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5th Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under - 2.3
Australia, January 21-26, 2003
Home Live report Results Previous Stage
Stage 5: Saturday Jan 25, Willunga - Willunga , 147 km
Astarloza in yellow, but JCTDU still up for grabs as McEwen abandons
By Anthony Tan in Willunga
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On arguably the most anticipated stage of the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under, Spanish rider Mikel Astarloza (Ag2R) displaced the leader for the last three days, Fabio Sacchi from, jumping from fifth place overall to the top of the leaderboard. However, five seconds separate the top four places, and nine seconds separate the top seven overall.
The abandonment of Lotto-Domo rider Robbie McEwen, who was in second place on the general classification, after only 40km into the stage also created an opportunity for other riders to move at least higher in rankings and challenge for the overall.
McEwen was suffering from pain in his left knee whenever he tried to pedal while in the saddle and he made the decision to be safe rather than sorry by abandoning the race (see full story).
Stage 5 was characterised by another breakaway that went shortly after the race start, although this time, there were two escapees in the form of Andrea Tafi (CSC) and Nicolas Portal (Ag2R) who escaped after 16 kilometres. The duo's lead went out to four and a half minutes before their 100 kilometre breakaway was brought back within a matter of seconds shortly before the climb of Willunga Hill.
As Cadel Evans (Telekom) flew his way to the top of the hill and grabbed the lead in the King of the Mountains competition in the process, a select group of 10 riders including Lennie Kristensen (CSC), Stuart O'Grady (Credit Agricole) and Patrick Jonker (UniSA) formed less than 20 kilometres from the finish.
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With just under three kilometres remaining, Giampaolo Caruso (ONCE) launched a searing attack just when the packed Willunga crowd (who by this time were dripping with perspiration) believed they were to be treated to a sprint royale. Caruso held off the bunch - albeit by half a wheel - and in doing so, wiggled his way up the overall classification to third place overall, behind Astarloza and Kristensen.
"Manolo [Saiz, ONCE Directeur-Sportif] gave me permission to attack with five kilometres to go, so I owe this stage to him," said a jubilant Caruso.
"I lost four seconds on the first stage and unfortunately that may decide whether I win the race or not. It [the win] would have been my first [stage race win] as a professional. Tomorrow we are going to attack for sure," said Caruso, he and his team unwilling to go down without a fight in tomorrow's final stage around the streets of Adelaide.
How it unfolded
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The start in Willunga was once again characterised by a jovial atmosphere that belied the seriousness of today's stage.
Nearly all teams with riders placed high GC emphasised the penultimate stage of the JCTDU would be all or nothing, and that the climb of Willunga Hill would determine who will don the final yellow jersey after the conclusion of tomorrow's stage.
Patrick Jonker was one of a number of highly placed Australians surprised at the depth of this year's field. "I thought I was in good form coming into this race, but there's so many guys flying right now," said Jonker at the race start.
"Hopefully my form is good enough to stay with the lead group up Willunga. Breakaways might happen before then, but not from anyone high on general classification. Evans, Nardello, and Lanfranchi will be the ones to watch up the climb," added the experienced South Australian.
A stream of early attacks started the race off at a high tempo, however the in-form boys from Saeco-Longoni shut down all early attacks within a matter of minutes.
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Just when it appeared an unspoken truce had been called between the opportunists and the peloton, Andrea Tafi (CSC) and Nicolas Portal (Ag2R) took off and caught the red guard of Team Saeco unawares. The duo soon established a healthy lead and by the 30 kilometre mark, Tafi became the new leader of the race on the road, their advantage out to a little over two minutes; the Tuscan 1:59 down on race leader Fabio Sacchi (Saeco) at the start of today's stage.
10 kilometres later, the shock of the day came at the 40 kilometre mark when second-placed Robbie McEwen abandoned the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under.
Tafi and Portal continued to work well together, taking 30 second turns on the front in two-up team time trial formation. Their advantage grew to 3:50 by kilometre 47 and 4:40 at the 50 kilometre mark.
After taking out the first sprint at 58.8 kilometres, not only was Tafi the new race leader on the road, he was also the new leader in the sprints classification, the latter job made easier through McEwen's withdrawal. The gap was still 4:23 after 61 kilometres, however panic had not set into the peloton; Saeco were content to set a steady tempo, with Credit Agricole and Telekom riding just behind the red train.
