Selection Team ABUS: Caleb Ewan, Silvio Herklotz, David Hesselbarth, Damian Howson, Fredrik Ludvigsson, Marcel Meisen, Kevin Predatsch, Kersten Thiele.
We’re curious to see the results of specialists Damien Howson and Fredrik Ludvigsson in this prologue opening the Tour de Normandie in Mondeville. On the end of the day, Team ABUS can be content. Aussie Damien Howson did well with a tenth place, helper Kevin Predatsch surprised by ending 17th, while Marcel Meisen has nice prospects left after finishing thirteenth and losing only twenty seconds. Only Fredrik Ludvigsson and Kersten Thiele disillusioned the management today.
Spoiler
Result
1 Ed Clancy (Rapha Condor - JLT) 5'20
2 Jonathan Hivert (Sojasun) + 4
3 Jérôme Cousin (Team Europcar) + 6
4 Ross Edgar (Team IG - Sigma Sport) + 8
5 David Le Lay (Sojasun) + 10
6 Eduardo Sepulveda (Bretagne - Séché Environnement) + 11
7 Romain Lemarchand (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) + 13
8 Christophe Kern (Team Europcar) + 15
9 Tony Hurel (Team Europcar) + 18 10 Damien Howson (Team ABUS) + 19
11 Jeremy Vennell (Bissell Cycling)
12 Mark Christian (Team Raleigh) 13 Marcel Meisen (Team ABUS) + 20
14 Graham Briggs (Team Raleigh)
15 Sam Witmitz (Team Raleigh)
16 Kristian Haugaard (Leopard - Trek Continental Team) + 21 17 Kevin Predatsch (Team ABUS)
18 Sean De Bie (Leopard - Trek Continental Team)
19 Franck Vermeulen (Roubaix Lille Métropole)
20 Benoit Jarrier (Bretagne - Séché Environnement) + 22 22 Silvio Herklotz (Team ABUS)
40 Fredrik Ludvigsson (Team ABUS) + 26
24 David Hesselbarth (Team ABUS) + 28
54 Caleb Ewan (Team ABUS) + 30
104 Kersten Thiele (Team ABUS) + 45
GC
1 Ed Clancy (Rapha Condor - JLT) 5'20
2 Jonathan Hivert (Sojasun) + 4
3 Jérôme Cousin (Team Europcar) + 6
4 Ross Edgar (Team IG - Sigma Sport) + 8
5 David Le Lay (Sojasun) + 10
6 Eduardo Sepulveda (Bretagne - Séché Environnement) + 11
7 Romain Lemarchand (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) + 13
8 Christophe Kern (Team Europcar) + 15
9 Tony Hurel (Team Europcar) + 18 10 Damien Howson (Team ABUS) + 19
11 Jeremy Vennell (Bissell Cycling)
12 Mark Christian (Team Raleigh) 13 Marcel Meisen (Team ABUS) + 20
14 Graham Briggs (Team Raleigh)
15 Sam Witmitz (Team Raleigh)
16 Kristian Haugaard (Leopard - Trek Continental Team) + 21 17 Kevin Predatsch (Team ABUS)
18 Sean De Bie (Leopard - Trek Continental Team)
19 Franck Vermeulen (Roubaix Lille Métropole)
20 Benoit Jarrier (Bretagne - Séché Environnement) + 22 22 Silvio Herklotz (Team ABUS)
40 Fredrik Ludvigsson (Team ABUS) + 26
24 David Hesselbarth (Team ABUS) + 28
54 Caleb Ewan (Team ABUS) + 30
104 Kersten Thiele (Team ABUS) + 45
As from today we’re aiming high in this Tour de Normandie, focusing on our sprint train. Seems like we’re not alone, since no single one of the attackers gets any freedom by the sprinters’ teams during the beginning of the stage. At the foot of the first hill of the day David Hesselbarth can’t hold himself. With a swift attack our mountain jersey specialist takes all five points.
One hill later, David pulls of the exact same trick. Tomorrow he’ll wear a climber’s jersey once more. After his double show off, it’s time to focus on our sprint weapons. A group of five attackers – no Team ABUS guy was present – is reeled in right in time thanks to the hard work of British outfits Rapha Condor and Raleigh. In the meantime, Marcel Meisen comes to the team car telling he’s having a superb feeling. Could our sprinter score his first win today?
No he won’t. During the hectic final kilometers we never manage to get the Team ABUS sprinttrain on the rails. After waiting a tad too long to move up to the very front, Marcel Meisen never finds a way out of the pack. Our boxed-in leader ends on a poor sixteenth place with many of his teammates in his slipstream. A frustrating end!
