APRIL
2x Stage win (Georgia Road, Circuito del Trentino)
1x General (Circuito del Trentino)
2x Mountain (Georgia Road, Circuito del Trentino)
1x Team (Circuito del Trentino)
1x Young (Circuito del Trentino)
Georgia Road
Leader: Kiryienka
Free: Serrano and Klimov
Sprinter: Loddo
Team mate: Gottfried, Mindlin and Chernetskiy
18-04-07, 1st place Mazzanti
With a uphill finish on Brasstown Mountain, today was a good opportunity for Serrano. The race started in Dalton (a city in Whitfield County, Georgia, United States) and from the start there were numerous attack, which finally result in a group, with Gottfried. Gottfried managed to be the first on the two mountains, who were just a appetizer of what was still to come. Before the last climb of today’s race began, the peleton was all together and Saunier Duval toke control. Because of the quick pace, the peleton was diminishing fast. And with only 10 kilometers left there were only 16 riders left in the first group. All favorite were there; Cobo, Simoni, Cuesta, Pate, Serrano and Kiryienka. Then when Cobo was preparing of making a attack, Serrano made a splendid attack and went solo to the finish, leaving everybody behind. Kiryienka, who rode yesterday a great time trial, focused on the leader of Geogia’s Road Cobo and was able to stick with him to the end. With two more stages to go all rankings were already clear; Cobo won Georgia Road, 2nd Kiryienka and 3rd Proni and Gottfried won the mountain jersey.
Circuito del Trentino
Leader: Marzoli
Free: Mazzanti, Ignatiev and Brutt
Sprinter: Trusov
Team mate: Khathuntsev and Pedraza
25-04-07, 1st place Marzoli
History has showen that the second stage of the Circuito del Trentino (a short, sharp course, full of steep climbs, good proving ground for the aspirants of the Giro d'Italia) always is crucial when you want to win the Italian cycle road race. Di Luca, Garzelli, Salvoldelli, Mazanti and Marzoli were today’s favorites. We started the day with already two jersey in our hands, the young rider and the mountain jersey. On the first climb of the day, the Passo te dei Serbi, a group including mountain jersey holder Khathuntsev got away from the peleton and toke a good lead of maximum 5 minutes. Khatuntsev was first on both the Passo te dei Serbi and the Salite di Ronzone securing his mountain jersey even more. In the descend to the foot of the last climb of the day, the Salite di Predaia, the peleton got even with the breakaway group. Team LPR (Di Luca and Salvoldelli) was now leading the peleton onto the steep climb, Di Luca placed two attack but they weren’t aggressive enough to get away. Then Marzoli and Mazzanti made a nice attack in a curve, which nobody was able to counter. Together they reached the top, before the chasing group including Di Luca, Garzelli, Brutt, Ignatiev, Bruseghin and Beltran. After today’s race it was clear that Tinkoff Credit Systems had stamp its authority on this race and in the end we won all jersey including the general team ranking! Edited by OlegTinkov on 29-01-2008 12:54
MAY
3x Stage win (Giro d’Italia, 2x Vuelta Ciclista a Cataluña)
1x General (Vuelta Ciclista a Cataluña)
1x Mountain (Vuelta Ciclista a Cataluña)
1x Points (Vuelta Ciclista a Cataluña)
Giro d’Italia
Leader: Marzoli
Free: Mazzanti and Ignatiev
Sprinter: Loddo
Team mate: Commesso, Pedraza, Contrini, Mindlin and Weigold
16-05-07, 2nd place Mazzanti, Stage 4
This year the Giro d'Italia will take place from May 12 until June 3, 2007. The race kicked off with 3 stages (including a team time trial of 24km) in the island of Sardinia and today we are back on the mainland with the first mountain stage, finishing on the top of the Montevergine di Mercogliano. When the foot of the Montevergine di Mercogliano appeared the whole peleton was still altogether, there were some breakaway groups during the flat part of the race but they all were captured back thanks to the work of Lampre and Saunier Duval. Then when the climb began, Garzelli, Nocentini, Carrara, Maaskant and Lövkvist tried to get away but the pace of the peleton was way too high for them to make a gap. Next Piepoli placed a furious attack and Cunego, Soler, Pellizotti, Rebellin, Mazzanti, Marzoli and Ignatiev all managed to get to Piepoli’s wheel. The 8 riders went to the finish line as a group and in the end Piepoli was the strongest climber of today and won the sprint just before Mazzanti and Cunego. Rebellin now wears the pink jersey, Piepoli the green jersey, Bennati the mauve jersey, Schleck the white jersey and Tinkoff leads the general team ranking.
18-05-07, 1st place Mazzanti, Stage 6
After yesterday’s flat stage, won by Napolitano, the climbers/teamleaders could show them self in another hilly stage from Tivoli to Spoleto. The race started with a breakaway group of 6 riders including Contrini, who is going for the climber jersey this year. Contrini was the first rider to be on top of both the Monte Terminillo and the Forca Capistrello. In the descend of the Forca Capistrello, heading to the foot of the Forca di Cerro the breakaway group was taken back by the peleton. Directly when the climb of the Forca di Cerro started Mazzanti got away, Garzelli, Rebellin and Soler tried to get to Mazzanti but the gap of only 30 seconds couldn’t be closed. On the top of the Forca di Cerro the situation was a follows: 1st Mazzanti, then a following group of 8 riders 20 seconds behind Mazzanti and the the big pack on 1 minute and 30 seconds. Mazzanti was able to keep in front of the group until the finish line and with this win secured another sponsor goal: “Win a stage in the Giro”. Mazzanti now wears the pink jersey, Contrini the green jersey, Bennati the mauve jersey, Ignatiev the white jersey and Tinkoff leads the general team ranking. We are going to defend the pink jersey as long as we can now, but the green jersey is imported as well.
26-05-07, 2nd place Marzoli, Stage 14
Today was another great cycling day for Tinkoff Credit Systems, first Contrini managed to get away with a group and was the first rider to pass the top of the “Passo di San Marco”. After the biggest climb of the Giro, the second climb of the day started, the Colle dell'Agnello. Right from the foot Piepoli jumped from the peleton to the breakaway group, Cunego, Soler, Mazzanti and Marzoli did the same but were just too late with their jump and therefore couldn’t get to Piepoli anymore. Behind Piepoli, Marzoli won the sprint before Cunego, Mazzanti and Soler. Piepoli of course still holds the leaders jersey, Contrini the mountain jersey, Bennati the points jersey and Soler the young riders jersey.
27-05-07, 2nd place Marzoli, Stage 15
Stage 15 is the key race of the Giro, today will be decided who will win the Giro d’Italia 2007. The finish line lies on the Cime di Lavaredo (Italian for "three peaks of Lavaredo" ), also called Drei Zinnen (German for "three battlements" ), are three distinctive battlement-like peaks, in the Sesto Dolomites of northeastern Italy. They are probably one of the best-known mountain groups in the Alps. Tomorrow is a restday, so everybody can ride at full force today. The day started with another solo of Contrini, he both passed the Passo San Pellegrino and the Colle San Lucia as first and collected his mountain points. Then on the Passo Giau Piepoli placed a surprise attack, the other favorites tried to get too him but just couldn’t. Piepoli is the strongest climber at the moment and passed the Passo Giau and the Passo Tre Croci solo and finally arrived at the Tre Cime di Lavaredo finish line. Behind Piepoli Schleck, Cunego, Soler, Mazzanti and Marzoli got together as a group and at the end didn’t lose much time against Piepoli. Only Cunego had a bad day and lost his 2nd place to Soler in the general ranking.
Vuelta Ciclista a Cataluña
Leader: Serrano
Free: Klimov and Gottfried
Sprinter: Trussov
Team mate: Rovny, Khautuntsev, Serov and Chernetskiy
24-05-07, 1st place Serrano, Stage 4
The Vuelta Ciclista a Cataluña is the third oldest cycling stage race in the world (first time in 1911), only behind the Tour de France (1903) and the Giro d'Italia (1909). So a lot of Spanish riders enjoy this UCI Pro Tour race before going to the Tour de France. After the first stage, a team time trial won by Astana, and two flat races won by Botcharov and Duque today its was time for the first mountain race of the Vuelta Ciclista a Cataluña. The race started with an early breakaway including Klimov and Gottfried, who both toke a lot of mountain points, in the descend too the foot of the last climb (Vallnord Arinsal) the peleton got together. Directly a group of 9 riders including all favorites like Menchov and Evans got together and went all the way to the top as a group. A sprint would decided who will win this mountain stage, in the end Serrano was the strongest, second became Mosquera and third Gutierrez. Klimov is leader of the mountain jersey and Serrano both holds the sprint and overall jersey!
25-05-07, 1st place Serrano, Stage 5
Serrano displayed again his great form, after winning yesterday, today he was able to win the climb time trial. Leaving the other favorites like Gárate (2nd), Menchov (3rd), Evans (4th) and Sánchez González (5th) behind him. With this win he secured his overall victory of the Vuelta Ciclista a Cataluña and he also got 1st in the points ranking. Klimov became 1st in the mountain standing, so at the end of the Spanish stage race Tinkoff had three jersey’s, what a great team effort! Edited by OlegTinkov on 29-01-2008 12:57
Petrov was good, I agree, but the others only did it in early breakaways. And it is not realistic whatsoever to have 5 riders in the top10 of a stage. Regardless of the team.
JUNE
5x Stage win (Giro d’Italia, 2x Euskal GP, Columbian Ch., Russian Ch.)
2x Mountain (Giro d’Italia, Euskal GP)
1x Points (Euskal GP)
2x Team (Giro d’Italia, Euskal GP)
Giro d’Italia 01-06-07, 1st place Mazzanti, Stage 19
If Contrini wanted to win the mountain jersey back from Piepoli (who had exact the same amount of points as Contrini), he had to be first on the Passo Pian delle Fugazze 80 km before the finish. Going away with a breakaway group Contrini managed to be first on the Passo Pian delle Fugazze securing the green jersey for Tinkoff! In the descend the peleton got a together again, then on the Passo Ballino Mazzanti and Marzoli tried to get away from the peleton. Piepoli reacted fast and joined the two climbers of Tinkoff. The three of them started working together and passed the Passo Ballino 1 minutes before the chasing group of 10 riders including Cunego, Soler and Schleck. In the sprint Mazzanti and Marzoli played out Piepoli and managed to get 1st and 2nd in the last hilly stage of the Giro! All rankings remained the same until the peleton reached Milano 2 days later.
Giro d’Italia 2007
Euskal GP
Leader: Petrov
Free: Serrano and Kiryienka
Team mate: Klimov, Mindlin and Gottfried
06-06-07, 1st place Serrano, Stage 1
Euskal Bizikleta (Spanish: Bicicleta Vasca, English: Basque Bicycle) is an annual cycling stage race held in the Basque Country. Since 1996 only Spanish riders had won this stage race and also this year the favorites are all Spanish; Valverde, De La Fuenta and Serrano. The day started with a breakaway group including Gottfried who collected all mountain points on the Milloi, the Itziar and the Meagas. Then Caisse Epargne toke control in the peleton and brought the breakaway back in. On the Santa Ageda Valverde tried to break away from the pack but a lot of riders were able to follow him easily including Petrov and Serrano (who still has his form from the Vuelta Ciclista a Cataluña). With only 4 km to the top of the Santa Ageda, Serrano placed his final attack which nobody could follow. Serrano became 1st, Petrov who was riding in the group 2 minutes behind Serrano became the first no-spanish-rider on the 6th place. Kiryienka, Mindlin and Klimov finished in the 3rd group 3 minutes behind Serrano.
08-06-07, 1st place Serrano, Stage 3
It was a short stage today, so when the peleton got all together after a breakaway of 6 riders, the finish line was already close. Tinkoff and Caisse Epargne held the pace high so nobody could escape. At the end Serrano won the sprint on the Usartza, just before De La Fuente and Valverde. With his second win, Serrano secured his overall win of the Euskal GP cause in the time trial and the last stage not much changed in the general standings. At the end the podium was as follows Serrano 1ste, Valverde 2nd and Herrero llorente 3rd. Gottfried also secured his jersey by taken again some mountain points during the breakaway and Tinkoff got 1st in the team ranking.
30-06-07, 1st place Pedraza, Columbian Championship
30-06-07, 1st place Ignatiev, Russian Championship Edited by OlegTinkov on 29-01-2008 12:58
14-07-07, 7th General Petrov, Stage 8
After a week of cycling; a prologue (in London won by Sánchez) and 6 flat races (London – Canterbury won by Bennati, Dunkirk – Ghent won by Mcewen, Waregem - Compiègne won by Evans, Villers-Cotterêts - Joigny won by Kolobnev, Chablis – Autun won by Efimkin and Semur-en-Auxois - Bourg-en-Bresse won by Freire), it now was finally time for the first mountain stage of the Tour (Bourg-en-Bresse - Le Grand-Bornand). Before the race started the general rankings were as follows: 1st Evans, on 2’40” Popovych, Klöden, Leipheimer and Petrov, on 4’46” Sánchez, Contador, Dekker, Gerdemann and on 5’28” Kolobnev.
Kiryienka’s goal in the Tour is trying to win the mountain jersey, so when the first mountain of the day started (Côte de Corlier) he got away from the peleton and was joined by Calvente, A. Efimkin and Mével. Kiryienka managed to get first on the Côte de Corlier, the Côte de Cruseilles and the Côte Peguin. Just before the foot of the Col de la Colombière the pack wheeled in the escape group, directly after the escape group was taken in V. Efimkin placed an attack. None of the favorites reacted until Evans and Klöden with only 5 km to the top jumped to Efimkin and the three of them reached the top with a 1’30” lead on Contador and 3’30” on the group with all the other favorites including Petrov. In the descend of the Col de la Colombière Klöden waited for Contador and at the end finished together 55 seconds behind Evans (who won the sprint) and Efimkin. Then after 3’41 a big group came in with all the big riders. The top-10 of the general ranking is now as follows 1st Evans, Klöden on 3’52”, Contador on 6’01”, Efimkin on 6’11”, Popovych on 6’40” , Leipheimer and Petrov on 6’48”, Dekker, Gerdemann and Sánchez on 8’47”
15-07-07, 14th General Petrov, Stage 9
Today became clear that a top 10 place for Petrov would be difficult, but a top 15 place in the general rankings still is possible. Petrov lost almost 4 minutes on the favorites, who all finished together as a group (of 13 riders) in Tignes, Karpets won the sprint. Kiryienka was almost the opposite of his team leader, he gathered again a lot of mountain points and still holds the king of the mountain jersey with 143 points. Petrov did finish before Valverde, Fothen, Moreau, Caucchioli, Tschopp, Devolder, Monfort and Marchante so maybe it wasn’t as bad as it looks. At Caisse Epargne now is clear that Karpets will be the leader in the Tour and not Valverde, at Astanan they still have to decided who is the team leader. They have to decided fast cause Evans is the man to beat (he didn’t look strong today and ended with Popovych as 12th and 13th on 38 seconds of Karpets).
17-07-07, 13th General Petrov, Stage 10
After a restday Petrov announced that his weak day at Tignes was a mistake, he had not eaten regularly, and he proved today that he won’t make the same mistake again. The race today started with the Col de l’Iseran and from the start Jufre, Florencio, Calvente, Fofonov, Wegelius and Kiryienka (of course taking the mountain points on the way) formed a breakaway group. In the long descend to the foot of the Col du Télégraphe the group fell back into the hands of the peleton. Then when the Télégraphe started, Astana finally declared war on Silence! Leipheimer attacked and now the race was on the shoulders of the teammates of Evans (Popovych, Van Huffel and Tjallingii). Leipheimer reached the tops of the Col du Télégraphe and the Col du Galibier solo, with 2 minutes on the flowing group including all favorites including Petrov. Silence had to work hard cause nobody would assist them in their effort of getting Leipheimer back. In Briançon Leipheimer was able to win with only a few seconds before the big group came in. It was a beautiful win of Leipheimer but unfortunately for him he lost all his advance in the descend to the finish, so the general ranking remains the same. Only Menchov wasn’t in the big group with all the favorites (making Dekker the new team leader of Rabobank) and because of this Petrov went up one position and now stands 13th in the general rankings. Kiryienka still holds the mountain jersey.
22-07-07, 14th General Petrov, Stage 15
After the time trial of yesterday Petrov lost a place to Fothen and now stands 14th in the general rankings, Evans still wears the yellow jersey, 2nd, 3rd and 4th are all Astana riders (Klöden, Leipheimer and Contador). Today was another mountain stage (the first French Pyrenees stage) with two high peaks to climb, when the first one started (Port de Pailhères), Astana once again attacked, this time with Contador. But Popovych restored the order in the peleton by getting him back just before of the top of the Port de Pailhères. On the Plateau de Beille Karpets attacked and got away, then Devolder and Evans counter attacked and joined Karpets, putting Astana in the defence. At 6 km before the finish line both Evans and Devolder couldn’t keep up with the fast pace of Karpets and also the group with favorites weren’t able to get back. Karpets won his seconds stage of the Tour and just is the best climber at the moment. Evans and Devolder finished 1’49” later and the group “Astana+favorites” finished on 2’30”. The general ranking remains the same, only Karpets jumped with his win from the 10th to the 5th place just behind the “Astana-three". Petrov retained his 14th place and Kiryienka, who today collected montain points on the Côte de Saint-Saraille and the Port de Pailhères, still wears the king of the mountain jersey.
23-07-07, 15th General Petrov, Stage 16
With a restday in prospect for tomorrow, it looked like most riders were taken one already, cause until the second last climb of the day there were no attacks whatsoever. On the Port de Balès Sánchez finally broke the silence and got away, Sastre was the only climber who reacted and together they passed the Port de Balès and the Col de Peyresourde. In the end Sánchez won the sprint easily from Sastre. Behind them the group of favorites arrived 2’27” later, Valverde won the groupsprint and became 3rd. Petrov lost a place to Devolder (who took some bonus seconds in the sprint) and now stands 15th in the general rankings, Kiryienka again gathered a lot of mountain points on the Col de Port, the Col de Portet d’Aspet and the Col de Menté, and therefore still is the proud holder of the mountain jersey.
25-07-07, 12th General Petrov, Stage 17
Knowing that yesterday was a restday and today was the last mountain stage of the French Pyrenees and therefore the last of the Tour de France 2007, all eyes were of course on the yellow jersey holder Evans. Everybody expected fireworks, mainly from Astana with Kloden en Leipheimer who stood 2nd and 3rd before the race started. After the first eating spot Kiryienka, Calvente, Le Mével, Le Boulanger and Ardilla got away, Kiryienka took the mountain points on the Port de Larrau and the Alto Laza. In the descend too the foot of the Col de la Pierre Saint Martin, unlucky Leipheimer and Zubeldia fell down and didn’t make it back to the peleton before the climb began. And therefore losing many minutes in the end to on the rest of the teamleaders. On the Col de la Pierre Saint Martin Sánchez and Contador jumped to the “group Kiryienka”, but on the Marie-Blanque Popovych brought the “group Kiryienka-Contador-Sanchez” back in. The pace was very and when the leading group came over the top of the Marie-Blanque only 13 riders were left. Most top 15 riders were there, except Leipheimer, Efimkin, Gerdemann, Fothen and Devolder. On the last climb of the day, the Col d’Aubisque, Dekker was the strongest of the leading group. and at the end won the sprint of Sastre. Valverde came in 3rd 27 seconds later, then Klöden on 1’19”, Evans on 1’51” and Karpets and Petrov on 2’01”. With this great 7th place, Petrov now stands 12th in the general standings, furthermore Kiryienka only have to make it to Paris to win the mountain jersey cause there are only flat races left (one of them being a time trial).
