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Last Updated: 14 Oct 2020 - 12:47:15 PM |
BRESCHEL WINS, VANDENBERGH DEFENDS, IRISH ON ATTACK
By Shane Stokes
23 Aug 2007,
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Team CSC rider Matti Breschel won today's second stage of the Tour of Ireland, outsprinting Edvald Boasson Hagen (Maxbo Bianchi), Bernhard Eisel (T-Mobile) and 37 others to the finish line in Killarney.
Paul Griffin (Ireland) was best of the home riders in 16th place, one ahead of former national champion David McCann (Colavita Sutter Home). Race leader Stijn Vandenbergh (Unibet.com) finished 19th and retained his yellow jersey.
"My team did great work. They drove the pace to bring back the breakaways and to win the stage," said Breschel, who recently took the second stage of the Tour of Denmark. "I was second position at the last corner. My sport director Kim Andersen said that it was a fairly tricky sprint and that I had to really take care. With about 400 metres to go the LPR rider (Borut Bozic) started the sprint but it was a bit too far for him. After the right corner I went full gas with about 150 metres to go and it was just right.
"The course was good. It was beautiful but also very tough. It was up and down the whole way with hard roads. It is my first time here but I am enjoying it so far."
The 166 kilometre stage started in Clonakilty and took the riders over five categorised climbs, including the first category Healy Pass and the second cat. Moll's Gap. Numerous attacks combined with the tough nature of the course saw the field whittled down to a 49 man front group.
After missing the crucial ten-man break yesterday, the Irish riders in the race were aggressive today. Almost immediately after the drop of the flag local rider David O'Loughlin (Navigators Insurance) went clear in a short-lived move, then he, Paul Griffin, Philip Deignan, Brian Kenneally (all Ireland national team), Mark Cassidy (Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group/M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) and David McCann were all part of the select front group which formed during the race.
Deignan in particular was to the fore on the climbs, while Griffin attacked going over the top of the final climb of Moll's Gap and tried to chase lone leader Sergey Lagutin (Navigators Insurance). He was brought back by the large chasing group, but then Brian Kenneally went clear and caught and passed the Uzbekistani rider. However he was hauled back with approximately ten kilometres remaining, setting things up for the large sprint and Breschel's win.
Race leader Stijn Vandenbergh was very satisfied with how the stage went. "Yesterday was my first pro win and also the first time for me to take a yellow jersey since I was a junior rider," said the tall Unibet.com rider, who finished 19th. "So I'm very pleased. I felt good in yellow, I think I felt better than yesterday."
He had some nervous moments in the first hour and a half of racing. "I had a flat tyre early on. It was very hard because there was a group of more than 30 guys clear. The team had to do some good work to bring me back to the peloton and they also did a very good job to bring me again to the front group."
Brian Kenneally was happy with his day, although he said there were times he was under pressure. "I went with about three or four groups off the front," he said. "Eventually I got into the second group on the road and there ended up being about 40 of us up front. On the Healy Pass I struggled a little but I eased back going over the top. I was only a few seconds off and I know the descent so I was able to get back on fine.
"After the bottom we turned right onto the third category climb and my legs were just blocked from the descent. David O'Loughlin and myself just drifted off the back. But there were two Rabobank riders " the guy with the white jersey, Martijn Maaskant, a CSC rider and Glenn Bak from Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group/M. Donnelly Sean Kelly so we ended up riding back up and caught them before Kenmare."
Kenneally felt stronger from that point on, helping his team-mate and then firing off that attack. "On Moll's Gap I went up to Philip [Deignan] to see if I could do anything for him on the climb, and I rode in the wind for him. When I was up there, I knew the descent off it fairly well so thought I'd give it a go. There was a Navigators guy [Lagutin] just ahead and I thought I would jump across to him and maybe the two of us could do something. But he was after sitting up by the time I got across to him so I went by. I knew I didn't have much of an advantage and it was a long way in, but I said I'd give it a try anyway. I think they got me back with about ten kilometres to go."
Heading into the race, Kenneally and the others on the Irish team were set to work for Nicolas Roche and Philip Deignan. However the latter had to pull out due to a bad saddle sore. That plus the fact that the team missed out on the crucial stage one break meant that they had to reassess their goals.
"Yesterday was a bit of a disaster. Nicolas was our man for the overall and my goal coming into the race was just seeing what I could do for him and Philip. I'm not at top form but I knew I would still be strong enough to go to the front or do whatever I could for him. But things changed yesterday when Nicolas pulled out so we all regrouped and said that we would try to do something."
