Vogels takes over at Beauce

• Results

By Rob Jones, VeloNews Correspondent

Henk Vogels (Mercury) has been to Canada exactly twice: The first time was in 1994 when, as a member of the Australian team, he won gold at the Commonwealth Games in Victoria, BC, in the team time trial. The second is his current trip to the GP Cycliste de Beauce, where he won Wednesday’s third stage and took the overall lead in the race. Obviously, Canada agrees with him….

The third stage, at 190km, was the longest of the race. A single loop around the town of Lac Etchemin, it promised long rolling climbs of 7-8 percent, and strong winds. With less than a minute separating the first 35 riders on general classification, it was a stage ripe for a breakaway, and that is what happened a mere 8km into the race when Svein Tuft (Team Canada) attacked. He was quickly joined by Vogels and 2km later by Florencino Ramos (Team Tecos), and the trio went to work.

“I wanted to be aggressive, and was hoping a group would come up,” said Tuft, “but with three that was enough to work.”

After 10km off the front, the leaders had slowly increased their gap to 2 minutes, and seemed destined to dangle within striking distance until the peloton decided to reel them in. However, then it appeared that the race leading Mroz team went to sleep and the split mushroomed to 9 minutes by the 35km mark.

At this point, according to Saturn team director Jim Copeland, it got a little confusing, with contradictory time reports coming in over the race radio. “We heard 9 minutes, and then all of a sudden it was 13, 15, 19 minutes! At that point the gap became every team’s problem.”

The split actually reached a maximum of 23 minutes at the 60km mark, with the leaders nearly 14km ahead of the pack.

Saturn went to the front to help Mroz, and the speed reached as much as 60kph as the chase turned into a deathline in the strong crosswind. The gap was coming down, but not as fast as expected. At 106km it was still 15 minutes, and with 40km to go the gap was 12:25.

At that point Saturn backed off a bit, complaining that Mroz and the other teams were not doing their fair share, and the deficit zoomed back to 14 minutes for a short while before Cantina Tollo took a turn at the front and the chasers started to creep closer again.

Meanwhile, at the front, Tuft and Vogels ditched Ramos. “Our speed would actually go down when he went to the front,” explained Vogels, “and then he jumped us on the KoMs, that was the last straw.”

Vogels went to the front on the next descent and set a pace that scared Tuft (“I’ve never seen anyone descend like that; it was all I could do to stay close”) and dropped the Mexican rider for good.

In the last 20km it appeared that the effort was finally starting to get to the front pair, and the gap began to shrink more rapidly as the speed of the peloton went up over 60 kph again. In the final 2km Vogels refused to pull through, further slowing the pace, and then easily outsprinted Tuft for the stage. Stage 2 winner Gord Fraser (Mercury) won the field sprint for third, 4:02 down on the leaders.

While Vogels has a 40 second lead over Tuft, and a 3:50 margin over the former leader Remegijus Lupeikis (Mroz-Supradyn), he has no false expectations over his ability to hold onto the jersey. “In this race it could change overnight, and with the Mont Megantic stage on Friday I know I will not be there.”

Results

Stage 3: Lac-Etchemin – Lac-Etchemin, 189.7 km

1. Henk Vogels (Aus) Mercury-Viatel, 4:46:21
2. Svein Tuft (Can) Team Canada, at 0:02
3. Gordon Fraser (Can) Mercury-Viatel, at 4:02
4. Vassili Davidenko (Rus) Navigators Cycling Team
5. Federico Colonna (Ita) Cantina Tollo Acqua & Sapone
6. Charles Dionne (Can) 7Up-Colorado Cyclist
7. Bart Herirweah (Bel) Ville De Charleroi-New Systems
8. Czeclaw Lukaszewicz (Can) Team Canada
9. Dominique Rollin (Can) Sympatico:ca Cycling Team
10. Nicolas White (RSA) Team HSBC
11. Oleg Kozlintine (Kaz) Saint-Quentin Oktos
12. Andy Capelle (Bel) Saint-Quentin Oktos
13. Claudio Astolfi (Ita) Cantina Tollo Acqua & Sapone
14. Eugen Wacker (Kgz) Mroz-Supradyn
15. Martin Gilbert (Can) Volkswagen
16. David Chassot (Sui) Ficonseils-RCC Conseils Assurances
17. Trent Klasna (USA) Saturn Cycling Team
18. Ryan Guay (USA) 7Up-Colorado Cyclist
19. Jurgen Landrie (Bel) Ville De Charleroi-New Systems
20. Stephane Gremaud (Swi) Ficonseils-RCC Conseils Assurances

