Nearly two years to the day, Wim Stroetinga won the final stage of the 2013 Olympia's Tour on the Reuver circuit in a sprint ahead of Geert van der Weijst, Jeff Vermeulen and Johim Ariesen. Two years later, you just needed to substitute Coen Vermeltfoort for Geert van der Weijst in 2nd place and you would have the exact same result.
The stage itself was fairly no-descript with a breakaway going ahead, getting some time and being brought back. The only exciting bit of the stage was that Stroetinga had to come from far back to be able to get the win. He used the slipstream to jet past everyone including Jeff Vermeulen, who was passed in the final meters for the win. Stroetinga was matter-of-fact about his win as he said, "if you're almost thirty, you are no longer working to get there. I've done that happily again."
This is Stroetinga's 12th win in the Olympia's Tour or 14th if you count Vermeulen's DQs from 2013. The only change on GC came from 2nd place Arno Van der Zwet, who crashed out of the race. Bob Schoonbroodt is now in 2nd place overall followed by Piotr Havik.
The racing continues tomorrow with a sojourn into Belgium with a circuit around Diegem.
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Olympia's 3M Tour: Stroetinga makes it 11 or 13, GC picture framed
Just a couple days into the Olympia's 3M Tour and a perennial stage winner has already struck and the GC has already been framed with just 15 riders holding any shot at the GC title, barring some miracle on the road.
Stage 1a (Team Time Trial)
The race began in Assen with a 21,8 kilometer team time trial through the surrounding area including a portion of the famed Assen TT circuit, nicknamed "The Cathedral" by motorbike fans. Fifteen teams of seven riders launched early on Tuesday morning and it came down to just a few turns of the crank.
The more experienced Jo Piels team took the victory over the much younger BMC Development squad by only 1 second while the older Join's-De Rijke team was 3rd place at 7 seconds. Jo Piels team for the Olympia's Tour has no U23 riders while BMC Development's team is made up of all but one U23 rider.
The rider from Jo Piels that took the yellow jersey was returning doper Jeff Vermeulen. Vermeulen won two stages in the 2013 edition but tested positive on both stages that he won for the fairly common substance Methylhexanamine, which Rui & Mario Costa, Clement Lhotellerie, Eduard Vorganov and others have tested positive for. It is a substance that is a component of geranium oil and is found in a number of different diet supplements, weight loss products & amphetamines and is listed as a stimulant under the WADA code. Vermeulen tried to explain it away as a tainted supplement and that he didn't knowingly ingest it. This didn't fly well and he was stripped of both wins and was suspended until the beginning of this season. Vermeulen then went on later to say that he thinks it is unfair for athletes are responsible for everything they ingest as their are so many variables like an unknown energy bar or bottle they could get in a race. There is more here but it seems like a line of bull shit.
Stage 1b (Assen to Ureterp)
The race's afternoon stage was a fairly flat affair from Assen to the Frisian town of Ureterp with three final laps of 14.2 kilometers each. A small breakaway of 4 including Robert De Greef, Martijn Budding, Maarten Craeghs and Joris Bloker were out front for nearly 80 kilometers but never got much more than a gap of 1 minute and were swept up with one lap to go.
As happens many times in the Olympia's Tour, the race was decided in a bunch sprint and it was local boy Wim Stroetinga (Parkhotel Valkenburg), born just 10 kilometers away in Drachten, who sprinted to the win ahead of Coen Vermeltfoort (Join's-De Rijke) and Nicolai Brøchner (Riwal).
Stroetinga is one of the biggest sandbaggers on the continental circuit as he obviously has the speed to compete with some better sprinting competition but seemingly can't get over climbs bigger than molehills and prefers the smaller races as he is a track racer at heart. This win was Stroetinga's 11th win in the Olympia's Tour and if you count the two stages where Jeff Vermeulen was DQed, this was Stroetinga's 13th stage win.
On another note, BMC Development put 3 in the top 9 and 5 in the top 15 just to let everyone know that they mean business.
Stage 2 (Ulft to Gendringen)
The GC race for the Olympia's Tour was framed on Wednesday when a large breakaway of 15 riders got away fairly early in the stage and a lethargic peloton basically let them ride away and it was no contest after that.
Out of the 15, a group of four broke off late including Bob Schoonbroodt (Parkhotel Valkenburg), Piotr Havik (Rabobank), Arno Van der Zwet (Metec) and Jetse Bol (Join's-De Rijke). The group of four worked well and in the final sprint, it was Bol taking the win ahead of Van der Zwet and Schoonbroodt to take his first win since the final stage (and overall) of the 2011 Olympia's Tour.
Bol had a rough three years with Rabobank/Belkin and took a step back to get his career back in order. Bol won the Olympia's Tour overall twice in 2009 and 2011 and was one of the best Dutch talents in the U23 system before transferring to the pro ranks. The old Rabobank system was sink or swim and Bol wasn't the first talented rider to flounder with the team. He will be looking to hold this jersey until the end but with more hills and a TT coming up, it will not be a cake walk.
The GC contenders include
Stage 1a (Team Time Trial)
The race began in Assen with a 21,8 kilometer team time trial through the surrounding area including a portion of the famed Assen TT circuit, nicknamed "The Cathedral" by motorbike fans. Fifteen teams of seven riders launched early on Tuesday morning and it came down to just a few turns of the crank.
The more experienced Jo Piels team took the victory over the much younger BMC Development squad by only 1 second while the older Join's-De Rijke team was 3rd place at 7 seconds. Jo Piels team for the Olympia's Tour has no U23 riders while BMC Development's team is made up of all but one U23 rider.
The rider from Jo Piels that took the yellow jersey was returning doper Jeff Vermeulen. Vermeulen won two stages in the 2013 edition but tested positive on both stages that he won for the fairly common substance Methylhexanamine, which Rui & Mario Costa, Clement Lhotellerie, Eduard Vorganov and others have tested positive for. It is a substance that is a component of geranium oil and is found in a number of different diet supplements, weight loss products & amphetamines and is listed as a stimulant under the WADA code. Vermeulen tried to explain it away as a tainted supplement and that he didn't knowingly ingest it. This didn't fly well and he was stripped of both wins and was suspended until the beginning of this season. Vermeulen then went on later to say that he thinks it is unfair for athletes are responsible for everything they ingest as their are so many variables like an unknown energy bar or bottle they could get in a race. There is more here but it seems like a line of bull shit.
Stage 1b (Assen to Ureterp)
The race's afternoon stage was a fairly flat affair from Assen to the Frisian town of Ureterp with three final laps of 14.2 kilometers each. A small breakaway of 4 including Robert De Greef, Martijn Budding, Maarten Craeghs and Joris Bloker were out front for nearly 80 kilometers but never got much more than a gap of 1 minute and were swept up with one lap to go.
As happens many times in the Olympia's Tour, the race was decided in a bunch sprint and it was local boy Wim Stroetinga (Parkhotel Valkenburg), born just 10 kilometers away in Drachten, who sprinted to the win ahead of Coen Vermeltfoort (Join's-De Rijke) and Nicolai Brøchner (Riwal).
Stroetinga is one of the biggest sandbaggers on the continental circuit as he obviously has the speed to compete with some better sprinting competition but seemingly can't get over climbs bigger than molehills and prefers the smaller races as he is a track racer at heart. This win was Stroetinga's 11th win in the Olympia's Tour and if you count the two stages where Jeff Vermeulen was DQed, this was Stroetinga's 13th stage win.
