Continuing on a recent run of good results, André Greipel won the first stage of the Tour of Luxembourg in a mass sprint today. The German Lotto-Belisol rider netted his fourth triumph in eight days after having clocked up three stages in the Tour of Belgium last week.
After a gutsy attack by veteran Jens Voigt (RadioShack Nissan), the oldest rider in the peloton, a bunch sprint seemed unlikely but the German got caught at 11km from the finish and his countryman won the sprint.
At the start Jesus Rosendo Prado of Andulacía was the first attacker. He opened up a gap and Albert Timmer bridged to the Spaniard. "I waited but nothing happened,” the latter said, speaking of the bunch’s non-response. “Then I went after him because I wanted to go for the mountain jersey." The Dutch Argos-Shimano rider won all three mountain sprints, and pledged to keep collecting points. "The only way to defend it is to be in the breakaway again, so we'll see tomorrow." The team also has another jersey as Tom Dumoulin remains best young rider.
The attack of Rosendo and Timmer ended when the race arrived at the local circuits in Hesperange, after which Jens Voigt attacked. Martin Mortensen, a Danish rider who lives in Luxembourg because he was part of Leopard-Trek last year, came within a minute of his former teammate Voigt but lost ground. "We tried to form echelons because there was quite a lot of wind but it didn't work so Fränk told me to save my energy. When the two leaders were caught I took my chance and went on my own. It hurt, of course it did, but with pain it's always better to be at the winning side of it, instead of receiving pain."
Voigt had a maximum lead of three minutes on the peloton and one minute 15 on Mortensen. "I really believed I had a chance," the German said afterwards. "If they started to late with the chase I could have won the stage and yellow. Now I will work for the team and maybe I'll get another chance to attack."
Getting closer to the end of the stage, Lotto-Belisol and Sky really ramped up the speed for their sprinters Greipel and Appolonio. "We were quite afraid of Jens because he is such a strong rider," Greipel said after the finish. "The team's goal was to win a stage and I did that. We'll see what tomorrow brings."
The second stage of the Tour de Luxembourg runs 183.9 kilometres from Schifflange to Leudelange. It has three categorised climbs but is yet again a big opportunity for the sprinters. Jimmy Engoulvent, the winner of the prologue, defended his lead today and will start in yellow again.
Skoda Tour of Luxembourg (2.HC)
Stage 1, Luxembourg – Hesperange:
1, André Greipel (Lotto Belisol Team) 181 kilometres in 4 hours 53 mins 56 secs
2, Davide Appollonio (Sky Procycling)
3, Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne)
4, Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
5, Koen De Kort (Argos-Shimano)
6, Sascha Weber (Team Differdange - Magic-Sportfood.de)
7, Roy Curvers (Argos-Shimano)
8, Vincent Baestaens (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony)
9, Ben Swift (Sky Procycling)
10, Yohann Gene (Team Europcar)
11, Steven Caethoven (Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's)
12, Jean-Pierre Drucker (Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's)
13, Wouter Poels (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
14, Michael Van Staeyen (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator)
15, Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator)
16, Gilles Devillers (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony)
17, Saïd Haddou (Team Europcar)
18, Marcel Sieberg (Lotto Belisol Team)
19, Bruno Saraiva (Team Differdange - Magic-Sportfood.de)
20, Kristof Goddaert (AG2R La Mondiale)
21, Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur - Sojasun)
22, Adrien Petit (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne)
23, Gregory Habeaux (Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's)
24, Alexandre Pichot (Team Europcar)
25, Guillaume Boivin (Spidertech powered by C10)
26, Grégory Rast (Radioshack-Nissan)
27, Eliot Lietaer (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator)
28, Andreas Klöden (Radioshack-Nissan)
29, Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto Belisol Team)
30, Kevin Ista (Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's)