On the undulating terrain, it was Tafi doing most of the pulling when the road veered upwards, the Tuscan realising he needed his breakaway companion for as long as possible to have any hope of making it to the finish line on his own.
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The second sprint at kilometre 100.7 was a formality, Portal happy to let Tafi come through to take another six points to build an unbeatable lead in the sprints classification. The gap was now down to 3:25, which was more a product of fatigue and the 44.5 degree temperatures than a concerted chase by the peloton.
At 110 kilometres, Tafi and Portal's lead was slowly whittling away, but the softly spoken Classics hero wasn't giving up that easily. Tafi continued to stay in the saddle and turn over the pedals in his inimitable style, his large, tanned frame hunched over his Cervélo racing machine.
The word from race radio had obviously got back to the peloton; Tafi and Portal's lead had gone out once again to over two minutes, spurring ONCE to put down the hammer. Just before the climb of Willunga Hill, Tafi and later Portal were caught as the likes of Cadel Evans (Telekom), Paolo Lanfranchi (Panaria-Fiordo) and Lennie Kristensen (CSC) wound up the speed to a frightening pace.
Evans continued his blistering pace all the way to the top of the climb, and in the process, became the new leader in the King of the Mountains classification on countback, on equal points with Kristensen. After a brief solo effort by Evans, a lead group of ten riders had formed that would decide the winner of the stage and most likely the race as well.
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At the five kilometres to go banner, Giampaolo Caruso (ONCE) began talking in his earpiece, most likely turning to his wisened Directeur-Sportif Manolo Saiz for instructions. The order from Saiz must have been to attack: less than two kilometres later, Caruso hit hard, timing his effort to perfection as the Spaniard crossed the line less than a bike length ahead of Stefen Wesemann (Telekom) and Paolo Lanfranchi (Panaria).
"It's just happened, but it [the win] hasn't come upon me yet," said a stunned Caruso. "I didn't expect to go this well; the team's going great and that spurred me on - I was right on my limit at the finish."
After McEwen's exit and Sacchi's surrender, there was the predicted reshuffling on the overall classification with Mikel Astarloza (Ag2R) now in yellow, but still a handful of riders remain within striking distance - just nine seconds separate the top seven riders after the conclusion of today's stage.
Images by www.tombalks.com
- Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo) interviewed by SBS TV's Mike Tomalaris before the stage
- The peloton rides past a couple of interested spectators during stage 5
- The race doctor examines Robbie McEwen's knee early in the stage
- The umbrellas say it all at downtown Aldinga Bay
- Cosmopolitan is a word to describe the residents of Aldinga Beach
- A little bit of France in an Australian seaside town
- The ONCE team ride in the peloton along Aldinga Beach
- A glass of chardonnay? Fans toast the riders as they go past
- Andrea Tafi (CSC) shares a bottle of water with his breakaway companion Nicolas Portal (Ag2r)
- Nicolas Portal (Ag2r) was one of two riders on the early attack today
- The heat really took its toll on the breakaways
- The peloton led by Saeco, chase the break through the McLaren Vale vineyards
- Fabio Sacchi (Saeco-Longoni Sport) cools off during the very hot fifth stage
- Stuart O'Grady (Credit Agricole) is now just 5 seconds off the leader's jersey
- Cadel Evans (Telekom) took the points on the climb to move back into the mountains jersey
- Giampaolo Caruso (ONCE) still had an advantage with 100m to go
- Giampaolo Caruso (ONCE) wins the stage into Willunga
- Mikel Astarloza cools off after the stage
- The new leader of the JCTDU is Mikel Astarloza (Ag2r-Prevoyance)
