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22.02.2007/ Tour of California: Voigt with another win for CSC, Tour of California
quotes, Great day for Quickstep with two victories, McQuaid: ProTeams are not allowed to start at Paris-Nice, Ullrich:
tension is rising
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Looking back in anger
A Day in the Life of a Soigneur
Ullrich with Klöden and Kessler at Mallorca
Tour of California: Voigt with another win for CSC
After facing the brutal Sierra Road Category 1 climb approaching San Jose, Team CSC won its second consecutive
stage with Jens Voight (GER) dominating most of the 94.8-mile (152.2km) stage with a time of 3:43.44 to best Discovery Channel Team's
Levi Leipheimer (USA). Predictor-Lotto's Chris Horner (USA) rounded out the top three.
As expected, the Sierra Road
climb separated the riders and shook up the general classification. With Santa Rosa's Leipheimer retaining the overall leader
position by three seconds, Voigt and Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis' Rory Sutherland (AUS) overtook second
and third place respectively. San Jose's Ben Jacques-Maynes of the Priority Health team entered the day's stage in third place
heading into his hometown, but faltered to finish 3 minutes and 3 second behind the leaders, falling to 38th place overall.
Nine riders failed to cross the finish line within the qualifying time and were eliminated from the race.
"Today was
an incredible day for the sport, both in terms of the competition, as well as the enthusiasm the fans showed from Stockton
to San Jose," said Shawn Hunter, president of AEG Sports, presenters of the race. "When the peloton came over Sierra Road,
it was like parting the red sea to get through all the fans. After a day like this, no one can argue that there is an enormous
appetite for cycling in America." Voigt rode with a breakaway that formed within the first five miles and quickly opened a
gap that grew to five minutes by mile 55. Seventeen riders were in the breakaway, spurred on by Voigt, who in addition to
the stage win was awarded the Adobe Most Aggressive Rider Jersey and the Herbalife Sprint Jersey. The Discovery Channel Team,
encouraged by words from Lance Armstrong following in a team car, battled to contain the deficit.
“Today was
a bike ride. It was a huge battle; it was war out there,” said Leipheimer, who talked with Lance Armstrong throughout
the race for encouragement. "He [Lance] understands that today was a real battle. He was 100 percent behind us cheering us
on. It really made everyone dig, so it was special."
Seventy-three miles into the race, at the start of the decisive
Sierra Road climb, which gained about 1,700 feet (518 m) in 3.9 miles (6.3 km), the hard-charging peloton was only one minute
behind the breakaway.
Discovery Channel riders George Hincapie (USA) and Ivan Basso (ITA) launched Leipheimer’s
attack as he pursued the leaders up the climb, and the entire field exploded under the pressure of the 10%+ gradient.
Predictor-Lotto's
Chris Horner of Bend, Ore., and Rabobank's Robert Gesink (NED) managed to keep Leipheimer’s wheel, and the trio caught
Voigt a little more than halfway up. Voigt and another breakaway rider, Leipheimer’s teammate Jason McCartney (USA),
hung onto this speeding trio and a group of five crested the summit together.
In only four miles on Sierra Road the
race changed almost beyond recognition. A group of 12 riders containing the world champion, Team CSC's Paolo Bettini (ITA),
followed the new leading group over the summit, about 30 seconds back. But the leaders descended faster on the narrow roads,
and by the bottom, with only 12 miles (20km) remaining to the finish, the group had a lead of about one minute over a chase
group that had grown to 27 riders.
With the large chase group bearing down hard on the leaders, it was a frantic flight
into downtown San Jose.
With a little under two miles to go, Leipheimer attacked the group, and a counter attack quickly
came from Voigt. But what brought a gasp from the large crowd watching the closing miles on the big screen at the finish was
the sight of the main group swinging around a corner, catching the breakaway with less than 30 seconds behind the leaders.
Leipheimer led the charge into the finishing straight, but Voigt came around him and powered to the win.
The time bonuses
Voigt picked up during the day – three seconds for winning an intermediate sprint at Livermore and 10 seconds for the
line honors – put him within easy reach of Leipheimer for the time trial.
