Tour de l'Eurométropole 2014 (2.1), 02/10 - 05/10

[Dazed and Confused]

Tour de l'Eurométropole 2014 (2.1), 02/10 - 05/10

Last stage in next post.

Some key riders and the teams:
1. Lotto Belisol (Debusschere, van Genechten)
2. Team Giant-Shimano (Kittel, Mezgec)
3. Tinkoff-Saxo (Breschel, Mørkøv)
4. Omega Pharma - Quick-Step (Terpstra, Štybar)
5. Trek Factory Racing (Nizzolo, van Poppel)
6. Garmin Sharp (Farrar, van Baarle)
7. Belkin-Pro Cycling Team (Bos, Hivert)
8. FDJ.fr (Démare, Offredo)
9. Team Katusha (Porsev, Kuznetsov)
10. Orica GreenEDGE (Cort, Keukeleire)
11. Team Europcar (Tulik, Craven)
12. Bretagne - Séché Environnement (Feillu, Feillu)
13. Wanty - Groupe Gobert (Leukemans, Jans)
14. MTN - Qhubeka (Ciolek, Konovalovas)
15. IAM Cycling (Reynes, Saramotins)
16. Cofidis, Solutions Crédits (Petit, Senechal)
17. Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise (van Staeyen, Vanbilsen)
18. Vastgoedservice - Golden Palace (Ruijgh, Peeters)
19. Veranclassic - Doltcini (Stallaert, Mol)
20. Roubaix Lille Métropole (Planckaert, Vantomme)
21. Verandas Willems (Bille, Vereecken)
22. Color Code - Biowanze (De Winter, Wertz)
23. Wallonie - Bruxelles (Demoitie, Amorison)
24. T.Palm - Pôle Continental Wallon (Baratto, Vansumere)

The lot: http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/Tour_de_l_Eurometropole_2014-Startlist

The last stage (below) will be shown live on some Eurosport channels on Sunday 11:30 (CET) and is scheduled to finish just before live coverage of GdL starts.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Some historic podiums:
2009 T. FARRAR T. BOONEN R. HAMMOND
2010 A. BLYTHE S. VANMARCKE J. FUGLSANG
2011 R. MC EWEN T. VEELERS C. SUTTON
2012 J. ROELANDTS M. WYNANTS J. A. FLECHA
2013 J. DEBUSSCHERE J. DEGENKOLB T. FARRAR

Bos will strike late in the season.

 

[Bushman]

Cort to take a debut victory for Orica.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Ticker: http://direct.directvelo.com/live-course/2210/eurometropole-tour-etape-1-2-1.html

After about 30km, altogether.

 

[LosBrolin]

Ticker: http://direct.directvelo.com/live-course/2210/eurometropole-tour-etape-1-2-1.html

After about 30km, altogether.

Thanks!

10char

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Demare wins stage 1.

Great late season run for him

 

[roundabout]

The king of ssrs strikes again

 

[Dazed and Confused]

The king of ssrs strikes again

Inflation in the kingdom.

Anyway I would rather ring up some wins somewhere than endless placements in big races.

 

[greenedge]

I think Demare, Breschel and Keukeleire have the best chances of winning the GC, it just does not seem hard enough for Terpstra or Stybar.

 

[veji11]

The king of ssrs strikes again

Cruel but true this year. Then again Démare is finishing year 3 of his pro carreer, with already a rich palmarès, and just finished his first GT this year. Next year will be year 4 when his soon to be ex-teammate Bouhanni experienced the leap in winning percentage at WT level. Let's hope it's the same for Démare.

 

[VeloHuman]

Wonder who Trek backs in the sprint. Lots of firepower.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Stage 2:
1 DÉMARE ArnaudFDJ.fr
2 DEBUSSCHERE JensLotto Belisol
3 BOS TheoBelkin-Pro Cycling Team

Demare leads pretty much all competitions.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Stage 3 in progress...

