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22nd International Hessen Rundfahrt - 2.3
Germany, September 3-7, 2003
Stage 1 - September 3: Frankfurt - Griesheim, 177 km
Vasseur wins in French coup
French riders featured heavily in the first day's action in the Hessen Rundfahrt, which saw Cédric Vasseur (Cofidis) take the stage victory and the overall lead in front of Maryan Hary (Brioches) and Axel Merckx (Lotto-Domo). The three finished 26 seconds ahead of another pair of Frenchmen (Frédéric Gabriel and Sylvain Chavanel), with five more riders at 46 seconds. Apart from another group of nine, the main bunch finished an incredible 28'31 behind the leaders, and are all effectively out of contention for the overall.
The first stage from Frankfurt to Griesheim was run over 178 kilometres with 126 riders taking the start. After 50 kilometres of racing, a group of 18 riders escaped on the Cat. 3 climb of Hassenroth and was never seen again. The gap quickly grew to 2'30 then blew out to 14 minutes, and kept increasing to the finish when it was nearly half an hour. The stage was not overly difficult with four Cat. 3 climbs, however with most of the teams being well represented in the break there was no incentive to chase. Despite the slow pace, nine riders couldn't finish the stage, including four from the so-called U.S. National Team.
The race was decided when Vasseur, Hary, and Merckx got away with around 15 kilometres to go, successfully holding off the next groups to finish 26 seconds clear. Vasseur won the sprint ahead of Hary and Merckx, and these three riders now have the best chances for the overall victory, especially as they all had teammates in the 18 man break.
Results
1 Cédric Vasseur (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 4.08.15 2 Maryan Hary (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 3 Axel Merckx (Bel) Lotto-Domo 4 Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 0.26 5 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 6 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Team CSC 0.46 7 Björn Glasner (Ger) Mixed Team 2 8 Philippe Gaumont (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 9 Christophe Brandt (Bel) Lotto-Domo 10 Sergej Yakovlev (Kaz) Team Telekom 11 Thomas Liese (Ger) Team Bianchi 2.57 12 Sergey Krushevskiy (Uzb) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 13 Nico Mattan (Bel) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 14 Thierry Marichal (Bel) Lotto-Domo 15 Holger Sievers (Ger) Mixed Team 2 16 Chris Peers (Bel) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 17 Peter Wrolich (Aut) Gerolsteiner 18 René Haselbacher (Aut) Gerolsteiner 19 Andreas Klier (Ger) Team Telekom 20 Pascal Hungerbühler (Swi) Mixed Team 1 9.22 21 Roberto Lochowski (Ger) Team Wiesenhof 28.31 22 Benny De Schrooder (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 23 Axel Hauschke (Ger) Team ComNet-Senges 24 Christoph Roodhooft (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 25 Eric Baumann (Ger) Team Wiesenhof 26 Davy Commeyne (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 27 Dennis Kraft (Ger) WINfix-techem 28 Daniel Olszewski (Ger) WINfix-techem 29 Marco Appler (Ger) Mixed Team 1 30 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) WINfix-techem 31 Christhope Detilloux (Bel) Lotto-Domo 32 Björn Schröder (Ger) Team Wiesenhof 33 Maxim Gurov (Kaz) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 34 Karsten Volkmann (Ger) Mixed Team 1 35 Ralf Grabsch (Ger) Team Wiesenhof 36 Manuel Leder (Ger) WINfix-techem 37 Vitaly Merts (Kaz) Mixed Team 1 38 Philipp Mamos (Ger) Mixed Team 2 39 Marc Weisshaupt (Ger) CCC-Polsat 40 Arnaud Coyot (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 41 Rony Martias (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 42 Jaroslaw Zarebski (Pol) CCC-Polsat 43 Ronald Otto (Ger) WINfix-techem 44 Wolfram Wiese (Ger) Team ComNet-Senges 45 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Team Telekom 46 Jan Pokrandt (Ger) Mixed Team 1 47 Mario De Clercq (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 48 Bogdan Bondariew (Ukr) CCC-Polsat 49 Markus Ganser (Ger) Team ComNet-Senges 50 Uwe Hardter (Ger) Gerolsteiner 51 Steve Mlujeak (USA) US National Team 52 Peter Penzell (USA) US National Team 53 Jo Planckaert (Bel) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 54 Daniel Becke (Ger) Team Bianchi 55 Jean Zen (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 56 Daniel Meinke (Ger) Team ComNet-Senges 57 Michael Blaudzun (Den) Team CSC 58 Cyril Gossmann (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 59 Laurent Paumier (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 60 Ief Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto-Domo 61 Matthew Lorenz (USA) US National Team 62 Kai Hundertmarck (Ger) Team Telekom 63 Andrey Mizourov (Kaz) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 64 Christoph Von Kleinsorgen (Ger) Team Bianchi 65 Stefan Adamsson (Swe) Team Bianchi 66 Patrick Holsche (Ger) WINfix-techem 67 Björn Papstein (Ger) Mixed Team 2 68 Sebastian Denke (Ger) Mixed Team 1 69 Serge Baguet (Bel) Lotto-Domo 70 Rolf Aldag (Ger) Team Telekom 71 Steve De Wolf (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 72 Tristan Hoffmann (Ned) Team CSC 73 Yohann Gene (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 74 Tilo Schüler (Ger) Mixed Team 1 75 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 76 Thierry De Groote (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 77 Felix Odebrecht (Ger) WINfix-techem 78 Antony Geslin (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 79 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team Telekom 80 David Pell (Aus) Team ComNet-Senges 81 Emmanuel Magnien (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 82 Tom Flammang (Lux) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 83 Uwe Peschel (Ger) Gerolsteiner 84 Lars Michaelsen (Den) Team CSC 85 Thomas Ziegler (Ger) Team Wiesenhof 86 Sven Teutenberg (Ger) Team Bianchi 87 Volker Ordowski (Ger) Gerolsteiner 88 Lukasz Bodnar (Pol) CCC-Polsat 89 Sascha Henrix (Ger) Team ComNet-Senges 90 Vincent Templier (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 91 Dariusz Skoczylas (Pol) CCC-Polsat 92 Ronny Lauke (Ger) Mixed Team 1 93 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 94 Stefan Cohnen (Ned) Team ComNet-Senges 95 Jens Heppner (Ger) Team Wiesenhof 96 Franck Renier (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 97 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Team Telekom 98 Christophe Rinero (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 99 Eddy Lembo (Fra) Palmans-Collstrop 100 Philippe Kochler (Fra) Palmans-Collstrop 101 Jimmi Madsen (Den) Team CSC 102 Andre Schulze (Ger) Mixed Team 2 103 Enrico Poitschke (Ger) Team Wiesenhof 104 Karsten Vogel (Ger) Team ComNet-Senges 105 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 106 Jörn Reuss (Ger) WINfix-techem 107 Mathias Kessler (Ger) Team Telekom 108 Udo Bölts (Ger) Gerolsteiner 109 Steffen Radochla (Ger) Team Bianchi 110 Malte Urban (Ger) Team Bianchi 111 Tobias Steinhauser (Ger) Team Bianchi 112 Armin Kröniger (Ger) Mixed Team 2 113 Garrett Wonders (USA) US National Team 114 Nick Gates (Aus) Lotto-Domo 115 Arvis Piziks (Lat) Team CSC 116 Lars Wackernagel (Ger) Team Wiesenhof 117 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Lotto-Domo Sprints Sprint, km 70 1 René Haselbacher (Aut) Gerolsteiner 6 pts 2 Björn Glasner (Ger) Mixed Team 2 4 3 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Team CSC 1 Sprint, km 163,7 1 Cédric Vasseur (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 6 pts 2 Axel Merckx (Bel) Lotto-Domo 4 3 Maryan Hary (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 2 General classification after stage 1 1 Cédric Vasseur (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 4.08.02 2 Maryan Hary (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 0.06 3 Axel Merckx (Bel) Lotto-Domo 0.07 4 Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 0.39 5 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 6 Björn Glasner (Ger) Mixed Team 2 0.57 7 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Team CSC 0.58 8 Philippe Gaumont (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 0.59 9 Christophe Brandt (Bel) Lotto-Domo 10 Sergej Yakovlev (Kaz) Team Telekom 11 René Haselbacher (Aut) Gerolsteiner 3.07 12 Thomas Liese (Ger) Team Bianchi 3.10 13 Sergey Krushevskiy (Uzb) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 14 Nico Mattan (Bel) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 15 Thierry Marichal (Bel) Lotto-Domo 16 Holger Sievers (Ger) Mixed Team 2 17 Chris Peers (Bel) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 18 Peter Wrolich (Aut) Gerolsteiner 19 Andreas Klier (Ger) Team Telekom 20 Pascal Hungerbühler (Swi) Mixed Team 1 9.35 21 Roberto Lochowski (Ger) Team Wiesenhof 28.44 22 Benny De Schrooder (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 23 Axel Hauschke (Ger) Team ComNet-Senges 24 Christoph Roodhooft (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 25 Eric Baumann (Ger) Team Wiesenhof 26 Davy Commeyne (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 27 Dennis Kraft (Ger) WINfix-techem 28 Daniel Olszewski (Ger) WINfix-techem 29 Marco Appler (Ger) Mixed Team 1 30 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) WINfix-techem 31 Christhope Detilloux (Bel) Lotto-Domo 32 Björn Schröder (Ger) Team Wiesenhof 33 Maxim Gurov (Kaz) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 34 Karsten Volkmann (Ger) Mixed Team 1 35 Ralf Grabsch (Ger) Team Wiesenhof 36 Manuel Leder (Ger) WINfix-techem 37 Vitaly Merts (Kaz) Mixed Team 1 38 Philipp Mamos (Ger) Mixed Team 2 39 Marc Weisshaupt (Ger) CCC-Polsat 40 Arnaud Coyot (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 41 Rony Martias (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 42 Jaroslaw Zarebski (Pol) CCC-Polsat 43 Ronald Otto (Ger) WINfix-techem 44 Wolfram Wiese (Ger) Team ComNet-Senges 45 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Team Telekom 46 Jan Pokrandt (Ger) Mixed Team 1 47 Mario De Clercq (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 48 Bogdan Bondariew (Ukr) CCC-Polsat 49 Markus Ganser (Ger) Team ComNet-Senges 50 Uwe Hardter (Ger) Gerolsteiner 51 Steve Mlujeak (USA) US National Team 52 Peter Penzell (USA) US National Team 53 Jo Planckaert (Bel) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 54 Daniel Becke (Ger) Team Bianchi 55 Jean Zen (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 56 Daniel Meinke (Ger) Team ComNet-Senges 57 Michael Blaudzun (Den) Team CSC 58 Cyril Gossmann (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 59 Laurent Paumier (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 60 Ief Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto-Domo 61 Matthew Lorenz (USA) US National Team 62 Kai Hundertmarck (Ger) Team Telekom 63 Andrey Mizourov (Kaz) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 64 Christoph Von Kleinsorgen (Ger) Team Bianchi 65 Stefan Adamsson (Swe) Team Bianchi 66 Patrick Holsche (Ger) WINfix-techem 67 Björn Papstein (Ger) Mixed Team 2 68 Sebastian Denke (Ger) Mixed Team 1 69 Serge Baguet (Bel) Lotto-Domo 70 Rolf Aldag (Ger) Team Telekom 71 Steve De Wolf (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 72 Tristan Hoffmann (Ned) Team CSC 73 Yohann Gene (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 74 Tilo Schüler (Ger) Mixed Team 1 75 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 76 Thierry De Groote (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 77 Felix Odebrecht (Ger) WINfix-techem 78 Antony Geslin (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 79 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team Telekom 80 David Pell (Aus) Team ComNet-Senges 81 Emmanuel Magnien (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 82 Tom Flammang (Lux) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 83 Uwe Peschel (Ger) Gerolsteiner 84 Lars Michaelsen (Den) Team CSC 85 Thomas Ziegler (Ger) Team Wiesenhof 86 Sven Teutenberg (Ger) Team Bianchi 87 Volker Ordowski (Ger) Gerolsteiner 88 Lukasz Bodnar (Pol) CCC-Polsat 89 Sascha Henrix (Ger) Team ComNet-Senges 90 Vincent Templier (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 91 Dariusz Skoczylas (Pol) CCC-Polsat 92 Ronny Lauke (Ger) Mixed Team 1 93 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 94 Stefan Cohnen (Ned) Team ComNet-Senges 95 Jens Heppner (Ger) Team Wiesenhof 96 Franck Renier (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 97 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Team Telekom 98 Christophe Rinero (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 99 Eddy Lembo (Fra) Palmans-Collstrop 100 Philippe Kochler (Fra) Palmans-Collstrop 101 Jimmi Madsen (Den) Team CSC 102 Andre Schulze (Ger) Mixed Team 2 103 Enrico Poitschke (Ger) Team Wiesenhof 104 Karsten Vogel (Ger) Team ComNet-Senges 105 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 106 Jörn Reuss (Ger) WINfix-techem 107 Mathias Kessler (Ger) Team Telekom 108 Udo Bölts (Ger) Gerolsteiner 109 Steffen Radochla (Ger) Team Bianchi 110 Malte Urban (Ger) Team Bianchi 111 Tobias Steinhauser (Ger) Team Bianchi 112 Armin Kröniger (Ger) Mixed Team 2 113 Garrett Wonders (USA) US National Team 114 Nick Gates (Aus) Lotto-Domo 115 Arvis Piziks (Lat) Team CSC 116 Lars Wackernagel (Ger) Team Wiesenhof 117 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Lotto-Domo Sprints classification 1 Cédric Vasseur (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 6 pts 2 René Haselbacher (Aut) Gerolsteiner 6 3 Axel Merckx (Bel) Lotto-Domo 4 4 Björn Glasner (Ger) Mixed Team 2 4 5 Maryan Hary (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 2 6 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Team CSC 1
