1st Grand-Prix Ostfenster - 19.03.1989 - Berbourg

Report from the race

km 0 Only 69 riders line up for the 1st Grand-Prix Ostfenster that replaces the Grand-prix des Artisans Manternach. But the quality of the field is extremely good with the riders from the German Democratic Republic as favourites. Olaf Ludwig, Uwe Ampler, Thomas Barth, Mario Kummer, Uwe Raab and Falk Boden have in their pockets several wins at Olympic Games, World Championships, Rheinland-Pfalz-rundfahrt, Niedersachsen-rundfahrt or Peace-race.

km 12 The first attacking rider is Dutch: Patrick Eyk takes the lead along the Moselle with 30 seconds of advance. But the peloton is not willing to let the gap grow.

km 18 The course is a little bit more hilly around Canach and the riders from GDR already dominate the situation: Uwe Ampler and Uwe Raab are part of a group of 5 riders that chase down leader Eyk.

km 22 6 riders in the lead: Ampler, Raab, Eyk, Meinert from Denmark, Gérard from France as well as Luxemburgish champ Pascal Meyers.

km 23 Another 5 riders have attacked the peloton and are joining the leading group: Olaf Ludwig, the Olympic Champion from Seoul, his team-mate Falk Boden as well as the Frenchmen Mosciatti, Stoecklin and Friedmann .

km 26 1'20" advance for the break on the main field.

km 28 A third wave of riders has left the peloton and is trying to get to the front: 12 riders, among them the two Luxemburgers Marc Ludovicy and Christian Thill, the strong Dutchman Richard Luppes as well as another German, Mario Kummer.

km 65 After 35 km of chase, the two groups have joined together in the lead. So we have now 23 riders in the lead, among them the 6 riders from East-Germany as well as 3 Luxemburgers. The riders that are not part of this leading group will have no chance for victory anymore.

km 68 After an acceleration from Richard Luppes, 9 riders take the lead, soon followed by 3 More.

km 70 Composition of the leading group: Olaf Ludwig, Thomas Barth, Falk Boden, Uwe Ampler, Uwe Raab, Richard Luppes, Menno Vink, Willem van Loenhout, Marc Ludovicy, Peter Meinert, Pierre Gérard and Christophe Chrabacsz.

km 80 The 12 riders have over 2 minutes of advance on the next group.

km 87 Richard Luppes isn't part of the leading group any more.

km 95 The gap of the 11 leaders to the next chasers is around 3 minutes now.

km 103 The riders from GDR are once more offensive: After his acceleration, Uwe Ampler takes the lead together with his team-mates Barth and Ludwig. The Dane Peter Meinert is the only one to be able to follow the gray express-train from the East.

km 110 Another attack at the front: Thomas Barth and Uwe Ampler are now leading, with Olaf Ludwig staying as watchguard next to Meinert.

km 113 Barth and Ampler have 20 seconds advance on the two chasers, where Ludwig doesn't do any work of course.

Ziel Thomas Barth beats his team-mate Uwe Ampler in the sprint and thus becomes winner of the 1st Grand-prix Ostfenster.

Ziel 28 seconds later, Peter Meinert avoids an entirely German Podium by beating Olaf Ludwig for third place.

Ziel Uwe Raab wins the sprint of the next group in front of Van Loenhout: 4 GDR-riders among the 5 Best.

Ziel Marc Ludovicy is 11th and best Luxemburgish rider.