HEW Cyclassics - CDM

Germany, August 3, 2003

Preview    Results    Favourites    Live coverage     Start List    Past winners

World Cup resumes with HEW Cyclassics

By Jeff Jones

2002 winner Johan Museeuw
Photo: © AFP

Round six of the UCI Road World Cup takes place in Hamburg this Sunday with the HEW Cyclassics Cup. The race marks the start of the second half of the World Cup season, which took a break after Liege-Bastogne-Liege at the end of April.

HEW is one of the easier World Cups, and typically favours the sprinters. However, as always it's the riders who make the race, and there is enough in the parcours to cause small splits at the end. Last year, a group of 10 riders escaped on the Waseberg with 15 km to go, with Johan Museeuw triumphing in front of Igor Astarloa and Davide Rebellin. In 2001, the race finished in a bunch sprint, with Erik Zabel taking the flowers.

Zabel will be aiming for another win this year, sporting his German champion's jersey and a strong Telekom team. However after a winless Tour de France, Zabel will have his work cut out if he is to hold off an in form Baden Cooke in a bunch sprint, should it come down to that. There are also the likes of Bernhard Eisel (FDJeux.com), Julian Dean (CSC), René Haselbacher (Gerolsteiner), Angelo Furlan (Alessio), Fred Rodriguez and Romans Vainsteins (Vini Caldirola), Giovanni Lombardi (Domina Vacanze), Thor Hushovd and Stuart O'Grady (Credit Agricole), and Kurt-Asle Arvesen (fakta), who will be eager to seize their chance.

Not all teams will be throwing their lot in with a bunch sprint however. Defending champion Johan Museeuw's Quick.Step-Davitamon team contains Paolo Bettini and Tom Boonen, who are both very useful in small group sprints, in addition to Museeuw himself of course. Add in the likes of Servais Knaven and Luca Paolini, and Quick.Step looks to have a number of options to get in the breaks.

World Cup leader Peter Van Petegem (Lotto-Domo) will be watching carefully and trying to get himself into the right break. "Hamburg is not a special race to me," he told Het Laatste Nieuws. "I'm not calculating in each race how many points I have to get for the World Cup. I'm riding for the win on Sunday and then the points come automatically. But of course, if I do well in Hamburg and the week later in San Sebastian, I'll be safe."

In addition to sprinters Haselbacher and Pollack, Gerolsteiner will be looking at David Rebellin to get into the moves at the end. Rebellin had an anonymous Tour de France, and is hoping to make amends in the last half of the season.

Last year's runner up Igor Astarloa will be present with the strong backing of the Saeco team, with 1999 winner Mirko Celestino, Danilo Di Luca, Dario Pieri, Salvatore Commesso, Jörg Ludewig, Fabio Sacchi and Stefano Zanini.

Fassa Bortolo will be relying on Michele Bartoli, who finished second in the Tour de la Region Wallonne, or perhaps Serguei Ivanov or Filippo Pozzatto.

Rabobank's Michael Boogerd will be looking to score some more World Cup points in this race. He is currently sitting in second overall, 60 points behind Van Petegem, and will hope to have a good race in Hamburg in order to move himself up the rankings.

Lampre's Gabriele Missaglia and Francesco Casagrande (then riding for Vini Caldirola) escaped in the dying stages of the 2000 race to finish first and second, and in the absence of a sprinter, that will presumably form part of Lampre's plans this year.

Team Bianchi has several sprinters, such as Steffen Radochla and Sven Teutenberg, but their hopes will likely rest on Tour de France runner up Jan Ullrich, who is in excellent form at the moment and won this race in 1997. However Ullrich also has the disadvantage that he'll be one of the most heavily marked riders in the peloton.

The Postal Service-Berry Floor team will line up with George Hincapie, who was forced to miss the early season classics due to a sinus problem. Hincapie bounced back strongly in the Tour de France to help guide Lance Armstrong to his fifth consecutive victory, and he will be a rider to watch on Sunday.

Team fakta's Kurt-Asle Arvesen is a versatile rider, able to get into the break as well as sprint. Frank Høj is also in reasonable form at the moment, and the team will be looking for some good results to try and secure a new sponsor for next season.

The route

The 253 km parcours is split into two sections: A 168 kilometre figure eight, taking the riders along the Elbe river for a substantial portion. This includes the famous bridge over the Elbe, the Köhlbrandbrücke, which is also a fairly gradual climb. Once the riders cross the start finish on Mönckebergstrasse again, they have to complete two more laps of a 41.4 kilometre circuit. This is often where the selection is made, on the short sharp climbs of the Grotiusweg and Waseberg, the latter which comes at 15 km to go.

Past winners

2002:

1 Johan Museeuw (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites      253 kms in 5.43.35 (44.216 km/h)
2 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Saeco Longoni Sport
3 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner

2001:

1 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom    253 kms in 5.59.02 (41.945 km/h)
2 Romans Vainsteins (Lat) Domo-Farm Frites
3 Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank

2000:

1 Gabriele Missaglia (Ita) Lampre-Daikin    253 kms in 6.17.22 (39.90 km/h)
2 Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec
3 Fabio Baldato (Ita) Fassa Bortolo

1999:

1 Mirko Celestino (Ita) Team Polti          253 kms in 6.20.39 (39.88 km/h)
2 Raphael Schweda (Ger) Team Nurnberger
3 Romans Vainsteins (Lat) Vini Caldirola

1998:

1 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Rabobank               253 kms in 6.09.31 (41.14 km/h)
2 Michele Bartoli (Ita) Asics
3 Ludo Dierckxsens (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar

1997:

1 Jan Ullrich (Ger) Telekom                 160 kms in 4.10.04 (38.38 km/h)
2 Wilfried Peeters (Bel) Mapei
3 Jens Heppner (Ger) Telekom

1996:

1 Rossano Brasi (Ita) Team Polti            160 kms in 3.33.18 (45.00 km/h)
2 Bert Dietz (Ger) Telekom
3 Steffen Rein (Ger) Team Nürnberger