Recently on Cyclingnews.com |
 Mont Ventoux Photo ©: Sirotti |
Ringerike GP - 2.5
Norway, June 9-13, 2004
Main Page Results Previous Stage
Stage 5 - June 13: Hønefoss - Hønefoss, 169.2 km
No luck for Christensen against Kananen and Gerrans
By Jean-Francois Quenet in Hønefoss
Kimmo Kananen from Team Bianchi Scandinavia has succeeded his teammate Jonas Holmkvist by winning the 29th Ringerike Grand Prix ahead of Australian Simon Gerrans, who rode for Team Ringerike last year and now discovered how beautiful Norway can be when the race is organised in June rather than in the end of April. In 2003 it was "apocalypse snow" and that cost Jonathan Dayus the overall win. Gerrans and Dayus came back under the colours of U Nantes-Atlantique, but still had to congratulate the Swedish team at the end.
Kananen and Co. managed to put Mads Christensen in difficulty. The super Dane was wearing the yellow jersey since he won stage 1 in an impressive manner. He first had to face a strong opposition led by Bianchi, then an attack by Norwegian champion Gabriel Rasch and his teammate Christopher Myhre. A former domestique for Lance Armstrong in the 1999 Tour de France, Pascal Derame is now the coach of U Nantes-Atlantique. He learned at US Postal how to play the bluff and instructed Dayus to do so before launching an attack. Only Kananen was able to follow him. That caused the end of the dream for Christensen who was isolated. Holmkvist for Bianchi and Tarmo Raudsepp for U Nantes-Atlantique were marking him but he did his best to keep enough of his 31 seconds lead. The gap was only 15 seconds with 10km to go.
"I gave everything I had but I blew up in the last climb", Christensen admitted. The U-23 Danish champion is a rider to watch for the future. He already attended a training camp of Team CSC and it would be a surprise if the Danish team wouldn't pick him. He's only 20 years of age and he also has Rolf Sørensen as an adviser for his career.
Another future pro is Gerrans who is having a very good season in France. After Christensen's case was resolved, the Australian attacked from the front group with 500 meters to go. But he got caught and beaten in the final sprint by Dutchman Jos Lucassen of Bert Story Piels. Kananen who was lying in second place on GC before the last stage took the final yellow jersey. "It's unbelievable," the Finnish rider said. "We came here to win the race but personally I was aiming at a stage victory and I thought I would have helped the other riders in my team because I wasn't sure about my climbing. We did the Milk Ras in Ireland before coming here and that was a good training in the hills. During the race today I only heard that Christensen was looking tired but I was tired too!"
Kananen, 23, is a new-signing for Tommy Prim's Swedish team. He rode for the last two years with Team Mälarenergi and suffered a broken elbow in 2003. "2002 was my best season with 10 wins and a 7th place at the European championships," he said. "Now this win at the Ringerike Grand Prix is a big boost for my morale. My next goal is the Finnish championship in two weeks and I also have a really strong team at home because Jussi Veikkanen [of VC Roubaix in France] and Kjell Carlström who rode for Amore e Vita are from the same club as me. Our strongest opponent will be Jukka Vastaranta from Rabobank."
We'll hear of Kananen again. He's a sprinter who can climb and ride strongly on the flat as well. The other news from the Norwegian race is that 2003 winner Jonas Holmkvist is back with good form after his knee operation. He's a champion in the making, now able to defend his national title. But he will not be helped by Tobias Lergård who crashed and sustained a broken shoulder. He'll be off for at least five weeks.
