km 0 Under a threatening sky and cold temperatures, 101 brave riders line up at the start of the Grand-prix Ostfenster. It is for the 15th time, that the event is organized under this name, but it is already the 19th edition of the race, because it has also existed for four years under the name Grand-prix des Artisans de Manternach
km 0 The riders are almost the same than the day before at the 82nd Grand-prix François Faber, only the team of Troyes has been replaced with the one from Cambrai and the Belgian team of Davitamon-Lotto has joined the party. On the Luxemburgish side, the absence of Ben Gastauer will surely reduce the chances for victory. The young talent has skipped the race to focus on U23-Liège-Bastogne-Liège to be ridden tomorrow.
1st lap Like very often and like yesterday, the race starts very fast and several riders try already in the opening lap to do a selection.
1st lap In the climb of Wecker, 11 riders break away: from Differdange Centrone, Johansson, Kristensen and Reuter, from Cambrai Krushevskiy and Baele, from the Swiss team MegaBike Ackermann and Tapparel as well as Laurent Fontaine (VC Ardennes), Steve Fries (UC Dippach) and Daniel Bintz (LC Tétange).
2nd lap Apart from Orbais and Physiodom, all the bigger teams are represented in the lead. Several favourites are also there like Centrone, Johansson or Krushevskyi. Nice performance of Daniel Bintz who, for the second day in a row, shows his red-white-blue National champ jersey at the front. These are colours that are starting to have quite a serious reputation in international cycling these days.
3rd lap Still the same group in the lead. Behind them, the main group doesn't really chase very hard and the gap is already 2 minutes.
4th lap The sky is becoming more and more threatening and the first raindrops come down onto the riders. The leaders are still working very well together. In addition to Differdange, team MegaBike is also doing strong turns, escpecially in the climbs with Jimmy Tapparel.
5th lap Sergeuy Krushevsky is doing his first move of the day. After his acceleration, the leading group reduces down to 7 riders: Ackermann and Tapparel (MegaBike), Krushevskiy (Cambrai) as well as Centrone, Johansson, Reuter and Kristensen (Differdange). Behind them, Bintz, Baele and Fries are trying to hold on for several kilometers, but they lose contact for good in the climb of Wecker.
6th lap There are still 7 riders in the lead. Further back, another group breaks clear from the main pack and tries to move up in the race. Among these riders are Jimenez from MegaBike, Troukens and Malcourant from CC Cambrai as well as Kevin Moraux, the winner of the race in Dippach.
7th lap The rain ist getting more and more intense, mixed up with hail and melting snow, and a lot of riders stop the race. Only the strong men stay in the competition and Krushevskiy and Johansson are surely among them. The two riders have escaped and quickly get a gap of over a minute in the lead.
8th lap Frederik Johansson holds on to the wheel of Krushevskiy but he seems to be in trouble. His turns are less frequent and less powerfull than those of the rider from Cambrai. Just before the beginning of the last lap, Johansson speaks to his team-car, leaving a small lap between the two riders. Krushevsky looks back, sees the gap and decides to go on his own. Behind them, the race explodes and the riders are all on their own or in small groups of 2 or 3.
9th lap Krushevskiy quickly gains thirty seconds of advance on Frederik Johansson .
9th lap Despite the rain and cold, the leader continues and increases his lead. He is surely the strongest today.
Finish Serguey Krushevsky wins the 15th Grand-prix Ostfenster in convincing manner. In the last lap, he has been more than a minute quicker than the runner-up Johansson.
Finish Sylvère Ackermann wins the sprint for third place in front of another rider from Differdange, Manuel Reuter. Vincenzo Centrone, the defending champion, is best Luxemburgish rider in ninth position.
15th Grand-prix Ostfenster >>
