Saramontins nabs GP d'Isbergues

Image 1 of 28

He may not be a big name of world cycling but HTC-Columbia rider Aleksejs Saramotins put in a massive performance to win the GP Isbergues on Sunday, spending 160km of the 200km parcours in a breakaway to prevail solo.

"Aleksejs was determined to win," explained Saramotins' directeur sportif Allan Peiper. "We had a backup plan with Leigh Howard for the sprint but the plan was to get in breaks and see what we could do."

Saramotins attacked early, getting away with four other riders; whilst this break was caught he wasn't deterred from attacking again, this time taking three others with him.

"The bunch held them close for a while and then all of a sudden they had over 10 minutes," added Peiper. "With 100km remaining they still had over ten minutes and I thought they could hold that. But towards the end of the race the bunch was charging home and it was very close."

But surprisingly, the Latvian national champion said that he asn't confident in his form during the race. "I didn't feel great today," he explained. "My legs were heavy but I really wanted to do something so I just tried. We worked really well together in the group right up until the final circuits."

Saramotins and his group hit the final circuits with over three minutes on the peloton and despite losing a minute a lap on the field he was good enough to hold on whilst his breakaway companions weren't. "He attacked three times on the circuits, each time losing another rider," said Peiper.

"With four kilometres to go I attacked for the last time and I was alone," said Saramotins." It was a long four kilometres. I kept thinking they'd catch me on the line and I said to myself. No way. Not today. I'm very happy - it was my day."

Results