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21.03.2007/ Klöden first German who won Tirreno-Adriatico,
Volksbank at Nokere-Koerse and Ronde van het Groene Hart, Dekker started at final
stage Tirreno, Sastre back in training
Mailbox - win a nice surprise with Original Autograph of Jan Ullrich
Letterbox: You can send your letters with ideas, comments and other things you would like to let us and
our readers to know to: letters@cyclingheroes.de . Some of the letters will be published on our website. We can only publish letters with your full name, hometown
and country.
The editor choose every month "The letter of the month". The writer of the best letter in March 2007
will receive a nice surprise with original handwritten autograph of Jan Ullrich.
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Jörg Jaksche: no team and without investigation
Special coverage Jan Ullrich retires
Will Puerto be archived?
Cyclingheroes Mailbox March 12
Klöden first German who won Tirreno-Adriatico
Stuart O'Grady took a second place in the seventh and final stage of Tirreno-Adriatico, which saw German
rider Andreas Klöden (Astana) as the overall winner. Klöden was the first German winner of the traditional Italian race. Euskaltel's
Koldo Fernandez won the 177-kilometer long final stage.
"Stuart was great in the sprint. He found a good wheel
to stick to after great work from the team and he opened up the sprint at the exact right moment. But unfortunately Fernandez
was right behind him and managed to sneak past and snatch the victory. Well done by Fernandez, but Stuart deserves credit
for his sprint as well. He's been in great shape for a while now and he continues to be strong, so the form is definitely
where it should be ahead of the real spring classics starting with Milano-San Remo on Saturday," said CSC sports director
Scott Sunderland after the stage.
Overall winner Andreas Klöden will not start at Milano-San Remo. Klöden said: "I never road that race. I
only remember the tv pictures of the crashes and the severe injuries. I still see Erik Dekker lying with a broken hip.
End of the season." Klöden wants to win the Tour de France so he won't take any risks. Last years number three of the
Tour de France is 32 years old now and was riding in the shadow of Jan Ullrich for a long time. Klöden continued:
"I read an interview with Paolo bettini the other day in which he said he considered himself to be lucky that he could learn
so much from Michele Bartoli. With me it is exactly the same, only my teacher is called Ullrich. That is why there is not
a new Klöden, just because he is riding in an Astana jersey after 9 years of Telekom and T-Mobile. This is just another team
were the pressure is as big as it use to be in the German team."
Results stage 7 Tirreno-Adriatico
1 Koldo Fernández (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
4.38.43 (38.103km/h)
2 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team CSC
3 Gabriele Balducci (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffč Mokambo
4 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare
5 Allan Davis (Aus) Discovery Channel
6 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
7 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Predictor-Lotto
8 David Kopp (Ger) Gerolsteiner
9 René Haselbacher (Aut) Astana
10 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole
11 Loyd Mondory (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance
12 Alexandre Usov (Blr) Ag2r Prévoyance
13 Paride Grillo (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare
14 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) T-Mobile
15 Cristian Moreni (Ita) Cofidis
16 Matti Breschel (Den) Team CSC
17 Evgeni Petrov (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems
18 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana
19 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
20 Carlos Da Cruz (Fra) Française Des Jeux
21 Julian Dean (NZl) Crédit Agricole
22 Francesco Bellotti (Ita) Crédit Agricole
23 Pablo Lastras (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
24 Kjell Carlström (Fin) Liquigas
25 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Gerolsteiner
Final General Classification Tirreno-Adriatico
1 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana
28.31.26
2 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile
0.04
3 Alexander Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana
0.13
4 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Gerolsteiner
0.23
5 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Discovery Channel
0.31
6 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC
0.34
7 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Tinkoff Credit Systems
0.55
8 Evgeni Petrov (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems
0.59
9 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffč Mokambo 1.00
10 Michael
Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank
1.12
11 Pablo Lastras (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
1.24
12 Riccardo Riccň (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir
1.31
13 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Cofidis
1.50
14 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team CSC
1.56
15 Ricardo Serrano (Spa) Tinkoff Credit Systems
2.05
16 David Arroyo (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
2.14
17 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas
2.15
18 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) T-Mobile
2.22
19 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffč Mokambo 2.23
20 Enrico Gasparotto
(Ita) Liquigas
3.14
21 Luca Mazzanti (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare
3.20
22 Gorazd Stangelj (Slo) Lampre-Fondital
3.25
23 Marco Fertonani (Ita) Caisse d'Epargne
3.49
24 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
4.09
25 Stéphane Goubert (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance
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| Andreas Klöden is the first German who won Tirreno (picture: Astana Team) |
Volksbank at Nokere-Koerse and Ronde van het Groene Hart
With two nordic classics the Team Volksbank starts its packed race program this week: On
Wednesday the team starts at Nokere Koerse in Belgium, on Sunday the Dutch "Ronde van het Groene Hart" (both UCI 1.1) is on
the agenda. After the cancellation of the Maloti-Tour in South Africa this two races turned out the be an excellent alternative
program.
