Postgirot Open - Tour of Sweden - 2.3Sweden, June 14 - 18, 2000Main Page ResultsStage 1a - June 14: Vårgårda, 3 km ITTDekker shortens his rivalsBy Gabriella Ekström, cyclingnews.com correspondent The prologue of Tour of Sweden was run in Vårgårda, the hometown of the Swedish legends Erik, Sture, Thomas and Gösta Pettersson. The night before the race, all the press members of the race were invited to visit the opening of a big museum in their honour. One of the spirits behind the idea has been Gösta Pettersson himself. The museum has an almost complete collection of medals, jerseys and bikes that has been used by the brothers through the years. Gösta "Fåglum" Pettersson also visited the prologue, and even though he might have passed by a couple of Swedes unnoticed, the Italian soigneurs for Mapei almost fell on their knees with a tear in their eye when they saw him. The prologue was short, as they are supposed to be. This one only covered three kilometers. One of the fastest riders from the start was Swede/German Andreas Klier, who has said that this is a race he want to perform well at. Unfortunately for the talanted Farm Frites rider, he only got a few seconds in the sun as Marcel Gono came rushing past soon, beating his time. At the end of the prologue, a couple of riders had finished with better times than that of Gono, since the best riders always start late in the race. The victory went to Dutchman Erik Dekker from Rabobank, who snatched it in front of Sweden's best rider Martin Rittsel from Memorycard Jack&Jones and former U23 champion Thor Hushovd riding for Credit Agricole. The surprise of the race was Team Mälarenergi's Kristoffer Ingeby who took a meritful ninth place, two hundreths of a second behind former World Champion Laurent Brochard, riding for Jean Delatour.
Results1. Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 3.48.9 2. Martin Rittsel (Swe) Memorycard-Jack&Jones 1.3 3. Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 2.1 4. Magnus Bäckstedt (Swe) Crédit Agricole 2.8 5. Stuart O´Grady (Aus) Crédit Agricole 3.8 6. Lauri Aus (Est) Ag2r Prevoyance 6.4 7. Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) Ag2r Prevoyance 6.4 8. Laurent Brochard (Fra) Jean Delatour 6.9 9. Kristoffer Ingeby (Swe) Team Mälarenergi 7.2 10. Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Amica Chips 7.5 11. Glenn Magnusson (Swe) Farm Frites 8.1 12. Jonas Ljungblad (Swe) Team Crescent 8.2 13. Marcel Gono (Aus) Crédit Agricole 8.4 14. Eddy Seigneur (Fra) Jean Delatour 8.4 15. Fabio Malberti (Ita) Amica Chips 9.2 16. Stig Kristiansen (Nor) Norway 9.6 17. Michael Andersson (Swe) Sweden 9.9 18. Andreas Klier (Ger) Farm Frites 9.9 19. Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Mapei-Quick Step 10.3 20. Servais Knaven (Ned) Farm Frites 10.4 21. Leif Hoste (Bel) Mapei-Quick Step 10.6 22. Tony Bracke (Bel) Collstrop 10.8 23. Michael Blaudzun (Den) Memorycard-Jack&Jones 11.0 24. Marcus Ljungqvist (Swe) Team Fakta 11.2 25. Nathan O´Neill (Aus) Panaria Cheramica-Gaerne 11.5 26. Cyril Dessel (Fra) Jean Delatour 11.7 27. Tobias Lergård (Swe) Team Crescent 12.2 28. Petter Renäng (Swe) Team Crescent 12.3 29. Steven De Jongh (Ned) Rabobank 12.6 30. Jans Koerts (Ned) Farm Frites 13.1 31. Nicki Sörensen (Den) Team Fakta 13.2 32. Coen Boerman (Ned) Rabobank 13.4 33. Arturas Kasputis (Ltu) Ag2r Prevoyance 13.7 33. Stefan Adamsson (Swe) Team Crescent 13.7 35. Robbie Mcewen (Aus) Farm Frites 13.8 36. Jakob Piil (Den) Memorycard-Jack&Jones 14.1 37. Marc Streel (Bel) Collstrop 14.2 38. Nikolaj Bo Larsen (Den) Memorycard-Jack&Jones 14.3 39. Niklas Axelsson (Swe) Panaria Cheramica-Gaerne 14.3 40. Henrik Oldin (Swe) Sweden 14.6 41. Michel Lafis (Swe) Farm Frites 14.7 42. Lennie Kristensen (Den) Team Fakta 14.8 43. Francisque Teyssier (Fra) Jean Delatour 14.9 44. Anthony Langella (Fra) Crédit Agricole 15.2 45. Peter Meinert (Den) Team Fakta 15.2 46. Oliver Penney (Swi) Mgi Fietsen 15.7 47. Danny Jonasson (Den) Team Fakta 16.1 48. Magnus Albertsson (Swe) Team Mälarenergi 16.3 49. Jérôme Neuville (Fra) Crédit Agricole 16.4 50. Jukka Heinikainen (Fin) Team Mälarenergi 17.0 51. Luca Paolini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 17.1 52. Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 17.5 53. Mattias Carlsson (Swe) Team Mälarenergi 17.7 54. Ronny Lauke (Ger) Agro Adler Brandenburg 17.9 55. Stéphane Barthe (Fra) Ag2r Prevoyance 17.9 56. Grégory Lapalud (Fra) Jean Delatour 17.9 57. Stephan Schreck (Ger) Deutsche Telekom 18.0 58. Andrea Noé (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 18.3 59. Enrico Nikolai (Ger) Agro Adler Brandenburg 19.1 60. Pietro Caucchioli (Ita) Amica Chips 19.2 61. Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank 19.4 62. Klas Johansson (Swe) Sweden 19.5 63. Jonas Olsson (Swe) Sweden 19.5 64. Dennis Hey (Ned) Mgi Fietsen 19.7 65. Gilles Maignan (Fra) Ag2r Prevoyance 19.7 66. Roberto Lochowski (Ger) Agro Adler Brandenburg 19.9 67. Eric De Clercq (Bel) Collstrop 20.0 68. Magnus Lömäng (Swe) Team Postgirot 20.0 69. Danilo Hondo (Ger) Deutsche Telekom 20.1 70. Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 20.3 71. Tomas Grönqvist (Swe) Sweden 20.4 72. Bart Wellens (Bel) Mgi Fietsen 20.5 73. Hans De Meester (Bel) Collstrop 20.6 74. Krister Sjödahl (Swe) Team Crescent 21.0 75. Vladimir Duma (Ukr) Panaria Cheramica-Gaerne 21.1 76. Innar Mandoja (Est) Ag2r Prevoyance 21.2 77. Andrej Mizurov (Kaz) Deutsche Telekom 21.3 78. Gerrit Glomser (Aut) Panaria Cheramica-Gaerne 21.4 79. John Nilsson (Swe) Team Mälarenergi 21.7 80. Sven Nijs (Bel) Rabobank 21.8 81. Erwin Thijs (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 21.9 82. Andreas Kappes (Ger) Agro Adler Brandenburg 22.0 83. Frode Flesjå (Nor) Norway 22.1 84. Alain Turicchia (Ita) Amica Chips 22.2 85. Morten Sonne (Den) Team Fakta 22.5 86. Oscar Pozzi (Ita) Amica Chips 22.7 87. Jonas Rydberg (Swe) Team Crescent 22.8 88. Gisle Viköyr (Nor) Norway 23.0 89. Alain Van Katwijk (Ned) Mgi Fietsen 23.0 90. Oscar Stenström (Fin) Team Mälarenergi 23.3 91. Mads Kaggestad (Nor) Norway 23.4 92. Daniele Galli (Ita) Amica Chips 23.7 93. Martin Axelsson (Swe) Team Postgirot 24.3 94. Daniel Van Elven (Ned) Mgi Fietsen 24.6 95. Tom Van Noppen (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 24.7 96. Johan Svensson (Swe) Team Postgirot 25.1 97. Geert Omloop (Bel) Collstrop 25.1 98. Eddy Lembo (Fra) Jean Delatour 25.5 99. Gabriel Rasch (Nor) Norway 25.6 100. Roy Sönsterud (Nor) Norway 25.6 101. Richard Groenendaal (Ned) Rabobank 25.8 102. Giuliano Figueras (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 26.4 103. Karel Vereecke (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 28.7 104. Mathias Kahl (Ger) Agro Adler Brandenburg 30.1 105. Jurgen Guns (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 30.9 106. Enrico Degano (Ita) Panaria Cheramica-Gaerne 31.3 107. Martin Johansson (Swe) Collstrop 31.5 108. Magnus Ljungblad (Swe) Sweden 31.6 109. Andy Vidts (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 32.4 110. Ralf Grabsch (Ger) Deutsche Telekom 34.7 111. Jacob Moe Rasmussen (Den) Memorycard-Jack&Jones 35.6 112. Thomas Heidrich (Ger) Agro Adler Brandenburg 36.0 113. Erik Wendel (Swe) Team Postgirot 40.3 114. Luca Cei (Ita) Panaria Cheramica-Gaerne 41.5 115. Jan Hordijk (Ned) Mgi Fietsen 41.6 116. Mikael Sandstöd (Den) Memorycard-Jack&Jones 43.2 117. Klas Johansson (Swe) Team Postgirot 43.5 118. Emil Arnell (Swe) Team Postgirot 46.8 119. Matthias Kessler (Ger) Deutsche Telekom 47.0 Points: 1. Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 10 pts 2. Martin Rittsel (Swe) Memorycard-Jack&Jones 9 3. Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 8 4. Magnus Bäckstedt (Swe) Crédit Agricole 7 5. Stuart O´Grady (Aus) Crédit Agricole 6 6. Lauri Aus (Est) Ag2r Prevoyance 5 7. Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) Ag2r Prevoyance 4 8. Laurent Brochard (Fra) Jean Delatour 3 9. Kristoffer Ingeby (Swe) Team Mälarenergi 2 10. Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Amica Chips 1 |