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12th Giro del Capo - 2.5
South Africa, March 11-15, 2003
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Stage 2 - March 12: Stellenbosch circuit race, 131.4 km (9x14.6 km)
Kessler makes up for stage 1 disappointment
By Jean-Francois Quenet in Stellenbosch
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One of the great figures of South African cycling, Simon Kessler (Microsoft) has won stage 2 of the Giro del Capo, after finishing very depressed in stage 1. In a 20 rider sprint, Kessler beat Wiesenhof's Enrico Poitschke and HSBC's Ian McLeod, while Darren Lill (HSBC) finished 9th and kept hold of his leader's jersey.
"I wanted to quit cycling", said Kessler, who was disappointed to lose six minutes to the winner (and former teammate) Darren Lill in stage 1. Kessler helped Lill find a club to race for in France (VS Albi) last year, and was not overjoyed at finding himself out of contention after only one stage of the Giro del Capo. He thought he was carrying an illness since Le Tour de Langkawi, but in fact he still had a lot of strength in his legs.
Stage 2 was a very hard circuit race with a 5.5 km long hill that had to be climbed nine times. Kessler is known in South Africa for being able to pick his best form the day he wants to. He was the National champion in 2000 when he rode for the Minolta team, which has kept the title since with Jacques Fullard and Tiaan Kannemeyer respectively. Kessler has a French mother and a French passport, and learned a lot when he raced for AS Corbeil-Essonnes eight years ago. He was also a very promising track rider, but decided to complete his studies in South Africa.
The pace today was mostly made by Team Barloworld and at the end, Team Wiesenhof. The peloton first had to chase Johan van den Berg (Microsoft), Eric Baumann (Wiesenhof) and Eric Cronje (Panda), who stayed away for 70 kilometres. Although Darren Lill (HSBC) was wearing the pink jersey, Barloworld took most of the responsibilities in the stage. Their two Frenchmen, Sylvain Calzati and Éric Berthou, did a fantastic job, as well as Kannemeyer who sacrificed his personal chances to win the race despite having won the Tour of Egypt (2.5) last week.
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The first stage was obviously enough for the new South African pro team with high international ambitions to designate defending champion David George as their leader for the Giro del Capo.
"It's a battle between Barloworld and HSBC," Kessler explained. "I'm out of it and our Microsoft team is going for stage wins, not for the overall victory. It's fantastic to have a win already. Morne Bester led me out for the sprint and I'm very happy. We were outnumbered in the final break so we played off them, bit of underdogs I must say."
Stage three of the Giro del Capo is a very hard one with the 7 km long Franschhoek pass and the gruelling Du Toits Kloof pass, the top of which is only 20 km from the finish. We should see George and Barloworld in action again, but veteran Jens Heppner is still around the corner and his Wiesenhof team looks very concerned about winning the race. It is also interesting to see the very young Minolta team with all of its five riders in the front group. It seems like South African cycling has a lot more to show in the next few years.
Photography
Images by Jean-Francois Quenet
- The back of the bakkie is the place to be in the sunny South Africa for a Norwegian mechanic!
- Simon Kessler (Microsoft) interviewed by Phil Liggett after winning stage 2
- Giro del Capo race leader Darren Lill and HSBC teammate Ian McLeod before the stage 2 presentation
- David George (Barloworld) cools off after stage 2
- Team Barloworld refuels after stage 2
- Barloworld's talented Jaco Odendaal learns from Frenchmen Sylvain Calzati and Eric Berthou
- Eric Berthou (Barloworld) likes the team's Look machines
Results
