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10th Colliers Classic (GP Aarhus) - 1.1
Denmark, April 30, 2006
2005 Results Results Past winners
Thijs takes the cake
By Michael Gernaa, Procycling.dk
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The calendar shows spring but the weather at today's Colliers Classic in Aarhus, Denmark felt more like winter. Temperatures of 5 degrees plus light drizzle and chilling winds met the riders at the start, but that didn't prevent Erwin Thijs (Unibet.com) from taking the win with a strong sprint finish.
The race started very fast into the chilling headwind, and after the peloton more or less had stayed together for the first 120km, Thijs took his chance. Shortly before the KOM at Stilling he attacked and rapidly opened up a gap of 3 minutes. With 79 km to go a different chasing group formed and tried to reel the Belgian back, but when he started the five local laps in Aarhus he still had a 50-second advantage. Most observers thought it was only a matter of time before he was caught and the mass-sprint finale could start.
Instead, young Norwegian talent Edvald Boasson bridged the gap to Thijs, and when they started the last lap it was 37 seconds to the nearest chasers. The win was going to be contested between these two, and as they entered the final stretch Boasson had a few metres, but Thijs opened the sprint and there was no way the Norwegian was going to catch him.
It was Thijs' 22nd career victory and explained after the finish that the final few hundred metres had been easy - he had relaxed when Boasson bridged in order to save energy for the sprint finale and that had paid off. Thijs is looking forward to one more season in the saddle before joining the Unibet Espoirs team as a sports director.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Ulrik Møberg/www.procycling.dk
- The break make it up to the second hill sprint
- Erwin Thijs (Unibet.com) celebrates a win in the Colliers Classic
- The CSC boys have a chat before the start
- Bernard Sulzberger (DFL-Cyclingnews) waits for the start
- Yeah, it's bloody cold! One of the DFL-Cyclingnews doesn't look too happy in the cold
- Stuart O'Grady (CSC) signs in
Images by Michael Gernaa/www.procycling.dk
- The podium (l-r): Edvald Boasson Hagen, Erwin Thijs and Niki Terpstra
- Flemming Knudsen starts the race by firing a small canon
- The peloton leaves Aarhus before the official start
- Big gaps in the peloton emerge on the Spørring KOM
- Jeremy Vennell (DFL-Cyclingnews) does it tough on the climb
- All Cyclingnews, all the time... one of the DFL-Cyclingnews crew heads towards the KOM
- Erwin Thijs (Unibet.com) looks strong at the KOM in Stilling
- The chase group struggle to get organised
- The peloton come through soon after the chase
- Cameron Jennings (DFL-Cyclingnews) hangs tough on the climb
Results
1 Erwin Thijs (Bel) Unibet.com 4.41.21 2 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Team Maxbo Bianchi 0.01 3 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Ubbink-Syntec 0.19 4 Zdnek Mlynar (Cze) AC Sparta Praha 0.21 5 Jacob Moe Rasmussen (Den) Team GLS 6 Sergio Miguel Vieira Ribeiro (Por) Barbot-Halcon 7 Gabriel Rasch (Nor) Team Maxbo Bianchi 8 Aart Vierhouten (Ned) Skil-Shimano 9 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) Unibet.com 10 Wolfram Wiese (Ger) Team Regiostrom Senges 11 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Rabobank Continental team 12 Allan Johansen (Den) Team CSC 13 Martijn Maaskant (Ned) Rabobank Continental team 14 Michael Reihs (Den) Team Designa Køkken 15 Michael Skelde (Den) Glud & Marstrand-Horsens 16 Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Team CSC 17 Malaya Van Ruitenbeek (Ned) Van Vliet-EBH-Advocaten 18 Martin Mortensen (Den) National Team Denmark 19 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Skil-Shimano 0.27 20 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) Skil-Shimano 0.30 21 Marcus Ljungqvist (Swe) Team CSC 1.05 22 Roy Hegreberg (Nor) Glud & Marstrand-Horsens 23 Dariusz Rudnicki (Pol) Intel-Action 24 Joost Van Leijen (Ned) Van Vliet-EBH-Advocaten 25 Marvin Van Der Pluijm (Ned) Ubbink-Syntec 26 Daniel Foder (Den) Team Designa Køkken 27 Martin Voss Christiansen (Den) Glud & Marstrand-Horsens 28 Mathé Pronk (Ned) Unibet.com 29 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Team GLS 30 Gideon De Jong (Ned) Procomm-Van Hemert 31 Rene Jørgensen (Den) Team Designa Køkken 32 Floris Goesinnen (Ned) Van Vliet-EBH-Advocaten 33 Evgeny Popov (Rus) Rabobank Continental team 34 Are Hunsager Andersen (Nor) Team Sparebanken Vest 35 Tom Veelers (Ned) Rabobank Continental team 36 Jacob Kodrup (Den) National Team Denmark 37 Mads Bugge Andersen (Den) Team Vison Bikes 38 Huub Duyn (Ned) Rabobank Continental team 39 David Boucher (Fra) Unibet.com 40 Martin Prazdnovsky (Svk) Team Sparebanken Vest 41 Glenn Bak (Den) National Team Denmark 42 Brian Vandborg (Den) Team CSC 43 Tamas Lengyel (Hug) Team Sparebanken Vest 44 Christian Knørr (Den) National Team Denmark 45 Folkert De Haan (Ned) Ubbink-Syntec 46 Stian Sommerseth (Nor) Team Maxbo Bianchi 47 Claus Michael Møller (Den) Barbot-Halcon 48 Carlos Manuel Pinho Oliveira (Por) Barbot-Halcon 49 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Team Designa Køkken 50 Lasse Bøchmann (Den) Team GLS 1.16 51 Michael Berling (Den) Glud & Marstrand-Horsens 52 Jacob Nielsen (Den) Glud & Marstrand-Horsens 53 Benjamin Wittrup Justesen (Den) Team Vison Bikes 54 Rick Flens (Ned) Rabobank Continental team 55 Michael Larsen (Den) Team Designa Køkken 56 Piet Rooiyakkers (Ned) Skil-Shimano 57 Kasper Klostergaard Larsen (Den) Team CSC 58 Lars Nybo Nielsen (Den) Team Vison Bikes 1.23 59 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team CSC 1.24 60 Rune Udby (Den) Glud & Marstrand-Horsens 1.34 61 Jakob Frederik Kollerup (Den) Team Vison Bikes 2.53 Starteres: 114 Classified: 61 Courtesy of Ulrik Moeberg/Procycling.dk
Past winners
2005 Jacob Moe Rasmussen (Den) Team GLS 196 kms in 4.45.27 2004 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC 196 kms in 4.39.05 2003 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 196 kms in 4.34.18 2002 Laurent Jalabert (Fra) CSC-Tiscali 196 kms in 4.40.11 2001 Michael Sandstod (Den) CSC-World Online 190 kms in 4.34.06 2000 Arvis Piziks (Lat) Memorycard-Jack&Jones 190 kms in 4.21.08 1999 Allan Johansen (Den) Team Chicky World 190 kms in 4.28.12 1998 Romans Vainsteins (Lat) Kross-Selle Italia 190 kms in 4.28.37 1997 Bjarne Riis (Den) Deutsche Telekom Past winners courtesy of Mario Stiehl, www.world-of-cycling.com
