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Tour of Belgium - 2.2
Belgium, May 19-23, 2004
Stage 1 - May 19: Oostende-Oostende, 184 km
Bortolami pips Omloop in Oostende
By Jeff Jones
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Gianluca Bortolami (Lampre) won his first race of the season on his favourite hunting grounds in Belgium, beating Belgian champion Geert Omloop (MrBookmaker) in a tight sprint in the first stage of the Tour of Belgium. Bortolami and Omloop were part of a four man breakaway that had escaped in the final 40 km, successfully holding off the combined might of Quick.Step and US Postal to win by 5 seconds.
There was some consolation for Omloop, who missed out on the stage win after he was hindered by Bortolami's teammate Manuel Quinziato in the finishing sprint. Thanks to bonus seconds accumulated during the stage, Omloop took the black race leader's jersey by 1 second from Bortolami.
The first stage was held in beautiful sunny weather with a moderate wind blowing off the west coast of Belgium. The parcours consisted of a 114 km lap in West Flanders followed by five 14 km finishing circuits around Oostende. With a high pace set from the gun, it took 20 km before the first breakaway of the day was established with Marco Pinotti (Lampre) and Frank van Dulmen (BankGiroLoterij) being allowed some freedom.
The peloton allowed them a lead of over 12 minutes before the situation changed with 90 km to go when there was a massive crash in the bunch. Wesley Van Speybroeck (Vlaanderen-T Interim) was one of the worst off and had to abandon the race, while the peloton split into several groups as a result. The next 35 km saw a frantic chase for the groups to try and come together. With 54 km to go, Pinotti and Van Dulmen had been swallowed up and the front bunch now numbered 80.
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In the first finishing circuit, Mikhail Timochine (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago) attacked and was allowed a little freedom, with Quick.Step patrolling the front of the bunch to keep Tom Boonen in contention for the stage. With 42 km to go, Geert Omloop bridged the 20 second gap to the Russian, who certainly appreciated the assistance. The pair had a 30 second lead with two laps (28 km) to go when Lampre teammates Manuel Quinziato and Gianluca Bortolami leapt off the front of the peloton and powered across to the break.
This was the move that made the race, as with four relatively fresh riders in front it became a much harder task for Quick.Step to control, and the gap ballooned out to nearly a minute. US Postal-Berry Floor came to the front to work for Max van Heeswijk, but even the combined might of the two teams couldn't bring the gap down fast enough as Bortolami, Quinziato, Omloop and Timochine drove home their advantage.
With one lap to go it was still 35 seconds and there simply wasn't enough firepower in the bunch to pull back the leaders. Quinziato led out the sprint for Bortolami, but pulled off to the left and - perhaps unintentionally - blocked Omloop who was coming through on that side. By the time Omloop got going it was too late to overhaul Bortolami, although the Belgian champion certainly gave it his best shot.
As he only has a small lead on GC, Omloop will have to defend his jersey from all comers in tomorrow's 179 km stage between Oostende and Knokke Heist.
