The majorly unsuccesful french ProTour team recently announced that they would pull out of cycling. The announcement came in December and left a scurried time for the Bouygues riders to find new teams with many signing for Cofidis, Credit Agricole and Agritubel.
All of this left a ProTour slot to be filled, the major contendors were Relax-Gam, Barloworld and DFL - CYclingnews. But these 3 were to be outgunned by the succesful Austrian businessman Dietrich Mateschitz who announced plans to branch his Red Bull brand into cycling. Mateschwitz had some close negotiations with UCI and were given the proTour slot providing they signed some riders from "lesser" nations, many speculation was that they could be asian as the Red Bull side would hold their first training camp in Qatar.
One thing that was known though would be the teams kit: Edited by SportingNonsense on 05-04-2007 22:12
December 25
RBCT announced that their team manager for the season would be an unknown brit: SportingNonsense who outlined the teams main aims:
[list]
[*]To provide a ProTour opportunity for many riders who may otherwise not recieve a chance
[*]To sign up young talents from rival ProTour squads in order to maintain their ProTour position and hopefully do well in Le Tour de France
[*]To win or be successful in the tours of Austria, Britain and Qatar. As well as the Tour Down Under, the Tour of California and all ProTour events[/list]
Also today, the teams first signings were announced:
Karl Menzies (AUS) and Russel Downing (GBR) would sign from HealthNet.
Tomas Voeckler (FRA), Xavier Florencio (FRA) and Erki Putsep (EST) would all join from the defunct Bouygues Telecom side and the Austrian Rene Hasselbacher would provide experience and also an Austrian presence
December 26 and 27
In the 2 days after christmas RBCT received some late 'presents' in the form of unsigned riders:
Hayden Roulston (NZL), Rafaâ Chtioui (TUN), Igor Pajovic (SCG), Robert Kiserlovski (CRO), Mossa Said (QAT), Kris Hedges (BER), Jeremie Ouédraogo (BUR) and Thomas Rohregger (AUT).
David McCann (IRE) also provided a strong rider for stage races and Wes Sulzberger (AUS) is a promising young sprinter.
December 28
The new manager, SportingNonsense led his first press conference in which he announced some major additions to the current squad of 16, in a 'raid' of CSC.
Matti Breschel (DEN), Fabian Cancellara (SWI), Frank Schleck (LUX), Matthew Goss (AUS) and Linus Gerdemann (GER). He also announced that they planned to take a roster of 30 and also this seems high many riders would be inexperienced.
December 29
Tareq Esmaeli (QAT), Jason McCartney (USA), Robby Hunter (SAF), Radhwam Al-Moraqab (QAT) and Tim Cassidy (IRE) all signed and there were 2 spots left open and both were promised to be strong riders.
December 30
Janez Brajkovic, the Slovenian grand tour contender announced he would join the Red Bull Riding Team. He joins a Croatian and Serbian in the very multi-national team.
December 31
In the morning a short statement was release stating a very talented British rider had signed for the side. T-Mobile were quick to confirm that this rider was not Mark Cavendish or Roger Hammond. Bradley Wiggins also denied any link and the Media came to the inevitable and correct conclusion that David Millar was the final signing for the team. Rumours surfaced that they were set to sign cuban sprinter Ivan Dominguez that Suanier Duval were also depserate to sign and Red Bull offered Dominguez as a swap with Millar who had signalled intent to leave but still had a year left on his contract.
In other news Jan Ullrich announced that he would return to cycling with an Austrian team - not Red Bull, but Volksbank. Aussie champion Russell Van Hout would return to Europe with CSC, speaking about national champions - T-Mobile signed the german champ Dirk Muller.
After 10 Days of Training and struggling to get any secondary sponsors (Even Red Bull turned be down! ) the action finally started with the Australian ITT Championships, with Goss a 2-star favourite. With only Sulzberger before Goss to work out what to do i knew it would be tough. Goss took 1st in the first two checkpoints and I presumed Rogers would still be to come having not featured, but no, I got a surprise when Rogers came in 2nd at the finish behind Navigators' Day. I had a 12 second advantage over day but I ran out of steam with a kilometre to go and lost the lead by 6 seconds, to take second. Menzies came in a surprising 8th and Sulzberger rounded out the top 10 as I took the team classification.
Meanwhile, the Tour de Langkawi approached the team wishing for Janez Brajkovic to ride (I had not finalised my team for it yet so would of course accept) but I made a mistake in announcing it to the Media and not to the rider. Janez would be supported by Voeckler and Gerdemann.
Next up, the Australian Road Race Champs.
My goal for this one was for Menzies to attack the munch with 10/15km to go and not get caught in the sprint.
The race began and a breakaway of 6 got away, their lead peaked at 5 minutes and I put Wes Sulzberger on a long term relay at 82%, this did better than I thought as not only did it start to reel in the escapees, it also caused many riders to drop off the back of the peleton. Another plus side was that Sulzberger managed to break away by going at an 82% relay and those able to follow included, Hansen, Evans, Menzies (), David () and O'Grady (). The peleton did not chase and the breakaway gained pace.
I made my first Menzies mistake with 30km to go as I followed an attack by O'Grady and Evans, this break came to nothing and I had wasted a full blue bar. At this point Sulzberger cracked and there was just 6 left: David, O'Grady, Lloyd, Menzies, Hansen and Evans. As we edged closer to the finish O'Grady cracked and yet again I made a mistake in filling my blue bar and attacking with 10km to go. I kicked myself when Davis then cracked as I was the best remaining sprinter - but with 2 and a half red bars thanks to the attack. Lloyd struggled to hang on and Evans took a small gap on myself and Hansen. The sprint began with me on 3 red bars and I quickly eased away from Hansen and closed in on Evans, with about 200m to go I was right behind him but my red bars filled up and I dropped back a little to take second.
