June 20:Tour de Suisse – Stage 4 | Vaduz > Giubiasco – 194 km
Stage Profile:
Today we take off in the capital of Liechtenstein, where the riders head out for Giubiasco, which will be the entry city for the Alps on the next two stages. Tomorrow’s result was really poor for us as both Sastre and Sørensen slipped out of the top ten, so today we hoped that the pack would let a break go, so we wanted on all costs to be in today’s breakaway.
Two groups got away but they would join up later, the first contained Kuschynski, Augé and Sacchi and in the second we had Kolobnev together with Mengin, Del Nero, Verheyen, Loubet, Meersman and Mindlin.
The two groups came together just before the Flims climb, where the first KOM sprint of the day was. Kolobnev was pretty strong today and his relays on this rather “light climb” strung the pretty thin with some dropping off the pack. They would come back however as other riders took over the front, so overall Kolobnev seemed to be the strongest, but a lot of things would have to go his way, if he was to even compete for the win.
Onto the biggest climb of the day, the Lukmanierpass, and the leaders still have a significant lead.
The pack began to up the pace before the Lukmanierpass as the gap topped at 13 minutes with some 110 kilometres to go. Apparently the pack, led by primarily Euskaltel and Astana, was confident it could gain a lot of time on the biggest climb, and they should be considering Kolobnev was now the virtual leaders as he was only some 5 minutes down in the GC before this stage. Again Kolobnev turned the heat on when relaying. On his first turn he blew the group into two parts, with four men breaking off the back. The guys who could follow him was Meersman, Kuschynski, Del Nero, Augé and Verheyen. They would come back together again though, but on Kolobnev’s second turn the exact same riders broke off, and this time they wouldn’t come back. Now it’s all about for the Kolobnev group to keep pedalling because the pack is coming fast up on them. Let’s see what the lead is over the top.
The six men in front looked doomed at the top of the Lukmanierpass as the pack would cross just 4’39” later with a shade above 70 kilometres to go.
But the leaders turned the heat on on the descent as the pack somehow couldn’t get their act together here and they only managed to win 30 or so seconds on the descent, so with 40 kilometres to go for the break they have a 4’05” advantage over the pack. Could they make it? If so then Kolobnev would have to try and get away, because he is by far the worst sprinter in the group and he wouldn’t stand much of chance in a sprint.
The guys dropped by Kolobnev’s pace was reeled in by the pack around the 20 km mark.
With just under 20 kilometres to it was only Kolobnev and Kuschynski who did the working in the group and surely that was why Meersman was able to spurt off just before the last KOM sprint, not only to take the points but to get a good gap over his breakaway companions.
Gianni Meersman didn’t relay after the descent to save some energy for a last-ditch effort to win the stage.
And Meersman was incredibly strong as he began pulling away slightly. But not by much as Kolobnev took a really powerful relay to gain some seconds on him. With 10 kilometres to Meersman had 22 seconds on the Kolobnev group and 1’40” on the pack. Surely the break could make it eventhough the pack was coming very fast. On the Lukmanierpass the pack was cut to just 71 riders, where we Sastre, Sørensen, Schleck, Julich (who looked really strong today) and Vandevelde.
Kolobnev used a lot of energy relaying in the group and it cost. On the last kilometre Meersman still had a slight advantage of 10 seconds or so, when the chasers began sprinting. Unfortuneately Kolobnev didn’t have the energy to launch an attack before the sprint so we hoped the other riders were beat, so Kolobnev could outsprint them eventhough he was also pretty beat. Del Nero opened up with Kolobnev countering him immediately and it seemed like Kuschynski and Augé were done (Verheyen had been dropped some kilometres ago).
Meersman fought for the win while Del Nero and Kolobnev neared in behind him. But they didn’t neared fast enough as Meersman would just hold on and claim an impressive win. Del Nero took second ahead of Kolobnev, Kuschynski and Augé. Gerdemann won the sprint of the pack 42 seconds after Meersmann crossed the line. Kolobnev actually managed to climb to 16th in the GC after this impressive ride.
Gianni Meersman of Discovery took a hard-fighting win as he just held off Del Nero and Kolobnev to win the 4th stage of Tour de Suisse.
Vinokourov finished better than Sánchez today so he gets to ride in the yellow jersey tomorrow where the riders face the ruthless mountain top finish of Crans-Montana. Other than that there are no changes in the top of the GC.
Tour de Suisse – Stage 4 | Result
1 Gianni Meersman DISCOVERY CHANNEL 4h48'05
2 Jesús Del Nero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t. 3 Alexandr Kolobnev TEAM CSC s.t.
4 Aleksandr Kuschynski LIQUIGAS s.t.
5 Stéphane Augé COFIDIS s.t.
6 Linus Gerdemann T-MOBILE TEAM + 42
7 José Iván Gutierrez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
8 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANA s.t.
9 Christophe Moreau AG2R PREVOYANCE s.t.
10 Patxi Vila LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
11 Leonardo Duque COFIDIS s.t.
12 Samuel Sánchez G. EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
13 Domenico Pozzovivo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
14 Haimar Zubeldia EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
15 Luis León Sánchez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
16 Johann Tschopp BOUYGUES TELECOM s.t.
17 Thomas Voeckler BOUYGUES TELECOM s.t.
18 Iñigo Landaluze EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
19 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK s.t. 31 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
63 Chris Anker Sørensen TEAM CSC s.t.
66 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC s.t.
68 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC s.t.
