Mixed fortunes for An Post Sean Kelly team in season opener

Posted 29 January 2012

by Cillian Kelly

The An Post-Sean Kelly team enjoyed a day of mixed fortunes after getting their 2012 season underway today at the GP d'Ouverture la Marseillaise won Cofidis rider Samuel Dumoulin in a sprint finish.

Irish riders Ronan McLaughlin and Sean Downey were taking part in the opening European race of the season. McLaughlin finished the race in 69th place, 7'53" behind the race winner, after suffering the misfortune of puncturing on the final climb of the day.

Downey, competing in his first race for the An Post-Sean Kelly team, finished outside the time limit. But at this early stage of the season, getting the racing kilometres into his the legs is crucial and Downey did well to complete the course in cold and wet conditions.

In spite of the miserable weather, Dumoulin won a sprint from a group of 13 riders which included other big names such as Rémy Di Gregorio, Marco Marcato and Thibaut Pinot. The group came to the finish 30 seconds ahead of a large chasing group with Dumoulin beating Marcato and Arthur Vichot into second and third places respectively.

Dumoulin will be glad to have won the opening race of the Coupe de France series having come close in 2010 when he finished in third place. It is the fourth win for the Cofidis team in this race having previously tasted success here with Rémi Pauriol, Hervé Duclos-Lassalle and Frank Vandenbroucke.

The best placed finisher for the An Post-Sean Kelly team was the Lithuanian Gediminas Bagdonas who ended the race 2'23" behind Dumoulin in 36th place as part of the main peloton.

Result:

1. Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) - 03:39:29 
2. Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil-DCM) - st 
3. Arthur Vichot (FDJ-BigMat) - st 
4. Jeremie Galland (Saur-Sojasun) - st 
5. Davide Malacarne (Europcar) - st 
6. Romain Hardy (Bretagne-Schuller) - st 
7. Julien Guay Roubaix (Lille-Métropole) - st 
8. Mickael Cherel (Ag2R-La Mondiale) - st 
9. Pieter Serry (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator) - st
10. Bert De Waele (Landbouwkrediet) - st

An Post-Sean Kelly

36. Gediminas Bagdonas + 2:23 
38. Mark McNally - st 
69. Ronan McLaughlin + 7:53
81. Pieter Ghyllebert + 10:11
DNF Kenneth Vanbilsen 
HD. Niko Eeckhout 
HD. Sean Downey
HD. Stijn Ennekens