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Maurizio Gets Best Result Yet
Maurizio De Pasquale of the Linda McCartney Pro Cycling Team gained the team's best result of the New Year so far, when he rocketed to 4th place on today's stage in the Tour Down Under.
It stretches the team's remarkable run at the first race of the year to 3 top ten places in 3 days. In Tuesday's first stage, David McKenzie was 5th, yesterday Matt Stephens was 10th, and now Maurizio has stuck another feather in the team's cap. Matt Stephens remains handily placed on the overall standings after another excellent ride today between Glenelg and the winefields of McClaren Vale.
On a long hot and windy day, there was plenty of work for the McCartney riders to do. Another day-long breakaway, this time by Big Mat's Stephane Berges, was to set the tone of the race. At one time, his lead went up to 16 minutes, but he was chased hard over the latter part of the stage and did well to stay clear by over a minute at the line.
The action came behind him on the final climb of Old Willunga Hill, just 20kms from the finish. A split opened up in the peloton with Maurizio De Pasquale and Max Sciandri making the front group of 20 or so riders. Seeing the danger to Matt Stephens' overall position, the McCartney riders massed at the front of the second group and hauled the race back together.
The pain that the McCartney riders were dishing out was evident at the back of the race, as a large number of riders were tailed off in that last 20kms, including many of the more fancied men.
The team's success in the chase was evident at the line in McClaren Vale, when the team placed every single one of their eight riders in the front part of the race. Maurizio De Pasquale finished with a lively flourish, taking 3rd in the sprint just behind German sprinting superstar, Erik Zabel.
"That was some great work by the boys," said a grateful Matt Stephens at the finish. "They were really driving on the front over that last stretch, there were blokes getting spat out all over the place."
Report by John Deering
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