GP Fina - Fayt-le-Franc - cat. 1.4
Belgium, March 1, 2000
1999 Results Past
winners
Høj wins GP Fina
Dane Frank Høj (Francaise des Jeux) won the Grand Prix Fayt-le-Franc by outsprinting two fellow escapers, British Roger Hammond and Dutch Jan Boven. Erik Dekker won, 35 seconds later, the sprint for fourth ahead of compatriot and team mate Matthé Pronk and Belgian Geert Verheyen.
For Frank this was his return to winning after a season with the Tour focused US Postal Services that gave him a fourth place in the Tour of Denmark but not much more. This was his fourteenth pro victory at age 27.
He tells the story himself, in Danish, on his official website. Here are some excerpts:
"At the "Fayt le Franc", a couple of days after Het Volk, I'll admit that I really didn't want to be there at all. Strong winds, hails and cold. But it went well, apart from that I missed the 25 man group that went off, so for a while I had called the race off, but since they only had a minute and a half with 50 kilometers to I wanted to try to bridge the gap. I managed and that was good enough but three riders had escaped from the group and I noticed that I had more powers left so, well, I rode on. Finally we were seven ahead, with three from Rabobank, so it wasn't to bright with all these orange jerseys all over but we hung three riders off with less than 15 kilometers to go."
"I had to blow my right hand warm all the time in the last hailstorm so I could be able to use it to shift the gears in the sprint. It was a bit uphill and I lead it out in the highest gear I had and drove it home from the front. A tactic as primitive as the weather but maybe it was a suitable finish. Afterwards my team mates had to help me off with the clothing but I was all warm inside when I finally understood that I had won my first race for a long time. My otherwise cool sports director Marc Madiot walked right up to me in his cowboy boots (image!?) and kissed me. Great!"
The full story for all of you who understand Danish is at www.idol.dk.
Results - 177.5 km
1. Frank Høj (Den) Francaise des Jeux 4.22.00 (40.65 km/h)
2. Roger Hammond (Gbr) Collstrop
3. Jan Boven (Ned) Rabobank
4. Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 0.35
5. Matthé Pronk (Ned) Rabobank
6. Geert Verheyen (Bel) Lotto-Adecco
7. Paul Van Schalen (Ned) Bankgiroloterij-Batavus
8. Dmitri Fofonov (Kaz) Besson Chaussures 0.45
9. Geert Omloop (Bel) Collstrop
10. Marcel Duijn (Ned) Rabobank
11. Jurgen Vermeersch (Bel) Palmans-Ideal
12. Ludovic Capelle (Bel) Ville de Charleroi
13. Oleg Pankov (Oek) Collstrop
14. Michel Vanhaecke (Bel) Tonissteiner
15. Tom Flammang (Lux) Cofides
16. Dany Baeyens (Bel) Collstrop
17. Serguei Yakovlev (Kaz) Besson Chaussures
18. Bart Scheirlinckx (Bel) Collstrop
19. Bram de Groot (Ned) Rabobank 1.00
20. Steven de Neef (Bel) Flamand
21. Bert Roesems (Bel) Tonissteiner
22. Tom Desmet (Bel) Tonissteiner
23. Eric de Clercq (Bel) Collstrop 1.21
24. Donatis Virbickas (Lit) Collstrop
25. Danny Daelman (Bel) Spar-Oki 1.33
26. Rik Reinerink (Ned) Bankgiroloterij-Batavus 1.35
27. Theirry Marichal (Bel) Lotto 1.53
28. Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank 2.00
29. Francis Moreau (Fra) Cofidis
30. Peter Lernhout (Bel) Palmans
31. Marc Lotz (Ned) Rabobank
Thanks to Ronald Schipper for complete results
Past Winners
1968 José Samyn (Fra)
1969 Herman Vrijders (Bel)
1970 Ronny Van de Vijver (Bel)
1971 Julien Van Lint (Bel)
1972 Marc De Meyer (Bel)
1973 Louis Verreydt (Bel)
1974 André Dierickx (Bel)
1975 Alain Santy (Fra)
1976 Dirk Baert (Bel)
1977 Michel Perin (Fra)
1978 Herman Vanspringel
1979 Adri Schipper (Ned)
1980 Gery Verlinden (Bel)
1981 Pol Verschuere (Bel)
1982 Joseph Jacobs (Bel)
1983 Jac Van Meer (Ned)
1984 Daniel Rossel (Bel)
1985 Ronny Van Holen (Bel)
1986 Patrick Onnockx (Bel)
1987 Claude Criquielion (Bel)
1989 Hendrik Redant (Bel)
1990 (2) Hendrik Redant (Bel)
1991 Johnny Dauwe (Bel)
1992 Johan Capiot (Bel)
1993 Wil-fried Nelissen (Bel)
1994 (2) Johan Capiot (Bel)
1995 (3) Johan Capiot (Bel)
1996 Hans De Meester (Bel)
1997 Michel Van Haecke (Bel)
1998 Ludovic Auger (Fra)
1999 Thierry Marichal (Bel)
2000 Frank Hoj (Den)
Mario Stiehl, from Berlin keeps the winners lists up to date
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