Commonwealth Bank Cycle Classic, Cat 2.5Australia, October 18-26, 1997Stage 15, Canberra Criterium, 36 kms:Sunday, October 26Preview ReportIt has become a tradition for the last stage of the Tour to be held in the centre of Australia's National Capital, Canberra. The Capital is in southern NSW in a special territory called the Australian Capital Territory. We would have to explore past colonial rivalries between NSW and Victoria to explain why the Capital was situated "sort-off" in between Sydney (NSW) and Melbourne (Vic). Never mind.The course is flat with some technical riding being required due to the layout. It runs through the main shopping area of Canberra City. Wide roads, a few technical corners and a straight away sprint for the finish. The Canberra Criterium will pose no dangers for the GC leader, Andrei Kivilev. It is mainly a showcase for the many sprinters in the Tour. Jay Sweet will no doubt be the fancied rider to take the final stage (his 4th) but then Germany's Mike Weissman is sprinting well (having won the last criterium in Nowra), and Belgian, Franky Van Haesebroucke cannot be discounted.
ReportThe course is a coat-hanger shape with a sharp loop instead of the hook.Jay Sweet before the race said: "The legs are a little bit tired. I went for the group sprint this morning and i won that comfortably. So this afternoon I am confident. The course for the crit is tough, two hot-dog corners. We are going to be in there looking for a stage win. I am leaving the team now. We have been trhough a lot over the last 3 years. I am going to try to win it for the boys." 12 laps to go. Last stage for the Giant-AIS team together and they are dominating on the front. They aim to get Sweet into first place. Weissman and Jeremy Hunt are the two threats along with Franky Van Haesebroucke, who still bears some problems over judging decisions earlier in the week. The common feeling is that there was inconsistency in the judging during this Tour. The Giant-AIS team have kept the pace very high to prevent any attacks getting away. Guest Commentator Henk Vogels says: "the Last stage for the Giant-AIS team look as though they are doing it easy now. I can tell you it looks easy but it really does sting the legs. I really hope Jay pulls it off." 10 laps to go. Kivilev is under no challenge from Zemke who appears to be sitting at the back of the field resigned to not being able to close the 15 sec gap. Kivilev is riding at the front part of the peloton to stay in a safe position. The Giant-AIS team are still controlling the race. No other team seems interested in taking any initiative. For Sweet this is fine as he is the superior sprinter in the field and must back his chances in a mass sprint. Zemke tries to get back near Kivilev but the pace is very high. No one can really make any moves through the peloton. The only attack came earlier from Kelvin Martin but it was quickly thwarted. He only ever got a 65 metre gap and was pulled in by the Giant-AIS team. Vogels: "They should be waiting to attack with 3 laps to go. At this pace any attacks early are doomed." Nick Gates is on the front for the Giant-AIS team and the tempo is rising. Sweet is sitting in 5th position. He has held the "team wheel" all the way so far. A 20 sec bonus for 1st still gives Zemke some possibility. So Kivilev must remain attentive. White is driving the peloton. Sweet 5th, Hunt 6th, Van Haesebroucke 7th. Rumsas is getting squeezed out of position as the riders jockey for position on the Giant-AIS team wheel. Gates, Gono, White, Rogers, Sweet. Vogels: "It is definitely going to be a hard sprint. It is a headwind and the guy who leads it out is going to be in a bit of trouble. Peter Rogers will be the first man to come out." 5 laps to go. Hunt sitting on Sweet. Weissman is on Hunt and the Belgian is on Hunt. Zemke is moving up to this group. 