Guillaume Boivin Sprints to Second Place

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

Sacramento, CA: Team SpiderTech powered by Planet Energy made a strong debut today during the opening stage of the fifth Amgen Tour of California with the Canadian squad’s Guillaume Boivin attentively avoiding a couple of large pileups to score a seventh place result behind stage winner Mark Cavendish (HTC-Columbia).

The mostly downhill stage pedaled 167.8 kilometres from Nevada City to Sacramento. A four-man break consisting of Chad Beyer (BMC), Mark de Maar (UnitedHealthcare), Paul Mach (Bissell) and Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank) escaped the field after twenty kilometres, building up an advantage of several minutes. Knowing that the day would be settled by the sprinters, Team SpiderTech surrounded fastmen Boivin and Martin Gilbert, the only non-ProTour rider to win a stage at last year’s Tour of Missouri, who smartly conserved energy by riding towards the back of the peloton along with some of the world’s best sprinters including Cavendish, Tom Boonen (Quick Step), Francesco Chicchi (Liquigas-Doimo), Juan Jose Haedo (Saxo Bank) and Heinrich Haussler (Cervelo TestTeam). With Cavendish regarded as the fastest sprinter in the world, HTC-Columbia were forced to drive the chase.

The break was absorbed with sixteen kilometres remaining and a nervous peloton roared into California’s state capital to conclude the stage by completing three circuits around the State Capitol building. While HTC-Columbia was rivalled by Saxo Bank for control, Team SpiderTech sagely moved towards the head of the field as the peloton began the final circuit. During the final lap, a couple of crashes, one of which detained Gilbert with six hundred meters left, caused a massive separation in the field leaving a group of a dozen riders to sprint for the stage win. Cavendish easily took the honours with Boivin crossing the finish a few meters behind in seventh place.

“The team did a great job protecting Martin and I from hitting the wind all day. HTC-Columbia kept the lead of the breakaway group under control most of the day so we knew the race would come to a final sprint. On the final circuit, Martin and I were separated by a crash with two kilometres to go. I got good position before the final turn and did my best alone in the final kick. I’m happy with the outcome. However, it could have been much better if Martin and I were still together at four hundred meters to go,” said the poised twenty-year old Boivin.
Team SpiderTech director Steve Bauer said, “We are satisfied with our inaugural performance during the first stage of the Amgen Tour of California. Our riders worked well to position Martin and Guillaume for the final lap. Two important crashes separated our sprint duo with two kilometres to go. Guillaume sprinted to a superb seventh place behind Cavendish and Haedo. We are expecting more good things from this young man.”
Monday’s (May 17) Stage 2 travels 177.2 kilometres from Davis to Santa Rosa during which the riders will face two mid-race sprints and four King of the Mountains climbs. The eight-day, 1280-kilometre Amgen Tour of California is regarded as one of the most important races on the international calendar comprised of sixteen professional teams from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, and the U.S. For further information, please visit www.amgentourofcalifornia.com.

Stage 1 results:
1. Mark Cavendish (HTC-Columbia)
2. Juan Jose Haedo (Saxo Bank)
3. Alexander Kristoff (BMC)
7. Guillaume Boivin (Team SpiderTech)

by Charly Vives
Ce matin avait lieu le Grand Prix de Granby, en Estrie. Ne pouvant me joindre à l’équipe pour la Joe Martin Stage Race en Arkansas pour raison scolaire, je me suis rendu sur le site du contre- la-montre, long de 19 km. Comme l’an dernier, j’ai été accueilli par des averses de pluie. Juste le temps de m’inscrire et de me changer avant de retrouver mon Gallium E112 pour un échauffement de 40 minutes. 15 minutes facile, 15 minutes avec des intervalles pour préparer le corps à l’effort et 10 minutes de retour au calme. Cette course ayant lieu tous les ans, il est facile de se fixer un objectif de temps. L’an dernier, j’avais réalisé un chrono de 24min 25secondes, me classant 4ième. L’objectif ce matin était de faire 24 minutes.

Le départ donné, je me suis mis sur le « cruise control » à 90 RPM sur le 53/12-13 faisant attention pour ne pas trop bouger la tête et les épaules. À la mi-course, j’avais 15 sec d’avance sur mon temps de l’an dernier. J’ai continué à mon rythme sans prendre de chance dans les virages mouillés, franchissant la ligne d’arrivée avec un temps de 23min30 sur mon SRM, moyenne de 48.5km/h. Un peu surpris sur le coup contenu que le record du parcours était de 23min37, allant même à me demander si mon SRM n’avais pas été défectueux?!!!

Petit cool down avant la confirmation sur les résultats officiels. Excellent! Hugo Houle (Garneau) termine 2ième à 23min40sec et David Veilleux (Kelly Benefit) prend la 3ième place à 23min55sec.

