Vuelta a Andalucia (Ruta del Sol) - Cat. 2.3

Spain, February 13-17, 2000

Preview

The Vuelta a Andalucia (Ruta del Sol) 2000 is the second of the Spanish early season stage races after the Mallorca Challenge, which finished three days ago. The Ruta del Sol, as it is more commonly known runs for five stages over a corresponding number of days, starting on February 13. The race has 10 climbs between 600 and 1200 meters (in the first stage there are 4 climbs). The Queen-stage is on Tuesday, February 15, with a finish on top of the Alto de Santuario (1000 m). Because of the agression in El Ejido against Moroccan immigrant agricultural workers, the organisation expect some trouble along the route. They have drawn up a complete alternative race route, should this eventuate.

A total of 152 riders have signed up for this year's tour, from 19 teams of 8 riders, including all the major Spanish outfits (ONCE, Kelme, Vitalicio Seguros, Banesto, Euskaltel, Relax and Costa del Almeria). The remaining teams are the 'foreigners', Telekom, Lotto, Palmans, Rabobank, Farm Frites, Nürnberger, Memory Card, Festina, Cofidis, Mapei, Mercatone Uno and finally, the US Postal Service.

Last year's winner, Pascal Javier (Kelme) will be there to try an defend his title, along with notables such as Igor González de Galdeano, David Extebarría, Erik Zabel, Michele Bartoli and Frank Vandenbroucke. There will be no Pantani as yet - he has put his return off until March, with the Tour of Murcia or the Tour of Valencia.

Stage List

Stage 1 - February 13: Almeria - Almeria, 160 km
Stage 2 - February 14: Castell de Ferro - Costa Benalmadena, 149 km
Stage 3 - February 15: Malaga - Santuario Nuestra Sra Sierra Cabarga, 165 km
Stage 4 - February 16: Cordova Jaen, 185 km
Stage 5 - February 17: Luque- Granada, 137 km

Start List

Kelme-Costa Blanca

1 Javier Pascual Rodriguez (Esp)
2 Francisco Cabello (Esp)
3 Javier Ochoa (Esp)
4 Ricardo Ochoa (Esp)
5 Antonio Tauler (Esp)
6 Aitor Gonzalez (Esp)
7 Juan Manuel Cuenca (Esp)
8 Eligio Requejo (Esp)

Vitalicio Seguros

11 Igor Gonzalez (Esp)
12 Santiago Blanco (Esp)
13 Francisco JavieCerezo (Esp)
14 Pedro Horrillo (Esp)
15 Ramon Medina (Esp)
16 Juan Miguel Mercado (Esp)
17 Elio Aggiano (Ita)
18 José Luis Rebollo (Esp)

ONCE-Deutsche Bank

21 David Etxebarria (Esp)
22 Mikel Zarrabeitia (Esp)
23 Marcos A. Serrano (Esp)
24 Peter Luttenberger (Aut)
25 Miguel Angel Pe¥A (Esp)
26 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra)
27 David Canada (Esp)
28 Marcelino Garcia (Esp)

Lotto-Adecco

31 Andrei Tchmil (Bel)
32 Mario Aerts (Bel)
33 Thierry Marichal (Bel)
34 Jacky Durand (Fra)
35 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel)
36 Fabian De Waele (Bel)
37 Geert Verheyen (Bel)
38 Sébastien Demarbaix (Bel)

Euskaltel-Euskadi

41 Gorka Arrizabalaga (Esp)
42 Ruben Diaz De Ceiro (Esp)
43 Unai Etxebarria (Ven)
44 Bingen Fernandez (Esp)
45 Igor Flores (Esp)
46 Iker Flores (Esp)
47 Albertlopez De Munain (Esp)
48 Samuel Sanchez (Esp)

Us Postal Service

51 Tyler Hamilton (Usa)
52 Kevin Livingston (Usa)
53 Patrick Jonker (Ned)
54 Steve Vermaut (Bel)
55 Dylan Casey (Usa)
56 Benoit Joachim (Lux)
57 Jamie Burrow (Gbr)
58 Kirk O'bee (Usa)

Rabobank

61 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned)
62 Jan Boven (Ned)
63 Steven De Jongh (Ned)
64 Marc Wauters (Bel)
65 Aart Vierhouten (Ned)
66 Matthé Pronk (Ned)
67 Marcel Duijn (Ned)
68 Mathew Hayman (Aus)

