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5th Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under - 2.3
Australia, January 21-26, 2003
Home Live report Results Previous Stage Next stage
Stage 3: Thursday Jan 23, Glenelg - Hahndorf , 164km
And de winner is... Robbieeee!!
By Anthony Tan in Hahndorf
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"23 seconds might not sound like much, but it's a lot in the Tour Down Under."
Despite almost 30 riders within half a minute of each other on general classification, Cadel Evans' (Telekom) comments before the start of today's 164 kilometre stage of the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under may well turn out to be an accurate prediction of outcomes three days from now.
Once again, the stage featured an incessant stream of attacks from a variety of teams, keen as mustard to test the might of the Saeco squadra containing race leader Fabio Sacchi.
However, Saeco held its own and timed its chase to the eight-man breakaway group to perfection, and it was gruppo compatto as the peloton entered the streets of Hahndorf for the final time.
In the closing kilometres, overnight King of the Mountains leader Russell Van Hout (UniSA) almost stole the show, storming into town at 60 clicks an hour. But the Lotto-Adecco boys did not disappoint their star rider, closing down Van Hout's slender lead along Main Street and setting up another McEwen-Brown showdown.
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It was a straight sprint this time - no deviation - and as the two Australians threw themselves at the line as if their lives depended on it, it was too close to call. All waited in anticipation for the final decision from the commissaires, though the majority of the media were circling around Brown.
The moments leading to the announcement was almost as painful as Juan Antonio Samaranch stuttered those four words to the winning city of the 2000 Olympic Games. Though just like Samaranch, the decision was final: De winner is... Robbie!!
"I thought I had it, but you can't start celebrating until you know for sure," said a delighted McEwen, possibly a tad more delighted at beating arch-rival Brown than moving 10 seconds closer to the yellow jersey of Sacchi.
Brown, somewhat unsually, also appeared satisfied: "As far as I'm concerned, if you don't get to salute you don't get the victory, so I'm happy with that. I pushed him [McEwen] all the way to the line."
“As much as I dislike Robbie he is a true champion and he’s one of the best in the world so to just be up there mixing it with him is great,” Brown added. “I stuffed up a bit as I didn’t see the signs but I’m not making any excuses (because) Robbie did it perfectly.”
How it unfolded
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The 94-strong field began stage three proper at 10 minutes to midday, and after two hours of faffing around, riding from the Adelaide Hilton to the start town of Glenelg and back again, there were more than a few itchy legs in the peloton.
Not surprisingly, Jacky Durand (FDJeux.com) was the first to try his luck immediately after race director Mike Turtur waved the chequered flag to mark the start of the race, and was soon joined by the day's most aggressive rider, Steve Cunningham (UniSA).
The break was short-lived, though the next forty kilometres were raced in a similarly aggressive fashion by a multitude of riders; crowd favourite Stuart O'Grady being a key protagonist on One Tree Hill, a 2.5 kilometre climb positioned roughly 10 kilometres before Checker Hill, the only KOM of the day at 42.6 kilometres.
As the peloton approached the climb, it was Giro revelation Cadel Evans (Telekom) showing a clean pair of climbing legs. Evans outsprinted Paolo Lanfranchi (Panaria-Fiordo) and KOM leader Lennie Kristensen (CSC) for the points, and an eight-man group was created, although only for a handful of kilometres.
However, another eight-man break formed just before the first sprint of the day at Mt Torrens that included Davide Bramati (Quick Step-Davitamon), Steve Cunningham (UniSA), Andrea Tafi (CSC), Xavier Florencio and Giampaolo Caruso (ONCE) and Erki Putsep and Nicolas Portal (Ag2R) and Stefen Scumacher (Telekom).
The group stood the test of time, and as their lead grew to over three minutes, Xavier Florencio became the new race leader on the road, Florencio only 29 seconds down on leader Fabio Sacchi (Saeco) at the start of today's stage. Sacchi also lost his sprinter's jersey for good after Tafi convincingly won the next two sprints.
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After 60 kilometres out in front (118 km covered), the eight became five: Tafi, Portal (Ag2R) and Florencio (ONCE) dropped off the pace, the lead group's advantage hovering at just over one minute. 12 kilometres later, it was gruppo compatto once more, Saeco doing all the work to annul the break.
With Saeco's job done, it was time for the sprinters' teams to come to the fore along the finishing circuit around Hahndorf. Lotto-Domo and Panaria-Fiordo set a blistering pace driving the bunch into the final kilometres; however with eight kilometres remaining, neither team expected the lanky surfie lookalike Russell Van Hout (UniSA) to solo off the front like a man possessed.
Van Hout's clever little ploy almost worked, but no-one was going to prevent Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo) and Graeme Brown (Panaria-Fiordo) fighting tooth and nail for the stage victory, and so the scene was set for bonza bunch kick to the line.
