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Perfect finish for Zabel

By Jeff Jones

Zabel just too good
Photo: © AFP

Erik Zabel (Telekom) has finally won the HEW Cyclassics Cup, overcoming all the pressure of being the pre-race favourite on his home territory. Zabel was the fastest in a bunch sprint of approximately 40 riders, beating World Champion Romans Vainsteins (Domo-Farm Frites) and World Cup leader Erik Dekker (Rabobank). It was Zabel's second World Cup success of the season, and was brought about through some excellent teamwork from his Telekom team.

"The sprint was super, just to my taste," said a happy and relieved Zabel afterwards. "It is a very special victory since that is my first victory in Germany," he added, referring to the World Cup race that he has never won before.

The Köhlbrandbrücke
Photo: © Sirotti

After a steady start, the 251 kilometre race really began at the foot of the first of three ascents of the Waseberg with 100 kilometres to go. By this stage, the obligatory (but late) suicide solo break initiated by French neo-pro Raphael Jeune (CSC-Tiscali) was about finished. Jeune had escaped after 78 kilometres, building a maximum lead of 7 minutes before the tempo lifted in the peloton in anticipation of a fast finish.

Raphael Jeune
Photo: © Sirotti

Jeune made it over the top of the climb in first place, but was caught before he reached the finish line on Mönckebergstrasse and abandoned the race, having ridden 90 kilometres on his own around Hamburg. With two 41.4 km laps to go, things were definitely heating up in the peloton. The other pre-race favourite, Jan Ullrich (Telekom) had already been stirring things up on the Waseberg, and continued to get in just about every move, often accompanied by one of his Telekom teammates.

Other riders were looking good too: Erik Dekker (Rabobank), Paolo Bettini (Mapei) and Davide Rebellin (Liquigas) had their respective teams working hard, with Lotto-Adecco and Fassa Bortolo also getting in the moves. The second time up the Waseberg produced only a moderate shredding of the peloton, and it came together on the descent once again.

A couple of incidents of note included a large crash that took out Jens Voigt (Credit Agricole) amongst others; and a puncture to Erik Zabel on the approach to the finish line (42 km to go). He was quickly ushered back to the peloton by three teammates.

Dekker leads the charge
Photo: © Sirotti

On the final lap, minor attacks continued all the way to the Waseberg, but it was a solid mass of riders which hit the climb with 17 km to go. Jan Ullrich faltered at this critical moment, as Erik Dekker launched a powerful attack followed by Paolo Bettini and Davide Rebellin. The three powered away, opening up a 7 second gap which grew to 15 seconds with 11 kilometres to go.

Was it all over for the Telekom train? Not this time as it turned out, as Jan Ullrich gathered his strength to help chase the trio down, with Zabel and the peloton in tow. Despite some strong turns from Dekker, Bettini and Rebellin, they could not resist the peloton and the break was finished with 6 km to go.

Ullrich chases
Photo: © Sirotti

Counter attacks followed immediately: Bartoli and Baldato first, followed by last year's winner Missaglia (Lampre) and Hauptman (Tacconi). Karsten Kroon (Rabobank) made a bid with 2 km left, but he was overhauled by Mercury's Leon van Bon, who won this race in 1998. Van Bon led into the final kilometre, but the momentum behind was too much and he was swamped.

Jan Ullrich did his final turn at the front for Zabel, but the sprint lead out came from Erik Dekker who was clearly having a great day. He did enough to ensure a podium spot, as Zabel battled it out with Vainsteins for the win, comfortably accounting for the World Champ at the finish.

An obviously delighted Zabel wheeled around and high-fived riders as they came past the finish, with a big congratulation going to Jan Ullrich, who looked just as happy.

Zabel delighted
Photo: © Sirotti

"It was important for us that somebody from our team was triumphant," said Ullrich. "Erik or me, that depended on the course of the race."

