Clément Koretzky won the most sprint points at the La Roue Tourangelle (UCI 1.1) classic. Team Vorarlberg continues to be successful in France. After Patrick Schelling took the overall win in the Tour Loire et Cher (UCI 2.2) south-west of Paris, Koretzky kept up his reputation as a break-away specialist:

In a four-strong group at the La Roue Tourangelle he was the most active rider aboard his STEVENS Xenon and eventually took the Best Sprinter’s Jersey! He also came in second in the KOM category. In addition, Fran Zurita raced to 14th place in the final sprint to win his first UCI points.

Koretzky had broken away with three other riders after the first KOM. The group rode ahead of the field for 170 of 192 km with a maximum gap of more than four minutes. Besides lots of KOM and sprint points the French rider from an Austrian team won the sympathies of spectators and TV commentators alike.

The Roue Tourangelle race is often called the ”Little Liege-Bastogne-Liege” due to its similar profile with seven categorized climbs plus several painfully steep slopes but also because it takes place the same day. Yet, the competition was strong with World Tour teams Francaise des Jeux and AG2R La Mondiale and Pro Continental outfits like Cofidis.

As late as 30km to go the big teams started their attack when the gap was down to only 40 seconds to rid the escapists of any chance for a break-away win. At 15km before the finish the break-away was caught and the peloton prepared for a sprint. The final bunch sprint was won by Samuel Dumoulin, France of AG2R ahead of Olivier Pardini, Belgium and Julien Duval, also France.

Complete Results
Sergio Sousa 42nd, Patrick Jäger 61st, Patrick Schelling 62nd, but all their team mates finished the 200km race, too. The team’s management concluded: A successful test of form before the home race at Nenzing/Austria.

International Tour of Burgenland
At the same time the second part of Team Vorarlberg took part in the International Tour of Burgenland which is part of Austria’s National Race Series (Rad Bundesliga). The race, made difficult by strong crosswinds, was dominated by a break-away group. Dèr Zsolt, Nicolas Winter und Lukas Meiler were part of the first chase group, of which Zsolt won the best result finishing 12th. Nicolas Winter who rode his comeback race after having recovered from an injury came in at a strong 19th.