Spoiler
Result
1 Benjamin Giraud (La Pomme Marseille) 4h09'41
2 Ed Clancy (Rapha Condor - JLT)
3 Graham Briggs (Team Raleigh)
4 Sébastien Chavanel (Team Europcar)
5 Christophe Laborie (Sojasun)
6 Jérôme Cousin (Team Europcar)
7 Egoitz García (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits)
8 Julien Fouchard (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits)
9 Fabio Silvestre (Leopard - Trek Continental Team)
10 Giorgio Brambilla (Atlas Personal - Jakroo)
11 Julien Simon (Sojasun)
12 Alexandre Blain (Team Raleigh)
13 Morten Øllegaard (Blue Water Cycling)
14 Florian Vachon (Bretagne - Séché Environnement)
15 James McCallum (Rapha Condor - JLT) 16 Marcel Meisen (Team ABUS)
17 Kristian House (Rapha Condor - JLT)
18 Romain Lemarchand (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) 19 Fredrik Ludvigsson (Team ABUS)
20 Rony Martias (Sojasun) 21 Caleb Ewan (Team ABUS)
24 David Hesselbarth (Team ABUS)
26 Silvio Herklotz (Team ABUS)
43 Kevin Predatsch (Team ABUS)
52 Damien Howson (Team ABUS)
77 Kersten Thiele (Team ABUS)
GC
1 Ed Clancy (Rapha Condor - JLT) 4h14'49
2 Jonathan Hivert (Sojasun) + 16
3 Benjamin Giraud (La Pomme Marseille) + 17
4 Jérôme Cousin (Team Europcar) + 18
5 Ross Edgar (Team IG - Sigma Sport) + 20
6 David Le Lay (Sojasun) + 22
7 Eduardo Sepulveda (Bretagne - Séché Environnement) + 23
8 Graham Briggs (Team Raleigh) + 24
9 Romain Lemarchand (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) + 25
10 Christophe Kern (Team Europcar) + 27
11 Tony Hurel (Team Europcar) + 30
12 Mark Christian (Team Raleigh) + 31 13 Damien Howson (Team ABUS)
14 Jeremy Vennell (Bissell Cycling)
15 Haritz Orbe (Euskadi) 16 Marcel Meisen (Team ABUS) + 32
17 Sam Witmitz (Team Raleigh) 18 Kevin Predatsch (Team ABUS) + 33
19 Sean De Bie (Leopard - Trek Continental Team)
20 Kristian Haugaard (Leopard - Trek Continental Team) 22 Silvio Herklotz (Team ABUS) + 34
37 Fredrik Ludvigsson (Team ABUS) + 38
45 David Hesselbarth (Team ABUS) + 40
54 Caleb Ewan (Team ABUS) + 42
105 Kersten Thiele (Team ABUS) + 57
Points
1 Ed Clancy (Rapha Condor - JLT) 45
2 Jérôme Cousin (Team Europcar) 26
3 Benjamin Giraud (La Pomme Marseille) 25
Mountains 1 David Hesselbarth (Team ABUS) 10
2 Wout Franssen (An Post - Chainreaction) 5
3 Alexander Gottfried (Nutrixxion - Abus) 4
Teams
1 Sojasun 12h45'41
2 Team Europcar 12h29'03 + 1
3 Team Raleigh + 21 4 Team ABUS + 22
Great to hear!
@ Sutty: Nah, it was rather frustrating that Marcel was never able to accelerate since the roads were literally blocked...
19/3/2013 Tour de Normandie 3/8
Can we get our revenge after yesterday’s frustrating day? Only 82k today, but the bad weather, side wind and narrow roads promise a dangerous day. The team orders are clear: stay in front all day long in order to avoid bad surprises. First achievement of the day for the team is again written by David Hesselbarth, who scores one more point to strengthen his lead in the mountain classification.
Later on a trio goes in the attack, with fellow German Bjorn Thurau getting the company of a Russian and Belgian rider. Our eight guys stay in the bunch, attentive all time in order to avoid being on the bad side of possible break-ups. Result is that all ABUS eight have a ticket for the first of four groups when the bunch is smashed in the predictable echelons.
The speed in the first echelon is fierce, but still one of the attackers manages to stay clear. A strong Thurau takes a great solowin. Our guys try to do well in the sprint behind the back of the Europcar-rider, but the battle in the wind obviously cost too much power. Caleb Ewan is the first of our team today, ending on a pretty disappointing eleventh place.
