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Saturday, June 21, 2014

Tour des Pays de Savoie: Simon slogs out stage 2 win; Ignatiev holds slender lead

While the stage wasn't very long at 146 kilometers, the 2nd stage of the Tour des Pays de Savoie was an absolute slog with riders coming in dribs and drabs for over a half an hour after a solo Jordi Simon crossed the line.

The long march began in Chambery, the location of the Ag2r service course as well as the home of the Chambery CF, and was flat to rolling before hitting Albertville. Early on, i.e. km 0, the stick was dropped and the pace was fierce. Over the course of the first 30 kilometers, the breakaway swelled to 30 riders that included many high on GC including Yoann Barbas (Armee de Terre), David Belda (Burgos-BH), Quentin Pacher, Andrei Krasilnikau (AVC Aix) and Mikel Itturia (Euskadi), among others, and they were pulling out multiple minutes on the yellow jersey Dmitriy Ignatiev.

The temperature was heating up on the road (up to 29 C, 84 F) while the race was heating up as well. The gap maxed out at 3 minutes before the race went up the first GPM point, the Fort du Mont, which was won by Eduoard Lauber (CC Etupes) ahead of Jimmy Turgis (Roubaix Lille Metropole) and Jordi Simon (Team Ecuador). As the race headed back down into Albertville, the gap was down to 2'30" before the race headed up the Cote du Cohennoz, a 14 kilometer climb that for some reason is classified as only a category 2 climb. Liam Glen, who is racing with Terra Footwear here, said it best about the classified climbs.

Once on the Cohennoz, the bombs were bursting all over the place. Lauber went solo out of the breakaway while a chasing group behind him including Barbas, Simon, Itturia and Belda, among others. In the trailing peloton, Ignatiev was already in difficulty while Pierre-Roger Latour (Chambery CF), Louis Vervaeke (Lotto U23), Alexis Dulin (Immo Pro Roux) and Clement Chevrier (France Espoirs) hit it on the climb. Ignatiev came to terms but it was a sign of the damage to come later on.

At the summit, Lauber had a gap of 45 seconds on the chasing group, which was led by Jordi Simon over the top, and Lauber, who rides for CC Etupes, was able to extend his lead to 1'30" while Jesus Del Pino was able to make the junction to the first chasing group and was the leader on the road. The race culminated in two loops on the Plateau d'Assy. Lauber hit the climb with a nice gap but the solo effort had gassed him. Jordi Simon attacked out of the chasing group and proceeded to bridge and drop Lauber. On the first ascent, Vervaeke attacked the yellow jersey group and commenced his chase of the leading breakaway, going through the stragglers that were dropped by the ferocious pace and gradient. Ignatiev was scrapping but was able to recover somewhat to get back to Latour on the climb but there was still another loop to go.

Simon was clearly out in front with 10 kilometers to go while Lauber was hovered up by the chasing group that included Vervaeke, who had bridged, as well as Del Pino, Barbas, Maxime Anciaux (Wallonie Bruxelles) and Julien Liponne (Bourg-en-Bresse). Simon was going strong up front while Vervaeke and Del Pino attacked in tandem. Behind, Ignatiev and Latour were riding well together and the Russian was limiting his losses but it was going to be tight on the line.

Jordi Simon was able to take it easily over the last few hundred meters and was able to take the stellar win on the tough, hot day in the Alps. Jordi Simon was once of the brightest Spanish talents. He placed top ten overall in the Tour de l'Avenir in 2011 and was a constant presence in the race. He raced for Andalucia in 2012 and raced quite solidly but he was a victim of the great contraction of 2013 and had to go from Pro Continental to amateur in 2013 with Coluer Bikes. He won the Vuelta a Leon ahead of Merhawi Kudus and got a contract with Team Ecuador, which is Movistar's South American-Spanish continental team. He paid back his dues on Friday afternoon with this win. No contracts. Riding without knowing where he would be going next. He rode through his skin on Friday and showed that he is a mountain man, through and through.

Louis Vervaeke and Jesus Del Pino came through both 1'37" down on Simon. 14 seconds later, it was Anciaux, the KOM winner from Triptyque Monts et Chateaux, and Barbas coming in. Then, 53 seconds down on Vervaeke and Del Pino, Ignatiev came over the line. The Russian had saved his lead by 4 seconds. After putting on a demolition show on stage 1, the Russian was nearly reduced to ruble the next day and will have to fight to keep his yellow jersey. Vervaeke is just 30 seconds back.

It is hard to describe how hard this stage was. On paper, it wasn't even the toughest stage. Yet once you get out of the top 10 then the gaps become chasms. Clement Chevrier hasn't been on his top game and finished back at 5'33". It only got worse from there. Mikel Iturria...8'31". David Belda....16'32" in 30th. 28 riders abandoned and only 81 are left in the race with 3 stages still left including the final, amazing stage over the Glières.

