Vodacom Rapport Toer - Cat. 2.4

South Africa, February 11-19, 2000

Stage 7 - February 18: Paarl - Milnerton - Atlantis, 103 km

Late attack pays off

Australian Baden Cooke won the penultimate stege or the Vodacom Rapport Toer in South Africa by launching an attack in the final kilometer. Nobody wanted to help, catch the Australian and he crossed the line ten seconds ahead of a bunch containing 25 riders.

The 103 km stage was shorter than most, and had no major obstacles en route, so was always going to be an aggressive affair. An attack at the 30 kilometer point proved decisive, with a large group of 25 getting clear of the field. Although the bunch chased hard, the lead grew out to two minutes at one point, before being reduced to less than a minute by the end. Australian Baden Cooke was one of the break, and he was confident that it wouldn't be caught in the closing kilometers.

With just over a kilometer to go, he attacked, taking the rest of the group by surprise, and soloed to a 10 second win over Klaus Diewald (Ger, Promix) who was the best of the rest. Afterwards, Cooke said that he wasn't very optimistic for a sprint win, hence the attack: "When I looked back they hadn't responded," he said.

However, it wasn't all smooth sailing in the sprint, as Italian rider Salvatore Commesso (Saeco) was disqualified for hitting another rider in the sprint. The incident happened in the bunch when Commesso, 3rd place overall, punched Gerolsteiner rider, Olaf Pollack in the middle of the pack. His relegation means that he drops down the rankings to 7th, and his team has no hope of winning the team GC. The South African squad HSBC have now taken over in that classification.

German Tobias Steinhauser of Team Gerolsteiner still holds the yellow jersey after today's stage, and looks set to win the biggest race of his career. The remaining 60 kms criterium tomorrow shouldn't be a problem for him.

Results

1. Baden Cooke (Aus) Australia                     2.31.52
2. Klaus Diewald (Ger) Team Promix                    0.10
3. Danilo Hondo (Ger) Telekom             
4. Martin van Steen (Ned) Farm Frites          
5. Lars Michaelsen (Den) Francasie des Jeux                 
6. Maurizio de Pascale (Ita) Linda McCartney   
7. Joerg Ludewig (Ger) Saeco-Valli&Valli                  
8. Gerben Lowik (Ger) Farm Frites              
   
General classification after stage 7:

1. Tobias Steinhauser (Ger) Gerolsteiner  	  24.49.33
2. Alberto Elli (Ita) Telekom             	      1.45
3. Volker Ordowski (Ger) Gerolsteiner     	      3.52
4. Lars Michaelsen (Den) Francaise des Jeux   	      4.04
5. Danilo Hondo (Ger) Telekom                 	      5.41
6. Nicholas White (RSA) Team HSBC             	      6.41
7. Salvatore Comesso (Ita) Saeco-Valli&Valli  	      6.55
8. Kosie Loubser (RSA) Team IBM-Lotus         	      7.39
9. Rudolph Wentzel (RSA) Team Minolta         	      8.00
10. Christian Wegmann (Ger) Saeco-Valli&Valli 	      8.15