GP Midtbank - 1.3

Denmark, May 4, 2002

2001 Results Results Past winners

Kiwi coloured Danish opener

The sprint
Photo: © Frank Rud Jensen

GP Midtbank, the first international Danish race for the season became a disappointment for the home riders. The first Dane, old Michael Sandstød (CSC-Tiscali), was to be found in spot 13.

The race is held in southern Jutland and contains several pieces of narrow gravel roads in order to make it a Scandinavian Paris-Roubaix. The first gravel stretch split the field due to a crash that allowed some 20 riders to escape, but they were caught. After this, three riders got away with New Zealand champion Gordon McCauley (RDM-Flanders) who along the way collected enough points to win both sprint classifications: The town sprints and the gravel sprints.

When the trio was caught, McCauley attacked again but had to manage alone this time for 27 kilometres before he was caught on the finishing laps in Herning. With 10 kilometres to go a five man break was formed containing last year's winner Rudi Kemna (Bankgiroloterij), Graziano Gasparre (Mapei), Cezary Zamana (CCC), Zbigniew Piatek (Mróz) and once again Gordon McCauley. Kemna won the sprint ahead of Zamana and McCauley who had been on the attack for 130 km.

The Danish teams managed to place Tristan Hoffman (CSC-Tiscali) as no. 10 and Magnus Bäckstedt (EDS-fakta) as 12th. Second best Dane after Sandstød was home town rider and amateur Ari Højgaard (Danish National Team) in place 17 as the best amateur rider. Mateusz Mroz (Mroz) won the espoirs prize as the only U23 rider finishing.

Photography

Photos by Frank Rud Jensen and Steen Lyman Hansen/www.cykel-sport.dk

The peloton - tackles the parcours of the GP Midtbank
Lennie Kristensen (EDS-fakta) - and Geert Van Bondt (CSC) ride in the peloton.
Lennie Kristensen - and Magnus Backstedt (fakta) round a corner
Marcus Ljungqvist (EDS-fakta) - leads the way.
Is this a road race - or an MTB cross country?
Hanging on - through the dusty back roads
A CSC (Michael Blaudzun) and CCC rider - look for wheels after puncturing on the rough roads.
Phonak riders - in the thick of things
Rudi Kemna (BankGiroLoterij) - wins the GP Midtbank
The podium - Cezary Zamana (CCC, 2nd), Rudi Kemna (BankGiroLoterij, 1st) and Gordon McCauley (RDM-Flanders, 3rd)
Laurent Jalabert (CSC) - looking forward to tomorrow's CSC classic.

Results - 194 km

1 Rudi Kemna (Ned) Bankgiroloterij-Batavus             4.41.32
2 Cezary Zamana (Pol) CCC-Polsat
3 Gordon Mccauley (NZl) RDM-Flanders
4 Zbigniew Piatek (Pol) Mróz
5 Graziano Gasparre (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step Espoirs        0.01
6 Remigius Lupeikis (Ltu) Mróz                            0.38
7 Karl Pauwels (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop                    0.41
8 Bert Hiemstra (Ned) Bankgiroloterij-Batavus             0.46
9 Tristan Hoffman (Ned) CSC-Tiscali
10 Rik Reinerink (Ned) Bankgiroloterij-Batavus            0.49
11 Magnus Bäckstedt (Swe) EDS-fakta
12 Michael Sandstød (Den) CSC-Tiscali                     0.50
13 Richard Faltus (Cze) Mixed Team                        0.51
14 Raimondas Vilcinskas (Ltu) Mróz                        1.02
15 Arvis Piziks (Lat) CSC-Tiscali                         1.05
16 Ari Højgaard (Den) Herning CK                          2.28
17 Marcel Luppes (Ned) Axa-VvZ                            2.32
18 Alexandre Usov (Blr) Phonak Hearing Systems            2.33
19 Dennis Rasmussen (Den) Glud & Marstrand Horsens
20 Jimmi Madsen (Den) CSC-Tiscali
21 Tom Vannoppen (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop
22 Gert Vanderaerden (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop
23 David Derepas (Fra) Phonak Hearing Systems
24 Stijn Vanstraelen (Bel) RDM-Flanders
25 Flemming Bennetsen (Den)
26 Jürgen Landrie (Bel) RDM-Flanders                      2.34
27 Christoph Roodhooft (Bel) RDM-Flanders
28 Allan Bo Andresen (Den) EDS-fakta
29 John Talen (Ned) Van Hemert Groep Cycling Team         2.35
30 Bas Van Dooren (Ned) Bankgiroloterij-Batavus           2.36
31 Mateusz Mroz (Pol) Mróz
32 Michael Reihs (Den) Phonak Hearing Systems
33 Eugen Wacker (Kgz) Mróz                                2.37
34 Marcus Ljungqvist (Swe) EDS-fakta
35 Eric De Clercq (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop                 2.39
36 Jacob Nielsen (Den) Glud & Marstrand Horsens           2.40
37 Lasse Siggaard (Den)                                   2.42
38 Adam Wadecki (Pol) Mróz                                2.47
39 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) EDS-fakta                      2.50
40 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Mapei-Quick Step Espoirs        2.56
41 Denis Bertolini (Ita) Phonak Hearing Systems           5.10

Courtesy of Frank Rud Jensen

Past winners

2001 Rudi Kemna (Ned) Bankgiroloterij Batavus
2000 Michael Sandstød (Den) MemoryCard-Jack & Jones 
1999 Michael Sandstød (Den) Home-Jack & Jones
1998 Bjarne Riis (Den) Telekom 
1997 Bjarne Riis (Den) Telekom  
1996 Bjarne Riis (Den) Telekom 
1995 Fréderic Moncassin (Fra) Novell 
1994 Brian Smith (GBr) Motorola
1993 Dennis Rasmussen (Den) Aarhus CK 
1992 Claus Michael Møller (Den) Ordrup