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The Danish Puncheur
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 14-08-2008 23:28
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It will be great when JAJ finally does get to ride a Grand Tour.
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| G_Larsson |
Posted on 15-08-2008 07:56
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Great win ! 
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| niconico |
Posted on 15-08-2008 19:02
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Triple Crown
I didn’t take part in the first of these three American one-day races and quite frankly I don’t remember who won the firs tone, I just know we didn’t. I would take part in the second one though, namely the Commerce Bank Reading Classic. Eventhough the competition in this race was quite poor I wasn’t named to captain the team. For this one it was Candido Barbosa. But he would go home after Reading meaning I would get to be the leader in Commerce Bank International Championship and I actually think I can battle for a podium there.
Commerce Bank Reading Classic
It wasn’t a particularily long race. Only 144 kilometres with a flat profile with small bumb in the middle of each lap.
On the final lap it was Silence – Lotto’s Ardila who was out in front with a decent gap to the pack where me and Candido were sitting, alongside our team-mates of course. Ardila looked to be in control but going up the hill for the last time his gap came down drastically and when Barbosa attacked with Beñat Intxausti he was caught very quickly.
Not surprisingly Ardila couldn’t hang on the two so they would battle it out. But in the sprint there no doubt as to who was going to win. Barbosa took it home very comfortably with Intxausti taking 2nd ahead of Ardila who soloed in alone ahead of the pack, where I gave it go to finish 4th. But with this being my first race after my break my legs weren’t turning and moving the way I wanted them to. But still I managed 8th in the race, so I’m quite happy with that and with Barbosa taking the win I can line up for the final race of the Triple Crown very satisfied.
Commerce Bank International Championships
My form isn’t good but it’s not terrible either and with the competition I’m facing today I could very well fight for a podium if everythings goes perfectly. I’m the team leader and my lieutenant is Martin Mares, the guy who beat me and Niki Østergaard on a stage in Ringerike GP last year.
The team worked really hard to bring things together and the last breakaway rider was back in the pack just before the last ascend of Lemon Hill. Here CSC’s Gustav Larsson and Rock Racing’s “Fast Freddy” Rodriquez took off, with me countering the move and making the junction quite easily. Soon we had a quite big gap and there under 20 kilometres to go. Behind us a group with Tom Zirbel, Chris Wherry and my lieutenant Mares were chasing as the couldn’t come across on Lemon Hill. But they were far back and this was going to be between me, Larsson and “Fast Freddy”.
Rodriquez wouldn’t be easy to beat in the sprint and he was definitely my main concern. But I feeled very strong and both Larsson and Rodriquez had serious problems staying in my wheel on the first of two small bumps after Lemon Hill. I cracked Rodriguez on the second one, so it was going to be between me and Larsson for the win.
I locked into his wheel and as soon as I bursted past him I sat down and strolled home to take the win! My second win of the season and I’m not even in any good shape.
1 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road 7h27'01
2 Gustav Larsson Team CSC s.t.
3 Fred Rodriguez Rock Racing + 1'04
4 Martin Mareš Team High Road + 2'08
5 Ivan De Nobile Giant Asia Racing Team s.t.
6 Matt Wilson Team Type 1 s.t.
7 Alex Candelario Kelly Benefit Strategies - Medifast s.t.
8 Nicki Sörensen Team CSC s.t.
9 Luis León Sánchez Team CSC s.t.
10 Bradley McGee Team CSC s.t.
11 Brad Huff Jelly Belly Cycling Team s.t.
12 Andrew Bajadali Kelly Benefit Strategies - Medifast s.t.
13 Martin Kohler BMC Racing Team s.t.
14 Olivier Pardini Jelly Belly Cycling Team s.t.
15 Emile Abraham Team Type 1 s.t.
16 Alejandro Borrajo Colavita - Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light s.t.
17 Dominique Rollin Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team s.t.
18 Cyril Dessel Team MTN s.t.
19 Arnold Alcolea Team MTN s.t.
20 Chechu Rubiera Team CSC s.t.
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| Crommy |
Posted on 15-08-2008 19:38
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World Champion
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Another win
Great stuff
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| schleck93 |
Posted on 15-08-2008 19:38
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JAJ ownB)
BenBarnes wrote:
Thor wears a live rattlesnake as a condom.
