Are we back in 2010? Did the flux capacitor hit 1.21 gigawatts while he went 88 mph? Okay, maybe Coen Vermeltfoort didn't go that fast today but the De Rijke-Shanks rider looks to be back to the form that got him a place on the Rabobank World Tour team in the first place. Vermeltfoort absolutely stomped the breezy prologue in Katwijk today as he was one of only four riders to go under 4 minutes on the 3.2 kilometer course and beat a trio of Australians on his way to his 6th Olympia's Tour stage win.
The prologue in Katwijk started off the 61st Olympia's Tour and even though there was a lot of strong riders here to contend for the win, there was no clear favorite. Obviously the Australians would be strong as the majority of them have a pursuit background but with riders such as Vermeltfoort, Dylan van Baarle (Rabobank Development) and others, there were no guaranteed victoires.
Early on in the race, it was Australian Alex Morgan who took the lead and was the first man to go under four minutes. Morgan was 4th place in the junior world TT championships last season in Valkenburg and was World Champion this year in the elite men's team pursuit at just 18 years of age. It wasn't until Vermeltfoort stormed across the line until the Australian was unseated.
Vermeltfoort and his treetrunk quads in the hot seat (via Olympia's Tour twitter)
There was a strange event during today's race that paused the action for a while. A plastic inflatable, the ones that are usually seen at the side of the road with 1km to go banners and other places, blew over onto the road and neutralized the race for a while. Once the proceedings got underway again, it was the Australians that were knock, knock, knocking on the Dutch door as Damien Howson and Mitchell Mulhern came within two seconds of Vermeltfoort.
Last year's reigning champion Dylan van Baarle was no match for the strong man from Overijssel as he only managed 13th, 9 seconds back, which is still a very good performance and van Baarle will have his eyes set on the longer TT later in the week. Vermeltfoort got his 3rd UCI win in the last month and yet another boost of confidence after his bad luck-ridden two years at Rabobank.
In one of the most astonishing team performances that I can remember, the Australian national team put 7(!!) riders in the top 10. Seven. Seven riders finished within 4 seconds of each other. Wow.
Top 10 Prologue Katwijk-Katwijk
Coen Vermeltfoort (De Rijke-Shanks)
Damien Howson (Australia) +2"
Mitchell Mulhern (Australia) s.t.
Alex Morgan (Australia) +3"
Cameron Karwowski (New Zealand) +5"
Jesper Asselman (Metec) s.t.
Campbell Flakemore (Australia) s.t.
Glenn O'Shea (Australia) s.t.
Adam Phelan (Australia) s.t.
Bradley Linfield (Australia) +6"
Other notables include...
13. Dylan van Baarle (Rabobank Devo) +9"
18. Robin Chaigneau (Koga) +10"
25. Brian van Goethem (Metec) +13"
43. Berden De Vries +19"
104. Jesper Hansen (CULT Energy) +34"
Tuesday's stage is a flat affair which should end up in a bunch sprint at the finish in Hoofdorp but this being the Netherlands, a crosswind could break that up fairly quickly.
With about 935 races finishing up this weekend, it was busy on the results watching front. Lots happened so let us catch up with the weekend that was...
Flèche du Sud
Michael Valgren takes the stage 3 win (Photo:feltet.dk)
When we left off last, Michael Valgren (CULT Energy) won the 3rd stage in a breakaway ahead of Mirco Saggriorato (EKZ) and Joey Rosskopf (Hincapie Devo). Valgren took over the overall lead from fellow Dane Kristian Haugaard (Leopard-Trek).
Saturday's stage was a taste of Luxembourg with short, punchy hills abound and an uphill finish. With 40 meters gained in the final half kilometer, the peloton or what was left of it broke up and only a group of 15 made it to the line together. It was Alberto Cecchin (Nippo-De Rosa) who took the win over (who else) Eugenio Alafaci (Leopard-Trek) and Johan Coenen (Differdange). All three GC contenders stayed with the front group.
Sunday's stage saw an incredibly fast finish (nearly 60 km/h average for the final 3km) but a bunch sprint was foiled by a crafty move on the finishing loops. With three laps to go in the race, Oscar Clark (Hincapie Devo), Alex Kirsch (Leopard-Trek) Clemens Fankhauser (Tirol), Alexander Foliforov (Helicopters) and Nikola Aistrup (Concordia) made a move together and got a gap. It was Clark and Foliforov who managed to attack the bunch and held off the bunch with Clark winning Hincapie Devo's first European race. Behind, it was the beastly Simon Yates (Team GB) winning the bunch sprint for 3rd.
