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Dauphiné Libéré
Photo ©: Sirotti

20th Tour de Beauce Bell - 2.2

Canada, June 14-19, 2005

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Stage 2 - June 15: Lac-Etchemin - Lac-Etchemin, 180 km

Quebec Day, part two: Rollin rockets to win

By Matt Hansen

Dominique Rollin (Equipe du Quebec)
Photo ©: Karine Martel
Click for larger image

An epic day of racing saw yesterday's second place finisher, Quebec's Dom Rollin, take the win on a cold, windy, rainy day that was marred only slightly by confusion in the final corner. Rollin will inherit the leader's jersey from his compatriot Martin Gilbert, whose Volkswagen-Trek team exceeded expectations by riding a superb race on a very hard day. Today's stage may prove to be the most decisive of the Tour de Beauce Bell, with the list of contenders for the overall now glaringly short.

How it unfolded

Riders were greeted with a shock when they woke up this morning: 7 degrees, rain and howling winds. Mark Walters (Navigators) summed up the day well: "Effin' cold." As in years past, the weather would prove to be significant at the Tour de Beauce Bell. "This is typical Beauce weather," Symmetrics' Eric Wohlberg said, "And it's a bit of a shock because I'm coming from California. Maybe I'm getting soft from living there."

With Martin Gilbert wearing the yellow jersey, many were speculating just how strong his Volkswagen - Trek team would be, and how much work the orange and blue riders would do to defend his lead against the likes of Health Net and Navigators. 2003 winner John Lieswyn (Health Net) definitely hoped his legs would feel better today, and that he would "just ride aggressively and see what happens. It's a cold day and a tough course." Gilbert was candid about the day, saying that he was confident in both himself and his team. "We will ride at the front, all of us, and do our best to keep the jersey."

Volkswagen-Trek
Photo ©: Karine Martel
Click for larger image

From the gun, the frigid air pacified the peloton; no one was willing to take a flyer in the windy conditions. Volkswagen - Trek went to the front and set tempo, with Gilbert riding regally in sixth spot. By the 50km mark, Navigators hit the front to set up their riders for the first intermediate sprint, which their man Mark Walters handily took. Soon after, the first abandon of the day: Cyclingnews.com's Kane Oakley. Oakley was suffering from a hamstring injury and wisely called it quits to avoid further damage. 10km later, Health Net hit the front to up the pace for the first king of the mountains, won by Paged-MBK-Scout's Wojciech Kalemba over Navigators Caesar Grajales. The climb proved to be the starting point of some big-time suffering for the pack, as the pace continued to climb and riders began getting dropped. Single file riding continued as the rain picked up and the wind increased from "really breezy" to "bloody gusty". As the peloton hit crosswinds and headwinds, Canada's Andrew Randell took a flyer, riding solo for 10km but never getting more than 30 seconds. Seeing that no one would join him on his escape, Randell decided to head back to the pack for shelter. The pace stayed high as the bunch hit the second KOM (won by Health Net's Mike Jones); the race would then begin to take its toll on everyone-the peloton split into several groups. Signs of the day were already evident: The broom wagon was full, and had to drop riders off with their respective team cars in anticipation of more riders that would quit later in the day - and there would be lots.

The peloton
Photo ©: Karine Martel
Click for larger image

The wind would prove to be not only difficult, but dangerous. As the race headed down a fast downhill, three riders would crash because of the sidewinds. Stevens Racing's Greg Reain would be forced into the ditch by the strong gusts, followed almost immediately by Canada's Max Plaxton and Charles Dionne losing their balance and hitting the deck.

