87th Liege-Bastogne-Liege/Luik-Bastenaken-Luik (CDM)

Belgium, April 22, 2001

Oscar winning sprint by Camenzind

By Tim Maloney, cyclingnews.com correspondent

Oscar Camenzind
Photo: © AFP

Swiss rider Oscar Camenzind is known as a talented but inconsistent strong man who likes long, tough races. Camenzind is not known as a great sprinter, but today in the 87th running of Liege-Bastogne-Liege, the 29 year old Swiss on Lampre-Daikin was the consistent strong man, powering home ahead of speedy Spaniard David Etxebarria of Euskaltel and Davide Rebellin of Liquigas and his two other breakaway companions. This was Camenzind's first World Cup win since his victory in the Giro di Lombardia in October '98, just after his World Championship win in Valkenberg, Holland.

Camenzind, also a winner of the 2000 Tour of Switzerland was a favorite in the small group finish; Etxebarria and Rebellin are known as faster sprinters, but Etxebarria simply didn't have the legs today and finished 3rd, one place lower than his 2000 L-B-L finish. However, with his 5th in Fleche Wallone last Wednesday and 3rd in Liege, the Basque rider should take the Trophee of the Ardennes for the best placings in both classics.

Runner-up "Tintin" Rebellin started his sprint too far back to close on Camenzind, and bettered his third place of last year but one could clearly see the disappointment on his face he crossed the line. Strongman Francesco Casagrande (Fassa Bortolo), currently UCI #1 was 4th. Pre-race favorite Michael Boogerd of Rabobank did make the final break but seemed to run out of gas, just hanging on in the final for 5th.

At Houffalize
Photo: © AFP

Today's Liege-Bastogne-Liege was a slow and negative affair for most of the day. Another cold and overcast morning greeted the World Cup peloton as they began the long slog south to Bastogne. Glory guy and local yokel Marc Streel (Collstrop) took off after 7 km and he got up to 20 minutes lead at the halfway point. Eventually the skies cleared, and the peloton got tired of seeing Streel's number on the time board and reeled in the tiring Belgian rider on the Cote de Stockeu after his 150 plus kilometre break.

The next phase of the race took shape after Stockeu with 79 km to go; a group of 9 riders got away and proceeded to dangle out front with the peloton never far behind. Among the notables in the break were Heppner (Telekom), Sciandri (Lampre), Julich (Credit Agricole), Jackshe (ONCE) and Den Bakker (Rabobank), but these guys were really just chase bait; just biding time about a minute in front of the peloton until something major happened and their team leaders came up.

All the favorites were eyeballing each other but no one seemed willing to make a move until the tough Cote de la Redoute with 36 km to go. Through the second feed zone with 60 km to go, 2001 Paris-Nice winner Dario Frigo (Fassa Bortolo) and Telekom team leader Alexander Vinokourov didn't want to wait; they bridged up to the break and with 11 now away and Vino's Telekom teammate Heppner driving the break hard, the Telekom and Fassa Bortolo strategy became clear.

Streaking to the front of the race past the bright yellow forsythia bushes, Kazakh commando Vinokourov was trying to make the race tough and latch on to the moves to come, while Frigo marked him; looking to hold a spot up front for teammates Casagrande or Rumsas as Liege approached.

Bettini couldn't do it
Photo: © AFP

Like last week at Paris-Roubaix, Mapei had no one out front and a nervous Bartoli pushing them to chase. The reigning Italian champion and two time L-B-L champ and his Mapei team has had a weak spring campaign and the Tuscan tornado was really itching to make something happen. On the Cote de Vecquee' with 51 km to race, the gap between the front group and the Mapei led chasers had dropped to 24", but the overall average was still slow: 36.3 km/h. No one helped Mapei and the status quo stood until the foot of the Redoute, the toughest climb in L-B-L.

With no accord among the chasers, the gap had climbed to 1 minute at the foot of the 3.6 km ascent. The average gradient of the Redoute is 7.6%, but the toughest section comes after about a kilometre when the road turns left and goes straight up a steep 19% wall. This the place where after 200 km of racing, L-B-L has been won and lost many times, but not today.