With 84km to go, gap 7-8 minutes

Matthew Hayman (Orica - Green Edge), Morgan Lamoisson (Europcar), Vegard Laegen Stake (Bretagne-Séché Environnement), Gorik Gardeyn (Veranclassic-Doltcini), Boris Dron (Wallonie-Bruxelles)

Ticker: http://direct.directvelo.com/live-course/2214/eurometropole-tour-etape-3-2-1.html

 

[Dazed and Confused]

with 50km to go we have a split peloton:

Break : Matthew Hayman (Orica - Green Edge), Morgan Lamoisson (Europcar), Vegard Laegen Stake (Bretagne-Séché Environnement), Gorik Gardeyn (Veranclassic-Doltcini), Boris Dron (Wallonie-Bruxelles)

Peloton 1 : + 4'32"

Peloton 2 : + 5'10"

Peloton 3 : + 5'30"

 

[Dazed and Confused]

23km left, situation:

Break : Matthew Hayman (Orica - Green Edge), Morgan Lamoisson (Europcar), Vegard Laegen Stake (Bretagne-Séché Environnement), Gorik Gardeyn (Veranclassic-Doltcini), Boris Dron (Wallonie-Bruxelles)

Peloton 1 : + 2'33"
Peloton 2 : + 7'09" (50 strong)
Peloton 3 : + 8'33" (20 strong)

It would appear all the favorites are in the first peloton, but time will tell.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Theo Bos!!!!!!!!!

Stage 3 result:
1 Theo Bos (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team
2 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto - Belisol
3 Arnaud Démare (Fra) FDJ.fr
4 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Orica - GreenEDGE
5 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Team Giant - Shimano
6 Baptiste Planckaert (Bel) Roubaix - Lille Métropole
7 Matti Breschel (Den) Tinkoff - Saxo
8 Sondre Holst Enger (Nor) IAM Cycling
9 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) OmegaPharma - Quick Step Cycling Team
10 Michael Van Staeyen (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise

Demare leads GC.

 

[roundabout]

Last stage live on eurosport 2. 52k to go.

 

[Netserk]

Meh, they'll get caught

edit: Lol at Leukemans getting motor paced.

 

[Netserk]

Demare ahead of Debusschere

 

[Akuryo]

Demare ahead of Debusschere

So, Demare continues winning "SMR's"

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Lol at the Lotto rider celebrating Debusschere's win

 

[Dazed and Confused]

This sh!tty little stage had more race action than GdL.

But when the boys goes clear over the hill (Breschel etc) why stop the first few times? I mean Demare is parked in the peloton. Opportunities missed every single time.

I just don't get modern tactics.

Stage 4:
1 75 DEMARE Arnaud * FDJ 03:13:17
2 1 DEBUSSCHERE Jens * LTB 00:00:00
3 53 FARRAR Tyler GRS 00:00:00
4 48 VAN POPPEL Danny * TFR 00:00:00
5 126 NAPOLITANO Danilo WGG 00:00:00
6 55 KREDER Raymond * GRS 00:00:00
7 135 STAUFF Andreas * MTN 00:00:00
8 148 SARAMOTINS Aleksejs IAM 00:00:00
9 194 PLANCKAERT Baptiste * RLM 00:00:00
10 211 KERF Jerome * CCB 00:00:00

Final GC:
1 75 DEMARE Arnaud * FDJ 15:05:41
2 1 DEBUSSCHERE Jens * LTB 0:00:16
3 62 BOS Theo BEL 0:00:16
4 8 VAN GENECHTEN Jonas LTB 0:00:21
5 26 BRESCHEL Matti TCS 0:00:23
6 96 KEUKELEIRE Jens * OGE 0:00:25
7 103 LAMOISSON Morgan * EUC 0:00:25
8 53 FARRAR Tyler GRS 0:00:30
9 86 PORSEV ALEKSANDR KAT 0:00:32
10 105 TULIK Angelo * EUC 0:00:33

What a great way to finish the season for Demare after getting kicked badly in the tour.

 

[roundabout]

The first few times were bonus sprints.

And it was a bloody huge group behind to hold off for 40k.