 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Milan - San Remo |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
66th Fleche Wallonne - 1.HC
Belgium, April 17, 2002
Flemish win for Aerts
By Jeff Jones
 |
Belgian Mario Aerts has become the first Flemish rider to win La Flèche Wallonne atop the Mur de Huy since the race finish was moved there in 1983. Aerts comes from Herenthals, the home town of another great Flemish champion Rik Van Looy. Today he showed that he had the strongest legs on the final 20% ramp in Huy, beating Venezuelan Basque Unai Etxebarria (Euskaltel) and Michele Bartoli (Fassa Bortolo) for Lotto's second consecutive win in this race.
Aerts, along with last year's winner Rik Verbrugghe and Serge Baguet were Lotto's main men for La Flèche. Baguet told Cyclingnews before the start that the course "suits me...I have to have a little bit of luck too." While Verbrugghe said that he was going "almost as well as last year" after finishing 16th in the Tour of the Basque Country.
At the end of a very aggressive and fast race, today's game of Lotto was won by Aerts, who made the decisive break with 8 kilometres to go. After Axel Merckx (Domo) initiated the break, Aerts joined him along with Venezuelan Unai Etxebarria (Euskaltel) and Portuguese José Azevedo (ONCE). 1999 winner Michele Bartoli (Fassa) then bridged across with Andrea Noè (Mapei), and that was the race.
 |
"I was afraid of Bartoli and Noè, who weren't working in the break. Before the Mur Merckx and I did the most work," said Aerts, who should remember Verbrugghe towed three riders last year until the foot of the Mur de Huy, when he rode away from them.
Aerts did exactly that today, dropping his companions one by one to finish 3 seconds clear of Etxebarria and Bartoli. "I thought that Bartoli was the strongest but apparently not," he added.
27 year old Aerts has showed plenty of promise, but has had few top results so far in his career. Wins in the G.P. d'Isbergues (1996), Circuit Franco-Belge (1997) and the Giro della Provincia di Lucca (2001) have been backed by consistent high placings in other events, and he is ranked 46th on the UCI scale.
 |
"It is really nice that I have finally won a big race. For Sunday (Liege-Bastogne-Liege) I am a lot calmer and that is a real advantage."
Another rider who broke new ground today was Venezuelan Unai Etxebarria, who became the first rider from that country to finish on the podium of a major classic. Etxebarria was born in Caracas, and has ridden for Euskaltel-Euskadi since 1996. His more fancied namesake David Etxebarria finished ninth today, and is certainly one of the favourites for Sunday's Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
Photography
Photo's
by Fotoreporter
Sirotti
- The peloton - strung out in La Fleche Wallonne
- Michael Boogerd (Rabobank) - goes on the attack.
- Axel Merckx (Domo) - attacks on the descent.
- Mario Aerts (Lotto) - exhausted as he crosses the line to win.
- Mario Aerts (Lotto) - clenches his fist in triumph after winning atop the Mur de Huy.
- Unai Etxebarria (Euskaltel) - crosses the line for second place.
- Michele Bartoli (Fassa Bortolo) - crosses the line for third place.
- Andrea Noe (Mapei) - finishes
- Mario Aerts (Lotto) - on the podium after winning La Fleche Wallonne.
- Mario Aerts (Lotto) - raises his arms on the podium
- Unai Etxebarria (2nd), Mario Aerts (1st) and Michele Bartoli (3rd) - on the podium.
Photo's by Jeff Jones
- The Fassa Bortolo boys - get ready to do battle in the Ardennes
- Michele Bartoli (Fassa Bortolo) - at the start in Charleroi
- Francesco Casagrande (Fassa Bortolo) - rides up to the sign on
- Oscar Freire (Mapei) - ready for action.
- Marco Pantani (Mercatone Uno) - still searching for form
- Dario Frigo (Tacconi) - was in a frisky mood at the start
- Jose Luis Rubiera (US Postal)
- Michael Boogerd (Rabobank) - ponders the start
- Jean Delatour's - Scott USA machines ready to roll.
- The Euskaltel-Euskadi - team Orbeas.
- The start in Charleroi - was in moderate sunshine.
