OPQS riders Gianni Meersman and Sylvain Chavanel earned 2nd places in their respective national road championships on Sunday, while Niki Terpstra also had a top finish in 5th.
Meersman made an escape group of 18 riders — including OPQS riders Guillaume Van Keirsbulck and Serge Pauwels — in the Belgian National Road Championship. However, Stijn Devolder (Radioshack-Leopard) attacked with 25km to go and was able to stay away solo. Meersman was able to get the top finish out of the chase group that was attacking each other in the final kilometers. Jan Bakelants (Radioshack-Leopard) was 3rd.
"It was a really hard race since the beginning," Meersman said. "When Devolder attacked everybody understood immediately that it would have been difficult to catch him back. This is the second time I finished 2nd at the Belgian Championship. Today I started with the hope to win the race. So I'm a little bit disappointed but, when you find on your way that there is somebody stronger than you there's nothing you can do. I have to be happy about my performance and about my first part of the season. Now I will take a period of rest and then I will start to build up the second part of my year."
Sylvain Chavanel was able to chase down a breakaway in the French National Championship that went from 11 riders down to Arthur Vichot (FDJ) with 35km to go. Chavanel and Tony Gallopin (Radioshack-Leopard) caught Vichot on the last lap, but Vichot attacked the two riders within the Flamme Rouge and won by himself. Chavanel bested Gallopin for the second step on the podium.
"I think I did a good race" explained Chavanel. "I took the responsibility and about three laps from the end I made my move. Everything was perfect until the last kilometer. I knew that Gallopin was faster than me at the sprint so when Vichot attacked I let him close the gap. But Vichot was really strong. He took 30 to 50 meters and at that point it was too late. Congratulations to the winner, he did a great race. Concerning me, I'm a little bit disappointed because I really believed in the double, it means winning the TT and the Road race. It was my objective, but I found a great Vichot on the road. He deserves the victory. The good thinng is that the condition is there and I approach the Tour de France with a good spirit, ready to fight."
OPQS rider Niki Terpstra also finished 5th in an escape group of top riders at the Dutch National Road Championship. Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil-DCM) won solo from a group of three riders including Tom Dumoulin (Argos-Shimano) and Sebastien Langeveld (ORICA-GreenEDGE). Dumoulin was 2nd, Langeveld 3rd. Terpstra worked hard to make the chase group of about eight riders despite being the only OPQS rider in the race. Only four of those riders finished within a few seconds of each other, and they were a little more than a minute back from the top three finishers.
Other National Road Championship OPQS Results:
Belgium: Serge Pauwels 12th place (+2'15"), Guillaume Van Keirsbulck 17th place (+5'30")
Germany: Tony Martin 39th place (+1'55), Bert Grabsch 41st place (s.t.)
Spain: Carlos Verona 25th place (+05")