33rd GP Wallonie - 1.2

Belgium, May 9, 2002

2001 Results Results Past winners

Citadel falls to Bruylandts

By Jeff Jones
Dave Bruylandts
Photo: © AFP

Belgian Dave Bruylandts (Domo-Farm Frites) has won the 33rd GP de Wallonie with a very strong performance on the final two climbs of the Citadel of Namur. Bruylandts, wearing the number 1 dossard due to his teammate Axel Merckx's success last year, attacked at the foot of the final climb to drop breakaway companions Nicolas Fritsch (FdJ) and Lennie Kristensen (EDS-fakta). He gradually rode away from them on the 2km cobbled climb to finish 13 seconds ahead of Kristensen, with Fritsch finishing third.

The three man break had formed from a larger group of nine riders, containing Bruylandts, Kristensen, Fritsch, Rene Jørgensen and Morten Sonne (EDS-fakta), Mauro Gianetti (Team Coast), Angelo Lopeboselli (Cofidis), Nicolas Vogondy (FdJ) and Bert Scheirlinckx (RDM-Flanders). At the foot of the first ascent of the Citadel with 12 km to go, the nine had a 17 second gap on another small group containing Erwin Thijs (Palmans), Cyril Dessel and Stéphane Goubert (Jean-Delatour), Wim Van Huffel (Vlaanderen), Thomas Voeckler (Bonjour), and Rolf Huser (Team Coast). Although they were close, they could not close the gap.
The break
Photo: © AFP

In the front group, the EDS-fakta team were dominating the moves, with Jørgensen the first to attack near the top of the climb. He was quickly countered by a strong Bruylandts, who distanced himself from the leaders and had only Lennie Kristensen (EDS-fakta) with him as company. On the descent, Nicolas Fritsch put in a good bridging effort to catch the two, and the trio opened up a 20 second plus gap on the next group.

They worked together to hold their advantage, and Bruylandts proved to be the strongest once they got to the base of the final climb with 2 km left. As soon as they hit the cobbles, Bruylandts accelerated and put Fritsch in difficulty. Kristensen couldn't hang on either, and it didn't take long for Bruylandts to open up a race winning lead.

The delighted Bruylandts crossed the line at the top with plenty of time to spare, and immediately went and hugged his wife and family to celebrate the biggest win of his career. His previous best in this race was 4th in 2000.

"I was the big favorite for this race," he said afterwards. "I had very very good legs. The victory would have been hard to take from me. Now, I will prepare for the Tour de France to do well in some of the breakaways."

Results - 196 km

1 Dave Bruylandts (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites           4.33.00 (43.516 km/h)
2 Lennie Kristensen (Den) EDS-fakta                   0.12
3 Nicolas Fritsch (Fra) La Francaise des Jeux
4 René Jørgensen (Den) EDS-fakta                      0.52
5 Morten Sonne (Den) EDS-fakta                        0.58
6 Mauro Gianetti (Swi) Team Coast
7 Angelo Lopeboselli (Ita) Cofidis
8 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) La Francaise des Jeux         1.03
9 Bert Scheirlinckx (Bel) RDM-Flanders                1.11
10 Erwin Thijs (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop                1.24
11 Cyril Dessel (Fra) Jean-Delatour                   1.32
12 Wim Van Huffel (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim
13 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bonjour
14 Rolf Huser (Swi) Team Coast
15 Stéphane Goubert (Fra) Jean-Delatour
16 Slawomir Kohut (Pol) Amore & Vita-Beretta
17 Jérôme Bernard (Fra) Jean-Delatour                 1.41
18 Sébastien Demarbaix (Bel) Ag2r-Prevoyance          1.47
19 Daniel Atienza Urendez (Spa) Cofidis               1.55
20 Laurent Estadieu (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance             3.55
21 Jurgen De Jong (Ned) AXA-VVZ
22 Manu L'Hoir (Bel) EDS-fakta                        6.15
23 Dmitri Fofonov (Kaz) Cofidis                       6.17
24 Michael Skelde (Den) EDS-fakta                     9.16
25 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Jean-Delatour
26 Johan Coenen (Bel) Marlux-Ville de Charleroi
27 Lars Ytting Bak (Den) EDS-fakta
28 Médéric Clain (Fra) Cofidis
29 Thomas Grönqvist (Swe) Amore & Vita-Beretta
30 Fabrice Salanson (Fra) Bonjour
31 Matthew Wilson (Aus) La Francaise des Jeux
32 Jürgen Landrie (Bel) RDM-Flanders
33 Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) Saint-Quentin Oktos
34 David Plas (Bel) RDM-Flanders
35 James Perry (RSA) Amore & Vita-Beretta
36 Kristoffer Ingeby (Swe) Marlux-Ville de Charleroi
37 Olivier Perraudeau (Fra) Bonjour
38 Thierry Loder (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance
39 Sébastien Talabardon (Fra) Big Mat-Auber 93
40 François Simon (Fra) Bonjour
41 Jaime Hernandez (Spa) Team Coast
42 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) Jean-Delatour
43 Johan Dekkers (Bel) Marlux-Ville de Charleroi
44 Stefan Adamsson (Swe) Team Coast
45 Bram Tankink (Ned) Domo-Farm Frites
46 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance
47 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bonjour
48 Thomas Bodo (Fra) La Francaise des Jeux
49 Stéphane Auge (Fra) Jean-Delatour
50 Claude Lamour (Fra) Cofidis
51 Charles Guilbert (Fra) Bonjour
52 David Debremaecker (Bel) Marlux-Ville de Charleroi
53 Wesley Theunis (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim
54 Christophe Oriol (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance
55 Sascha Henrix (Ger) Team Coast
56 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Jean-Delatour
57 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim
58 Anton Chantyr (Rus) Team Coast
59 Franck Pencole (Fra) La Francaise des Jeux
60 Ivaïlo Gabrovski (Bul) Jean-Delatour

