May 2010
first bigger goals
As of the beginning of the 58th edition of the Cologne Classics, Team Differdange was very active, but it was the only rider form a Pro-Tour squad that showed out to be the strongest in the field.
Results:
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| Cologne Classics
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Arthur Gajek
32nd at 1'10"
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Shortly after mid-race, Arthur Gajek of Team Milram broke away from the peloton together with a very strong riding Christian Poos and Vojtech Hacecky. With two laps to go, Gajek was able to drop the two others and took the victory 20 seconds ahead of Christian Poos in second position. On the flat, but twisty course with some sharp turms, Jempy Drucker was most of the time in the main peloton and he finished in 32nd position, more than a minute behind the winner. In a race with lots of crahses, Remco te Brake won the sprint of the peloton ahead of Van Zandbeek and Radochla.
With the Flèche du Sud, the first real highlight of Jempy's road season was about to begin, and he and his team did a great job during the prologue of this stage
Results:
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| Flèche du Sud
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(P)
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Jempy Drucker
winner
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(1)
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Kevin Pauwels
3rd at 0"
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(2)
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Mads Christensen
88th at 26'24"
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(3)
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Ralf Matzka
66th at 12"
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(4)
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Stefan Cohen
59th at 58"
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Lasse Bochmann
51st at 29'27"
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race through the south of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg. With Drucker, Poos and Cohnen, team Differdange eventually took no less than the three first positions on the podium.
Christian Poos has set a first reference time in 5'34" early in the stage and was on top of the result list during a long time, before team-mate Jempy Drucker clocked 11 tenth of seconds faster than him (average speed 48,5 km/h). Stefan Cohnen in third place completed the excellent result from the riders in white and blue, while the first contender not lining up for Differdange was Danish rider Lasse Bochmann, who was still only 2 seconds late on Drucker. With Gmelich, Goos, De Jonge and Van Dulmen, the Cyclinteam Jo Piels was located on positions 5 to 8, while some overall favourites like Harald Totschnig and Alexandre Usov lost already more than 15 seconds, just like world cyclo-cross champion Zdenek Stybar. The first stage didn't bring any overall changes, since it finished in a bunch sprint won by Kevin Pauwels ahead of Linus Dahlburg and Jempy Drucker. On this day of the cyclo-cross men (Lang and Vanthourenhout on places 4 and 6), Jempy thus showed another strong performance with another top placing and, of course, he retains the white leader jersey, still ahead of his team-mates Poos and Cohnen. The third
stage between Heiderscheid and Colmar-Berg was the most difficult one of this Flèche and two riders from Denmark, Mads Christensen and Lasse Bochmann, have dominated the race, killing already the suspense for the two first positions overall in two day's time. Together with Australian Lachlan Norris, the two riders from Glud & Marstrand broke away after only 50 kilometres and they arrived at the finish as winning duo, more than 3 minutes ahead of the next chasers. Of course, the two team-mates shared the cake at the finish: stage win for Mads Christensen and white leader jersey for Lasse Bochmann, former team-mate of the Schleck-brothers with Saxo Bank. Another Scandinavian, Michael Stevenson from Sweden, took the third place in the stage at the head of a first chasing group containing, among others, Robert Retschke and Christian Poos from Differdange. On a course that isn't really his favourite one, Jempy Drucker was not able to follow the best riders today. At the beginning, his position was still good since he had two team-mates at the front of the race and was hiding in the main pack. But Poos and Retschke were never able to bridge up to the leaders, while the peloton lost more and more time. At the end, Jempy conceded more than 26 minutes on the two Danish riders and, of course, he lost all chances on a good result in the overall classification, where he dropped down to 48th position. But the next day, the rider from Luxemburg had good legs again and he showed a very offensive racing style. Jempy eventually was part of a break of 7 riders that went away early in the stage and arrived at the local course around Roeser with a comfortable margin of more than two minutes. But on the last flat kilometres, the main group raised the speed and, despite a brave resistence, Drucker and co were caught with just one kilometre to go. The stage ended in a bunch sprint though and it was German track racer Ralf Matzka who was fastest ahead of Dementiev, Usov and Poos. A totally exhausted Jempy Drucker crossed the finish line in 66th place, 12 seconds down on the winner. The Flèche du Sud 2010 finished for Team Differdange just the same way than it began: with a victory. Stefan Cohen, the third in the prologue, was up at the front during the whole last stage and after a tremendous performance in the last kilometres, he managed to hold off the chasers and take the stage win. The Dutchman broke away in the early kilometres together with Martin Zlamalik and Pirmin Lang, before dropping these two riders on the last climb and arriving in Esch for a solo win, 12 seconds ahead of the first bigger group, led by Alexandre Usov and Kevin Pauwels. Jempy Drucker had fixed himself a new goal today, because his presence in yesterday's long break had brought him very close to the leading position in the intermediate sprints classification. Jempy of course wanted to score some more points today and he was the first of the peloton on each of the four rushes today. After all these efforts, Drucker was not in contention for the stage win at the end and he crossed the finish line in 59th position in a second group, 58 seconds late on the winner. But the rider from Luxemburg finally won the orange jersey of the sprints classification, a nice consolation price for him after having to accept the overall domination of Lasse Bochmann in the queen stage. The rider from Denmark takes the final overall win in the 61st edition of the Flèche du Sud, 7 seconds ahead of his team-mate Mads Christensen and 3'18" ahead of Dutchman Maarten De Jonge.
