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21st Tour de Beauce - 2.2
Canada, June 13-18, 2006
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Stage 4b - June 16: Centre-ville de St-George Critérium, 60 km
Faltus gets another Sparkasse win in Beauce criterium
By Mark Zalewski, North American Editor in Saint-Georges, Quebec
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Tonight's criterium was more of a race for fun than for keeps, as the overall classification would not be affected so long as everyone finished. The half-stage was to serve more as a thank you to the community for hosting the event, and a chance to earn some extra money. With the leaders all content to ride out of trouble the door was opened for the working riders to give their legs a spin, and after working hard yesterday for his teammate as race leader, Richard Faltus (Team Sparkasse) got his own moment, leading the entire final lap out of a break for the win.
"We had a talk on the radio during the race," Faltus said. "Parinussa was with me and we decided he would do the climb. Everyone thinks he is the strongest so maybe we can surprise everyone. Then I got a 100 meter gap." The decoy move might have been the reason Faltus got his jump, but Navigators Insurance's Canadian Mark Walters was not going to let him get away without a fight.
"When Faltus went I went with him. He had been biding his time. I just had to go. I ended up drag racing him on the back stretch but I spent a lot to catch up to him." Faltus was able to gain a gap on the back side which he held the rest of the way, giving him plenty of time to savour his win.
Coming with Walters was young Australian Wes Sulzberger (South Australia.com-AIS) who attacked trying to get the jump for second place. "I jumped on Walter's wheel, but I led it out too early," he said. "He came around me so I ducked back behind him, restarted my sprint and hit it again." He had gone early enough in order to correct his mistake, taking the sprint for second ahead of Walters.
Initiating this main break was Jittery Joe's-Zero Gravity's Australian Trent Wilson, who was quickly aided by Austin King. "I didn't want to be in the wind, but I saw an opportunity," said Wilson. "Austin came with me and then two more."
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"The climb wasn't bad if you hit it with enough speed," said King about the small but steep climb each lap. "When I attacked I was going into it at like 35 mph. Not long after Walters bridged with Jacob Erker (Symmetrics) and the two became four."
Six more riders bridged over the course of ten laps to make the break ten. "I was the last one to bridge," said Sulzberger. "It took the rest of the race for me to recover. My team-mate Peter Dawson chased every last attack at the end -- he did awesome."
While the break worked well together, the attacking did start near the end of the race. "We were the only ones attacking -- the only ones making it a real race," said Wilson. "I pretty much had a shadow all night."
"I was mostly covering attacks at the end with Ciaran," said Walters. "Downing looked strong and so did Wilson. A few tried to sit on but most everyone worked."
But a well-rested Faltus had taken many turns at the rear and used the saved-up energy to make the decisive move. I was sitting on a lot at the back resting near the end," he admitted.
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With no change of the overall possible, the main riders of the Tour de Beuace took it bit easier. Tomorrow's urban circuit race in Quebec City is sure to test the small gaps between the leaders.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Mark Zalewski/Cyclingnews.com
- Riders assemble for the start.
- Descending into the final turn of the 1.6km course.
- The field strung out on the descent.
- Edward King (Priority Health) corners in the pack.
- Trent Wilson (Jittery Joes-Zero Gravity) was active today, initiating the main break.
- Mark Walters (Navigators Insurance) and Jacob Erker (Symmetrics) bridge to Wilson and King.
- Two Aussies - Peter Dawson (South Australia.com-AIS) and Trent Wilson (Jittery Joes-Zero Gravity) ride in the break.
- British road champion Russel Downing (DFL-Cyclingnews-Litespeed) flys out of the field to bridge to the break.
- The break climbs.
- Greg Reain (Canadian National Team) flies his country's colours.
- Danny Pate (TIAA-CREF) is never shy.
- Austin King (Jittery Joes-Zero Gravity) leads the break into the first turn.
- Richard Flatus (Team Sparkasse) punched tickets at the back to save his energy for the finish.
- Japan's Aisan Racing Team gaining experience at the Tour de Beauce.
- Ciarian Power (Navigators Insurance) works in the break.
- KOM leader and third overall Sergey Lagutin (Navigators Insurance) had a relatively easy day in the field with the rest of the leaders.
- Glen Chadwick (Navigators Insurance) gets around the corner.
- David Harrigan (DFL-Cyclingnews-Litespeed) corners.
- Former race leader Stefan Parinussa (Team Sparkasse) was active today getting into the break.
- Candian champion and Québécois Francois Parisien (TIAA-CREF) is referred to as Frank by his yankee teammates.
- Austin King staying strong in the break.
- Fans found a variety of vantage points to watch the race.
- Faltus had plenty of time to celebrate, but still wanted to make sure.
- Richard Faltus (Team Sparkasse) takes the win.
- Sulzberger explains to teammate Miles Olman how he got his second place.
- The top three - Salzberger, Faltus and Walters.
