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5th Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under - 2.3
Australia, January 21-26, 2003
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Stage 2: Wednesday Jan 22, Jacob's Creek Visitor Centre - Kapunda, 140km
Sweet success for Sacchi
By Anthony Tan in Kapunda
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The queen stage of the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under lived up to expectations with aggressive racing from all teams, ending with the strongest rider of the day, Fabio Sacchi (Saeco-Longoni Sport), deservedly winning the stage and grabbing the leader's jersey from stage one victor Baden Cooke (FDJeux.com).
After a day characterised by a series of premeditated attacks, Sacchi hit out from a elite group of six with one kilometre to go from the finish, successfully managing to hold off his fast finishing rival Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo) and Frenchman Cedric Herve (Credit Agricole) by a handful of seconds.
"I have a lot of respect for Robbie after we worked ourselves into the ground today," said a smiling Sacchi moments after crossing the line. "It was only the second day but I knew I was very strong. I also knew Robbie would be dangerous in a bunch sprint so I gave it everything I had in the final kilometres."
With 31 riders within 33 seconds of new race leader Sacchi, there hasn't been any huge shake-up to the overall classification, though the gregarious Italian from Saeco has certainly set a precedent for the days to come.
How it unfolded
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Despite the nature of the parcours and a strong easterly blowing, the GC riders were playing their cards close to their chests at the swish start village of the Jacob's Creek Visitor Centre.
Most riders agreed the stage was going to be hard-fought, however, the likes of Stuart O'Grady (Credit Agricole), Cadel Evans (Telekom), Michael Rogers and Tom Boonen (Quick Step-Davitamon) and Allan Davis (ONCE) were all content to play the waiting game today. Or so they said, anyway.
Allan Davis' comments were a summation of the feelings among the peloton: "With only one climb up Menglers, I think it's going to be very aggressive, so the plan is to watch everything because today could be the day," said ONCE's young gun.
As per usual, soon after the race proper kicked off at 11:05am, riders made their routine toilet breaks every couple of minutes. Hardly edge-of-your-seat sort of stuff.
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It was almost a full 45 minutes before a break went clear, and a solo one at that. Russell Van Hout (UniSA) decided to try his luck along the undulating parcours, escaping after 27 kilometres. Van Hout soon settled into time-trial tempo, establishing a rhythm a boogie-woogie backbeat disco dancer would have been proud of, his lead blowing out to 3:40 after 32 kilometres and a massive 6:30 by the 70 kilometre mark.
As a dangerous break of ten riders that included Baden Cooke (FDJeux.com) and Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo) was reeled after 20 kilometres, the move was counterattacked by three riders: Kurt Van De Wouwer (Quick Step-Davitamon), Inigo Chaurreau (Ag2R) and Lennie Kristensen (CSC). In perfect racing temperatures, the trio worked their tushes off, gradually chipping away at the large lead of Van Hout, who was still going strong after almost three hours on his own.
Their concerted effort sparked off another counterattack of eight riders, among them Fabio Sacchi (Saeco), Stefen Wesemann (Telekom), Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo), Alvaro Gonzalez De Galdeano (ONCE), Andy Flickinger (Ag2R), Cedric Herve (Credit Agricole) and Thomas Bruun Eriksen (CSC).
Van Hout may be a renowned climber, however his stellar performance so far had visibly taken its toll; by the KOM of Menglers Hill, his lead to the chasing group of three was 1:35 and 2:55 to the break of eight. Notable on Menglers was Sacchi of Saeco, unknowingly half-wheeling his breakaway compatriots for much of the climb.
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With 25 kilometres to go, it was all happening: Van Hout was caught by the trio containing Van De Wouwer, though moments later, the four were soon caught by the octet containing Sacchi and McEwen. Meanwhile, a large group of 20 that included crowd and race favourites O'Grady, Rogers, Evans, McGee and Jonker were bearing down on the lead group of 12 at 42 seconds.
With just under 15 clicks to go, the pace was too high for more than a few in the dangerous dozen, which surprisingly saw pre-race danger man Wesemann (Telekom) dropped, and so the 12 halved to 6.
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In the final kilometres, tempers flared: Sacchi and McEwen were particularly vocal towards Credit Agricole rider Cedric Herve, who refused come through for his turns. However, the fire in Sacchi's belly may have been just the ticket for his searing attack that all saw but none could follow.
And so endeth the stage. Saachi crossed the line solo, arms aloft and jersey zipped tight, 16 seconds clear of an exhausted Robbie McEwen and 29 seconds clear of the group containing Aussie champion Stuart O'Grady.
