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KBC Driedaagse van De Panne-Koksijde - 2.HC
Belgium, March 28-30, 2006
2005 results Stage List Preview Start List Past winners
The Stages
- Stage 1 - March 28: Middelkerke - Zottegem, 194 km
- Stage 2 - March 29: Zottegem - Oostduinkerke, 227 km
- Stage 3 - March 30: De Panne - De Panne, 119 km
- Stage 4 - March 30: De Panne - De Panne ITT, 12 km
Windy pre-Flanders test
By Jeff Jones
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This year looks set to be a very windy edition of the KBC Driedaagse van De Panne-Koksijde, Belgium's traditional mid-week three-day stage race before the Ronde Van Vlaanderen on Sunday. With the strong southwesterly wind that has been blowing for the past few days set to continue, bringing with it the occasional thunderstorm, the racing will be hard and nervous. It's rare for this race not to claim a few victims, with their classics seasons ended before they really start. That's not a good thing, but it's part of racing in Belgium at this time of year.
The Driedaagse is run over four stages, with the first taking the riders from Middelkerke, on the west coast, to Zottegem, in the heart of the Vlaamse Ardennen. Held over 194 km, this will be a fast stage with a tail/crosswind blowing the riders most of the way and making it tough for those at the back. The stage reaches the finish line at Zottegem for the first time after 120 km, with the riders already having done four climbs, including the Leberg, Berendries and Stuivenberg. Then it's two laps of a 37 km circuit, with four climbs each lap: Leberg, Berendries, Kloosterbosstraat, and Stuivenberg, making it a little more selective than in previous years. The eventual overall winner can't afford to lose much time in this stage.
Stage 2 is from Zottegem to Oostduinkerke, mostly into a head/crosswind, although there will be some dangerous cross/tailwind sections between Ieper and Gistel. It's 227 km long, and finishes with three laps of a 15 km circuit around Oostduinkerke, and often ends in some kind of a bunch sprint. The final day is split, with a morning stage of 119 km starting and finishing in De Panne. The stage goes takes a short tour of West Flanders, including a visit to the town that makes the best beer in the world: West Vleteren. It passes through Kemmel, but doesn't do the Kemmelberg, instead making do with the Monteberg, Rodeberg and Vidaigneberg. Again, this stage suits the sprinters. Thursday afternoon is the deciding stage, a 12 km time trial between De Panne and Koksijde and back, with plenty of u-turns, cobbles and tram tracks thrown in for the true Flemish experience.
Last year, the race was won by young Stijn Devolder (Discovery Channel), who had a storming early season. He doesn't seem to be in that sort of form yet, but maybe the recent racing has helped him reach his top level. On the other hand, his teammates Viatcheslav Ekimov (two-time winner), George Hincapie (2004 winner), and Leif Hoste are more than capable of winning. We should keep an eye on Milan-San Remo winner Filippo Pozzato (Quick.Step), who is focusing on this race, before helping Tom Boonen in the Ronde this weekend. Although the Driedaagse suits a rider of Boonen's abilities, he has bigger fish to fry, and although a stage win is certainly not out of the question, riding all four stages might be.
The Davitamon-Lotto camp is hungry for a win now, and will look to Nico Mattan (2001 winner), Peter Van Petegem (two time winner), Gert Steegmans, and maybe time trialist Bert Roesems to take the honours. Fred Rodriguez and Tom Steels are there for the bunch sprints. Lampre-Fondital has its stars Danilo Napolitano and Alessandro Ballan, although the latter, who won the first stage last year, might save himself for Flanders. The other strong classics team is T-Mobile, which has Andreas Klier, Steffen Wesemann and Sergei Ivanov down to start.