72 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC s.t.
94 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC + 3'00
104 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC + 3'08
Tour de Suisse – Stage 4 | GC
1 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANA 19h03'51
2 Samuel Sánchez G. EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
3 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK + 1'34
4 Domenico Pozzovivo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 1'41
5 Juan José Cobo Acebo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'22
6 Stijn Devolder DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 3'00
7 Patxi Vila LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 3'03
8 Christophe Moreau AG2R PREVOYANCE + 3'19
9 Johann Tschopp BOUYGUES TELECOM + 3'26
10 Linus Gerdemann T-MOBILE TEAM + 3'41
Tour de Suisse – Stage 4 | Points Competition
1 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANA 54
2 Samuel Sánchez G. EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 41
3 Leonardo Duque COFIDIS 35
4 Danilo Napolitano LAMPRE - FONDITAL 31
5 Gianni Meersman DISCOVERY CHANNEL 31
6 José Iván Gutierrez CAISSE D'EPARGNE 26
7 Jesús Del Nero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 23
8 Aleksandr Kuschynski LIQUIGAS 22
9 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK 21
10 Stéphane Augé COFIDIS 21
Tour de Suisse - Stage 4 | King of the Mountains
1 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANA 25
2 Dimitry Kozontchuck RABOBANK 15
3 Geert Verheyen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 14 4 Alexandr Kolobnev TEAM CSC 11
5 Aleksandr Kuschynski LIQUIGAS 11
6 Michael Albasini LIQUIGAS 10
7 Sébastien Minard COFIDIS 8
8 Igor Astarloa TEAM MILRAM 7
9 Leonardo Duque COFIDIS 7
10 Jesús Del Nero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 7
Gianni took some time for fan care after his stage win.
June 20:Ster Elektrotoer – Stage 1 | Schijndel > Nuth – 166 km
A hilly stage where Matti Breschel will be looking to justify a Tour team spot, but it’ll be tough as he have almost ruled him out of contention already. Not because of his results, but because his form can’t increase enough before the Tour commenes, so we’d rather see him have his Grand Tour debut in Spain. But you never know.
This sucks so hard. I almost had THE BEST mountain stage ever for you, but then it crashed
Vandevelde was in the early break and the pack let them stay clear, which I've never seen before when there's a mountain top finish and to top that Vandevelde was soloing for the win when it crashed he was on the final kilometre
A_Schleck wrote:
This sucks so hard. I almost had THE BEST mountain stage ever for you, but then it crashed
Vandevelde was in the early break and the pack let them stay clear, which I've never seen before when there's a mountain top finish and to top that Vandevelde was soloing for the win when it crashed he was on the final kilometre
Hard...If this happens for me..I lose my apetite to play for a few days
June 21:Tour de Suisse – Stage 5 | Giubiasco > Crans-Montana – 191 km
Stage Profile:
Another day in the mountains and following Kolobnev’s succesful breakaway on yesterday’s stage we decided we wanted to try to do the same thing. We have three candidates for the break, Vandevelde, Julich or Cuesta. Julich was the first to counter the attack and this breakaway would actually go clear off the pack and form the TV break of the day.
Julich got away with Laurent, Burghardt, Astarloa, Bertogliati and Deignan. Following them was the duo of Richeze and Petito.
We’d hoped for a bit stronger group of climbers to help Julich’s ambitions. But this was what we had. At the Hors Category climb Nufenenpass with 116 km to go for the breakaway the gap topped however, at about 12’15”. With Astana, Rabobank and Euskaltel at the front already it was going to an impossible take for Julich today.
The gap was already significantly cut as the leaders crossed the top of Nufenenpass.
The pack crossed the summit 6 minutes after the Julich group, where Burghardt and Astarloa had had to let up. There were still 92 kilometres to race and eventhough there was a pretty long descent it wouldn’t be to the benefit of the break a whole lot.
From this point and in the gap decreased steadily and there wasn’t really any point in fighting, as the break got reeled in easily with some 20 kilometres to go, with 8 kilometres to the Crans-Montana climb, where Sastre really had to step it up if he would gain a top ten spot in this race. The same goes for Sørensen and Schleck.
An impossible fight comes to an end as Julich dreams of a ProTour stage win goes begging for now.
At Crans-Montana things started when Stijn Devolder attacked. All three CSC captains countered, with Vinokourov and Sánchez staying put for now. Gerdemann, Moreau, Vila and U25 leader Pozzovivo also got away. Chris Anker was our strongest man and he ended up in the leading group alongside Moreau, Pozzovivo and Vila. While Sastre and Schleck were in a group with Devolder, Gerdemann and Uran.
Devolder tried to get away at the foot of the climb but he couldn’t keep up with the strongest climber, where Sørensen was included.
But Sánchez, Vinokourov and Rasmussen then attacked with the kazakh being the strongest as he managed to catch up with the Sørensen-quartet. Rasmussen and Sánchez could only make their way to the Sastre-Schleck-Group.
Vinokourov was looking to settle the GC today as he got rid off Sánchez on Crans-Montana.
But somehow our riders and mountains just doesn’t mix in this tour as Sørensen, Sastre and Schleck would all crack. With about 4 kilometres to the finish Sørensen was beat and he had to let go. Sastre and Schleck then followed almost simultaneously, as they together with Uran was dropped from their group and they would both end up in the pack. Sørensen managed to redeem himself a little as he would link up with Sánchez, Rasmussen, Devolder and Gerdemann.
