|
17.08.2007/ Jens Voigt managed to expand his overall lead
in Deutschland Tour, as the 36 year old Team CSC-rider won the 33.1km time trial in Fürth today.
|
| Jens Voigt extended his overall lead today (picture: Heinz Zwicky) |
Jens Voigt dominated his rivals to clock 39'42 over the 33,1 km course in and around Fürth and edge Laslo Bodrogi (Credit
Agricole) by 14 seconds and Levi Leipheimer (Discovery) by 25 seconds.
The CSC man now holds a 1'57 GC lead over Leipheimer and just needs to stay upright on Saturday's straightforward sprinter-friendly
stage into Hanover to win the overall of the Tour of Germany for the second time in a row.
Voigt said: "I felt very good on the bike today: straight from the first time check, even if I was a little bit off
the pace then, I knew that I was going to save my yellow jersey.
"I was out on the course this morning, and I was able to see the obstacles first hand and judge the wind, so I would
know when I really had to push hard."
On his second straight overall win, Voigt quipped: "I am just very happy to have won, the rest is just for the statisticians
and history books!"
"The atmosphere was great here today. The fans were behind me, calling my name," added Voigt, a popular winner
in Fürth. "All round it has been a very satisfactory week."
Levi Leipheimer moved up to second place overall after stage 8. The Discovery rider said: "I went for it today, but
you can't always be the strongest and I am feeling a bit tired after the Tour de France."
"But I love the D-Tour and am glad to be on the podium here for the third year running," said the 2005 overall
winner in Germany.
Stage 7
T-Mobile's Gerald Ciolek did it again. After winning stage 6, the current U23 world champion also won stage 7. Ciolek
outsprinted Erik Zabel and José Joaquin Rojas.
Ciolek said: "Yesterday, there was a beer to celebrate, today, maybe there'll be two," joked Ciolek after his
second victory in 24 hours. In a powerful team performance, T-Mobile led the chase for the day's breakaways who were tracked
down with 13km to go. After safely negotiating a vicious 180° turn just 700 metres from the line, the stage was set for the
furious bunch sprint.
"I'm delighted for the team who were highly motivated right from the start in Saarbrücken and concentrated so well
on the task in hand," said T-Mobile sports director Jan Schaffrath. "It's beautiful to see how victory comes when
all the riders work together and have a little bit of luck on their side. The riders have been rewarded for their work."
Saturday's final stage over 141,1kms of flat terrain from Einbeck to Hanover now looks set to be a 'Tour d'Honneur'for
Voigt, but it will be back to business for the sprinters.
Expect the field to reach Hanover intact and the fast men to battle it out in a 'sprint royale', with T-Mobile's Gerald
Ciolek gunning for a third stage win.
Results
Stage 7
1 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) T-Mobile Team 4.08.20
2 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram
3 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
4 Aurélien Clerc (Sui) Bouygues Telecom
5 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
6 René Weissinger (Ger) Team Volksbank
7 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Crédit Agricole
8 Olaf Pollack (Ger) Team Wiesenhof Felt
9 Sven Teutenberg (Ger) Team Volksbank
10 Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
Stage 8
1 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 39.42.4
2 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Crédit Agricole 0.14.8
3 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 0.25.6
4 Jason McCartney (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 0.39.1
5 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) T-Mobile Team 0.39.8
6 Marco Pinotti (Ita) T-Mobile Team 0.43.7
7 Leonardo Bertagnolli (Ita) Liquigas 0.46.1
8 Gustav Erik Larsson (Swe) Unibet.com 0.46.5
9 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC 0.50.3
10 Joost Posthuma (Ned) Rabobank 1.14.6
General Classification after stage 8
1 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 27.40.26
2 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 1.57
3 David Lopez Garcia (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 2.10
4 Leonardo Bertagnolli (Ita) Liquigas 3.05
5 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank 3.15
6 Chris Anker Sørensen (Den) Team CSC 4.06
7 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 5.22
8 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Unibet.com 5.26
9 Gustav Erik Larsson (Swe) Unibet.com 6.08
10 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner 6.16
Related stories:
Race reports
|