Michael Valgren wrapped up the overall GC with Saggiorato in 2nd and Rosskopf in 3rd. Thanks to ever consistent finishes (albeit with no wins), Eugenio Alafaci (Leopard-Trek) wrapped up the points jersey while teammate Alex Kirsch got the KOM crown. This is Valgren's 3rd UCI win of the season and I will be surprised if he isn't picked up by a Pro Conti/World Tour squad for next year.
Giro della Regioni Friuli-Venezia Giulia
After Friday's uphill finish into Claut, it was time to go into the mountains on Saturday. It wasn't a particularly 'epic' stage with only two categorized climbs but the finish was on the Monte Matajur, right on the border with Slovenia.
After a scenic, rainy journey to the base of Monte Matajur, the group was wittled down to only 6 with approximately 5km to go when Daniele Dall'Oste (Trevigiani) attacked. At 3km to go, it was Slovenian Jan Polanc (Radenska) and Austrian Riccardo Zoidl (Gourmetfein-Simplon) who bridged up to the Italian. With two km to go, it was Polanc who put in a hellacious attack that dropped Zoidl immediately and then dropped Dall'Oste soon after. Polanc went through the red kite with a gap and climbed up through the picturesque forest of the Julian Alps and as he climbed to the summit of the mountain that straddled the border with his home country, Polanc let loose an exuberant celebration as he won brilliantly. Dall'Oste hung on for 2nd while Ivan Rovny (Ceramica Flaminia) passed Riccardo Zoidl for 3rd.
With Polanc resplendent in the white leader's jersey, the race wrapped up Sunday with a 40-rider sprint into Corno di Rosazzo with Zalf-Euromobil's Paolo Simion and his ginger hair taking the victory. It was Simion's 4th victory of the season and for his efforts, he took home the points jersey. Polanc finished safely in the bunch and took his first overall stage race win in his career.
Top 10 overall
Jan Polanc (Radenska)
Daniele Dall'Oste (Trevigiani) +25"
Ivan Rovny (Ceramica Flaminia) +28"
Riccardo Zoidl (Gourmetfein-Simplon) +35"
Andrea Manfredi (Ceramica Flaminia) +1:07"
Davide Orrico (Colpack) +2:07"
Andrei Krasilnikau (Belarus) +2:25"
Matija Kvasina (Gourmetfein-Simplon) s.t.
Matteo Fedi (Ceramica Flaminia) +3:16"
Roberto Giacobazzi (General Store) +3:22"
**U23 riders in bold
Tour de Berlin
While the G.C. was essentially all said and done, the main reason that the Tour de Berlin should be followed was still to come...the sprints. Berlin and its surrounding area are not known for their hills and, while not to discount the G.C. riders here, the sprinters are really the main attraction. Past winners and high finishers in sprints here in the recent past include Bryan Coquard (Europcar), Rüdiger Selig (Katusha), Kris Boeckmans (Vacansoleil), Leigh Howard (GreenEdge) and superstars such as Mark Cavendish (OPQS) and Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol).
The next big German sprinter?
Willi Willwohl of LKT Brandenburg
After finishing 6th on the first stage, Willi Willwohl (LKT Brandenburg) took out Friday's bunch gallop and being only 18, it was a fantastic result. But really...could he win another stage? Well to prove any doubters wrong, the young man from Cottbus took the final two stages during the weekend. Willwohl took out stage four ahead of Stölting's Phil Bauhaus and Rad-Net Rose's Pascal Ackermann while on Sunday, the speedster beat out Philipp Zwingenberger and Ackermann again to cap off an amazing week.
It should be noted that the team that Willwohl rides for, LKT Brandenburg, is primarily a track squad and Willwohl has track roots in the pursuit and points race. Willwohl was 2nd in the German junior national RR last year but he never had any huge results as a junior that screamed "Talent over here!". His track background and team shouldn't bother anyone in terms of development. LKT Brandenburg also had guys such as Nikias Arndt and Roger Kluge in the past and both have transferred to the road well.
Mathias Møller (Blue Water) wrapped up the overall GC ahead of Sjors Roosen (Jo Piels) and Blue Water teammate Lasse Norman Hansen, winner of the stage two TT.
Other results from around the world...
Bontrager teammates Jasper Stuyven and Tanner Putt went 5th and 10th in the first stage of the Amgen Tour of California. On what was an incredibly hot day, the Bontrager team performed better than most teams as they got 5 riders into the front group. Beastly performance by Axel Merckx's men and keep looking for them in the week ahead.