Sastre and Schleck have a lot of preparation to do if they want to be any kind of instrumental in this year’s Tour de France.
Because of Sørensen’s collapse, the victory was to be settled between Vinokourov, Pozzovivo, Vila and Moreau. Pozzovivo led it out and he seemed strong, but he had Vinokourov all over him and he had to dig deep if he wanted this victory. Apparently he did cause Vinokourov didn’t get very close to winning after all, so victory for Pozzovivo today and he would climb to 3rd in the GC, while Vinokourov consolidated his lead over Sánchez who finished 5th, 1’01” down. Sørensen was dropped by Sánchez, Gerdemann, Devolder and Rasmussen so he had to settle for 9th today, just edging out the pack to the line, 2’24” after Pozzovivo. Sastre was also in this group finishing 19th, while Schleck lost another 52 seconds as he finished 32nd.
Pozzovivo grabbed victory today and yes – that is a floating house.
2 Christophe Laurent CREDIT AGRICOLE 20
3 Dimitry Kozontchuck RABOBANK 15 4 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC 15
5 Geert Verheyen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 14
6 Igor Astarloa TEAM MILRAM 11 7 Alexandr Kolobnev TEAM CSC 11
8 Aleksandr Kuschynski LIQUIGAS 11
9 Michael Albasini LIQUIGAS 10
10 Rubens Bertogliati SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 10
Pozzovivo took the biggest win of his career at Crans-Montana.
June 21:Ster Elektrotoer – Stage 2 | Aken > Valkenburg – 194 km
A slightly hilly stage where a small group would stay clear, but it didn’t affect Matti’s 5th spot in the GC.
Ster Elektrotoer – Stage 2 | Result
1 Daniel Fleeman DFL Cyclingnews.com 4h09'55
2 Mathieu Criquélion JARTAZI s.t.
3 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 3'25
4 Iljo Keisse CHOCOLADE JACQUES - T. VLAANDEREN s.t. 5 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC s.t.
6 Igor Abakoumov ASTANA s.t.
7 Gerben Löwik RABOBANK s.t.
8 Aart Vierhouten SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
9 Marco Zanotti UNIBET.COM s.t.
10 Max Van Heeswijk RABOBANK s.t. 22 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC s.t.
37 Marcus Ljungqvist TEAM CSC s.t.
50 Lars Michaelsen TEAM CSC s.t.
67 Allan Johansen TEAM CSC s.t.
82 Michael Blaudzun TEAM CSC s.t.
85 Anders Lund TEAM CSC s.t.
86 Kasper Klostergaard TEAM CSC s.t.
Ster Elektrotoer – Stage 2 | GC
1 Maarten Tjallingii SKIL - SHIMANO 9h32'03
2 Koen De Kort ASTANA + 24
3 Marc De Maar RABOBANK + 29
4 Gerben Löwik RABOBANK + 1'09 5 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC + 1'21
6 Bert De Waele LANDBOUWKREDIET - TONISSTEINER + 1'33
7 Rick Flens RABOBANK + 1'38
8 Nico Sijmens LANDBOUWKREDIET - TONISSTEINER + 1'46
9 Jukka Vastaranta JARTAZI + 1'56
10 Sébastien Rosseler QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 2'07 14 Michael Blaudzun TEAM CSC + 2'49
18 Marcus Ljungqvist TEAM CSC + 3'02
31 Anders Lund TEAM CSC + 5'34
37 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC + 6'49
38 Allan Johansen TEAM CSC + 7'05
48 Lars Michaelsen TEAM CSC + 10'14
79 Kasper Klostergaard TEAM CSC + 12'58
I'll try to finish Suisse today, so i'll have you the next update in a couple of hours. Hopefully on of my leaders will have a better daily form than -3
June 22:Tour de Suisse – Stage 6 | Ulrichen > Grimselpass – 126 km
Stage Profile:
Last day of mountains is here and I’m not sure whether I’m looking forward to this day at all as our riders haven’t exactly been on fire when they have hit the gradients of this tour. Surprisingly Sørensen is our best rider in 11th, while Sastre is 13th so both of them have to do something today if they want to end up in the Top ten, considering their time trial abilities. Today is more or less up and down the whole time and the stage will be most likely be settled between the favourites. Pozzovivo shook the pack yesterday and maybe we could be in for another surprise win today.
Again today we were aggresive right from the outset as Vandevelde was the first rider to break away and so he created the break of the day.
Christian got away in a 5-man group with Kuschynski, Rabon, Moletta and Le Mevel. A few riders followed after but they would never catch up as they hit the Furkapass immediately. Rabon was the weakest in the break and he came very close to being dropped at the summit but he clung on and stayed with the break until they hit the 2nd climb of the day – the Sustenpass. At this point the pack was still easing down the Furkapass and the gap between them and the break was about 6’30” with almost 80 kilometres left to race.
Rabon was in trouble immediately at the Sustenpass, while Sastre and Sørensen focused on getting over safely, surrounded by their teammates.
With about 70 kilometres to go and about 10 kilometres to the top, the gap between the break and the pack had grown to 8 minutes. But it wasn’t going to be today for Christian as the pack upped the pace shortly after and started gaining a lot of time. The break turned up the pace aswell and this cost the participation of Frantisek Rabon as he was dropped with 7 kilometres to the top. Earlier on the climb, Pasamontes took off from the pack with Grivko, McGee and Vasseur. Pasamontes got a gap immediately while Grivko and McGee were soon back in the pack alongside Vasseur. But the frenchman tried another two times and the third was the charm as he got away and had a nice ride to catch up with Pasamontes.
