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Discovery Channel - TdF 2011
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| Squire |
Posted on 11-12-2010 23:42
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 11.03.2011: Tirreno - Adriatico
Past winners
2009: Filippo Pozzato (Team Katusha)
2010: Janez Brajkovic (Discovery Channel)
While Armstrong battled Valverde in Paris - Nice, Gerald Ciolek was on the hunt for stage wins in Italy. The Tirreno - Adriatico featured a number of flat stages for our German sprinter to feast on. With one serious mountain top finish and a time trial on the menu, we had no one for the overall. Our win with Brajkovic last year could not be defended.
Several sprinters were here to hone their form in front of Milan - Sanremo, so Ciolek faced stiff competition. Lampre's Thor Hushovd powered away to win the first stage, but the day after, Ciolek opened his account with his first win of the season. He has obviously found some good shape, as he added another win on the next stage! That win even earned him the leader's jersey. Great performance by our sprinter!
Ciolek wins his second stage in Tirreno - Adriatico!
The sprinters were relegated to the other end of the race as the Tirreno took on the stage 4 mountain top finish. Katusha's Damiano Cunego climbed the Passo Lanciano faster than everybody else, and took over the blue leader's jersey from Ciolek. We had enjoyed Ciolek's one day in blue though.
Cunego and Spilak rides away from everybody else on the Passo Lanciano.
A time trial on the second to last day would wrap up the overall standings. Cunego managed to hold on to his lead. Saxo Bank's Devolder won the time trial in style, and moved up into 5th overall despite his average performance on the mountain two days earlier. Gesink pipped young Spilak for 2nd place overall with a strong ride against the clock. Even Fuglsang time trialed past the Lampre climber in the GC.
Thor Hushovd bookended his Tirreno - Adriatico with a win on the last stage. Ciolek never got another stage win after his double early in the race, but I'm very pleased by him. A day in the leader's jersey as well tops off a good race for us. Congratulations to Damiano Cunego, who improved on his 3rd place from last year to grab the overall victory in Italy.
Final GC
| 1. | Damiano Cunego  | Katusha | 24h48'06 | | 2. | Robert Gesink  | Quick-Step | + 39 | | 3. | Jakob Fuglsang | LPR Brakes Farnese Vini | + 43 | | 4. | Simon Spilak | Lampre | + 46 | | 5. | Stijn Devolder | Saxo Bank | + 51 |
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| Squire |
Posted on 12-12-2010 19:00
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21.03.2011: Milano - Sanremo
Past winners
2009: Filippo Pozzato (Team Katusha)
2010: Sylvain Chavanel (Quick-Step)
La classica di Primavera is the first major classic on the calendar. Milan - Sanremo is also the longest one-day race of the season with nearly 300 racing kms. It's usually one for the sprinters, but last year Chavanel snatched the win after an attack on the Poggio. The Cipressa and the Poggio will be difficult obstacles for the sprinters this year as well.
Thor Hushovd and Alessandro Ballan have been going well so far this season, and the Lampre duo are among the biggest favourites for the win in Sanremo. Quick-Step duo Boonen & Pozzato will probably be dangerous as well. We shouldn't forget defending champion Chavanel, but last year he came here after an impressive Paris-Nice win, while this year he hasn't been anywhere near that form. Mentions should also go to Haussler, Cavendish and Bennati.
We put our faith in Gerald Ciolek, who is high on confidence after two stage wins in Tirreno - Adriatico. His sprint train is here with him, but it's doubtful that Eisel can make it over the last climbs. Anyway, we hope that Ciolek can follow the front group over the Cipressa and Poggio and produce a good result for us here.
Discovery Channel
 Gerald Ciolek
 George Hincapie
Lance Armstrong
 Yaroslav Popovych
 Vladimir Gusev
 Bernhard Eisel
 Jurgen Van Goolen
 Tomas Vaitkus
Edited by Squire on 13-12-2010 00:25
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| Batista15 |
Posted on 12-12-2010 19:08
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Well, hope you can do it with Ciolek! Good luck |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 00:37
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| FreitasPCM |
Posted on 12-12-2010 19:46
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Good luck! Hincapie and Vaitkus are sure to give a good help to Ciolek in the hills.  |
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| Squire |
Posted on 13-12-2010 00:12
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Batista15 wrote:
Well, hope you can do it with Ciolek! Good luck
I don't really believe we can win, but it would be nice to do even better than our 7th place with Velits from last year.
@Freitas: Thanks! I think Armstrong & Popo can be even more useful than Vaitkus and Hincapie 
MSR coming up in a few minutes. |
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| Squire |
Posted on 13-12-2010 01:02
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21.03.2011: Milano - Sanremo
Milano - Sanremo
Milano - Sanremo: 294.5km
Tactics meeting
The first monument of the season is called the 'sprinters' classic', but we never know if we'll get a mass sprint. Our job is to protect Ciolek as best as we can and hope the race is brought back before the finish on the famous Via Roma.
Climbers David Arroyo and Iker Camaño were the biggest names in the breakaway.
The escapees got 200km in the limelight before they were caught with 65km remaining.
Shortly after the catch, Alessandro Ballan tried his luck from far out. 55km solo to the finish could be tough, even for a rider of Ballan's calibre.
Nobody took the Italian very seriously in the beginning. Silence - Lotto were setting a leasurely pace.
By the time Ballan reached the Cipressa he had 2 minutes back to the pack. The other teams should begin to worry by now.
Ballan flew over the Cipressa, and on the flat part after, his lead had extended to 5 minutes! Had he already run away with the victory?
On the Poggio, nobody would up the pace, so we sent Popovych to the front. We had one problem though. He couldn't lay down the hammer completely, because that would hurt Ciolek. All other teams probably thought the same about their own captains.
Therefore, Ballan's advantage refused to come down. With the city of San Remo in sight, he was still riding like a man possessed.
Back in the peloton, some riders had to bite the asfalt while descending the Poggio. Matti Breschel was one of them, so his hopes of a good placing were gone.
Everybody's hopes of victory had disappeared a long time ago though. Alessandro Ballan completed an amazing attack by raising his hands in a victory salute on the Via Roma. What a daring and brilliant piece of cycling!
Four minutes later, the rest of the race entered the finishing stretch. Ciolek was fresh and well-positioned under the red kite.
Steegmans managed to grab 2nd ahead of Pozzato, while Ciolek took a great 4th place for us! Not bad at all.
Today's winner
Results
| 1. | Alessandro Ballan | Lampre | 7h24'21 | | 2. | Gert Steegmans | Katusha | + 4'40 | | 3. | Filippo Pozzato | Quick-Step | s.t. | | 4. | Gerald Ciolek | Discovery Channel | s.t. | | 5. | Thor Hushovd | Lampre | s.t. | | 6. | Mark Cavendish | T-Mobile | s.t. | | 7. | Daniele Bennati | Liquigas | s.t. | | 8. | Mirko Lorenzetto | Lampre | s.t. | | 9. | Heinrich Haussler | Saxo Bank | s.t. | | 10. | Philippe Gilbert | Silence - Lotto | s.t. | | 11. | Allan Davis | Katusha | s.t. | | 12. | Martin Elmiger | AG2R La Mondiale | s.t. | | 13. | Tom Boonen | Quick-Step | s.t. | | 14. | Edvald Boasson Hagen | T-Mobile | s.t. | | 15. | Danilo Napolitano | Quick-Step | s.t. | | 16. | Michael Mørkøv | Saxo Bank | s.t. | | 17. | Borut Božic | Katusha | s.t. | | 18. | Lance Armstrong | Discovery Channel | s.t. | | 19. | Rinaldo Nocentini | AG2R La Mondiale | s.t. | | 20. | Mauricio Biondo | Ceramica Flaminia | s.t. |
Oh my. Who would have though anyone could win the Milan - Sanremo almost five minutes ahead of the 2nd placed rider these days? Alessandro Ballan's victory brings the mind back to riders like Eddy Merckx. Although we have to say Ballan was lucky in that nobody wanted to kill off their sprinter by chasing him down. He exploited the other teams' defensive mentality perfectly.
The peloton letting Ballan go was probably the best that could have happened for us. Ciolek wouldn't have won anyway, but the slow tempo over the Cipressa and Poggio made sure he was fresh enough to finish 4th, our best ever result in this race. Maybe in a few years, when he's stronger, our German sprinter can win the Primavera.
