Tour Down Under 2000

Tour Down Under 2000
Host country	Australia
Competition period	January 18-23, 2000
Stages	6 stages
overall length	742 kilometers
Starting field	96 in 12 teams (88 of them arrived at the finish)
← Tour Down Under 1999	Tour Down Under 2001 →

Final score

First	Gilles Maignan	19:02:27 h
Second	Stuart O'Grady	+ 0:12 min
Third	Steffen Wesemann	+ 0:14 min
Fourth	Ludovic Turpin	+ 0:18 min
fifth	Sandy Casar	+ 0:24 min
Sixth	Dominique Rault	+ 0:25 min
seventh	Alexandr Vinokurov	+ 0:28 min
Eighth	Mathew Stephens	+ 4:11 min
Ninth	René Jörgensen	+ 5:46 min
Tenth	Emmanuel Magnien	+ 10:58 min
Sprint scoring	Guillaume Auger	22 p.
Second	Stéphane Bergès	20 p.
Third	Stuart O'Grady	16 p.
Mountain scoring	René Jörgensen	38 P.
Second	Stéphane Bergès	32 p.
Third	Dominique Rault	32 p.
Young talent evaluation	Sandy Casar	19:02:51 h
Second	Brad Davidson	+ 26:20 min
Third	Allan Davis	+ 43:05 min
Team evaluation	Ag2r Prévoyance	77:36:06 h
Second	Crédit Agricole	+ 3:21 min
Third	Team Deutsche Telekom	+ 4:20 min

The 2nd Tour Down Under took place from January 18th to 23rd, 2000. The cycle race consisted of six stages and began in the South Australian capital of Adelaide , where it also ended. The total distance of the race was 742 kilometers. The Tour Down Under was classified in the international category 2.3.

The participants

As with the first staging of the race the year before, the organizing South Australian Tourism Commission invited the Australian teams Sun-Smart-Mitsubishi and United Water-AIS to participate. A total of twelve teams were again at the start, with five other teams participating in the team Deutsche Telekom , Big Mat-Auber 93 , Crédit Agricole , AG2R Prévoyance (in the previous year still as a casino ) and Saeco Gaggia , who had already participated in 1999. Each team consisted of eight drivers.

The Australian drivers who were in the middle of their season were particularly favored for overall victory in the run-up to the race, while the European professionals used the tour primarily to prepare for the season that started in March.

SunSmart - Mitsubishi United Water AIS Team Deutsche Telekom

Big Mat Auber 93 AG2R Prévoyance Crédit Agricole

La Française des Jeux Saeco Team Polti

Farm fries Memory Card - Jack & Jones Linda McCartney Racing

The stages

As the highlight of the week-long Festival of Cycling in Adelaide , the Tour Down Under through the province of South Australia was held for the second time since 1999. The six-stage round trip started and ended like its first edition in the provincial capital, and the route was based heavily on last year's edition.

1st stage, Adelaide Street Race

The Tour Down Under began on January 19, 2000 with a 52-kilometer circuit in Adelaide. On a Tuesday evening over 40,000 spectators lined the 3-kilometer, flat circuit, which ended in a mass sprint, which Dutchman Koos Moerenhout won in front of seven Australians.

Result Adelaide Street Race

	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Koos Moerenhout		Farm fries	1:06:53 h
2.	Graham Brown		United Water AIS	same time
3.	Bradley McGee		La Française des Jeux	same time
4th	Scott Sunderland		SunSmart-Mitsubishi	same time
5.	David McKenzie		Linda McCartney Racing	same time

Stage 2, North Adelaide - Gawler

The second stage held the first short climbs ready for the riders and led out of Adelaide north over 152 kilometers. After a few kilometers, an eleven-man breakaway group pulled away and could no longer catch up with the field. The peloton rolled to the finish line seventeen minutes behind, so it was already clear that the outliers of the day would also make the overall victory of the race among themselves. Shortly before the finish line, Michael Rogers , René Jörgensen and Gilles Maignan pulled away and won the day among themselves, with the Australian Rogers unbeatable.

