11th Gala Tour de France - 05.08.2007 - Luxembourg-Gare

Report from the race:

60 laps on a 950 meter circuit around the avenue de la Liberté in Luxemburg-capital, that was the program for the 44 riders of the 16th Grand-prix Ostfenster, organized this year in form of a criterium as support event for the Gala Tour de France.

The pace was high from the start and already in the second lap, the peloton was strung out in a long

Peloton stretched

line on the most beautiful avenue in town, with lost of attacks, for example by the riders of UC Dippach. The first serious break was initiated by Tino Fernandez, who took with him 10 more riders: Moldavian Utalov, the Germans Selmikeit, Corpus and Kersten as well as

Wietor and Utalov

Gérard Wietor, Ben Kettels, Claude Engelmann, Joël Libar, Olivier Laterza and Claude Wolter.

Towards half-race, Evgheni Utalov took the lead of the race together with Gérard Wiétor, whereas the other riders were reeled in by the peloton, out of which Gusty Bausch and young Joel Zangerlé attacked. Both of them rode well togehter,

Zangerlé and Bausch

they created a gap on the main group and managed to come closer and closer to the leading duo.

They bridged up just in time for Bausch to take a maximum of points in the following intermediate sprints. During one of these sprints, Bausch and Zangerlé took several meters of advance on Utalov and Wietor. They put the hammer down and took control of the race for good.

Bausch collects points

The race explodes and behind Bausch and Zangerlé, Gutalov and Wietor are still chasing, whereas Libar, Bintz, Fernandez and Selmikeit also try to bridge up to the front out of the peloton. The rest of the field, led by the riders from UC Dippach, seems resignated, but the two riders from Tétange, Libar and Bintz, make a big effort in the poursuit.

Gusty Bausch is collecting most of the intermediate points in the last laps, and even if Zangerlé manages to beat him in the final sprint, the cyclo-cross specialist has enough margin left to take the final victory in the 16th Grand-prix Ostfenster. est le plus régulier pour engranger les points dans les derniers tours et, même si Zangerlé parvient à la battre dans le sprint final, le champion de cyclo-cross a suffisamment de marge pour s'assurer de la victoire finale au 16ème Grand-prix Ostfenster. Utalov and then Libar, Bintz and Fernandez are the next riders to cross the line, but it is German rider Oliver Selmikeit who takes the third place on the podium, because he took lots of points in the intermediate sprints during the first half of the race.

Grand-prix Ostfenster '07 >>