1 Simon Kessler (RSA) Microsoft 3.28.39 2 Enrico Poitschke (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 3 Ian McLeod (RSA) HSBC 4 Luke Roberts (Aus) Comnet-Senges 5 David George (RSA) Barloworld 6 Mattias Carlsson (Swe) Team Ringerike 7 Eckard Bergh (RSA) Minolta 8 Adrian Maaske (RSA) Minolta 9 Darren Lill (RSA) HSBC 10 Jeremy Maartens (RSA) HSBC 11 Reinhardt du Plessis (RSA) Minolta 12 Jonathan Dayus (GBr) Team Ringerike 13 Jens Heppner (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 14 Jaco Odendaal (RSA) Barloworld 15 Adrian Ilsley (RSA) Minolta 16 Mannie Heymans (RSA) Eyeperoptics/Queens 17 Alex Galvin (RSA) Minolta 18 Morné Bester (RSA) Microsoft 0.04 19 Thomas Ziegler (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 0.09 20 Chris Willemse (RSA) Chris Willemse Cycles 21 Jock Green (RSA) HSBC 2.01 22 Eric Baumann (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 2.52 23 Martin Laciak (Cze) e'Dsystem-ZVVZ 3.17 24 Frank Dressler (Ger) Comnet-Senges 25 Daniel Meinke (Ger) Comnet-Senges 26 Hans-Jurgen Juratzek (Ger) Comnet-Senges 27 Mark Wilcox (RSA) CSC/CVT 28 Bjorn Papstein (Ger) Lamonta 29 Bjorn Glasner (Ger) Lamonta 30 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Team Ringerike 31 Gabriel Rasch (Nor) Team Ringerike 32 Eric Furstenburg (RSA) Eyeperoptics/Queens 5.30 33 Michal Precechtel (Cze) e'Dsystem-ZVVZ 34 Graeme Cronjé (RSA) Calcium-Hexal Panda 6.25 35 Tiaan Kannemeyer (RSA) Barloworld 6.57 36 Paul Minnaar (RSA) BOE/Italian Connection 37 Martin Müller (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 38 Eric Berthou (Fra) Barloworld 39 Daniel Spence (RSA) HSBC 40 Johan van der Berg (RSA) Microsoft 8.21 41 Sylvain Calzati (Fra) Barloworld 42 Alastair Andrews (RSA) SA Development 9.22 43 Wolfgang Owczarek (Ger) Lamonta 44 Alexander Milner (RSA) Sub 3 9.54 45 Neil Timm (RSA) BOE/Italian Connection 12.05 46 Claude Roestoff (RSA) SA Development 14.25 47 Darryl Impey (RSA) Microsoft 48 Charl Van Wyk (RSA) Sub 3 49 Travis Allen (RSA) Calcium-Hexal Panda 50 Jaco Ferreira (RSA) Eyeperoptics/Queens 51 Martin Pieterse (RSA) Calcium-Hexal Panda 52 Anton van der Merwe (RSA) BOE/Italian Connection 53 Marco van Dommelen (RSA) HAV Carpets 15.01 54 Simon Brown (RSA) CSC/CVT 55 JP Fourie (RSA) HAV Carpets 56 Willie van Zyl (RSA) Eyeperoptics/Queens 15.12 57 Robbie Rodrigues (RSA) BOE/Italian Connection 58 Kevin Evans (RSA) Vineyard Hotel/Breitling 59 Craig Butland (RSA) BOE/Italian Connection 60 Brian Loff (RSA) SA Development 15.16 61 Marcel Gono (Aus) e'Dsystem-ZVVZ 62 Steve Sergeant (RSA) Vineyard Hotel/Breitling 63 Dirk Vobbe (RSA) Vineyard Hotel/Breitling 64 Douglas Ryder (RSA) Microsoft 65 Lubor Tesar (Cze) e'Dsystem-ZVVZ 66 Sebastian Drenker (Ger) Lamonta 67 Konrad Siebrits (RSA) Chris Willemse Cycles 17.17 68 Gareth Rawson (RSA) HAV Carpets 19.33 69 JC Jooste (RSA) HAV Carpets 19.40 70 Jean-Claude Pretorius (RSA) Chris Willemse Cycles 21.07 71 Geddan Ruddock (RSA) Vineyard Hotel/Breitling 22.18 72 Lourens Calitz (RSA) Sub 3 27.03 73 Philip Schoeman (RSA) Sub 3 29.41 74 Chris Esch (RSA) CSC/CVT 75 Jacques Goosen (RSA) CSC/CVT 32.24 76 Rupert Rheeder (RSA) Eyeperoptics/Queens 35.14 77 Verdi Farao (RSA) SA Development 41.52 General classification after stage 2 1 Darren Lill (RSA) HSBC 7.01.51 2 Jens Heppner (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 0.04 3 Mattias Carlsson (Swe) Team Ringerike 0.06 4 David George (RSA) Barloworld 0.10 5 Eckard Bergh (RSA) Minolta 6 Adrian Maaske (RSA) Minolta 7 Mannie Heymans (RSA) Eyeperoptics/Queens 0.14 8 Enrico Poitschke (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 0.18 9 Ian McLeod (RSA) HSBC 0.20 10 Jonathan Dayus (GBr) Team Ringerike 0.21 11 Adrian Ilsley (RSA) Minolta 0.24 12 Morné Bester (RSA) Microsoft 0.27 13 Jeremy Maartens (RSA) HSBC 0.35 14 Luke Roberts (Aus) Comnet-Senges 0.39 15 Jaco Odendaal (RSA) Barloworld 0.52 16 Thomas Ziegler (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 1.18 17 Jock Green (RSA) HSBC 2.25 18 Martin Laciak (Cze) e'Dsystem-ZVVZ 3.27 19 Eric Baumann (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 3.54 20 Simon Kessler (RSA) Microsoft 6.24 21 Reinhardt du Plessis (RSA) Minolta 