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Dean's Comeback Dream Come True In Trenton

by Tim Maloney, Cyclingnews correspondent

Trenton podium
Photo: © Tim Maloney/CN

It's been a few years since Kiwi Julian Dean was racking up sprint wins all over kingdom come, but tonight in Trenton at the First Union Classic, Dean was sprinter supreme. The USPS rider bested Latvian Arvis Piziks (CSC-World Online) and Dutch rider Jan Koerts (Mercury-Viatel) on a cool, windy afternoon on one of the fastest courses around.

Dean gave credit to his team for setting up the win as the Kiwi is usually a lead-out man but he and the Postal boys turned the tables on their arch rivals Mercury-Viatel. "We had a team meeting this morning," related Dean after his Trenton win "and Frankie (Andreu, USPS Team Director) put together a really good plan." As well, Lady Luck smiled on Dean and USPS as a flat tyre in a mid-race break put Mercury on the defensive.

With 10 of 14 laps, Mroz-Supradyn man Eugene Wacker took a solo flyer and grabbed a solid lead of 30 seconds. Five riders bridged across to Wacker and the sextet quickly gained time on the group. Joining the Mroz rider was Gord Fraser (Mercury-Viatel), Matt White (USPS), Michael Barry (Saturn), Kirk O'Bee (Navigators) and Danny Pate (Prime Alliance).

Once the group had almost 2 minutes, things were looking good on the hyper-fast Trenton course, but when Fraser flatted with seven and a half laps to go and was swallowed by the field, Mercury decided to chase down the now five fugitives. But it was not going to be so easy; even though Mercury put six guys on the front to pull, it took them four and a half laps, over 30 miles of hard chasing at 30 mph to reel the hard working quintet in.

Mercury train
Photo: © Jonathan Devich

Finally they did come back with two and a half laps to go, but Mercury had pretty much used up most of the team during their tough chase. With two laps to go, Navigators took over the hard tempo to keep it together. This worked for the local based squad for about a lap, but through the feed zone hill in Cadwallader Park on the last lap, Pedro Munoz (Mapei-Quick Step) mad his move and got a gap of five seconds. He was quickly joined by Jakob Piil (CSC-World Online), Vassili Davidenko (Navigators) and Viatcheslav Ekimov (USPS). This move dangled out front for a few miles but under the hard chase of Saturn and Mercury, the now shattered field was all together with 1km to race.

As always, the sprint for victory in Trenton came down to a drag race down West State Street. This time, George Hincapie (USPS) turned the tables on Mercury; leading out his rapid teammate Julian Dean for the win and executing Frankie Andreu's plan to perfection. For Dean, one could see the satisfaction for a long-overdue win and for Andreu, his victory plan realized. USPS will start Sunday's First Union USPRO Championships on a high note that they hope will bring the Stars and Stripes back into the fold for 2001.

Results

1 Julian Dean (NZl) US Postal Service         3.00.43 (48.8 kmh/30.5 mph)
2 Arvis Piziks (Lat) CSC-World Online
3 Jans Koerts (Ned) Mercury-Viatel
4 Oleg Grichkine (Rus) Navigators
5 Trent Klasna (USA) Saturn
6 Graeme Miller (NZl) NetZero
7 Remigis Lpejkis (Lit) MROZ-Supradyn
8 Fred Rodriguez (USA) Domo-Farm Frites
9 Siro Camponogara (Ita) Navigators
10 Vassili Davidenko (Rus) Navigators
11 Zbigniew Wyrzykowski (Pol) MROZ-Supradyn
12 Kevin Monahan (USA) 7UP-Colorado Cyclist
13 Jonas Carney (USA) Prime Alliance
14 Charles Dionne (Can) 7UP-Colorado Cyclist
15 Damon Kluck (USA) Jelly Belly
16 John Lieswyn (USA) 7UP-Colorado Cyclist
17 Gabriel Rampollo (Yug) DeFeet-LeMond
18 Jessie Lawler (USA) Zaxby's
19 Soren Peterson (Den) Saturn
20 Andrew Crater (USA) RealityBikescom

Preview

Taking place on June 7 is the second event in the First Union series, the 147 km First Union Classic in Trenton, New Jersey. The Trenton course is 13 laps of a 11.3 km (7 mile) circuit that starts and ends every lap in front of the state capitol. The circuit is flat and, with the exception of one highly technical section just before the finish, very much built for speed; last year's winner, USPRO National Champion Fred Rodriguez, averaged 29.6 miles per hour, and says of the race that "year-in, year-out, it's one of the fastest races around."

