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20th Tour de Beauce Bell - 2.2
Canada, June 14-19, 2005
Main Page Results Overall standings Stage Details Previous Stage Next Stage
Stage 5 - June 18: Quebec city urban circuit, 125 km
Homeboy Dionne wins, O'Neill takes Yellow…just
By Matt Hansen in St. Georges
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After a week of crashes, bad luck and near misses, local hero Charles Dionne took the win he needed, soloing ahead from the lead break in downtown Quebec city. In the race behind for the yellow jersey, Navigators' Nathan O'Neill launched on the final climb to blast ahead and put 18 seconds on Symmetrics' Svein Tuft; the stage is set for another battle royale, with the gap between O'Neill and Tuft just 12 seconds.
Autumn-like conditions once again greeted the riders: At the start temperatures hovered around 10 degrees and the sky again was grey. But luckily, no rain. Although it was cold, fans were still lining the start-finish line as well as the climb.
Before the race there were high hopes from many of the riders about the opportunistic aspects of the race. Dom Perras (Canada) said that the next few days would be good ones for riders not in contention to win. "Today's a good course to take advantage of the race situation. To follow the moves, attack after the lulls and hopefully either Charles or I can take the stage."
Health Net's John Lieswyn hoped for a good result as well, but was respectful of the hard work that Canadian team Symmetrics had put in. "I don't want to help Navigators beat Svein, as I think he's a good rider and deserves the win, but I won't give up a chance to win a stage either."
How it unfolded
Not surprisingly, the race was aggressive from the start. The 14km circuit took the riders down to the St. Lawrence river, then back up a tough 500 metre pitch, followed by a kilometre gradual uphill to the finish line. Dionne, along with Health Net's Mike Sayers and Doug Ollerenshaw made a move as Symmetrics were content to ride tempo and allow the gap to grow.
"It was hard out there to set the tempo today," Symmetrics' Eric Wohlberg explained. "There was lot of wind down by the river-we were only able to go 32, 33kmh down there some times. Combine that with riding up that hill each lap and we were all getting pretty tired toward the end."
After two laps, the gap had increased to over three minutes, and suddenly there was speculation of the possibility of Ollerenshaw - who was over five minutes behind and sitting 17th overall - of possibly upsetting the works and taking over. The trio were eventually joined with several others not in contention for the overall: Oleg Grishkine (Navigators Insurance), Domenico Passuelo (Amore & Vita - Beretta), Tomasz Lesniak (Paged-MBK-Scout), Corey Jay (CRCA Sakonnet), Jonathan Sundt (Jittery Joe's Kalahari), Evan Elken (Jittery Joe's Kalahari), Richard Bowker (Ital Pasta Belmire), Charles Dionne (Team Canada), Alexandre Nadeau (Team Quebec) and Leigh Palmer (Cyclingnews.com-Fondriest).
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With the gap staying at three minutes, the lead group began to seem both tired and disorganised. Although it was obvious that Sayers was driving the break for his teammate Ollerenshaw, Charles Dionne explained that there were several times where he needed to yell at some of the riders…in several languages. "Guys weren't pulling through some times, which I didn't understand. It was a good opportunity for any one of us to take the stage."
O'Neill had a bike change because of some gear problems, but quickly caught back on as the main bunch began to shed riders; the toll of the past few tough days was beginning to show each time up the climb. By the eighth lap, the lead group dwindled to just eight; Dionne followed Grichkine and Passuello and quickly formed the move of the day. Just under a minute behind was Ollerenshaw, with Lesniak and Nadeau a further minute and a half back. David O'Loughlin (Navigators Insurance) and Krzysztof Mermer (Paged - Mbk - Scout) took advantage of the Symmetrics' fatigue and marking of O'Neill and got a gap on the group, eventually putting more time on Tuft: O'Loughlin would gain another minute on his GC.
But up the road, it was all Dionne. He accelerated hard on the final sections and managed to gain a gap of 12 seconds by the line. The fans were wild for the local hero, and he was quickly swarmed by the media.
"It is a relief to win," Dionne said. "It's even better because it's my first win of the season. I'm tired of thirds and seconds. The best stage of Beauce, and in my hometown."
"I didn't know that the move was going to stay away at first. I knew there was going to be a move and I said I was going to be there. I felt bad from the start, and wasn't sure how long I'd be in the front. I changed my shoes this morning, changed my bike position last night because I felt bad on the bike. I would never do that; I felt so terrible in the crit I knew it couldn't be worse."
"But by the time us three got away, I knew I had to win. On the last lap I was going to die before I let that win go, and with so many people here yelling my name. It was motivation. Kris Westwood, my team manager, asked me how I felt on the radio toward the end and I said I would do it au courage."
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And luck certainly was on Dionne's side. Right after finishing, he discovered his tyre had just begun to go soft. In fact, he did the last few hundred metres on 50 psi.
After Dionne finished, all eyes were on the race behind. O'Neill and Tuft were together with one lap to go, and although O'Loughlin would gain time, it would still not enough to be take the lead. Symmetrics, exhausted from riding at the front, had only Andrew Pinfold and Cory Lange to guard Tuft on the last lap; finally it came down to Tuft on O'Neill as the select lead group came to the final pitch.
At one point Tuft wondered if it might have been worth it to risk letting the break go and put pressure on the Navigators to chase.
"In my opinion I thought it might have made sense to put more GC threats up the road, and let them take over the race. That's a pretty risky plan, of course," Tuft explained. "I knew O'Neill was the strongest guy, when he goes up those climbs I couldn't match. We were all gassed up the climb and he just launched. I might have been able to match his intial jump but then I might have faded. So it was just damage control to the finish. But the race isn't over. I know the race well tomorrow."
Tuft certainly does know tomorrow's stage: he won it in 2001, catapulting him into the limelight and his pro career with Prime Alliance. "I've ridden a lot of teamwork with Prime Alliance but it was nothing like the guys here. Steady, strong riding; I have nothing but praise for them. I hope I can repay them tomorrow."
The Tour de Beauce Bell concludes tomorrow with a 135km circuit race in St. Georges.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Matt Hansen/http://7thgroove.com/~hansen/new/
- Symmetrics before the race
- Has Ivan found a new job? Ivan Dominguez (Health Net) before the stage 5 start
- Symmetrics riders get everything in order before the stage start
- Svein Tuft (Symmetrics) checks a few things before the start
- Brandon Crichton (Italpasta) Young rider
- Massage time for Svein Tuft
- Oleg Grigckine (Navigators) rolls through on stage 5
Images by Anthony Rancourt
- Charles Dionne (Candian National Team) pushed hard close to the finish
- A Quebec rider on home soil
- Navigators had a great weekend
- Jeremy Vennell (Team Cyclingnews.com) pushes hard out front of this group
- Jean-Sébastien Béland (Equipe du Quebec) focusses hard during stage 5
- Charles Dionne (Canadian National Team) wins stage 5 and looks elated to have done so
- The emotion spills over for Charles Dionne after winning stage 5
- It's all a bit much for Charles as he lets it all out after winning stage 5
- An emotional Charles Dionne after winning stage 5
- Dionne and his niece
- The stage podium: (l-r) Domenico Passuello (Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska), Charles Dionne (Canadian National Team) and Oleg Grichkine (Navigators Insurance)
- Brandon Crichton (Italpasta - Belmire Transport) was best young rider after stage 5
- The overall podium after stage 5: (l-r) Svein Tuft (Symmetrics), Nathan O'Neill (Navigators Insurance) and Jeff Louder (Navigators Insurance)
Results
1 Charles Dionne (Can) Canadian National Team 3.17.52 2 Domenico Passuello (Ita) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 0.12 3 Oleg Grichkine (Rus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 0.43 4 Krzysztof Mermer (Pol) Paged-Mbk-Scout 1.53 5 David O'Loughlin (Irl) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 1.54 6 Doug Ollerenshaw (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 1.56 7 Alexandre Nadeau (Can) Equipe du Quebec 2.05 8 Tomasz Lesniak (Pol) Paged-Mbk-Scout 2.09 9 Kimmo Kananen (Fin) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 10 Richard Bowker (NZl) Italpasta - Belmire Transport 2.19 11 Jonathan Sundt (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 2.38 12 Nathan O'Neill (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 13 Dawid Krupa (Pol) Paged-Mbk-Scout 2.48 14 Glen Alan Chadwick (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com 2.50 15 John Lieswyn (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 16 Jeff Louder (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 2.53 17 Mark Walters (Can) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 18 Svein Tuft (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 2.56 19 Kacper Sowinski (Pol) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 20 Cesar Grajales (Col) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 21 Dominique Perras (Can) Canadian National Team 22 Mike Sayers (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 23 Martin Gilbert (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 24 Timothy Johnson (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 3.01 25 Brandon Crichton* (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport 26 Cameron Jennings (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com 3.04 27 Finn Heitmann (Ger) Stevens Racing Team 3.09 28 Mike Jones (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 3.10 29 Jamie Burrow (GBr) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 3.13 30 Dominique Rollin (Can) Equipe du Quebec 3.16 31 Sven De Weerdt (Bel) Team Cyclingnews.com 3.20 32 Wojciech Kalemba (Pol) Paged-Mbk-Scout 33 Zach Bell (Can) Canadian National Team 3.22 34 Nat Faulkner (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport 3.24 35 Raphaël Tremblay (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 3.30 36 Chris Isaac (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport 37 Jean-Sébastien Maheu (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 38 Justin England (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 39 Mathieu Roy (Can) Equipe du Quebec 40 Vassili Davidenko (Rus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 3.44 41 Claudio Bartoli (Ita) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 42 Chris Kuhl (USA) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology 3.55 43 Cory Lange (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 4.18 44 Jeremy Vennell (NZl) Team Cyclingnews.com 4.24 45 Andrew Pinfold (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 4.34 46 Max Plaxton (Can) Canadian National Team 4.36 47 Jean-Sébastien Béland (Can) Equipe du Quebec 4.59 48 Przemyslaw Mikolajczyk (Pol) Paged-Mbk-Scout 5.08 49 Jens Schwedler (Ger) Stevens Racing Team 9.48 50 Evan Elken (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 10.05 51 Christian Meier (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 10.27 52 Bradley Fairall (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 53 Eric Wohlberg (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 54 Jacob Erker (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 55 Leigh Palmer (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com 56 Kevin Lacombe (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 57 Tom Barras (GBr) Team Cyclingnews.com 13.05 58 Alex Richer (Can) Yeti 59 Cory Jay (Can) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology 13.50 60 Johny Hayes (USA) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology 61 Bruno Langlois (Can) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 62 Ryan Roth (Can) Canadian National Team DNF Daniel Maclaren (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport DNF Peter Sanowar (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport DNF Peter Morse (Can) Yeti DNS Dustin Macburnie (Can) Yeti General Classification after stage 5 1 Nathan O'Neill (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 18.24.50 2 Svein Tuft (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 0.12 3 Jeff Louder (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 0.35 4 John Lieswyn (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 1.17 5 Dawid Krupa (Pol) Paged-Mbk-Scout 1.19 6 David O'Loughlin (Irl) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 1.35 7 Glen Alan Chadwick (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com 1.38 8 Mark Walters (Can) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 9 Kacper Sowinski (Pol) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 2.41 10 Mike Jones (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 3.05 11 Krzysztof Mermer (Pol) Paged-Mbk-Scout 3.14 12 Dominique Rollin (Can) Equipe du Quebec 3.41 13 Brandon Crichton* (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport 4.02 14 Doug Ollerenshaw (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 4.36 15 Dominique Perras (Can) Canadian National Team 5.18 16 Wojciech Kalemba (Pol) Paged-Mbk-Scout 6.45 17 Charles Dionne (Can) Canadian National Team 7.34 18 Cameron Jennings (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com 8.20 19 Kimmo Kananen (Fin) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 9.46 20 Jean-Sébastien Maheu (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 10.06 21 Eric Wohlberg (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 11.09 22 Mike Sayers (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 12.11 23 Jacob Erker (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 13.06 24 Christian Meier (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 13.49 25 Martin Gilbert (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 13.56 26 Cesar Grajales (Col) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 15.09 27 Justin England (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 15.55 28 Oleg Grichkine (Rus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 20.44 29 Vassili Davidenko (Rus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 21.58 30 Domenico Passuello (Ita) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 21.59 31 Chris Isaac (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport 22.17 32 Timothy Johnson (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 22.31 33 Max Plaxton (Can) Canadian National Team 24.15 34 Finn Heitmann (Ger) Stevens Racing Team 24.37 35 Raphaël Tremblay (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 24.50 36 Chris Kuhl (USA) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology 25.09 37 Tomasz Lesniak (Pol) Paged-Mbk-Scout 25.45 38 Jamie Burrow (GBr) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 26.07 39 Sven De Weerdt (Bel) Team Cyclingnews.com 26.43 40 Nat Faulkner (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport 27.17 41 Claudio Bartoli (Ita) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 27.32 42 Alexandre Nadeau (Can) Equipe du Quebec 29.50 43 Andrew Pinfold (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 33.48 44 Cory Jay (Can) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology 34.23 45 Kevin Lacombe (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 36.24 46 Cory Lange (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 37.03 47 Jeremy Vennell (NZl) Team Cyclingnews.com 38.57 48 Jonathan Sundt (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 42.21 49 Richard Bowker (NZl) Italpasta - Belmire Transport 46.02 50 Bradley Fairall (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 48.47 51 Mathieu Roy (Can) Equipe du Quebec 48.49 52 Przemyslaw Mikolajczyk (Pol) Paged-Mbk-Scout 49.38 53 Ryan Roth (Can) Canadian National Team 50.43 54 Leigh Palmer (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com 52.55 55 Evan Elken (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 54.27 56 Tom Barras (GBr) Team Cyclingnews.com 56.50 57 Jens Schwedler (Ger) Stevens Racing Team 57.21 58 Bruno Langlois (Can) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 57.27 59 Zach Bell (Can) Canadian National Team 1.00.16 60 Jean-Sébastien Béland (Can) Equipe du Quebec 1.00.29 61 Alex Richer (Can) Yeti 1.41.20 62 Johny Hayes (USA) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology 1.42.59 Points classfication 1 David O'Loughlin (Irl) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 51 pts 2 Domenico Passuello (Ita) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 40 3 Mark Walters (Can) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 38 4 Jeff Louder (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 37 5 Vassili Davidenko (Rus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 34 6 Dominique Rollin (Can) Equipe du Quebec 33 7 Dawid Krupa (Pol) Paged-Mbk-Scout 33 8 Svein Tuft (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 31 9 Mike Jones (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 30 10 Glen Alan Chadwick (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com 29 11 Charles Dionne (Can) Canadian National Team 27 12 John Lieswyn (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 26 13 Krzysztof Mermer (Pol) Paged-Mbk-Scout 26 14 Martin Gilbert (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 24 15 Nathan O'Neill (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 24 16 Kacper Sowinski (Pol) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 21 17 Tomasz Lesniak (Pol) Paged-Mbk-Scout 21 18 Kimmo Kananen (Fin) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 17 19 Brandon Crichton* (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport 15 20 Oleg Grichkine (Rus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 14 21 Evan Elken (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 14 22 Doug Ollerenshaw (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 13 23 Wojciech Kalemba (Pol) Paged-Mbk-Scout 13 24 Jean-Sébastien Maheu (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 13 25 Max Plaxton (Can) Canadian National Team 13 26 Raphaël Tremblay (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 13 27 Alexandre Nadeau (Can) Equipe du Quebec 12 28 Christian Meier (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 11 29 Eric Wohlberg (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 10 30 Mike Sayers (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 10 31 Jacob Erker (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 10 32 Tom Barras (GBr) Team Cyclingnews.com 10 33 Dominique Perras (Can) Canadian National Team 9 34 Jonathan Sundt (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 9 35 Richard Bowker (NZl) Italpasta - Belmire Transport 6 36 Kevin Lacombe (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 3 37 Jean-Sébastien Béland (Can) Equipe du Quebec 3 Mountains classification 1 Wojciech Kalemba (Pol) Paged-Mbk-Scout 36 pts 2 Mike Jones (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 24 3 Doug Ollerenshaw (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 21 4 Charles Dionne (Can) Canadian National Team 20 5 Tomasz Lesniak (Pol) Paged-Mbk-Scout 19 6 Nathan O'Neill (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 17 7 Mike Sayers (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 15 8 Glen Alan Chadwick (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com 14 9 Cesar Grajales (Col) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 14 10 Alexandre Nadeau (Can) Equipe du Quebec 13 11 Dawid Krupa (Pol) Paged-Mbk-Scout 12 12 Krzysztof Mermer (Pol) Paged-Mbk-Scout 12 13 Oleg Grichkine (Rus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 12 14 Jean-Sébastien Béland (Can) Equipe du Quebec 10 15 Timothy Johnson (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 10 16 Kimmo Kananen (Fin) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 10 17 Jeff Louder (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 9 18 Dominique Perras (Can) Canadian National Team 8 19 Vassili Davidenko (Rus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 8 20 Domenico Passuello (Ita) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 8 21 Leigh Palmer (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com 8 22 John Lieswyn (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 6 23 Dominique Rollin (Can) Equipe du Quebec 6 24 Chris Isaac (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport 6 25 Mark Walters (Can) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 5 26 Kacper Sowinski (Pol) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 4 27 Richard Bowker (NZl) Italpasta - Belmire Transport 4 28 Justin England (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 3 29 Evan Elken (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 3 30 Jonathan Sundt (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 2 31 Svein Tuft (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 1 Teams Classification 1 Navigators Insurance 55.11.46 2 Health Net Presented By Maxxis 11.15 3 Symmetrics Cycling 4 Paged - Mbk - Scout 12.05 5 Canada National Team 32.19 6 Amore & Vita - Beretta 37.26 7 Team Cyclingnews.com 37.41 8 Volkswagen Trek 39.23 9 Equipe Du Quebec 45.12 10 Italpasta - Transport Belmire 51.53 11 The Jittery Joe's - Kalahari 2.01.05 12 Crca/Sakonnet Techno 2.41.07