Ignatiev needs to watch his back. He only has 2 teammates in this race with Pavel Ptashkin being the only semi-decent climber, it is going to be a monumental task for the Russian to keep this lead. This race is between Del Pino and Vervaeke. Both defending champion Yoann Barbas and Pierre-Roger Latour are a bit over 2 minutes behind and if the dice roll there way, which isn't out of the question on this terrain, then they are still within shouting distance.
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Thursday, June 19, 2014

Tour des Pays de Savoie Stage 1: Ignatiev solos to opening stage win

So I don't really know how to start this because I have a really funny feeling about Dmitry Ignatiev. Ignatiev had ridden with Itera-Katusha in both 2010 and 2011. He was 13th in the Tour de l'Avenir in 2010 and 7th in the Tour Alsace (harder than you think) in 2011. And then? Poof. Gone. I haven't been able to find anything on his whereabouts in 2012. No team. No racing. In 2013 it was much of the same for most of the year but he was on the roster of the Spanish amateur team Mutua Levante. The only result I can find for him is the Tour de Leon in August of 2013. Just to review then...Ignatiev had last raced on 8/25/11 when he DNFed a stage of the Giro Ciclistico della Valle d'Aosta and didn't race again (to my knowledge at least right now) until 8/2/13 on the first stage of VdL. That seems just a little too convenient. Seeing as he was also on Itera with the likes of Nikita Novikov, aka the Terminator, who tested positive in 2013, I have my doubts about Ignatiev.

In any case, the first stage of Pays de Savoie went to the summit of Valmeinier. It took a while for a breakaway group to stick and a few groups were brought forwards and then back. Finally, with nearly 50 km off the clock, a group of 7 including Elie Gesbert, Jeremy Maison (France Espoirs), David Belda (Burgos-BH), Jimmy Turgis (Roubaix Lille Metropole), Andrei Krasilnikau (AVC Aix), Hinigio Fernandez (Ecuador) and Florian Dumourier (CR4C Roanne) got away. There gap was pretty small and soon they were joined by Jordan Sarrou (Chambery CF), Quentin Pacher (AVC Aix) and Yoann Michaud and the group of 10 extended there gap on the main chasing peloton, which included all of the GC favorites. With 24 kilometers to go, the gap got to over 1'30".

Soon after, the race hit the short but steep Cote d'Orelle (1.9km at 9%) and while the lead group stayed intact, the gap dropped to under a minute. Once the race hit the Valmeinier climb then all hell broke loose. Like dynamite was dropped in the break, Quentin Pacher surged ahead and the remnants of the breakaway followed closely behind. The peloton had busted open as well. Jesus Del Pino (Burgos-BH) surged ahead and was the best early on and was followed by Louis Vervaeke and behind the Belgian was a small group including Pierre-Roger Latour, Ignatiev, Alexis Dulin and a few others.

Del Pino and Ignatiev bridged to the first chase group behind Pacher. Then Ignatiev hit the turbo-chargers and just danced away. With 5 km to go, he had 10 seconds on Del Pino. Vervaeke had go into the red early and was 50 seconds back. Clement Chevrier had blown and was already 3 minutes in arrears.
With 3km, Ignatiev was 30 seconds up. 2km to go and he was up 45 seconds. By the time he crossed the line, Ignatiev had pulled 57 seconds out of Del Pino while U23 Alexis Dulin came in at 1'07" down. Vervaeke recovered a bit and came in with AVC Aix teammates Krasilnikau and Pacher. Other favorites like Latour (1'59"), David Belda (2'28"), defending champ Yoann Barbas (2'33"), Mikel Iturria (2'39") and Clement Chevrier (3'31") all ceded time but all is not lost. Ignatiev lost 3 teammates during the day including double Ronde de l'Isard stage winner Alexander Foliforov and two others that were out of the time limit. Also this race has uphill finishes every day and many can suffer a bad day that will blow their GC hopes. Those that are consistent will get the worm...or the maillot jaune. I mean, if they really want a worm I'm sure they can go find one but it won't be on the podium presentation.

FULL RESULTS


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Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Weekend Update: Van der Poel wows; Cort smashes and Carthy soars

Busy weekend so let's get to the meat of it shall we?

