26th KBC Driedaagse van De Panne-Koksijde - 2.2

Belgium, April 2-4, 2002

2001 Results Stage List Preview Start List Past winners

The Stages

Stage 1 - April 2: Moeskroen - Zottegem, 181 km
Stage 2 - April 3: Zottegem - Koksijde, 232 km
Stage 3a - April 4: De Panne - De Panne, 114 km
Stage 3b - April 4: De Panne - De Panne ITT, 14 km

Preview

By Jeff Jones

The 26th edition of the Driedaagse van De Panne runs from April 2-4, and is the final tune up for many before the Ronde van Vlaanderen. The race consists of four stages, with the final day in De Panne being split between a 118 kilometre road stage and a 14 kilometre time trial, which normally decides the race.

The first two days are not easy if there's a lot of wind and rain, but this may hold off for the next week. Stage 1 from Moeskroen to Zottegem takes the riders via Geraardsbergen, skipping the Muur but doing the Bosberg, before tackling three laps around Zottegem and Brakel. Each lap contains the climbs of the Leberg and Berendries, both of which will be used in the Ronde. With 9 climbs in total, it can be a selective parcours but last year's stage ended in a bunch sprint with Danilo Hondo the victor.

Stage 2 starts in Zottegem's market place and heads for the coast, eventually finishing in Koksijde after 232 kilometres. It's a very long stage with six climbs including the Tiegemberg, Monteberg, Kemmelberg, Rode Berg and Vidaigneberg, but with the last climb at 100 kilometres to go, it's likely to finish in a mass sprint. The main difficulty will be the assumed headwind when riding west, which will turn into crosswinds as the riders do laps around De Panne/Koksijde.

The first part of the third stage is a 118 kilometre lap around West Flanders, starting and finishing in De Panne. Last year Zoran Klemencic won a difficult sprint on the cobbles in front of Paolo Bettini and Steven De Jong, after Lotto-Adecco controlled the stage.

The final leg on day three is a 14 kilometre individual time trial around the streets of De Panne, with the main difficulties being the cobbles and the tram tracks. Nico Mattan overcame wet conditions to win both the TT and the overall last year, finishing 4 seconds in front of Erik Dekker and 14 seconds in front of Viatcheslav Ekimov. Both Mattan and Dekker were protagonists in the Ronde van Vlaanderen a few days later.

Nico Mattan will be starting as the defending champion this year, and he will have plenty of competition. Lotto's Andrei Tchmil and Peter Van Petegem, Domo's Johan Museeuw, US Postal's George Hincapie, Telekom's Steffen Wesemann, Rabobank's Marc Wauters, Alessio's Dario Pieri and Mapei's Laszlo Bodrogi and Fabien De Waele are all on the list of favourites.

Start List

Cofidis                         US Postal Service
 
1 Nico Mattan (Bel)             11 George Hincapie (USA)
2 Jo Planckaert (Bel)           12 David Clinger (USA)
3 Chris Peers (Bel)             13 Benoît Joachim (Lux)
4 Philippe Gaumont (Fra)        14 Dylan Casey (USA)
7 Robert Sassone (Fra)          15 Tom Boonen (Bel)
8 Tom Flammang (Lux)            16 Gianpaolo Mondini (Ita)
                                17 Antonio Cruz (USA)
                                18 Pavel Padrnos (Cze)
 
Domo-Farm Frites                Mapei-Quick Step
 
21 Johan Museeuw (Bel)          31 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun)
22 Jeroen Blijlevens (Ned)      32 Fabian De Waele (Bel)
23 Servais Knaven (Ned)         33 Robert Hunter (RSA)
24 Bram Tankink (Ned)           34 Daniele Nardello (Ita)
25 Jans Koerts (Ned)            36 Tom Steels (Bel)
26 Leif Hoste (Bel)             37 Andrea Tafi (Ita)
27 Marco Milesi (Ita)           38 Stefano Zanini (Ita)
28 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel)
 
