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Tour de la Region Wallonne - 2.3
Belgium, July 28-August 1, 2003
Stage 1 - July 28: Flobecq-Charleroi, 160.4 km
Eeckhout in three man sprint
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Nico Eeckhout (Lotto-Domo) won the first stage of the Tour de la Region Wallonne today. In Charleroi he beat his two companions, Thierry De Groote and Wim Van Huffel, in a three man sprint. The three of them attacked with 80km to go and gained a maximum lead of over 8 minutes. Landbouwkrediet started the chase in the peloton, but couldn't catch the three riders back. Eeckhout is the first leader of the five day Tour.
"Straight after the start I felt I had good legs" said the 32 year old Eeckhout after the finish "I thought a big break would be OK for me today. That's why I attacked after 60km. De Groote en Vanhuffel can ride hard, so I knew we could make it. And that's how it went. We took up to eight and a half minutes and that was sufficient to stay out of the reach of the peloton. I had two good companions with me, they both gave all they had in the legs to stay away, even though they knew I am faster then them in the sprint. I really have to thank them."
Photos
Images by AFP/Yves Boucau
- Nico Eeckhout (Lotto-Domo) celebrates as he crosses the line ahead of his two breakaway companions; the trio managed to stay away for over 80 kilometres.
- Nico Eeckhout wears the leader's yellow jersey after finishing 18 seconds ahead of the peloton on stage 1.
Results
1 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Lotto-Domo 4.01.01 2 Thierry De Groote (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 3 Wim Van Huffel (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 4 Stefan Van Dijk (Ned) Lotto-Domo 0.19 5 Marco Zanotti (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 6 David Kopp (Ger) Team Telekom 7 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Team fakta 8 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 9 Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 10 Kristof Trouve (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 11 Andreas Klier (Ger) Team Telekom 12 Geert Verheyen (Bel) Marlux-Wincor Nixdorf 13 Mark Scanlon (Irl) AG2r Prévoyance 14 Allan Bo Andersen (Den) Team fakta 15 Erki Putsep (Est) AG2r Prévoyance 16 Leif Hoste (Bel) Lotto-Domo 17 Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 18 Tom Steels (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 19 Julien Laidoun (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 20 Johan Museeuw (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 21 Hans Dekkers (Ned) Rabobank 22 Nico Mattan (Bel) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 23 Roger Hammond (GBr) Palmans-Collstrop 24 Sébastien Mattozza (Bel) Marlux-Wincor Nixdorf 25 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) FDJeux.com 26 Kevin Van Der Slagmolen (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 27 Jo Planckaert (Bel) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 28 Michael Skelde (Den) Team fakta 29 Julian Dean (NZl) Team CSC 30 Benoît Joachim (Lux) US Postal-Berry Floor 31 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 32 Lars Michaelsen (Den) Team CSC 33 Arnaud Coyot (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 34 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Fassa Bortolo 35 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 36 Roberto Petito (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 37 Frédéric Guesdon (Fra) FDJeux.com 38 Joost Posthuma (Ned) Rabobank 39 Lennie Kristensen (Den) Team CSC 40 Steven Kleynen (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 41 Kurt Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team fakta 42 Ludovic Capelle (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 43 David Derepas (Fra) FDJeux.com 44 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 45 Régis Lhuiller (Fra) FDJeux.com 46 Johan Coenen (Bel) Marlux-Wincor Nixdorf 47 Stéphane Berges (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 48 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Lotto-Domo 49 Jurgen Van De Walle (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 50 Bert De Waele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 51 Chris Peers (Bel) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 52 Steve De Wolf (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 53 Christophe Kern (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 54 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Lotto-Domo 55 Emmanuel Magnien (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 56 Allan Johansen (Den) Team fakta 57 Frédéric Bessy (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 58 Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 59 Janek Tombak (Est) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 60 Geoffrey Demeyere (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 61 Fabian De Waele (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 62 Andrea Tafi (Ita) Team CSC 63 Thierry Loder (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 64 Michael Barry (Can) US Postal-Berry Floor 65 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC 66 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 67 Bobby Julich (USA) Team Telekom 68 Peter Farazijn (Bel) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 69 Peter Wuyts (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 70 Geert Van Bondt (Bel) Team CSC 71 Frédéric Amorison (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 72 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Rabobank 73 Niels Scheuneman (Ned) Rabobank 74 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) US Postal-Berry Floor 75 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Lotto-Domo 76 Christian Werner (Ger) Team Telekom 77 Erwin Thijs (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 78 Pieter Weening (Ned) Rabobank 79 Thierry Marichal (Bel) Lotto-Domo 80 Frederik Willems (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 81 Ludo Dierckxsens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 82 Andy Cappelle (Bel) Marlux-Wincor Nixdorf 83 Marc Streel (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 84 Dave Bruylandts (Bel) Marlux-Wincor Nixdorf 85 Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) FDJeux.com 86 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 87 Stephan Schreck (Ger) Team Telekom 88 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Fassa Bortolo 89 Manu L'hoir (Bel) Marlux-Wincor Nixdorf 90 Matthew White (Aus) US Postal-Berry Floor 91 Koen De Kort (Ned) Rabobank 92 Pedro Horrillo Munoz (Spa) Quick.Step-Davitamon 93 Olivier Trastour (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 94 Scott Sunderland (Aus) Team fakta 95 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 96 Michele Bartoli (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 97 Manuel Calvente Gorbas (Spa) Team CSC 98 Jorgen Bo Petersen (Den) Team fakta 99 Serguei Yakovlev (Kaz) Team Telekom 100 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Rabobank 101 Florent Brard (Fra) Marlux-Wincor Nixdorf 102 Dirk Reichl (Ger) Team Telekom 103 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 104 Mickael Pichon (Fra) FDJeux.com 105 Guennadi Mikhailov (Rus) US Postal-Berry Floor 106 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJeux.com 0.37 107 Steffen Kjaergaard (Nor) US Postal-Berry Floor 108 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 1.13 109 Johan Verstrepen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 1.25 General classification after stage 1 1 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Lotto-Domo 3.59.41 2 Thierry De Groote (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 0.06 3 Wim Van Huffel (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 0.10 4 Hans Dekkers (Ned) Rabobank 0.32 5 Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Brioches la Boulangere 0.34 6 Roger Hammond (GBr) Palmans Collstrop
