Paris-Brussels

Soissons to  Brussels, 219.1km/136mi

By Cathy Mehl

Beginning his sprint from a long ways out, Katusha’s Denis Galimzyanov timed it just right to take the win in the one-day race of Paris-Brussels, beating Yauheni Hutarovich (FdJ) and Anthony Ravard.  Team RadioShack was active throughout the day, working to get sprinter Robbie McEwen in a good position.  A few hitches in the closing kilometers caused some loss of position, putting McEwen in 12th for the race.

“The team was doing quite well,” said Team Director Dirk Demol.  “We were in the action with McEwen the first rider tackling the Bruine Put climb.  But when a group of 20 guys went away with Andre Greipel, we weren’t represented.”  McEwen added, “Just then, right at that point, I had a bad moment.”

Demol  added, “In all fairness, there was a crash in the peloton at that point and everyone had to brake.”   The peloton chased the break of 20, with Katusha most active in the chase and team riders Dmitriy Muravyev and Yaroslav Popovych aiding in the effort. 

“In the last 3k I was in a good position,” continued McEwen.  “I was holding 5th or 6th.  But then I had to do some extreme braking because of the road barrier/flower pots they put up to slow down traffic.  The peloton strung out into a long line and I was pushed back to 40-th or more.  In the end I came back to 12th but I couldn’t do any better.”

Sunday is a huge day of racing for Team RadioShack.  Many of the same team riders will race again on Sunday in France at the Grand Prix de Fourmies, while the Vuelta comes to a conclusion on Sunday and another group races in Montreal. 

Top Ten Results

1 Denis GALIMZYANOV KAT 4:51:35

2 Yauheni HUTAROVICH FDJ

3 Anthony RAVARD ALM

4 Stefan VAN DIJK VWA

5 Takashi MIYAZAWA FAR

6 Borut BOZIC VCD

7 Alexander KRISTOFF BMC

8 Daniele COLLI GEO

9 Michael VAN STAEYEN TSV

10 Cyril LEMOINE SAU

Team RadioShack Results

12 Robbie MCEWEN

131 Yaroslav POPOVYCH  8:20

132 Dmitriy MURAVYEV  11:00

136 Bjorn SELANDER 13:00

137 Michal KWIATKOWSKI  13:00

140 Evgeny SHALUNOV 13:00

141 Jesse SERGENT  13:00

Photo courtesy of Graham Watson