Written by Fujimoto Masaaki
It has been a busy week with many highlights and ever so more downfalls. It was a week filled with classics, from the most prestigious to the once important to specialist teams. Many classics are centered around the most famous stone of them all , the cube shaped cobble and this first week is especially the week of the cobbles around Antwerpen with the Tweedaagse van Antwerpen having its twentyforth edition already. With three former winners at the start, it is a quality peloton.
Tweedaagse van Antwerpen
Many great cobblers joined the start in Hoogstraten and it Meint Sturkenboom, Jonas Pro Cycling who took the first jersey with a victory in the prologue. But it was the second stage from Hoogstraten to Arendonk who made the real enthousiast happy. The most important stage and it was won by Qi Yiqun, Asymm Project, for the third time in a row. Everybody gambled on a victory for him again this season. But a good, but not good enough, result on stage three saw the jersey move to Timo Canseco, ekaitz team. Stage four is a stage that can make or break you, but by winning it Timo Canseco, ekaitz team made it clear this was his tour. Beating Qi Yiqun, Asymm Project and Cristobal Zubizarreta, Drapeua Noir.
1. Timo Canseco, ekaitz team
2. Qi Yiqun, Asymm Project
3. Cristobal Zubizarreta, Drapeau Noir
Youth Classification
With the Youth Classification we can see who we can expect next season to battle for the victory in the General Classification. It was Lucas Loudon, Comfius who gave the team another Youth Classification. He beat Didrik Gulbrandsen, Team Wonderdee and Emir Waleed, Pro Cycling Manager
1. Lucas Loudon, Comfius
2. Didrik Gulbrandsen, Team WonderDee
3. Emir Waleed, Pro Cycling Manager
Ainet – Bruggen
The Austrian classic Ainet – Bruggen is a climbers dream, situated in the Alps, it means that the riders encounter very high peaks and drop down descents. This season the winds picked up when the riders drove on the mountains and sometimes even snow fell down. A heroic battle emerged from the small group of favourites that was at the front. Wind blowing in their faces and snow to make the roads more slippery than usual it was the Staller Pass that let every rider in the front group crack. It was Dolf Latomme, Cyclocomotiv, who was first to conquer this majestic peak and he was celebrating his victory while crossing the line. Eddie Madsen, ABK came in second before Ulrich Laureys, Sons of the Desert.
1. Dolf Latomme, Cyclocomotiv
2. Eddie Madsen, ABK
3. Ulrich | | Laureys, Sons of the Desert
Budapest Meeting Point
Budapest Meeting Point, the division six classic in Hungary, was home to another great race over the cobbled streets of Budapest. The race started under a clear blue sky and it was going to be a fast race. The complete peloton rushed towards the finish and they did it in a record pace. The cobbles did took their toll as riders fell off at the end, making the peloton smaller and smaller. In the streets of Budapest there was still a big group left and the cobblers started attacking on the longest cobble section. It was finally Ethen Voigt, Long Birds, who made the decisive move. He could get away and they never saw him again. Capitolino Mendonca, Belmonte Pro Cycling finished second before Germa Carmeta, Planet Bikes.
1. Ethen Voigt, Long Birds
2. Capitolino Mendonça, Belmonte Pro Cycling
3. Germà Carmeta, Planet Bikes
Roubaix Classic
Cold but dry, a different challenge for the riders in the famous Roubaix Classic. Top division has their cobble classic and all the teams with half decent cobblers arrived aswell as those with top cobblers. The roads around Roubaix proved tough again and made the riders struggle to stay on their bikes. It was the teams of V02maXXers and Bywater CT that challenged any breakaway to stay in the peloton. In the end it was a big group of riders that entered the last section. And the cobblers took off, leaving all the others struggle. The two big teams were surprised by Lucas Loudon, Comfius, who took off early. Sean Thuesen, V02maXXers, and Kadir Goncalves, Bywater CT managed to overtake him with Sean Thuesen being the winner at the end.
1. Sean Thuesen, V02maXXers
2. Kadir Gonçalves, Bywater CT
3. Lucas Loudon, Comfius
Brebes – Brebes
It is probably the time of the year as we have a division seven classic in Indonesia and again we see the riders racing on cobbles. The Asian race is a strange one but nevertheless it is a great race on great cobbled streets around the town of Brebes. Where teamtactics are vital in the higher division, in division seven you need cobble experience and form of the day. And a great manager. As most teams have no real cobble team we see many breaks in the peloton from the start. Most riders just can not handle the bumps. Adrian Dudziak was not one of them, and with his Top division experience he was able to stay well ahead of the others and gave Shi va qm we his first trophy. He beat Casper Cranenburgh, Youngnastyteam and Oscar Striedinger, TimmoCC.
1. Adrian Dudziak, Shi va qm we
2. Casper Cranenburgh, Youngnastyteam
3. Oscar Striedinger, TimmoCC
|