Tour of China

From John Rezell who has the Velo-O-Rama site on

http://www.csusm.edu/public/guests/rezell/razweb1.html

Nazon Wins Stage, Grabs Tour Of China Leader's Jersey

Report filed Nov. 1

   BY JOHN REZELL
  SHANGHAI -- Castorama's Damien Nazon took a tumble midway through Stage 4
of the Kent Tour of China, and so did his spirits. But teammate Phillipe
Gaumont wouldn't let the young amateur wallow in self pity.
   Nazon, wearing the tour's blue sprint jersey, crashed after a mid-race
sprint on the 12th of 26 laps in the 47-mile circuit race, but came back to
win the sprint and steal away the leader's yellow jersey in the process.
  The 21-year-old who will sign a professional contract with Banesto when
he returns to France, took a one-second lead on USPRO's Steve Hegg in the
G.C.
  The overall standings got condensed with Saturn's Mike McCarthy winning a
mid-race time bonus sprint, vaulting him within a second of Hegg.
  The event heads into a two-day travel/rest period as the 350-person
entourage transfers to Beijing. It resumes Saturday with the only climbing
stage of the event, a 79-mile race to The Great Wall. It will set the stage
for the final day individual time trial.
   Four seconds separate the top four riders -- Nazon, Hegg, McCarthy and
Mapei-GB's Daniele Nardello. The top 30 are within 21 seconds.
   Nazon said he'll vigorously defend the yellow jersey and try to get back
the blue jersey. When asked which one was his primary goal, Nazon flashed
an enthusiastic smile.
  "Why not win both?" he said.
  When someone pointed to the orange climber's jersey that will be awarded
Saturday, Nazon laughed and flexed his bicep.
  It was quite a change from the dazed Nazon who sat on the pavement after
tangling his front tire with US Amateur Fred Rodriguez.
  Nazon was given a free lap on the 1.7-mile course. But he needed more
than that to clear out the cobwebs.
  "After the crash it was doubtful I could keep the blue jersey, but my
teammate (Gaumont) helped me with my morale," Nazon said. "He pulled me up
to the front of the field on the last lap and he insisted that I sprint."
  Nazon beat Collstrop's Jean-Pierre Heynderickx and Novell's Arvis Pizaks
into the final turn, just inside 200 meters. The trio finished in that
order.
  "It was just a battle to the final turn," said Pizaks, who won the first
mid-race sprint and took over the blue jersey. "After the corner it was too
short to be able to do anything."
  The race was fast, but not as fast as yesterday's circuit race. There
were less attacks, although Sergei Lavrinenko of the Kazakhstan Amateur
Team managed to slip away on a solo breakaway for three laps before being
reeled in.
  Mapei-GB once again pulled to the front in the final laps and set a fast
pace trying to set up Frederico Colonna,who finished fourth. USPRO's Robbie
Ventura was fifth and Rodriguez was sixth.
  Once again the Chinese came out in force for the event and watched with
curious eyes, not certain what their role in the traveling circus was until
organizers got them clapping. There were an estimated 20,000 lining the
course.
  "There weren't that many people at first," Piziks said. "But then there
were more and more and more."
  Hegg, who finds himself in serious contention for what could be the
biggest stage race victory of his career, wasn't concerned about losing the
yellow jersey.
  "It was bound to happen," Hegg said. "It's no problem. It's better for
the mountain stage. Now I can hide and it will be harder for anyone to keep
track of me."
  When quizzed whether or not he felt he would be able to climb with
leaders, Hegg scoffed.
  "When you're motivated like I am, you can do anything you want," Hegg
said. "I'd love to go over the top with everyone else and prove all those
naysayers wrong. Sure I can win this race. It's up for grabs."
  Nazon, who was the top French Amateur rider this season, said he felt
confident he can climb with the leaders but he wasn't so sure about the
final time trial,
  Piziks, who gave the Chinese press an emphatic "No" when asked if he
could win the overall, said Hegg and Novell teammate Viatcheslav Ekimov
were the probable favorites because of their time trialing ability.