Niccolo Bonifazio (Viris Maserati) took another win, his 3rd of the year, in a sprint over Trevigiani's Liam Bertazzo and Marco Mazzetto (Coppi Gazzerra) in the GP Camon on Sunday. Bonifazio signed an agreement with Lampre-Merida last season, along with Jan Polanc, that should see them stagiaire with the squad this fall and turn pro with them in 2014. The only reason I say should is because I know deals such as this can fall through so nothing is set in concrete.
Mark Dzamastagic (Sava) took out the final stage of the Rhône-Alpes Isère Tour in a bunch sprint over former World Junior cyclocross champion Clément Venturini and Kevin Reza (Europcar). Dzamastagic can be remembered for his 2nd place in the ZLM Tour behind Yoeri Havik this April. Martijn Tusveld (Rabobank Development) won the youth classification overall for the race, finishing 17th behind winner Nico Sijmens (Cofidis) at 3'26".
Triptyque Ardennaise is a three-day stage race through, you guessed it, the Ardennes of Wallonie. Dylan Teuns (Ventilair-Steria) won the first day out of a group of 8 including Jèrôme Baugnies (ToWin-Josan) with Boris Vallee (ColorCode-Biowanze) took the field sprint for 9th, 14 seconds back. Baugnies got his revenge on Saturday's stage two by taking an impressive win in Eupen over Frederik Backaert (EFC-OPQS) and Stefan Küng (BMC Development) after the trio broke away from their breakaway group on a stage that saw 12 categorized climbs. With a nice lead but without a strong team, Baugnies was isolated on stage three. Starting the stage only 1 second ahead of Backaert, Baugnies spent his day covering the EFC-OPQS man but while he did that, a breakaway including Silvan Dillier (BMC) and Stig Broeckx (Lotto-Belisol) got away up the road to contest the stage win. Baugnies, to protect his lead, took over the pace making to keep Broeckx from usurping him. Dillier beat out Broeckx in the sprint for the stage win while Baugnies kept his slender lead. This was Baugnies' 10th win in a season that is a tale of redemption for the former Pro Continental rider with Topsport Vlaanderen and NetApp, who is trying to get back to that professional level and doing his best to show off his skills.
Alright, that'll do for now. Read my twitter timeline @Vlaanderen90 to see a short preview of the Olympia's Tour, which starts Monday with a prologue. Until next time.
As the title states, Danish riders have been doing quite well for themselves the past couple of days since we last spoke. After Kristian Haugaard won the opening stage to Flèche du Sud, the Leopard-Trek rider went 2nd on the 2nd stage of Fléche du Sud, which was won by Mauro Richeze of Nippo. Do you think the Danes were done in Luxembourg? NOPE.
The 3rd stage of the Fléche du Sud, a lumpy and rolling stage to Clervaux, saw double Liege-Bastogne-Liege winner Michael Valgren drop his breakaway companions of Mirco Saggiorato (EKZ) and Joey Rosskopf (Hincapie Development) right near the end and take the win and the overall lead. The Danes are taking over Luxembourg! To be fair, Dane Lasse Bøchman won this event in 2010 and 2011 so this isn't their first invasion. The trio above gained 1:08 over the chasing peloton, which totalled only 34 riders. These three should be vying for GC unless someone goes on the attack.
-Another interesting note from this stage is Eugenio Alafaci's 5th place. Yeah, yeah I know...5th place. Woop di do. Well we are only in May and this is Alafaci's 17th top 10 stage placing. Another interesting point is that Alafaci hasn't come 1st or 2nd in a race yet this year. The Leopard-Trek rider is incredibly consistent but he hasn't overcome the hump yet in terms of victories.
Were the Danes done? NOPE. The Scandanavian invasion went to Germany next for the Tour de Berlin. The first stage was a relatively flat loop around the Berlin suburb of Birkenwerder but even with this, a breakaway was still able to get away. A group of 4 including Timo Roosen (De Jonge Renner), Mathias Moller (Blue Water), Odd Christian Eiking (Norway) and Sjors Roosen (Jo Piels) took it to the line with Timo taking the win over Moller.
The 2nd day featured with a split stage with a short morning TT followed by a road stage. You should already know who won seeing as this is a theme post. You're right! A Dane! This time it was the fast man from Faaborg, Lasse Norman Hansen, the Olympic Gold Medalist in the track omnium, who beat out Sjors Roosen and Blue Water teammate Mathias Moller. With his 2nd place on stage two, Moller took the overall lead with Roosen only 6 seconds back and Hansen in 3rd. On a down note, one of the big favorites, Stölting's Silvio Herklotz, had to pull out because of an overnight sickness, which is a bummer seeing as this is his home race. The afternoon stage saw alliterative first year espoir Willi Willworth (LKT Brandenburg) take the bunch sprint win over the Stölting duo of Jan Dieteren and Phil Bauhaus.
The current GC looks like this:
1) Mathias Moller (Blue Water)
2) Sjors Roosen (Jo Piels) +4
3) Lasse Norman Hansen (Blue Water) +18
4) Steven Lammertink (Jo Piels) +29
5) Jochem Hoekstra (Jo Piels) +35
Okay, I promise I am done with the Danes for now. Quickly, let us fly south to Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
Thursday's 2nd stage saw Colpack's Niccola Ruffoni take a 2nd stage win in a row, this time ahead of Ruben Geerinckx (Ovyta-Eijssen) and Paolo Simion (Zalf-Euromobil). If we take a look at the video, you can see that Simion (center-green) got an amazing leadout from his teammate Gianluca Milani but didn't have the finishing power to go from 200 meters out and was overhauled before the line.
Friday's stage finally said goodbye to the flats and headed for the hills. A slight uphill into Claut saw the practically ancient Paolo Colonna (1987) keep the Colpack train rolling as he edged out rival Trevigiani rider Daniele Dall'Oste and former Russian wunderkind Ivan Rovny (Ceramica Flaminia). Thanks to bonuses, Michael Schweizer (NSP-Ghost) took the overall lead over Edward Theuns (VL Techniks) and future Lampre rider Jan Polanc (Radenska). As of now there are about 27 riders left with a chance for GC and with no TT, it will come down to the weekend to decide the tight race.
P.S. Watch that video ^^ Some spectacular scenery. Really, what other race has strade bianchi and a road that goes through a tunnel that pops out on a spectacular lake?
There is so much racing this weekend that it'll be hard to keep up. All three of these races will be going on while there is racing all over the place in Europe and the Tour of California starts this week, which will need to be watched because of Bontrager's presence in the race. I'll be trying to keep up but we shall see how that goes.
Dane Kristian Haugaard surprised the sprinters and took a fantastic solo win for the hometown Leopard-Trek squad. Haugaard, who isn't a bad sprinter usually, went really hard going into the final kilometer and no one was able to come around him. In 2nd was young Alex Darville, only in his first espoirs season, while 3rd was Argentinian ried Mauro Richeze (Nippo). Haugaard is having a fantastic year in his final U23 year as he was 5th in the Ronde van Vlaanderen Nations Cup and 4th in La Côte Picarde and was 7th overall in the Istrian Spring Trophy in March. Leopard-Trek comes here with a stacked team as this is a home race that they desperately want to win.
The 1st stage was more of a prologue than anything as it was only 82 kilometers around the town of Roeser, which is situated in the south in Esch-sur-Alzette. A group of four, including Oscar Clark (Hincapie Development), Christian Helmig (Differdange) and Jasper Ockeloen (Parkhotel) (I CANNOT FIND THE OTHER BREAK RIDER AND IT IS BUGGING ME) spent the majority of the day away as they were up front for over 60km of the 82km.
The break was brought back with just under 10km to go and then the peloton turned the dial to 11 and the pace became frantic. Luxembourgish rider Alex Kirsch (Leopard-Trek) hit the deck with 4km to go, apparently due to a Nippo rider getting into his way but didn't suffer any major damage. Coming into the final k, Haugaard found a gap and hit is hard and didn't look back and took his first win of the season. Post race, Haugaard was relieved to finally take his first win and get that monkey off his back.
There seems to be next to no coverage on the race so results are still hard to come by.
Top 5 Stage 1 Roeser - Roeser
1. Kristian Haugaard (Leopard-Trek)
2. Alex Darville (US National)
3. Mauro Richeze (Nippo)
4. Federico Pozzetto (Tirol)
5. Owain Doull (GB National)
Fleche du Sud might not sound like much but look at this group of winners from this race: Charly Gaul, Acácio da Silva, Alex Zülle, Kim Kirchen, Bradley Wiggins, Geraint Thomas, Andy Schleck and Bob Jungels. That doesn't include any famous stage winners either!
