16th Tour de l'Aude - 2.9.1France, May 5-14, 2000Main Page Anna Wilson's report Results Previous stageStage 7 - May 12: Font-Romeu - Font-Romeu, 77 kmStiajkina wins testing stageOne of the harder stages of the Tour de L'Aude was raced today: a 77 kilometre loop starting and finishing in Font-Romeu, in the Eastern Pyrenees. After starting at an altitude of 1750 metres, the riders climbed a little, then dropped down to 1148 metres by kilometre 60. The final climb was approximately 12 kilometres long and 700 metres high. Ukrainian Tatiana Stiajkina (who rides for the Acca Due O team normally) did not begin well, suffering a puncture early on. However, she rallied and was even first over the top of the Col de la Quillane (33 km, 1713 m) - a short 'bump' before the riders descended to Bourg Madame. The riders were strung out at this point, but regrouped a little on the descent, ready to tackle the final climb. On the run up to Font Romeu, Stiajkina and the rest of the top GC riders came to the front, including of course the race leader, Hanka Kupfernagel. Although huge splits did not occur, it was Stiajkina who emerged as the victor at the head of a small group containing Kupfernagel, Yuliya Murenka (Ukraine) and Juanita Feldhahn (Australia). They were closely followed by another eight riders, and the GC did not change much. Tomorrow's penultimate stage is downhill, from Font Romeu to Limoux (108 km), which should provide a good deal of relief to the riders. Anna Wilson's reportToday we expected the race to totally erupt into a million pieces. The stage was only 77km long but it ended on a 16km climb that took us to 1800 metres. After the huge time gaps we experienced on Pic de Nore we expected today to be twice as bad, but it actually proved to be something of an anti-climax. After yesterday's breakaway, I moved into 6th overall and I hoped I would climb well enough to hold that place. Lyne was hoping for an awesome day so that she could move further up the GC and Dede was hoping for an awesome day to get a good stage result. The race was controlled by Hanka Kupfernagel's team and Staskjena's team from the start and no breakaways were allowed to go anywhere. We hit the climb all as one bunch and immediately Polkanova (Russia) went to the front to put the hurt on everyone else. Just as the climb started, Dede came back past me with a puncture. That piece of bad luck was to earn her the "Bad luck prize" for the day. Clara gave her wheel to Dede and Petra tried to help her back to the bunch but the pace was on and Dede never really had a chance. With Polkanova's efforts, the bunch was soon reduced to about 15 riders. Lyne was still there for us but I was about 100 metres behind. A few people blew up and went rapidly backwards but about 11 riders survived intact at the front. As far as I can remember they were Hanka Kupfernagel, the tour leader, Geraldine Loewengeuth (French), Staskjena (Ukrainian) plus one other Ukrainian rider I don't know, Juanita Feldhahn (Australian), Cindy Pieters and Heidi van de Veijver (Belgian), Cybil De Guistini (Canadian), Lyne Bessette (Saturn), Valentina Polkanova (Russian) and Miriam Melchers (Dutch). Lyne told me that there were quite a few attacks at the front but no one had the punch to break the group up any further. Finally in the last kilometre, a few small gaps appeared - but the whole group finished within 17 seconds of first place. Staskjena took out the sprint from Hanka Kupfernagel. I think Hanka is now very relieved that the hardest day is behind her and she has a 4 minute lead over the second placed rider overall - Miriam Melchers. I was happy to finish 44 seconds behind the winner and hold on to 6th place overall. Tomorrow is a downhill stage so Petra is totally fired up for it. Only two days left in the tour.