Ronde van Limburg

We knew it wouldn't take long but Mathieu van der Poel finally struck out for a big win. And when I say big, he was able to beat two World Tour riders onto the lower steps of the podium. The finish of the Ronde van Limburg is uphill and suits the lanky van der Poel to a T. Coming into the final kilometers, Philip Walsleben piloted van der Poel into the final climb along side riders from Belkin, Lotto, Topsport and others. Paul Martens was getting a bit boxed in in the sprint so to avoid losing out on the sprint entirely, he launched early and was looking good to take the win but it was van der Poel who lept out from behind him to take the win. Greg Henderson (Lotto) rounded off the podium while U23s Gianni Vermeersch (11th) and Mike Teunissen (14th) also finished well. Just out of the U23s Alexander Kreiger (still 22) finished 7th for Team Stuttgart. The German has been going quite well the last few weeks with a lot of top 10's including the Ronde van Zeeland Seaports (4th), two top 10's at the Bayern Rundfahrt and he even had a 6th at the Rund um Koln in April.

I know that van der Poel has a contract with BKCP through the 2016-17 cyclocross season (which would end around March) but I can't help but wonder how big the offers are going to get from road teams? He is a talent that does not come along very often. Cyclocross is going to need a superstar seeing how Sven Nys is getting older, Niels Albert is sidelined for now and Zdenek Stybar only comes around every now and then. Even Francis Mourey, who rides the World Cups at a very high level but has a pretty nice road schedule with FDJ. Those in power in 'cross will be wanting van der Poel to stick around along with the likes of Mike Teunissen, Wout van Aert, Gianni Vermeersch, etc. so that they can fill in the vacancies that are going to be happening sooner rather than later. I'm interested to see if that Pro Continental team that is being formed by Erik Dekker, Jean-Paul van Poppel and the rest of the Dutch crew happens because it might offer van der Poel and interesting opportunity. Well, enough of that for now...

Walscheid take German U23 crown

So Stölting was all raring to go for Sunday's German U23 RR Championship in Cottbus and were looking to keep the jersey on the team after Silvio Herklotz's win last year on the hilly course in Ilsfeld-Auenstein. With Herklotz not taking the start on Sunday (he was focusing on the German Elite RR), Stölting was looking to their best sprinter Phil Bauhaus to take the crown. Well they thought that Bauhaus would be the best sprinter anyways. The race itself came down to a sprint in the Cottbus city center after the breakaway, that included Stölting's Lucas Liß, was caught with 5 kilometers to go and it was Stölting's Max Walscheid that led the sprint from out long with 400 meters to go and no one was able to come around him, including the team's original leader Bauhaus. Behind the Stölting duo was Erik Bothe (MLP Bergstraße) in 3rd place followed by Pascal Akermann (Rad-Net Rose) and Willi Willwohl (LKT Brandenburg)

I shouldn't make it sound like such a surprise that Walscheid won because he had taken two stage of the Tour de Berlin and he is a good sprinter but this is really the first time opportunity has intersected with form. Stölting isn't exactly at a loss for winners seeing as the team has 6 different winners already this year and many others that have filled the top 10.

Magnus Cort

 So Magnus Cort has 10 wins now. 10 UCI wins. 11 if you count the win he took back on Bornholm, his home island, in May. It is mid-June. That's as many wins as Andre Greipel has this year. Obviously not on the same level but for some one that isn't a bunch sprinter then 10 is a lot.

He added three to his haul the past weekend at the Ronde de l'Oise. l'Oise the the region just north of Paris that includes the city of Compiegne, which is where Paris-Roubaix has started for nearly the last 40 years. Stage 1 saw Romain Feillu take his first win in over 3 years (Tour de Luxembourg on June 5th, 2011). To put that in perspective, Linus Gerdemann was on Leopard-Trek and won the race overall. Anyways, Michael Carbel got 2nd in the sprint which is yet another good result from the young Dane.

Stage 2 = More sprint. Another bunch kick which was won this time by U23 Daniel Hoelgaard ahead of Justin Jules (La Pomme) and Dylan Teuns (BMC Development). Those that didn't make the split were minutes behind the group. The last couple didn't come in for another 33 minutes. Oof.

The final two stages is where Magnus Cort decided to stop playing around and came out to play. Stage 3 had a day long breakaway that included Shane Archbold (AnPost-ChainReaction), Thomas Vaubourzeix (La Pomme), Ricardo Van Dongen (Rabobank Devo) and Jeremy Morel (VC Rouen). The quartet spent the majority of the day outfront but when it came down to crunch time, Archbold and Vaubourzeix attacked with roughly 10 kilometers to go. The peloton was kicking into high gear. With 7 kilometers, the duo has 45 seconds. 5 kilometers...35 seconds. Down to just 2 kilometers and it was still 20 seconds. The duo lost 10 seconds in the next kilometer. The gap wasn't going to hold. It was just a few seconds in the last half kilometer. Archbold jumped and he looked golden to take the big win. But it wasn't to be. Cort jumped from the peloton and just mere meters from the line, he flew by Archbold to take the win. Boom. Done. Onto the next one.

