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Tour de la Région Wallonne - 2.3
Belgium, July 29 - August 2, 2002
Stage 1 - July 29: Chaudfontaine - Seraing, 152.8 km
Paolo Bettini wins first stage
Paolo Bettini (Mapei-Quick Step) won today's first stage of the Tour of the Région Wallonne, from Chaufontaine to Seraing over 153 kilometres. With strong finishing sprint, Bettini beat Björn Leukemans (Palmans-Collstrop) and Luca Paolini (Mapei) on the uphill finish.
The parcours of the stage was quite selective and was ridden under a scorching sun of 35 degrees. Right from the beginning of the race, five riders attacked including David Cañada (Mapei), who tried to go solo with 18 km to go. However, the peloton led by Lotto and Domo fought back and caught him just 250 metres from the finish at the end of a 3 kilometre climb.
After Cañada was caught, Paolo Bettini attacked from the other side of the road, leaving behind him Bjorn Leukemans (Palmans-Collstrop) and his teammate Luca Paolini. This was Bettini's third race after having to pull out of the Giro d'Italia due to muscular problems.
"This win has really boosted my spirits; I am still not in perfect shape but I'm sure I'll be up along with the best on Sunday at Hamburg," he said.
Results
1 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 3.46.01 2 Björn Leukemans (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 0.01 3 Luca Paolini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 0.04 4 Stephan Schreck (Ger) Team Telekom 5 Christophe Stevens (Bel) Marlux-Ville de Charleroi 6 Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 0.07 7 Bert De Waele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 8 Nicolas Inaudi (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 0.09 9 Serguei Yakovlev (Kaz) Team Telekom 10 Manuel Calvente Gorbas (Spa) CSC-Tiscali 11 Johan Museeuw (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites 12 Allan Johansen (Den) EDS-fakta 0.14 13 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 0.16 14 Manu L'Hoir (Bel) EDS-fakta 15 Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites 0.18 16 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 17 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Domo-Farm Frites 18 Francisco Javier Cerezo Perales (Spa) CSC-Tiscali 19 Peter Farazijn (Bel) Cofidis 20 Yaroslav Popvych (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 21 Jurgen Van De Walle (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 22 Christian Poos (Lux) Marlux-Ville de Charleroi 23 Janek Tombak (Est) Cofidis 24 Kai Hundertmarck (Ger) Team Telekom 0.23 25 Sébastien Mattozza (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 26 Nicolas Fritsch (Fra) FDJeux.com 27 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Team Telekom 28 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Ag2r-Prevoyance 29 Martin Rittsel (Swe) CSC-Tiscali 30 Matthias Kessler (Ger) Team Telekom 31 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 0.27 32 Michiel Elijzen (Ned) Rabobank Espoirs 0.30 33 Steven Kleynen (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites 34 Steven De Neef (Bel) Marlux-Ville de Charleroi 35 Dirk Reichl (Ger) Team Telekom 36 Lauri Aus (Est) Ag2r-Prevoyance 37 Michael Skelde (Den) EDS-fakta 38 Vincent Cali (Fra) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 39 Régis Lhullier (Fra) FDJeux.com 40 Johan Dekkers (Bel) Marlux-Ville de Charleroi 41 David Cañada Gracia (Spa) Mapei-Quick Step 42 Marcus Ljungqvist (Swe) EDS-fakta 43 Mickael Pichon (Fra) Bonjour 44 Jo Planckaert (Bel) Cofidis 45 Frédéric Amorison (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 46 Leif Hoste (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites 47 Wim Van Huffel (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 48 Andreas Klier (Ger) Team Telekom 49 Bert Roesems (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 50 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Bonjour 51 Luuc Hutten (Ned) Rabobank Espoirs 0.40 52 Marc Streel (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 53 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Rabobank Espoirs 54 Chris Peers (Bel) Cofidis 55 Steve De Wolf (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites 56 Johan Coenen (Bel) Marlux-Ville de Charleroi 57 Franck Pencole (Fra) FDJeux.com 58 Bastiaan Giling (Ned) Rabobank Espoirs 59 Olivier Trastour (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 60 Davide Bramati (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 61 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Mapei-Quick Step 62 Jan Kuyckx (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 63 Frank Vandenbroucke (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites 64 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 65 Olivier Asmaker (Fra) CSC-Tiscali 0.56 66 Raphael Jeune (Fra) CSC-Tiscali 67 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 1.00 68 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 69 Fabrice Salanson (Fra) Bonjour 70 Davy Commeyne (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 1.06 71 Anthony Geslin (Fra) Bonjour 1.17 72 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Marlux-Ville de Charlero 1.21 73 Paolo Fornaciari (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 1.24 74 Sébastien Joly (Fra) Bonjour 1.31 75 Peter Wuyts (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 76 Jan Verstraeten (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 77 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Rabobank Espoirs 1.36 78 Mauricio Alberto Ardila Cano 1.41 79 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 1.49 80 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) EDS-fakta 81 Marcelino Garcia Alonso (Spa) CSC-Tiscali 82 Erwin Thijs (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 1.56 83 Claudio Lucchini (Ita) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 1.56 84 Niko Eeckhout (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 85 Glenn D'hollander (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 86 Andy De Smet (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 87 Dmitri Fofonov (Kaz) Cofidis 88 Bjorn Hoeben (Ned) Rabobank Espoirs 89 Thomas Bodo (Fra) FDJeux.com 90 Linas Balciunas (Ltu) Ag2r-Prevoyance 2.25 91 Ludovic Capelle (Bel) Ag2r-Prevoyance 2.39 92 Christophe Detilloux (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 93 Ief Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 94 Hans Dekkers (Ned) Rabobank Espoirs 95 Ben Berden (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 2.56 96 Magnus Bäckstedt (Swe) EDS-fakta 3.04 97 Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Bonjour 3.23 98 Robert Hayles (GBr) Cofidis 3.32 99 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) FDJeux.com 3.36 100 Danny Jonasson (Den) CSC-Tiscali 4.42 101 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bonjour 5.02 102 Allan Bo Andresen (Den) EDS-fakta 32.26 103 Matthew Wilson (Aus) FDJeux.com 104 Tom Flammang (Lux) Cofidis 32.44 General classification after stage 1 1 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 3.45.51 2 Björn Leukemans (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 0.05 3 Luca Paolini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 0.10 4 Stephan Schreck (Ger) Team Telekom 0.14 5 Christophe Stevens (Bel) Marlux-Ville de Charleroi 6 Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 0.17 7 Bert De Waele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 8 Nicolas Inaudi (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 0.19 9 Serguei Yakovlev (Kaz) Team Telekom 10 Manuel Calvente Gorbas (Spa) CSC-Tiscali
