RadioShack team dominates Middelkerke prologue
Jesse Sergent (RadioShack) won the opening prologue of the Driedaagse van West-Valanderen – Johan Museeuw Classics in Middelkerke. The 22-year-old neo-pro flew around the 7km seafront course in a time of 8’14”, 10 seconds ahead of teammate Sébastien Rosseler in second place, with Sam Bewley in third, with the same time as Rosseler, making a RadioShack 1-2-3.
“Basically we put in as strong a team as possible,” said Rosseler afterwards, according to Het Laatste Nieuws. “The top-3 and the fifth place for us. Not bad? In the first part went very well. I had a tail wind.
“I heard from the team leader that I even two seconds under the time set by teammate Jesse Sergent,” he explained. “In the part close to the finish, either I seriously weakened or Sergent the more accurately estimated the time trial. I also suffered from the cold wind. You felt it directly on the lungs. We can do nothing but defend our leader’s jersey. Sergent will respond to wait and see how the typical races in Flanders and what the fans are like.”
Bas Krauwel (Cyclingteam De Rijke) was the first rider to roll off the ramp on a sunny, but cold day on Belgium’s North Sea coast. The Dutchman posted a time of 9’35” but lasted at the top of the leaderboard for less than a minute as the next rider to go, Wesley Kreder (Rabobank Continental) went 16 seconds quicker with 9’19”.
Many of the next few riders managed to lower the time below 9 minutes; Kenny van Hummel (Skil-Shimano) posted 8’56”, before sprint rival Sébastien Chavanel (Europcar) finished in 8’47”.
Bewley was the twentieth man to start and the New Zealander posted a time of 8’24”, which threatened to be the best of the day so early on.
RadioShack teammate Michal Kwiatkowski and Patrick Gretsch (HTC-Highroad) went close, but Bewley’s time was to stand for an hour and forty minutes, and the efforts of one hundred riders, before Sergent blitzed around the course fully 10 seconds quicker than his New Zealand compatriot.
Canadian champion Svein Tuft threatened Bewley’s second place but finished fractions of a second slower; Rosseler, a few minutes later went fractionally faster though, and pushed Tuft out of the top three.
Result prologue
1. Jesse Sergent (NZl) RadioShack
2. Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) RadioShack @ 10s
3. Sam Bewley (NZl) RadioShack
4. Svein Tuft (Can) Team Spidertech
5. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) RadioShack @ 11s
6. Patrick Gretsch (Ger) HTC-Highroad
7. Nelson Oliveira (Por) RadioShack @ 15s
8. Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Saur-Sojasun @ 19s
9. Robert Wagner (Ger) Leopard Trek @ 20s
10. Roger Kluge (Ger) Skil-Shimano @ 21s
Standings after prologue
1. Jesse Sergent (NZl) RadioShack
2. Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) RadioShack @ 10s
3. Sam Bewley (NZl) RadioShack
4. Svein Tuft (Can) Team Spidertech
5. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) RadioShack @ 11s