The final stage, Cort, who was on level with Feillu in the general classification, was going to do what he needed to take the win. The race came down to the final sprint and it was Cort, in the points jersey, who was leading out the sprint and no one was able to come around him including Rudy Barbier and Romain Feillu. Cort, thanks to time bonuses, took the overall leader's jersey as well as the points jersey. Even when he isn't a true bunch sprinter, Cort can still get it done in a bunch kick. He is simply just another level...a pro level. He is just adding another 0 onto his contract at this point.

Carthy wins Tour de Korea

There he was. Riding across the lot looking like a tall drink of water that could have blown away if someone pushed him. Hugh Carthy isn't much except for a head, torso and a long pair of legs but god damn can that kid climb fast. After placing 3rd on the 3rd stage and surviving the others in one piece, Carthy punched it on the hard finishing climb to Pyoengchang Jin-Gogea, which averaged 8.7% gradient over 7+ kilometers. Carthy distanced the rest of the lead group on the final kilometer and when it was all over, that skinny kid had taken out 7 seconds from U23s Hyoeng Min Choe and Jack Haig and many seconds on all the others.

It was really the only stage that defined the race and Carthy manage through the final stage to sow up the general classifications to take a huge win. Carthy, just 19 still, took the yellow over Choe, who is still a U23, and the Australian wonder Jack Haig. In the last month, Carthy has gone 6th at the Tour of Japan overall and won in Korea and was there in all of the biggest mountain stages, even when there were a few dodgy Iranians.
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Monday, June 16, 2014

Vuelta de la Juventud Colombia: Riders in the Mist

So I've said it before and I will say it again. South America is one of my weaker areas in terms of covering riders and races, especially when getting into the amateur scene. Maybe because of my lack of Spanish skills or perhaps some indifference at some points, I've always been a little behind. But I've been trying to stretch my boundaries a bit this year and really delve into some different areas this year. With the emergence of 4-72 Colombia last year as well as the work by Ignacio Velez and author/presenter Matt Rendel, I've been slowly falling for Colombian cycling. It is one of the places where a rider from a poor family can still, quite easily, ride a bike and perhaps make a living for themselves. Now it would be unfair to say that all riders from Colombia come from the dregs of poverty, such as what people claimed with Nairo Quintana after his emergence on the professional scene, but many kids on bikes in Colombia have fire in their belly.

The Vuelta de la Juventud Colombia is the U23 version of the Vuelta a Colombia and it is one of the more hotly contested races in the amateur ranks. Careers have been started by strong rides in this race. The race has been won overall by the likes of Daniel Jaramillo (Jamis), Carlos Betancur (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Sergio Henao (SKY), twice by Fabio Duarte (Colombia) as well as Juan Mauricio Soler, Mauricio Ardilla, Ivan Parra, Oliveiro Rincon and Alvaro Mejia. That is just in the last 25 years and only the bigger names. This races dates all the way back to the late 1960's and truly highlights how far ahead Colombian racing was at that time, even though it was more or less ignored by the dominant Europeans.

The race itself this year centered around Boyacá, a state in Colombia that sits at a fairly high altitude and has produced some spectacular riders such as Nairo Quintana, Fabio and Ivan Parra, Mauricio Soler and many others. Cycling Inquisition, one of the best cycling blogs going and the go-to place for anything regarding Colombia, wrote a great intro piece on Boyacá so go there for some further details on the region.

The race began with a prologue in the city of Duitama, the site of the 1995 UCI World Road Championships. Brayan Ramirez (Movistar America) took out the prologue by 5 seconds over Miguel Angel Lopez. His win wasn't a surprise as Ramirez is one of the strongest TT talents in Colombia having been in the top 20 in the World U23 TT last year in Firenze and has hit the podium in previous Colombian, South American and Pan-Am Championships. Brayan Ramirez...put him down in your notes.

Sebastian Molano (Coldeportes Claro) won stage 1 in a two-man breakaway with teammate Fernando Gaviria. The pair were the lone survivors from an 8-man breakaway that had dominated the race. The peloton, led in by their Coldeportes Claro teammate Jhonathan Restropo ahead of last year's overall winner Cesar Villegas and Brayan Ramirez, came in 6 seconds down. It was a impressive ride for the Boyacánese Molano but Ramirez was able to hold onto the leader's jersey by 1 second over Molano. For those taking notes, Molano won a stage at the Junior Vuelta a Colombia in 2012.

