WIC Top Class of Engadin
Wouter Hebbrecht the fastest!
Vincent Esnault & Aurélie Bouvet
The World Inline Cup Top Class of Engadin is one of the fastest of the
world, due to the long down hills of the Swiss Valley. And last Saturday,
in the victorious escapee, Wouter Hebbrecht (Rollerblade World) was the
fastest of this sixth stage of the series after a thrilling end of race!
The woman’s marathon was also concluded by a break away, but with no
team member of Rollerblade World in: Theresa Cliff (KIA Verducci) captured
the victory and Nadine Gloor (Athleticum Rollerblade) a very promising
third place.
The weather was sunny for the sixth WIC Top Class of the season, on the
alpine village of Saint-Moritz (1800m above the sea) which welcomed
recently the world championships of ski. The region is famous by the
beautifulness of its landscapes, between the lakes of pure water and the
mountain forests. Engadin is one of the most popular and also awesome
Swiss Inline Cups, with the TV helicopter following the skaters, the long
down hills and the speed they procure and also… the big party on the
evening after the race! There are always a lot of people to do or watch
it.
The team of Rollerblade World prepared this particular rendezvous with a
lot of professionalism, reaching Saint-Moritz just after the race of Zürich
the week-end before. So the men’s team stayed the entire week on the
site: the new members, such as Alexis Contin, were consequently able to
discover the circuit and the strategic passages and the team get used to
with the altitude, training on skates or mountain bikes alternatively.
The importance of the good escapee…
The start of the race was given on Saturday the 26th at 16h50. The pack
stayed together for a long time but the first attempts of break away
appeared in the first 30 kilometres. The team of Rollerblade World was
always represented, with Shane Dobbin, Fabien Rabeau or above all Alexis
Contin, whose role was to take care of the accelerations and go in the
breaks. Even Arnaud Gicquel, the winner of 2003, participated to this
offensive strategy in spite of is recent injury and the prudence he has to
follow.
But the good escapee appeared 12 kilometres to the end. A group of nine
skaters flew away, with the solid Jorge Botero (Bont International), his
compatriot Diego Rosero (Hyper Race), the French Pascal Briand (SAAB
Salomon World), WIC medallist 2004 Mathieu Grandgirard (Fila International
B), the two team mates of VW SportXX Tristan Loy and European marathon
champion Roger Schneider, the two team mates of Roces International
Garikoitz Lerga and Ruben Martines and the Belgium team member of
Rollerblade World Wouter Hebbrecht. They quickly opened an interesting gap
which grew during ten kilometres… But which decreased at the end.
Wouter: first victory in the WIC!
The group of nine was only ten seconds ahead of the pack in the last two
kilometres. This advance was very short: too short for reaching the line?
In fact no: the team of VW SportXX decided on that moment to take the lead
and sacrifice for keeping the top ten. Then Diego Rosero engaged the
sprint, with Wouter in his wheel. The Belgium waited the right moment to
pass, to resist to the other Colombian Jorge Botero and to capture the
gold in the time of 54’56”83. It is the second victory for Wouter this
season after the one of Plouha (FIC) but his first in the World Inline Cup
and an immense satisfaction for the team! He confirms the good shape of
the Rollerblade World members since mid-May: the boys have four victories
now and are the second team in the number of wins after the one of Fila.
The sprint of the pack was conducted by Alexis Contin with Shane Dobbin
following: they were working for Fabien Rabeau. But the French was not
able to place well… And it was Kalon Dobbin and Raphael Pfulg (both
Athleticum Rollerblade) who finished ten and eleven.
1 – Wouter Hebbrecht, 42km in 54'56''83,
2 – Jorge Botero, st,
3 – Diego Rosero, st,
4 – Pascal Briand, st,
5 – Garikoitz Lerga, st,
6 – Mathieu Grandgirard,
7 – Roger Schneider,+4s
8 – Tristan Loy, st,
9 – Ruben Martines, st,
10 – Kalon Dobbin,+10s