Luis Pasamontes broke away from the pack on Sustenpass, and he was later caught by Cedric Vasseur.
The pack had been motoring up the climb as Vasseur and Pasamontes were just 20 seconds shy of being caught at the top.
At the top with about 60 kilometres to go, the pack was 5 minutes down and it seemed as though it would be no problem to catch the front group. They didn’t gain much on the descent however and as the break hit the final 25-kilometre climb they had a gap of 4 minutes. They have a small chance still.
Vinokourov attacked almost instantly as they hit the climb and we had our three captains countering him – they all got away but they couldn’t quite get to Vino’s wheel. Also Pozzovio, Vila, Rasmussen, Devolder and Moreau got away. Vino was joined by Devolder and Pozzovivo, but surprising they and the chasing group with Sastre, Schleck, Sørensen, Rasmussen and Vila, was caught by the pack again just as Vandevelde was reeled in. So we had a massive group of 25 riders approaching the last ten kilometres.
Vinokourov seemed strong but he was reeled in again when he was stuck behind Vandevelde.
A lot of riders attacked. Vinokourov tried. Moreau tried. Pozzovivo tried, but no one could get away except Stijn Devolder. He got a slight gap over the pack with ten kilometres to go. Later Pozzovivo would also get a gap but he was reeled in while Devolder was increasing his gap.
A lot of riders were in with a shout in today’s finale. Devolder is very strong as he decides to take off and gets gap for his effort.
With 5 kilometres to the gap had grown to 40 seconds. The big cobbler was really putting on a great show. But it wasn’t just for show. He went all-in on the last kilometres and no one was gonna catch him as he capped an amazing ride with a beautiful win. Schleck was dropped from the chasing group while Sørensen and Sastre just clung on and finished 21st and 22nd in the same time as Pozzovivo who won the sprint of the chasing group.
Stijn Devolder was a surprise winner on today’s queen stage of Tour de Suisse where we rode away from great climbers like Vinokourov, Pozzovivo and Sánchez.
So this doesn’t change much for us in the GC and it’s going to be tough to get a top ten spot now. Sørensen is still 11th and Sastre is 12th. Schleck has fallen to 24th. Nevertheless this has still been a very great tour by Chris Anker who has already secured his first ProTour win with his second place on stage 2, and shown he could be one of the future greats in the mountains.
Tour de Suisse – Stage 6 | Result
1 Stijn Devolder DISCOVERY CHANNEL 4h04'56
2 Domenico Pozzovivo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 49
3 Samuel Sánchez G. EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
4 Christophe Moreau AG2R PREVOYANCE s.t.
5 Haimar Zubeldia EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
6 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANA s.t.
7 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK s.t.
8 Patxi Vila LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
9 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
10 Juan José Cobo Acebo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
11 Saul Raisin CREDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
12 Luis León Sánchez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
13 Rigoberto Uran UNIBET.COM s.t.
14 Linus Gerdemann T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
15 Oliver Zaugg GEROLSTEINER s.t.
16 Mauricio Ardila RABOBANK s.t.
17 Emanuele Sella CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
18 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER s.t.
19 Marco Fertonani CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
20 Robert Gesink RABOBANK s.t. 21 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC s.t.
22 Chris Anker Sørensen TEAM CSC s.t.
24 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC + 3'55
40 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC + 4'56
41 Alexandr Kolobnev TEAM CSC + 6'14
56 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 7'48
59 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC + 8'10
102 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC + 23'14
Tour de Suisse – Stage 6 | GC
1 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANA 28h29'32
2 Samuel Sánchez G. EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 1'03
3 Domenico Pozzovivo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 1'31
4 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK + 2'41
5 Stijn Devolder DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 3'08
6 Patxi Vila LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 3'20
7 Christophe Moreau AG2R PREVOYANCE + 3'21
8 Linus Gerdemann T-MOBILE TEAM + 4'48
9 Juan José Cobo Acebo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 4'52
10 Rigoberto Uran UNIBET.COM + 6'12 11 Chris Anker Sørensen TEAM CSC + 6'47
12 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 7'01
13 Haimar Zubeldia EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 7'42
14 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 7'47
15 Saul Raisin CREDIT AGRICOLE + 7'50
16 Luis León Sánchez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 8'40
17 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER + 9'03
18 Oliver Zaugg GEROLSTEINER + 9'19
19 Emanuele Sella CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 9'49
20 Mauricio Ardila RABOBANK + 10'05 24 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC + 11'46
34 Alexandr Kolobnev TEAM CSC + 14'44
58 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC + 26'36
60 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC + 28'38
66 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 33'09
84 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC + 49'50
2 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANA 31
3 Christophe Le Mével CREDIT AGRICOLE 25 4 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC 25
5 Christophe Laurent CREDIT AGRICOLE 20
6 Dimitry Kozontchuck RABOBANK 15 7 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC 15
8 Geert Verheyen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 14
9 Domenico Pozzovivo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE 12
10 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER 12
Devolder had traded the cobbles for gradients today as he won an impressive mountain stage win.
June 22:Ster Elektrotoer – Stage 3 | Sittard/Geleen > Eindhoven – 149 km
Tom Boonen won the last stage of this small tour – Haedo took 3rd. It ended in a mass sprint so there were no chances in the GC, meaning that Maarten Tjallingii won the GC. Our best rider was Matti Breschel who finished 5th.
