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For a few hours, the sky had stopped pouring down rain on Luxemburg and opened a sunny window in the otherwise very grey week-end.
Just like in the last years, the Grand-prix COMAT and the Grand-prix de la Commune de Contern thus took place in bright sunshine, but the conditions weren't the same than in the previous editions.
Muddy course in Contern
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The storm, the rain of the last days and of the morning of course were some of the factors that prevented fans to come out in masses to Contern, but most of all, they had a big impact on the course. The ground was difficult, slippery and in some parts even really muddy. As a result, the races were relly difficult and the average speed on the course a lot lower than in previous years. It was a former mountain-bike racer now focused on cyclo-cross who was able to make the difference in this conditions. Patrick Gaudy loves difficult courses, his favourite one being on the Koppenberg, but there is no doubt that the lap in Contern this year will also remain among his all-time favourites: after a few victories in nationale events in Flanders, this was biggest and first international win for the rider from Wallonia so far.
9th GRAND-PRIX DE LA COMMUNE DE CONTERN
They were 35 to line up at 15 o'clock for an hour of suffering in the fields of Contern. The course was of course tough in the up and downs in the main meadow,
35 riders at the start
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but also on the faster parts, due to the wind mainly, and it was technical and slippery. A mixture that suited well to Christian Helmig, the National Champion, who realized the hole shot and was the first to tackle the tricky downhill in the woods. For other home riders though, the race didn't start as well: Gusty Bausch completely missed his take-off and was at the back of the pack before abandoning the race. Massimo Morabito, on his side, was thumbled in a crash in the very first corner before loosing even more time due to a mechanical: The Luxemburg U23 champ was the very last after half a lap before moving up throught the field during the rest of the race, but not enough to go for a possible Top 10 finish.
At the head of the race, Filip Adel took the leading position on a course that possibly reminded him his tough home course in Hlinsko, not too far away from Tabor in the Czech Republic.
Leading trio: Adel, Helmig, Gaudy
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In the wheel of the younger brother of Pavel Adel, a two times winner of the Grand-prix COMAT, Christian Helmig managed to stay up front together with Patrick Gaudy. Former Belgian junior national champion Stef Boden followed closely with another Czech rider, the tall Michal Malik. As of the second lap, the speed was too high for Helmig who had to slow down a little bit, leaving Adel and Gaudy as a leading duo. Behind the Luxemburg National Champion, the trio composed of Matthias Van de Velde, Felix Drumm and Michal Malik had in the meantime passed Stef Boden who did not finish the race. Another trio containing Tom Van den Bosch, Dave De Cleyn and Britain James Spragg wasn't far behind them. The former winner of the cyclo-cross of the ACC Contern, Johannes Sickmüller, survived his bad start and was now trying to come back, together with Sascha Wagner and jus ahead a very good Scott Thiltges, 12th in the race at that point and second rider from Luxemburg. Morabito had also moved up in the meantime and followed closely behind Thiltges, together with Lex Reichling and a Tim Van Nuffel who didn't really live up to the expectations.
It didn't last very long for the course to take its toll and as of the third lap, there was a lone leader at the front: whithout really attacking, Patrick Gaudy managed to leavec Filip Adel slowly but surely behind him.
Leader Patrick Gaudy slipping away
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The former Top MTB-rider, who used to do cyclo-cross as preperation for the summer season a few years ago but does it exactly the other way round now, put some air between him and the Czech rider who was still slightly ahead of Helmig in his turn. Behind Helmig, Dave De Cleyn, the former winner of the cyclo-cross in Differdange, was coming up very strongly after a more medium-rated start. He left Van den Bosch and Spragg behind, passed one after another Malik, Van de Velde and Drumm before trying to bridge up to the second and third placed riders. Behind them Van den Bosch also managed to pass Malik, Germans Sickmüller, Wagner and König remained status quo while another bad starter also showed up in the Top 15, namely Belgian Jelte Veroft. Thiltges was still riding ahead of the group Van Nuffel, Reichling and Morabito, the winner of the latest Grand-prix François Faber sur route who had some trouble recovering from his fast chasing laps on this course whithout any easier section.