Stage 2 went into the proper Boyacan mountains and the riders went up into the mist on the Alto Blanco de Combita, where the race hit an altitude of 3070 meters (10,069 feet). A breakaway of 24 got away early and dominated most of the race. On the Blanco de Combita, it was Brayan Sanchez (Ag. Antioquena) who took the maximum points over the top of the climb ahead of Jonathan Touissant and local Boyacan Wilmer Rodriguez. The 2nd climb of the day was the 19 kilometer long Alto da Garavito, which summited with just 19 kilometers to go in the race. Hugo Horacio Cabrera, who hails from a small farming village in the state of Cundinamarca (where Bogota is), attacked the shredded breakaway on the Garavito and began to chug away on the slight gradients. Farm-boy Cabrera soloed away from Rodriguez and over the flat final 19 kilometers to the line, he was able to pull out 30 seconds over Rodriguez by the time he raised his arms on the line. A group of the remnants of the breakaway and GC favorites rolled in 1'38" down. It was an incredible win by Cabrera, who rides for the Hotel Villa Alegria team which is led by 4-time Vuelta a Colombia winner Jose "Chepe" Castelblanco, and he slipped into the yellow jersey by 22 seconds over Rodriguez and 45 seconds on Brayan Ramirez.

The rolling time trial course proved not to be as decisive as one might think as but the time trial favorites stacked the top placings. The 23.3 km course only had a few rises in it and it was the Pan-American TT Champion Rodrigo Contreras who set the fastest time on the day with an average speed of 45.4 km/h while double 2013 Juventud stage winner Jhon Restropo was in 2nd, just 6 seconds back, and Brayan Ramirez in 3rd, just 9 seconds back. The strong ride by Ramirez slotted him back in the leader's jersey ahead of two Boyacán riders Miguel Angel Lopez and Hernando Bohorquez, both on the Boyaca Lottery team. The mountains loomed.

The 4th stage was the queen of the bunch and while there were 3 KOM's on tap, it was really two big mountains, the final of which topped out at 3240 meters (10627 feet) in altitude on the finishing climb to Villa de Leyva. It turned into a duel between leader Brayan Ramirez and Miguel Angel Lopez, the latter of whom is from the region and whose lithe body is better suited to the finishing climb than Ramirez. It was pretty evenly matched for a while and Ramirez was able to match Lopez for a while but the Boyacan but in one too many attacks and went away a few kilometers from the finish. Lopez flew up the climb as the air got thinner by the meter. The remnants of the leading group had exploded with 2013 winner Cesar Villegas being the first chaser to come across after Lopez while Ramirez came in a few seconds behind Villegas in 4th, 52 seconds behind Lopez.

Miguel Angel Lopez is still just 19 years old and his ride on Villa de Leyva should have turned more heads than it did. A kid from the heartland of Colombian cycling rides away from the yellow jersey and solos to a stellar win that seals the overall of the most important race for under 23 Colombians.

For the final two stages, the race left Boyaca and traveled to the Cundinamarca state (again, think around Bogota). The 5th stage went over a few smaller climbs but with Lopez's lead nearly unassailable, a breakaway would rule the day. With Cesar Villegas off the overall podium, two of his teammates leapt off the front for a day. Alejandro Ceballos and Jader Betancur, both of the Ag.Antioqueña-Lotto Medellin squad, took off before the final climb and the duo soloed to the line over a minute ahead of the chasing lead peloton. Ceballos took the win, his first ever on the national level, and his teammate Villegas lead the peloton in for 3rd place, 1'12" down.

The final stage saw the race take a circuit through Zipaquira. The town is known for having a Salt Cathedral, which is built underground 200 meters underground from a hallowed out mine, as well as being the birthplace of Efrain Trivino, the winner of the first Vuelta a Colombia in 1951. At only 91 kilometers and a rather flat circuit, it had a sprint written all over it. Coldeportes-Claro decided to swap the first stage results and it was Fernando Gavira who took the sprint win over teammate Sebastian Molano with Villegas in 3rd. Gavira was a double junior World Champion on the track (madison and omnium) and including the Pan-Am U23 RR win, this was his 6th win of the year.

Miguel Lopez locked up the historic win and took his biggest (and easily most memorable) win to date. I would say this would set him up with a possible date with the Tour de l'Avenir but seeing as 4-72 Colombia and the National Federation are feuding, it seems like there will be no Colombian team in France this summer. For being so light, Lopez isn't a shabby TTer and given the track record of former winners of this race, I wouldn't be surprised to see him in the pro ranks soon enough. Brayan Ramirez should be satisfied with his 2nd place overall as it confirms that he can climb and that he has a future by going after GC wins for right now. If he keeps on with Movistar America, he could see himself taking on a stagiaire role with the big team. Hernando Bohorquez's 3rd place has added to a great U23 career that has included multiple Vuelta de la Juventud stage wins and a 7th place in the U23 World RR in Valkenburg.