He and some of the others on the team were doing very intensive track sessions in Belgium last week. The timing of this has meant that the riders started the race tired. "Yesterday [Wednesday] I suffered a lot early on. My legs were in pieces. But it is great to race with the likes of CSC here, to be attacking them," he said, smiling.
Vandenbergh will begin tomorrow's mainly flat 194 kilometre third stage from Tralee to Ennis in yellow, leading closest challenger Marcus Ljungqvist (CSC) by 20 seconds. McCann is best of the Irish in 20th place, 13 minutes and 45 seconds back.
How it happened:
104 riders lined out in mild conditions for the start of the second stage of the Tour of Ireland, a 166 kilometre race from Clonakilty to Killarney. Three bonus sprints and five categorised climbs lay ahead, including the category one ascent of the Healy Pass and the category two Moll's Gap.
The cat. three climb of Glenlough came after 51 kilometres. Then, nine clicks later, those sprints came at Bantry, 60.1 kilometres into the stage, and 17.5 kilometres later in Glengarrif. After that, the category three Derreenacarrin climb, the Healy Pass, the cat three Knockreagh, the bonus sprint in Kenmare and the Molls Gap climb would follow. The latter tops out 23 kilometres from the finish, making it likely this could play a part in determining the stage result.
There was an aggressive start to the race, with attacks being fired off straight away. Bernhard Eisel (T-Mobile) and David O'Loughlin (Navigators Insurance) went clear after about two kilometres after the start and got nine seconds, but things came back together three clicks later.
Dermot Nally (Ireland), Graham Briggs (Recycling.co.uk) and Svein Vold (Maxbo Bianchi) also went clear in a short-lived move. Then, after about 14 kilometres, a group of 15 riders attacked but the Unibet team of race leader Stijn Vandenbergh was having none of it and hauled them back.
While some other riders tried to go clear, nothing stuck until 45 kilometres into the stage when Marcel Beima (T-Mobile) and Patrick McCarthy (Team Slipstream) forged ahead and opened up a 15 second lead.
The duo raced on towards the day's first climb, the category three Glenlough, but were caught before the top. Luis Pasamontes (Unibet.com) took top points there ahead of Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Maxbo Bianchi), Timothy Duggan (Slipstream Chipotle) and Roger Beuchat (LPR).
After 53 kilometres things came back together but very soon afterwards three riders clipped away. They were Moises Aldape Chavez (Ceramica Panaria Navigare), Danny Pate (Slipstream Chipotle) and Brian Kenneally (Ireland), and these opened a ten second gap.
Several others got across, including Dennis Van Winden (Rabobank), Daniel Lloyd (DFL-Cyclingnews-Litespeed) and Philip Deignan; Van Winden then took the intermediate sprint in Bantry (60.1 km) ahead of Lloyd, Kenneally and Pate.
A big regrouping took place approximately five kilometres later when the bunch made contact. Moises Aldape Chavez (Ceramica Panaria Navigare) and Timothy Duggan (Team Slipstream) were next to try their luck, getting away and being joined by Deignan and Maximiliano Richeze (Ceramica Panaria Navigare).
More and more riders got across to these, including the yellow jersey, and by the time the riders reached the feedzone in Glengarrif there were 46 in the front group.
These then raced on towards the third category Derreenacarrin climb (85.7 km). Valeriy Kobzarenko (Navigators Insurance) took top points at the summit, with Luis Pasamontes (Unibet.com), Matti Breschel (CSC), and Frank Schleck next over the line. At this point the second big bunch was five minutes back and fading out of the picture.
Kristian House (Navigators Insurance) and Gordon McCauley (Plowman Craven) attacked before the next climb, the first category Healy pass. Further back, Slipstream Chipotle's Craig Lewis had a problem with his back wheel just before the start of the mountain, while Mark Cassidy (Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group/M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) also had one after the slopes started.
On the earlier part of the climb House and McCauley had over two minutes but the pressure from the CSC-led chase started to bring this back House took the prime by several lengths ahead of McCauley and the two riders then hurtled down the descent. Behind, the group behind had split and Pasamontes took the next points ahead of Breschel, Boasson Hagen and Sergey Lagutin (Navigators Insurance). Pieter Jacobs (Unibet.com) and Paul Griffin (Ireland) were seventh and eighth.