As Rebellin finished in 14th today, it means that Erik Dekker's closest rival in the World Cup is Zabel, with 200 points. However, Dekker has 269 and should perform better than Zabel over the final three rounds, should the German even decide to contest them. With Vainsteins on 186 points, Rebellin on 156 and Bortolami on 130, the World Cup is still undecided, but Dekker will have to have a disaster to lose his advantage.

Results

1 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom             5.59.02 (41.945 km/h)
2 Romans Vainsteins (Lat) Domo-Farm Frites
3 Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank
4 Fabrizio Guidi (Ita) Mercury
5 Andrej Hauptman (Slo) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola
6 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step
7 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Mercatone Uno-Stream TV
8 Fabio Baldato (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
9 Werner Riebenbauer (Aut) Team Nürnberger
10 Sven Teutenberg (Ger) Festina
11 Aart Vierhouten (Ned) Rabobank
12 Mirko Celestino (Ita) Saeco Macchine Per Caffè
13 Gabriele Balducci (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola
14 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Liquigas-Pata
15 René Haselbacher (Aut) Gerolsteiner
16 Steffen Radochla (Ger) Festina
17 Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola
18 Martin Müller (Ger) Team Cologne
19 Peter Wrolich (Aut) Gerolsteiner
20 Serge Baguet (Bel) Lotto-Adecco
21 Raphael Schweda (Ger) Team Coast
22 Andrei Kivilev (Kaz) Cofidis
23 Michele Bartoli (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step
24 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Rabobank
25 Arkadiusz Wojtas (Pol) Team Nürnberger
26 Gabriele Missaglia (Ita) Lampre-Daikin
27 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
28 Oscar Camenzind (Swi) Lampre-Daikin
29 Johan Museeuw (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites
30 Piotr Wadecki (Pol) Domo-Farm Frites
31 Peter Farazijn (Bel) Cofidis
32 Bobby Julich (USA) Credit Agricole
33 Luca Paolini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step
34 Nicola Loda (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
35 Andrei Tchmil (Bel) Lotto-Adecco
36 Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
37 Fred Rodriguez (USA) Domo-Farm Frites                 0.05
38 Jan Ullrich (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom               0.24
39 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Mercury                            0.30
40 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom            0.37
41 Biagio Conte (Ita) Saeco Macchine Per Caffè           1.26
42 Marco Serpellini (Ita) Lampre-Daikin                  1.36
43 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Saeco Macchine Per Caffè           1.38
44 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola
45 Gianpaolo Mondini (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Stream TV       1.48
46 René Joergensen (Den) Team CSC Tiscali                1.50
47 Giancarlo Raimondi (Ita) Liquigas-Pata
48 Jacob Moe Rasmussen (Den) Team CSC Tiscali
49 Mauro Radaelli (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola
50 Matthé Pronk (Ned) Rabobank                           1.55
51 Mauro Gianetti (Swi) Team Coast
52 Jörg Ludewig (Ger) Saeco Macchine Per Caffè
53 Gorik Gardeyn (Bel) Lotto-Adecco                      2.10
54 Marcus Zberg (Swi) Rabobank
55 Jens Zemke (Ger) Team Nürnberger
56 Stefan Kupfernagel (Ger) Team Cologne
57 Artour Babaitsev (Rus) Team Nürnberger
58 Michael Andersson (Swe) Mercatone Uno-Stream TV
59 Arvis Piziks (Lat) Team CSC Tiscali
60 Malte Urban (Ger) Team Coast
61 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Rabobank
62 Sascha Henrix (Ger) Team Coast
63 Raymond Meijs (Ned) Team Cologne
64 Gian Mario Ortenzi (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Stream TV
65 Jan Boven (Ned) Rabobank
66 Sébastien Hinault (Fra) Credit Agricole
67 Leonardo Giordani (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
68 Frank Hoj (Den) Team Coast
69 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Rabobank
70 Harald Morscher (Aut) Team Nürnberger
71 Jo Planckaert (Bel) Cofidis
72 Ludo Dierckxsens (Bel) Lampre-Daikin
73 Nicola Minali (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola
74 Mauro Gerosa (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola
75 Ryan Cox (RSA) Team Cologne
76 Christian Werner (Ger) Team Nürnberger
77 Massimiliano Mori (Ita) Saeco Macchine Per Caffè
78 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom
79 Michael Schlickau (Ger) Team Cologne
80 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
81 Paul Van Hyfte (Bel) Lotto-Adecco
82 Chris Peers (Bel) Cofidis
83 Marco Zanotti (Ita) Liquigas-Pata
84 Enrico Cassani (Ita) Domo-Farm Frites
85 Laurent Dufaux (Swi) Saeco Macchine Per Caffè
86 Tristan Hoffman (Ned) Team CSC Tiscali
87 Niki Aebersold (Swi) Team Coast
88 Rolf Aldag (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom
89 Andreas Klier (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom
90 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Mercury
91 Rolf Sorensen (Den) Team CSC Tiscali
92 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step
93 Guennadi Mikhailov (Rus) Lotto-Adecco
94 Daniele Contrini (Ita) Liquigas-Pata                  4.24
95 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Credit Agricole
96 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole
97 Serhiy Honchar (Ukr) Liquigas-Pata                    5.00
98 Jos Lucassen (Ned) Team Cologne
99 Johan Verstrepen (Bel) Lampre-Daikin
100 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Lotto-Adecco
101 Luca Scinto (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step                   5.19
102 Thorsten Rund (Ger) Team Coast
103 Elio Aggiano (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step
104 Glenn Magnusson (Swe) Domo-Farm Frites
105 Maximilian Sciandri (GBr) Lampre-Daikin
106 Thierry Marichal (Bel) Lotto-Adecco
107 Olaf Pollack (Ger) Gerolsteiner                      8.13
108 André Korff (Ger) Festina
109 Patrik Sinkewitz (Ger) Mapei-Quick Step
110 Geert Van Bondt (Bel) Mercury                        9.25
111 Cristian Salvato (Ita) Liquigas-Pata                11.19
112 Stéphane Auge (Fra) Festina
113 Robert Hunter (RSA) Lampre-Daikin
114 Jans Koerts (Ned) Mercury
115 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) Domo-Farm Frites
116 Jan Schaffrath (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom
117 Kai Hundertmark (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom
118 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner                     11.21
119 Andreas Sauerborn (Ger) Gerolsteiner
120 Hans De Clercq (Bel) Lotto-Adecco                   12.07
121 Dario David Cioni (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step