Giro della Regioni Friuli Venezia Giulia Stage 1
Nicola Ruffoni (Colpack) got the race started off well for his team by taking a tight sprint over Filippo Baggio (Ceramica Flaminia) into Mereto di Tomba to kick of the 2013 Giro della Regioni Friuli Venezia Giulia. The name might be a mile long but it is simply the tour of the far northwestern region (Friuli Venezia Giulia) that abuts Slovenia and Austria.
The racing started off very quick as many tried to attack but with over a 50 kilometer average in the first hour, nothing was getting off the front. The course was nearly all flat except for a small climb near the middle, a climb won by Ruffoni's Colpack teammate Davide Orrico. While there was a group of 16 that got off the front during the middle bit of the race, they were brought back as Orrico summited the 4th category climb at 78.5 kilometers. With finishing loops around the finishing town of Mereto di Tomba, the peloton was not letting a big group get much of a gap. A group of 8, including Tour de Bretagne and Circuit des Ardennes winner Riccardo Zoidl (Gourmetfein-Simplon). This group lasted until the last 12 kilometer lap and was swallowed up with 6 kilometers to go as the sprinter's teams were trying to ramp up the pace.
To say this sprint was chaotic...well that is a downright understatement. No organization whatsoever. Hell, Filippo Baggio was EVERYWHERE in the final 200 meters and had to come across multiple riders in the final few meters to get 2nd. Nicola Ruffoni stuck to the inside and got his 3rd victory of the season, a welcome site for the team that has been relegated to the lower steps of the podium so many times this year.
1st Nicola Ruffoni (Colpack) 3h41'09 " 2nd Filippo Baggio (Ceramica Flaminia) 3rd David Gomirato (Podenzano) 4th Edward Theuns (VL Technis Abutrlek) 5th Hanis Dakteris (CCD Team Differdange Losch) 6th Andrea Dal Col (Treviso Dynamon Bottoli) 7th Paul Simion (Euromobil Zalf Desiree Fior) 8th Emiljano Stojku (Albania) 9th Jan Sokol (Team Gourmetfein Simplon) 10th Ruben Geerinkx (Ovyta Eijssen)
Tomorrow should be another sprint stage, this time into the the town of Pordenone.
REMINDER: Tour de Berlin starts tomorrow with a 164km romp around the suburb of Birkenwerder. Unless someone can pull a good U23 Marcel Kittel impression, it will be a sprint.
The beginning of May had about five thousand different stages races happening at once and unless you paid attention to a particular race, any results just passed over glazed over eyes without much analysis. Just for the sake of time, I won't be going into the minutia of the race as much since there were 4 stage races running concurrently with one another that had some big U23 talent in them.
Tour de Azerbaijan
We saw the commercials on Eurosport for the first few months of the year about the Tour de Azerbaijan, an attempt by the corrupt government to promote Azerbaijan (i.e. Baku) tourism and attempt to get it back to its former level, where Baku was seen as the gem of the Caspian. Since the fall of communism and the hellacious Nagorno=-Karabakh War between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the country had fallen on hard times but thanks to oil money, Baku is getting back a bit of its former reputation. I might sound very negative about this part of the world but I have done research on Azerbaijan before (oil workers during the turn of the 20th century) and I love the country and the people. I just don't love the Aliyev family, who has ruled Azerbaijan for the majority of the last 50 years. Funnily enough, last year's version of this race was named the Heydar Aliyev Anniversary Tour, in honor of the late tyrant. Now that I have ruined any chance of being invited to the Tour of Azerbaijan, let's get to the race.
Azerbaijan is quite flat around Baku but once you live the city, it can get hilly fast. The first stage was won by the hometown team as Baku Synergy's Christoph Schweizer surprised the sprinters and held them off for an impressive victory. The 2nd stage started at sea level in Baku but climbed and climbed before reaching the highlands into Ismyaili...decimation is a word that fits quite well in what happened. A group of twenty two broke away from the peloton and created a big gap over the peloton. While Serhiy Grechyn got away in the end, it was an impressive performance by Astana Continental's climber Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev, who was able to go 3rd on the stage. Kozhatayev has had a wonderful season so far in the U23 ranks and I really hope this is a talent that can transition into the pros.
After a tame stage three, the fourth stage was utterly brutal for the racers as they made their way up to the Pirqulu Observatory. Jan Hirt (Leopard-Trek) jumped away from Rabobank Development's Jasper Bovenhuis and Baku Synergy's Connor McConvey on the penultimate climb and laid down some serious power to extend his lead to over 4 minutes by the time he summited the Observatory climb.
