Vodacom Rapport Toer - Cat. 2.4

South Africa, February 11-19, 2000

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Stage 4 - February 15: George - Mosselbay - Oudtshoon, 155 km

Linda McCartney makes it two

Maurizio De Pasquale (Linda McCartney) took his second stage win today in the Vodacom Rapport Toer, after 155 kms of riding from George to Oudtshoorn. The stage did not see any change in the overall standings as Gerolsteiner's Tobias Steinhauser managed to hold onto his yellow jersey after finishing in the main bunch.

The stage had one difficulty, the 35 km, 850 meter climb of Robertson Pass at 65 kilometers into the race. Many early attacks were tried, but Steinhauser's Gerolsteiner team were able to hold the field together during the first part of the race. However, on the climb, de Pasquale's team mate Pascal Richard set the pace and only 30 riders remained of the peloton by the top with another ten joining on the descent.

On the flat that followed, eight riders escaped after an attack by another McCartney rider, Dane Tayeb Braikia with de Pasquale also joining the group. The latter attacked close to the finish, taking another Dane, Cologne's Søren Petersen, with him but won the sprint quite easily. The breakaway group finished over two minutes in front of the bunch, but did not contain any overall threats to Tobias Steinhauser who kept the jersey.

Results

1. Maurizio de Pascale (Ita) Linda McCarntey    4.13.52
2. Søren Petersen (Den) Team Cologne
3. Baden Cooke (Aus) Australia                     0.32
4. Tayeb Braikaia (Den) Linda McCartney
5. Ralf Grabsch (Ger) Telekom
6. Martin van Steen (Ned) Farm Frites
7. Dirk Muller (Swi) Post Swiss
8. Sven Montgomery (Swi) Francaise des Jeux
9. Marcel Strauss (Swi) Post Swiss
10. Robert Hunter (RSA) ProMix                     2.23

General Classification after four stages:

1. Tobias Steinhauser (Ger) Team Gerolsteiner   13.03.30
2. Alberto Elli (Ita) Telekom                       1.42
3. Salvatore Commeso (Ita) Saeco - Valli&Valli      2.52
4. Volker Ordowski (Ger) Gerolsteiner               3.49
5. Lars Michaelsen (Den) Francaise des Jeux         4.05
6. Nicholas White (RSA) Team HSBC                   4.07
7. Kosie Loubser (RSA) Team IBM-Lotus               4.56
8. Rudolph Wentzel (RSA) Team Minolta               5.12
9. Christian Wegmann (Ger) Saeco  - Valli&Valli     5.32
10. Danilo Hondo (Ger) Telekom                      5.42

GC Teams:
1. HSBC                 39.31.33
2. Gerolsteiner            11.26
3. Telekom                 17.13

GC Points
1. Maurizio de Pascale (Ita) Linda McCartney          30 pts
2. Tobias Steinhauser (Ger) Team Gerolsteiner         20
3. Salvatore Commeso (Ita) Saeco - Valli&Valli        19

King of the Mountains
1. Max Sciandri (Gbr) Linda McCartney                25 pts
2. Salvatore Commeso (Ita) Saeco - Valli&Valli       18
3. Tobias Steinhauser (Ger) Team Gerolsteiner        12


GC Intermediate sprints:
 1. Robert Hunter (RSA) ProMix                        23 pts
 2. Olaf Pollack (Ger) Team Gerolsteiner              14
 3. Søren Petersen (Den) Team Cologne                  5