Ekimov wins Final Stage
The Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team's Stijn Devolder won the second professional event of his young career today in his home country of Belgium, taking the overall at the Three Days of the Panne stage race. Devolder placed fifth in the afternoon time trial stage in De Panne, good enough to claim the overall by 16 seconds over Italian Alessandro Ballan. Devolder's teammate, Viatcheslav Ekimov, helped make it a double for the Discovery Channel team when he won the TT stage from Belgian Bert Roesems by less than one second.
The overall win was a sweet one for Devolder, who has been close to victory numerous times this spring but has come up just short, until today, confirming his condition for this Sunday's Tour of Flanders.
"He's so happy," said Dirk Demol, the team's assistant sports manager. "For Stijn, it's great because he has been looking for this win the whole season. He's been close many times and his aggressive way of riding, always attacking, has paid off. Plus, it's a big win for him.”
No less happy were the many Trek engineers back in Wisconsin who have put in so much time in developing the trio of OCLV Carbon road bikes that Stijn used to take the overall win. Besides the team issue Trek Madone 5.9 and the Team Time Trial bike, Stijn also rode a prototype OCLV Carbon bike that used a SPA rear suspension system. The SPA bike has been in development for the last six months and you can read the story of it’s evolution at our On The Road To The Tour web column written by team liaison Scott Daubert (found on the Insider Perspectives page).
Next up for Devolder and Ekimov was Sunday's Tour of Flanders. Both riders were joined by Lance Armstrong, George Hincapie, Roger Hammond, Hayden Roulston and Antonio Cruz for the big Classic race. Devolder actually won the junior Tour of Flanders twice and, according to Demol, "It's his dream race. He rode well last year, finishing in the second bunch (21st, at 1:38), so the distance isn't a problem for him." Also last year, Hoste placed third while riding for Lotto-Domo and Hincapie 10th.
THREE DAYS OF THE PANNE, Stage 4
1. Viatcheslav Ekimov, Discovery Channel; 13.7 kms in 16:48
2. Bert Roesems, Davitamon-Lotto; s.t.
3. Nico Mattan, Davitamon-Lotto; at :07
4. Magnus Backstedt, Liquigas-Bianchi; s.t.
5. Stijn Devolder, Discovery Channel; at :09
6. Leif Hoste, Discovery Channel; at :11
FINAL RESULTS
1. Devolder; 13:15:16
2. Alessandro Ballan, Lampre; at :16
3. Mattan; at :24
4. Luis Sanchez, Liberty Seguros; at :44
5. Roberto Petito, Fassa Bortolo; at :45
The Tour of Flanders
Things didn’t go as well for the team at the Tour of Flanders as they did the Three Days of The Panne. This highest finisher was George Hincapie who rode hard with the front group, but in the end was only capable of winning the finish sprint for the chase group in seventh place. Lance Armstrong continued his season campaign to do all he can to win a seventh Tour de France and finished 28th.
The next big race on the calendar will be this Wednesday’s Ghent-Wevelgem which precedes the grand-daddy classic of them all, Paris-Roubiax on April 10. Besides Hincapie, the Discovery Channel team also has high hopes for British rider Roger Hammond who finished the “Hell of the North” race in third last year.