So do these results truly carry much meaning outside of Colombia? Maybe. We will have to see if many of these riders even get out of South America to see if Colombia's version of the Tour de l'Avenir churns out Colombia's big talent of tomorrow like the Tour de l'Avenir seemingly does yearly. It really depends on how big a rider's desire is, I guess, because the riders that are able to make an imprint here are capable of great things. More than anything, I wish there was a race with the infrastructure to bring riders from Europe, USA, Australia, Asia, etc. to race in Colombia against the best homegrown talent. Oh how I wish...
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Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Week in Review (sort of): Luxembourg and Mayenne

It is summer vacation for many U23s so while there are many that are racing, there aren't any properly big races for another week or so. I decided to go on vacation from the blog but I'm back now so don't leave.

Tour de Luxembourg: Herklotz Gone Wild

There is a dearth of any stories, besides this wonderful blog, in the English speaking cycling media about Silvio Herklotz. I'm sure when Mr. Herklotz signs a big pro contract there will be a little blip on Cyclingnews or somewhere but if he was British/American/Australian, you would know that there would already be multiple stories about him. Not to say that Germans aren't marginalized in cycling but it is just another reminder that there are not too many people out there that truly cover U23 racing.

Silvio and his Stolting team were at last week's Tour of Luxembourg, which is one of my favorite races that I wish was televised. The prologue was very successful on the U23 front. 20-year old Danny van Poppel (Trek) won the 2.55 kilometer test in Luxembourg while homeboy Alex Kirsch (Leopard) finished 3rd and Herklotz finished 6th, which was a good test for the German whose weakest link is his TT abilities.

Stage 1 saw Phil Bauhaus get 6th in the bunch sprint behind Andre Greipel. Bauhaus, who is just 19 until July, has been getting into the top 10 a lot this year and even had two top 5 placings in the Bayern Rundfahrt. He is knocking on the door to be yet another German sprinting talent.

Silvio Herklotz emerged again on stage 2 when Matti Breschel, who is looking to be in spectacular shape heading in the summer, punched in on the bumpy finish and the young German was able to finish in the front group in 4th place behind Breschel, Jempy Drucker and Sergey Lagutin.

Perhaps Herklotz youth was his downfall on stage 3 as he missed the split that included Breschel, Lagutin and Rudy Molard, who made the stage 2 split as well. Herklotz, as well as his Stolting teammates Christian Mager and Thomas Koep, finished in a group 18 seconds behind Breschel, who won the small group sprint for the stage win again.

Herklotz was once again on his game when the peloton was chasing the streaking Andre Greipel on the final stage. The German put in a few digs of his own during the finally but was able to hang on for 4th in the bunch sprint behind the solo Greipel. Herklotz ended up 6th overall on GC and 2nd in the youth category behind 25-year old Rudy Molard by 14 seconds. Herklotz is right on the cusp of something big.

Looking back at that, it seemed like I was just jerking off Herklotz because I gave him so much praise but he really does deserve it. Doing what he has as a 2nd year U23 just shows how much talent he possesses.

Boucles de la Mayenne

Mike Teunissen is really fast. So he goes on a long breakaway at Paris-Roubaix and then goes solo for the last 15 kilometers. He climbs, he sprints and he rides across dirt with the best of them. He isn't superman...just a Dutchman. Seriously though, the last two weeks he has been on fire and it continued at the Boucles de la Mayenne.

The prologue was won by evergreen Jimmy Engoulvent while the next 3 places were taken by U23s Florian Senechal (Pro Continental but whatever), young buck Mathieu van der Poel and Teunissen. Teunissen proceeded to act like a pro and came out swinging on stage 1. He rode himself into the breakaway that included Armindo Fonseca, Reiner Honig and Kevin Seeldraeyers among others. Teunissen finished 4th but more importantly he finished with a gap of 35 seconds over the main chase group, which allowed him to slip into the overall lead.



Teunissen lost his lead as quick as he got it. The next day was up and down, up and down and included a hill that had a grade of 22% on it, which saw many dismount. Eliot Lietaer took his first pro win after spending time off the front with teammate Tom Van Asbroeck and Stephen Rosetto, among others. Rosetto slipped into the leader's jersey while Teunissen finished in a small group a bit over 50 seconds behind Rosetto. Teunissen fell to 3rd and wouldn't be able to recover from that.