Goss attacked the peleton with 4.5km to go and my plan worked as when the sprint began Gooss had a good lead, with only McEwen passing him right on the line, so Goss took 9th. The peleton finished 4 minutes down. Sulzberger came in 27th, 6 minutes down.
I have started to make plans for my Qatar and Australian races in January. I plan for an Asian bias at Qatar with the 3 Qatar riders (If the 3rd recovers from injury) and the Iranian Mezbahni. The sprinter they will support will be Matti Breschel.
For the Tour Down Under I plan to use the aussies Goss, Menzies and Sulzberger. New zealander Roulston, Robbie Hunter and possibly Russell Downing.
Jacob's Creek Down Under Classic
Team: Ouédraogo, Hedges, Hunter, Roulston, Downing, Goss, Sulzberger, Menzies
I sent the Burkina Faso national champ Ouédraogo, Hedges and Roulston into a break but they get caught once the sprint began. £ riders remained but were gobbled up in the last kilometer. I had poor positioning in the sprint but Wes Sulzberger was superb and I thought he had sneaked it but no he was second by a minimal amount. So thats 3 races and 3 second places.
1 Sebastian Siedler TEAM MILRAM
2 Wes Sulzberger RED BULL CYCLING TEAM
3 Luca Paolini LIQUIGAS
4 Mark Renshaw CRÉDIT AGRICOLE
5 David Navas AG2R PRÉVOYANCE
6 José Antonio Redondo ASTANÁ
7 Matt Cooke NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM
8 Stéphane Poulhiès AG2R PRÉVOYANCE
9 William Bonnet CRÉDIT AGRICOLE
10 Mirko Lorenzetto TEAM MILRAM
11 Robert Hunter RED BULL CYCLING TEAM
12 Matthew Goss RED BULL CYCLING TEAM
13 Mauro Da Dalto LIQUIGAS
14 Karl Menzies RED BULL CYCLING TEAM
15 Kurt Hovelynck CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN
16 Assan Bazajev ASTANÁ
17 Matej Jurco TEAM MILRAM
18 Russell Downing RED BULL CYCLING TEAM
19 Gennadi Mikhailov ASTANÁ
20 Aleksei Kolessov ASTANÁ
21 Kris Hedges RED BULL CYCLING TEAM
22 Jérémie Ouédraogo RED BULL CYCLING TEAM
23 Nick Gates PREDICTOR - LOTTO
24 Wim Vansevenant PREDICTOR - LOTTO
25 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED
There was some consolation in wiining the team prize and I also secured a second secondary sponsor: Michelin.
Tour Down Under
Team: Ouédraogo, Hedges, Putsep, Roulston, Downing, Goss, Sulzberger, Menzies
With only the out of form Hushovd and Zabel to put up much fight the first stage was a superb trible for the team, Goss led out Sulzberger who was planned to lead out Downing but Sulzberger was too strong and took the win. Ouédraogo finished 14 minutes down having got in a break and cracked.
Overall Standings
1 Wes Sulzberger RED BULL CYCLING TEAM 3h53'08
2 Russell Downing RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 8
3 Matthew Goss RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 12
4 David Navas AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 16
5 Serge Pauwels CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 18
6 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS + 20
7 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
8 Samuel Dumoulin AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
9 Martin Elmiger AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
10 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
Edited by SportingNonsense on 19-03-2007 18:29
TDU - Stage 2,3, 4 + 5
Celebrations were afoot yesterday as the Red Bull team took their first ever win, they will hope for moe during their hectic January and early February. And this is what they got on Stage 2.
Numerous breaks throught the day and with a climb at the start I sent Ouédraogo away to take some KoM points, he came second which was enough to give him the lead in the competition, he weven made it through a couple of sprint before needless to say, he was caught and dropped - finishing last yet again.
Crunch time began once again and after a late climb Downing and Goss were effectively ruled out of the sprint and Sulzberger wasnt in a strong position, fortunately Menzies had a full blue bar so off he went and he took a slight gap as the sprint began, and he did not look back (Well of course he didnt, since looking back is impossible in the game).
Stage
1 Karl Menzies RED BULL CYCLING TEAM 3h43'12
2 Gennadi Mikhailov ASTANÁ s.t.
3 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
4 Matej Jurco TEAM MILRAM s.t.
5 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
6 Julian Dean CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
7 Benjamin Brooks NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM s.t.
8 Sébastien Hinault CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
9 Juri Krivtsov AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
10 Wes Sulzberger RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
Overall
1 Wes Sulzberger RED BULL CYCLING TEAM 7h36'18
2 Karl Menzies RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 2
3 Gennadi Mikhailov ASTANÁ + 10
4 Russell Downing RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
5 Wim Vansevenant PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 12
6 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS + 14
7 Matthew Goss RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
8 Serge Pauwels CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
9 David Navas AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 18
10 Kane Oakley DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 20
Mountains
1 Jérémie Ouédraogo RED BULL CYCLING TEAM 4 8
Stage 3 was another fierce affair, a break of 7 got away but then on the hill the peleton split and Downing, Roulston, Ouédraogo and Hedges were left behind. Left with just Pukstep, Menzies, Goss and Sulzberger I sent Putstep to the front to help chase down the breakaway which was getting dangerous.
Even with 1 km to go it was looking tough with Joachim and Van Urden holding a good lead, fortunately I had set Menzies off on an attack to hopefully claw them in or at least get close enough to keep overall hopes. It worked a dream as Menzies rapidly chased down the pair and just ran out of space. I seriously thought Van Urden had celebrated too early (the pic shows him lowering his arms).
Sulzberger's 4th was good and it also clawed the break back enough so that they all finished at the same time. Menzies though, with time bonuses, took the overall lead.