Tour de France 2007
Österreich Rundfahrt
Leader: Pedraza
Free: Commesso, Serrano and Mazzanti
Team mate: Mindlin and Chernetskiy
09-07-07, 1st place Pedraza, Stage 2
The Internationale Österreich Rundfahrt (English: Tour of Austria) is a stage race held in Austria. The weather was so bad today that a lot of riders didn’t even wanted to start today, but the organization decided the ride anyway. Directly from the start a group of 6 riders got away from the peleton including Commesso. Commesso reached the Fuschertörl solo, because his fellow attackers couldn’t keep up with him. In the descend of the Hochtor, a mass crash toke place in the peleton (including Di Luca). Because it was really clouded Pedraza, Mazzanti and Serrano didn’t know there was a mass crash behind them, so suddenly were on their own, and were able to join Commesso in his breakaway. On the last hill Virgin, Commesso left the 3 climber alone and at the end Pedraza (1st), Serrano (2nd) and Mazzanti (3rd) finished 2’48” before another group of 4 riders came in (Rohregger, Marzano, Moos and Di Luca). After this crazy and dangerous race Pedraza holds the leader’s jersey and Commesso (finishing on 4’30”) wears the mountain jersey. At the end of the Österreich Rundfahrt Mazzanti became the overall winner 2nd Serrano and 3rd Pedraza, Commesso defended the mountain jersey with success and Tinkoff became 1st in the team rankings! Edited by OlegTinkov on 29-01-2008 13:00
AUGUST
3x Stage win (2x Supervolta a Portugal, GP del Lazio)
1x General (Supervolta a Portugal)
1x Mountain (Supervolta a Portugal)
1x Team (Supervolta a Portugal)
1x Young (Supervolta a Portugal)
Supervolta a Portugal
Leader: Marzoli
Free: Ignatiev and Pedraza
Sprinter: Loddo
Team mate: Weigold and Chernetskiy
08-08-07, 1st place Marzoli, Stage 5
Today Tinkoff Credit Systems were without any rivals, mainly to the fact that the organization of the Supervolta a Portugal didn’t managed to get Pro Tour nor good riders to start at this stage race. Specially due the fact that the Supervolta a Portugal takes places immediately after the Tour de France, and before the Vuelta a España avoiding the participation of major teams and cyclists. The stage of today was pretty flat only the finish lied on a hill, so 5 km before the finish line Marzoli, Ignatiev and Pedraza got away from the peleton and together they reached the finish with one minute lead on the pack. Marzoli won the sprint of his fellow teammates Ignatiev and Pedraza (both national champions of their countries). With his 2nd place Ignatiev now holds the young riders jersey, Marzoli is the new leader in yellow.
13-08-07, 1st place Ignatiev, Stage 10
Tinkoff dominated in the mountain stages in the Supervolta a Portugal and also in the last stage, a time trial, it was clear who was the strongest today; Ignatiev! Not only did Ignatiev became the overall winner of the Supervolta a Portugal, also he won the young riders jersey. Weigold won the mountain ranking and Tinkoff as a team became 1st in the general team ranking.