Result 2nd stage

	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Michael Rogers		United Water AIS	3:25:02 h
2.	René Jörgensen		Memory Card - Jack & Jones	same time
3.	Gilles Maignan		AG2R Prévoyance	same time
4th	Emmanuel Magnien		La Française des Jeux	+ 0:20 min
5.	Stuart O'Grady		Crédit Agricole	same time

Overall ranking after the 2nd stage

	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Michael Rogers		United Water AIS	4:41:55 h
2.	René Jörgensen		Memory Card - Jack & Jones	same time
3.	Gilles Maignan		AG2R Prévoyance	same time
4th	Stuart O'Grady		Crédit Agricole	+ 0:20 min
5.	Sandy Casar		La Française des Jeux	+ 0:20 min

3rd stage, Glenelg - McLaren Vale

The third section ran south from Glenelg for 185 kilometers and was the longest of the tour. About twenty kilometers from the finish, Willunga Hill was the toughest ascent of the Tour Down Under. Already at the beginning of the race, Stéphane Bergès had pulled away and celebrated an undisputed solo victory with a lead of almost two minutes in front of the main field, which only sprinted for second place. Thanks to the time bonuses due to the third stage rank , Emmanuel Magnien moved up to fifth place in the overall ranking.

Result 3rd stage

	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Stéphane Bergès		Big Mat Auber 93	5:07:46 h
2.	Erik Zabel		Team Deutsche Telekom	+ 1:43 min
3.	Emmanuel Magnien		La Française des Jeux	same time
4th	Maurizio De Pasquale		Linda McCartney Racing	same time
5.	Massimiliano Mori		Saeco	same time

Overall ranking after the 3rd stage

	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Michael Rogers		United Water AIS	9:51:15 h
2.	René Jörgensen		Memory Card - Jack & Jones	+ 0:03 min
3.	Gilles Maignan		AG2R Prévoyance	+ 0:09 min
4th	Stuart O'Grady		Crédit Agricole	+ 0:25 min
5.	Emmanuel Magnien		La Française des Jeux	+ 0:27 min

4th stage, Unley - Modbury

From Unley, south of Adelaide, the fourth stage led over an undulating 136 kilometers north. A top group of ten, which had formed in a fast and hectic race with many attacks, finally made the victory among themselves. The German Steffen Wesemann prevailed against his colleagues in the sprint. Michael Rogers had to relinquish his overall lead on the selective section to Frenchman Gilles Maignan and, like the previous fifth overall, Emmanuel Magnien, lost over 21 minutes. The previous overall runner-up, René Jörgensen , also only reached the finish line in a chasing group, almost six minutes behind, and slipped to ninth place overall. Day winner Wesemann improved to fourth place in the ranking.

Result 4th stage

	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Steffen Wesemann		Team Deutsche Telekom	3:13:02 h
2.	Pascal Hervé		Team Polti	same time
3.	Stuart O'Grady		Crédit Agricole	same time
4th	Gilles Maignan		AG2R Prévoyance	same time
5.	Brad Davidson		SunSmart - Mitsubishi	same time

Overall ranking after the 4th stage

	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Gilles Maignan		AG2R Prévoyance	13:04:26 h
2.	Stuart O'Grady		Crédit Agricole	+ 0:14 min
3.	Steffen Wesemann		Team Deutsche Telekom	same time
4th	Ludovic Turpin		AG2R Prévoyance	+ 0:18 min
5.	Sandy Casar		La Française des Jeux	+ 0:24 min

5th stage, Gawler - Tanunda

At the destination of the second stage, the fifth leg of the day started over 156 kilometers to Tanunda. On the final Mengler's Hill, the German Erik Zabel was able to break away from a large breakaway group and ensured the second German victory of the day in a row, for him personally it was already the third victory at the Tour Down Under after two triumphs last year. The main peloton crossed the finish line eleven minutes behind, but there were still no significant changes in the overall standings.

