Grand Prix de Fourmies, 205km/127mi

By Cathy Mehl

Five finishing laps of a 7km circuit kept much of the field in contention for the group spring in the Grand Prix de Fourmies on Sunday.   More than 100 riders arrived together for the finish with Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil) took the win just ahead of Davide Appollonio (Cervelo) and Kenny De Haes of Omerga Pharma-Lotto.   Feillu finished second in yesterday’s Paris-Brussels.

Team RadioShack’s plan for the day was to work for Team sprinter Gert Steegmans, but a late-race flat hampered the Belgian’s efforts for the final attack.   Steegmans was 21st in the mass sprint as the best-placed Team RadioShack rider. 

“Last Wednesday in Aartselaar/GP Van Steenbergen Gert had a crash.  His hand was swollen and he had a quick trip to the hospital, but he was ok,” explained Team Director Dirk Demol.  “Then yesterday in Paris-Brussels he used up too much energy in an earlier attack, taking him out of the mix for the final.  Today he knew what to do:  he saved his strength and the team really worked hard for him.  After a small attack by Geoffroy Lequatre in the last ten k, the Team kept everything together, but then Gert had a flat tire with 5k to go.”

Demol continued, saying, “It was really impressive how fast he came back through the cars after the wheel change.  He is really flying.  His bad luck continues but he is really good.  One day, let’s hope in the coming week, he can win.  He just needs one win to be the ‘old’ Steegmans.”   Here’s hoping Steegs knows we’re all pulling for him and have faith in his ability to deliver a win in the near future. 

Top Ten Results

1              Romain Feillu (Fra) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team               4:39:05                   

2              Davide Appollonio (Ita) Cervelo Test Team                            

3              Kenny De Haes (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto                           

4              Adam Blythe (GBr) Omega Pharma-Lotto                              

5              Alexander Kristoff (Nor) BMC Racing Team                           

6              Robbie Mcewen (Aus) Team Katusha                      

7              Denys Kostyuk (Ukr) ISD - Neri                  

8              Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Katusha                      

9              Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team                            

10            Lilian Jegou (Fra) Bretagne – Schuller

Team RadioShack Results

21          Gert Steegmans

42          Geoffroy Lequatre

94          Andreas Kloden

113        Gregory Rast 0:00:20

139        Ivan Rovny  0:04:17

140        Dmitriy Muravyev

142        José Luis Rubiera 0:04:35

DNF       Ben Hermans