House and McCauley stayed clear until the bottom but their move finally ended on the third category climb to Knockreagh. Several riders went out the back here, including O'Loughlin and Kenneally, but they would recover after the top and get back on.
Pasamontes added to his KOM points total when he won the prime, crossing the line ahead of Breschel, Rasch and Jacobs. 19 kilometres later Marcus Ljungqvist (CSC) beat Gabriel Rasch (Team Maxbo Bianchi), Jacobs (Unibet) and Valeriy Kobzarenko (Navigators Insurance) at the An Post bonus sprint in Kenmare. Very shortly afterwards, Kobzarnko's team-mate Sergey Lagutin attacked and with 25 kilometres to go he had 35 seconds on the big chase group, which by now was a very considerable 14 minutes ahead of the peloton.
The Uzbekistani kept the effort going over the top of Moll's Gap. The summit came just 23 kilometres from the end and he knew that if he had a big enough lead the victory was possible. However the chasers were not far back and Ireland's Paul Griffin jumped clear on the climb in a bid to close down the leader. Behind, Pasamontes took third ahead of Frank and Andy Schleck, making sure of his mountains jersey.
Griffin did what he could to chase but was eventually caught by the CSC-led pursuit. Brian Kenneally (Ireland) then decided to play his card and he attacked the yellow jersey group, closing up to the leader who was unable to take his wheel.
Earlier this year the Piltown rider won two stages in Ireland's other UCI ranked stage race, the FBD Insurance Ras and he was determined to do something here, particularly after all the Irish riders missed the break yesterday. However the driving by CSC saw him hauled back with approximately ten kilometres to go.
Next to try was former world under 23 time trial champion Danny Pate (Slipstream Chipotle), who surged clear shortly after Kenneally's recapture and held off the main bunch for several kilometres. However he too was reeled in by the CSC train, led by the Schleck brothers, and the Danish-registered team's efforts were rewarded with the stage victory by Breschel.
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Tour of Ireland (2.1, 22 - 26 August)
Stage 2, Clonakilty - Killarney:
1, Matti Breschel (Team CSC) 166 kilometres in 3 hours 57 mins 7 secs
2, Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Maxbo Bianchi)
3, Bernhard Eisel (T-Mobile Team)
4, Borut Bozic (Team LPR)
5, Kristian House (Navigators Insurance)
6, Moises Aldape Chavez (Ceramica Panaria Navigare)
7, Daniel Lloyd (DFL/Cyclingnews/Litespeed)
8, Martijn Maaskant (Rabobank)
9, Matteo Priamo (Ceramica Panaria Navigare)
10, Valeriy Kobzarenko (Navigators Insurance)
11, Wesley Sulzberger (South Africa AIS)
12, Gabriel Rasch (Team Maxbo Bianchi)
13, Pieter Jacobs (Unibet.com)
14, Thomas Berkhout (Rabobank)
15, Luis Pasamontes (Unibet.com) all same time
Irish:
16, Paul Griffin (Ireland) same time
17, David McCann (Colavita - Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light)
22, Mark Cassidy (Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn/M. Donnelly Sean Kelly)
25, David O'Loughlin (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team)
28, Philip Deignan (Ireland) all same time
45, Brian Keneally (Ireland) at 20 secs
57, Martyn Irvine (Ireland) at 26 mins 6 secs
58, Derek Burke (Ireland)
70, Stephen Gallagher (Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn/M. Donnelly Sean Kelly)
71, Paidi O'Brien (Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn/M. Donnelly Sean Kelly)
74, Isaac Speirs (Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn/M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) all same time
DNF: Morgan Fox (Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn/M. Donnelly Sean Kelly)
DNF: Dermot Nally (Ireland)
Primes:
KOM cat 3 at Glenlough:
1, Luis Pasamontes (Unibet.com) 6 pts
2, Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Maxbo Bianchi) 4
3, Timothy Duggan (Slipstream Chipotle) 2