June 23:Tour de Suisse – Stage 7 | Innertkirchen > Schwarzsee – 153 km
Stage Profile:
It’s kind of a relief that we’re over the mountain and that we actually stand a real chance of winning tomorrow. We do to today if we can get either Fabian or Alexandre away in the break, because they’re both pretty good sprinters and if the pack let a break go today they should be in with a chance if they’re in there.
A massive group of 13 riders got away in which we had Cancellara who despite his hopes for tomorrow wanted to show the home fans some appreciation.
Besides Cancellara the other riders were, Mondory, Ljungblad, Calcagni, Da Cruz, Vasseur, Valentin, Moletta, Commesso, Steurs, Del Nero, Boven and Berthou. Their gap grew to 8 minutes with just 80 kilometres to go before the pack started chasing. At one point the gap was cut to just 3’50” with 50 kilometres to go, but from that point the chase grew unorganized as there, on occasions, were only one or two riders relaying at the front. Also it was Bouygues doing a lot of the chasing and that’s bound to be unsuccesful.
The gap looked in control but as we entered the final phase of the stage it seemed that the upper hand changed sides as the break looked to stay clear today.
And suddenly with 40 kilometres to go it looked to go down the wire as the gap had grown to exactly 4 minutes. The break was coming down to the wire the fastest though and with 30 kilometres to Schwarzsee the gap had only decreased to 3’30”. The last 20 kilometres were slightly uphill but that didn’t help the pack either as the break with under ten kilometres to go had 2’12” on the pack.
But suddenly the gap started coming down fast and another one or two kilometres would’ve secured a sprinter from the pack the win, but today it was to be settled between the breakaway riders eventhough the pack came pretty close after all.
Cancellara took the front with 5 kilometres to, trying to put some pressure on his companions and to gain an advantage before the sprint as he didn’t have enough energy for an attack.
The best sprinters in the group were Mondory and Ljungblad, and the Frenchman was very well placed at the front when Cancellara started sprinting. But Mondory was beat after 150 kilometres in front and he would be no threat while Ljungblad might have cancelled himself out due to his poor positioning. So Cancellara led on the final stretch, but he was soon overtaken by another Swiss, Patrick Calcagni of Liquigas and a roar went through the crowd as the Swiss attendants noticed to riders from their home country in front. But it wasn’t over as Carlos da Cruz also had a say as he went side-by-side with Calcagni. It looked as though it was going to be one of them today, but then out of nowhere, Ljungblad fired away on the inside, opposite of where Da Cruz and Calcagni were jostling and completely unnoticed he managed to sweep by his opponents and edge them out to the line with a prefectly timed sprint. Great stuff by the Swede.
Jonas Ljungblad takes his first ever ProTour victory as we have seen a lot of surprise victories throughout this tour.
Had the pack managed to catch the break it would probably have been Zabel’s day as he managed to come from behind and secure 8th on the stage. Fabian finished a decent 4th, our 5th top ten placing in this tour. Let’s hope he’s not to beat on tomorrow’s time trial where we will be looking earn our first win in this tour.
Tour de Suisse – Stage 7 | Result
1 Jonas Ljungblad UNIBET.COM 3h30'05
2 Carlos Da Cruz FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
3 Patrick Calcagni LIQUIGAS s.t. 4 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
5 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER s.t.
6 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PREVOYANCE s.t.
7 Salvatore Commesso TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
8 Geert Steurs PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
9 Erik Zabel TEAM MILRAM s.t.
10 Eric Berthou CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
11 Thor Hushovd CREDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
12 Jan Boven RABOBANK s.t.
13 Tristan Valentin COFIDIS s.t.
14 Jesús Del Nero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
15 Danilo Napolitano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
16 Koldo Fernandez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
17 Saïd Haddou BOUYGUES TELECOM s.t.
18 Bernhard Eisel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
19 Cédric Vasseur QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
20 Johann Tschopp BOUYGUES TELECOM s.t. 59 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
64 Alexandr Kolobnev TEAM CSC s.t.
68 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC s.t.
90 Chris Anker Sørensen TEAM CSC s.t.
131 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC s.t.
148 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC + 3'00
165 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC + 5'10
Tour de Suisse – Stage 7 | GC
1 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANA 31h59'37
2 Samuel Sánchez G. EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 1'03
3 Domenico Pozzovivo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 1'31
4 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK + 2'41
5 Stijn Devolder DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 3'08
6 Patxi Vila LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 3'20
7 Christophe Moreau AG2R PREVOYANCE + 3'21
8 Linus Gerdemann T-MOBILE TEAM + 4'48
9 Juan José Cobo Acebo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 4'52
10 Rigoberto Uran UNIBET.COM + 6'12 11 Chris Anker Sørensen TEAM CSC + 6'47
12 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 7'01
24 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC + 11'46
33 Alexandr Kolobnev TEAM CSC + 14'44
61 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC + 31'38
62 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC + 31'46
63 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 33'09
80 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC + 49'50
A_Schleck wrote:
I'll try to finish Suisse today, so i'll have you the next update in a couple of hours. Hopefully on of my leaders will have a better daily form than -3
if your luck is like mine, don't count on it. Every single three-week tour I've done in this PCM (that's about ten or twelve), I've NEVER. that's right, NEVER, not once, had better than +1 for a leader on a mountain stage.