The sprint was mean, the sprint was clean, the margin lean. It was even a close finish by photo-finish standards, but in the end, it was Robbie McEwen clocking up his first stage win of the 2003 Tour Down Under, moving that little bit closer to Fabio Sacchi, who now holds a slender 10 second lead over McEwen on general classification.
Photography
Images by www.tombalks.com
- Fabio Sacchi (Saeco) signs autographs at the start in Glenelg
- Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo) works on his bike before the start
- Angel Vicioso (ONCE) talks with team manager Marino Lejarreta before the start
- ONCE manager Manolo Saiz is enjoying the Australian sun
- Tom Boonen (Quick Step) looking cool, calm and collected before the start of stage 3
- The ubiquitous Stuey mask held by a very young fan
- The riders along Anzac Pde, during the neutral section
- Jakob Piil (CSC) cruises at the start of stage 3
- Lilian Jegou (Credit Agricole) at the start of stage 3 in Glenelg
- Russell Van Hout (UniSA) clad in the KOM jersey before the start
- I told you to go before we left!
- Andrea Tafi (CSC) negotiating a pizza if he wins the stage
- The Saeco-Longoni Sport team controlled the pace during stage three of the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under to protect Fabio Sacchi's lead
- Andrea Tafi (CSC) was an important part of the eight man break
- Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo) hits the front with 200m to go, with Graeme Brown on his wheel
- Graeme Brown (Panaria) tries to come round McEwen
- Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo) and Graeme Brown (Panaria) throw their bikes on the line. McEwen got it by 1 cm.
- A happy Robbie McEwen is kissed on the podium after his stage win
- A large crowd was gathered at the finish for the rush to the line
- Fabio Sacchi (Saeco) still in yellow after stage 3
- Fans of the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under come in all shapes and sizes
- Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo) and his teammate Nick Gates warm down after the third stage
Images by Jeff Jones/Cyclingnews.com
- The convoy drives through the centre of Adelaide
- The Laubman & Pank KOM girls wave to the crowd as they drive past the Hilton
- The riders come past during the neutral section
- CSC and Lotto-Domo riders relax at the back of the bunch
- The rear of the peloton cycles past the Hilton International Hotel in Adelaide
Results
1 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto Domo 3.53.04 (42.2 km/h) 2 Graeme Brown (Aus) Panaria Fiordo 3 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Credit Agricole 4 Allan Davis (Aus) ONCE Eroski 5 Luca Paolini (Ita) Quickstep-Davitamon 6 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep-Davitamon 7 Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) Ag2R 8 Dirk Reichl (Ger) Telekom 9 Andy Flickinger (Fra) Ag2R 10 Mark Scanlon (Irl) Ag2R 11 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 12 Luke Roberts (Aus) UniSA 13 Stefen Wesemann (Ger) Telekom 14 Lilian Jegou (Fra) Credit Agricole 15 Tristan Hoffman (Ned) CSC 16 Angel Vicioso (Spa) ONCE Eroski 17 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2R 18 Geert Van Bondt (Bel) CSC 19 Thomas Bruun Eriksen (Den) CSC 20 Gene Bates (Aus) UniSA 21 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quickstep-Davitamon 22 Cadel Evans (Aus) Telekom 23 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Ag2R 24 Baden Cooke (Aus) FDJeux.com 25 Paolo Lanfranchi (Ita) Panaria Fiordo 26 David Canada (Spa) Quickstep-Davitamon 27 Cedric Herve (Fra) Credit Agricole 28 Nicola Gavazzi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 29 Christopher Jenner (NZl) Credit Agricole 30 Erki Putsep (Est) Ag2R 31 Lennie Kristensen (Den) CSC 32 Brett Lancaster (Aus) Panaria Fiordo 33 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Quickstep-Davitamon 34 Jens Voigt (Ger) Credit Agricole 35 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Telekom 36 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Credit Agricole 37 Christian Werner (Ger) Telekom 38 Joerg Ludewig (Ger) Saeco-Longoni Sport 39 Andrea Tafi (Ita) CSC 40 Russell Van Hout (Aus) UniSA 41 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) ONCE Eroski 42 Patrick Jonker (Aus) UniSA 43 Xavier Florencio (Spa) ONCE Eroski 44 Kai Hundertmarck (Ger) Telekom 45 Mark Renshaw (Aus) United Water 46 Inigo Chaurreau (Spa) Ag2R 47 Mickael Pichon (Fra) FDJeux.com 48 Regis Lhuillier (Fra) FDJeux.com 49 