|
As a regional race, the Grand-prix François Faber 2009 will see mostly Luxemburgish riders at the start, as well as those from the border region. But the rules allow us to invite three foreign teams to this race and the line-up should be stronger than at the 87th Grand-prix François Faber, a month ago.
This race had been entirely dominated by the riders from the Continental team CCI Differdange with 4
|
Differdange dominated the GP François Faber 2009
|
Christian Poos the winner, Vincenzo Centrone second, Frederik Johansson fourth and Hakan Nilsson fifth. Since then, the men of Gabriel Gatti also imposed their law in Dippach with Robert Retschke (victorious), Centrone (third) and Poos (fourth) as well as in Belvaux with Brenes (first) and Frank Dressler (second). Even if the course is much less selective than in Contern, it thus seems obvious that the riders of Differdange will be the men to be beat at the 22nd Grand-prix OST-Fenster , especially as they have accumulated the good performances recently with the fast Cyrille Heymans, 10th of a stage Boucles des Artois, 9th of the Grand-prix de la ville de Nogent or 13th in the Ronde van Noord-Holland, with Christian Poos, 5th of a stage at the Tour Rhone-Alp-Isere or Hannes Blank, 2nd of the Tour d'Alsace and 3rd of the Tour de Lorraine last year and 2nd of Paris - Mantes in Ivelines recently. It Remains to be seen who exactly will be aligned in a team where the choice is large with former Belgian champion Ludovic Capelle, cyclo-cross specialist Nicolas Bazin, the winner of last year's Tour of Costa Rica Gregory Brenes or the Scandinavians Frederik Johansson, (victorious of the Grand-prix Ostfenster 2004), Martin Johansson and Hakan Nilsson, to quote only them. Or should it be Jempy Drucker who creates the surprise, the new recruit of CCI Differdange which has
|
Vincenzo Centrone, Christian Poos, Tjarco Cuppens
|
only recently resumed competition after a fracture of the collarbone in winter, but who appeared already in good form at the Arno Wallaard Memorial, a race of 175 kilometers for professional riders, in which he took an excellent 9th place last weekend.
The only rider to be able to match up with the guys from Differdange at the Grand-prix François Faber was Tjarco Cuppens, member of the team PPL Belisol who finished third in Contern after fought against the supremacy of the men in blue. Since then, this former professional and masters world champion at the masters joined again with the victory by gaining a stage of the Ras Mumham, a stage race in Ireland. He also finished 12th in the Omloop van of Braakman and 18th of Rund um Düren, in same time as the winner Dennis Pohl. Earlier in the season, the Netherlander had already signed two victories, namely the regional club championships of Limbourg and the Rayego Grand-prix in St Severin, Belgium. During the 2008 season, Cuppens has taken 8 victories, including the Grand-prix Marc Angel in Dommeldange and the Grand-prix Henri Gilson in Schifflange. He has also finished 2nd in the sprints classification at the Tour de la Province de Liège, 4th and 9th in stages at the Flèche du Sud, 5th and 8th in stages at the Tour of Malaysia, 7th of a stage at the Tour d'Okinawa in Japan and 8th in Rund um Düren won by Kim Kirchen's former team-mate, Bram Schmitz. Cuppens seems to be a true globe-trotter and, this last years, he has taken Top 10 placings in numerous stages in the Tours of Taiwan, Korea, China and Japan, as well as in the Flèche du Sud, the Grand-prix Ringerike (Denmark) and the FDB Milk Ras (Ireland). Other career highlights include an 8th place in the Dutch National championships or wins at the GP Fayt-le-Franc, in a stage of the FDB Milk Ras (in 2000) and the points classification at the Tour de Namur.