This year's field is without question the deepest and most competitive to date. Included among the entries are former First Union race champions, Tour de France stage winners, 1996 and 2000 Olympians and current national champions from more than a half-dozen nations. They will be testing themselves in an event very different from Tuesday's First Union Cycling Series leadoff, the First Union Invitational. In that race, Dutch National Champion Leon Von Bon of Mercury-Viatel narrowly defeated George Hincapie of U.S. Postal Service and Trent Klasna of Saturn before an estimated crowd of 25,000.

Besides Rodriguez, there are three other former First Union Classic winners taking the line on Thursday: U.S. Postal Service's George Hincapie (1999), NetZero's Graeme Miller (1997) and DeFeet/LeMond's Roberto Gaggioli (1993). Two of them won the race in a group sprint. Over the last 12 years, the First Union Classic has ended in just that manner on eight occasions. It would surprise no one if this year's edition finished in similar fashion. Pre-race favorites include Rodriguez and Hincapie, as well as local hero and former Olympian Jonas Carney (Prime Alliance) and Mercury-Viatel's Baden Cooke.

However, squads such as Saturn and CSC-World Online, who don't have finishers quite in the same league as the other big teams, will force the pace all day, trying to split things up. And then there's the New Jersey-based Navigators Professional Cycling Team: with speed demons Vassili Davidenko, Todd Littlehales, and Franky Van Haesebroucke leading the way, Navigators are hoping to pull off their second win (after Matthew Koschara in 1995) in what Van Haesebroucke characterizes as "a very fast race, especially this year - I mean, look at the riders!"

*An additional note for those of you who can't be at the final races in Philly on Sunday. You can log on to Cyclingnews to get live updates of the women's Liberty Classic and men's USPRO Championship.

Start list

Domo-Farm Frites                Mercury Viatel
1 Fred Rodriguez (USA)          11 Henk Vogels (Aus)
2 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned)        12 Leon VanBon (Ned)
3 Mario De Clercq (Bel)         13 Fabrizio Guidi (Ita)
4 Leif Hoste (Bel)              14 Geert VanBondt (Bel)
5 Piotr Wadecki (Pol)           15 Chris Horner (USA)
6 Tomas Konecy (Cze)            16 Baden Cooke (Aus)
8 David Orvalho (Ned)           17 Derek Bouchard Hall (USA)
                                18 Jans Koerts (Ned)
                                19 Michael Sayers (USA)
                                20 Gord Fraser (Can)
 
US Postal Service               Festina Lotus
21 George Hincapie (USA)        31 Nicolas Reynaud (Fra)
22 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus)     32 Luis Perez (Spa)
23 Julian Dean (NZl)            33 Rafael Casero (Spa)
24 Antonio Cruz (USA)           34 J. Luis Rebollo (Spa)
25 Benoit Joachim (Lux)         35 Francisco Lara (Spa)
26 Levi Leipheimer (USA)        36 Michel Klinger (Swi)
27 Christian VandeVelde (USA)   37 David Clinger (USA)
28 Robbie Ventura (USA)
29 Matthew White (Aus)
30 David Zabriskie (USA)
 
CSC World On Line               Saturn
41 Arvis Piziks (Lat)           51 Mike Barry (Can)
42 Jakob Storm Piil (Den)       52 Matt DeCanio (USA)
43 Bjarke Nielsen (Den)         53 Chris Fisher (USA)
44 Raphael Jeune (Fra)          54 Trent Klasna (USA)
45 Olivier Asmaker (Fra)        55 Harm Jansen (Ned)
46 Michael Sandsted (Den)       56 Mark McCormack (USA)
47 Nikki Sorensen (Den)         57 Frank McCormack (USA)
                                58 Soren Peterson (Den)
                                59 Ivan Domenguez (USA)
                                60 Eric Wohlberg (Can)
 