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| G_Larsson |
Posted on 15-08-2008 19:59
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Really nice win with JAJ, again !
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 23:21
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| stuartmcstuart |
Posted on 17-08-2008 10:56
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JAJ must be confident of a more important role within the team after his second win...good on ya J! |
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| niconico |
Posted on 17-08-2008 12:19
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Danish Championships
I decided to skip Ster Elektrotoer after all, so my next race will be the Danish ITT National Championship. I’m only racing this to gain some race form as my form is still pretty low, because I haven’t started building up for the Worlds just yet. That would be a bit too early. My team-mate Lars Bak is a strong Ttist, but his form is poor aswell and he’ll have a tough time against André Steensen who’s been looking very good lately.
The time trial went as expected, I finished low in the table about 3 or 4 minutes down on the new Danish TT Champion, André Steensen. But my mind is set on the 200-kilometres ride on June 27, where I will go after the Red-and-White coloured jersey. The RR is raced on the exact same circuit as the Worlds will be raced on, so it’s a good opportunity for me test the course, but I have a feeling I’ll training obsessively on this course the next couple of months.
The Road Race
Against the three big Danish teams, CSC, my former team GLS and Team Designa, me and Lars agreed we should work together and win the jersey for Team High Road. Our tactic was to attack from way out and Lars tried about three times to get away in the opening phases of the race, but Designa in particular just wouldn’t allow it.
When Anders Lund of CSC attacked I went with it, knowing last year’s winner came from the early break. So a group formed and the pack didn’t seem to care for now. Besides me and Lund, the group consisted of my former team-mate Peter Riis Andersen of Team GLS, veteran Claus Michael Møller who has signed for Quickstep, Søren Kirkegaard of Karpin-Galicia and Frank Høj of NGC Medical. My hope was that with riders in the break neither CSC or GLS would help Designa reeling us in and I though being in the break was my chance today.
We were actually working very well together. Lund and Riis did drop to the back of the group some times, but they began relaying again. Perhaps CSC and GLS were content with the situation. But CSC did help out Designa in the pack and with 100 km to go the gap started falling. With 75 kilometres to go the gap was down to 6 minutes.
But then suddenly the chase weakened and with 55 kilometres to the finishline the gap just under 5 minutes. Clearly Designa couldn’t chase us down alone. Last year’s runner-up Lasse Böchmann put in a big effort for CSC, but he was the only CSC rider relaying and I was still feeling fresh in the break. If nothing else I would try an attack towards the finish.
When we entered the final lap with 18 kilometres to go the gap was two and a half minutes. I knew Peter Riis very well for my time at GLS and I know he is a strong finisher and I would like to get rid of him. I don’t fear any of the other riders and I feel like I’m the strongest in the group. With 10 kilometres to go the gap was 2 minutes, but then we slowed down as were setting up for the finish. Anders Lund who had done the smallest amount of relaying took advantage of this and broke clear with 8 kilometres to go. At this point the gap was just under one minute and dropping. I knew I had to attack.
I jumped on small rise with about 5 kilometres to the finish and I will remember this small rise in the Worlds because it’s a good opportunity to put in an attack. I soon passed Lund and left him behind recieving no response from the other riders. I was leading with about 30 seconds on the pack with 3 kilometres to go. Behind me GLS set up a train to set it up for Michael Mørkøv. But I wanted this one.
As soon as I saw the line I tugged my head down and started sprinting with everything I had left, I looked down and under my shoulder to see where the GLS riders were. Then I looked up and next thing I knew I was rolling over the three commercial banners on the road. I’ve frickin’ won the Danish National Jersey!