DNF Steffen Weigold (Ger) Gerolsteiner
DNF Zbigniew Spruch (Pol) Lampre-Daikin
DNF Lars Michaelsen (Den) Team Coast
DNF Servais Knaven (Ned) Domo-Farm Frites
DNF Salvatore Commesso (Ita) Saeco Macchine Per Caffè
DNF Christian Wegmann (Ger) Saeco Macchine Per Caffè
DNF Marco Velo (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Stream TV
DNF Cristian Moreni (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Stream TV
DNF Ermanno Brignoli (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Stream TV
DNF Andy Flickinger (Fra) Festina
DNF Michel Klinger (Swi) Festina
DNF Arnaud Pretot (Fra) Festina
DNF Nicolas Reynaud (Fra) Festina
DNF Paolo Bossoni (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola
DNF Raphael Jeune (Fra) Team CSC Tiscali
DNF Michael Steen Nielsen (Den) Team CSC Tiscali
DNF Anthony Morin (Fra) Credit Agricole
DNF Jérôme Neuville (Fra) Credit Agricole
DNF Stuart O'grady (Aus) Credit Agricole
DNF Jens Voigt (Ger) Credit Agricole
DNF Dmitri Konyshev (Rus) Fassa Bortolo
DNF Mirko Marini (Ita) Liquigas-Pata
DNF Denis Zanette (Ita) Liquigas-Pata
DNF Henk Vogels (Aus) Mercury
DNF Baden Cooke (Aus) Mercury
DNF Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Mercury
DNF Tom Flammang (Lux) Cofidis
DNF Médéric Clain (Fra) Cofidis
DNF Nico Mattan (Bel) Cofidis
DNF Jean-Michel Tessier (Fra) Cofidis
DNF Volker Ordowski (Ger) Gerolsteiner
DNF Marcel Strauss (Swi) Gerolsteiner
DNF Björn Glasner (Ger) Team Cologne
DNF Frank Klein (Ger) Team Cologne
DNF Dirk Baldinger (Ger) Team Nürnberger
DNF Robert Förster (Ger) Team Nürnberger