4 laps to go, Zemke still has a chance. Vogels: "I think Zemke knows he has 2nd on the podium. He is probably going to help his sprinter Weissmann take the stage. They are winding up the bigger gears now." Zemke attacks with 3 laps to go. Kivilev reacts and is hanging on with everything on his wheel. Zemke goes again but Kivilev has him covered. Zemke has a gap of around 5 metres. Kivilev gets him. Vogels: "You couldn't write a script for this." Kivilev now knows he has it. Zemke has made his swansong attack and it is now over. The Giant-AIS team are back on front with the excitement over. The bell looms and the sprinters are getting ready for their last bit of work. We have Gono, White, Rogers, Sweet, Hunt, Weissman, and Van Haesebroucke. Gono head down waiting for the bell. Bell rings. Sweet is sitting 4th and looking for his 5th win (equal to Max Van Heeswijk a few years ago). Rogers is driving. The Belgian comes out of the corner first. Weissmann is on his wheel. Sweet third. Sweet takes it easily by 2 metres. Hunt is 2nd, Duncan Smith (Cash Trust) third. Sweet said: "I want to dedicate this to the team. I couldn't win the race without them". Kivilev: "I last rode here 5 years ago. Now I win and I am very happy. It was very difficult when Zemke attacked. I don't know who i am riding with next year." He hasn't signed for a professional team yet. Results1 Jay Sweet AUS Giant-AIS 51.50 2 Jeremy Hunt UK DuPont s.t. 3 Duncan Smith AUS Cash Trust s.t. 4 Mike Weissmann GER Bosch s.t. 5 Peter Rogers AUS Giant-AIS s.t. 6 Franky V. Haesebroucke BEL Ansett Australia s.t. 7 Kelvin Martin AUS Caravello Joinery s.t. 8 Tim Christopher AUS Casino Canberra s.t. 9 Ben Litchfield AUS Cash Trust s.t. 10 Andrei Mizourov KAZ Bates Bikes s.t. 11 Chris Lillywhite UK DuPont s.t. 12 Andrei Kivilev KAZ Bates Bikes s.t. 13 Jens Zemke GER Bosch s.t. 14 John Tanner UK DuPont s.t. 15 Dmitri Fofonov KAZ Bates Bikes s.t. 16 Brett Dennis AUS Cash Trust s.t. 17 Uwe Ampler GER MROZ s.t. 18 Raimundas Rumsas LIT MROZ s.t. 19 John van de Akker NED Websdale Printing s.t. 20 Matt White AUS Giant-AIS s.t. 21 Serguei Lavrenenko KAZ Bates Bikes s.t. 22 Warren Jennings AUS Sportscover s.t. 23 Andreuss Kloedn GER Bosch s.t. 24 Darius Wojciechowski POL MROZ s.t. 25 Thomas Liese GER Bosch s.t. 26 Steve Williams AUS NSW Sport and Rec. s.t. 27 Ruud Zijlmans NED Websdale Printing s.t. 28 Julian Winn UK DuPont s.t. 29 Jonathan McCormack AUS NSW Sport and Rec. s.t. 30 Paul Williams AUS Ansett Australia s.t. 31 Bart Hickson AUS Caravello Joinery s.t. 32 Scott Farley AUS Bohemia s.t. 33 Nick Gates AUS Giant-AIS 0.17 34 Stephan Gottschling GER Bosch 0.34 35 Marcel Gono AUS Giant-AIS 0.34 36 Dan Smith UK DuPont 1.07 37 Matt Wilson AUS Cash Trust 1.15 38 Luke Stockwell AUS Sportscover 1.37 39 Vadim Kravtchenko KAZ Bates Bikes 1.37 40 Brett Arnold AUS Casino Canberra 1.37 41 Karl Murray NZ Coca-Cola 1.37 42 Stuart Bardsley AUS Casino Canberra 3.14 43 Dean Russell AUS Cash Trust 3.14 44 Peter Milostic AUS NSW Sport and Rec. 3.14 45 Baden Burke AUS Casino Canberra 4.51 46 Alex Nadebenko KAZ Ansett Australia 4.51 47 Heiko Szonn GER Ansett Australia 4.51 48 Shane Seghers AUS Sportscover 4.51 49 Jonathan Hall AUS Ansett Australia 4.51 50 Scott Guyton NZ Coca-Cola 4.51 51 Henk Vaassen AUS NSW Sport and Rec. 4.51 52 Guy Dundas AUS Caravello Joinery 8.05 53 Cameron McDonald AUS Sportscover 8.05 54 Kristin Lewis AUS Bohemia 8.05 55 Lex Nederlof NED Bohemia 8.05 56 Odwin Bink NED Websdale Printing 8.05 57 John Pollock AUS Coca-Cola 8.05 58 John Cosgrove UK Bohemia 8.05 59 Craig Upton NZ Bohemia 8.05 60 Kris Denham AUS NSW Sport and Rec. 8.05 61 Phil Bray AUS Caravello Joinery 8.05 62 Dean Jones AUS Sportscover 8.05 Final General Classification1 Andrei Kivilev KAZ Bates Bikes 27.12.06 2 Jens Zemke GER Bosch 0.15 3 Peter Rogers AUS Giant-AIS 2.18 4 Chris Lillywhite UK DuPont 5.21 5 Andreuss Kloedn GER Bosch 6.14 6 Andrei Mizourov KAZ Bates Bikes 6.55 7 Julian Winn UK DuPont 8.12 8 Uwe Ampler GER MROZ 8.34 9 John van den