Even today, Voigt managed to get a 3 minute solo breakaway, but he was chased down my the sprinters' teams before the finish. However, I'm confused as to why he crossed the finish line over 4 minutes down. The Skoda-Tour de Luxembourg isn't a Grand Tour, so trying to find information on it is next to impossible. But I am still working on it. In fact, if you look at the cyclingnews.com summary below, you can tell it's about half the length of a normal race's summary. But before the race summary, I want to share an article I saw on the RSNT site:
On the giving end of pain
When it’s time to dish out some pain, who better to deliver the goods than Jens Voigt? The Jensie was waging battle in the Tour of Luxembourg on Thursday, earning himself the most aggressive rider jersey for his heart-felt ‘all in’ attack.
“We had a plan from the beginning that we’d let a little group go so we could control the situation,” said Jens Voigt after stage 1. “We knew the team of the yellow jersey would ride. We planned to go pretty hard on the last climb with 65k to go. The whole team was together going hard for another 10-15km but we needed a little bit of wind to split things up.
"I think we did hurt some people but in general it wasn’t working the way we wanted it to. So Fränk suggested that we back off some to save energy and I could go again. That’s what I did. I was hiding in the group for another 5km and then when things slowed down a little bit, that’s when I went."
The field of 16 teams rode 181km/112mi from Luxembourg to Hesperange on a day with three rated climbs and one sprint point. An immediate attack put in by Jesus Rosendo of Andalucia from kilometer zero resulted in a successful getaway. He was joined by Albert Timmer (Argos-Shimano) and the main field let the time advantage to the duo go out to near three minutes. Once RSNT started riding hard, the duo were caught, setting up the chance for Voigt to make his solo attack soon after. With an advantage of almost three minutes, victory looked possible for Jens, but the motivated teams of the sprinters brought him back, setting up a group sprint won by Andre Greipel of Lotto-Belisol. Second and third went to David Appollonio (Sky) and Samuel Dumoulin of Cofidis. For the overall Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur-Sojasun) continues to lead with Gregy Rast sitting close in second at 3-seconds off the pace. Teammate Jakob Fuglsang still holds fifth on the GC at seven seconds back.
Voigt: “I was always alone on my ride but I was all in. I thought maybe I could take the stage win and the yellow jersey. I was believing in myself today, especially when the gap was something close to three minutes. I gave it everything I had. It felt like the good ol’ days with Jensie off the front, everyone chasing from behind, people hating me because I’m attacking all the time…….It was beautiful. Like I always say: ‘It’s better to be on the giving end of pain rather than on the receiving end.’
There is more road action to come as the Luxembourg tour continues Friday with stage 2. The stage begins in Schifflange and ends in Leudelange. At 184km the profile includes more up and down rollers throughout the day along with three rated climbs before arriving in Leudelange.
“I think tomorrow is really for the sprinters, but maybe if we do some more work and take the jersey in a few days, then I will be able to attack again.”
It doesn’t take much to please Mr. Voigt.
"I think we did hurt some people but in general it wasn’t working the way we wanted it to. So Fränk suggested that we back off some to save energy and I could go again. That’s what I did. I was hiding in the group for another 5km and then when things slowed down a little bit, that’s when I went."
The field of 16 teams rode 181km/112mi from Luxembourg to Hesperange on a day with three rated climbs and one sprint point. An immediate attack put in by Jesus Rosendo of Andalucia from kilometer zero resulted in a successful getaway. He was joined by Albert Timmer (Argos-Shimano) and the main field let the time advantage to the duo go out to near three minutes. Once RSNT started riding hard, the duo were caught, setting up the chance for Voigt to make his solo attack soon after. With an advantage of almost three minutes, victory looked possible for Jens, but the motivated teams of the sprinters brought him back, setting up a group sprint won by Andre Greipel of Lotto-Belisol. Second and third went to David Appollonio (Sky) and Samuel Dumoulin of Cofidis. For the overall Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur-Sojasun) continues to lead with Gregy Rast sitting close in second at 3-seconds off the pace. Teammate Jakob Fuglsang still holds fifth on the GC at seven seconds back.
Voigt: “I was always alone on my ride but I was all in. I thought maybe I could take the stage win and the yellow jersey. I was believing in myself today, especially when the gap was something close to three minutes. I gave it everything I had. It felt like the good ol’ days with Jensie off the front, everyone chasing from behind, people hating me because I’m attacking all the time…….It was beautiful. Like I always say: ‘It’s better to be on the giving end of pain rather than on the receiving end.’
There is more road action to come as the Luxembourg tour continues Friday with stage 2. The stage begins in Schifflange and ends in Leudelange. At 184km the profile includes more up and down rollers throughout the day along with three rated climbs before arriving in Leudelange.
“I think tomorrow is really for the sprinters, but maybe if we do some more work and take the jersey in a few days, then I will be able to attack again.”
It doesn’t take much to please Mr. Voigt.
May 31, Stage 1: Luxembourg - Hesperange 181km
Greipel takes sprint victory in Hesperange
Prologue time trial winner Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur-Sojasun) finished safely in the peloton and remains in the general classification lead, as no time bonuses were allotted during today's stage. Grégory Rast (Radioshack-Nissan) and Jonathan Hivert (Saur-Sojasun) hold second and third overall respectively, tied on time at three seconds behind Engoulvent.
The attacks came literally from the gun in the Tour of Luxembourg's first road stage, as Jesus Rosendo Prado (Andalucia) jumped away from the peloton at kilometre zero. The Spaniard was soon joined by Albert Timmer (Argos-Shimano) to form the early break. The duo's advantage was pegged at two to three minutes and their escape continued through the third and final classified climb at 117.9km.
The RadioShack-Nissan team set a strong tempo over the final ascent in hope of splintering the field, and while the team was successful in neutralising the escape their plan didn't break up the peloton as planned. However, several kilometres later, Jens Voigt (RadioShack-Nissan) launched a solo attack and soon found himself with a lead of approximately three minutes over the peloton in the approach to the 16km finishing circuit.
"I thought maybe I could take the stage win and the yellow jersey," said Voigt on his team website. "I was believing in myself today, especially when the gap was something close to three minutes. I gave it everything I had."
The teams of the sprinters, however, increased the tempo in the peloton and caught Voigt inside the final 10 kilometres and set the stage for a field sprint finale.
(Picture from: http://www.wort.lu/de/view/skoda-tour-andre-greipel-gewinnt-erste-etappe-im-sprint-4fc79975e4b0409e8f7a4f48)
| 1 | André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Belisol Team | 4:53:56 | |
| 2 | Davide Appollonio (Ita) Sky Procycling | ||
| 3 | Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne | ||
| 4 | Romain Feillu (Fra) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | ||
| 5 | Koen De Kort (Ned) Argos-Shimano | ||
| 6 | Sascha Weber (Ger) Team Differdange - Magic-Sportfood.de | ||
| 7 | Roy Curvers (Ned) Argos-Shimano | ||
| 8 | Vincent Baestaens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Euphony | ||
| 9 | Ben Swift (GBr) Sky Procycling | ||
| 10 | Yohann Gene (Fra) Team Europcar |
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