Despite a few minor mistakes on the slippery ground, Patrick Gaudy was dominant at the front with impressive power.
Battle for second place between De Cleyn and Helmig
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He managed to stay on his bike at places where other contenders had to put their foot on the ground. With the race approaching its conclusion, the man from Wavre in Belgium was nearly a minute behind his first chaser Adel, also a former MTB-rider since he was double Czech junior national champion on the fat tyres. Behind Adel, but not very far, De Cleyn had bridged up to Helmig and during the last laps, the two of them battled hard for third place, with positions changing every few minutes. Felix Drumm, who was second of the Grand-prix COMAT on the same course a few years ago, was riding in fifth position ahead of the two Van, De Velde and den Bosch, who battled each other for sixth place.
After 57 minutes and 49 seconds of racing, Belgian Patrick Gaudy wins the 9th edition of the Grand-prix de la Commune de Contern, 1'03" ahead of Cezch rider Filip Adel.
Podium: Adel, Gaudy, De Cleyn
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Five more seconds later, De Cleyn finally finished in thir place, leaving Christian Helmig behind him in the last metres of the race. Luxemburg's National champion had to settle down with fourth, extremely exhausted after this international race which is 10 minutes longer than the national races he has raced until now this season. Nevertheless, it is the best place for a home rider in the cyclo-cross of the ACC Contern since long ago. Drumm, Van den Bosch, Van de Velde, Sickmüller, Malik and Spragg completed the Top 10 in this order, while Scott Thiltges crossed the finish line in 15th place as second Luxemburger in the race, ahead of Morabito who showed a stong finish as well as Jérôme Junker and Lex Reichling.
26th GRAND-PRIX COMAT
15 juniors, 9 novices and 2 ladies, among them around one third of foreign riders, took off for the 26th edition of the Grand-prix COMAT, but soon, most of them didn't have anything to do with the outcome of the race any more. Because Belgian rider Jens Teirlinck dominated the race as of the beginning and took the lead alone in the first lap already, a few seconds ahead of Frenchman Valentin Ortillon.
Jens Teirlinck dominated the junior race ...
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Behind those two, Thomas Van de Velde wasn't able to hold his second place from the previous year, while Ken Muller from LG Alzingen was best home rider in fourth position, ahead of Eric Gleis and a duo composed of Czech rider Daniel Mayer and German David Ames. Behind those two, Cédric Godart rode in eigth place at the beginning of the race, together with the first novice, Félix Schreiber. Just like Teirlinck in the junior race, the rider from Tooltime Preizerdaul dominated his category clearly since Luc Weis and Marice Thill were already nearly a minte behind him after only one lap. In the ladie's competition, Lisa Schaub was also clearly ahead of her only opponent Mara Schwager. At the head of the race, Jens Teirlinck continued his ride towards victory despite an Ortillon who showed fighting spirit and never gave up in fact. Slowly, but surely, the former Belgian novice national champion, who has already won two races this season, put some time between him and the former French novice national champion on the road, who has already been successfull in the Challenge National races in previous seasons and was clearly ahead of Van de Velde in thirs place.
After four laps, Félix Schreiber was the first novice rider to cross the finish line, lying in ninth place in the junior rankings. The rider from
... Félix Schreiber in the novice category
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Tooltime Preizerdaul had nearly four (!) minutes advantage on second place Luc Weis from LG Alzingen an another one on his team-mate Maurice Thill, in third place. At a very fourth position in the common result list with the novices, German Lisa Schaub won the women's race more than four minutes ahead of Mara Schwager, another German lady in 8th place overall. One lap and 2,5 kilometres later, Belgian Jens Teirlinck won the junior's Grand-prix COMAT 50 seconds ahead of Valentin Ortillon and 1'38" before Thomas Van de Velde. Three minutes behind the winner, Luxemburg's National Champion Ken Muller took fourth place as best home rider, one minute ahead of Czech Republic's Daniel Mayer and Eric Gleis from LC Tétange.
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Contact: ACC Contern - c/o M. Eugène Stirn - 19, rue Jules Fischer - L-1522 Luxembourg - Tél: (+352) 49 27 11 - Fax: (+352) 29 77 72 - eugstirn@pt.lu
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