Meanwhile, Qatar rider Radhwam Al-Moraqab recovered from injury and will be able to start the Qatar races later this month. David McCann and Tim Cassidy have both confirmed that they will take part in Le Tour de Langkawi, joining Gerdemann, Voeckler and Brajkovic.
By stage 4 of the Tour Down Under it was clear to the Red Bull management team that Mr. Karl Menzies was the in-form rider going intio the crucial stage, Sulzberger was also in good form but the decisive climb would pose too much of a problem.
Again there was a breakaway that Hedges tried and failed to get into, Hedges just rode inbetween the peleton and break for the majority of the early part of the race.
As the foot of the climb began with 25km to go the break was looking dangerous but as it progressed the break crumbled and there were many attacks. The top of the climb was reached and Ben Day (Early escapee) held a small lead over Pozzato, Ghisalberti and yes, you gueessed it, Menzies. There were 5 more riders littered between them and the peleton containing all the other contendors.
With 3 km to go Day was caught and passed as Menzies and Pozzato sprinted clear. Menzies led the sprint with Pozzato following but Pozzato seemed to have no answer, he surged through at the end but it was not enough as Menzies took stage win #2.
Stage
1 Karl Menzies RED BULL CYCLING TEAM 3h36'57
2 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
3 Sergio Ghisalberti TEAM MILRAM + 54
4 Ben Day NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM s.t.
5 Benjamin Brooks NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM + 2'08
6 Johan Vansummeren PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
7 Jonathon Clarke SOUTH AUSTRALIA.COM - AIS CYCLING + 2'32
8 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
9 Jelle Vanendert CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
10 Wes Sulzberger RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 3'04
11 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
12 Eddy Mazzoleni ASTANÁ s.t.
13 Mark Renshaw CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
14 Maxim Gourov ASTANÁ s.t.
15 Samuel Dumoulin AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
Overall
1 Karl Menzies RED BULL CYCLING TEAM 15h03'48
2 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS + 32
3 Sergio Ghisalberti TEAM MILRAM + 1'38
4 Ben Day NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM + 1'42
5 Benjamin Brooks NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM + 3'00
6 Johan Vansummeren PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
7 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 3'24
8 Jelle Vanendert CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
9 Wes Sulzberger RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 3'34
10 Gennadi Mikhailov ASTANÁ + 3'44
11 Benoît Joachim ASTANÁ s.t.
12 Matthew Goss RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 3'48
13 Serge Pauwels CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
14 David Navas AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 3'52
15 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 3'56
Stage 5 was nice and flat and posed no danger whatsoever to Menzies' lead.
Kris Hedges made his way into a breakaway with noone highly ranked, until Lazlo Bodrogi spoiled it - as he was 3'56 down. So once the lead got to 4 minutes I had no choice but to help out Milram and Astana in chasing them down. With 10km to go they still could do it and Matthew Goss attacked the peleton, looking to gain 5 seconds so that he would finish inside the top 10.
At 5 km Goss was closing in, but the breakaway knew they had won and started getting edgy. Stephen Woolridge (SouthAustralia) was clearly the best sprinter in the group as as the second best I got hedges to follow him. The sprint began and Woolridge soon began to pullaway, Hedges looked like he could hang on to second., but no Matthew Goos had caught the group and steamed past - he was too late for the win though. Hedges was then just pipped on the line by Laurent Mangel (Ag2r), denying the Bermudam a podium finish.
Menzies led home the peleton and due to the slow sprinting of some of the breakaway he was less than 20 'seconds' behind and the peleton everyone finished on the same time.
Stage
1 Stephen Wooldridge SOUTH AUSTRALIA.COM - AIS CYCLING 2h06'20
2 Matthew Goss RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
3 Laurent Mangel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
4 Kris Hedges RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
5 Matthew Gilmore CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
6 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
7 László Bodrogi CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
8 Olivier Kaisen PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
9 Karl Menzies RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
10 Benjamin Brooks NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM s.t.
Overall
Points
1 Karl Menzies RED BULL CYCLING TEAM 7 77
2 Wes Sulzberger RED BULL CYCLING TEAM 0 53
3 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS 0 48
4 Benjamin Brooks NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM 6 43
5 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE 0 39
6 Matthew Goss RED BULL CYCLING TEAM 20 38
7 Jonathon Clarke SOUTH AUSTRALIA.COM - AIS CYCLING 0 33
8 Stephen Wooldridge SOUTH AUSTRALIA.COM - AIS CYCLING 25 29
9 Bernard Van Ulden NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM 0 29
10 Mark Renshaw CRÉDIT AGRICOLE 2 28
KoM
1 Ben Day NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM 0 10
2 Jonathon Clarke SOUTH AUSTRALIA.COM - AIS CYCLING 0 8
3 Bernard Van Ulden NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM 0 8
4 Jérémie Ouédraogo RED BULL CYCLING TEAM 0 8
Edited by SportingNonsense on 20-03-2007 08:03
On the eve of the Doha Gp the squad for the Qatar races was announced.
Mezbahni (Iran), Esmaeli, Said and El-Moraqab (Qatar), Florencio (Spain), Pajovic (Serbia), Hunter (South Africa), Millar (United Kingdom), Rohregger (Austria) and Breschel (Denmark).
Doha International GP
I stook Qatarian Moosa Said into the successful break of 12 riders - I was about the 8th strongest sprinter but I was only aiming for top 10 and top 10 it was as I took a good 6th. Meanwhile the sprint in the peleton would give a good idea about how well Breschel and Hunter are doing in preparation for the tour of Qatar and Breschel took 17th (5th in bunch), and Hunter took 23rd (11th in bunch).
1 Robert Wagner TEAM WIESENHOF - FELT 2h24'25
2 Matteo Tosatto QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
3 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM s.t.