6.34 22 Alex Galvin (RSA) Minolta 23 Michal Precechtel (Cze) e'Dsystem-ZVVZ 6.39 24 Chris Willemse (RSA) Chris Willemse Cycles 6.43 25 Tiaan Kannemeyer (RSA) Barloworld 7.11 26 Frank Dressler (Ger) Comnet-Senges 7.57 27 Gabriel Rasch (Nor) Team Ringerike 28 Martin Müller (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 8.33 29 Eric Furstenburg (RSA) Eyeperoptics/Queens 9.51 30 Hans-Jurgen Juratzek (Ger) Comnet-Senges 31 Daniel Meinke (Ger) Comnet-Senges 32 Mark Wilcox (RSA) CSC/CVT 33 Bjorn Glasner (Ger) Lamonta 34 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Team Ringerike 10.05 35 Paul Minnaar (RSA) BOE/Italian Connection 13.31 36 Daniel Spence (RSA) HSBC 37 Eric Berthou (Fra) Barloworld 13.45 38 Johan van der Berg (RSA) Microsoft 14.52 39 Sylvain Calzati (Fra) Barloworld 15.09 40 Graeme Cronjé (RSA) Calcium-Hexal Panda 15.42 41 Wolfgang Owczarek (Ger) Lamonta 15.56 42 Alastair Andrews (RSA) SA Development 43 Lubor Tesar (Cze) e'Dsystem-ZVVZ 16.50 44 Alexander Milner (RSA) Sub 3 19.09 45 Darryl Impey (RSA) Microsoft 20.59 46 Travis Allen (RSA) Calcium-Hexal Panda 47 Anton van der Merwe (RSA) BOE/Italian Connection 48 Neil Timm (RSA) BOE/Italian Connection 21.27 49 Martin Pieterse (RSA) Calcium-Hexal Panda 21.41 50 Craig Butland (RSA) BOE/Italian Connection 21.46 51 Willie van Zyl (RSA) Eyeperoptics/Queens 52 Douglas Ryder (RSA) Microsoft 21.50 53 Marcel Gono (Aus) e'Dsystem-ZVVZ 54 Claude Roestoff (RSA) SA Development 23.40 55 Konrad Siebrits (RSA) Chris Willemse Cycles 23.51 56 JP Fourie (RSA) HAV Carpets 24.16 57 Kevin Evans (RSA) Vineyard Hotel/Breitling 24.22 58 Brian Loff (RSA) SA Development 24.26 59 Steve Sergeant (RSA) Vineyard Hotel/Breitling 24.38 60 Dirk Vobbe (RSA) Vineyard Hotel/Breitling 61 Sebastian Drenker (Ger) Lamonta 62 Charl Van Wyk (RSA) Sub 3 30.03 63 Jaco Ferreira (RSA) Eyeperoptics/Queens 64 Simon Brown (RSA) CSC/CVT 30.31 65 Robbie Rodrigues (RSA) BOE/Italian Connection 30.36 66 Geddan Ruddock (RSA) Vineyard Hotel/Breitling 31.28 67 Bjorn Papstein (Ger) Lamonta 32.52 68 Chris Esch (RSA) CSC/CVT 36.15 69 Lourens Calitz (RSA) Sub 3 36.25 70 Jean-Claude Pretorius (RSA) Chris Willemse Cycles 36.45 71 Jacques Goosen (RSA) CSC/CVT 38.58 72 Philip Schoeman (RSA) Sub 3 45.16 73 Gareth Rawson (RSA) HAV Carpets 49.08 74 JC Jooste (RSA) HAV Carpets 49.15 75 Rupert Rheeder (RSA) Eyeperoptics/Queens 50.52 76 Verdi Farao (RSA) SA Development 57.36 Points classification 1 Darren Lill (RSA) HSBC 10 pts 2 Simon Kessler (RSA) Microsoft 10 3 Eric Baumann (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 7 4 Jens Heppner (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 6 5 Enrico Poitschke (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 6 6 Jock Green (RSA) HSBC 6 7 Graeme Cronjé (RSA) Calcium-Hexal Panda 5 8 Mattias Carlsson (Swe) Team Ringerike 4 9 Ian McLeod (RSA) HSBC 4 10 Johan van der Berg (RSA) Microsoft 3 11 Morné Bester (RSA) Microsoft 1 Mountains classification 1 Eric Baumann (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 24 pts 2 Jock Green (RSA) HSBC 22 3 Johan van der Berg (RSA) Microsoft 18 4 David George (RSA) Barloworld 16 5 Graeme Cronjé (RSA) Calcium-Hexal Panda 15 6 Jaco Odendaal (RSA) Barloworld 10 7 Jeremy Maartens (RSA) HSBC 10 8 Enrico Poitschke (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 6 9 Ian McLeod (RSA) HSBC 6 10 Thomas Ziegler (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 5 11 Adrian Ilsley (RSA) Minolta 4 12 Anton van der Merwe (RSA) BOE/Italian Connection 4 13 Geddan Ruddock (RSA) Vineyard Hotel/Breitling 4 14 Tiaan Kannemeyer (RSA) Barloworld 3 15 Adrian Maaske (RSA) Minolta 2 Teams classification 1 Minolta 21.06.17 2 HSBC 0.20 3 Wiesenhof Leipzig 1.08 4 Barloworld 7.29 5 Ringerike 7.44 6 Comnet-Senges 17.43 7 Microsoft 21.13 8 eD'System-ZVVZ 26.12 9 Eyeperoptics/Queens 30.20 10 Lamonta 37.42 11 BOE-Italian 52.25 12 Calcium-Hexal Panda 53.01 13 SACF Developement 1.03.18 14 Chris Willemse 1.06.35 15 CVT 1.06.57 16 Vineyard Hotel/Breitling 1.12.42 17 Sub 3 1.24.50 18 HAV Carpets 2.01.55
