GP Portugal Telecom - 2.4

Portugal, March 15-18, 2000

Stage 1 - March 15: Oeiras-Marinha Grande 194.8 km

Van Heeswijk just beats Edo

Max van Heeswijk, of the Mapei team won the first stage of the Grande Prémio Portugal Telecom, becoming the 16th winner for Mapei this year. He was closely followed by Maia's Angel Edo (Spa), who wore the yellow jersey for three days in last weeks Volta ao Algarve.

The opening stage was marked by a breakaway from Pedro Martins (Gresco/Tavira), who was allowed free reign by the bigger teams as he took the intermediate sprint and climbing points. However, a small group formed towards the end of the stage containing Lanfranchi, Van Heeswijk (Mapei), Barroso, Azvedo (Maia/MSS), Requejo and Gonzalez (Kelme) and Rodrigues (Banesto) amongst others. They had the momentum to reel in the tiring Martins and drove to the finish in the lead.

Back in the bunch, the toughness of the only mountain climb of the day split the field into four groups, with Mauri (Benfica), Barbosa (Banesto), Ruiz and Pino (Boavista) being in the second group behind the break.

However, at the finish of the race in was Van Heeswijk and Edo in a very close sprint, with the former eventually prevailing.

Stage 2 of the race will be 173 km from Marinha Grande to Pombal, and will generally be flat.

Results

1. Max van Heeswijk (Ned) Mapei                      4.56.41
2. Angel Edo (Spa) Maia MSS
3. Saulis Sarkauskas (Lit) LA Pecol
4. Candido Barbosa (Por) Banesto
5. José Alberto Martinez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
6. Volker Ordowski (Ger) Gerolsteiner
7. Orlando Rodrigues (Por) Banesto
8. German Nieto (Spa) Fuenlabrada
9. Pedro Soeiro (Por) Boavista
10. Angel Sainz De La Maza (Spa) Festina

General classification  after stage 1:

1. Max van Heeswijk (Ned) Mapei                      4.56.32
2. Angel Edo (Spa) Maia MSS                             0.04
3. Saulis Sarkauskas (Lit) LA Pecol                     0.06
4. Javier Llamas (Spa) Troiamarisco - Matesica          0.10
5. Paulo Martins (Por) Gresco - Tavira                  0.11
6. Candido Barbosa (Por) Banesto
7. José Alberto Martinez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
8. Volker Ordowski (Ger) Gerolsteiner
9. Orlando Rodrigues (Por) Banesto
10. German Nieto (Spa) Fuenlabrada
11. Pedro Soeiro (Por) Boavista
12. Angel Sainz De La Maza (Spa) Festina