With no intermediate or finish sprint
time bonuses on the 135-mile Stage 4, this sets the stage for a nail-biting time trial on Friday – provided that there
is not another successful breakaway like today.
Neither of the current lead contenders is willing to commit to a prediction
about the conclusion of the 2007 Amgen Tour of California.
“Sure, we’ve got a fair chance, but also Levi’s
got a fair chance. He’s a great rider, and it was only 15 seconds to the group behind us… it’s hard to say
where it goes from here," said Voigt.
Leipheimer was of a similar mind: “Jens Voigt can time trial pretty well.
I’m a long way from the overall victory… I would’ve liked to have got to the finish with a minute over the
group.”
Today's King of the Mountain Jersey was awarded to Quick Step-Innergetic's Jurgen Van de Walle (BEL).
The Union Bank Best Young Rider jersey went to Predictor-Lotto's Matthew Lloyd (AUS).
Results stage 3
1 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC
3.43.44
2 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel
3 Christopher Horner (USA) Predictor-Lotto
4 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank
0.04
5 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick Step
6 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team CSC
7 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Liquigas
8 Dimitri Fofonov (Kaz) Credit Agricole
9 Bram De Groot (Ned) Rabobank
10 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team
11 Josep Jufre Pou (Spa) Predictor-Lotto
12 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Gerolsteiner
13 Christian Vandevelde (USA) Team CSC
14 Mauricio Alberto Ardila Cano (Col) Rabobank
15 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Health Net Presented By Maxxis
16 Mads Kaggestad (Nor) Credit Agricole
17 Ben Day (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team
18 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Health Net Presented By Maxxis
19 Theo Eltink (Ned) Rabobank
20 Oliver Zaugg (Swi) Gerolsteiner
21 Thomas Peterson (USA) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle
22 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC
23 Anthony Colby (USA) Colavita Sutter Home
24 Veleriy Kobzarenko (Ukr) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team
25 Danny Pate (USA) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle
General classification after stage 3
1 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel
12.46.25
2 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC
0.03
3 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Health Net Presented By Maxxis
0.15
4 Christopher Horner (USA) Predictor-Lotto
0.16
5 Mauricio Alberto Ardila Cano (Col) Rabobank
0.17
6 Ben Day (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team
0.18
7 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Health Net Presented By Maxxis
0.19
8 Michael Rogers (Aus) T-Mobile
9 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team
0.20
10 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team CSC
11 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas
0.23
12 Veleriy Kobzarenko (Ukr) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team
13 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC
0.24
14 Christopher Baldwin (USA) Toyota United Pro
15 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile
0.25
16 Christian Vandevelde (USA) Team CSC
0.27
17 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Liquigas
18 Danny Pate (USA) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle
0.28
19 Matthew Lloyd (Aus) Predictor-Lotto
0.29
20 Jason Mccartney (USA) Discovery Channel
21 Mads Kaggestad (Nor) Credit Agricole
22 Justin England (USA) Toyota United Pro
0.30
23 Anthony Colby (USA) Colavita Sutter Home
24 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Gerolsteiner
0.31
25 Josep Jufre Pou (Spa) Predictor-Lotto
0.34
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| Jens Voigt with another win (picture : Cyclingheroes) |
Tour of California quotes
Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel)
In general
“Today was a bike race, it was a real battle out there, and all the riders
on Discovery suffered today, and I personally saw Allan (Davis) and Tony (Cruz) and Brian (Vandbourg) get dropped and come
back, just suffering all day long.”
On the team effort
“Jason (McCartney) as well as
the whole team was extraordinary today. The Discovery riders suffered today. We still went up the climb (Sierra Road) pretty
fast, and Jason was phenomenal on this one… I think we did a great job to make it all the way to the finish. Fortunately,
we didn’t panic. We accepted the fact that this was going to be an all-day adventure and an all-day suffer for the team.”
One
step closer to overall?
“I would have liked to get to the finish with a minute over that group, but from
the sounds of it they were pretty close to us. I’m a long way from the overall victory. I’ve always said I would
love to win here. I’m going to give it everything.”
Being motivated by Lance Armstrong from the
follow car
“He understands that today was a real battle. He was 100 percent behind us cheering us on. It
really made everyone dig, so it was special."
