2009 Part 2 March
Program
*09.03.2009 FRA HIS Paris - Nice
*20.03.2009 BEL 1.1 Nokere-Koerse
*23.03.2009 FRA 1.1 Cholet - Pays De Loire
*24.03.2009 GER 1.1 Rund um Köln
Paris - Nice
Between the prologue and the 6th stage, the general rankings wasn't changed much. The first days we stayed out of trouble and made sure our trusty leader of Tinkoff Credit Systems, Robert Gesink stayed out of the wind and also out of trouble and didn't loose any seconds in the last kilometres that the bunch sprinters and puncheurs like so much.
The first flat stage (stage 2) was won Anthony Charteau of Caisse d'Epargne, he beat Frederik Veuchelen of Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team, both riders were "leftovers" of the breakaway group which at the beginning consisted of ten riders. Mark Cavensish of Team Columbia - HTC of course won a peloton sprint again by winning the 3rd stage, already his 8th victory of the season! Philippe Gilbert of Silence-Lotto won the 4th stage, he attacked on the last short climb of the race and managed to finish solo, 34 seconds ahead of the peloton. Fabian Wegmann of Team Milram repeated Gilberts trick the day after and also won solo.
The 6th Stage of "the race to the sun" was the Queen's stage with finish on the Montagne de Lure, a climb of 17.7 kilometers, with an average grade of 5.7%. The height of the summit lies at 1755 meters. Early in the race, a group of 9 riders sneaked away from the peloton and since none of the escapees were dangerous to the leaders then were able to build up a big gap. With still 104km to go, the distance between the pack and the first group was 14 minutes. We started to organise the chase of the peloton and we asked for help, but all other teams didn't seem to care about the big gap. Damiano Cunego of Lampre , Ivan Basso of Liquigas and Alberto Contador Velasco of Astana all had teammates in the breakaway group and most of them were just at Paris - Nice to prepare themselves for the Grand Tours. So it was up to us to lead the chase of the peloton and at the foot of the Montagne de Lure,
Tinkoff Credit Systems had brought the gap back to about 4 minutes. The 9 riders were already climbing by then and Ludovic Turpin of Ag2r La Mondiale definitely was the strongest climber, so early on the climb he left his fellow escapees behind and tried to resist the chase of the peloton during the last kilometers.
The peloton had becan climbing up the Montagne de Lure aswell, Robert Gesink's helpers weren't strong enough to control the peloton anymore, the result: Almost right from the start, an explosion of attacks. Gesink only focussed on Juan José Cobo Acebo of Fuji-Servetto and when he and Cunego attacked Robert showed his strength by getting right in his wheel easily. The three of them started to picked up the riders of the break away group one by one and with only 5km to go only Ludovic Turpin was still ahead of them. Meanwhile, the group of favorites behind Gesink, Cunego and Cobo was gaining in on them too. Robert knew he had to get rid off Cunego in order to become the general leader. So with 4 more kilometers to the finishline, Gesink spurted away from Cunego and Cobo and was gaining in on Turpin rapidly. Gesink and Turpin got together with only 1km to the top and together they rode to the finish. At the top of the summit Robert Gesink showed his sportsmanship by letting Ludovic Turpin pass the white line first, since he was sure to takeover the leader's jersey with his second place (Cunego got 3rd by winning the sprint of the group of favorites).
We were able to defend the yellow jersey of
Robert Gesink the next two days, in both stages Gesink finsihed together with his opponents. Stage 7 won won by Sérgio Miguel Paulinho Moreira of Astana, the last stage in Nice was won by Daniele Bennati of Liquigas. Lars Boom and Stijn Devolder (Rabobank and Quick Step) ended up 2nd and 3rd in the general rankings, 1 minute behind Gesink. By winning Paris - Nice we achieved our fist sponsor goal, this was celebrated with a big teamparty that night in Nice, even the other riders (who didn't ride Paris - Nice) flew in!
Nokere-Koerse
Good news, after a month of recovery (see Announcements) Yukiya Arashiro was fully healed and Nokere-Koerse was his first race after his comeback. And although Arashiro was ready for his first mass sprint, suprisely a breakaway group of 5 riders got away and withstand the chasing peloton.
Björn Leukemans, the 31 years old Belgium rider of
Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team won the five men sprint, and celebrated his second big win of the season, after already winning the 5th stage of the Tour Down Under. Bert De Waele of Landbouwkrediet - Colnago and Kevyn Ista of Agritubel completed the 100% Belgium podium.
Cholet - Pays De Loire
Just like Nokere-Koerse, Cholet - Pays De Loire also didn't end up in a mass sprint. And also just like Nokere-Koerse a group of 5 suprised the peloton, by finishing only 30 seconds infront of them. This time
Taylor Phinney of
Trek Livestrong was the smartest of the group, the American track world champion cyclist, used his individual pursuit skills and outsprinted his fellow escapees. Vadym Chumachenko of ISD - Sport Donetsk and Rory Sutherland of OUCH presented by Maxxis finished 2nd and 3rd, metres behind Phinney.
