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Elite Men: Frameries - Dour 193.1km

Klemme takes first win for Leopard Trek

By:
Cycling News
Published:
March 2, 2011, 16:34,
Updated:
March 3, 2011, 14:25

German catches Ista in the final kilometre

Dominic Klemme of Leopard Trek crosses the line first at GP Le Samyn.

Dominic Klemme of Leopard Trek crosses the line first at GP Le Samyn.

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Dominic Klemme gave Leopard Trek its first win of the season, attacking in the final kilometre to win the GP Le Samyn. The 24-year-old German caught and easily passed Kevin Ista (Cofidis) who finished second. Robert Wagner took third, to give Leopard Trek two of the three top spots.

"I'm super happy," Klemme said. "I had cramps in the final kilometres, but I knew I had to hang in there because everyone was half dead back in the chase.

"I wasn't sure my attack was going to last until the finish line, but the top of the climb was visible, so I could see the finish all the time. I was super motivated to win this one for us."

The last third of the race was dominated by Vacansoleil-DCM's Björn Leukemans, who took off on a solo ride for over 50 km, only to be caught with about six km to go.

The wind played a role throughout the day, as the field broke up into a number of groups. Three Leopard Trek riders led a chase group which tracked down the leaders, but everything came together again with 60km to go.

After 111 km, the peloton started four laps of a 20km finishing circuit which included two climbs, the Cote Montignes sur Roc and the Cote d'Audregnies. Björn Leukemans (Vacansoleil-DCM) took off in the lead. There were multiple attacks out of the peloton, with Leopard Trek being very active for the whole race.

Leukemans crossed the finish line with two laps to go with a 40 second gap over a chase group which had finally formed, with the peloton having fallen back to nearly two minutes.

The Belgian kept powering along, building up his lead with every kilometre. The chase work didn't work well together and eventually fell apart.

At the penultimate crossing of the finish line, Leukemans still had 55 seconds over this nearest chasers, with the next group at 1:55. The peloton was 2:30 down. The Belgian tried hard but with six km to go, he was finally caught.

With two km to go, Ista jumped into the lead, hoping to avoid a sprint. He took his lead into the final km, with Klemme giving chase ahead of the field.

Klemme caught and passed Ista and never looked back, soloing over the finish line for the first-ever win of the newly founded team.

