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| Erik Zabel leads Milram at the Vuelta a Espana. (© Cyclingheroes) |
"Looking at it athletically, we have a chance of a stage win in the 11 flat stages," said Milram captain Erik Zabel.
"In light of the competition there, that surely won't be as easy as at the Tour de France, but maybe at the Vuelta I will
be luck enough to catch a perfect sprint. In this season I unexpectedly rode the Giro d'Italia, when we lost Alessandro Petacchi.
Since the Tour and the Vuelta have long been part of my season planning, I can go ahead and live out my long-year plan of
one time riding all three Grand Tours in one year."
The Vuelta 2008 contains many challenges for the riders. Starting
with a 7.7 km team time trial with start and finish in Granada in southern Spain, the first week covers flat to rolling stages,
including an individual time trial, up to the first rest day in Toledo in the middle of the Iberian peninsula.
After
a tranfer on the rest day, the peloton heads off on the seventh stage from Barbatro, in nothern Spain, for three stages in
a row in the high mountains. After three flat stages, the race makes another pause in Suances, on the northern Spanis coast,
Costa de Cantabria.
There is no long transfer before the two very difficult mountain stages plus one middle-difficulty
transition stage, followed by three more flat stages heading into the middle of Spain. Here the final rankings will be determined
by the 19th stage which runs over 145.5 km and two Cat. II climbs from Las Rozas to Segovia, as well as the mountain time
trial in the 20th stage near the Spanish capital of Madrid. The following closing stage is flat and ends with the traditional
mass sprint in the heart of Madrid.
Milram for Vuelta Espana 2008:
Andrey Grivko (UKR), Artur Gajek (GER), Christian Kux (GER ), Erik Zabel (GER), Fabio Sabatini (ITA ), Martin Velits
(SVK ), Matej Jurco (SVK), Sebastian Schwager (GER) and Volodymyr Diudia (UKR )
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Special Coverage Vuelta Espana 2008
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