Result 5th stage

	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Erik Zabel		Team Deutsche Telekom	3:41:43 h
2.	Massimiliano Mori		Saeco	+ 0:02 min
3.	Jacob Moe Rasmussen		Memory Card - Jack & Jones	+ 0:03 min
4th	Emmanuel Magnien		La Française des Jeux	same time
5.	Allan Davis		United Water AIS	same time

Overall ranking after the 5th stage

	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Gilles Maignan		AG2R Prévoyance	16:57:09 h
2.	Stuart O'Grady		Crédit Agricole	+ 0:14 min
3.	Steffen Wesemann		Team Deutsche Telekom	same time
4th	Ludovic Turpin		AG2R Prévoyance	+ 0:18 min
5.	Sandy Casar		La Française des Jeux	+ 0:24 min

6th stage, Adelaide Street Race

The second Tour Down Under ended with a 96-kilometer flat circuit (20 laps of 4.8 kilometers each) in the South Australian capital Adelaide . In the mass sprint, Robbie McEwen was able to clearly distance the competition. Thanks to the time bonus for the third stage place, Stuart O'Grady was able to secure second place in the overall standings ahead of Steffen Wesemann.

Result 6th stage

	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Robbie McEwen		Farm fries	2:05:17 h
2.	Jaan Kirsipuu		AG2R Prévoyance	+ 0:01 min
3.	Stuart O'Grady		Crédit Agricole	same time
4th	Bradley McGee		La Française des Jeux	same time
5.	Torsten Nitsche		Saeco	same time

Overall ranking after the 6th stage

	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Gilles Maignan		AG2R Prévoyance	16:57:09 h
2.	Stuart O'Grady		Crédit Agricole	+ 0:12 min
3.	Steffen Wesemann		Team Deutsche Telekom	+ 0:14 min
4th	Ludovic Turpin		AG2R Prévoyance	+ 0:18 min
5.	Sandy Casar		La Française des Jeux	+ 0:24 min

Stage overview

stage	date	Start finish	km	Stage winner	Leader
1st stage	January 18th	Adelaide	52	Koos Moerenhout	Koos Moerenhout
2nd stage	January 19th	North Adelaide - Gawler	152	Michael Rogers	Michael Rogers
3rd stage	January 20th	Glenelg - McLaren Vale	185	Stéphane Bergès
4th stage	21th January	Unley - Modbury	136	Steffen Wesemann	Gilles Maignan
5th stage	22nd of January	Gawler - Tanunda	156	Erik Zabel
6th stage	January 23	Adelaide	96	Robbie McEwen

Ratings

The point distribution was as follows:

2 intermediate sprints on each stage

1: 6 points

2: 4 points

3: 2 points

Finish sprint

1: 8 points

2: 6 points

3: 4 points

Mountain ratings

1: 16 points

2: 12 points

3: 8 points

4: 6 points

5: 4 points

Ratings in the course of the tour

The table shows the leader in the respective classification after the respective stage.

	Overall rating	Sprint scoring	Mountain scoring	Young talent evaluation	Team evaluation
1st stage	Koos Moerenhout	Brett Aitken	Stuart O'Grady	Koos Moerenhout	-
2nd stage	Michael Rogers	Michael Rogers	René Jörgensen	Michael Rogers	AG2R Prévoyance
3rd stage		Stéphane Bergès
4th stage	Gilles Maignan			Sandy Casar
5th stage
6th stage		Guillaume Auger

Final score

The entire Tour Down Under 2000 was not dominated by the sprinters as expected, who had to let outliers win on four of the six stages, some with a long time gap. Thanks to his successful escape attempt on the second stage, the Frenchman Gilles Maignan was finally able to win the overall standings, as he remained attentive to it for two days and was represented in another escape group with a few favorites. So he was able to replace Michael Rogers , who had been leading until then , who lost so much time that he had to give way to Sandy Casar and others in the junior competition . The race was successful for the German Telekom team . As in the previous year, Steffen Wesemann and Erik Zabel achieved two stage wins, and thanks to his presence in the escape group on the fourth day, Wesemann was able to secure third place in the final accounts, while teammate Alexander Vinokurow came in seventh.

With Rogers and Robbie McEwen, the native Australians were also able to win two stages of the day, defending champion Stuart O'Grady missed another title by twelve seconds. As a year before, Brett Aitken secured the points classification.

Web links

• Official website
• Results on Radsportseiten.net
• Tour diary of the Linda McCartney Racing team

Individual evidence