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12th Giro del Capo - 2.5
South Africa, March 11-15, 2003
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Stage 3 - March 13: Paarl - Paarl, 167 km
Trackie Luke Roberts also rides up the mountains
By Jean-François Quénet in Paarl
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After two South African wins in a row with Darren Lill and Simon Kessler, Australia took the honour with Luke Roberts coming first in the longest (174.5km) and hardest stage of the Giro del Capo.
Between the grueling climbs of the Franschhoek Pass and the DuToit Kloof Pass, the wind prevented some breakaways from being successful and Team Barloworld controlled the whole race as if they were leading it. A tactic that the manager of pink jersey Darren Lill's HSBC Martin Sanders found really pleasant and helpful. "It's been a very good day for us", he said.
David George expected to make a difference on DuToit Kloof but it was too windy for a man alone to break clear. He didn't look too affected after the stage and said: "It'll come down to the time trial anyway and I'm only 10 seconds down on GC now. Last year I was 30 seconds down on Daniel Spence!" On the 5.5km climb from Camps Bay to Signal Hill, he rode 40 seconds faster than runner up Michael Rogers, that's why he's so confident in winning again. But still, Barloworld could take less responsibility and at least ask some other teams to work as well. They didn't.
They chased down German Thomas Ziegler from Wiesenhof and South Africa's great hope Alex Galvin from Minolta, who both escaped before DuToit Kloof. On the downhill, Norwegian Gabriel Rasch of Team Ringerike gave them a lesson of a skier going down fast. Together with German Eric Baumann, also from Wiesenhof, they got caught before the finish in Paarl.
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Everyone expected Wiesenhof to lead the sprint out for Enrico Poitschke but all the Germans did their own on different parts of the road. That's how Roberts took off. "I was getting a good position, he described. And I got a clear run on the right hand side of the road with 200 metres to go so I took it." Two Australians were there up the road with neo-pro Simon Gerrans taking an encouraging fourth place. He worked as a lead out man but lost his Swedish team-mate Mattias Carlsson in a wave.
"I had pretty good legs all day," Roberts added. "Yesterday I struggled a bit because of the bruises from the crash on the first day prior to the sprint finish. Looking back, I could have been there for the win also at the end of stage 1." But the South Australian who is a team pursuit Commonwealth and world champion as well as world record holder is satisfied with his first UCI win on the road since a stage of the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under two years ago. He'll back in South Africa next month for a leg of the track world cup in Cape Town.
Fourth stage of the Giro del Capo is a criterium - 11 times 3.76km with a hill - at the expo where the 40,000 participants of the Pick'n Pay Cape Argus Cycle Tour are coming to get their number since Wednesday. Roberts will then focus on Saturday's time trial. "Whether it's uphill or flat, it'll be a 12 minute effort flat out and that's what I'm the best at," he reckoned.
Is George really unbeatable?
Photography
Images by Jean-Francois Quénet
- Darren Lill (HSBC) conserved his overall lead
- Simon Gerrans(Team Ringerike) is an emerging Aussie talent
- Luke Roberts (Comnet-Senges) comments on his victory
- Luke Roberts (Comnet-Senges) looks content after his stage win
Results
