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Tour of Belgium - 2.3

Belgium, May 21-25, 2003

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Stage 5 - May 25: Mechelen-Liege-Ans, 201 km

Fantastic Rogers, fantastic Bruylandts

By Jeff Jones

Jersey winners
Photo: © Elmar Krings
Click for larger image

The Tour of Belgium came down to a thrilling finish in Ans as Australian Michael Rogers (Quick.Step-Davitamon) retained his leaders jersey with a fine performance on the day to stay in contact with the front group until the end. Rogers came under fire from all sides, notably Dave Bruylandts, who first attacked on La Redoute to become the virtual leader on GC, then after he was caught launched himself again with 2 km to go to win the stage. Rogers raised his arms as he finished 7th, just a couple of seconds behind Bruylandts, after ensuring the overall victory.

“For me it's a great win," said a very satisfied Rogers. "The team work was excellent today. Most of all I want to thank Van Goolen that in the final part of the race who gave me his wheel after a puncture. The stage was very hard but fortunately I was able to rely on a very united team that supported me during any difficult moments. I hope I'll be able to repay them for this work."

The lion roars
Photo: © Elmar Krings
Click for larger image

The 201 km "mini-Liege-Bastogne-Liege" stage began in Mechelen with a minute's silence for Belgian legend Rik Van Steenbergen, who died just over a week ago and was laid to rest on Saturday. 99 riders were left in the race, after Leon van Bon didn't start. Almost immediately there were attacks, with 46 kilometres covered in the first hour.

The first time bonus sprint in Tienen saw Yuri Mitlushenko (Landbouwkrediet) take the three seconds, but an attentive Rogers took a valuable two seconds after finishing second in the sprint. Hayden Roulston was third. After that, there was an attack by eight riders: Leif Hoste (Lotto-Domo), Jan van Velzen (BankGiroLoterij), Yuri Krivtsov (Jean Delatour), Matthew Hayman (Rabobank), Fabian Cancellara (Fassa Bortolo), Bert Roesems (Palmans), Tom Flammang (Cofidis) and Wouter Van Mechelen (Vlaanderen). Four of these riders: Van Velzen, Hoste, Flammang and Roesems, were within 2 minutes of Rogers' lead, forcing Quick.Step-Davitamon to put all its riders on the front to prevent the gap from growing too big.

Rogers leading
Photo: © Elmar Krings
Click for larger image

After 100 km, the eight leaders had 1'40 on the peloton, which was tightly controlled by Quick.Step. However in front, Flammang and Hoste were in difficulty on the climbs, and they were eventually dropped over the Côte de Fraiture and the Côte de Chambralles. The peloton was close by this point, and there were a number of attacks, notably by Jo Planckaert and Dave Bruylandts, whose accelerations cut the peloton to pieces.

Fassa Bortolo were up with the breaks all day, and after an attack by Gorazd Stangelj was caught on La Redoute, teammate Tadej Valjavec followed Bruylandts in a very promising move. The pair quickly rode to a 30 second lead, which grew to a minute as the chasers got organised behind. Rogers had lost many of his teammates on the climb, save for an excellent Jurgen Van Goolen, but riders like Johan Museeuw and Servais Knaven came back on the descent.

A postal run
Photo: © Elmar Krings
Click for larger image

Unfortunately for Rogers, he punctured at a crucial moment with 34 km to go on the descent of La Redoute. He was able to signal to Van Goolen to give him his back wheel, but he finished up in the second chasing group, as Bruylandts and Valjavec continued with their breakaway. Rogers was now out of the leader's jersey on "virtual GC", but he did not panic, as Johan Museeuw and Jurgen Van Goolen dropped back out of the first chasing group to help him make contact. They did so on the Sprimont, to form a bunch of about 30 riders chasing the two leaders who still had 50".

On the Côte de Sart Tillman, Bruylandts and Valjavec extended their lead to 1'00, but Rogers was not finished yet. After all his Quick.Step teammates save for Van Goolen dropped off the chase, Rabobank and BankGiroLoterij took over, aiming to protect Robert Bartko and Bart Voskamp's high positions on the classification. These teams were strong and relatively fresh, and on the descent they tore into the gap of Bruylandts and Valjavec, bringing the pair back by the foot of the Cote de St Nicolas.

Overall podium
Photo: © Elmar Krings
Click for larger image

Just before the climb, BankGiroLoterij's Matthé Pronk attacked, hoping for a stage win or to pave the way for Voskamp to counter. Pronk was chased down by a solo Van Goolen, but the pair were caught by Marlux's Gert Verheyen, who attacked at the foot of the climb. However a counter by Axel Merckx put an end to Verheyen's move, and over the top of the climb he was left with seven others: Rogers, Bruylandts, Valjavec, Kessler, Farazijn, Voskamp, and Den Bakker.

The attacks continued all the way to the finish, with Rogers marking many of them, but unable to prevent Bruylandts from going clear on the final climb to Ans with 2 km to go. A super Bruylandts won the stage by a few metres, with Den Bakker and Valjavec taking second and third respectively. Rogers finished at the back of the group, but was able to celebrate his biggest win since the Tour Down Under and the GP de Beauce in 2002.