Spoiler
Result
1 Björn Thurau (Team Europcar)
2 Giorgio Brambilla (Atlas Personal - Jakroo)
3 Julien Simon (Sojasun)
4 Benjamin Giraud (La Pomme Marseille)
5 Adrien Petit (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits)
6 Egoitz García (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits)
7 Ed Clancy (Rapha Condor - JLT)
8 Carlos Barbero (Euskadi)
9 Christophe Laborie (Sojasun)
10 Mathieu Chiocca (Atlas Personal - Jakroo) 11 Caleb Ewan (Team ABUS)
12 Kristian House (Rapha Condor - JLT)
13 Fabio Silvestre (Leopard - Trek Continental Team)
14 Julien Fouchard (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) 15 Marcel Meisen (Team ABUS)
16 David Hesselbarth (Team ABUS)
17 Justin Jules (La Pomme Marseille)
18 James McCallum (Rapha Condor - JLT) 19 Silvio Herklotz (Team ABUS)
20 Alexandre Pichot (Team Europcar) 31 Fredrik Ludvigsson (Team ABUS)
32 Damien Howson (Team ABUS)
47 Kersten Thiele (Team ABUS)
76 Kevin Predatsch (Team ABUS)
GC
1 Ed Clancy (Rapha Condor - JLT) 6h04'00
2 Jonathan Hivert (Sojasun) + 16
3 Benjamin Giraud (La Pomme Marseille) + 17
4 Jérôme Cousin (Team Europcar) + 18
5 Ross Edgar (Team IG - Sigma Sport) + 20
6 David Le Lay (Sojasun) + 22
7 Graham Briggs (Team Raleigh) + 24
8 Romain Lemarchand (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) + 25
9 Christophe Kern (Team Europcar) + 27
10 Julien Simon (Sojasun) + 30
11 Tony Hurel (Team Europcar) 12 Damien Howson (Team ABUS) + 31
13 Mark Christian (Team Raleigh)
14 Jeremy Vennell (Bissell Cycling) 15 Marcel Meisen (Team ABUS) + 32
16 Sam Witmitz (Team Raleigh)
17 Sean De Bie (Leopard - Trek Continental Team) + 33 18 Kevin Predatsch (Team ABUS)
19 Franck Vermeulen (Roubaix Lille Métropole) 20 Silvio Herklotz (Team ABUS) + 34
29 Fredrik Ludvigsson (Team ABUS) + 38
32 David Hesselbarth (Team ABUS) + 40
37 Caleb Ewan (Team ABUS) + 42
64 Kersten Thiele (Team ABUS) + 57
Points
1 Ed Clancy (Rapha Condor - JLT) 54
2 Benjamin Giraud (La Pomme Marseille) 39
3 Jérôme Cousin (Team Europcar) 26
Teams
1 Sojasun 18h13'14
2 Team Europcar + 1
3 Team Raleigh + 21 4 Team ABUS + 22
Young guys
1 Jérôme Cousin Team Europcar 6h04'18 2 Damien Howson Team ABUS + 13
3 Mark Christian Team Raleigh 4 Marcel Meisen Team ABUS + 14
6 Kevin Predatsch Team ABUS + 15
7 Silvio Herklotz Team ABUS + 16
Again a short stage today, offering three hills but still a big chance for a new bunch sprint. After two disappointing days for the team, David Hesselbarth can focus on his blue-white climber’s jersey. It’s better to make sure we return back to Germany with at least one prize…
However after a hectic start it’s not ‘Hessel’ in the break of the day, but young Silvio Herklotz. He makes the jump to seven attackers on his own. Silvio shows to be a real team player on the hilltops, snatching away some points and succeeding to hold off the aggressive Jacob Nielsen who’s clearly aiming for the best climber’s shirt. Thanks to this work, Hesselbarth just manages to stay on top of the mountain ranking.
Herklotz is not allowed to fight for the stagewin however, since the sprinters’ teams reel the attackers in right in time. Fast guys Marcel Meisen and Caleb Ewan get another chance to show off. This time they don’t want to be surprised like during the first sprint here in Normandy, and so our duo moves to the front early on. Seems like everything will work out well today…
No way, José. Right before the start of the sprint, our entire team – except an exhausted Silvio Herklotz – is boxed in once again by a wave of slow riders and falls back to a hopeless position. No chance to show what we are worth today. Adrien Petit celebrates a proper win, the Team ABUS’ sprinters have all troubles to hold their nerves after another disappointing finish and not to throw their bikes against the team camper.
