April 27/01 1:28 am - Circuit des Mines, Kranked 4 Release, Birthday

Posted by Editor on 04/27/01
 

Circuit des Mines, France

Stage 1 - Briey to Audun le Tiche 143 km

1 Sergey Matveyev (Ukr) Ceramiche Panaria Fiordo 3:40:22
2 Chris Newton (GBR) British National Team at 0:20
3 Nathan O'Neill (Aus) Ceramiche Panaria Fiordo
4 Robert Sassone (Fra) French Track Team
5 Antonio Varriale (Ita) Ceramiche Panaria Fiordo
6 Olivier Trastour (Fra) Jean Delatour
7 Innar Mandoja (Est) Ag2R-Prevoyance
8 Daniel Schnider (Sui) Francaise Des Jeux
9 Sven Montgomery (Sui) Francaise Des Jeux
10 Christophe Bassons (Fra) Jean Delatour all s.t.

14 Christopher Baldwin (USA) Navigators Cycling Team 0:44
29 Mark Walters (Can) Navigators Cycling Team 1:34
34 Brendon Vesty (NZL) Navigators Cycling Team 5:03
55 Vasili Davidenko (Rus) Navigators Cycling Team 3:22
60 Oleg Grishkine (Rus) Navigators Cycling Team
78 Siro Camponogara (Ita) Navigators Cycling Team both s.t.


Navigators Cycling Team - Europe Update

The Navigators Cycling Team arrived in France Tuesday to begin a four-week tour of the European continent. With races planned in France, Belgium, and Italy, the team was greeted with cold, damp, typically French spring weather. The Circuit des Mines began today with a 152Km stage from Briey to Auden-le-Tiche. The stage started under cloudy skys with cold temperatures, and strong winds. As the peloton left town, the rain began.

With a double stage tomorrow, and a powerful field including French teams AG2R, Francaise des Jeux, Jean Delatour, and Credit Agricole, Collstrop, Vlaanderen 2002, Italy's Panaria Fiordo, and the Russian Lada team, the opening hour and half was cautious. The field rolled through the French country at a casual pace until Navigator's Brendon Vesty launched the day's first significant attack on the circuit's first climb. With KOM points available at the climb's crest in Hattonchatel at 52 kilometres, Vesty's attack pulled two riders with him and stretched the field behind. Although they were caught before the summit, serious damage had been done. As the group began the fast twisty decent, the rain began to fall hard, and the peloton split into several groups. Strong crosswinds and enthusiastic racing resulted in a 32 rider break that quickly moved away from the field, gaining nearly 4 minutes. The Navigators team was represented by Chris Baldwin, Vesty, and Mark Walters. FDJ was the big winner with five in the group including Jackie Durand and sprinter Jimmy Casper. Jean Delatour had four including Eddy Seigneur, as did Panaria with Sergiy Matveyev and Aussie Nathan O'Neill. The decisive move had been made, and the field would not regroup.

Strong winds kept the pressure on all in the group, and combined with the increased pace, began to fatigue many. The pace increased as the day's second sprint came at 96 kilometres and included time bonuses. The race to town was followed by a series of attacks that would select eight riders. This time Panaria was the big winner with three in the group. Jean Delatour had two, FDJ had one and Walters represented Navigators. With 45 kilometres to go the group was working well until the Panaria team began it's attacks. Walters was the first to drop, but fought back on to stay with the leaders. Finally Matveyev escaped for the Italian team and gained a 20 second advantage. A chase group of ten including Navigators' Chris Baldwin was closing on the break, with the rest of the original 32 spread out in small groups behind. As the chase group closed, a series of attacks reshuffled the groups, and Walters was dropped to the third group. Matveyev stayed away for the victory and the chasers finished at 15 seconds. Baldwin was the highest placed Navigator, just missing the top ten.

It was a good inauguration for the Navigator Team. Initiating the action, and placing riders in the critical moves validated the team's competitive ambitions. Tomorrow will be a double stage with the 97 kilometres stage 2 containing three climbs, and a border crossing into Germany. The afternoon stage 3, is 102 kilometres of rolling terrain.


Kranked 4 Release

Mountain bike movie Kranked 4 is now available, and you can purchase it through our CC Store (www.ccstore.ca, in the Videos section).

The Toronto premier of Kranked 4 will take place May 10th, at the All Stars pub on King Street. Further information on the premier can be found at www.dropmachine.com.


Happy Birthday to...

Czeslaw Lukaszewicz, tomorrow.