1 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road 5h06'02
2 Michael Morkov Team GLS - Pakke Shop + 26
3 Jacob Moe Rasmussen Team GLS - Pakke Shop s.t.
4 Michael Reihs Cycle Collstrop s.t.
5 Kristoffer Nielsen Team GLS - Pakke Shop s.t.
6 Martin Pedersen Team GLS - Pakke Shop s.t.
7 Anders Lund Team CSC s.t.
8 Alex Rasmussen Team Designa Køkken s.t.
9 Peter Riis Andersen Team GLS - Pakke Shop s.t.
10 Martin Mortensen Team Designa Køkken s.t.
11 Thomas Oredsson Team Designa Køkken s.t.
12 Nicki Sörensen Team CSC s.t.
13 Kasper Jebjerg Team Designa Køkken s.t.
14 Morten Reckweg Team GLS - Pakke Shop s.t.
15 Jan Almblad Team Kuota - Senges s.t.
16 Ricky Enø Jørgensen Team Designa Køkken s.t.
17 Jakob Bering Team Designa Køkken s.t.
18 André Steensen Team CSC s.t.
19 Matti Breschel Team CSC s.t.
20 Niki Ostergaard Tinkoff Credit Systems s.t.
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 17-08-2008 12:22
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Great win!
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| schleck93 |
Posted on 17-08-2008 12:22
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Classics Specialist
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Great win in Denmark
BenBarnes wrote:
Thor wears a live rattlesnake as a condom.
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| niconico |
Posted on 17-08-2008 12:25
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Thanks, now I just need a decent jersey 
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| Ak4 |
Posted on 17-08-2008 13:10
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Stagiare
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JAJ rules!  |
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| G_Larsson |
Posted on 17-08-2008 14:34
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Really great win! Looking forward to see JAJ in the jersey
Edited by G_Larsson on 17-08-2008 14:34
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| niconico |
Posted on 17-08-2008 14:51
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Yeah well apparently there isn't any Danish National champion jersey for Team High Road 
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| ladagnous |
Posted on 17-08-2008 15:33
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Stagiare
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can't you create one |
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| niconico |
Posted on 17-08-2008 16:32
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I'm not exactly a whiz at the making jerseys, in fact I have never tried it before. I could have a go at it using SNs article on how to make a jersey, but I want it to be a Danish National High Road jersey and not just a Danish national jersey
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| niconico |
Posted on 17-08-2008 21:12
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Jonas’ Corner
The Tour de France is over and I’m just about to start to get my form up for the Worlds and I will begin to do that in the race I won last year, Post Danmark Rundt. I won’t be captain however – Bert Grabsch will as he has come out of the Tour in great form.
About Tour de France then it didn’t went exactly as we’d hoped. Kirchen’s form was simply too poor as he lined up for the race and he could only manage 13th in the GC. Mark Cavendish was our designated sprinter for the race and despite being in top form he was a big dissapointment as his best result was a 2nd place on of the stages. Siutsou lived it up a bit for the team though as he won a stage, but that was the only fond memory we could bring home. Contador won the the Tour by the way.
Also there has been some activity on the transfer market, here's a heads up on the essentials. Ivan Basso has signed for, would you believe it, Team CSC! Bettini will leave us for Caisse d'Epargne. Barbosa will leave us for Mitsubishi-Jartazi. Cadel Evans is going to Rabobank. Andreas Klöden will ride in the Quickstep colours next season. Leipheimer will follow Bettini to Caisse d'Epargne and Denis Menchov apparently doesn't like the prospect of racing alongside Evans, so he will leave Rabobank for Team Astana.
I have been discussing the opportunity of me riding the Vuelta with Brian, but we came to the agreement that I should wait a year before I race my first Grand Tour and he has said that he can’t rule out that I will be racing Le Tour next year. For now I’m just worrying about the Worlds, where I really think I can win a medal, and if I do it’ll be the highlight of my career so far. But there’s still some time to pass.
Edited by niconico on 17-08-2008 21:18
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| niconico |
Posted on 17-08-2008 22:18
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Thanks to G_Larsson for making a Danish National Jersey.