Spoiler
Result
1 Adrien Petit (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) 1h30'35
2 Justin Jules (La Pomme Marseille)
3 Giorgio Brambilla (Atlas Personal - Jakroo)
4 Sébastien Chavanel (Team Europcar)
5 Benjamin Giraud (La Pomme Marseille)
6 Ed Clancy (Rapha Condor - JLT)
7 Carlos Barbero (Euskadi)
8 Julien Fouchard (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits)
9 Mathieu Chiocca (Atlas Personal - Jakroo)
10 Julien Simon (Sojasun)
11 Christophe Laborie (Sojasun)
12 Luis Ángel Maté (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits)
13 Ross Edgar (Team IG - Sigma Sport)
14 Florian Vachon (Bretagne - Séché Environnement)
15 Graham Briggs (Team Raleigh)
16 Kristian House (Rapha Condor - JLT)
17 Alexandre Pichot (Team Europcar)
18 Alexandre Blain (Team Raleigh)
19 Peter Erdin (Atlas Personal - Jakroo)
20 Egoitz García (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) 21 Silvio Herklotz (Team ABUS)
22 Marcel Meisen (Team ABUS)
23 Caleb Ewan (Team ABUS)
39 David Hesselbarth (Team ABUS)
53 Fredrik Ludvigsson (Team ABUS)
59 Kevin Predatsch (Team ABUS)
62 Damien Howson (Team ABUS)
116 Kersten Thiele (Team ABUS)
GC
1 Ed Clancy (Rapha Condor - JLT) 7h34'35
2 Adrien Petit (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) + 16
3 Jonathan Hivert (Sojasun)
4 Benjamin Giraud (La Pomme Marseille) + 17
5 Jérôme Cousin (Team Europcar) + 18
6 Ross Edgar (Team IG - Sigma Sport) + 20
7 David Le Lay (Sojasun) + 22
8 Graham Briggs (Team Raleigh) + 24
9 Romain Lemarchand (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) + 25
10 Christophe Kern (Team Europcar) + 27
11 Julien Simon (Sojasun) + 30
12 Tony Hurel (Team Europcar) 13 Damien Howson (Team ABUS) + 31
14 Mark Christian (Team Raleigh)
15 Jeremy Vennell (Bissell Cycling) 16 Marcel Meisen (Team ABUS) + 32
17 Silvio Herklotz (Team ABUS)
18 Sam Witmitz (Team Raleigh)
19 Sean De Bie (Leopard - Trek Continental Team) + 33 20 Kevin Predatsch (Team ABUS) + 33
29 Fredrik Ludvigsson (Team ABUS) + 38
33 David Hesselbarth (Team ABUS) + 40
38 Caleb Ewan (Team ABUS) + 42
65 Kersten Thiele (Team ABUS) + 57
Points
1 Ed Clancy (Rapha Condor - JLT) 64
2 Benjamin Giraud (La Pomme Marseille) 51
3 Giorgio Brambilla (Atlas Personal - Jakroo) 42
Mountains 1 David Hesselbarth (Team ABUS) 11
2 Jacob Nielsen (Blue Water Cycling) 11
3 César Bihel (Team Differdange - Losch) 7 4 Silvio Herklotz (Team ABUS) 5
Teams
1 Sojasun 22h44'59
2 Team Europcar + 1
3 Team Raleigh + 21 4 Team ABUS + 22
Sutty: yeah, it is indeed possible to move up in the gc easily, as you'll see in the next episode
Ian: they can buy theirselves a new one if it's necessary, the team won't
Dacascos: Exactly! For sure in the shorter and flattish stages, where all sprinters and their teams are fresh. Too few space for too many riders, and without a good lead for your sprinters it's indeed very hard to get through...
Edited by sisse on 31-08-2013 10:07
With 184 kilometers and quite some hills, this is one of the harder days in this year’s Tour de Normandie. Maybe this will favor Marcel Meisen, who’s clearly on his best in a sprint after a tough journey? We’ll see, but we won’t wait for the sprint anyway. Silvio Herklotz, Fredrik ‘Ludo’ Ludvigsson and David ‘Hessel’ Hesselbarth are ordered to try their chances in a breakaway.
Obviously, thanks to the side wind, we’re on for a hard day of gutter riding again. The teams of the fast guns are very enthusiastic once more to chase down all brave attackers, until Jacob Nielsen fires his shot. The Dane manages to get away on his own, but then Team ABUS comes in action. Nielsen is a direct danger for the climber’s shirt of David Hesselbarth, and so our brave guy reacts together with Silvio Herklotz. Our duo closes the gap, but even with two we can’t stop Nielsen from taking the full jackpot on both fourth category hilltops of the day.
Red alert for a tiring David Hesselbarth, who decides to await the peloton after virtually losing his shirt. Herklotz and Nielsen follow his example. Luckily, David hasn’t played his last card yet. There’s still a third category hill on the way, where many points are on stake. At the foot, the most aggressive of our guys starts a desperate attack in order to conquer back the shirt he’s actually wearing. With success: Nielsen is sleeping and forgets to sprint on the top, Hesselbarth takes six points and his leader’s shirt back.
We’re already pretty close to the line now, time to try to launch our sprinters for a first time. Marcel Meisen searches the back wheel of Silvio Herklotz, who almost managed to lead him to a stage win in the recent Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen. Is this an ideal duo? Seems so, since Silvio drops Marcel right where our leader wanted him to. The rest of the team is quite close too. Can we finally defend our chances today?
