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Konica Minolta: "African cycling taking over the world."
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| snoep_de_hond |
Posted on 07-09-2008 02:34
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Neo-Pro
Posts: 310
Joined: 10-03-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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STAGE 4 (9 March)
The most difficult part of stage 4 is the climb up the castle wall to the finish. Last year David won this stage, which also was the first win of last years season.
The Columbian Victor Hugo Orozco made the first half of the stage with a solo escape.
On the penultimate climb, 38 km for the finish, a few riders attacked the peleton and were closing in on Orozco fast. The peleton was not far behind thanks to the KIO-ENE team. They did a great job controlling the race for their teammate Alejandro Ramírez (the race leader).
With 20 km to go everybody was brought back with still mainly riders from the KIO-ENE team doing the work.
When David won this stage last year Chris (Froome) pulled him away from the peleton. When Jay attacks at the foot of the castle wall and David jumps to his wheel it's clear it's a repeat of last years tactics. Will they work again?
With less then 1 km to go David has left jay behind. Can he do it......again?
It's win on home soil for David. Great stuff. Jay comes in 4th.
RESULTS
1 David George TEAM KONICA MINOLTA 3h09'51
2 Marcel Kittel THÜRINGER ENERGIE TEAM +32
3 Marcel Wyss ATLAS - ROMER'S HAUSBÄCKEREI s.t.
4 Jay Thompson TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
5 Christian Poos CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE s.t.
6 Luis Orán Castañeda COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES +45
7 Mauricio Soler BARLOWORLD s.t.
8 Svein Tuft SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM s.t.
9 Shaun Higgerson SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS +01'11
10 Burke Swindlehurst TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT +01'21
GC
1 David George TEAM KONICA MINOLTA 9h39'33
2 Marcel Kittel THÜRINGER ENERGIE TEAM +50
3 Alejandro Ramírez KIO-ENE - TONAZZO - DMT +58
4 Jay Thompson TEAM KONICA MINOLTA +1'05
5 Marcel Wyss ATLAS - ROMER'S HAUSBÄCKEREI s.t.
6 Mauricio Soler BARLOWORLD +01'08
7 Luis Orán Castañeda COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES +01'12
8 Christian Poos CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE s.t.
9 Justin England TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT +01'13
10 Svein Tuft SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM +01'18
Conclusion
After last two stages David was a bit insecure about his form. But luckily we got him back on track. Winning a stage in the biggest race of South Africa is great, but not our main goal this week. That is taking the GC and with this win David not only grabs the lead, but also has gap of 50 seconds to Kittel. Kittel is a talented TTer, but normally David will definitely not lose that much time in tomorrows short TT.
Edited by snoep_de_hond on 07-09-2008 03:08
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| snoep_de_hond |
Posted on 07-09-2008 13:14
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Neo-Pro
Posts: 310
Joined: 10-03-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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STAGE 5 (10 MArch)
A 9 km long TT with a little bump in the middle.
With only 11 riders behind him Hunter, placed 12th in GC, sets the best time so far. The winner of the prologue will end up 5th.
Hunters time is immediately beaten by Higgerson, who will end up 3th this stage.
Jay is placed 4th in the GC. It will be difficult to keep that position. Jay rides a decent TT finishing in the 15th time. He only loses 1 spot to Soler who rides the 4th time.
Ramírez, the number 3 of the GC and winner of stage 2, manages to keep his GC position by finishing in the 12th time of the day.
Kittel knows he can't make up enough time to David, but he is definitely the favourite for winning the stage. He beats Higgersons his time and ........... it's not enough, because
David also wins the TT.
RESULTS
1 David George TEAM KONICA MINOLTA 06'53
2 Marcel Kittel THÜRINGER ENERGIE TEAM +01
3 Shaun Higgerson SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS +02
4 Mauricio Soler BARLOWORLD +04
5 Robert Hunter BARLOWORLD +05
6 Svein Tuft SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM +06
7 William Ford SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS s.t.
8 Jos Van Emden SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS +07
9 Juan Carlos López UNE - ORBITEL +08
10 Radoslav Rogina CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE s.t.
15 Jay Thompson TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 12
GC
1 David George TEAM KONICA MINOLTA 9h46'26
2 Marcel Kittel THÜRINGER ENERGIE TEAM + 51
3 Alejandro Ramírez KIO-ENE - TONAZZO - DMT + 1'08
4 Mauricio Soler BARLOWORLD + 1'12
5 Jay Thompson TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 1'17
6 Svein Tuft SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM + 1'24
7 Marcel Wyss ATLAS - ROMER'S HAUSBÄCKEREI s.t.
8 Christian Poos CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE + 1'25
9 Luis Orán Castañeda COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES + 1'27
10 Justin England TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT + 1'30
Conclusion
Great performance again by David. With a TT of only 9 km is was clear from the start that his overall lead wasn't in danger, but David wanted to prove he is the best rider here this week and he did. Jay losses a place, but 5th will still be a great result. |
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| G_Larsson |
Posted on 07-09-2008 13:18
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Sprinter
Posts: 1779
Joined: 25-03-2007
PCM$: 200.00
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Great win in South Africa! 