31, Aleksejs Saramotins (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne)
32, Yukiya Arashiro (Team Europcar)
33, Arnaud Labbe (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne)
34, Gediminas Kaupas (Team Differdange - Magic-Sportfood.de)
35, Thomas Damuseau (Argos-Shimano)
36, Sébastien Delfosse (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony)
37, Maxime Monfort (Radioshack-Nissan)
38, David Veilleux (Team Europcar)
39, Jimmy Casper (AG2R La Mondiale)
40, Dirk Bellemakers (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony)
41, Jonathan Hivert (Saur - Sojasun)
42, Ryan Anderson (Spidertech powered by C10)
43, Jonas Ljungblad (Team Differdange - Magic-Sportfood.de)
44, Laurens De Vreese (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator)
45, Jakob Fuglsang (Radioshack-Nissan)
46, Ben Gastauer (AG2R La Mondiale)
47, Gustavo Cesar Veloso (Andalucia)
48, Yann Huguet (Argos-Shimano)
49, Luke Rowe (Sky Procycling)
50, Kevin Van Melsen (Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's)
51, Mathew Hayman (Sky Procycling)
52, Jérémie Galland (Saur - Sojasun)
53, Pablo Lechuga Rodriguez (Andalucia)
54, Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Andalucia)
55, Martin Elmiger (AG2R La Mondiale)
56, Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
57, Tom Dumoulin (Argos-Shimano)
58, Alex Kirsch (Luxembourg)
59, Tom Stamsnijder (Argos-Shimano)
60, Eloy Ruiz Pinto (Andalucia)
61, Christopher Sutton (Sky Procycling)
62, Tobias Ludvigsson (Argos-Shimano)
63, Laurent Didier (Radioshack-Nissan)
64, Tristan Valentin (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne)
65, Salvatore Puccio (Sky Procycling)
66, Florent Barle (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne)
67, Nikita Novikov (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
68, Rafael Valls Ferri (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
69, Frank Schleck (Radioshack-Nissan)
70, Arnoud Van Groen (Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's)
71, Michael Barry (Sky Procycling)
72, Jose Vicente Toribio Alcolea (Andalucia)
73, Staf Scheirlinckx (Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's)
74, Yannick Talabardon (Saur - Sojasun)
75, David Lelay (Saur - Sojasun)
76, Linus Gerdemann (Radioshack-Nissan)
77, Kris Boeckmans (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
78, Caleb Fairly (Spidertech powered by C10)
79, Will Routley (Spidertech powered by C10)
80, Jurgen Van Goolen (Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's)
81, Alex Meenhorst (Team Differdange - Magic-Sportfood.de)
82, Jaco Venter (Team Differdange - Magic-Sportfood.de)
83, Brian Vandborg (Spidertech powered by C10)
84, Jesus Rosendo Prado (Andalucia)
85, Davy Commeyne (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony)
86, Christophe Laborie (Saur - Sojasun)
87, Romain Lemarchand (AG2R La Mondiale)
88, Tom Thill (Team Differdange - Magic-Sportfood.de)
89, Jean Marc Marino (Saur - Sojasun)
90, Björn Leukemans (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
91, Johan Coenen (Team Differdange - Magic-Sportfood.de)
92, Steven Van Vooren (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator)
93, Bob Jungels (Luxembourg)
94, Matti Helminen (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony)
95, Raymond Kunzli (Spidertech powered by C10)
96, Nico Sijmens (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne)
97, Preben Van Hecke (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator)
98, Joel Zangerle (Luxembourg)
99, Antonio Cabello Baena (Andalucia)
100, Jens Debusschere (Lotto Belisol Team)
101, Amir Zargari (AG2R La Mondiale)
102, Christian Helmig (Luxembourg)
103, Vincent Jerome (Team Europcar)
104, Pit Schlechter (Luxembourg)
105, Damien Gaudin (Team Europcar)
106, Martin Mortensen (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
107, Lucas Euser (Spidertech powered by C10)
108, Adrián Palomares Villaplana (Andalucia)
109, Jerome Cousin (Team Europcar)
110, Albert Timmer (Argos-Shimano)
111, Vicente Reynes Mimo (Lotto Belisol Team) at 21 secs
112, Lex Reichling (Luxembourg) at 1 min 52 secs
113, Alex Dowsett (Sky Procycling) at 2 mins 58 secs
114, Jelle Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator)
115, Boris Shpilevsky (AG2R La Mondiale) at 3 mins 39 secs
