Rapport Tour (South Africa)

Curran's fine timing

BRITISH amateur Paul Curran timed his finish perfectly to win the tenth stage of the Rapport tour, outside the Bellville Civic Centre yesterday.

The Englishman was part of a six-man break after only nine kilometres of the 85.7 kilometre course, along with Old Mutual SA A team rider Nicholas White, Kazahstan's Alexsandre Nadobenko, German Mike Weissmann, Dane Soren Petersen and Peaceforce Security professional Andrew McClean.

By the 40 kilometre mark, the leading riders had opened up a lead of one minute thirty seconds on the chasing bunch.

It was Nadobenko who carried the workload as he tried to get away from his fellow race leaders on their way through Melkbosstrand.

But the bunch, while seemingly beaten, never gave up, and the gap between the two sets of riders began to decrease.

While Curran took his chance with both hands to win the stage in 2:08.19 from Weismann 2:08.43, McClean was out to score Naturlite King of the Mountains points to put the pressure on leading climber Vitaly Kokorine of Russia.

Stage Ten (Brackenfell to Bellville via Durbanville, 85.7km)

1. Paul Curran (Brit) 2 hrs 08 mins 19 secs
2. Mike Weissmann (Germ B)
3. Alessandre Nadobenko (Kazak) 24sec behind
4. Soren Petersen (Denm) 26sec
5. Nicholas White (OId Mutual SA A) 3lsec
6. Andrew McLean (Peaceforce Falke SA pro) 33sec
7. Urs Gueller (Switz)
8. Ales Petersen (Denm)
9. Peter Wrolich (Austria)
10. Rolf Huser (Switz)
11. Jan Ullrich (Germ) all 56sec

By PAUL MARTIN