On another note, BMC Development put 3 in the top 9 and 5 in the top 15 just to let everyone know that they mean business.
Stage 2 (Ulft to Gendringen)
The GC race for the Olympia's Tour was framed on Wednesday when a large breakaway of 15 riders got away fairly early in the stage and a lethargic peloton basically let them ride away and it was no contest after that.
Out of the 15, a group of four broke off late including Bob Schoonbroodt (Parkhotel Valkenburg), Piotr Havik (Rabobank), Arno Van der Zwet (Metec) and Jetse Bol (Join's-De Rijke). The group of four worked well and in the final sprint, it was Bol taking the win ahead of Van der Zwet and Schoonbroodt to take his first win since the final stage (and overall) of the 2011 Olympia's Tour.
Bol had a rough three years with Rabobank/Belkin and took a step back to get his career back in order. Bol won the Olympia's Tour overall twice in 2009 and 2011 and was one of the best Dutch talents in the U23 system before transferring to the pro ranks. The old Rabobank system was sink or swim and Bol wasn't the first talented rider to flounder with the team. He will be looking to hold this jersey until the end but with more hills and a TT coming up, it will not be a cake walk.
The GC contenders include
- Bol
- Van der Zwet +17"
- Schoonbroodt +18" (Point Jersey)
- Havik +28" (Best Young Rider)
- Gert-Jan Bosman +33"
- Nathan Van Hooydonck +34"
- Martijn Tusveld +39"
- Ronan Van Zandbeek +43"
- Dennis Bakker +48"
- Jeroen Meijers +50"
- Geert Van Der Weijst +52"
- Jasper Hamelink +56"
- Frederik Frison +1'23"
The action continues on Thursday with a classic circuit around Reuver that usually ends up in a sprint.
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
One-Day Roundup: Pan-Ams, Nogent-sur-Oise, Ardennaise + more
More than a Danish assault on the Scandinavian fingers happened this past weekend. Let's jump right in.
Pan-Am Games
While no American teams were present at the U23 or Elite Men's Pan-Am Games (I know Jim Miller works on a tight budget and some scheduling issues so it is understandable), the racing from Leon, Mexico offered some nice insights.
In the U23 TT, Ignacio Prado (Mexico) improved on his 2nd place from last year to take the win ahead of Euro-based Sebastian Trillini (Argentina) and Chilean U23 TT Champ Jose Luis Rodriguez. The podium was within 15 seconds of one another and Prado averaged nearly 50 km/h on the flat course. Behind the podium, it was Brazilian Endrigo Da Rosa in 4th place followed by Vuelta de la Juventud sparring partners Jhonathan Restrepo (Colombia/5th) and Richard Carapaz (Ecuador/6th). Adam De Vos (Canada), who has been killing it on the American scene this year, finished in 7th at 1'25" back from Prado.
In the U23 RR, a breakaway of 8 separated themselves from the rest of the pack and that was basically all she wrote. Restrepo was attacking the breakaway a lot and eventually, he was joined by Rodriguez, GP Liberazione winner Lucas Gaday (Argentina), Carapaz and Colombian teammate Wilmar Paredes. Restrepo, winner of the 6th stage of the Vuelta de la Juventud out of a big breakaway, repeated his efforts from a few weeks ago and won the small sprint ahead of Rodriguez and Gaday.
In the Elite Men's race, the Canadian U23s in De Vos and Alex Cataford decided to toe the line and De Vos swung big and ended up 5th in the race, just 30 seconds behind winner Byron Guama (Ecuador). Remember this De Vos kid if you haven't already.
Nogent-sur-Oise
After a cancellation last year, the race in the north of France was back again for some some rather non-exciting racing. A breakaway of 14 got away and and proceeded to stay together for a small bunch sprint won by Robin Stenuit (Veranclassics-Ekoi). Best U23 was Adrian Legros (Chambery CF) in 7th.
Fleche Ardennaise
Remember that last post about Loïc Vliegen taking his first UCI win of his career in the final stage of the Tour de Bretagne? He liked it so much that he followed it up with a win at the Fleche Ardennaise, his hometown race, in a small group sprint. The race kicked off the Thomas Vaubourzeix (Veranclassics-Ekoi) getting off the front with 50 kilometers to go and being followed shortly by Vliegen, Gaeten Bille (Verandas Willems), Laurens De Plus and Dries van Gestel (Lotto-Belisol U23), Sam Oomen (Rabobank), Alex Peters (SEG) and Dimitri Claeys (Verandas Willems).
With 10 kilometers to go, it was Vliegen getting off the front of that group with Oomen, Bille, Van Gestel and De Plus to form the winning move. Vliegen won the sprint over Bille and Oomen to take the win, which is the 3rd win in a row for BMC Development in this race.
Trofeo San Vendemiano
A quartet of four including Daniel Pearson and Nicola Bagioli (Zalf-Euromobil), Giovanni Carboni and Stefano Nardelli (Unieuro Wilier) that got 3 minutes over a circuit including Ca' del Poggio in the province of Treviso. They led over the the first three circuits but after that, the Australians slammed it to get them to the base of the climb for the 4th and final passage. Rob Power, who seems to be back to full health after slogging through the Tour de Bretagne, attacked and Gianni Moscon, one of the best Italians so far this year, latched on to him. They drove past the breakaway while Nardelli tried his best to get to terms with them.
While Power and Moscon led in front, Nardelli finally clawed back with 500 meters to go and proceeded to go straight past the lead duo to try and get a surprise win. The cheeky move nearly worked as Moscon and Power left it late and it was Moscon who had to jump out and was able to pass Nardelli to take his first UCI win and 4th win of the season overall. Nardelli hung on for 2nd while Power, who seems to be almost at full strength, finished 3rd.
Moscon took home the Challenge del Prosecco for the best overall finishes between the Trofeo Piva Banca, Giro del Belvedere and the Trofeo San Vendemiano. He keeps the trophy with Zalf-Euromobil for another year as Simone Andreetta won it last season.
Pan-Am Games
While no American teams were present at the U23 or Elite Men's Pan-Am Games (I know Jim Miller works on a tight budget and some scheduling issues so it is understandable), the racing from Leon, Mexico offered some nice insights.
In the U23 TT, Ignacio Prado (Mexico) improved on his 2nd place from last year to take the win ahead of Euro-based Sebastian Trillini (Argentina) and Chilean U23 TT Champ Jose Luis Rodriguez. The podium was within 15 seconds of one another and Prado averaged nearly 50 km/h on the flat course. Behind the podium, it was Brazilian Endrigo Da Rosa in 4th place followed by Vuelta de la Juventud sparring partners Jhonathan Restrepo (Colombia/5th) and Richard Carapaz (Ecuador/6th). Adam De Vos (Canada), who has been killing it on the American scene this year, finished in 7th at 1'25" back from Prado.
In the U23 RR, a breakaway of 8 separated themselves from the rest of the pack and that was basically all she wrote. Restrepo was attacking the breakaway a lot and eventually, he was joined by Rodriguez, GP Liberazione winner Lucas Gaday (Argentina), Carapaz and Colombian teammate Wilmar Paredes. Restrepo, winner of the 6th stage of the Vuelta de la Juventud out of a big breakaway, repeated his efforts from a few weeks ago and won the small sprint ahead of Rodriguez and Gaday.