4 Sébastien Chavanel FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
5 Robert Gesink RABOBANK s.t.
6 Moosa Said RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
7 Kenny Lisabeth CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
8 Filippo Savini CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
9 Preben Van Hecke PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
10 Cyrille Monnerais FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
Tour of Qatar
Millar and Rohregger replaced Pajovic and Florencio for the main tour.
Well with the tour completed I have decided instead to review Qatar, from each riders point of view.
Firstly the important results:
Stage 1: Petacchi
Stage 2: Radochla
Stage 3: Petacchi
Stage 4: Dekkers
Stage 5: Van Heeswijk
Overall: Petacchi
Points: Petacchi
Young Rider: Dekkers
Team: CSC
Matti Breschel - 6th Overall - 11th Points - 2nd Young Rider:
Breschel came into the tour hopeing to figure strongly in the sprints and aim for the top 3 in a stage or two, if not better but it was not to me. His sprint gave him 22nd, 12th, 8th, 16th and 10th. Because of his poor form I sent him on the attack in stage 4 to win the 2 sprints which he did before falling back to the peleton and this was what gave him 6th.
Robbie Hunter - 12th Overall - 14th Points:
Robbie was also disappointing as throughout he was rated as a 2-star candidate and his sprint results brought a disappointing: 27th, 18th, 71st, 9th and 12th. In stage 5 i got him to win the first sprint which took him to 12th.
David Millar - 13th Overall - 30th Points:
i did not want Millar to ride this but Jape's Editor somehow didnt work and I was forced to ride him. As i had not wanted him to ride he had not trained too much and struggled in the first two stages but manging to keep with the peleton. He improved slightly over the duration and took 2nd in the 2nd sprint on stage 5 to take 13th overall. His best stage finish was 71st
The Qatar Riders, Tareq Esmaeli - 62nd, Mossa Said - 101st and Radhwam Al-Moraqab - 115th
Man yattacks and involvements in breakaways throughout but nothing came of it unlike Said's 6th in Doha. Esmaeli was the only rider to not lose any time to the peleton over the duration. Said's best stage finish was 43rd, Esmaeli's was 50th and Al-Moragab's was 78th.
Ghader Mizbani - 98th:
A quiet race for Mizbani who just couldnt get into the breaks. 66th was his best stage finish.
Tomas Rohregger - 106th:
The same as for Mizbani, finished 50th in one stage.
Next up: January Review and the start of le Tour de langkawi!
Edited by SportingNonsense on 21-03-2007 20:17
Stage 1 Red Bull Headline: Utter Dissapointment
Today 4 riders had a cause for disappointment today, Tim Cassidy, Wes Sulzberger, Rob Kiserlovski and Janez Brajkovic and here's how:
in a short stage of 83km i figured a breakaway could work well so off Cassidy went in a 7 man break. Second in the first sprint, I accidentally skipped the 2nd in 8x and I won the 3rd, and the breakaway had over a minute with 10km to left. Cassidy beagn the sprint with the stronger Gilling on his wheel, when disaster!
Back in the peleton there had been a crash and going down was a bunch of around 10 riders including Kiserlovski and janez Brajkovic! Even worse was the presence of an injury sign by Janez' name.
Back in the sprint Cassidy was slowly getting away from Gilling when the feared message came over intercom: "Thats the end of todays breakaway". With less than 1km to go could Cassidy hang on?
No. he was caught with a few hundred metres left as Dumoulin went by having come out from behind Navigators' Grishkine, but it was not over for red Bull as Wes Sulzberger was closing on Dumoulin on the other side of the road, but it was not enough and for at least the 2nd time Suzlebrger takes 2nd by a marginal margin.
The crashed group came in 3 minutes back and I was eager to see if Brajkovic would indeed have to withdraw the next day. So i was very relieved when Brajkovic' injury was not so bad as it had seemed and he could complete the tour - although his victory hopes were surely dashed as he was 3'53 down on the overall lead, time to step up Linus Gerdemann!
1 Samuel Dumoulin AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 1h51'44
2 Wes Sulzberger RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
3 Oleg Grishkine NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM s.t.
4 Elio Aggiano TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
5 Artur Gajek TEAM WIESENHOF - FELT s.t.
6 Timothy Cassidy RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
7 Sergei Koudentsov MARCO POLO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
8 Aleksandr Usov AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
9 Antonio Bucciero CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
10 Anthony José Brea SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
Stage 2 Headline: Cassidy Captures race Lead
Tim Cassidy was gutted after yesterdays result and ignitiated the attack today, to be joined by 7 others. Cassidy was on paper the 4th best sprinter so attacked 2.5km before each of the 3 spints in order to gain a gap to take the sprints. This worked all 3 times and Cassidy knew that if the breakaway survived he would take the lead.
With 10km to go a 2 minutes lead and Cassidy could raise half a smile while concentrating on the finish. He inadvertently was forced to lead the sprint and Roger Beuchat passed him to take the win. The battle for 2nd, 3rd and 4th was much tighter and Cassidy did well to edge out Ben Greenwood.
The pack was led home by Sulzberger 53 seconds behind, but the Brajkovic situation is a real puzzler. I have had no messages telling me that hes injured and youd think he was fine but the medbox sign remained throughout the stage. I decided that if he was dropped he would abandon, but he survived finishing 92nd out of 94 and crucially still in the peleton.
