GP Stekene, National Event (No UCI Points)

Belgium, September 25, 1997

Race Report

Last year Tim Lenaers as an apprentice rider (dutch=stagair) for Collstrop came 3rd in the GP Stekene. That was enough to get him a pro contract for the team of Hilaire Van der Schueren. Yesterday the young Limburg rider scored the win. "I really wanted to win this race" said Lenaers. "I missed out last year and that made me stronger in motivation this year. There were lots of riders at the start, a fast race and a large number of men in the sprint".

Lenaers is not getting carried away however. "No, I am not overawed by my professional debut. I rode a reasonable early season and aimed to be in business for the summer months. Thanks to Van der Schueren that I have come up good. This win is a great thankyou to him" said Lenaers who will remain with the team next year.

The race began with an attack from 4 riders Heyndrickx, De Geyter, De Buyst and Vanhaecke. They got a maximum gap of around 3 minutes at around the 60 kms mark. At the 80 kms mark, Gert Vanderaerden, clearly in good form, began a definitive reaction. There were 9 riders in his wake. His Palmans teammaters Daelman and Hans De Clercq, the Ipso riders Poppe and Beeckman, the Collstrop duo of Lenaers and De Smet, Verstrepen (Vlaanderen 2002), Volar (RDM) en Omloop (Bayer).

The reaction brought the lead group to ten riders. De Smet and Beeckman attacked but could not make an impression, so that the sprint came down to a large group.

Race distance - 158 kms:

 1. Tim Lenaers (Bel) Collstrop-Lystex	     3.37.00
 2. Vadim Volar (Rus) RDM-Asfra-Sitra
 3. Danny Daelman (Bel) Palmans
 4. Jan Poppe (Bel) Ipso
 5. Johan Verstrepen (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002-E. Merckx
 6. Geert Omloop (Bel) Bayer
 7. Tom Desmet (Bel) Collstrop-Lystex
 8. Gert Vanderaerden (Bel) Palmans
 9. Koen Beeckman (Bel) Ipso
10. Hans De Clercq (Bel) Palmans 		0.20
11. Bart Heirewegh (Bel) Ipso 			2.55
12. Werner Vandromme
13. Gino Verheyden (Bel) Palmans
14. Franky De Buyst (Bel) Tonissteiner-Saxon
15. John Talen (Ned) Foreldorado-Golff
16. Sören Petersen (Den) Tonissteiner-Saxon
17. Grégory Schoelens
18. Brian Dalgaard (Den)
19. Rik Van Slycke (Bel) RDM-Asfra-Sitra
20. Peter Spaenhoven (Bel) Palmans 		4.00
21. Ronny Assez (Bel) RDM-Asfra-Sitra
22. Marc Streel
23. Gianni Rivera
24. Patrick De Wael
25. Johan De Geyter (Bel) Palmans
26. Steven De Neef (Bel) Collstrop-Lystex
27. Victor-Hugo Pena Grisales (Col)
28. Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Palmans
29. Geert Verdeyen (Bel) Collstrop-Lystex
30. Rodger Hammond (G-B)

108 Starters