In the Elite Men's race, the Canadian U23s in De Vos and Alex Cataford decided to toe the line and De Vos swung big and ended up 5th in the race, just 30 seconds behind winner Byron Guama (Ecuador). Remember this De Vos kid if you haven't already.
Nogent-sur-Oise
After a cancellation last year, the race in the north of France was back again for some some rather non-exciting racing. A breakaway of 14 got away and and proceeded to stay together for a small bunch sprint won by Robin Stenuit (Veranclassics-Ekoi). Best U23 was Adrian Legros (Chambery CF) in 7th.
Fleche Ardennaise
Remember that last post about Loïc Vliegen taking his first UCI win of his career in the final stage of the Tour de Bretagne? He liked it so much that he followed it up with a win at the Fleche Ardennaise, his hometown race, in a small group sprint. The race kicked off the Thomas Vaubourzeix (Veranclassics-Ekoi) getting off the front with 50 kilometers to go and being followed shortly by Vliegen, Gaeten Bille (Verandas Willems), Laurens De Plus and Dries van Gestel (Lotto-Belisol U23), Sam Oomen (Rabobank), Alex Peters (SEG) and Dimitri Claeys (Verandas Willems).
With 10 kilometers to go, it was Vliegen getting off the front of that group with Oomen, Bille, Van Gestel and De Plus to form the winning move. Vliegen won the sprint over Bille and Oomen to take the win, which is the 3rd win in a row for BMC Development in this race.
Trofeo San Vendemiano
A quartet of four including Daniel Pearson and Nicola Bagioli (Zalf-Euromobil), Giovanni Carboni and Stefano Nardelli (Unieuro Wilier) that got 3 minutes over a circuit including Ca' del Poggio in the province of Treviso. They led over the the first three circuits but after that, the Australians slammed it to get them to the base of the climb for the 4th and final passage. Rob Power, who seems to be back to full health after slogging through the Tour de Bretagne, attacked and Gianni Moscon, one of the best Italians so far this year, latched on to him. They drove past the breakaway while Nardelli tried his best to get to terms with them.
While Power and Moscon led in front, Nardelli finally clawed back with 500 meters to go and proceeded to go straight past the lead duo to try and get a surprise win. The cheeky move nearly worked as Moscon and Power left it late and it was Moscon who had to jump out and was able to pass Nardelli to take his first UCI win and 4th win of the season overall. Nardelli hung on for 2nd while Power, who seems to be almost at full strength, finished 3rd.
Moscon took home the Challenge del Prosecco for the best overall finishes between the Trofeo Piva Banca, Giro del Belvedere and the Trofeo San Vendemiano. He keeps the trophy with Zalf-Euromobil for another year as Simone Andreetta won it last season.
Monday, May 11, 2015
Scandinavian Update: Danes Attack!
Busy weekend up north with two races in Norway, the GP Hadeland and the Ringerike GP, as well as the big Swedish one-day race in Uppsala. The Danes were on a mission to steal UCI points from everyone and boy, did they ever.
Hadeland and Ringerike
The Kragh Andersen brothers have been known quantities for some times now but they have been on their A-games this year with Tre-For. Asbjørn is the older of the two and is more sprint oriented with top 10 finishes in the Rund um Köln, Coppi e Bartali, Volta ao Portugal and more recently at the Tour du Loir et Cher, where he took a bunch sprint on the final day. He isn't limited to sprints though as he has had his share of long breakaway results such as his 3rd place on the first stage of the Tour de l'Avenir last year that saw him secure the lead for the next two stages.
Søren is probably the more talented of the two. After a star junior career, Søren showed promise in 2014 after winning the Danish U23 TT and then finishing 4th in the Tour of Denmark TT just 12 seconds behind winner Alexey Lutsenko. This year has been intense flashes of brilliance. He was 7th on the insane stage 2 at Coppi e Bartali ahead of Siutsou, Meintjes, Pellizotti and a whole host of others. He was 6th in the Volta Limburg Classic, which was in the first chase group behind winner Stefan Küng. He proceeded to stomp everyone at the ZLM Roompot Tour by winning 2 stages (one being a TTT) and 4th in the other to take Denmark to the Nations Cup lead.
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| Søren Kragh takes the sprint win for his 4th win of the year. Photo: procycling.no/Jonas Lindstrom |
In the GP Hadeland, Søren got into a late move with ex-pro Vegard Stake Laengen (Joker), Frederik Galta (Coop) and young Dane Rune Almindsø. They worked well together and with representation from many of the big teams, they were able to take it to the line. Galta was hoping to take the sprint but having done a bit too much work in the break, he wasn't fresh enough to compete with SKA.
Ringerike was an even more impressive beatdown. The 40th anniversary of the race, which has been won by nearly every big time Norwegian racer including Hushovd, Boasson Hagan, Kaggestad, Rasch, etc., was shaped by an early breakaway that saw the field wittle down slowly lap after lap. Following a Haavard Blikra attack, Odd Eiking (Joker) went solo but was eventually joined up by 7 others including 3 from Tre-For in the Kragh Andersen bros. and Swede Michael Olsson as well as Stake Laengen (again), August Jensen and Skive-Lobet winner Alexander Kamp. This basically came down to Olsson running cover for his teammates and Asbjorn and Soren were too quick for everyone and took an impressive 1-2.
When is the last time two brothers finished 1-2 in a UCI race? Cool to see.
Uppsala
Meanwhile 600 kilometers away in Eastern Sweden, the Danes were continuing their dominant run in Sweden's oldest race, the Skandisloppet or Scandinavian Race Uppsala. It was the 107th edition of the race and the record for the most wins in the race is shared between Henry-Peter Hansen (Denmark) and Ragnar Malm (Sweden), both of which were from the 1910's and 20's.
In any case, Uppsala never usually finishes together but the surprise here was a rider that is better known for his sprint won solo. Nicolai Brochner (Riwal) has been getting closer every year to a breakthrough and he ended up off the front of a group of 9 with 15 kilometers to go to take a solo win in the famous university city. Brochner took advantage of some lighter competition but perhaps he is moving away from being a total sprinter? We shall see but in any case, it was a banner weekend for the Danes.
When is the last time two brothers finished 1-2 in a UCI race? Cool to see.
Uppsala
Meanwhile 600 kilometers away in Eastern Sweden, the Danes were continuing their dominant run in Sweden's oldest race, the Skandisloppet or Scandinavian Race Uppsala. It was the 107th edition of the race and the record for the most wins in the race is shared between Henry-Peter Hansen (Denmark) and Ragnar Malm (Sweden), both of which were from the 1910's and 20's.
In any case, Uppsala never usually finishes together but the surprise here was a rider that is better known for his sprint won solo. Nicolai Brochner (Riwal) has been getting closer every year to a breakthrough and he ended up off the front of a group of 9 with 15 kilometers to go to take a solo win in the famous university city. Brochner took advantage of some lighter competition but perhaps he is moving away from being a total sprinter? We shall see but in any case, it was a banner weekend for the Danes.
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Thoughts on the Tour de Bretagne
The Tour de Bretagne has been done for nearly half a week now but I've been holding off on posting something as I've been trying to get some take aways from the race itself. Bretagne featured a good mix of professionals and amateurs; riders just breaking through along with seasoned pros that are on the way up and down.
Daniel Hoelgaard
To say that Norway has been churning out talent in recent years would be an understatement. Since Edvald Boasson Hagen's emergence nearly 10 years ago, the Nordic nation has been blessed with talented riders coming out. Alexander Kristoff, Vegard Stake Laengen, Lars Petter Nordhaug and Sven Erik Bystrom are just a few that have jumped to the pro ranks but in the U23 ranks, they still have riders such as Odd Eiking, Truls Engen Korsaeth and Daniel Hoelgaard.
Hoelgaard is in his first year with Joker after spending two up and down years with Etixx Development. Last year, Hoelgaard stepped out at the Tour de Bretagne with a sprint win that kicked him off to a strong season that included 3 more UCI wins. This year, Hoelgaard has been on point where it is a rarity when he finishes outside of the top 20, if not the top 10. After missing out on the first stage breakaway, Hoelgaard managed to go 2nd, 2nd, 4th, 1st and 2nd on the subsequent 5 stages. He isn't just a pure sprinter. He can get over hills and deal with crosswinds. He might not have the best kick in the bunch but when the group is reduced down to just a couple dozen, Hoelgaard seems to be at his best.
He finished in 3rd overall at just 12 seconds to winner Seb Delfosse and won the points jersey along the way. It is going to be a long season for his competitors. I'll be interested to see how he does if he gets called up for the Norwegian pro races.
Loïc Vliegen
Seeing Vliegen race a stage race is akin to watching a predator hunt its prey. He won't waste energy until he needs to. He will lay in the cut and make the splits he needs to but when the time calls, he will go for the jugular. While Vliegen is so strong, it is crazy to think that his win on the final stage into Liffre was his first UCI win of his career. Vliegen was apart of the early breakaway that included race leader Seb Delfosse and nearly 20 others. After Delfosse virtually locked up his jersey after the 2nd bonus sprint, Vliegen launched a solo move to go for glory and in the wet and windy Bretagne weather, he stuck the move for his biggest win of his career.
Vliegen already has his pro future locked up as he is bound for BMC starting this summer. He seems bound for the hilly classics but he will definitely be one of those wily stage hunters.
Will Barta
Just one year out of the junior ranks and going top 10 in the Tour de Bretagne? Pretty solid. Will Barta (USA) made the break on stage 1 and proceeded to play damage control the rest of the race to finish 43 seconds behind winner Seb Delfosse in 8th place overall.
Last year this time Barta was just getting ready for the Junior Peace Race, where he would finish 3rd overall. It seems like he hasn't missed a step. And to think Bretagne didn't have a TT at all because if they did, Barta would be licking his chops as he barely finished off the podium in time trials as a junior.
Lilian Calmejane
If someone is trying to prove they deserve a pro contract, not many are doing it better than Lilian Calmejane. I still remember nearly a year ago when Calmejane rode through the sleeting rain and snow on Bagneres du Luchon in the Ronde de l'Isard to take what was probably the most memorable U23 win of the season last year.
After stopping his normal cyclocross pursuits early this past winter, Calmejane put in some big miles and came out swinging early in his first season out of the U23s. He is now up to 6 wins including a stage and the overall in the Triptyque Monts et Chateaux, a stage (plus 5th overall) in the Tour de Bretagne along with 1 round of the DN1 Coupe de France. He has a good bunch kick but has proven himself as a strong breakaway rider that can stick a long move for a win.
He could easily double his win total if he doesn't get a stagiaire ride this summer. I could easily see him join Europcar as Vendée U, his current team, is their feeder team but he could also go to other French squads if he has the opportunity. Or if I had my imaginary pro team where I would sign all of the best talent to keep them in a clean environment with strong, clean role models. But you know that is a bunch of horse shit.
Some of this and that..
-I like how this race changes up its parcours from year to year instead of using the same standard course over and over. Espoirs Central approved.
-Kenneth Van Rooy is another name to remember. Van Rooy has been a consistent rider through his first three U23 years but this year saw him go up a level. After a good ride at Normandie was followed by a 4th place in Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Van Rooy came to Bretagne as the leader for Lotto-Belisol U23 and he probably couldn't be more consistent with his results. He proceeded to finish 12th, 12th, 10th, 6th, 8th, 7th and 7th (an average finish of 8.85) to finish 9th overall for the race and 2nd in the points competition to Hoelgaard. Perhaps a threat for the Belgian U23 RR?
- Looks like another Hackney rider needs to be taken seriously along with Tao Geoghegan Hart. SEG Racing's Alex Peters took his first UCI win of his career after winning a three-up sprint against Ioannis Tamouridis and Anthony Delaplace. Peters was so close to a stage win in the Tour de Normandie but struck gold here on his way to 7th overall.
Do you know it is just two fucking weeks til the Ronde de l'Isard? Bretagne is cool and all but l'Isard is one of the best U23 stage races of the season. I will get ridiculously excited about that race so buckle down.
Daniel Hoelgaard
To say that Norway has been churning out talent in recent years would be an understatement. Since Edvald Boasson Hagen's emergence nearly 10 years ago, the Nordic nation has been blessed with talented riders coming out. Alexander Kristoff, Vegard Stake Laengen, Lars Petter Nordhaug and Sven Erik Bystrom are just a few that have jumped to the pro ranks but in the U23 ranks, they still have riders such as Odd Eiking, Truls Engen Korsaeth and Daniel Hoelgaard.
Hoelgaard is in his first year with Joker after spending two up and down years with Etixx Development. Last year, Hoelgaard stepped out at the Tour de Bretagne with a sprint win that kicked him off to a strong season that included 3 more UCI wins. This year, Hoelgaard has been on point where it is a rarity when he finishes outside of the top 20, if not the top 10. After missing out on the first stage breakaway, Hoelgaard managed to go 2nd, 2nd, 4th, 1st and 2nd on the subsequent 5 stages. He isn't just a pure sprinter. He can get over hills and deal with crosswinds. He might not have the best kick in the bunch but when the group is reduced down to just a couple dozen, Hoelgaard seems to be at his best.
He finished in 3rd overall at just 12 seconds to winner Seb Delfosse and won the points jersey along the way. It is going to be a long season for his competitors. I'll be interested to see how he does if he gets called up for the Norwegian pro races.
Loïc Vliegen
Seeing Vliegen race a stage race is akin to watching a predator hunt its prey. He won't waste energy until he needs to. He will lay in the cut and make the splits he needs to but when the time calls, he will go for the jugular. While Vliegen is so strong, it is crazy to think that his win on the final stage into Liffre was his first UCI win of his career. Vliegen was apart of the early breakaway that included race leader Seb Delfosse and nearly 20 others. After Delfosse virtually locked up his jersey after the 2nd bonus sprint, Vliegen launched a solo move to go for glory and in the wet and windy Bretagne weather, he stuck the move for his biggest win of his career.
Vliegen already has his pro future locked up as he is bound for BMC starting this summer. He seems bound for the hilly classics but he will definitely be one of those wily stage hunters.
Will Barta
Just one year out of the junior ranks and going top 10 in the Tour de Bretagne? Pretty solid. Will Barta (USA) made the break on stage 1 and proceeded to play damage control the rest of the race to finish 43 seconds behind winner Seb Delfosse in 8th place overall.
