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Jaap Frisch wins 1597 Tour de Valland
By Pia Chamberlain
Published: Zechyr, 1597


Jaap Frisch, who won three stages, had only won a Grand Tour stage before, in the 1593 Ceribian Tour.


Lauren, Valland - Jaap Frisch (BataVelo) became yesterday in the second Batavian rider to win the Tour de Valland, after Johan Van Engelen who won in 1580.

The 31-year old Batavian rider, a regular in the top 10 in the last seasons although he had never been in a Grand Tour podium before, proved to be the best rider in the 1597 Tour de Valland both at mountain and the time-trial. He took the red jersey on stage 12th and also won three mountain stages, winning the Mountain classification.

Adwestene climber Eden Grace Weatherhead (Scholden-Gulcron), who had won the Tour of West Brigidna two months ago, finished second at fifty-seven seconds, in an excellent third week.  It's the 10th podium -the 9th in a row- in the Tour de Valland for the Adwestene champion.

Svarnan climber Rahul Bhattacharya (Baagh Cycling) who finished third at two minutes and eighteen seconds, showed as Frisch's main rival in the high mountain, although the Svarnan never seemed to threaten Frisch's red jersey. He becomes the first Svarnan to officially reach the Tour de Valland podium.

Goldecian Jack Marshall (Ogo) in his best Tour to date, finished fourth at four minutes and fourteen seconds, only losing a place in the podium in the final ITT.

Kyrzbekistani Enver Dushku (KyrzAir), who finished sixth, won the Youth classification. Zeljko Bratansek (Mordvelo), last season Tour de Valland winner, finished fifth, although he lost most of its chances during the first week.

Vallish Antoine Duchesnay (NDM) found no rival in the mass sprints and wrote his name in the Tour de Valland as break the records of number of stages won in the same (9 individual stages) and total points in the Points classification.