Results
(Note: this stage does not count toward the GC) 1 Richard Faltus (Cze) Sparkasse 1.14.26 2 Wesley Sulzberger (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 3 Mark Walters (Can) Navigators 4 Stefan Parinussa (Ger) Sparkasse 5 Trent Wilson (Aus) Jittery Joe's pb Zero Gravity 6 Jacob P. Erker (Can) Symmetrics 7 Peter McDonald (Aus) FRF Couriers - Caravello 8 Russel Downing (GBr) DFL - Cyclingnews - Litespeed 9 Ciaran Power (Irl) Navigators 10 Peter Dawson (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 11 Austin King (USA) Jittery Joe's pb Zero Gravity 12 Glen Alan Chadwick (Aus) Navigators 13 Ger Soepenberg (Ned) Altipower 14 Miles Olman (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 15 Sebastian Frey (Ger) Sparkasse 16 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Navigators 17 Thoren Wieditz (Can) Italpasta - Transport Belmire C.C. 18 Bernie Sulzberger (Aus) DFL - Cyclingnews - Litespeed 19 Philippe Abbott (Can) Italpasta - Transport Belmire C.C. 20 Bryan Smith (USA) TIAA-CREF 21 Jean-Sébastien Maheu (Can) Équipe Du Québec 22 Bruno Langlois (Can) Canadian National Team 23 Cesar Augusto Grajales (Col) Navigators 24 Mathieu Roy (Can) Garneau - Optik 25 Mitsuteru Tanaka (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 26 Peter Sanowar (Can) Italpasta - Transport Belmire C.C. 27 Tom Flammang (Lux) Sparkasse 28 Jarley Colorado Hernandez (Col) Colombia Es Pasion 29 Kane Oakley (Aus) DFL - Cyclingnews - Litespeed 30 Rodolfo Lopez (Mex) Tecos Trek VH 31 Michael Ford (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 32 Joel Dion-Poitras (Can) Calyon-Litespeed 33 David Veilleux (Can) Garneau - Optik 34 Cameron Jennings (Aus) DFL - Cyclingnews - Litespeed 35 Derek McMaster (Can) Italpasta - Transport Belmire C.C. 36 John Fredy Parra Calada (Col) Tecos Trek VH 37 Yovanny Torres Castro (Col) Colombia Es Pasion 38 Peter John Herzig (Aus) FRF Couriers - Caravello 39 Edward King (USA) Priority Health 40 Valeriy Kobzarenko (Ukr) Navigators 41 Dustin Macburnie (Can) Canadian National Team 42 Greg Reain (Can) Canadian National Team 43 Simon Kelly (Irl) Team Murphy & Gunn / Newlyn 44 Takeaki Ayabe (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 45 Clovis Auger (Can) Volkswagen Trek 46 Peter Woestenberg (Ned) Altipower 47 Niek Asbroek (Ned) Altipower 48 Gregorio Ladino Vega (Col) Tecos Trek VH 49 Brian Sheedy (USA) Priority Health 50 Diego Montoya (Col) Colombia Es Pasion 51 Raphaël Tremblay (Can) Volkswagen Trek 52 Hector Rangel Zimarron (Mex) Tecos Trek VH 53 Jairo Hernandez (Col) Colombia Es Pasion 54 Danny Pate (USA) TIAA-CREF 55 Cameron Hughes (Aus) Italpasta - Transport Belmire C.C. 56 Jairo Salas Atehortua (Col) Colombia Es Pasion 57 Brendan Brooks (Aus) FRF Couriers - Caravello 58 Fausto Esparza Munoz (Mex) Tecos Trek VH 59 Condor Murphy (Irl) Team Murphy & Gunn / Newlyn 60 Brent Bookwalter (USA) Priority Health 61 Maxime Vives (Can) Calyon-Litespeed 62 Timo Honstein (Ger) Sparkasse 63 Francisco Matamoros Navarro (Mex) Tecos Trek VH 64 Satoshi Hirose (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 65 Andrew Randell (Can) Symmetrics 66 Derek Burke (Irl) Team Murphy & Gunn / Newlyn 67 Kevin Miller (Can) Fiordifrutta 68 Eric Boily (Can) Volkswagen Trek 69 Matthew White (USA) Fiordifrutta 70 Jamie Lamb (Can) Garneau - Optik 71 Zachary Garland (Can) Équipe Du Québec 72 Tom Zirbel (USA) Priority Health 73 Jean-Sebastien Perron (Can) Calyon-Litespeed 74 Daniel Maggiacomo (Can) Italpasta - Transport Belmire C.C. 75 Joshua Dillon (USA) Fiordifrutta 76 Peter Hatton (Aus) Jittery Joe's pb Zero Gravity 77 Cody Stevenson (Aus) FRF Couriers - Caravello 78 Christopher Rozdilsky (USA) Fiordifrutta 79 William Frischkorn (USA) TIAA-CREF 80 David Harrigan (Aus) DFL - Cyclingnews - Litespeed 81 Ian Macgregor (USA) TIAA-CREF 82 David O'Brien (Can) Équipe Du Québec 83 Christian Lademann (Ger) Sparkasse 84 Svein Tuft (Can) Symmetrics 85 Andrew Pinfold (Can) Symmetrics 86 Francois Parisien (Can) TIAA-CREF 87 Alexi Richer (Can) Équipe Du Québec 88 Christian Meier (Can) Symmetrics 89 Dan Timmerman (USA) Fiordifrutta 90 Tony Mann (Aus) FRF Couriers - Caravello 91 Koki Simbo (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 92 Phillip Cortes (Can) Garneau - Optik 93 Ryan Roth (Can) Canadian National Team 94 Thijs Poelstra (Ned) Altipower 95 Sean Finning (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 96 Jean-Sébastien Beland (Can) Volkswagen Trek 97 Morgan Fox (Irl) Team Murphy & Gunn / Newlyn DNF Darren Shea (NZl) New Zealand national team
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