A group of 11 riders formed and had several heavy hitters, including Nathan O'Neill and Jeff Louder (Navigators), Svein Tuft (Symmetrics) and Glen Chadwick (CyclingNews.com). Ahead of the pack, which was hovering a minute behind, another group formed, led by Health Net's Mike Sayers, and containing Symmetrics' Eric Wohlberg, Dionne (who made an incredible chaseback following his crash), and the vigilant Gilbert. By 106km covered, the pack was nearly three minutes behind; the race was clearly among the two chase groups, the first with 15 riders, the second with nine. The second group fought for the next 5km to catch the leaders, and would finally succeed in doing so. However, just before that, Gilbert punctured and it would take him the better part of 2km to catch back on, along with Canadian team rider Ryan Roth. Following that, six more riders, led by John Lieswyn, caught the break, and by 130km they all came together: there were thirty leaders, with whatever remained of the pack very far behind. Now it was up to Health Net and Navigators to attack each other; a failed attempt by riders like Jones and David O'Loughlin (Navigators) ultimately set up a flurry of short-lived breaks which each time seemed like they might have been the "move of the day." Lieswyn, O'Neill, Ollerenshaw-the usual suspects-tried and tried again to break free in the right combination of riders, but it was not to be. Finally, with 150km covered the group split in two: 15 riders ahead of another 15. Although that two would come back together, the group split again-and not everyone would find themselves going for the win, including a definite favourite, Dionne-who was just off the pace with three others.

Cameron Jennings (Cyclingnews.com)
Photo ©: Karine Martel
Click for larger image

With 15km to go, another attack: This time, from Cameron Jennings (CyclingNews.com). The move seemed to take the twenty leaders off guard-there was no reaction and very quickly, Jennings had over half a minute. But the wind was neither in his favour, nor the hilly final 6km. Health Net and Navigators both upped the pace, and Jennings' lead dropped. As the break got within 10 seconds of Jennings, Navigators' Jeff Louder launched a powerful move up a tough climb; this move would split the group in two. Lieswyn was quick to follow Louder, marked by Navigators. Suddenly, all kinds of favourites saw their chances fade-even climber Dom Perras (Canadian National Team) whose legs cracked on the last tough pitch.

Coming into the finish, the small group of riders thought that it would come down to a straightforward sprint. Jones? O'Neill? Who would it be? On the final corner, some miscommunication from the corner marshal resulted in some of the riders-including Jones, who went the wrong way-having to slow down and take a much slower line. But Dom Rollin, who had ridden well all day, fighting valiantly to make it in each of the breaks, blasted past the others to take a great win, and the leader's jersey. Although there was some disappointment from some of the riders because of the corner confusion, all agreed the stage had been incredible. "The whole day was epic, just epic," O'Neill said. "The end was a shame, sure. It wasn't even that we didn't get to go for the win, but just frustrating to end it that way." Lieswyn echoed the Aussie's sentiments. "I feel a bit badly for Mike Jones, who definitely had a chance at the win, I think."

Svein Tuft (Symmetrics)
Photo ©: Karine Martel
Click for larger image

Rollin was beaming afterwards as he greeted his hometown press, saying that he felt good on the climbs. "They were steady, so I could hold on and I felt strong. We climbed them in a fairly controlled way," he said. "I had to go my own pace a few times but always got back on. I'm really happy with today." The other Canadian success of the day was Symmetrics, that had four riders in the break-two of them being excellent time trialists, Tuft and Wohlberg-and as director Kevin Cunningham explained, the team felt they had the race "made in the shade. It was disappointing with the finish, but at the same time I'm glad we have three very experienced riders in the front group. Should be good as the week progresses to have options."

