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11.02.2007/ Alessandro Petacchi wins GP Costa degli Etruschi, Mengin won fourth stage Etoile de Bessèges, Valverde
starts at Tropheo Mallorca, Ullrich case: state prosecution is waiting
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Hall of fame: Henk Lubberding about June 5, 1988
Looking back in anger
A Day in the Life of a Soigneur
Alessandro
Petacchi wins GP Costa degli Etruschi
Alessandro Petacchi has won the Gran Premio Costa degli Etruschi on Saturday, celebrating
his first victory of the season. It was the third time in a row that Alejet won the GP Costa Degli Etruschi. Petacchi won
the race through Tuscany in 2005 and 2006.
In the bunch sprint after 193 kilometers the Milram rider was faster than his fellow countrymen Gabriele Balducci
(Acqua & Sapone) and Daniele Bennati (Lampre).
Before that, the bunch had to chase four breakaways. After 26 kilometers Ruben Bertogliati (Saunier-Duval),
Cristiano Salerno (Tenax), Giuseppe Palumbo (Acqua & Sapone) and the Bulgarian Yauhen Sobal (Cinelli) escaped from the
main field. In the hilly landscape between San Vincenzo and Donoratico the four riders were able to establish a lead of 11:27
minutes. That was enough for the sprinter team in the main field, the chase begun. Milram, Lampre and Liquigas did the
work in the front of the peloton.
First the lead only decreased slowly, but on the final 40 kilometers the sprint teams
increased the speed. Twelve kilometres before the finish the escapees were caught up. Single attacks in the finale were in
vain due to the high speed. On the last kilometres the Team Milram pros prepared the sprint for their captain, who only had
to pull through on the home strech. “I’m very happy about my victory, for me, my team and the team management,”
the Italian sprinter said after the race. “It was a very hard sprint, because Steven de Jongh started very early. But
in the end everything was allright,” Petacchi said, happy about his first victory for Team Milram this season.
Results GP Costa degli Etruschi over193 kilometers:
1. Alessandro Petacchi – Milram 4:38:00
2.
Gabriele Balducci – Acqua & Sapone
3. Daniele Bennati – Lampre
4. Robert Hunter – Barloworld
5.
Giosue Bonomi – Barloworld
Mengin won fourth stage Etoile de Bessèges
The French Christophe Mengin (Française des Jeux)
has won the fourth stage of Etoile de Bessèges yesterday. Mengin was the best in a group sprint and beat the Belgian Frédéric
Amorison (Landbouwkrediet-Tönissteiner) and Jimmy Casper (Unibet.com). Nick Nuyens (Cofidis) keeps the leader’s orange
jersey.
Valverde ill but wants to start at Tropheo Mallorca
The overall winner of the 2006 Pro-Tour rankink, Alejandro Valverde is suffering from a gastric virus but still
wants to start at the Tropheo Mallorca today. Last years edition of the race was won by his team mate Isaac Galvez who died
after a crash at the Gent sixdays last November. Galvez was also a succesfull Track cyclist.
Together with his partner Juan Llaneras Rossello, Isaac Galvez won the 2006 Madison world championships.
It was the second time the pair became world champion after winning the title in 1999 (as Galvez wasn't even a pro).
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| Alejandro Valverde (picture: Cyclingheroes) |
Ullrich case: state prosecution is waiting
Jan Ullrich voluntarily gave a DNA probe last month but on Friday
the state prosecuter of Bonn, Fred Apostel told Cyclingheroes that the state prosecution still could not compare Ullrich's
DNA probe with the Fuentes bloodbags as the Spanish authorities still did not send the bags to Germany. Mister Apostel
told Cyclingheroes that he does not know how long it will take before the state prosecution of Bonn will be able to make the
DNA comparison.
On Friday the president of the German Cycling federation, Rudolf
Scharping, said he does not think Ullrich will ever race for Germany again. The remarks came after the organizers of
the Tour of Germany forced the Austrian team Volksbank to freeze its negotiations with Jörg Jaksche who was cleared by the
Austrian federation.
Jan Ullrich is the only rider who was named in the Fuentes affair
who actually gave a DNA sample to the authorities but Ullrich still isn't cleared by his federation, the Swiss Cycling federation.
Angry Jan Ullrich fans want to hand-over the Green light for Ulle petition at http://www.freie-fahrt-fuer-ulle.de in the coming month.
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| Jan Ullrich training in Switzerland (Picture: Citypress) |
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