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06.04.2007/ De Panne: Ballan takes overall, Settimana Lombarda: Liquigas won
Team Time Trail, Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team Riders Among Favorites To Win
Inaugural U.S. Open Cycling Championship, Astana with Colom and Kessler to Vuelta Ciclista al Pais, Powerful Rabobank
team in Vuelta al Pais Vasco, Tour of Flanders - women: Melchers will not defend title, Tour of Flanders: Milram with
Sieberg and Zabel
Mailbox - win a picture in poster format with Original Autograph of Michael Boogerd
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.
Please note: your letter should not be longer than 350 words. The editor choose every month "The letter of the month".
The writer of the best letter in April 2007 will receive a picture in 20 X 30 CM format with original handwritten
autograph of Michael Boogerd.
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De Panne: Ballan takes overall
Blue-fucsia colors shine in Belgium thanks to Alessandro Ballan, who won the De Panne. Lampre-Fondital's
athlete reached the leading first place of the overall standing at the end of the final stage, a time trial of 11
kms: Ballan obtained the 10th position at 26" from the winner Devolder, maintaining 6" in the overall standing on Posthuma
(2nd) and 11" on Roesems (3rd).
In the morning stage (the 3rd, De Panne-De Panne), Lampre-Fondital was yet protagonist
with Bennati: the Tuscan cyclist obtained a second place behind Steegmans.
"It's beautiful obtain a victory in these races,"Ballan
said. "This victory increase my will to do good things in the next races, even if I know that the Belgian athletes are the
favourites."
Discovery Channels sports director Dirk Demol said: "It was a great victory and morale is good in the team!."
"I was very happy to get the victory!" added Devolder. "I have the best legs of the year and the victory was right on time.
Gusev was flying today too! It was a strong team performance."
In the morning hours Gert Steegmans won the morning stage (3). Bennati came in second.
Results stage 4 Three Days of De Panne - Koksijde
1 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Discovery Channel
13.25.7 (49,193 km/h)
2 David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval-Prodir
0.07.9
3 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Discovery Channel
0.09.9
4 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic
0.16.5
5 Raivis Belohvosciks (Lat) Saunier Duval-Prodir
0.18.7
6 Joost Posthuma (Ned) Rabobank
0.19.0
7 Olaf Pollack (Ger) Wiesenhof-Felt
0.21.5
8 Bert Roesems (Bel) Predictor-Lotto
0.23.0
9 Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) Discovery Channel
0.24.0
10 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
0.26.2
11 Brett Lancaster (Aus) Milram
0.31.5
12 Sergiy Matveyev (Ukr) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare
0.32.1
13 Steve Cummings (GBr) Discovery Channel
0.38.8
14 Nikolai Trussov (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems
0.42.7
15 Leif Hoste (Bel) Predictor-Lotto
0.43.4
16 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
0.45.7
17 Arnaud Labbe (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
0.46.0
18 Jesús Del Nero (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir
0.47.3
19 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic
0.49.2
20 Tiziano Dall'Antonia (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare
0.50.0
21 Servais Knaven (Ned) T-Mobile
0.50.2
22 Volodymyr Bileka (Ukr) Discovery Channel
0.50.3
23 Andy Cappelle (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Tönissteiner
0.50.8
24 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Astana
25 Enrico Franzoi (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
0.51.6
Final general classification
1 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
12.48.07 (42,892 km/h)
2 Joost Posthuma (Ned) Rabobank
0.06
3 Bert Roesems (Bel) Predictor-Lotto
0.11
4 Sergiy Matveyev (Ukr) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare
0.17
5 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Discovery Channel
0.38
6 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic
0.45
7 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic
0.49
8 Markus Eichler (Ger) Unibet.com
0.54
9 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
0.55
10 Luca Paolini (Ita) Liquigas
1.06
11 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic
12 Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) Discovery Channel
1.17
13 Arnaud Coyot (Fra) Unibet.com
1.33
14 Gregory Rast (Swi) Astana
15 Roy Sentjens (Bel) Predictor-Lotto
1.39
16 David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval-Prodir
2.17
17 Janek Tombak (Est) Jartazi Promo Fashion
2.21
18 Raivis Belohvosciks (Lat) Saunier Duval-Prodir
2.28
19 Olaf Pollack (Ger) Wiesenhof-Felt
2.31
20 Brett Lancaster (Aus) Milram
2.41
21 Steve Cummings (GBr) Discovery Channel
2.48
22 Jesús Del Nero (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir
2.52
23 Arnaud Labbe (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
2.55
24 David Boucher (Fra) Landbouwkrediet-Tönissteiner
2.57
25 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Quickstep-Innergetic
2.58
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| Alessandro Ballan won the overall of De Panne (picture: Cyclingheroes) |
Settimana Lombarda: Liquigas won Team Time Trail
Liquigas wins with a lead of 3" on the South African Barloworld squad.