Nor could Frigo
Photo: © AFP

Up front, Vino and Frigo got a gap on the other breakaway riders, while the expected fireworks from Bartoli didn't materialize. His moves were all covered by the other top men and although a chase group of 18 emerged at the summit of the Redoute climb, the break still had half a minute and was regrouping on the descent.

Negative racing under a weak spring sun continued as the finish line in Liege came ever closer, but the break had still not come back to the roost. With 24 km to race, the outcome was still uncertain, with Mapei again doing the lion's share of the work to curb the front runners. The Italian squad was joined by the bright orange jerseys of Euskaltel, as the bad boys from Basque had fresh legs and were looking to put their main man Etxebarria atop the victory podium, so the fugitives needed to come back.

With 20km to race, the 3.6km drag of Sart-Tillman looked like the launch pad for Etxebarria to bridge up the the break, but he was covered, with local boy and Fleche Wallone winner Rick Verbrugghe (Lotto), eventual winner Camenzind and Alex Zulle (Coast) prominent.

With the big guns firing, the break was doomed and as the Vinokourov led fugitives crested the Cote de Sart-Tillman in Angleur with 14 km to go, their lead was 10" and falling on the long downhill section that led to the Meuse River. Soon enough, John Lelangue announced "peloton groupee" on radio tour as the 60 rider group streaked past Standard Liege stadium.

Decisive break
Photo: © AFP

As in '99 when Frankie Vandenbrouke won, the penultimate climb would likely decide L-B-L. The steep (11%) Cote de St. Nicolas, also called the "Italian hill" as it climbs the past modest row houses of Italian immigrant miners who settled in Liege, had an Italian look on the road, too, as Ivan Basso (Fassa Bortolo) set an infernal pace to prepare the attack by his team leader Casagrande.

As 1200 m ascent of St.Nicolas commenced, there was a Fassa rider at the front, but once again the bright orange Euskaltel jersey of David Etxebarria powered into the lead. Euskaltel is among the 10 teams hoping for one of the 4 wild card spots to be announced by the Sociètè du Tour De France on May 2, and Etxebarria was looking for the win to firm up their place, just as Rick Verbrugghe had done for Lotto earlier in the week.

The Euskaltel man was joined by the usual suspects; Casagrande; pushing a huge gear, Boogerd, who has had a great spring campaign; ever-present Rebellin and a powerful Camenzind. USPS rider Christian Vandevelde was the last man to be dropped from the front group with 400 meters to go on St. Nicolas, but the Lemont, Ill. rider just couldn't hang on with Casagrande powering away at the front.

Nice trophy
Photo: © AFP

Over the top and down into gritty Liege with 5 km to race screamed the five front riders with a chasing group of 10 including Vandevelde, Verbrugghe and Rumsas. But it was too late for the chasers and despite some back and forth riding under the 1 km to go kite and the usual nasty gestures from Casagrande, Oscar Camenzind showed his power leading out the sprint with 250m to go and never bested, captured the 87th edition of La Doyenne, at a respectable average speed of 37.9 km/hr.

Oscar Camenzind has occasionally shown flashes of brilliance in his 5 year career and perhaps this major win will certainly give Camenzind and his Lampre-Daikin squad a major boost they are looking for with the Giro d'Italia less than a month away.

Camenzind scores Swiss victory

By Jeff Jones

Lampre-Daikin broke through at last in their World Cup campaign, as former World Champion Oscar Camenzind took out the 87th Liege-Bastogne-Liege in a five man sprint. Camenzind, together with Davide Rebellin (Liquigas), David Etxebarria (Euskaltel), Francesco Casagrande (Fassa) and Michael Boogerd (Rabobank) formed a select leading group on the second last climb of the race, the Cote de St. Nicolas with 5 km to go. Although all eyes were on Boogerd in the finale, he didn't have the legs to respond to Camenzind's sprint, and finished 5th in the group.

