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20th Tour de Beauce Bell - 2.2
Canada, June 14-19, 2005
Main Page Results Overall standings Stage Details Next Stage
Stage 1 - June 14: Saint-Georges - Saint-Georges, 169 km
Local lad comes good
By Matt Hansen in St Georges
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Following in the footsteps of a fellow Quebec cyclist Geneviève Jeanson (who two weeks ago won the Montreal World Cup), Martin Gilbert (Volkswagen-Trek) has shown up an international field, winning the first stage of the Tour de Beauce Bell.
Before the stage, former Canadian champion and 2002 USPRO championship winner Mark Walters said that his team was happy with the new changes to the event - meaning, the deletion of the Mont Megantic stage. "It's good for guys like me. Now the focus will be on the time trial - and I think the race will resemble a race like the Four Days of Dunkirk."
These sentiments were echoed by 2003 Beauce winner John Lieswyn (Health Net). "Yeah, still a tough race but I think the TT will be crucial. It's great to be back here." Tim Johnson, leading his Jittery Joe's team, was pleased to be back in his native (sort of) land. "Yeah, this is my pseudo-homeland," Johnson said, who's married to pro cyclist Lyne Bessette. "So I hope to do well here. It's always a tough race, and not one where you can sit in the peloton and relax. You've got to be focused and there's definitely no ‘home field advantage' for me here. But I'm stoked."
How it unfolded
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The 169km stage began in downtown St. Georges under grey skies and calm winds and with all eyes seemed to be on the two American squads, Navigators and Health Net, the pace was pedestrian in the first hour.
The action did get under way, sort of, with another Quebec rider, Jean Sebastien Beland, taking advantage of the slow pace. Subsequently, Tomasz Lesniak (Paged-MBK-Scout) rode away, followed shortly thereafter by cyclo-crosser Jiri Pospisil (Stevens). For a while, there was a strange-looking three man individual pursuit, with Béland content to ride all by himself, as Pospisil attempted to bridge. Finally, Lesniak decided to drop back to the group and Pospisil caught Béland. But it all came back for the first GPM where the wind and rain picked up and soon there was a flurry of attacks, with riders like Navigators Nathan O'Neill testing his legs in a few solo launches. After 80k ridden, the pack was together again; Sprinter Ivan Dominguez tried his hand, marked by Irish Champion David O'Loughlin, the latter of whom was definitely looking strong. The green and white Navigators man would be seen marking virtually all the moves, including the ultimate winning one.
Before the winning move broke, and with Health Net and Navigators marking each other (and the rest of the field happy to watch), it was Alexandre Cloutier (Trek-VW) who took advantage of the infighting, attacking hard with under a hundred km ridden. The pack took a breather, and in a few kilometres, the trackie/roadie had over three minutes advantage. Cloutier would stay solo for 20-odd kilometres, and his move paid off: The winning break of the day would form and join him at the 113km mark. In the move were some heavy hitters, including Lieswyn, Walters, Jeff Louder (Navigators) and O'Loughlin. Joining them were Domenico Passuello (Amore & Vita – Beretta), David Krupa and Przemyslaw Mikolajczyk (both Paged-MBK-Scout), Svein Tuft (Symmetrics), Dom Rollin (Quebec), Tom Barras (cyclingnews.com) and Thorben Wieditz (Le Yéti).
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With most of the big teams represented, the pack seemed content to let it ride. A small counter with three Health Net riders eager to join Lieswyn seemed like it might make it up to the lead break, but that too was eventually caught. So it was up to Lieswyn, the sole Health Net rider - something he didn't exactly expect when he started the stage. "I didn't even think I'd make it past the five-mile mark. I arrived here late last night, 2:30am, and was still very sore in my hamstring that I pulled at Nature Valley. I didn't warm up and was happy that the race was slowgoing at the start. It took a few hours for me to even be able to sit on the seat properly."