Photography

For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here

Images by Karine Martel

Results

1 Dominique Rollin (Can) Equipe du Quebec                 5.00.01
2 Kacper Sowinski (Pol) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska              
3 Jeff Louder (USA) Navigators Insurance                         
4 Dawid Krupa (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout                          
5 Krzysztof Mermer (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout                     
6 Jacob Erker (Can) Symmetrics                                   
7 Brandon Crichton (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport           
8 Glen Alan Chadwick (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com                  
9 John Lieswyn (USA) Health Net pb Maxxis                        
10 Wojciech Kalemba (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout                    
11 Nathan O'Neill (Aus) Navigators Insurance                     
12 Mike Jones (USA) Health Net pb Maxxis                         
13 Mark Walters (Can) Navigators Insurance                       
14 Eric Wohlberg (Can) Symmetrics                                
15 Svein Tuft (Can) Symmetrics                                   
16 Jean-Sébastien Maheu (Can) Volkswagen-Trek                1.36
17 Jean-François Laroche (Can) Equipe du Quebec                  
18 Dominique Perras (Can) Canadian National Team                 
19 Doug Ollerenshaw (USA) Health Net pb Maxxis                   
20 David O'Loughlin (Irl) Navigators Insurance                   
21 Cameron Jennings (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com                   
22 Christian Meier (Can) Symmetrics                          3.57
23 Charles Dionne (Can) Canadian National Team               4.46
24 Kimmo Kananen (Fin) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska               
25 Mike Sayers (USA) Health Net pb Maxxis                    6.04
26 Kevin Lacombe (Can) Volkswagen-Trek                       8.46
27 Justin England (USA) Health Net pb Maxxis                11.07
28 Cory Lange (Can) Symmetrics                                   
29 Ryan Roth (Can) Canadian National Team                        
30 Cesar Grajales (Col) Navigators Insurance                     
31 Martin Gilbert (Can) Volkswagen-Trek                          
32 Luc Dionne (Can) Yeti                                    17.23
33 Sven De Weerdt (Bel) Team Cyclingnews.com                     
34 Alexandre Nadeau (Can) Equipe du Quebec                       
35 Vassili Davidenko (Rus) Navigators Insurance                  
36 Richard Bowker (NZl) Italpasta - Belmire Transport            
37 Timothy Johnson (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari                  
38 Cory Jay (Can) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology                       
39 Finn Heitmann (Ger) Stevens Racing Team                       
40 Zach Bell (Can) Canadian National Team                        
41 Mathieu Roy (Can) Equipe du Quebec                            
42 Bruno Langlois (Can) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari                   
43 Nat Faulkner (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport              
44 Jamie Burrow (GBr) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska                
45 Michael Norton (USA) Team Nerac.com                           
46 Jens Schwedler (Ger) Stevens Racing Team                      
47 Andrew Pinfold (Can) Symmetrics                               
48 Jonathan Sundt (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari                   
49 Tomasz Lesniak (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout                      
50 Bradley Fairall (Can) Symmetrics                              
51 Raphaël Tremblay (Can) Volkswagen-Trek                        
52 Chris Isaac (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport               
53 Tom Barras (GBr) Team Cyclingnews.com                         
54 Christian Heule (Swi) Stevens Racing Team                     
55 Claudio Bartoli (Ita) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska             
56 Przemyslaw Mikolajczyk (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout              
57 Leigh Palmer (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com                       
58 Domenico Passuello (Ita) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska          
59 Oleg Grichkine (Rus) Navigators Insurance                     
60 Max Plaxton (Can) Canadian National Team                      
61 Martin St-Laurent (Can) Volkswagen-Trek                       
62 Jeremy Vennell (NZl) Team Cyclingnews.com                     
63 Evan Elken (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari                       
64 Chris Kuhl (USA) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology                     
65 Jean-Sébastien Béland (Can) Equipe du Quebec                  
66 Craig Wilcox (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari                     
67 Dustin Macburnie (Can) Yeti                                   
68 Peter Morse (Can) Yeti                                   35.36
69 Peter Sanowar (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport        36.00
70 Johny Hayes (USA) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology                    
71 Alex Richer (Can) Yeti                                   54.55
72 Daniel Maclaren (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport           
DQ Jiri Pospisil (Cze) Stevens Racing Team                       
DNF Ivan Dominguez (Cub) Health Net pb Maxxis                    
DNF Greg Reain (Can) Stevens Racing Team                         
DNF Peter Presslauer (Aut) Stevens Racing Team                   
DNF Lee Rosenthal (USA) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology                 
DNF Alex Ferrero (USA) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology                  
DNF Jonathan Swain (USA) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology                
DNF Adam Hodges Myerson (USA) Team Nerac.com                     
DNF Ari De Wilde (USA) Team Nerac.com                            
DNF John Hanson (USA) Team Nerac.com                             
DNF Jesse Lawler (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari                    
DNF Thaddeus Dulin (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari                  
DNF Jeffrey Hansen (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport           
DNF Philippe Abbott (Can) Canadian National Team                 
DNF Andrew Randell (Can) Canadian National Team                  
DNF Pierre-Olivier Boily (Can) Equipe du Quebec                  
DNF Jean-François Racine (Can) Equipe du Quebec                  
DNF Kane Oakley (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com                       
DNF Alexandre Lavallée (Can) Volkswagen-Trek                     
DNF Alexandre Cloutier (Can) Volkswagen-Trek                     
DNF Adam McClouine (Can) Yeti                                    
DNF Thorben Wieditz (Ger) Yeti                                   
 