World Cup standings after round 7

1 Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank                            269 pts
2 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom                200
3 Romans Vainsteins (Lat) Domo-Farm Frites              186
4 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Liquigas-Pata                   156
5 Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 130
6 Oscar Camenzind (Swi) Lampre-Daikin                   126
7 Johan Museeuw (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites                  116
8 Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Fassa Bortolo              113
9 Servais Knaven (Ned) Domo-Farm Frites                 101
10 Serge Baguet (Bel) Lotto-Adecco                       96
11 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step                  95
12 Marcus Zberg (Swi) Rabobank                           88
13 George Hincapie (USA) US Postal Service               73
14 Rolf Sorensen (Den) CSC Tiscali                       72
15 Chris Peers (Bel) Cofidis                             68
16 Michele Bartoli (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step                65
17 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Mercury-Viatel                60
18 Denis Zanette (Ita) Liquigas-Pata                     58
19 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank                        56
20 Ludo Dierckxsens (Bel) Lampre-Daikin                  56
21 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Mercatone Uno-Stream TV           54
22 Gabriele Balducci (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola  53
23 Andrei Tchmil (Bel) Lotto-Adecco                      53
24 David Etxebarria Alkorta (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi      50
25 Wilfried Peeters (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites               49
26 Andrej Hauptman (Slo) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola    47
27 Maximilian Sciandri (GBr) Lampre-Daikin               43
28 Steffen Wesemann (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom          42
29 Fabrizio Guidi (Ita) Mercury-Viatel                   40
30 Biagio Conte (Ita) Saeco Macchine Per Caffe'          40
31 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step               36
32 Mirko Celestino (Ita) Saeco Macchine Per Caffe'       35
33 Nico Mattan (Bel) Cofidis                             30
34 Piotr Wadecki (Pol) Domo-Farm Frites                  28
35 Fabio Baldato (Ita) Fassa Bortolo                     24
36 Dario Pieri (Ita) Saeco Macchine Per Caffe'           24
37 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola     21
38 Christian Vandevelde (USA) US Postal Service          19
39 Beat Zberg (Swi) Rabobank                             16
40 Michael Blaudzun (Den) CSC Tiscali                    16
41 Aart Vierhouten (Ned) Rabobank                        15
42 Marc Lotz (Ned) Rabobank                              14
43 Udo Bölts (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom                 12
44 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Mercury-Viatel                     12
45 Gian Matteo Fagnini (Ita) Team Deutsche Telekom       12
46 Marco Serpellini (Ita) Lampre-Daikin                  10
47 Rolf Aldag (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom                10
48 Hans De Clercq (Bel) Lotto-Adecco                     10
49 Arvis Piziks (Lat) CSC Tiscali                         9
50 Mikel Zarrabeitia Uranga (Spa) O.N.C.E.-Eroski         8
51 Frank Hoj (Den) Team Coast                             8
52 Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto-Adecco                         8
53 Bobby Julich (USA) Credit Agricole                     7
54 Jo Planckaert (Bel) Cofidis                            7
55 Cristian Moreni (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Stream TV          6
56 Enrico Cassani (Ita) Domo-Farm Frites                  6
57 Raphael Schweda (Ger) Team Coast                       5
58 Cédric Vasseur (Fra) US Postal Service                 5
59 Massimiliano Lelli (Ita) Cofidis                       5
60 Andrei Kivilev (Kaz) Cofidis                           4
61 Hendrik Van Dyck (Bel) Lotto-Adecco                    4
62 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Rabobank                      3
63 Mikel Pradera Rodriguez (Spa) O.N.C.E.-Eroski          3
64 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Rabobank                           2
65 Marco Velo (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Stream TV               2
66 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Team Deutsche Telekom       1
67 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Saeco Macchine Per Caffe'       1

