Ian: yes indeed, let's hope he can show himself soon. Anyway, Caleb is aiming later this year where he'll have many sprint chances...
sutty: well, they were in the mix, but nothing more
10/3/2013 Kattekoers
Selection Team ABUS: Silvio Herklotz, David Hesselbarth, Fredrik Ludvigsson, Marcel Meisen, Kevin Predatsch, Brian Takacs, Kersten Thiele, Frank Wagner.
Our DS knows this 1.2-race from his cycling days, and warns his eight guys to be vigilant all day long. With a lot of crosswinds and a double ascension of the Kemmelberg, this is a shorter version of Gent - Wevelgem. The early break of the day, consisting of six less known riders, didn’t seem dangerous at all. That’s why the Team ABUS’ eight decided to stay in the front of the bunch.
The double climb of ‘Mont Kemmel’ is the key today. With the professionals of Crelan, Accent and Topsport expected to try to break the diverse pack on it, we ordered the team to start it on the front rows twice. Which they perfectly do during the first climb. That one doesn’t do much harm however.
The squad is also awake during the second Kemmel. Good move, because this time the ProContinental formations manage to smash the pack in different echelons. Team ABUS is almost completely present in a first peloton of 70 riders, though. The early breakaway is almost history at that time.
With the strongest teams aiming for a sprint, it's clear Marcel Meisen is getting an additional chance to show his fast legs. Thanks to the team mates, he survived the hard race without any problems. Can he deliver the first win for Team ABUS today?
The team mates at least believe so. Deep in the final, they put a fast sprint train on the rails to get three late attackers back and launch racket-Meisen. Can he? Please?
Aargh, we’ll have to wait a bit longer. Marcel starts his sprint a tiny bit too late, passes a few concurrents with a huge acceleration in the end but comes too late, getting third. He could have done it today, but we’re more than happy with an excellent team performance. After their hard work for Meisen, three more guys even manage to hit top 25. Result is a cool second place in the team ranking.
Spoiler
Result:
1 Sean De Bie (Leopard - Trek Continental Team) 3h55'47
2 Joeri Stallaert (Crelan - Euphony) 3 Marcel Meisen (Team ABUS)
4 Sven Vandousselaere (Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise)
5 Dylan Groenewegen (Cyclingteam De Rijke - Shanks)
6 Davy Commeyne (Accent Jobs - Wanty)
7 Nick Van der Lijke (Rabobank Development Team)
8 Frédéric Amorison (Crelan - Euphony) 9 Silvio Herklotz (Team ABUS)
10 Dylan Teuns (Ventilair - Steria Cycling Team)
11 Rick Zabel (Rabobank Development Team)
12 Floris Goesinnen (Drapac Cycling)
13 Jeremy Powers (Jelly Belly p/b Kenda)
14 Niels Wytinck (An Post - Chainreaction)
15 Maxime Vantomme (Crelan - Euphony)
16 Sander Helven (Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise)
17 Kenneth Vanbilsen (Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise) 18 Fredrik Ludvigsson (Team ABUS)
19 Kenny De Ketele (Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise)
20 Stan Godrie (Rabobank Development Team) 23 David Hesselbarth (Team ABUS)
27 Frank Wagner (Team ABUS)
45 Kersten Thiele (Team ABUS)
67 Brian Takacs (Team ABUS) + 2'07
132 Kevin Predatsch (Team ABUS) + 6'03
Teams
1 Crelan - Euphony 11h47'21 2 Team ABUS
3 Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise
Spoiler
Did this race for real when I was still racing. Cool – and a bit easier – to do it in the game now. I can assure you: there’s no easy, normal or hard mode in real life racing, only extreme
Selection Team ABUS: Silvio Herklotz, David Hesselbarth, Fredrik Ludvigsson, Marcel Meisen, Kevin Predatsch, Brian Takacs, Kersten Thiele, Frank Wagner.
More cobbles waiting for the ‘Flemish’ part of Team ABUS. Nokere features a quiet run-up followed by some hectic local laps where the Nokereberg is expected to take care of some differences. Leader Marcel Meisen is clearly in form, but can we expect him to put his foot next to the riders from teams like BMC, Saxo or the surprising Movistar?
Our cobble specialist Frank Wagner tags along with a strong early break of thirteen riders. With ‘motors’ like Marco Pinotti and Nicky Sörensen with them, the group has a chance to survive till the finish. The gap rises over five minutes soon.