- Giampaolo Caruso (ONCE) on the podium after his stage win
- Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo) talks about his knee injury at a post-race press conference
Results
1 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) ONCE Eroski 3.26.43 (42.7 km/h) 2 Stefen Wesemann (Ger) Telekom 3 Paolo Lanfranchi (Ita) Panaria Fiordo 4 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Credit Agricole 5 Lennie Kristensen (Den) CSC 6 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2R 7 Xavier Florencio (Spa) ONCE Eroski 8 David Canada (Spa) Quickstep-Davitamon 9 Patrick Jonker (Aus) UniSA 10 Cadel Evans (Aus) Telekom 0.06 11 Allan Davis (Aus) ONCE Eroski 0.36 12 Brad McGee (Aus) FDJeux.com 13 Luca Paolini (Ita) Quickstep-Davitamon 14 Geert Van Bondt (Bel) CSC 15 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Lotto Domo 16 Angel Vicioso (Spa) ONCE Eroski 17 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Telekom 18 Christopher Jenner (NZl) Credit Agricole 19 Luke Roberts (Aus) UniSA 20 Bobby Julich (USA) Telekom 21 Mark Scanlon (Irl) Ag2R 22 Gene Bates (Aus) UniSA 23 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Quickstep-Davitamon 24 Russell Van Hout (Aus) UniSA 25 Andy Flickinger (Fra) Ag2R 26 Inigo Chaurreau (Spa) Ag2R 27 Christian Werner (Ger) Telekom 28 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quickstep-Davitamon 29 Kai Hundertmarck (Ger) Telekom 30 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Credit Agricole 31 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Ag2R 32 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2R 33 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 34 Brendan Cato (Aus) United Water 0.44 35 Christian Pepoli (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 1.31 36 Andrea Tafi (Ita) CSC 4.21 37 Glenn d'Hollander (Bel) Lotto Domo 38 Peter Dawson (Aus) United Water 39 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep-Davitamon 40 Thierry Marichal (Bel) Lotto Domo 41 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Saeco-Longoni Sport 5.37 42 Joerg Ludewig (Ger) Saeco-Longoni Sport 43 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Telekom 5.39 44 Dirk Reichl (Ger) Telekom 45 Davide Bramati (Ita) Quickstep-Davitamon 5.42 46 Cedric Herve (Fra) Credit Agricole 6.30 47 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 6.47 48 Igor Gonzalez De Galdeano (Spa) ONCE Eroski 11.49 49 Alvaro Gonzalez De Galdeano (Spa) ONCE Eroski 50 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) ONCE Eroski 51 Aaron Kemps (Aus) United Water 52 David Betts (Aus) United Water 53 Jakob Piil (Den) CSC 54 Jens Voigt (Ger) Credit Agricole 55 Sergey Matveyev (Ukr) Panaria Fiordo 56 Scott Davis (Aus) Panaria Fiordo 57 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Lotto Domo 58 Hans De Clercq (Bel) Lotto Domo 59 Lilian Jegou (Fra) Credit Agricole 60 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Lotto Domo 61 Stephen Cunningham (Aus) UniSA 62 Adrian Laidler (Aus) UniSA 63 Brett Lancaster (Aus) Panaria Fiordo 64 Matt Wilson (Aus) FDJeux.com 65 Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) Ag2R 66 Erki Putsep (Est) Ag2R 67 Arvis Piziks (Lat) CSC 68 Thomas Bruun Eriksen (Den) CSC 69 Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio (Mex) Panaria Fiordo 70 Ashley Hutchinson (Aus) United Water 71 Mark Renshaw (Aus) United Water 72 Bernard Sulzberger (Aus) United Water 73 Nick Gates (Aus) Lotto Domo 74 Graeme Brown (Aus) Panaria Fiordo 75 Julian Dean (NZl) CSC 76 Regis Lhuillier (Fra) FDJeux.com 77 Mickael Pichon (Fra) FDJeux.com 78 Tristan Hoffman (Ned) CSC 79 Baden Cooke (Aus) FDJeux.com 80 Ruben Bongiorno (Arg) Panaria Fiordo 81 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) FDJeux.com 82 Jacky Durand (Fra) FDJeux.com 83 Juan Fuentes (Spa) Saeco-Longoni Sport 13.26 84 Nicola Gavazzi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 14.33 85 Stefano Zanini (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 86 Dario Pieri (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 87 Filippo Perfetto (Ita) Panaria Fiordo 88 Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJeux.com 14.34 DNF Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto Domo Sprints The Esplanade near Butterworth Rd, Aldinga Beach - 58.8 km 1 Andrea Tafi (Ita) CSC 6 3 pts/secs 2 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2R 4 2 3 Andy Flickinger (Fra) Ag2R 2 1 The Esplanade near Butterworth Rd, Aldinga Beach - 100.7 km 1 Andrea Tafi (Ita) CSC 6 3 pts/secs 2 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2R 4 2 3 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Telekom 2 1 Main Road at Kell Street, Willunga - 147.0 km - FINISH 1 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) ONCE Eroski 8 6 pts/secs 2 Stefen Wesemann (Ger) Telekom 6 4 3 Paolo Lanfranchi (Ita) Panaria Fiordo 4 2 Mountains Old Willunga Hill Rd - Willunga - 127.4 km 1 Cadel Evans (Aus) Telekom 16 pts 2 Paolo Lanfranchi (Ita) Panaria Fiordo 12 3 Lennie Kristensen (Den) CSC 8 4 Xavier Florencio (Spa) ONCE Eroski 6 5 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) ONCE Eroski 4 Most aggressive rider 1 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance General classification after stage 5 1 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2R 15.25.36 2 Lennie Kristensen (Den) CSC 3 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) ONCE Eroski 0.04 4 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Credit Agricole 0.05 5 Xavier Florencio (Spa) ONCE Eroski 0.07 6 Paolo Lanfranchi (Ita) Panaria Fiordo 7 Patrick Jonker (Aus) UniSA 0.09 8 David Canada (Spa) Quickstep-Davitamon 0.13 9 Stefen Wesemann (Ger) Telekom 0.15 10 Cadel Evans (Aus) Telekom 11 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 0.16 12 Andy Flickinger (Fra) Ag2R 0.32 13 Russell Van Hout (Aus) UniSA 0.39 14 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Telekom 0.43 15 Luke Roberts (Aus) UniSA 0.44 16 Angel Vicioso (Spa) ONCE Eroski 0.45 17 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quickstep-Davitamon 18 Gene Bates (Aus) UniSA 19 Geert Van Bondt (Bel) CSC 20 Mark Scanlon (Irl) Ag2R 0.49 21 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Quickstep-Davitamon 22 Inigo Chaurreau (Spa) Ag2R 23 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Credit Agricole 24 Brad McGee (Aus) FDJeux.com 0.58 25 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2R 2.17 26 Christopher Jenner (NZl) Credit Agricole 2.21 27 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Ag2R 28 Bobby Julich (USA) Telekom 29 Christian Werner (Ger) Telekom 30 Kai Hundertmarck (Ger) Telekom 2.31 31 Andrea Tafi (Ita) CSC 5.54 32 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep-Davitamon 6.06 33 Cedric Herve (Fra) Credit Agricole 6.28 34 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Lotto Domo 6.58 35 Joerg Ludewig (Ger) Saeco-Longoni Sport 7.22 36 Dirk Reichl (Ger) Telekom 7.24 37 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Saeco-Longoni Sport 8.57 38 Luca Paolini (Ita) Quickstep-Davitamon 9.36 39 Glenn d'Hollander (Bel) Lotto Domo 11.05 40 Allan Davis (Aus) ONCE Eroski 11.50 41 Tristan Hoffman (Ned) CSC 11.58 42 Brendan Cato (Aus) United Water 43 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) FDJeux.com 12.23 44 Christian Pepoli (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 12.45 45 Baden Cooke (Aus) FDJeux.com 13.28 46 Peter Dawson (Aus) United Water 13.30 47 Erki Putsep (Est) Ag2R 13.34 48 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) ONCE Eroski 49 Hans De Clercq (Bel) Lotto Domo 13.45 50 Regis Lhuillier (Fra) FDJeux.com 13.50 51 Graeme Brown (Aus) Panaria Fiordo 13.56 52 Thomas Bruun Eriksen (Den) CSC 15.45 53 Jens Voigt (Ger) Credit Agricole 15.47 54 Alvaro Gonzalez De Galdeano (Spa) ONCE Eroski 16.15 55 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Telekom 16.53 56 Scott Davis (Aus) Panaria Fiordo 17.21 57 David Betts (Aus) United Water 18.18 58 Igor Gonzalez