Gerald Ciolek fifth in Trofeo Laigueglia
Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung today took part in its first European race as a Professional Continental team in the 50th edition of Trofeo Laigueglia. Team captain Gerald Ciolek displayed good form early on in the season by finishing in 5th place.
After 15km’s of racing, the days breakaway was formed with Leonardo Duque (Colombia), Antonio Barbio & Nicola Dal Santo (Flaminia), Thomas Raeymaeker (Novo Nordisk) and Florent Barle (Cofidis) making up the group.
They were eventually brought back with just over 50km’s left to race.
Lampre-Merida and FDJ took control of the pace as the group went up the Testico for the final tme.
“The guys made no mistakes, everything happened like we hoped it would,” said Directeur Sportif, Jens Zemke. “In the end on the last climb, three guys rode away and Gerald attacked on the last descent after them, so he was in the first big group of 20 or 30 riders in the finale.
“The team supported Gerald really well. It was very tricky to put him in a good position before the last climb with 25km’s to go. The guys did a fantastic job and supported him as much as they could,” Zemke continued.
“It’s a nice opening for us. We only just missed the podium but we’ve gained UCI points in the European Tour in our first race, that’s perfect. This race was very hard with four climbs so it didn’t suit the team we had here so I am very happy with the performance,” Zemke concluded.
Trofeo Laigueglia Top 10
1. Filippo Pozzato (Lampre Merida)
2. Francesco Reda (Androni Venezuela)
3. Mauro Santambrogio (Vini Fantini) a 3″
4. Diego Ulissi (Lampre Merida) st
5. Gerald Ciolek (MTN Qhubeka) a 7″
6. Anthony Roux (FDJ)
7. Matej Mugerli (Adria Mobil)
8. Oscar Gatto (Fantini Vini)
9. Elia Favilli (Lampre Merida)
10. Danilo Wyss (BMC)