Akker NED Websdale Printing 8.35 10 Warren Jennings AUS Sportscover 10.06 11 Serguei Lavrenenko KAZ Bates Bikes 10.07 12 Mike Weissmann GER Bosch 11.13 13 Thomas Liese GER Bosch 11.15 14 Brett Dennis AUS Cash Trust 11.34 15 Steve Williams AUS NSW Sport and Rec. 11.36 16 Jonathan McCormack AUS NSW Sport and Rec. 11.43 17 Jeremy Hunt UK DuPont 12.22 18 Duncan Smith AUS Cash Trust 13.57 19 Scott Farley AUS Bohemia 15.01 20 Dan Smith UK DuPont 16.50 21 Heiko Szonn GER Ansett Australia 19.40 22 Darius Wojciechowski POL MROZ 19.40 23 Raimundas Rumsas LIT MROZ 20.00 24 Marcel Gono AUS Giant-AIS 23.52 25 Dmitri Fofonov KAZ Bates Bikes 23.55 26 Vadim Kravtchenko KAZ Bates Bikes 24.24 27 Brett Arnold AUS Casino Canberra 24.38 28 John Tanner UK DuPont 26.44 29 Matt White AUS Giant-AIS 27.17 30 Franky V. Haesebroucke BEL Ansett Australia 27.44 31 Alex Nadebenko KAZ Ansett Australia 31.51 32 Stephan Gottschling GER Bosch 33.03 33 Bart Hickson AUS Caravello Joinery 33.43 34 Scott Guyton NZ Coca-Cola 36.21 35 Kelvin Martin AUS Caravello Joinery 36.23 36 Guy Dundas AUS Caravello Joinery 40.19 37 Jonathan Hall AUS Ansett Australia 45.32 38 Ben Litchfield AUS Cash Trust 49.00 39 Dean Russell AUS Cash Trust 1.04.12 40 Ruud Zijlmans NED Websdale Printing 1.20.14 41 Matt Wilson AUS Cash Trust 1.22.53 42 Cameron McDonald AUS Sportscover 1.25.44 43 Nick Gates AUS Giant-AIS 1.34.33 44 Kristin Lewis AUS Bohemia 1.37.22 45 John Pollock AUS Coca-Cola 1.43.46 46 Jay Sweet AUS Giant-AIS 1.55.31 47 Karl Murray NZ Coca-Cola 2.05.36 48 Paul Williams AUS Ansett Australia 2.08.32 49 Peter Milostic AUS NSW Sport and Rec. 2.10.37 50 Lex Nederlof NED Bohemia 2.10.56 51 Kris Denham AUS NSW Sport and Rec. 2.11.11 52 Phil Bray AUS Caravello Joinery 2.12.58 53 Luke Stockwell AUS Sportscover 2.18.30 54 Dean Jones AUS Sportscover 2.23.03 55 Odwin Bink NED Websdale Printing 2.27.54 56 Henk Vaassen AUS NSW Sport and Rec. 2.28.20 57 Tim Christopher AUS Casino Canberra 2.30.46 58 Shane Seghers AUS Sportscover 2.37.37 59 John Cosgrove UK Bohemia 2.39.59 60 Craig Upton NZ Bohemia 2.53.03 61 Stuart Bardsley AUS Casino Canberra 2.53.24 62 Baden Burke AUS Casino Canberra 3.17.01 Final Tourism NSW Teams Championship1 GER Bosch 81.58.49 2 KAZ Bates Bikes 5.37 3 UK DuPont 10.40 4 AUS Giant-AIS 21.06 5 POL MROZ 30.27 6 WORLD Ansett Airlines 45.43 7 AUS Cash Trust 57.20 8 AUS Caravello Joinery 1.25.18 9 AUS NSW Sport and Rec. 1.59.47 10 NED Websdale Printing 2.51.19 11 AUS Sportscover 2.53.58 12 NZ Coca-Cola 3.08.57 13 WORLD Bohemia 3.17.05 14 AUS Casino Canberra 3.47.35 Final Coca Cola King of the Mountains1 Jens Zemke GER Bosch 64 2 Jonathan Hall AUS Ansett Australia 57 3 Andrei Mizourov KAZ Bates Bikes 27 4 Andrei Kivilev KAZ Bates Bikes 19 5 Uwe Ampler GER MROZ 19 6 Andreuss Kloedn GER Bosch 12 7 Guy Dundas AUS Caravello Joinery 8 8 Thomas Liese GER Bosch 6 9 Dan Smith UK DuPont 4 10 Chris Lillywhite UK DuPont 3 11 John Tanner UK DuPont 2 12 Julian Winn UK DuPont 2 13 John v.d. Akker NED Websdale Printing 2 14 Heiko Szonn GER Bosch 2 15 Matt White AUS Giant-AIS 1 16 Stephan Gottschling GER Bosch 1 17 Andre Morgan AUS Casino Canberra 1 Final Toyota Sprint King1 Jay Sweet AUS Giant-AIS 30 2 Jeremy Hunt UK DuPont 20 3 Mike Weissmann GER Bosch 15 4 Jonathan Hall AUS Ansett Australia 10 5 John van den Akker NED Websdale 10 6 Franky V. Haesebroucke BEL Ansett Australia 10 7 Andreuss Kloedn GER Bosch 9 8 Peter Rogers AUS Giant-AIS 8 9 Raimundas Rumsas LIT MROZ 8 10 Duncan Smith AUS Cash Trust 7 11 Steve Williams AUS NSW Sport and Rec. 6 12 Chris Lillywhite UK DuPont 5 13 Jens Zemke GER Bosch 4 14 Andrei Kivilev KAZ Bates Bikes 4 15 John Tanner UK DuPont 4 16 Bart Hickson AUS Caravello Joinery 3 17 Dan Smith UK DuPont 3 18 Matt White AUS Giant-AIS 2 19 Serguei Lavrenenko KAZ Bates Bikes 2 20 Thomas Liese GER Bosch 2 21 Kris Denham AUS NSW Sport and Rec. 1 22 Bernard Bocian POL MROZ 1 23 Matt Wilson AUS Cash Trust 1 24 Heiko Szonn GER Bosch 1 |