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Elton Isaksson wins 1582 Tour de Valland
By Richard W. Wallace
Published: Zeychyr 24, 1582


Isaksson, in the decisive stage 19th.


Lauren, Valland - Nylander Elton Isaksson (ZMG-Nissen) became the unexpected winner of the 1582 Tour de Valland, becoming the first Nylander cyclist to win both Grand Tours, as he had previously won the Ceribian Tour in 1578.

Before the stage 19th, the decisive 52 km-long individual time-trial, Isaksson was fifth, three minutes and thirty seconds behind Sainamese Asai Satoshi (Nitenryu Cycling). Although there were not doubts that Isaksson was likely to finish in the top three podium -as no one of the four top riders of the general classification was a time-trial specialist-, it seemed complicated that Isaksson could recover such disadvantage over Satoshi who, after all, defended quite well in the last ITT of the 1582 Ceribian Tour, which helped him to win the Ceribian Tour comfortably.

However, Satoshi had an awful day, losing more than five minutes to the stage winner, Nerysian Manuel Gvidas (Lentar-Swift), and more than four minutes to Elton Isaksson. He was even overcome in the general classification by Mordvanian Joze Prezeren (Mordvelo), who after completing a great last week, ended second, only twenty-eight seconds behind Isaksson. Prezeren, who started the Tour as a domestique to Slavoj Savincek who -despite winning the first mountain stage had a disappointing performance in the last decisive week, also won the Youth classification.

Satoshi, however, was able to keep his head cold enough to keep the third position in the podium by a mere second over Vallish climber Henri Honnecourt (Groupe NDEC-Télecom). Although Honnecourt did a reasonably well ITT, recovering nearby two minutes to Satoshi, that was not enough. His third position in 1577 remains the last time a Vallish rider ended in the Tour de Valland podium.

The Mountain classification was won by Vance Jones (Motobank Team) becoming the first Florinthian climber to achieve it. The Points classification was won by a Florinthian as well, sprinter Richard Malone (Dido-Dreher), who won it for third time and second time in a row. Malone was again, for third time, the rider who won more individual stages, winning three times in the sprint. The only other rider to win a stage twice in this tour was World Champion Oslanburgan Sven-Ole Wieth (Scholden-Gulcron) who was able to defeat Malone in the last and prestigious stage in Lauren.

It was a disappointing Tour for 1581 Tour de Valland winner Stavros Michelakakis (MTS Team), however, who could be only 8th in the final general classification. Michelakakis aimed this season to become the second rider to win four times the Tour de Valland, but considering his age, 34, many are skeptical that he would be able to win the Tour de Valland again.