Images by Elmar Krings

Results

1 Dave Bruylandts (Bel) Marlux-Wincor Nixdorf              5.01.00
2 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Rabobank                           0.01
3 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) Fassa Bortolo
4 Peter Farazijn (Bel) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone
5 Bart Voskamp (Ned) BankGiroLoterij Cycling Team
6 Axel Merckx (Bel) Lotto-Domo
7 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quick.Step-Davitamon
8 Matthias Kessler (Ger) Team Telekom                         0.09
9 Gorazd Stangelj (Slo) Fassa Bortolo                         0.22
10 Mauro Facci (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
11 Bram Schmitz (Ned) BankGiroLoterij Cycling Team            0.26
12 Matthew White (Aus) US Postal presented by Berry Floor
13 Geert Verheyen (Bel) Marlux-Wincor Nixdorf
14 George Hincapie (USA) US Postal presented by Berry Floor
15 Frank Vandenbroucke (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon
16 Robert Bartko (Ger) Rabobank
17 Emmanuel Magnien (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère              0.44
18 Bert De Waele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
19 Mario Aerts (Bel) Team Telekom
20 Thierry De Groote (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop
21 Andy Cappelle (Bel) Marlux-Wincor Nixdorf
22 Stephan Schreck (Ger) Team Telekom
23 Juan José De Los Angeles (Spa) Fassa Bortolo
24 Bert Hiemstra (Ned) BankGiroLoterij Cycling Team
25 Jan Van Velzen (Ned) BankGiroLoterij Cycling Team
26 Chris Peers (Bel) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone
27 Matthé Pronk (Ned) BankGiroLoterij Cycling Team
28 Gustav Larsson (Swe) Fassa Bortolo
29 Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon               0.58
30 Gerben Löwik (Ned) BankGiroLoterij Cycling Team            1.31
31 Johan Museeuw (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon                   2.01
32 Ronald Mutsaars (Ned) Rabobank
33 Pavel Padrnos (Cze) US Postal presented by Berry Floor     2.07
34 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim                  2.23
35 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Rabobank                               3.03
36 Ludovic Martin (Fra) Jean Delatour                         3.27
37 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Quick.Step-Davitamon                  3.29
38 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Jean Delatour
39 Hayden Roulston (NZl) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone
40 Marc Streel (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago                  3.41
41 Michel Van Haecke (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop                  4.18
42 Nicola Loda (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
43 Kevin De Weert (Bel) Rabobank
44 Scott Guyton (NZl) Flanders-IteamNova.com
45 Roger Hammond (GBr) Palmans-Collstrop
46 Nico Mattan (Bel) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone
47 Dmitri Konyshev (Rus) Marlux-Wincor Nixdorf
48 Bert Roesems (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop
49 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Fassa Bortolo                      4.30
50 Jean-Michel Tessier (Fra) Marlux-Wincor Nixdorf            4.43
51 Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère              6.49
52 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon             13.04
53 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon
54 Servais Knaven (Ned) Quick.Step-Davitamon
55 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim
56 Jürgen Landrie (Bel) Flanders-IteamNova.com
57 Jehudi Schoonacker (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim
58 Christophe Laurent (Fra) Jean Delatour
59 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Jean Delatour
60 Fabien De Waele (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop
61 Jan Kuyckx (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim
62 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) US Postal presented by Berry Floor
63 Floyd Landis (USA) US Postal presented by Berry Floor
64 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank
65 Glenn D’Hollander (Bel) Lotto-Domo
66 Roy Sentjens (Ned) Rabobank
67 Geoffrey Demeyere (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim
68 Ludo Dierckxsens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago            17.07
69 Claudio Lucchini (Ita) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
70 Tom Steels (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
71 Robert Hayles (GBr) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone
72 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Lotto-Domo
73 Jo Planckaert (Bel) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone
74 Yuri Mitlushenko (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
75 Erwin Thijs (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop
76 Wesley Van Speybroeck (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
77 Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago               17.13
 