1 Roger Beuchat TEAM LPR 3h37'55
2 Bert Scheirlinckx LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
3 Timothy Cassidy RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
4 Ben Greenwood RECYCLING.CO.UK s.t.
5 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
6 Francesco Tomei CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
7 Nicolas Roche CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
8 Christophe Lembrechts YAWADOO - COLBA - ABM s.t.
9 Wes Sulzberger RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 53
10 Samuel Dumoulin AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
1 Timothy Cassidy RED BULL CYCLING TEAM 5h29'03
2 Roger Beuchat TEAM LPR + 10
3 Bert Scheirlinckx LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER + 24
4 Nicolas Roche CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 36
5 Francesco Tomei CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
6 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
7 Christophe Lembrechts YAWADOO - COLBA - ABM s.t.
8 Samuel Dumoulin AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 1'09
9 Wes Sulzberger RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 1'17
10 Bas Giling TEAM WIESENHOF - FELT + 1'19
Edited by SportingNonsense on 21-03-2007 21:59
Simoni crashed in my Giro 'd Italia (luckily not my captain) and even though he didn't abandon his Giro was over. He was dropped as one of the first on all stages thereafter, so.
Langkawi Stage 3 Headline: Dessel soars to glory as Voeckler leads the Bulls
A break went clear and took a big 9 minute lead at the foot of the big climb, then the crucial moment came when Dessel escaped unannounced!, by the time i noticed he had a minute and a half over the peleton, Kiserlovski, Gerdemann and Voeckler attacked to catch up. Dessel just powered away and there was nothing I could do, it did become obvious though that Voeckler was the stongest and tried to work his way through the early escapees, with the company of Credit Agricole's Bellotti. A group of the other main contendors formed behind with Rob Kiserlovski in the group, Gerdemann was just behind them.
Dessel took the win, Kudashev survived from the early break for 2nd, Bellin (Also break) came 3rd ahead of Voeckler and Bellotti.
1 Cyril Dessel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 4h09'29
2 Denis Kudashev RELAX - GAM + 1'19
3 Maurizio Bellin TEAM LPR + 2'18
4 Thomas Voeckler RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
5 Francesco Bellotti CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
6 Emanuele Sella CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 2'45
7 Walter Pedraza SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
8 Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
9 Julian Sanchez Pimienta RELAX - GAM s.t.
10 José Serpa SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
11 Wladimir Belli SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
12 Robert Kiserlovski RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
13 Dmitri Fofonov CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
14 Blaise Sonnery AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 3'34
15 Linus Gerdemann RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
16 Niklas Axelsson SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA + 3'53
17 Didier Rous TEAM LPR + 4'48
18 Matt Cooke NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM s.t.
19 Frédéric Gabriel LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
20 Pavel Brutt TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
21 Jörg Ludewig TEAM WIESENHOF - FELT s.t.
22 Phil Zajicek NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM s.t.
23 Nacor Burgos RELAX - GAM s.t.
24 Fabio Duarte SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
25 Benjamin Brooks NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM s.t.
26 Sergei Klimov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
27 Robert Partridge RECYCLING.CO.UK + 7'10
28 Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
29 David McCann RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 7'46
30 Daniele Nardello TEAM LPR s.t.
1 Cyril Dessel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 9h39'41
2 Maurizio Bellin TEAM LPR + 2'22
3 Thomas Voeckler RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 2'38
4 Francesco Bellotti CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
5 Dmitri Fofonov CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 3'05
6 Walter Pedraza SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
7 Emanuele Sella CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
8 Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
9 Julian Sanchez Pimienta RELAX - GAM s.t.
10 Wladimir Belli SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
11 José Serpa SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
12 Blaise Sonnery AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 3'54
13 Linus Gerdemann RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
14 Niklas Axelsson SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA + 4'13
15 Benjamin Brooks NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM + 4'54
16 Sergei Klimov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
17 Denis Kudashev RELAX - GAM s.t.
18 Jörg Ludewig TEAM WIESENHOF - FELT + 5'08
19 Matt Cooke NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM s.t.
20 Nacor Burgos RELAX - GAM s.t.
21 Fabio Duarte SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
22 Pavel Brutt TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
23 Phil Zajicek NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM s.t.
24 Frédéric Gabriel LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
25 Didier Rous TEAM LPR s.t.
26 Robert Kiserlovski RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 6'38
27 Robert Partridge RECYCLING.CO.UK + 7'28
28 Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 7'30
29 Edmund Hollands MARCO POLO CYCLING TEAM + 8'06
30 David McCann RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
Headline: McCann takes 4th as Dessel crashes
I sent the Irish champion David McCann into the breakaway and it slowly made its way clear, i knew a win would be tough though as he came 2nd, 1stand 3rd in the sprints. As we neared the finish there was a crash in the peleton including Cyril Dessel! (Yippee) and a few other top climbers.
Up front the sprint began and McCann did his best but could only take 4th, the time gaps though would move him into 9th overall. The winner: Bas Gilling, he was the 2nd strongest sprinter in the ill-fated break of stage 1 (Behind cassidy). Sulzberger led the pack home, and the crashees came in a couple of minutes behind, not as much as I would have liked though.
1 Bas Giling TEAM WIESENHOF - FELT 3h09'40
2 Francesco Tomei CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
3 Eduard Bogaert YAWADOO - COLBA - ABM s.t.
4 David McCann RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
5 Fu-yu Li MARCO POLO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
6 Andy Cappelle LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
7 Nicolas Roche CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
8 Wes Sulzberger RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 4'04
9 Angelo Furlan CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
10 Artur Gajek TEAM WIESENHOF - FELT s.t.
82 Cyril Dessel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE +6'46
1 Maurizio Bellin TEAM LPR 12h55'47
2 Thomas Voeckler RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 16
3 Francesco Bellotti CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
4 Cyril Dessel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 20
5 Dmitri Fofonov CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 43
6 Walter Pedraza SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
7 Emanuele Sella CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
8 Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
9 David McCann RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 1'28
10 Blaise Sonnery AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 1'32
11 Linus Gerdemann RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
12 Benjamin Brooks NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM + 2'32
13 Sergei Klimov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 2'38
14 Denis Kudashev RELAX - GAM s.t.
15 Matt Cooke NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM + 2'46
Edited by SportingNonsense on 24-03-2007 11:29
The volta a mallorca is up next with the team: Menzies, Goss, Florencio, Chtioui, Pajovic, McCartney and Cancellara.