116, Mehdi Sohrabi (Lotto Belisol Team)
117, Jonas Vangenechten (Lotto Belisol Team)
118, Frederique Robert (Lotto Belisol Team)
119, Jens Voigt (Radioshack-Nissan) at 4 mins 7 secs
120, Kenny De Ketele (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) at 4 mins 29 secs
121, Massimo Morabito (Luxembourg) at 5 mins 52 secs
122, Rony Martias (Saur - Sojasun) at 7 mins 41 secs
123, Kevin Feiereisen (Luxembourg)
124, Jean-Eudes Demaret (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne)
125, Reinier Honig (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony)
126, Stefan Cohnen (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony) at 10 mins 19 secs
General classification after stage 1:
1, Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur - Sojasun) 4 hours 57 mins 39 secs
2, Grégory Rast (Radioshack-Nissan) at 3 secs
3, Jonathan Hivert (Saur - Sojasun)
4, Mathew Hayman (Sky Procycling) at 5 secs
5, Jakob Fuglsang (Radioshack-Nissan) at 7 secs
6, Marcel Sieberg (Lotto Belisol Team)
7, Tom Dumoulin (Argos-Shimano)
8, Jimmy Casper (AG2R La Mondiale)
9, Damien Gaudin (Team Europcar)
10, Aleksejs Saramotins (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne) at 8 secs
11, Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne)
12, Jean-Pierre Drucker (Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's)
13, Steven Van Vooren (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) at 9 secs
14, Wouter Poels (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
15, Martin Mortensen (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) at 10 secs
16, Tobias Ludvigsson (Argos-Shimano)
17, Sébastien Delfosse (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony) at 11 secs
18, Gustavo Cesar Veloso (Andalucia)
19, Adrien Petit (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne)
20, André Greipel (Lotto Belisol Team)
21, Maxime Monfort (Radioshack-Nissan) at 12 secs
22, Bob Jungels (Luxembourg)
23, Christophe Laborie (Saur - Sojasun)
24, Frank Schleck (Radioshack-Nissan)
25, Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
26, Ben Swift (Sky Procycling) at 13 secs
27, Koen De Kort (Argos-Shimano)
28, Alexandre Pichot (Team Europcar)
29, Sascha Weber (Team Differdange - Magic-Sportfood.de) at 14 secs
30, Dirk Bellemakers (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony)
31, Luke Rowe (Sky Procycling)
32, Will Routley (Spidertech powered by C10)
33, Kevin Ista (Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's) at 15 secs
34, Kris Boeckmans (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
35, Martin Elmiger (AG2R La Mondiale)
36, Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Andalucia) at 16 secs
37, Laurens De Vreese (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator)
38, Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto Belisol Team) at 17 secs
39, Jonas Ljungblad (Team Differdange - Magic-Sportfood.de)
40, Alex Meenhorst (Team Differdange - Magic-Sportfood.de)
41, Arnaud Labbe (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne)
42, Andreas Klöden (Radioshack-Nissan)
43, Nico Sijmens (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne) at 18 secs
44, David Lelay (Saur - Sojasun)
45, Jaco Venter (Team Differdange - Magic-Sportfood.de)
46, Albert Timmer (Argos-Shimano)
47, Jerome Cousin (Team Europcar) at 19 secs
48, Salvatore Puccio (Sky Procycling)
49, Davide Appollonio (Sky Procycling) at 20 secs
50, Jens Debusschere (Lotto Belisol Team)
51, Kristof Goddaert (AG2R La Mondiale)
52, Michael Van Staeyen (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator)
53, Ryan Anderson (Spidertech powered by C10)
54, Linus Gerdemann (Radioshack-Nissan)
55, Michael Barry (Sky Procycling)
56, Christian Helmig (Luxembourg) at 21 secs
57, Laurent Didier (Radioshack-Nissan)
58, Jérémie Galland (Saur - Sojasun)
59, Tom Stamsnijder (Argos-Shimano)
60, Romain Lemarchand (AG2R La Mondiale) at 22 secs
61, Alex Kirsch (Luxembourg)
62, Christopher Sutton (Sky Procycling)
63, Gilles Devillers (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony)
64, Jurgen Van Goolen (Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's)
65, Arnoud Van Groen (Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's)
66, Matti Helminen (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony) at 23 secs
67, Saïd Haddou (Team Europcar)