Navigators                      7 Up Colorado Cyclist
61 Chris Baldwin (USA)          71 Charles Dionne (Can)
62 Siro Camponogara (Ita)       72 Ryan Guay (USA)
63 Vassili Davidenko (Rus)      73 John Lieswyn (USA)
64 Oleg Grichkine (Rus)         74 David McCook (USA)
65 Glen Mitchell (NZl)          75 Kevin Monahan (USA)
66 Kirk O'Bee (USA)             76 Juan Pineda (USA)
67 Franky VanHaesbroucke (Bel)  77 Oscar Pineda (USA)
68 Mark Walters (Can)           78 Andrew Randell (Can)
69 Todd Littlehales (USA)       79 Clark Sheehan (USA)
70 Adham Sbeih (USA)            80 Doug Ziewacz. USA
 
Mapei Quick Step                Saeco Macchine per Caffe
81 Eugeni Petrov (Rus)          91 Salvatore Commesso (Ita)
82 Fabian Cancellara (Ita)      92 Justin Spinelli (USA)
83 Scott McGrory (Aus)          93 Brad Davidson (Aus)
84 Adriano Baffi (Ita)          94 Alessio Galletti (Ita)
85 Eddy Ratti (Ita)             95 Nicole Gavazzi. Ita
86 Patrik Sinkewitz (Ger)       96 Dario Pieri (Ita)
87 TBD
 
Defeet Lemond                   Mroz-Supradyn
101 Roberto Gaggioli (Ita)      111 Piotr Chmielewski (Pol)
102 Gabrielle Rampollo (Ita)    112 Zbigniew Piatek (Pol)
103 Chris Harkey (USA)          113 Skazimierz Stafiej (Pol)
104 Brandon Lovick (USA)        114 Grzegorz Wajs (Pol)
105 Geri Mewett (Ber)           115 Eugen Wacker (Krg)
106 Victor Laza (Yug)           116 Remigis Lupejkis (Ltu)
107 Dragomir Zivkovic (Yug)     117 Pawl Wiedzwiecki (Pol)
108 Ernesto Lechuga (USA)       118 Adam Wadecki (Pol)
109 Shawn Willard (USA)
110 TBD
 
Prime Alliance                  Simpatico.ca
121 Jame Carney (USA)           131 Jason Crookham (Can)
122 Steve Larsen (USA)          132 Joe Giuliano (Can)
123 Danny Pate (USA)            133 Charles Gorman (Can)
124 Michael Creed (USA)         134 Chad Grochowina (Can)
125 Ryan Miller (USA)           135 Josh Hall (Can)
126 Aaron Olson (USA)           136 Daniel Maggiacomo (Can)
127 John Walrod (USA)           137 Dominique Rollin Can
128 Jonas Carney (USA)          138 Peter Wedge (Can)
129 Kirk Willett (USA)          139 Bruno Nella (Can)
130 Colby Pearce (USA)          140 Heath Cockburn (Can)
 
Net Zero                        Jelly Belly
141 Jamie Paolinetti (USA)      151 Kirk Albers (USA)
142 Graeme Miller (NZl)         152 Norm Carter (USA)
143 Matthew Yates (NZl)         153 Mariano Freidick (USA)
144 Clark Hilton (Aus)          154 Eddy Gragus (USA)
145 Michael Johnson (USA)       155 Brian Frobes (USA)
146 Ryan Barrett (USA)          156 Brad Buccambuso (USA)
147 Mike Tillman (USA)          157 Damon Kluck (USA)
148 Gregg Medinilla (USA)       158 Jason McCartney (USA)
                                159 Jonathan Erdelyi (USA)
 
Zaxby's                         Realitybikes.com
161 Dirk Friel (USA)            171 Kent Bostick (USA)
162 Alex Ferguson (USA)         172 Andrew Brozis (USA)
163 Scottie Weiss (USA)         173 Ryan Blickem (USA)
164 Jesse Lawler (USA)          174 Ryan Barnett (USA)
165 Michael Ley (USA)           175 Jon Atkins (USA)
166 Max Finkbeiner (USA)        176 Lou Schimmel (USA)
167 Luke Stockwell (Aus)        177 Andy Crater (USA)
168 Micah Rice (USA)            178 Travis Hutchinson (USA)
169 Paul Read (USA)
170 Justin Gilmore (USA)

Past winners

2000 Fred Rodriguez (USA) Mapei-Quick Step  147.5 kms in 3.04.16 (47.00 km/h)
1999 George Hincapie (USA) US Postal        146.5 kms in 3.07.07
1998 Jan Svorada (Cze) Mapei-Bricobi        150.0 kms in 2.50.14
1999 Jay Sweet (Aus) ZVVZ-Giant-AIS

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