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22nd Tour de Beauce - 2.2
Canada, June 12-17, 2007
Main Page Results Overall standings Stage Details Previous Stage
Stage 6 - June 17: St-Georges, 133 km
Day earns a rain-soaked overall yellow jersey in Beauce
By Mark Zalewski, North American Editor in Saint-Georges, Québec
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After five days of beautiful Beauce weather consisting of blue skies and slight winds, the weather gods exacted their revenge for the final stage, turning the faucets on at the moment the peloton completed the neutral section. The conditions remained that way for all 133 kilometres of the stage, until breakaway leaders of Christian Meier (Symmetrics) and Soren Petersen (Farso Denmark) started sprinting at 200 metres to go. After Meier rode the front for the 34kilometres the pair were away from the main break, with Petersen sitting on Meier's wheel for all but 10 seconds, the veteran Petersen was easily able to come around Meier for the ignominious stage win.
"That is not the kind of race I prefer to race in, but I was happy with the victory," Petersen told the local television. When Cyclingnews asked Petersen why he decided to sprint after sitting on Meier for more than three laps of the circuit, the Danish rider said: "I am kind of an old guy and this is probably my second to last year of racing. And he didn't ask me to work together with him. He should just have asked me and we could have found some solution."
The 22 year-old Meier was certainly at a disadvantage to Petersen, and inexperience could have played a factor in the outcome. "I think he was trying to go for the team classification or something, but I don't understand why he pulled on the last lap and tried to get me in front. We had three minutes to the guys behind us and had an opportunity to play his card as well."
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Still, Petersen had plenty of opportunities to pull, even if it was uneven, and only made one 10 second attempt on a flat section of the course. "He said he couldn't work, no pulls no pulls - he said he was tired," said Meier. "I took a couple of digs on the hills and he managed to stick on my wheel - there was not much I could do."
On the final lap, Meier tried to gap Petersen on the climb and again on the technical sections of the course, which were many. "A lot of times in the corners I would go faster than him, so I tried to hit it on the corners and he had to chase on a bit - but the downhill was so fast you just spin out. I tried a couple more digs but that was it.
"I figured since he was sitting on all day he might be a little more professional," said Meier, who was rewarded with his effort with the best young rider jersey of the race. Colombian Gregorio Ladino Vega (Tecos-Trek) brought the field in for third and sealed his KOM victory as well.
"I was not as strong as him, he was amazing strong and of course he deserved a victory," said Petersen. "But that is not always cycling. It is probably one of the last chances I had to win a UCI stage so I had to take it."
Navigators dominate Beauce
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The final stage was almost a mirror to last year, save for the weather, with Navigators Insurance riding the front of the peloton to ensure overall victory - for both the GC and the team classification.
"It starts raining as soon as the race starts?" Day joked after the race. "This is my first tour win, so I felt the pressure a bit having this jersey. But having such a great team ride for me you have to live up to the sacrifices they made for me."
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"No one put us under pressure pretty much all day until the last time up the hill," said teammate and points leader Glen Chadwick, who patrolled the front for Day all day. "I saw them coming, the two Slipstream guys, and I figured one was Pate - so I got on them straight away and Ben got on me. Tuft and Pate put in a couple attacks but we controlled them. Me and a German rider swapped turns all the way to the finish - I guess they were trying to move their guy up a few spots on GC.
"I suppose in a way everyone hates the rain but it made it harder for the other guys to hold position, so it probably played a little to our advantage," Day said regarding the conditions. "The first few laps there was like soap or something all over the road so it was a bad taste in your mouth. But we're getting paid alright so we can't complain!"
As far as his career goes, this win certainly ranks high for Day, and gives him confidence going into a well-deserved rest in his new country of residence. "This is my first year in America and everything is new to me here," he said. But Day has more important goals in mind first. "First thing this afternoon is to go have some beer - that is the next thing in my career!"
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Jerome Lessard
- Phillip Mamos (Sparkasse) is looking for a souvenir from Tour de Beauce.
- Dominique Perras (Team Quebec) signs in before the last Stage of Tour de Beauce.