Trofeo Mallorca
Small, short, flat. A sprinter's stage - despite my best efforts. A big crash towards the end was fun to watch but involved noone big.
1 Gert Steegmans QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC 1h50'48
2 Eric Baumann T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
3 Magnus Bäckstedt LIQUIGAS s.t.
4 Mark Cavendish T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
5 Alex Rasmussen TEAM CSC s.t.
6 André Korff T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
7 Karl Menzies RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
8 Javier Mejias SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
9 Paolo Bettini QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
10 Carlos Torrent VIÑA MAGNA - CROPU s.t.
11 Angel Vicioso RELAX - GAM s.t.
12 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER s.t.
13 Oscar Gatto GEROLSTEINER s.t.
14 Fabian Cancellara RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
15 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
16 Iñaki Isasi EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
17 Xavier Florencio RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
18 Aleksei Schmidt OMNIBIKE DYNAMO MOSKOW s.t.
19 André Greipel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
20 Steven De Jongh QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
21 Frantisek Rabon T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
22 Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
23 Marcus Ljungqvist TEAM CSC s.t.
24 Matthew Goss RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
Trofeo Alcudia
Again a sprinters stage, but this time with more surprises and Boonen again struggled. Instead of a crash at the end here was a split but unfortunately they made it back. I did my best and Florencio led with 1km to go but it was not to be.
1 Alex Rasmussen TEAM CSC 3h47'51
2 Iñaki Isasi EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
3 Gert Steegmans QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
4 Angel Vicioso RELAX - GAM s.t.
5 Eric Baumann T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
6 Xavier Florencio RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
7 Karl Menzies RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
8 Danail Petrov BENFICA s.t.
9 Oscar Gatto GEROLSTEINER s.t.
10 Javier Mejias SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
11 Paolo Bettini QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
12 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER s.t.
13 André Greipel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
14 Matthew Goss RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
15 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
16 Magnus Bäckstedt LIQUIGAS s.t.
17 Fabian Cancellara RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
Trofeo Pollenca
I sent Menzies into the first attack on 5km and that lasted until 30km in. Florencio then attacked and a goup of 12 established themselves out the front. Florencio just sneaked the first sprint and also took the first climb as the group fell to 9. There was just 8 halfway up the main climb when a few riders tried to get away from the rest, Florencio was strong though and had plenty of blue bar left when I guess the others had little. Further up Wellens (liquigas) and Zabriskie attacked, Florencio kept with them and they produced a small gap, then when the attackees ran out of blue, Florencio went on alone - without having to attack at all.
I wasnt sure whether i should wait for Zabriskie and Wellens but decided I was strong enough and went on alone. Meanwhile Quick Step took over the pacesetting to protect Steegmens' lead but ironically due to the pace increase steegmens dropped to the back of the peleton. Florencio reached the top of the climb with a 2 minute lead over Zabriskie/Wellens so I'd obviously made a good decision. Steegmens was finally dropped asthe descent began and the peleton was back to having no pace setters - perfect. After a couple more smal lclimbs and the descent, we reached the flat and Florencio held a 2 and a half minute lead over Z/W, 3 minutes on the rest of the break and 4 and a half minute on the 41 man peleton.
With 10km to go Florencio retained his 2 + 1/2 minute leasd but Z/W had been caught by the rest of the original break. The peleton was 3 minutes back. With 7km to go McCartney attacked the peleton, he soon passed the 7 man group who were then caught. Florencio held a 2 minute lead over him as he began the climb to the finish. The lead was down to 1 minute with 1km to go but that was enough for florencio to win.
1 Xavier Florencio RED BULL CYCLING TEAM 4h12'08
2 Jason McCartney RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 40
3 David Arroyo CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'13
4 David Bernabéu FUERTAVENTURA - CANARIAS + 1'24
5 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER s.t.
6 Nicki Sørensen TEAM CSC s.t.
7 Dirk Müller T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
8 Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
9 William Walker RABOBANK + 1'47
10 Angel Vicioso RELAX - GAM s.t.
11 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
12 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS s.t.
13 Michael Boogerd RABOBANK s.t.
14 Marc De Maar RABOBANK s.t.
15 José Azevedo BENFICA s.t.
16 Danail Petrov BENFICA s.t.
17 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
18 Marcos Serrano KARPIN GALICIA s.t.
19 Koos Moerenhout RABOBANK s.t.
20 José Antonio Pecharroman BENFICA s.t.
1 Xavier Florencio RED BULL CYCLING TEAM 9h50'15
2 Jason McCartney RED BULL CYCLING TEAM +1'00
3 David Arroyo CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'37
4 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER + 1'56
5 Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
6 Nicki Sørensen TEAM CSC s.t.
7 David Bernabéu FUERTAVENTURA - CANARIAS s.t.
8 Dirk Müller T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
9 Frederik Willems LIQUIGAS + 2'13
10 Angel Vicioso RELAX - GAM + 2'19
11 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
12 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS s.t.
13 Theo Eltink RABOBANK s.t.
14 Paolo Bettini QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
15 Fabian Cancellara RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
16 William Walker RABOBANK s.t.
17 Mauricio Ardila RABOBANK s.t.
18 Marc De Maar RABOBANK s.t.
19 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
20 Michael Boogerd RABOBANK s.t.
Edited by SportingNonsense on 24-03-2007 15:52
Team: Ouedrago, Roulston, Schleck, Millar, Downing, Breschel, and Al-Moraqab.
Stage 1
A flat stage so the team aimed to get Downing a good finish. With two early hills Roulston attacked and won both to take the montains jersey. Meanwhile behind poor positioning in the pack meant that at one stage I had no red bull cyclists in the peleton, along with many others - we caught up easily though.
