Van
Heeswijk Wins Vuelta Stage
by
Dan Osipow
Friday,
September 02, 2005 - The
Max van Heeswijk of last season has finally
resurfaced in 2005 as the Dutchman won his third race
of the season - and third in the last few weeks -
today when he sprinted to victory in stage seven of
the Tour of Spain in Vinaros.
Coming
off a career best 13 wins last season, van Heeswijk
struggled through the spring and summer months
and finally found his winning form when he took the
first and fifth stages at the Benelux Tour last month
prior to winning his second career Vuelta stage.
"I'm
very happy now considering how this season started
for me," van Heeswijk said.
"The last two months
have been great for me and I'm finally feeling good
again."
The
win gave the Discovery Channel team victories
in all three Grand Tours this season. Paolo Savoldelli
won a stage en route to the overall victory at the
Tour of Italy in May while Savoldelli,
George Hincapie and Lance Armstrong all
won individual stages and the team won the team time
trial at the Tour de France in July, capped
off by Armstrong's seventh straight victory.
"It
was a very hard stage today," said
Johan Bruyneel, the team's sports manager.
"There were four third
category climbs in the beginning part but in the last
part, it all came back together. We knew it was a
good finish for Max as it was slightly uphill at the
finish."
However,
van Heeswijk flatted with 15 kms remaining but quickly
jumped onto the back of the peloton and was brought
to the front by Michael Barry and Stijn
Devolder, according to Bruyneel. "It
was a crazy, twisty finish and then all of a sudden,
Max was in front with 600 meters to go. He seemed
to have started his sprint way too early but nobody
was able to pass him."
On
the finish, van Heeswijk said "at
600 meters, nobody else wanted to go. Then for me,
it was all or nothing and I went to see how far I
could go."
Bruyneel
added - "His two wins
in Benelux were nice but this is something else. It's
great for his morale and for the team's morale. Before
the race began, I stated our goal is to win two stages.
It's not easy to win but hopefully we can fulfill
the goal."
On
his Vuelta teammates, van Heeswijk said - "Everybody
here is really good as yesterday we were in every
break. These guys are incredible, much better than
me. I'm happy to give them a stage win, which is what
I think they deserve. Yesterday I was in the back
suffering while they were on the front attacking."
Vuelta
a Espana: Petacchi fora. Ongarato si piazza terzo.
Nella frazione con arrivo a Vinoros Alessandro Petacchi
fora quando mancano sette chilometri all’arrivo.
02/09/2005
21.17 “Avevo
scollinato davanti, attorno alla decima posizione,
la salitella che c’era nel finale”
dice Petacchi “quando
nelle prime curve in discesa ho sentito la ruota dietro
che non teneva la strada. Ho sostituito la ruota,
ma il gruppo era troppo lanciato e vicino al traguardo
per rientrare. Peccato perché è la seconda
tappa dove ho ottime sensazioni, dopo quella di Cuenca,
e non arrivo davanti a disputare lo sprint. Sarà
per la prossima volta”.
Alberto
Ongarato ha cercato di sostituire Petacchi
allo sprint giungendo terzo: “Ero
a ruota di Boonen quando la volata è
stata lanciata. Lui ha perso terreno ed io ho dovuto
recuperare lo svantaggio per portarmi a ruota dei
primi mentre sprintavano. È stato un vero peccato
perché andavo veramente forte e mi sarebbe
piaciuto giocarmi la corsa alla pari con i primi due”.
Brutta
giornata per Flecha che, a causa dei postumi
della caduta dell’altro ieri, ha chiuso la tappa
con un ritardo di circa 30 minuti: “Sentivo
un forte dolore al ginocchio destro, all’anca
e alla schiena. Non riuscivo a pedalare e mi sono
staccato dopo appena 75 km. Ho percorso il resto della
tappa, 130 km circa, completamente solo. Spero che
il peggio sia passato”.
Heinrich
Haussler beweist auch im Sprint Qualitäten -
Gerolsteiner-Youngster macht seinem Sportlichen Leiter
"Spaß"
Heinrich
Haussler hat bei der 60. Vuelta a Espana
erneut Reden von sich gemacht. Einen Tag nach seiner
guten Leistung bei der ersten Bergankunft der Spanien-Rundfahrt,
stellte der 21 Jahre alte Cottbuser aus dem Team
Gerolsteiner am Freitag im Sprint seine Qualitäten
unter Beweis. Dabei verpasste der Youngster aus der
deutschen ProTour-Mannschaft auf der siebten
Etappe nur knapp die Topten des Tages. Beim Etappensieg
des Niederländers Max Van Heeswijk (Discovery
Channel) belegte Haussler nach den 212,5 Kilometern
von Teruel nach Vinaros den elften Platz. "Heinrich
hat wirklich ein prima Ergebnis in dieser Situation
herausgeholt. Quasi im Alleingang. Der Junge macht
mir Spaß", freute sich der Sportliche
Leiter Reimund Dietzen über das Abschneiden
des Cottbusers.
Dieser hatte im Finale die Farben der Gerolsteiner
"sehr ordentlich" vertreten, nachdem ein
Defekt an der Rennmaschine von René "Hasi"
Haselbacher die eigentliche Sprinttaktik der
Eifel-Equipe durcheinander gebracht hatte.
"Sicher war das ein wenig schade für Hasi.
Wir haben zwar mit ein paar Mann gewartet. Aber da
war nichts mehr zu machen. Umso besser, was Heinrich
daraus gemacht", schilderte Dietzen
das Finale. Und der Trierer ergänzte: "Der
Junge kommt von Tag zu Tag besser in Schwung. Er ist
sehr motiviert und zeigt keine Scheu bei seiner ersten
dreiwöchigen Rundfahrt."
Bevor es in Vinaros zum Massensprint gekommen war,
hatte eine fünfköpfige Ausreißergruppe
die Etappe bestimmt. Nach "schwerem
Auftakt mit ständigem Auf und Ab",
so Dietzen, hatte sich das Quintett nach rund 40 Kilometern
vom Feld abgesetzt. Wiederum 30 Kilometer vor dem
Ziel war die Flucht der Fünf jedoch beendet.
In der Folge kontrollierten die Sprinterteams das
Rennen - mit Erfolg. Davon profitierte auch Roberto
Heras (Liberty Seguros): Der Spitzenreiter aus
Spanien verteidigte sein Gold-Trikot und baute seinen
Vorsprung auf die Konkurrenz durch einen gewonnenen
Zwischensprint sogar um sechs Sekunden aus.
Ordine
d'arrivo 7ª tappa
