All the guys who raced Fléche Wallone and Amstel + Valverde is racing Liége-Bastogne-Liége. You don't need a startlist since the guys who finished in the top 20 of those two races are also in the top of LBL.
It’s time for the last spring classic. Liége-Bastogne-Liége also known as “La Doyenne” an alongside Paris-Roubaix and Milan-San Remo this is the most legendary classic on the ProTour Calendar. As you can see on the profile it’s a very hilly race, which goes up and down the whole time with 90 km to go. Here it sets off at the Côte de Wanne.
An early breakaway got away containing non-dangerous riders. It consisted of Greipel (TMO), Le Mevel (C.A), Perez Moreno (EUS), Stubbe (JAC), Priamo (PAN), Bonnaire (BTL), Jacobs (UNI) and Cortinovis (MRM). At the 60 km mark, with about 213 km to, they had 5’30” on the pack, which Caisse D’Epargne controlled as Valverde, who didn’t participate in Amstel Gold Race and Fléche Wallone, suddenly wanted to take part in the spring racing.
While some guys had a go from way out, Caisse D’Epargne focused on their captain Alejandro Valverde.
After two dissapointing results, Schleck was looking to regain some confidence build on his lead in ProTour Individual Standings in today’s race as Rebellin because of his recent wins, was getting pretty close to Fränk.
With 130 km to go, the gap to the breakaway topped at 13 minutes, as the pack, now controlled by Gerolsteiner, hit the Côte de St-Roch.
Gerolsteiner had completely forgotten about Schumacher as Rebellin over the last week had grown young once again.
As the most difficult part of the race begun at the Côte de Wanne, Gerolsteiner had fallen a bit back again, leaving us, Quickstep and Saunier Duval with the initiative, at this point with about 90 km to, the breakaway lead by 5 and a half minutes.
The Côte de Wanne marked the start of the finale with its 3 km and a gradient of 6%.
Schleck was super-determined today and as the pack hit the Côte de la Haute-Levèe about 10 km later, he took the front and put some pressure on his opponents.
Nicki Sørensen was a great helper for Fränk as he strung the pack out on the flat leading up to Côte de la Haute-Levée.
On the next climb, the Côte du Rosier, it was Arvesen’s turn to give his last for Fränk as he inflicted pain on the riders in the pack as he grinded his bike up the steep climb with its gradient of 5,9%. At the next climb, the Côte de la Vecquèe, Fränk made his first move and attacked away from the pack, with only 5 riders being able to respond to his acceleration up the 3 km and 5,9% climb.
Fränk Schleck started the finale with an attack on the Côte de la Vecquée. Bettini, Kashechkin, Riccó, Nocentini and Rebellin could follow him.
Bettini actually broke a gap to the others and left them in his wake. But he only stayed ahead until the crucial La Redoute climb. A nasty hill with a gradient of 8,4% over 2,1 km. Riccó lead the chasers to the foot of the climb and kept a steady pace until halfway up where Fränk attacked again as Riccó didn’t seem strong enough to close the gap on Bettini.
Riccó has been riding great in the Ardennes, but he has been lacking that final punch in the finales to take the final step up.
Fränk Schleck had a lot in the tank today so he decided to take off on La Redoute and chase down Bettini by himself.
An he did it. He joined up with Bettini on the descent from the Côte de Sprimont. Their gap to the four riders chasing was slim though and before they hid the last but two climbs, the Côte de Sart-Tilman, we had a group of six riders leading the Caisse D’Epargne controlled pack, which were trailing by more than 3 minutes, and as the Côte de Sart-Tilman is located with under 20 km to go, it was going to be fight between these six riders.
Rebellin lead the favourites over Côte de Sart-Tilman and the Amstel and Wallone Winner was looking pretty strong again this afternoon in the Ardennes.
Nothing happened on Côte de Sart-Tilman as Rebellin set a high pace. Fränk was feeling pretty good as they crossed the top and were heading for the last but final climb, Côte de St-Nicolas, “The Italian Hill”. The nickname was to be emphasized even further today as Rebellin took off and together with Kashechkin they got a small gap to the four others. Fränk, who was beginnig to hurt quite a lot now held his own pace and him and Bettini could join up with the kazakh and the italian on the descent.
Rebellin seemed the strongest as he easily accelerated away to open a gap on the St-Nicolas hill, with its terrifying gradient of 11,1% over one km.
We were in for an astounding rush to the finish line on the final small climb in the city of Ans. Fränk was exhausted after the St-Nicolas and lost some metres on Rebellin, Bettini and Kashechkin. Nocentini and Riccó were gone after St-Nicolas, so it between the four riders. Bettini took the initiative and attacked right before the climb and he got himself a gap to the other three, as Schleck had fought himself back to the front.
