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Jose Cardoso wins 1589 Ceribian Tour
By Richard W. Wallace
Published: Nueva 26, 1589


Jose Cardoso gave MTS-Biassoni Team a second Ceribian Tour



Etora, Ceribia - Jose Cardoso (MTS-Biassoni) won the 1589 Ceribian Tour, in which he found no rival in the high mountain.

The 1589 Ceribian Tour started with a short individual time-trial (ITT) stage which was won by Goldecian Akachi Ayodele (Ogo Cycling). The stage 2 was decided in a chaotic mass sprint, won by Vienlander Anders Vitecz (Druzhberg Cycling). The third stage was won by Batavian Frederik de Jong, who was able to defeat Florinthian Richard Malone (Dido-Great Life) and Kárdas Nyíregyházi (NDM Cycling).

The first changes on the general classification came on stage 4, a hilly stage with small climb only 3 km from the finish, although differences between the main contenders to the general classification were not too big. The stage was won by Dominique Ruyssen (MTS-Biassoni), the 1588 champion, who proved to be ready to repeat the triumph in Ceribia. The new leader on the general classification was Oslanburgan Niels Krogh (Scholden-Gulcron).

A breakaway was formed on stage 5, which was won by Hanes Vincent (Druzhberg Cycling), who also took the general classification jersey after the peloton ended forty-four seconds behind. The next stage was decided in a mass sprint, won by Adwestene sprinter Kiel Albert Fyfe (Tyrus-Empire). Vincent was involved in a crash, although he could finish the stage, he lost time and the new leader was Strathaen Toirdhealbhach Kyran.

The first high mountain stage arrived on stage 8. The main group was reduced to eight riders, including Tour de Valland winner Alessio Gagliardi, and it was won by the young Goldecian climber Caleb Foster, who defeated Florinthian Ronald Frazer (Dido-Great Life). Ceribian Tamaz Chkheidze became the new leader of the general classification, which he would keep for the next three stages.

The following three stages were decided in a mass sprint, without important changes in the general classification. Oslanburgan sprinter Sven-Ole Wieth would win on stages 9 and 11, while Batavian Frederik de Jong (Lentar-RIFF) won on stage 10.

James McCabe (Lentar-RIFF) won stage 12, which ended only shortly a long descend which broke the peloton in several groups. Jack Marshall (Royal Abbott), the last promise of Goldecian cycling, became the new leader of the general classification.

High mountain returned on stage 13. Pierre Bonchamps (BataVelo) won the stage and took the red jersey after a far-away attack. However, he could not retain it the next day, as he dropped after attacks of Jose Cardoso (MTS-Biassoni) and Vallish climber Benoît Montfleury. The main group was reduced five riders -including Cardoso and Montfleury, along Jonathan Geissler, Jan Daxenberger and Tsuji Tomohiko, followed by another group of six riders which included Tamaz Chkheidze and Mutara Gasana. Cardoso won the stage after outpacing his rivals in the last km, becoming as well the new leader of the general classification.

Stage 14 was an individual time-trial which included a few hills. The stage was won Zargistani Ahmat Balkan (KyrzAir) and Cardoso was able to retain the general classification. Pierre Bonchamps was second, one minute and twenty seconds behind, with Tamaz Chkheidze climbing to the third position, two-minutes and twenty-one seconds behind. However, the options for the Ceribian rider complicated as he lost a minute in the next stage, a hilly stage won by Balan Esclados (Le Cycle Super), who became the first Galasian to win a stage in the Ceribian Tour.

Chkheidze didn't throw in the towel, and he was attacked from afar, despite the terrain was not the best to make big differences. A breakaway of six riders, including Chkheidze, arrived together in the last kms. Chkheidze attacked again in the last 2 kms, enough to win the stage, the first and only stage win for a Ceribian riders this Ceribian Tour. The peloton arrived about forty seconds later.

The effort proved to be futile, though, as Chkheidze could to follow the pace of the main group in the last climb the next day, losing another minute to Jose Cardoso. While Castlian climber was able to distance his main rivals for the general classification, he didn't fight for the stage this time, which was won the 1589 Tour de Valland winner, Alessio Gagliardi (Batavelo), after defeating Ronald Frazer (Dido-Great Life) who climbed to the fourth place in the general classification.  

In the last mountain stage, Cardoso took a more offensive tactic attacking and surprising his main rivals, who were not able to follow him. He was close to win the stage, arriving to the finish only a dozen of seconds after Goldecian Caleb Foster (Ogo Cycling), the last member of the early breakaway, who won his second stage this Ceribian Tour. Still, Cardoso's second place was able to distance all his rivals before the last ITT and to take the Mountain classification as well.

Cardoso's main rival, Eskkyan Pierre Bonchamps, lost more than two minutes, which gave Cardoso a lead on the general classification of six minutes and fifty-six seconds. It ended worse for Tamaz Chkheidze, who lost more than five minutes to Cardoso, and therefore losing all options to the podium. 1587 Ceribian Tour winner, the Oslanburgan Grzegorz Sutzkever (KDK-Magram) was third, seven minutes and forty-four seconds behind Cardoso, while Florinthian Ronald Frazer (Dido-Great Life) being fourth at seven minutes and fifty-four seconds.

The final 44-km ITT was expected to decide the podium, with Cardoso having a more than safe lead over his rivals. The stage was won by Vallish time-trialist Robert Annequin (NDM Cycling). Pierre Bonchamps, who started the stage as second on the general classification, had a poor performance, finishing more than five minutes after Annequin time. He fell as consequence from the second to the sixth place. Grzegorz Sutzkever (KDK-Magram) finished second in the general classification, six minutes and nine seconds behind Cardoso, while Ronald Frazer (Dido-Great Life) was third, six minutes and thirty four seconds, also winning the Youth classification. Tamaz Chkheidze ended fourth after a good time-trial, which allowed him to climb for the eighth to the final fourth place in the classification, at eigh minutes and seventeen seconds to the winner. Jan Daxenberger (NDM Cycling) was fifth at eight minutes and thirty-three seconds.