Marc Habets finished 2nd behind his team-mate Cuppens in the championships of the clubs of Limbourg and 21st in Saint Severin. He had
|
PPL-Belisol pendant le GP François Faber 2009
|
also taken part in the Grand-prix François Faber (11th) a month ago and was noted 11th of Rukkelingen-Loon, won by the professional rider Jan Kuyckx. He too is not unknown in Luxembourg since he finished 8th at the Grand-prix Demi Cars in 2006, a year during which he took 12 Top 10 rankings at different races. In 2007, he has taken two wins, whereas 2008 wasn't his best year after the stop of his team PZR Racing. He has nevertheless finished 45th at the Tour de Hesbaye. Another team-mate of Tjarco Cuppens is
Maikel Paas, who was also present at the Grand-prix Faber (14th) and the Ras Mumham in Ireland (21st of the general classification). In 2008, he was noted first in Brustem, 2nd at the championship of Limbourg as well as 3rd of the Menzis van Keulen, Mal-Tongeren and the general classification of the Tour of Chalkidiki in Greece. In 2007, Paas had gained the Spar Arden Challenge, but he knew his best year in 2006, when he became victorious of a stage in the Tryptique des Barrages, by beating riders like Chris-Anker Sörensen, Tom Stamsnijder or Jan Bakelants. He was also finished 7th of Romsée-Stavelot-Romsée and 11th of the championships of the Netherlands that year. Rob Ruijgh is a former member of the Rabobank Continental team and he has finished 22nd of Köln-Schuld-Frechen this year. In 2008, he finished 5th of a stage in the Tour of San Luis won by Juan-Jose Haedo, a race in which had also taken part the Schleck brothers. He was also noted 7th in the general classification of the Tour des Pyrenees, 10th of a stage at the Circuit of the Ardennes, 14th of a stage at the Tour of Missouri won per Mark Cavendish and 20th at the Grand-prix Triberg/Schwarzwald, proof that he has both climbing and sprinting abilities. Before that, Ruijgh had finished 2 times 4th at stages on the Tour of Leon, 5th of the GP Hannut won by Marc Streel, 6th of a stage at the Tryptique des barrages, 12th of Paris-Tours U23, 20th of the Grand-prix Pino Cerami and 24th of the 3rd stage at the Tour de Limousin, won by Stephan Augé. As a junior, the Netherlander was victorious of a stage at the Ronde des Vallées (2nd of the general classification) and 6th at a stage of the Oberösterreich-rundfahrt. Other members of team PPL Belisol are the two Japanese riders Makoto SHIMADA (18th at Köln-Schuld-Frechen one month ago) and Junpei MURAKAMI (27th of Rund um Düren recently).
The main opponents to the riders of Differdange could however well be the members of the U23 American national team, which will be led by the current US national champion Kirk Carlsen. The young member of the espoirs team of Garmin-Slipstream has an excellent beginning of the season 2009 since, in March, he has finished 2nd of a stage at the well-known Redlands Bycicle Classic, ahead of some of the best professionals on the other side of the Atlantic. He has also won the mountains competition of the same race and finished 6th of the Kriterium Bikes and Buffaloes won by the Australian Ben Day. If Carlsen is in great form, this
|
Kirk Carlsen champion des Etats-Unis U23
Photo: usacycling.org
|
could be due to the fact that he sarted his season with a tough race, the very mountainous Tour of Mexico, where he improved from day to day and finished 3 times in the Top 20 of some stages, including 12th of the last section. He was also in the good group on the queen stage won by Gilberto Simoni and thus finished 29th overall in this race, dominated by the pros of Diquigiovanni. In Europe, Carlsen also showed his good shape in the big U23 races since he finished Liege-Bastogne-Liege (13th) as well as the Tour of Flandres (20th) among the first. In 2008, Kirk won the Lake Sunapee Bike Race, finished 3rd of the North End Classic and 11th overall at the Tour du Pays de Savoie. In 2007, he took 7 victories, among them the Elkhorn Classic stage race and the MT Tabor Circuit Race, and he finished 2nd of a stage in the reknowned Fitchburg Longsjo Classic as well as the Mount Hood Classic. He will be accompanied in Bech by Chris Barton, recently 5th of the general classification in the Triptyque Monts et Châteaux (3rd of the 1st stage). This former junior US-champion finished this season 7th at the Boulevard Road Race, used by the American professionals as preparation for the Tour of California, 7th of the 7th stage at the Tour of Mexico by winning the sprint of the peloton, 13th of the 4th stage in the Tour of Mexico and 16th of the prologue at the Redlands Bycicle classics. He also took part in the Arno Wallaard Memorial in the Netherlands last Saturday where he finished in 11th position, two places behind Jempy Drucker. In 2008, Barton won a stage at the Tour of Belize, a race where he is also noted 2nd of the 6th stage and 3rd in the KOM comptetion. He also finished 3rd at the Ronde van Vlaams Brabant, 3rd of a stage at the Tour of St-Louis, 7th of the time-trial won by Levi Leipheimer at the Cascade Cycling Classicand 24th of Liege-Bastogne-Liege for U23.
