Vodacom Rapport Toer - Cat. 2.4

South Africa, February 11-19, 2000

Stage 8 - February 19: Criterium: Green Point, 60 km

German victory in South Africa

Tobias Steinhauser (Ger, Gerolsteiner) made a formality of the last stage of the Rapport Toer, winning the overall classification after the 60 km criterium around Green Point. The 28 year old German has led the race from stage 2, and finished with a 1.45 advantage of second placed Alberto Elli (Ita) of the Telekom team.

The division II Gerolsteiner team had been training in South Africa for several weeks prior to the event, to get used to the heat as well as getting in plenty of miles. The team worked very hard throughout the race to protect Steinhauser, over some challenging terrain on some occasions. They finished on a high with a win to Olaf Pollack in the final criterium, capping off a brilliant Tour for the team. The team also won the event last year, when Michael Rich took the honours.

Although Telekom was hungry for another stage victory today, and were prominent at the front, in the end it was the powerful Pollack who beat Danilo Hondo (Telekom) and Gerolsteiner's Volker Ordowski, who also finished third in the GC.

The other competitions were won by Baden Cooke (Australia), who won the points, Robert Hunter (RSA, HSBC), who took out the hotspots, Max Sciandri (GBr, LMc) who won the KOM, with the team compeition going to Team HSBC. The Linda McCartney squad also enjoyed considerable success on the tour, winning three stages with Sciandri and de Pasquale.

Italian national champion, Salvatore Commeso, who had held third place for most of the tour was eliminated from the race after punching a fellow rider in Friday's seventh stage.

Results

1. Olaf Pollack (Ger) Gerolsteiner                       1.19.17
2. Danilo Hondo (Ger) Telekom
3. Volker Ordowski (Ger) Gerolsteiner
3. Tayeb Braika (Den) Linda McCartney
4. Martin Müller (Ger) Cologne
5. Lars Michaelsen (Den) Francaise des Jeux
6. Robert Hunter (RSA) Promix    
7. Baden Cooke (Aus) Australia
8. Torsten Nitsche (Ger) Saeco Valli&Valli
9. Dirk Muller (Swi) Post Swiss
10. Gerben Lowik (Ned) Farm Frites 

Final general classification:

1. Tobias Steinhauser (Ger) Gerolsteiner    	       26.08.50
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               	           5.35
6. Nicholas White (RSA) HSBC                	           6.41
7. Kosie Loubser (RSA) IBM-Lotus            	           7.39
8. Rudolph Wentzel (RSA) Minolta            	           8.00
9. Christian Wegmann (Ger) Saeco Valli&Valli               8.15
10. Rodney Green (RSA) HSBC                                9.58


Points classification:

1 Baden Cooke (Australia)    			38 pts
2 Maurizio De Pasquale (Ita) Linda McCartney   	36  
3 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Telekom    		35  

King of the mountains classification:
  
1 Max Sciandri (GBr) Linda McCartney    	45 pts
2 Salvatore Commesso (Ita) Saeco Valli&Valli    32  
3 Daniel Spence (RSA) IBM Lotus                 32  

Hotspots classification:

1 Robert Hunter (RSA) Pro Mix                   45 pts 
2 Olaf Pollack (Ger) Gerolsteiner               32  
3 Tobias Steinhauser (Ger) Gerolsteiner         21  

Teams classification:

1 Team HSBC     			  78.50.25  
2 Franciase Des Jeux     		      1.38  
3 Deutsche Telekom     			      6.52