Seems so, both Meisen and Caleb Ewan find the space to fire off their sprint. But obviously some guys in this bunch are a tad faster than our duo. Julien Simon takes the win for Sojasun, Team ABUS quits the day with an eighth and ninth place. Not what we hoped for, but with another day in the mountain shirt coming up and Silvio Herklotz moving to eighth place in gc thanks to some bonus seconds, we shouldn’t be disappointed. The top three where our sponsors are hoping for is still within sight.
Spoiler
Result
1 Julien Simon (Sojasun) 3h52'31
2 Giorgio Brambilla (Atlas Personal - Jakroo)
3 Justin Jules (La Pomme Marseille)
4 Carlos Barbero (Euskadi)
5 Ed Clancy (Rapha Condor - JLT)
6 Adrien Petit (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits)
7 Egoitz García (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) 8 Caleb Ewan (Team ABUS)
9 Marcel Meisen (Team ABUS)
10 Christophe Laborie (Sojasun)
11 Alexandre Blain (Team Raleigh)
12 Jean-Luc Delpech (Bretagne - Séché Environnement)
13 Sébastien Chavanel (Team Europcar)
14 Florian Vachon (Bretagne - Séché Environnement)
15 Jonathan Hivert (Sojasun)
16 Benjamin Giraud (La Pomme Marseille)
17 Mathieu Chiocca (Atlas Personal - Jakroo)
18 Ross Edgar (Team IG - Sigma Sport) 19 Fredrik Ludvigsson (Team ABUS)
20 Graham Briggs (Team Raleigh) 47 Silvio Herklotz (Team ABUS)
51 Damien Howson (Team ABUS)
56 Kevin Predatsch (Team ABUS)
66 David Hesselbarth (Team ABUS)
81 Kersten Thiele (Team ABUS)
GC
1 Ed Clancy (Rapha Condor - JLT) 11h27'06
2 Julien Simon (Sojasun) + 10
3 Adrien Petit (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) + 16
4 Jonathan Hivert (Sojasun)
5 Benjamin Giraud (La Pomme Marseille) + 17
6 Jérôme Cousin (Team Europcar) + 18
7 Ross Edgar (Team IG - Sigma Sport) + 20 8 Silvio Herklotz (Team ABUS)
9 Graham Briggs (Team Raleigh) + 22
10 David Le Lay (Sojasun)
11 Romain Lemarchand (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) + 25
12 Christophe Kern (Team Europcar) + 27
13 Tony Hurel (Team Europcar) + 30 14 Damien Howson (Team ABUS) + 31
15 Mark Christian (Team Raleigh)
16 Justin Jules (La Pomme Marseille)
17 Jeremy Vennell (Bissell Cycling) 18 Marcel Meisen (Team ABUS) + 32
19 Sam Witmitz (Team Raleigh)
20 Sean De Bie (Leopard - Trek Continental Team) + 33 22 Kevin Predatsch (Team ABUS)
28 David Hesselbarth (Team ABUS) + 36
31 Fredrik Ludvigsson (Team ABUS) + 38
37 Caleb Ewan (Team ABUS) + 42
62 Kersten Thiele (Team ABUS) + 57
Points
1 Ed Clancy (Rapha Condor - JLT) 76
2 Giorgio Brambilla (Atlas Personal - Jakroo) 62
3 Julien Simon (Sojasun) 52
Mountains
1 David Hesselbarth (Team ABUS) 23
2 Jacob Nielsen (Blue Water Cycling) 21
3 Jonathan Patrick McCarty (Bissell Cycling) 8 4 Silvio Herklotz (Team ABUS) 7
Teams
1 Sojasun 34h22'32
2 Team Europcar + 1
3 Team Raleigh + 21 4 Team ABUS + 22
Am having some very busy weeks on work, but the career is still very much alive. Sorry for the lack of updates this week
22/3/2013 Tour de Normandie 6/8
An attack of seven opens up business in this sixth stage in Normandy. In his hunt for boniseconds, our best GC-rider Herklotz starts a counter. But our number eight in the general classification comes just too late to catch them at the sprint. Since the bunch doesn’t want Silvio to move to the front, he stops his effort.
The seven are gone, but one man starts a counter: almost by accident, our Caleb Ewan got himself a little gap on the bunch. He’s feeling well and decides to chase the break. At the top of the only hill of the day, he has the attack in sight. He will catch them with 83k to go.
But with an advantage of only three minutes on the chasing bunch, the chances of surviving are slim. The professional continental squads Cofidis and Sojasun put the hammer down hard, and with thirty kilometers left the break of the eight guys is history. After a hard week of racing many guys in the back of the bunch are in big troubles in the meantime.
But Team ABUS survives well. The thinned out and tiring bunch offers more space to get our sprinters to the front in the final. Marcel Meisen manages to tag along with white jersey and former stage winner Adrien Petit, young Ewan still has some energy left after his day in the attack and chooses to follow another sprint train.