GP del Lazio
Leader: Mazzanti
Free: Brutt, Commesso and Serrano
Team mate: kiryienka and Mindlin
11-08-07, 1st place Mazzanti
The GP del Lazio is a semi classic European bicycle race held in the region of Lazio, Italy. Our sponsorgoal for today was to be on the podium, Mazzanti had higher ambitions then our sponsors and got 1st! The race was decided, as often, on the hills. Mazzanti had cleared himself from the pack and had a good lead before descending down to the finish. Di Luca with LPR tried to get Mazzanti back, but Ignatiev, Commesso and Serrano were also in the big group behind Mazzanti and managed to blocked all the attempts to take away Mazzanti’s win. Edited by OlegTinkov on 30-01-2008 10:16
04-09-07, 2nd Serrano, Stage 4
The Vuelta a España (English: Tour of Spain) is a three-week road bicycle racing stage race that is one of the three "Grand Tours" of Europe. The first stage was won by Fernandez of Euskaltel, in the two stage after the kick-off Rabobank was really dominant winning stage 2 (Freire) and stage 3 (Flecha). Today was the first big test for all the teamleader's who wanted to win the Vuelta, with Marzoli 5th in the Giro and Petrov 12th in the Tour now Serrano is the teamleader in the Vuelta aiming for a top 10 in the general ranking. Until the foot of the Lagos de Covadonga, the peleton stayed together, there were only some sprints for the bonus points on the way (Gottfried won the mountain points on the Alto de la Faya de los Lobos and the Puerto de la Llama). Then the Lagos de Covadonga started, all favorites positioned there selfs in the front of the peleton and one by one the group got smaller and smaller. With only 5 more km to go, there were only 10 riders left. When the sprint for the stage victory became Serrano took the wheel of Sanchez. It was a good decision cause at the end Sanchez was the strongest of the group and seizes the leader’s jersey with one explosive attack, all the way to the finish. The only thing that Serrano could do is follow and keep breathing, so 1st became Sánchez, 2nd Serrano, 3rd Brajkovic and 4th Kohl, then on 22” 5th Gerdemann, on 52” 6th Riccò, 7th Menshov, 8th Cunego, 9th Karpets, 10th Popovych and 11th Gárate, then the peleton on 3’42” with Marchante as 12th, also Klimov, Rovny and Mindlin finish on 3’42”. The general ranking is almos the same as the stage standings.
05-09-07, 2nd Serrano, Stage 5
The second mountain stage of the Vuelta wasn’t as tough as yesterday, still it was predicted that it wouldn’t be a masssprint at the end of the day. In the first few kilometers Gottfried, Fédrigo, Le Mével, Szmyd and Buffaz from a group and started their breakaway. At all the next three mountain’s to come (Collada de Hoz, Collada de Ozalba and Collada de Carmona) Gottfried zipped to the front of the group to nick maximum points on the summits and ensured that he will wear the mountains jersey tomorrow. Just before the Puerto de la Palombera started the group was taken by the peleton and on the same moment Sánchez attacked, Riccò and Serrano were able to get to him and the three of them started to work together until the top of the Puerto de la Palombera. Menchov and Kohl were right behind the three, but just weren’t able to join them. In the downhill towards Reinosa Sánchez, Riccò and Serrano worked well together and in the sprint Serrano became 2nd (again), this time Riccò was just a little bit faster, Sánchez became 3rd. 4th on 57” Menchov crossed the line and Kohl, who had a flat tire in the descent of the Puerto de la Palombera, finished 2’26” later, the pack finished on 3’02”. In the next two flat stages (stage 6 and 7) Freire and Nazon won the masssprints. During stage 8, a time trial of 49 kilometers, Serrano lost 8’30” on the winner Devolder. After 8 stages Sánchez still holds the leader’s jersey, 2nd is Menchov on 2’29” and 3rd stands Brajkovic on 4’07”, Serrano now stands 13th in the general rankings on 8’32”.
09-09-07, 2nd Serrano, Stage 9
It is looking like the Vuelta this year is without any surprises, today again Sánchez was the strongest climber and tames the summits easily. On the Estación de Esquí de Cerler Sánchez took off, Serrano was able to follow him for a while but in the end also he had to led him loose. Sánchez finished solo, for the 3rd time Serrano became 2nd on 34”, Karpets finished 3rd on 1’19” with rest of the favorites . Thanks to his second win in a mountain stage, Sánchez still wears the gold jersey with a 4 minutes lead on Menchov who remains 2nd, Brajkovic still stands 3rd on 5’46”, Serrano won 3 places, by being second in today’s stage, and now stands on the 10th place in the general ranking on 9’14”, Gottfried, who took maximum points on the three smaller summits of today, still wears the mountain jersey with 72 points (1 more than Sánchez). During stage 10 Sánchez for the first time seemed a little weak, Menchov took advantage and won the race, on 1’37 the group with all the favorites finished. Sánchez is still leader of the Vuelta a España, but Menchov is getting closer (now 2nd on 2’11”) and next week we can expect some fireworks with three more mountain stages and a time trial in prospect. Serrano won 1 spot during stage 10 and now stands 9th on 9’14” on Sánchez, Gottfried still is holder of the red mountain jersey!
