Zabel starts season with a win in Majorca
Telekom’s Erik Zabel scored his first win of the season on Sunday, taking the first stage of the Majorca challenge, an 80km circuit race in Palma de Majorca, the capital of the Balearic Islands. Zabel beat out Germany’s Sven Teutenberg in the final sprint, while American David Clinger scored a 10th-place finish. In Monday’s second stage, Australian Mathew Hayman (Rabobank) scored his first professional victory with a long solo breakaway. Run on a 10km circuit, the season-opening stage 1 was a nervous affair, and was marked by a big crash on the fourth of eight laps. That, coupled with the
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By VeloNews Interactive wire services, Copyright 2001 AFP
Telekom’s Erik Zabel scored his first win of the season on Sunday, taking the first stage of the Majorca challenge, an 80km circuit race in Palma de Majorca, the capital of the Balearic Islands. Zabel beat out Germany’s Sven Teutenberg in the final sprint, while American David Clinger scored a 10th-place finish. In Monday’s second stage, Australian Mathew Hayman (Rabobank) scored his first professional victory with a long solo breakaway.
Run on a 10km circuit, the season-opening stage 1 was a nervous affair, and was marked by a big crash on the fourth of eight laps. That, coupled with the pace of the race, led to 56 of the 210 starters abandoning the stage.
At the finish, Mapei’s Stefano Zanini tried to break clear, but was quickly brought back, and Zabel took the bunch sprint.
In stage 2, Hayman broke away just four kilometers into the 181km stage between Manacor and Can Picafort, and built up a maximum advantage of 21 minutes on the rest of the peloton. At the finish, Hayman hung onto a lead of 4:10 after Kelme and Festina had led the peloton in chasing him down. Zabel beat out McEwen in the field sprint for second.
Results
Stage 1; 1. Erik Zabel (G), 80km in 1:50:47; 2. Sven Teutenberg (G); 3. Tom Steels (B); 4. Bram De Groot (Nl); 5. Robbie McEwen (Aus); 6. Bert Hiemstra (Nl); 7. Creszenzo D’Amore (I); 8. Stefan Van Dijk (Nl); 9. Josu Silloniz (Sp); 10. David Clinger (USA), all s.t.
Stage 2; 1. Mathew Hayman (Aus), 181km in 4:56:51; 2. Zabel, at 4:10; 3. McEwen; 4. Servais Knaven (Nl); 5. Luca Paolini (I); 6. Sergio Villamil (Sp); 7. Van Dijk; 8. Tom Desmet (B); 9. Javier Pascual Llorente (Sp); 10. Martin Van Steen, all s.t.