MAY 2008
5x Stage win (2x Romandiet Rundt, Giro d’Italia, 2x Vuelta ciclista a Cataluña)
2x General (Romandiet Rundt, Giro d’Italia)
3x Mountain (Romandiet Rundt, Giro d’Italia, Vuelta ciclista a Cataluña)
1x Points (Romandiet Rundt)
2x Team (Giro d’Italia, Vuelta ciclista a Cataluña)
1x Rider of the Month (Menchov)
Romandiet Rundt
Leader: Menchov
Free: Petrov and Klimov
Sprinter: Rojas Gil
Team mate: Trussov, Gottfried, Verkempinck and Yermakov
Winner: Menchov
Point: Menchov
Mountain: Klimov
Young: Di Gregorio
Team: Saunier Duval
Tinkoff: Menchov 1st general in 20h11’41”, Menchov 1st point with 66 Pts, Klimov 1st mountain with 75 Pts, Gottfried 9th young on 29’05”, Tinkoff 6th team on 21’51”
01-05-08, Stage 4, 1st place Menchov
After three races, all the favorites of winning this year’s edition of the Romandiet Rundt, were still closed to each other in the general standings. So today race will be the keyrace, which is a good preparation for the Giro. The finish line to be reached lies on 142 km on the only mountain of today’s race profile, the “Mont Tendre”. But the race started with a breakaway of seven riders, including Klimov. Klimov protected his mountain jersey well, that he claimed during the previous races. Before the foot of the Mont Tendre the breakaway was wheeled back in and directly when the road started to rise as predicted, the fireworks started. Numerous attacks followed but only Popovych and Menchov were able to leave the peloton behind them. Together they reached the top of the Mont Tendre and at the end Menchov was able to win the sprint over Popovych. In the background Plaza, who at that moment was the leader of the general rankings, fell with just 1km left to go and therefore Menchov became the new general leader of Romandiet Rundt.
06-05-08, Stage 6, 1st place Menchov
After a great performance of Menchov in the 4th stage, he now had to compete in the time trial of 20 km against Popovych if he wanted to win the Romandiet Rundt 2008. After 12 km Menchov was already 4 seconds faster than Popovych and at the end Menchov won the time trial with 20 seconds in front of Popovych. With this win Menchov made clear that he is in top condition and good shape for the upcoming Giro! So Menchov became the winner of the Romandiet Rundt 2008 in 20h11’41”, he also won the point jersey with 66 Pts, Klimov won the mountain jersey with 75 Pts.
Giro d’Italia
Leader: Menchov
Free: Efimkin and Ignatiev
Sprinter: Loddo
Team mate: Marzoli, Pedraza, Mazzanti, Commesso and Belik
Winner: Menchov
Point: Freire
Mountain: Commesso
Young: Dekker
Team: Tinkoff Credit Systems
Tinkoff: Menchov 1st general in 85h24’15”, Menchov 3rd point with 148 Pts, Commesso 1st mountain with 74 Pts, Ignatiev 7th young on 43’58”, Tinkoff 1st team in 256h21’09”
29-05-08, Stage 16, 1st place Pedraza
Without winning a stage until now, Tinkoff was controlling the Giro from the beginning. But the sponsors had said that winning a Giro stage was high on their priority list. Lucky for us Pedraza got the sponsors what they had asked for by winning the mountain time trial in front of Sastre and Basso. Menchov gave the sponsors even more then they had asked for by winning the Giro! He was able to do it without a stage victory but always finishing in the top 5 during all the key stages during the Giro 2008. Commesso won the mountain jersey by being involved in numerous breakaway during the first 2 weeks of the Giro, furthermore Tinkoff became first in the general team rankings! So at the end we won two of the four jersey and one stage, it was a great team effort by Menchov, Efimkin, Ignatiev, Loddo, Marzoli, Pedraza, Mazzanti, Commesso and Belik to win the Giro in the first year we became a Pro Tour team!
Vuelta ciclista a Cataluña
Leader: Karpets
Free: Uran and Gusev
Sprinter: Ciolek
Team mate: Petrov, Serrano, Kiryienka and Brutt
Winner: Contador
Point: Contador
Mountain: Kiryienka
Young: Sanchez
Team: Tinkoff Credit Systems
Tinkoff: Karpets 4th general on 4’46”, Kiryienka 6th point with 29 Pts, Kiryienka 1st mountain with 98 Pts, Gottfried 14th young on 25’00”, Tinkoff 1st team in 65h24’28”
21-05-08, Stage 1, 1st place Uran
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. This year’s edition of the Vuelta ciclista a Cataluña started with a team time trial. With a lot of time trial specialists in our squad, we were able to win this race in front of Astana (Contador) and Caisse Erpargne (Sanchez).
