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44th Vuelta al Pais Vasco - 2.HC
Spain, April 5-9, 2004
2003 results Stage List Preview Start List Past winners
The Stages
- Stage 1 - April 5: Bergara - Bergara, 139 km
- Stage 2 - April 6: Bergara - Zalla, 180 km
- Stage 3 - April 7: Zalla - Vitoria, 169 km
- Stage 4 - April 8: Vitoria - Lekunberri, 182 km
- Stage 5a - April 9: Lekunberri - Lazkao, 88 km
- Stage 5b - April 9: Lazkao - Lazkao, 8.5 km
Vuelta al Pais Vasco-Euskadiko Itzulia
By Martin Hardie
The second Hors Categorie Tour of the year commences in Bergara, Guipuzkoa, with confirmation that Joseba Beloki would be riding and seeking to do something special for his home town of Lazkao, the Itzulia's final destination later this week. Meanwhile CSC's leader Ivan Basso has named Iban Mayo as the favourite, while the home side has its lineup packed with four possible winners, Mayo and Zubeldia along with "Sammy" Sanchez and David Etxaberria. But Euskaltel has stiff opposition in its home tour with a long list of luminaries present.
The top ten UCI teams gain automatic invitations to this Hors Category event - Fassa Bortolo (with Aitor González and Dario Frigo), Quick.Step-Davitamon (Virenque and Mercado), T-Mobile (Vinokourov and Klöden), Saeco (Simoni, Di Luca and Petrov), Illes Balears (Aitor Osa and Denis Menchov), Gerolsteiner (Rebellin who is hurt and is doubtful), Cofidis (with a Basque trio heading the team of Astarloa, Bingen Fernandez and Ińigo Cuesta), Rabobank (Boogerd and Leipheimer), Liberty Seguros (Heras, Igor Galdeano, Nozal, Vicioso and Serrano) and US Postal (Azevedo and Beltrán).
Along with them are six teams from the Spanish state: Euskaltel-Euskadi (Mayo, Zubeldia, David Etxebarria and Samuel Sanchez), Cafés Baqué (Cárdenas and Buenahora), Valencia-Kelme (Valverde and Odriozola), Paternina (Del Río, Ormaetxea and Elgezabal), Relax-Bodysol (Alberto Martínez and Santi Blanco) and Saunier Duval (with Domínguez and Piepoli).
The wildcard invitations have gone to: Phonak (Hamilton, Sevilla and Pereiro), Lampre (Casagrande, Garate and Vila), CSC (Basso, Sastre and Julich) and Chocolade Jacques (Bruylandts and Aranaga).
Although Euskaltel's Iban Mayo is the defending champion, the team has listed Haimar Zubeldia, David Etxebarria and Samuel Sanchez alongside him as captains. Cafes Baque will also be out to prove itself on local roads, with Peio Arreitunandia being touted along with the team's Colombian spearheads Cárdenas and Buenahora.
The route will cover 28 mountain passes in its five stages and 764.5 kilometres. The mountains include two Cat. 1's, 11 Cat. 2's and 15 Cat. 3's. But as is in the case in Euskadi, a stretch of flat road is not often seen. The furthest mountain from the finish line in any stage is 13 kilometres, while the Azpiroz comes just three kilometres from the finish of the queen stage to Lekunberri. The wall of Azpiroz which is short (3.3 km) but sharp, averaging over 8%, was where a six man group of including David Etxebarria, Michael Boogerd, Francesco Casagrande, Dario Frigo, Bingen Fernandez and Marcos Serrano ripped the race apart in 2001. But in that year, as is often the case, the Itzulia comes down to the short but tricky time trial that concludes the final day. Rumsas picked up the race here in 2001, Aitor Osa just held on to his lead from David Etxebarria in 2002 and Mayo held off Hamilton to win last year.