But Bettini faded as they the hill and Kashechkin and Rebellin with Schleck trailing, moved up side-by-side, with Bettini. As the road flattened out there were still some 300 metres to go and here Kashechkin moved ahead as Bettini was done. Schleck followed right behind him and Rebellin and had a podium spot in sight as he passed Bettini, who was now completely finished for today. He gave it good try though.
As they came out of the final corner on the home stretch it was Kashechkin leading Rebellin and Schleck, and he looked strong.
Is Kashechkin going to be the second Kazakh winner of the Liége-Bastogne-Liége? He’s looking strong, but wait...!
Kashechkin completely faded on the last 100 metres and Rebellin and Schleck cruised right past him. Could Schleck beat this italian monster? He didn’t have more than 100 metres to do it. It would really wrap up our spring season perfectly, but Rebellin is a great finisher...
And Schleck could do nothing whatsoever, as Rebellin scorched across the finish line and raised his hands knowing he had made history – again. I caught a glimpse of Rebellin joining up with his teammates before he would climb the podium and they went crasy in celebration and you sure understand why. This was a performance beyond the achievable, well almost. He was the only ever to do the treple once – now he had done it twice you just can’t find a proper superlative for this guy.
92nd Liége-Bastogne-Liége | Result
1 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER 7h06'52
2 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
3 Andrey Kashechkin ASTANA + 11
4 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 27
5 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'12
6 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PREVOYANCE + 1'41
7 Constantino Zaballa CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 3'01
8 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS s.t.
9 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK s.t. 10 Karsten Kroon TEAM CSC s.t.
11 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
12 Matthias Kessler ASTANA s.t.
13 Christophe Moreau AG2R PREVOYANCE s.t.
14 Stefan Schumacher GEROLSTEINER s.t.
15 Axel Merckx T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
16 Philippe Gilbert FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
17 Oscar Pereiro CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
18 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANA s.t.
19 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
20 Denis Menchov RABOBANK s.t. 32 Nicki Sørensen TEAM CSC s.t.
34 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
40 Marcus Ljungqvist TEAM CSC s.t.
42 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC s.t.
85 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC + 12'15
86 Lars Ytting Bak TEAM CSC + 12'23
Post-Race Interview with Fränk Schleck
Interviewer:Fränk Schleck, a 2nd place in Liége-Bastogne-Liége, arguably the most important race on your calendar, how do you feel about this result?
FS:I wouldn’t stay in the way of Rebellin making history you know, nah seriously I’m actually pretty glad to get on the podium today. I honestly felt I could win today, but I was in a bad position on St-Nicolas, where I was behind Riccó and Nocentini and they suddenly lost Rebellin’s wheel so I had to work a lot to get back to the front and it costed me a lot of energy.
Interviewer:A little dissapointed then?
FS:For sure, you know, But Rebellin has been outstanding this year, he hasn’t “wasted a lot of energy in the Basque Tour and Paris-Nice, so he was more or less completely fit to race the Ardennes and his approach really gave him the edge I think. But you gotta hand it to him, it’s an unbelievable achievement.
Interview:So a hard spring season is now over for you, what are your goals for the rest of the season.
FS:I now lead the ProTour and I would like to win it aswell in the end of the season as I finished 3rd last year. I hope to do well in the Tour de France, but my main objective there will be to help Carlos Sastre, but then in october I hope to be in the front of the pack again as we race Züre Metsgete and Giro di Lombardia.
Interviewer:Okay thank you Fränk and Good Luck!
[img]https://www.onlinesport.ro/uploads/images/Ciclism/UCI_ProTour_logo.jpg' alt='www.grandeciclismo.net/2004-2005/foto/rebellin.jpeg [/img] Rebellin did what he did in 2004 as he won the treple in the Ardennes.
Another fantastic ProTour Spring has come to and end and it turned out quite good for us. Before the season our goal was to win Paris-Roubaix and Liége-Bastogne-Liége. It didn’t succeed but we managed two 2nd places in those two races, by respectively Fábian Cancellara and Fränk Schleck, who are now our two best ranked riders on the ProTour, with Fränk leading the chart.
We did surprisingly well in the stage races we participated in. In Tour Down Under, Stuart O’Grady took the overall win and after that Nicki Sørensen wrapped up a thrilling GC win in Tour of California. Fränk Schleck then did fantastic later on by winning Paris-Nice and Basque Tour, which came to quite a surprise to us honestly.
So CSC rider of the spring was down to a handful of riders. Fränk and Stuey had a lot of wins already but also Cancellara has been riding fantastic, escalating with his win in Gent-Wevelgem and his 2nd place in Paris-Roubaix. In the end we chose Fränk to take home this little internal award.
Now to something different. The May programme. The first Grand Tour of the 2007 season is looming up the road and we’ll bring a very interesting team to this tremendous italian stage race. It will more or less be a month dedicated to Andy Schleck, not only in the Giro but also in Tour de Romandie, which will be his final test ahead of the Giro. For me, my programme is quite simple. I’ll be with the team in Romandie and Italy for these two races only. While races like Rund Um Den Henninger Turm, 4 Days at Dunkurque, Tour of Catalunya will be directed under our other sports directors. Me and two other sports directors will be in charge of the team in Tour de Romandie and Giro d’Italia.
Team CSC | Giro d’Italia 2007
Andy Schleck
David Zabriskie
Kurt-Asle Arvesen
Fábian Cancellara
Michael Blaudzun
Luke Roberts
Christian Vandevelde
Nicki Sørensen
Volodymir Gustov
Andy Schleck is ready for his first Grand Tour as he's the CSC captain in the Giro. Could he be the new clean Ivan Basso?
Nice, an Euskaltel story. Looking forward. I just hope Sánchez crashes and has his season ruined. I kid, I kid I don't like him though.
Smoothie wrote:
I think it was a good second Rebelin is obviusly in good form well done keep it up
Yeah he has been inhuman in the Ardennes and actually it cost Fränk to win Paris-Nice and the Basque Tour as he lost his training maximum of 80 as it dropped to 78 right after Amstel. But I'm very pleased with LBL though
mrlol wrote:
sooo close... think you shouldn't have attacked that 2nd time but just spare for that last final attack... anyway...
Well on St-Nicolas I had to attack to get back to Kashechkin and Rebellin. I hadn't stayed behind Riccó and Nocentini on that climb and had to go after Rebellin by myself I think I could've won it on the last climb, but I'm well pleased though
Crommy wrote:
Great team for the Giro, you must be going for the U25 jersey, but what's your GC target for him?
I've only tried to play the Giro once with Andy as captain in PCM07 and it's very hard because that ridiculous acceleration stat Cyanide has provided him with as Di Luca and Cunego can win a lot of time on the hilly stages. But I think a top 5 is possible. But remember, Andy Schleck had his breakthrough in the Giro this year, so he isn't among the favourites from the start
May 1:Tour de Romandie – Prologue | Fribourg – 3,5 km
Team: Andy Schleck, David Zabriskie, Marcus Ljungqvist, Christian Vandevelde, Kurt-Asle Arvesen, Juan José Haedo, Chris Anker Sørensen and Volodymir Gustov
We’ve put spring behind us and we’re now entering a new phase of the 2007 Season. The first Grand Tour is right around in the corner and we have a guy that might become the revelation of that tour. In order to do so he has to show something here in Switzerland in this race, as a confidence boost is always welcome for a young rider, as we’re of course talking about Andy Schleck. He won a great stage in the Basque Tour and throughout the entire spring he has been focusing on nothing but preparing for the Giro. So he’s going to be in top form as we take off on Sardinia in a shade under two weeks.
Tour de Romandie is another ProTour Race and I rather like it actually, it’s perfect positioned to function as a warm-up race for the Giro profiles, but also the fact that it’s a very hard race attracts me a lot. The Prologue is a 3,5 km spin in Fribourg and it will decide nothing but who gets to wear the yellow jersey tomorrow. The favourites to do so must be Thomas Dekker, Andrey Kashechkin, Paolo Savoldelli and our guy Dave Zabriskie. Five of the riders we’ve selected for the Giro are also racing here, so it’s very important for them to hone their form before we get underway in Italy.
Valverde has had a dissapointing year so far, while Millar has come out of the Tour de Georgia in great shape as he sets provisional best time early on.
Dave beats him by one second though as he claims the provisional lead, while Schumacher clocks same time a Millar, just a fraction of a second slower than the brit.
Kurt-Asle clocks provisional 5th best time about halfway through, while Chris Anker Sørensen makes his ProTour Debut.
The only latvian of the race Belohvosckics did a decent job finishing 27th at the end of the day. Aussie Brad McGee claimed a top ten spot.
It was beginning to look as though Dave could pull it off, but then Thomas Dekker took off. Right before Paolo Savoldelli had also started his Tour de Romandie, but he was 4 seconds slower than Dave as he didn’t even manage a top ten spot. Dekker on the other hand was really motoring as he beat Dave by 4 seconds a took a clear lead, with the only rider left to endanger that lead being Andrey Kashechkin, who is my top favourite to win the GC here, after his great performance in Liége-Bastogne-Liége.
