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Scheldeprijs. Hectic race with Tleubayev finishing in mass sprint
In a hectic race, Kazakh rider Ruslan Tleubayev was the first rider to finish for Astana Pro Team at a 24th place. Only 58 riders made it to the finish because of several crashes and disqualifications for crossing a closing railroad crossing. One of the riders who made it to the finish line was Fabio Jakobsen, who won the Scheldeprijs after an impressive sprint.
- After my last race in Malaysia I didn’t had the legs yet to play a role in the final sprint today. The whole day everyone was racing really hard, and with the rain in the final it became even harder. After all, it was a good ride in which I tested my legs for Paris-Roubaix, - told Ruslan Tleubayev.
An exciting start of the oldest Classic race, the Scheldeprijs. After a breakaway of 8 riders took off right from the start in Terneuzen, the peloton was split after 30 kilometers. The first group caught the breakaway, while the second group of 50 riders was hanging 30 seconds behind the first group trying everything to get back together.
In the end it all came back together, but then there was a crash and a railroad crossing with 100 kilometers to go. It took out a lot of riders, leaving only 58 riders in the race with our Ruslan Tleubayev and Dmitriy Gruzdev in this select group.
In the final of the race, both Kazakh riders did all they could for a good result, but finished behind the first sprinters. Fabio Jakobsen won in front of Pascal Ackermann and Chris Lawless.
- The crash and the railroad crossing just behind the crash spoiled our plan for today. We only had two riders left and we had to compete against teams with five or six riders left in the first group. We tried with Ruslan Tleubayev, but at the end he didn’t had the legs today, - told sport director Lars Michaelsen.
Photo credit: Bettiniphoto