Team Manager of Team IKEA-Bianchi
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| wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 07-09-2008 14:06
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7681
Joined: 19-02-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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amazing
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| snoep_de_hond |
Posted on 07-09-2008 14:52
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Neo-Pro
Posts: 310
Joined: 10-03-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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STAGE 6 (11 March)
The last stage of the race is a more or less flat 109 km long stage. Finally a chance for the sprinters. For the GC riders it's case to avoid bad luck.
The stage turned out to be quit nerve racking. A group of 14 riders got a gap of almost 2 minutes with only 25 km to go. There was not much we could do but stay calm. The best placed rider in the breakaway was Kristian House of the MAXBO BIANCHI team, at 2.15 behind David. We also had other worries, because Jay was feeling sick and had a very bad day.
Luckily the breakaway didn't cooperate very well and other teams helped in the chase because they missed the break or were interested in a mass sprint. The last of the breakaway riders were reeled in within the last 10 km. It was going to be a mass sprint.
Pieter sprinted to the second place. Only losing to of course Robert Hunter.
Sadly Jay had to let the peleton go. He was going to lose his 5th place. He came in almost 6 minutes behind Hunter.
RESULTS
1 Robert Hunter BARLOWORLD 2h38'16
2 Pieter Seyffert TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
3 Michael Morkov TEAM GLS s.t.
4 Rubén Pérez CINELLI - ENDEKA - OPD s.t.
5 Jos Van Emden SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS s.t.
6 Jaume Rovira PSK WHIRLPOOL HRADEC KRÁLOVÉ s.t.
7 René Weissinger BMC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
8 Daniel Foder TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN s.t.
9 Jackson Stewart BMC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
10 Marcus Ljungqvist MOSCOW STARS s.t.
23 David George TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
98 Jay Thompson TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 5'43
GC
1 David George TEAM KONICA MINOLTA 12h24'42
2 Marcel Kittel THÜRINGER ENERGIE TEAM +51
3 Alejandro Ramírez KIO-ENE - TONAZZO - DMT +01'08
4 Mauricio Soler BARLOWORLD +01'12
5 Robert Hunter BARLOWORLD +01'22
6 Marcel Wyss ATLAS - ROMER'S HAUSBÄCKEREI +01'24
7 Svein Tuft SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM s.t.
8 Christian Poos CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE +01'25
9 Luis Orán Castañeda COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES +01'27
10 Justin England TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT +01'30
69 Jay Thompson TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 7'00
86 Pieter Seyffert TEAM KONICA MINOLTA +12'07
91 Dion Botha TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 16'09
93 Jean Robben TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 17'02
SPRINT
1st David George TEAM KONICA MINOLTA 82
Conclusion
We know that were most likely the only team that want to perform at our best here. That doesn't take away that David put on a great show here, winning the race, 2 stages and the sprint jersey.
Jay also showed some good progress. Too bad he had bad luck in the last stage and lost his GC position.
Edited by snoep_de_hond on 23-02-2009 12:39
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| G_Larsson |
Posted on 07-09-2008 14:57
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Sprinter
Posts: 1779
Joined: 25-03-2007
PCM$: 200.00
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Great results in South Africa ! 
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| snoep_de_hond |
Posted on 07-09-2008 21:43
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Neo-Pro
Posts: 310
Joined: 10-03-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Milano - Torino 1.HC (10 March)
Milano-Torino is a semi classic one day race over a distance of 199 kilometres. The colle di Superga, with the top within 20 kilometres from the finish, is normally the deciding obstacle.
Team leader(s):
Abdelkader Belmokhtar
Erik Hoffmann (Ab and Erik are the best hill riders in this squad and both have already road some good races this season.)
Free:
Tiaan Kannemeyer
Rafaa Chtioui
Abdelbasset Hannachi (We hope Tiaan, Rafaa or Bassie can join the breakaway.)
Teammates:
Christoff Van Heerden
Dennis Van Niekerk
Herman Fouché
Tim Allen (their task is to protect Ab and Erik as long as possible)
Almost our entire Paris-Nice squad is starting here. Perhaps this is not very wise with Paris-Nice starting tomorrow, but we see Milano-Torino as a last test and also an opportunity to pick some Continental points.