The first day of the
Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda, finishing in Bergamo on Monday 9, brought to Liquigas the seventh win of the season. In
the three kilometres of the opening team time trial leading the riders from the centre of Bergamo to Cittŕ Alta, the magnificent
six wearing the green-blue jersey - Backstedt, Capecchi, Cataldo, Failli, Kreuziger and Vanotti - has beaten the squads of
the Team Barloworld and the Panaria Navigare. The leader jersey goes to Francesco Failli, the first Liquigas rider crossing
the finish-line.
"Our group is competitive and strongly united: we proved it in such occasions," Liquigas team manager
Mario Scirea said. "Even thought they didn't have great reference points, since Liquigas was one of the first team to start
[the fifth one], the guys have raced fast since the beginning." Scirea also mentioned Magnus Backstedt: "the
team veteran sacrificed himself for the group racing at full stretch in the first thousand metres."
Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team
Riders Among Favorites To Win Inaugural U.S. Open Cycling Championship
The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team will put its top riders on the start line of Saturday’s inaugural U.S. Open
Cycling Championships. Two of them – sprinter Ivan Dominguez and veteran European pro Henk Vogels – are being
pegged as favorites to win the UCI 1.1-rated, 112-mile (179 km) race.
The event is the second stop on the USA Cycling
Professional Tour. It begins in colonial Williamsburg at 8:10 a.m. and finishes with eight laps of a 5.5-mile circuit in the
capital city of Richmond.
Dominguez has started 20 races to date, scoring seven victories (three in National Race
Calendar events) and one third place finish. His victories include: Roger Milliken Memorial Criterium, Red Trolley Classic
Criterium, Stage 7 at the Amgen Tour of California, Merco Cycling Classic Downtown Grand Prix, Sequoia Cycling Classic Criterium,
Indio Grand Prix and the Garrett Lemire Memorial Grand Prix.
Vogels has won one race (Central Valley Classic Criterium)
and also has a third place (Sequoia Cycling Classic Criterium). Joining him and Dominguez on the Toyota-United start list
are: Chris Wherry, Ivan Stevic, Sean Sullivan, Justin England, Jose-Manuel Garcia and Caleb Manion.
Overall, Toyota-United
has four NRC victories, 10 wins and 18 podium finishes to date.
“I will probably designate some of our guys
to do a job early on – riders who have a lesser chance of making it happen,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm
Jansen said. “They’re there to cover breaks. That’s one thing we can control: being represented in every
break that goes up the road. If we don’t like the represent-ation of the break, we will chase it down immediately.”
Saturday’s weather could play a decisive factor. The current forecast calls for temperatures in the mid-30s
at the start, with a 30 percent chance of rain and/or sleet and snow mix. Temperatures in Richmond for the finish (expected
to be around noon) are forecast to be in the middle 40s under cloudy skies.
Sullivan, who serves as one of the riders
on the Toyota-United “lead-out train,” said Dominguez will be hard to beat if he is near the front as the finish
line nears.
“When he gets to the last corner in the first two or three positions, it’s kind of hard for
anyone to get near him,” Sullivan said. “I think we have a really strong chance of winning. We just have to keep
doing what we’re doing.”
NBC Sports, in conjunction with Kent Gordis Productions, will provide same-day
coverage from 2 to 4:30 p.m EDT. Live, start-to-finish coverage on NBCsports.com and at the finish venue is also being planned.