Post Danmark Rundt
It’s only been a couple of days since the Tour ended, surely it must be tough on Bert Grabsch who completed the full three weeks and will now try and win Post Danmark Rundt. Surely a contrast for him to come here after riding a such a prestigous race as the Tour de France. I would sure like to be there next year, but my time will come I’m sure. Just as last year the four first stages are sprinters terrain as with 40-year-old Zanini in peak condition we will be riding for him here. The 5th stage is an individual time trial and we hope that Grabsh can win it and grab the yellow jersey so we can go defend it on the last hilly stage.
Stage 1
I’m sorry about the very short report here but cameras broke down so we couldn’t get any pictures from the race. All I know is that we did terrible with me being our best rider in about 25th’ish. Allan Davis won the opening stage and took the yellow jersey.
1 Allan Davis Silence - Lotto 3h47'58
2 Kenny De Ketele Topsport Vlaanderen s.t.
3 Clemens Frankhauser ELK Haus - Simplon s.t.
4 Paride Grillo CSF Group - Navigare s.t.
5 Kristoffer Nielsen Team GLS - Pakke Shop s.t.
6 Nikolai Trussov Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t.
7 Francesco Chicchi Liquigas s.t.
8 Martin Pedersen Team GLS - Pakke Shop s.t.
9 Michael Morkov Team GLS - Pakke Shop s.t.
10 Mauro Finetto Team Designa Køkken s.t.
11 Roy Sentjens Silence - Lotto s.t.
12 Lars Petter Nordhaug Joker - Bianchi s.t.
13 Jacob Moe Rasmussen Team GLS - Pakke Shop s.t.
14 Sebastian Siedler Skil - Shimano s.t.
15 Martin Mortensen Team Designa Køkken s.t.
16 Frédéric Amorison Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner s.t.
17 Fabien Bacquet Skil - Shimano s.t.
18 Thomas Kristiansen Team GLS - Pakke Shop s.t.
19 Michaël Polazzi Joker - Bianchi s.t.
20 Murilo Fischer Liquigas s.t.
27 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road s.t.
Stage 2
Not surprisingly this also came down to a sprint but it went better for us today. I don’t know what happened with Zanini yesterday because he was flying today. For a 40-year-old. I was his lead-out man today and I managed to set him up in a pretty good position, but some riders were just positioned better and the sprint would be an uphill struggle for Zanini.
A lot of riders shot forward on our right hand side. I gave Zanini a solid lead-out and he tried to go with the wave of accelerations to the right and he came up on them pretty fast. Frankhauser of Elk Haus was the first rider to come out of the final bend, but Zanini came right after. He wasn’t able to get past Frankhauser however but 2nd on the stage lifted him to 4th in the GC and a decent day at the office for us. Frankhauser is the new man in yellow.
Stage 3
Today’s headline for me was that I recieved a new, better looking jersey. Apparently the old one had been by some phony guy and it didn’t even have High Road logos on it. But this new one looks great and it’s such a tremendous feeling to be riding around in the Danish National jersey in the biggest race in Denmark.
About the stage. I’m still not strong enough to compete for the win in a pure sprint like these on the first 4 stages so I was in the helper’s role again today. I did a good job for Zanini in the sprint, but again one rider was better than our old Italian. Allan Davis took another win and claimed back his yellow jersey. A positive thing about today was the results list was working again.
1 Allan Davis Silence - Lotto 4h34'59
2 Stefano Zanini Team High Road s.t.
3 Kristoffer Nielsen Team GLS - Pakke Shop s.t.
4 Kenny De Ketele Topsport Vlaanderen s.t.
5 Jacob Moe Rasmussen Team GLS - Pakke Shop s.t.
6 Paride Grillo CSF Group - Navigare s.t.
7 Mauro Finetto Team Designa Køkken s.t.
8 Martin Mortensen Team Designa Køkken s.t.
9 Nikolai Trussov Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t.
10 Murilo Fischer Liquigas s.t.
11 Clemens Frankhauser ELK Haus - Simplon s.t.
12 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road s.t.