Photography
Images by AFP Photo
- Gianluca Bortolami (Lampre) wins the first stage of the Tour of Belgium
- Gianluca Bortolami (Lampre) on the podium as the winner of stage 1 of the Tour of Belgium
- Geert Omloop (MrBookmaker) is the leader of the Tour of Belgium after stage 1
Results
1 Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) Lampre 4.50.40 (43.47 km/h) 2 Geert Omloop (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 3 Mikhail Timochine (Rus) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 4 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Lampre 0.02 5 Stefan Van Dijk (Ned) Lotto-Domo 0.05 6 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 7 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 8 Roy Sentjens (Ned) Rabobank 9 Robert Hunter (RSA) Rabobank 10 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 11 Jo Planckaert (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 12 Bart Voskamp (Ned) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 13 Tom Steels (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 14 Jans Koerts (Ned) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 15 Paolo Bossoni (Ita) Lampre 16 Francesco Planckaert (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 17 Matteo Carrara (Ita) Lampre 18 Benny De Schrooder (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 19 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 20 Wim De Vocht (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 21 Roger Hammond (GBr) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 22 Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 23 Tommy Van De Gehuchte (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 24 Stijn Devolder (Bel) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 25 Sven Renders (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 26 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Rabobank 27 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 28 Andy De Smet (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 29 Jan Kuyckx (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 30 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 31 Guennadi Mikhailov (Rus) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 32 Anthony Geslin (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 33 Geert Van Bondt (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 34 Allan Johansen (Den) BankGiroLoterij 35 Ludo Dierckxsens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 36 Erki Pütsep (Est) AG2r Prévoyance 37 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 38 Julien Laidoun (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 39 Serge Baguet (Bel) Lotto-Domo 40 Peter Farazijn (Bel) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 41 Kristof Trouve (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 42 Geoffrey Demeyere (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 43 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 44 Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 45 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 46 Stefano Zanini (Ita) Quick.Step-Davitamon 47 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto-Domo 48 Rik Reinerink (Ned) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 49 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Lotto-Domo 50 Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 51 Marco Bos (Ned) BankGiroLoterij 52 Kevin De Weert (Bel) Rabobank 53 Andy Cappelle (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 54 Bert Hiemstra (Ned) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 55 Zbigniew Piatek (Pol) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 56 Axel Merckx (Bel) Lotto-Domo 57 Paul Van Hyfte (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 58 Janek Tombak (Est) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 59 Michael Barry (Can) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 60 Marc Streel (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 61 Leif Hoste (Bel) Lotto-Domo 62 Rony Martias (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 63 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Rabobank 64 Victor Hugo Pena Grisales (Col) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 65 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank 66 Gerben Löwik (Ned) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 67 Alessandro Cortinovis (Ita) Lampre 68 Kevin Van Der Slagmolen (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 69 Niels Scheuneman (Ned) Relax-Bodysol 70 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 71 Marco Pinotti (Ita) Lampre 72 Frank Van Dulmen (Ned) BankGiroLoterij 73 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 74 Matthieu Sprick (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 75 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 76 Servais Knaven (Ned) Quick.Step-Davitamon 77 Jonathan Patrick McCarty (USA) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 78 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 79 David Zabriskie (USA) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 0.57 80 Björn Leukemans (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 18.34 81 Michel Van Haecke (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 82 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 83 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 84 Stefan Wijnands (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 85 Kurt Hovelynck (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 86 Stéphane Berges (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 87 Nicolas Inaudi (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 88 Christophe Kern (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 89 Mark Scanlon (Irl) AG2r Prévoyance 90 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 91 Bart De Spieghelaere (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 92 Ludovic Capelle (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 93 Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) AG2r Prévoyance 94 Samuele Marzoli (Ita) Lampre 95 Oleksandr Kvachuk (Ukr) Lampre 96 Hans Dekkers (Ned) Rabobank 97 Alain Van Katwijk (Ned) BankGiroLoterij 98 Ronald Mutsaars (Ned) Rabobank 99 Rudi Kemna (Ned) BankGiroLoterij 100 Geert Steurs (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 101 Aron Huysmans (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 102 Nico Mattan (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 103 Bert Roesems (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 104 Matthew White (Aus) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 105 Pedro Horrillo Munoz (Spa) Quick.Step-Davitamon 106 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Lotto-Domo 107 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Lotto-Domo 108 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 109 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 110 Eelke Van Der Wal (Ned) BankGiroLoterij 111 Allan Bo Andresen (Den) BankGiroLoterij 112 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 113 Sjef De Wilde (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 114 Julien Smink (Ned) BankGiroLoterij 115 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago DNF Steven De Neef (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 DNF Wesley Van Speybroeck (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim General classification after stage 1 1 Geert Omloop (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 4.05.29 2 Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) Lampre 0.01 3 Mikhail Timochine (Rus) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 0.02 4 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Lampre 0.10 5 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 