While the Schleck brothers only have a light racing program sheduled for the month of May and Kim Kirchen is still struggling with some health problems, Jempy Drucker is approaching his first bigger goals of the season, identified as the Flèche du Sud and the Tour of Luxemburg.
Results:
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| Ronde van Overijssel
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Job Vissers
57th at 1'00"
Ronde van Overijssel
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Stefan Van Dijk
122nd at 0"
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But before he will be able to shine on home ground, Jempy went for another event in the Netherlands, the Ronde van Overijssel which was held in very bad weather conditions with heavy wind, rain and some rare glimps of sun. Under the rainbows, the race decided very early when 21 riders broke away after only 38 out of 202 kilometres and, even though the gaps remained very small, the eventual winner of the race was in this group. Team Differdange had with Lituanian Vitautas Kaupas one of their best chances up at the front, while Jempy Drucker found himseld in a first chasing group and finished the race only one minute down on the winner. Job Vissers, Andy Cappelle, Dennis Smit, Kenny Van Hummel and James Van Landschoot were the strongest at the head of the race and they escaped in several waves from the rest of the break. Skil Shimano once again was the dominating team since they had two riders among the five leaders and they also were able to snatch the win at the end of the day, with Job Visssers finishing ahead of Cappelle and Smit. Together with around 20 other riders, Jempy Drucker rode in the small main peloton that was still together after this very tough race and he crossed the finish line in 57th place, exactly one minute behind Vissers.
At the Omloop der Kempen, Jempy Drucker has met nearly the whole top-riders of the cyclo-cross world, since Niels Albert, Wellens, Pauwels or Vantornout started their road season with their respective teams in this race, more than a month after Drucker who is more ambitious on the road than most of his cross-colleagues. The race finished in a bunch sprint, won by Stefan Van Dijk ahead of Vermeltfort, Cocquyt, Schmitz, Te Brake and a very good Christian Poos. Jempy Drucker crossed the finish line a little bit further back in the pack in 122nd position out of 154 riders, next to Phillip Walsleben. 7 riders have animated the race for a long while, among them with Boy Van Poppel another former cyclo-cross world champion, but they were caught again shortly before the finish after a collective action of all the sprinter teams at the front of the pack, in which Team Differdange was also involved.
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May 16 – 23, 2010: 5. Tour of California
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23.05.10 8: Thousand Oaks - Thousand Oaks (135 km)
Rogers and Hesjedal winners
Results:
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Ryder Hesjedal
Michael Rogers
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23rd at 1'42"
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21st at 36’33"
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The eighth and last stage of the Tour through California took place on a hilly circuit around Thousand Oaks in Los Angeles County, meaning that there would be lots of attacks and everything could still happen. As of the first climb of the day, the peloton divided into several parts and during the stage, numerous riders called it quit: only a little bit more than 30 riders arrived at the finish today. Seven contenders managed to take the lead of the race: the surprising Dutchman Thomas Rabou, George Hincapie, Yaroslav Popovych, Sebastian Langeveld, Carlos Barredo, Oscar Pujol and Jeremy Vennell. They had up to two minutes of advantage on a chasing group of around 30 riders, containing the yellow jersey, but also Zabriskie, Leipheimer and Andy Schleck. On the last lap, the race unfolded and both the first and the second group exploded. Ryder Hesjedal and Chris Horner bridged up to Hincapie, Barredo and Pujol to form a new leading group, while both Zabriskie and Leipheimer launched several attacks against the man in yellow. But Michael Rogers was again very strong and he managed to get back in the wheels each time, while Andy Schleck was dropped from the group of the favourites. Ryder Hesjedal took the stage win in a five man sprint ahead of Hincapie and Barredo, whereas Leipheimer, Rogers and Zabriskie crossed the finish line together 28 seconds later, meaning that Michael Rogers secured his final overall win ahead of the two others. One minute after the winner, the main peloton of today's stage arrived, but it contained only ten riders, whereas Andy Schleck crossed the finish line on his own another forty seconds further back in 23rd place. Of course, he would have liked to win a stage here in California, but the level at this race was very high and the conditions difficult for a rider just resuming competition after several weeks of recovery. But Andy's results are encouraging and he seems right on track for the big race in July.