Final general classification
 
1 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quick.Step-Davitamon               20.00.42
2 Bart Voskamp (Ned) BankGiroLoterij Cycling Team             0.25
3 Robert Bartko (Ger) Rabobank                                0.30
4 Axel Merckx (Bel) Lotto-Domo                                0.31
5 Dave Bruylandts (Bel) Marlux-Wincor Nixdorf                 0.32
6 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Rabobank                           0.43
7 George Hincapie (USA) US Postal presented by Berry Floor    0.52
8 Frank Vandenbroucke (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon              1.04
9 Matthew White (Aus) US Postal presented by Berry Floor      1.08
10 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) Fassa Bortolo                         1.19
11 Bram Schmitz (Ned) BankGiroLoterij Cycling Team
12 Jan Van Velzen (Ned) BankGiroLoterij Cycling Team          1.29
13 Andy Cappelle (Bel) Marlux-Wincor Nixdorf                  1.32
14 Bert Hiemstra (Ned) BankGiroLoterij Cycling Team           1.36
15 Gustav Larsson (Swe) Fassa Bortolo                         1.56
16 Matthias Kessler (Ger) Team Telekom                        2.00
17 Gorazd Stangelj (Slo) Fassa Bortolo
18 Chris Peers (Bel) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone          2.04
19 Geert Verheyen (Bel) Marlux-Wincor Nixdorf                 2.12
20 Johan Museeuw (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon                   2.35
21 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Quick.Step-Davitamon                  3.37
22 Marc Streel (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago                  4.21
23 Nico Mattan (Bel) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone          5.10
24 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Jean Delatour                        5.14
25 Bert Roesems (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop                       5.21
26 Kevin De Weert (Bel) Rabobank                              5.35
27 Nicola Loda (Ita) Fassa Bortolo                            6.02
28 Dmitri Konyshev (Rus) Marlux-Wincor Nixdorf                7.18
29 Michel Van Haecke (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop                  7.42
30 Hayden Roulston (NZl) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone     10.30
31 Pavel Padrnos (Cze) US Postal presented by Berry Floor    12.43
32 Servais Knaven (Ned) Quick.Step-Davitamon                 13.21
33 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon             14.05
34 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) US Postal presented by Berry Flo   14.29
35 Floyd Landis (USA) US Postal presented by Berry Floor     14.32
36 Geoffrey Demeyere (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim              14.39
37 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank                              14.42
38 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim            15.33
39 Tom Steels (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago                  18.14
40 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Lotto-Domo                            18.37
41 Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon              26.57
42 Mauro Facci (Ita) Fassa Bortolo                           26.59
43 Stephan Schreck (Ger) Team Telekom                        27.00
44 Matthé Pronk (Ned) BankGiroLoterij Cycling Team           27.16
45 Peter Farazijn (Bel) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone      27.48
46 Thierry De Groote (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop                 28.00
47 Mario Aerts (Bel) Team Telekom                            28.07
48 Ronald Mutsaars (Ned) Rabobank                            28.11
49 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Fassa Bortolo                     28.51
50 Gerben Löwik (Ned) BankGiroLoterij Cycling Team           28.57
51 Juan José De Los Angeles (Spa) Fassa Bortolo              29.04
52 Wesley Van Speybroeck (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago       29.14
53 Roger Hammond (GBr) Palmans-Collstrop                     32.57
54 Jean-Michel Tessier (Fra) Marlux-Wincor Nixdorf           33.12
55 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon                     35.41
56 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Rabobank                              37.01
57 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim                 38.20
58 Bert De Waele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago               38.26
59 Jan Kuyckx (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim                     38.58
60 Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère             39.21
61 Roy Sentjens (Ned) Rabobank                               39.40
62 Jehudi Schoonacker (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim             40.42
63 Fabien De Waele (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop                   40.48
64 Scott Guyton (NZl) Flanders-IteamNova.com                 41.08
65 Emmanuel Magnien (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère             41.36
66 Robert Hayles (GBr) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone       42.53
67 Yuri Mitlushenko (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago            44.00
68 Jo Planckaert (Bel) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone       45.15
69 Ludovic Martin (Fra) Jean Delatour                        45.53
70 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Jean Delatour                        48.24
71 Glenn D’Hollander (Bel) Lotto-Domo                        49.36
72 Erwin Thijs (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop                       50.13
73 Ludo Dierckxsens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago            50.30
74 Jürgen Landrie (Bel) Flanders-IteamNova.com               50.39
75 Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago               52.42
76 Christophe Laurent (Fra) Jean Delatour                    54.01
77 Claudio Lucchini (Ita) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago          1.01.59
 
Points classification
 
1 Tom Steels (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago                      54 pts
2 Axel Merckx (Bel) Lotto-Domo                                  50
3 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon                         46
4 Hayden Roulston (NZl) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone         46
5 Dave Bruylandts (Bel) Marlux-Wincor Nixdorf                   38
6 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quick.Step-Davitamon                     30
7 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) Fassa Bortolo                            30
8 Ludo Dierckxsens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago                30
9 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Rabobank                             28
10 Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère                28
 
Sprints classification
 
1 Hayden Roulston (NZl) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone         27 pts
2 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) US Postal presented by Berry Floo      16
3 Ludo Dierckxsens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago                13
4 Dave Bruylandts (Bel) Marlux-Wincor Nixdorf                    8
5 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) Fassa Bortolo                             8
 
Climbs classification
 
1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon                         50 pts
2 Dave Bruylandts (Bel) Marlux-Wincor Nixdorf                   32
3 Erwin Thijs (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop                           32
4 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Fassa Bortolo                         24
5 Bert Roesems (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop                          22
 
Teams classification
 
1 Quick Step-Davitamon                                    60.00.15
2 Rabobank                                                    2.28
3 Marlux-Wincor Nixdorf                                       4.45
4 Bankgiroloterij Ct                                          4.53
5 Cofidis                                                     4.59