On the other hand I've had well over ten +5s on flat stages. much more if we count +4s.
It's just a coincidence, but it's a very annoying one.
EDIT: that's on 2007 bases I mean. I've had much better luck in "historical" DBs Edited by issoisso on 01-02-2008 19:31
The preceding post is ISSO 9001 certified
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong
I know the bad forms seem to come when they simple just not are supposed to. Sastre's best form on a mountain stage here has been -3 and that makes it quite tough. Also Cancellara's form on the 7th stage was -3, so the timing is way off here
June 24:Tour de Suisse – Stage 8 | Bern > Bern – 34,2 km
Stage Profile:
We are winless so far but today we have a real chance of finally winning something on the ProTour since Andy won the Monte Zoncolan stage in the Giro back in May. Fabian is the top favourite today and he is getting really strong, which he also showed on yesterday’s stage where he came away with 4th. Other than him we have faith that Bobby Julich can snatch a top ten today aswell. Also this is an important test for Carlos Sastre as this his weak point in stage racing. José Ivan Gutierrez is going to be Fabian’s biggest opponent today considering he won the prologue. The stage is more or less flat and it takes the rider in a loop around the countryside surrounding the Swiss capital Bern, which is almost Fabian’s hometown. So it will be huge if he was to win today in the rainbow coloured jersey.
Fabian started last but 80th and before him the only decent time was clocked by Laszlo Bodrogi, who was the provisional leader ahead of Lancaster and Matveyev before Spartacus hit the course. And Fabian felt nothing less than phenomenal today and he put up an insane ride. On his way on the 34,2 kilometre course he passed the three riders ahead of him. Considering the riders starts in 2 minutes intervals, that’s more or less insane. At the finish line he ridiculed Bodrogi’s time as he beat it with a “non-existent adjective” 3’49” deficit!!!!!!!
Cancellara tore up the road as he passed Verheyen, Khatuntsev and Aldape Chavez on his way to a commanding lead.
Our next rider to start was Bobby Julich and he started off very good claiming provisional 2nd on the first intermediate timer. He fell a bit back on the second before he turned up the heat on the last part of the course to take provisional 2nd, 3’21” slower than Cancellara. A few minutes after it was Russian starlet Mikhail Ignatiev turn to be clocked and he were “only” 2’55” slower than Fabian, taking provisional 2nd.
Julich and Ignatiev looked good in their favourite discipline as they would be the closest to Fabian at this point.
The Gutierrez hit the course and he turned out be a very great opponent nonetheless. So far Julich was second on the first intermediate, 56 seconds off Fabian, but Gutierrez would only be 7 seconds slower here and to top that he actuallu claimed the lead by 17 seconds at the second intermediate. But we’d told our riders to spare some energy to use from the second intermediate and in, which the Caisse d’Epargne manager obviously didn’t tell his riders. Gutierrez had overextended himself today as he would only come 2nd, 57 seconds slower than Fabian. Still a good time though. A bit later Frank Schleck took off and he looked strong at the first intermediate clocking provisional 8th here. But he lacked a little towards the end and eventhough he claimed provisional 7th, he were bound to drop some places.
Gutierrez looked for a short time set to take another win but he didn’t organize his energy as well as Fabian end he ended up going 2nd at the line. Julich now 4th.
Then it was time for our last riders to turn to the stage. First up was Sastre and then two minutes later Sørensen took off. Sastre is the better time trialist of them and it was no surprise that he would do a lot better. At the first intermediate Sastre was provisional 8th, while Sørensen took a respectable 19th. None of them could keep it quite though as Sastre ended up provisional 11th and Sørensen 34th. Respectively 3’49” and 5’15” slower. Sastre effort would unfortuneately not earn him a top ten spot as Uran would just cling onto that final top ten GC spot ahead of Carlos.
Sastre seems like he has gotten a lot better in the time trials which is a very good sign ahead of the Tour de France, while Sørensen capped a very good tour from his side.
4th and 3rd in the GC, Devolder and Pozzovivo have both earned surprise stage wins in this tour so it’s only proper I mention them together. Pozzovivo is a very weak time trialist and he needs to improve a lot here if he wants to fight for, say, a Giro win, which he would most likely go for at some point in his career. Devolder on the other hand is a quite strong time trialist and he managed to go provisional 3rd on the line, 2’45” slower than the Swiss favourite. This meant that Devolder would pass Pozzovivo in the GC and claim a podium spot, Moreau and Gerdemann would also pass Pozzovivo after today. Because of Devolder, Løvkvist and Gerdemann, Julich was now down to 7th. But with just Vinokourov and Sánchez left he would no doubt claim the top ten spot he wanted.
Devolder has had a tremendous ride in Switzerland as he has managed to fight his way to the podium after two fantastic stages. Pozzovivo however would lose both his U25 jersey and his podium spot.
Sánchez couldn’t feel certain about his podium now either as Moreau had ridden a very good time trial and he would push Sánchez off the podium if the Spaniard would break down today. But eventhough Sánchez were passed by Vinokourov, who took 4th on the stage and cruised to the overall win, he didn’t fall through and he managed to secure 3rd in the GC as Devolder would move past him, but Moreau would be left holding the baby in the podium fight. Bad luck for the Frenchman.
Vinokourov had no problems securing his GC win but Sánchez had to see Devolder move past him in the GC, while he did secure a podium spot.
