Rosseler continues RadioShack attack

Following up on the success of teammate Chris Horner in the Basque tour, RadioShack's Sebastien Rosseler claimed the squad's latest win in the Brabantse Pijl. It was Rosseler's second win of the season after a solo victory on stage 4 of the Volta ao Algarve in February.

The Belgian helped a three-man breakaway hold off the furious chase from behind, and went on to out-sprint compatriot Thomas De Gendt (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator) and his former teammate Jurgen Van de Walle (Quick Step).

"I did my work the whole day," said Rosseler. "Maybe one lap I recovered a bit. I didn't want to attack earlier as I knew it was better if we stayed together.

"With three of us, we had a chance to stay in the front. Fighting alone against the rest would have been impossible."

The win was a surprise for Rosseler, who said he only went with the early move "to have some TV publicity for our sponsor, knowing that we would be caught by the peloton? I had such bad legs this morning in the beginning of the race. This is incredible."

Team Director Dirk Demol too thought the move would prove futile until the gap ballooned. "When we saw that the break got 8 minutes and 40 seconds, I started to believe in a happy ending. The chase behind by other teams was never well organized.

"Séba had some difficulties in the end, but that bad moment passed. I told him to stay in the back the last kilometer. We knew that the last 200 meters suited him well. The only unknown factor was that young rider from Topsport Vlaanderen. He appeared to be very dangerous in the end."

The victory is Rosseler's eighth as a professional, but his first ever one-day race win and comes after a string of bad fortune in the Classics. "Flat tires and crashes ruined my Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. This is a nice compensation, also for the work I've done last winter," concluded Rosseler.

"He deserved this," continued Demol. "I told Séba to believe in it. This is a big compensation for everything that went wrong for him in the classics so far. When you don't expect such a victory, it is twice as nice."

Rabobank's Paul Martens led a group of four to the line behind, with Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Thomas Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom) and Bjorn Leukemans (Vacansoleil) falling less than a minute shy of making the juncture.

The race got underway on its new date, the Wednesday before Amstel Gold Race instead of the Wednesday before the Tour of Flanders. 170 riders took to the course, with Ben Hermans (RadioShack), Geoffrey Lequatre (RadioShack) and Filippo Baggio (Ceramica Flaminia) not at the start.

Jurgen Van De Walle of Quick Step was one of the first riders to get away, and when his first attempt didn't succeed, the second one did. He was joined by others, and eventually a six-man group was established.

Jurgen Van De Walle (Quick Step), Sebastian Rosseler (RadioShack), Enrico Peruffo (CarmioOro), Thomas De Gendt (Topsport Vlaanderen) Niki Eeckhout (An Post – Sean Kelly) and Alexander Gottfried (NetApp) built up a lead of 8:30 on this twisting, hilly course throughout western Belgium.

The chase was led by the two teams with the top favourites, Rabobank and Oscar Freire, and Omega Pharma-Lotto around Philippe Gilbert. But Eeckhout, De Gendt and Rosseler kept the pace high in the lead group.

Eventually, though, Eeckhout, Peruffo and Gottfried were no longer able to keep up the non-smurf-like pace and had to drop back, with Eeckhout abandoning. With 48 km to go, Rosseler, Van De Walle and De Gendt had one minute over their two chasers, with the peloton still six and a half minutes back.

Vacansoleil and Milram both helped with the lead work, but the gap dropped only slowly.

With 30km to go and a four-minute gap to the three leaders, the favourites in the peloton took advantage of a series of small hills to form an elite chase group. Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto), led the charge, and after a few minutes, a group of four finally established itself with Gilbert, Thomas Voeckler (Bbox), Paul Martens (Rabobank) and Björn Leukemans (Vacansoleil). By 20 km to go, the gap had fallen to 2:44 for the four chasers, with the peloton at 3:13.

The strong chase group was unable to get more than 30 seconds ahead of an ever diminishing peloton and made little progress on closing the gap to the lead trio.

The chase and the long escape showed their effects, as the trhee leaders crossed the finish line for the penultimate circuit with a lead of only 1:37 over the chase group and the peloton at 2:02, led by Rabobank.

With only 6 km to go, it was clear though that the break would make it to the end, though the chasers didn't give up hope.

The three leaders crossed under the Flamme Rouge for the final time and headed up the final climb. De Gendt opened the sprint, but Rosseler came around at the last second to take the win.

