Omega Pharma – Quick-Step’s Gianni Meersman won the Tour de l’Ain prologue for the second straight year and led home a team 1-2-3-4
![]() |
Team News – Top 4 to Quickstep in France
NOTE: Send your results as well as club, team & event news here
Gianni Meersman won the Tour de l’Ain prologue for the second straight year with a time of 5 minutes and 22 seconds, as Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team swept the first four positions of the 4.6km race in Saint-Amour. Julian Alaphilippe was 2nd (+02″), Pieter Serry 3rd (+03″), and Rigoberto Uran finished 4th (+03″).
Not to miss out on the domination, Mark Cavendish (+08″) was also 9th in his first race back since his Stage 1 crash at the Tour de France. Carlos Verona (+13″) was 17th. The OPQS quadruple sweep came at the heels of an Eneco Tour Stage victory by Czech Road Champion Zdenek Stybar on the same day. OPQS now has 51 road victories, 53 in total, in 2014.
OPQS will be quite colorful in the 150.2km first stage tomorrow. Meersman will be in the yellow jersey as overall leader, Alaphilippe will wear the white (best young rider) jersey, and Pieter Serry will race in the green (points) jersey.
“I am really happy because this morning I thought about this exact result,” Meersman said. “I thought about how I won this stage last year and, why not, I can try to win it again. A time trial is a fight against yourself. It’s a question of how deep you want to go”.
“Today, I really wanted to do well. The course was different from last year in that it was not so technical, but the last 500 meters were uphill. I think that section is where I won the race. I am also thrilled because we finished 1st through 4th, which means the team here is really motivated and strong. This morning, with Davide Bramati our Sport Director, we rode along the parcours five times and trained almost two hours on the TT bike.”
“The training with our Specialized Shivs paid off in the afternoon, so we are happy. It’s a great team result. We’re here with six strong guys. Tomorrow we will try to defend my leader’s jersey. It won’t be easy with six riders instead of eight, but that’s the same problem for everybody in the peloton. We’ll do our best to figure out how to defend my leadership in the best way possible.”
Send your results as well as club, team & event news here
Other Results on VeloUK (including reports containing results)
- Features, Reports, Results
- UAE Tour: Stage 6 – Win for Bennett
- Feature Interview: Jack Rees (Ribble Weldtite)
- UAE Tour: Stage 5
- Giro: Simon Yates Fights for Pink
- Giro 2021: Mollema, Ciccone and Nibali Reactions
- CAMS-Tifosi for Healthy Ageing Tour 2021
- UAE Tour: Stage 4
- News: New Head of Creative at Ribble Cycles
- UAE Tour: Stage 3
- News: Cavendish for Le Samyn
- Interview: John Archibald
- This weekend: Deceuninck – Quick-Step
- 2021 Critérium du Dauphiné Route
- UAE Tour – Stage 2 Time Trial
- Tour des Alpes-Maritimes et du Var: Stage 3
- UAE Tour: First win to Mathieu van der Poel
- Central Region Junior RR Team Manager
- Tour Du Var – Stage 2
- Team News: Win for Mollema at Haut Var
- News: Tour Du Var – Stage 1
- News: Elite Status Changes
- News: Deceuninck – Quick-Step to UAE Tour
- Feature Interview: Alexandar Richardson (Alpecin-Fenix)
- News: Quintana Back Racing
- News: UAE Tour: Provisional Riders List
- News: Wout van Aert Training in Tenerife
- News: Quickstep off to Spain to train
- News: Alaphilippe’s On form for 2021 Targets
- News: 2021 Women’s Tour Postponed
- Q&A: Martha Lebentz (Team Tofauti Everyone Active)
- Tour de Provence – Second for World Champ Alaphilippe
- Former winners Perfs Pedal Road Race
- News: Drops 2021 Calendar
- INFO: 2021 Vuelta Stages
- News: Two from Two for Davide Ballerini
- News: Ballerini strikes on Provence opening day
- News: Giro Wildcard for Eolo Kometa
- News: Cavendish Opens Season at Almeria
- Interview: Sean Yates (Eolo Kometa)
- More National Series Events Cancelled
Other News on VeloUK
- UAE Tour: Stage 6 – Win for Bennett
- UAE Tour: Stage 5
- Giro: Simon Yates Fights for Pink
- Giro 2021: Mollema, Ciccone and Nibali Reactions
- CAMS-Tifosi for Healthy Ageing Tour 2021
- UAE Tour: Stage 4
- News: New Head of Creative at Ribble Cycles
- UAE Tour: Stage 3
- News: Cavendish for Le Samyn
- Interview: John Archibald
- This weekend: Deceuninck – Quick-Step
- 2021 Critérium du Dauphiné Route
- UAE Tour – Stage 2 Time Trial
- Tour des Alpes-Maritimes et du Var: Stage 3
- UAE Tour: First win to Mathieu van der Poel
- Central Region Junior RR Team Manager
- Tour Du Var – Stage 2
- Team News: Win for Mollema at Haut Var
- News: Tour Du Var – Stage 1
- News: Elite Status Changes
- News: Deceuninck – Quick-Step to UAE Tour
- News: Quintana Back Racing
- News: UAE Tour: Provisional Riders List
- News: Wout van Aert Training in Tenerife
- News: Quickstep off to Spain to train
- News: Alaphilippe’s On form for 2021 Targets
- News: 2021 Women’s Tour Postponed
- Tour de Provence – Second for World Champ Alaphilippe
- Former winners Perfs Pedal Road Race
- News: Drops 2021 Calendar
- INFO: 2021 Vuelta Stages
- News: Two from Two for Davide Ballerini
- News: Ballerini strikes on Provence opening day
- News: Giro Wildcard for Eolo Kometa
- News: Cavendish Opens Season at Almeria
- Interview: Sean Yates (Eolo Kometa)
- More National Series Events Cancelled
- Year of Exploration for Tom Pidcock says coach Kurt Bogaerts
- News: Archibald Set to Race
- World Champion Racing This Week