68, Kevin Van Melsen (Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's)
69, Raymond Kunzli (Spidertech powered by C10)
70, Eliot Lietaer (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator)
71, Jean Marc Marino (Saur - Sojasun)
72, Brian Vandborg (Spidertech powered by C10)) at 24 secs
73, Vincent Jerome (Team Europcar)
74, Tom Thill (Team Differdange - Magic-Sportfood.de)
75, Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
76, Caleb Fairly (Spidertech powered by C10)) at 25 secs
77, Preben Van Hecke (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator)
78, Johan Coenen (Team Differdange - Magic-Sportfood.de)
79, Davy Commeyne (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony)
80, Pit Schlechter (Luxembourg)
81, Yannick Talabardon (Saur - Sojasun) at 26 secs
82, Adrián Palomares Villaplana (Andalucia)
83, Yukiya Arashiro (Team Europcar)
84, Roy Curvers (Argos-Shimano)
85, Jesus Rosendo Prado (Andalucia) at 27 secs
86, Björn Leukemans (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
87, Ben Gastauer (AG2R La Mondiale)
88, Amir Zargari (AG2R La Mondiale) at 28 secs
89, Lucas Euser (Spidertech powered by C10)
90, Yann Huguet (Argos-Shimano)
91, Florent Barle (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne)
92, Rafael Valls Ferri (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
93, Gediminas Kaupas (Team Differdange - Magic-Sportfood.de)
94, Staf Scheirlinckx (Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's) at 29 secs
95, Nikita Novikov (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
96, Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator)
97, Tristan Valentin (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne) at 30 secs
98, Thomas Damuseau (Argos-Shimano) at 31 secs
99, Antonio Cabello Baena (Andalucia)
100, Steven Caethoven (Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's)
101, Jose Vicente Toribio Alcolea (Andalucia) at 32 secs
102, Joel Zangerle (Luxembourg)
103, Gregory Habeaux (Accent Jobs - Willems Veranda's)
104, Eloy Ruiz Pinto (Andalucia) at 33 secs
105, Bruno Saraiva (Team Differdange - Magic-Sportfood.de)
106, Pablo Lechuga Rodriguez (Andalucia) at 34 secs
107, Guillaume Boivin (Spidertech powered by C10)) at 38 secs
108, Vincent Baestaens (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony) at 40 secs
109, David Veilleux (Team Europcar) at 41 secs
110, Vicente Reynes Mimo (Lotto Belisol Team) at 44 secs
111, Yohann Gene (Team Europcar)
112, Lex Reichling (Luxembourg) at 2 mins 28 secs
113, Alex Dowsett (Sky Procycling) at 3 mins 9 secs
114, Jelle Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) at 3 mins 50 secs
115, Jonas Vangenechten (Lotto Belisol Team) at 4 mins 0 secs
116, Mehdi Sohrabi (Lotto Belisol Team) at 4 mins 8 secs
117, Boris Shpilevsky (AG2R La Mondiale)
118, Frederique Robert (Lotto Belisol Team) at 4 mins 19 secs
119, Jens Voigt (Radioshack-Nissan) at 4 mins 24 secs
120, Kenny De Ketele (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) at 4 mins 52 secs
121, Massimo Morabito (Luxembourg) at 6 mins 21 secs
122, Rony Martias (Saur - Sojasun) at 7 mins 55 secs
123, Jean-Eudes Demaret (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne) at 7 mins 57 secs
124, Kevin Feiereisen (Luxembourg) at 8 mins 20 secs
125, Reinier Honig (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony) at 8 mins 24 secs
126, Stefan Cohnen (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony) at 10 mins 59 secs
Points classification:
1, André Greipel (Lotto Belisol Team) 20 pts
2, Davide Appollonio (Sky Procycling) 16
3, Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne) 13
Mountains classification:
1, Albert Timmer (Argos-Shimano) 15 pts
2, Jesus Rosendo Prado (Andalucia) 9
3, Sascha Weber (Team Differdange - Magic-Sportfood.de) 5
Young riders classification:
1, Tom Dumoulin (Argos-Shimano) at 4 hours 57 mins 46 secs
2, Wouter Poels (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) at 2 secs
3, Tobias Ludvigsson (Argos-Shimano) at 3 secs
Teams classification:
1, Saur – Sojasun, 14 hours 53 mins 12 secs
2, RadioShack-Nissan, at 7 secs
3, Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne, at 12 secs
4, Sky Procycling, at 14 secs
5, Argos – Shimano, at 15 secs
6, Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team, at 16 secs