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Tour of Belgium - 2.2
Belgium, May 19-23, 2004
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Stage 3 - May 21: Knokke Heist-Buggenhout, 194 km
Van Heeswijk wins crash marred finale
By Jeff Jones
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Dutchman Max van Heeswijk (US Postal-Berry Floor) has sprinted to victory in the third stage of the Tour of Belgium ahead of Estonian champion Janek Tombak (Cofidis) and Bert Hiemstra (Chocolade Jacques). Van Heeswijk was one of seven riders who survived a crash in the final kilometre that essentially stopped the peloton in its tracks, bringing down many riders including key protagonists Geert Omloop, Gianluca Bortolami and Tom Boonen. The peloton was on the verge of catching late breakaways Roger Hammond and Thomas Voeckler, but when the crash happened only five riders were able to close the gap to the two leaders.
Although Bortolami was one of the victims, he was able to eventually cross the line and claim the new leader's jersey, courtesy of 2 bonus seconds from an intermediate sprint. All riders who crashed were given the same time as the winner, hence there was no penalty for Bortolami.
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Afterwards, Van Heesiwjk commented that "I would have preferred to win in a real bunch sprint. I was next to my compatriot Stefan van Dijk when he suddenly disappeared. I didn't really see it well, but I heard behind me that there was something wrong."
Unfortunately for Van Heesiwjk and US Postal, their teammate Victor Hugo Peña was one of the worst off in the crash. He was taken away in an ambulance with fears of a broken arm, but x-rays determined that there were no broken bones, and he may be able to start tomorrow.
How it unfolded
Today's 194 km stage between Knokke Heist and Buggenhout presented the riders with multiple challenges, namely the stiff north wind that was blowing strongly today as well as some climbs, including the Berendries, Muur van Geraardsbergen and Bosberg. After 30 km, Wim De Vocht (Relax - Bodysol) made the first attack but this wasn't successful. It took until the 60 km mark before a real gap was created, with Alain van Katwijk (BankGiroLoterij), Bart De Spiegelaere (Vlaanderen-T Interim), Francesco Planckaert (Jacques), Stefan Wijnands and Kurt Hovelynck (Jong Vlaanderen 2016) forming a group of five riders.
The peloton allowed the break a 9'00 lead before the foot of the Muur van Geraardsbergen with 95 km to go, where the situation changed markedly as Staf Scheirlinckx (Cofidis) and Preben Van Hecke (Bodysol) forced the pace in the bunch and split it into several groups. From then on the racing was full on, and a dangerous looking group formed - again under the impetus of Scheirlinckx - on the Bosberg containing Scheirlinckx and Tombak (Cofidis), Van Summeren, Van Hecke (Bodysol). Chavanel (Brioches), Leukemans (MrBookmaker), Bernucci (Landbouwkrediet), Baguet (Lotto), Piatek (Jacques), Peña, Devolder (USPS), De Weert, Hunter, Sentjens (Rabobank) and Carrara (Lampre).
Quick.Step had missed the move, as had race leader Omloop, and this counter-attacking group got over a minute's lead with 79 km to go. The five earlier leaders were being brought back incredibly quickly, and had just 1'43 of their 9'00 with 64 km to go. That's when the Quick.Step peloton made the junction with the first chase group, but it didn't take long for the attacks to begin anew.
The break was caught on the Putberg by a new group, and after the top it was Jurgen Van Den Broeck (USPS) together with Axel Merckx (Lotto), Maarten Den Bakker (Rabobank), Carrara (Lampre), Van Hyfte (Vlaanderen), Rosseler (Bodysol), Voeckler (Brioches), Tombak (Cofidis) and the original breakaways Planckaert, De Spiegelaere, Hovelynck, Wijnands and Van Katwijk.
The peloton was back at a minute again, and this time Quick.Step got help from the Chocolade Jacques team, who were protecting the chances of their GC men such as Voskamp. MrBookmaker-Palmans also put a couple of men in front and this combined chase brought everything back together with 33 km to go.
Sebastian Rosseler continued his effort alone, and the Bodysol rider was able to build a 50 second lead at one stage as his teammates - particularly Nico Mattan - controlled the bunch. At 21 km to go there was an intermediate sprint and while Rosseler took the three seconds, the battle was on between Bortolami and Omloop for the remaining seconds. But Omloop missed a corner just before the sprint, allowing Bortolami to take two seconds and thus the virtual leadership of the race.
Rosseler was caught with 16 km to go by another counter-attack, this time including Van Heeswijk (USPS), Van Bondt (Landbouwkrediet), Bos (BankGiroLoterij) and Sentjens (Rabobank), among others. A crash in the peloton took out Matt Hayman along with Pedro Horrillo, Servais Knaven, Michel Van Haecke and Bjorn Leukemans, but the real action was in front.
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Lampre took up the chase and caught the break with 12 km to go, and things were starting to wind up for a bunch sprint. Tom Boonen was looking good in sixth wheel, even though he ran off the road with 4 km to go and had to make up position. Nico Mattan (Bodysol) attacked solo with 7 km left, but the effort was too great and he was swallowed with 4 km to go. At 3 km to go, Roger Hammond went clear with Thomas Voeckler (Brioches), and this move looked more promising.
The pair stayed away until inside the 1 km to go banner, but just as the peloton was about to bridge the gap there was a huge domino-like crash at the front which blocked the road. Those able to make it through were Van Heeswijk, Tombak, Hiemstra, Quinziato and Engoulvent, joining together with Hammond and Voeckler to form a group of seven that contested the finishing sprint. Tombak led out but Van Heeswijk passed him easily to take the victory, but it was not one that he was delighted with after so many were involved in the crash.
Tomorrow there will be two stages of the Tour of Belgium: a 13 km time trial in the morning followed by a 115 km stage in the afternoon, both finishing in Mechelen.
Photography
Images by AFP Photo
- Max van Heeswijk (USPS-Berry Floor) wins the sprint for stage 3 ahead of Janek Tombak
- Gianluca Bortolami (Lampre) crosses the line in a bit of pain
- Max van Heeswijk (USPS-Berry Floor) on the podium
- Gianluca Bortolami (Lampre) on the podium as the new leader
- Victor Hugo Pena (USPS-Berry Floor) was carted off in an ambulance. It was later found that he had no broken bones, despite fears for a broken arm.
Results
1 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 4.46.26 (40.64 km/h) 2 Janek Tombak (Est) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 3 Bert Hiemstra (Ned) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 4 Roger Hammond (GBr) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 5 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Lampre 6 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 7 Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 8 Bart Voskamp (Ned) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 9 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 10 Matthew White (Aus) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 11 Sjef De Wilde (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 12 Jan Kuyckx (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 13 Paolo Bossoni (Ita) Lampre 14 Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 15 Robert Hunter (RSA) Rabobank 16 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto-Domo 17 Jo Planckaert (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 18 Zbigniew Piatek (Pol) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 19 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 20 Kurt Hovelynck (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 21 Stéphane Berges (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 22 Guennadi Mikhailov (Rus) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 23 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 24 Wim De Vocht (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 25 Paul Van Hyfte (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 26 Samuele Marzoli (Ita) Lampre 27 Benny De Schrooder (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 28 Geert Van Bondt (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 29 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Rabobank 30 Marco Bos (Ned) BankGiroLoterij 31 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Lotto-Domo 32 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 33 Peter Farazijn (Bel) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 34 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Lotto-Domo 35 Geert Steurs (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 36 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 37 Kevin Van Der Slagmolen (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 38 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 39 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 40 Alessandro Cortinovis (Ita) Lampre 41 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 42 Sven Renders (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 43 Julien Smink (Ned) BankGiroLoterij 44 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 45 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 46 Tom Steels (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 47 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 48 Andy De Smet (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 49 Kristof Trouve (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 50 Geert Omloop (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 51 Gerben Löwik (Ned) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 52 Roy Sentjens (Ned) Rabobank 53 Rik Reinerink (Ned) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 54 Erki Pütsep (Est) AG2r Prévoyance 55 Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) Lampre 56 Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 57 Geoffrey Demeyere (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 58 Kevin De Weert (Bel) Rabobank 59 Serge Baguet (Bel) Lotto-Domo 60 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Rabobank 61 Marco Pinotti (Ita) Lampre 3.01 62 Axel Merckx (Bel) Lotto-Domo 3.10 63 Marc Streel (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 64 Allan Johansen (Den) BankGiroLoterij 65 Ludo Dierckxsens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 66 Stijn Devolder (Bel) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 67 Matteo Carrara (Ita) Lampre 68 Rudi Kemna (Ned) BankGiroLoterij 3.47 69 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 70 Niels Scheuneman (Ned) Relax-Bodysol 71 Nico Mattan (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 72 Eelke Van Der Wal (Ned) BankGiroLoterij 3.50 73 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 74 Stefan Van Dijk (Ned) Lotto-Domo 75 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 76 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Lotto-Domo 4.17 77 Aron Huysmans (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 78 Alain Van Katwijk (Ned) BankGiroLoterij 79 Francesco Planckaert (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 80 Anthony Geslin (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 81 Stuart O’Grady (Aus) Cofidis 82 Matthieu Sprick (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 83 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 84 Bert Roesems (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 85 Julien Laidoun (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 86 Jans Koerts (Ned) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 87 Mikhail Timochine (Rus) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 88 Oleksandr Kvachuk (Ukr) Lampre 4.26 89 David Zabriskie (USA) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 4.38 90 Jonathan Patrick McCarty (USA) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 4.43 91 Victor Hugo Pena Grisales (Col) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 92 Andy Cappelle (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 93 Bart De Spieghelaere (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 7.57 94 Stefano Zanini (Ita) Quick.Step-Davitamon 9.29 95 Servais Knaven (Ned) Quick.Step-Davitamon 96 Pedro Horillo (Spa) Quick.Step-Davitamon 97 Björn Leukemans (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 98 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank 99 Michel Van Haecke (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 100 Stefan Wijnands (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 101 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 16.38 102 Allan Bo Andresen (Den) BankGiroLoterij 28.27 103 Frank Van Dulmen (Ned) BankGiroLoterij 104 Tommy Van De Gehuchte (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 105 Rony Martias (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère DNF Leif Hoste (Bel) Lotto-Domo DNF Ludovic Capelle (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago DNF Ronald Mutsaars (Ned) Rabobank DNF Hans Dekkers (Ned) Rabobank DNF Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) AG2r Prévoyance DNF Nicolas Inaudi (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance DNS Michael Barry (Can) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor Note: riders involved in the crash were not penalised on GC, although their actual finish times were recorded General classification after stage 3 1 Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) Lampre 13.12.37 2 Geert Omloop (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 0.01 3 Mikhail Timochine (Rus) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 0.03 4 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 0.06 5 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 0.07 6 Janek Tombak (Est) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 0.08 7 Stefan Van Dijk (Ned) Lotto-Domo 0.11 8 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Lampre 9 Bert Hiemstra (Ned) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 0.13 10 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 11 Roy Sentjens (Ned) Rabobank 12 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 13 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 0.15 14 Paul Van Hyfte (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 15 Paolo Bossoni (Ita) Lampre 0.16 16 Bart Voskamp (Ned) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 17 Benny De Schrooder (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 18 Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 19 Robert Hunter (RSA) Rabobank 0.17 20 Roger Hammond (GBr) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 21 Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 22 Jo Planckaert (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 23 Tom Steels (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 24 Guennadi Mikhailov (Rus) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 25 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Rabobank 26 Sven Renders (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 27 Jans Koerts (Ned) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 28 Peter Farazijn (Bel) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 29 Matteo Carrara (Ita) Lampre 30 Geert Van Bondt (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 31 Marco Bos (Ned) BankGiroLoterij 32 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto-Domo 33 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Lotto-Domo 34 Zbigniew Piatek (Pol) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 35 Serge Baguet (Bel) Lotto-Domo 36 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 37 Ludo Dierckxsens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 38 Niels Scheuneman (Ned) Relax-Bodysol 39 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Rabobank 40 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 41 Stijn Devolder (Bel) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 42 Alessandro Cortinovis (Ita) Lampre 43 Kevin De Weert (Bel) Rabobank 44 Geoffrey Demeyere (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 45 Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 46 Kevin Van Der Slagmolen (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 47 Andy Cappelle (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 48 Gerben Löwik (Ned) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 49 Victor Hugo Pena Grisales (Col) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 50 Rik Reinerink (Ned) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 2.18 51 Wim De Vocht (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 2.19 52 Jan Kuyckx (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 53 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 54 Erki Pütsep (Est) AG2r Prévoyance 55 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 56 Marco Pinotti (Ita) Lampre 3.18 57 Axel Merckx (Bel) Lotto-Domo 3.27 58 Marc Streel (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 59 Stuart O’Grady (Aus) Cofidis 4.25 60 Allan Johansen (Den) BankGiroLoterij 4.27 61 Anthony Geslin (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 5.34 62 Matthieu Sprick (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 6.36 63 Jonathan Patrick McCarty (USA) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 7.02 64 Andy De Smet (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 7.06 65 Kristof Trouve (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 66 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 67 Stefano Zanini (Ita) Quick.Step-Davitamon 9.46 68 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank 69 Servais Knaven (Ned) Quick.Step-Davitamon 70 Julien Laidoun (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 10.33 71 Francesco Planckaert (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf 11.23 72 David Zabriskie (USA) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 11.46 73 Kurt Hovelynck (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 18.43 74 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 18.46 75 Samuele Marzoli (Ita) Lampre 76 Sjef De Wilde (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 77 Julien Smink (Ned) BankGiroLoterij 78 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 79 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 80 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 81 Matthew White (Aus) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 82 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Lotto-Domo 83 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 84 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 85 Nico Mattan (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 86 Stéphane Berges (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 20.48 87 Geert Steurs (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 88 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 22.54 89 Alain Van Katwijk (Ned) BankGiroLoterij 23.03 90 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Lotto-Domo 91 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 25.02 92 Bert Roesems (Bel) Relax-Bodysol 25.05 93 Björn Leukemans (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 28.15 94 Pedro Horrillo Munoz (Spa) Quick.Step-Davitamon 95 Rony Martias (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 28.44 96 Eelke Van Der Wal (Ned) BankGiroLoterij 29.25 97 Aron Huysmans (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 29.52 98 Oleksandr Kvachuk (Ukr) Lampre 30.01 99 Rudi Kemna (Ned) BankGiroLoterij 30.46 100 Frank Van Dulmen (Ned) BankGiroLoterij 101 Bart De Spieghelaere (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 33.30 102 Stefan Wijnands (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 35.03 103 Michel Van Haecke (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans 35.04 104 Tommy Van De Gehuchte (Bel) Jong Vlaanderen 2016 35.33 105 Allan Bo Andresen (Den) BankGiroLoterij 49.15