De Galdeano (Spa) ONCE Eroski 18.33 59 Sergey Matveyev (Ukr) Panaria Fiordo 21.00 60 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Lotto Domo 22.01 61 Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) Ag2R 23.03 62 Mark Renshaw (Aus) United Water 63 Davide Bramati (Ita) Quickstep-Davitamon 24.11 64 Stefano Zanini (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 24.45 65 Arvis Piziks (Lat) CSC 24.58 66 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 25.16 67 Stephen Cunningham (Aus) UniSA 26.49 68 Brett Lancaster (Aus) Panaria Fiordo 26.50 69 Lilian Jegou (Fra) Credit Agricole 70 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Lotto Domo 28.02 71 Mickael Pichon (Fra) FDJeux.com 30.18 72 Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio (Mex) Panaria Fiordo 73 Matt Wilson (Aus) FDJeux.com 31.29 74 Nicola Gavazzi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 33.02 75 Juan Fuentes (Spa) Saeco-Longoni Sport 33.07 76 Dario Pieri (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 34.14 77 Adrian Laidler (Aus) UniSA 49.25 78 Thierry Marichal (Bel) Lotto Domo 53.08 79 Ashley Hutchinson (Aus) United Water 53.19 80 Julian Dean (NZl) CSC 57.08 81 Aaron Kemps (Aus) United Water 57.26 82 Bernard Sulzberger (Aus) United Water 83 Ruben Bongiorno (Arg) Panaria Fiordo 1.00.36 84 Jakob Piil (Den) CSC 85 Nick Gates (Aus) Lotto Domo 86 Jacky Durand (Fra) FDJeux.com 87 Filippo Perfetto (Ita) Panaria Fiordo 1.03.20 88 Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJeux.com 1.03.21 Sprints classification 1 Andrea Tafi (Ita) CSC 34 pts 2 Baden Cooke (Aus) FDJeux.com 16 3 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) ONCE Eroski 14 4 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 12 5 Russell Van Hout (Aus) UniSA 12 6 Adrian Laidler (Aus) UniSA 12 7 Matt Wilson (Aus) FDJeux.com 12 8 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Credit Agricole 8 9 Andy Flickinger (Fra) Ag2R 8 10 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2R 8 11 Stefen Wesemann (Ger) Telekom 6 12 Xavier Florencio (Spa) ONCE Eroski 4 13 Paolo Lanfranchi (Ita) Panaria Fiordo 4 14 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Telekom 4 15 Cedric Herve (Fra) Credit Agricole 4 16 Luca Paolini (Ita) Quickstep-Davitamon 4 17 Graeme Brown (Aus) Panaria Fiordo 4 18 Jens Voigt (Ger) Credit Agricole 4 19 Ashley Hutchinson (Aus) United Water 4 20 Luke Roberts (Aus) UniSA 2 21 Stephen Cunningham (Aus) UniSA 2 Mountains classification 1 Cadel Evans (Aus) Telekom 44 pts 2 Lennie Kristensen (Den) CSC 44 3 Paolo Lanfranchi (Ita) Panaria Fiordo 24 4 Russell Van Hout (Aus) UniSA 16 5 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) ONCE Eroski 12 6 Inigo Chaurreau (Spa) Ag2R 8 7 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Saeco-Longoni Sport 8 8 Xavier Florencio (Spa) ONCE Eroski 6 9 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Quickstep-Davitamon 6 10 Brad McGee (Aus) FDJeux.com 6 11 Regis Lhuillier (Fra) FDJeux.com 6 12 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 4 U23 classification 1 Gene Bates (Aus) UniSA 15.26.21 2 Dirk Reichl (Ger) Telekom 6.39 3 Brendan Cato (Aus) United Water 11.13 4 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) FDJeux.com 11.38 5 Peter Dawson (Aus) United Water 12.45 6 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Telekom 16.08 7 David Betts (Aus) United Water 17.33 8 Mark Renshaw (Aus) United Water 22.18 9 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Lotto Domo 27.17 10 Adrian Laidler (Aus) UniSA 48.40 11 Aaron Kemps (Aus) United Water 56.41 12 Bernard Sulzberger (Aus) United Water 13 Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJeux.com 1.02.36 Teams classification 1 ONCE-Eroski 46.17.55 2 Team Telekom 0.12 3 Ag2r Prevoyance 0.18 4 Credit Agricole 0.27 5 UniSA 0.32 6 Quick Step-Davitamon 0.40 7 Team CSC 4.08 8 Saeco-Longoni Sport 9.53 9 Lotto-Domo 16.29 10 FDJeux.com 25.24 11 Ceramiche Panaria-Fiordo 29.57 12 United Water 30.49