The next encircled race on the calendar is the Ronde van Vlaanderen, but in the meantime we'll contest some smaller races like the Critérium International. Stay tuned! |
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 13-12-2010 01:38
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Ballan always wins this in PCM 08. But 3rd in the bunch sprint is also very nice. |
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| lluuiiggii |
Posted on 13-12-2010 01:52
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Good result with Ciolek, and good tactics by Ballan.
Eisel for cobble classics? Wish old George was still good to be at least leader =( |
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| Squire |
Posted on 13-12-2010 02:14
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lluuiiggii wrote:
Eisel for cobble classics? Wish old George was still good to be at least leader =(
Eisel will probably be our leader for all the cobbled races, yes. Old George is unfortunately a bit too old, but he'll be there to guide Eisel across some treacherous cobbled sections |
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| Squire |
Posted on 13-12-2010 02:52
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 28.03.2011: Critérium International
Past winners
2009: Kim Kirchen (Team Columbia - High Road)
2010: George Hincapie (Discovery Channel)
The small French stage race Critérium International was won by our veteran rider George Hincapie last year, so we had every incentive to do well here. Notably, this was Alberto Contador's first race of the season; his first step on the way towards another Tour de France victory. George Hincapie lined up as our leader for Critérium International this year as well.
The first stage, which was flat, was won by Frenchman Perrig Quemeneur following a solo breakaway. His one-minute lead was a bit worrying, as he was also a decent time trialist. However, by the second stage we had other riders to worry about. Sébastien Joly won the hilly stage in front of his teammate Vaugrenard to make it a nice Française des Jeux one-two. George Hincapie was a bit off the mark, as he couldn't keep up with the best.
Joly and Vaugrenard takes hold of the race on stage 2.
In the time trial Benoit Vaugrenard put in a great ride. He relegated riders like Contador and Gustav Larsson to lesser placings as he powered to overall victory. FdJ teammate Joly also put in a good ride. His 13th place on the stage was enough to claim 2nd overall and make it a great race for Française des Jeux! George Hincapie placed 14th in the time trial, which meant he finished 13th overall.
George Hincapie didn't have the strength he showed last year.
Final GC
| 1. | Benoit Vaugrenard   | Française des Jeux | 6h35'59 | | 2. | Sébastien Joly  | Française des Jeux | + 24 | | 3. | Alberto Contador | Astana | + 26 | | 4. | Lars Bak | Saxo Bank | s.t. | | 5. | Gustav Larsson | Silence - Lotto | + 28 |
Edited by Squire on 13-12-2010 11:21
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 13-12-2010 06:41
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Ballan was really superior in the MSR. 4th still a great result. But Steegmans 2nd? He always tire out on the hills in my game. |
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| Squire |
Posted on 13-12-2010 11:18
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@Pellizotti: Yeah, I'm really happy about the 4th
I think nobody tired out much in the hills because of the slow pace as even Cavendish sprinted for the podium places. Both him and Steegmans have 68 HIL. |
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| Squire |
Posted on 13-12-2010 11:50
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01.04.2011: Monthly summary
March
Now the season really has got going. The first one-week ProTour stage races was concluded in March, and also the first monument. The cobbles keep hurting the classics riders as we continue the build-up to the Ronde and Roubaix.
Notable results
| Paris - Nice: | Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) | | Tirreno - Adriatico: | Damiano Cunego (Katusha) | | Milano - Sanremo: | Alessandro Ballan (Lampre) | | E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - Harelbeke: | Alessandro Ballan (Lampre) | | Critérium International: | Benoit Vaugrenard (Française des Jeux) |
March was a very successful month for Discovery Channel. Except two stages in Tirreno - Adriatico we didn't win much, but Armstrong's Paris - Nice performance and Ciolek's 4th in MSR were big results for us. Hincapie failed in defending his Criterium International title, but all in all it was a great month of racing for us, which brought us up to 2nd in the ProTour rankings.
Valverde's exploits in Paris - Nice bring him to the top of the rankings, while Ciolek benefits from two Tirreno stages and his Milan Sanremo result. Ballan's MSR win helps in bringing Lampre to the top of the team rankings. In the Continental Tour, Fuglsang had a superb month with a win in GP di Lugano and good performances in the stage race Settimana Coppi e Bartali. Geslin continues his great early season form by winning Classica de Almeria, while Vacansoleil's riders performed consistently to take the Dutch outfit to the top of the team rankings.