Full Results
1 Dominic Klemme (Ger) Leopard Trek 4:43:44  
2 Kevin Ista (Bel) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne 0:00:08  
3 Robert Wagner (Ger) Leopard Trek 0:00:09  
4 Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bel) Quickstep Cycling Team    
5 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) FDJ    
6 Lloyd Mondory (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale    
7 Jimmy Casper (Fra) Saur - Sojasun 0:00:11  
8 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Team Europcar    
9 Adrien Petit (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne    
10 Aleksejs Saramotins (Lat) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne 0:00:12  
11 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne    
12 Koen Barbe (Bel) Landbouwkrediet    
13 Gilles Devillers (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles - Credit Agricole    
14 Sébastien Delfosse (Bel) Landbouwkrediet    
15 Arnaud Labbe (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne    
16 Stefan Van Dijk (Ned) Veranda's Willems - Accent    
17 Bruno Pires (Por) Leopard Trek    
18 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Quickstep Cycling Team 0:00:21  
19 Rob Ruijgh (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team    
20 Mathieu Drujon (Fra) Big Mat - Auber 93 0:00:26  
21 Frédéric Amorison (Bel) Landbouwkrediet 0:00:44  
22 Björn Leukemans (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team    
23 Arnaud Coyot (Fra) Saur - Sojasun    
24 Rony Martias (Fra) Saur - Sojasun 0:00:55  
25 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Team Europcar 0:01:08  
26 Huub Duyn (Ned) Donckers Koffie - Jelly Belly 0:01:57  
27 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team    
28 David Veilleux (Can) Team Europcar 0:02:17  
29 Jonas Vangenechten (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles - Credit Agricole 0:02:22  
30 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Veranda's Willems - Accent 0:02:24  
31 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:02:31  
32 Eric Baumann (Ger) Team Netapp 0:03:36  
33 Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) FDJ    
34 Jonas Ljungblad (Swe) Team Differdange - Magic Sportfood.de    
35 Romain Feillu (Fra) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team    
36 Adam Blythe (GBr) Omega Pharma-Lotto    
37 Yuriy Krivtsov (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale    
38 Rob Goris (Bel) Veranda's Willems - Accent    
39 Kurt Hovelynck (Bel) Donckers Koffie - Jelly Belly    
40 Pim Ligthart (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team    
41 Thomas Vernaeckt (Bel) Veranda's Willems - Accent    
42 Ludovic Mottet (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles - Credit Agricole    
43 Kristof Goddaert (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale    
44 Leonardo Fabio Duque (Col) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne    
45 Simon Lambert-Lemay (Can) Team Spidertech Powered By C10    
46 Hugo Houle (Can) Team Spidertech Powered By C10    
47 Thomas Degand (Bel) Veranda's Willems - Accent    
48 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Quickstep Cycling Team    
49 Robin Steenuit (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles - Credit Agricole    
50 Arnaud Gerard (Fra) FDJ    
51 Kevin Peeters (Bel) Landbouwkrediet    
52 Vytautas Kaupas (Ltu) Team Differdange - Magic-Sportfood.de    
53 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) FDJ    
54 Arnaud Molmy (Fra) Big Mat - Auber 93    
55 Ronan Racault (Fra) Big Mat - Auber 93    
56 Michael Van Staeyen (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator    
57 Jesús Del Nero Montes (Spa) Team Netapp    
58 Patrick Gretsch (Ger) HTC-Highroad    
59 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Team Europcar    
60 Guillaume Le Floch (Fra) Team Europcar    
61 Boris Dron (Bel) Lotto - Bodysol Pole Continental Wallon    
62 Anders Lund (Den) Leopard Trek    
63 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Donckers Koffie - Jelly Belly    
64 Marcello Pavarin (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team    
65 Geert Steurs (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator    
66 Grégory Habeaux (Bel) Veranda's Willems - Accent    
67 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto    
68 Jan Barta (Cze) Team Netapp    
69 Julien Vermote (Bel) Quickstep Cycling Team    
70 Jürgen Van Goolen (Bel) Veranda's Willems - Accent    
71 Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Veranda's Willems - Accent    
72 Nikola Aistrup (Den) Team Concordia Forsikring - Himmerland    
73 Fabien Bacquet (Fra) Big Mat - Auber 93    
74 Maarten Neyens (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto    
75 Olivier Pardini (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles - Credit Agricole    
76 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne    
77 Craig Lewis (USA) HTC-Highroad    
78 Danny Pate (USA) HTC-Highroad    
79 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Quickstep Cycling Team    
80 Martin Mortensen (Den) Leopard Trek    
81 Bert De Waele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet    
82 Matthew Brammeier (Irl) HTC-Highroad    
83 Romain Zingle (Bel) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne    
84 Sander Helven (Bel) Donckers Koffie - Jelly Belly    
85 Steve Houanard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale    
86 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale    
87 Julien Berard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale    
88 Stefan Denifl (Aut) Leopard Trek    
89 Tom Dernies (Bel) Lotto - Bodysol Pole Continental Wallon    
90 Saïd Haddou (Fra) Team Europcar    
91 Sandy Casar (Fra) FDJ    
92 Mathieu Claude (Fra) Team Europcar    
93 Jean-Lou Paiani (Fra) Saur - Sojasun    
94 Anthony Colin (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole    
95 Loïc Desriac (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole    
96 Gert Dockx (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto    
97 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto    
98 Jerome Cousin (Fra) Team Europcar    
99 Christophe Laborie (Fra) Saur - Sojasun    
100 William Clarke (Aus) Leopard Trek    
101 Johan Mombaerts (Fra) Big Mat - Auber 93    
102 James Spragg (GBr) Donckers Koffie - Jelly Belly    
103 Kevin Lalouette (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole    
104 Romain Lemarchand (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale    
105 Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Saur - Sojasun    
106 Jérôme Baugnies (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator    
107 Stéphane Poulhies (Fra) Saur - Sojasun    
108 Cyril Bessy (Fra) Saur - Sojasun    
109 Ricky Eno Jorgensen (Den) Team Concordia Forsikring - Himmerland 0:06:25