So Vinokourov ends up as winner of the last prelude race for the Tour de France. Sastre showed glimpses of his abilities and eventhough he couldn’t get inside the top ten I feel that he is going to be in peak condition when the Tour takes off in London in about two weeks. Sørensen also deserves some props after he has earned a little breakthrough in his cycling career. He showed his climbing abilities on most of the mountain stages and 13th overall in a race like this as a neo-pro is pretty damn good. The next race I’ll be in with the team is, yes, Le Tour de France and I can’t wait, so look forward to a great race. I know I do.
Tour de Suisse – Stage 8 | Result
1 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC 50'51
2 José Iván Gutierrez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 57
3 Stijn Devolder DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'45
4 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANA + 2'50
5 Mikhail Ignatiev TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 2'55
6 Linus Gerdemann T-MOBILE TEAM + 3'13
7 Thomas Lövkvist FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 3'14 8 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 3'21
9 Luis León Sánchez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 3'30
10 Bradley Mc Gee FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 3'34
11 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER + 3'38
12 Marco Velo TEAM MILRAM + 3'48
13 Laszlo Bodrogi CREDIT AGRICOLE + 3'49 14 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 3'50
15 Torsten Hiekmann GEROLSTEINER + 3'55
16 Haimar Zubeldia EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 4'05
17 Brett Lancaster TEAM MILRAM s.t.
18 Rigoberto Uran UNIBET.COM + 4'07
19 Serhiy Matveyev CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 4'13
20 Raivis Belohvosciks SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t. 21 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC + 4'14
34 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC + 4'55
42 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC + 5'15
43 Chris Anker Sørensen TEAM CSC s.t.
74 Alexandr Kolobnev TEAM CSC + 6'04
Tour de Suisse – Stage 8 | GC
1 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANA 32h53'18
2 Stijn Devolder DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 3'03
3 Samuel Sánchez G. EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 3'14
4 Christophe Moreau AG2R PREVOYANCE + 4'46
5 Linus Gerdemann T-MOBILE TEAM + 5'11
6 Domenico Pozzovivo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 5'46
7 Patxi Vila LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 6'23
8 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK + 6'52
9 Juan José Cobo Acebo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 7'06
10 Rigoberto Uran UNIBET.COM + 7'29 11 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 8'01
12 Haimar Zubeldia EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 8'57 13 Chris Anker Sørensen TEAM CSC + 9'12
14 Luis León Sánchez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 9'20
15 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER + 9'51
16 Saul Raisin CREDIT AGRICOLE + 10'36
17 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 11'05
18 Thomas Lövkvist FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 12'08
19 José Iván Gutierrez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 13'05 20 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC + 13'10
33 Alexandr Kolobnev TEAM CSC + 17'58
61 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 33'40
62 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC + 33'51
63 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC + 34'03
75 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC + 47'00
Tour de Suisse – Stage 8 | Points Competition
1 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANA 82
2 Samuel Sánchez G. EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 59
3 Stijn Devolder DISCOVERY CHANNEL 44
4 Domenico Pozzovivo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE 40
5 José Iván Gutierrez CAISSE D'EPARGNE 38
6 Christophe Moreau AG2R PREVOYANCE 36
7 Leonardo Duque COFIDIS 35
8 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK 34 9 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC 33
10 Patxi Vila LAMPRE - FONDITAL 31
Tour de Suisse - Stage 8 | King of the Mountains
1 Aleksandr Kuschynski LIQUIGAS 51
2 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANA 31
3 Christophe Le Mével CREDIT AGRICOLE 25 4 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC 25
5 Christophe Laurent CREDIT AGRICOLE 20
6 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER 15
7 Dimitry Kozontchuck RABOBANK 15 8 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC 15
9 Geert Verheyen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 14
10 Domenico Pozzovivo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE 12
Fabian Cancellara blew his opponents away as he raced his way to victory on home turf, while Vinokourov secured the GC win.
June 24:Eindhoven Team Time Trial – 48,6 km
Also we had a team in Holland for this ProTour race and eventhough we didn’t have high expectations, our team managed to come away with a great victory, to cap a phenomenal day for CSC in Europe.
Team: Andy Schleck, Lars Ytting Bak, Michael Blaudzun, Luke Roberts, David Zabriskie and Jens Voigt.
While Fabian Cancellara used his time trial abilities to thrash the ProTour pack in Switzerland, the remaining CSC team in Holland secured a collective time trial win in Eindhoven.
June 28:National Individual Time Trial Championships
Before the Tour commences we have to see who can gain national glory in their respective countries. First up is the time trial and here is how our riders did.