13 Frédéric Amorison Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner s.t.
14 Jens Erik Madsen Team Designa Køkken s.t.
15 Fabio Baldato Liquigas s.t.
16 Sebastian Siedler Skil - Shimano s.t.
17 Michael Morkov Team GLS - Pakke Shop s.t.
18 Martin Pedersen Team GLS - Pakke Shop s.t.
19 Arnoud Van Groen Skil - Shimano s.t.
20 Tom Stamsnijder Topsport Vlaanderen s.t.
Stage 4
The last day for the sprinters presumeably. The stage is run on a street circuit in the 2nd largest city of Denmark, Odense. It’s run very early because the 5th stage, the ITT, will also take place today, just in the evening. I’m still not at my A-game, which of course is good because that would mean I have totally mistimed my training for the Worlds. This again means that Zanini will be the one I will ride for today. I ususally have a thing with city circuits, somehow I always perform poorly here, but maybe today will be an exception, but I don’t really count on it.
The pack kept a tremendously high pace during the whole stage and no break were even close to coming through on streets of Odense. So another sprinter it’ll be. Today I was positioned very well but when I looked behind me, Zanini had completely lost my wheel. Apparently he had locked in on Allan Davis’ wheel who was a couple of metres behind me.
The train with Allan Davis was from another planet today. Despite being long back, the Aussie bursted his way directly into the lead leaving everybody in his wake. Both me and Zanini tried to go with it and we got nicely into his Slipstream as Zanini took 3rd and I took 6th on the stage. This means that Allan Davis leads Grabsh by over a minute before tonights time trial.
1 Allan Davis Silence - Lotto 1h51'04
2 Kenny De Ketele Topsport Vlaanderen s.t.
3 Stefano Zanini Team High Road s.t.
4 Clemens Frankhauser ELK Haus - Simplon s.t.
5 Mauro Finetto Team Designa Køkken s.t.
6 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road s.t.
7 Martin Pedersen Team GLS - Pakke Shop s.t.
8 Martin Mortensen Team Designa Køkken s.t.
9 Murilo Fischer Liquigas s.t.
10 Paride Grillo CSF Group - Navigare s.t.
11 Francesco Chicchi Liquigas s.t.
12 Maciej Bodnar Liquigas s.t.
13 Sebastian Siedler Skil - Shimano s.t.
14 Kristoffer Nielsen Team GLS - Pakke Shop s.t.
15 Kasper Jebjerg Team Designa Køkken s.t.
16 Jens Erik Madsen Team Designa Køkken s.t.
17 Arnoud Van Groen Skil - Shimano s.t.
18 Nikolai Trussov Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t.
19 Frédéric Amorison Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner s.t.
20 Magnus Bäckstedt Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t.
Stage 5
Last year this was the most important time trial of my career. This year I could take it easy there was no pressure on me to perform as I haven’t come here with any ambitions, eventhough I have a feeling I could do something tomorrow.
Grabsch turned in a great time trial and he won the stage by beating home-favourite Brian Vandborg by 9 seconds. I wasn’t too shabby either if you ask me, as I finished 58th, 1’04 down.
Davis impressed me a lot though. He is normally a poor time trialist at about my level but he still managed to do well enough to hold onto his jersey by 4 seconds. Meaning Grabsch will have to try something on the infamous hill tomorrow if he wants to win. Maybe it’s a good thing he has me as a team-mate, because I have some personal preferences from that particular hill.