Hirt only joined Leopard-Trek midway through last year but he has the talent to climb with the pros, as evident by his ride here and his efforts in the Giro di Padania queen stage last year, where he was 11th after being dropped late by the leading group containing guys such as Betancur and Nibali. His Leopard-Trek teammate Sean De Bie, who helped Hirt early in the 4th stage, showed well on the final stage in Baku where he was 2nd in the final sprint to World Tour Tomas Vaitkus, who was riding for the Lithuanian National team.
The G.C. was largely decided by the 2nd stage breakaway with young riders such as Kozhatayev (3rd), Rabobank cyclocrosser Lars van der Haar (5th), Efapel-Glassdrive's Joni Brandao, Hirt in 8th and Astana CT's Zhandos Bizhigitov in 9th. Take a look down the rankings though and you will find some nice gems. While he missed the decisive breakaway, Merhawi Kudus (UCI Cycling Centre/Eritrea) finished 22nd overall and rode very strong for a team that has little to no consistent support. Ireland's Connor McConvey rode strong on stage 4 and won the KOM jersey, which is a nice result for the Baku Synergy squad and a positive sign of things to come for the young Irishman.
Tour of the Gila
In a desert far, far away from from Azerbaijan, American racing took on one of the more prestigious events of the year in the town of Silver City, New Mexico. Up at nearly 6,000 feet of elevation, this race is quite a shock to the system for those that are not fans of altitude. Gila is really known for three stages: the opening Mongollon stage, the TT and the closing Gila Monster stage, which makes everyones legs give them a last chance to scream at them. While stage racing isn't the heart of American racing by any means, this race has had a huge amount of talent pass through it. This year's edition was no different as both the BMC Development team and Bontrager showed up to throw down.
The first stage saw the race go up the Mongollon Pass and while Jamis-Hagens Berman Javier Acevedo won the stage up the road, a trio of Bontrager riders in Gavin Mannion, Lawson Craddock and Nathan Wilson led home the young riders, taking 9th, 10th and 11th.
Arnaud Grand of BMC Development took the 2nd stage of the race after Johnny Clarke (United Healthcare) nearly ran him into the barriers and was deservingly DQed.
More strong performances on the young riders front in the 26 kilometer TT as Tour de Normandie winner Silvan Dillier (BMC Devo) went 3rd, Lawson Craddock (Bontrager) 4th and Bissell's Carter Jones went 6th.
After suffering from mononucleosis throughout 2011, Kiel Reijnen is probably the most underrated American racer of the last two years. Reijnen stormed the 2010 Asian Tour with Jelly Belly but went through a so-so time with Team Type 1 before landing at United Healthcare. The Washington native has consistently performed on a multitude of courses and deserves a bigger role. Reijnen took the stage four win over youngster (and arrogant and stupid) teammate Luke Keough with Optum's young sprinter Eric Young rounding out the podium.
Remember how I just said Reijnen was underrated? Bissell's Phil Gaimon was an out of shape gamer when he was 18 but after dedicating himself to getting into better shape, he took to cycling and went from a cat-5 to a cat-1 in just a year. After having some up and down results, Gaimon came into his own last year and even after a crash this year at the San Dimas Stage Race, this writer believes that Gaimon will be headed for the big time next year. I mention him because even after just coming back from a crash, Gaimon attacked the Gila Monster stage and drew out an elite selection of three others. While Gaimon eventually faltered (as dopehead Paco Mancebo won) and finished 4th, his performance was memorable. Behind, it was young Gavin Mannion who attacked the peloton and distanced race leader Javier Acevedo on the finishing climb to finish 5th.
I have to admit that I was surprised to see it was Philip Deignan who took the overall honors here. Wasn't this guy 9th in the Vuelta just a few years ago? How far people can fall but it is good to see him back in the winner's circle. Mannion sewed up the young riders jersey after his impressive climbing on the Gila Monster stage while Carter Jones rolled in 8th overall and Nathan Wilson 10th.
California will definitely be interesting as Bontrager will be lining up with a strong roster that might be able to challenge for a stage win.
Carpathian Couriers Tour & Szlakiem Grodòw Piastowskich
How do I go about doing this lightly...hmmm...Okay. Poland has five stage races, which isn't bad for a country that size and with their economy and so forth. So why the fuck would you schedule two stage races that overlap each other? Honestly, why would you do this? The Carpathian Couriers Tour is a U23 stage race and should be trying to attract some big U23 talent, no? So why is Silvio Herklotz and his Stölting team at Szlakiem? Along with Etixx-iHNed, Sava and others. But let's not get away from the main point...WHY ARE THESE RACES SCHEDULED TOGETHER?!? Literally, schedule one just a week later and you could draw some better teams for Carpathian Couriers and Szlakiem could be a logical follow up for some of those U23 teams that wanted to test themselves.
