Jimmy Engoulvent (Sojasun) won the prologue time trial of the Skoda Tour de Luxembourg for an incredible fourth time, as he completed the 2.55km Luxembourg city centre course in a time of 3’42”, which was one second faster than his winning time of 2012. Setting off as the 25th rider of the 130-strong field, the 33-year-old Frenchman - who won the race prologue in 2007 and 2010 as well as 2012, and finished second in 2008 and third in 2011 - had a long wait for the rest of the peloton to finish, as riders came close to, but failed to beat his time.
The closest rider to Engoulvent was 19-year-old Danny van Poppel (Vacansoleil-DCM) just one second slower than the Sojasun rider. The young Dutchman’s time was just good enough to go into second place, fractions of a second quicker than Engoulvent’s Sojasun teammate Jonathan Hivert, who took third.
Jempy Drucker (Accent.jobs-Wanty) was the best Luxembourg rider, finishing just three seconds slower than Engoulvent in fourth place, and one second faster than Austrian Matthias Brändle (IAM Cycling) who took fifth.
The majority of riders were to take on the tight 2.55km course on standard road bikes, with the first to set off Davide Appollonio (AG2R La Mondiale). The Italian finished in a time of 4’04”, but was to sit in the hot seat for just three minutes, as Juan Esteban Arango (Colombia) went two seconds quicker with 4’02”.
Arango was at the top of the leader board for even less time than Appollonio had been, however, as seventh rider Marco Haller (Katusha) became the first rider to go below four minutes, with 3’56”. Three minutes later, however, Maxime Daniel began the Sojasun domination of the race, as he posted 3’51”; the Frenchman was knocked off the top by compatriot Remi Cusin (IAM Cycling) shortly afterwards, as he finished in 3’49”, but Cusin had barely been on top for ten minutes when Engoulvent finished with what was to be the winning time.
Several riders were to get within a few seconds of the French Luxembourg prologue specialist, with Brändle finishing just two seconds slower a few minutes later, and Hivert just one second slower after little more than a quarter of an hour. It was to be almost an our until van Poppel split the two Sojasun teammates to go into second place, with Drucker the fourth from last to start going into fourth.
20-year-old Luxembourg prodigy Bob Jungels (RadioShack-Leopard) was the last rider to start, with his time of 3’49” good enough for eighth place, which confirmed Engoulvent as a winner for the fourth time.
Result prologue
1. Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Sojasun
2. Danny van Poppel (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM @ 1s
3. Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Sojasun
4. Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) Accent.jobs-Wanty @ 2s
5. Matthias Brändle (Aut) IAM Cycling @ 3s
6. Paul Martens (Ger) Blanco Pro Cycling @ 4s
7. Damien Gaudin (Fra) Team Europcar @ 6s
8. Bob Jungels (Lux) RadioShack-Leopard @ 7s
9. Remi Cusin (Fra) IAM Cycling
10. Marco Marcato (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM