May 29th, 09. Trek Livestrong kiwi Jesse Sergent provided RoadCycling.co.nz this race report from the recent Fleche du Sud tour in Luxembourg.
Race Report: Fleche du Sud , Luxembourg , UCI 2.2 May 20th - 24th
18 hours of travel
It was an early start on the 16th of June, 6am if I remember correctly, when Sam Bewley and I started our trip from Boulder Colorado to Luxembourg City.
Jesse Sergent in Luxembourg (c)Bill McPherson
A quick surprise stop and coffee at cycling legend Eddy Merckx's family home was the highlight of 18 hours of travel before we arrived at our hotel for the week, two days before the start of the 60th edition of the Fleche du Sud a 5 day tour in and around Luxembourg.
The next two days were spent trying to get into the time zone as quickly as possible and freeing up the legs after the travel.
The team did a couple of rides with some closely contested town sprints with team manager Axel Merckx taking his fair share of them making the rides a little more eventful.
Prologue - starting with a team win
The morning of the Prologue we managed to navigate our way around the 16 corners of the 4.2km Prologue course looking for the fastest lines.
This was a stage our team was always going to excel in having Taylor Phinney World 4km Pursuit Champion, Track pursuiter Sam Bewley and myself looking to do well and push for top placing.
6.46pm was my start time and after looking over the start list of riders I set myself a target of a top 5 finish which as a track pursuiter I though would be possible. I felt good and had the gas but, as I was reassured by Axel, I lost too much time in the technical corners and finished in 7th which at the end of the day I was disappointed with especially when it wasn't my legs letting me down.
Sam had the same problem, had the gas but lost time in the corners, and finished 11th. Soon after, teammate Taylor Phinney one of the youngest riders in the feild stormed around the course and took 1st place and also the first win of the season for our team everyone was stoked for Taylor and the win.
The whole team rode strong and by the end of the day Trek-LiveSTRONG were leading the team GC also. Morale was high that night and everyone was looking forward to trying to defend the leader's jersey for the next 4 days of the tour.
Day 2 - protecting the leader's jersey
The with Taylor Phinney in the leader's jersey (c)Bill McPherson
The following day was 160km, the number one goal of the day was to keep Taylor safe and in the leader's jersey which meant the team took control of the race early with all our team present at the front and using Ben King and Guy East to set tempo early letting a break of 5 riders away with a plan of bringing them back in the finishing circuits of 4x10km.
Everything was under control and we soon arrived at the circuits, which was mostly around a town, unfortunately it decided to rain for the remainder of the stage making the roads like ice and riding good position even more important as it was just a crash fest on the tight corners.
On the last lap our team had brought back the break which left it for a bunch sprint and Taylor stayed in the jersey for another day. On the finishing circuits I was stuggling for position on the wet roads and finished in group of the back, was just happy to finish in one piece after having some close calls in the last few laps.
Day 3 - the toughest day
Day 3 was always going to be a tough stage, 150km with alot of rolling roads and 2-3km climbs plus defending the jersey was going to be a big job as the time gaps were so small.
We took control early again and this time it was myself and Guy East setting tempo after a break of 6 got away. After chasing hard on the front over all the climbs and to the finishing circuits I was done for the day my legs we dead and I rode on at my own pace to the finish.
The stage didn't turn out to plan and we lost the leaders jersey as the 6 stayed away but Taylor stayed in the young riders jersey so hadn't lost it all which was a positive.
Day 4 - Taylor crashed
Lunch with Axel Merckx (c) Bill McPherson
Another 160km stage 4 and today was different from the first day as our team didn't have the responsibility of chasing breaks and controlling the front so for me it was a day to save as much energy as i could to save the legs a little.
Teammate Guy Easy made the break but unfortunately was caught on the first finishing circuit which once again was 4x 10km with a 2km climb.
Sam had a crack with just under 2 laps to go but was chased down by the leaders team.
It finished in a bunch sprint which was won by Marcel Kittel a former 2x Junior World Champion in the time trial.
I managed to get over the climb on the last lap and finished safely in the front bunch. Taylor unfortunately crashed on the lead into the climb on the last lap and lost time also losing the young riders jersey until then he was looking good for the young riders classification.
Day 5 - lessons learnt
"Overall the tour was hard but I did my job for the team "
The last stage was hot and fast 160km again. It was the flattest of all stages with one 2km steep climb with 15km to go. This was the day I was hoping to have a nudge at making the early break.
I managed to get into what I thought could be the move with 5 other riders, we soon gained 45sec then another group of 5 came across then the gap went out to 1 minute but a couple of teams didn't like what was going on and chased us down and 20km later it was all together again.
10km later the real break went with 10 or so riders and quickly gained 3mins and also contained two of my teammates Guy East and Ben King. Guy only being caught on the climb with 15km from the finish. The climb split the field apart and I was hoping it would come back over the top before the finish but it wasn't to be and finished just behind the front group.
When I now look back at this tour, overall it was hard but I did my job for the team and we all rode strong and made a impact on the race, I learnt from this race and I'm developing as a rider from this kind of solid racing. Now it's on to Paris Roubaix on Sunday until then it's a week of Training, Recovering and watching the Giro.
Trek LiveStrong's movie of Fleche Du Sud by Ben King
This video was made by Jesse Sergent's team mate Ben King and is published here with his permission.
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May 29th, 09. Trek Livestrong kiwi Jesse Sergent provided RoadCycling.co.nz this race report from the recent Fleche du Sud tour in Luxembourg.