- The peloton in the first kilometre of the race.
- Ben Day (Navigators Insurance) in full speed mode.
- Not an easy day for Oleg Grishkin (Navigators Insurance), rain and flat tire.
- Once again, Dirk Muller (Sparkasse) was quite involved in the stage.
- Grag Reain (Calyon-Litespeed) and Lars Wackernagel (Sparkasse).
- Lars Wackernagel (Sparkasse) in the rain.
- Dirk Muller (Sparkasse) and Cameron Evans (Symmetrics).
- Dominique Perrras (Team Quebec) wont stop because of the rain.
- Dirk Muller (Sparkasse) escaped from the peloton.
- Some kids gathering in a caravan watch the yellow jersey's group passing by.
- Charles Dionne (Team Quebec), another Quebecer who wont stop because of the rain.
- Dirk Muller (Sparkasse) still on his own.
- Mathieu Roy (Eva-Devinci).
- Sore Petresen (Farso Denmark) makes his way to win Stage 6.
- Christian Meier (Symmetrics) and Soren Petresen (Farso Denmark) in the final breakaway of the race.
- Soren Petersen (Farso Denmark) wins Stage 6.
- Ben Day (Navigators Insurance) takes the overall victory, and couldn't be happier.
- Christian Meier (Symmetrics) could have won Stage 6, but still got the red jersey for best young rider.
- Gregorio Ladino Vega (Tecos Trek) and his polka dot jersey.
- Ben Day (Navigators Insurance) will leave St-Georges with the white jersey as well.
- Tour de Beauce 2007 podium (L-R): Danny Pate (Slipstream), Ben Day (Navigators Insurance), and Jacob Erker (Symmetrics).
- Champagne for the winner, Ben Day (Navigators Insurance).
- Navigators Insurance, defenitively the best team of Tour de Beauce 2007.
- Happy team mates: Ben Day and Glen Chadwick of Navigators Insurance.
- Tour de Beauce 2007's winner, Ben Day (Navigators Insurance) and Denis Levesques, Tour de Beauce's President.
Results
1 Soren Petersen (Den) Farso Denmark Nat 2.59.44 (44.399 km/h) 2 Christian Meier (Can) Symmetrics 0.03 3 Gregorio Ladino Vega (Col) Tecos Trek Vh 1.23 4 Ben Day (Aus) Navigators Insurance 1.24 5 Dominique Perras (Can) Québec 6 Philipp Mamos (Ger) Team Sparkasse 7 Danny Pate (USA) Team Slipstream 8 Ivor Bruin (Den) Farso Denmark Nat 9 Francois Parisien (Can) Team Slipstream 10 Glen Alan Chadwick (NZl) Navigators Insurance 11 Svein Tuft (Can) Symmetrics 12 Lars Wackernagel (Ger) Team Sparkasse 1.28 13 Dirk Müller (Ger) Team Sparkasse 1.31 14 Charles Dionne (Can) Québec 15 Craig Mccarney (Aus) Savings And Loans Cycling Team 16 Derrick St-John (Can) Garneau - Crocs 17 Dominique Rollin (Can) Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team 18 Jacob Erker (Can) Symmetrics 19 David O'loughlin (Irl) Navigators Insurance 20 Juan Pablo Magallanes Arawda (Mex) Tecos Trek Vh 21 Cirian Power (Irl) Navigators Insurance 22 Mark Walters (Can) Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team 23 Timo Honstein (Ger) Team Sparkasse 24 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Navigators Insurance 25 Andrew Randell (Can) Symmetrics 26 Hector Hugo Rangel (Mex) Tecos Trek Vh 2.02 27 Fausto Esparza (Mex) Tecos Trek Vh 28 Jesse Athony (USA) Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team 2.42 29 John Fredy Parra Calada (Col) Tecos Trek Vh 2.54 30 Jamie Sparling (Can) La_Z_Boy 3.32 31 Joel Dion-Poitras (Can) Eva-Devinci 32 Heberth Gutierrez Garcia (Col) Tecos Trek Vh 3.34 33 Jacob Nielsen (Den) Farso Denmark Nat 34 Eric Wohlberg (Can) Symmetrics 35 Greg Reain (Can) Calyon-Litespeed 36 Cameron Evans (Can) Symmetrics 37 Pascal Bussières (Can) Québec 4.24 38 Alex Howes (USA) Team Slipstream 6.51 39 Buck Milller (Can) Team R.A.C.E 6.53 40 Ben Raby (USA) Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team 41 Ian Macgregor (USA) Team Slipstream 42 Peter Mueller (Aus) Savings And Loans Cycling Team DNF Oleg Grishkin (Rus) Navigators Insurance DNF Stefan Parinussa (Ger) Team Sparkasse DNF Andreas Schillinger (Ger) Team Sparkasse DNF Tilo Schüler (Ger) Team Sparkasse DNF Will Routley (Can) Symmetrics DNF Mike Dietrich (USA) Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team DNF Cody O'rielly (USA) Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team DNF Dan Timmerman (USA) Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team DNF David Pell (Aus) Savings And Loans Cycling Team DNF Keven Lacombe (Can) Volkswagen Trek DNF William Goodfellow (Can) Volkswagen Trek DNF André Tremblay (Can) Volkswagen Trek DNF Ryan Mckenzie (Can) Volkswagen Trek DNF Phil Cortes (Can) Calyon-Litespeed DNF Jean-Sebastien Perron (Can) Calyon-Litespeed DNF Ryan Beliveau (Can) Calyon-Litespeed DNF Matt Guse (Can) Calyon-Litespeed DNF Éric Boily (Can) Eva-Devinci DNF Mathieu Roy (Can) Eva-Devinci DNF Martin Gilbert (Can) Québec DNF Jamie Lamb (Can) Garneau - Crocs DNF Peter Ladd (Aus) Garneau - Crocs DNF Benjamin Martel (Can) Garneau - Crocs DNF Jean-François Racine (Can) Garneau - Crocs DNF Peter Morse (Can) Tean Spin 12 DNF Dave Vukets (Can) Tean Spin 12 DNF Morten Christiansen (Den) Farso Denmark Nat DNF Rene Ahrenkiel (Den) Farso Denmark Nat DNF Rob Britton (Can) La_Z_Boy DNF Connor Trevor (Can) La_Z_Boy DNF Mark Pozniak (Can) Team R.A.C.E DNF Adam Thuss (Can) Team R.A.C.E DNF Mark Batty (Can) Team R.A.C.E DNF Jeffrey Dirksen (Ned) Team R.A.C.E Sprint 1 1 Dominique Rollin (Can) Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team 3 pts 2 Jesse Athony (USA) Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team 2 Sprint 2 1 Christian Meier (Can) Symmetrics 3 pts 2 Soren Petersen (Den) Farso Denmark Nat 2 Sprint 3 1 Soren Petersen (Den) Farso Denmark Nat 15 pts 2 Christian Meier (Can) Symmetrics 14 3 Gregorio Ladino Vega (Col) Tecos Trek Vh 13 4 Ben Day (Aus) Navigators Insurance 12 5 Dominique Perras (Can) Québec 11 6 Philipp Mamos (Ger) Team Sparkasse 10 7 Danny Pate (USA) Team Slipstream 9 8 Ivor Bruin (Den) Farso Denmark Nat 8 9 Francois Parisien (Can) Team Slipstream 7 10 Glen Alan Chadwick (NZl) Navigators Insurance 6 11 Svein Tuft (Can) Symmetrics 5 12 Lars Wackernagel (Ger) Team Sparkasse 4 13 Dirk Müller (Ger) Team Sparkasse 3 14 Charles Dionne (Can) Québec 2 15 Craig Mccarney (Aus) Savings And Loans Cycling Team 1 Mountain 1 1 John Fredy Parra Calada (Col) Tecos Trek Vh 10 pts 2 Jacob Nielsen (Den) Farso Denmark Nat 8 3 Jesse Athony (USA) Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team 6 4 Cameron Evans (Can) Symmetrics 4 5 Ian Macgregor (USA) Team Slipstream 2 6 Cirian