Carlos Barbero gives Euskadi a victory, Marcel finishes seventh. Steadily our guys manage to do better in this (for now) rather disappointing Tour de Normandie.
Spoiler
Result
1 Carlos Barbero (Euskadi) 3h13'56
2 Julien Simon (Sojasun)
3 Justin Jules (La Pomme Marseille)
4 Giorgio Brambilla (Atlas Personal - Jakroo)
5 Adrien Petit (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits)
6 Benjamin Giraud (La Pomme Marseille) 7 Marcel Meisen (Team ABUS)
8 Ed Clancy (Rapha Condor - JLT)
9 Sébastien Chavanel (Team Europcar)
10 Jonathan Hivert (Sojasun)
11 Ross Edgar (Team IG - Sigma Sport)
12 Florian Vachon (Bretagne - Séché Environnement)
13 Christophe Laborie (Sojasun)
14 Graham Briggs (Team Raleigh)
15 Egoitz García (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits)
16 Fabio Silvestre (Leopard - Trek Continental Team)
17 Jean-Luc Delpech (Bretagne - Séché Environnement)
18 Romain Lemarchand (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) 19 Caleb Ewan (Team ABUS)
20 Christophe Kern (Team Europcar) 27 David Hesselbarth (Team ABUS)
28 Silvio Herklotz (Team ABUS)
40 Damien Howson (Team ABUS)
41 Kevin Predatsch (Team ABUS)
45 Fredrik Ludvigsson (Team ABUS)
97 Kersten Thiele (Team ABUS) 3'15
Still, he decided to change his tactic for today's stage Sutty...
23/3/2013 Tour de Normandie 7/8
This Tour de Normandie hasn’t brought Marcel Meisen what he hoped so far, and so he changes weapon in this seventh stage. Instead of waiting for the sprint, our leader prefers to join the early breakaway. Risky business…
Meisen is feeling superb and get’s the company of Klemme, Piamonte, Wren, Sulzberger, Guldhammer and teammate Fredrik Ludvigsson. An interesting group, but the bunch realizes the danger of it. As soon as the break reaches the 5’30”-gap, Cofidis and Sojasun start the chase. Entering the local laps, where a load of people gathered, there’s only 1’15” and more than forty kilometers left…
The break is reeled in before the battle for the final sprint starts. All Marcel earned today are eight seconds at the intermediate sprints.
Another sprint is closing this stage. A worn Meisen obviously can’t deliver us much glory on the finish line, so Caleb Ewan is our joker now. However our young Aussie hasn’t raced much this season and still needs some additional rhythm to be able to score. He has to settle with a poor 21st place, while Julien Simon takes another win.
Spoiler
Result
1 Julien Simon (Sojasun) 4h01'37
2 Ed Clancy (Rapha Condor - JLT)
3 Giorgio Brambilla (Atlas Personal - Jakroo)
4 Adrien Petit (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits)
5 Sébastien Chavanel (Team Europcar)
6 Justin Jules (La Pomme Marseille)
7 Benjamin Giraud (La Pomme Marseille)
8 Carlos Barbero (Euskadi)
9 Ross Edgar (Team IG - Sigma Sport)
10 Egoitz García (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits)
11 Graham Briggs (Team Raleigh)
12 Tony Hurel (Team Europcar)
13 Christophe Laborie (Sojasun)
14 Jean-Luc Delpech (Bretagne - Séché Environnement)
15 Florian Vachon (Bretagne - Séché Environnement)
16 Fabio Silvestre (Leopard - Trek Continental Team)
17 Mathieu Chiocca (Atlas Personal - Jakroo)
18 Jonathan Hivert (Sojasun)
19 Jérôme Cousin (Team Europcar)
20 Sam Bennett (An Post - Chainreaction) 21 Caleb Ewan (Team ABUS)
24 Marcel Meisen (Team ABUS)
38 David Hesselbarth (Team ABUS)
41 Silvio Herklotz (Team ABUS)
56 Kevin Predatsch (Team ABUS)
71 Kersten Thiele (Team ABUS)
100 Damien Howson (Team ABUS)
121 Fredrik Ludvigsson (Team ABUS) + 4'08
GC
1 Julien Simon (Sojasun) 18h42'17
2 Ed Clancy (Rapha Condor - JLT) + 10
3 Adrien Petit (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) + 38
4 Jonathan Hivert (Sojasun)
5 Benjamin Giraud (La Pomme Marseille) + 39
6 Carlos Barbero (Euskadi) + 40
7 Jérôme Cousin (Team Europcar)
8 Ross Edgar (Team IG - Sigma Sport) + 42 9 Silvio Herklotz (Team ABUS)
10 Graham Briggs (Team Raleigh) + 44
11 David Le Lay (Sojasun)
12 Justin Jules (La Pomme Marseille) + 45 13 Marcel Meisen (Team ABUS) + 46
14 Giorgio Brambilla (Atlas Personal - Jakroo) + 47
15 Romain Lemarchand (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits)
16 Christophe Kern (Team Europcar) + 49
17 Tony Hurel (Team Europcar) + 52
18 Mark Christian (Team Raleigh) + 53 19 Damien Howson (Team ABUS)
20 Jeremy Vennell (Bissell Cycling) 23 Kevin Predatsch (Team ABUS) + 55
28 David Hesselbarth (Team ABUS) + 58
33 Caleb Ewan (Team ABUS) + 1'04