Start list
Euskaltel-Euskadi Phonak Hearing Systems
1 Iban Mayo (Spa) 11 Tyler Hamilton (USA)
2 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) 12 Alex Zuelle (Swi)
3 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) 13 Gonzalo Bayarri (Spa)
4 David Etxebarria (Spa) 14 Johann Tschopp (Swi)
5 Gorka Gonzalez (Spa) 15 Alexandre Moos (Swi)
6 Iker Camano (Spa) 16 Niki Aebersold (Swi)
7 Unai Etxebarria (Ven) 17 Oscar Pereiro (Spa)
8 Iker Flores (Spa) 18 Daniel Schnider (Swi)
Fassa Bortolo Quick.Step-Davitamon
21 Aitor Gonzalez Jimenez (Spa) 31 Richard Virenque (Fra)
22 Gustav Larsson (Swe) 32 Laurent Dufaux (Swi)
23 Massimo Codol (Ita) 33 Juan Miguel Mercado (Spa)
24 Tom Danielson (USA) 34 Bram Tankink (Ned)
25 Mauro Facci (Ita) 35 Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel)
26 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) 36 Pedro Horrillo (Spa)
27 Dario Cioni (Ita) 37 Michael Rogers (Aus)
28 Julian Sanchez Pimienta (Spa) 38 Patrik Sinkewitz (Ger)
T-Mobile Team Saeco
41 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) 51 Danilo Di Luca (Ita)
42 Christian Werner (Ger) 52 Gilberto Simoni (Ita)
43 Andreas Kloden (Ger) 53 Evgueni Petrov (Rus)
44 Serguei Yakovlev (Kaz) 54 Leonardo Bertagnolli (Ita)
45 Cadel Evans (Aus) 55 Damiano Cunego (Ita)
46 Giuseppe Guerini (Ita) 56 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita)
47 Torsten Hiekmann (Ger) 57 Marius Sabaliauskas (Ltu)
48 Matthias Kessler (Ger) 58 Alessandro Spezialetti (Ita)
Illes Balears-Banesto Gerolsteiner
61 Aitor Osa (Spa) 71 Davide Rebellin (Ita)
62 Vicente Garcia Acosta (Spa) 72 Georg Totschnig (Aut)
63 Denis Menchov (Rus) 73 Gianni Faresin (Ita)
64 José Gutierrez Palacios (Spa) 74 Beat Zberg (Swi)
65 Jose Luis Arrieta (Spa) 75 Uwe Peschel (Ger)
66 Mikel Pradera (Spa) 76 Sven Montgomery (Swi)
67 Xabier Zandio (Spa) 77 Fabian Wegmann (Ger)
68 David Navas Chica (Spa) 78 Volker Ordowski (Ger)
Cofidis, le credit par Telephone Rabobank
81 Igor Astarloa (Spa) 91 Jan Boven (Ned)
82 Massimiliano Lelli (Ita) 92 Levi Leipheimer (USA)
83 Luis Perez Rodriguez (Spa) 93 Marc Lotz (Ned)
84 Dimitri Fofonov (Kaz) 94 Bram De Groot (Ned)
85 Inigo Cuesta (Spa) 95 Grischa Niermann (Ger)
86 Bingen Fernandez (Spa) 96 Thorwald Veneberg (Ned)
87 Daniel Atienza (Spa) 97 Ronald Mutsaars (Ned)
88 Frederic Bessy (Fra) 98 Kevin De Weert (Bel)
Liberty Seguros US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor
101 Roberto Heras (Spa) 111 José Azevedo (Por)
102 Igor Glz. De Galdeano (Spa) 112 Manuel Beltran (Spa)
103 Isidro Nozal Vega (Spa) 113 Victor Hugo Pena (Col)
104 Marco Serrano Rodriguez (Spa) 114 Jose Luis Rubiera (Spa)
105 Angel Vicioso (Spa) 115 Michael Barry (Can)
106 Koldo Gil Perez (Spa) 116 Floyd Landis (USA)
107 Alvaro Glz. De Galdeano (Spa) 117 Benjamin Noval (Spa)
108 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) 118 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel)
Team CSC Lampre
121 Ivan Basso (Ita) 131 Wladimir Belli (Ita)
122 Bobby Julich (USA) 132 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa)
123 Peter Luttenberger (Aut) 133 Francisco Javier Vila Errandonea (Spa)
124 Nicki Sorensen (Den) 134 Simone Bertoletti (Ita)
125 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) 135 Daniele Righi (Ita)
126 Jens Voigt (Ger) 136 Marco Pinotti (Ita)
127 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) 137 Mariano Piccoli (Ita)
128 Manuel Calvente (Spa) 138 Michele Scotto (Ita)
Chocolade Jacques Wincor-Nixdorf Kelme-Costa Blanca
141 Christophe Stevens (Bel) 151 Alejandro Valverde (Spa)