Power (Irl) Navigators Insurance 1 Mountain 2 1 Dirk Müller (Ger) Team Sparkasse 7 pts 2 Ben Raby (USA) Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team 5 3 John Fredy Parra Calada (Col) Tecos Trek Vh 3 4 Ivor Bruin (Den) Farso Denmark Nat 2 5 Lars Wackernagel (Ger) Team Sparkasse 1 Mountain 3 1 Ben Raby (USA) Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team 7 pts 2 Francois Parisien (Can) Team Slipstream 5 3 Juan Pablo Magallanes Arawda (Mex) Tecos Trek Vh 3 4 Christian Meier (Can) Symmetrics 2 5 Soren Petersen (Den) Farso Denmark Nat 1 Mountain 4 1 Christian Meier (Can) Symmetrics 7 pts 2 Soren Petersen (Den) Farso Denmark Nat 5 3 Lars Wackernagel (Ger) Team Sparkasse 3 4 Francois Parisien (Can) Team Slipstream 2 5 Ivor Bruin (Den) Farso Denmark Nat 1 Teams 1 Symmetrics 9.02.10 2 Navigators Insurance 1.21 3 Team Sparkasse 1.25 4 Tecos Trek Vh 1.58 5 Farso Denmark Nat 2.00 6 Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team 2.46 7 Québec 4.21 8 Team Slipstream 6.41 Final General classification 1 Ben Day (Aus) Navigators Insurance 21.05.22 2 Svein Tuft (Can) Symmetrics 0.40 3 Danny Pate (USA) Team Slipstream 1.08 4 Gregorio Ladino Vega (Col) Tecos Trek Vh 1.35 5 David O'loughlin (Irl) Navigators Insurance 1.53 6 Dominique Rollin (Can) Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team 2.58 7 Jacob Erker (Can) Symmetrics 3.06 8 Dominique Perras (Can) Québec 3.11 9 Philipp Mamos (Ger) Team Sparkasse 3.17 10 Juan Pablo Magallanes Arawda (Mex) Tecos Trek Vh 3.39 11 Mark Walters (Can) Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team 4.49 12 Soren Petersen (Den) Farso Denmark Nat 7.00 13 Glen Alan Chadwick (NZl) Navigators Insurance 9.01 14 Craig Mccarney (Aus) Savings And Loans Cycling Team 10.02 15 Francois Parisien (Can) Team Slipstream 10.47 16 Hector Hugo Rangel (Mex) Tecos Trek Vh 12.32 17 Timo Honstein (Ger) Team Sparkasse 12.51 18 Charles Dionne (Can) Québec 14.31 19 Eric Wohlberg (Can) Symmetrics 15.18 20 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Navigators Insurance 16.09 21 Christian Meier (Can) Symmetrics 16.21 22 Cameron Evans (Can) Symmetrics 17.13 23 John Fredy Parra Calada (Col) Tecos Trek Vh 19.11 24 Jacob Nielsen (Den) Farso Denmark Nat 20.43 25 Dirk Müller (Ger) Team Sparkasse 21.01 26 Ivor Bruin (Den) Farso Denmark Nat 21.57 27 Andrew Randell (Can) Symmetrics 22.16 28 Fausto Esparza (Mex) Tecos Trek Vh 24.52 29 Heberth Gutierrez Garcia (Col) Tecos Trek Vh 26.21 30 Joel Dion-Poitras (Can) Eva-Devinci 27.28 31 Lars Wackernagel (Ger) Team Sparkasse 28.15 32 Ben Raby (USA) Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team 28.16 33 Ian Macgregor (USA) Team Slipstream 28.54 34 Cirian Power (Irl) Navigators Insurance 34.51 35 Peter Mueller (Aus) Savings And Loans Cycling Team 36.00 36 Derrick St-John (Can) Garneau - Crocs 40.26 37 Jamie Sparling (Can) La_Z_Boy 41.48 38 Greg Reain (Can) Calyon-Litespeed 42.29 39 Jesse Athony (USA) Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team 56.56 40 Pascal Bussières (Can) Québec 58.29 41 Alex Howes (USA) Team Slipstream 1.07.10 42 Buck Milller (Can) Team R.A.C.E 1.09.43 Sprint classification 1 Ben Day (Aus) Navigators