Start list
Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team Quick Step-Innergetic
1 Stijn Devolder (Bel) 11 Tom Boonen (Bel)
2 Michael Barry (Can) 12 Steven De Jongh (Ned)
3 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) 13 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel)
4 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) 14 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel)
5 Roger Hammond (GBr) 15 Filippo Pozzato (Ita)
6 George Hincapie (USA) 16 Sebastien Rosseler (Bel)
7 Leif Hoste (Bel) 17 Matteo Tosatto (Ita)
8 Matthew White (Aus) 18 Wouter Weylandt (Bel)
Liberty Seguros-Würth Team Française des Jeux
21 Carlos Abellan (Spa) 31 Ludovic Auger (Fra)
22 Carlos Barredo (Spa) 32 Frederic Finot (Fra)
23 Koen De Kort (Ned) 33 Christophe Detilloux (Bel)
24 Javier Ramirez Abeja (Spa) 34 Bernhard Eisel (Aut)
25 Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) 35 Frederic Guesdon (Fra)
26 Luis Leos Sanchez Gil (Spa) 36 Gustav Erik Larsson (Swe)
27 Eladio Sanchez Prado (Spa) 37 Arnaud Gerard (Fra)
28 Ivan Santos (Spa) 38 Cyrille Monnerais (Fra)
Lampre-Fondital Liquigas
41 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) 51 Michael Albasini (Swi)
42 Matteo Carrara (Ita) 52 Marco Milesi (Ita)
43 Claudio Corioni (Ita) 53 Daniele Colli (Ita)
44 Paolo Fornaciari (Ita) 54 Alberto Curtolo (Ita)
45 Enrico Franzoi (Ita) 55 Mauro Da Dalto (Ita)
46 David Loosli (Swi) 56 Luca Paolini (Ita)
47 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) 57 Marco Righetto (Ita)
48 Daniele Righi (Ita) 58 Stefano Zanini (Ita)
Rabobank Phonak Hearing Systems
61 Jan Boven (Ned) 71 Aurelien Clerc (Swi)
62 Graeme Brown (Aus) 72 Uros Murn (Slo)
63 Marc De Maar (Ned) 73 Bert Grabsch (Ger)
64 Bram De Groot (Ned) 74 Fabrizio Guidi (Ita)
65 Marc Wauters (Bel) 75 Ryder Hesjedal (Can)
66 Niels Scheuneman (Ned) 76 Florian Stalder (Swi)
77 Gregory Rast (Swi)
78 David Vitoria (Swi)
Davitamon-Lotto Bouygues Telecom
81 Wim De Vocht (Bel) 91 Pierre Drancourt (Fra)
82 Nico Mattan (Bel) 92 Sebastien Chavanel (Fra)
83 Fred Rodriguez (USA) 93 Andy Flickinger (Fra)
84 Bert Roesems (Bel) 94 Xavier Florencio Cabre (Spa)
85 Gert Steegmans (Bel) 95 Yohann Gene (Fra)
86 Tom Steels (Bel) 96 Vincent Jerome (Fra)
87 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) 97 Rony Martias (Fra)
88 Henk Vogels (Aus) 98 Anthony Ravard (Fra)
T-Mobile Team Unibet.com
101 Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita) 111 Angel Castresana Del Val (Spa)
102 Bastiaan Giling (Ned) 112 Baden Cooke (Aus)
103 Andre Greipel (Ger) 113 Jeremy Hunt (GBr)
104 Serguei Ivanov (Rus) 114 Marco Serpellini (Ita)
105 Andreas Klier (Ger) 115 Luis Pasamontes (Spa)
106 Bram Schmitz (Ned) 116 Frank Vandenbroucke (Bel)
107 Stephan Schreck (Ger) 117 Matthew Wilson (Aus)
108 Steffen Wesemann (Swi) 118 Erwin Thijs (Bel)
Barloworld Team Wiesenhof Akud
121 Giosue Bonomi (Ita) 131 Gerald Ciolek (Ger)
122 Diego Caccia (Ita) 132 Tomas Konecny (Cze)
123 Mads Christensen (Den) 133 Felix Odebrecht (Ger)
124 Enrico Degano (Ita) 134 Torsten Schmidt (Ger)
125 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) 135 Robert Retschke (Ger)
