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10.10.2006/ CSC wins Pro-Tour team ranking 2006, Trent Wilson wins third stage Herald Sun Tour,
Ullrich to Discovery ?, Good News for Michele Gobbi, T-Mobile signs Adam Hansen and Greg Henderson, First
pictures of Pantani movie, Bouygues Telecom roster for 2007
New: Picture gallery: Paris - Tours 08.10.2006
New: Echappé victorieuse in a sprinters's classic
CSC wins Pro-Tour team ranking 2006
It is no secret; winning the ProTour team rankings for the second consecutive year has been one of the big
goals for Team CSC during the 2006 season, and on Sunday the Danish team reached this goal by winning the team competition
in Paris-Tours.
“I'm so incredibly proud of the whole team. It was very important for us to show, we could do
it again. It's literally all the riders, who deserve the credit for this achievement. We have been strong throughout the season
and in all kind of races. Even now at the end of the season, where many other teams have more or less fallen apart and it's
hard to put together strong line-ups, we have delivered great results,” says Bjarne Riis.
In both Paris-Tours
and Züri Metzgete the team had to settle for second places, but during the season Team CSC has a total of 51 victories –
four of them in team time trials.
"We have shown we have a very diverse team, and we've been leading the ProTour rankings
almost from the beginning of the season. Our riders have taken this common goal very seriously," Riis adds.
Team CSC
now leads the ProTour team rankings with 373 points, while Caisse d'Epargne is second with 336. Last year Team CSC finished
with 390 points with a 37 points lead.
"Perhaps securing the ProTour victory takes off some of the pressure in Giro
di Lombardia, but it doesn't change the fact that it's still a very important race and a big goal for us this season. We have
a very strong line-up and several riders on really good form."
For the past couple of years Team CSC has finished third
in the classic Italian race. In 2005 Fränk Schleck made the podium in a race won by Paolo Bettini ahead of Gilberto Simoni
and in 2004 Ivan Basso was beaten in the sprint by winner Damiano Cunego and runner up Michael Boogerd.
Trent Wilson wins third stage Herald Sun Tour,
Trent Wilson (Team Australia) has won the third stage of the Herlad
Sun Tour in Australia. Wilson outsprinted his breakaway companion Matthew Lloyd (South Australia.com-AIS). Darren Lapthorne (Drapac Porsche)
came in third. In the general classification there were no significatn changes, Karl Menzies (Health Net) defended his leading
position.
Ullrich to Discovery ?
Spanish daily sports "AS" reports that the US based Discovery Channel team offered Ullrich a contract for the upcoming
two seasons. Ullrich would be the team captain in the Tour de France. Sponsor Discovery Channel will increase the budget for
their cycling team, the sponsor is negotiating to open and extend the contract and will pay each year an amount between 10
and 15 million Euros to the cycling team. Ullrich manager Wolfgang Strohband denied that Discovery Channel offered Jan Ullrich
a contract, but insiders say his denial might have come because Ullrichs name officially still isn't cleared, although the
Puerto case is falling more and more apart. The Spanish judge that handles the case announced that the UCI would not get
new documents and ordered the Spanish cycling federation not to act against riders who were named in the Puerto affair
(we reported yesterday).
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| Is Ullrich going to wear a blue jersey in 2007? (picture: Cyclingheroes) |
Good News for Michele Gobbi
After his crash in the GP Beghelli on Sunday, Michele Gobbi is now in a stable condition.
According
to Dr. Claudio Sprenger, the doctor of Team Milram, Michele Gobbi suffers from a strong cerebral trauma with two small cerebral
hematomas, and a fracture of the right scapula. The second CAT-scan this morning showed the preceeding stability of his condition
in comparison to the first scan effected yesterday. Gobbi will be maintained in a state of drug-induced coma for another 36
to 48 hour. Then, a further CAT-scan will be made to the confirm the progress of the healing process. Fortunately, Gobbi reacts
to external stimulations induced on him, which is a signal for a positive prognosis. With regard to the scapular fracture,
further examinations will be necessary to diagnose its extent and to initiate the correct therapeutic treatment.
T-Mobile signs Adam Hansen and Greg Henderson
The T-Mobile Team has announced the addition of two more riders for 2007: Australia's Adam
Hansen (25) and New Zealand's Greg Henderson (30). Sporting Director Rolf Aldag confirmed on Monday that the
two will wear magenta next season.
Hansen, who joins the magenta team from the Austrian-based
Professional Continental team Elk Haus Simplon, is an all-rounder with a big engine. Well known for his fat-tyre exploits,
the Aussie is often dubbed cycling's "Crocodile Man", having won Australia's Crocodile Trophy twice.
New Zealand sprinter Greg Henderson joins T-Mobile from the American Health Net-Maxxis team. Racing
mostly in the US, Henderson was a key player in the dominating Health Net squads of
recent years, making up a powerful duo with Gord Fraser at races like the Tour de Georgia where he helped Fraser win the sprint
jersey. In 2006 he won the inaugural Reading stage of the Philadelphia International Championship
before sprinting to the win in Philly three days later.
"T-Mobile is a great team
to join. They are very professional and will help me make the transition from US racing to the cut and thrust of Europe,"
the former scratch race world champion told cyclingnews.com. "They also have a few English speaking guys which will make it
a bit easier. I'm also looking forward to racing with Mick Rogers. I don’t know Mick that well but I admire him a lot
and it will be great to ride with him.
"I just want to see how far I can go. I have
made it to world champion on the track, now I want to see if I can make it in the biggest scene of all on the road in Europe,"
added the Kiwi. "I’ll just take it nice and slow. I would love to ride the classics and a grand tour, and of course
I’ve dreamed of riding the Tour de France. But it might not happen in my first year," he concluded.
First pictures of Pantani movie
Italian sports daily published the first pictures of a movie about Marco Pantani. You can see a slide
show of the pictures by going to: http://mediacenter.gazzetta.it/MediaCenter/action/player?uuid=21c173f4-5839-11db-9e84-0003ba99c53b and click on the picture.
Bouygues Telecom roster for 2007
The French Bouygues Telecom squad announced it's roster for 2007. The
team will welcome seven new riders: Johann Tschopp and Aurelien Clerc came from Phonak and are probebly the most prominent
new riders for 2007. Frencj neo pros Dimitri Champion en Julien Belgy will also join the team. The roster for 2007 counts
30 riders. Five riders will leave the team at the end of this year, most prominent rider who will leave the team is Walter
Beneteau, French media reports stated that Beneteau will join FD Jeux.
The results will have to come from this years Classica San Sebastian
winner Xavier Florencio, Dutch national ITT champion Stef Clement, Thomas Voeckler, who is always good for an exiting
attack and routiniers Laurent Brochard and Didier Rous.
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| Didier Rous during this years Fleche Wallonne (picture: Cyclingheroes) |
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