1 Bert Grabsch Team High Road 12'02
2 Brian Vandborg Team GLS - Pakke Shop + 9
3 Raivis Belohvosciks Skil - Shimano + 18
4 Alexander Khatuntsev Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O + 23
5 Marcel Sieberg Team High Road s.t.
6 Martin Mortensen Team Designa Køkken + 27
7 Nikolai Trussov Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O + 29
8 Michael Blaudzun Team CSC + 32
9 Steven Cummings ELK Haus - Simplon + 33
10 Kenny De Ketele Topsport Vlaanderen s.t.
11 Andy Cappelle Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner + 34
12 Tom Stamsnijder Topsport Vlaanderen + 35
13 Jason McCartney Team CSC + 36
14 Jacob Moe Rasmussen Team GLS - Pakke Shop s.t.
15 Stefan Denifl ELK Haus - Simplon + 41
16 Wim Vansevenant Silence - Lotto s.t.
17 Peter Ronsse Joker - Bianchi s.t.
18 Sébastien Turgot Team High Road + 42
19 Magnus Bäckstedt Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t.
20 Michael Morkov Team GLS - Pakke Shop + 43
58 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road + 1'04
GC
1 Allan Davis Silence - Lotto 14h58'45
2 Bert Grabsch Team High Road + 4
3 Kenny De Ketele Topsport Vlaanderen + 13
4 Brian Vandborg Team GLS - Pakke Shop s.t.
5 Raivis Belohvosciks Skil - Shimano + 22
6 Clemens Frankhauser ELK Haus - Simplon + 27
7 Marcel Sieberg Team High Road s.t.
8 Alexander Khatuntsev Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t.
9 Stefano Zanini Team High Road + 29
10 Martin Mortensen Team Designa Køkken + 31
11 Nikolai Trussov Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O + 33
12 Arnoud Van Groen Skil - Shimano s.t.
13 Kristoffer Nielsen Team GLS - Pakke Shop + 35
14 Steven Cummings ELK Haus - Simplon + 37
15 Andy Cappelle Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner + 38
16 Tom Stamsnijder Topsport Vlaanderen + 39
17 Jacob Moe Rasmussen Team GLS - Pakke Shop + 40
18 Peter Ronsse Joker - Bianchi + 41
19 Wim Vansevenant Silence - Lotto + 45
20 Stefan Denifl ELK Haus - Simplon s.t.
47 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road + 1'08
Stage 6
The last stage and would you believe it, the cameras en route broke down again. So no pictures and that bothers me a great deal. Anyway, 4 seconds was what we needed on Davis to win this. I don’t think it would be any problem for me to take 4 seconds on him, but it was Grabsch who had to get his big time trial body over the final hill fast enough to get rid off Davis. Just to clear up. Grabsch isn’t terrible by any means in hilly terrain, especially not for a guy his size. But, he is never going to win Fleche Wallone or something like that. He needed me to win the race.
So just as exactly one year ago I positioned myself at the front of the pack as hit the hill. Grabsch was right on my wheel. From the bottom of the climb I opened up with Grabsch trying to get into my wheel and he did surprisingly well. There was no response from Davis though.
As we crossed the top we only had a very slim margin on the pack, but then Grabsch took over and went flat-out down the descent and this guy can put in a serious cadence on descent like this. So a gap started to form with just over 10 kilometres left. There are two small bumps after the big hill and on the first of these, De Ketele who is 3rd in the GC, took off from the pack. He put in a strong attack and he nearly managed to jump across. Luckily he didn’t because he could easily outsprint Grabsch and take enough boni seconds to move past him in the GC.
Me and Grabsch had build up a 50 seconds gap as we entered the home stretch on our own. Grabsch gave it a final push before he let me take over, so I could win the stage. He knew how big it would be for me to win a stage in Post Danmark Rundt wearing this jersey and also he had won a stage already so it was fair really. The pack came in at 44 seconds meaning Grabsch has won Post Danmark Rundt comfortably, but it also meant that I will be on the podium as I will move into 3rd in the GC, just 4 seconds shy of Allan Davis who held on to his 2nd place. So an awesome race for us and it was an incredible feeling to win that stage wearing the Danish National Champion Jersey.
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 17-08-2008 23:03
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Great win for JAJ and the team. Shame that the cameras broke down.
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| ladagnous |
Posted on 17-08-2008 23:45
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Stagiare
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can we see what JAJ looks like with the jersey |
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