J’en profite pour souhaiter une joyeuse fête des mères à toutes les mamans… Surtout la mienne! .
Charly

STAGE 1 was fast and windy on the gulf coast which would be a first chance for our sprinters to heat up the action. The aim of the team was to bring Martin Gilbert to the last 200 meters in front on the wheel of Lacombe. Martin’s goal was to win the last left hand turn coming into the short finish straight.. The team formed a good plan after reviewing the final km which would be hard fought and a bit crazy with 5 turns, rough pavement and plywood covering water drainages. The teamwork of Parisien, Langlois, Boily, Euser and De Luna, placed Boivin, Lacombe and Gilbert in excellent position at the flame rouge with Boivin, then Lacombe hitting the front approaching the final turns. Team Type 1 rider, Ilesic jumped clear at 500 meters scooping the lead with a small gap going into the final two turns. Gilbert sprinted to a well deserved 3rd place with Guillaume Boivin 4th. It was a very good start to our tour in Mexico and a confidence boost for our men working well together.

STAGE 2 promised to be a little different with over 1600 meters of climbing over 108 km with the race finish at 1400 meters above sea level. From the gun the attacks were insistent for the first hour and a half over rolling terrain. The speed of the race never dropping below 45 km per hour. At approximately 50 km to go Mancebo (Rock Racing), Kobzarenko (Team Type 1) and Parra (Boyaca) launched away. Parisien recognized the good moment and made a huge effort to bridge across to the break now making four men in front. The men worked well and efficiently to mount an advantage on the first significant gains of elevation of the tour. The time gap increased to 4 minutes in front of the peloton with 30 km to go.
The foursome continued to roll well over the KOM and were holding the lead regardless of a peloton pursuit led by the Mexican team Arenas Alubike. I spoke with Francois from the team car on several occasions and he tried hard not to let out a big smile he was feeling so good. I told him put that grin away and don’t give away his excellent condition. The uphill finish to Xalapa was not easy and Francois matched the accelerations of the others. At 500 meters Mancebo led it out hard hoping to gain as much time as he could on GC. Francois attacked from his wheel over the steep crest into the finish straight winning by several bike lengths. A great win for Francois, well deserved after hard work.

Stage 5
After getting beat up on a very tough altitude day on stage 4, the team regrouped with knowledge that today was a bike race suited to us. We knew it was time to get back in the game and take our shot and another stage win. The strategy was simple. Rock Racing would control the GC race and be happy to let a breakaway ride clear with riders that were far behind on general classification. I told the boys; “it’s a breakaway today for sure that will win and we cannot miss the break”.
The stage’s terrain suited plenty of early attacking as the profile held no significant climbs. The first hour of the race clocked 50 km without anyone going clear of the bunch. Finally a small group of 8 riders formed 10 seconds in front over a highway overpass which contained Bruno Langlois of Team SpiderTech. More riders joined making the group stronger. Flavio de Luna of Team SpiderTech realized it was the moment and jumped to the group. Flavio was the final rider of the breakaway to join.
19 riders in total cruised to an important lead immediately as Rock Racing dropped the chase. The peloton relaxed with all the riders in front having more than 16 minutes deficit to the GC leader Mancebo. With over120 km to go the group of 19 cruised to 10 minutes advantage continually working well together. No team had more than two riders in the front group so Team SpiderTech were in good shape. Flavio de Luna and Bruno Langlois both looked smooth and concentrated each time Rick Barrow and I moved forward to provide electrolyte mix and water. As the sun pushed through the cloud cover temperatures rose dramatically (42 C) in the final 40 km. We began to form some tactical plans. I spoke to Bruno first who told me he was feeling the heat effects and did not feel top. Flavio felt good and strong and looked smooth. I told Bruno that he needed to set Flavio up for an attack. Bruno asked “Where should I attack” and I told him “you will feel the moment.” It was Flavio’s turn. I told him. “Flavio, you will need to attack to win, do not wait for the sprint” Flavio replied, “yes Bruno will try something” and I told him “If and when Bruno gets caught, you must counter attack with everything you have”. The breakaway rolled into Cuautla on a big highway, flat and boring with no elevation to speak of. It was looking like the attack opportunity may not present itself before the sprint. At 4 km to go, a Chipas rider made the first aggressive move getting a small gap. Inside 3 km to go he was brought back by the group. The elevation began to climb slightly to the finish line when Bruno Langlois launched his full out attempt to win. Only one rider could hold his wheel but the Mexican rider taking Bruno’s wheel would not take a pull. Bruno continued with force the speed to no avail as the group gradually regained contact and paused at 2 km to go. From the middle of the group Flavio de Luna attacked hard and decisive on the right side. The group paused. The group paused some more. We shouted from the team car; Go Flavio Go man. We could see clearly his advantage was gaining quickly as the breakaway group waited too long in response. The breakaway now responded beginning the chase for the sprint winding up speed, reducing Flavio’s lead. At the 1 km banner Flavio was holding on but clearly ahead. The 20 year old neo pro raised his arms in victory 50 meters ahead of the sprint. Brilliant!