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2R 50 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Telekom 51 Bobby Julich (USA) Telekom 52 Christian Pepoli (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 53 Brendan Cato (Aus) United Water 54 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 55 Alvaro Gonzalez De Galdeano (Spa) ONCE Eroski 56 Scott Davis (Aus) Panaria Fiordo 57 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) ONCE Eroski 58 Arvis Piziks (Lat) CSC 59 Davide Bramati (Ita) Quickstep-Davitamon 60 Peter Dawson (Aus) United Water 61 Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio (Mex) Panaria Fiordo 62 Stephen Cunningham (Aus) UniSA 63 Sergey Matveyev (Ukr) Panaria Fiordo 0.11 64 Hans De Clercq (Bel) Lotto Domo 65 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) FDJeux.com 66 Brad McGee (Aus) FDJeux.com 0.13 67 David Betts (Aus) United Water 0.48 68 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Lotto Domo 0.50 69 Dario Pieri (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 1.12 70 Juan Fuentes (Spa) Saeco-Longoni Sport 71 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Saeco-Longoni Sport 72 Igor Gonzalez De Galdeano (Spa) ONCE Eroski 73 Stefano Zanini (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 74 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Lotto Domo 75 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Lotto Domo 76 Glenn d'Hollander (Bel) Lotto Domo 77 Matt Wilson (Aus) FDJeux.com 78 Ashley Hutchinson (Aus) United Water 30.18 79 Jakob Piil (Den) CSC 80 Ruben Bongiorno (Arg) Panaria Fiordo 81 Filippo Perfetto (Ita) Panaria Fiordo 82 Julian Dean (NZl) CSC 83 Thierry Marichal (Bel) Lotto Domo 84 Aaron Kemps (Aus) United Water 85 Nick Gates (Aus) Lotto Domo 86 Bram Tankink (Ned) Quickstep-Davitamon 87 Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJeux.com 88 Jacky Durand (Fra) FDJeux.com 89 Bernard Sulzberger (Aus) United Water 90 Adrian Laidler (Aus) UniSA DNF Lee Godfrey (Aus) United Water DNF Corey Sweet (Aus) Credit Agricole DNF Jay Sweet (Aus) UniSA DNF Brett Aitken (Aus) UniSA Sprints Main Street at General Store, Mt Torrens - 62.7 km 1 Andrea Tafi (Ita) CSC 6 3 pts/secs 2 Xavier Florencio (Spa) ONCE Eroski 4 2 3 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) ONCE Eroski 2 1 Onkaparinga Valley Rd at Hotel, Balhannah - Lap 1 - 81.7 km 1 Andrea Tafi (Ita) CSC 6 3 pts/secs 2 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) ONCE Eroski 4 2 3 Stephen Cunningham (Aus) UniSA 2 1 Visitor Information Centre, Hahndorf - 164 km - Finish 1 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto Domo 8 6 pts/secs 2 Graeme Brown (Aus) Panaria Fiordo 6 4 3 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Credit Agricole 4 2 Mountains Checker Hill - 42.6 km 1 Cadel Evans (Aus) Telekom 16 pts 2 Paolo Lanfranchi (Ita) Panaria Fiordo 12 3 Lennie Kristensen (Den) CSC 8 4 Brad McGee (Aus) FDJeux.com 6 5 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) ONCE Eroski 4 Most aggressive rider 1 Stephen Cunningham (Aus) UniSA General classification after stage 3 1 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 8.24.34 2 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto Domo 0.10 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 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Credit Agricole 0.27 9 Xavier Florencio (Spa) ONCE Eroski 10 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Telekom 0.28 11 Angel Vicioso (Spa) ONCE Eroski 0.29 12 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quickstep-Davitamon 13 Thomas Bruun Eriksen (Den) CSC 14 Tristan Hoffman (Ned) CSC 15 Geert Van Bondt (Bel) CSC 16 Luke Roberts (Aus) UniSA 17 Gene Bates (Aus) UniSA 18 Cadel Evans (Aus) Telekom 19 Paolo Lanfranchi (Ita) Panaria Fiordo 20 Patrick Jonker (Aus) UniSA 21 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) ONCE Eroski 0.30 22 Jens Voigt (Ger) Credit Agricole 0.31 23 David Canada (Spa) Quickstep-Davitamon 0.33 24 Mark Scanlon (Irl) Ag2R 25 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Quickstep-Davitamon 26 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Credit Agricole 27 Inigo Chaurreau (Spa) Ag2R 28 Stefen Wesemann (Ger) Telekom 0.39 29 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) FDJeux.com 0.40 30 Brad McGee (Aus) FDJeux.com 0.42 31 Alvaro Gonzalez De Galdeano (Spa) ONCE Eroski 0.59 32 Andrea Tafi (Ita) CSC 1.59 33 Dirk Reichl (Ger) Telekom 2.05 34 Luca Paolini (Ita) Quickstep-Davitamon 35 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep-Davitamon 