Teams
 
1 Paged - MBK - Scout                                    15.00.03
2 Navigators Insurance                                           
3 Symmetrics Cycling                                             
4 Health Net pb Maxxis                                       1.36
5 Canada National Team                                      17.29
6 Equipe Du Quebec                                          18.59
7 Team Cyclingnews.com                                           
8 Volkswagen Trek                                           21.29
9 Amore & Vita – Beretta                                    22.09
10 Italpasta - Transport Belmire C.C.                       34.46
11 Jittery Joe's - Kalahari                                 52.09
12 Stevens Racing                                                
13 Yeti                                                   1.10.22
14 CRCA/Sakonnet Technology                               1.10.46
General classification after stage 2
 
1 Dominique Rollin (Can) Equipe du Quebec                 9.14.57
2 Mark Walters (Can) Navigators Insurance                    0.15
3 Jeff Louder (USA) Navigators Insurance                     0.16
4 Dawid Krupa (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout                      0.19
5 John Lieswyn (USA) Health Net pb Maxxis                    0.20
6 Svein Tuft (Can) Symmetrics                                    
7 Glen Alan Chadwick (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com              0.28
8 Kacper Sowinski (Pol) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska          1.11
9 Brandon Crichton (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport       1.17
10 Jacob Erker (Can) Symmetrics                                  
11 Krzysztof Mermer (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout                    
12 Wojciech Kalemba (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout                    
13 Eric Wohlberg (Can) Symmetrics                                
14 Mike Jones (USA) Health Net pb Maxxis                         
15 Nathan O'Neill (Aus) Navigators Insurance                     
16 David O'Loughlin (Irl) Navigators Insurance               2.01
17 Cameron Jennings (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com               2.53
18 Dominique Perras (Can) Canadian National Team                 
19 Doug Ollerenshaw (USA) Health Net pb Maxxis                   
20 Jean-François Laroche (Can) Equipe du Quebec                  
21 Jean-Sébastien Maheu (Can) Volkswagen-Trek                    
22 Christian Meier (Can) Symmetrics                          5.14
23 Charles Dionne (Can) Canadian National Team               6.03
24 Kimmo Kananen (Fin) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska               
25 Mike Sayers (USA) Health Net pb Maxxis                    7.21
26 Kevin Lacombe (Can) Volkswagen-Trek                      10.03
27 Martin Gilbert (Can) Volkswagen-Trek                     11.14
28 Cesar Grajales (Col) Navigators Insurance                12.24
29 Justin England (USA) Health Net pb Maxxis                     
30 Cory Lange (Can) Symmetrics                                   
31 Domenico Passuello (Ita) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska     17.39
32 Tom Barras (GBr) Team Cyclingnews.com                    17.43
33 Przemyslaw Mikolajczyk (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout         17.53
34 Vassili Davidenko (Rus) Navigators Insurance             18.38
35 Jonathan Sundt (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari              18.39
36 Alexandre Nadeau (Can) Equipe du Quebec                  18.40
37 Mathieu Roy (Can) Equipe du Quebec                            
38 Timothy Johnson (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari                  
39 Finn Heitmann (Ger) Stevens Racing Team                       
40 Bruno Langlois (Can) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari                   
41 Evan Elken (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari                       
42 Cory Jay (Can) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology                       
43 Richard Bowker (NZl) Italpasta - Belmire Transport            
44 Craig Wilcox (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari                     
45 Tomasz Lesniak (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout                      
46 Luc Dionne (Can) Yeti                                         
47 Raphaël Tremblay (Can) Volkswagen-Trek                        
48 Jens Schwedler (Ger) Stevens Racing Team                      
49 Oleg Grichkine (Rus) Navigators Insurance                     
50 Nat Faulkner (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport              
51 Sven De Weerdt (Bel) Team Cyclingnews.com                     
52 Max Plaxton (Can) Canadian National Team                      
53 Bradley Fairall (Can) Symmetrics                              
54 Chris Isaac (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport               
55 Jamie Burrow (GBr) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska                
56 Claudio Bartoli (Ita) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska             
57 Chris Kuhl (USA) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology                     
58 Christian Heule (Swi) Stevens Racing Team                     
59 Martin St-Laurent (Can) Volkswagen-Trek                       
60 Leigh Palmer (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com                       
61 Jeremy Vennell (NZl) Team Cyclingnews.com                     
62 Dustin Macburnie (Can) Yeti                                   
63 Andrew Pinfold (Can) Symmetrics                          19.00
64 Jean-Sébastien Béland (Can) Equipe du Quebec             28.14
65 Ryan Roth (Can) Canadian National Team                   30.37
66 Peter Morse (Can) Yeti                                   36.53
67 Zach Bell (Can) Canadian National Team                   37.43
68 Michael Norton (USA) Team Nerac.com                      41.51
69 Alex Richer (Can) Yeti                                   56.12
70 Daniel Maclaren (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport    1.17.02
 