Teunissen finished 6th in the final day bunch sprint behind winner Yoann Gene. Teunissen was able to hold onto his 3rd place overall and he continued to showed off one of his major traits, consistency. Except for his grand Paris-Roubaix win, Teunissen is a rider that is always there but never seems to get the win. He might take the youth classification or best U23 rider but it is rare that he pulls off a big win like his Roubaix ride. Also an important note...Teunissen is currently contracted by Rabobank Development through 2015 so if he doesn't jump ship, he will be riding on the continental level for another year while he continues his cyclocross ambitions. Also, Mathieu van der Poel finished 14th overall. Van der Poel has ridden the Tour of Belgium and Boucles de la Mayenne and has ridden well in both for just being a year out of the junior ranks. BKCP has him locked down through 2017 and the Dutchman has made it clear that he will be focusing on cyclocross for a while so his appearances on the road will be limited to summer for a while.

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Tuesday, June 3, 2014

U23 Peace Race Roundup

The U23 Peace Race went off this weekend and while I was busy playing with my parent's new puppy for the majority of the weekend, I did pop my head in to catch some of the action. Last year when the race was in its first edition, there was some serious firepower in attendance. CULT, Leopard-Trek, Radenska, Tre-For, USA National, Polish National...pretty much every big U23 team was in attendance. This year...a little bit different story. I don't want to take away from Sam Spokes' big ride that he had here but it is undeniable that the competition, even with some strong riders in there, was a step under last year's competition.

Stage 1 (Jesenik to Rymarov)

It was a breakaway that ruled the day as the remnants of the early breakaway were able to survive on the rolling course to Rymarov. VL Technics riders Tom Bosmans and Elias Van Breussegem joined Tadej Hiti (Radenska), Pryzemyslaw Kasperkiewicz (Bauknecht-Author) and Adam Vales (SKC Tufo) got away and got a gap of nearly 2 minutes on the short stage. Bosmans and Kasperkiewicz attacked the breakaway and with 6 kilometers to go, they had a 45 second gap but it was falling fast. In the end, they were able to hold on by 9 seconds ahead of the peloton with Kasperkiewicz taking the sprint ahead of Bosmans with Frantesik Sisr taking the bunch sprint for 3rd ahead of Luka Pibernik.

Stage 2 (Glucholazy to Praded)

A proper uphill finish marked stage 2 as the race took off from the Polish town of Glucholazy right on the Czech/Polish border. The race was only 93 kilometers in length and was dominated by the summit finish on the Praded mountain, which is the highest mountain in the Hruby Jesenik range and the 5th highest in the Czech Republic. Etixx controlled the peloton for the majority of the day, especially towards the tail end of the day when some small breakaways were attempting to stay away. Sam Spokes launched in the final kilometers with Bram Van Broekhoven (VL Techniks) and the duo leapt away on the slight grade (last 3 kilometers averaged 5%) and got a good gap. Interestingly enough, the finale saw the riders on there own as there were no cars or motos allowed on the final kilometers of Praded due to some protected plant life. Spokes accelerated away for the win with Van Broekhoven coming in 2nd while Bartosz Warchol just beat out the main chase group, which came in 35 seconds down and included riders such as Alvaro Cuadros and Markus Hoelgaard (Etixx), Alexey Vermeulen (BMC Development) and Robert Power (Australia).

Stage 3 (Jesenik-Jesenik)

The final stage was a rolling affair that featured a steep kicker in the finale to the Hotel Priessnitz, which is a spa located on the ridge just above Jesenik. Maximillian Keun (Gebruder Weiss) struck out solo early on and was joined by Kiwi U23 Champ Hayden McCormick (Lotto-Belisol U23) and Michael Cools (VL Techniks). The group was able to work well together over the lumpy route but once the last KOM was crossed, everything was brought back together.

Going into Jesenik, TJ Eisenhart (BMC Development) and Kenneth Van Rooy (Lotto-Belisol U23) attacked with 17km to go and got a gap of nearly one minute but the flat valley course was going to end in a steep wall, which was not good news for the breakaway.

The duo got to 500 meters before the final climb up to Priessnitz before being swept up by the front group. Sam Spokes proceeded to do a repeat of stage 2 and attacked on the steep ramp that touched grades over 12% and beat out Van Broekhoven once again into 2nd as well as a select group including Alexey Vermeulen and Luka Pibernik.
Spokes wrapped up the overall the overall by 12 seconds over Bram Van Broekhoven and 47 seconds on Bartosz Warchol. It was the Australian's signature win to date and definitely showed his strength on the uphills.

I still can't help but think that this weekend showed that there needs to be revisions to the UCI calendar. There were about so many races going on at one time including Roubaix, Peace Race, Gironde, Fleche du Sud, Tour de Berlin and Italian one-days and others that pulled away U23s including the Tour des Fjords and the Bayern Rundfahrt. That is too much racing for Europe to have at one time and while I know there are a lot of teams that would love to race, there should still be a focus on the quality of races and the fields that are in attendance. If that means that some races need to shift or disappear then so be it but when you have 10 races happening at once just in Europe, that is not progress.