Dark clouds don’t seem to inspire the bunch to start up the pursuit, but after a while the WorldTour-teams take their responsibility and place some helpers on the front. Entering the local laps with 60 kilometers left, the gap melted to three minutes. And Nokereberg still has his damage to do…
The first ascension trough the village of Nokere already makes a lot of victims. Only Silvio Herklotz and a surprising Brian Takacs make it in the first split, Meisen and company join them later to form a 60 men group. Marcel is warned by our staff at the side of the road: he has to be more vigilant during the following laps. In the meantime, the effort of Wagner and the other early twelve is nearly over.
Luckily our leader picks up the message and moves to the front of the unchained pack. Which is necessary, since this level clearly is still a bit too high for our young guns. While every ascension of Nokereberg is doing more and more harm, Meisen and his teamies are struggling to hang on.
The sprint for the line is a dead men’s sprint. An exhausted Marcel finds no more power to accelerate and finishes 17th. Not bad, but we always hope for more… Eighteen year old Fredrik Ludvigsson deserves compliments for taking 21st place after hanging on in the first group, while David Hesselbarth, Silvio Herklotz and brave Frank Wagner cross the line in a select second group. Matti Breschel tops an all-Scandinavian podium.
Spoiler
Result
1 Matti Breschel (Team Saxo - Tinkoff) 4h41'23
2 Thor Hushovd (BMC Racing Team)
3 Michael Mørkøv (Team Saxo - Tinkoff)
4 Vincent Jérôme (Team Europcar)
5 Stefan Van Dijk (Accent Jobs - Wanty)
6 Marko Kump (Team Saxo - Tinkoff)
7 Marcus Burghardt (BMC Racing Team)
8 Andrey Amador (Movistar Team)
9 Kevin Hulsmans (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
10 Anders Lund (Team Saxo - Tinkoff)
11 Jean-Lou Paiani (Sojasun)
12 Staf Scheirlinckx (Accent Jobs - Wanty)
13 Giovanni Visconti (Movistar Team)
14 Klaas Lodewyck (BMC Racing Team)
15 Francesco Chicchi (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
16 Oscar Gatto (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia) 17 Marcel Meisen (Team ABUS)
18 Sébastien Chavanel (Team Europcar)
19 Marco Pinotti (BMC Racing Team)
20 Kasper Klostergaard (Concordia Forsikring - Riwal) 21 Fredrik Ludvigsson (Team ABUS)
27 David Hesselbarth (Team ABUS) + 1'19
29 Silvio Herklotz (Team ABUS)
41 Frank Wagner (Team ABUS)
53 Kersten Thiele (Team ABUS) + 3'03
85 Brian Takacs (Team ABUS) + 6'05
134 Kevin Predatsch (Team ABUS) + 8'59
Teams
1 Team Saxo - Tinkoff 14h04'09
2 BMC Racing Team
3 Vini Fantini - Selle Italia 5 Team ABUS + 1'19
Next episode: 14/3/2013 Istrian Spring Trophy, stage 1/4Edited by sisse on 18-08-2013 16:55
Selection Team ABUS: David Bartl, Bastian Bürgel, Robin Eckmann, Kajetan Fricke, Jan Keller, Patrick Konrad, Jakob Steigmiller, Maximilian Werda.
An uphill prologue in Umag fires off the Kroatian Istrian Spring Trophy. Another goal for our sponsors, who’d like to see a podiumspot brought home. During a gathering before the start, the DS gets his riders together warning them he wants to see them showing their climbing talents for the first time this year. Many of our starters made this stagerace a personal objective, so their form level should be great.
The start promises a lot at least. Jakob Steigmiller shows his talents ending on twelfth place and conquering the white shirt for the best young rider. Also Kajetan Fricke (17th), Robin Eckmann (19th), Patrick Konrad (29th) and Bastian Bürgel (30th) can be quite happy. Additionally, we’re third in the team classification for now. An excellent starting position for tomorrow’s queen stage!
Spoiler
Result
1 Francisco Mancebo (5-Hour Energy) 14'58
2 Edgar Pinto (LA Alumínios - Antarte) + 6
3 Janier Acevedo (Jamis - Hagens Berman) + 11
4 Nuno Ribeiro (Efapel - Glassdrive) + 13
5 Arkaitz Durán (Efapel - Glassdrive) + 18
6 Harald Totschnig (Tirol Cycling Team)
7 Jure Golcer (Tirol Cycling Team) + 22
8 João Cabreira (OFM - Quinta da Lixa) + 25
9 Ricardo Vilela (Efapel - Glassdrive) + 26
10 Alejandro Marque Porto (OFM - Quinta da Lixa) + 29
11 Gustavo César Veloso (OFM - Quinta da Lixa) + 32 12 Jakob Steigmiller (Team ABUS) + 36
13 Edward Ortiz (EPM - UNE) + 39
14 Alex Hagman (Jelly Belly p/b Kenda) + 42
15 Lawson Craddock (Bontrager Cycling Team) + 46
16 David Belda (Burgos BH - Castilla y León) + 48 17 Kajetan Fricke (Team ABUS) + 51
18 Óscar Sevilla (EPM - UNE) + 56 19 Robin Eckmann (Team ABUS) + 58
20 Ben Jacques-Maynes (Jamis - Hagens Berman) 29 Patrick Konrad (Team ABUS) + 1'12
30 Bastian Bürgel (Team ABUS) + 1'14
75 David Bartl (Team ABUS) + 2'45
129 Maximilian Werda (Team ABUS) + 4'39
142 Jan Keller (Team ABUS) + 5'02
GC
1 Francisco Mancebo (5-Hour Energy) 14'58
2 Edgar Pinto (LA Alumínios - Antarte) + 6
3 Janier Acevedo (Jamis - Hagens Berman) + 11
4 Nuno Ribeiro (Efapel - Glassdrive) + 13
5 Arkaitz Durán (Efapel - Glassdrive) + 18
6 Harald Totschnig (Tirol Cycling Team)
7 Jure Golcer (Tirol Cycling Team) + 22
8 João Cabreira (OFM - Quinta da Lixa) + 25
9 Ricardo Vilela (Efapel - Glassdrive) + 26
10 Alejandro Marque Porto (OFM - Quinta da Lixa) + 29
11 Gustavo César Veloso (OFM - Quinta da Lixa) + 32 12 Jakob Steigmiller (Team ABUS) + 36
13 Edward Ortiz (EPM - UNE) + 39
14 Alex Hagman (Jelly Belly p/b Kenda) + 42
15 Lawson Craddock (Bontrager Cycling Team) + 46
16 David Belda (Burgos BH - Castilla y León) + 48 17 Kajetan Fricke (Team ABUS) + 51
18 Óscar Sevilla (EPM - UNE) + 56 19 Robin Eckmann (Team ABUS) + 58
20 Ben Jacques-Maynes (Jamis - Hagens Berman) 29 Patrick Konrad (Team ABUS) + 1'12
30 Bastian Bürgel (Team ABUS) + 1'14
75 David Bartl (Team ABUS) + 2'45
129 Maximilian Werda (Team ABUS) + 4'39
142 Jan Keller (Team ABUS) + 5'02
Points
1 Francisco Mancebo (5-Hour Energy) 25
2 Edgar Pinto (LA Alumínios - Antarte) 20
3 Janier Acevedo (Jamis - Hagens Berman) 16
Mountains
1 Francisco Mancebo (5-Hour Energy) 16
2 Edgar Pinto (LA Alumínios - Antarte) 12
3 Janier Acevedo (Jamis - Hagens Berman) 10
Teams
1 Efapel - Glassdrive 45'51
2 OFM - Quinta da Lixa + 29 3 Team ABUS + 1'28
Young guys 1 Jakob Steigmiller (Team ABUS) 15'34
2 Lawson Craddock (Bontrager Cycling Team) + 10 3 Kajetan Fricke (Team ABUS) + 15
4 Robin Eckmann (Team ABUS) + 22
8 Patrick Konrad (Team ABUS) + 36
9 Bastian Bürgel (Team ABUS) + 38
Selection Team ABUS: Silvio Herklotz, David Hesselbarth, Fredrik Ludvigsson, Marcel Meisen, Kevin Predatsch, Brian Takacs, Kersten Thiele, Frank Wagner.
The last cobbles for Team ABUS this spring. Our strong eight from the Kattekoers and Nokere Koerse hope to show off another time. For the third time in one month, Wagner is part of the early breakaway in a Belgian 1.1. He’s joined by Reichenbach, Devillers, Haugaard, Laborie and Kaupas.