Results1 Tatiana Stiajkina (Ukr) Ukraine 2.18.32 (35.342 km/h) 2 Hanka Kupfernagel (Ger) Radteam Kupfernagel 3 Yuliya Murenka (Ukr) Ukraine 4 Juanita Feldhahn (Aus) Mixte 1 Canada/Australia 5 Jolanta Polikeviciute (Ltu) Lithuania 0.03 6 Valentina Polkhanova (Rus) Russia 0.06 7 Heidi Van De Vijver (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 Ladies Team 0.08 8 Mirjam Melchers (Ned) Netherlands 9 Cindy Pieters (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 Ladies Team 10 Géraldine Loewenguth (Fra) France 0.10 11 Lyne Bessette (Can) Saturn Cycling Team 12 Cybil Di Guistini (Can) Mixte 1 Canada/Australia 0.17 13 Aline Camboulives (Fra) France 0.44 14 Anna Wilson (Aus) Saturn Cycling Team 15 Madeleine Lindberg (Swe) Mixte 2 Farm Frites/Timex 16 Meike De Bruijn (Ned) Radteam Kupfernagel 0.46 17 Susanne Ljungskog (Swe) Mixte 2 Farm Frites/Timex 1.19 18 Laurence Restoin (Fra) France 1.40 19 Rasa Polikeviciute (Ltu) Lithuania 2.09 20 Svetlana Boubnenkova (Rus) Russia 21 Elisabeth Chevanne Brunel (Fra) France 2.11 22 Chantal Beltman (Ned) Netherlands 23 Arenda Grimberg (Ned) Netherlands 24 Leigh Hobson (Can) Mixte 1 Canada/Australia 25 Sandy Espeseth (Can) Mixte 1 Canada/Australia 26 Kym Shirley (Aus) Saturn Cycling Team 27 Marcia Eicher-Vouets (Swi) Master Team Carpe Diem 2.20 28 Deirdre Demet-Barry (USA) Saturn Cycling Team 2.57 29 Magali Le Floc'h (Fra) France 3.22 30 Maryline Salvetat (Fra) France 31 Nataliya Kachalka (Ukr) Ukraine 4.11 32 Marianna Lorenzoni (Ita) Team Aliverti Immobilione 4.24 33 Valetyna Karpenko (Ukr) Ukraine 4.32 34 Tetyana Andrushchenko (Ukr) Ukraine 4.32 35 Vanessa Cheatley (NZl) Vlaanderen 2002 Ladies Team 4.40 36 Sanna Lehtimaki (Fin) Mixte 2 Farm Frites/Timex 4.43 37 Lada Kozlikova (Cze) Radteam Kupfernagel 4.46 38 Kerstin Scheitle (Ger) Germany 5.20 39 Sandra Missbach (Ger) Radteam Kupfernagel 40 Zoulfia Zabirova (Rus) Russia 5.50 41 Cornélia Dreher (Ger) Germany 5.57 42 Yvonne Brunen (Ned) Mixte 2 Farm Frites/Timex 7.21 43 Vanja Vonckx (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 Ladies Team 7.37 44 Vera Hohlfeld (Ger) Germany 45 Veronique Belleter (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 Ladies Team 46 Rasa Mazeikyte (Ltu) Team Aliverti Immobilione 7.43 47 Erika Vilunaite (Ltu) Lithuania 7.46 48 Svetlana Samokhvalova (Rus) Russia 8.18 49 Rikka Olsen (Den) Mixte 2 Farm Frites/Timex 9.34 50 Daphny Van Den Brand (Ned) Radteam Kupfernagel 10.33 51 Clara Hughes (Can) Saturn Cycling Team 11.21 52 Goulnara Ivanova (Rus) Russia 53 Claudia Marietta (Ita) Master Team Carpe Diem 12.10 54 Angela Hillenga (Ned) Netherlands 12.47 55 Mirella Van Melis (Ned) Netherlands 56 Tania Belvederesi (Ita) Master Team Carpe Diem 57 Rita Narbutyte (Ltu) Lithuania 58 Nataliya Yuganiyk (Ukr) Ukraine 59 Ita Kryjanovskaïa (Rus) Radteam Kupfernagel 60 Petra Rossner (Ger) Saturn Cycling Team 13.49 61 Judith Arndt (Ger) Germany 62 Ina Teutenberg (Ger) Germany General classification after stage 7: 1 Hanka Kupfernagel (Ger) Radteam Kupfernagel 20.27.35 2 Mirjam Melchers (Ned) Netherlands 4.10 3 Géraldine Loewenguth (Fra) France 4.44 4 Heidi Van De Vijver (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 Ladies Team 5.33 5 Tatiana Stiajkina (Ukr) Ukraine 6.57 6 Anna Wilson (Aus) Saturn Cycling Team 11.57 7 Juanita Feldhahn (Aus) Mixte 1 Canada/Australia 12.56 