l'Artois: Ludvigsson storms to overall victory

While Tobias Ludvigsson is experiencing a breakthrough year with Argos-Shimano on the World Tour level, it remains to be seen if he is even the most talented rider in his family. Frederik Ludvigsson is only in his first year as a U23 but he has already impressed greatly with strong rides in the Tour de Normandie and now Boucles de l'Artois.

The day started early for riders as the first stage of the day was a 23 kilometer time trial. Young Felix English (Rapha-Condor), a rider best known for upsetting Chris Hoy on the track, held the provisional best time for a while before being overtaken by Atlas Personal-Jakroo's Nicolas Baldo, last year's An Post Ras overall winner. Baldo only held the hot seat for 15 minutes before being knocked off by former junior world TT medalist Jasha Sütterlin (Thüringer Energie), who took an 18 second chunk out of Baldo. Eamon Frank (USA) lowered Sütterlin's time by a further four seconds but the leader's from yesterday's stage were still to come.

As the stage wore on, the wind began to pick up and while this would affect rider's times for the stage, the 26 leading riders from yesterday's stage were fighting it out amongst themselves to determine the G.C. The 18-year old Swede Ludvigsson was on a mission and quickly caught the first rider ahead of him and then caught the rider that was ahead of him and kept plowing ahead. By the time that Ludvigsson crossed the line, he nearly caught the 3rd rider ahead of him and took an outstanding 19 seconds off Franck's time. According to his DS, Ludvigsson was nearly skidding through the turns in his biggest gear, which is incredible for a rider as young as he is. With Ludvigsson's dominate stage victory, the G.C. looked like this heading into the final stage.

1. Frederik Ludvigsson (People4You-Unaas)
2. Berden De Vries (Jo Plies) +26"
3. André Steensen (CULT Energy) +29"
4. Lukasz Wisniowski (Etixx-iHNed) +1'01"
5. Sjors Roosen (Jo Plies) +1'16"

Full stage results and GC

The final afternoon stage was flat and fast affair that saw lots of attacking but none that put Ludvigsson in much danger. A breakaway of six riders controlled much of the early racing on the 132.5km stage to  Mont Saint Eloi but with 25 km to go, the move was shut down as 18 riders, including race leader Ludvigsson, moved ahead of the peloton on the ascent of the Mont Saint ELoi but they were brought back by a CULT Energy-led peloton with 12km to go. A three man move of yesterday's stage winner Louis Verhelst (Etixx-iHNed) Leonardo Pinozzotto (Nippo) and Max Schachmann (Thüringer Energie) jumped ahead and took nearly 30 seconds on the peloton. With the finish lying on an uphill of   Mont Saint Eloi, the gap began to drop significantly as the group, with the trio having just 11 seconds as they hit the final uphill kilometer. Pinozzotto was the strongest and was able to stay solo and take the win ahead of a charging group at 3 seconds led by Florian Sénéchal (Etixx) which contained an ecstatic Ludvigsson.

Leonardo Pinozzoto holds on for the solo victory over the front group

1. Leonardo Pinozzotto (Nippo)
2. Florian Sénéchal (Etixx-iHNed) +3"
3. Johan Coenen (Differdange) s.t.
4. Anthony Colin  s.t.
5. Frederik Ludvigsson (People4You) s.t.

As Ludvigsson benefitted from the uphill finish, he was able to put more time into nearly all of his rivals. 

1. Frederik Ludvigsson (People4You-Unaas)
2. Berden De Vries (Jo Plies) +26"
3. André Steensen (CULT Energy) +54"
4. Lukasz Wisniowski (Etixx-iHNed) +1'17"
5. Clement Lhotellerie (Colba-Superano Ham) +1'21"

Ludvigsson will continue to smash more races this season as his combination of time trialling and solid climbing is lethal in most U23-oriented races. 

Triptyque: Silvestre snatches overall victory from Craddock

The final stage of Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux had a bit of everything in it: strong attacks, great teamwork, furious climbing and strong sprinting. If I could pick a U23 stage to be broadcast, it would have been this one. But you know what? I doubt that anyone will look twice at these results because a) this is not a race talked up by the mainstream cycling media and b) the final stage was running concurrently with the much less exciting Ronde van Vlaanderen. RvV is my favorite race of the entire year but since Flanders Classics neutered the route, the racing has been less than exceptional to watch. With only one second separating race leader Lawson Craddock from Jeroen Lepla and three seconds from Fabio Silvestre, the racing was expected to be incredible and it did not dissapoint.

