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Tour of Britain - 2.1
Great Britain, August 29-September 3, 2006
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Stage 4 - September 1: Wolverhampton to Birmingham, 130.3km
Belgian breaks locals' hearts in Birmingham
By Gerry McManus in Birmingham
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Frederik Willems (Chocolade Jacques-Topsport) proved the quickest on the Tour of Britain's shortest stage from Wolverhampton to Birmingham on Friday. Willems also broke many British hearts when he escaped from Britain's Mark Cavendish (T-Mobile) and Paul Manning (Landbouwkredit-Colnago) in the final run in to the city centre. The British duo finished second and third respectively.
Martin Pedersen (CSC) came home safely in the bunch some five minutes later but that was enough to keep the leader's yellow jersey and bring it down to the Kent countryside for the penultimate stage on Saturday. Russell Downing (DFL-Cyclingnews.com-Litespeed) rode a controlled race and ensured he kept the green points jersey, taking third in the bunch sprint and finished 11th in the stage - but now has Cavendish hot on his heels, only a point behind the Doncaster rider.
How it unfolded
The shortest stage in the race was likely to be the quickest and the action started after five miles when a group of four slipped away. Casper Jorgensen (Denmark), Simon Clarke (South Australia.com-AIS), Geraint Thomas (GB) and Ben Swift (GB) went clear and were no danger to the overall GC. They were joined by Willems, Andy Schleck (CSC) Wilfred Cretskens (QuickStep-Innergetic) and Rene Weissinger (Barloworld), but the bunch closed them down after they had a short spell of freedom.
The race headed further out of town reaching speeds of 50 miles an hour on one of the descents. A new breakaway group broke the elastic from the main field containing Brits Thomas, Cavendish, Rob Partridge (Recycling.co.uk) and Manning with Willems, Johan Van Summeren (Davitamon-Lotto), Cameron Jennings (DFL-Cyclingnews.com) and Juan Manuel Garate (QuickStep-Innergetic).
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Their lead grew slowly from 50 metres to 40 seconds then just over a minute on the flat race route, then shot up sharply as the bunch let them slip away. The gap grew to 3'20 after only 20km of racing and CSC were keeping the pace of the bunch at a respectable tempo.
The leaders didn't contest the sprint at Gnosall and they continued to share the pace equally, with no turns missed in their through-and-off exercise. Barloworld and Skil Shimano had joined forces at the front of the peloton to chase the leaders. There was no repeat of the previous days' bad weather as the temperature grew to 22C and the sun kept the spectators warm.
The riders bumped their way through Shugborough Park, exceeding the speed limit and jumping over the 'speeding policemen.' The leaders didn't contest the KOM at Cannock Chase, but Panaria led the bunch up the third category climb as they put the hammer down and the lead came down to 2'53. But the lead went back up just as quickly and the slowing bunch let the eight leaders slip further from their grasp. The main field was running out of road and the lead went over five minutes.
In the closing miles, Van Summeren was the first to break clear from the leaders with Jennings close behind, but they only managed to get a 30-metre break. Cavendish was the known sprinter in the break and none of the others wanted to bring him to the finish line. Manning and Willems saw an opportunity and grasped it with both hands with Cavendish chasing but not making ground.
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Cavendish almost made it across to the leaders as the finish line loomed and suddenly there was confusion at the last roundabout. There were no signs on the roundabout to indicate which way round to go, so Willems went one way and Cavendish followed him about 15 metres behind. Manning had gone the long way round and lost his chance of victory. Cavendish went eyeballs out but had to be content with second place ahead of Manning. Willems' celebration as he took the chequered flag was muted.
Francesco Chicchi (QuickStep-Innergetic) won the bunch sprint some five minutes back. The recorded race speed was almost 28mph, as Andy Schleck (CSC) retained the mountains jersey and Johan Van Summeren (Davitamon-Lotto) still leads the sprints competition.