Rund um Köln
The 2009 edition of the German classic based around the city of Cologne, Rund um Köln was raced with a weakened field, as professional teams did not send their stars.
Tinkoff Credit Systems on the other hand, did come with a strong team including Heinrich Haussler (proud holder of the UCI Europe Tour leader jersey) and Yukiya Arashiro and therefore we were the favorite from the start. The two ProTour teams Team Milram and Bbox Bouygues Telecom, who just like us wanted a mass sprint, controled the race most of the time. But since both teams aren't as strong as Team Columbia the mass sprint was quite chaotic.
With 4 km to go, three "trains" were formed. Yukiya Arashiro, who was protecting Heinrich Haussler all day, directed our German Sprinter to his wheel and with his last effort brought Heinrich to the rear wheel of Giovanni Bernaudeau of Bbox Bouygues Telecom. Then with only 1500 metres to go Haussler was in perfect position and started to sprint, he first overtoke Bernaudeau and then started gaining up on Francisco Rivera of Amica Chips - Knauf, who still was in the lead. With a strong explosion,
Heinrich Haussler got infront of Rivera and even had time to celebrate this great win, by raising his arms which led to this beautiful finishphoto (Rivera finished 2nd and Bernaudeau got 3rd).
Story
The races we didn't participate in:
Tirreno-Adriatico 2009 started this year with three flat stages, the 1st one was won by the sprinter of Team Garmin - Chipotle: Tyler Farrar. Tom Boonen of Quick Step and Nicolas Roche of Ag2r La Mondiale won the 2nd and 3rd stage. Stage 4 was the first hilly stage from Foligno to Montelupone, the top favorite Alejandro Valverde Belmonte of Caisse d'Epargne showed that he still is the fastest of the peloton when it comes down to uphill sprints and won quite easily. The day after Valverde's dominance, another specialist showed his world class skills: Fabian Cancellara of Team Saxo Bank won the time trial of 33.4km. The 6th stage was again Valverde time: he and Fränk Schleck were the strongest that day and together sprinted for the vitory, no suprise;
Alejandro Valverde Belmonte of Caisse d'Epargne won the mountain stage by outsprinting Schleck and with this win secured his overal ranking. The last stage a sprint in San Benedetto del Tronto was won by Tyler Farrar of Team Garmin - Chipotle (his second win during this race of the two seas).
The
Volta ao Distrito de Santarém 2009 a stage race held annually in the District of Santárem, Portugal consisted this year of three flat stage (stage 1, 2 and 4) and an individual time trial. The three flat stages all ended up in mass sprints: Allesandro Proni of ISD - Neri won the first one,
Klaas Lodewyck of Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator came in first during the other two flat stages. The winner of Stage 3 (the individual time trial of 21.9km) Kristof Vandewalle of Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator, was also the winner of Volta ao Distrito de Santarém. It was the first vitory by Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator this year, after a bad pre-season.
The longest professional one-day race of 2009,
Milano-Sanremo (la classica di Primavera) celebrated it's 100th edition of the sprinters' classic. The condition were really good this year for the sprinters; good weather and no accidents and therefore ended up in a majestic mass sprint.
Mark Cavendish of Team Columbia - HTC, who was expected to fall behind during the Cipressa and Poggio, showed the world today that he also can win long classics. He won by a narrow margin to Daniele Benatti of Liquigas and Óscar Freire Gomez of Rabobank. the full top-10: Cavendish, Benatti, Freire, Chicchi, Farrar, Boonen, O'Grady, Haedo, McEwen and Greipel. The other sprinters like Koldo, Davis, Napolitano and Brown didn't finished in the first group but 3 minutes later in the other big pack.
Announcement
As mentioned before Yukiya Arashiro was fully healed in mid March and already rode three races after his come back. He used Nokere-Koerse and Cholet - Pays De Loire to get back into the race shape, during Rund um Köln he was the ultimate teammate for Heinrich Haussler by setting him up perfectly for the sprint. Also during this period we achieved our fist sponsor goal by winning Paris - Nice! Next goal is winning the Scheldeprijs, Heinrich Haussler will be our leader for this Belgian cobble semi classic race. Futhermore we received wildcards for two other Belgium classics: Ronde van Vlaanderen and Gent - Wevelgem.
Race program for end of March 2009
*26.03.2009 BEL 1.1 Dwars door Vlaanderen
*29.03.2009 FRA 2.HC Critérium International
*30.03.2009 BEL 1.HC E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - Harelbeke
*31.03.2009 BEL 1.1 De Brabantse Pijl