16-09-07, 3rd Serrano, Stage 15
Since the last mountain stage there has been 4 stages, stage 11 was won by Freire, stage 12 by Hushovd, stage 13 by Celestino and stage 14 by Mori. During those 4 stages nothing has changed in the general rankings, but today there was another climb stage on the menu, from Villacarrillo to Granada. In the last week of the Vuelta a España all eyes will be on Menchov, who is the only one left to compete with Sánchez for the gold jersey. The day started with a breakaway of 8 riders including Gottfried, he took some points on the two summits on the way, before the group was taking in by the peleton. On the Alto de Monachil Menchov (who is still only 2 minutes behind Sanchez) attacked, but Sánchez, Riccò, Brajkovic and Serrano were able to counter attack him. When they looked back, nobody else was able to follow them and the five of them directly decided to work together. At the top of the Alto de Monachil Menchov, Sánchez, Riccò, Brajkovic and Serrano were already 2 minutes in front of the peleton. Also in the descend towards Granada they were able to keep in front of the peleton, at the end Riccò won the sprint over the others of the group. Sánchez and Serrano became 2nd and 3rd. Serrano now stands 5th in the gerenal ranking and with only two more mountain stages and a time trial to go, a top 10 place is very possibly (keeping in mind that Serrano’s time trial is really weak).
21-09-07, 1st Serrano, Stage 19
Since the 15th stage nothing has changed in the general ranking, stage 16 was won by Riccò (his 3rd Vuelta-victory), stage 17 was won by Freire (his 4th Vuelta victory) and stage 18 was won by Llorente. Today the race started with an early break-away group of 3 riders; Gottfried, Klinger and Le Mével. Gottfried took again some mountain points, securing his King of the mountain jersey (he now only has to finish the Vuelta to win the red jersey). As predicted Euskaltel brought the break-away group back in, before the last climb of the today started. On the Alto de Abantos Karpets was the first top 10 riders to attack. Menchov, Sánchez, Brajkovic and Serrano reacted fast and with still 7 km to the finish line, the strongest of this year’s Vuelta formed a group of 5. They stayed together for a long time, but 3km before the end Karpets couldn’t keep up with the pace and he had to let go the other 4 riders. In the sprint Serrano was behind Menchov, but in the last metres he was able to get in front of him! Finally Serrano got his stage win in the Vuelta and Gottfried was surely to win the mountains jersey, what a great day for Tinkoff! During the last two days nothing changed in the general rankings, Brajkovic won the time trial (stage 20) and Freire won the last stage (his 5th Vuelta victory). Sánchez is the proud general winner of the Vuelta a España 2007, Menchov became 2nd and Brajkovic 3rd.
Vuelta a España 2007
Gp de Namur
Leader: Ignatiev
Free: Marzoli, Mazzanti, and Pedraza
Sprinter: Commesso
Team mate: Kiryienka, Petrov, Brutt
19-09-07, 1st place Ignatiev
While the rest of the team was riding in the Vuelta a España, Ignatiev managed to win the Gp de Namur. It was a great team effort, cause with no technical staff at all, it was back to the old days (without earphone and stuff). The race ended with a mass sprint won by Ignatiev, thanks to the Tinkoff train, who positioned itself really good and dominated the race for the last kilometers.
World Championship 27-09-07, Karpets World Champion Time Trial 2007
30-09-07, World Championship Edited by OlegTinkov on 04-02-2008 23:05
with ignatiev before soler, schleck, leimpheimer in a mountain stage 
not much realism though...