It was Bassie who managed to get away with 3 other riders; Terpstra (AG2), Cucinotta (TENAX) and Van Aelbroeck (UNI).
At the foot of the colle di Superga the peleton had almost caught up with them and on the first difficult section Paxi Villa (LAM) attacked. Voigt (CSC), Chavanel (TMO), Grivko (MRM) and Erik countered.
With Voigt setting a high pace, Erik had difficulty keeping up and slowly had to let go as Piepoli (SDV) stormed passed him.
In the descent the situation was Voigt, Grivko and Chavanel with a gap of over half a minute to Vila and Piepoli. More then half minute behind Vila and Piepoli was Erik on his own. With 13 km to go he had a lead of about a minute on the peleton.
Voigt tried numerous times to lose his companions, but Chavanel and Grivko didn't let him go. In the sprint Chavanel was the strongest and won the race.
Erik could just hold off the peleton which earned him the 6th place.
RESULTS
1 Sylvain Chavanel T-MOBILE TEAM 4h48'10
2 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC s.t.
3 Andriy Grivko TEAM MILRAM s.t.
4 Patxi Vila LAMPRE - FONDITAL +01'09
5 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
6 Erik Hoffmann TEAM KONICA MINOLTA +01'59
7 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM s.t.
8 Manuele Mori TEAM MILRAM s.t.
9 Sergei Kolesnikov UNIBET.COM s.t.
10 Fabian Wegmann TEAM CSC s.t.
11 Mikhail Ignatiev TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
12 Pavel Brutt TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
13 Ivan Stevic SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
14 Marco Marcato TEAM LPR s.t.
15 John Gadret AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
16 Dani Moreno LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
17 Mirko Celestino BARLOWORLD s.t.
18 Fabio Sabatini TEAM MILRAM s.t.
19 Ricardo Serrano TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
20 Cyril Dessel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
21 Damián Martínez LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
22 Boy Van Poppel TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
23 Tiaan Kannemeyer TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
24 Mirko Lorenzetto TEAM MILRAM s.t.
25 Giampaolo Cheula BARLOWORLD s.t.
29 Abdelkader Belmokhtar TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
95 Herman Fouché TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 4'15
124 Rafaa Chtioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 5'55
145 Abdelbasset Hannachi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 9'07
146 Dennis Van Niekerk TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
147 Travis Allen TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
148 Christoff Van Heerden TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
Conclusion
We're very pleased with Erik's performance. 6th in this race is a good result for us.
Ab disappointed a bit, but his form wasn't great today.
Now it's time for our first ProTour race.
Edited by snoep_de_hond on 25-02-2009 13:16
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| untal |
Posted on 07-09-2008 21:53
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Sprinter
Posts: 1727
Joined: 02-05-2008
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Good luck in France! I want some great results... |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 12:48
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| G_Larsson |
Posted on 08-09-2008 15:03
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Sprinter
Posts: 1779
Joined: 25-03-2007
PCM$: 200.00
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Great 6th place, good luck in Paris Nice!
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| snoep_de_hond |
Posted on 08-09-2008 23:25
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Neo-Pro
Posts: 310
Joined: 10-03-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Paris-Nice UPT (11-18 March)
"The race to the sun" is the first ProTour event of the season and we'll see a lot of motivated riders at the start, who want to kick-start their season.
Team leader:
Erik Hoffmann (We don't expect Erik to go for a top GC spot, but to attack and get the team some publicity by getting in the breakaway. Due to his performance so far this season he is awarded with title of team leader.)
Free:
Rafaâ Chtioui
Tiaan Kannemeyer
Abdelkader Belmokhtar
Abdelbasset Hannachi (Just as Erik we expect these riders to attack and try to get in the breakaway)
Sprinter:
Juan Van Heerden (Juan is our sprinter here. There will probably not be many mass sprint, but if there are we hope Juan can place himself at least in the top 10. He is also riding Paris-Nice as a preparation for Nokere-Koerse 1.1 (21 March), which is one of our season goals.)
Teammates:
Herman Fouché
Tim Allen (Herman and Tim will work for the team)
Because of the tough competition, the inexperience of our riders and our best stage racers not being here we don't expect a high GC spot from one of our riders.
Our goal is to pick up some top 10 finishes and we want to our riders to get in the breakaways, which hopefully will result in some publicity, show we deserved that wildcard and perhaps result in a chance on a stage victory.
The startlist
STAGE 1 (11 March)
Paris-Nice starts with a 8 km long prologue.
Rafaâ shows he is our most talented TTer. With very little race fitness he rides the 20th time.
Euskaltel lost Samuel Sánchez to Crédit Agricole, but contracted an other Sánchez, namely Luis León Sánchez, who immediately earns them 1 ProTour point. He ends up 3rd
Chavanel again shows he is in top form. After yesterdays win in Milano - Torino he finishes 2th today.
The winner today is a real TT specialist. Joost Posthuma rides the fastest time and is going to wear the yellow jersey tomorrow.
RESULTS
1 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK 07'52
2 Sylvain Chavanel T-MOBILE TEAM +02
3 Luis León Sánchez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
4 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL +06
5 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS s.t.
6 Stijn Devolder DISCOVERY CHANNEL +07
7 George Hincapie TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
8 Stefan Schumacher EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
9 Tom Veelers AG2R PRÉVOYANCE +08
10 Samuel Sánchez CRÉDIT AGRICOLE +09
11 Thomas Lövkvist FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
12 Marco Pinotti T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
13 Bert Roesems LIQUIGAS s.t.
14 Brett Lancaster TEAM MILRAM + 10
15 Juanjo Cobo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
16 Santiago Botero TEAM CSC + 12
17 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC s.t.
18 Carlos Castaño QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 13
19 Niki Terpstra AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
20 Rafaâ Chtioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA +15
50 Abdelbasset Hannachi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA +22
64 Erik Hoffmann TEAM KONICA MINOLTA +26
119 Travis Allen TEAM KONICA MINOLTA +38
126 Juan Van Heerden TEAM KONICA MINOLTA +39
136 Herman Fouché TEAM KONICA MINOLTA +43
146 Tiaan Kannemeyer TEAM KONICA MINOLTA +44
162 Abdelkader Belmokhtar TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 50
Conclusion
Rafaâ is our best TTer. He isn't in top shape, mainly missing some race fitness. That's why we are satisfied with his performance. In the future he'll definitely get better results in this sort of stages.
About the rest of the team is not much to say, they will need to perform in the next stages.
Edited by snoep_de_hond on 23-02-2009 12:39
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| G_Larsson |
Posted on 09-09-2008 17:21
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Sprinter
Posts: 1779
Joined: 25-03-2007
PCM$: 200.00
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Pretty good start in France.
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| snoep_de_hond |
Posted on 09-09-2008 21:51
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Neo-Pro
Posts: 310
Joined: 10-03-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Paris-Nice UPT (11-18 March)
STAGE 2 (12 March)
This is the only flat stage of the race, so the teams with a sprinter are probably going to control the race.
Of course we protected Juan to bring him to the last kilometres as fresh as possible, because there was big chance on a mass sprint finish.
The rest of the team wasn't going to wait for that.
Ab was first to try his luck, but didn't get much further then the first intermediate sprint.
Second was Erik. Together with Bellotti (LAM) he chased after Nuyens (FDJ) for a while.
No escape group got much room from the peleton. Also a group of 4 with Wesemann (MRM) and Joaquim Rodríguez (GCE) couldn't get away in the last 40 km.
So, no surprise, is was going to be a mass sprint. Juan was alert and found the wheel of Steven De Jongh (QSI), who was being pulled to the front by Wouter Weylandt (QSI).
1 km to go and De Jongh was in the lead with Juan still in his wheel. Would Juan have a last acceleration?
No, Juan doesn't have that little bit extra jet. Zabel (TMO) does, at least today. He wins in font of Corioni (MRM) and De Jongh. Juan ends up 4th
In the last 3 km a gap of 44 seconds has fallen between the first 18 riders and the rest of the peleton. As a result Posthuma (RAB) has lost his yellow jersey to his countryman Tom Veelers (AG2).
RESULTS
1 Erik Zabel T-MOBILE TEAM 4h08'36
2 Claudio Corioni TEAM MILRAM s.t.
3 Steven De Jongh QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
4 Juan Van Heerden TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
5 Allan Davis PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
6 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
7 Tom Veelers AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
8 Alejandro Valverde TEAM ASTANA s.t.
9 Max Van Heeswijk RABOBANK s.t.
10 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
11 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC s.t.
12 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM s.t.
13 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER s.t.
14 Bernhard Eisel GEROLSTEINER s.t.
15 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM s.t.