The race is predicted to end in a mass sprint, but we hope that the hilly middle part will take care of some selection. While the lead of the attack group grows over six minutes, the rest of Team ABUS hits the cobbled hills in the very front of the bunch.
Sky and Vini Fantini have put their helpers in front, hammering hard. Helped by some crosswinds, they manage to smash the bunch in several echelons. Our vigilant riders survive the first selection without troubles and when we notice that some of the fast guys are dropped already, Team ABUS puts some helpers in front to help raising the speed and to make sure the first peloton stays away.
In the BOTD Wagner is feeling great, but since the team is active behind him, we order him to stay in the wheels and save some energy. At the back of the lead group, he sees a pursuit group of five finding contact, with Wurtz, Dockx, Van Zandbeek, Wilkinson and good old Niko Eeckhout – the guy could be the father of some of our youngsters!
Fast forward to the final, where the break still holds a two minutes gap. Wagner is clearly having a super day. When his teammates in the bunch go back to sitting in the wheels, our guy in the front takes up his responsibility in the break again, reeling back in some attackers. In the meantime, favorites Oscar Gatto, Tom Veelers and Ian Stannard start a furious attack in an attempt to get back to the early break. The rest of the bunch, including our guys, don’t has an answer on their acceleration.
Only 5k left, Wagner feels the pressure of the favorites and the hunting bunch in his neck. Being quite slow in the sprint, he decides to play all or nothing and jumps away. But Ian Stannard, flying over the rest of the early break, clearly still has something in the tank…
Only one kilometer left, but Stannard is coming! Scheisse, that Brit will ruin the party…
Or isn’t he? Stannard can’t maintain his efforts and falls back, but now the sprinters in the bunch are approaching! Umpff, this ain’t healthy for our DS’s heart!
YIHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, he takes it!!! Frank Wagner pockets Team ABUS’ first victory and smashes his own head in disbelief! Our helper won a 1.1-race in front of a bunch of full professionals, impossible! Time for some champagne for all the team! Thanks to Silvio Herklotz (14th), Marcel Meisen (16th) and David Hesselbarth (20th), we even bring home the team classification win. This must be a dream…
But when we look up results one day after, they really look like this:
Spoiler
Result 1 Frank Wagner (Team ABUS) 4h37'37
2 Jimmy Engoulvent (Sojasun)
3 Marco Bandiera (IAM Cycling)
4 Bert De Backer (Team Argos - Shimano)
5 David Veilleux (Team Europcar)
6 Ian Stannard (Sky Procycling)
7 Oscar Gatto (Vini Fantini - Selle Italia)
8 Benjamin Verraes (Accent Jobs - Wanty)
9 Kurt Hovelynck (Crelan - Euphony)
10 Alexandre Pichot (Team Europcar)
11 Roger Kluge (Team NetApp - Endura)
12 Christophe Laborie (Sojasun)
13 Sven Nys (Crelan - Euphony) 14 Silvio Herklotz (Team ABUS)
15 Tom Veelers (Team Argos - Shimano) 16 Marcel Meisen (Team ABUS)
17 Egidijus Juodvalkis (Crelan - Euphony)
18 Kasper Klostergaard (Concordia Forsikring - Riwal)
19 Nico Eeckhout (An Post - Chainreaction) 20 David Hesselbarth (Team ABUS)
41 Fredrik Ludvigsson (Team ABUS)
59 Kevin Predatsch (Team ABUS)
67 Brian Takacs (Team ABUS) + 1'34
90 Kersten Thiele (Team ABUS)
Teams 1 Team ABUS 13h52'51
2 Crelan - Euphony
3 Team Europcar
Next episode: 15/3/2013 Istrian Spring Trophy, stage 2/4
After yesterday’s good start, our climbers are motivated to show their Team ABUS’ shirts again in stage 2 of the Istrian Spring Trophy. Bastian Bürgel isn’t afraid of the mountains waiting in the end and attacks right away. He gets the company of fellow German Jasha Sütterlin and Frank Niewold. A bit later, also Andrew Tennant tags along.
During the first climb of the day it becomes clear Bastian is the strongest climber in front. He takes the lead all time, but in the end it’s Tennant’s acceleration winning it from our German’s climbing legs. The Brit takes the points.
Bürgel isn’t too happy about that and decides to shake off his companions to start a brave solo effort. He immediately succeeds in earning himself a reassuring lead and cashes all mountain and sprint points lying in front of him. In the pack, the remaining Team ABUS-riders are terrorized by the Colombian and Portuguese climbing goats. But white jersey Jakob Steigmiller survives – for now.