The race was more or less run in three parts: an early escape after 7 km by Collstrop's Marc Streel gained him a 20'40 advantage by kilometre 115. He was reeled in fairly quickly after the pace picked up and the hills took their toll. When he was caught at the top of the Cote de Stockeu (88 km to go), there was an immediate counter-attack by Euskaltel's Alberto Martinez.

Martinez eventually attracted 12 other riders to join him, including Dave Bruylandts (Domo), and Alex Vinokourov (Telekom) and Dario Frigo (Fassa). This group held a one minute gap to a Mapei-led peloton, and the chase was on in earnest.

Mapei lost out here as neither Michele Bartoli nor Paolo Bettini could escape from the peloton on any of the remaining climbs. The remnants of the breakaway were finally caught with 13 km to go after Euskaltel rode hard at the front for David Etxebarria. This set the platform for an exciting finale on the Cote de St. Nicolas, the day's penultimate climb, and five riders, Davide Rebellin (Liquigas), David Etxebarria (Euskaltel), Francesco Casagrande (Fassa Bortolo), Michael Boogerd (Rabobank) and Oscar Camenzind (Lampre) formed the final selection.

Casagrande was looking strong, but perhaps he showed it too much as he was forced to the front to work. Boogerd on the other hand was playing his cards very well, sitting at the back and waiting for the sprint. However, at the finish it was Camenzind, who came off Casagrande's wheel to beat home Rebellin and Etxebarria to take his first World Cup win since the Tour of Lombardy two and a half years ago.

In the World Cup standings, there were no changes at the top and the absent Romans Vainsteins (Domo) retained his vertically striped rainbow jersey.