Results
1 Jos Lucassen (Ned) Bert Story - Piels 3.57.06 2 Are Andresen (Nor) Team Sparebanken Vest 3 Simon Gerrans (Aus) U Nantes Atlantique 4 Kimmo Kananen (Fin) Team Bianchi Nordic 5 Gabriel Rasch (Nor) Ringerike SK 6 Fredrik Eriksson (Swe) Upsala CK 7 Jonathan Dayus (GBr) U Nantes Atlantique 8 Klaas De Gruyter (Bel) Jartazzi-Granville 9 Fredrik Modin (Swe) Team Mälarenergi 10 Reiner Honig (Ned) Bert Story - Piels 0.37 11 Stian Remme (Nor) Team Sparebanken Vest 12 Morten Hegreberg (Nor) Jartazzi-Granville 13 Tarmo Raudsepp (Est) U Nantes Atlantique 14 Jens Westergren (Swe) Upsala CK 15 Trond Kristian Schweder (Nor) Baerum OCK 16 Mads Christensen (Den) Team PH 17 Jonas Holmkvist (Swe) Team Bianchi Nordic 18 Marius Nyhammer (Nor) Fana IL - Mix 19 Robert Österling (Swe) Cykelcity.Se 20 Frederik Willmann (Nor) Vestfold SK - Mix 21 Roy Hegreberg (Nor) IF Frøy - Mix 22 Petter Renäng (Swe) Team Bianchi Nordic 23 Daniel Vobora (Cze) Club Budvar Tabor 1.13 24 Jacob Moe Rasmussen (Den) Team PH 4.48 25 Fredrik Johansson (Swe) Team Mälarenergi 26 Lars Høg (Den) Danish National Team 27 Kamil Ausbuher (Cze) Club Budvar Tabor 28 Gunnar Eidsheim (Nor) Bergen CK 29 Matti Breschel (Den) Team PH 6.32 30 Håvard A. Sefland (Nor) IF Frøy - Mix 8.32 31 Jarle Fredriksen (Nor) Glåmdal-Nittedal Elite 32 Andreas Sand (Nor) Baerum OCK 33 Patrik Löfving (Swe) Cykelcity.Se 34 Lucas Persson (Swe) Team Mälarenergi 35 Ole Kristian Ringnes (Nor) Glåmdal-Nittedal Elite 36 Kent Håkon Olsen (Nor) Fana IL - Mix 37 Morten Christiansen (Nor) Glåmdal-Nittedal Elite 38 Stijn Penne (Bel) Jartazzi-Granville 39 Mattias Carlsson (Swe) Team Bianchi Nordic 40 Joachim Bøhler (Nor) Ringerike SK 41 Andreas Molandsveen (Nor) Ringerike SK 42 Michael Tronborg Kristensen (Den) Danish National Team 43 Martin Vestby (Nor) Team Bianchi Nordic 44 Ørjan Walstad (Nor) Eidsvoll SK - Mix 45 Gregory Saw (Aus) Glåmdal-Nittedal Elite 46 Kenneth Solheim (Nor) Vennesla OCK-Mix 47 Tomas Hruby (Cze) Club Budvar Tabor 14.32 48 Nicki Hjort Olsen (Den) Team PH 49 Martin Pedersen (Den) Team PH 50 Kasper Jebjerg (Den) Team PH 51 Vidar Steinsbø (Nor) Bergen CK 52 Morten Knudsen (Den) Danish National Team 53 Emil Lindgren (Swe) Swedish National Team 54 Mirko Poldma (Est) Kalev Chokolate Team - Merida 55 Andrei Laptsenkov (Est) Kalev Chokolate Team - Merida 56 Stig Roar Engen (Nor) Bergen CK 57 Jon Einar Bergsland (Nor) Frikransen Mix 58 Jan Egil Strandberg (Nor) Vennesla OCK-Mix 59 Jasper Lenferink (Ned) Bert Story - Piels 60 Rickard Sjöberg (Swe) Team Mälarenergi 18.32 61 Dennis Persson (Swe) Team Mälarenergi 62 Andreas Johansson (Swe) Team Mälarenergi 63 Daniel Eriksson (Swe) Swedish National Team 64 Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) Swedish National Team 65 Einar Strand (Nor) KF Nor- Mix 66 Andri Lebedev (Est) Kalev Chokolate Team - Merida 67 Nils Einar Grutle (Nor) Fana IL - Mix 68 Kristian Ellertsen (Nor) Team Sparebanken Vest 69 Petter Jørgensen (Nor) Vestfold SK - Mix 70 Niko Merilainen (Fin) Finnish National Team 71 Kjetil Ingvaldsen (Nor) Bergen CK 72 Bersvenn Støen (Nor) Frikransen Mix 73 Anders Hosøy (Nor) Bergen CK 74 Marcus Johansson (Swe) Cykelcity.Se 75 Henric Wilert (Swe) Cykelcity.Se 76 Mart Ojavee (Est) Kalev Chokolate Team - Merida 77 Andreas Papp (Swe) Upsala CK 78 Michael Nolin (Swe) Upsala CK 79 Jukka-Pekka Santala (Fin) Finnish National Team 22.32 80 Joachim Jordan (Nor) Bergen CK 81 Geir Bisgård (Nor) Vennesla OCK-Mix 82 Antti Tapio Träskelin (Fin) Finnish National Team 83 Oskari Kargu (Est) Kalev Chokolate Team - Merida 84 Mika Nieminen (Fin) Finnish National Team Mountains Climb 1 1 Morten Christiansen (Nor) Glåmdal-Nittedal Elite 3 pts 2 Frederik Penne (Bel) Jartazzi-Granville 2 3 Michael Tronborg Kristensen (Den) Danish National Team 1 Climb 2 1 Kimmo Kananen (Fin) Team Bianchi Nordic 3 pts 2 Fredrik Modin (Swe) Team Mälarenergi 2 3 Gabriel Rasch (Nor) Ringerike SK 1 Climb 3 1 Kimmo Kananen (Fin) Team Bianchi Nordic 3 pts 2 Simon Gerrans (Aus) U Nantes Atlantique 2 3 Fredrik Modin (Swe) Team Mälarenergi 1 Sprints Sprint 1 1 Lucas Persson (Swe) Team Mälarenergi 3 pts 2 Jasper Lenferink (Ned) Bert Story - Piels 2 3 Andri Lebedev (Est) Kalev Chokolate Team - Merida 1 Sprint 2 1 Reiner Honig (Ned) Bert Story - Piels 3 pts 2 Jos Lucassen (Ned) Bert Story - Piels 2 3 Gabriel Rasch (Nor) Ringerike SK 1 Final general classification 1 Kimmo Kananen (Fin) Team Bianchi Nordic 19.53.23 2 Simon Gerrans (Aus) U Nantes Atlantique 0.03 3 Gabriel Rasch (Nor) Ringerike SK 0.04 4 Jonathan Dayus (GBr) U Nantes Atlantique 0.05 5 Fredrik Modin (Swe) Team Mälarenergi 6 Mads Christensen (Den) Team PH 0.06 7 Morten Hegreberg (Nor) Jartazzi-Granville 0.45 8 Are Andresen (Nor) Team Sparebanken Vest 1.02 9 Fredrik Eriksson (Swe) Upsala CK 10 Klaas De Gruyter (Bel) Jartazzi-Granville 1.11 11 Petter Renäng (Swe) Team Bianchi Nordic 1.48 12 Marius Nyhammer (Nor) Fana IL - Mix 13 Reiner Honig (Ned) Bert Story - Piels 2.46 14 Trond Kristian Schweder (Nor) Baerum OCK 15 Frederik Willmann (Nor) Vestfold SK - Mix 16 Tarmo Raudsepp (Est) U Nantes Atlantique 17 Roy Hegreberg (Nor) IF Frøy - Mix 3.03 18 Stian Remme (Nor) Team Sparebanken Vest 3.24 19 Jonas Holmkvist (Swe) Team Bianchi Nordic 3.36 20 Jens Westergren (Swe) Upsala CK 4.42 21 Robert Österling (Swe) Cykelcity.Se 5.34 22 Kamil Ausbuher (Cze) Club Budvar Tabor 5.55 23 Lars Høg (Den) Danish National Team 6.00 24 Jacob Moe Rasmussen (Den) Team PH 6.03 25 Jos Lucassen (Ned) Bert Story - Piels 7.23 26 Matti Breschel (Den) Team PH 7.49 27 Fredrik Johansson (Swe) Team Mälarenergi 9.27 28 Daniel Vobora (Cze) Club Budvar Tabor 10.16 29 Gunnar Eidsheim (Nor) Bergen CK 12.11 Mountains classification 1 Morten Christiansen (Nor) Glåmdal-Nittedal Elite 13 pts 2 Fredrik Modin (Swe) Team Mälarenergi 11 3 Kimmo Kananen (Fin) Team Bianchi Nordic 9 4 Morten Knudsen (Den) Danish National Team 6 5 Mads Christensen (Den) Team PH 6 6 Simon Gerrans (Aus) U Nantes Atlantique 5 7 Stian Remme (Nor) Team Sparebanken Vest 3 8 Fredrik Johansson (Swe) Team Mälarenergi 3 9 Jonathan Dayus (GBr) U Nantes Atlantique 3 10 Mattias Carlsson (Swe) Team Bianchi Nordic 3 11 Kevin D'Haese (Bel) Lochness Team 2 12 Gabriel Rasch (Nor) Ringerike SK 1 13 Michael Tronborg Kristensen (Den) Danish National Team 1 14 Are Andresen (Nor) Team Sparebanken Vest 1 15 Petter Jørgensen (Nor) Vestfold SK - Mix 1 16 Klaas De Gruyter (Bel) Jartazzi-Granville 1 Sprints classification 1 Matti Breschel (Den) Team PH 9 pts 2 Reiner Honig (Ned) Bert Story - Piels 5 3 Lucas Persson (Swe) Team Mälarenergi 3 4 Dennis Persson (Swe) Team Mälarenergi 3 5 Joachim Bøhler (Nor) Ringerike SK 3 6 Fredrik Johansson (Swe) Team Mälarenergi 3 7 Jos Lucassen (Ned) Bert Story - Piels 2 8 Jasper Lenferink (Ned) Bert Story - Piels 2 9 Henric Wilert (Swe) Cykelcity.Se 2 10 Morten Knudsen (Den) Danish National Team 2 11 Jonas Holmkvist (Swe) Team Bianchi Nordic 2 12 Lars Høg (Den) Danish National Team 2 13 Gabriel Rasch (Nor) Ringerike SK 1 14 Andri Lebedev (Est) Kalev Chokolate Team - Merida 1 15 Morten Christiansen (Nor) Glåmdal-Nittedal Elite 1 16 Kimmo Kananen (Fin) Team Bianchi Nordic 1