A group of four riders that included former US collegiate champion Alister Ratcliff (3M) Boris Vallee (ColorCode-Biowanze) Antoine Demoitie (Ventilair-Steria) and Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev (Astana CT) escaped from the peloton early in the stage and controlled the early racing. The 21-year old Kozhatayev dominated the climbs as he took an astonishing eight KOM sprints today (out of 10) as he easily racked up enough points to take home the overall climber's jersey. With a little over 75 kilometers left, a group of three that included Ruben Zepuntke (Rabobank Devo), who was just 25 seconds off the lead of Craddock, attacked and eventually bridged to the breakaway. With 55km to go, Silvestre's Leopard-Trek ramped up the pace as they were keen on bringing the breakaway back so that Silvestre could have a chance at taking the overall back from Craddock. Within 15 kilometers, Leopard-Trek shut down the breakaway and at 31 kilometers to go, Silverstre won the 4th intermediate sprint of the day, which put him level with Craddock on the G.C.

Not to be outdone by Silvestre, Jeroen Lepla (Ventilair-Steria) attacked the group and tried to get a gap for the 5th intermediate sprint but was quickly brought back. As soon as he was brought back, Lawson Craddock and three other riders attacked right before the Col de la Croix Jubaru but the gap was brought back following the descent on the backside of the climb. At the 5th sprint, Silvestre was able to gain 3rd place and was now just one second ahead of Craddock. Not satisfied with 2nd place, Craddock once again attacked before the Jubaru climb, this time solo, and was joined by two riders and they led over the climb with just 10 kilometers to go. The move was short lived as they were swept up with 8 kilometers to go. As the kilometers wound down, a sprint finish was inevitable and in the end, Color Code-Biowanze rider Florent Mottet, a rider I mentioned in my preview, was able to come out on top over Daniel McLay (Lotto-Belisol U23) and Asbjorn Kragh (Denmark)

Fabio Silvestre resplendent in yellow

Top 10 (stage)

1. Florent Mottet (Color Code-Biowanze)
2. Daniel McLay (Lotto-Belisol U23)
3. Asbjorn Kragh (Denmark)
4. Marco Benfatto (Astana CT)
5. Dylan Groenewegen (De Rijke-Shanks)
6. Edward Theuns (VL Techniks)
7. Rick Zabel (Rabobank Devo)
8. Eugenio Alafaci (Leopard-Trek)
9. Maxime Farazijn (EFC-OPQS)
10. Otto Vergaerde (Ovyta-Eijssen)

Top 5 (G.C.)

1. Fabio Silvestre (Leopard-Trek)
2. Lawson Craddock (USA) +1"
3. Jeroen Lepla (Ventilair-Steria) +2"
4. Tim Declercq (Topsport Vlaanderen) +6"
5. Eugenio Alafaci (Leopard-Trek) +16"

FULL RESULTS

I cannot praise the racing by both Leopard-Trek and the USA National squad enough. Leopard-Trek had three riders within the top 15 but they had their game plan of getting Silvestre bonus seconds and they stuck to it and made it happen. The USA national team did pretty much everything possible to keep Craddock in yellow but when you come up against a better sprinter, what can you do?

Other notes...

• Craddock really impressed me this week. He changed his approach this season and started out slower than usual and focused much more on building his base. After yesterday's afternoon stage and his aggressive riding today, he really proved himself that he could be one of the big American riders for the future. 
• Jeroen Lepla was a standout performer this weekend. After yesterday's stage, he said that he had a great winter and felt that he had jumped up another level with his training. It definitely showed this weekend as he was active in every stage.
• Silvestre will be getting a pro contract next season. He was 4th overall at Tour de Normandie and his performance here really showed that he is ready for the next level.
• Florent Mottet surprised me as I thought this course would be too hard for him. Mottet took his 2nd win of the year while Daniel McLay continued his impressive early season with his 2nd place here today.

Verhelst brings in Etixx-iHNed's maiden UCI victory

Louis Verhelst

Louis Verhelst (Etixx-iHNed) sprinted to victory in the small town of Hesdin in the first stage of Boucle de l'Artois, giving his team their first ever UCI-rated victory on the road. The Czech squad benefitted by having 4 riders in a 26-man leading group that was able to separate themselves from the peloton late in the stage. The 22-year old is coming off a strong Volta ao Alentejo where he featured in multiple breakaways.