Results - 258 km

1 Oscar Camenzind (Swi) Lampre Daikin                   6.42.38
2 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Liquigas Pata
3 David Etxebarria Alkorta (Spa) Euskatel-Euskadi
4 Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
5 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank
6 Raimondas Rumsas (Ltu) Fassa Bortolo                     0.25
7 Marcos A. Serrano Rodriguez (Spa) ONCE
8 Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank
9 Markus Zberg (Swi) Rabobank
10 Beat Zberg (Swi) Rabobank
11 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Mercatone Uno-Albacom
12 Peter Luttenberger (Aut) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola
13 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Mercury-Viatel
14 Udo Bölts (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom
15 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step
16 Pavel Tonkov (Rus) Mercury-Viatel
17 Michael Blaudzun (Den) CSC-World Online
18 Mikel Zarrabeitia Uranga (Spa) ONCE
19 Wladimir Belli (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
20 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola
21 Massimiliano Lelli (Ita) Cofidis
22 Serge Baguet (Bel) Lotto Adecco
23 Mikel Pradera Rodriguez (Spa) ONCE
24 Francisco Mancebo Perez (Spa) iBanesto.com
25 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Saeco Macchine de Caffe
26 Geert Verheyen (Bel) Rabobank
27 Cédric Vasseur (Fra) US Postal Service
28 Michele Bartoli (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step
29 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Lotto Adecco
30 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Team Deutsche Telekom
31 Christian Vandevelde (USA) US Postal Service
32 Andrei Tchmil (Bel) Lotto Adecco
33 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto Adecco
34 Jens Voigt (Ger) Credit Agricole
35 Massimo Donati (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola
36 Andrei Kivilev (Kaz) Cofidis
37 Massimo Codol (Ita) Lampre Daikin
38 Laurent Dufaux (Swi) Saeco Macchine de Caffe
39 Guido Trentin (Ita) Cofidis
40 Matthias Kessler (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom
41 Unai Osa Eizaguirre (Spa) iBanesto.com                  0.45
42 Axel Merckx (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites                      0.53
43 Steven Kleynen (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites                   1.02
44 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Festina                         1.16
45 Cesar Solaun Solana (Spa) iBanesto.com
46 Gorazd Stangelj (Slo) Liquigas Pata
47 Thomas Brozyna (Pol) iBanesto.com
48 Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) iBanesto.com
49 Marc Lotz (Ned) Rabobank
50 Bo Hamburger (Den) CSC-World Online                     1.20
51 Dave Bruylandts (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites                  1.37
52 Jens Heppner (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom
53 Marcelino Garcia Alonso (Spa) CSC-World Online
54 Laurent Lefevre (Fra) Cofidis
55 Sergio Barbero (Ita) Lampre Daikin
56 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Rabobank
57 Jose Azevedo (Por) ONCE                                 1.45
58 Niki Aebersold (Swi) Team Coast                         1.57
59 Dario Frigo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo                         1.57
60 Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto Adecco                          2.01
61 Ivan Basso (Ita) Fassa Bortolo                          2.38
62 Luca Mazzanti (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
63 Maximilian Sciandri (GBr) Lampre Daikin                 2.54
64 Alex Zülle (Swi) Team Coast
65 Nicolay Bo Larsen (Den) CSC-World Online                3.34
66 Manuel Beltran Martinez (Spa) Mapei-Quick Step
67 Roland Meier (Swi) Team Coast
68 Mauro Gianetti (Swi) Team Coast
69 Andrea Peron (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
70 Jörg Jaksche (Ger) ONCE                                 3.39
71 Gabriele Missaglia (Ita) Lampre Daikin                  5.33
72 Ellis Rastelli (Ita) Liquigas Pata
73 Txema Del Olmo Zendegi (Spa) Euskatel-Euskadi
74 Bobby Julich (USA) Credit Agricole
75 Jan Hruska (Cze) ONCE
76 Andrei Tcherviakov (Rus) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
77 Michel Van Haecke (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
78 Inigo Cuesta Lopez (Spa) Cofidis
79 Pietro Zucconi (Swi) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola       5.38
80 Pavel Padrnos (Cze) Saeco Macchine de Caffe
81 Steve De Wolf (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites
82 Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Domo-Farm Frites
83 José Alberto Martinez Trinidad (Spa) Euskatel-Euskadi  10.24
84 Angel Castresana Del Val (Spa) Euskatel-Euskadi
85 Dmitri Fofonov (Kaz) Cofidis
86 Mikel Artetxe Gezuraga (Spa) Euskatel-Euskadi
87 Marco Velo (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Albacom                 10.44
88 Andrea Noe (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step
89 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Lampre Daikin                 13.04
90 Vincent Cali (Fra) Collstrop-Palmans
91 Frédéric Bessy (Fra) Credit Agricole
92 Martin Rittsel (Swe) CSC-World Online
93 Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola
94 Chann Mcrae (USA) Mercury-Viatel
95 David George (RSA) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola
96 Steve Vermaut (Bel) Lotto Adecco
97 Unai Etxebarria Arana (Ven) Euskatel-Euskadi
98 Glenn D'hollander (Bel) Lotto Adecco
99 Igor Pugaci (Mda) Saeco Macchine de Caffe
100 Nicki Sorensen (Den) CSC-World Online                 15.24
101 David Muñoz (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca                  18.01
102 Christophe Brandt (Bel) Lotto Adecco                  19.45
103 Fausto Dotti (Ita) Liquigas Pata
104 Ludovic Martin (Fra) Credit Agricole
105 Andrei Mizourov (Kaz) Team Deutsche Telekom
106 Steffen Kjaergaard (Nor) US Postal Service
107 David Clinger (USA) Festina
108 Sascha Henrix (Ger) Team Coast
109 Jose Luis Rubiera Vigil (Spa) US Postal Service       20.50
110 Kristof Trouve (Bel) Collstrop-Palmans                25.36
111 Bert De Waele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago           28.42

