Lodewick Claims Repeat Victory Over Tenacious Foley
Clijisters nabs podium spot due to Hushvod navigation blunder
It what many are calling the hardest and most competitive Marin-Roubaix they have ever seen, Jonas Lodewick eked out a win in a two-up sprint with Mathys Foley in the L'Ecole du SanRafael velodrome last night. In marked contrast to his typical bombastic racing style, Lodewick played his cards close to his vest for the majority of the race before forcing the pace on the Railroad d'Arenberg to split the field. Joined at the last possible moment by a determined Foley, Lodewick held on to win by inches in a sprint that left both men spent.
Rolling in soon afterward was a surprised but nonetheless elated Markus Clijisters who found himself with a podium place despite exiting the Railroad almost 10 seconds behind a rueful Ken Hushvod who looked to have the bronze medal locked up before a navigation issue caused him to miss a critical turn with less than a kilometer to go.
Other notable finishers were rookie racer Thibault Thomas with a strong 4th place in his first PHRO fake-race, the first ever female finisher of Marin-Roubaix, the ever dangerous Krystyn vanDrumm and the redoubtable Stijn Cherry who apparently spent the entire fake-race pedaling with only one leg to, in his words, “Get some work in.”
How the Fake Race Unfolded
A nervous feeling was in the air as an anxious peloton rolled out of the starting gate. Wasting no time initiating the aggression was a frisky Ken Hushvod who, clearly feeling his oats, jumped the group to take the first Hot Spot sprint (and the attending $18 coupon to Baubles and Beads). The pace was high with a strong tailwind and the first hour was run at a torrid rate, covering 53km. This soon changed however as the group entered the fast and technical Pauw Kloof. An early puncture saw Hushvod delayed but with the help of his team, he made his way back to the front before the first sector of pave at L'Camp Chinois.
Cherry, vanDrumm, and Thomas all made efforts to get away but after 4 sectors, all the big names were together at the front for the entrance to the fearsome Railroad d'Arenberg. Having uncharacteristically spent much of the race, bidding his time hidden away in the group, Lodewick went to the front to drive the pace and immediately strung out the group and created a selection that would prove to be the final one. With what seemingly was a comfortable 15-second margin at the exit of the Railroad, Lodewick was incredibly chased down and caught with only a half lap to go in the velodrome due to a heroic effort from Foley. The victory would prove to be a pyrrhic one however as Foley had nothing left to contest the final sprint and had to settle for a well-deserved second place.
The podium was rounded out in somewhat surprising fashion as Hushvod who, with an apparently unassailable lead over a lagging Clijisters (who clearly was not having one of his better days), suffered what can only be described as a “perspiration malfunction.” With a twist that could certainly be described as “Lynchian” Hushvod was temporarily blinded when the tremendous accumulation of sweat in his helmet liner overflowed into his eyes, causing him to make a wrong turn at a critical juncture in the final. Clijisters was more than obliging in scooping up the last spot on the podium.
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