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PPA Cape Argus Giro del Capo Challenge 1 - 1.2
South Africa, March 4-8, 2009
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Race 1 - March 4: Wellington - Wellington, 106.3km
Robbie Hunter wins Giro's race 1
South Africa dominated the first day of the Cape Argus PPA Giro del Capo Challenge in Wellington, with star cyclist Robbie Hunter first across the finish line. Christoff van Heerden (MTN) and Johann Rabie (Neotel) came second and third respectively.
"It was a sprint to the end - the top 12 cyclists all crossed the line in a time of 2:41:18 resulting in a photo finish," commented David Bellairs, Co-Director of the Cape Town Cycle Tour Trust.
The 106km circular route is a constant climb and provided the 29 national and international teams participating in the Giro with a tough start.
The first Day of the four-day event was made very difficult by strong winds. Barloworld was in the initial breakaway of some 40 riders with Daryl Impey, Felix Cardenas, Robert Hunter and Steven Cummings.
About 64km into the race, an unfortunate incident caused John-Lee Augustyn to crash giving him little other option than to retire. "I was extremely disappointed by this incident - I was so ready for the climb. When I fell it was so hard, I thought I had broken my hip!" said a frustrated Augustyn.
With just 30km to go to the finish line, there was a further breakaway of five riders, including Cardenas. This group was chased down, with Barloworld controlling the group.
Barloworld also took home three of the four jerseys. Hunter received the coveted Pink Leader's jersey as well as the Velotex Champions Jersey as the most consistent rider and the Pickfodrs Points Jersey.
Barloworld's Team Manager Claudio Corti said, "The team did so well. I am very happy with the team's performance today. The strong wind made us change our strategy, but the team pulled together well to deliver such a great result. They are in good condition and knew what had to be done. By working together to control the breakaway and attack, we achieved the desired result and our goal to do well on our sponsor, Barloworld's home soil."
Tomorrow cyclists set off on a 143km race from Vissershok Road, Durbanville.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Raymond Cox/www.mirra.co.za
- Robert Hunter (Team Barloworld) ensured a South African was out front on the first day.
- Chris Froome helped set up Team Barloworld teammate Robert Hunter for victory.
- Craig Butland rolls along on the Giro del Capo's opening day.
- African Tour leader Dan Carven (Rapha Condor) enjoyed a day in the peloton with his white jersey.
Results
1 Robert Hunter (RSA) Team Barloworld 2.41.18 (39.541 km/h) 2 Christoff van Heerden (RSA) MTN 3 Johann Rabie (RSA) Neotel 4 Felix Cardenas (Col) Team Barloworld 5 Henning Bommel (Ger) German National Team 6 Stefan Ganser (Ger) Team Kuota-Indeland 7 Roger Kluge (Ger) German National Team 8 Kristian House (GBr) Rapha Condor 9 Simon Richardson (GBr) Rapha Condor 10 Jay Thomson (RSA) MTN 11 Tiaan Kannemeyer (RSA) Neotel 12 Daryl Impey (RSA) Team Barloworld 13 Robert Bengsch (Ger) Bioracer 0.13 14 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Team Barloworld 0.35 15 Marcel Kalz (Ger) Bioracer 16 Jamie Ball (RSA) House of Paint 17 Chanjae Jang (Kor) Neotel 18 Johannes Kachelhoffer (RSA) Team Medscheme 19 Daniel Kreutzfeld (Den) Danish Cycling Federation 20 Dominique Cornu (Bel) Belgian National Team 21 James Spragg (GBr) Trek-Marco Polo DCM 22 Emmanuel v Ruitenbeek (Ned) Team Kuota-Indeland 23 Tom Southam (GBr) Rapha Condor 24 Dennis van Niekerk (RSA) Konica Minolta 25 Luthando Kaka (RSA) Glud & Marstrand Horsens 26 Darren Lapthorne (Aus) Rapha Condor 27 Dennis Pohl (Ger) Team Kuota-Indeland 28 Kevin Evans (RSA) MTN 29 Bjorn Glasner (Ger) Team Kuota-Indeland 30 David George (RSA) MTN 0.48 31 Chris Newton (GBr) Rapha Condor 2.22 32 Arran Brown (RSA) Team Medscheme 3.00 33 Rodney Green (RSA) Team DCM Chrome 34 Jeroen Lepla (Bel) Belgian National Team 35 Ryan Kemp (RSA) Superwatt 36 Ingmar De Poortere (Bel) Belgian National Team 37 Eric van de Meent (Ned) Trek-Marco Polo DCM 38 Nick White (RSA) Team Medscheme 39 Fabian Schaar (Ger) Bioracer 40 Malcolm Lange (RSA) Team Medscheme 41 Dylan Girdlestone (RSA) Toyota Supercycling 42 Koos Loubscher (RSA) Konica Minolta 43 Waylon Woolcock (RSA) Team Medscheme 44 Juan van Heerden (RSA) MTN 45 Sven Teutenberg (Ger) MTN 46 Patrick Gretsch (Ger) German National Team 47 Robert Bartko (Ger) German National Team 48 Casey Munro (Aus) Konica Minolta 49 Nolan Hoffman (RSA) Neotel 50 Jaco Venter (RSA) Trek-Marco Polo DCM 51 Jens Madsen (Den) Danish Cycling Federation 7.53 52 Tim Mertens (Bel) Belgian National Team 53 Christian Ranneries (Den) Danish Cycling Federation 54 Jakub Sredzinski (Pol) Poland National Team. 55 Pieter Seyffert (RSA) Konica Minolta 56 David Brown (RSA) Toyota Supercycling 57 Arno Viljoen (Nam) Team Namibia 58 James Tennent (RSA) Superwatt 59 Brand du Plessis (RSA) Computer-Smith 60 Timothy Don (GBr) Team DCM Chrome 61 Peter Lambert (RSA) Southern Cape Regional 62 Conrad Viljoen (RSA) Southern Cape Regional 63 Olaf Pollack (Ger) German National Team 64 Marcel Barth (Ger) Bioracer 65 Michael Berling (Den) Glud & Marstrand Horsens 66 Kenny De Ketele (Bel) Belgian National Team 67 Christoph Sauser (Swi) Team DCM Chrome 68 James Perry (RSA) Neotel 69 Travis Allen (RSA) House of Paint Mountains Bains Kloof, cat 1 1 Jay Thomson (RSA) MTN 12 pts 2 Stefan Ganser (Ger) Team Kuota-Indeland 10 3 Kristian House (GBr) Rapha Condor 8 4 Felix Cardenas (Col) Team Barloworld 6 5 Tiaan Kannemeyer (RSA) Neotel 4 6 Chanjae Jang (Kor) Neotel 3 7 Jaco Venter (RSA) Trek-Marco Polo DCM 2 Sprints Wolseley 1 Waylon Woolcock (RSA) Team Medscheme 5 pts 2 Olaf Pollack (Ger) German National Team 3 3 Eric van de Meent (Ned) Trek-Marco Polo DCM 2 Velotex Champion: 1 Robert Hunter (RSA) Team Barloworld General classification after race 1 Points classification 1 Robert Hunter (RSA) Team Barloworld 5 pts 2 Waylon Woolcock (RSA) Team Medscheme 5 3 Christoff van Heerden (RSA) MTN 3 4 Olaf Pollack (Ger) German National Team 3 5 Johann Rabie (RSA) Neotel 2 6 Eric van de Meent (Ned) Trek-Marco Polo DCM 2 Mountains classification 1 Jay Thomson (RSA) MTN 12 pts 2 Stefan Ganser (Ger) Team Kuota-Indeland 10 3 Kristian House (GBr) Rapha Condor 8
