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21.11.2006/ New co-sponsor for Jartazi, Gerdemann about his first year with T-Mobile, Jonas Ljungblad renewed
with Unibet.com, Ryan Cox: finally holiday
"Jan Ullrich is not the garbage dump of a whole nation"
Michael Boogerd at a loss in soap-opera
New co-sponsor for Jartazi
The Belgian continental Jartazi squad found a new co-sponsor. The new co-sponsor Promo Fashion was already
selling the Jartazi team clothing in their shops but now they signed a contract for a year with an option for two more years.
The new name for the team will be Jartazi-Promo Fashion. The Belgian squad will continue with their work as a talent school.
In the last two years four Jartazi riders signed with a Pro-Tour team. In the coming year Geert Omloop and Mathieu Criquelion
will be the routiniers who will support the young Jartazi-Promo Fashion riders in finding their way in the peloton. Mathieu
is the son of former road world champion (1984) Claude Criquelion. Nowadays Mathieu's father is a politician and co-commentator
at Belgian tv station RTBF.
Gerdemann about his first year with T-Mobile
Linus Gerdemann came over from CSC this season and the 24 year old German rider developed very well in his
first T-Mobile year. Gerdemann told t-mobile-team.com about this years season: "I’m afraid it’s impossible
to evaluate the past season without thinking about the doping scandals. It’s probably the first thing that springs to
people’s minds when they think back on the 2006 season. And the legacy of this is likely to gnaw at cycling for a long
time to come. That’s frustrating, because, despite the fact that you work hard on your bike, day in, day out in all
kinds of weather, you know that if you achieve good results as a clean cyclist, there’s this lingering suspicion overshadowing
everything."
Gerdemann won a stage in the Tour of Switzerland last year and this year he was very strong in Switzerland
again: "The Tour de Suisse in June was my absolute season highlight. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to repeat my
2005 stage win. On stage three though, I got away in a four-man break that formed on the day’s final climb, but Nick
Nuyens edged me out in the final sprint. Gerdemann continued by saying: "I was quite chuffed with my seventh
place overall. Especially, since I was in Switzerland to support Jan Ullrich. It is just hypothetical of
course, but I feel that had I ridden for myself, the podium would have been well within reach. Nevertheless, the Tour de Suisse
was another landmark race for me. And I feel that it was just rewards for all my hard work on the bike during the winter and
spring. "
In the last part of the season Gerdemann became a second place syndrome:"II scored another pleasing result at the Sachsen-Tour, when I placed second in the sprint behind Andy Schleck.
The sprint was in fact so tight, that at first none of us knew who had won. This “second-place syndrome” continued
at the Deutschland-Tour. In the prologue I was edged out by Vladimir Gusev by just 9 milliseconds.
The prologue result was nevertheless a pleasant surprise, because by that time I was a long way off my peak form.
That’s easy to judge by looking at our SRM data. I noticed during training that I wasn’t riding with the
same power I had prior to the Tour de Suisse. So my second place in the prologue was a good thing, though winning it and slipping
into the yellow jersey that day would have been the icing on the cake for my season. But who knows, maybe next year…”
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| Linus Gerdemann is one of the biggest German talents (picture: Cyclingheroes) |
Jonas Ljungblad renewed with Unibet.com
Former Swedish national champion Jonas Ljungblad extended his contract and
will stay untill the end of 2008 with Unibet.com. The 27 year old riderstarted his professional career in 2000 and won 25
pro races. This year he won the queen stage of the Tour of Luxembourg. In 2007 Ljungblad wants to score in the spring classics.
The Unibet.com cycling has 24 contracted cyclists
for the 2007 season up to now.
The following riders are staying with the team: Baden Cooke, Gorik Gardeyn, Jeremy Hunt,
Jonas Ljungblad, Luis Pasamontes Rodriguez, Matthe Pronk, Laurens ten Dam, Erwin Thijs, Matthew Wilson and Marco Zanotti.
The
Belgians Pieter Jacobs and Stijn Vandenbergh were offered a professional contract after a two months’ traineeship this
season.
New cyclists include Matteo Carrara, Jimmy Casper, Arnaud Coyot, Markus Eichler, Michal Golas, Alexandre Khatuntsev,
Sergeui Kolesnikov, Gustav Larsson, Viktor Hugo Peņa Grisales, Niels Scheuneman, Rigoberto Uran and Troels Vinther.
Ryan Cox: finally holiday
National champion of South Africa Ryan Cox (Barloworld) had a long season but after Sunday his holidays
finally started. Cox wrote on his personal website ryancox.co.za: "On Sunday was my final race for
the season. I think we ended off the season well when all odds where against us. With no sprinter we rode a clever race with
James, Felix and myself in the 1st group of 11. The pressure was on Microsoft who were in the best possition to win but we
tried not to push the pace and left all the work up to them. The final km's we started attacking and split the race a bit.
I wasn't feeling too good but did what I could. Felix eventually came 3rd, I was 7th and James was 8th,we were also the 2nd
Team. This ends another long season and now I'll take some time off the bike and relax before I start preparing for next year."
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| Ryan Cox sets the pace at Fleche Wallonne 2006 (Picture: Cyclingheroes) |
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