World Cup standings after round 4

1 Romans Vainsteins (Lat) Domo-Farm Frites                  116 pts
2 Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola     111
3 Servais Knaven (Ned) Domo-Farm Frites                     101
4 Oscar Camenzind (Swi) Lampre Daikin                       100
5 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom                    100
6 Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank                                 99
7 Johan Museeuw (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites                       80
8 George Hincapie (USA) US Postal Service                    73
9 Rolf Sorensen (Den) CSC-World Online                       72
10 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Liquigas Pata                       70
11 Mario Cipollini (Ita) Saeco Macchine de Caffe             70
12 Denis Zanette (Ita) Liquigas Pata                         58
13 Ludo Dierckxsens (Bel) Lampre Daikin                      56
14 Chris Peers (Bel) Cofidis                                 52
15 David Etxebarria Alkorta (Spa) Euskatel-Euskadi           50
16 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step                      50
17 Markus Zberg (Swi) Rabobank                               48
18 Andrei Tchmil (Bel) Lotto Adecco                          44
19 Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Fassa Bortolo                  43
20 Maximilian Sciandri (GBr) Lampre Daikin                   43
21 Steffen Wesemann (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom              42
22 Biagio Conte (Ita) Saeco Macchine de Caffe                40
23 Gabriele Balducci (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola      40
24 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank                            36
25 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step                   36
26 Wilfried Peeters (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites                   36
27 Raimondas Rumsas (Ltu) Fassa Bortolo                      32
28 Gabriele Colombo (Ita) Cantina Tollo Acqua&Sapone         32
29 Marcos A. Serrano Rodriguez (Spa) ONCE                    28
30 Nico Mattan (Bel) Cofidis                                 28
31 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Mercury-Viatel                    28
32 Michele Bartoli (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step                    26
33 Dario Pieri (Ita) Saeco Macchine de Caffe                 24
34 Guido Trenti (USA) Cantina Tollo Acqua&Sapone             20
35 Beat Zberg (Swi) Rabobank                                 16
36 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Mercatone Uno-Albacom                 15
37 Christian Vandevelde (USA) US Postal Service              15
38 Peter Luttenberger (Aut) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirol      14
39 Udo Bölts (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom                     12
40 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Mercury-Viatel                         12
41 Gian Matteo Fagnini (Ita) Team Deutsche Telekom           12
42 Andrej Hauptman (Slo) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola        11
43 Pavel Tonkov (Rus) Mercury-Viatel                         10
44 Mirko Celestino (Ita) Saeco Macchine de Caffe             10
45 Rolf Aldag (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom                    10
46 Hans De Clercq (Bel) Lotto Adecco                         10
47 Michael Blaudzun (Den) CSC-World Online                    9
48 Christophe Mengin (Fra) La Francaise Des Jeux              9
49 Arvis Piziks (Lat) CSC-World Online                        9
50 Mikel Zarrabeitia Uranga (Spa) ONCE                        8
51 Frank Hoj (Den) Team Coast                                 8
52 Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto Adecco                             8
53 Wladimir Belli (Ita) Fassa Bortolo                         7
54 Jo Planckaert (Bel) Cofidis                                7
55 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola          6
56 Enrico Cassani (Ita) Domo-Farm Frites                      6
57 Massimiliano Lelli (Ita) Cofidis                           5
58 Bart Voskamp (Ned) Bankgiroloterij-Batavus                 5
59 Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance                 5
60 Serge Baguet (Bel) Lotto Adecco                            4
61 Fabio Malberti (Ita) Liquigas Pata                         4
62 Hendrik Van Dyck (Bel) Lotto Adecco                        4
63 Mikel Pradera Rodriguez (Spa) ONCE                         3
64 Francisco Mancebo Perez (Spa) iBanesto.com                 2
65 Marco Velo (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Albacom                     2
66 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Saeco Macchine de Caffe             1
67 Franck Pencole (Fra) Big Mat - Auber 93                    1

Teams

1 Rabobank                      27 pts
2 Cofidis                       24
3 Lampre-Daikin                 22
4 Lotto-Adecco                  20
5 Domo-Farm Frites              18
6 Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola  17
7 Mapei-Quick Step              15
8 Telekom                       14
9 Fassa Bortolo                 13
10 Saeco Macchine per Caffe     12

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