Telekom

71 Erik Zabel (Ger)
72 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz)
73 Giovanni Lombardi (Ita)
74 Steffen Wesemann (Ger)
75 Rolf Aldag (Ger)
76 Gian Matteo Fagnini (Ita)
77 Kai Hundertmark (Ger)
78 Jan Schaffrath (Ger)

Farm Frites

81 Peter Van Petegem (Bel)
82 Robbie Mcewen (Aus)
83 Remco Van Der Ven (Ned)
84 Servais Knaven (Ned)
85 Dave Bruylandts (Bel)
86 Andreas Klier (Ger)
87 Geert Van Bondt (Bel)
88 Wim Vansevenant (Bel)

Mapei-Quick Step

91 Michele Bartoli (Ita)
92 Johan Museeuw (Bel)
93 Stefano Zanini (Ita)
94 Paolo Bettini (Ita)
95 Andrea Tafi (Ita)
96 Luca Scinto (Ita)
97 David Tani (Ita)
98 Wilfried Peeters (Bel)

Relax-Fuenlabradaa

101 Hernan Dario Mu¤Oz (Col)
102 Jose Manuel Vazquez (Esp)
103 Martin Garrido (Arg)
104 Pedro Diaz Lobato (Esp)
105 David Vazquez (Esp)
106 Andres Bermejo (Esp)
107 Imanol Ayestaran (Esp)
108 Saul Morales (Esp)

Memorycard Jack & Jones

111 Jesper Skibby (Den)
112 Martin Rittsel (Sue)
113 Christian Andersen (Den)
114 Jacob Piil (Den)
115 Michael Sandstod (Den)
116 Nicolay Bo Larsen (Den)
117 Rene Jorgensen (Den)
118 Mikael Kyneb (Den)

Mercatone Uno

121 Marco Artunghi (Ita)
122 Fabiano Fontanelli (Ita)
123 Enrico Zaina (Ita)
124 Marcello Siboni (Ita)
125 Michele Coppolillo (Ita)
126 Maurizio Caravaggio (Ita)
127 Ermanno Brignoli (Ita)
128 Igor Astarloa (Esp)

Palmans-Ideal

131 Scott Sunderland (Aus)
132 Hendrik Van Dyck (Bel)
133 Nico Eeckhout (Bel)
134 Gert Vanderaerden (Bel)
135 Hans De Clercq (Bel)
136 Win Feys (Bel)
137 Karl Pauwels (Bel)
138 Jurgen Van Den Walle (Bel)

Banesto

141 Aitor Garmendia (Esp)
142 Unai Osa (Esp)
143 Candido Barbosa (Por)
144 Orlando Rodrigues (Por)
145 Aitor Osa (Esp)
146 Alberto Benito (Esp)
147 Pablo Lastras (Esp)
148 Eladio Jimenez (Esp)

Team Nurnberger

151 Bert Dietz (Ger)
152 Dirk Baldinger (Ger)
153 Thomas Liese (Ger)
154 Jorn Reuss (Ger)
155 Raphael Schweda (Ger)
156 Holder Sievers (Ger)
157 Thorsten Wilhelms (Ger)
158 Jens Zemke (Ger)

Festina

161 Giuseppe Di Grande (Ita)
162 Joseba Beloki (Esp)
163 Jonathan Hall (Aus)
164 Andy Flickinger (Fra)
165 Jaime Hernandez (Esp)
166 Ivan Sastre (Esp)
167 Michel Klinger (Sui)
168 Felix M. Garcia (Esp)

Cofidis

171 Franck Vandenbroucke (Bel)
172 Steve De Wolf (Bel)
173 Jo Planckaert (Bel)
174 Peter Farazijn (Bel)
175 David Lefevre (Fra)
176 Chris Peers (Bel)
177 Nico Mattan (Bel)
178 Arnaud Pretot (Fra)

Costa De Almeria

181 Fabio Roscioli (Ita)
182 Antonio Colom (Esp)
183 Gines Salmeron (Esp)
184 Ernesto Manchon (Esp)
185 Carlos Ramon Golbano (Esp)
186 Pablo Soler (Esp)
187 Diego Luis Prior (Esp)
188 Eleuterio Anguita (Esp)