16 Henk Vogels LIQUIGAS s.t.
17 Uros Murn DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
18 Max Richeze CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
19 Davide Viganò QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 44
20 Michael Barry T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
102 Herman Fouché TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
119 Abdelbasset Hannachi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
123 Tiaan Kannemeyer TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
164 Abdelkader Belmokhtar TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 6'04
165 Travis Allen TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
166 Rafaâ Chtioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
172 Erik Hoffmann TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 11'07
GC
1 Tom Veelers AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 4h16'36
2 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC + 2
3 Alejandro Valverde TEAM ASTANA + 9
4 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 11
5 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM + 12
6 Henk Vogels LIQUIGAS + 18
7 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM + 24
8 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER s.t.
9 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 25
10 Allan Davis PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 27
13 Juan Van Heerden TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 31
50 Abdelbasset Hannachi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 58
108 Herman Fouché TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 1'19
111 Tiaan Kannemeyer TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 1'20
Conclusion
Juan delivered the top 10 spot, we expected from him. It's too bad Juan will almost certainly not get an other chance this week. His fitness is getting better, so who knows what's possible.
The rest of the teams shows they're willing. Hopefully the breakaways will get more room in the next stages.
Edited by snoep_de_hond on 10-09-2008 22:24
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| G_Larsson |
Posted on 10-09-2008 16:00
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Sprinter
Posts: 1779
Joined: 25-03-2007
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Great 4th by Juan!
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| snoep_de_hond |
Posted on 10-09-2008 23:24
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Neo-Pro
Posts: 310
Joined: 10-03-2008
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Paris-Nice UPT (11-18 March)
STAGE 3 (13 March)
This stage goes over a very hilly terrain and is with 212 km a relative long stage. Looks like a first test for the favourites. Although their are still 35km to go from the top of the last climb to the finish.
Early on a group of 10 riders got the blessing of the pack. And we where happy to see that one of our riders made the break. Is was Erik who lived up to the expectations.
The 10 men breakaway with Gilberto Simoni, former winner of the Giro d"Italia, as biggest name got over a 10 minutes lead before the peleton sprung into action.
In the mean time there were a lot of KOM points up for grabs. It was a close race. Before the last two climbs Deignan (WIE) had taken the most points, but Erik showed his form during the penultimate climb and let the break over the top taking maximum points. With one climb to go and the peleton closing fast Erik had taking the provisional lead with 1 point over Deignan. Would we have one of our riderson the podium at the end of the stage?
Halfway the last climb the peleton stormed past the breakaway. Erik tried to follow, but blew himself up.
Over the top a group of 4 made a gap with the rest of the bunch. Luis León Sánchez (EUS), Nibali (LIQ), Cobo (SDV) and Gadret (AG2) cooperated well and immediately set a strong pace.
They would cross the finish with a lead of just over a minute on a peleton, containing about 60 riders.
Gadret edged out Nibali for the win, but the Italian just took enough bonus seconds with his 2nd place to grab the leaders jersey away from right under the nose of Luis León Sánchez.
With all the French people around us happy because of the win for their follow countrymen, we were more excited about someone else. Erik still had the must KOM points and had to go on the podium to collect his jersey.
RESULTS
1 John Gadret AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 5h28'55
2 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS s.t.
3 Juanjo Cobo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
4 Luis León Sánchez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
5 Stefan Schumacher EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 1'14
6 Samuel Sánchez CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
7 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
8 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER s.t.
9 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER s.t.
10 Giovanni Visconti QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
11 Pierrick Fédrigo BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
12 Steffen Wesemann TEAM MILRAM s.t.
13 Luca Mazzanti FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
14 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
15 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
16 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
17 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC s.t.
18 Toni Colom TEAM ASTANA s.t.
19 Sébastien Joly RABOBANK s.t.
20 George Hincapie TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
78 Abdelkader Belmokhtar TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 3'49
87 Erik Hoffmann TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 3'49
92 Abdelbasset Hannachi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 3'49
96 Tiaan Kannemeyer TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 3'49
115 Juan Van Heerden TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 9'04
127 Rafaâ Chtioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 12'52
128 Herman Fouché TEAM KONICA MINOLTA +13'24
172 Travis Allen TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 28'00
GC
1 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS 9h46'09
2 Luis León Sánchez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 0
3 Juanjo Cobo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 6
4 John Gadret AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 29
5 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC + 38
6 Alejandro Valverde TEAM ASTANA + 45
7 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER + 1'00
8 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK + 1'12
9 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 1'17
10 Stefan Schumacher EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 1'19
11 George Hincapie TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 1'19
12 Stijn Devolder DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 1'19
13 Samuel Sánchez CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 1'21
14 Thomas Lövkvist FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 1'21
15 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 1'28
16 Sébastien Joly RABOBANK + 1'28
17 Maxime Monfort TEAM ASTANA + 1'32
18 Mikel Astarloza CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'32
19 Pieter Weening RABOBANK + 1'33
20 Christophe Kern CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 1'34
KOM
1 Erik Hoffmann TEAM KONICA MINOLTA 17
2 Philip Deignan TEAM WIESENHOF FELT 16
3 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 14
4 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM 13
5 Luis León Sánchez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 10
Conclusion
Of course we're very happy. Erik did an excellent job showing the team colours and tomorrow he is wearing the polka dot jersey.