69 Kersten Thiele (Team ABUS) + 4'34
73 Fredrik Ludvigsson (Team ABUS) + 5'08
Points
1 Ed Clancy (Rapha Condor - JLT) 104
2 Julien Simon (Sojasun) 97
3 Giorgio Brambilla (Atlas Personal - Jakroo) 92
Mountains
1 David Hesselbarth (Team ABUS) 23
2 Jacob Nielsen (Blue Water Cycling) 21
3 Jonathan Patrick McCarty (Bissell Cycling) 9 6 Silvio Herklotz (Team ABUS) 7
Teams
1 Sojasun 56h09'11
2 Team Europcar + 1
3 Team Raleigh + 21 4 Team ABUS + 22
The final day trough the rural landscapes of Normandy. We haven’t scored a lot here, but we still have the mountain shirt and top ten in the general classification for now.
To conclude a steady race, helper Kevin Predatsch moves along with the BOTD. With an excellent prologue he started well, and now he’s ending strong by snatching away some seconds at the last intermediate sprints. These make Kevin move to a nice 17th place in general classification. He has no chances for the stage win however, since the pack never loses control once again.
There’s not too much happening till the final part of the race, where many sprinter teams try to form a train for their ace. After his rather disappointing sprint yesterday, a diligent Caleb Ewan decides to sacrifice his chances in favor of Marcel Meisen. Thanks to the Australian, our German goal getter can start today’s sprint from an interesting position.
Carlos Barbero is the winner today, while for the first time in eight days of racing also Marcel Meisen is happy about his final kilometer. He ends fourth, only few millimeters too slow to take third place, while Caleb Ewan is still eleventh after his lead-outjob.
A look at the results sheets learns us we shouldn’t be too disappointed at the end of this Tour de Normandie with the fourth place of today, the blue mountain jersey for David Hesselbarth and four guys in the top twenty of the final classification. But we hoped for much more…
Spoiler
Result
1 Carlos Barbero (Euskadi) 2h48'46
2 Julien Simon (Sojasun)
3 Sébastien Chavanel (Team Europcar) 4 Marcel Meisen (Team ABUS)
5 Adrien Petit (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits)
6 Giorgio Brambilla (Atlas Personal - Jakroo)
7 Justin Jules (La Pomme Marseille)
8 Ed Clancy (Rapha Condor - JLT)
9 Graham Briggs (Team Raleigh)
10 Tony Hurel (Team Europcar) 11 Caleb Ewan (Team ABUS)
12 Benjamin Giraud (La Pomme Marseille)
13 Christophe Laborie (Sojasun)
14 Mathieu Chiocca (Atlas Personal - Jakroo)
15 Alexandre Blain (Team Raleigh)
16 Ross Edgar (Team IG - Sigma Sport)
17 Julien El Fares (Sojasun)
18 Julien Fouchard (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits)
19 Florian Vachon (Bretagne - Séché Environnement)
20 Morten Øllegaard (Blue Water Cycling) 32 Silvio Herklotz (Team ABUS)
37 David Hesselbarth (Team ABUS)
46 Damien Howson (Team ABUS)
49 Fredrik Ludvigsson (Team ABUS)
56 Kevin Predatsch (Team ABUS)
60 Kersten Thiele (Team ABUS)
GC
1 Julien Simon (Sojasun) 21h30'51
2 Ed Clancy (Rapha Condor - JLT) + 22
3 Carlos Barbero (Euskadi) + 32
4 Adrien Petit (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) + 50
5 Jonathan Hivert (Sojasun)
6 Benjamin Giraud (La Pomme Marseille) + 51
7 Jérôme Cousin (Team Europcar) + 52
8 Ross Edgar (Team IG - Sigma Sport) + 54 9 Silvio Herklotz (Team ABUS)
10 Graham Briggs (Team Raleigh) + 56
11 David Le Lay (Sojasun)
12 Justin Jules (La Pomme Marseille) + 57 13 Marcel Meisen (Team ABUS) + 58
14 Giorgio Brambilla (Atlas Personal - Jakroo) + 59
15 Romain Lemarchand (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits)
16 Christophe Kern (Team Europcar) + 1'01 17 Kevin Predatsch (Team ABUS)
18 Tony Hurel (Team Europcar) + 1'04
19 Mark Christian (Team Raleigh) + 1'05 20 Damien Howson (Team ABUS)
28 David Hesselbarth (Team ABUS) + 1'10
33 Caleb Ewan (Team ABUS) + 1'16
69 Kersten Thiele (Team ABUS) + 4'46
73 Fredrik Ludvigsson (Team ABUS) + 5'20
Points
1 Julien Simon (Sojasun) 117
2 Ed Clancy Rapha (Condor - JLT) 112
3 Giorgio Brambilla (Atlas Personal - Jakroo) 102 9 Marcel Meisen (Team ABUS) 42
Mountains 1 David Hesselbarth (Team ABUS) 23
2 Jacob Nielsen (Blue Water Cycling) 21
3 Sebastian Salas (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) 13 8 Silvio Herklotz (Team ABUS) 7
Teams
1 Sojasun 64h35'29
2 Team Europcar + 1
3 Team Raleigh + 21 4 Team ABUS + 22
Selection Team ABUS: David Bartl, Bastian Bürgel, Kajetan Fricke, Jan Keller, Marcel Meisen, Brian Takacs, Frank Wagner, Maximilian Werda.