|
US National Team
Photo: usacycling.org
|
Peter Salon is also member of the Garmin-Slipstream espoirs team and, during this season, he finished 56th of the Ronde Picarde and 68ème of Liege-Bastogne-Liege in Europe. Overseas, Salon finished 15th overall at the Valley of the Sun and 17th overall at the San Dimas Stage Race won by Ben Day. In 2008, he was best young rider at the Tour of Pennsylvania (5th overall, 4th and 6th of stages), winner of a stage at the Tour of Belize and 4th at the Primavera Lago Vista. In 2007, as first year espoir, Peter Salon had already raced in Europe, when he was best young rider of the Circuit du Mené and 9th of the prologue at the GP Tell. As a junior, he was also Criterium National Champion of the United States in 2006 and and won several medals at National Championships on the track. Chris Monteleone, 10th of the Greenville Spring Series this year, won in 2008 the Carolina Cup and in 2007, the North- and South Carolina championships as well as the Brayn Parc Circuit Race in Richmond. He was also a very good junior with a half dozen big wins, including two stages in the Green Mountain Stage Race (2nd in the general classification) and took 7th place overall at the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic. His team-mate Kevin Soller was also an excellent junior rider, winning stages in the reknowned Tour of Abitibi in Canada and in the Fayetteville Stage Race. He also finished twice at the foot of the podium of the national championships juniors. In 2007, Soller had a serious crash and after recovering, he took part in some Mountain-bike races, including the world-cup event in Houffalize. In 2009, he is back in good form on the road, winning a stage of the Tucson Bycicle Classic. He also finished 12th overall at the Valley of the Sun stage race.
The team of Lotto-Predictor-VC Ardennes comes from the Belgian province of Luxemburg, and has in its line-up another rider from overseas who could possibly climb on the podium. Canadian Guillaume Boivin indeed finished this year 2nd of the Grand-prix
|
Guillaum Boivin at the GP Wilfried Peeters
Photo: gpwilfriedpeeters.be
|
Wilfried Peeters, a race of 150 kilometers with 181 starters, which has in its palmares riders like Tom Boonen and Nick Nuyens. Boivin has begun his season early in the Vuelta Independencia in Dominican Republic, where he was noted 4th, 8th and 10th of different stages. He also finished this season 7th at Amay-Haut and 10th in Dilsen. In 2008, Guillaume Boivin won the overall classification of the Tour of Quebec while he finished successively 3rd, 6th, 2nd, 1st and 3rd of the stages. He also finished 2nd overall of the series Mardi cyclistes de Lachine in Quebec (4th of the 2nd stage won by Dominique Rollin for example) and 15th of a stage of the Tour de Beauce with the pros. As a junior, the Canadian won two stages of the famous Tour de l'Abitibi (in addition to finishing 2nd of the prologue behind poursuit world champion Taylor Phinney, 2nd of the 8th stage and victorious of the points classification) and gained the championships of Quebec on the road as well as the national championships of Canada in the criterium and on track (team-sprint). He also took several national medals in various disciplines on the track and the road, finished 3rd, 4th and 2 times 10th of stages in Trofeo Carlsberg (15th overall) and 31st of Paris-Roubaix juniors. Its team-mate Daan De Jonge appreciates cyclo-cross: last winter, he won two national races and finished 11th of the championships of the Netherlands cyclo-cross elite, 20th in Surhuisterveen, 22nd in St Michielsgestel and 23rd in the Superprestige event of Gieten. On the road, De Jonge likes to be in long-lasting breaks, as he did last year at the national championships elite, or at the Flèche Brabançonne won by Sylvain Chavanel. He was also 2nd of a race of category 1.12 in Plombières in Belgium behind Jean-François Henrard (158 starters), 2nd of the mountains classification at the Tryptique Ardennais, when he lost the leader jersey on the last day against Jan