enjoying the freedom. 14:58 - 127.0 km The 251 km race has reached its halfway point now, and the situation is essentially the same: Cologne's Sören Petersen is way out in front, while Andrea Tafi rides some 19 minutes behind him, and two and a half in front of the main field. An attack from Andy Flickinger (Festina) and Jan Boven (Rabobank) fails to produce anything. 15:22 - 145.0 km The tempo is starting to lift now, as Petersen's lead shrinks through the efforts of Tafi. The Mapei rider is holding the peloton at 2 and a half minutes, but pulling Petersen back at a great rate. In the main peloton, Telekom is setting tempo as expected. 15:47 - 160.0 km Tafi's efforts have certainly helped force the peloton into action, as the gap has come down to just over 14 minutes with 91 kilometres to go. Petersen passes through the start/finish line to a huge round of applause from the crowd. Tafi is caught just before the 160 kilometre point. 16:00 - 177.0 km/74 km to go The results of the Waseberg climb were: 1. Soren Petersen (Cologne), 2. Andrea Tafi (Mapei) and 3. Paolo Bettini (Mapei). Petersen will realise his team's goal of some TV exposure, as the live coverage starts at 16:00. He is now on the first of two 41 kilometre finishing circuits that go via Eimsbüttel, Lurup, Blankenese und St.Pauli. 16:09 - 184.0 km/67 km to go Petersen also took the sprint prime for the first rider across the start/finish. Second was Liquigas' Denis Zanette (Ita) Liquigas-Pata and third was Stephen de Jongh (Rabobank). The main field are really riding hard now, and Petersen's large gap is quickly evaporating. At the start finish, two riders choose to abandon: Festina's Nicolas Reynaud and Memorycard's Jakob Storm-Piil. 16:18 - 186.0 km/65 km to go Soren Petersen's attack has lasted nearly 180 kilometres after he went at kilometre 10. He will probably get caught before he can make it to the final finishing lap though. In the peloton: Tchmil, Ullrich and Aldag are there with about 30 other riders. 16:30 - 195.0 km/56 km to go The gap is just over two minutes now, as Petersen ascends the 16% grade Waseberg. Aldag's riding is doing the job for Telekom. 16:50 - 210.0 km/41 km to go Mapei's Liege-Bastogne-Liege winner, and Tour de France stage winner, Paolo Bettini has attacked, and now has a 20 second lead on the peloton. 16:55 - 213.0 km/38 km to go Bettini is caught before the start finish, and there is a counter move by Oscar Freire Mapei), who takes Marc Wauters (Rabobank) with him 16:58 - 215.0 km/36 km to go Bettini is caught before the start finish, and there is a counter move by Oscar Freire Mapei), who takes Marc Wauters (Rabobank) with him. They are joined by Ag2r's Christophe Agnolutto and are looking dangerous. 17.10 - 223 km/28 km to go The top trio had as most 30 seconds but now the gap is shrinking rapidly due to the work of Telekom. 17.15 - 227 km/24 km to go Thierry Marichal (Lotto) tried to bridge for a while but was soon back in the field. The top trio is falling apart. Only Agnulotto last for a little while. 17.23 - 232 km/19 km to go Agnulotto caught. Approaching the Waseberg climb speed lessening a bit. Everybody is waiting for a last chance to attack on the climb. 17:30 - 235 km/16 km to go With one km left of the climb Vainsteins (Vini Caldirola) attacks. A bit surprising since he is a good sprinter. The field is shrinking rapidly on the climb. 17:35 - 240 km/11 km to go Vainsteins was caught by Museeuw (Mapei) and the passed the top of the Waseberg in that order with Ullrich heading the peloton that soon caught the duo. Some 35 riders persist in the peloton, Zabel is of course still along. 17.40 - 243 km/8 km to go Telekom's Erik Zabel is of course the favourite in the upcoming sprint. Vainstains is also a good sprinter but might have wasted himself on the climb. Freire, if he still is along, should also be able to challenge the German as he did in Milan-San Remo. But with eight kilometres to go Andrej Tchmil is attacking. He is the right man for an attack at this stage. He won the Tour of Flanders in that fashion earlier this year. 17.45 - 249 km/2 km to go Casagrande and Missaglia attacks when Tschmil is caught and they get a good gap and are still ahead with two kilometres to go. 17.50 251 km - Finish Mapei and Telekom worked hard to get the two attackers but without success. Gabriele Missaglia (Lampre) beat Francesco Casagrande (Vini Caldirola) in the two up sprint. Fabio Baldato (Fassa Bortolo) managed to beat Zabel for third but the German takes an even firmer grip on the World Cup. Results 1. Gabriele Missaglia (Ita) Lampre Daikin 6.17.22 2. Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Vini Caldirola - Sidermec 3. Fabio Baldato (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 0.02 4. Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 5. Thor Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole 6. Gabriele Balducci (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 7. Marco Zanotti (Ita) Liquigas - Pata 8. Massimiliano Mori (Ita) Saeco - Valli & Valli 9. Magnus Bäckstedt (Swe) Credit Agricole 10. Romans Vainsteins (Lat) Vini Caldirola - Sidermec |