February 26/12 10:13 am - Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, report and results, Boivin 11th

Posted by Editoress on 02/26/12
 

Boivin 11th at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne

Team SpiderTech was back in action today in yet another semi-classic race in Belgium, and the team’s overall performance, led by sprinter Guillaume Boivin, is showing that it has the strength to race among the world’s best teams, in the world’s biggest races.

Held each year on the last Sunday of February, the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne semi-classic race in Belgium is another marquee event on the international road race calendar.

With World Champion sprinter Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) being hailed as the favorite heading into the race, it was expected that this race would end up in a bunch sprint to the finish line. The Kuurne course is less selective than other Belgium classics, such as yesterday’s Omloop, and has always favored the sprinters.  With this in mind, Team SpiderTech brought its top sprinters to the start line: Guillaume Boivin, Keven Lacombe, Martin Gilbert and Hugo Houle.

The race saw a small lead group quickly breaking away to set the pace, while the peloton calmly rolled together. As the gap reached four minutes, the peloton broke in smaller group when the racers hit the more challenging climbs. A small chase group of 25 riders formed, while the peloton, containing the top sprinters, kept a good tempo to remain within safe distances of the lead group.

Once the chase group merged with the lead group, the peloton activated, led by Lotto-Belisol, Vacansoleil-DCM and Team Europcar, and managed to close the gap to less than a minute as the race entered the final circuit. With ten kilometres left in the race the two groups merged, and the sprinters moved up the peloton to prepare for the final kilometre of the race, including Team SpiderTech’s Guillaume Boivin.

Boivin, who has established himself as a leader of Team SpiderTech this season after nursing a knee injury all last year, sprinted to 11th place in the final bunch sprint, narrowly missing the top-10.  Cavendish easily held off Yauheni Hutarovich (FDJ-Big Mat) for the victory.

Steve Bauer, the team’s directeur sportif, was pleased to see his boys be competitive with this world-class field: “Today's race lived up to expectations. It was a big sprint, with all the best guys. I don't think anyone thought the breaks would go to the finish, despite the quality of the riders represented.”

“Our guys did great to have four guys in there in the final, and three together inside the final kilometre. I know the guys are disappointed. They wanted to do better in the sprint. But it doesn't always work out the way you want. Every time the guys sprint at this level though, they learn. And they take those lessons forward to the next races.”

Mark Cavendish, one of the world’s to sprinter and current World Champion, went to take the victory in an easy sprint against Yauheni Hutarovich (FDJ-Big Mat) and Kenny Van Hummel (Vacansoleil-DCM). The victory for the British rider comes in large part thanks to the hard work done by his teammates from Team Sky Pro Cycling, which executed a textbook race finale.

The next race for Team SpiderTech will be the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen, a three-day stage race, part of the Flanders Classics series in Belgium.

Report Spidertech powered by C10

Results from today's Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne in Belgium