Others
26. Baden Cooke (Aus) Mercury-Viatel
28. Micheal Barry (Can) Saturn Cycling Team
32. Micheal Sayers (USA) Mercury-Viatel
34. Jacob Herker (Can) Team Canada
35. Scott Moninger (USA) Mercury-Viatel
36. Dominique Perras (Can) Ficonseils-RCC Conseils Assurances
38. Marc AndrÈ Salois (Can) Equipe Du Quebec
40. Chris Wherry (USA) Mercury-Viatel
41. Alexandre LavallÈe (Can) Team Canada
48 Mark Walters (Can) Navigators Cycling Team
51. Soren Petersen (Den) Saturn Cycling Team
52. Chris Baldwin (USA) Navigators Cycling Team
54. Doug Ziewacz (USA) 7Up-Colorado Cyclist
57. John Leiswyn (USA) 7Up-Colorado Cyclist
59. Greg Sieniewicz (Can) Equipe Oryx
63. Andrew Randell (Can) 7Up-Colorado Cyclist
64. Andrew Pinfold (Can) Team Canada
66. Kevin Monhan (USA) 7Up-Colorado Cyclist
67 Eric Wohlberg (Can) Saturn Cycling Team
69. Jean Francois Laroche (Can) Equipe Du Quebec
70. Oleg Grishkine (Rus) Navigators Cycling Team
72. Bill Hurley (Can) Equipe Oryx
73. Burke Swindlehurst (USA) Navigators Cycling Team
74. Min Van Velzen (Can) Team Canada
76. Erik Sanders (USA) Ficonseils-RCC Conseils Assurances
81. Harm Jansen (Ned) Saturn Cycling Team all same time
84. Chris Fisher (USA) Saturn Cycling Team, at 5:37
85. Martin St-Laurent (Can) Volkswagen
88. Ross Hooker (Can) Team Canada
90. Mathieu Beliveau (Can) Equipe Du Quebec
96. Derek Bouchard-Hall (USA) Mercury-Viatel, at 7:45
97. Francois Parisien (Can) Volkswagen
102. Jean Francois Racine (Can) Equipe Du Quebec, at 16:57
105. Martin Nuckle (Can) Volkswagen, at 22:37
106. Bruno Langlois (Can) Volkswagen
107. Ariel Decardenas (Can) Equipe Oryx
108. Jason Crookham (Can) Sympatico:ca Cycling Team
109. Gladish Corey (Can) Volkswagen
110. Jean Philippe Houle-Paradis (Can) Equipe Du Quebec
111. Christophe Cheseaux (Can) Equipe Du Quebec
113. Philippe Viau-Dupuis (Can) Equipe Du Quebec
116. Martin Gosselin (Can) Equipe Oryx, at 42:00
117. Mike Luther (Can) Equipe Oryx, at 43:07
118. Hugh Trechard (Can) Equipe Oryx