Dutch National ITT Championships | Result
1 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK 42'54
2 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK + 29
3 Rick Flens RABOBANK + 33
4 Koos Moerenhout RABOBANK + 53
5 Mathieu Heijboer COFIDIS + 1'05
6 Stef Clement BOUYGUES TELECOM + 1'28
7 Gerben Löwik RABOBANK + 1'55
8 Niels Scheuneman UNIBET.COM + 2'21
9 Koen De Kort ASTANA + 2'51
10 Kai Reus RABOBANK + 3'08 27 Karsten Kroon TEAM CSC + 6'15
Spanish National ITT Championships | Result
1 José Iván Gutierrez CAISSE D'EPARGNE 53'02
2 Haimar Zubeldia EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 19 3 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 30
4 Luis León Sánchez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 48
5 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'06
6 Alberto Martínez T. AGRITUBEL + 1'17
7 Héctor Guerra LIBERTY SEGUROS + 1'25
8 Ángel Vicioso RELAX - GAM + 1'28
9 Alberto Contador DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 1'32
10 Mikel Pradera BENFICA + 1'42 46 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC + 5'18
German National ITT Championships | Result
1 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC 43'46
2 Andreas Klöden ASTANA + 17
3 Linus Gerdemann T-MOBILE TEAM + 26
4 Torsten Hiekmann GEROLSTEINER + 44
5 Ronny Scholz GEROLSTEINER + 49
6 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER + 1'00
7 Sebastian Lang GEROLSTEINER + 1'11
8 Stefan Schumacher GEROLSTEINER + 1'20
9 Marcel Sieberg TEAM MILRAM + 1'35
10 Patrik Sinkewitz T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'41
American National ITT Championships | Result
1 Tom Danielson DISCOVERY CHANNEL 45'33
2 Levi Leipheimer DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 21 3 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 37
4 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC + 41
5 Jason McCartney DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 56
6 Tyler Hamilton TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 1'16 7 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC + 1'17
8 Jacob Rosenbarger BMC Racing Team + 1'32
9 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 1'34
10 Scott Moninger BMC Racing Team + 2'02
Elsewhere Moreau, Bruseghin and Devolder took victories in the French, Italian and Belgian National ITT Championships, respectively.
Jens Voigt won the German National ITT Championships for the first time ever.
Nice result for Sastre but what happened to Zabriskie? Is he short of form ahead of the tour? (Any anyway, doesnt the USA champs normally happen a couple of months later?)
1 Oscar Sevilla RELAX - GAM 5h46'02
2 Juan José Cobo Acebo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
3 Manuel Beltran LIQUIGAS s.t.
4 Oscar Freire RABOBANK + 34
5 Pablo Lastras CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
6 Samuel Sánchez G. EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 1'20
7 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
8 David Muñoz Banon FUERTEVENTURA-CANARIAS s.t.
9 David López García CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
10 Francisco Mancebo RELAX - GAM s.t. 33 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 2'25
80 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC + 7'29
German National RR Championships | Result
1 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER 5h27'24
2 Patrik Sinkewitz T-MOBILE TEAM + 21
3 Matthias Kessler ASTANA + 45
4 Andreas Klöden ASTANA s.t. 5 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC + 1'13
6 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER + 2'00
7 Stefan Schumacher GEROLSTEINER + 2'22
8 Marcus Burghardt T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
9 Linus Gerdemann T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
10 Andreas Klier T-MOBILE TEAM + 2'48
American National RR Championships | Result
1 Fred Rodriguez PREDICTOR - LOTTO 3h59'26
2 Tyler Farrar COFIDIS s.t.
3 Kirk O'Bee HEALTH NET - MAXXIS s.t.
4 Kyle Gritters HEALTH NET - MAXXIS s.t.
5 Guido Trenti LIQUIGAS s.t.
6 Chad Hartley BMC Racing Team s.t.
7 Franck Pipp HEALTH NET - MAXXIS s.t.
8 Bradley Huff TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
9 John Murphy HEALTH NET - MAXXIS s.t.
10 Mike Sayers BMC Racing Team s.t. 45 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC s.t.
46 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC s.t.
47 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC s.t.
Danish National RR Championships | Result
1 Jan Almblad TEAM GLS 4h40'30
2 Jakob Piil T-MOBILE TEAM + 26 3 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC s.t.
4 Martin Pedersen TEAM CSC s.t.
5 Michael Mørkøv TEAM GLS s.t. 6 Lars Michaelsen TEAM CSC s.t.
7 Lars Ytting Bak TEAM CSC s.t.
8 Chris Anker Sørensen TEAM CSC s.t.
9 Jacob Moe Rasmussen TEAM GLS s.t.
10 Thomas Kristiansen TEAM GLS s.t. 18 Michael Blaudzun TEAM CSC s.t.
19 Anders Lund TEAM CSC s.t.
20 Nicki Sørensen TEAM CSC s.t.
21 Allan Johansen TEAM CSC + 50
Swiss National RR Championships | Result
1 David Vitoria BMC Racing Team 5h09'37
2 Michael Albasini LIQUIGAS + 1'41
3 Steffen Wesemann TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 2'08
4 Martin Elmiger AG2R PREVOYANCE + 2'54
5 Beat Zberg GEROLSTEINER + 3'17
6 Alexandre Moos BMC Racing Team s.t. 7 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC + 4'45
8 David Loosli LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 5'09
9 Hubert Schwab QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 5'36
10 Oliver Zaugg GEROLSTEINER s.t.
Russian National RR Championships | Result
1 Serguei Ivanov ASTANA 5h10'40
2 Denis Menchov RABOBANK s.t.
3 Vladimir Efimkin CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 22
4 Alexander Efimkin BARLOWORLD s.t. 5 Alexandr Kolobnev TEAM CSC + 48
6 Alexandre Botcharov CREDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
7 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
8 Pavel Brutt TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
9 Sergey Kolesnikov UNIBET.COM + 1'16
10 Evgueni Petrov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 4'30
SportingNonsense wrote:
Nice result for Sastre but what happened to Zabriskie? Is he short of form ahead of the tour? (Any anyway, doesnt the USA champs normally happen a couple of months later?)
Yeah I think they do, but not in the original DB apparently
About Zabriskie I'm not sure what happened. I thought he was going to win as his form is pretty good after all, but I think he'll have a good tour nevertheless.
You got to love PCM, my friend.