Team Telekom                    Lampre-Daikin
 
41 Steffen Wesemann (Ger)       51 Ludo Dierckxsens (Bel)
42 Andreas Klier (Ger)          52 Maximilian Sciandri (GBr)
43 Danilo Hondo (Ger)           53 Raivis Belohvosciks (Lat)
44 Robert Bartko (Ger)          54 Luciano Pagliarini Mendonca (Bra)
45 Ralf Grabsch (Ger)           55 Gabriele Missaglia (Ita)
46 Kai Hundertmark (Ger)        56 Marco Serpellini (Ita)
48 Stephan Schreck (Ger)        57 Zbigniew Spruch (Pol)
                                58 Johan Verstrepen (Bel)
 
Saeco-Longoni Sport             Fassa Bortolo
 
61 Salvatore Commesso (Ita)     71 Michele Bartoli (Ita)
62 Fabio Sacchi (Ita)           72 Fabio Baldato (Ita)
63 Jörg Ludewig (Ger)           73 Dmitri Konyshev (Rus)
64 Torsten Nitsche (Ger)        74 Nicola Loda (Ita)
65 Christian Wegmann (Ger)      75 Serguei Ivanov (Rus)
66 Biagio Conte (Ita)           76 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita)
68 Cristian Pepoli (Ita)        77 Denis Zanette (Ita)
                                78 Marco Zanotti (Ita)
 
Tacconi Sport-Emmegi            Acqua & Sapone-Cantina Tollo
 
81 Gianluca Bortolami (Ita)     91 Massimo Giunti (Ita)
82 Diego Ferrari (Ita)          92 Simone Masciarelli (Ita)
83 Andrej Hauptman (Slo)        93 Gabriele Colombo (Ita)
84 Nicola Minali (Ita)          94 Daniele Bennati (Ita)
85 Mauro Radaelli (Ita)         95 Guido Trenti (USA)
86 Gabriele Balducci (Ita)      96 Cesare Di Cintio (Ita)
87 Mauro Gerosa (Ita)           97 Martin Derganc (Slo)
88 Paolo Bossoni (Ita)          98 Agustin Pena Gago (Spa)
 
Lotto-Adecco                    Rabobank
 
101 Andrei Tchmil (Bel)         111 Marc Wauters (Bel)
102 Peter Van Petegem (Bel)     112 Coen Boerman (Ned)
103 Thierry Marichal (Bel)      113 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned)
104 Hans De Clercq (Bel)        114 Steven De Jongh (Ned)
105 Nico Eeckhout (Bel)         115 Mathew Hayman (Aus)
106 Glenn D'hollander (Bel)     116 Matthé Pronk (Ned)
107 Stefan Van Dijk (Ned)       117 Sven Nijs (Bel)
108 Aart Vierhouten (Ned)       118 Markus Zberg (Swi)
 
Alessio                         Team CSC Tiscali
 
122 Stefano Casagranda (Ita)    131 Geert Van Bondt (Bel)
123 Davide Casarotto (Ita)      132 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra)
124 Martin Hvastija (Slo)       133 Arvis Piziks (Lat)
125 Cristian Moreni (Ita)       135 Tristan Hoffman (Ned)
126 Alexandar Nikacevic (Yug)   136 Jimmi Madsen (Den)
127 Dario Pieri (Ita)           137 Paul Van Hyfte (Bel)
128 Alberto Vinale (Ita)        138 Raphael Jeune (Fra)
 
Index Alexia                    Vlaanderen-T Interim
 
141 Dario Andriotto (Ita)       151 Stijn Devolder (Bel)
142 Mario Manzoni (Ita)         152 Geoffrey Demeyere (Bel)
143 Daniele Galli (Ita)         153 Yoeri Beyens (Bel)
144 Antonio Salomone (Ita)      154 Jan Kuyckx (Bel)
145 Eddy Serri (Ita)            156 Ruud Verbakel (Bel)
147 Corrado Serina (Ita)        157 Jan Verstraeten (Bel)
148 Mauro Zinetti (Ita)         158 James Vanlandschoot (Bel)
 
