Janse van Rensburg nearly holds off chasing pack, Gerdemann crashes.

Matti Breschel (Tinkoff Saxo) won the 2nd stage of the Tour of Luxembourg by out sprinting a group of favourites. Sergey Lagutin (Rusvelo) finished in 2nd place on the stage and Jean Pierre Drucker (Wanty Groupe Gobert) held on for 3rd place which also secured the Luxembourger the leaders yellow jersey. Daniel Teklehaimanot was the top finisher for Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung in 26th place.

Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung had a day of two tales with Jacques Janse van Rensburg making the days break while Linus Gerdemann crashed while in a strong position with just a 100m to go. Janse van Rensburg, Ilnur Zakarin (Rusvelo), Jaun Arango (Colombia) and Boris Dron (Wallonie – Bruxelles) were the riders that formed the break that would put the pressure on the chasing peloton. As the break pushed their lead out to just over 4 minutes the chase began in earnest from behind. Despite an organised chase, the break showed good resistance in keeping a gap over the peloton. It was only with 6km to go that the escapees finally ran out of steam and were then caught moments later.

The strong break did have an affect on the race though as the high pace that was needed to reel Janse van Rensburg and co. in, ensured that it was only the strongest of riders left in the peloton before the final 1km climb to the line. The pace was furious up the 12% final climb and things seemed to look good for Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung as Linus Gerdemann was 6th wheel in a small group of favourites with just a few 100m’s to go. Unfortunately Gerdemann would be one of the riders caught up in a crash that occurred with just 100m to go. The German would be able to get back on his bike and finish but with an uphill finish, the 3km rule does not apply and so the Team MTN-Qhubeka leader would end up losing 1’31” to the eventual winner.

Directeur Sportif – Michel Cornelisse

Today was a pretty unbelievable stage. Our tactic was to have representation in the break to make the race hard for the other teams. Then on the final climb we would be able to use a whole team to attack and make the finale even harder. Up to that point our tactic worked perfectly as Gerdemann was around position 6 or 7 with around 100m to go. Then there was a crash and it was so disappointing. Gerdemann was okay and able to finish but now he is feeling a bit dizzy so the doctors will check him out. We need a result at this race so we will keep on fighting.

Rider – Jacques Janse van Rensburg

It was a really good day for me personally and i felt great on the bike. I was in the break and we worked really together all day. With 15km to go we still a 1’30” lead and i was feeling really good, driving the break with the Rusvelo rider. We ended up getting caught with 4km to go but we put some teams under real pressure today. I am feeling really good this season and it is just a matter of time before i get a really good result.

Stage Results