22.05.10 7: Los Angeles - Los Angeles (34 km ITT)
HTC-Columbia dominates in L.A.
Results:
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Tony Martin
Michael Rogers
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22nd at 2'35"
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29th at 35’19"
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The Tour of California is always keen on showing the spectacular side of cycling and stage 7 showed this once again with a time-trial of 34 kilometres through the heart of Los Angeles, visiting some of the most famous places in the town. And the screenplay could have been written in the near Hollywood, as 15 riders were only within seconds at the start of the stage and could still hope on the overall victory. Next to the course, one of the biggest attractions of the day was the reigning world champion of the disciplin. Fabian Cancellara started early and in 43'26", he established a first reference time at the finish. But just like Andy Schleck, the Swiss rider isn't yet at his best after a tough spring season and two other specialists, American Andy Jacques-Maynes and German Tony Martin, soon topped his result. In 41'41", Martin rode at an averages speed of 48,4 kilometres per hour on the mostly flat course and his time stayed at the top of the list until the very end, with a nice margin on all the other opponents. Of the GC favourites, it was Michael Rogers who showed the strongest performance. The Australian finished the stage in second position, 22 seconds behind his team-mate but 3 seconds ahead of Zabriskie and 11 seconds faster than Leipheimer. Of course, he retains the leader jersey but before the last stage, the gaps are still tight overall between the three main contenders of the Tour. All the other riders lost more time today and Jens Voigt, sitting in fourth place overall, is more than a minute back now. Andy Schleck did a good race today, he passed the rider that started one minute before him, Brett Lancaster, during the stage and finished in 44'16", at an average speed of 45,5 km/h. It was mostly in the first half of the race that Andy did very well, loosing less than a minute on the fastest contenders and only 20 seconds on his team-mate Jens Voigt. The second part of the race was a little bit less convincing for the former Luxemburgish champion and he finished in 22nd position of the day, 2'35" late on Tony Martin and one position behind the former world-champion of the disciplin, Lars Boom.
21.05.10 6: Pasadena - Big Bear Lake (214 km)
Andy Schleck attacked
Results:
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Peter Sagan
Michael Rogers
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29th at 14'30"
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28th at 33’06"
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One of the reasons that pushed the organizers to delay the Tour of California until the month of May was to be able to include higher mountains in the stages without having to fear snow on the roads. Today's stage promised to be spectacular with the climb up to Big Bear lake, at more than 2000 metres above sea level. But American climbs are not like European ones and even if the total change in altitude of the course today was up to 3000 metres, the irregular but mostly smooth slopes of the uphills were often cut with small downhills and the stage brought no significant change in the overall classification, where Michael Rogers is still a few seconds ahead of Zabriskie, today's winner Sagan and Leipheimer. Andy Schleck has said before that he wanted to try something on this stage and that's what he did. He joined a break of 8 riders that took off after 30 kilometres, containing among others his team-mate Fulgsang, George Hincapie, Carlos Barredo, Stef Clement or Jason McCartney. It was a good group and they took up to 7 minutes advantage on the highest point of today's stage, with still about one hundred kilometres to go. But the teams of Radio Shack, Garmin and HTC-Columbia worked hard a the front of the peloton and they reduced the gap continuously on the final climb up to Big Bear. The riders at the front of the race worked well together, but after more than 150 kilometres leading the race, legs began to be tired and several of them were dropped. That was alos the case for Andy Schleck with about 40 kilometres to go. He had worked much until then and fell back into the group with the favourites, just like it was the case a little bit later with the other riders in the break. An exhausted Andy Schleck was able to hold on to the GC group for a while, but then he was dropped and lost more than 14 minutes until the finish line which he crossed in 29th place. At the head of the race, the favourites remained calm and, rather than attacking themselves, they sent their team-mates to the front. But despite several moves, they were still 21 together on top of the climb and sprinting for the stage win, among them Peter Sagan. The fast Slovenian seemed impossible to beat in these conditions and he took his second win in two days ahead of Sutherland, Rogers, Leipheimer and Hesjedal. Before tomorrow's time-trial, they are still 14 riders separated by less than a minute in the overall classification, where Andy Schleck is now noted in 28th position.
20.05.10 5: Visalia – Bakersfield (196 km)
Sagan stronger than ever
Résultats:
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Peter Sagan
Michael Rogers
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41th at 50”
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42nd at18’36"
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If today’s stage made a trip to the Sierra Nevada with a summit at nearly 1000 meters of altitude, it was mainly the final part that seemed very interesting: the finish was placed on top of a short, but steep ramp to be tackled a total of three times during the last 15 kilometres. On this type of course, the overall favourites had to be at the front of course and they took the first positions in the end, fighting for bonus seconds and the yellow jersey. On the three final laps, the main peloton got smaller and smaller and they were only around 50 together at the foot of the last ascent of China Grade, with only very few kilometres to go. Andy Schleck was in this first group which had just swallowed up the members of the early break, Mark Renshaw, Grischa Niermann, Kurt Hovelynck, Paul Mach, Benjamin Day and William Dickeson. After an unsuccessful attack from Jens Voigt, it was the yellow jersey himself who put the pressure on, taking the lead of the race with about 500 metres to go. Zabriskie seemed very strong and it looked very good for him, but then Peter Sagan jumped around him and took the stage win ahead of Rogers and the American time-trial champion. Due to the bonus seconds that he gained at the finish and in an intermediate sprint during the stage, Michael Rogers took over the yellow leader jersey ahead of the big mountain stage. Andy Schleck eventually was at the front today, but he did not battle for the stage win. In fact, he did not try to hold onto the first group until the end and maybe wanted to save some strength for the stage of the Big Bear. Andy crossed the finish line in 41st position a little bit more than a minute behind the winner and he now moves up to 42nd place overall.
19.05.10 4: San Jose - Modesto (196 km)
Chicchi takes last opportunity
Résultats:
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Francesco Chicchi
Dave Zabriskie
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87th at 1’24"
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52nd at 17’44"
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The sprinters had a good opportunity again on the stage between San Jose and Modesto, but it could well have been the last one for this tour. At the beginning, the course was quite difficult with the rough Sierra Grade climb right after the start, but the final was totally flat on wide and open roads. 11 riders nevertheless tried their luck just after the start, with 5 of them remaining in the lead after the first climb of the day: Lars Boom, Jurgen Van De Walle, Robert Britton, Jeremy Powers and Ryan Anderson. They stayed at the head of the race for most of the day but despite all efforts from Lars Boom, they were not able to hold off the HTC-Columbia and Cervélo led peloton towards the end of the stage. The expected bunch sprint took eventually place and Francesco Chicchi took the victory ahead of Haedo, Cavendish and track-ace Theo Bos. Despite a puncture around mid-race and lots of crashes in the peloton, Andy Schleck reached the finish line healthy and safe in 87th position. The rider from Luxemburg rode very attentively at the front of the peloton during the whole stage, but due to one of the incidents in the last kilometres, he lost some time on the winner in the end, just like for example Boonen, Armstrong and Cancellara
18.05.10 3: San Francisco – Santa Cruz (183 km)
Zabriskie first on Highway One
Résultats:
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Dave Zabriskie
Dave Zabriskie
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61st at 16’10"
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50th at 16’20"
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The course of stage three had a touch of déjà-vu because after the start in San Francisco, the riders headed South on the spectacular and familiar Highway One, also known as Pacific Coast Highway. Just like in last year’s stage, great landscapes and not one metre of flat were on the menu of the day, with the climb of Bonny Doon as a dessert shortly before the finish line. The peloton started the stage at full gas and it was only after 50 very animated kilometres, on the first bigger climb of the day, that a break was able to form. But the speed remained high and Andy Jacques-Maynes, Eric Boily, Will Routley, Davide Frattini as well as Ryan Anderson never got a big advantage on their way to Santa Cruz: they were caught in the first loops of the Bonny Doom ascent. Chris Horner did the work for Radio Shack at the front of the peloton that immediately split into pieces. Andy Schleck didn’t have his best legs today and he was not able to follow the speed, he found himself at the back of a second group at that moment. Three riders however were stronger than all the others: Levi Leipheimer, Michael Rogers and Dave Zabriskie broke away on the climb and they arrived at the finish with 17 seconds advantage on the next chasers. Zabriskie was fastest in the three-man sprint ahead of Rogers and Leipheimer, while Peter Sagan led the next group of twenty riders over the line, which contained among others Haussler, Voigt, Armstrong or Martin. Andy Schleck was among those who lost time today, he didn’t take any risks on the last descent and finished the stage together with Van Garderen in 61st position, 16 minutes late on the winner and a few seconds ahead of the main group of around 60 riders. In the overall classification, Zabriskie takes the lead from the shoulders of Lancaster, while Andy is now noted in 50th place.
