Euskaltel close out year with decent Vendée performance

It wasn't the fairytale ending to Euskaltel's unique Basque-only philosophy many would have wanted, but the team still put two riders in the top 20 in today's season-ending Tour de Vendée.

Ricardo García's 16th place and Romain Sicard's 18th made sure the French cup-race wasn't a total write-off for the team, as the orange contingent failed to light up the racing in the west of France. Young Vacansoleil stagiaire Wesley Kreder, cousin of Michel and Raymond Kreder and brother of Dennis, secured himself a permanent place on the Dutch team by soloing clear in the last few kilometres to beat a charging pack by a mere two seconds. In it were the two aforementioned 'Carrots', who both got their campaigns off to solid conclusions, while Adrián Sáez came home in 35th at 1:52 and Rubén Pérez 52nd at 1:57.

Pablo Urtasun and Mikel Astarloza both failed to complete the race.

Results (full results here):

• (1, Wesley Kreder (Vacansoleil-DCM), 4:13:08)
• 16, Ricardo García, 0:02
• 18, Romain Sicard, s.t.
• 35, Adrián Sáez, 1:52
• 52, Rubén Pérez, 1:57
• DNF: Mikel Astarloza, Pablo Urtasun