Full Results

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#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Sebastien Rosseler (Bel) Team Radioshack4:45:07
2Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - MercatorRow 1 - Cell 2
3Jurgen Vandewalle (Bel) Quick StepRow 2 - Cell 2
4Paul Martens (Ger) Rabobank0:00:43
5Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-LottoRow 4 - Cell 2
6Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bbox Bouygues TelecomRow 5 - Cell 2
7Bjorn Leukemans (Bel) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team0:00:46
8Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto0:00:57
9Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) RabobankRow 8 - Cell 2
10Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Omega Pharma-LottoRow 9 - Cell 2
11Marco Marcato (Ita) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling TeamRow 10 - Cell 2
12Daniele Colli (Ita) Ceramica FlaminiaRow 11 - Cell 2
13Bert Scheirlinckx (Bel) LandbouwkredietRow 12 - Cell 2
14Bert De Waele (Bel) LandbouwkredietRow 13 - Cell 2
15Karsten Kroon (Ned) BMC Racing TeamRow 14 - Cell 2
16Simon Geschke (Ger) Skil - Shimano0:01:03
17Andy Cappelle (Bel) Verandas Willems0:01:04
18Johnny Hoogerland (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team0:01:07
19Rob Ruijgh (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling TeamRow 18 - Cell 2
20Grégory Rast (Swi) Team RadioshackRow 19 - Cell 2
21Michel Kreder (Ned) Garmin - Transitions0:01:10
22Nick Nuyens (Bel) Rabobank0:01:42
23Bram Tankink (Ned) RabobankRow 22 - Cell 2
24Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quick Step0:02:04
25Jan Barta (Cze) Team Netapp0:03:03
26Maxime Vantomme (Bel) Team KatushaRow 25 - Cell 2
27Roy Sentjens (Bel) Team MilramRow 26 - Cell 2
28Sander Armee (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - MercatorRow 27 - Cell 2
29Wouter Poels (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling TeamRow 28 - Cell 2
30Johan Coenen (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - MercatorRow 29 - Cell 2
31Geert Verheyen (Bel) LandbouwkredietRow 30 - Cell 2
32Artur Gajek (Ger) Team MilramRow 31 - Cell 2
33Thomas Fothen (Ger) Team MilramRow 32 - Cell 2
34Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling TeamRow 33 - Cell 2
35Egor Silin (Rus) Team KatushaRow 34 - Cell 2
36Alexandre Geniez (Fra) Skil - ShimanoRow 35 - Cell 2
37Jérôme Baugnies (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - MercatorRow 36 - Cell 2
38Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Vorarlberg - CorratecRow 37 - Cell 2
39Thierry Hupond (Fra) Skil - ShimanoRow 38 - Cell 2
40Cyril Gautier (Fra) Bbox Bouygues TelecomRow 39 - Cell 2
41Philip Deignan (Irl) Cervelo Test TeamRow 40 - Cell 2
42Albert Timmer (Ned) Skil - Shimano0:03:13
43Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Quick Step0:03:33
44Xavier Florencio Cabre (Spa) Cervelo Test Team0:03:47
45Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Rabobank0:03:49
46Kevin De Weert (Bel) Quick Step0:06:00
47Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Spa) Quick StepRow 46 - Cell 2
48Donato Cannone (Ita) Ceramica FlaminiaRow 47 - Cell 2
49Jan Bakelants (Bel) Omega Pharma-LottoRow 48 - Cell 2
50Cameron Meyer (Aus) Garmin - Transitions0:06:20
51Piergiorgio Camussa (Ita) Vorarlberg - Corratec0:06:35
DNSBen Hermans (Bel) Team RadioshackRow 51 - Cell 2
DNSGeoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Team RadioshackRow 52 - Cell 2
DNSFilippo Baggio (Ita) Ceramica FlaminiaRow 53 - Cell 2
DNFThomas Leezer (Ned) RabobankRow 54 - Cell 2
DNFBauke Mollema (Ned) RabobankRow 55 - Cell 2
DNFJos Van Emden (Ned) RabobankRow 56 - Cell 2
DNFMario Aerts (Bel) Omega Pharma-LottoRow 57 - Cell 2
DNFChristophe Brandt (Bel) Omega Pharma-LottoRow 58 - Cell 2
DNFOlivier Kaisen (Bel) Omega Pharma-LottoRow 59 - Cell 2
DNFJurgen Van Goolen (Bel) Omega Pharma-LottoRow 60 - Cell 2
DNFAddy Engels (Ned) Quick StepRow 61 - Cell 2
DNFDavide Malacarne (Ita) Quick StepRow 62 - Cell 2
DNFKevin Seeldraeyers (Bel) Quick StepRow 63 - Cell 2
DNFSimon Gerrans (Aus) Sky Professional Cycling TeamRow 64 - Cell 2
DNFMichael Barry (Can) Sky Professional Cycling TeamRow 65 - Cell 2
DNFKjell Carlström (Fin) Sky Professional Cycling TeamRow 66 - Cell 2
DNFRussell Downing (GBr) Sky Professional Cycling TeamRow 67 - Cell 2
DNFNicolas Portal (Fra) Sky Professional Cycling TeamRow 68 - Cell 2
DNFChristopher Sutton (Aus) Sky Professional Cycling TeamRow 69 - Cell 2
DNFDavide Vigano (Ita) Sky Professional Cycling TeamRow 70 - Cell 2
DNFTimothy Duggan (USA) Garmin - TransitionsRow 71 - Cell 2
DNFKirk Carlsen (USA) Garmin - TransitionsRow 72 - Cell 2
DNFSteven Cozza (USA) Garmin - TransitionsRow 73 - Cell 2
DNFTravis Meyer (Aus) Garmin - TransitionsRow 74 - Cell 2
DNFDanny Pate (USA) Garmin - TransitionsRow 75 - Cell 2
DNFRicardo Van Der Velde (Ned) Garmin - TransitionsRow 76 - Cell 2
DNFPavel Brutt (Rus) Team KatushaRow 77 - Cell 2
DNFLaszlo Bodrogi (Fra) Team KatushaRow 78 - Cell 2
DNFDenis Galimzyanov (Rus) Team KatushaRow 79 - Cell 2
DNFArtem Ovechkin (Rus) Team KatushaRow 80 - Cell 2
DNFNikita Eskov (Rus) Team KatushaRow 81 - Cell 2
DNFMarkus Eichler (Ger) Team MilramRow 82 - Cell 2
DNFRoger Kluge (Ger) Team MilramRow 83 - Cell 2
DNFDominik Roels (Ger) Team MilramRow 84 - Cell 2
DNFNiki Terpstra (Ned) Team MilramRow 85 - Cell 2
DNFBjörn Schröder (Ger) Team MilramRow 86 - Cell 2
DNFFuyu Li (Chn) Team RadioshackRow 87 - Cell 2
DNFDimitri Muravyev (Kaz) Team RadioshackRow 88 - Cell 2
DNFIvan Rovny (Rus) Team RadioshackRow 89 - Cell 2
DNFTomas Vaitkus (Ltu) Team RadioshackRow 90 - Cell 2
DNFYukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bbox Bouygues TelecomRow 91 - Cell 2
DNFGiovanni Bernaudeau (Fra) Bbox Bouygues TelecomRow 92 - Cell 2
DNFVincent Jerome (Fra) Bbox Bouygues TelecomRow 93 - Cell 2
DNFPerrig Quemeneur (Fra) Bbox Bouygues TelecomRow 94 - Cell 2
DNFPierre Rolland (Fra) Bbox Bouygues TelecomRow 95 - Cell 2
DNFGuillaume Le Floch (Fra) Bbox Bouygues TelecomRow 96 - Cell 2
DNFChad Beyer (USA) BMC Racing TeamRow 97 - Cell 2
DNFBrent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing TeamRow 98 - Cell 2
DNFAlexander Kristoff (Nor) BMC Racing TeamRow 99 - Cell 2
DNFJeffry Louder (USA) BMC Racing TeamRow 100 - Cell 2
DNFJohn Murphy (USA) BMC Racing TeamRow 101 - Cell 2
DNFSimon Zahner (Swi) BMC Racing TeamRow 102 - Cell 2
DNFEnrico Peruffo (Ita) CarmioOro NGCRow 103 - Cell 2
DNFFabio Terrenzio (Ita) CarmioOro NGCRow 104 - Cell 2
DNFDiego Genovesi (Ita) CarmioOro NGCRow 105 - Cell 2
DNFJure Kocjan (Slo) CarmioOro NGCRow 106 - Cell 2
DNFAndrea Piechele (Ita) CarmioOro NGCRow 107 - Cell 2
DNFEric Bertthou (Fra) CarmioOro NGCRow 108 - Cell 2
DNFAlessandro Raisoni (Ita) CarmioOro NGCRow 109 - Cell 2
DNFJaroslaw Rebiewski (Pol) CCC Polsat PolkowiceRow 110 - Cell 2
DNFTomasz Lisowicz (Pol) CCC Polsat PolkowiceRow 111 - Cell 2
DNFKamil Zielinski (Pol) CCC Polsat PolkowiceRow 112 - Cell 2
DNFSylwester Janiszewski (Pol) CCC Polsat PolkowiceRow 113 - Cell 2
DNFTomasz Repinski (Pol) CCC Polsat PolkowiceRow 114 - Cell 2
DNFTomas Smolen (Pol) CCC Polsat PolkowiceRow 115 - Cell 2