Szlakiem is a legit pro race and young riders were spit out without any remorse. Silvio Herklotz had one bad day but after his great 1st stage, Herklotz settled for 12th overall and won the white jersey over Etixx-iHNed's Patrick Konrad. Etixx-iHNed's Norwegian Daniel Hoelgaard was close to knocking off the sprint juggernaut that is Tino Thömel (NSP-Ghost) but had to settle for 2nd.
What is there to take away from Carpathian Couriers? Boris Vallee is quick. Slovakian Michael Kolar took his 3rd win of the year for his Dukla Trencin Trek squad. These wins need to be taken with a grain of salt though because honestly, the competition level is slightly lower than western Europe. Other than this? I honestly cannot draw much from here. It just really annoyed me that they could do so much with this race and well...they don't. I know there are limitations with money and logistics but really...this could be fixed quite easily.
Look forward to more coverage from the Fleche du Sud and the Giro della Regioni Friuli-Venezia-Giulia stage races. There should be no worries about a lack of talent here...these races will promise to be awesome. Also, the latter usually has some kick ass highlights, with last year's race getting 20 minute stage recaps. My addiction is getting bad when this is making me slightly salivate. Until then...
Your fearless writer has been a bit busy this week since I've had to start a new 9-5 job and trying to fit that in with riding and this...well it has been a bit straining but I should be able to get back into the swing of things soon enough.
Let's go back to mid-week and May Day, the day where sensible Europeans give their workers the day off to celebrate their hard work...
Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn-Frankfurt: Lasse Norman Hansen (Blue Water Cycling) beat out Michael Valgren Andersen (CULT Energy) and Max Werda (Stölting) in a 4-up sprint to take his 2nd victory of the season on the road and his 2nd win in just 2 weeks. After 140 undulating kilometers around Frankfurt, a breakaway of four including Hansen, Andersen, Werda and his Stölting teammate Silvio Herklotz were out in front after breaking away from seven other riders before the finale. As they had numbers, Herklotz was dialing up the pace to lead out Werda but a miscommunication saw Werda attack as Herklotz wasn't able to keep the speed up any longer after spending the whole day out front. Andersen brought Hansen back up to Werda and Hansen launched with 200 meters to go and took the sprint.
Behind, it was Magnus Cort Nielsen (CULT Energy) who won the bunch sprint for 12th. After spending nearly the whole race out front, Herklotz picked up the mountain and sprint jerseys for his troubles.
Grote Prijs 1 Mei: De Rijke-Shanks continued their impressive season as the Dutch team swept the podium in Hoboken with former Rabobank rider Coen Vermeltfoort taking the honors over Mats Boeve and Yoeri Havik. It was the team's 5th UCI win of the season and the 2nd for Vermeltfoort, who has bounced back nicely after suffering from bad luck and injuries while with Rabobank.
Fernando Grijalba gets the magic Txapela for his Copa de España win
LXXX Clasica Santa Cruz Legazpi: Fernando Grijalba (Caja Rural Amateur) was able to steal the Copa de España overall from Airan Fernandez (Coleur) and former Andalucia pro Pablo Lettuce Lechuga (Cajamar). The final round of the CdE was a 141 kilometer romp around Legazpi but it was the final ten kilometers and the final climb that saw the race exploded. It was Santiago Ramirez (Lizarte) that attacked first followed by Lechuga, Aitor Gonzalez (Lizarte), Cristian Cañada and then Grijalba. Loïc Chetout (Naturgas) and overall leader Airan Fernandez tried to go with Grijalba but were dropped before the finish.
In the end it was Ramirez who won the 5-man sprint for the win while Grijalba finished in 5th place. With Airan Fernandez losing the sprint for 6th to Chetout, he lost his overall lead to Grijalba by a mere three seconds with Pablo Lechuga a further two points behind.
Grijalba is only the 4th rider to win the Copa de España as a U23 along with a guy named Alejandro Valverde. Grijalba also won the junior Copa de España, which makes him the only rider to win both the junior and elite/U23 classification. Watch for the rider from the Valladolid province of Castilla y Leon to move up to the Caja Rural pro team for next year.
Ronde van Overijssel: Tom Vermeer (Jo Piels) outsprinted his breakaway companions Martin Mortensen (Concordia-Riwal) and Christoph Pfingsten (De Rijke-Shanks) as the trio just barely outlasted the chasing peloton, who was lead home by Jeff Vermeulen (Metec CT).