Last year this time Barta was just getting ready for the Junior Peace Race, where he would finish 3rd overall. It seems like he hasn't missed a step. And to think Bretagne didn't have a TT at all because if they did, Barta would be licking his chops as he barely finished off the podium in time trials as a junior.
Lilian Calmejane
If someone is trying to prove they deserve a pro contract, not many are doing it better than Lilian Calmejane. I still remember nearly a year ago when Calmejane rode through the sleeting rain and snow on Bagneres du Luchon in the Ronde de l'Isard to take what was probably the most memorable U23 win of the season last year.
After stopping his normal cyclocross pursuits early this past winter, Calmejane put in some big miles and came out swinging early in his first season out of the U23s. He is now up to 6 wins including a stage and the overall in the Triptyque Monts et Chateaux, a stage (plus 5th overall) in the Tour de Bretagne along with 1 round of the DN1 Coupe de France. He has a good bunch kick but has proven himself as a strong breakaway rider that can stick a long move for a win.
He could easily double his win total if he doesn't get a stagiaire ride this summer. I could easily see him join Europcar as Vendée U, his current team, is their feeder team but he could also go to other French squads if he has the opportunity. Or if I had my imaginary pro team where I would sign all of the best talent to keep them in a clean environment with strong, clean role models. But you know that is a bunch of horse shit.
Some of this and that..
-I like how this race changes up its parcours from year to year instead of using the same standard course over and over. Espoirs Central approved.
-Kenneth Van Rooy is another name to remember. Van Rooy has been a consistent rider through his first three U23 years but this year saw him go up a level. After a good ride at Normandie was followed by a 4th place in Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Van Rooy came to Bretagne as the leader for Lotto-Belisol U23 and he probably couldn't be more consistent with his results. He proceeded to finish 12th, 12th, 10th, 6th, 8th, 7th and 7th (an average finish of 8.85) to finish 9th overall for the race and 2nd in the points competition to Hoelgaard. Perhaps a threat for the Belgian U23 RR?
- Looks like another Hackney rider needs to be taken seriously along with Tao Geoghegan Hart. SEG Racing's Alex Peters took his first UCI win of his career after winning a three-up sprint against Ioannis Tamouridis and Anthony Delaplace. Peters was so close to a stage win in the Tour de Normandie but struck gold here on his way to 7th overall.
Do you know it is just two fucking weeks til the Ronde de l'Isard? Bretagne is cool and all but l'Isard is one of the best U23 stage races of the season. I will get ridiculously excited about that race so buckle down.
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
One-Day Roundup: Oh, the races you'll see
To say the last week was busy with U23 racing would be an understatement. Scandinavia had a big week of racing while one-day racing hit South Africa, Russia, Italy, Belgium, and more. Once more into the breach, dear cycling nerds...
South Africa
Since the death of the Giro del Capo races, South Africa has had a dearth of one-day racing. This year saw two races, the Mayday Classic and the Hibiscus Classic, make their debuts. South Africa has a pretty good continental circuit but they don't get much in terms of foreign riders most of the time besides follow Africans, especially Eritreans.
The Mayday Classic was controlled by a breakaway of three including Hendrik Kruger (who rode in France for a while with Martigues SC), Eritrean Metkel Eyob and U23 Nicholas Dlamini, who was 2nd in the S.A. U23 TT this year. The breakaway of three was riding well ahead of a disorganized chase group and it was Kruger, the current South African pursuit champion, who won the sprint ahead of Dlamini and Eyob, both of whom are U23 riders and teammates on the MTN-Qhubeka/WCC team. But due to issues with traffic on the course during the finale, the race jury announced that Kruger and Dlamini would split the win. U23 Ryan Gibbons won the sprint behind to take 4th.
In the Hibiscus Classic on Sunday, Dlamini launched an attack with 55 km to go but once he was brought back, it was his teammate Eyob who struck out on his own and got a maximum of one minute. Eyob had numbers in terms of teammates behind him and the Eritrean buried himself to take a fine solo win while behind it was Kruger taking the sprint ahead of Eyob's MTN-Qhubeka/WCC teammate Meron Teshome. I saw to keep an eye on this Kruger fellow. He has ridden in Europe and has a motor on him. And of course the Eritreans.
Russia
A series of three races took place over the weekend in the motherland with the first of which being the Mayor Cup in Moscow, which celebrates May Day, the International Workers' Day or basically ex-Soviet Union National Parade Day. This was won by Ukranian Sergey Lagkuti after a long breakaway with teammate Denys Kostyuk. The best U23? Get ready for it...Nikita Kugaevskiy
The next day the peloton went across town for the Memorial Oleg Dyachenko. A breakaway of hardened Ukranian and Russian journeymen took the day with another Ukranian, Mykhaylo Kononenko, winning the day while the first U23 was nearly 8 minutes down in Moldovan Cristian Raileanu.
What else but another race in Moscow. The biggest country in the world yet they have to have 3 races in the city that doesn't have too many geographic features. The GP of Moscow was a big sprint with Belorussian Siarhei Papok (Minsk) winning the day ahead of Russian trackie Ivan Savitsky and first year U23 Dzmitry Zhyhunou (Belarus).
Just a series of blah races.
Italy
Gianni Moscon is coming into fine form as he showed why he is one of Italy's finest one day racing prospects after taking his 3rd win of the year in the GP Industria e Commercio Botticino. Zalf-Euromobil held it together very well for the steep uphill finish and once on the climb, Moscon attacked and but distance between himself and Davide Gabburo, the only rider relatively close to him. Similar to his win in the GP San Giuseppe, Moscon came around the final uphill corner solo and powered up to the line to take another impressive win. In less than two months, he has 3 wins along with 2nd in the Ronde van Vlaanderen U23 and 4th in the UCI Trofeo Piva Banca.
On Sunday, the Circuito del Porto showcased the fast sprinters that Italy has on offer. To make a paragraph into a few lines, it came down to the final sprint and Colpack looked to be in the driver's seat. Instead of going for the win per usual, Simone Consonni was the lead-out for Riccardo Minali and Consonni did his job to perfect as he dropped off the young Minali with 200 meters to go. Minali had to deal with Viris-Maserati's Luca Pacioni and it was very tight coming to the line but Minali had the kick in the end and took the Circuito del Porto trophy 23 years after his father Nicola won.
Poland
The Romana Sieminskiego Memorial took place this weekend in no idea where, Poland. It was a big sprint won by Czech Alois Kankovsky, who won the inaugural track omnium World Championship in 2007. The best U23 was 5th place Adrian Banaszek. I have no idea who he is other than his results.
Belgium
The Belgies love to do things their own way sometimes and while it is the beginning of May, the time trial championships happened this past weekend. In the U23 category, heavy favorite Ruben Pols (Lotto Belisol U23) blitzed the 37.8 kilometer course in an average speed of nearly 46 kilometers per hour or 28.5 miles per hour. Pols has won the East Flanders regional title, the Borlo National TT and now the National U23 Championship. Pols avenged his close loss from last year and looks destined to have an impact on the U23 Worlds TT this year.
Behind Pols, it was Nathan Van Hooydonck (BMC Devo) taking 2nd at a bit over 25 seconds down while Aime De Gendt (EFC-Etixx) finished in 3rd overall.