ProTour Individual
| 1. | Alejandro Valverde | Caisse d'Epargne | 126 | | 2. | Gerald Ciolek | Discovery Channel | 111 | | 3. | Alessandro Ballan | Lampre | 110 | | 4. | Damiano Cunego | Katusha | 106 | | 5. | Lance Armstrong | Discovery Channel | 93 |
ProTour Team
| 1. | Lampre | 267 | | 2. | Discovery Channel | 263 | | 3. | Saxo Bank | 209 | | 4. | Katusha | 189 | | 5. | Quick-Step | 156 |
Continental Tour Individual
| 1. | Jakob Fuglsang | LPR Brakes Farnese Vini | 248 | | 2. | Anthony Geslin | Vorarlberg - Corratec | 243 | | 3. | Marco Marcato | Vacansoleil | 191 |
Continental Tour Team
| 1. | Vacansoleil | 684 | | 2. | Vorarlberg - Corratec | 513 | | 3. | Team Type 1 | 492 |
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| Squire |
Posted on 13-12-2010 17:24
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05.04.2011: Ronde van Vlaanderen
Past winners
2009: Tom Boonen (Quick-Step)
2010: Tom Boonen (Quick-Step)
The Ronde van Vlaanderen is one of the world's most important races. It's the second monument on the calendar, and together with Paris - Roubaix it is definitely the highlight of the cobbles season. This race has been a playground for Tom Boonen in recent years. The Belgian has won four times since 2005.
This year he is obviously the biggest favourite. Another very possible candidate for victory is Alessandro Ballan, who's had a great season so far and looks to be in superb shape. 2008 winner Stijn Devolder is also a rider to watch out for. World champion Fabian Cancellara is injured, and cannot ride the Tour of Flanders. He would also have been one of the favourites.
Bernhard Eisel is our hope for the Ronde. He is lacking the brutal strength of the best classics riders, but is a fast finisher. That could help him gain a few placings. We will be really happy if he manages a top ten finish. George Hincapie has been on the podium in this race before, but old George will just figure as a helper this year.
Discovery Channel
Bernhard Eisel
George Hincapie
Vladimir Gusev
Yaroslav Popovych
Tomas Vaitkus
Bjorn Selander
Jurgen Van Goolen
Andrew Talansky |
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| Tuco the Ugly |
Posted on 16-12-2010 20:53
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Crazy win for Ballan in MSR. Rarely seen anything so dominant before in PCM. Hopefully his form has dropped a bit... |
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| Squire |
Posted on 20-12-2010 16:43
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05.04.2011: Ronde van Vlaanderen
Ronde van Vlaanderen
Brugge - Meerbeke: 258.2km
Tactics meeting
The Ronde consists of steep cobbled hills and a confusing race route which visits the same places more than once. The rain will make things even more difficult. We will ask Eisel to try and hang on the lead group for as long as possible. He's probably not strong enough to follow attacks from riders like Ballan, but riding his own tempo will hopefully take him inside the top ten.
Our Yaroslav Popovych was involved in a fairly large crash on the slippery asphalt. It didn't take down any favourites.
Steady riding from the Lampre and Saxo guys whittled the lead group down to just 15 riders with 64km to go. Eisel and Hincapie were still here, but Hincapie was struggling at the back.
On one of the hills, Boonen attacked from far out! 60km was a long way from the finish, and he had to get some company if he wanted to succeed.
Hushovd and Van Summeren (Caisse) tried to go after Boonen. Was Hushovd or Ballan the Lampre leader?
Hushovd & Van Summeren never reached Boonen and were caught by other riders. Stijn Devolder of Saxo Bank was the next one to try and brigde the one-minute gap.
At the other end of the favourites group Eisel was in trouble. Hincapie had dropped back long ago, and now our leader had to let go.
At the front, Devolder managed to close the gap to Boonen. The two former teammates led the other favourites by one minute.
Devolder is the better climber of the two, but he couldn't distance Boonen much on the Kapelmuur, the penultimate climb.
Alessandro Ballan powere away from the chasegroup on the Muur, and occupied 3rd place on the road. He still had 1'20 up to the leaders, but the Italian was going well. Maybe he could make it?
On the flat kilometers before the finish, Ballan closed in a bit, but not enough. The victory would be between Devolder and Boonen!