17.05.10 2: Davis – Santa Rosa (176 km)
Lancaster fastest in the rain
Résultats:
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Brett Lancaster
Brett Lancaster
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26th at 0"
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23rd at 10"
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The second stage between Davis and Santa Rosa was already much more selective than the first one with two serious climbs on the menu. The Trinity Grade in the wine region of Napa County has already made up a few times for the decision on the overall victory in the Tour of California in the past, and it was tackled this time from the East, in its most difficult version and with only 30 kilometres remaining until the finish line. While Andy Schleck had to stop for a moment early in the race due to a mechanical problem, American riders wanted to show themselves in an early break: Karl Menzies, Jay Robert Thomson, Andrew Randell, Thomas Rabou and Michael Friedman took up to 7 minutes of advantage, but with the finish line being in the hometown of Levi Leipheimer, team Radio Shack of the defending champion soon was busy to decrease the gap again. The high speed of course took its toll on the riders and on Trinity Grade, both the leading group and the main peloton fell into pieces. They were 12 riders chasing down the two leaders Rabou and Menzies, before the group increased to 25 contenders, among them Andy Schleck and all the main GC contenders. The Luxemburg National champion was in the first line on the climb an didn’t have too much problems to follow the move. The stage win was decided in a sprint of the leading group and it was Brett Lancaster who was the strongest in the rainy conditions, ahead of Peter Sagan and Lars Boom. Andy Schleck was very happy to have avoided the numerous crashes on the twisty and slippery descent from Trinity Grade and he crossed the finish line at the end of the leading group in 26th place. He moves up very well overall where he is now noted in 23rd position, 10 secondes behind the stage winner and new leader Brett Lancaster.
16.05.10 1: Nevada City - Sacramento (177 km)
Cavendish wins opening act
Résultats:
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Mark Cavendish
Mark Cavendish
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71st at 0"
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74th at 10"
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As the organizers of the Tour of California wanted to avoid the bad weather conditions of the last years and give their race opportunities to grow further, they moved their date from the month of February to the month of May. And this seems to be a good decision, given the numerous big names of cycling that travelled across the ocean to line up in the event. Even Andy Schleck emerged earlier than usual of his rest period after the spring campaign to start his preparation for the second part of the season on the roads of California. But he shouldn’t experience too much pressure in this first race and during the opening stage, he was continuously hiding at the inside of the big bunch. He crossed the finish line in 71st position, in the same time than stage winner Mark Cavendish. Maarten Tjallingi, Chad Beyer, Marc De Maar and Paul Mach broke away in the first, hilly part of the course and built up an advantage of maximum 6 minutes. But HTC-Columbia opened the chase at the head of the pack and on the long, long downhill into Sacramento, the gap decreased very rapidly. At the entrance of the finishing circuit, the break was caught despite a last attempt from De Maar. HTC continued to set a high speed at the front of the peloton, and Saxo-Bank also moved up to bring Juan-José Haedo into position for the final sprint. But the preparation was disturbed by some crashes in the last of the finishing circuits. If Andy Schleck got through it without any harm, some riders like Tom Boonen and George Hincapie lost all their ambitions for the stage win as well as some pieces of flesh on the tarmac. But Mark Cavendish was able to develop his sprint in the usual manner and concluded as winner, ahead of Haedo, Norwegian Kristoff and Hunter. To be noted also a nice 7th place of the young Canadian Guillaume Boivin, who was one of the main contenders of the Grand-prix OST-Fenster organized by the ACC Contern in Bech just one year ago.
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