0.13 6 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 0.15 7 Rik Reinerink (Ned) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 8 Stefan Van Dijk (Ned) Lotto-Domo 0.16 9 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 10 Roy Sentjens (Ned) Rabobank 11 Robert Hunter (RSA) Rabobank 12 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 13 Jo Planckaert (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 14 Bart Voskamp (Ned) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 15 Tom Steels (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 16 Jans Koerts (Ned) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 17 Paolo Bossoni (Ita) Lampre 18 Francesco Planckaert (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 19 Matteo Carrara (Ita) Lampre 20 Benny De Schrooder (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 21 Wim De Vocht (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 22 Roger Hammond (GBr) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 23 Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 24 Tommy Van De Gehuchte (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 25 Stijn Devolder (Bel) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 26 Sven Renders (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 27 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Rabobank 28 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 29 Andy De Smet (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 30 Jan Kuyckx (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 31 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 32 Guennadi Mikhailov (Rus) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 33 Anthony Geslin (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 34 Geert Van Bondt (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 35 Allan Johansen (Den) BankGiroLoterij 36 Ludo Dierckxsens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 37 Erki Pütsep (Est) AG2r Prévoyance 38 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 39 Julien Laidoun (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 40 Serge Baguet (Bel) Lotto-Domo 41 Peter Farazijn (Bel) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 42 Kristof Trouve (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 43 Geoffrey Demeyere (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 44 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 45 Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 46 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 47 Stefano Zanini (Ita) Quick.Step-Davitamon 48 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto-Domo 49 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Lotto-Domo 50 Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 51 Marco Bos (Ned) BankGiroLoterij 52 Kevin De Weert (Bel) Rabobank 53 Andy Cappelle (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 54 Bert Hiemstra (Ned) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 55 Zbigniew Piatek (Pol) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 56 Axel Merckx (Bel) Lotto-Domo 57 Paul Van Hyfte (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 58 Janek Tombak (Est) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 59 Michael Barry (Can) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 60 Marc Streel (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 61 Leif Hoste (Bel) Lotto-Domo 62 Rony Martias (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 63 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Rabobank 64 Victor Hugo Pena Grisales (Col) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 65 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank 66 Gerben Löwik (Ned) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 67 Alessandro Cortinovis (Ita) Lampre 68 Kevin Van Der Slagmolen (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 69 Niels Scheuneman (Ned) Relax-Bodysol 70 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 71 Marco Pinotti (Ita) Lampre 72 Frank Van Dulmen (Ned) BankGiroLoterij 73 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 74 Matthieu Sprick (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 75 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 76 Servais Knaven (Ned) Quick.Step-Davitamon 77 Jonathan Patrick McCarty (USA) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 78 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 79 David Zabriskie (USA) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 1.08 80 Björn Leukemans (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 18.45 81 Michel Van Haecke (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 82 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 83 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 84 Stefan Wijnands (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 85 Kurt Hovelynck (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 86 Stéphane Berges (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 87 Nicolas Inaudi (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 88 Christophe Kern (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 89 Mark Scanlon (Irl) AG2r Prévoyance 90 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 91 Bart De Spieghelaere (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 92 Ludovic Capelle (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 93 Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) AG2r Prévoyance 94 Samuele Marzoli (Ita) Lampre 95 Oleksandr Kvachuk (Ukr) Lampre 96 Hans Dekkers (Ned) Rabobank 97 Alain Van Katwijk (Ned) BankGiroLoterij 98 Ronald Mutsaars (Ned) Rabobank 99 Rudi Kemna (Ned) BankGiroLoterij 100 Geert Steurs (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 101 Aron Huysmans (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 102 Nico Mattan (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 103 Bert Roesems (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 104 Matthew White (Aus) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 105 Pedro Horrillo Munoz (Spa) Quick.Step-Davitamon 106 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Lotto-Domo 107 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Lotto-Domo 108 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 109 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 110 Eelke Van Der Wal (Ned) BankGiroLoterij 111 Allan Bo Andresen (Den) BankGiroLoterij 112 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 113 Sjef De Wilde (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 114 Julien Smink (Ned) BankGiroLoterij 115 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago Points classification 1 Geert Omloop (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 38 pts 2 Mikhail Timochine (Rus) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 35 3 Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) Lampre 30 4 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Lampre 27 5 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 21 6 Stefan Van Dijk (Ned) Lotto-Domo 17 7 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 15 8 Roy Sentjens (Ned) Rabobank 12 9 Robert Hunter (RSA) Rabobank 11 10 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 10 11 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 3 12 Rik Reinerink (Ned) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 3 Sprints classification 1 Mikhail Timochine (Rus) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 13 pts 2 Geert Omloop (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 13 3 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Lampre 8 4 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 8 5 Rik Reinerink (Ned) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 3 6 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 3