Down o the sprint and Downign was only 15th when it began and did well to take 9th. Up front Zabel gave Petacchi a perfect lead out and Petacchi managed to hang on to beat bonnen by a whisker.
Stage 2
Coming up to Mount Faron the peleton was still intact and I attacked with Schleck and Roulston knowing they wouldnt make it. There were countered by Vladimir Efimkin who went on to win it. Im not worried about Schleck as he has not been training at all.
1 Vladimir Efimkin CAISSE D'EPARGNE 2h58'12
2 Laurent Brochard CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
3 Marco Marzano LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 16
4 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
5 Tyler Hamilton TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
6 Gianpaolo Caruso LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
7 Bradley McGee FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
8 Ivan Parra Pinto COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 44
9 Sylvain Calzati AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
10 Marzio Bruseghin LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 52
17 Frank Schleck RED BULL CYCLING TEAM +1'16
19 Hayden Roulston RED BULL CYCLING TEAM +1'24
Stage 3 was the team time trial, I was out early and just didnt push hard enough. I took 1st at the finish but eventually came third, i was disappointed as it was one stage I knew i could win.
1 Leonardo Scarselli QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC 22'23
2 Tom Boonen QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
3 Serge Baguet QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
4 Bram Tankink QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
5 Kevin Hulsmans QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
6 Cédric Vasseur QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
7 Ivan Parra Pinto COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 3
8 Michiel Elijzen COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
9 Frédéric Bessy COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
10 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
11 Maxime Monfort COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
12 Pierrick Fédrigo COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
13 Frank Schleck RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 4
14 David Millar RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
15 Russell Downing RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
16 Hayden Roulston RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
17 Jérémie Ouédraogo RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
18 Matti Breschel RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 6
19 Stéphane Augé COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 11
20 Frank Høj COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
Overall
1 Vladimir Efimkin CAISSE D'EPARGNE 6h01'29
2 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 5
3 Laurent Brochard CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 6
4 Marco Marzano LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 24
5 Gianpaolo Caruso LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 32
6 Ivan Parra Pinto COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 33
7 Tyler Hamilton TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 34
8 Bradley McGee FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 45
9 Serge Baguet QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC + 1'02
10 Frank Schleck RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 1'06
11 Marzio Bruseghin LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 1'08
12 Maxime Monfort COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 1'13
13 Hayden Roulston RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 1'14
Stage 4
A tough climb at the end followed by a rapid descent would prove the decisive part of the stage. I went for 2 strategies with Schleck and Roulston. Roulston attacked towards the top and the decent while Schleck kept on a relay, amazingly it was Schleck who stayed with the lead group and in doing so moved up the overall standings oncemore, his fitness slowly improving for an attempt at California in warmup for Paris-Nice.
Stage
1 Bradley McGee FRANÇAISE DES JEUX 2h25'43
2 Gianpaolo Caruso LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
3 Tadej Valjavec LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
4 Paolo Tiralongo LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
5 Marzio Bruseghin LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
6 Mirko Celestino TEAM MILRAM s.t.
7 Tyler Hamilton TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
8 Patrice Halgand CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
9 Laurent Brochard CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
10 Marco Marzano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
11 Frank Schleck RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
12 Hubert Dupont AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
13 Giuliano Figueras LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
14 Hayden Roulston RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 24
Overall
1 Laurent Brochard CRÉDIT AGRICOLE 8h27'18
2 Gianpaolo Caruso LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 14
3 Marco Marzano LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 18
4 Bradley McGee FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 19
5 Tyler Hamilton TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 28
6 Frank Schleck RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 1'00
7 Marzio Bruseghin LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 1'02
8 Mirko Celestino TEAM MILRAM + 1'10
9 Tadej Valjavec LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 1'18
10 Giuliano Figueras LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
11 Paolo Tiralongo LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 1'26
12 Hayden Roulston RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 1'32
Stage 5
Petacchi wins, Downing down in 20th.
Edited by SportingNonsense on 01-04-2007 21:16
I lost the details for these unfortunately. Stage 5, the last mountain stage was won by Cyril Dessel who outsprinted Belli. Voeckler came 5th in a group of 3 1'30 back, Gerdemann was 8th and Kiserlovski 10th.
Stage 6: With any obvious chance of a stage win gone - Sulzberger was in top form but the breaks all survived, I sent Haselbacher into a break. The peleton didnt chase and I took an easy win - even gaining time on the breakaway.
Stage 7: I left the computer to do something and when i returned a break had a strong lead, I started chasing it down and with 10km I sent Gerdemann to close the gap, Gerdemann caught them and the group had a small lead with 3km to go, unfrotunately doing this meant I messed up with Solzberger so when Gerdemann and co was passed, Sulzberger only managed 10th.
1 Elio Aggiano TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS 4h22'27
2 Samuel Dumoulin AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
3 Oleg Grishkine NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM s.t.
4 Angelo Furlan CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
5 Artur Gajek TEAM WIESENHOF - FELT s.t.
6 Anthony José Brea SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
7 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
8 Sergei Koudentsov MARCO POLO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
9 Antonio Bucciero CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
10 Wes Sulzberger RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
Stage 8: Following yesterdays poor performance Sulzberger joined todays break, and unsurprisingly took an easy win. In doing so, he took a strong lead in the points classification.
