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Dauphiné Libéré
Photo ©: Sirotti

 UCI codes explained

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

Simon Kessler
Photo: © JF Quenet
Click for larger image

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.

David George
Photo: © JF Quenet
Click for larger image

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

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