It became clear that the 13-strong breakaway was the move of the day. Navigators, knowing that the advantage was theirs, made sure to drive the escape, which at one point had almost two-and-a-half minute advantage. But there was still one more rider to join the gang at the front. With only one Cyclingnews.com rider in the move (Tom Barras), Glen Chadwick took a flyer that initially seemed quite futile; the winning break was well up the road. But Chadwick persevered and by the 145th km, he joined the boys at the front.
The rolling hills toward the finish seemed to lend themselves to a few riders who might launch from the break - Navigators took full advantage of their numbers and sent one rider after another - but each time they were marked by the impressive Lieswyn. O'Loughlin showed his strength again with a fast chaseback after a bike change at kilometre 153. As the break came closer to St. Georges, and the finish, their gap started coming down. Health Net, knowing that one was not enough - even if it was their leader, took to the front, aided by the Canadian National team (who missed the break), and a lone Jittery Joe's rider.
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As the break hit the final few corners of the race, it was clear that risk-taking might be in order to take the win - and Martin Gilbert gassed through the final corner, and seeing he had a gap - kept pushing hard for the final few hundred metres. "I jumped, and didn't know I even had a gap until I looked back. I felt good today but it was still a surprise. I'm really happy." His compatriot, Dom Rollin blasted in for second. "The Navigators guys seemed scared around the corners - I guess they don't want to crash, since they had their G.C. guys there. But Martin just hit it with two corners to go and held it. It's a great day for us."
Navigator's director sportif Ed Beamon was pleased with the day, despite not taking the stage. His team more or less drove the move, he explained, since toward the end half of the break wasn't co-operating. "Then we tried to set Mark up for the sprint, because he's got a fast kick, but yeah, maybe they got spooked a little there because they are thinking of the week as a whole. Martin really bombed through the corner and took a good win." What about Lieswyn? "Oh, he's definitely a threat with the TT later in the week. He was impressive following the moves, he looks strong even though he arrived here last night from Nature Valley."
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Lieswyn added that it was apropos that a rider on a local team took the stage. That also meant that neither Health Net nor Navigators needed to defend the lead tomorrow. "It's always tough to have to defend the race from the second stage, so I was more interested in safety, really. I just rolled in with the tail of the break."
The Tour de Beauce Bell continues tomorrow with a 180km stage in Lac-Etchemin.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Matt Hansen/matthewhansen.net
- Health Net's steeds before the stage start in St Georges
- The Navigators Colnagos await their riders near the Mavic support trucks
- The Mavic neutral support fleet all ready for a busy day
- Mark Walters (Navigators) appears to be pretty relaxed before the start
- Team Cyclingnews gather before the start
- Joviality is part of the game at Team Cyclingnews
- Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics) won here in 1995 and has a chat before the start
- Nat Faulkner and Jeff Hansen (Italpasta) looking pretty happy before the start, despite the cool conditions
- Team Cyclingnews are presented before the start in St Georges
- Kane Oakley (Team Cyclingnews) rides close to the race car in the wet weather
- The opening pace was pretty slow as the weather and tactics kept riders' cards close to their chests
- Glen Chadwick (Team Cyclingnews) solos to the break
- The conditions were less than ideal for riders on the first stage
Images by Tour de Beauce
- Nerac.com riders sign autographs at the start
- Navigators riders meet the public
- Symmetrics riders ready to start
- Stevens Racing Team riders meet the people
- Italpasta - Belmire Transport riders
- Jittery Joes and VW-Trek all looking very orange before the start
- The peloton cruises along early in the stage
- The peloton
- Follow that moto! A couple of riders ham it up a little for the TV cameras.
- Things begin to liven up
- Jiri Pospisil (Stevens) working hard
- Jiri Pospisil (Stevens) crossed over dirt to lead the early break
- Navigators leads the chase
- Roadside fans cheer on the break
- The break hammers through some rolling countryside
- The peloton snakes through the countryside
- Jonathan Sundt (Jittery Joe's-Kalahari) gives chase
- Jonathan Sundt (Jittery Joe's-Kalahari) gets down and aero
- The break echelons in the wind
- Breakaway riders jockey for position.
- The breakaway on a gloomy day into Saint-Georges
- Martin Gilbert (Volkswagen-Trek) wins the first stage
- Martin Gilbert (Volkswagen-Trek) is pretty ahappy with things
- Stage winner Martin Gilbert discusses the win.
- The Volkswagon-Trek team
- Dominique Rollin (Equipe du Quebec) shows off the white jersey
- Martin Gilbert (Volkswagen-Trek) is the race leader after the first stage
- Jean-Sébastien Béland (Equipe du Quebec) in the mountains jersey after stage 1
- Kevin Lacombe (Volkswagen-Trek) wears the red jersey
Results
1 Martin Gilbert (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 4.15.15 (39.72 km/h) 2 Dominique Rollin (Can) Equipe du Quebec 3 Domenico Passuello (Ita) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 4 Thorben Wieditz (Ger) Yeti 5 Jeff Louder (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 6 Tom Barras (GBr) Team Cyclingnews.com 7 Mark Walters (Can) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 8 Dawid Krupa (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout 9 Svein Tuft (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 10 John Lieswyn (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 11 Alexandre Cloutier (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 12 David O'Loughlin (Irl) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 0.08 13 Glen Alan Chadwick (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com 14 Przemyslaw Mikolajczyk (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout 0.10 15 Vassili Davidenko (Rus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 0.57 16 Charles Dionne (Can) Canadian National Team 17 Ivan Dominguez (Cub) Health Net presented by Maxxis 18 Kevin Lacombe (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 19 Adam Hodges Myerson (USA) Team Nerac.com Professional Cycling 20 Pierre-Olivier Boily (Can) Equipe du Quebec 21 Alexandre Nadeau (Can) Equipe du Quebec 22 Mathieu Roy (Can) Equipe du Quebec 23 Greg Reain (Can) Stevens Racing Team 24 Evan Elken (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 25 Brandon Crichton* (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport 26 Peter Sanowar (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport 27 Craig Wilcox (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 28 Jacob Erker (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 29 Andrew Pinfold (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 30 Wojciech Kalemba (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout 31 Finn Heitmann (Ger) Stevens Racing Team 32 Timothy Johnson (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 33 Jonathan Sundt (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 34 Krzysztof Mermer (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout 35 Kimmo Kananen (Fin) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 36 Philippe Abbott (Can) Canadian National Team 37 Andrew Randell (Can) Canadian National Team 38 Cesar Grajales (Col) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 39 Cameron Jennings (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com 40 Oleg Grichkine (Rus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 41 Bruno Langlois (Can) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 42 Kacper Sowinski (Pol) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 43 Christian Meier (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 44 Tomasz Lesniak (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout 45 Raphaël Tremblay (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 46 Dominique Perras (Can) Canadian National Team 47 Max Plaxton (Can) Canadian National Team 48 Mike Sayers (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 49 Eric Wohlberg (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 50 Jens Schwedler (Ger) Stevens Racing Team 51 Mike Jones (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 52 Cory Jay (Can) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology 53 Doug Ollerenshaw (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 54 Peter Morse (Can) Yeti 55 Richard Bowker (NZl) Italpasta - Belmire Transport 56 Nat Faulkner (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport 57 Alexandre Lavallée (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 58 Justin England (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 59 Jean-François Laroche (Can) Equipe du Quebec 60 Bradley Fairall (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 61 Chris Isaac (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport 62 Luc Dionne (Can) Yeti 63 Nathan O'Neill (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 64 Jean-François Racine (Can) Equipe du Quebec 65 Chris Kuhl (USA) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology 66 Claudio Bartoli (Ita) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 67 Cory Lange (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 68 Sven De Weerdt (Bel) Team Cyclingnews.com 69 Jeffrey Hansen (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport 70 Martin St-Laurent (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 71 Jamie Burrow (GBr) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 72 Alex Richer (Can) Yeti 73 Thaddeus Dulin (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 74 Leigh Palmer (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com 75 Christian Heule (Swi) Stevens Racing Team 76 Jesse Lawler (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 77 Jean-Sébastien Maheu (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 78 Dustin Macburnie (Can) Yeti 79 Jeremy Vennell (NZl) Team Cyclingnews.com 80 Kane Oakley (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com 81 Peter Presslauer (Aut) Stevens Racing Team 82 Jean-Sébastien Béland (Can) Equipe du Quebec 10.34 83 Ryan Roth (Can) Canadian National Team 19.10 84 Jonathan Swain (USA) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology 20.00 85 Zach Bell (Can) Canadian National Team 86 Lee Rosenthal (USA) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology 87 Alex Ferrero (USA) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology 88 Adam Mcclouine (Can) Yeti 21.47 89 Daniel Maclaren (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport 90 Michael Norton (USA) Team Nerac.com Professional Cycling 24.08 91 John Hanson (USA) Team Nerac.com Professional Cycling 92 Johny Hayes (USA) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology 93 Ari De Wilde (USA) Team Nerac.com Professional Cycling 94 Jiri Pospisil (Cze) Stevens Racing Team DNF Cody Powell (USA) Team Nerac.com Professional Cycling DNF Duncan Seko (Ken) Yeti General classification after stage 1 1 Martin Gilbert (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 4.15.03 2 Dominique Rollin (Can) Equipe du Quebec 0.06 3 Domenico Passuello (Ita) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 0.09 4 Mark Walters (Can) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 0.11 5 Thorben Wieditz (Ger) Yeti 0.13 6 Jeff Louder (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 7 Tom Barras (GBr) Team Cyclingnews.com 8 Dawid Krupa (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout 9 Svein Tuft (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 10 John Lieswyn (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 11 Alexandre Cloutier (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 12 David O'Loughlin (Irl) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 0.21 13 Glen Alan Chadwick (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com 14 Przemyslaw Mikolajczyk (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout 0.23 15 Jonathan Sundt (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 1.09 16 Vassili Davidenko (Rus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 1.10 17 Charles Dionne (Can) Canadian National Team 18 Ivan Dominguez (Cub) Health Net presented by Maxxis 19 Kevin Lacombe (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 20 Adam Hodges Myerson (USA) Team Nerac.com Professional Cycling 21 Pierre-Olivier Boily (Can) Equipe du Quebec 22 Alexandre Nadeau (Can) Equipe du Quebec 23 Mathieu Roy (Can) Equipe du Quebec 24 Greg Reain (Can) Stevens Racing Team 25 Evan Elken (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 26 Brandon Crichton* (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport 27 Peter Sanowar (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport 28 Craig Wilcox (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 29 Jacob Erker (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 30 Wojciech Kalemba (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout 31 Finn Heitmann (Ger) Stevens Racing Team 32 Timothy Johnson (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 33 Krzysztof Mermer (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout 34 Kimmo Kananen (Fin) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 35 Philippe Abbott (Can) Canadian National Team 36 Andrew Randell (Can) Canadian National Team 37 Cesar Grajales (Col) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 38 Cameron Jennings (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com 39 Oleg Grichkine (Rus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 40 Bruno Langlois (Can) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 41 Kacper Sowinski (Pol) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 42 Christian Meier (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 43 Tomasz Lesniak (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout 44 Raphaël Tremblay (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 45 Dominique Perras (Can) Canadian National Team 46 Max Plaxton (Can) Canadian National Team 47 Mike Sayers (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 48 Eric Wohlberg (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 49 Jens Schwedler (Ger) Stevens Racing Team 50 Mike Jones (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 51 Cory Jay (Can) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology 52 Doug Ollerenshaw (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 53 Peter Morse (Can) Yeti 54 Richard Bowker (NZl) Italpasta - Belmire Transport 55 Nat Faulkner (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport 56 Alexandre Lavallée (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 57 Justin England (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 58 Jean-François Laroche (Can) Equipe du Quebec 59 Bradley Fairall (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 60 Chris Isaac (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport 61 Luc Dionne (Can) Yeti 62 Nathan O'Neill (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 63 Jean-François Racine (Can) Equipe du Quebec 64 Chris Kuhl (USA) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology 65 Claudio Bartoli (Ita) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 66 Cory Lange (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 67 Sven De Weerdt (Bel) Team Cyclingnews.com 68 Martin St-Laurent (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 69 Jamie Burrow (GBr) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 70 Alex Richer (Can) Yeti 71 Thaddeus Dulin (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 72 Leigh Palmer (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com 73 Christian Heule (Swi) Stevens Racing Team 74 Jesse Lawler (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 75 Jean-Sébastien Maheu (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 76 Dustin Macburnie (Can) Yeti 77 Jeremy Vennell (NZl) Team Cyclingnews.com 78 Kane Oakley (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com 79 Peter Presslauer (Aut) Stevens Racing Team 80 Andrew Pinfold (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 1.30 81 Jean-Sébastien Béland (Can) Equipe du Quebec 10.44 82 Ryan Roth (Can) Canadian National Team 19.23 83 Jonathan Swain (USA) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology 20.13 84 Zach Bell (Can) Canadian National Team 85 Lee Rosenthal (USA) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology 86 Alex Ferrero (USA) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology 87 Adam Mcclouine (Can) Yeti 22.00 88 Daniel Maclaren (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport 89 Jiri Pospisil (Cze) Stevens Racing Team 24.19 90 Michael Norton (USA) Team Nerac.com Professional Cycling 24.21 91 John Hanson (USA) Team Nerac.com Professional Cycling 92 Johny Hayes (USA) CRCA/Sakonnet Technology 93 Ari De Wilde (USA) Team Nerac.com Professional Cycling Points classification 1 Martin Gilbert (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 18 pts 2 Dominique Rollin (Can) Equipe du Quebec 15 3 Domenico Passuello (Ita) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 13 4 Thorben Wieditz (Ger) Yeti 12 5 Jeff Louder (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 11 6 Mark Walters (Can) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 11 7 Tom Barras (GBr) Team Cyclingnews.com 10 8 Dawid Krupa (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout 8 9 Svein Tuft (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 7 10 John Lieswyn (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 6 11 Alexandre Cloutier (Can) Volkswagen-Trek 5 12 David O'Loughlin (Irl) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 4 13 Jean-Sébastien Béland (Can) Equipe du Quebec 3 14 Glen Alan Chadwick (Aus) Team Cyclingnews.com 3 15 Przemyslaw Mikolajczyk (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout 2 16 Jiri Pospisil (Cze) Stevens Racing Team 2 17 Vassili Davidenko (Rus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 1 18 Jonathan Sundt (USA) Jittery Joe's-Kalahari 1 Mountains classification 1 Jean-Sébastien Béland (Can) Equipe du Quebec 10 pts 2 Jiri Pospisil (Cze) Stevens Racing Team 8 3 Dawid Krupa (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout 7 4 Cesar Grajales (Col) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 6 5 Dominique Rollin (Can) Equipe du Quebec 5 6 Wojciech Kalemba (Pol) Paged - MBK - Scout 5 7 Mike Jones (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 4 8 John Lieswyn (USA) Health Net presented by Maxxis 3 9 Kacper Sowinski (Pol) Amore & Vita-Beretta-Polska 3 10 Mark Walters (Can) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 2 11 Jeff Louder (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 2 12 Svein Tuft (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 1 13 Chris Isaac (Can) Italpasta - Belmire Transport 1 Teams classification 1 Navigators Insurance 12.45.56 2 Volkswagen Trek 0.49 3 Team Cyclingnews.com 0.57 4 Paged 0.59 5 Equipe Du Quebec 1.46 6 Symmetrics Cycling 2.06 7 Health Net Presented By Maxxis 1.46 8 Amore & Vita – Beretta 9 Yeti 10 The Jittery Joe's - Kalahari 2.43 11 Canada National Team 12 Stevens Racing 13 Italpasta - Transport Belmire C.C. 14 Crca/Sakonnet Techno 21.46 15 Team Nerac.Com 49.05