Denmark
Formerly known as the Destination Thy, the GP Vyborg kicked off the Danish Three Day weekend of racing. The race featured three pieces of gravel roads and on the final portion, a group of 7 including three from Coop-Østerhus got away. That group would be slowly wittled down to two in Oscar Landa (Coop) and Bob Schoonbroodt (Parkhotel Valkenburg), who got away on the final local circuit. The duo had to keep their nose to the stem as the peloton was hard charging behind. In the two-up sprint, the upstart Landa was able to take the win ahead of Schoonbroodt while just 8 seconds behind it was Schoonbroodt's teammate Wim Stroetinga taking the bunch sprint ahead of Oscar Riesebeek (Metec) and U23 Gustav Höög (Tre Berg). This was an important win for Landa, who did it in front of his family no less, as the Norwegian rider has been trying to find consistent form all season.
The following day was more or less straightforward as the peloton kept together in the Himmerland Rundt and a bunch sprint came to the line. Who else but Wim Stroetinga to take the bunch sprint as it is seemingly his forte for nearly the last half decade. Behind Stroetinga, it was Asbjorn Kragh, Johim Ariesen and U23 Nicola Brøchner.
The last race of the weekend was the Skive Løbet. Mads Würtz Schmidt (coloQuick) was off the front with 30 kilometers to go but the young Dane was only able to stay away until roughly 10 kilometers to go. The small chase group that caught Würtz was quite active but on the final lap it was Alexander Kamp (coloQuick) and Haavard Blikra (Coop) that got away. Once they worked together, they were gone. Kamp has gone through some rough years with bad motivation and bad teams but the last three years seemed to all slip away and the rider that was hailed out of the junior ranks showed some of that brilliance. Kamp took Blikra to the line and the Dane took the sprint for his first UCI win in over two years.
That is all. There could possibly be more but I've reached my limit for now. Until next time.
South Africa
Since the death of the Giro del Capo races, South Africa has had a dearth of one-day racing. This year saw two races, the Mayday Classic and the Hibiscus Classic, make their debuts. South Africa has a pretty good continental circuit but they don't get much in terms of foreign riders most of the time besides follow Africans, especially Eritreans.
The Mayday Classic was controlled by a breakaway of three including Hendrik Kruger (who rode in France for a while with Martigues SC), Eritrean Metkel Eyob and U23 Nicholas Dlamini, who was 2nd in the S.A. U23 TT this year. The breakaway of three was riding well ahead of a disorganized chase group and it was Kruger, the current South African pursuit champion, who won the sprint ahead of Dlamini and Eyob, both of whom are U23 riders and teammates on the MTN-Qhubeka/WCC team. But due to issues with traffic on the course during the finale, the race jury announced that Kruger and Dlamini would split the win. U23 Ryan Gibbons won the sprint behind to take 4th.
In the Hibiscus Classic on Sunday, Dlamini launched an attack with 55 km to go but once he was brought back, it was his teammate Eyob who struck out on his own and got a maximum of one minute. Eyob had numbers in terms of teammates behind him and the Eritrean buried himself to take a fine solo win while behind it was Kruger taking the sprint ahead of Eyob's MTN-Qhubeka/WCC teammate Meron Teshome. I saw to keep an eye on this Kruger fellow. He has ridden in Europe and has a motor on him. And of course the Eritreans.
Russia
A series of three races took place over the weekend in the motherland with the first of which being the Mayor Cup in Moscow, which celebrates May Day, the International Workers' Day or basically ex-Soviet Union National Parade Day. This was won by Ukranian Sergey Lagkuti after a long breakaway with teammate Denys Kostyuk. The best U23? Get ready for it...Nikita Kugaevskiy
The next day the peloton went across town for the Memorial Oleg Dyachenko. A breakaway of hardened Ukranian and Russian journeymen took the day with another Ukranian, Mykhaylo Kononenko, winning the day while the first U23 was nearly 8 minutes down in Moldovan Cristian Raileanu.
What else but another race in Moscow. The biggest country in the world yet they have to have 3 races in the city that doesn't have too many geographic features. The GP of Moscow was a big sprint with Belorussian Siarhei Papok (Minsk) winning the day ahead of Russian trackie Ivan Savitsky and first year U23 Dzmitry Zhyhunou (Belarus).
Just a series of blah races.
Italy
Gianni Moscon is coming into fine form as he showed why he is one of Italy's finest one day racing prospects after taking his 3rd win of the year in the GP Industria e Commercio Botticino. Zalf-Euromobil held it together very well for the steep uphill finish and once on the climb, Moscon attacked and but distance between himself and Davide Gabburo, the only rider relatively close to him. Similar to his win in the GP San Giuseppe, Moscon came around the final uphill corner solo and powered up to the line to take another impressive win. In less than two months, he has 3 wins along with 2nd in the Ronde van Vlaanderen U23 and 4th in the UCI Trofeo Piva Banca.
 |
| Minali (l) taking a tight one over Pacioni (r) Photo: ItaliaCiclismo |
Poland
The Romana Sieminskiego Memorial took place this weekend in no idea where, Poland. It was a big sprint won by Czech Alois Kankovsky, who won the inaugural track omnium World Championship in 2007. The best U23 was 5th place Adrian Banaszek. I have no idea who he is other than his results.
Belgium
The Belgies love to do things their own way sometimes and while it is the beginning of May, the time trial championships happened this past weekend. In the U23 category, heavy favorite Ruben Pols (Lotto Belisol U23) blitzed the 37.8 kilometer course in an average speed of nearly 46 kilometers per hour or 28.5 miles per hour. Pols has won the East Flanders regional title, the Borlo National TT and now the National U23 Championship. Pols avenged his close loss from last year and looks destined to have an impact on the U23 Worlds TT this year.
Behind Pols, it was Nathan Van Hooydonck (BMC Devo) taking 2nd at a bit over 25 seconds down while Aime De Gendt (EFC-Etixx) finished in 3rd overall.
Denmark
Formerly known as the Destination Thy, the GP Vyborg kicked off the Danish Three Day weekend of racing. The race featured three pieces of gravel roads and on the final portion, a group of 7 including three from Coop-Østerhus got away. That group would be slowly wittled down to two in Oscar Landa (Coop) and Bob Schoonbroodt (Parkhotel Valkenburg), who got away on the final local circuit. The duo had to keep their nose to the stem as the peloton was hard charging behind. In the two-up sprint, the upstart Landa was able to take the win ahead of Schoonbroodt while just 8 seconds behind it was Schoonbroodt's teammate Wim Stroetinga taking the bunch sprint ahead of Oscar Riesebeek (Metec) and U23 Gustav Höög (Tre Berg). This was an important win for Landa, who did it in front of his family no less, as the Norwegian rider has been trying to find consistent form all season.
The following day was more or less straightforward as the peloton kept together in the Himmerland Rundt and a bunch sprint came to the line. Who else but Wim Stroetinga to take the bunch sprint as it is seemingly his forte for nearly the last half decade. Behind Stroetinga, it was Asbjorn Kragh, Johim Ariesen and U23 Nicola Brøchner.