With an strongly Austrian stamped roster the team embarks on its journey. Even three riders face their first race
of the season in Belgium: Tyson Apostol and Josef Benetseder start their year at Nokere Koerse as well as Gerrit Glomser.
Especially classics-specialist René Weissinger is looking forward the the race covering a distance of 196,9 km: The parcours
between Oudenaare and Nokere isn't new territory for the German: Weissinger has already raced there in the previous year and
showed a strong performance, still riding for Skil-Shimano. From the start he joined almost every breakaway and also approached
the finish line with the right group. "Unforunately I couldn't follow the pace on the final climb", Weissinger remembers his
13th rank and indicates, that he has still a score to settle at Nokere Koerse. But it won't be easy. "There are a few hummocks,
but the race is especially affected by the wind", describes the 28-year-old. "Shortly before the arrival there is an ascent
with cobblestones."
Just four days later at the "Ronde van het Groene Hart" René Weissinger is a non-starter. Like teammate
Gerrit Glomser he will be already focussing the Settimana Ciclista Bergamasca, which starts next week.
The "Ronde van het
Groene Hart" on Sunday leads over 203,3 kilometers from Leiden via Rotterdam and Amsterdam to Woerden.
Team Volksbank at Nokere Koerse:
Tyson Apostol (USA), Josef Benetseder (Aut), Gerrit Glomser (Aut), Philipp
Ludescher (Aut), Christian Pömer (Aut), Patrick Riedesser (Aut), Simon Schärer (Sui), René Weissinger (Ger)
Directeur Sportif:
Johannes Kofler (Aut)
Team Volksbank at Ronde van het Groene Hart:
Tyson Apostol (USA), Josef Benetseder (Aut),
Christian Lener (Aut), Philipp Ludescher (Aut), Christian Pömer (Aut), Werner Riebenbauer (Aut), Patrick Riedesser (Aut),
Simon Schärer (Sui)
Directeur Sportif: Johannes Kofler (Aut)
Dekker started at final stage Tirreno
Yesterday we reported that Thomas Dekker would not start at the final stage of Tirreno-Adriatico but our sources were wrong:
Dekker did start. Erik Breukink did not want to discuss Dekker's illness. "Thomas has not been really ill. That is also why
he appeared at the start of today's stage. I do not know where the news that he would not start came from. At least not from
a source inside the team." News-websites released the news that Dekker was not going to start on Tuesday. But the only things
that was decided, was that he is not going to start in Milan-San Remo. Breukink: "We thought that was a good decision. Thomas
can be of great value in the Primavera, but he must feel good, and I do not think he will be in great condition after Monday."
Sastre back in training
Carlos Sastre (CSC) is back in training after his crash in Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia and might be ready as
soon as next week.
Sastre is in the line up for Vuelta a Castilla y Leon, which starts on Monday and he will make the
final decision about whether he's ready or not over the next couple of days. He also said that he does not think his involuntary
break from training has hindered his preparations for Tour de France.
"At the moment it's not ideal of course, but
I have lots of time before the Tour so I'm going to stick to my program. Of course it's always bad with a crash, but this
one wasn't too serious I guess. I've had 10 days with back pains and without training, but started training again on Monday
and I feel better now and ready to get back to business again soon."
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