Crocodile Trophy

Vanmorgen is de eerste etappe van de Crocodile Trophy gereden. Rybarik, een ex-winnaar, wist te winnen. Ramses Bekkink werd 4e op 1.40. De Belg Rondelez werd 15e op 16 minuten. Opvallende deelnemers zijn de Italiaanse ex-profs Lelli en Cassani.

[www.crocodile-trophy.com]
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Uitslag:
1 Ivan Rybarik (Cze) Way2live Quantum Racing 1:36:12
2 Milton Ramos (Spa) Intense-­?TowCar 0:00:42
3 Greg Saw (Aus) iHus-­?Spiuk Norge 0:01:22
4 Ramses Bekkenk (Ned) Koga KMC 0:01:40
5 Yuki Ikeda (Jpn) Topeak/Ergon/Canyon 0:02:12
6 Ondrej Slezak (Aus) Way2live Quantum Racing 0:02:23
7 Cory Wallace (Can) Kona Factory Team 0:05:19
8 Márton Blazsó (Hun) HUN Kross Hungary 0:05:41
9 Jiri Krivanek (Cze) Prestige hotel 0:06:14
10 Max Lelli (Ita) Italian Cistyc Fibrosis Foundation-­?FFC 0:09:33
11 Alexander Geelhaar (Ger) Redheads Team / RC Schnaittachtal 0:10:17
12 Guido Thaler (Aut) Craft/Rocky Mountain 0:10:52
13 Mike Blewitt (Aus) Subaru-­?MarathonMTB.com 0:11:29
14 Matteo Marzotto (Ita) Italian Cistyc Fibrosis Foundation-­?FFC 0:16:14
15 Bjorn Rondelez (Bel) desperate husbands 0:16:20
16 Davide Cassani (Ita) Italian Cistyc Fibrosis Foundation-­?FFC 0:16:20
17 Iader Fabbri (Ita) Italian Cistyc Fibrosis Foundation-­?FFC 0:16:20
18 Leander Hamelink (Ned) 0:18:56
19 Thomas Begert (Ger) Redheads Team / RC Schnaittachtal 0:28:29
20 David Rosa (Por) Liberty Seguros/Movefree 0:53:25

Quote
Uitslag
11 Alexander Geelhaar (Ger)

Reed die niet vroeger voor Cofidis?

Ik vind z'n teamnaam ook opmerkelijk...

Teamnaam Rondelez ook.

De Noor Greg Saw wint de tweede etappe en is de nieuwe leider. Ramses Bekkenk wordt zevende.



1 keer gewijzigd. Laatste wijziging: 19/10/2014 16:48 door lodjan.

Today provided an emotional finish at Lake Tinaroo in Atherton for stage 2 of the Crocodile Trophy - Greg Saw, a homesick Australian, originally from Atherton and now living in Norway, not only took out the stage win in his hometown, but also took over the overall elite race lead. Milton Ramos came in second ahead of Ivan Rybarik, Cory Wallace and Jiri Krivanek.

With his parents eagerly awaiting him at the finish line, Greg Saw took out today's stage win at Lake Tinaroo on the Atherton Tablelands. A brisk breeze blew across the lake as Saw crossed the line in 3:34:25 after a marathon race from Cairns through Dinden National Park and past Copperlode Dam towards the steep climb onto Mt Edith, the highest elevation of today. The gap of almost four minutes to second Ramos from Spain and yesterday's winner Rybarik was enough to even bring him the overall race lead and he will start tomorrow's third stage in the Crocodile Trophy's leader jersey.

"I really didn't expect this today - I was hoping for a good result because I wanted to do well, it's as if my life is going full-circle," said the teary-eyed 37-year old at the finish, who now resides in Norway with his wife and two children and who said that he came to the Crocodile Trophy to cure his homesickness. "I just miss the heat and I haven't been home much over the past 10 years, so when I saw that the new Atherton MTB Club was going to be part of the stage plan, I just had to come."

