Circuit du Hainaut (U23) - 1.7.1

Belgium, May 5, 2002

2001 Results Results Past winners

Johan Van Summeren wins in the wet

By Nico Goreux

Johan Van Summeren (Domo-Latexco) won an extremely cold and wet edition of the Circuit du Hainaut, held over 183 kilometres on Sunday. Van Summeren beat his teammate Gert Steegmans by 44 seconds, with Credit Agricole's Cedric Coutouly finishing third in the same time.

171 espoirs took the start in Fleurus in the rain to contest the race which featured eleven climbs. The climb of the côte du Petit-Try, part of which is 21%, plays a paramount role each year. During the first hour of the race, the peloton remained together. In Strépys, on the côte de Srice and les Forges, 13 riders escaped and tackled the côte du Petit-Try in the lead. The group consisted of Stockx, Steegmans, De Vocht, Van Summeren, Van Hecke, De Weert, Boogaert, Mertens and Gilbert (all Bel), Elysen (Ned), Coutouly and Laidoun (Fra) and Belov (Rus).

The attacking on the climb was intense, and Van Summeren, Coutouly, De Weert and Elyzen got clear at the top, with Van Summeren gaining the Grand Prix des Monts ahead of Coutouly. Before the final climb of the côte du Petit-Try, Van Summeren accelerated again to drop Coutouly, and won the race solo. Coutouly was caught by Steegmans with 200 metres to go, and the Belgian outsprinted him for second place.

The race was very hard, testified by the fact that only 31 riders finished.

Results - 183 km

1 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Domo Latexco          4.37.00 (38.989 km/h)
2 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Domo Latexco                 0.44
3 Cedric Coutuouly (Fra) Credit Agricole Espoirs
4 Michiel Elyzen (Ned) Rabobank                     1.41
5 Kevin De Weert (Bel) Rabobank                     1.41
6 Stanislav Belov (Rus) St. Petersburg              2.12
7 Pieter Mertens (Bel) Beveren 2000                 2.15
8 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) ABX Go Pass                2.27
9 Wim De Vocht (Bel) Domo Latexco                   4.20
10 Bart Dockx (Bel) Domo Latexco
11 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Domo Latexco
12 Julien Laidooun (Fra) Eq. Nat France
13 Mathieu Sprick (Fra) Eq. Nat France              5.50
14 Kristof De Zutter (Bel) WPT Tongeren             6.20
15 Ward Bogaerts (Bel) Antwerp BC                   6.33
16 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Mez Team                     7.21
17 Sven Nevens (Bel) Mez Team
18 Mirando Dumoulin (Bel) De Lombarden              8.13
19 Kevin Van Raemdonck (Bel) Blue Bros Bikeland     8.18
20 Oleg Melehs (Bel) Pesant Club                    8.29
21 Kevin Desmedt (Bel) Beveren 2000                 9.09
22 Klaas De Gruyter (Bel) Mez Team
23 Gunther Coenen (Bel) WT Affligem                 9.17
24 Lionel Faure (Fra) Eq. Nat France                9.25
25 Jurgen Van Loocke (Bel) RDM Bianchi              9.56
26 Pieter Duyck (Bel) Beveren 2000                  9.58
27 Kevin Busby (Bel) Blue Bros Bikeland            10.33
28 Vincent Giustizia (Bel) Haunaut
29 Kevin Vanderschueren (Bel) RDM Bianchi
30 Sven Renders (Bel) ABX Go Pass
31 Olivier Huysveld (Bel) Oost-Vlaanderen

Teams

1 Domo Latexco                                  13.56.04
2 Equipe Nationale Francaise                    14.10.35
3 Beveren 2000                                  14.12.22
4 Mez Team                                      14.14.51
5 Rabobank                                       9.17.22
6 ABX Go Pass                                    9.27.00
7 Blue Bros Bikeland                             9.32.51
8 RDM Bianchi                                    9.34.29
9 Credit Agricole Espoirs                        4.37.44
10 RD St. Petersburg                             4.39.12
11 WPT Tongeren                                  4.33.20
12 A. Antwerp BC                                 4.43.33
13 De Lombarden                                  4.45.13
14 Pesant Club Liegeois                          4.45.29
15 Wt Affligem                                   4.46.17
16 Haunaut                                       4.47.33
17 Oost-Vlaanderen

Courtesy of Nico Goreux

Past winners

2001 Dimitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Domo Farm Frites