143 Mauricio Ardila (Col) 152 David Latasa (Spa)
144 Florent Brard (Fra) 153 Jon Odriozola (Spa)
145 Denys Kostyuk (Ukr) 154 Carlos Zarate (Spa)
146 Zbigniew Piatek (Pol) 155 Adolfo Garcia (Spa)
147 Jurgen Van De Waqlle (Bel) 156 Carlos Garcia (Spa)
148 Cezary Zamana (Pol) 157 Jose Julia (Spa)
158 Javier Pascual (Spa)
Saunier Duval-Prodir Relax-Bodysol
161 Juan Carlos Dominguez (Spa) 171 Alberto Martinez (Spa)
162 Miguel Martin Perdiguero (Spa) 172 J.Miguel Elias (Spa)
163 J.Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) 173 Ivan Mayoz (Spa)
164 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) 174 Gustavo Cesar (Spa)
165 Francisco José Ventoso (Spa) 175 Julio Lopez (Spa)
166 Juan Gomis (Spa) 176 Luis Perez (Spa)
167 David Canada (Spa) 177 Nacor Burgos (Spa)
168 David De La Fuente (Spa) 178 Niels Scheuneman (Ned)
De Almeria-Paternina Cafes Baque
181 Jon Del Rio (Spa) 191 Felix Cardenas (Col)
182 Jokin Ormaetxea (Spa) 192 Her Buenahora Gutierrez (Col)
183 Jorge Ferrio Luque (Spa) 193 Peio Arreitunandia (Spa)
184 Lander Euba (Spa) 194 Francisco Gutierrez (Spa)
185 Jonathan Gonzalez (Spa) 195 Efrain Gutierrez (Spa)
186 Joaquim Lopez (Spa) 196 Francisco Palacio (Spa)
187 David Herrero (Spa) 197 David Lopez (Spa)
188 Francisco Lara (Spa) 198 Ricardo Serrano (Spa)
Brioches La Boulangere
202 Sebastien Chavanel (Fra)
203 Laurent Lefevre (Fra)
204 Jerome Pineau (Fra)
205 Anthony Charteau (Fra)
206 Matthieu Sprick (Fra)
207 Gorka Beloki (Spa)
208 Unai Yus Kerejeta (Spa)
Past winners
2003 Iban Mayo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 2002 Aitor Osa (Spa) iBanesto.com 2001 Raimondas Rumsas (Ltu) Fassa Bortolo 2000 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Deutsche Telekom 1999 Laurent Jalabert (Fra) ONCE 1998 Inigo Cuesta (Spa) ONCE 1997 Alex Zülle (Swi) 1996 Francesco Casagrande (Ita) 1995 Alex Zülle (Swi) 1994 Tony Rominger (Swi) 1993 Tony Rominger (Swi) 1992 Tony Rominger (Swi) 1991 Claudio Chiappucci (Ita) 1990 Julian Gorospe (Spa) 1989 Stephen Roche (Irel) 1988 Erik Breukink (Ned) 1987 Sean Kelly (Ire) 1986 Sean Kelly (Ire) 1985 Pello Ruiz-Cabestany (Spa) 1984 Sean Kelly (Ire) 1983 Julian Gorospe (Spa) 1982 José-Luis Laguia (Spa) 1981 Silvano Contini (Ita) 1980 Alberto Fernandez (Spa) 1979 Giovanni Battaglin (Ita) 1978 Juan-A. Gonzalez-Linares (Spa) 1977 Juan-A. Gonzalez-Linares (Spa) 1976 Giambattista Baronchelli (Ita) 1975 Juan-A. Gonzalez-Linares (Spa) 1974 Miguel-Maria Lasa (Spa) 1973 Luis Ocana (Spa) 1972 Juan-A. Gonzalez-Linares (Spa) 1971 Luis Ocana (Spa) 1970 Luis-P. Santamarina (Spa) 1969 Jacques Anquetil (Fra) 1968 José-Maria Errandonea (Spa) 1967 Carlos Echeverria (Spa) 1966 Eusebio Velez (Spa) 1965 Sebastian Elorza (Spa) 1964 Carlos Echeverria (Spa) 1963 Juan-J. Sargaduy (Spa) 1962 Rolf Wolfshohl (Ger) 1961 Antonio Karmany (Spa) 1960 Benigno Aspuru (Spa) 1959 Antonio Bertran (Spa) 1958 Jesus Lorono-Arteaga (Spa) 1957 Antonio Barrutia (Spa) 1956 Jesus Lorono-Arteaga (Spa) 1955 José Escolano (Spa) 1954 José Serra (Spa) 1953 Vicente Iturat (Spa) 1952 Louis Caput (Fra) 1945 Miguel Gual (Spa) 1944 José Gandara (Spa) 1943 Martin Mancisidor (Spa) 1942 Federico Ezquerra (Spa) 1941 Firmin Trueba (Spa) 1940 Federico Ezquerra (Spa) 1939 Mariano Carnado (Spa) 1935 Gino Bartali (Ita) 1930 Mariano Carnado (Spa) 1929 Maurice De Waele (Bel) 1928 Maurice De Waele (Bel) 1927 Victor Fontan (Fra) 1926 Nicolas Frantz (Lux) 1925 Auguste Verdyck (Bel) 1924 Francis Pélissier (Fra) Past winners by Mario Stiehl, www.world-of-cycling.com