However we are a bit disappointed nobody of the team could finished in the peleton behind the 4 leaders. Ab, Tiaan, Bassie and Erik all finished 1 group further back. We'll see if they can finish higher up tomorrow. |
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| G_Larsson |
Posted on 11-09-2008 14:09
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Sprinter
Posts: 1779
Joined: 25-03-2007
PCM$: 200.00
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Great with Erik in the KOM jersey !
Team Manager of Team IKEA-Bianchi
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Media Room
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| snoep_de_hond |
Posted on 11-09-2008 16:19
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Neo-Pro
Posts: 310
Joined: 10-03-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Paris-Nice UPT (11-18 March)
STAGE 4 (14 March)
A similar stage as yesterday. Only a shorter and a bit more mountainous terrain.
When on the first climb the early breakaway attempts were reeled back in, Erik saw his chance to pick up maximum points and extend his lead.
Erik's sprint for the points was countered by 5 other riders and to our surprise the peleton let them go and suddenly Erik was in the breakaway of the day, which allowed him to also pick up maximum points at the next climb.
Before the foot of the 3th and last climb an already thinned out peleton caught up with the breakaway. On the climb it were again, Gadret (AG2), Nibali (LIQ) and Luis León Sánchez (EUS), who left the rest behind.
Compared to yesterday only Cobo (SDV) was missing. He was leading the first chase group, which also contained Kirchen (TMO), Samuel Sánchez (C.A), Valverde (AST), Devolder (DSC) and Visconti (QSI). They were trying to close the gap to the leading trio, which was about 40 seconds on the top.
What was left of the peleton followed 1 and a half minute behind the leaders.
In the descent the time differences stayed about the same, so the leading trio would battle it out for the win. Again Gadret was the strongest.
Nibali had to finish in front of Sánchez to hold his jersey. He did by beating the Spaniard in the sprint with a noise length.
RESULTS
1 John Gadret AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 3h52'30
2 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS s.t.
3 Luis León Sánchez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
4 Giovanni Visconti QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 46
5 Alejandro Valverde TEAM ASTANA s.t.
6 Sébastien Joly RABOBANK s.t.
7 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
8 Samuel Sánchez CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
9 Juanjo Cobo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
10 Stijn Devolder DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
11 Ángel Vicioso GEROLSTEINER + 1'26
12 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
13 Pierrick Fédrigo BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
14 Stefan Schumacher EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
15 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
16 Sylvain Chavanel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
17 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
18 Francis Mourey FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
19 Patrice Halgand CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
20 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
92 Tiaan Kannemeyer TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 7'06
95 Erik Hoffmann TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
111 Juan Van Heerden TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
119 Abdelkader Belmokhtar TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
133 Abdelbasset Hannachi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 12'28
134 Rafaâ Chtioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
135 Herman Fouché TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
172 Travis Allen TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 22'10
GC
1 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS 13h38'35
2 Luis León Sánchez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 2
3 John Gadret AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 27
4 Juanjo Cobo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 56
5 Alejandro Valverde TEAM ASTANA + 1'35
6 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC + 2'08
7 Stijn Devolder DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'09
8 Samuel Sánchez CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 2'11
9 Sébastien Joly RABOBANK + 2'18
10 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER + 2'30
11 Giovanni Visconti QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 2'38
12 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK + 2'42
13 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'47
14 George Hincapie TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 2'49
15 Stefan Schumacher EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
16 Thomas Lövkvist FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 2'51
17 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 2'58
18 Maxime Monfort TEAM ASTANA + 3'02
19 Mikel Astarloza CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
20 Pieter Weening RABOBANK + 3'03
84 Tiaan Kannemeyer TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 11'41
KOM
1 Erik Hoffmann TEAM KONICA MINOLTA 34
2 Philip Deignan TEAM WIESENHOF FELT 16
3 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 14
4 Luis León Sánchez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 13
5 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM 13
Conclusion
Erik is riding a strong race and has a nice lead in the KOM classification. However he is still far from sure, but after today we have a serious chance of going home with a price at the end of our first ProTour race.
The rest of the team road again a bit of a disappointing race. Tiaan, Ab, Juan and Erik finished in the 6th group that came over the finish, more then 7 minutes behind the winner.