     RESULTS
 1. Damien Nazon, Castorama, 1:37:15
 2. Jean-Pierre Heynedrickx, Collstrop, s.t.
 3. Arvis Piziks, Novell, s.t.
 4. Frederico Colonna, Mapei-GB, s.t.
 5. Robbie Ventura, USPRO, s.t.
 6. Fred Rodriguez, US Amateur, s.t.
 7. German Nieto, Castellblanch, s.t.
 8. Alessandro Calzorlari, Mapei-GB, s.t.
 9. Raul Perez, Castellblanch, s.t.
10. Mike McCarthy, Saturn, s.t.;
11. Dirk Schumann, Germany, s.t.
12. Eloy Santamarta, Santa Clara-Master, s.t.
13. Tom De Smet, Collstrop, s.t.
14. Nicola Loda, MG-Technogym, s.t.
15. Jose Espinosa, Castellblanch, s.t.
16. Rafeal Chyla, Germany, s.t.
17. Andrei Kivilev, Kazakhstan, s.t.
18. Norm Alvis, Saturn, s.t.
19. Alexander Nadobenko, Kazakhstan, s.t.;
20. Hui Chak Bor, Hong Kong, s.t.;
21. Davide Cassani, MG-Technogym, s.t.
22. Chad Gerlach, US Postal Service/Montgomery-Bell;
23. Christian Hirsch, Germany, s.t.
24. Andy Bishop, USPRO, s.t.
25. Jo Planckaert, Collstrop, s.t.
26. Andrei Mizurov, Kazakhstan, s.t.
27. Tyler Hamilton, US Postal Service/Montgomery-Bell, s.t.
28. Scott Fortner, Saturn, s.t.
29. Adolpho Alperi, Castellblanch, s.t.
30. Viatcheslav Ekimov, Novell, s.t.

G.C.
 1. Damien Nazon, Castorama, 7:24:44
 2. Steve Hegg, USPRO, :01
 3. Mike McCarthy, Saturn, :02
 4. Daniele Nardello, Mapei-GB, :04
 5. Norm Alvis, Saturn, :07
 6. Greg Randolph, US Amateur,
    Andy Bishop, USPRO, tied at :08
 8. Tyler Hamilton, US Postal Service/Montgomery-Bell,
    Viatcheslav Ekimov, Novell,
    Andrea Chiurato, Mapei-GB,
and Phillipe Gaumont, Castorama, all tied at :10;
12. Scott Fortner, Saturn,
and Jean Pierre Heynderickx, Collstrop, tied at :11
14. Tom Cordes, Castellblanch, :13;
15. Vadim Kravchenko, Kazakhstan,
and Nate Reiss, US Postal Service/Montgomery-Bell, tied at :14
17. Arvis Piziks, Novell,
and Clark Sheehan, US Postal Service/Montgomery-Bell,tied at :15
19. Scott Mercier, Saturn,
and Eloy Santamarta, Santa Clara-Master;
21. Frank McCormack, Saturn, :17
22. Carlo Bomans, Mapei-GB, :18
23. Alberto Elli, MG-Technogym,
and German Nieto, Castellblanch, tied at :19
25. Erik Dekker, Novell;
    Darius Baranowski, US Postal Service/Montgomery-Bell,
    Romes Gainetidinov, Santa Clara-Master,
    Alexander Nadobenko,  Kazakhstan, tied at :20
29. Tomasz Brozyna, US Postal Service/Montgomery-Bell, :21
30. Chad Gerlach, US Postal Service/ Montgomery-Bell, :22.

Results and story taken from:
http://www.csusm.edu/public/guests/rezell/web3c.htm
(John Rezell's Vel-o-Rama)

Kindly provided by Bertil Odling of Umea, SWEDEN