It seems that Saw's stage win was meant to be with many fellow elite riders suffering mechanicals. "I can't believe it - I had a flat on the exact same section of the race track as in 2012," said Rybarik, shaking his head about his now 2:30 gap in the general classification, in which he is second. Ramos is overall third with a gap of just over three minutes and Wallace dropped into fourth place - gaining a lot of time towards the end, a loose head-set on the handlebar early in today's race had forced him to stop and adjust it, loosing valuable time. Martin Blaszó from Hungary is now fifth overall

Portuguese Olympian and Cross-Country (XCO) National Champion David Rosa won the marathon stage at Atherton MTB Park, which many experienced Crocodile Trophy racers described as one of the most challenging days in the history of the event. Held on parts of the Australian National Marathon Series course, Rosa won the stage with a four-minute gap ahead of Ramses Bekkenk from the Netherlands and yesterday's stage winner Greg Saw, who defended his overall race lead.

Rosa had been today's race favourite and in a not so unexpected move after a neutralised ride from Lake Tinaroo to the town of Atherton, Rosa attacked right from the official start. Entering the vast Atherton MTB Park singletrail network as the lone escapee, he was able to quickly ride away from the elite group and keep a four-minute lead throughout the three laps on the 20km circuit.

"On the first lap I just had fun and got used to the tight switchback climb and fast rolling descents," Rosa said. "I found my rhythm and during the second lap I really tried to push it hard to increase my gap to the chasers but I paid for it on the third lap, my legs feel like concrete now," he said.

Since a broken wheel incident during the event's first stage on Saturday left him with almost an hour's gap, Rosa said he had some unfinished business at the Crocodile Trophy that he wanted to take care of today.

Finishing in 3:20 hours he concluded as he picked up the stage win trophy, an Australian boomerang, "I know, I can't get the overall top spot anymore; my gap is too high. So it was my goal to get a stage win and a few good placings to get as many UCI points as possible."

The elite group settled in behind Cory Wallace who kept the pace up during the first lap. Soon after, Ramses Bekkenk, Greg Saw, Milton Ramos and Yuki Ikeda made their move, rode away from Wallace and finished after three laps in that order at the camp site at the Atherton Rifle Club.

Greg Saw defends leader jersey as fellow elites shuffle

Overall in the general classification, Greg Saw defended his leader jersey and now leads by 4:16.41 ahead of Spain's Milton Ramos and the Dutch rider Ramses Bekkenk (+11:03.85), who defends his third place. Cory Wallace is still fourth overall (+14:16.24) and Yuki Ikeda from Japan advances into fifth place. A big upset for the 2012 Crocodile Trophy Champion, Ivan Rybarik from the Czech Republic - at the start line today as category second overall, he crashes during the second lap today. Rybarik escapes uninjured, however, one of his bike wheels suffers some damage, causing him to loose valuable time and dropping back into sixth spot behind Ikeda in the overall elite category classification.

Derde etappe:
1 David Rosa (Por) Liberty Seguros/Movefree 3:20:00
2 Ramses Bekkenk (Ned) Koga KMC 0:04:47
3 Greg Saw (Aus) iHus-Spiuk Norge 0:04:48
4 Milton Ramos (Spa) Intense-TowCar 0:05:59
5 Yuki Ikeda (Jpn) Topeak/Ergon/Canyon 0:07:12
6 Cory Wallace (Can) KONA Factory Team 0:11:02

Klassement:
1 Greg Saw (Nor) iHus-Spiuk Norge 8:36:45
2 Milton Ramos (Spa) Intense-TowCar 0:04:17
3 Ramses Bekkenk (Ned) Koga KMC 0:11:04
4 Cory Wallace (Can) KONA Factory Team 0:14:16
5 Yuki Ikeda (Jpn) Topeak/Ergon/Canyon 0:16:29
6 Ivan Rybarik (Cze) Way2live Quantum Racing 0:25:56

Ramses Bekkenk wint de laatste etappe (een tijdrit) en hij wordt vierde in het eindklassement, na de Noorse winnaar Saw, de Canadees Wallace en de Spanjaard Ramos.
Lelli en Cassani hebben overwinningen behaald in hun respectievelijke categorieën.
Hierbij een gecombineerd eindklassement: [www.crocodile-trophy.com]