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17.04.2007/ Tour de Georgia: Contrini takes first stage,
Toyota-United's Ivan Dominguez Fifth On Opening Stage of Tour de
Georgia, Jaksche signs with Tinkoff, X-Bionic with Ullrich poll
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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Dave Shields about Saul Raisin: "The story of his fight to return to pro cycling is mind boggling"
Picture gallery: Tour of Flanders, April 8, 2007
Picture gallery Cologn Classic - Rund um Köln, April 9, 2007
Henk Vogels: "Nice to get back in the winners circle"
O'Grady becomes first Aussie to win Paris-Roubaix
New: Henk Vogels Tour de Georgia riders diary: stage 1
New: Picture gallery Paris-Roubaix, April 15, 2007 (5 pages with pictures)
Tour de Georgia: Contrini takes first stage
Tinkoff Credit Systems rider Daniele Contrini took the bull by
the horns at the very first stage of the Tour de Georgia, instantaneously leaving behind the memories of modest performance
of the team in the last pair of weeks. It was a prototypical roller-coaster profile, no king of the mountains points up for
grabs but no end of ups and downs combined with a steady tailwind. The race opened up with a volley of attacks, quick to get
neutralized. Some 100 km to go Contrini and three other riders managed to break away and quickly opened a respectable gap
in the chase of an early leader Victor Rapinsky from local favorites squad, Navigators Insurance , wisely taking advantage
of wind direction and the hilly road which didn’t play in the hands of the peloton. At the end of the day the Byelorussian
was caught by the chasing four about 35 km to go, but the main pack was still trailing a couple of minutes behind. Big favorites
from Pro Tour elite club went all out in front of the peloton, but there were no thoughts of giving up in the breakaway group.
The stage ended in a couple of 4.1 km-long laps around the city of Macon; there were just two of them left when Daniele Contrini
ventured to go on his own. The main field was menacingly coming in, but it was all too late for them. The Italian takes this
beautiful solo victory alongside with the leader’s jersey.
Results stage 1 Tour de Georgia 2007
1 Daniele Contrini (Ita) Tinkoff Credit Systems
3.24.26 (46.55 km/h)
2 Doug Ollerenshaw (USA) Health Net 0.21
3 Ben Day (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team
0.28
4 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Health Net 1.07
5 Ivan Dominguez (Cub) Toyota-United
6 Karl Menzies (Aus) Health Net
7 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Navigators Insurance
8 Ciaran Power (Irl) Navigators Insurance
9 Juan José Haedo (Arg) Team
CSC
10 Alessandro Proni (Ita) Quick Step - Innergetic
11 Danny Pate (USA) Team Slipstream
12 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel
13 Fred Rodriguez (USA) Predictor-Lotto
14 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Health Net
15 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Predictor-Lotto
During the Tour de Georgia Cyclingheroes will
publish a riders diary of Henk Vogels. Today the first part, stage 1: Henk Vogels Tour de Georgia riders diary: stage 1
Toyota-United's Ivan Dominguez Fifth On Opening Stage of Tour
de Georgia
A concerted chase by the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team didn’t bring back a five-man breakaway on
Monday’s Stage 1 of the Tour de Georgia. But the effort did deliver Ivan Dominguez to a fifth place finish at the end
of the 98.5-mile (158.6 km) race.
Dominguez finished second in the field sprint to Ryder Hesjedal (Health Net presented
by Maxxis) as the peloton arrived in Macon one minute and 22 seconds behind stage winner Daniele Contrini (Tinkoff Credit
Systems). Doug Ollerenshaw (Health Net) and Valery Kobzarenko (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team), who were in the original
break, finished second and third, respectively.
A gusty wind out of the southwest provided a strong tailwind from
the start that helped the five leaders gain a maximum advantage of eight minutes. When the break reached the outskirts of
Macon for three finishing circuits, its lead was still more than four minutes.
Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen
ordered his riders to begin an all-out chase with 25 km (15.5 miles) remaining. From there, Toyota-United’s Burke Swindlehurst
said it was a “110 percent effort” to catch the leaders, who split into smaller groups on the circuit.
“We
were just full gas on the front,” he said. “But with two laps to go, it became pretty apparent we weren’t
going to bring the break back in.”
Dominguez said without the tailwind, the five escapees would have been caught.
“With the tailwind, the guys in the break are doing 60 kph and we're doing 61 or 62 kph. So they're not coming
back for a long time,” he said. “We should have probably had a few guys work when CSC and Discovery were on the
front. But Harm said to wait. By the time we started chasing, it was too late and the other teams didn't want to do anything.”
Mechanic Shane Fedon’s Post-Stage Report
Flat Tires Monday: None.
Other Mechanicals: None
Previewing Tuesday’s Stage 2
Tuesday’s
stage is another for the sprinters. The 134.9-mile (217.1 km) race starts at 11 a.m. in Thomaston and finishes in Rome. Last
year, Stage 2 started in Fayetteville and ended in Rome with Yaroslav Popovych (Discovery Channel Pro Cycling) winning the
race.
The Toyota-United Prius team car will be in the sixth spot in the race caravan.
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| Toyota United during the chase of the breakaway (Picture: Kathleen Poulos) |
Jaksche signs with Tinkoff
Jorg Jaksche, 30 years-old Bavarian from Furth, signed a one-year contract with the Tinkoff Credit Systems
team yesterday. "It’s a very important day for me," Jaksche said full of enthusiasm, "I had been looking forward
to breathing the air of races, and finally I was given this opportunity, thanks to Tinkoff and its general manager Stefano
Feltrin personally, who held these talks on behalf of the team." The well-known German rider began his career as a pro in
1997 with the Italian formation of Polti, winning individual time trial at the military World Championships in his debut year.
The most successful season of Jaksche was 2004 marked with general classification victories of Tour Meditereneen and Paris-Nice.
Jaksche was on of many riders who was allegedly involved in the Fuentes scandal. Cyclingheroes spoke with Jaksche about the Fuentes case. Jörg Jaksche always said he was innocent and even offered the UCI
to do a DNA test. The first race for the German with the Russian-Italian squad will be Giro d’Abruzzo ( April 19-22), alongside
young Russians Ivan Rovny, Ilya Chernetsky and Anton Mindlin.
X-Bionic with Ullrich poll
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| Jan Ullrich during a press conference in Hamburg (picture: Cyclingheroes) |
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