Courtesy of Marc Van Landeghem

Past winners

2001 Axel Merckx (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites  196 kms in 4.34.00 (42.92 km/h)
2000 Alberto Elli (Ita) Deutsche Telekom 196 kms in 4.42.05 (41.732 km/h)	
1999 Patrick Jonker (Aus) Rabobank       196 kms in 4.41.45 (41.737 km/h)
1998 Udo Bolts (Ger) Telekom             201 kms in 5.08.35 (39.179 km/h)
1997 Dimitry Konychev (Rus) - Roslotto
1996 Franco Ballerini (Ita) - Mapei
1995 Andrea Chiurato (Ita) - Mapei
1994 Peter Farazijn (Bel) - Lotto
1993 Patrick Evenepoel (Bel) - Collstrop
1992 Danny Nelissen (Hol) - PDM
1991 Frank Van den Abeele (Bel) - Lotto
1990 Luc Leblanc (Fra) - Castorama
1989 Thomas Wegmüller (Sui) - Domex Weinmann
1988 Claude Criquielion (Bel) - Hitachi
1987 Pascal Poisson (Fra) - System U (Laurent Fignon (Fra) disq) 
1986 Steven Rooks (Hol) - PDM
1985 Marc Madiot (Fra) - Renault
1984 Frank Hoste (Bel) - Europ Decor
1983 Stephen Roche (Irl) - Peugeot
1982 Hennie Kuiper (Hol) - DAF Trucks
1981 Walter Dalgal (Ita) - 
1980 Willy De Geest (Bel) - Ijsboerke
1979 Leo Van Vliet (Hol) - Ti Raleigh
1978 Willem Peeters (Bel) - Ijsborke
1977 Walter Planckaert (Bel)
1976 Herman Vanspringel (Bel)
1975 André Dierickx (Bel)
1974 Frans Verbeeck (Bel)
1973 Albert Van Vlierberghe (Bel)
1972 Emiel Cambre (Bel) 
1971 Felice Gimondi (Ita)
1970 Ferdinand Bracke (Bel)

1951 - 1969  no event

1950 Joseph Verhaert (Bel)
1949 Jacques Geus (Bel)
1944 Joseph Somers (Bel)
1943 Edouard Van Dyck (Bel)
1942 Maurice Van Herzele (Bel)
1941 -
1940 -
1939 Adolph Braeckeveldt (Bel)
1938 Adolph Braeckeveldt (Bel)
1937 Karel Tersago (Bel)
1936 Adolph Braeckeveldt (Bel)
1935 Gustave Degreef (Bel)

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