April 5/11 17:04 pm - Circuit Cycliste Sarthe: Stage 1

Posted by Editoress on 04/5/11
 

Today was the first day of racing at Circuit Cycliste Sarthe - Pays de la Loire, won by Daniele Bennati (Leopard Trek) . Team Spidertech p/b C10's Keven Lacombe finished 6th in the bunch sprint.

SpiderTech Team Director Steve Bauer describes today's race:

The game plan at the outset is to win the overall. Svein Tuft has been riding very strong and we believe he may be able to surprise in the Time Trial tomorrow. We knew Leopard Trek was bringing Benatti to win the stages and possibly the overall.

Our strategy was to be vigilant on the front of the race, not necessarily go into breakaways but to be sure to protect our interest in the overall if we needed to chase. We did not want to waste energy unnecessarily because we felt Leopard would control.

Sure enough, Leopard Trek took control of the race. Two of their riders went into a breakaway and the Leopard riders set tempo. The duo took the bonus seconds of three and two for both of the first sprints. After the first break was caught, Thomas Voekler was very active but to no avail. One Big Mat rider went clear with 83 kilometres to go, only to engage the Leopard team once more to control the race. Into the four final circuits of 6.4 kilometres each, it was evident that the most likely scenario of a bunch sprint would occur. Keven Lacombe wanted to do the sprint without support and not risking our team before the Time Trial. Keven finished an excellent sixth place.

"We are pleased with a relaxed, relatively easy day before the two split stages tomorrow with 97 kilometres in the morning and the all important 6.8 kilometre Time Trial in the afternoon. We are confident in Svein's ability to do a good ride," says Bauer

Lacombe commented after the finish: "I have good legs and felt strong in the final kilometres but I think I am still lacking some speed for the final 150-metre kick. The goals of the team are for General Classification and for Svein but I will still shoot for the sprints if the chance permits again."