GC after stage 3

1. Henk Vogels (Aus) Mercury-Viatel, 9:23:03
2. Svein Tuft (Can) Team Canada, at 0:40
3. Remegijus Lupeikis (Ltu) Mroz-Supradyn, at 3:50
4. Eugen Wacker (Kgz) Mroz-Supradyn, at 3:51
5. Piotr Chmielenski (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn
6. Zbigniew Piatek (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn
7. Raimondas Vilcinskas (Ltu) Mroz-Supradyn, all s.t.
8. Soren Petersen (Den) Saturn Cycling Team, at 3:59
9. Trent Klasna (USA) Saturn Cycling Team
10. Micheal Barry (Can) Saturn Cycling Team
11. Eric Wohlberg (Can) Saturn Cycling Team
12. Zbigniew Wyrzykowski (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn
13. Harm Jansen (Ned) Saturn Cycling Team, all s.t.
14. Gordon Fraser (Can) Mercury-Viatel, at 4:04
15. Scott Moninger (USA) Mercury-Viatel, at 4:10
16. Chris Wherry (USA) Mercury-Viatel, s.t.
17. Robert Foster (Ger) Team Nurnberger, at 4:21
18. Jurgen Werner (Ger) Team Nurnberger, at 4:24
19. Jens Zemke (Ger) Team Nurnberger
20. Artour Babaitsev (Rus) Team Nurnberger
Others
25. Vassili Davidenko (Rus) Navigators Cycling Team, at 4:36
26. Chris Baldwin (USA) Navigators Cycling Team, at 4:36
27. Mark Walters (Can) Navigators Cycling Team
28. Oleg Grishkine (Rus) Navigators Cycling Team, both s.t.
29. Charles Dionne (Can) 7Up-Colorado Cyclist, at 4:43
30. Andrew Pinfold (Can) Team Canada, s.t.
31. John Leiswyn (USA) 7Up-Colorado Cyclist, at 4:44
32. Andrew Randell (Can) 7Up-Colorado Cyclist
33. Doug Ziewacz (USA) 7Up-Colorado Cyclist, both s.t.
34. Czeclaw Lukaszewicz (Can) Team Canada, at 4:45
35. Min Van Velzen (Can) Team Canada
52. Dominique Perras (Can) Ficonseils-RCC Conseils Assurances, at 5:01
53. Erik Saunders (USA) Ficonseils-RCC Conseils Assurances
56. Marc Andre Salois (Can) Equipe Du Quebec, at 5:15
57. Jean Frrancois Laroche (Can) Equipe Du Quebec
58. Dominique Rollin (Can) Sympatico:ca Cycling Team, at 5:16
59. Josh Hall (Can) Sympatico:ca Cycling Team
63. Martin Gilbert (Can) Volkswagen, at 5:26
64. Jacob Herker (Can) Team Canada
69. Baden Cooke (Aus) Mercury-Viatel, at 5:54
70. Burke Swindlehurst (USA) Navigators Cycling Team, at 6:01
72. Alexandre Lavallee (Can) Team Canada, at 6:14
73. Kevin Monhan (USA) 7Up-Colorado Cyclist
74. Bill Hurley (Can) Equipe Oryx, at 6:18
76. Micheal Sayers (USA) Mercury-Viatel
77. Ryan Guay (USA) 7Up-Colorado Cyclist, at 6:30
78. Ross Hooker (Can) Team Canada
81. Chris Fisher (USA) Saturn Cycling Team, at 6:37
83. Mathieu Beliveau (Can) Equipe Du Quebec, at 6:50
85. Martin St-Laurent (Can) Volkswagen , at 7:01
88. Greg Sieniewicz (Can) Equipe Oryx, at 7:49
91. Francois Parisien (Can) Volkswagen, at 9:09
93. Derek Bouchard-Hall (USA) Mercury-Viatel, at 10:27
102. Jean Francois Racine (Can) Equipe Du Quebec, at 19:51
106. Jean Philippe Houle-Paradis (Can) Equipe Du Quebec, at 23:50
108. Christophe Cheseaux (Can) Equipe Du Quebec, at 24:51
109. Martin Nuckle (Can) Volkswagen, at 25:06
110. Ariel Decardenas (Can) Equipe Oryx, at 25:50
111. Siro Camponogara (Ita) Navigators Cycling Team, at 26:57
112. Jason Crookham (Can) Sympatico:ca Cycling Team, at 35:23
113. Philippe Viau-Dupuis (Can) Equipe Du Quebec. at 35:25
114. Gladish Corey (Can) Volkswagen, at 35:36
115. Bruno Langlois (Can) Volkswagen, at 36:41
116. Mike Luther (Can) Equipe Oryx, at 56:48
117. Martin Gosselin (Can) Equipe Oryx, at 57:09
118. Hugh Trechard (Can) Equipe Oryx, at 1:06:25