Thüringen-Rundfahrt U23 (08.06.-15.06.)

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Thüringen-Rundfahrt U23 (08.06.-15.06.)

Probably apart from Avenir and the Worlds this is this year's U23 race with the best start list. We'll see here Caleb Ewan, Jasha Sütterlin, Lasse Hansen, Silvio Herklotz, Damian Howson, Dylan van Baarle, Rick Zabel, Michael Valgren, Fredik Ludvigsson, Simon Yates, Florian Sénéchal... simply stunning.

Prologue
ITT Sülzenbrücken - Holzhausen (4 km)

A straight route in the shadow of the famous Drei Gleichen castles. Expect beautiful ITT shots. And a first battle between van Baarle, Ludvigsson and Sütterlin.

Stage 1:
Rund um die Hainleite (169 km)

This is the course of the defunct Rund um die Hainleite one-day pro race. The steep Arnstädter Hohle in Thuringias capital Erfurt usually causes havoc on the final circuits. This may be a first chance for Herklotz to shine.

Stage 2:
Behringen - Behringen (186 km)

We head to the quiet north-western part of Thuringia, former borderland. In the beautiful old-growth forests of the Hainich National Park some climbs wait for the peloton, but I expect a bigger group to reach the finish line together. Maybe one for Ewan or Zabel.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Stage 3:
Neuhaus - Neuhaus (155 km)

Now it's getting ugly. Maybe the race's deciding stage. On the climbs of the central Thüringer Wald mountain range you need to be there if you want to have a say GC-wise. Outsider bet: Patrick Konrad.

Stage 4:
Langewiesen - Langewiesen (172 km)

A bit of a rest day between the mountains and the ITT. Time for riders from the 2nd row to shine. Yannick Mayer could be doing something here.

Stage 5:
ITT Streufdorf (28 km)

The big ITT battle. Will Sütterlin, Howson, van Baarle etc. survive the mountains? Then they will battle out the GC order here.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Stage 6:
Ichtershausen - Ichtershausen (174 km)

A bit of an anti-climax. You have to attack early to shake the GC up. Hope someone has the panache to do it. Silvio Herklotz, I look at you.

Stage 7:
Ichtershausen - Ichtershausen (157 km)

This is sprinter terrain. Rick Zabel to finish it off in style.

Startlist
Another preview

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

The favorites

*****

Jasha Sütterlin

****

Dylan van Baarle, Silvio Herklotz

***

Damian Howson, Lasse Hansen

**

Michael Valgren, Campbell Flakemore, Alexander Foliforov

*

Fredrik Ludvigsson, Patrick Konrad, Julian Alaphilippe

 

[jens_attacks]

well finally a proper opening thread for a race. kudos for this
i kind of missed this to be honest
as a big erik zabel fan, i will follow rick too.

tv highlights?

 

[Gloin22]

*****

Jasha Sütterlin

****

Dylan van Baarle, Silvio Herklotz

***

Damian Howson, Lasse Hansen

**

Michael Valgren, Campbell Flakemore, Alexander Foliforov

*

Fredrik Ludvigsson, Patrick Konrad, Julian Alaphilippe

You are way underrating Ludvigsson considering his results this season.

Other than that, great

 

[ciranda]

Prologue
ITT Sülzenbrücken - Holzhausen (4 km)

A straight route in the shadow of the famous Drei Gleichen castles. Expect beautiful ITT shots. And a first battle between van Baarle, Ludvigsson and Sütterlin.

Maybe Rasmus Sterobo too, who won the short uphill time trial in the Peace Race last week. Still goes kinda unnoticed although he was 7th in both European and World's TT Championships last year.

 

[Bushman]

Don't you think Lasse Norman kan compete in the tt?

EDIT: Just realised his tt has been rather inconsistent this year. But his shape has been good lately and his itt was pretty good last year.

 

[Hysminai]

Don't you think Lasse Norman kan compete in the tt?

It's looks too uphill for him. Not sure at all though, the profiles seem quite excessive

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

It's looks too uphill for him. Not sure at all though, the profiles seem quite excessive

They are, but hey, it's a U23 race. You don't need 15 km of 2000m climbs to cause chaos in the field. It's the succession of smaller climbs that does the damage here.

I rate Ludvigsson very high. He's been in excellent shape lately and I expect him to be among the very best in both ITTs. But I don't think he will be able to follow the best on the climbs. It's his first U23 year, don't forget that.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

tv highlights?

Maybe short snippets, nothing more unfortunately.

A usually good live ticker will be available here.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Damian Howson wins the prologue 1 sec ahead of Lasse Hansen.