DNFRaivis Belohvosciks (Lat) Ceramica FlaminiaRow 116 - Cell 2
DNFFabrizio Lucciola (Ita) Ceramica FlaminiaRow 117 - Cell 2
DNFEdoardo Girardi (Ita) Ceramica FlaminiaRow 118 - Cell 2
DNFAlessandro Maserati (Ita) Ceramica FlaminiaRow 119 - Cell 2
DNFEnrico Rossi (Ita) Ceramica FlaminiaRow 120 - Cell 2
DNFDavide Appollonio (Ita) Cervelo Test TeamRow 121 - Cell 2
DNFMartin Reimer (Ger) Cervelo Test TeamRow 122 - Cell 2
DNFDominique Rollin (Can) Cervelo Test TeamRow 123 - Cell 2
DNFMarcel Wyss (Swi) Cervelo Test TeamRow 124 - Cell 2
DNFKoen Barbe (Bel) LandbouwkredietRow 125 - Cell 2
DNFDirk Bellemakers (Ned) LandbouwkredietRow 126 - Cell 2
DNFDavy Commeyne (Bel) LandbouwkredietRow 127 - Cell 2
DNFSébastien Delfosse (Bel) LandbouwkredietRow 128 - Cell 2
DNFBart Dockx (Bel) LandbouwkredietRow 129 - Cell 2
DNFYann Huguet (Fra) Skil - ShimanoRow 130 - Cell 2
DNFPiet Rooijakkers (Ned) Skil - ShimanoRow 131 - Cell 2
DNFJin Long (Chn) Skil - ShimanoRow 132 - Cell 2
DNFPreben Van Hecke (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - MercatorRow 133 - Cell 2
DNFPieter Jacobs (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - MercatorRow 134 - Cell 2
DNFMaarten Neyens (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - MercatorRow 135 - Cell 2
DNFSteven Van Vooren (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - MercatorRow 136 - Cell 2
DNFMatteo Carrara (Ita) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling TeamRow 137 - Cell 2
DNFSergey Lagutin (Uzb) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling TeamRow 138 - Cell 2
DNFRene Weissinger (Ger) Vorarlberg - CorratecRow 139 - Cell 2
DNFJosef Benetseder (Aut) Vorarlberg - CorratecRow 140 - Cell 2
DNFDominik Hrinkow (Aut) Vorarlberg - CorratecRow 141 - Cell 2
DNFMatic Strgar (Slo) Vorarlberg - CorratecRow 142 - Cell 2
DNFNiko Eeckhout (Bel) An Post - Sean KellyRow 143 - Cell 2
DNFKim Borry (Bel) An Post - Sean KellyRow 144 - Cell 2
DNFMark Cassidy (Irl) An Post - Sean KellyRow 145 - Cell 2
DNFBenny De Schrooder (Bel) An Post - Sean KellyRow 146 - Cell 2
DNFPieter Ghyllebert (Bel) An Post - Sean KellyRow 147 - Cell 2
DNFMatthew Brammeier (Irl) An Post - Sean KellyRow 148 - Cell 2
DNFConnor Mcconvey (Irl) An Post - Sean KellyRow 149 - Cell 2
DNFRonan Mc Laughlin (Irl) An Post - Sean KellyRow 150 - Cell 2
DNFJan Kuycks (Bel) Qin Cycling TeamRow 151 - Cell 2
DNFMarnik Dreesen (Bel) Qin Cycling TeamRow 152 - Cell 2
DNFJonathan Dufrasne (Bel) Qin Cycling TeamRow 153 - Cell 2
DNFJames Spragg (GBr) Qin Cycling TeamRow 154 - Cell 2
DNFEric Van De Meent (Ned) Qin Cycling TeamRow 155 - Cell 2
DNFAlain Van Der Velde (Ned) Qin Cycling TeamRow 156 - Cell 2
DNFFrank Van Kuik (Bel) Qin Cycling TeamRow 157 - Cell 2
DNFJeremy Yates (NZl) Qin Cycling TeamRow 158 - Cell 2
DNFDimitri Claeys (Bel) Team NetappRow 159 - Cell 2
DNFTassilo Fricke (Ger) Team NetappRow 160 - Cell 2
DNFAlex Meenhorst (NZl) Team NetappRow 161 - Cell 2
DNFDaniel Schorn (Aut) Team NetappRow 162 - Cell 2
DNFAlexander Gottfried (Ger) Team NetappRow 163 - Cell 2
DNFTimon Seubert (Ger) Team NetappRow 164 - Cell 2
DNFAndreas Schillinger (Ger) Team NetappRow 165 - Cell 2
DNFSjef De Wilde (Bel) Verandas WillemsRow 166 - Cell 2
DNFGregory Habeaux (Bel) Verandas WillemsRow 167 - Cell 2
DNFFabio Polazzi (Bel) Verandas WillemsRow 168 - Cell 2
DNFSven Renders (Bel) Verandas WillemsRow 169 - Cell 2
DNFDieter Cappelle (Bel) Verandas WillemsRow 170 - Cell 2
DNFStefan Van Dijk (Ned) Verandas WillemsRow 171 - Cell 2
DNFJames Vanlandschoot (Bel) Verandas WillemsRow 172 - Cell 2

 

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