By Graham Healy
Following on from the victory for Kenneth Vanbilsen (while riding for Belgium) in the U23 Tour of Flanders on Saturday, the An Post–Sean Kelly team had another impressive performance today when Gediminas Bagdonas finished 2nd in the Rund um Köln.
The UCI 1.1 race based around Cologne has been won in the past by the likes of Jan Ullrich and Erik Zabel. Today’s 96th edition attracted a number of ProTour teams including Saxo Bank, Katusha and Rabobank.
Connor McConvey and Ronan McLaughlin also lined out for the team. McConvey was not listed as a finisher while McLaughlin was 38th in the five hour race.
After an initial break was reeled back, Bagdonas went clear with Pavel Brutt (Katusha) after 50kms and they were joined by nine others 30kms later. Despite Saxo Bank leading the chase, the group extended their lead, and after 140kms their advantage over the bunch was 5:30.
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The Lithuanian 2011 An Post Ras winner was clearly one of the strongest in the break, as he won a number of the King of the Hills primes. The break continued to work well and as the chase behind lost momentum it seemed clear that the winner would come from the lead group.
With 30km remaining Jan Barta (Team NetApp) went clear and as the lead group splintered Bagdonas found himself chasing Barta with six others. Barta has already won the Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali stage race in Italy this season, so is clearly on form. The chasers were unable to reel in the Czech rider but Bagdonas had enough left in the tank to take the sprint for second.
The 26-year old had been offered a deal towards the end of last season with the Geox team but the Spanish squad were unable to find a new sponsor and folded. Today’s performance will undoubtedly raise the interest of other top level teams in the Lithuanian.
Rund um Köln 2012 (1.1)
1. Jan Barta (Team NetApp)
2. Gediminas Bagdonas (An Post-Sean Kelly)
3. Tomasz Marcynski (Vacansoleil-DCM)
4. Pavel Brutt (Team Katusha)
5. Tom Dumoulin (Argos-Shimano)
6. Wilco Kelderman (Rabobank)
7. Maurits Lammertink (Cycling Team Jo Piels)
8. William Clarke (Champion System)
9. Matthias Brändle (Team NetApp)
10. Ivan Rovny (RusVelo)
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