13th Giro del Capo - 2.5

South Africa, March 9-13, 2004

2003 results Stage List Preview Start List Past winners

The Stages

Stage 1 - March 9: Durbanville - Durbanville, 139 km
Stage 2 - March 10: Stellenbosch circuit, 131.4 km
Stage 3 - March 11: Cape Town - Cape Town, 133 km
Stage 4 - March 12: Signal Hill ITT, 5.5 km
Stage 5 - March 13: Langa, 115 km

Plenty of competition for the Irish in Giro del Capo

By Tommy Campbell, Irish Independent, Evening Herald, Sunday Independent

A five man Irish team is in South Africa to contest the Cape Argus Pick 'n Pay Giro del Capo, which will be run between March 9-13, starting in Capetown. The team includes David McCann, David O'Loughlin, Paul Griffin, Eugene Moriarty and Ciaran McMahon, all of whom, with the exception of McMahon, took part in the recent Telekom Malaysia Le Tour de Langkawi.

Performances in Langkawi suggested that these riders are capable of putting together back-to-back results and that a stage victory is not out of the question. In particular, McCann and Moriarty were in superb form in the 10 day Asian event and the possibility of McCann landing the overall classification in South Africa cannot be ruled out. He is a good stage competitor and performs well in time trials, especially in a short time trial such as the one in the Giro del Capo.

The best of the ten foreign teams already committed to the Giro would appear to be the crack Wiesenhof Leipzig outfit. It includes top grand tour riders such as Jens Heppner and Enrico Poitschke, as well as versatile sprinter Lars Wackernagel. The Wiesenhof riders are regulars at the Giro del Capo and the 2.5 UCI-ranked five day stage race will present them with few concerns.

The South African teams will be in great form. "No other local line-up can currently match the Barloworld team, and it is too early in the year for the foreign teams to be anywhere near their best," said SA team manager Tony Harding.

Experts predict the race for individual honours will be at least a four way fight between Langkawi runner-up Ryan Cox, his Barloworld teammate David George, who is a former Giro winner and Langkawi top ten finisher this year, Nick White, who came fifth in Malaysia, and a third Barloworld rider, Tiaan Kannemeyer, who was fourth.

White, known to Irish cycling fans as a stage winner in the FBD Milk Ras, has won the decisive hill climb stage twice, feels the Giro is decided largely on the hills. "But in cycling anything can happen and I have a good all-round team (HSBC) to back me up. The guys will be Neil McDonald, Ian McLeod, Daniel Spence and Jeff Howes. We'll definitely be there or thereabouts and we'll play it by ear."

Asked about the overseas challengers, White echoes Harding's feelings that "It is too early for them but they'll always be up there and they could certainly take a stage or two."

White rates the Czech Republic's Lubor Tesar (e'D System-ZVVZ) as possibly the best of the "Foreign Legion". "He has been here for a while and he could be up for a stage win."

Apart from the "usual suspects," the HSBC captain says cycling enthusiasts should not overlook Microsoft's Jeremy Maartens and Jaco Odendaal, Minolta's Reinhart du Plessis, Eckhard Bergh and Adriaan Maaske. He also rates Excel's Alex Galvin and Dennis van Niekerk. "They'll all be fighting for a top ten spot."

Start list

Team Barloworld-Androni Giocattoli  Action Action-Ati
 
1 David George (RSA)                6 Piotr Chmielewski (Pol)
2 Ryan Cox (RSA)                    7 Tomasz Brozyna (Pol)
3 Tiaan Kannemeyer (RSA)            8 Bartosz Huzarski (Pol)
4 Sean Sullivan (Aus)               9 Kazimierz Stafiej (Pol)
5 Jock Green (RSA)                  10 Eugen Wacker (Kgz)
 
Team HSBC                           Team ComNet-Senges
 
11 Nicholas White (RSA)             16 Luke Roberts (Aus)
12 Neil Macdonald (RSA)             17 Hans-Jürgen Juretzek (Ger)
13 Ian Mcleod (RSA)                 18 Wolfram Wiese (Ger)
14 Daniel Spence (RSA)              20 Corey Sweet (Aus)
15 Jeff Howes (RSA)
 
eD'system-ZVVZ                      Team Lamonta
 
21 Lubor Tesar (Cze)                26 Björn Glasner (Ger)
22 Jindrich Vana (Cze)              27 David Kopp (Ger)
23 Pavel Zerzan (Cze)               28 Stefan Kupfernagel (Ger)
24 Michal Precechtel (Cze)          29 Holger Sievers (Ger)
25 David Kupka (Cze)                30 Björn Papstein (Ger)
 
Team Wiesenhof                      Italian Team
 
31 Jens Heppner (Ger)               36 Daniele Pontoni (Ita)
32 Enrico Poitschke (Ger)           37 Mauro Da Dalto (Ita)
33 Ralf Grabsch (Ger)               38 Matteo Bussatto (Ita)
34 Lars Wackernagel (Ger)           39 Matteo Priamo (Ita)
35 Roberto Lochowski (Ger)          40 Roberto Tomasella (Ita)
 
Namibia                             Microsoft
 
46 Mannie Heymans (Nam)             51 Doug Ryder (RSA)
47 Karl Platt (Ger)                 52 Jeremy Maartens (RSA)
48 Dan Craven (Nam)                 53 Jaco Odendaal (RSA)
49 Ingram Cuff (Nam)                54 Daryl Impey (RSA)
                                    55 Morné Bester (RSA)
 
Minolta                             Thabiso Panda
 
56 Jacques Fullard (RSA)            66 Kosie Loubser (RSA)
57 Marnus Potgieter (RSA)           67 JP Du Randt (RSA)
58 Greg Prince (RSA)                68 Martin Sanders (RSA)
59 Eckard Bergh (RSA)               69 Etienne Van Wyk (RSA)
60 Leon Nel (RSA)                   70 Sean Hope (RSA)
 
Vineyard Hotel/Breitling            Tuks
 
71 Johan Van Der Berg (RSA)         76 Waylon Woolcock (RSA)
72 Alastair Davies (RSA)            77 Arnold Pretorius (RSA)
73 Justin Berry (RSA)               78 Hanco Kachelhoffer (RSA)
74 Tyrone Kindness (RSA)            79 Alexander Lamberts (RSA)
75 Kevin Evans (RSA)                80 Jaco Bester (RSA)
 
Virgin Active                       Unicyc
 
81 Neil Timm (RSA)                  86 David Garrett (RSA)
82 Raymond Cox (RSA)                87 Glynn Moolman (RSA)
84 Peter Wheeler (RSA)              88 Chris Botha (RSA)
85 Andreas Studer (RSA)             89 Hugo Kruger (RSA)
                                    90 André Liebetrau (RSA)
 
Edu-Loan Maties                     Exel
 
92 Konrad Siebrits (RSA)            101 Garth Thomas (RSA)
93 Alexander Milner (RSA)           102 Travis Allen (RSA)
94 Stephen Cooke (RSA)              103 Alex Galvin (RSA)
95 Erik Kleinhans (RSA)             105 Etiene Hairbottle (RSA)
96 Thaabit Price (RSA)
97 Reece Swarts (RSA)
 
Yorkshire Cycling Club             Hibernian Team
 
106 Paul Minnaar (RSA)             111 David Mccann (Irl)
109 Brian Loff (RSA)               112 David O'Loughlin (Irl)
                                   113 Eugene Moriarty (Irl)
                                   114 Paul Griffin (Irl)
                                   115 Kieran Macmahon (Irl)

Past winners

2003 David George (RSA) Barloworld 
2002 David George (RSA) Astrolabe / Omega
2001 Piotr Chmielewski (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn Vitaminy
2000 Nicholas White (RSA)
1999 Davy Dubbledam (Ned)
1998 Tim Jones (Zim)
1997 Andrew McLean (RSA)
1996 Scott Mercier (USA)
1995 Michael Anderson (Swe)
1994 Andrew McLean (RSA)
1993 Andrew McLean (RSA)
1992 Andrew McLean (RSA)
 
Past winners by Mario Stiehl, www.world-of-cycling.com