We're not going to worry about that too long, because we're here to learn and pick up some experience and tomorrow is going to be good day to do that. Because the race is taken the riders over the Mont Ventoux!
Edited by snoep_de_hond on 23-02-2009 12:40
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| untal |
Posted on 11-09-2008 20:22
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Sprinter
Posts: 1727
Joined: 02-05-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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It will be a long hard day for Konica Minolta. But I'm looking for a great performance of Eric keeping his KOM jersey. |
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| snoep_de_hond |
Posted on 12-09-2008 16:31
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Neo-Pro
Posts: 310
Joined: 10-03-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Paris-Nice UPT (11-18 March)
STAGE 5 (15 March)
Today is flat, besides one obstacle: the mont Ventoux! So it is promises to be a hard day for our riders.
The only mountain points to be earned this stage are for the firs 7 riders to come over the top of the mont Ventoux. No need for Erik to try an get in the breakaway today.
So it's up to the others to try there luck. Rafaâ is the first to give it go, but his group gets no room.
Juan is the 'lucky one' today. He gets away with 10 others and is able to pick up the points at the second intermediate sprint.
They got a maximum lead of just over 7 minutes. When they reached the foot of the mont Ventoux Simoni, who again tried his luck in the break, set a pace that was to high for Juan.
Simoni pushed on and only Arrieta (WIE), Bellotti (LAM) and Santiago Botero (CSC) could follow.
Half way up the mont Ventoux Juan got passed by the peleton.
With 10 km to the top Valverde (AST) attacked and only Nibali (LIQ) followed. The Euskatel team tried to bring there leader Luis León Sánchez back to the two escapees and with 6 km to go it look like the would reel them back in.
Then Nibali took over and with 1 km to go he and Valverde passed the 3 riders that were left from the early break (Simoni, Arrieta and Bellotti) and the gap with peleton grew to more then a minute.
Nibali still had energy left. He sprinted to the top dropping Valverde in the process and started the decent on his own.
Behind the 5 a group of more then 40 riders followed and to our delight there were still 2 of our riders present. Erik and Tiaan could just hang on long enough to come over the top with the top riders.
Nibali, who threw himself in the decent, underlined his dominance with a stage win. Valverde came in 45 seconds behind Nibali and took 2nd place overall away from Luis León Sánchez, who lost almost 3 and a half minute.
Erik and Tiaan were still recovering from the climb and couldn't do better then 29th and 38th, but they did finish in the first group.
RESULTS
1 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS 4h33'37
2 Alejandro Valverde TEAM ASTANA + 45
3 Sylvain Chavanel T-MOBILE TEAM + 3'25
4 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
5 John Gadret AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
6 Vladimir Efimkin QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
7 Luca Mazzanti FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
8 Laurent Lefèvre T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
9 Óscar Pereiro CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
10 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
11 Fränk Schleck TEAM ASTANA s.t.
12 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS s.t.
13 Marco Marzano FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
14 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
15 Thomas Lövkvist FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
16 Samuel Sánchez CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
17 Maxim Iglinskiy SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
18 Toni Colom TEAM ASTANA s.t.
19 Alberto Fernández SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
20 Mathieu Sprick BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
29 Erik Hoffmann TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
38 Tiaan Kannemeyer TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
88 Abdelbasset Hannachi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 11'21
101 Abdelkader Belmokhtar TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 14'07
121 Rafaâ Chtioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 19'50
125 Juan Van Heerden TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 20'46
140 Herman Fouché TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 22'30
149 Travis Allen TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 23'50
GC
1 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS 18h12'06
2 Alejandro Valverde TEAM ASTANA + 2'22
3 Luis León Sánchez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 3'33
4 John Gadret AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 3'58
5 Juanjo Cobo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 4'27
6 Stijn Devolder DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 5'40
7 Samuel Sánchez CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 5'42
8 Sébastien Joly RABOBANK + 5'49
9 Giovanni Visconti QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 6'09
10 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 6'18
11 Thomas Lövkvist FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 6'22
12 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 6'29
13 Mikel Astarloza CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 6'33
14 Pieter Weening RABOBANK + 6'34
15 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 6'39
16 Fränk Schleck TEAM ASTANA + 6'40
17 Mathieu Sprick BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 6'42
18 Maxim Iglinskiy SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 6'43
19 Thomas Voeckler BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 6'44
20 Patxi Vila LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 6'45
63 Tiaan Kannemeyer TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 15'12
KOM
1 Erik Hoffmann TEAM KONICA MINOLTA 34
2 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS 21
3 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 20
4 Philip Deignan TEAM WIESENHOF FELT 16
5 Luis León Sánchez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 13
Conclusion
We're happy with Erik and Tiaan there performance today. Erik shows that he is ready for defending his jersey the next two days and Tiaan shows that this is more his terrain then the hilly stages of the days before.
