October 10/03 1:00 am - Road World Championships: Espoir Men's RR Live reports

Posted by Editoress on 10/10/03
 

This report made possible by Human Kinetics Publishers

1:06pm EDT
The Espoir men are now on lap 4 of 14

On lap 2 a couple of attacks were attempted, one by Canadian Murray Carter, but he was quickly joined by 3 riders and they were quickly brought back by the pack. At the end of lap 2 Willie Van Zyl (RSA) led the still together pack across the line

At the start of lap 3 there was a crash that took down Alexandre Ivanov (BLR) and Vladimir Gusev (RUS). Both riders got back up quickly. At the end of Lap 3 Viktar Rapinski (BLR) led the pack across , with Martin Gilbert sitting 30th.

Now on lap 4, the attacks contunue. On the way up the 2nd climb a Spanish rider attacked, but was quickly brought back by a South african rider and then joined by the pack. Cory Jay has been dropped by the pack, near the top of the climb the gap is 45 seconds.

1:20pm EDT -Lap 5

Andriy Grivko (UKR) led Viktar Rapinski (BLR) across the line at the end of lap 4. Just past the first corner, Assan Bazayev (KAZ) launched an attack and quickly had a 15 second gap. He was joined by Alexander Arekeev (RUS) and they are working well together. On the decent on Claremont the gap to the pack is 25 seconds.

1:45 PM EDT - 8 laps to go

At the end of lap 5, the gap was 23 seconds to Brian Vandborg (DEN) and another 32 seconds to the pack. By the bottom of the Claremont climb, Vandborg was caught, but 2 more chasers were attempting to bridge and the gap to 2 chasers was 15 seconds and 7 seconds to the peloton. By the top of the climb, the chasers had caught the leaders. So there are now 4 at the front: Assan Bazayev (KAZ), Emanuele Sella (ITA), Sergey Lagutin (UZB) and Alexander Arekeev (RUS). Through the line, they have a gap of 18 seconds to Matej Jurco (SVK) who is 5 seconds in front of the pack. At the bottom of the Queen Street climb, Jurco is caught and at the top by the pack.

2:15pm EDT - 7 laps to go

Through the finish, Matic Strgar (SLO) had a 5 second gap on the pack. At the bottom of the Queen st. Hill he was joined by Michal Pawlyta (POL), Vincenzo Nibali (ITA), Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (ESP) and Preben Van Hecke (BEL) and they had a 13 second gap. At the top along Fennnel they were joined by Daniel Moreno (ESP) and Jussi Veikkanen (FIN) . Their freedom was short lived as the pack caught them at the descent on Clarendon. Cory Jay quit the race at the end of lap 8.

2:45pm EDT - Lap 9

Johan Van Summeren (BEL) launched and attack at the top of the Clarendon Climb, from a small group of 10 who had gained a 5 second gap on the peloton up the climb. Through the finish at the start of lap 9 the gap was 7 seconds. On the Queen street climb, Van Summeren was joined by Giovanni Visconti (ITA), Sergey Lagutin (UZB) and Andrei Pchelkin (RUS) and the gap was 30 seconds as they hit Fennel St at the top of the climb and the pack started to chase.. As they started the descent on Clarendon, the gap was 28 seconds to a chase group of 8 (William Frischkorn (USA), Alexander Arekeev (RUS), Matti Breschel (DEN), Joost Posthuma (NED), Viktar Rapinski (BLR), Piotr Mazur (POL), Preben Van Hecke (BEL) and one other. At the bottom of the Clarendon the gap to the chasers was 15 seconds and 25 seconds to the pack. Part way up the clarendon, the pack caught the chasers. at the top of the climb Johan Van Summeren (BEL) and Sergey Lagutin (UZB) had dropped the other 2 Giovanni Visconti joined back on at the top. Across the finish the gap was 12 seconds Martin Gilbert was 10 seconds behind the pack. Carter quit the race at the end of lap 9


3:20pm EDT - Lap 10

The pack was all together as they started up the Queen St climb. Emanuele Sella (ITA) and Sergey Lagutin (UZB) launched an attack and had gained 13 seconds at the top of the climb by the time they hit Fennel St. They were being chased by Massimo Iannetti (ITA), Geoffroy Lequatre (FRA), Emanuele Sella (ITA), and Matej Jurco (SVK).. The gap down the Clarendon 20 seconds to the chasers and another 17 seconds to the pack.

At the bottom of the Claremont the 4 chasers had been caught by the peloton and the gap was 17 seconds to the leaders.
At the top of the Claremont, as they turned to descend down James, the gap was 10 seconds.

As the cross the finish line to start lap 11, the gap is 24 seconds


3:45 - Lap 12

The 2 leading riders were caught just after the finish. the pack stayed together until teh Clarendon descent, when a group of 10 went away. 3 Riders were shed (flats, or losing contact). At the end of the lap the gap is 35 seconds and the leaders number 8


1. Alexander Bazenov (RUS)
2 Vladimir Gusev (RUS)
3. Andreas Matzbacher (AUT)
4. Jens Renders (BEL)
5. Pieter Weening (NED)
6. Sergey Lagutin (UZB)
7. Johan Van Summeren (BEL)
8. Massimo Iannetti (ITA)

Just past the finish, the riders were joined by Isidro Cerrato Lopez (ESP)


lap 13

On the climb up Clarendon on lap 12, Johan Van Summeren (Bel) and Jens Renders (BEL) broke away from the leaders and had a gap of 5 seconds by the top. On the descent they were caught by a group.


4:10pm EDT - Lap 14 - Final lap
At the start of the final lap there were 7 at the front, with 2 chasers at 11 seconds, another small group at another 65 seconds. By the top of the Queen St hill, 18 attacked, but it was not sucessful, and the group was al together at Fennel. On Fennel, Massimo Iannetti (ITA) attacked and was chased down by the group as they descended Claremont. 9 riders at the lead with a gap 35 seconds. 2 dropped riders have joined on on the descent. with 5 km to go

On the climb up Clarendon they were caught by the main pack. Johan Van Summeren (BEL) launched an attack at the top of the climb and is being chased by a dutch rider Pieter Weening. They have been joined by Laguntin (UZB) and a Russian and the 6 other s to make up 9, but the pack is chasing hard with 2 k to go.

Sprint finish, and Sergey Lagutin (UZB) takes the bunch sprint!!!

top 4
1. Sergey Lagutin (UZB)
2. Johan Van Summeren (BEL)
3. Thomas Dekker (NED)
4. Jens Renders (BEL) all s.t.