The last race of the weekend was the Skive Løbet. Mads Würtz Schmidt (coloQuick) was off the front with 30 kilometers to go but the young Dane was only able to stay away until roughly 10 kilometers to go. The small chase group that caught Würtz was quite active but on the final lap it was Alexander Kamp (coloQuick) and Haavard Blikra (Coop) that got away. Once they worked together, they were gone. Kamp has gone through some rough years with bad motivation and bad teams but the last three years seemed to all slip away and the rider that was hailed out of the junior ranks showed some of that brilliance. Kamp took Blikra to the line and the Dane took the sprint for his first UCI win in over two years.
That is all. There could possibly be more but I've reached my limit for now. Until next time.
Monday, May 4, 2015
Stage Race Roundup: Gila, Jura and Carpathian Couriers
With so many races happening and with me not wanting to be anywhere near a computer for the last couple of days, I'll split up my roundups into stage races and one-day races. For the stage race portion, we will be stopping across the world with races in the USA, France and Poland.
Tour du Jura
While it isn't a UCI race, the 4-stage Tour du Jura had a pretty strong start list and offered a few little gems along the way. It isn't a mountainous race by any means but it certainly is no cake walk either. Much of the Jura is hilly and while it is a French amateur race, it was still a good test for the legs.
The first stage was won by Gabriel Chavanne (EKZ Racing), who was twice a stagiaire with Ag2r-La Mondiale. Chavanne is in his first year out of the U23s and Chambery CF so his year with EKZ Racing is a pivotal one for him to pilot himself to a pro career. Behind Chavanne, the field was shredded but the likes of ex-pro Stephane Poulhies, Leo Vincent (CC Etupes), Mikel Aristi (Euskadi) and Jeremy Maison (CC Etupes) all within 31 seconds.
After Sylvain Georges (Pro Immo Roux) got another win following his dope suspension comeback on stage 2, Thomas Rostollan (AVC Aix en Provence) put on a impressive display to take a win in Champagnole, affectionately known as the Pearl of the Jura. After consistent rides through the first three stages, it was Mikel Aristi leading the GC standings by 9 seconds ahead of UCI World Cycling Centre Morrocan Anass Ait El Abdia. It was nearly two minutes back to 3rd place Pierre Bonnet (Pro Immo Roux) but it was going to come down to the wire on Sunday.
In the department capital of Dole, a breakaway of 10 got away and Bonnet found himself in the move. They got a 2'30" gap on the peloton and Bonnet, who spent the majority of his years riding for riders such as Romain Bardet and Warren Barguil while on Chambery CF and CC Etupis respectively, had to judge the move wisely and dig deep to fend them off. Riding into the finale, it was Jeremy Maison, the 8th place from last year's Tour de l'Avenir, get off the front of the breakaway and win the day while Bonnet and the rest came across 7 seconds in arrears.
It was Ait El Abdia who came across at 2'10" but Aristi crossed the line 2'12" down on Maison. With the bonuses tallied and everything official, it was Bonnet who took the win ahead of Aristi by just 1 second with Ait El Abdia in 3rd by 11" and Maison and Chavanne rambling out in the top 5.
Ait El Abdia seems like an interesting rider. He was 3rd overall in the Tour du Maroc behind just Tomas Marczynski and Vlad Gusev. His ride with the UCI World Cycling Centre could open some doors but many pro teams are leery about Moroccan riders after Tarik Chaoufi bombed with Euskaltel-Euskadi. Perhaps going with SkyDive Dubai? We shall see.
Tour of the Gila
The annual journey to southwestern New Mexico and the mountain town of Silver City for the Tour of the Gila, a race which didn't look certain until a crowd-sourcing venture saw them safe for another year. Time and time again this race proves to be one of the toughest of the year for American domestic racers and while it usually isn't a U23 winning the race, there are usually some bright U23 results to look at for times to come.
The Mongollan stage was filled with some...interesting...racing with Rafael Montiel spending the whole day bridging and then flying past breakaway mate Guillaume Boivin to win the stage. In the peloton, Tao Geoghegan Hart (Axeon) was the best U23 in 13th place at 1'27" but within 10 seconds of him were Adam De Vos (H&R Block) and James Oram (Axeon).
After a quiet stage 2, the high altitude TT saw Axeon's Greg Daniel go 5th place at 55" behind winner Tom Zirbel. Oram was just a few seconds behind while De Vos and Geoghegan Hart were both at 1'28". By this point, Oram was 7th on GC while Geoghegan Hart and De Vos were 10th and 11th.
The race, as with many other editions, comes down to the Gila Monster stage. 4 hours of kicking-your-teeth-in fun punctuated by an uphill finish. A group of 16 pulled away from the rest of the peloton and race leader Montiel was toast at this point while on the U23 side of things, Oram slipped off the pace and it was Geoghegan Hart and De Vos left to duke it out. With Canadians Mike Woods (Optum) and Rob Britton (Smartstop) really animating the race up front, Geoghegan Hart seemed to be distanced while De Vos was putting in a superb ride to stay with the leaders. Woods won the small group sprint for the win while Britton took the overall win over Daniel Jaramillo and former Tour de l'Avenir standout Gavin Mannion.
Adam De Vos took the unofficial best U23 rider after placing 7th overall in a stud UCI field while Geoghegan Hart held on for 8th just 13 seconds back. De Vos is unknown to many outside of Canada but he has been tearing it up this year with 4th overall in San Dimas and 5th in Redlands before this 7th in Gila. Certainly one to watch going forward.
Carpathian Couriers Tour
Ah Poland, for when one needs a good cycling stage race with a tight finish.
Since many will be scrolling at this point, I will give them a quick and dirty on this one.
Jan Brockoff won the prologue. The AWT-Greenway rider has been on some great form of late after his 6th place in Liege-Bastogne-Liege and won a tight 1.8km ride where the top 9 riders were all within 2 seconds of Brockoff.
Stage 1 saw a breakaway of 7 including Brockoff and teammate Alvaro Cuadros, Piotr Konwa, Sven Reutter (Stölting), Tilegen Maidos (Vino4EVVAAAAA/Kazakhstan), Alexander Wachter (Tirol) and Tim Ariesen (Jo Piels). Even though they had the numbers, Wachter took the sprint for the stage win out and with the time bonuses he was able to take the overall lead.
A notable that missed out on stage 1 was Silvio Herklotz and you cannot keep the Berliner down for long. Herklotz got into a breakaway with Dries Van Gestel (Lotto Belisol U23) and Cuadros to try and take some time back. They succeeded in taking back roughly 20 seconds and Van Gestel managed to beat out Herklotz for the stage win while Cuadros took over the leader's jersey.
Following a stage 3 that saw Herklotz and Van Gestel take back a few more seconds, Herklotz nabbed a intermediate sprint to get himself within 4 seconds of Cuadros heading into the final stage. While the final stage was short, it contained a good amount of hills and the rain just added to the fun. Tim Ariesen (Jo Piels) got into the early breakaway with 1 kilometer ridden and proceeded to take the first sprint and 2nd in the second sprint to get within three seconds of Cuadros' lead. The breakaway worked well together but coming into the finale, it was a slip-n-slide for everyone as greasy roads and tight corners saw multiple crashes in the final kilometers. While their gap had dropped a good portion, the break kept 7 seconds as Remy Mertz was able to take the stage win.
Ariesen was able to take the leader's jersey from Cuadros by a mere 4 seconds while Van Gestel moved up to 3rd place on the same time. Brockoff made the break and finished in 4th place while Herklotz had to settle for 5th and was followed by the likes of Wachter, Nowa and Patryk Stosz.
