North American squads Team Type 1-Sanofi-Aventis and Team Spidertech-C10 had an aggressive showing in today’s Nokere Koerse event, thus justifying their invitations to the 1.1-ranked race.
After the day’s breakaway group was brought back, Team Type 1’s Italian rider Alessandro Bazzana darted out of the peloton in the closing stages, opening up a nine seconds lead with three kilometres to go.
“There was a big fight for positioning at the front, because there was a big headwind. I knew I didn't have a chance to win the race on the sprint, so I shot out to attack the front on a false flat,” he said afterwards. “I waited for somebody to come with me, but the peloton held its breath and caught me. It was a good try, and a good effort after 200km, which is definitely a good feeling for the next race.”
Director Sportif Michael Carter was pleased with the performance by the team, which included four Type 1 diabetics and which had six out of its eight starters in the main bunch at the end. These finished in the same time as the sprint winner Gert Steegmans (Quick Step).
“Alessandro and Martijn Verschoor got into the front group when the race split for good, and the rest of the guys were back in the second group and never gave up,” he said. “It all eventually came together, and their work to bring themselves up at the end was rewarded at the finish. Then Bazzana got an 9-second gap with 3k to go, and he knew it there was a downhill and just a short cobblestone punch to the finish line. That was a terrific move and it set the whole race on fire.
“He was caught with 1.3k to go by a fast-charging peloton with its eye on a group sprint, but for his efforts he showed that Team Type 1 is here to race.”
Verschoor was one of the four riders with Type 1 diabetes. He twice took two units of insulin during the race, thus ensuring that his blood glucose was kept in the right range.
Team Spidertech-C10 also had a good race, wit Montreal rider Keven Lacombe sprinting in a fine eighth. Team director and Former Tour de France yellow jersey Steve Bauer said that the team worked for Lacombe in order to position him in the best possible position before the sprint. He was pleased with how things went.
“I am excited for the team and the progress the guys are making step by step, every race,” he stated. “Today at Nokere the guys really started to combine forces as a team, looking for each other and putting the performance into practice, which ended in a positive result by Keven Lacombe.”
The next race for the squad is Friday’s 1.1-ranked Handzame Classic, also in Belgium. The team has an expanded programme this year and is continuing along the path which it hopes will eventually take it to the Tour de France.