Photography
Images by www.tombalks.com
- The crowd at the start was large and supportive
- Fabio Sacchi (Saeco) nurses a baby joey at the start of stage 2
- Phil Liggett shows his gentle side
- The Saeco-Longoni Sport team giving the thumbs up at the start of the stage
- The peloton glide along during stage 2, 40 km from the start
- Australian fans came out again in strong numbers during stage 2
- The long road ahead. Russell Van Hout (UniSA) near the beginning of his 100 km breakaway attempt.
- Gene Bates (UniSA) was the best U23 rider today
- The female devil giving the riders support during stage 2
- Russell Van Hout (UniSA) had an 8'47 lead after the second sprint
- Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo) attempts to break away in pursuit of Russell Van Hout
- The crowds at the top of Menglers Hill, the day's only climb with points on offer
- Cadel Evans (Telekom) ascends Menglers Hill during stage 2, wearing the mountains jersey
- Cedric Herve (Credit Agricole) finished third on the stage
- Towards the end of the stage Russell Van Hout's lead began to shrink rapidly to the chasing groups
- The group of eight chasing the four leaders contained Robbie McEwen and Fabio Sacchi
- The four leaders led by Lennie Kristensen (CSC) race towards the end of the stage
- Fabio Sacchi (Saeco) wins the stage into Kapunda
- Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo) easily won the sprint for second, with Cedric Herve (CA, R) just getting up for third.
- Fabio Sacchi (Saeco) is the new leader of the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under
Results
1 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 3.29.16 (40.14 km/h) 2 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto Domo 0.14 3 Cedric Herve (Fra) Credit Agricole 4 Andy Flickinger (Fra) Ag2R 5 Lennie Kristensen (Den) CSC 6 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2R 7 Brad McGee (Aus) FDJeux.com 0.23 8 Gene Bates (Aus) UniSA 9 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Telekom 10 Xavier Florencio (Spa) ONCE Eroski 11 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quickstep-Davitamon 12 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Credit Agricole 13 Geert Van Bondt (Bel) CSC 14 Angel Vicioso (Spa) ONCE Eroski 15 Luke Roberts (Aus) UniSA 16 Patrick Jonker (Aus) UniSA 17 Cadel Evans (Aus) Telekom 18 Tristan Hoffman (Ned) CSC 19 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) FDJeux.com 20 Thomas Bruun Eriksen (Den) CSC 21 Russell Van Hout (Aus) UniSA 22 Sergey Matveyev (Ukr) Panaria Fiordo 23 David Canada (Spa) Quickstep-Davitamon 0.27 24 Mark Scanlon (Irl) Ag2R 25 Inigo Chaurreau (Spa) Ag2R 26 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Quickstep-Davitamon 27 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Credit Agricole 28 Jens Voigt (Ger) Credit Agricole 29 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) ONCE Eroski 30 Adrian Laidler (Aus) UniSA 31 Stefen Wesemann (Ger) Telekom 0.33 32 Alvaro Gonzalez De Galdeano (Spa) ONCE Eroski 0.53 33 Dirk Reichl (Ger) Telekom 1.59 34 Erki Putsep (Est) Ag2R 35 Joerg Ludewig (Ger) Saeco-Longoni Sport 36 Andrea Tafi (Ita) CSC 37 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2R 38 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep-Davitamon 39 Bobby Julich (USA) Telekom 40 Glenn d'Hollander (Bel) Lotto Domo 41 Christopher Jenner (NZl) Credit Agricole 42 Christian Werner (Ger) Telekom 43 Kai Hundertmarck (Ger) Telekom 44 Regis Lhuillier (Fra) FDJeux.com 45 Baden Cooke (Aus) FDJeux.com 46 Hans De Clercq (Bel) Lotto Domo 47 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Ag2R 48 Stefano Zanini (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 49 Luca Paolini (Ita) Quickstep-Davitamon 50 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Lotto Domo 51 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Saeco-Longoni Sport 52 Paolo Lanfranchi (Ita) Panaria Fiordo 53 Igor Gonzalez De Galdeano (Spa) ONCE Eroski 54 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) ONCE Eroski 55 Scott Davis (Aus) Panaria Fiordo 56 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Lotto Domo 57 Graeme Brown (Aus) Panaria Fiordo 58 Bram Tankink (Ned) Quickstep-Davitamon 2.08 59 Peter Dawson (Aus) United Water 60 David Betts (Aus) United Water 61 Lee Godfrey (Aus) United Water 11.28 62 Mark Renshaw (Aus) United Water 63 Brett Aitken (Aus) UniSA 64 Steve Cunningham (Aus) UniSA 65 Ruben Bongiorno (Arg) Panaria Fiordo 66 Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio (Mex) Panaria Fiordo 67 Brett Lancaster (Aus) Panaria Fiordo 68 Allan Davis (Aus) ONCE Eroski 69 Nicola Gavazzi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 70 Christian Pepoli (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 71 Lilian Jegou (Fra) Credit Agricole 72 Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) Ag2R 73 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Telekom 74 Aaron Kemps (Aus) United Water 75 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 76 Dario Pieri (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 77 Juan Fuentes (Spa) Saeco-Longoni Sport 78 Jakob Piil (Den) CSC 79 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Lotto Domo 80 Thierry Marichal (Bel) Lotto Domo 81 Arvis Piziks (Lat) CSC 82 Davide Bramati (Ita) Quickstep-Davitamon 83 Filippo Perfetto (Ita) Panaria Fiordo 84 Nick Gates (Aus) Lotto Domo 85 Ashley Hutchinson (Aus) United Water 86 Jay Sweet (Aus) UniSA 87 Brendan Cato (Aus) United Water 88 Mickael Pichon (Fra) FDJeux.com 89 Jacky Durand (Fra) FDJeux.com 90 Bernard Sulzberger (Aus) United Water 91 Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJeux.com 92 Matt Wilson (Aus) FDJeux.com 93 Julian Dean (NZl) CSC 94 Corey Sweet (Aus) Credit Agricole Sprints Melrose Street, Mount Pleasant - 45.9 km 1 Russell Van Hout (Aus) UniSA 6 pts 2 Ashley Hutchinson (Aus) United Water 4 3 Matt Wilson (Aus) FDJeux.com 2 Murray St, Eden Valley - 62.7 km 1 Russell Van Hout (Aus) UniSA 6 pts 2 Jens Voigt (Ger) Credit Agricole 4 3 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Telekom 2 Main Street near Hill Street, Kapunda - 140 km - FINISH 1 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 8 pts 2 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto Domo 6 3 Cedric Herve (Fra) Credit Agricole 4 Mountains Menglers Hill Road, Menglers Hill - 103.0 km 1 Russell Van Hout (Aus) UniSA 16 pts 2 Lennie Kristensen (Den) CSC 12 3 Inigo Chaurreau (Spa) Ag2R 8 4 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Quickstep-Davitamon 6 5 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 4 General classification after stage 2 1 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 4.31.30 2 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto Domo 0.16 3 Cedric Herve (Fra) Credit Agricole 0.18 4 Andy Flickinger (Fra) Ag2R 0.20 5 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2R 6 Lennie Kristensen (Den) CSC 7 Russell Van Hout (Aus) UniSA 0.23 8 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Telekom 0.28 9 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Credit Agricole 0.29 10 Angel Vicioso (Spa) ONCE Eroski 11 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quickstep-Davitamon 12 Thomas Bruun Eriksen (Den) CSC 13 Xavier Florencio (Spa) ONCE Eroski 14 Geert Van Bondt (Bel) CSC 15 Tristan Hoffman (Ned) CSC 16 Luke Roberts (Aus) UniSA 17 Gene Bates (Aus) UniSA 18 Cadel Evans (Aus) Telekom 19 Sergey Matveyev (Ukr) Panaria Fiordo 20 Brad McGee (Aus) FDJeux.com 21 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) FDJeux.com 22 Patrick Jonker (Aus) UniSA 23 Jens Voigt (Ger) Credit Agricole 0.31 24 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) ONCE Eroski 0.33 25 David Canada (Spa) Quickstep-Davitamon 26 Mark Scanlon (Irl) Ag2R 27 Inigo Chaurreau (Spa) Ag2R 28 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Quickstep-Davitamon 29 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Credit Agricole 30 Adrian Laidler (Aus) UniSA 31 Stefen Wesemann (Ger) Telekom 0.39 32 Alvaro Gonzalez De Galdeano (Spa) ONCE Eroski 0.59 33 Dirk Reichl (Ger) Telekom 2.05 34 Baden Cooke (Aus) FDJeux.com 35 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep-Davitamon 36 Luca Paolini (Ita) Quickstep-Davitamon 37 Erki Putsep (Est) Ag2R 38 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2R 