National Luxemburgish Championships - June 27-June 29, 2003 - Contern/Oetrange
Summary of the elite time-trial:
14 riders are present on this afternoon to compete for the elite national time-trial title. A lot of suspense is in the air. Christian Poos, defending champion and no1 favorite, takes a quick start and is getting close to Pascal Triebel, started 1 minute before him, after just a half of the first lap. But on the second, mostly uphill part of the lap, the fighter Triebel reduces the gap to less than 20 seconds.
Intermediate times after 14,5 km (half of the race) On the second lap, Marc Vanacker, on a rented bike, feels Triebel coming closer and closer to him. Christian Poos nearly lost the race by getting for some seconds on the left side of the road, which is forbidden because the riders take the same road in two directions. Finaly, he wins with 17 seconds advantage on a surprising Pascal Triebel and nearly a minute on Vanacker tired because of his transfert from France the same day.
Summary of the elite road-race:
1. Christian Poos
19'56"
6. Patrick Borschette
22'16"
at 2'20" 2. Pascal Triebel
20'10"
at 14"
7. Mich Kohnen
22'25"
at 2'29" 3. Marc Vanacker
20'26"
at 30"
8. Christian Weyland
22'28"
at 2'32" 4. Claude Biltgen
22'04"
at 2'08"
9. Pascal Duhautpas
23'09"
at 3'13" 5. Steve Fries
22'13"
at 2'17"
10. Michel Wolter
23'24"
at 3'28"
km 0 The start is at 14h00. 32 elite riders take off for 10 laps (150 km), together with 18 espoirs.
1st lap Attack of 2 riders: Ralph Diviscour and Eric Fuchs take some advance.
Attack of Claude Degano who joins and then drops the two other riders.
km 15 Claude Degano has 10" advance on Diviscour and Fuchs. The rest of the pack starts the race slowly and has more is more than 3 minutes behind the leader.
km 30 1'40" advance for Degano on the 2 chasers. More than 2 minutes on the main bunch.
3rd lapAttack of Tom Flammang, and then Christian Poos in the peloton.
Flammang and Poos back in the pack. Attack of Benoît Joachim and Vincenzo Centrone.
Joachim and Centrone take the lead in the race. Degano gets down of his bike. Tom Flammang does the same.
km 60 The 2 leading riders have 1'14" advance on the peloton.
km 75 1'13" advance on 10 riders who are now chasing behind: Kirchen, Poos, Schleck, Vanacker, Triebel, Bintz, Fries and the 3 espoirs Didier, Gressnich and Kremer.
6th lap Kim Kirchen attacks and is chasing alone behind Centrone and Joachim.
km 90 Gap of Kirchen: 1'05"; Gap of the next chasing group: 2'45". Behind this group, there is a lot of damage and not many riders will be on the finish line.
7th lap Poos, Schleck, Vanacker and Triebel are now chasing behind Kirchen and the two leading men.
Frank Schleck quits the race. He has done a lot of racing this year and feels the consequences.
Kirchen is not chasing hard any more and waits for the group behind him.
Kirchen is joined by Poos, Schleck, Vanacker and Triebel.
km 120 still 1'40" advance for the leaders.
9th lap Pascal Triebel is not very active in the group, he wants to protect his teammate Centrone.
Benoît Joachim attacks in the côte de Medingen, but Centrone resists.
km 135 The chasers with Kirchen leading get closer: the gap is only 30 seconds.
10th and last lap Joachim feels the danger and drops Centrone in the côte de Medingen.
Centrone is caught by the chasing group.
But the group doesn't work well and the gap increases now.
Centrone is dropped.
Kirchen is dropped. Joachim still alone in the lead.
km 150 Benoît Joachim Luxemburgish Champion on the road 2003.
km 150 40 seconds later, Marc Vanacker wins the sprint for second place in front of Christian Poos and Pascal Triebel.