Thanks to Vojtěch Jírovec for his great live reporting on the race.
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Paris-Roubaix Espoirs: Teunissen lights up everyone to win Roubaix

There is the stereotype that all cyclocrossers tend to excel in Paris-Roubaix. Roger De Vlaeminck was a champion cyclocrosser and kicked ass in Roubaix. Sven Nys rode on Rabobank's pro team seemingly just to be able to ride Paris-Roubaix. In recent times, Zdenek Stybar, Steve Chainel, Jempy Drucker and Roger Hammond have had good rides at Roubaix. It isn't a hard and fast rule as there is Francis Mourey who is a kick-ass cyclocross rider and was 20th overall in the Giro last year. So when Mike Teunissen was just 19, he rode the Paris-Roubaix Espoirs and finished 8th. Pretty damn good for a first timer. So while the Paris-Roubaix Espoirs was cancelled for 2013, the U23 World Cyclocross Champion was chomping at the bit to get back to Northern France. He got his wish on Sunday.

In a post-race interview, Teunissen mentioned that he noticed in his first U23 Roubaix that getting in the early break was very helpful and it only took 21 kilometers to have the race-defining breakaway get away. Teunissen and his teammate Ricardo van Dongen were joined by countryman Gert-Jan Bosman, Logan Owen and Greg Daniel (USA), Alexis Guerin (Etixx), Bas Tietema and Tyler Williams (BMC Development), Amaury Capiot (Lotto-Belisol U23), Wout Franssen (AnPost-ChainReaction) and a few others and the race truly began. A 30 second gap became 1 minute and then 2 minutes.

With Greg Daniel down, it was a group of 16 that was plowing ahead. By plowing ahead I mean 4 minutes ahead. The peloton must have had a moment where they were like "uhhh guys? Are we going to chase or just ride around this cobbled hell?" A group of 18 broke away from the peloton before the Wandignies cobbles to try and make a dent into the leading breakaway. It didn't really work as they were brought back in and by the Warlaing cobbles, the gap was still at 3'50".

With 68km to go, the gap was still over 3 minutes and Ignazio Moser was struggling to maintain contact with the peloton. Lord, the kid is disappointing when he has showed some brilliant rides before. With around 60 kilometers to go, Teunissen told Van Dongen to watch out for counter attacks and he hit it just before the Mons-en-Pevele sector with only BMC Devo riders Tyler Williams and Bas Tietema being able to follow. It was a group of 3 up front and while there was still 60 kilometers to go, the race was between three.

The breakaway of 3 plowed through the cobbled sections while the chasing group behind had stopped riding for the time being. The main peloton was making no inroads into the breakaway as they kept staying around 3 minutes even when 4 CC Nogent-sur-Oise riders were on the front desperately chasing. To be honest, it seemed like Teunissen was toying with the other two until they hit the Carrefour de l'Arbre. On the first corner of the sector where the cobbles are quite rough, Teunissen punched it on Tyler Williams and a gap was formed quickly. Only 15 kilometers from the line, Teunissen was salivating for the win here. Behind, the peloton finally began to speed up but it was a case of too little, too late.

While Teunissen was speeding away, Williams and Tietema were just trying to hold on. Teunissen entered the velodrome solo and had time to soak in the victory while Williams held on for 2nd place, coming in 1'15" down on the Dutchman. It was an impressive result for the American, who is only a 2nd year U23 and should be on the classics radar with this ride. Bas Tietema just held on for 3rd place over a sprinting peloton, which was a great ride for the 1st year U23 on BMC Development.

  1. Mike Teunissen
  2. Tyler Williams
  3. Bas Tietema
  4. Ricardo Van Dongen
  5. Fabian Grellier
  6. Gert-Jan Bosman
  7. Amaury Capiot
  8. Logan Owen
  9. Wout Franssen
  10. Cederic Verbeken
Ricardo Van Dongen led in the remnants of the breakaway to make it a Rabobank Sandwich in 1st and 4th place with a BMC Devo filling. Champion cyclocross racer Logan Owen capped off a great spring with the USA National Team with an 8th place after riding in the breakaway all day. Leaders like Stefan Kung (BMC Devo), Tiesj Benoot (Lotto-Belisol U23) and Ruben Zepuntke (Bissell) lead the peloton in but it was too little too late for the majority of riders.

Bad luck for Nathan van Hooydonck here. The Bissell first year broke his wrist after a hard fall and it will be a long downtime for the Belgian who finished 2nd in the Junior Paris-Roubaix in 2013 behind Mads Pedersen.
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