Bakelandts, 6th of the Ronde van Rossum and the Ronde van Oldenzaal, 10th of the Ronde van Markelo, 22nd of a stage at the Triptyque Monts et Châteaux as well as 23rd overall in the Ronde van Vlaams Brabant. In 2007, de Jonge won the cyclo-cross of Woerden and finished 3rd of Rund um den Lohner Aussichtsturm, 6th and 7th of stages in the Kreiz Breizh in Brittany (5th overall and 3rd best young rider) as well as 7th of the U23 world cup cyclo-cross in Pijnacker. The New Zealander Joshua Brown was recently 11th of a race in Bastogne won by Erwin Bollen. Down under, the season on the road starts early, and before coming to Europe, Brown already took part in two important races with the professionals, the Tour off Wellington with 7 stages (he finished among others 21st of the 2nd stage won by Australian National champion Peter McDonald) and the Tour of Vineyards with 4 stages. He is also busy at his second year as espoir, after having been in 2007 New Zealand National champion junior. That year, he has also won the final classification of the Tour of Taranaki (5 stages), finished 2nd of the Twin Peaks Tour and 13th of the Taupo to Napier classic won by Jeremy Yates. They will be accompanied by two first year espoirs, Jeremy Kratz and Nazarrio Nanni, who took three wins in the junior categories.
For this race that takes place in the East of the country, the ACC Contern also hopes on a strong parcitipation of riders of the
|
Sascha Wagner à Niederanven
|
German border region. A team has already registered in advance, namely the Team Espoir Robert Lange, which took part in March in the Istrian Spring Trophy in Croatia, formerly known as Jadranska Magistrala, where Kim Kirchen also rode very well in his De Nardi period. The rider who is best known in Luxembourg of this team is the actual triple champion of Hessen (road, cyclo-cross, time-trial) Sascha Wagner, who had surprised everyone at the Grand-prix de la Commune of Niederanven cyclo-cross, at the end of November, when he was with the best during the opening laps, before finishing finally 11th. But Wagner also shows good results on the road, last year, he finished 10th at the U23 Henninger Turm race in Frankfurt and, a few weeks ago, he was 10th at the race in Dippach. Heiko Breitwieser was also present in Dippach (25th) and last year, in addition to a victory in Saulheim, he has finished 21st at the Grand-prix of Frankfurt and 25th of the U23 German championships. Claudio De Benedictis is in his first season as espoir and he obtained promising results in the junior category with several victories on the road and the track (poursuit champion of Hessen), a 4th place of a stage in the Tour of Cottbus, a 6th at the German National championships, an 8th of a stage at the Keizer der Juniores and a 5th during a stage of the Tour of Frankfurt won by Peter Sagan
|
Grand-prix François Faber
|
Nils Flemming, victorious 2008 in Kassel, finished 19th in the difficult Mainfranken Tour (2nd best young rider), 3rd in the Hessen championships and 23rd of the Henninger-Turm in Frankfurt. The other riders of the Team Espoir Robert Lange are Tim Gajewiak, who won ten races between 2006 and 2008 (4th at Rund um Rhede in 2008 and, recently, 12th in Ascheffel), Sascha Starker who finished one month ago as 23rd of the Porec Trophy in Kroatia, Jakob Thiemeier several times champion of Hessen as a junior and 5th of the Reblandtour won by Robert Retschke, plus Matthias Mortka, Tobias Ohlenschläger and Matthias Weihofen.
Other riders from Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland, the provinces of Liege, Luxembourg and Namur or the departments Moselle, Meurthe et Moselle, Meuse and Vosges can also pretend on a Top 10 place, just as best Luxemburgish riders, like Pascal Triebel, 9th at the Grand-prix Faber despide a crash and after a very strong final, Constantino Fernandez (11th in Dippach), Paul Bentner (9th in Belvaux), Daniel Bintz, Claude Degano, Ben Wurth, Ralph Diseviscours or national champion Tom Flammang, who could have his chances in a possible bunch spring.
|