27-05-08, Stage 7, 1st place Kiryienka
With Contador leading the general rankings in the Vuelta ciclista a Cataluña, we knew that with only one more race left to ride winning this stage race would be difficult if not impossible, but a stage victory should be possible with some good attackers in our squad like Gusev and Kiryienka. After 20 km 9 riders were able to form a breakaway group including our own Kiryienka. After making sure that the peloton was not going to catch the them, the breakaway riders fought out a long struggle. In the end Kiryienka lose his fellow accomplices and was first over the line. A few riders tried to break away from the peloton towards the end, but the pack never yielded more than a few meters and nothing of any significance happened in the general standings. Not only did Kiryienka win today’s race but he also toke the mountain jersey back home, furthermore Tinkoff became 1st in the general team ranking. Karpets ended 4th in the general standings, making him one of the riders to be in good shape for the upcoming stage races like Dauphine Libre and the Tour de France in June and July.
JUNE 2008
6x Stage win (2x Dauphiné Libéré, Schweiz Rundt, Eindhoven Team Time Trial, Columbian Championship, Russian Championship)
2x General (Dauphiné Libéré, Schweiz Rundt)
3x Mountain (Euskal GP, Dauphiné Libéré, Schweiz Rundt)
2x Points (Dauphiné Libéré, Schweiz Rundt)
4x Team (Euskal GP, Dauphiné Libéré, Schweiz Rundt, Eindhoven Team Time Trial)
1x Rider of the Month (Menchov)
Dauphiné Libéré
Leader: Karpets
Free: Khatuntsev and Kiryienk
Sprinter: Ciolek
Team mate: Petrov, Brutt, Rovny and Samoilau
Winner: Karpets
Point: Karpets
Mountain: Khatuntsev
Young: Lokvist
Team: Tinkoff Credit Systems
Tinkoff: Karpets 1st general on 29h07’08”, Karpets 1st point with 100 Pts, Khatuntsev 1st mountain with 158 Pts, Rovny 6th young on 8’08”, Tinkoff 1st team in 87h33’40”
10-06-08, Stage 1, 1st place Kiryienka
The Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré is an annual cycling road race, run over eight stages in the Dauphiné region in France during the first half of June. It is organised by the Dauphiné Libéré newspaper. Along with the Tour de Suisse, the Dauphiné Libéré is an important race in the lead-up to the Tour de France in July. Because the Dauphiné is a mountainous area, the winners are often climbing specialists. Many climbs that are famous from the Tour de France, like the Mont Ventoux, the Col du Galibier or Col de la Chartreuse, appear often in the Dauphiné Libéré. All cyclists who have won the Tour de France five or more times have also won the Dauphiné Libéré. The first Dauphiné Libéré was held in 1947 when Eduard Klablinski from Poland was the winner. Nello Lauredi, Luis Ocaña, Charly Mottet and Bernard Hinault share the record of the most wins, with three each. This year’s edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré traditionally started with a prologue of 6 km. Kiryienka, our time trial specialist, was able to win the prologue in six minutes and seven seconds, respectively two and four seconds faster than Rogers and Rosseler. Karpets, in his world champion time trial jersey, also had a good start of the Dauphiné Libéré by finishing sixth.
14-06-08, Stage 5, 1st place Karpets RACE STORY STILL TO COME ……………
Schweiz Rundt
Leader: Menchov
Free: Gusev and Gottfreid
Sprinter: Rojas Gil
Team mate: Klimov, Trussov, Verkempinck and Yermakov
Winner: Gusev
Point: Menchov
Mountain: Gottfried
Young: Schleck
Team: Tinkoff Credit Systems
Tinkoff: Gusev 1st general in 32h53’48”, Menchov 1st point with 73 Pts, Gottfried 1st mountain with 160 Pts, Rojas Gil 3rd young on 36’05”, Tinkoff 1st team in 99h21’44”
19-06-08, Stage 4, 1st place Menchov
The Tour de Suisse (English: Tour of Switzerland) is a UCI ProTour stage race held annually in June. The race debuted in 1933 and has evolved in timing, duration and sponsorship since then. Along with the Dauphiné Libéré, it is seen as a warm-up and proving ground to the longer Tour de France, which is held every year in July. Like the Tour de France and the Dauphiné Libéré, the Tour de Suisse offers grueling mountain climbs and at least one individual time trial, the type of stages that often determine the winner of the general classification in the Tour de France. Several recent winners of the Tour de France have also won the Tour de Suisse, including Eddy Merckx, Lance Armstrong and Jan Ullrich. In 2005 the organizers moved the race to an earlier date in June, perhaps to make it more attractive as an alternative to the Dauphiné Libéré. RACE STORY STILL TO COME ……………
Eindhoven Team Time Trial
Leader: Uran
Free: Karpets and Petrov
Team mate: Brutt, Ignatiev and Kiryienka
Winner: Uran
Team: Tinkoff Credit Systems
Tinkoff: Tinkoff 1st team in 99h21’44”
24-06-08, 1st place Uran
Simulated
30-06-08, 1st place Uran, Columbian Championship
30-06-08, 1st place Kolobnev, Russian Championship
a nice set of results there, that's for sure!