Speaking of Stosz, he is a KOM machine. He was just two points away from winning the KOM classification at the Carpathian Couriers Tour for the 3rd year running.
Don't fret...A Tour de Bretagne wrap-up will be coming soon. Also, watch for a huge post with all of the one-day races that I think are important enough to cover.
Tour du Jura
While it isn't a UCI race, the 4-stage Tour du Jura had a pretty strong start list and offered a few little gems along the way. It isn't a mountainous race by any means but it certainly is no cake walk either. Much of the Jura is hilly and while it is a French amateur race, it was still a good test for the legs.
The first stage was won by Gabriel Chavanne (EKZ Racing), who was twice a stagiaire with Ag2r-La Mondiale. Chavanne is in his first year out of the U23s and Chambery CF so his year with EKZ Racing is a pivotal one for him to pilot himself to a pro career. Behind Chavanne, the field was shredded but the likes of ex-pro Stephane Poulhies, Leo Vincent (CC Etupes), Mikel Aristi (Euskadi) and Jeremy Maison (CC Etupes) all within 31 seconds.
After Sylvain Georges (Pro Immo Roux) got another win following his dope suspension comeback on stage 2, Thomas Rostollan (AVC Aix en Provence) put on a impressive display to take a win in Champagnole, affectionately known as the Pearl of the Jura. After consistent rides through the first three stages, it was Mikel Aristi leading the GC standings by 9 seconds ahead of UCI World Cycling Centre Morrocan Anass Ait El Abdia. It was nearly two minutes back to 3rd place Pierre Bonnet (Pro Immo Roux) but it was going to come down to the wire on Sunday.
In the department capital of Dole, a breakaway of 10 got away and Bonnet found himself in the move. They got a 2'30" gap on the peloton and Bonnet, who spent the majority of his years riding for riders such as Romain Bardet and Warren Barguil while on Chambery CF and CC Etupis respectively, had to judge the move wisely and dig deep to fend them off. Riding into the finale, it was Jeremy Maison, the 8th place from last year's Tour de l'Avenir, get off the front of the breakaway and win the day while Bonnet and the rest came across 7 seconds in arrears.
It was Ait El Abdia who came across at 2'10" but Aristi crossed the line 2'12" down on Maison. With the bonuses tallied and everything official, it was Bonnet who took the win ahead of Aristi by just 1 second with Ait El Abdia in 3rd by 11" and Maison and Chavanne rambling out in the top 5.
Ait El Abdia seems like an interesting rider. He was 3rd overall in the Tour du Maroc behind just Tomas Marczynski and Vlad Gusev. His ride with the UCI World Cycling Centre could open some doors but many pro teams are leery about Moroccan riders after Tarik Chaoufi bombed with Euskaltel-Euskadi. Perhaps going with SkyDive Dubai? We shall see.
Tour of the Gila
The annual journey to southwestern New Mexico and the mountain town of Silver City for the Tour of the Gila, a race which didn't look certain until a crowd-sourcing venture saw them safe for another year. Time and time again this race proves to be one of the toughest of the year for American domestic racers and while it usually isn't a U23 winning the race, there are usually some bright U23 results to look at for times to come.
The Mongollan stage was filled with some...interesting...racing with Rafael Montiel spending the whole day bridging and then flying past breakaway mate Guillaume Boivin to win the stage. In the peloton, Tao Geoghegan Hart (Axeon) was the best U23 in 13th place at 1'27" but within 10 seconds of him were Adam De Vos (H&R Block) and James Oram (Axeon).
After a quiet stage 2, the high altitude TT saw Axeon's Greg Daniel go 5th place at 55" behind winner Tom Zirbel. Oram was just a few seconds behind while De Vos and Geoghegan Hart were both at 1'28". By this point, Oram was 7th on GC while Geoghegan Hart and De Vos were 10th and 11th.
The race, as with many other editions, comes down to the Gila Monster stage. 4 hours of kicking-your-teeth-in fun punctuated by an uphill finish. A group of 16 pulled away from the rest of the peloton and race leader Montiel was toast at this point while on the U23 side of things, Oram slipped off the pace and it was Geoghegan Hart and De Vos left to duke it out. With Canadians Mike Woods (Optum) and Rob Britton (Smartstop) really animating the race up front, Geoghegan Hart seemed to be distanced while De Vos was putting in a superb ride to stay with the leaders. Woods won the small group sprint for the win while Britton took the overall win over Daniel Jaramillo and former Tour de l'Avenir standout Gavin Mannion.
Adam De Vos took the unofficial best U23 rider after placing 7th overall in a stud UCI field while Geoghegan Hart held on for 8th just 13 seconds back. De Vos is unknown to many outside of Canada but he has been tearing it up this year with 4th overall in San Dimas and 5th in Redlands before this 7th in Gila. Certainly one to watch going forward.
Carpathian Couriers Tour
Ah Poland, for when one needs a good cycling stage race with a tight finish.
Since many will be scrolling at this point, I will give them a quick and dirty on this one.
Jan Brockoff won the prologue. The AWT-Greenway rider has been on some great form of late after his 6th place in Liege-Bastogne-Liege and won a tight 1.8km ride where the top 9 riders were all within 2 seconds of Brockoff.
Stage 1 saw a breakaway of 7 including Brockoff and teammate Alvaro Cuadros, Piotr Konwa, Sven Reutter (Stölting), Tilegen Maidos (Vino4EVVAAAAA/Kazakhstan), Alexander Wachter (Tirol) and Tim Ariesen (Jo Piels). Even though they had the numbers, Wachter took the sprint for the stage win out and with the time bonuses he was able to take the overall lead.
A notable that missed out on stage 1 was Silvio Herklotz and you cannot keep the Berliner down for long. Herklotz got into a breakaway with Dries Van Gestel (Lotto Belisol U23) and Cuadros to try and take some time back. They succeeded in taking back roughly 20 seconds and Van Gestel managed to beat out Herklotz for the stage win while Cuadros took over the leader's jersey.
Following a stage 3 that saw Herklotz and Van Gestel take back a few more seconds, Herklotz nabbed a intermediate sprint to get himself within 4 seconds of Cuadros heading into the final stage. While the final stage was short, it contained a good amount of hills and the rain just added to the fun. Tim Ariesen (Jo Piels) got into the early breakaway with 1 kilometer ridden and proceeded to take the first sprint and 2nd in the second sprint to get within three seconds of Cuadros' lead. The breakaway worked well together but coming into the finale, it was a slip-n-slide for everyone as greasy roads and tight corners saw multiple crashes in the final kilometers. While their gap had dropped a good portion, the break kept 7 seconds as Remy Mertz was able to take the stage win.
Ariesen was able to take the leader's jersey from Cuadros by a mere 4 seconds while Van Gestel moved up to 3rd place on the same time. Brockoff made the break and finished in 4th place while Herklotz had to settle for 5th and was followed by the likes of Wachter, Nowa and Patryk Stosz.
Speaking of Stosz, he is a KOM machine. He was just two points away from winning the KOM classification at the Carpathian Couriers Tour for the 3rd year running.
Don't fret...A Tour de Bretagne wrap-up will be coming soon. Also, watch for a huge post with all of the one-day races that I think are important enough to cover.
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