1 Wes Sulzberger RED BULL CYCLING TEAM 1h34'55
2 Roger Beuchat TEAM LPR + 40
3 Nacor Burgos RELAX - GAM s.t.
4 Mike Van der Putten YAWADOO - COLBA - ABM s.t.
5 Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 2'19
6 Nicolas Roche CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
7 Fabio Duarte SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA + 3'49
8 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 4'13
9 Anthony José Brea SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
10 Angelo Furlan CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
Stage 9: Finally the much anticipated Time Trial came along, and I aimed to win with either Gerdemann or McCann. Sulzberger, Haselbacher and Cassidy were used to help me work out tactics. McCann came and immediately led Day (the other 3-star favourite), and hung on to take an 8 second lead. Next comes Gerdemann, looking to maybe gain a place or two. Gerdemann took 4th and wed have to wait to see any gains. Last up was 4th place Voeckler, just 5 seconds behind 2nd and a stronger time trialer than 2nd + 3rd. He took 29th and thats where he stayed. He managed to jump to 2nd overall, Gerdemann gained 1 place to 7th, Kiserlovski dropped 2 to 14th and Mccann moved up to 22nd.
1 David McCann RED BULL CYCLING TEAM 18'48
2 Ben Day NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM + 8
3 Pavel Brutt TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 25
4 Linus Gerdemann RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 33
5 Sergei Koudentsov MARCO POLO CYCLING TEAM + 36
6 Christopher Newton RECYCLING.CO.UK + 40
7 Wouter Van Mechelen LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER + 47
8 José Serpa SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA + 51
9 José Rafael Martinez Castillo RELAX - GAM + 52
10 Phil Zajicek NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM s.t.
1 Cyril Dessel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 26h33'56
2 Thomas Voeckler RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 1'46
3 Walter Pedraza SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA + 2'09
4 Francesco Bellotti CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 2'26
5 Emanuele Sella CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 2'35
6 Wladimir Belli SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA + 3'11
7 Linus Gerdemann RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 3'26
8 Dmitri Fofonov CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 3'43
9 Maurizio Bellin TEAM LPR + 5'42
10 Blaise Sonnery AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 7'23
11 Frédéric Gabriel LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER + 8'05
12 Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 8'50
13 Phil Zajicek NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM + 9'16
14 Robert Kiserlovski RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 9'28
15 Nicolas Roche CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 9'38
16 Nacor Burgos RELAX - GAM + 9'52
17 Fu-yu Li MARCO POLO CYCLING TEAM + 10'24
18 Fabio Duarte SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA + 10'46
19 Didier Rous TEAM LPR + 10'49
20 Pavel Brutt TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 11'56
21 Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 12'04
22 David McCann RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 13'22
Stage 10: I decided to try my luck with Cassidy for the 3rd time so off he went, when it was obvious there were no chasers Kiserlovski attacked and was later followed by McCann. Cassidy attacked and looked like he could finally win but...
He fell on the final turn , having also took a companion down with him.
He came in 10th a minute down, Kiserlovski was 14th 1'44 down, McCann 15th 1'59 down and Sulzberger led the pack home 6'06 back.
Thanks to the break Kiserlovski jumped 5 places overall and McCann gained 7.
1 Ben Greenwood RECYCLING.CO.UK 1h18'22
2 Kevin Neyrinck LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
3 Matt Cooke NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM s.t.
4 Daniele Colli CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
5 Anton Mindlin TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
6 José Serpa SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
7 Yannick Talabardon CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
8 Kane Oakley DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
9 Fu-yu Li MARCO POLO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
10 Timothy Cassidy RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 1'03
11 José Rafael Martinez Castillo RELAX - GAM + 1'44
12 Mike Van der Putten YAWADOO - COLBA - ABM s.t.
13 Martin Velits TEAM WIESENHOF - FELT s.t.
14 Robert Kiserlovski RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
15 David McCann RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 1'59
16 Wes Sulzberger RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 6'06
Overall
1 Cyril Dessel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 27h59'00
2 Thomas Voeckler RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 1'46
3 Walter Pedraza SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA + 2'09
4 Francesco Bellotti CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 2'26
5 Emanuele Sella CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 2'35
6 Wladimir Belli SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA + 3'11
7 Linus Gerdemann RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 3'26
8 Fu-yu Li MARCO POLO CYCLING TEAM + 3'42
9 Robert Kiserlovski RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 4'30
10 Dmitri Fofonov CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 5'20
11 Maurizio Bellin TEAM LPR + 5'42
12 Anton Mindlin TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 6'54
13 Blaise Sonnery AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 7'23
14 Frédéric Gabriel LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER + 8'05
15 David McCann RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 8'39
Points Jersey
1 Wes Sulzberger RED BULL CYCLING TEAM 78
2 Ben Greenwood RECYCLING.CO.UK 61
3 Timothy Cassidy RED BULL CYCLING TEAM 60
4 Roger Beuchat TEAM LPR 59
5 Elio Aggiano TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS 58
6 Samuel Dumoulin AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 53
7 David McCann RED BULL CYCLING TEAM 52
8 René Haselbacher RED BULL CYCLING TEAM 51
Quick Summary
3 stage wins towards the end made up for the diappointing loss of Brajkovic, who would almost certainly of won the overall. It was really a tour for Irish breakawayas, Cassidy took part in 3 and came so close to winning each of them, McCann took part in 2 then won a time trial and Nicholas Roche (Credit Agricole) took part in 4, his best finish was 6th but the time he gained in them left him 20th overall.
Edited by SportingNonsense on 01-04-2007 21:08
) the action finally started with the Australian ITT Championships, with Goss a 2-star favourite. With only Sulzberger before Goss to work out what to do i knew it would be tough. Goss took 1st in the first two checkpoints and I presumed Rogers would still be to come having not featured, but no, I got a surprise when Rogers came in 2nd at the finish behind Navigators' Day. I had a 12 second advantage over day but I ran out of steam with a kilometre to go and lost the lead by 6 seconds, to take second. Menzies came in a surprising 8th and Sulzberger rounded out the top 10 as I took the team classification.
), David (
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