Points classification
 
1 Dominique Rollin (Can) Equipe du Quebec                      33 pts
2 Jeff Louder (USA) Navigators Insurance                       24
3 Dawid Krupa (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout                        21
4 Martin Gilbert (Can) Volkswagen-Trek                         18
5 Mark Walters (Can) Navigators Insurance                      17
6 Kacper Sowinski (Pol) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska            14
7 Domenico Passuello (Ita) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska         13
8 John Lieswyn (USA) Health Net pb Maxxis                      13
9 Glen Alan Chadwick (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com                11
10 Krzysztof Mermer (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout                  11
11 Jacob Erker (Can) Symmetrics                                10
12 Tom Barras (GBr) Team Cyclingnews.com                       10
13 Brandon Crichton (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport         9
14 Svein Tuft (Can) Symmetrics                                  8
15 David O'Loughlin (Irl) Navigators Insurance                  7
16 Wojciech Kalemba (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout                   6
17 Nathan O'Neill (Aus) Navigators Insurance                    5
18 Mike Jones (USA) Health Net pb Maxxis                        4
19 Vassili Davidenko (Rus) Navigators Insurance                 3
20 Jean-Sébastien Béland (Can) Equipe du Quebec                 3
21 Eric Wohlberg (Can) Symmetrics                               2
22 Przemyslaw Mikolajczyk (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout             2
23 Jonathan Sundt (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari                  1
 
Mountains classification
 
1 Wojciech Kalemba (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout                   30 pts
2 Mike Jones (USA) Health Net pb Maxxis                        22
3 Krzysztof Mermer (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout                   12
4 Cesar Grajales (Col) Navigators Insurance                    11
5 Jean-Sébastien Béland (Can) Equipe du Quebec                 10
6 Glen Alan Chadwick (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com                 9
7 Jiri Pospisil (Cze) Stevens Racing Team                       8
8 Dawid Krupa (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout                         7
9 Doug Ollerenshaw (USA) Health Net pb Maxxis                   7
10 Dominique Rollin (Can) Equipe du Quebec                      6
11 John Lieswyn (USA) Health Net pb Maxxis                      5
12 Mark Walters (Can) Navigators Insurance                      5
13 Jeff Louder (USA) Navigators Insurance                       5
14 Nathan O'Neill (Aus) Navigators Insurance                    5
15 Kacper Sowinski (Pol) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska            4
16 Jeffrey Hansen (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport           3
17 Brandon Crichton (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport         2
18 Svein Tuft (Can) Symmetrics                                  1
19 Chris Isaac (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport              1
 
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