126 Igor Astarloa (Spa) 136 Artur Gajek (Ger)
127 Hugo Sabido (Por) 137 Lubor Tesar (Cze)
128 Tom Southam (GBr) 138 Carlo Westphal (Ger)
Team Tenax Salmilano Intel-Action
141 Fabio Baldato (Ita) 151 Bogdan Bondariew (Ukr)
142 Alessandro Bertuola (Ita) 152 Lukasz Bodnar (Pol)
143 Claudio Cucinotta (Ita) 153 Krzysztof Kuzniak (Pol)
144 David McPartland (Aus) 154 Marcin Lewandowski (Pol)
145 Christian Murro (Ita) 155 Marcin Osinski (Pol)
146 Alirio Perez Arango (Col) 157 Mariusz Witecki (Pol)
147 Roberto Petito (Ita)
148 Rigoberto Uran (Col)
Team L.P.R. Team Vorarlberg
161 Andreas Dietziker (Swi) 171 Pascal Hungerbuhler (Swi)
162 Giairo Ermeti (Ita) 172 Christo Girschweider (Swi)
163 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) 173 Gerrit Glomser (Aut)
164 Mattia Gavazzi (Ita) 174 Tyson Apostol (USA)
165 Michele Maccanti (Ita) 175 Christian Lener (Aut)
166 Alessandro Maserati (Ita) 176 Harald Morscher (Aut)
167 Dario Pieri (Ita) 177 Werner Riebenbauer (Aut)
168 Roberto Traficante (Ita) 178 Patrik Riedesser (Aut)
Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
181 Steven Caethoven (Bel) 191 Kevin Neirynck (Bel)
182 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel) 192 Andy Cappelle (Bel)
183 Koen Barbe (Bel) 193 Mathieu Criquielion (Bel)
184 Niko Eeckhout (Bel) 194 Sven Renders (Bel)
185 Jens Renders (Bel) 195 Sjef De Wilde (Bel)
186 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) 196 Jurgen Van Loocke (Bel)
187 Maarten Wijnants (Bel) 197 James Vanlandschoot (Bel)
188 Frederik Willems (Bel) 198 Johan Verstrepen (Bel)
Flanders Jartazi-7Mobile
201 Stijn Dedecker (Bel) 211 Igor Abakoumov (Bel)
202 Gregory De Munster (Bel) 212 Robby Meul (Bel)
203 Joop De Gans (Ned) 213 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz)
204 Denis Flahaut (Fra) 214 Francesco Planckaert (Bel)
205 Werner Van Zandbeek (Ned) 215 Bert Scheirlinckx (Bel)
206 Alexander Kareev (Rus) 216 Michael Blanchy (Bel)
207 Ronny Poelvoorde (Bel) 217 Jarno Van Mingeroet (Bel)
208 Werner Van Zimmeren (Ned) 218 Peter Ronsse (Bel)
Past winners
2005 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Discovery Channel 2004 George Hincapie (USA) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 2003 Raivis Belohvosciks (Lat) Marlux-Wincor Nixdorf 2002 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 2001 Nico Mattan (Bel) 2000 Vjatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) 1999 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) 1998 Michele Bartoli (Ita) 1997 Johan Museeuw (Bel) 1996 Vjatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) 1995 Michele Bartoli (Ita) 1994 Fabio Roscioli (Ita) 1993 Eric Vanderaerden (Bel) 1992 Frans Maassen (Ned) 1991 Jelle Nijdam (Ned) 1990 Erwin Nijboer (Ned) 1989 Eric Vanderaerden (Bel) 1988 Eric Vanderaerden (Bel) 1987 Eric Vanderaerden (Bel) 1986 Eric Vanderaerden (Bel) 1985 Jean-Luc Vandenbroucke (Bel) 1984 Bert Oosterbosch (Ned) 1983 Cees Priem (Ned) 1982 Gerrie Knetemann (Ned) 1981 Jan Bogaert (Bel) 1980 Sean Kelly (Ire) 1979 Gustave Van Roosbroeck (Bel) 1978 Guido Van Sweevelt (Bel) 1977 Roger Rosiers (Bel) Past winners by Mario Stiehl, www.world-of-cycling.com
