36th GP Pino Cerami (1.3)Belgium, April 13, 20012000 results Results Past winners Scott Sunderland wins Pino CeramiBy Jeff Jones
Australian Scott Sunderland (Fakta) has won the 36th edition of the GP Pino Cerami in a thrilling solo finish. Attacking on the final climb, he beat home Collstrop's Roger Hammond and Domo's Fred Rodriguez in an all English-speaker's race. The race started in cool (8 degrees) but dry weather, and riders from 21 division I and II teams took the start in St Ghislain, near the Franco-Belgian border. The parcours consisted of a big lap of 114 km, followed by four smaller circuits of 17 kilometres, including a tough cobbled climb 3 kilometres from the finish. Three riders attacked on the large circuit: Paul van Schalen (Team Cologne), Olivier Trastour (Jean Delatour), and Innar Mandoja (Ag2r). Their lead hovered around 1'45, but it was brought down to 1'10 as the riders crossed the finish line in Boussu (Hornu) for the first of five times. The peloton was aleady intent on chasing, and the three were brought back after a lap and a half, as first six other riders bridged, before the peloton gobbled them up. On the second last climb, 13 riders attacked to form the final selection: Fred Rodriguez (Domo), Laurent Lefevre and Claude Lamour (Cofidis), Guido Trenti (Cantina Tollo), Eddy Serri (Alexia), Ludovic Capelle (Ag2r), Jerome Bernard (Jean Delatour), Matthias Buxhofer (Phonak), Zoran Klemencic (Tacconi), Scott Sunderland (Fakta), Roger Hammond and Oleg Pankov (Collstrop), and Michel van Haecke (Landbouwkrediet). The small bunch quickly grabbed a 30 seconds lead on the last 17 kilometre circuit, and with so many teams represented, there was little incentive to chase. Scott Sunderland had been looking quite comfortable all race, and decided to test his legs on the final climb in the big chainring. It was enough to break the elastic, and he had approximately 10 seconds lead over the top.
The final 3 kilometres consisted of a fairly fast downhill, followed by a 1 kilometre rise until the final downhill run to the finish. Sunderland increased his lead to 13 seconds, and he knew he had it then. He raised his arms in delighted victory with 50 metres to go, as Roger Hammond and Fred Rodriguez led the bunch home behind him. After finishing second in Brabantse Pijl and GP Rennes, this win was a sign of Sunderland's excellent form. He rode a perfect race, not attacking until it counted at the end. "All the other times, everybody was going [up the hill] in the small chainring, so this time I went in the big chainring and give it everything," he said. "I had enough speed so that when I got to the top I could keep going. It was a little bit flat across the top and there was a huge lactic buildup - I was just biting the handlebars." "When I heard I had 12 seconds I knew it was in the bag." It certainly was and Sunderland is aiming to maintain form for the team's only World Cup race in the first part of the season, the Amstel Gold Race.
Results - 181.1 km1 Scott Sunderland (Aus) Team Fakta 4.24.00 (41.325 km/h) 2 Roger Hammond (GBr) Collstrop-Palmans 0.15 3 Fred Rodriguez (USA) Domo-Farm Frites 0.16 4 Ludovic Capelle (Bel) ag2r Prevoyance 0.17 5 Oleg Pankov (Ukr) Collstrop-Palmans 6 Michel van Haecke (Bel) Landbouwkrediet 7 Eddy Serri (Ita) Alexia Aluminio 8 Laurent Lefevre (Fra) Cofidis 9 Zoran Klemencic (Slo) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 10 Claude Lamour (Fra) Cofidis 11 Jerome Bernard (Fra) Jean Delatour 12 Guido Trenti (USA) Cantina Tollo 13 Matthias Buxhofer (Aut) Phonak 14 Vincent Cali (Fra) Collstrop-Palmans 0.37 15 Diego Ferrari (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 16 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Domo-Farm Frites 0.38 17 Bert Schierlinkcx (Bel) Collstrop-Palmans 18 Cristian Pepoli (Ita) Cantina Tollo 19 Martin van Steen (Ned) BankGiroLoterij-Batavus 20 Stephane Goubert (Fra) Jean Delatour 21 Bert Hiemstra (Ned) Bankgiroloterij-Batavus 22 Ludovic Auger (Fra) Bigmat-Auber 93 23 Andrej Hautpman (Slo) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 24 Federico Colonna (Ita) Cantina Tollo Acqua 0.50 25 Alexandre Usov (Blr) Phonak Hearing Systems 26 Thierry De Groote (Bel) Collstrop-Palmans 27 Mario Manzoni (Ita) Alexia Alluminio 28 Oscar Cavagnis (Ita) Saeco Macchine Per Caffe 29 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites 30 Tom Desmet (Bel) Bankgiroloterij-Batavus 31 Jürgen Werner (Ger) Team Nürnberger 32 Arkadiusz Wojtas (Pol) Team Nürnberger 33 Olivier Genicot (Bel) Flanders-Prefetex 34 Sebastien Matozza (Bel) Ville de Charleoi 35 Marek Rutkiewicz (Pol) Cofidis 36 Michael Skelde (Den) Team Fakta 37 Alexandre Grux (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 38 Cyril Dessel (Fra) Jean Delatour 39 Giacomo Battistel (Ita) Alexia Alluminio 40 Marius Sabaliauskas (Ltu) Saeco Macchine Per Caffe 41 Cédric Fragniere (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 42 Tom Stremeersch (Bel) Vlaanderen-T-Interim 43 Ciaran Power (Irl) ST Quentin Oktos 44 Miquel Van Kessel (Ned) Team Gerolsteiner 45 Renaud Boxus (Bel) Ville De Charleroi-New Systems 46 Davy Daniels (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 47 Jakob Gram Nielsen (Den) Team Fakta 48 Andrea Brognara (Ita) Alexia Aluminio 49 Bert De Waele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 50 Pieter Vries (Ned) Bankgiroloterij-Batavus 51 Björn Glasner (Ger) Team Cologne 52 Andrei Tcherviakov (Rus) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 53 Inigo Castro (Spa) Cofidis 54 Daniel Atienza (Spa) Cofidis 55 Xavier Jan (Fra) Bigmat-Auber 93 56 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 57 Guido Trentin (Ita) Cofidis 58 Jurgen van Roosbroeck (Bel) Vlaanderen-T-Interim 59 Mauro Gerosa (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 60 Andrei Kivilev (Kaz) Cofidis 61 Sébastien Demarbaix (Bel) Ag2R Prevoyance 0.58 62 Sebastien Talbardon (Fra) BigMat Auber 93 1.22 63 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Collstrop-Palmans 1.36 64 Bram Tankink (Ned) Domo-Farm Frites 65 Artour Babaitsev (Rus) Team Nürnberger 66 Jens Zemke (Ger) Team Nürnberger 67 Dominique Rault (Fra) Bigmat-Auber 93 68 Jörg Ludewig (Ger) Saeco Macchine Per Caffe 69 Olivier Trastour (Fra) Jean Delatour 70 Manu Lhoir (Bel) Team Fakta 71 Leif Hoste (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites 2.00 72 Grégory Barbier (Fra) 73 David Lefevre (Fra) Cofidis 74 Jeff Louder (USA) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 75 Pelle Kil (Ned) Team Cologne 76 Berry Hoedemakers (Ned) Team Cologne 77 Bram Schmitz (Ned) Bankgiroloterij-Batavus 78 Alexandre Moos (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 79 David Debremaeker (Bel) Ville De Charleroi-New Systems 80 Kristof Trouve (Bel) Collstrop-Palmans 81 Geert Omloop (Bel) Collstrop-Palmans 82 Federico Giabeecucci (Ita) Cantina Tollo 83 Corrado Serina (Ita) Alexia Alluminio 84 Massimiliano Mori (Ita) Saeco Macchine Per Caffe 85 Serguei Oustschakov (Ukr) Alexia Aluminio 86 Stéphane Berges (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 87 Lylian Lebreton (Fra) Bigmat-Auber 93 88 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 89 Volker Ordowski (Ger) Gerolsteiner 90 Werner Riebenbauer (Aut) Team Nurnberger 3.09 91 Torsten Nitsche (Ger) Saeco Macchine Per Caffe 3.24 92 Rudi Kemna (Ned) Bankgiroloterij-Batavus 3.47 93 Chris Matthys (Bel) Flanders-Prefetex 94 René Haselbacher (Aut) Gerolsteiner 95 Dario Pieri (Ita) Saeco Macchine Per Caffe 96 Stefan Van Dijk (Ned) Bankgiroloterij-Batavus 8.40 97 Innar Mandoja (Est) Ag2R Prevoyance 98 Corey Sweet (Aus) Bankgiroloterij-Batavus 99 Jan Van Velzen (Ned) Bankgiroloterij-Batavus 100 Thomas Mulbacher (Aut) Team Nurnberger 11.10 Past Winners2000 Jan Bratkowski (Ger) Mercury 181 km in 4.12.00 (43.09) 1999 Fabrizio Guidi (Ita) Team Polti 199 km in 4.50.00 1998 Marco Serpellini (Ita) Brescialat-Liquigas 199 km in 4.43.00 (42.402) 1997 Race Cancelled 1996 Marco Serpellini (Ita) 1995 Fabiano Fontanelli (Ita) 1994 Michele Bartoli (Ita) 1992 Laurent Dufaux (Swi) 1991 Andrej Tchmil (Mol) 1990 Maximilian Sciandri (Ita) 1989 Stefan Joho (Swi) 1988 John Talen (Ned) 1987 Rolf Sörensen (Den) 1986 Urs Freuler (Swi) 1985 Paul Haghedooren (Bel) 1984 Gerrie Knetemann (Ned) 1983 Bernard Hinault (Fra) 1982 Ronny Van Holen (Ned) 1981 Joop Zoetemelk (Ned) 1980 Joop Zoetemelk (Ned) 1979 Daniel Verplancke (Bel) 1978 Gerrie Knetemann (Ned) 1977 Joseph Jacobs (Bel) 1976 Willy Teirlinck (Bel) 1975 Eddy Verstraeten (Bel) 1974 Marc Demeyer (Bel) 1973 Ferdinand Bracke (Bel) 1972 Christian Callens (Bel) 1971 Georges Van Coningsloo (Bel) 1970 André Dierickx (Bel) 1969 Frans Mintjens (Bel) 1968 Julien Stevens (Bel) 1967 Willy Planckaert (Bel) 1966 Eddy Merckx (Bel) 1965 Jan Boonen (Bel) 1964 André Noyelle (Bel) |