The Team ABUS riders who weren’t lined up in Normandy had to settle with two weeks without racing. In Dutch Limburg – the annual scenery of the Amstel Gold Race – they have the opportunity to stretch their legs again. Leader however is Marcel Meisen, who’s racing close to his home region Aachen and hopes to compensate for a disappointing Tour de Normandie today.
We can expect the same style of Amstelracing today, going full speed on narrow, twisty roads that don’t stop going up and down – except for a somewhat flatter final. Since we’re in Holland, the windmills are never far away neither. They show quite a lot of wind, so attackers probably won’t have too much chance of surviving today.
We place a guy in the BOTD anyway. Bastian Bürgel joins Sky’s Xabier Zandio, Movistar’s Daliver Ospina and 3M’s Joren Segers. They’ll reach a maximal advantage of 7’30”. Bastian had a short rest after his strong Istrian Spring Trophy, and doesn’t feel too strong in the front. In the end of the race he’s dropped by the leaders, and with twenty kilometers left a thinned out bunch gets on his heels. A bit further, the reminders of the attack are reeled in.
The furious fight on the nervous roads has made a big load of victims today, but Marcel Meisen still feels fine. He’s hoping for a sprint to the line, and so do many other squads. Saxo’s Matti Breschel thinks otherwise though. He doesn’t trust his fast legs and chooses for the attack under the flag of ten.
Vacansoleil starts a furious chase, which makes the reminder of the bunch explode even more. But Breschel doesn’t crack. Five kilometers from the finish line, he still has a good gap. Meisen keeps on feeling well and is on the lurk for the sprint.
Surprisingly, Meisen doesn’t translate his good feeling in a great sprint. Our leader never finds the needed acceleration. Nevertheless he still finishes a nice tenth in the sprint, that is won by the strong Omega Pharma - Quick.Step duo Gianni Meersman - Gert Steegmans. Too bad for them guys, a strong Breschel survived his effort taking the win.
Spoiler
Result
1 Matti Breschel (Team Saxo - Tinkoff) 4h49'47
2 Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team)
3 Gert Steegmans (Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team)
4 José Joaquín Rojas (Movistar Team)
5 Klaas Lodewyck (BMC Racing Team)
6 Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team)
7 Christopher Sutton (Sky Procycling)
8 Danilo Napolitano (Accent Jobs - Wanty)
9 Koen De Kort (Team Argos - Shimano) 10 Marcel Meisen (Team ABUS)
11 Michael Morkov (Team Saxo - Tinkoff)
12 Maarten Tjallingii (Belkin Pro Cycling Team)
13 Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin - Sharp)
14 Sébastien Rosseler (Garmin - Sharp)
15 Vasil Kiryienka (Sky Procycling)
16 Tony Gallopin (RadioShack - Leopard)
17 Robert Hunter (Garmin - Sharp)
18 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (Team Argos - Shimano)
19 Stijn Devolder (RadioShack - Leopard)
20 Stefan Van Dijk (Accent Jobs - Wanty) 23 Jan Keller (Team ABUS)
42 Frank Wagner (Team ABUS)
49 David Bartl (Team ABUS)
78 Robin Eckmann (Team ABUS)
91 Brian Takacs (Team ABUS) + 4'35
96 Bastian Bürgel (Team ABUS) + 15'52
200 Maximilian Werda (Team ABUS) + 18'49
Teams
1 Team Saxo - Tinkoff 14h29'21
2 Garmin - Sharp
3 Sky Procycling 10 Team ABUS
