The Duo Differdange is ready to be kicked off: 13 teams, 26 riders, 2 clear favorites with Aegon and Karcher..
Fiedler/Balloni as the first top-duo to hit the road, definitely aiming for the win today. Fiedler as the PCT's premium TT-specialist has something to loose in any timetrial event and so it's mostly up to him to put some early pressure on all following teams today:
1h04'41 for the first best time, beating teams like ONCE (+ 1.05) and Sauber (+ 0.59) easily
Bookwalter/Bodnar maybe not amongst the very top-favorites here, but especially the US boy has already shown that he's capable of pulling some notable results in timetrials. Today, however, him and his mate seemed to struggle, as they finish way behind Karcher:
+ 53" eventually, so just a few seconds ahead of Sauber and Eddie Stobar (+ 1.01)
Stannard/Dennis as next in line - another duo that could pull a strong result here. Slightly worse rated than Kenya's duo, but definitely in better shape today:
+ 5" on Karcher at the finish! Quite a showing and what a close one.
Rolland/Boaro as the only CT-team here. A solid duo they brought, so it's certainly a nice opportunity to show up against the PCT-teams. The two work well together and goes for a nice provisional result here:
+ 30" as third so far, almost half a minute ahead of Kenya Airways
Reus/Flens now. Reus a Differdange-proven professional, who's already won this event twice (once held as 'Duo Normand' ). The team is surely motivated to at least repeat last year's podium behind Oz and Metinvest - two teams, that have gone to ProTour now:
+ 3" to finish in between Karcher and cycleYorkshire! Another thrilling decision and we still have something to come..
Van Winden/Beukeboom as another promising duo. Van Winden (runner-up behind Oz in 2013, together with Zabriskie) as another one aiming high after Oz ain't here anymore. It looks like a pretty close overall ranking today, as also TomTom delivers a nice finish time:
+ 18" as provisional fourth behind Karcher, RBC and cycleYork.. so missing the podium for sure, though!
Keizer/Schädlich as the top-favorites together with Karcher. The only 80/80-duo here, there's a clear mission to win this event. Will we see another team finishing in the same range as still leading Karcher?
Well, there's more than a ten-seconds-difference this time:
+ 15" for Aegon's duo and therefore a rather disappointing fourth place eventually!
Other teams like Swedbank (7th), Gazelle (8th) and AMEX (13th) did quite well, too. AMEX? Yes, they did well to finish the parcours.
So Karcher-Adira indeed set the time to beat early on - which no one was able to beat in the end. A very close victory ahead of RBC Pro Cycling and a surprisingly strong cycleYorkshire, all finishing within 5 seconds only.
A prestigious victory added to Fiedler's palmares and surely some "extra spice" with Schädlich/Aegon missing out on the podium. Generali - Kronenbourg with a notable 6th as the only CT-team here.