Savoldelli and Dekker look to be in good form as they ripped up good time trials, with Dekker taking the provisional lead.
Then it was Andy’s turn. The main thing he lacks to become a big stage racer is a good time trial, but eventhough he’s not at his peak just yet and that his time trial needs improvements he really did a fantastic job today as he claimed the provisional 7th best time. He wouldn’t keep his top ten spot though as there were still great riders to come as we entered the final round. Luis Leon Sanchez was the last Caisse D’Epargne rider to take off and he rode a strong time trial and beat Andy Schleck.
Andy did a very good job here on the prologue as he established his GC credentials, but he could do nothing about Luis Leon Sanchez.
Kashechkin was still to come and he would challenge Dekker for the jersey today and the kazakh really rode hard out there today as he clocked 2nd best time, 3 seconds slower than Dekker. The final rider who could challenge Dekker was Bruseghin, but as he only managed 22nd Dekker knew he’d won. We had one guy to though, namely Marcus Ljungqvist, who had been racing all of the April Classics, meaning that he’s in peak condition, and he really did a good job today as he would be one of three CSC riders to finish the day in the top ten, by claiming 8th spot.
Kashechkin came close, but got no cigar for his effort to win the leader’s jersey on today’s prologue. But he must be considered main favourite now.
So Dekker take the lead, like he did in Paris-Nice on that prologue. Lets see if he can hold onto it here. I actually have a feeling that it’s going to be between him and Kashechkin for the win, while I’d be pleased if Andy finishes in the top ten.
Tour de Romandie – Prologue | Result
1 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK 4'33
2 Andrey Kashechkin ASTANA + 3 3 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC + 4
4 David Millar SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 5
5 Stefan Schumacher GEROLSTEINER s.t.
6 Bradley Mc Gee FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
7 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS + 6 8 Marcus Ljungqvist TEAM CSC s.t.
9 Luis León Sánchez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 7 10 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC + 8
11 Paolo Savoldelli ASTANA s.t. 12 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
13 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC + 9
14 Stef Clement BOUYGUES TELECOM s.t.
15 Marco Pinotti T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
16 Evgueni Petrov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
17 Antonio Colom ASTANA + 10
18 Sebastian Lang GEROLSTEINER s.t.
19 Mikhail Ignatiev TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
20 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
21 Marzio Bruseghin LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
22 Benoit Vaugrenard FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
23 Brian Vandborg DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 11
24 Juan José Cobo Acebo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
25 Bert Grabsch T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
26 Raivis Belohvosciks SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
27 Mikel Astarloza EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
28 José G. Marchante SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
29 Brett Lancaster TEAM MILRAM + 12
30 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER s.t. 38 Volodimir Gustov TEAM CSC s.t.
70 Chris Anker Sørensen TEAM CSC + 15
148 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC + 22
Rund Um Den Henninger Turm
1 Michael Boogerd RABOBANK 4h35'30
2 Karsten Kroon TEAM CSC + 21
3 Manuel Beltran LIQUIGAS + 43
4 Domenico Pozzovivo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
5 Andrea Pagoto CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
6 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'12
7 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER s.t.
8 Aleksandr Kuschynski LIQUIGAS s.t.
9 Preben Van Hecke PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
10 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK s.t.
11 Steffen Wesemann TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 1'38
12 Harald Morscher TEAM VOLKSBANK s.t.
13 Markus Eibegger ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
14 Gerben Löwik RABOBANK + 1'58
15 René Weissinger TEAM VOLKSBANK s.t.
16 Florian Stalder TEAM VOLKSBANK s.t.
17 Christophe Brandt PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
18 Luca Solari TEAM LPR s.t.
19 Rigoberto Uran UNIBET.COM s.t.
20 Gerrit Glomser TEAM VOLKSBANK + 2'19 22 Lars Ytting Bak TEAM CSC s.t.
26 Michael Blaudzun TEAM CSC s.t.
30 Alexandr Kolobnev TEAM CSC + 2'46
39 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC + 4'02
46 Martin Pedersen TEAM CSC + 10'14
83 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC + 12'38
111 Anders Lund TEAM CSC + 13'28Edited by niconico on 21-09-2007 19:42
[img]https://www.onlinesport.ro/uploads/images/Ciclism/UCI_ProTour_logo.jpg' alt='www.grandeciclismo.net/2004-2005/foto/rebellin.jpeg [/img]