Unranked riders (according to art. 2.11.010 from the UCI rule book):


Laurent Jalabert (Fra) CSC Tiscali                      100 pts
Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal Service                  70
Mario Cipollini (Ita) Saeco Macchine Per Caffe'          70
Wladimir Belli (Ita) Fassa Bortolo                       47
Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step                  32
Raimondas Rumsas (Ltu) Fassa Bortolo                     32
Gabriele Colombo (Ita) Cantina Tollo Acqua & Sapone      32
Marcos A. Serrano Rodriguez (Spa) O.N.C.E.-Eroski        28
Andrea Ferrigato (Ita) Alessio                           24
Werner Riebenbauer (Aut) Team Nürnberger                 20
Guido Trenti (USA) Cantina Tollo Acqua & Sapone          20
Sven Teutenberg (Ger) Festina                            16
Javier Pascual Llorente (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca         16
Fausto Dotti (Ita) Liquigas-Pata                         15
Peter Luttenberger (Aut) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola    14
Gerhard Trampusch (Aut) Team Deutsche Telekom            12
René Haselbacher (Aut) Gerolsteiner                      11
Steffen Radochla (Ger) Festina                           10
Pavel Tonkov (Rus) Mercury-Viatel                        10
Axel Merckx (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites                        9
Christophe Mengin (Fra) La Francaise Des Jeux             9
Martin Müller (Ger) Team Cologne                          8
Scott Sunderland (Aus) Team Fakta                         8
Peter Wrolich (Aut) Gerolsteiner                          7
Davide Casarotto (Ita) Alessio                            6
Gianni Faresin (Ita) Liquigas-Pata                        5
Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) AG2                            5
Bart Voskamp (Ned) Bankgiroloterij-Batavus                5
César Garcia Calvo (Spa) Colchon Relax-Fuenlabrada        4
Fabio Malberti (Ita) Liquigas-Pata                        4
Marco Gili (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola             3
Fernando Escartin Coti (Spa) Team Coast                   2
Francisco Mancebo Perez (Spa) iBanesto.com                2
Arkadiusz Wojtas (Pol) Team Nürnberger                    1
Marco Pinotti (Ita) Lampre-Daikin                         1
Franck Pencole (Fra) Bigmat.Auber 93                      1

Teams classification

1 Rabobank                                               48
2 Domo-Farm Frites                                       40
3 Lampre-Daikin                                          31
4 Mapei-Quick Step                                       31
5 Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola                           29
6 Fassa Bortolo                                          27
7 Cofidis                                                27
8 Lotto-Adecco                                           26
9 Team Deutsche Telekom                                  23
10 US Postal Service                                     19
11 Saeco Macchine Per Caffe'                             15
12 Liquigas-Pata                                         12
13 CSC Tiscali                                           10
14 Mercury-Viatel                                         5
15 Mercatone Uno-Stream TV                                2

Unranked teams (accord. to art. 2.11.010 from the UCI rule book):

O.N.C.E.-Eroski                                           8
Cantina Tollo Acqua & Sapone                              8
Team Nürnberger                                           4
Bigmat.Auber 93                                           2
Bankgiroloterij-Batavus                                   2
iBanesto.com                                              1

 

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