Announcers for the race are Al Trautwig, John Eustice and Bob Roll. Coverage is expected to include live in-race phone updates
with Jansen from the Toyota Prius Team Car.
Astana with Colom and Kessler to Vuelta Ciclista
al Pais
The first Spanish race of the UCI Pro Tour, the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco, will take place
next week as of Monday, April 9, 2007. At the start will be the same seven Astana cyclists who already participated in the
GP Miguel Indurain. They will be joined by Matthias Kessler (GER), a strong reinforcement of the team. Antonio Colom (ESP),
third during last year’s contest, will obviously do everything to shine once again on the Basque roads.
Astana line-up for the "Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco":
Assan Bazayev (KAZ), Antonio Colom (ESP),
Matthias Kessler (GER), Julien Mazet (FRA), Andrey Mizurov (KAZ), Steve Morabito (SUI), Daniele Navarro (ESP) and Jose Antonio
Redondo (ESP).
Sport Directors: Alexander Shefer & Adriano Baffi.
Powerful Rabobank team in Vuelta al Pais Vasco
From April 9th through April 14th, Rabobank team leader Erik Breukink will line up
a powerful squad in Vuelta al Pais Vasco. The Rabobank team will be composed of: Mauricio Ardila, Thomas Dekker, Theo Eltink,
Koos Moerenhout, Dennis Menchov, Grischa Niermann, Michael Rasmussen and Pieter Weening.
Bram de Groot and Thorwald Veneberg are on the reserve list for the Rabobank Cycling Team.
With
Koos Moerenhout, the Rabobank Cycling Team will bring a former stage winner and winner of the mountain classification to Basque
Country. In 1999, Moerenhout won the fourth stage to Lekumberri; in 2007 once again the finish of the fourth stage. The 1999
edition of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco was also highlighted by a stage victory for Michael Boogerd in Orio.
All in all, the Rabobank Cycling Team has recorded four
stage victories in Vuelta al Pais Vasco. Besides Moerenhout and Boogerd, in 2002 and 2006 Beat Zberg and Oscar Freire have
added stage victories to the roll of honor of the Rabobank Cycling Team.
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| Thomas Dekker will start in Basque country (Picture: Cyclingheroes) |
Tour of Flanders - women: Melchers will not defend title
Team Flexpoint will start with a very strong team in the Tour of Flanders on Sunday. This race is part
of the World Cup series for Woman. The following riders will represent the Dutch team; Swiss Champion Annette
Beutler, Dutch National time-trial Champion Loes Gunnewijk, winner of the Omloop het Volk Mie Lacota (Denmark),
Swedish Champion Susanne Ljungskog, winner of the Tour de L'Aude Amber Neben (USA) and the winner of the first race
of the year on Dutch soil Iris Slappendel (The Netherlands).
The winner of the past two editions
Mirjam-Melchers-Van Poppel will not start in this race. Melchers - who is on her way back after a heavy crash in the end of
last season - thinks the race is coming to early to fir in her program.
The race will start around 11.00 in Oudenaarde
and it's a heavy and nervous race with lots of cobblestone sections and well-known climbs as among others the Muur van Geraardsbergen.
The
finish is expected around 14.15 in Meerbeke.
Tour of Flanders: Milram with Sieberg and Zabel
Erik Zabel and Marcel Sieberg will lead Team Milram at the Tour of Flanders next Saturday (8 April). The
race in Belgium is the season's fourth ProTour race.
Team Milram's hopes especially rest on Erik Zabel and Marcel Sieberg. Erik Zabel cold more than once convince
on the 259 kilometers long course with a continuous up and down over the steep climbs of Flanders and Brabant, achieving several
top ranks. However, the 36 year-old has so far been refused a podium position. Marcel Sieberg has already shown in the past
that the hard Belgian classics suit him.
The selection:
Erik Zabel, Alessandro Cortinovis, Ralf Grabsch, Brett Lancaster, Volodymyr Diudia, Alberto Ongarato, Fabio
Sacchi, Marcel Sieberg
Sport director:
Gianluigi Stanga
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