16th Classica del Almeria - 1.4Spain, March 4, 20012000 Results Results Past winners Braikia gains the AlmeríaDanish sprinter Tayeb Braikia (Lotto) has won the 16th edition of the Spanish Clásica de Almería, held between the localities of Vícar and Vera. Braikia won from a 12 man group, beating Swiss Marcus Zberg (Rabobank) and Alessio's Endrio Leoni. The best Spaniard was David Fernandez (Fuenlabrada) who managed 4th. The early part of the race was marked by strong winds, resulting in several crashes and echelons being formed. By the 30 kilometre point, the attacks were continuous, with a three man group containing José Antonio Pecharromán (Jazztel-Costa Almería), Benjamín Nogal (Fuenlabrada) and Matthew White (US Postal, obviously benefitting from cross-training) getting clear. They reach a 6 minute lead before the Italian Alessio squad began to chase them down, and they were eventually caught on the first category climb of Colado García at kilometre 130. The peloton approached the finish, led by Lotto who managed to place three riders in the final break, including sprinter Jeroen Blijlevens, racing for the first time since the Tour Down Under. Lotto had enough firepower though to put Braikia in a winning position, and he made good use of it to take the win. Marco Pantani (Mercatone) showed some form to finish in the second group (20th at 14 seconds), while Roberto Heras (US Postal) made his return to racing finishing in 35th position, 52 seconds behind.
Results1 Tayeb Braikia (Den) Lotto-Adecco 4.33.12 2 Markus Zberg (Swi) Rabobank 3 Endrio Leoni (Ita) Alessio 4 David Fernandez (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada 5 Jeroen Blijlevens (Ned) Lotto-Adecco 6 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Mercatone Uno 7 Saulius Sarkauskas (Ltu) LA Pecol 8 Martín Garrido (Arg) Relax-Fuenlabrada 9 Eleuterio Anguita (Spa) Jazztel 10 Gorik Gardeyn (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 11 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 12 Antonio Cruz (USA) US Postal 13 Pedro Diaz Lobato(Spa) Jazztel 14 Bekim Christensen (Den) Coa) 0.14 15 Manolo Beltran (Spa) Mapei-Quick Step 16 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 17 Christian Werner (Ger) Nurnberger 18 Carlos Golbano (Spa) Jazztel 19 Candido Barbosa (Por) iBanesto.com 20 Marco Pantani (Ita) Mercatone Uno 21 Mikel Artetxe (Spa) Euskadi-Euskaltel 22 Mikel Pradera (Spa) ONCE 23 Daniel Clavero (Spa) Mercatone Uno 24 Pablo Soler (Spa) Jazztel 25 Benjamín Noval (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada 26 Thorwald Veneberg (Ned) Rabobank 27 Miguel J Cuenca (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 28 Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (Spa) ONCE 29 Angel Castresana (Spa) Euskadi-Euskaltel 30 Geert Verheyen (Bel) Rabobank 31 Unai Osa (Spa) iBanesto.com 32 J. A. Pecharroman (Spa) Jazztel 33 Iban Mayo (Spa) Euskadi-Euskaltel 34 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskadi-Euskaltel 35 David Arroyo (Spa) ONCE 36 Juan M. Mercado (Spa) iBanesto.com 37 Oscar Laguna (Spa) Relax-Fuenlabrada 38 Youri Sourkov (Mda) LA Pecol 39 R. Diaz De Cerio (Spa) Euskadi-Euskaltel 0.29 40 José Rosa (Por) LA Pecol 41 Tyler Hamilton (USA) US Postal 0.35 42 Miguel Angel Peña (Spa) ONCE 43 Pablo Lastras (Spa) iBanesto.com 44 Gustavo Otero (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 45 Iván Parra (Col) ONCE 46 Ricardo Valdes (Spa) Jazztel 47 Grischa Niermann (Ger) Rabobank 48 Marc Lotz (Ned) Rabobank 49 Thomas Liese (Ger) Nurnberger 50 Addy Engels (Ned) Rabobank 51 Levy Leipheimer (USA) US Postal 52 Roberto Heras (Spa) US Postal 53 Philipe Fernandes (Fra) LA Pecol 54 Igor Flores (Spa) Euskadi-Euskaltel 55 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 56 Christophe Brandt (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 57 Ruslan Ivanov (Mda) Alessio 58 Glenn D'Hollander(Bel) Lotto-Adecco 59 Ermanno Brignoli (Ita) Mercatone Uno 60 Bram De Groot (Ned) Rabobank 61 Eddy Ratti (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 62 Andrea Noe (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 0.50 63 Massimo Podenzana (Ita) Mercatone Uno 64 Elio Aggiano (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 65 Alexander Shefer (Kaz) Alessio 66 David Zabriskie (USA) US Postal 67 Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Alessio 2.03 68 Matthew White (Aus) US Postal 69 Mauro Zanetti (Ita) Alessio 2.14 70 Fabiano Fontanelli (Ita) Mercatone Uno 3.14 71 Wesley Van Speybrock (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 72 Alberto Vinale (Ita) Alessio 73 Vincent Cali (Fra) Palmans-Collstrop Courtesy of Fernando Ferrari/Meta2Mil Past winners2000 Isaac Galvez (Spa) Kelme Costa Blanca 176 kms in 4.36.51 1999 Jan Svorada (Cze) Lampre-Daikin 188 kms in 5.34.51 1998 Mario Traversoni (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Bianchi 188 kms in 4.48.07 1997 Massimo Strazzer (Ita 1996 Wilfried Nelissen (Bel) 1995 Jean-Pierre Heynderickx (Bel) 1994 Johan Capiot (Bel) 1993 Vjatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) |