4, Roger Beuchat (LPR) 1
An Post sprint, Bantry:
1, Dennis Van Winden (Rabobank) 5 pts/3 seconds
2, Daniel Lloyd (DFL-Cyclingnews-Litespeed) 3pts/2 secs
3, Brian Kenneally (Ireland) 2 pts/1 secs
4, Danny Pate (Slipstream Chipotle) 1 pt
An Post sprint, Glengarrif:
1, Marcus Ljungqvist (CSC) 5pts/3 secs
2, Jonas Ljungblad (Unibet) 3pts/2 secs
3, Gabriel Rasch (Team Maxbo Bianchi) 2 pts/1 secs
4, Karsten Kroon (CSC) 1 pt
KOM cat 3, Derreenacarrin:
1, Valeriy Kobzarenko (Navigators Insurance) 6 pts
2, Luis Pasamontes (Unibet.com) 4 pts
3, Matti Breschel (CSC) 2 pts
4, Frank Schleck (CSC) 1 pt
KOM cat 1, Healy Pass:
1, Kristian House (Navigators Insurance) 15 pts
2, Gordon McCauley (Ploughman Craven Evans Cycles) 12
3, Luis Pasamontes (Unibet.com) 10
4, Matti Breschel (CSC) 8
5, Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Maxbo Bianchi) 6
6, Sergey Lagutin (Navigators Insurance) 4
7, Pieter Jacobs (Unibet.com) 2
8, Paul Griffin (Ireland) 1
KOM cat 3, Knockreagh:
1, Luis Pasamontes (Unibet.com) 6 pts
2, Matti Breschel (CSC) 4
3, Gabriel Rasch (Team Maxbo Bianchi) 2
4, Pieter Jacobs (Unibet.com) 1
An Post sprint, Kenmare:
1, Marcus Ljungqvist (CSC) 5 pts/3 secs
2, Gabriel Rasch (Team Maxbo Bianchi) 3pts/2 sec
3, Pieter Jacobs (Unibet) 2 pts/1 sec
4, Valeriy Kobzarenko (Navigators Insurance)
KOM cat 2, Moll's Gap:
1, Sergey Lagutin (Navigators Insurance) 10 pts
2, Paul Griffin (Ireland) 7 pts
3, Luis Pasamontes (Unibet.com) 4 pts
4, Frank Schleck (CSC) 2 pts
5, Andy Schleck (CSC) 1 pts
DiscoverIreland.com general classification:
1, Stijn Vandenbergh (Unibet.com) 7 hours 58 mins 57 secs
2, Marcus Ljungqvist (CSC) at 20 secs
3, Aaron Olson (T-Mobile team) at 21 secs
4, Wesley Sulzberger (SouthAustralia.com/AIS) at 24 secs
5, Gabriel Rasch (Team Maxbo Bianchi) at 25 secs
6, Pieter Jacobs (Unibet.com) at 27 secs
7, Valeriy Kobzarenko (Navigators Insurance) at 28 secs
8, Craig Lewis (Team Slipstream) same time
9, Glenn Bak (Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group/M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) at 43 secs
10, Matti Breschel (Team CSC) at 13 mins 15 secs
11, Luis Pasamontes (Unibet.com) at 13 mins 28 secs
12, Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Maxbo Bianchi) at 13 mins 39 secs
13, Bernhard Eisel (T-Mobile) at 13 mins 41 secs
14, Martijn Maaskant (Rabobank) at 13 mins 43 secs
15, Daniel Lloyd (DFL/Cyclingnews/Litespeed) same time
Irish:
20, David McCann (Colavita - Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light) at 13 mins 45 secs
26, Mark Cassidy (Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn/M. Donnelly Sean Kelly)
29, Paul Griffin (Ireland)
30, David O'Loughlin (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team)
35, Philip Deignan (Ireland) all same time
43, Brian Keneally (Ireland) at 14 mins 4 secs
54, Paidi O'Brien (Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn/M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) at 39 mins 50 secs
77, Stephen Gallagher (Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn/M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) at 39 mins 51 secs
85, Isaac Speirs (Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn/M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) same time
90, Derek Burke (Ireland) at 40 mins 26 secs
93, Martyn Irvine (Ireland) at 41 mins 21 secs
An Post Sprints competition:
1, Matti Breschel (CSC) 24 pts
2, Gabriel Rasch (Team Maxbo Bianchi) 21
3, Stijn Vandenbergh (Unibet.com) 20
King of the Mountains:
1, Luis Pasamontes (Unibet.com) 30 pts
2, Roger Beuchat (LPR) 26 pts
3, Marcus Ljungqvist (CSC) 23 pts
Under 23 rider:
1, Stijn Vandenbergh (Unibet.com) 7 hours 58 mins 57 secs
2, Wesley Sulzberger (SouthAustralia.com/AIS) at 24 secs
3, Pieter Jacobs (Unibet.com) at 27 secs
Team:
1, Unibet.com, 24 hours 11 mins
2, Team CSC, at 13 mins 44 secs
3, T-Mobile team, at 13 mins 48 secs
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