Gerdemann close inItaly, broken wrist for López, bronze for Lea
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Philippe Gilbert (BMC)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Linus Gerdemann will hope to find some form after a difficult couple of years(Image credit: Isabelle Duchesne)
Miguel Ángel López (Astana)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Bobby Lea (USA) leads in the scratch race. (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
BMC to Tour du Haut Var
Fresh of the Dubai Tour and the Tour of Qatar, Philippe Gilbert will headline the BMC Racing roster for the Tour du Haut Var, the UCI 2.1 race that take places in France on February 21 and 22.
Gilbert finished inside the top 10 during stage 3 in Dubai and eventually finished eighth overall. The former world champion will be joined by Darwin Atapuma, Brent Bookwalter, Jempy Drucker, Philippe Gilbert, Joey Rosskopf, Manuel Senni and Rick Zabel for Haut Var.
Completing the line up is last year's third place overall and stage two winner, Amaël Moinard.
The race features two stages: the 170km opener from Le Cannet des Maures to Seillans, and the 194.7km second stage that starts and finishes in Draguignan.
Gerdemann close to first win of 2015
Linus Gerdemann (Cult Energy) came within 100 metres of claiming victory at the Trofeo Laigueglia before being swept up by the fast finishing peloton as Davide Cimolai (Lampre-Merida) won the first professional race of his career.
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The German was part of the day's breakaway which had formed early in the race. With six kilometre left of the 1.HC event, Gerdemann launched an attack to go clear and appeared on the cusp of claiming his first win since stage four of the 2014 Tour d'Azerbaïdjan only to come up agonisingly short.
"It was unbelievably close. We had the win practically within reach but sometimes luck is against you," said the team's sport director Michael Skelde." However, I'm proud to see both Rasmus Guldhammer, Linus Gerdemann and Fabian Wegmann in the first group across the finish line in a very hard race like this. It means we're up there with the best in the pack and I can't wait to move on to the next races. Surely, this kind of experience motivates the riders."
Gerdemann crossed the line in 15th place while teammate Guldhammer was eighth having contested the sprint. The next race for Gerdemann and Cult Energy is the Tour du Haut Var.
Broken wrist for Astana's López
2014 Tour de L'Avenir winner Miguel Ángel López may have to wait to make his Astana debut having broken his wrist during a training ride in Colombia. The 21-year-old has been named in the team's line up for the Tour de Langkawi but is appearance now uncertain due to the injury.
"Nothing is known yet. On Thursday we will see how I wake up. I've already talked with the Astana doctors and they told me they had to wait and [for me to] be calm," Lopez told El Tiempo.
"The doctor said that I have a dislocated scaphoid ligament on my right hand and have a splint," added López.
López explained that the accident occurred while out training when a dog ran out onto the road.
Track Worlds Bronze for Lea
Having seen Kimberly Geist claim bronze on day one of the Track World Championships in Paris, Bobby Lea emulated his compatriot by also claiming a medal on day two in the men's scratch race. The medal is Lea's first at the Worlds and justifies his decision to skip the omnium and focus on other events as he eyes off Rio.
Lea will now set his sights on claiming the rainbow jersey in the individual pursuit on Saturday and ending the USA's gold medal drought which extends back to 2010.