“He was saying things like: Come on guys, we can do this. We were
discussing tactics. We were all trying to encourage each other. Today was a real bike race. It was a real hard one.”
On
the crowds and the scenery
“The top of Sierra Road was fantastic. You’re talking about a beautiful
piece of California. You come over the top of a climb like that, and you have goosebumps. It really shows how beautiful this
state is."
On feelings about how the stage would go
“I’ve done this long enough to
tell which days are going to be hard. I could tell that people were saving it for today and were going to hit us hard.”
Jens Voigt (CSC)
On the way the race went
“There’s never such a thing as an easy race. I just
followed a couple of moves at the start."
On the forthcoming time trial
Dave (Zabriskie) is always
good in a time trial. It will change our plans a lot to lose Dave. The whole first day was not good for us. With two stage
wins, we are more than happy now…. We will see. It’s the first race of the year, so it’s a little bit of
the unknown. We had our little secret time trial in our training camp (two weeks ago). I think I came in second, I was beaten
by one or two seconds by Fabien Cancellara (in a 5-6 km time trial).”
On the motivating the breakaway
I
figured ‘Okay boys, it’s now or never! The finish line is in front of us, it’s not behind us so you can’t
look back.’ I would say everybody worked as good as he could. Some riders were intimated by that massive climb at the
end of the stage. It was really nice how we shared the work.
In the closing 20km, with the bunch just behind,
did you think you could win?
Yes. I was waiting for my captain Bobby Julich so I was not working. I could save
my legs a bit. They were actually going really fast (Leipheimer, Horner, McCartney) I have to say (big smile). Big chapeaux
(hats off) to the guys who were swapping off there. I could save my legs a little bit, I thought it should be possible to
win that stage. I am never going to win a sprint with Tom Boonen, but in a little group like five riders I figured I had a
fair chance.
On his main rival
“Sure, we’ve got a fair chance, but also Levi’s
got a fair chance. He’s a great rider, and it was only 15 seconds to the group behind us… it’s hard to say
where it goes from here.”
Chris Horner (Predictor-Lotto)
On strategy
“Discovery had to ride all day, which they did a fantastic job of keeping
the break close. But for us it was really important that Discovery had to ride a lot, so that when we reached the climb I
was only dealing with one fresh Levi, instead of a fresh Basso and a fresh Danielson and all that. I knew if it was just Levi,
he’s on another page ahead of the rest of us on the climb, and certainly could’ve gone over the climb by himself,
but I know he knows to make it to the finish he’s going to have to wait for me too, so it works out to my benefit if
he’s all by himself. So our strategy was to do nothing all day. We’re here to win stages. My time trial has been
letting me down a lot, so the GC wasn’t something I was thinking about. I was only thinking about winning the stage.
In order to do that we needed a stage like today that was perfect for me, but of course I screwed up on the finish and Jens
(Voigt) won.
“Certainly, the Slipstream team has been riding really well. Still very aggressive so hats off.
They’ve been probably the most that’s impressed me, how well they’ve been riding here.
Great day for Quickstep with two victories
In Portugal the Tour of the Algarve started. Gert Steegmans, who said he would duel with Petacchi
for victory, succeeds in his intentions on the first stage, due to the disqualification of Petacchi.
Alessandro Petacchi turned out to be the fastest in the final sprint, but was outclassed for irregular sprinting,
in disadvantage of Steegmans who finished second but declared first by the jury. “I won, but the jury decided
that my sprint wasn’t correct,” Alessandro Petacchi said. “Yes, it’s true, I moved from the right
to left site of the street. But I didn't obstruct anybody and I didn’t want anybody to have a crash. I have won about
120 races and I was never unfair,” the Italian continued disappointedly. Behind Gert Steegmans, René Haselbacher (Astana)
and Tomas Vaitkus (Discovery Channel) he was put to the fourth rank after he won the bunch sprint with a clear gap. Steegmans can put on the leadersshirt as well.
Ruta Del Sol
Tom Boonen is back laying down the law in Andalucia. After last year’s victory at Seville, the
Belgian champion beat today the Italian athlete Danilo Napolitano of the Lampre Team during the sprint of the 4th and penultimate
stage of 179,5 kilometres that started in Cabra and finished at Cordoba. Third across the finish line was the
Spanish athlete Oscar Freire of the Rabobank Team.