Insurance 71 pts 2 Glen Alan Chadwick (NZl) Navigators Insurance 55 3 Dominique Rollin (Can) Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team 52 4 Danny Pate (USA) Team Slipstream 50 5 Francois Parisien (Can) Team Slipstream 46 6 David O'loughlin (Irl) Navigators Insurance 43 7 Gregorio Ladino Vega (Col) Tecos Trek Vh 42 8 Svein Tuft (Can) Symmetrics 40 9 Philipp Mamos (Ger) Team Sparkasse 37 10 Charles Dionne (Can) Québec 31 11 Juan Pablo Magallanes Arawda (Mex) Tecos Trek Vh 29 12 Dominique Perras (Can) Québec 25 13 Jacob Erker (Can) Symmetrics 23 14 Cameron Evans (Can) Symmetrics 23 15 Christian Meier (Can) Symmetrics 23 16 Soren Petersen (Den) Farso Denmark Nat 21 17 Hector Hugo Rangel (Mex) Tecos Trek Vh 20 18 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Navigators Insurance 17 19 Jesse Athony (USA) Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team 17 20 Timo Honstein (Ger) Team Sparkasse 16 21 Mark Walters (Can) Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team 15 22 Ian Macgregor (USA) Team Slipstream 15 23 John Fredy Parra Calada (Col) Tecos Trek Vh 14 24 Jacob Nielsen (Den) Farso Denmark Nat 12 25 Eric Wohlberg (Can) Symmetrics 11 26 Greg Reain (Can) Calyon-Litespeed 10 27 Ivor Bruin (Den) Farso Denmark Nat 10 28 Dirk Müller (Ger) Team Sparkasse 5 29 Craig Mccarney (Aus) Savings And Loans Cycling Team 4 30 Lars Wackernagel (Ger) Team Sparkasse 4 31 Cirian Power (Irl) Navigators Insurance 3 Mountains classification 1 Gregorio Ladino Vega (Col) Tecos Trek Vh 58 pts 2 Francois Parisien (Can) Team Slipstream 40 3 Glen Alan Chadwick (NZl) Navigators Insurance 35 4 Ben Day (Aus) Navigators Insurance 35 5 Dirk Müller (Ger) Team Sparkasse 34 6 Cameron Evans (Can) Symmetrics 25 7 Christian Meier (Can) Symmetrics 21 8 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Navigators Insurance 20 9 Dominique Perras (Can) Québec 16 10 Ben Raby (USA) Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team 15 11 John Fredy Parra Calada (Col) Tecos Trek Vh 15 12 Juan Pablo Magallanes Arawda (Mex) Tecos Trek Vh 10 13 Charles Dionne (Can) Québec 9 14 Svein Tuft (Can) Symmetrics 9 15 Philipp Mamos (Ger) Team Sparkasse 8 16 Danny Pate (USA) Team Slipstream 8 17 David O'loughlin (Irl) Navigators Insurance 8 18 Hector Hugo Rangel (Mex) Tecos Trek Vh 8 19 Jacob Nielsen (Den) Farso Denmark Nat 8 20 Mark Walters (Can) Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team 7 21 Timo Honstein (Ger) Team Sparkasse 6 22 Jesse Athony (USA) Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team 6 23 Soren Petersen (Den) Farso Denmark Nat 6 24 Jacob Erker (Can) Symmetrics 4 25 Lars Wackernagel (Ger) Team Sparkasse 4 26 Eric Wohlberg (Can) Symmetrics 4 27 Ian Macgregor (USA) Team Slipstream 4 28 Ivor Bruin (Den) Farso Denmark Nat 3 29 Cirian Power (Irl) Navigators Insurance 2 30 Dominique Rollin (Can) Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team 1 Teams classification 1 Navigators Insurance 63.21.21 2 Symmetrics 3.27 3 Tecos Trek Vh 11.58 4 Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team 25.40 5 Team Sparkasse 30.10 6 Team Slipstream 35.28 7 Farso Denmark Nat 39.27 8 Québec 50.46
