CYCLING – Team Bahrain Victorious stars Edoardo Zambanini and Zak Erzen claimed impressive top 10 finishes yesterday in their respective elite men’s road races in Europe.
Both men were part of furious sprints to the finish, with Zambanini claiming fifth in stage one of the 40th Lidl Deutschland Tour in Germany and Erzen taking seventh in the second stage of the 21st Renewi Tour in Belgium.
Their teammate Vlad van Mechelen, meanwhile, also had reason to celebrate yesterday as he held on to the best young rider’s jersey competing alongside Erzen in the Renewi Tour.
In Germany, Zambanini was in the mix with the best riders in the finale of yesterday’s opening leg, which covered a distance of 215.3 kilometres.
After solo winner Louise Barre of Team Visma-Lease a Bike crossed the line in five hours 15 minutes and nine seconds, Zambanini contested the sprint from the chasing group that finished 16 seconds behind the victor, with the Italian narrowly missing out on the podium.
Amongst other Bahrain Victorious riders in the first stage, Croatian Fran Miholjevic finished 38th and Austrian Rainer Kepplinger was 39th, German Nikias Arndt came 48th, Italian Alberto Bruttomesso was 90th and German Phil Bauhaus 103rd from close to 110 riders that took part.
With those results, Zambanini climbed 28 spots to fourth on the race’s general classification (GC), while also placing second in the best young rider standings, where he is 19 seconds behind compatriot and leader Isaac Del Toro of UAE Team Emirates-XRG.
Zambanini was also seventh in the points rankings.
This year’s Lidl Deutschland Tour features four stages, covering a total distance of 742.2km. Today’s second leg will be over 197km.
In the Renewi Tour yesterday, Erzen was also amongst the fast men in a bunch sprint to the finish after 173.9km of racing.
The Slovenian battled alongside stage winner Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Premier Tech, who clocked a mark of 3:11:27 in just first place.
Erzen’s Bahrain Victorious teammates were not far behind with a number of them finishing close to one another.
Australian Robert Stannard and Belgian van Mechelen finished 28th and 29th, respectively, while Italian Alessandro Borgo was 31st and Belgian Alec Segaert came 33rd.
Their squad was completed by Slovenian Matej Mohoric in 49th and Pole Kamil Gradek in 101st amongst a field of more than 150 competitors.
Van Mechelen maintained his hold on first place amongst the top young riders, where Erzen followed in third and Borgo fifth on the rankings.
Van Mechelen and Erzen also climbed seven places apiece in the race’s GC yesterday, with Van Mechelen now 11th and Erzen 22nd.
Bahrain Victorious dropped one position to second, however, on the teams’ overall standings.
This year’s Renewi Tour includes five stages over a total distance of 918.2km – 182km of which will be in today’s third leg.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh