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2000
Tour de Burg Race Report
Stage 2 - Sat. 7-01-00 Stage 3 - Sun. 7-02-00 |
2000 Tour de Burg
Race Report--Stage 2 Saturday, 7-01-00
by Michael Carpenter
Dominating the final sprint was all it took for Italian joel Maynario to emerge victorious from the 2nd stage of 2000 tour de burg. Despite winning both of the timed sections this afternoon Jerome Vimpty could only watch as the italian showed his power and pulled free of the pack for the 1 minute sprint bonus. During today's first time check it was another Italian, Mike Compraro, who instigated the action early. After a brief stint with the peloton, Vimpty and Maynario pulled away and summitted Hankey mtn well in the lead. As the rest of the pack spread out on the steep climb, Norweigan chris scott and the cosmonaut Micki Buchness ensued chase. It was the norweigan keeping himself in position to capitalize on the downhill and finishing in third place well behind the leaders. Although Maynario had a sizeable lead heading into the final 4 miles of downhill, it wasn't enough to hold off the silky Vimpty who, despite crashing, reeled in the italian. Coming into the finish, the Italian's techinical skills (which are far from top form) failed him, he crashed allowing the frenchman to sneak by and grab the first time check by 4 seconds.
The second time check in today's stage featured an off camber singletrack climb to the top of the long downhill in to braley's pond. The peloton started this singletrack climb in the order of today's first time check. This gave Vimpty the pole allowing him and maynario to again escape the peloton and start the downhill minutes ahead. Maynario's plan of shadowing the leader backfired here as he again stacked it up atop the technical downhill creating a small gap which the frenchman opened up to 50 seconds by the finish. The german descent specialist James Von Keehner attacked the small chase group as they neared the top of the climb, breaking free and coming into the finish in 3rd place.
The final sprint, which was thrown in at the last second, allowed the italian to capitalize on a steep grade and his technical frustrations to pick up the minute bonus.Other riders showed promise today with strong climbing and downhilling but the gap between the leaders contiues to grow. Temperatures are heating up and stage 3 will truly show which riders are in form as they attack the hor de categorie Reddish knob. The general classification will surely see some changes tomorrow with a huge time check and 2 sprint bonus opportunities.Grumblings of scandal and doping riddled the tour today, orfiginatting in the drug tent when a former team clean strongman retied his alliance to the green squad. Then it was Jenkini, riding for Shenandoah Bicyle company who brought out the rantings of corruption and time shaving by tour officials. Look for tomorrow's report detailing the inevitable carnage of the 3rd stage of the 2000 tour de burg.Stage 2--7-01-00
1. Joel Maynard @ 3:45:00, 2. Jerome Vimpty @ :06, 3. James Von Keehner @ 5:11, 4. Chris Scott @ 5:17, 5. Mike Compraro @ 7:38, 6. Micki Buchness @ 8:20, 7. Tim Richardson (SBC) @ 11:14, 8. Miguel Carpellini @ 11:27, 9. Tomi Brothers @ 13:45, 10. (1) Susa Haysus @ 14:37, 11. Jimi Stone @ 15:48, 12. Christi Lhentholo @ 19:15, 13. Mark Myralce @ 25:37, 14. Nikolai Danielski @ 25:38, 15. Ryan Ketchum @ 27:25General Classification:
1. Jerome Vimpty-- 4:10:21, 2. Joel Maynario @ :32, 3. Chris Scott @ 7:570, 4. James Von Keehner @ 8:18, 5. Micki Buchness @ 11:55, 6. Shen Bi Co @ 15:34, 7. Miguel Carpellini @ 15:36, 8. Susa Haysus @ 23:18, 9. Christi Lhentholo @ 26:05, 10. Nikolai Danielski @ 34:51, 11. Mark Myracle @ 35:422000 Tour de Burg
Race Report--Stage 3 Sunday, 7-02-00
The Italian Joel Maynario grabbed his second straight stage win and sole possesion of the leaders jersey this afternoon with a solid win on one of the tour's toughest stages. Today's ride featured 1 sprint, a long hill climb timed section and 2 more sprints on the way home. The first sprint through the hilly farmland near Mt. Solon split the field early, leaving Vimpty, Maynario, Buschetti, and Buchness clear as they finished in that order. When the peloton entered the first timed section the temperatures were heating up and riders began to feel the exhaustion from such a grueling stage. Although Bushcetti and Vimpty both rode a strong race, they were plagued with flat tires on the 18 mile climb up to the infamous Reddish Knob. The Belgian was able to hold onto to second place, putting on an impressive climb after he flatted early and lost contact with the lead group. As Maynario and Vimpty battled toward the top, World champion Jimi Stone was closing the gap but tore a sidewall shortly before Vimpty flatted and both were forced to watch the italian dance to victory. The early dark horse in this year's tour, Von Keehner, put forth a strong effort toward the summit only to be thwarted by Buchness in the closing 300 meters. Von Keehner was able to pull into 3rd place in the general classification with today's strong ride. After all riders summited the hor de categorie reddish knob the peloton proceed back towards Harrisonburg and the two remaining sprint bonus'. The pace escalated as the group neared the hamlet of Briery Branch, the location of the 2nd sprint line. Frenchman Tomas Jenkini was determined to pick up a bonus and made multiple attacks in the closing kilometers, encouraging other aspiring riders to do the same. Irish sprinting sensation Ryan Ketchum made a jump that almost stuck but was reeled in in the closing meters. It was still a large field as they came down to the last 200 meters and russian strongman, Buchness launched a perfectly timed attack, to win the 2nd sprint ahead of Frenchy and the ever present Vimpty. After a brief stop at the feed zone the peloton headed into the final sprint on the outskirts of Dayton, Virginia. Again it was Frenchy launching early attacks but he quickly fell off the back and a strong pull by the Kiwi brought the group into the final 200 meters. Cosmo, trying to duplicate his victory in sprint 2, attacked on the left side again. This time he was covered by Vimpty and Scott, they both jumped ahead at the line finishing Vimpty, Scott, and Cosmo--a split second ahead of a surging pack.
The general classification saw some drastic changes today, Maynario now enjoys over an eight minute lead and Von Keehner moved well into third. Today proved that many things can happen in the tour and no lead is safe. With 2 deadly mtn stages approaching riders are resting and making their mandatory visits to the drug tent.
Stage 2--7-01-00
1. Joel Maynard @ 3:45:00, 2. Paul Bushetti @ 4:03, 3. Miki Buchness @ 5:21, 4. James Von Keehner @ 6:43, 5. Jerome Vimpty @ 8:49, 6. (1) Sue Haywood @ 8:59, 7. Chris Scott @ 9:56, 8. Pat @ 12:46, 9. Tomas Jenkini @ 13:13, 10. Mikhail Hurlikoff @ 16:43, 11. Mark Myracle @ 16:49, 12. Tim Richardson @ 18:15, 13. Miguel Carpellini @ 20:39, 14. Ryan Ketchum @ 20:58, 15. Tomi Brothers @ 21:16, 16. Jimi Stone @ 30:00, 17. Christi Lentholo @ 30:00, 18. Mike Compraro @ 30:00, 19. (2) Sami Fornier @ 30:00,General Classification:
1. Joel Maynario @ ??, 2. Jerome Vimpty @ 8:27, 3. James Von Keehner @ 14:29, 4. Micki Buchness @ 16:44 5. Chris Scott @ 17:21, 6. Shen Bi Co @ 28:15, 7. Susa Haysus @ 31:05, 8. Miguel Carpellini @ 35:43, 9. Christi Lhentholo @ 55:33, 10. Mark Myracle @ 51:59