The race was animated from the very beginning where an early breakaway was out front for nearly 100 kilometers before Etixx-iHNed ramped the pace up with around 90 kilometers to go, shattering the peloton and leaving a group of 43 riders up front. With only 6 rider teams, kudos must be given to Etixx for being able to break the race up that way they did. For the rest of the race, attacks would be launched from this group but nothing was able to stick until later in the stage as the main peloton began to bear down on the lead group. With 20km to go, Florian Sénéchal attacked the lead group and was followed by nine riders (out of the 46 rider lead group). 17 more riders bridged up with 11km to go in the stage, which gave Etixx four riders (out of 6) in the front group. No attacks were allowed to get out on the final lap of the finishing circuit and with the help of his teammates, Verhelst was able to sprint to the victory. Interestingly, Gerry Druyts of EFC-OPQS, another development team connected to the OPQS WT squad, finished 2nd in the sprint.

Verhelst (l) beats his close friend Gerry Druyts (r)

Top 10

1. Louis Verhelst (Etixx Ihned)
2. Gerry Druyts (EFC Omega Pharma)
3. Alberto Checchin (Nippo De Rosa)
4. Rolf Nyborg Broge (Designa Kokken)
5. Berden De Vries (Jo Piels)
6. Sascha Weber (Differdange Losch)
7. César Bihel (Differdange Losch)
8. Giorgio Brambilla (Atlas Personal - Jakroo)
9. Alexander Kamp Egested (Cult Energy)
10. Michael Olsson (People4You UNAAS)

Other riders that made the leading selection include Etixx's Dieter Bouvry and Lukasz Wisniowski, Alex Frame (Thüringer Energie) and Oscar Landa (Oster Hus-Ridley) among others. With his win, Verhelst is now in the race's pink leaders jersey but according to a post race interview with directvelo.com, he said that he doesn't think he will be able to hold the jersey after tomorrow morning's time trial and the team will most likely put their overall hopes on Pole Lukasz Wisniowski.  Full results will be posted when they are available...

Carolus sprints to opening stage victory at Triptyque

Jorne Carolus taking it all in (Photo: DirectVelo)

Belgian U23 RR Champion Jorne Carolus (Lotto-Belisol U23) won the opening stage of the Triptyque Monts et Châteaux stage race Friday ahead of Marco Benfatto (Astana CT) and Justin Van Hoecke (Wallonie-Bruxelles). The race itself was dominated by early breakaway groups that took all of the KOM spots and intermediate sprints before the peloton shut things down. The group of 4 that included Tanner Putt (USA) Nurbulat Kulimbetov (Astana CT) Tiesj Benoot (Lotto-Belisol U23) and Adrian Gjolberg (Norway) remained out front for the last half of the race as Gjolberg took 3 out of 5 KOM spots to lock up the climber's jersey for tomorrow.

The peloton, who knew that today might be the only day for a bunch sprint, was keen to control the breakaway and never gave them a big gap and on the final big, flat circuit of the day, they were keen on bringing them back. The breakaway wasn't going to give it up easy either as they kept a gap into the final kilometers and going into flamme rogue, they still had 8 seconds on the peloton. Well I already gave away the thrilling conclusion...the peloton caught them with 300 meters to go and flew by them in full sprint. Carolus benefitted from having a teammate in the breakaway and was able to sit comfortably in the bunch without exerting too much. He was brought up to the front with a few kilometers to go by teammate Frederik Frison and launched his sprint with about 250 meters to go.

1. Jorne Carolus (Lotto-Belisol U23)
2. Marco Benfatto (Astana CT)
3. Justin Van Hoecke (Wallonie-Bruxelles)
4. Boris Vallee (Color Code-Biowanze)
5. Bert van Lerberghe (Ventilair-Steria)
6. Edward Theuns (VL Technics)
7. Maxime Farazijn (EFC-OPQS)
8. Asbjorn Kragh Andersen (Denmark)
9. Nick van der Lijke (Rabobank Devo)
10. Nicolas Bertuille (Ottignies-Perwez)

A few notes...

• Carolus is a pretty shrewd character for his age. He was thinking about leaving Lotto U23 this past off season as he was a bit of a hot commodity with his U23 RR Championship but when they renegotiated their terms, he twisted some arms into being guaranteed a stagiaire position with the Lotto-Belisol WT squad this August. Not too bad for a 21-year old. 
• Benfatto has been having a consistent year sprinting so far with five top-5 placings so far but has not been able to seal the deal. This is a make-or-break year for him as he is 25 this season.
• There were a surprising amount of DNF's today including some bigger names like Wouter Wippert (3M), Oskar Svedsen (Norway) and Alex Kirsch (Leopard-Trek). Wippert gets a free pass as he just came off the Driedaagse De Panne but something seems off about him.

Tomorrow morning is the split stage that includes a 10km TT in the morning followed by a hilly road stage in the afternoon.