36 Baden Cooke (Aus) FDJeux.com 37 Erki Putsep (Est) Ag2R 38 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2R 39 Joerg Ludewig (Ger) Saeco-Longoni Sport 40 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Ag2R 41 Christian Werner (Ger) Telekom 42 Regis Lhuillier (Fra) FDJeux.com 43 Kai Hundertmarck (Ger) Telekom 44 Christopher Jenner (NZl) Credit Agricole 45 Bobby Julich (USA) Telekom 46 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) ONCE Eroski 47 Scott Davis (Aus) Panaria Fiordo 48 Peter Dawson (Aus) United Water 2.14 49 Hans De Clercq (Bel) Lotto Domo 2.16 50 Sergey Matveyev (Ukr) Panaria Fiordo 51 Graeme Brown (Aus) Panaria Fiordo 2.31 52 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Lotto Domo 2.55 53 David Betts (Aus) United Water 3.02 54 Stefano Zanini (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 3.17 55 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Saeco-Longoni Sport 56 Glenn d'Hollander (Bel) Lotto Domo 57 Igor Gonzalez De Galdeano (Spa) ONCE Eroski 58 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Lotto Domo 59 Stephen Cunningham (Aus) UniSA 11.33 60 Allan Davis (Aus) ONCE Eroski 11.34 61 Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) Ag2R 62 Nicola Gavazzi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 63 Mark Renshaw (Aus) United Water 64 Brett Lancaster (Aus) Panaria Fiordo 65 Mickael Pichon (Fra) FDJeux.com 66 Lilian Jegou (Fra) Credit Agricole 67 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Telekom 68 Christian Pepoli (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 69 Brendan Cato (Aus) United Water 70 Arvis Piziks (Lat) CSC 71 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 72 Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio (Mex) Panaria Fiordo 73 Davide Bramati (Ita) Quickstep-Davitamon 74 Matt Wilson (Aus) FDJeux.com 12.45 75 Juan Fuentes (Spa) Saeco-Longoni Sport 12.46 76 Dario Pieri (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 77 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Lotto Domo 78 Adrian Laidler (Aus) UniSA 30.51 79 Bram Tankink (Ned) Quickstep-Davitamon 32.32 80 Ashley Hutchinson (Aus) United Water 41.50 81 Ruben Bongiorno (Arg) Panaria Fiordo 41.52 82 Julian Dean (NZl) CSC 83 Aaron Kemps (Aus) United Water 84 Filippo Perfetto (Ita) Panaria Fiordo 85 Thierry Marichal (Bel) Lotto Domo 86 Jakob Piil (Den) CSC 87 Bernard Sulzberger (Aus) United Water 88 Nick Gates (Aus) Lotto Domo 89 Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJeux.com 90 Jacky Durand (Fra) FDJeux.com Sprints classification 1 Andrea Tafi (Ita) CSC 22 pts 2 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto Domo 20 3 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 12 4 Russell Van Hout (Aus) UniSA 12 5 Matt Wilson (Aus) FDJeux.com 12 6 Baden Cooke (Aus) FDJeux.com 8 7 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) ONCE Eroski 6 8 Cedric Herve (Fra) Credit Agricole 4 9 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Credit Agricole 4 10 Xavier Florencio (Spa) ONCE Eroski 4 11 Jens Voigt (Ger) Credit Agricole 4 12 Luca Paolini (Ita) Quickstep-Davitamon 4 13 Ashley Hutchinson (Aus) United Water 4 14 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Telekom 2 15 Stephen Cunningham (Aus) UniSA 2 Mountains classification 1 Lennie Kristensen (Den) CSC 20 pts 2 Russell Van Hout (Aus) UniSA 16 3 Cadel Evans (Aus) Telekom 16 4 Paolo Lanfranchi (Ita) Panaria Fiordo 12 5 Inigo Chaurreau (Spa) Ag2R 8 6 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Quickstep-Davitamon 6 7 Brad McGee (Aus) FDJeux.com 6 8 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport 4 9 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) ONCE Eroski 4 U23 classification 1 Gene Bates (Aus) UniSA 8.25.03 2 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) FDJeux.com 0.11 3 Dirk Reichl (Ger) Telekom 1.36 4 Peter Dawson (Aus) United Water 1.45 5 David Betts (Aus) United Water 2.33 6 Mark Renshaw (Aus) United Water 11.05 7 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Telekom 8 Brendan Cato (Aus) United Water 9 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Lotto Domo 12.17 10 Adrian Laidler (Aus) UniSA 30.22 11 Aaron Kemps (Aus) United Water 41.23 12 Bernard Sulzberger (Aus) United Water 13 Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJeux.com Teams classification 1 Ag2r Prevoyance 25.14.55 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 Ceramiche Panaria-Fiordo 3.26 11 Lotto-Domo 4.18 12 United Water 14.49
