Preview Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5 and Final GC PreviewStages:Stage 1, Monday August 18, Burgos - Aranda de Duero (105 km) Stage 2, Tuesday August 19, Penaranda - Langunas de Neila (151 km) Stage 3, Wednesday August 20, Medina de Pomar - Miranda de Ebro (185 km) Stage 4, Thursday August 21, Briviesca (Individual Time Trial, 19.5 km) Stage 5, Friday August 22, Aguas Santolin - Burgos (180 km) Teams and Principal Participants: Aki: Serguei Gontsjar, Stefano Faustini Batik: Evgueni Berzin, Francesco Frattini Asics: Enrico Zaina Mercatone Uno: Massimo Podenzana TVM: Bo Hamburger, Jeroen Blijlevens, Jesper Skibby, Michael Andersson, Lars Michaelsen, Tristan Hoffman, Maarten den Bakker, Steven de Jongh Lotto: Andrei Tchmil, Laurent Madouas, Benoît Salmon, Thomas Fleisher, Peter Farazijn, Andrei Teteriuk, Steve De Wolf, Christophe Detilloux Palmans: Wilfried Nelissen, Magnus Backstedt, Hans De Meester, Karl Pauwels, Johan De Geyter, Hans De Clercq, Steven Van Malderghem, Marc Janssens. Vlaanderen 2002: Geert Van Bondt, Erwin Thijs, Kris Gerits, Nico Renders, Jarno Vanfrachem, Johan Verstrepen, Bert Roesems, Tom Stremersch Festina: Richard Virenque, Laurent Dufaux, Pascal Hervé Banesto: Abraham Olano ONCE: Alex Zülle, Laurent Jalabert Estepona: Serguei Smetanin Euskadi: Cesar Solaun Kelme: Fernando Escartin Stage 1, Burgos - Aranda de Duero, 100 km:1. Lars Michaelsen (Den) TVM 2.20.06 2. Laurent Dufaux (Sch) Festina 3. Andrei Tchmil (Ukr) Lotto 4. Gabiele Colombo (Ita) Batik 5. Fabio Roscioli (Ita) Asics 6. Stefano Checchin (Ita) Mercatone 7. Angel Edo (Spa) Kelme 8. Abraham Olano (Spa) Banesto 9. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) ONCE 10. Félix García (Spa) Festina all s.t. Stage 1 ReportDanish cyclist Lars Michaelsen, from Dutch Team TVM, became the first overall leader of this 19th edition of la Vuelta a Burgos, when he won the sprint for stage one between Burgos & Aranda de Duero, over 100km. Michaelsen beat on the line, Swiss Dufaux & Moldavian Tchmil. The first 19km of the stage were quiet, but from there on the attacks started, until Magnus Backstedt was able to stay alone, in what would become a 12 km breakaway.Before the start of the ascent of the climb of Torrepadre, Laurent Brochard, Laurent Jalabert & Unai Osa jumped from the peloton and passed the top of the climb in that order. Banesto lead the chase and was able to catch them by km 54. Then with 17km to go, the peloton broke into two groups. In the first group there were 15 riders which arrived at the finish 53 seconds ahead of the rest, with Michaelsen winning the sprint. Stage 2, Peñaranda - Laguna de Neila, 151 km:1. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) Once 4.04.59 2. Abraham Olano (Spa) Banesto 0.42 3. Fernando Escartín (Spa) Kelme 0.46 4. Félix García Casas (Spa) Festina 1.17 5. Richard Virenque (Fra) Festina 1.40 6. Manuel Beltrán (Spa) Banesto s.t. 7. Peter Farazjin (Bel) Lotto 1.41 8. Enrico Zaina (Ita) Asics 1.47 9. Iñigo Cuesta (Spa) Once 2.01 10. Francisco Mauleón (Spa) Once 2.09 Overall:1. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) Once 6.25.05 2. Abraham Olano (Spa) Banesto 0.42 3. Fernando Escartín (Spa) Kelme 0.46 4. Félix García Casas (Spa) Festina 1.17 5. Richard Virenque (Fra) Festina 1.40 6. Peter Farazjin (Bel) Lotto 1.41 7. Enrico Zaina (Ita) Asics 1.47 8. Iñigo Cuesta (Spa) Once 2.01 9. Laurent Dufaux (Sch) Festina 2.18 10. David García (Spa) Euskadi 2.22 Stage 2 ReportFrenchman Laurent Jalabert, from Team ONCE, became today the new overall leader of la Vuelta a Burgos, after his stage 2 victory, disputed between Peñaranda & Laguna de Neila over 151km. The Frenchman, who finished with a time of 4:50:09, finished alone after a formidable ascent of the last climb, which allowed gain time from his chasers, Abraham Olano & Fernando Escartin, second and third in the the stage respectively. The race broke wide open at the climb of Majadal, at km 124. First there was an attack by Frenchman Laurent Madouas and then he was neutralized and a group formed with Dufaux, Virenque, Escartin, Jalabert, Zaina & Farazjin, taking advantage of a fall by Olano, who was able to join them, thanks to the work of his teammate, Manuel Beltran.The end of the stage was very difficult and a pure climber like Richard Virenque, couldn't hold on and was dropped in the last kilometers, where Jalabert, Olano & Escartin were the big players. Laurent Jalabert made a sensational ascent and once he opened a gap, he maintained a comfortable tempo in front, while Escartin who wanted to badly get to him, suffered a lot which helped Olano pass him and place himself close to Jalabert who came in like a champion by himself at the finish line. On the other hand, there were Swiss Alex Zulle and Russian Eugeni Berzin who are still at a low and needed many more minutes than the winner to finish the stage. Stage 3, Medina de Pomar-Miranda de Ebro, 185 km:1. Steven De Jongh (Ned) TVM 4.23.01 2. Christophe Detilloux (Bel) Lotto + 0.01 3. Bo Hamburger (Den) TVM 4. Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) TVM 5. Samuele Schiavina (Ita) Asics 6. Markus Zberg (Sch) Mercatone 7. Angel Edo (Spa) Kelme 8. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) Once 9. Marco Artunghi (Ita) Mercatone. 10. Richard Virenque (Fra) Festina all s.t. ... 58. Tristan Hoffman (Ned) 99. Jeroen Blijlevens (Ned) TVM 11.09 Abandoned: Wilfried Nelissen (Bel) Palmans GC after Stage 3:1. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) Once 10.48.07 2. Abraham Olano (Spa) Banesto 0.42 3. Fernando Escartín (Spa) Kelme 0.46 4. Félix García Casas (Spa) Festina 1.17 5. Richard Virenque (Fra) Festina 1.40 6. Peter Farazijn (Bel) Lotto 1.41 7. Enrico Zaina (Ita) Asics 1.47 8. Iñigo Cuesta (Spa) Once 2.01 9. Laurent Dufaux (Sch) Festina 2.18 10. David García (Spa) Euskadi 2.22 ... 59. Martin Den Bakker (Ned) 9.28 63. Steven De Jongh (Ned) TVM 10.09 64. Tristan Hoffman (Ned) 10.10 103. Jeroen Blijlevens (Ned) TVM 37.30 Stage 3 ReportDutchman Steven De Jonhg, from Team TVM, won the sprint of the 3rd stage of la Vuelta a Burgos, disputed today between Medina de Pomar & Miranda de Ebro, over 185km, while Frenchman Laurent Jalabert (ONCE) continues to lead the overall. De Jonhg beat Belgian Christop Detilloux, from Team Lotto and his teammate Danish Bo Hamburger, after a fall in the peloton brought seven riders down. The big players of this stage were Spaniards Jon Odriozola & "Coque" Uria, Italian Colombo and French Pascal Herve, who jumped away from the peloton at the start of the ascent of Bos and stayed away for 166km. The gap opened by this breakaway (more than six minutes) endangered Jalabert's first place overall, so Team ONCE went to the front and imposed a fast tempo to protect Jaja's lead. Even then, Uria became the leader on the road during part of the stage. The distances were reduced, until with 3km to go, the four riders were caught.Stage 4, ITT in Briviesca, 21 km:1. Abraham Olano (Spa) Banesto 24.47 (51,027 km/h) 2. Sergei Gontchar (Ukr) Aki 0.08 3. Aitor Garmendia (Spa) Once 0.14 4. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) Once 0.42 5. Iñigo Cuesta (Spa) Once 1.02 6. Francisco Mauleón (Spa) Once 1.09 7. Laurent Dufaux (Swi) Festina 1.13 8. Neil Stephens (Aus) Festina 1.14 9. Laurent Brochard (Fra) Festina 1.25 10. Fernando Escartín (Spa) Kelme 1.26 GC after Stage 4:1. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) Once 11.13.36 2. Abraham Olano (Spa) Banesto s.t. 3. Fernando Escartín (Spa) Kelme 1.30 4. Iñigo Cuesta (Spa) Once 2.21 5. Félix García Casas (Spa) Festina 2.39 6. Laurent Dufaux (Swi) Festina 2.49 7. Richard Virenque (Fra) Festina 2.55 8. Francico Mauleón (Spa) Once 3.12 9. Enrico Zaina (Ita) Asics 3.22 10. Andrei Teteriuk (Rus) Lotto 4.04 Stage 4Spaniard Abraham Olano, from Team Banesto, won the 4th stage of la Vuelta Burgos, a 21km individual time trial, but a flat tire at 600 meters from the finish stopped him from taking over the general classification, which remains in the hands of Laurent Jalabert (ONCE). At the time of the problem, Olano who finished with a time of 24 minutes and 7 seconds (51.027 km/hr), had a minute over Jalabert, which would have allowed him to take over the 1st place in the overall, which is now shared by both cyclists, although Jalabert has 20 100th of a second less, so he remains the leader. Second at the ITT was Ukranian Serguei Gontchard (Aki), the Giro d'Italia revelation when he won the long ITT and finished 8 seconds behind Olano. Laurent Jalabert, finished 42 seconds after Olano and classified 4th, a good performance considering that time trialling is not his forte. Jalabert commented that luck was on his side this time and that the time trial was pretty tough due to the 'easiness' of the terrain, which was ideal for specialists and due to the wind gusts, especially at the end.Stage 5, Quintana-Urría - Burgos, 180 km:1. Marcel Wüst (Ger) Festina 4.31.31 2. Jeroen Blijlevens (Bel) TVM 3. Andrei Tchmil (Ukr) Lotto 4. Marco Zanotti (Ita) Aki. 5. Samuele Schiavina (Ita) Asics 6. Marcus Zberg (Sch) Mercatone 7. Federico Colonna (Ita) Asics 8. Johan Verstrepen (Bel) Vlandeeren 9. Cristoph Detilloux (Bel) Lotto 10. Gert Vanderaerden (Bel) Palmans all s.t. Final GC:1. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) Once 15.45.07 2. Abraham Olano (Spa) Banesto s.t. 3. Fernando Escartín (Spa) Kelme 1.30 4. Iñigo Cuesta (Spa) Once 2.21 5. Félix García Casas (Spa) Festina 2.39 6. Laurent Dufaux (Sch) Festina 2.49 7. Richard Virenque (Fra) Festina 2.55 8. Francico Mauleón (Spa) Once 2.55 9. Enrico Zaina (Ita) Asics 3.22 10. Andrei Teteriuk (Rus) Lotto 4.04 11. Manuel Beltran (Spa) Banesto s.t. 12. Bo Hamburger (Den) TVM 4.05 13. Peter Farazijn (Bel) Lotto 4.07 14. Igor Gonzalez (Spa) Euskadi 4.39 15. David Garcia (Spa) Euskadi 4.46 16. Alexander Chefer (Kaz) Asics 4.49 17. Sergei Gontchar (Ukr) Aki 5.14 18. José Manuel Uria (Spa) Estepona 5.21 19. Claus Möller (Den) Estepona 5.41 20. Vicente Aparicio (Spa) Banesto 5.43 ------ 41. Andrei Tchmil (Ukr) Lotto 9.11 55. Jesper Skibby (Den) TVM 11.48 71. Lars Michaelsen (Den) TVM 16.40 88. Michael Andersson (Swe) TVM 35.12 90. Magnus Bäckstedt (Swe) Palmans 38.20 93. Jeroen Blijlevens (Ned) TVM 41.57 Other classificationsMountains: Jon Odriozola (Spa) Batik 64 pts Metas volantes: Marcel Wüst (Ger) Festina 19 pts Teams: Once 47.19.23 |