Despite the high speeds besides his back, Bürgel retains a cool margin. Twenty kilometers left, his lead is still five minutes big. Wow, can we do another stunt?
10k: three minutes. Can this still go wrong? Yes it can, with six kilometers of climbing waiting in the end. But Bürgel isn’t dead yet…
But the guys remaining in the bunch haven’t died either. Yellow jersey Francisco Mancebo leads a fast approaching pursuit group, where Steigmiller, Konrad, Fricke and Eckmann are still hanging on. Five to go, the lead is only 1’40”. This will be a hard job for our brave leader…
The steep hair spin section climbing to Labin means the end for our brave guy. He sees the favorites coming behind him and switches to survival mode, just like his teammates. While the top guys are battling it out, the final kilometers are a torture for our talents.
But they don’t collapse. After an impressive solo effort all day long, Bastian Bürgel is rewarded with a seventh place in stage and gc, with the mountain jersey ánd with the lead in the youngsters’ classification, leading it with one tiny second over Lawson Craddock. Our other four climbers also defended their top 30 classification well. We can’t have a new party in Croatia today, but our guys shouldn’t be disappointed at all.
Spoiler
Result
1 Janier Acevedo (Jamis - Hagens Berman) 4h18'25
2 Edgar Pinto (LA Alumínios - Antarte) + 1'23
3 Nuno Ribeiro (Efapel - Glassdrive)
4 Óscar Sevilla (EPM - UNE)
5 Francisco Mancebo (5-Hour Energy)
6 Gustavo César Veloso (OFM - Quinta da Lixa) + 2'45 7 Bastian Bürgel (Team ABUS) + 2'58
8 Lawson Craddock (Bontrager Cycling Team) + 3'09
9 Jure Golcer (Tirol Cycling Team) + 3'37
10 Luis Alberto Romero (Jamis - Hagens Berman) + 3'45
11 Alejandro Marque Porto (OFM - Quinta da Lixa) + 4'39
12 Gavin Mannion (Bontrager Cycling Team) + 4'50
13 Arkaitz Durán (Efapel - Glassdrive)
14 João Cabreira (OFM - Quinta da Lixa)
15 David Gutiérrez Gutiérrez (Rádio Popular - Onda)
16 David Belda (Burgos BH - Castilla y León) 17 Patrick Konrad (Team ABUS)
18 Eduard Beltran (EPM - UNE)
19 Ricardo Vilela (Efapel - Glassdrive)
20 Harald Totschnig (Tirol Cycling Team) 21 Jakob Steigmiller (Team ABUS)
28 Kajetan Fricke (Team ABUS)
36 Robin Eckmann (Team ABUS)
85 David Bartl (Team ABUS) + 14'42
93 Jan Keller (Team ABUS) + 15'02
94 Maximilian Werda (Team ABUS)
GC
1 Janier Acevedo (Jamis - Hagens Berman) 4h33'14
2 Edgar Pinto (LA Alumínios - Antarte) + 1'26
3 Francisco Mancebo (5-Hour Energy) + 1'30
4 Nuno Ribeiro (Efapel - Glassdrive) + 1'33
5 Óscar Sevilla (EPM - UNE) + 2'28
6 Gustavo César Veloso (OFM - Quinta da Lixa) + 3'26 7 Bastian Bürgel (Team ABUS) + 4'03
8 Lawson Craddock (Bontrager Cycling Team) + 4'04
9 Jure Golcer (Tirol Cycling Team) + 4'08
10 Arkaitz Durán (Efapel - Glassdrive) + 5'17
11 Alejandro Marque Porto (OFM - Quinta da Lixa)
12 Harald Totschnig (Tirol Cycling Team)
13 João Cabreira (OFM - Quinta da Lixa) + 5'24
14 Ricardo Vilela (Efapel - Glassdrive) + 5'25 15 Jakob Steigmiller (Team ABUS) + 5'35
16 Edward Ortiz (EPM - UNE) + 5'38
17 David Belda (Burgos BH - Castilla y León) + 5'47
18 Luis Alberto Romero (Jamis - Hagens Berman) 19 Kajetan Fricke (Team ABUS) + 5'50
20 Ben Jacques-Maynes (Jamis - Hagens Berman) + 5'57 21 Robin Eckmann (Team ABUS)
29 Patrick Konrad (Team ABUS) + 6'11
84 David Bartl (Team ABUS) + 17'36
124 Maximilian Werda (Team ABUS) + 19'50
132 Jan Keller (Team ABUS) + 20'13
Points
1 Janier Acevedo (Jamis - Hagens Berman) 41
2 Edgar Pinto (LA Alumínios - Antarte) 40
3 Francisco Mancebo (5-Hour Energy) 39 5 Bastian Bürgel (Team ABUS) 27
Teams
1 Jamis - Hagens Berman 13h51'15
2 Efapel - Glassdrive + 54
3 EPM - UNE + 2'34 5 Team ABUS + 3'57
Young guys 1 Bastian Bürgel Team ABUS 4h37'17
2 Lawson Craddock Bontrager Cycling Team + 1 3 Jakob Steigmiller Team ABUS + 1'32
4 Kajetan Fricke Team ABUS + 1'47
5 Robin Eckmann Team ABUS + 1'54
9 Patrick Konrad Team ABUS + 2'08
Next episode: 16/3/2013 Istrian Spring Trophy, stage 3/4Edited by sisse on 23-08-2013 13:14
Again some climbing during day 3 in Istria, but today we’ll only find shorter hills on our way. Objective number 1 is protecting the white and polkadot shirt of Bastian Bürgel. With one second advantage over Lawson Craddock for the white and with Francisco Mancebo on the lurk in the mountain classification, this will be a close call.
After yesterday’s hard battle, nobody seems interested to stretch the legs today. So in an attempt to take the mountain points away, Team ABUS’ David Bartl and Patrick Konrad are the first to try something. Torres, Prades, Friedman and Pullar join our duo. The six are granted a green light to go. With a maximal advantage over seven minutes, our break’s best placed rider Konrad is the virtual leader for some time.
But then the Jamissquad comes into action. The helpers of leader Janier Acevedo raise the speed. Like we asked him, Bastian Bürgel – helped by young Maximilian Werda – follows them closely in an attempt never to be surprised. A bit surprising, the break withstands the chasing pack well: with 30k to go, they still have a three minutes gap. Our two guys in the break go hard and have no chance to enjoy the breathtaking views going down to a local port.
Fifteen kilometers from the finish line, it’s clear the bunch won’t play for the stage win today. With two chessmen in the front, it’s obvious we can play it tactically today. On top of the last official hill of the day, David Bartl attacks. Teamie Konrad slows down in an attempt to tire the others in the break.
A smart move, but one minute later our guys’ tactics are fucked up. While three riders manage to jump to our man in front, Konrad stays in the wheel of Pullar, who can’t keep up and drops back. On his own, Konrad can’t close the gap with the leaders, where – to make matters worse – David Bartl pays a high price for his efforts and drops out. No new win for Team ABUS today, we’ll have to settle with fourth and fifth place, holding of some favorites that left the approaching bunch.
Konrad also moves up to tenth place in gc after his brave effort of today. More positive is the survival of Bastian Bürgel in his two leader’s jerseys. The break ate away all mountain points of the day, while the teammates managed to neutralize an attack of white opponent Craddock in the final. One more day to go and Bastian can travel back home with two more shirts in his luggage!
Spoiler
Result
1 Michael Friedman (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) 4h18'37
2 Eduard Prades (OFM - Quinta da Lixa) + 31
3 Pablo Torres (Burgos BH - Castilla y León) 4 Patrick Konrad (Team ABUS) + 1'12
5 David Bartl (Team ABUS)
6 Gustavo César Veloso (OFM - Quinta da Lixa)
7 Jack Pullar (Madison Genesis) + 2'06
8 Bjorn Selander (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies)
9 Francisco Mancebo (5-Hour Energy)
10 Janier Acevedo (Jamis - Hagens Berman)
11 Óscar Sevilla (EPM - UNE)
12 Juan José Haedo (Jamis - Hagens Berman)
13 Lawson Craddock (Bontrager Cycling Team)
14 Edgar Pinto (LA Alumínios - Antarte)
15 Ben Jacques-Maynes (Jamis - Hagens Berman)
16 Jure Golcer (Tirol Cycling Team)
17 Jasper Stuyven (Bontrager Cycling Team)
18 Alejandro Marque Porto (OFM - Quinta da Lixa)
19 Roy Sentjens (Cyclingteam De Rijke - Shanks)
20 Arkaitz Durán (Efapel - Glassdrive) 30 Jakob Steigmiller (Team ABUS)
31 Kajetan Fricke (Team ABUS)
36 Bastian Bürgel (Team ABUS)
39 Robin Eckmann (Team ABUS)
41 Jan Keller (Team ABUS)
74 Maximilian Werda (Team ABUS) + 3'55
GC
1 Janier Acevedo (Jamis - Hagens Berman) 8h53'57
2 Edgar Pinto (LA Alumínios - Antarte) + 1'26
3 Francisco Mancebo (5-Hour Energy) + 1'30
4 Nuno Ribeiro (Efapel - Glassdrive) + 1'33
5 Óscar Sevilla (EPM - UNE) + 2'28
6 Gustavo César Veloso (OFM - Quinta da Lixa) + 2'32 7 Bastian Bürgel (Team ABUS) + 4'03
8 Lawson Craddock (Bontrager Cycling Team) + 4'04
9 Jure Golcer (Tirol Cycling Team) + 4'08 10 Patrick Konrad (Team ABUS) + 5'11
11 Arkaitz Durán (Efapel - Glassdrive) + 5'17
12 Alejandro Marque Porto (OFM - Quinta da Lixa)
13 Harald Totschnig (Tirol Cycling Team)
14 João Cabreira (OFM - Quinta da Lixa) + 5'24
15 Ricardo Vilela (Efapel - Glassdrive) + 5'25 16 Jakob Steigmiller (Team ABUS) + 5'35
17 David Belda (Burgos BH - Castilla y León) + 5'47
18 Luis Alberto Romero (Jamis - Hagens Berman) 19 Kajetan Fricke (Team ABUS) + 5'50
20 Ben Jacques-Maynes (Jamis - Hagens Berman) + 5'57 21 Robin Eckmann (Team ABUS)
71 David Bartl (Team ABUS) + 16'42
95 Jan Keller (Team ABUS) + 20'13
111 Maximilian Werda (Team ABUS) + 21'39
Points
1 Janier Acevedo (Jamis - Hagens Berman) 47
2 Francisco Mancebo (5-Hour Energy) 46
3 Edgar Pinto (LA Alumínios - Antarte) 42 6 Bastian Bürgel (Team ABUS) 27
9 Patrick Konrad (Team ABUS) 20
Teams
1 Jamis - Hagens Berman 26h53'24
2 OFM - Quinta da Lixa + 5
3 Efapel - Glassdrive + 54 4 Team ABUS + 2'09
Young guys
1 Bastian Bürgel Team ABUS 8h58'00 (1)
2 Lawson Craddock Bontrager Cycling Team + 1 (2) 3 Patrick Konrad Team ABUS + 1'08
4 Jakob Steigmiller Team ABUS + 1'32
5 Kajetan Fricke Team ABUS + 1'47
6 Robin Eckmann Team ABUS + 1'54
Next episode: 17/3/2013 Istrian Spring Trophy, stage 4/4Edited by sisse on 24-08-2013 14:05
We have no particular sprinter in our eight for Istria, so in the flattish last stage our guys are free to attack once more. Kajetan Fricke is our guy in the break of nine today. They are away for a loooooooooooooooong day in the front line. Luckily, the pack can enjoy a sunny weather during the 231k (!) ride.
Fricke is a rather explosive guy and is sitting on 19th place overall, so he has all benefits to stay away. However, the sprinters’ teams think differently. There are 140 kilometer left to go, but they already bump the speed. Entering the local laps, with 40k left, the gap is reduced to 2’15”.
Staying away will be an impossible task for Kajetan. Entering the last local lap, a thinned out bunch has the BOTD in sight. We’ll see a sprint today. Helper Jan Keller is the fastest of our selection and will get his own chance today.
He enters the sprint well placed, but Jan lacks the real speed to beat the pure sprinters. While Edgar Pinto wins, we have to settle with twelfth place today. Still, the Croatian fans can cheer for an Team ABUS-guy in on the podium. After a strong four days, Bastian Bürgel collects a last white shirt, being crowned the best young guy in the race. A great performance for our development squad.
With as well a seventh and tenth place in the final gc and the win in the climbers classification our courageous climbers proved they’re well worth their spot in the team.