This is Boonen’s 5th winning sprint of the year after his poker of victories at Qatar.
"This is the first sprint that I have taken part in this week and I won it – Boonen said – Over
the past days a few things stopped me taking part in the final sprints first of all due to a puncture during the final then
a few stomach problems during yesterday’s stage. It appears that the small problem with my back is getting better.
Normally I’m not that fond of low-speed sprints like today’s, I prefer faster sprints. Winning a sprint
with the characteristics of today’s confirms that I am in excellent form. Napolitano launched the sprint and Freire
and I followed closely. I caught-up with and overtook him going on to win the race. I am very pleased."
40 kilometres into the race, Steven De Jongh abandoned the stage due to a persisting back pain – a consequence
of a fall during the G. P. Costa degli Etruschi in Italy. "It was a waste of time carrying-on with this back ache –
De Jongh said – I prefer to go back home and rest-up and start racing again when I am fully recovered."
The 53rd Vuelta Andalucia or Ruta Del Sol finishestoday with the 5th stage from Ecija to Antequera.
Results stage 4 Ruta Del Sol
1. Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick.Step-Innergetic
2. Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
3. Koldo Fernandez
(Spa) Euskatel-Euskadi
4. Oscar Freire (Spa) Rabobank
5. Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
General classification after stage 4
1. Dario Cioni (Ita) Predictor-Lotto
2. Oscar Freire (Spa) Rabobank at 1"
3. Tadej Valjavec (Slo)
Lampre-Fondital
4. Anton Luengo (Spa) Euskatel-Euskadi
5. Francisco Ventoso (Spa) Saunier Duval
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| Tom Boonen wins, wins and wins even more (picture: Cyclingheroes |
McQuaid: ProTeams are not allowed to start at Paris-Nice
UCI President Pat McQuaid has send a letter to all Pro-Tour teams in which McQuaid writes that the ProTeams
are not allowed to start at this years edition of Paris-Nice. It's another step in the powerstruggle between the UCI and the
organizers of the three Grand Tours. As reported the conflict escelated this week . In the letter of February 21, McQuaid writes that "it is obvious that the UCI cannot sanction or recognize an event
that would not be held in accordance to the rules."
McQuaids letter continues with: "Most recently we learned that ASO has made a private deal with the
French Cycling Federation aiming at taking Paris-Nice out of the UCI-governed cycling and making it a "free" race on the French
national calendar. This technique is not acceptable either, but anyway, as you know, UCI Pro-Tour teams cannot participate
in a race on a national calendar: article 2.1.009 of the UCI regulations." The UCI president concludes his letter with:
"As a result of the actions of ASO, it is clear that no UCI ProTeam is allowed to participate in Paris-Nice." It seems
like ASO and the UCI are more and more dragging the Pro-Tour and Pro Continental teams into the conflict.
Ullrich: tension is rising
German media speculated yesterday that Jan Ullrich will announce his retirement at a press conference on
Monday February 26. Spanish daily sports AS published a story in which the paper wrote that the "good news" which
was announced in the invitation for the press conference, brought German media to the idea that Ullrich might announce his
retirement. But his recent training camp at Mallorca might be an indication that Ullrich will continue his career.
Cyclingheroes spoke with state-prosecuter Fred Apostel of the state prosecution in Bonn, Germany, this
morning. Apostel told Cyclingheroes that the investigation against Jan Ullrich continues and that he is still waiting for
bloodbags from the court of Madrid in order to make a DNA comparison. Last month Jan Ullrich voluntarily gave a DNA sample
to the German authorities.
Since it is completly unkown what Jan Ullrich will announce on Monday's press conference, the tension is
rising. Will Ullrich continue his career as more than 6000 signatories are wishing at http://www.freie-fahrt-fuer-ulle.de ? Many postings at the German Tourgott Forum ( www.tourgott.de ) are a good indication of the mood of Jan Ullrich fans these days: some are absolutly confident that Ullrich will race again
while others are in despair that the Olympic Gold medal winner might announce his retirement. Monday all Jan Ullrich fans
will know more.
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