1 Luke Roberts (Aus) Comnet-Senges 4.38.30 2 Bjorn Glasner (Ger) Lamonta 3 Enrico Poitschke (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 4 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Team Ringerike 5 Lubor Tesar (Cze) e'Dsystem-ZVVZ 6 Eric Baumann (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 7 David George (RSA) Barloworld 8 Ian McLeod (RSA) HSBC 9 Jens Heppner (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 10 Adrian Maaske (RSA) Minolta 11 Adrian Ilsley (RSA) Minolta 12 Darren Lill (RSA) HSBC 13 Jonathan Dayus (GBr) Team Ringerike 14 Eckard Bergh (RSA) Minolta 15 Mattias Carlsson (Swe) Team Ringerike 16 Thomas Ziegler (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 17 Jeremy Maartens (RSA) HSBC 18 Alex Galvin (RSA) Minolta 19 Morné Bester (RSA) Microsoft 20 Jaco Odendaal (RSA) Barloworld 21 Mannie Heymans (RSA) Eyeperoptics/Queens 22 Gabriel Rasch (Nor) Team Ringerike 0.07 23 Eric Furstenburg (RSA) Eyeperoptics/Queens 0.35 24 Martin Pieterse (RSA) Calcium-Hexal Panda 25 Martin Müller (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 26 Martin Laciak (Cze) e'Dsystem-ZVVZ 27 Hans-Jurgen Juratzek (Ger) Comnet-Senges 28 Bjorn Papstein (Ger) Lamonta 29 Chris Willemse (RSA) Chris Willemse Cycles 30 Michal Precechtel (Cze) e'Dsystem-ZVVZ 31 Reinhardt du Plessis (RSA) Minolta 32 Travis Allen (RSA) Calcium-Hexal Panda 33 Jock Green (RSA) HSBC 4.16 34 Alexander Milner (RSA) Sub 3 4.53 35 Willie van Zyl (RSA) Eyeperoptics/Queens 36 Alastair Andrews (RSA) SA Development 37 Craig Butland (RSA) BOE/Italian Connection 5.06 38 Graeme Cronjé (RSA) Calcium-Hexal Panda 39 Claude Roestoff (RSA) SA Development 40 Paul Minnaar (RSA) BOE/Italian Connection 41 Daniel Meinke (Ger) Comnet-Senges 42 Darryl Impey (RSA) Microsoft 43 Simon Kessler (RSA) Microsoft 44 JC Jooste (RSA) HAV Carpets 45 Charl Van Wyk (RSA) Sub 3 46 Neil Timm (RSA) BOE/Italian Connection 47 Anton van der Merwe (RSA) BOE/Italian Connection 5.45 48 Philip Schoeman (RSA) Sub 3 6.36 49 Johan van der Berg (RSA) Microsoft 50 Daniel Spence (RSA) HSBC 51 Douglas Ryder (RSA) Microsoft 52 Wolfgang Owczarek (Ger) Lamonta 9.17 53 Sebastian Drenker (Ger) Lamonta 54 Tiaan Kannemeyer (RSA) Barloworld 55 Rupert Rheeder (RSA) Eyeperoptics/Queens 56 Mark Wilcox (RSA) CSC/CVT 57 Brian Loff (RSA) SA Development 15.34 58 Sylvain Calzati (Fra) Barloworld 21.17 59 Eric Berthou (Fra) Barloworld 60 Robbie Rodrigues (RSA) BOE/Italian Connection 25.29 61 JP Fourie (RSA) HAV Carpets 25.35 62 Chris Esch (RSA) CSC/CVT 63 Gareth Rawson (RSA) HAV Carpets 64 Kevin Evans (RSA) Vineyard Hotel/Breitling 65 Frank Dressler (Ger) Comnet-Senges 66 Dirk Vobbe (RSA) Vineyard Hotel/Breitling 67 Jean-Claude Pretorius (RSA) Chris Willemse Cycle 68 Jaco Ferreira (RSA) Eyeperoptics/Queens 69 Geddan Ruddock (RSA) Vineyard Hotel/Breitling 70 Simon Brown (RSA) CSC/CVT 71 Jacques Goosen (RSA) CSC/CVT 72 Steve Sergeant (RSA) Vineyard Hotel/Breitling General classification after stage 3 1 Darren Lill (RSA) HSBC 11.40.21 2 Jens Heppner (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 0.04 3 Mattias Carlsson (Swe) Team Ringerike 0.06 4 David George (RSA) Barloworld 0.10 5 Adrian Maaske (RSA) Minolta 6 Eckard Bergh (RSA) Minolta 7 Enrico Poitschke (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 0.14 8 Mannie Heymans (RSA) Eyeperoptics/Queens 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 Luke Roberts (Aus) Comnet-Senges 0.29 14 Jeremy Maartens (RSA) HSBC 0.35 15 Jaco Odendaal (RSA) Barloworld 0.52 16 Thomas Ziegler (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 1.14 17 Eric Baumann (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 3.54 18 Martin Laciak (Cze) e'Dsystem-ZVVZ 4.02 19 Alex Galvin (RSA) Minolta 6.34 20 Jock Green (RSA) HSBC 6.39 21 Reinhardt du Plessis (RSA) Minolta 7.09 22 Michal Precechtel (Cze) e'Dsystem-ZVVZ 7.14 23 Chris Willemse (RSA) Chris Willemse Cycles 7.18 24 Gabriel Rasch (Nor) Team Ringerike 8.04 25 Martin Müller (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 9.08 26 Bjorn Glasner (Ger) Lamonta 9.45 27 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Team Ringerike 10.05 28 Eric Furstenburg (RSA) Eyeperoptics/Queens 