Spoiler
Result
1 Edgar Pinto (LA Alumínios - Antarte) 5h09'00
2 Jasper Stuyven (Bontrager Cycling Team)
3 Juan José Haedo (Jamis - Hagens Berman)
4 Bjorn Selander (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies)
5 Alex Candelario (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies)
6 Dean Downing (Madison Genesis)
7 Mike Teunissen (Rabobank Development Team)
8 Gustavo César Veloso (OFM - Quinta da Lixa)
9 Liam Holohan (Madison Genesis)
10 Kristoffer Skjerping (Joker Merida)
11 Rick Zabel (Rabobank Development Team) 12 Jan Keller (Team ABUS)
13 Óscar Sevilla (EPM - UNE)
14 Ken Hanson (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies)
15 Andrew Tennant (Madison Genesis)
16 Ben Jacques-Maynes (Jamis - Hagens Berman)
17 Michael Northey (Node 4 - Giordana Racing)
18 Alejandro Marque Porto (OFM - Quinta da Lixa)
19 Roy Sentjens (Cyclingteam De Rijke - Shanks)
20 Francisco Mancebo (5-Hour Energy) 30 Kajetan Fricke (Team ABUS)
47 Robin Eckmann (Team ABUS)
48 Patrick Konrad (Team ABUS)
55 Jakob Steigmiller (Team ABUS)
60 Bastian Bürgel (Team ABUS)
127 Maximilian Werda (Team ABUS) + 2'48
142 David Bartl (Team ABUS)
GC
1 Janier Acevedo (Jamis - Hagens Berman) 14h02'57
2 Edgar Pinto (LA Alumínios - Antarte) + 1'06
3 Francisco Mancebo (5-Hour Energy) + 1'30
4 Nuno Ribeiro (Efapel - Glassdrive) + 1'33
5 Óscar Sevilla (EPM - UNE) + 2'28
6 Gustavo César Veloso (OFM - Quinta da Lixa) + 2'32 7 Bastian Bürgel (Team ABUS) + 4'03
8 Lawson Craddock (Bontrager Cycling Team) + 4'04
9 Jure Golcer (Tirol Cycling Team) + 4'08 10 Patrick Konrad (Team ABUS) + 5'11
11 Alejandro Marque Porto (OFM - Quinta da Lixa) + 5'17
12 Arkaitz Durán (Efapel - Glassdrive)
13 Harald Totschnig (Tirol Cycling Team)
14 João Cabreira (OFM - Quinta da Lixa) + 5'24
15 Ricardo Vilela (Efapel - Glassdrive) + 5'25 16 Kajetan Fricke (Team ABUS) + 5'32 17 Jakob Steigmiller (Team ABUS) + 5'35
18 Luis Alberto Romero (Jamis - Hagens Berman) + 5'47
19 Ben Jacques-Maynes (Jamis - Hagens Berman) + 5'57 20 Robin Eckmann (Team ABUS)
79 David Bartl (Team ABUS) + 19'30
82 Jan Keller (Team ABUS) + 20'13
113 Maximilian Werda (Team ABUS) + 24'27
Points
1 Edgar Pinto (LA Alumínios - Antarte) 67
2 Janier Acevedo (Jamis - Hagens Berman) 47
3 Francisco Mancebo (5-Hour Energy) 46 7 Bastian Bürgel (Team ABUS) 27
Teams
1 Jamis - Hagens Berman 42h20'24
2 OFM - Quinta da Lixa + 5
3 Efapel - Glassdrive + 54 4 Team ABUS + 2'09
Young guys 1 Bastian Bürgel Team ABUS 8h58'00 (1)
2 Lawson Craddock Bontrager Cycling Team + 1 (2) 3 Patrick Konrad Team ABUS + 1'08
4 Kajetan Fricke Team ABUS + 1'29
5 Jakob Steigmiller Team ABUS + 1'32
6 Robin Eckmann Team ABUS + 1'54
Thx guys. Finally some decent results from my climbers!
17/3/2013 Landing in Normandy
While our climbers did well in Croatia, our classic squad just landed in Normandy. There’ll be quite a lot of D-days for captain Marcel Meisen in the 2.2-tour of this region, with seven flattish stages following a prologue. Team ABUS won’t be as aggressive as we were the last races, since we want to roll out a strong sprint train to launch Meisen towards stage and general classification successes. Since our sponsors will be following our endeavors closely, we’ve selected our strongest guys for this race. Get it on!
Next episode: 17/3/2013 Tour de Normandie 1/8Edited by sisse on 25-08-2013 17:57
