August 8, 2010, Bochum Germany – After a very encouraging debut in Europe at Paris-Corrèze (Aug 4-5) where Guillaume Boivin scored a strong 9th place on Stage 2, the team’s strength and cohesion was demonstrated with a superb performance in Germany this Sunday.
The UCI 1.1 Sparkassen Giro started the 1st of the 11 lap race in the pouring rain at 18°C. It was to be a challenging day with two substantial hills per lap which would help the strong men emerge over the 165km distance. Immediately from the start, yellow jersey bearer at the Tour de France, Tony Martin (HTC) broke away with Luke Roberts (Milram). The duo pushed the pace of the race over 4 laps, but the peloton never allowed them more lead than a minute. Eventually the strong men were caught and the race continued aggressively with groups going away and coming back. The pace never waned. At 4.5 laps to go, the peloton split with 25 riders in front containing three of our men; Guillaume Boivin, David Boily and Bruno Langlois. Approximately 15 riders bridged across making the lead group of 40 men. Once the gap was established the main peloton lost any chasing interest and the lead group cruised one lap without any further attacking, decidedly recuperating from the intense racing over the last 2 hours. The heavy rain began to subside and certain areas of the race course were exposed to intermittent sun. With 2 laps to go, Bruno Langlois followed a very important attack making a decisive breakaway with 6 other riders. Boivin has been riding well in Corrèze, so Bruno Langlois sat on the break discouraging the lead riders. Milram eventually pulled the break back and the counter attack with Boivin formed approaching 1 lap to go with 9 riders in the lead. The time gap increased to 20 seconds as the small group aimed at the final two hills of the day. David Boily protecting Boivin’s lead followed a counter attack which eventually emerged as a 5 man chase group. Two men in front were dropped with Boivin attacking, feeling strong among the 7 lead men. Over the final hill, all breakaway attempts were absorbed until 6 km to go. Niki Terpstra (Milram) attacked solo without any immediate reaction from the other 6 riders in the break. There was no cooperative chase created, so Terpstra stayed clearly out front clear and won by a mere10 seconds.
Boivin timed his sprint perfectly coming off of Andre Greipel’s wheel immediately after the final turn in the short 220 meter final straight away scoring 2nd place. David Boily won the sprint in front of his small chase group of 5 men finishing an excellent 9th at 1min back. Bruno Langlois completed a commendable team performance in 30th place in the main chase group at 1min 10secs back (same group time as 14th) having excelled as ideal Team man for the day!
Great performances were balanced by sadness as team rider Andrew Randell slipped and fell hard fracturing his left femur, high up below the greater trochanter. Andrew has undergone surgery at the Bermannsheil Hospital in Bochum, Germany. He will head back to Canada upon his release in few days.
Next on the team’s schedule:
August 12-15 UCI 2.2 Mi-Août Bretonne, FRA (6 riders) www.miaoutbretonne.com
August 17 UCI 1.1 GP Zottergem, BEL (10 riders) www.gpzottegem.be