Other results include...
Paolo Simion (Zalf-Euromobil) took his 3rd win of the year at the Circuito del Porto in a bunch sprint over Liam Bertazzo (Trevigiani) and Davide Martinelli (Food Italia). Zalf continues to roll as in two other smaller races on Sunday, they had Andrea Toniatti and Pierre Paolo Penasa take wins. Best Italian team of the first half of the season by far.
Frederik Strand Galta (Øster Hus-Ridley) won the Hadeland GP Saturday out of a breakaway of four over Stian Remme (Joker-Merida), Jesper Hansen (CULT Energy) and Frederik Ludvigsson (People4You-Unaas). The group sprint for 5th was won by Asbjørn Kragh Andersen. Sunday saw 20 year old Sondre Holst Enger (Plussbank) go 3rd in the Ringerike GP in a group sprint behind winner Reidar Borgersen (Joker-Merida) and Michael Olsson (People4you-Unaas)
That is all I have for one day races. I know it was a bit brief but don't worry...tomorrow (or later today, depending on location) you will read about the stage races that have been on going. Trust me it is going to be filled with acid. Let's just say that while I support a lot of U23 racing, you need to fucking schedule it a lot better than some races should. Until then :)
Pierre-Luc Perichon (Bretagne-Séché Environment) attacked in the final kilometers but was just able to hold off a sprinting Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-iHNed) to take his first win of the year. On a course filled with dirt roads and short, punchy climbs, the peloton did not have a parade finish to their Tour de Bretagne.
Of all people, it was Dylan van Baarle (Rabobank Development) and Julian Alaphilippe who really blew the field apart after the third sector of dirt roads, a common sight in Bretagne. Van Baarle was going very well, driving the pace and stealing the mountains jersey away from Olivier Le Gac and sewing it up for himself. While this duo was powering up ahead, race leader Riccardo Zoidl wasn't going to let this move get any more time and took the initiative multiple times to try and bring the gap of nearly two minutes down.
Zoidl and his Gourtmetfein-Simplon team continued to whittle the gap down before the Austrian attacked with Fabien Schmidt (Sojasun) and Pierre-Luc Perichon. Zoidl showed his red hot form as he drug the group up to the tired duo, nullifying a 50 second gap in only 12 minutes. The final climb into Quimperlé saw Perrichon attack and the Frenchman took a 200m advantage into the final uphill rise. Perrichon was clearly suffering as he headed up the finishing straight but was able to raise his arms in victory over a strong Julian Alaphilippe, who nearly caught him on the line. Simon Yates' twin brother Adam Yates (CC Etupes) won the chasing group sprint for 8th.
4. Dylan van Baarle (Rabobank Development) **KOM Winner
5. Riccardo Zoidl (Gourmetfein-Simplon)
Overall
1. Zoidl
2. Nick van der Lijke (Rabobank Development)
3. Jasha Sütterlin (Thüringer Energie)
4. van Baarle
5. Alaphilippe
6. Bryan Nauleau (Vendée U)
7. Perichon
8. Vegard Breen (Joker-Merida)
9. Luis Mas Bonet (Burgos-BH)
10. Juan Villegas (4-72 Colombia)
After struggling on the wicked final stage, Timothy Dupont (Ventilair-Steria) still held on to his points jersey thanks to his strong early race, just three points ahead of Alaphilippe. Today capped of a strong week for Riccardo Zoidl, who has won his last two stage races overall and truly is a big koi in a small water garden.
Other takeaways include...
Consistency was one of the big trends this week as many guys had outstanding races because they had a consistent presence in the finale. Dupont was very strong in the sprints day after day while guys like Alaphilippe, Mas and Juan Villegas were consistent over nearly the whole race.
Dylan van Baarle is a beast.
Jasha Sütterlin looks to be in line for a strong season and might be able to finally live up to the tall expectations that were set for him by some after his incredible performances in the junior ranks. German cycling still is not what it once was and Sütterlin is a key figure in the U23 scene and could play a pivotal role in the next couple of years to see if German riders can still develop into more than sprinters and classics men.
If you were not watching him before...Bryan Nauleau of the prestigious Vendée U team needs to be watched. He is a late bloomer but after his stagiaire role with Europcar last year, it will be interesting to see if they sign him to a pro deal next year.
With teammate Daan Olivier signing with Argos-Shimano, it is time to start speculating where Dylan van Baarle and Nick van der Lijke will go for next year. Hmmmm...
