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22.03.2007/ Van Bon takes Nokere Koerse, Pippo Pozzato leads Liquigas at Milano San-Remo, Taiwan
GC reshuffles for second consecutive day. This time, Pipp lands on top, Boonen and Bettini almost ready for la Prima Vera
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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Special coverage Jan Ullrich retires
Will Puerto be archived?
Cyclingheroes Mailbox March 12
Van Bon takes Nokere Koerse
Former Dutch national road race champion Leon Van Bon has won Nokere Koerse. After 40 kilometers a breakaway
group with 26 riders decided the race. All teams had somebody in the breakaway group and no team started to chase the group.
30 kilometers before the finish Aart Vierhouten (Skil-Shimano), Leon Van Bon (Rabobank) and Geert Steurs (Predictor-Lotto)
attacked. Vierhouten and Van Bon dropped Steurs 5 kilometers for the finish line. Van Bon managed to beat Vierhouten and finally
won Nokere Koerse after the 35 year old Van Bon grabbed a second spot in the 1998 edition of the Belgian semi-classic
race.
Pippo Pozzato leads Liquigas at Milano San-Remo
Filippo Pozzato will try to defend his title at Milano-San Remo on Saturday. The green team will feature
Paolini, Gasparotto and Pellizotti too.
The Milan-San Remo is the first great season goal of the Liquigas team that will
line up a great squad at the Classicissima . Filippo Pozzato, the winner of the 2006 Sanremo, is confident: "I've trained
well; the Tirreno-Adriatico gave me the answers I hoped. I believe I'm pedalling better than last year. Having strong and
motivated team-mates at my side makes me more serene."
Next Saturday Liquigas will draw up, beneith Pozzato, three
other riders who are candidates to play a key role: Luca Paolini, Enrico Gasparotto and Franco Pellizotti. While Danilo Di
Luca won't start after winning Milano-Torino he got the flu.
General manager Roberto Amadio - who will lead
the team assisted by Mario Scirea - underlines: "The contribution of Paolini, Gasparotto and Pellizotti will be very precious.
Pozzato raced the Tirreno-Adriatico in view of the Sanremo and will be our captain. Having more alternatives will play in
his favour and makes Liquigas one of the strongest teams." However this fact doesn't expose us to excessive pressures: "There
are at least other five teams aiming at the win and which could use the same strategy as us. So the management of the race
could depend on us but also on Quick Step, Lampre and Milram, for example..."
The Liquigas at the Milan-Sanremo: Patrick
Calcagni, Enrico Gasparotto, Luca Paolini, Franco Pellizotti, Roberto Petito, Filippo Pozzato, Manuel Quinziato and Alessandro
Spezialetti.
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| Pozzato moved from Quickstep to Liquigas (picture: Cyclingheroes) |
Taiwan GC reshuffles for second consecutive day. This time, Pipp lands on top.
The top of the general classification of the Tour of Taiwan reshuffled yet again in Wednesday's
fourth stage. This time it was the windy conditions and the presence of a long climb with 23 km to go in the 130 km stage
that caused the shake-up.
At the end of the day, Frank Pipp of the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis made the vital late
break for the fourth consecutive stage, and earned a second consecutive 4th place stage finish that was enough to put him
atop the GC standings, after entering the stage in 3rd place overall.
The peloton reached the decisive climb mostly intact, and the fireworks started almost immediately. With three
riders in the top 10 overall, including race leader Dean Windsor, Drapac Porsche had the most cards to play. They immediately
sent their young Australian national champion Darren Lapthorne (8th overall at 2:05) on the attack. He opened a gap but was
joined soon after by a six-man group driven by Pipp and teammate and former race leader Shawn Milne.
But the move seemed to backfire on Drapac Porsche as Windsor and their other team leader, Rob McLachlan (6th
overall at 1:11), both missed the move. With Health Net Presented by Maxxis driving the break on the climb, the gap to the
second group on the road containing both Windsor and McLachlan, opened to well over a minute.
On the final 500 meter climb to the finish, Iranian Ghader Mizbani (Giant Asia) attacked for the stage win
ahead of his teammate Jai Crawford. Pipp finished 4th at eight seconds back, while Lapthorne held onto the front group, finishing
6th at 12 seconds back. Milne took 7th at 1:03 behind the stage winner.
Windsor finished the stage 17th at 1:30 back and fell to second overall. But Pipp now holds a more comfortable
1:11 lead on the Drapac Porsche rider with three stages remaining. Milne moved up to 6th overall, 2:25 Pipp.
The Tour of Taiwan continues Thursday with a 99 km criterium in Taichung.
Boonen and Bettini almost ready for la Prima Vera
The first great classic of the season is on the program on saturday, from Milan to San Remo. "La Primavera" (spring), although
others speak of la prima vera... the first real classic of the year. The injuries of Paolo Bettini are evolving in a
good way, Tom Boonen has a strong improvement in his condition.
The start is in the inland of Italy, in Milan, then the route takes us down south to the Ligurian coast, the Riviera. Milan-San
Remo is the longest classic of the season (almost 300km). The greatest difficulty is the distance. But the race ends several
times in a groupsprint on the Via Roma. The reason to insert the Poggio die San Remo in the final kilometres was to make this
final part of the race more exciting, also for non-sprinters. In the eighties a second hill was taken in the race, the Cipressa,
shortly before the Poggio.
Quick.Step Innergetic almost ready for Milaan San Remo
Paolo Bettini is recovering slowly of all his discomforts,
who stacked themselves during the past week, cause of some falls. The injury at his knee is almost forgotten, his brused rib
is getting better. Bettini trained together with Visconti, Barredo and Hulsmans on wednesday. Tonight Rosseler will arrive
at the hotel of the QSI-riders and tomorrow there is a 3-hour training on the program.
Tosatto, Van Impe en Boonen will arrive in Milan on thursday. Toms condition is getting better by the day. Today he
trained in Belgium during 6 hours, over a distance of 210 km. Thursday there is a training behind the car on the program.
Participating
for Quick.Step Innergetic: Carlos Barredo, Paolo Bettini, Tom Boonen, Kevin Hulsmans, Sebastien Rosseler, Matteo Tosatto,
Kevin Van Impe, Giovanni Visconti.
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