Tiaan is our highest ranked rider in the GC at place 63th.
Edited by snoep_de_hond on 12-09-2008 22:53
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| snoep_de_hond |
Posted on 12-09-2008 22:32
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Neo-Pro
Posts: 310
Joined: 10-03-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Paris-Nice UPT (11-18 March)
STAGE 6 (16 March)
A similar stage to the 3rd and 4th stage, but this time the flat and downhill part to the finish is more then 40 km, so a sprint with a tinned out peleton is a likely possibility.
It was a bit of a disappointment to see that no one of the team made the breakaway. With 5 climb on the menu Erik would almost certainly lose his jersey if the break would make it till the end.
The riders in the breakaway were Joaquim Rodríguez (GCE), Moletta (GER), Kolesnikov (UNI) and Nicki Sörensen (CSC).
With 3 points to earn on the 2nd climb for the 5th rider over the top, Erik put in a little effort to at least pick up some points today.
But after 3 climbs Joaquim Rodríguez had taken maximum points and was virtually only 8 points behind Erik. On the top of the 4th climb were 10 points to earn. Rodríguez was looking really strong leaving Moletta, who was able to stay with him the longest, behind. The peleton however was picking up steam. Was he going to come over the top first?
We were relieved to see first Kirchen (TMO) and then rest of the peleton storm past Rodríguez only 1 km from the top.
Non of the Konica Minolta riders could follow the pace of the front group, containing less then 25 riders after the last climb. Also no one was able to escape. Until Stijn Devolder (DSC) sneaked away with 18 km to go.
He never got a big gap, but Devolder managed to stay in front and rightfully earned the stage win.
Nothing chanced in the top 10 of the GC.
RESULTS
1 Stijn Devolder DISCOVERY CHANNEL 4h55'03
2 Giovanni Visconti QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
3 Samuel Sánchez CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
4 Stefan Schumacher EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
5 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
6 Juanjo Cobo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
7 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
8 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS s.t.
9 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER s.t.
10 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
11 Sylvain Chavanel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
12 Thomas Voeckler BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
13 John Gadret AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
14 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
15 Alejandro Valverde TEAM ASTANA s.t.
16 Fränk Schleck TEAM ASTANA s.t.
17 Rigoberto Urán TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
18 Luis León Sánchez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
19 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
20 Pieter Weening RABOBANK s.t.
63 Tiaan Kannemeyer TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 5'02
96 Erik Hoffmann TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 6'30
97 Abdelkader Belmokhtar TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
115 Juan Van Heerden TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 12'26
118 Abdelbasset Hannachi TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
119 Rafaâ Chtioui TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
155 Herman Fouché TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 19'46
166 Travis Allen TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 25'46
GC
1 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS 23h07'09
2 Alejandro Valverde TEAM ASTANA + 2'22
3 Luis León Sánchez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 3'33
4 John Gadret AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 3'58
5 Juanjo Cobo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 4'27
6 Stijn Devolder DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 5'34
7 Samuel Sánchez CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 5'40
8 Sébastien Joly RABOBANK + 5'49
9 Giovanni Visconti QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 6'05
10 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 6'18
11 Pieter Weening RABOBANK + 6'34
12 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 6'39
13 Fränk Schleck TEAM ASTANA + 6'40
14 Thomas Voeckler BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 6'44
15 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS + 6'50
16 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM + 8'21
17 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS + 8'38
18 Thomas Lövkvist FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 9'16
19 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 9'23
20 Mathieu Sprick BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 9'36
59 Tiaan Kannemeyer TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 20'14
KOM
1 Erik Hoffmann TEAM KONICA MINOLTA 37
2 Joaquim Rodríguez CAISSE D'EPARGNE 29
3 John Gadret AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 21
4 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS 21
5 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 20
Conclusion
That was a close call. Tomorrow is the last stage were there are KOM points to earn, but with a maximum of 51 points to earn it is promising to be a stressful day.
Tiaan didn't do to bad compared to the other hilly stage and he is now 59th in the GC. Perhaps with a good result tomorrow he can still finish inside the top 50.
So tomorrow is d-day for the team and especially for Erik.
Edited by snoep_de_hond on 23-02-2009 12:40
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| untal |
Posted on 12-09-2008 22:41
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Sprinter
Posts: 1727
Joined: 02-05-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Your team was good in Mont Ventoux  |
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