8 Madeleine Lindberg (Swe) Mixte 2 Farm Frites/Timex 13.30 9 Cindy Pieters (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 Ladies Team 13.47 10 Lyne Bessette (Can) Saturn Cycling Team 14.10 11 Aline Camboulives (Fra) France 15.00 12 Chantal Beltman (Ned) Netherlands 15.41 13 Valentina Polkhanova (Rus) Russia 15.56 14 Sandy Espeseth (Can) Mixte 1 Canada/Australia 16.07 15 Susanne Ljungskog (Swe) Mixte 2 Farm Frites/Timex 17.01 16 Meike De Bruijn (Ned) Radteam Kupfernagel 17.56 17 Cybil Di Guistini (Can) Mixte 1 Canada/Australia 18.23 18 Svetlana Boubnenkova (Rus) Russia 18.26 19 Yuliya Murenka (Ukr) Ukraine 19.19 20 Arenda Grimberg (Ned) Netherlands 19.22 21 Maryline Salvetat (Fra) France 19.25 22 Leigh Hobson (Can) Mixte 1 Canada/Australia 20.06 23 Elisabeth Chevanne Brunel (Fra) France 20.10 24 Magali Le Floc'h (Fra) France 21.35 25 Laurence Restoin (Fra) France 22.25 26 Jolanta Polikeviciute (Ltu) Lithuania 22.36 27 Deirdre Demet-Barry (USA) Saturn Cycling Team 22.48 28 Marcia Eicher-Vouets (Swi) Master Team Carpe Diem 25.29 29 Yvonne Brunen (Ned) Mixte 2 Farm Frites/Timex 26.08 30 Rasa Polikeviciute (Ltu) Lithuania 30.38 31 Vera Hohlfeld (Ger) Germany 30.53 32 Vanessa Cheatley (NZl) Vlaanderen 2002 Ladies Team 31.08 33 Clara Hughes (Can) Saturn Cycling Team 32.37 34 Nataliya Kachalka (Ukr) Ukraine 32.39 35 Tetyana Andrushchenko (Ukr) Ukraine 33.10 36 Valetyna Karpenko (Ukr) Ukraine 33.12 37 Zoulfia Zabirova (Rus) Russia 33.38 38 Ina Teutenberg (Ger) Germany 33.59 39 Kym Shirley (Aus) Saturn Cycling Team 34.42 40 Sanna Lehtimaki (Fin) Mixte 2 Farm Frites/Timex 35.06 41 Vanja Vonckx (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 Ladies Team 35.09 42 Lada Kozlikova (Cze) Radteam Kupfernagel 36.29 43 Marianna Lorenzoni (Ita) Team Aliverti Immobilione 37.54 44 Kerstin Scheitle (Ger) Germany 39.34 45 Veronique Belleter (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 Ladies Team 39.35 46 Rasa Mazeikyte (Ltu) Team Aliverti Immobilione 41.57 47 Mirella Van Melis (Ned) Netherlands 44.04 48 Angela Hillenga (Ned) Netherlands 46.13 49 Svetlana Samokhvalova (Rus) Russia 47.23 50 Sandra Missbach (Ger) Radteam Kupfernagel 47.43 51 Petra Rossner (Ger) Saturn Cycling Team 48.29 52 Daphny Van Den Brand (Ned) Radteam Kupfernagel 50.53 53 Judith Arndt (Ger) Germany 58.47 54 Rikka Olsen (Den) Mixte 2 Farm Frites/Timex 1.00.09 55 Cornélia Dreher (Ger) Germany 1.01.54 56 Goulnara Ivanova (Rus) Russia 1.15.52 57 Erika Vilunaite (Ltu) Lithuania 1.16.31 58 Tania Belvederesi (Ita) Master Team Carpe Diem 1.17.33 59 Nataliya Yuganiyk (Ukr) Ukraine 1.21.17 60 Ita Kryjanovskaïa (Rus) Radteam Kupfernagel 1.25.41 61 Claudia Marietta (Ita) Master Team Carpe Diem 1.28.55 62 Rita Narbutyte (Ltu) Lithuania 2.10.43 Points classification: 1 Hanka Kupfernagel (Ger) Radteam Kupfernagel 91 pts 2 Ina Teutenberg (Ger) Germany 87 3 Mirjam Melchers (Ned) Netherlands 85 4 Anna Wilson (Aus) Saturn Cycling Team 60 5 Tatiana Stiajkina (Ukr) Ukraine 58 6 Petra Rossner (Ger) Saturn Cycling Team 57 7 Magali Le Floc'h (Fra) France 56 8 Heidi Van De Vijver (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 Ladies Team 46 9 Géraldine Loewenguth (Fra) France 43 10 Lyne Bessette (Can) Saturn Cycling Team 37 11 Yvonne Brunen (Ned) Mixte 2 Farm Frites/Timex 35 12 Mirella Van Melis (Ned) Netherlands 34 13 Yuliya Murenka (Ukr) Ukraine 31 14 Arenda Grimberg (Ned) Netherlands 30 15 Juanita Feldhahn (Aus) Mixte 1 Canada/Australia 28 16 Vanja Vonckx (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 Ladies Team 25 17 Jolanta Polikeviciute (Ltu) Lithuania 