Stage 5: Vannes-Vitres
Vitre, France, July 5 2000: After threatening to do it over the last few days and
missing by the thickness of his lycra shorts, the multi-lingual speed maestro Marcel
Wust sneaked ahead of his fellow German Eric
Zabel (who must be wondering what he must do to win- go faster Erik, I guess) and
finally got the victory he deserved on the 202km stage 5 to Vitres.
He dipped in front of the ubiquitous green jersey winner virtually on the line, and
despite losing his King of the Mountains jersey to Paolo Bettini (no surprise there)
he strode onto the podium once more to collect the plaudits for one of the finest
wins of his career.
Bizarrely bedecked in his polka dot climbers jersey, the Festina sprinter hovered
up (if you can hover at 60km/h!) on the inside of the Telekom man to notch
up his first-ever Tour de France stage win.
“I’m the happiest man in the world,” declared the 32-year-old from Cologne
who is competing in only his second Tour (he was last here in 1992). “This was
my aim.”
“In my 12 year career this was the thing that was missing,” he added
Jalabert, who took over the race lead from Britain’s David Millar on Tuesday, maintained
a 12sec advantage over his ONCE teammate David Canada of Spain in the overall standings
– despite losing 10s after being hampered by a fall late in the day.
Last year’s Tour winner Lance Armstrong, who finished 25th, now lies just 14s off
Jalabert in third.
Jalabert reflected on his close shave: “Everything was going okay until the
final straight when there was a blockage after one cyclist fell.”
Coming in behind the two Germans after this run through the Brittany countryside
was Italian Stefano Zanini, ahead of dual stage winner Tom Steels of Belgium and
another Italian, Salvatore Commesso.
The day’s action was dominated by a five-man break launched 50km after the start,
with the group of Houdinis comprising Jens Voigt, Sebastien Demarbaix, two Dutch
cyclists, Koos Moerenhout and Erik Dekker, and Rafael Mateos.
Voigt and Dekker were left in front with 20km to go and still had over a minute to
spare on the ONCE-led peloton at the 10km banner.
Slowly but surely, though, the two pace-setting escapologists were reeled in as the
specialist sprint teams readied their men for some turbo action, and they were swallowed
up with the finish in sight.
Stage 5: Vannes-Vitres, results & overall standings
Results:
1.Marcel Wust (Ger) 202 km in 4hr 19min 05sec, (average speed: 46,780 km/h)
