Profile:



Favourites:

Enrico Gasparotto (AST), Christian Schroder (EUC), Rudy Verboven (EUS)

Race:

137km to go

The final stage of the Skoda Tour de Luxembourg. 137 kilometers seperate the 142 riders from the finish back in the capital, Luxembourg. It's cold and it's raining today, not the perfect weather to cycle.

134km to go

The first attack, watch out with those slippery roads! 7 riders get away: De Ieso (BAR), Gazvoda (CSS), Konovalovas (MTN), Minard (ALM), Nys (CRE), Petit (COF) and Renshaw (BEL)

123km to go

They got a 1 minute gap, but then others start attacking too, and the peleton thus caught the break again.

112km to go

It took a while, but finally there is someone who wants to attack again. His name: Zakarin (RVL)

108km to go

He is followed by Charteau (EUC) and Drucker (AJW)...

102km to go

and Houle (ALM) and Van Hecke (TSV), but they all can't stop the Russian from winning the mountain sprint.

96km to go

It's raining cats and dogs out here. The break seems to get away, they are over 3 minutes ahead of the peleton. Somewhere between them, Velasco (CJR) tries, together with Gazvoda and Renshaw (attempt 2 for both), to bridge the gap.

70km to go

Halfway through the stage and the break now counts 8 riders. The peleton is 6 minutes behind, and it won't stop raining.

55km to go

Thanks to the work from Astana and Lotto, the gap is down to 5 minutes. Drucker, the best placed rider in the break, is 7 minutes behind Fuglsang (AST), so no danger there.

52km to go

Turgot (EUC) is the first rider to crash today. He underestimated the wet roads, and he now has to pay for it.

44km to go

The final mountain sprint is won by Zakarin. But, he was no threat to Fuglsang, who will win the mountains jersey as well. Turgot is already back into the peleton.

37km to go

But that little climb caused the peleton to split apart. Fuglsang, Roelandts (LTB), Perichon (BSE), Bonnafond (ALM), Commeyne (AJW), Alinejad (RLT) and Izagirre (EUS) (top 7 in the GC) are in the first peleton, 4 minutes behind the break.

29km to go

The second peleton managed to reach the rest, 67 riders are now unified again. The gap is still 4 minutes, they break might stay out today (again).

20km to go

And somehow the gap has risen by 30 seconds in 10 kilometers. And I will start a petition to abolish local laps, it's really getting complicated who is where.

10km to go

10 kilometers to go and the peleton isn't getting any closer! The victory is for one of these 8 riders.

8500m to go

Velasco leaves his compagnions behind! Can he go solo in the rain here? The group 'behind' the break here is the third peleton (22 riders), with Jungels (RLT) and Turgot.

5000m to go

The Spaniard is caught again, he has waisted his energy for the sprint. However, he was probably the worst sprinter in theory, so the chances he would have won would be very small.

2500m to go

We are heading towards a mass sprint. It will probably be a showdown between the 2 best sprinters in the break, Drucker and Renshaw. Oh, and in the meantime, the gap has increased to 5 minutes. Still, Fuglsang should be safe.

1250m to go

Velasco suprislingly pulled the break to the final kilometer, but he is empty now. Houle is taking an early lead, followed by Van Hecke. Drukcer and Renshaw are on the left (right for the viewers) side of the road, coming up fast!

500m to go

The Australian is flying past the Belgian and the Canadian!

0m to go

Mark Renshaw wins the final stage here in Luxembourg! Van Hecke barely holds on to second, Drucker lost by a few inches. Houle can be seen on the finish picture as well.


Almost 5 minutes later, Verboven (EUS) wins the peleton sprint by a big margin! Mainly because Roelandts didn't really do his best. Fuglsang also finishes in this group, he is the winner of the GC!

Classifications:

Stage:

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Mark Renshaw	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	3h33'42
2	Preben Van Hecke	Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise	s.t.
3	Jempy Drucker	Accent Jobs - Wanty	s.t.
4	Hugo Houle	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
5	Anthony Charteau	Team Europcar	s.t.
6	Gregor Gazvoda	Champion System Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
7	Ilnur Zakarin	RusVelo	s.t.
8	Iván Velasco	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	+ 26
9	Rudy Verboven	Euskaltel - Euskadi	+ 4'58
10	Davy Commeye	Accent Jobs - Wanty	s.t.

GC:

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Jakob Fuglsang	Astana Pro Team	17h14'58
2	Jürgen Roelandts	Lotto Belisol	+ 21
3	Pierre-Luc Périchon	Bretagne - Séché Environnement	+ 38
4	Guillaume Bonnafond	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 41
5	Davy Commeye	Accent Jobs - Wanty	+ 45
6	Naveed Alinejad	RadioShack - Leopard	+ 2'01
7	Ion Izagirre	Euskaltel - Euskadi	+ 2'04
8	Thomas Schwabe	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	+ 2'10
9	Jempy Drucker	Accent Jobs - Wanty	+ 2'13
10	Thomas Voeckler	Team Europcar	+ 2'14

Points:

Rank	Name	Team	Points
1	Jürgen Roelandts	Lotto Belisol	54
2	Rudy Verboven	Euskaltel - Euskadi	33
3	Naveed Alinejad	RadioShack - Leopard	32
4	Davy Commeye	Accent Jobs - Wanty	31
5	Mark Renshaw	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	29

Mountains:

Rank	Name	Team	Points
1	Jakob Fuglsang	Astana Pro Team	15
2	Sébastien Delfosse	Crelan - Euphony	12
3	Ilnur Zakarin	RusVelo	10
4	Guillaume Bonnafond	AG2R La Mondiale	8
5	Luca Mazzanti	Vini Fantini - Selle Italia	7

Young:

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Naveed Alinejad	RadioShack - Leopard	17h16'59
2	Ion Izagirre	Euskaltel - Euskadi	+ 3
3	Thomas Schwabe	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	+ 9
4	Nicky Van Drenthe	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	+ 14
5	Sonny Colbrelli	Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox	+ 16

Team:

Rank	Team	Time
1	Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox	51h45'00
2	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 36
3	Team Europcar	+ 2'32
4	Euskaltel - Euskadi	+ 4'20
5	Accent Jobs - Wanty	+ 4'40