25 18 Svetlana Samokhvalova (Rus) Russia 23 19 Valentina Polkhanova (Rus) Russia 19 20 Sandy Espeseth (Can) Mixte 1 Canada/Australia 18 21 Svetlana Boubnenkova (Rus) Russia 18 22 Cindy Pieters (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 Ladies Team 16 23 Lada Kozlikova (Cze) Radteam Kupfernagel 15 24 Aline Camboulives (Fra) France 13 25 Tania Belvederesi (Ita) Master Team Carpe Diem 13 26 Madeleine Lindberg (Swe) Mixte 2 Farm Frites/Timex 13 27 Deirdre Demet-Barry (USA) Saturn Cycling Team 11 28 Elisabeth Chevanne Brunel (Fra) France 11 29 Clara Hughes (Can) Saturn Cycling Team 9 30 Chantal Beltman (Ned) Netherlands 9 31 Zoulfia Zabirova (Rus) Russia 8 32 Nataliya Yuganiyk (Ukr) Ukraine 7 33 Maryline Salvetat (Fra) France 5 34 Angela Hillenga (Ned) Netherlands 5 35 Cybil Di Guistini (Can) Mixte 1 Canada/Australia 4 36 Meike De Bruijn (Ned) Radteam Kupfernagel 4 37 Vera Hohlfeld (Ger) Germany 3 38 Goulnara Ivanova (Rus) Russia 3 39 Susanne Ljungskog (Swe) Mixte 2 Farm Frites/Timex 2 Mountains classification: 1 Tatiana Stiajkina (Ukr) Ukraine 43 pts 2 Hanka Kupfernagel (Ger) Radteam Kupfernagel 31 3 Géraldine Loewenguth (Fra) France 26 4 Svetlana Boubnenkova (Rus) Russia 17 5 Mirjam Melchers (Ned) Netherlands 13 6 Yuliya Murenka (Ukr) Ukraine 13 7 Lyne Bessette (Can) Saturn Cycling Team 11 8 Valentina Polkhanova (Rus) Russia 9 9 Heidi Van De Vijver (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 Ladies Team 8 10 Juanita Feldhahn (Aus) Mixte 1 Canada/Australia 6 11 Magali Le Floc'h (Fra) France 5 12 Yvonne Brunen (Ned) Mixte 2 Farm Frites/Timex 5 13 Cindy Pieters (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 Ladies Team 5 14 Anna Wilson (Aus) Saturn Cycling Team 3 15 Sandy Espeseth (Can) Mixte 1 Canada/Australia 3 16 Ina Teutenberg (Ger) Germany 3 17 Aline Camboulives (Fra) France 3 18 Elisabeth Chevanne Brunel (Fra) France 2 19 Chantal Beltman (Ned) Netherlands 2 20 Arenda Grimberg (Ned) Netherlands 2 21 Jolanta Polikeviciute (Ltu) Lithuania 2 22 Deirdre Demet-Barry (USA) Saturn Cycling Team 1 Hot spots classification: 1 Arenda Grimberg (Ned) Netherlands 32 pts 2 Valentina Polkhanova (Rus) Russia 25 3 Hanka Kupfernagel (Ger) Radteam Kupfernagel 24 4 Yvonne Brunen (Ned) Mixte 2 Farm Frites/Timex 15 5 Anna Wilson (Aus) Saturn Cycling Team 15 6 Mirjam Melchers (Ned) Netherlands 13 7 Magali Le Floc'h (Fra) France 11 8 Clara Hughes (Can) Saturn Cycling Team 10 9 Lyne Bessette (Can) Saturn Cycling Team 10 10 Tatiana Stiajkina (Ukr) Ukraine 9 11 Yuliya Murenka (Ukr) Ukraine 8 12 Cindy Pieters (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 Ladies Team 5 13 Sandy Espeseth (Can) Mixte 1 Canada/Australia 5 14 Jolanta Polikeviciute (Ltu) Lithuania 4 15 Svetlana Boubnenkova (Rus) Russia 3 16 Deirdre Demet-Barry (USA) Saturn Cycling Team 3 17 Sandra Missbach (Ger) Radteam Kupfernagel 2 18 Zoulfia Zabirova (Rus) Russia 2 19 Maryline Salvetat (Fra) France 2 20 Heidi Van De Vijver (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002 Ladies Team 2 21 Ina Teutenberg (Ger) Germany 2 22 Leigh Hobson (Can) Mixte 1 Canada/Australia 1 23 Svetlana Samokhvalova (Rus) Russia 1 24 Elisabeth Chevanne Brunel (Fra) France 1 25 Rasa Polikeviciute (Ltu) Lithuania 1 26 Valetyna Karpenko (Ukr) Ukraine 1 Teams classification: 1 France 61.59.29 2 Netherlands 2.49 3 Radteam Kupfernagel 8.31 4 Mixte 1 Canada/Australia 10.09 5 Vlaanderen 2002 Ladies Team 10.57 6 Saturn Cycling Team 11.22 7 Ukraine 15.49 8 Mixte 2 Farm Frites/Timex 17.29 9 Russia 21.46 10 Germany 51.16 11 Lithunaia 57.42 12 Master Team Carpe Diem 2.29.24 |