2. Erik Zabel (Ger) same time,
3. Stefano Zanini (Ita) s.t.
4. Tom Steels (Bel),
5. Salvatore Commesso (Ita),
6. Robbie McEwen (Aus),
7. Jans Koerts (Hol),
8. Stuart O’Grady (Aus),
9. Romans Vainsteins (Lat),
10. Emmanuel Magnien (Fra),
11. Massimiliano Mori (Ita),
12. Nico Mattan (Bel),
13. Gregor Gwiazdowski (Pol),
14. Arvis Piziks (Lat),
15. Dario Pieri (Ita),
16. Michael Boogerd (Hol),
17. Damien Nazon (Fra),
18. Jan Ullrich (Ger),
19. Francois Simon (Fra),
20. Peter Luttenberger (Aut)
21. Glenn Magnusson (Swe),
22. Franck Vandenbroucke (Bel),
23. Gian Matteo Fagnini (Ita)
24. Jaan Kirsipuu (Est),
25. Lance Armstrong (USA).
26. George Hincapie (USA),
27. Bo Hamburger (Den),
28. Bobby Julich (USA)
29. Andreas Klier (Ger),
30. Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) all same time
General Classification:
1. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) 14hr 28min 23sec,
2. David Canada (Spa) at 00:12sec,
3. Lance Armstrong (USA) at 00:16,
4. Abraham Olano (Spa) 00:35,
5. Viacheslav Ekimov (Rus) 00:43,
6. Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) 00:49
7. Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) 00:49,
8. Marcos Serrano (Spa) 00:52,
9. Peter Luttenberger (Aut) 00:53,
10. Miguel Angel Pena (Spa) 00:54,
11. Tyler Hamilton (USA) 00:55,
12. Jan Ullrich (Ger) 00:59,
13. Kevin Livingston (USA) 01:18,
14. Jens Voigt (Ger) 01:20,
15. George Hincapie (USA) 01:25,
16. Erik Zabel (Ger) 01:58,
17. Steffen Wesemann (Ger) 02:07,
18. Stuart O’Grady (Aus) 02:08,
19. Jonathan Vaughters (USA) 02:12,
20. Alberto Elli (Ita) 02:15,
21. Bobby Julich (USA) 02:17,
22. Magnus Backstedt (Swe) 02:19,
23. Fabrice Gougot (Fra) 02:25,
24. David Millar (GBR) 02:27,
25. Joseba Beloki (Spa) 02:32,
26. David Plaza (Spa) 02:36,
27. Alexander Vinokurov (Kaz) 02:37,
28. Jens Heppner (Ger) 02:37,
29. Felix Garcia Casas (Spa) 02:46,
30. Angel Casero (Spa) 02:47
Stats Corner: Standings in each category
after Stage 5
Points
1. Tom Steels (Bel) 94 pts, 2. Marcel Wust (Ger) 87, 3. Erik Zabel (Ger) 84, 4. Stuart
O’Grady (Aus) 72, 5. Jans Koerts (Ned) 59, 6. Romans Vainsteins (Lat) 58, 7. Robbie
McEwen (Aus) 49, 8. Dario Pieri (Ita) 47, 9. Francois Simon (Fra) 45, 10. Stefano
Zanini (Ita) 41
King of the Mountains
1. Paolo Bettini (Ita) 13 pts, 2. Sebastien Demarbaix (Bel) 10, 3. Markus Zberg (Swi)
8, 4. Richard Virenque (Fra) 5, 5. Jacky Durand (Fra) 5, 6. Marcel Wust (Ger) 5,
7. Francois Simon (Fra) 4, 8. Erik Dekker (Ned) 4, 9. Jens Voigt (Ger) 4, 10. Frankie
Andreu (USA) 3
Team, stage 5
1. Saeco 12hr 57min 15sec, 2. Farm Frites s.t., 3. Telekom s.t., 4. Mapei at 8sec,
5. Credit Agricole s.t.
Team overall
1. ONCE 43hr 25min 50sec, 2. US Postal at 1min 05sec, 3. Telekom 4:15, 4. Credit
Agricole 5:17, 5. Festina 6:51, 6. Rabobank 7:34, 7. Cofidis 8:51, 8. Mapei 10:14,
9. Mercatone Uno 11:39, 10. AG2R Prevoyance 13:34, 11. Memory Card Technology-Jack
and Jones 13:36, 12. Banesto 14:04, 13. Kelme 17:14, 14. Polti 17:30, 15. Saeco 17:31,
16. Lotto 18:17, 17. Farm Frites 18:55, 18. Vini Caldirola 19:14, 19. La Francaise
des Jeux 21:24, 20. Bonjour 23:12.
Best young riders, stage 5
1. Salvatore Commesso (Ita) 4hr 19min 05sec, 2. Dario Pieri (Ita) s.t., 3. Andreas
Klier (Ger) s.t., 4. David Canada (Spa) at 10s, 5. Sven Montgomery (Swi) s.t.
Best young riders overall
1. David Canada (Spa) 14hr 28min 37sec, 2. Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) at 37s, 3. Magnus
Backstedt (Swe) 2:07, 4. David Millar (Gbr) 2:15, 5. Grischa Niermann (Ger) 3:26,
6. David Moncoutie (Fra) 4:42, 7. Benoit Joachim (Lux) 5:02, 8. Francisco Mancebo
(Spa) 5:06, 9. Dario Pieri (Ita) 5:22, 10. Salvatore Commesso (Ita) 6:05
Most combative rider
1. Erik Dekker (Ned/RAB) 23 pts
Most combative rider overall
1. Jens Voigt (Ger) 46 pts, 2. Erik Dekker (Ned) 43, 3. Michael Blaudzun (Den) 21,
4. Jacky Durand (Fra) 21, 5. Pascal Derame (Fra) 6
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