10.26 29 Hans-Jurgen Juratzek (Ger) Comnet-Senges 30 Simon Kessler (RSA) Microsoft 11.27 31 Daniel Meinke (Ger) Comnet-Senges 14.57 32 Tiaan Kannemeyer (RSA) Barloworld 16.28 33 Lubor Tesar (Cze) e'Dsystem-ZVVZ 16.50 34 Paul Minnaar (RSA) BOE/Italian Connection 18.37 35 Mark Wilcox (RSA) CSC/CVT 19.08 36 Daniel Spence (RSA) HSBC 20.07 37 Graeme Cronjé (RSA) Calcium-Hexal Panda 20.48 38 Alastair Andrews (RSA) SA Development 20.49 39 Johan van der Berg (RSA) Microsoft 21.28 40 Travis Allen (RSA) Calcium-Hexal Panda 21.34 41 Martin Pieterse (RSA) Calcium-Hexal Panda 22.16 42 Alexander Milner (RSA) Sub 3 24.02 43 Wolfgang Owczarek (Ger) Lamonta 25.13 44 Darryl Impey (RSA) Microsoft 26.05 45 Neil Timm (RSA) BOE/Italian Connection 26.33 46 Willie van Zyl (RSA) Eyeperoptics/Queens 26.38 47 Anton van der Merwe (RSA) BOE/Italian Connection 26.44 48 Craig Butland (RSA) BOE/Italian Connection 26.52 49 Douglas Ryder (RSA) Microsoft 28.24 50 Claude Roestoff (RSA) SA Development 28.46 51 Bjorn Papstein (Ger) Lamonta 33.27 52 Frank Dressler (Ger) Comnet-Senges 33.32 53 Sebastian Drenker (Ger) Lamonta 33.55 54 Eric Berthou (Fra) Barloworld 35.02 55 Charl Van Wyk (RSA) Sub 3 35.09 56 Sylvain Calzati (Fra) Barloworld 36.26 57 Brian Loff (RSA) SA Development 40.00 58 JP Fourie (RSA) HAV Carpets 49.51 59 Kevin Evans (RSA) Vineyard Hotel/Breitling 49.57 60 Dirk Vobbe (RSA) Vineyard Hotel/Breitling 50.13 61 Steve Sergeant (RSA) Vineyard Hotel/Breitling 62 Philip Schoeman (RSA) Sub 3 51.52 63 JC Jooste (RSA) HAV Carpets 54.21 64 Jaco Ferreira (RSA) Eyeperoptics/Queens 55.38 65 Robbie Rodrigues (RSA) BOE/Italian Connection 56.05 66 Simon Brown (RSA) CSC/CVT 56.06 67 Geddan Ruddock (RSA) Vineyard Hotel/Breitling 57.03 68 Rupert Rheeder (RSA) Eyeperoptics/Queens 1.00.09 69 Chris Esch (RSA) CSC/CVT 1.01.50 70 Jean-Claude Pretorius (RSA) Chris Willemse Cycle 1.02.20 71 Jacques Goosen (RSA) CSC/CVT 1.04.33 72 Gareth Rawson (RSA) HAV Carpets 1.14.43 Points classification 1 Simon Kessler (RSA) Microsoft 13 pts 2 Luke Roberts (Aus) Comnet-Senges 10 3 Enrico Poitschke (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 10 4 Darren Lill (RSA) HSBC 10 5 Jock Green (RSA) HSBC 8 6 Eric Baumann (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 7 7 Jens Heppner (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 6 8 Bjorn Glasner (Ger) Lamonta 6 9 Graeme Cronjé (RSA) Calcium-Hexal Panda 5 10 Ian McLeod (RSA) HSBC 4 11 Thomas Ziegler (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 4 12 Mattias Carlsson (Swe) Team Ringerike 4 13 Johan van der Berg (RSA) Microsoft 3 14 Douglas Ryder (RSA) Microsoft 2 15 Morné Bester (RSA) Microsoft 1 16 Willie van Zyl (RSA) Eyeperoptics/Queens 1 Mountains classification 1 Eric Baumann (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 32 pts 2 David George (RSA) Barloworld 30 3 Jeremy Maartens (RSA) HSBC 28 4 Jock Green (RSA) HSBC 28 5 Johan van der Berg (RSA) Microsoft 18 6 Thomas Ziegler (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 17 7 Jaco Odendaal (RSA) Barloworld 16 8 Graeme Cronjé (RSA) Calcium-Hexal Panda 15 9 Alex Galvin (RSA) Minolta 10 10 Jean-Claude Pretorius (RSA) Chris Willemse Cycle 8 11 Enrico Poitschke (Ger) Wiesenhof Leipzig 6 12 Ian McLeod (RSA) HSBC 6 13 Tiaan Kannemeyer (RSA) Barloworld 5 14 Darren Lill (RSA) HSBC 4 15 Adrian Ilsley (RSA) Minolta 4 16 Anton van der Merwe (RSA) BOE/Italian Connection 4 17 Geddan Ruddock (RSA) Vineyard Hotel/Breitling 4 18 Eckard Bergh (RSA) Minolta 3 19 Adrian Maaske (RSA) Minolta 2 Teams classification 1 Minolta 35.01.47 2 HSBC 0.20 3 Wiesenhof Leipzig 1.08 4 Ringerike 7.44 5 Barloworld 16.46 6 Comnet-Senges 23.24 7 eD'System-ZVVZ 27.22 8 Microsoft 31.25 9 Eyeperoptics/Queens 35.48 10 Lamonta 47.34 11 Calcium-Hexal Panda 1.03.59 12 BOE-Italian 1.07.43 13 SACF Developement 1.28.51 14 Sub 3 1.50.19 15 CVT 2.07.24 16 Vineyard Hotel/Breitling 2.29.27 17 HAV Carpets 2.58.11
