Pip Sports Network

[Hadash]

Pip Sports Network

Kelly McCullain wins 1584 Tour de Valland
By Richard W. Wallace
Published: Zechyr 25, 1584


Only nine seconds stopped Michelakakis to win his fourth Tour de Valland.


Lauren, Valland - Richard Malone (Dido-Dreher) won the last stage of the 1584 Tour de Valland. Another season more, the Florinthian sprinter found no rival at the flat stages, winning five stages and the Point classification for 5th time -fourth in a row- a new record for Malone, who won yesterday his 51th stage in a Grand Tour.

It was a calm day for the leader of the general classification, despite his short advantage. Kelly Rónán McCullain (United Strathae) won the 1584 Tour de Valland with the shortest difference ever - only nine seconds ahead the runner-up. McCullain became the second Strathaen to win a Grand Tour, after his teammate Kieran McLucais, who won the Tour de Valland in 1579. McLucais, who may announce his retirement late this year, served as a domestique for McCullain in the last mountain stages.

The 33-year old Strathaen climber also won the Mountain classification -for second time, as he had won it in 1580 as well- and the last high mountain stage, when he achieved a decisive gap over his main rivals, winning the stage -his fourth individual stage in the Tour de Valland since 1575. Although McCullain had barely a minute over Michelakakis, he was able to keep his lead in the long and last individual time trial, even by merely nine seconds.

Michelakakis hoped to become the second rider to win four times the Tour de Valland, and he was confident enough to do so one day before the stage 19th, but the Strathaen climber showed an unexpected physical and moral resistance during the last kms of the ITT. It is not clear it the Mestran climber will have a chance like this again, as Michelakakis will celebrate his 36th birthday in a few weeks.

The third place in the general classification was for Mykola Tarasenko (AHN-KozMetal), who became the first Kubanizan to reach the podium in a Grand Tour after a great performance in the last individual time trial stage.

Vallish fans ended the Tour with a mixture of hope and disappointment after Hippolyte La Chapelle (Télecon Team) ended fourth in the general classification, merely fourteen seconds behind Tarasenko. La Chapelle had won the first mountain stage, and headed the general classification for seven days, but he wasn't unable to resist the last mountain stage, arriving to the finish line five minutes after McCullain. The 24-year Vallish all-rounder won the Youth classification as a consolation prize, and there is the hope that this will be only the beginning of a long and successful career.