39 Stefano Zanini (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 40 Andrea Tafi (Ita) CSC 41 Joerg Ludewig (Ger) Saeco-Longoni Sport 42 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Saeco-Longoni Sport 43 Regis Lhuillier (Fra) FDJeux.com 44 Kai Hundertmarck (Ger) Telekom 45 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Ag2R 46 Bobby Julich (USA) Telekom 47 Christian Werner (Ger) Telekom 48 Glenn d'Hollander (Bel) Lotto Domo 49 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) ONCE Eroski 50 Christopher Jenner (NZl) Credit Agricole 51 Hans De Clercq (Bel) Lotto Domo 52 Igor Gonzalez De Galdeano (Spa) ONCE Eroski 53 Scott Davis (Aus) Panaria Fiordo 54 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Lotto Domo 55 Paolo Lanfranchi (Ita) Panaria Fiordo 56 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Lotto Domo 57 Peter Dawson (Aus) United Water 2.14 58 Bram Tankink (Ned) Quickstep-Davitamon 59 David Betts (Aus) United Water 60 Graeme Brown (Aus) Panaria Fiordo 2.35 61 Ashley Hutchinson (Aus) United Water 11.32 62 Matt Wilson (Aus) FDJeux.com 11.33 63 Mark Renshaw (Aus) United Water 11.34 64 Brett Aitken (Aus) UniSA 65 Allan Davis (Aus) ONCE Eroski 66 Ruben Bongiorno (Arg) Panaria Fiordo 67 Nicola Gavazzi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 68 Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) Ag2R 69 Brett Lancaster (Aus) Panaria Fiordo 70 Julian Dean (NZl) CSC 71 Mickael Pichon (Fra) FDJeux.com 72 Christian Pepoli (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 73 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Telekom 74 Steve Cunningham (Aus) UniSA 75 Brendan Cato (Aus) United Water 76 Juan Fuentes (Spa) Saeco-Longoni Sport 77 Dario Pieri (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 78 Arvis Piziks (Lat) CSC 79 Aaron Kemps (Aus) United Water 80 Lilian Jegou (Fra) Credit Agricole 81 Filippo Perfetto (Ita) Panaria Fiordo 82 Thierry Marichal (Bel) Lotto Domo 83 Corey Sweet (Aus) Credit Agricole 84 Lee Godfrey (Aus) United Water 85 Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio (Mex) Panaria Fiordo 86 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 87 Jakob Piil (Den) CSC 88 Bernard Sulzberger (Aus) United Water 89 Davide Bramati (Ita) Quickstep-Davitamon 90 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Lotto Domo 91 Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJeux.com 92 Nick Gates (Aus) Lotto Domo 93 Jay Sweet (Aus) UniSA 94 Jacky Durand (Fra) FDJeux.com Sprints classification 1 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 12 pts 2 Russell Van Hout (Aus) UniSA 12 3 Matt Wilson (Aus) FDJeux.com 12 4 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto Domo 12 5 Andrea Tafi (Ita) CSC 10 6 Baden Cooke (Aus) FDJeux.com 8 7 Cedric Herve (Fra) Credit Agricole 4 8 Jens Voigt (Ger) Credit Agricole 4 9 Luca Paolini (Ita) Quickstep-Davitamon 4 10 Ashley Hutchinson (Aus) United Water 4 11 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Telekom 2 Mountains classification 1 Russell Van Hout (Aus) UniSA 16 pts 2 Lennie Kristensen (Den) CSC 12 3 Inigo Chaurreau (Spa) Ag2R 8 4 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Quickstep-Davitamon 6 5 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 4 U23 classification 1 Gene Bates (Aus) UniSA 4.31.59 2 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) FDJeux.com 3 Adrian Laidler (Aus) UniSA 0.04 4 Dirk Reichl (Ger) Telekom 1.36 5 Peter Dawson (Aus) United Water 1.45 6 David Betts (Aus) United Water 7 Mark Renshaw (Aus) United Water 11.05 8 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Telekom 9 Brendan Cato (Aus) United Water 10 Aaron Kemps (Aus) United Water 11 Lee Godfrey (Aus) United Water 12 Bernard Sulzberger (Aus) United Water 13 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Lotto Domo 14 Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJeux.com Teams classification 1 Ag2r Prevoyance 13.35.43 2 Team CSC 0.05 3 Credit Agricole 0.09 4 UniSA 0.14 5 ONCE-Eroski 0.18 6 Quick Step-Davitamon 0.22 7 Team Telekom 0.24 8 FDJeux.com 1.50 9 Saeco-Longoni Sport 3.03 10 Lotto-Domo 3.17 11 Ceramiche Panaria-Fiordo 3.26 12 United Water 14.49