Results
1 Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 4.42.04 (42.117 km/h) 2 Unai Etxebarria (Ven) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0.03 3 Michele Bartoli (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 0.06 4 Andrea Noe (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 5 Jose Azevedo (Por) ONCE-Eroski 6 Axel Merckx (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites 7 Dario Frigo (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Emmegi 8 David Etxebarria (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 9 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 10 Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 11 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner 12 Marcos A. Serrano (Spa) ONCE-Eroski 0.24 13 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Saeco-Longoni Sport 14 Peter Farazijn (Bel) Cofidis 15 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) iBanesto.com 16 Nicki Sorensen (Den) Team CSC Tiscali 17 Christian Vandevelde (USA) US Postal Service 18 Dave Bruylandts (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites 19 Oscar Freire (Spa) Mapei-Quick Step 20 Udo Bölts (Ger) Team Telekom 21 Angel Vicioso (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 22 Niki Aebersold (Swi) Team Coast 23 Jörg Jaksche (Ger) ONCE-Eroski 24 Andrei Kivilev (Kaz) Cofidis 25 Unai Osa (Spa) iBanesto.com 26 Mirko Celestino (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 27 Massimo Codol (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 28 Ivan Basso (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 29 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Jean Delatour 0.48 30 Volodymir Gustov (Ukr) Fassa Bortolo 31 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 32 Markus Zberg (Swi) Rabobank 0.53 33 Mauro Gianetti (Swi) Team Coast 34 Guido Trentin (Ita) Cofidis 35 Serge Baguet (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 36 Cédric Vasseur (Fra) Cofidis 37 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 38 Beat Zberg (Swi) Rabobank 39 Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa) iBanesto.com 1.10 40 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Team Telekom 1.14 41 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Bonjour 1.17 42 Massimo Donati (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Emmegi 1.23 43 Ellis Rastelli (Ita) Gerolsteiner 3.00 44 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 45 Tomas Konecny (Cze) Domo-Farm Frites 46 Alexandre Moos (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 3.22 47 Koldo Gil (Spa) iBanesto.com 5.18 48 Matthias Kessler (Ger) Team Telekom 49 Frédéric Bessy (Fra) Credit Agricole 50 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Jean Delatour 51 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Lampre-Daikin 52 Inigo Cuesta (Spa) Cofidis 53 Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) iBanesto.com 54 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 55 Gianni Faresin (Ita) Gerolsteiner 56 Thomas Brozyna (Pol) iBanesto.com 57 Roger Beuchat (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 5.27 58 Raimondas Rumsas (Ltu) Lampre-Daikin 59 François Simon (Fra) Bonjour 60 Laurent Lefevre (Fra) Jean Delatour 61 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Team CSC Tiscali 62 Steve Zampieri (Swi) Tacconi Sport-Emmegi 5.33 63 Tom Desmet (Bel) Marlux-Ville de Charleroi 64 Wim Van Huffel (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 65 Geert Verheyen (Bel) Rabobank 5.37 66 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 67 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 68 Rolf Huser (Swi) Team Coast 69 Bekim Christensen (Den) Team Coast 70 Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) Tacconi Sport-Emmegi 71 Leif Hoste (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites 72 Pavel Tonkov (Rus) Lampre-Daikin 73 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Bonjour 74 Cadel Evans (Aus) Mapei-Quick Step 75 Steve De Wolf (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites 76 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) ONCE-Eroski 77 Denis Menchov (Rus) iBanesto.com 78 Jens Heppner (Ger) Team Telekom 79 Torsten Schmidt (Ger) Gerolsteiner 80 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Rabobank 81 Marco Pantani (Ita) Mercatone Uno 82 Luca Mazzanti (Ita) Mercatone Uno 83 Daniel Clavero (Spa) Mercatone Uno 84 Jose Luis Rubiera (Spa) US Postal Service 85 Inaki Isasi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 86 Roberto Lozano (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 87 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Domo-Farm Frites 88 Steffen Kjaergaard (Nor) US Postal Service 5.58 89 Wladimir Belli (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 90 Mikel Pradera (Spa) ONCE-Eroski 91 Bram Tankink (Ned) Domo-Farm Frites 92 Bobby Julich (USA) Team Telekom 93 Cyril Dessel (Fra) Jean Delatour 94 Gabriele Missaglia (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 95 Bert Grabsch (Ger) Phonak Hearing Systems 96 Pietro Zucconi (Swi) Tacconi Sport-Emmegi 97 Eladio Jimenez (Spa) iBanesto.com 98 Anthony Morin (Fra) Credit Agricole 99 Guennadi Mikhailov (Rus) Lotto-Adecco 100 Gilles Bouvard (Fra) Jean Delatour 101 Marco Velo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 6.16 102 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Emmegi 103 Gorazd Stangelj (Slo) Fassa Bortolo 104 Peter Wrolich (Aut) Gerolsteiner 105 Peter Luttenberger (Aut) Tacconi Sport-Emmegi 106 Dmitri Fofonov (Kaz) Cofidis 107 Sergueï Yakovlev (Kaz) Team Telekom 108 Sergio Barbero (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 109 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 110 Charles Guilbert (Fra) Bonjour 111 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bonjour 6.24 112 Gian Mario Ortenzi (Ita) Mercatone Uno 113 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team Telekom 114 Luca Paolini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 115 Riccardo Forconi (Ita) Mercatone Uno 116 Oscar Pozzi (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 6.31 117 Alessandro Spezialetti (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Spo 6.34 118 Paolo Fornaciari (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 119 Ermanno Brignoli (Ita) Mercatone Uno 120 Christophe Brandt (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 121 Benoît Poilvet (Fra) Credit Agricole 7.33 122 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 8.11 123 Ludovic Martin (Fra) Credit Agricole 8.17 124 Bruno Thibout (Fra) Jean Delatour 8.20 125 Daniel Schnider (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 126 Francesco Secchiari (Ita) Mercatone Uno 127 José Alberto Martinez Trinidad (Spa) Euskaltel 8.26 128 David Muñoz (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 129 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Bonjour 8.33 130 Marcel Strauss (Swi) Gerolsteiner 8.36 131 Marcelino Garcia Alonso (Spa) Team CSC Tiscali 8.40 132 Cédric Herve (Fra) Credit Agricole 133 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team CSC Tiscali 134 Grischa Niermann (Ger) Rabobank 135 Igor Flores (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 8.58 136 Johan Coenen (Bel) Marlux-Ville de Charleroi 9.26 137 Marc Vanacker (Lux) Marlux-Ville de Charleroi 138 Anton Chantyr (Rus) Team Coast 139 Kristoffer Ingeby (Swe) Marlux-Ville de Charleroi 140 Johan Dekkers (Bel) Marlux-Ville de Charleroi 141 Rudolf Wentzel (RSA) Vlaanderen-T Interim 142 Cristian Pepoli (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 143 Julian Usano (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 9.40 144 Christoph Von Kleinsorgen (Ger) Team Coast 9.46 145 Lukas Zumsteg (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 12.27 146 David Clinger (USA) US Postal Service 12.46 147 Patrick Calcagni (Swi) Tacconi Sport-Emmegi 12.51 148 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Credit Agricole 149 Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskalte13.10