La Francaise Des Jeux           Palmans-Collstrop
 
161 Jacky Durand (Fra)          171 Hendrik Van Dyck (Bel)
162 Franck Perque (Fra)         172 Bart Leysen (Bel)
163 Fréderic Guesdon (Fra)      173 Björn Leukemans (Bel)
164 Bradley Wiggins (GBr)       174 Eric De Clercq (Bel)
165 Christophe Mengin (Fra)     175 Roger Hammond (GBr)
166 Franck Pencole (Fra)        176 Geert Omloop (Bel)
167 Matthew Wilson (Aus)        177 Wim Vansevenant (Bel)
168 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra)    178 Kristof Trouve (Bel)
 
Landbouwkrediet-Colnago         Marlux-Ville de Charleroi
 
181 Rolf Sorensen (Den)         191 Andy Cappelle (Bel)
182 Michel Van Haecke (Bel)     192 Marc Chanoine (Bel)
183 Bert De Waele (Bel)         193 Tom Desmet (Bel)
184 Jeff Louder (USA)           194 David Debremaeker (Bel)
185 Kurt Van Landeghem (Bel)    196 Thierry Masschelein (Bel)
186 Marc Streel (Bel)           197 Chris Matthys (Bel)
188 Filip Meirhaeghe (Bel)      198 Johan Dekkers (Bel)
 
Bankgiroloterij-Batavus         Bonjour
 
201 Bert Hiemstra (Ned)         212 Emmanuel Magnien (Fra)
202 Rik Reinerink (Ned)         214 Pascal Derame (Fra)
203 Remco Van Der Ven (Ned)     215 Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra)
204 Corey Sweet (Aus)           216 Sébastien Joly (Fra)
206 Gerben Lowik (Ned)          218 Thomas Voeckler (Fra)
207 Vincent Van Der Kooy (Ned)
208 Bram Schmitz (Ned)
 
Gerolsteiner                    RDM-Flanders
 
221 Sebastian Lang (Ger)        231 Jurgen Landrie (Bel)
222 Nicolay Bo Larsen (Den)     232 Bert Scheirlinckx (Bel)
223 Steffen Weigold (Ger)       233 Gordon Mccauley (NZl)
224 Saulius Ruskys (Ltu)        234 Christoph Roodhooft (Bel)
227 Olaf Pollack (Ger)          235 Stijn Vanstraelen (Bel)
228 Peter Wrolich (Aut)         236 Marco Engels (Ned)
                                237 Chris Tonge (GBr)
                                238 Marek Salermo (Fin)

Past winners

2001 Nico Mattan (Bel)
2000 Vjatcheslav Ekimov (Rus)
1999 Peter Van Petegem (Bel)
1998 Michele Bartoli (Ita)
1997 Johan Museeuw (Bel)
1996 Vjatcheslav Ekimov (Rus)
1995 Michele Bartoli (Ita)
1994 Fabio Roscioli (Ita)
1993 Eric Vanderaerden (Bel)
1992 Frans Maassen (Ned)
1991 Jelle Nijdam (Ned)
1990 Erwin Nijboer (Ned)
1989 Eric Vanderaerden (Bel)
1988 Eric Vanderaerden (Bel)
1987 Eric Vanderaerden (Bel)
1986 Eric Vanderaerden (Bel)
1985 Jean-Luc Vandenbroucke (Bel)
1984 Bert Oosterbosch (Ned)
1983 Cees Priem (Ned)
1982 Gerrie Knetemann (Ned)
1981 Jan Bogaert (Bel)
1980 Sean Kelly (Ire)
1979 Gustave Van Roosbroeck (Bel)
1978 Guido Van Sweevelt (Bel)
1977 Roger Rosiers (Bel)

Past winners by Mario Stiehl, www.world-of-cycling.com