It has been 9 days since the Grand Prix in Alanya, but part of the team is still in Turkey. They moved to a hotel in Adana preparing for Tour of Mediterrennean, raced in the Adana Province. The squad is Adam Holm Jørgensen, Frederik Irgens Jensen, Marcus Sander Hansen, Mathias Bregnhøj, Mathias Larsen, Stian Rosenlund and William Blume Levy.
Tour of Mediterrennean (2.2)
DR P4 Bornholm Radio: Mathias, you was the main sprinter today. Take us trough what happened on the stage. Mathias Larsen: Ya, after some early attempts a group of four formed a breakaway. The pace in the pack was insisting, but not too hard. Although they got about 5 min over the climb, it was not enough. I was sitting quite good at the 5 km mark, but lost the wheel I was following and sadly did not get the perfect finish.
DR P4 Bornholm Radio: William, we saw you working in the pack today, but also sprinting. What was the plan. William Blume Levy : Yes, the plan was to go all in for Mathias, we were all working for him. But in the end, I was seeing the opportunity to take a fast wheel, and found myself taking part in the final sprint. DR P4 Bornholm Radio: Congratulations, with 7th today, it is possibility to work for a good GC result.
While the other squad will continue their efforts in Turkey. The rest of the team is now in Umag, on the Mediterranean coast of Croatia. For a small one-day race. The squad is: Marco Frigo and Emil Schandorff Iwersen, with support from Emil Toudal, Martin Messner, Nahom Zerai, Joshua Gudnitz and Benjamin Hertz.
Trofej Umag (1.2)
DR P4 Bornholm Radio: Emil, what went wrong for you today Emil Schandorff Iwersen : Did not have it today, lack of confidence maybe. Sitting to far back most of the time. Got caught when the splits happened and had to fight to get back, just to get dropped again.
DR P4 Bornholm Radio: Marco, best from the team as 14th, take us through the finish. Marco Frigo : Was ok I guess, considering we got no actual sprinter in the race. Was sitting fine through in the last corner, but was not fast enough to get the top ten, I was hoping for.
We are back in Adana, for the second stage in Tour of Mediterrennean. Another flat profile, this time quite short, just 121.7 km from Adana to Mersin.
Tour of Mediterrennean (2.2)
DR P4 Bornholm Radio:
Mathias, can you take us through the stage. Mathias Larsen : Yes, might say the stage was what we expected. Many riders attempting to join the breakaway. But on a short and fairly simple stage like this, they had no chance to make it. We had Marcus Sander helping the chase, and it came to the expected mass sprint finish.
DR P4 Bornholm Radio: Was the result what you expected. Mathias Larsen : Yes, could always ask for more, but 8th is quite good considering the competition.
Editorial: I Have not got the time I had, when I began this story. So, I need a report style change, to get this floating faster.
Races 4/3 – 7/3
Tour of Mediterrennean (2.2): Stage 3: Mersin - Mersin
Craft Ster van Zwolle (1.2): Rotterdam - Utrecht
Grand Prix de la Ville de Lillers Souvenir Bruno Comini (1.2): Lillers – Lillers
The last day in Turkey we hand another sprinter stage in and around Mersin, about 65 km west of Adana.
It ended in a mass sprint and another top 10 result from Mathias Larsen, 7th this time. In the GC Mathias was also our best rider as 21th. Jonas Vangenechten (Novo) won the stage and overall race.
After that we raced in Dutch one day race Craft Ster van Zwolle, a very flat race with laps between Rotterdam and Utrecht. A disappointing race for us, Mathias Larsen again best as 19th. Marijn Van Den Berg (FDJ Continental Team) won the race.
Then the highlight of the period. Grand Prix de la Ville de Lillers held near Lillers, in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France. A semi-flat one-day race, on a circuit of 10 laps with two short climbs, 0.5 km at 4.5% and 0.4 km a 4.3%.
Despite not having a particularly great day, Mathias Larsen found the right wheel and sprinted to 2nd place, fractions of seconds from the team’s first seasonal victory. Romain Cardis (DELKO) won the race.