The race now has the Tour's biggest transfer, 130 miles south to Rochester for Saturday's stage to Canterbury.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Gerry McManus/www.gerrymcmanus.co.uk
- Frederick Willems (Chocloade Jaques - Topsport) wins the stage with Mark Cavendish (T Mobile) in second
- The eight-man winning break in action
- The winning break is started early in the race
- Pederson sprays the crowd
- Jennings consults with DS Eric Vandaerarden
- The yellow jersey tucks in behind his CSC teammates
- CSC drive the bunch
- Skil Shimano and Barloworld get to the front to try to pull the break back
- Schleck leads the KOM competition
Images by Richard O'Brien
- Frederik Willems (Chocolade Jacques) seemed very relaxed at the start of the race, did he know that he would win the stage at the end?
- Michael Markov (Denmark) talks to the team car to discuss tactics and get supplies for his team mates.
- The yellow jersey of Martin Pedersen (CSC) chases back to peloton after visiting team car.
- Alex Rasmussen (Denmark) comes back to the team car to get more water.
- The peloton rides through the hills around Stafford to try and bring the lead group back.
- Dane Martin Pederson (CSC) celebrates another day in yellow.
- Dane Martin Pederson (CSC) sprays champagne on the podium.
Results
1 Frederik Willems (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport 2.54.12 2 Mark Cavendish (GBr) T-Mobile 0.02 3 Paul Manning (GBr) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 0.06 4 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) QuickStep-Innergetic 0.13 5 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Great Britain 0.15 6 Cameron Jennings (Aus) DFL-Cycling News-Litespeed 0.19 7 Rob Partridge (GBr) Recycling.co.uk 0.28 8 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Davitamon Lotto 0.31 9 Francesco Chicchi (Ita) QuickStep-Innergetic 5.20 10 Kenny Lisabeth (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport 11 Russell Downing (GBr) DFL-Cycling News-Litespeed 12 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 13 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport 14 Ross Sander (GBr) Great Britain 15 Roger Hammond (GBr) Great Britain 16 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Skil-Shimano 17 Andy Cappelle (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 18 Michael Morkov (Den) Denmark 19 Mirko Allegrini (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 20 Michael Rogers (Aus) T-Mobile 21 Kristan House (GBr) Recycling.co.uk 22 Luke Roberts (Aus) CSC 23 Edward Clancy (GBr) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 24 Nico Mattan (Bel) Davitamon Lotto 25 Jakob Piil (Den) CSC 26 Luis Pasamontes (Spa) Unibet.com 27 Nick Nuyens (Bel) QuickStep-Innergetic 28 Evan Oliphant (GBr) Recycling.co.uk 29 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) QuickStep-Innergetic 30 Jonas Ljungblad (Swe) Unibet.com 31 Erwin Thijs (Bel) Unibet.com 32 Hugo Sabido (Por) Barloworld 33 Alex Rasmussen (Den) Denmark 34 Ian Stannard (GBr) Great Britain 35 Ben Swift (GBr) Great Britain 36 Piet Rooijakkers (Ned) Skil-Shimano 37 Bert Roesems (Bel) Davitamon Lotto 38 Robert Hunter (RSA) Phonak iShares 39 Andy Schleck (Lux) CSC 40 Karsten Kroon (Ned) CSC 41 Martin Pedersen (Den) CSC 42 Dean Downing (GBr) DFL-Cycling News-Litespeed 43 Ben Greenwood (GBr) Recycling.co.uk 44 Christian Vandevelde (USA) CSC 45 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) QuickStep-Innergetic 46 Patrik Sinkewitz (Ger) T-Mobile 47 Andrew Tennant (GBr) Great Britain 48 Simon Clarke (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 49 Mads Christensen (Den) Barloworld 50 Frederik Veuchulen (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport 51 Axel Merckx (Bel) Phonak iShares 52 Andre Steensen (Den) Denmark 53 Aart Vierhouten (Ned) Skil-Shimano 54 Johann Tschopp (Swi) Phonak iShares 55 Koen Barbe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport 56 Nick Gates (Aus) Davitamon Lotto 57 Ryan Cox (RSA) Barloworld 58 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Unibet.com 59 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Barloworld 60 Tom Boonen (Bel) QuickStep-Innergetic 61 Matteo Priamo (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 62 Mathew Lloyd (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 63 Patrick McCarty (USA) Phonak iShares 64 Enrico Degano (Ita) Barloworld 65 Floris Goesinnen (Ned) Skil-Shimano 66 Rene Weissinger (Ger) Skil-Shimano 67 Alex Coutts (GBr) DFL-Cycling News-Litespeed 68 James Meadley (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 69 Brett Lancaster (Aus) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 70 Casper Jorgensen (Den) Denmark 71 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Davitamon Lotto 72 Christopher Newton (GBr) Recycling.co.uk 73 Matthias Kessler (Ger) T-Mobile 74 Robin Sharman (GBr) Recycling.co.uk 75 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) Unibet.com 5.37 76 Shaun Higgerson (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 77 Tom Barras (GBr) DFL-Cycling News-Litespeed 78 Jonathon Clarke (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS Sprints Gnosall 1 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Davitamon Lotto 5 pts 2 Frederik Willems (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport 3 3 Cameron Jennings (Aus) DFL-Cycling News-Litespeed 2 4 Paul Manning (GBr) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 1 Leomansley 1 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Davitamon Lotto 5 pts 2 Frederik Willems (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport 3 3 Paul Manning (GBr) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 2 4 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) QuickStep-Innergetic 1 Great Barr 1 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Davitamon Lotto 5 pts 2 Rob Partridge (GBr) Recycling.co.uk 3 3 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) QuickStep-Innergetic 2 4 Frederik Willems (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport 1 Mountains KOM Cat 3: Cannock Chase 1 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) QuickStep-Innergetic 5 pts 2 Cameron Jennings (Aus) DFL-Cycling News-Litespeed 3 3 Mark Cavendish (GBr) T-Mobile 2 4 Rob Partridge (GBr) Recycling.co.uk 1 Combativity 1 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Davitamon Lotto Teams 1 Chocolade Jacques-Topsport 8.53.16 2 T-Mobile 0.02 3 Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 0.06 4 QuickStep-Innergetic 0.13 5 Great Britain 0.15 6 DFL-Cycling News-Litespeed 0.19 7 Recycling.co.uk 0.28 8 Davitamon Lotto 0.31 9 CSC 5.20 10 Unibet.com 11 Denmark 12 Skil-Shimano 13 Barloworld 14 Phonak iShares 15 Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 16 South Australia.com-AIS General classification after stage 4 1 Martin Pedersen (Den) CSC 15.25.56 2 Luis Pasamontes (Spa) Unibet.com 0.51 3 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) QuickStep-Innergetic 2.11 4 Michael Rogers (Aus) T-Mobile 2.46 5 Nick Nuyens (Bel) QuickStep-Innergetic 2.47 6 Johann Tschopp (Swi) Phonak iShares 2.55 7 Andy Schleck (Lux) CSC 3.02 8 Russell Downing (GBr) DFL-Cycling News-Litespeed 3.21 9 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport 3.23 10 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Skil-Shimano 3.25 11 Mirko Allegrini (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 3.29 12 Kristan House (GBr) Recycling.co.uk 3.31 13 Piet Rooijakkers (Ned) Skil-Shimano 3.33 14 Karsten Kroon (Ned) CSC 15 Hugo Sabido (Por) Barloworld 3.34 16 Andy Cappelle (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 3.35 17 Erwin Thijs (Bel) Unibet.com 18 Patrik Sinkewitz (Ger) T-Mobile 19 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Unibet.com 3.47 20 Roger Hammond (GBr) Great Britain 4.15 21 Luke Roberts (Aus) CSC 4.21 22 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 4.25 23 Michael Morkov (Den) Denmark 4.39 24 Ian Stannard (GBr) Great Britain 5.15 25 Robert Hunter (RSA) Phonak iShares 7.53 26 Ryan Cox (RSA) Barloworld 27 Jakob Piil (Den) CSC 15.19 28 Mark Cavendish (GBr) T-Mobile 16.19 29 Simon Clarke (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 18.08 30 Aart Vierhouten (Ned) Skil-Shimano 21.40 31 Kenny Lisabeth (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport 21.43 32 Floris Goesinnen (Ned) Skil-Shimano 33 Tom Boonen (Bel) QuickStep-Innergetic 21.46 34 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) QuickStep-Innergetic 35 Andrew Tennant (GBr) Great Britain 22.29 36 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Davitamon Lotto 25.38 37 Frederik Willems (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport 26.10 38 Paul Manning (GBr) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 26.18 39 Cameron Jennings (Aus) DFL-Cycling News-Litespeed 26.35 40 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Davitamon Lotto 26.40 41 Rob Partridge (GBr) Recycling.co.uk 26.53 42 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Great Britain 27.06 43 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) QuickStep-Innergetic 30.21 44 Francesco Chicchi (Ita) QuickStep-Innergetic 31.37 45 Alex Rasmussen (Den) Denmark 46 Dean Downing (GBr) DFL-Cycling News-Litespeed 47 Bert Roesems (Bel) Davitamon Lotto 48 Koen Barbe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport 49 Jonas Ljungblad (Swe) Unibet.com 50 Andre Steensen (Den) Denmark 51 Brett Lancaster (Aus) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 52 Evan Oliphant (GBr) Recycling.co.uk 31.47 53 Nico Mattan (Bel) Davitamon Lotto 54 Enrico Degano (Ita) Barloworld 55 Frederik Veuchulen (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport 56 Nick Gates (Aus) Davitamon Lotto 57 Christian Vandevelde (USA) CSC 58 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Barloworld 59 Ben Greenwood (GBr) Recycling.co.uk 60 James Meadley (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 61 Axel Merckx (Bel) Phonak iShares 62 Robin Sharman (GBr) Recycling.co.uk 63 Patrick McCarty (USA) Phonak iShares 64 Mads Christensen (Den) Barloworld 65 Alex Coutts (GBr) DFL-Cycling News-Litespeed 66 Mathew Lloyd (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 67 Matthias Kessler (Ger) T-Mobile 68 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) Unibet.com 32.04 69 Tom Barras (GBr) DFL-Cycling News-Litespeed 70 Shaun Higgerson (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 71 Casper Jorgensen (Den) Denmark 32.11 72 Ben Swift (GBr) Great Britain 33.17 73 Edward Clancy (GBr) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 33.20 74 Matteo Priamo (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 33.26 75 Jonathon Clarke (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 34.09 76 Ross Sander (GBr) Great Britain 34.42 77 Christopher Newton (GBr) Recycling.co.uk 37.01 78 Rene Weissinger (Ger) Skil-Shimano 38.20 Points classification 1 Russell Downing (GBr) DFL-Cycling News-Litespeed 36 pts 2 Mark Cavendish (GBr) T-Mobile 35 3 Francesco Chicchi (Ita) QuickStep-Innergetic 29 4 Martin Pedersen (Den) CSC 27 5 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) QuickStep-Innergetic 26 6 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 23 7 Roger Hammond (GBr) Great Britain 21 8 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport 16 9 Alex Rasmussen (Den) Denmark 16 10 Frederik Willems (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport 15 11 Luis Pasamontes (Spa) Unibet.com 14 12 Michael Rogers (Aus) T-Mobile 14 13 Nick Nuyens (Bel) QuickStep-Innergetic 14 14 Aart Vierhouten (Ned) Skil-Shimano 14 15 Paul Manning (GBr) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 13 16 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) QuickStep-Innergetic 12 17 Enrico Degano (Ita) Barloworld 12 18 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) Unibet.com 12 19 Johann Tschopp (Swi) Phonak iShares 11 20 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Great Britain 11 21 Andy Schleck (Lux) CSC 10 22 Cameron Jennings (Aus) DFL-Cycling News-Litespeed 10 23 Rob Partridge (GBr) Recycling.co.uk 9 24 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Davitamon Lotto 8 25 Mirko Allegrini (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 7 26 Kenny Lisabeth (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport 7 27 Rene Weissinger (Ger) Skil-Shimano 7 28 Kristan House (GBr) Recycling.co.uk 6 29 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Skil-Shimano 5 30 Piet Rooijakkers (Ned) Skil-Shimano 5 31 Karsten Kroon (Ned) CSC 4 32 Erwin Thijs (Bel) Unibet.com 3 33 Luke Roberts (Aus) CSC 3 34 Hugo Sabido (Por) Barloworld 2 35 Dean Downing (GBr) DFL-Cycling News-Litespeed 2 36 Ross Sander (GBr) Great Britain 2 37 Andy Cappelle (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 1 Mountains classification 1 Andy Schleck (Lux) CSC 31 pts 2 Bert Roesems (Bel) Davitamon Lotto 24 3 Ben Greenwood (GBr) Recycling.co.uk 24 4 Martin Pedersen (Den) CSC 23 5 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Davitamon Lotto 19 6 Luis Pasamontes (Spa) Unibet.com 9 7 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 8 8 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) QuickStep-Innergetic 7 9 Nick Nuyens (Bel) QuickStep-Innergetic 6 10 Karsten Kroon (Ned) CSC 6 11 Luke Roberts (Aus) CSC 6 12 Hugo Sabido (Por) Barloworld 5 13 Jakob Piil (Den) CSC 5 14 Christian Vandevelde (USA) CSC 5 15 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) QuickStep-Innergetic 4 16 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Unibet.com 4 17 Cameron Jennings (Aus) DFL-Cycling News-Litespeed 3 18 Matthias Kessler (Ger) T-Mobile 3 19 Michael Rogers (Aus) T-Mobile 2 20 Mark Cavendish (GBr) T-Mobile 2 21 Axel Merckx (Bel) Phonak iShares 2 Sprints classification 1 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Davitamon Lotto 25 pts 2 Martin Pedersen (Den) CSC 18 3 Nick Nuyens (Bel) QuickStep-Innergetic 7 4 Luke Roberts (Aus) CSC 7 5 Frederik Willems (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport 7 6 Luis Pasamontes (Spa) Unibet.com 7 7 Bert Roesems (Bel) Davitamon Lotto 6 8 Michael Rogers (Aus) T-Mobile 5 9 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) QuickStep-Innergetic 3 10 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport 3 11 Rob Partridge (GBr) Recycling.co.uk 3 12 Paul Manning (GBr) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 3 13 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) QuickStep-Innergetic 3 14 Hugo Sabido (Por) Barloworld 2 15 Cameron Jennings (Aus) DFL-Cycling News-Litespeed 2 16 Piet Rooijakkers (Ned) Skil-Shimano 1 17 Karsten Kroon (Ned) CSC 1 18 Floris Goesinnen (Ned) Skil-Shimano 1 19 Christian Vandevelde (USA) CSC 1 Teams classification 1 CSC 46.24.42 2 Unibet.com 1.19 3 QuickStep-Innergetic 15.03 4 T-Mobile 16.01 5 Great Britain 18.58 6 Skil-Shimano 21.47 7 Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 27.29 8 Phonak iShares 35.41 9 Barloworld 36.21 10 Chocolade Jacques-Topsport 44.31 11 DFL-Cycling News-Litespeed 54.44 12 Recycling.co.uk 55.19 13 Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 59.59 14 Denmark 1.00.59 15 South Australia.com-AIS 1.12.12 16 Davitamon Lotto 1.13.25
