There was triumph for both the Garmin Barracuda and the GreenEdge teams on the final day of the Circuit Cycliste Sarthe, with the former clocking up the stage win via Thomas Dekker and the latter scooping the final overall victory with Luke Durbridge.
Dekker’s triumph came after a crash inside the final kilometre of the stage, which enable the 27 year old Dutchman to jump clear and hold off the sprinters. Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ BigMat) and Sacha Modolo (Colnago CSF Bardiani) picked up second and third in the big dash to the line. It was Dekker’s first individual win since his return from a doping ban.
The stage was marked by a breakaway group of some fifteen riders, who got a gap thirteen kilometres into the stage and stayed clear for over an hour. The last of those was hauled back 73 kilometres out, then seven kilometres later twelve others got away.
Best placed of these was Vladimir Karpets (Movistar), who had started the day thirteenth overall, 23 seconds back. Also present were Pavet Brutt (Katusha), Raymond Kreder (Garmin Barracuda) and Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur Sojasun), and these clipped away inside the final twenty kilometres. Sébastien Duret (Bretagne Schuller) bridged across from the chasers just before they were caught, then closer to the finish Brutt pushed on ahead alone from the other three.
The peloton got him back with three kilometres to go, then race leader Durbridge and Brice Feillu (Saur Sojasun) clipped away. Their late burst was a defiant one but ended before the sprint, where a crash gave Dekker the opportunity to slip away and grab the stage victory.
Durbridge finished in the main bunch and duly triumphed overall. He had seized the race lead in Wednesday’s time trial and while he had just two team-mates left in the race to help him protect his jersey, he held on to take the final general classification.
Yesterday’s lumpy stage saw him battle back to finish with his main rivals; today’s fast, flat leg was more straightforward.
Still just 20 years of age, the 2011 world under 23 time trial champion has now clocked up the first two European wins of his pro career.
“When I crossed the line, I didn’t celebrate straightaway,” Durbridge said. “There were so many guys so close on the overall, and I didn’t know how things had shaken out with the time bonuses during the stage. I wanted confirmation, for certain, that we had won.
“When I learned I had won by eight seconds, I was pretty happy. It was great to see my teammates and staff after the finish. We didn’t necessarily head into the week expecting to win and that makes this a little bit more special.”
Today’s triumph is the ninth UCI triumph for the team in its debut season. The run started with Simon Gerrans’ overall triumph in the Santos Tour Down Under, then continued with a team time trial victory in Tirreno Adriatico , Gerran’s Milan-Sanremo success, Michael Albasini’s two stages plus the overall in the Volta a Catalunya, Daryl Impey’s win this week on day two of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco, Durbridge’s time trial win on Wednesday and today’s GC success.
Blow by blow:
The final stage of the race covered 166 kilometres between l'Abbaye de l'Epau to Sable-sur-Sarthe, with the conclusion being seven laps of a 12.2 kilometre circuit. That allowed the crowd there to see the riders pass multiple times.
After a couple of short-lived attacks, sixteen riders got clear after approximately eleven kilometres. The group comprised Pierrick Fedrigo (FDJ BigMat), Ben Hermans (Radioshack), Jonathan Castroviejco (Movistar), Pieter Weening (Greenedge), Maxim Belkov (Katusha), Michel Kreder (Garmin), Andrew Talansky (Garmin Barracuda), Johannes Frohlinger (Argos – Shimano), Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur Sojasun), Rafaa Chtioui (Europcar), Remi Cusin (Team Type 1 Sanofi), Romain Zingle (Cofidis), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Geoffroy Lequatre (Bretagne Schuller), Mathieu Drujon (Auber 93) and Benoit Jarrier (Véranda Rideau U).
Fedrigo was best-placed overall, having started the day just fourteen seconds back in eighth.
The group had a lead of 28 seconds at the climb of Yvré le Pôlin, 26.2 kilometres into the stage, and continued to race onwards. Propelled by the conditions and also the battle to break the elastic, they clocked up 48.2 kilometres in the first hour of racing. For quite some time the gap hovered around half a minute, and was of this magnitude when the break hit the day’s only climb, that of Yvré-le-Pôlin (km 26.2), where Edet beat Hermans and Talansky to the prime line.
The gap finally went up to fifty seconds after sixty kilometres of racing; by the time the group hit the first of eight laps of the finishing circuit, their advantage was down to 45 seconds. Eighty-six kilometres remained at that point, and soon after that Weening opted to drop back and help his team-mate and race leader, Durbridge. The team was down to just three riders due to withdrawals, and so Weening’s help was essential.
The peloton accelerated and this reeled in the break by kilometre 90, although Talansky and Zingle persisted for another couple of kilometres.
They were gobbled up by the intermediate sprint on the second passage of the prime line (km 93.4), where JJ Haedo (Saxo Bank) won the intermediate sprint ahead of Fran Ventoso (Movistar) and Jan Bakelandts (RadioShack).
Three kilometres later, a new group of twelve riders clipped away and built a gradually increasing lead. Arnaud Gerard (FDJ BigMat), George Bennett (RadioShack Nissan), Vladimir Karpets (Movistar), Daniel Teklehaimanot (GreenEdge), Pavel Brutt (Katusha), Raymond Kreder (Garmin Barracuda), Thomas Damuseau (Argos – Shimano), Anthony Delaplace (Saur Sojasun), Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur Sojasun), Matteo Pelucci (Europcar), Sebastien Duret (Bretagne Schuller) and Nicolas Rousseau (Auber 93) opened a one minute ten second advantage after 101 kilomeres; of those, Karpets was best positioned, being 23 seconds back in 13th place this morning.
Heading over the start/finish line for the third time, the dozen riders were one minute 35 up. Delapac took the second intermediate sprint, then Teklehaimanot picked up the third, 24 kilometres from the end. The gap had dropped considerably, though, and the leaders were just thirty seconds clear.
With the peloton coming back, Brutt and Engoulvent clipped away with 25 kilometres remaining. Five kilometres after that Kreder got across, then Duret did likewise soon after. With ten kilometres remaining they had twenty seconds; five kilometres after that, Brutt pushed ahead alone in a bid for stage success. He was caught two kilometres later, after which race leader Durbridge fired off an attack with Brice Feillu (Saur Sojasun).
The move was closed down by the sprinters’ teams, who were determined to set up their riders for the gallop. However a big crash inside the final kilometre gave Dekker the chance to slip away, and he managed to hold off the frustrated fastmen behind. It was his first individual win since he returned from his two-year suspension.