+ 8 sec

Sütterlin, van Baarle

+ 21 sec

Ludvigsson

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

1 1 Howson, Damien AUS National Team Australia 4:52,84
2 31 Hansen, Lasse Norman DEN National Team Denmark 4:53,69
3 111 Vink, Michael NZL National Team New Zealand 4:56,15
4 33 Sterobo, Rasmus DEN National Team Denmark 4:56,77
5 4 Phelan, Adam AUS National Team Australia 4:57,60
6 161 Eisenhart, Taylor * USA National Team USA 5:00,09
7 51 Herklotz, Silvio * TST Stölting Ruhr-Profi Radteam 5:00,32
8 11 van Baarle, Dylan RB3 Rabobank Development Team 5:00,35
9 21 Sütterlin, Jasha TET Thüringer Energie Team 5:00,58
10 103 Savitskiy, Ivan RUS National Team Russia 5:00,93

Nice TT result from Herklotz.

 

[SetonHallPirate]

Don't you think Lasse Norman kan compete in the tt?

EDIT: Just realised his tt has been rather inconsistent this year. But his shape has been good lately and his itt was pretty good last year.

Somewhat surprised he didn't stick to the track. I mean, he did win gold in the omnium in London!

 

[Phil13]

Sorry but the profils are useless without the altitude.
look here: http://www.thueringenrundfahrt.de/etappenplan.html

There you can see that the prologue was not really uphill (only less than 1%).


Great win by Howson and also great performances from Eisenhart and Herklotz.

 

[Bushman]

Good ride by normann afterall, but this one should suit him better than the long itt.

 

[greenedge]

Wondering if Adam Phelan could go well here, on the climbs.

Congrats to Howson

 

[Hysminai]

Somewhat surprised he didn't stick to the track. I mean, he did win gold in the omnium in London!

I was a bit surprised too when he signed with Garmin. He said after London that he would stay on the track until the 2016 games and go for gold there - and then going road.

 

[Netserk]

I was a bit surprised too when he signed with Garmin. He said after London that he would stay on the track until the 2016 games and go for gold there - and then going road.

Maybe he'll do like Wiggo pre 2009?

 

[Hysminai]

Maybe he'll do like Wiggo pre 2009?

Could be. But lately he's been talking about focusing on becoming the best in the world at something. Sprinting, cobbles, whatever. He just needs to find out what he can excel in.

It seems he's on the road for good.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Short video from the prologue: http://www.mdr.de/sport/andere_sportarten/thueringen-rundfahrt162.html

Meanwhile the first road stage is under way.

Tusveld, Martijn * RB3
Nielsen, Magnus Cort * DEN
Vanthourenhout, Michael * BKP
Schlichenmaier, Tim TJB

... form the breakaway of the day. 3:50 advance.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

1. 76 Wisniowski, Lukasz ETI
2. 51 Herklotz, Silvio * TST
3. 35 Haugaard Jensen, Kristian DEN
4. 31 Hansen, Lasse Norman DEN
5. 36 Nielsen, Magnus Cort * DEN
6. 13 Zabel, Rick * RB3
7. 81 Yates, Simon GBR
8. 121 Hatz, Christopher TJB
9. 53 Werda, Maximilian TST
10. 71 Alaphilippe, Julian ETI

Strong rides by Herklotz and Yates. Wisniowski got away with the win.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

1. 76 Wisniowski, Lukasz ETI
2. 51 Herklotz, Silvio * TST
3. 35 Haugaard Jensen, Kristian DEN
4. 31 Hansen, Lasse Norman DEN
5. 36 Nielsen, Magnus Cort * DEN
6. 13 Zabel, Rick * RB3
7. 81 Yates, Simon GBR
8. 121 Hatz, Christopher TJB
9. 53 Werda, Maximilian TST
10. 71 Alaphilippe, Julian ETI

Strong rides by Herklotz and Yates. Wisniowski got away with the win.

GC after stage 1:

1 (1) HOWSON Damien 4 4:41:56
2 (2) NORMANN HANSEN Lasse Blue Water Cycling 0:01
3 (7) HERKLOTZ Silvio Team Stölting 0:02
4 (3) VINK Michael 0:04
5 (4) STEROBO Rasmus Team Cult Energy ,,
6 (5) PHELAN Adam Drapac Cycling Team 0:05
7 (6) EISENHART Taylor 0:08
8 (8) VAN BAARLE Dylan Rabobank Development Team ,,
9 (9) SüTTERLIN Jasha Thuringer Energie Team ,,
10 (10) SAVITSKIY Ivan Rusvelo ,,
11 (14) VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael Team Cult Energy 0:12
12 (15) ZABEL Rick Rabobank Development Team 0:13

 

[SetonHallPirate]

Could be. But lately he's been talking about focusing on becoming the best in the world at something. Sprinting, cobbles, whatever. He just needs to find out what he can excel in.

It seems he's on the road for good.

Yes, because he's not already nearly the (if not the) best in the world at the omnium...who won gold in that event in London?

 

[WKA311]

He, Lasse Norman Hansen, won Gold in the Omnium in London