La course d’aujourd’hui a été très rapide, la dernière heure s’est même déroulée à plus de 50km/h de moyenne avec quelques sections de bordures. Hier, Steve nous a fait repérer les 3 derniers km. Donc nous avons pu discuter et établir un bon plan d’action. Nous savions que nous devions arriver premiers à l’entrée de la ville, car la route devenaient plus étroite et la chaussée était très mauvaise. C’est ce que nous avons fait. Nous avons été patients jusqu’à 2km de l’entrée de la ville. Mark Batty et Simon Lambert-Lemay devaient s’assurer que Guillaume Boivin, Keven Lacombe et moi serions les premiers à passer exactement là où la route se rétrécissait de deux à une voie.

Avec un kilomètre à faire, la chaussée qui était très mauvaise et les vélos rebondissaient partout. Nous étions toujours premiers au dernier virage à moins de 400m à faire. C’est alors que j’ai vu les deux roues de Keven devant moi déraper sur plus de 50cm avant de reprendre la bonne ligne et de continuer. Suivant l’effort de Guillame, Keven a pris le « lead » pendant 200m, il s’est tassé sur ma gauche et ce fut à moi de compléter le sprint durant près de 200m. Et voilà notre première victoire d’étape à la Vuelta del Uruguay! Encore deux autres étapes. On semble avoir trouvé la bonne formule…Ce soir c’est un litre de crème glacée chaque que nous avons commandé. À suivre!

2 articles to read in the Pedal Mag Fall 2009 edition on page 45 & 46 one by Michael Barry of team Columbia and the second by Steve Bauer  both about Tour of Missouri 2009.   
Pedal Mag Fall 2009 P45-46

For those who missed  the final sprint Stage 7  by Martin Gilert; you can watch it  on Universal Sport.com
Watch for the 2 riders with green shoulders on the right hand side.
Good job again Martin, Keven and the Team for this great stage win!

Thanks to all our fans and sponsors for your support for this great 09 season.
Stay tune for 2010 team news.

Final Stage 7 will be race in Kansas City near the Westin Hotel, 7 Laps of 16.4km for a total of 114.9km, 4 KOM and 2 Sprints. Terrain: Hilly!!

Result Stage 6
1 – Francesco Chichi / Liquigas 3 :41 :41
2 – Thor Hushovd / CerVelo all s.t.
3 – Lucas Sebastian Haedo / Colavita
4 – Keven Lacombe
6 – Martin Gilbert
33 – Guillaume Boivin
82 – François Parisien
91 – Ryan Roth
93 – Bruno Langlois
108 – Andrew Randell 3 :44 :24

2nd Team in Team Classification of Stage 6

General Classification After Stage 6
Martin Gilbert 6th Sprint Classification with 17 points

1 – David Zabriskie /Garmin Slipstream 19 :53 :45
2 – Gustav Larsson / Saxo Bank 0:00:30
3 – Tom Zirbel / Bissell 0:00:44
38 – Ryan Roth 0:03:00
76 – Martin Gilbert 0:05:08
79 – Bruno Langlois 0:05:14
82 – Guillaume Boivin 0:05:18
87 – Andrew Randell 0:05:87
95 – Keven Lacombe 0:07:07
105 – François Parisien 0 :11 :17

GC After Stage 3
1 – Thor Hudshovd / Cervelo Test Team 11 :27:19
2 – Mark Cavendish / Columbia –HTC 11 :27 :19
3 – Juan Jose Haedo / Saxo Bank 11:27:23
28 – Guillaume Boivin / Planet Energy 11:27:29
63 – Ryan Roth s.t.
64 – Andrew Randell s.t.
86 – Bruno Langlois 11 :27:58
89- Martin Gilbert 11 :28 :20
94 – Lacombe Keven 11:28 :44
114 – François Parisien 11 :33 :26
115 – Charly Vives 11 :34 :31

Martin Gilbert is 5th in the Sprint Classification with 12 points

Guillaume Boivin is 10th in the Best Young Rider Classification (1985 and younger)

In Stage 2 of Tour of Missouri, Martin Gilbert and Guillaume Boivin both positioned in top 10 with respectively 5th and 9th position. François Parisien did a great race making the decisive break of the day at around 45 km into the stage with Tim Duggan/ Garmin and Kiel Reijnen/Jelly Belly joining him. The gap increased to almost 5 min

before Columbia-HTC intensified their chasing tempo. Mark Cavendish’s team mates controlled the race at the front of the peloton all day trying to bring back the break. At approxiamately 40 km to go the gap had dropped to around 2 min 30 sec. Only during the last hour of the race that few other teams came to the front to reduce the gap. The Jelly Belly rider got a mechanical issue with 20 km to go and could not keep going with the break. Not long after François start attacking Duggan. The peloton eventually swarmed them at 6 km to the finish. It was then time for the sprinter squad (Lacombe, Gilbert & Boivin) to come up front and position the lead out for Martin in the final sprint against Cavedish, Thor, JJ Haedo and others. For his effort of the day, Francois received the Most Aggressive rider of the day jersey. Following the podium, François was convoked for the Press conference with Mark Cavendish, winner of the 2 stage.