Boonen proved to have the most left in the tank. Devolder was lagging behind during the last km. Boonen was heading for his third straight Vlaanderen win!
Tom Boonen should be getting used to this by now. His third win in three years and fifth in total. He is definitely the unrivaled King of Flanders!
Bernhard Eisel outsprinted Sebastian Langeveld to claim an 11th place finish. It was outside our targeted top ten finish, but not by much! Decent job by Eisel.
Today's winner
Results
| 1. | Tom Boonen | Quick-Step | 6h49'38 | | 2. | Stijn Devolder | Saxo Bank | s.t. | | 3. | Alessandro Ballan | Lampre | + 1'10 | | 4. | Thor Hushovd | Lampre | + 3'59 | | 5. | Heinrich Haussler | Saxo Bank | s.t. | | 6. | Johan Van Summeren | Caisse d'Epargne | s.t. | | 7. | Nick Nuyens | Rabobank | + 4'35 | | 8. | Matti Breschel | Saxo Bank | + 7'32 | | 9. | Matthew Goss | Cervélo | s.t. | | 10. | Grégory Rast | Cofidis | s.t. | | 11. | Bernhard Eisel | Discovery Channel | + 8'20 | | 12. | Sebastian Langeveld | Rabobank | s.t. | | 13. | Stuart O'Grady | Saxo Bank | + 9'42 | | 14. | Enrico Franzoï | Lampre | s.t. | | 15. | Leif Hoste | Silence - Lotto | s.t. | | 16. | Ricardo Van der Velde | Rabobank | + 10'52 | | 17. | Simon Spilak | Lampre | s.t. | | 18. | Jesús Del Nero | Saunier Duval | s.t. | | 19. | Maarten Wynants | Quick-Step | s.t. | | 20. | Sergei Ivanov | Katusha | s.t. |
2005, 2006, 2009, 2010. His Flanders record is amazing, and this year he does it again. Let's add another one: 2011! Tom Boonen really did it in style, soloing for a long time before being joined by Devolder, whom he dropped on the run-in. Ballan's 3rd place sees the Italian's great season continues.
We couldn't reach our goal, which was a top ten finish, but 11th for Eisel is quite good. His help disappeared quite early, so a better result would've been hard.
The cobbled classics continue with Gent - Wevelgem and Roubaix, but first we'll follow our Spaniards as they help Kreuziger in his season debut: the Vuelta al Pais Vasco. Stay tuned! |
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| beagle |
Posted on 20-12-2010 17:11
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Boonen developed into monster in your game
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| Squire |
Posted on 20-12-2010 18:06
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beagle wrote:
Boonen developed into monster in your game
I know. He has monopoly on the cobbled monuments. He's definitely a favourite for Roubaix as well.
Will get going with the Pais Vasco before long. |
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| lluuiiggii |
Posted on 20-12-2010 18:25
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good race by eisel, pity he was only 1 place behind top 10..
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| Squire |
Posted on 21-12-2010 16:19
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 06.04.2011: Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco
Past winners
2009: Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne)
2010: Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne)
At the same time as the big classics riders are in Northern Europe, the more rain-shy climbers will battle each other in the Basque Country. The six-day stage race features a lot of hills. The third stage ends with a steep climb to Eibar, while the last stage is a 25km time trial.
The Vuelta al Pais Vasco has been dominated by one man over the last two years, and he is also the favourite now: Alejandro Valverde. If he still has his Paris - Nice form, this should be his third Basque victory in a row. The second big favourite is Damiano Cunego, who seems to be on good form after winning the Tirreno - Adriatico. Samuel Sanchez can also be reckoned with. If he carries on his form from Criterium International, maybe Benoit Vaugrenard can produce a good result here. He will benefit from the TT.
This is the first race of the season for Roman Kreuziger. His shape is probably not completely where it should be if he wants to repeat his 3rd place from last year, but he is our leader, at least at the start of the race. Andreas Klöden won this event back in 2000, but he is also lacking a lot of racing in his legs this year. It'll be interesting to see how our Basque hopes Martinez and Zubeldia perform.
Discovery Channel
 Roman Kreuziger
Haimar Zubeldia
Sergio Pardilla
Andreas Klöden
Egoi MartÃnez
BenjamÃn Noval
José Rubiera
 Sérgio Paulinho |
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