Martin Gilbert is sharing his point of view of the first 2 stages:

We have our chance and we will not let it pass. The Tour of Missouri is a great opportunity for the Team to show we can rival against the best of our sport. On Monday, 1st Stage, we showed we can fight to keep our position for the sprint and I took the 5th place. Being 5th is a good result for me, but it is also the result of our mechanic who insures the good functioning of our bicycles to perform perfectly to fly at 65km/h at the sprint; the “soigneurs” who massage and prepare our bottles and feed so we don’t miss of anything. the directors in the car who motivate us and tell the tactics, the Team sponsors who believe in us, follow the race from their offices and hope we will perform good show and to end, my team mates who suffer during hours to permit me to get the results. So with the whole Team behind me, who gives its 110% and bring me to the sprint to go against the best; I have the pressure to be fast. 5th is good, but we will do better and we will attempt to achieve higher.

Stage 2.
I finished for a second time in 5th position in the sprint. We are not far from it. A little more of synchronism and we will get on the podium beside the best in the world. The other team already gives us more respect than the 1st stage. Now they acknowledge the Canadians are fighters and leave us the place in the peloton, because they know we will take it no matter what.

Result Stage 2
1- Mark Cavendish / Columbia HTC 4:16:53
2 – Thor Hudshovd / Cervelo Test Team all s.t.
3 – Juan Jose Haedo / Saxo Bank
5 – Martin Gilbert
9 – Guillaume Boivin
71 – Bruno Langlois
78 – Andrew Randell
85 – Ryan Roth
100 – Keven Lacombe 1:05
111 – Charly Vives 4:31
112 – François Parisien

François Parisien received the Most Aggressive rider jersey for Stage 2

GC After Stage 2
1 – Mark Cavendish / Columbia–HTC 7 :00 :29
2 – Thor Hudshovd / Cervelo Test Team 7 :00 :39
3 – Juan Jose Haedo / Saxo Bank 7:00:39
23 – Guillaume Boivin / Planet Energy 7:00:49
59 – Ryan Roth 7:00:49
75 – Bruno Langlois 7:00:49
76 – Andrew Randell 7:00:40
97 – Lacombe 7:01:54
111 – François Parisien 7:05:17
114 – Charly Vives 7:05:49

Guillaume Boivin 8th Best Young Rider Classification (1985 and younger)
Martin Gilbert is 5th in Sprint Classification with 12 points

Tour of Missouri – Result Stage 1
120,7km – Average Speed 44,176km/h

1 – Mark Cavendish / Columbia 2:43:56
2 – Juan Jose Haedo / Saxo Bank all s.t.
3 – Thor Hudshovd / Cervelo
4 – Francesco Chichi / Liquigas
5 – Martin Gilbert / Planet Energy
26 – Guillaume Boivin / Planet Energy
32 – Keven Lacombe / Planet Energy
50 – Ryan Roth / Planet Energy
73 – François Parisien / Planet Energy
76 – Andrew Randell / Planet Energy
78 – Bruno Langlois / Planet Energy
105 – Charly Vives / Planet Energy 2:44:25

GC – After Stage 1
1 – Mark Cavendish / Columbia 2:43:46
2 – Moises Aldape / TT1 2:43:48
3 – Juan Jose Haedo / Saxo Bank 2:43:50
4 – Thomas Vaitkus / Astana s.t.
5 – Thor Hudshovd / Cervelo 2:43:52
6 – Chris Anker Sorensen / Saxo Bank
7 – Francesco Chichi / Liquigas 2:43:56
8 – Martin Gilbert / Planet Energy all s.t.
29 – Guillaume Boivin / Planet Energy
35 – Keven Lacombe / Planet Energy
53 – Ryan Roth / Planet Energy
75 – François Parisien / Planet Energy
78 – Andrew Randell / Planet Energy
80 – Bruno Langlois / Planet Energy
111 – Charly Vives / Planet Energy 2:44:25

Tomorrow Stage 2 starts at 11am
180.9km Ste-Genevieve to Cape Girardeau

Photos are online on our website.

Live Viewing on Universal on http://www.universalsports.com