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25.06.2007/ Tour de Suisse: Cancellara with second stage win
- Karpets overall winner, TTT Einhoven: CSC for a second year in a row, Nature Valley: Sutherland takes queen stage, Stevic
defends yellow jersey, Experienced
team for Rabobank in Tour de France
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 June 2007 will receive a picture in 20 X 30 CM format with original handwritten
autograph of Michael Boogerd.
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Download Midyear results CSC anti-doping programm (PDF file)
New: Special Coverage Tour de France 2007
New: This years Tour de France rookies: Geraint Thomas
New: Picture gallery: Tour de Suisse , Stage 9 ITT 33.7 km, Bern - Bern (4 pages)
New : Picture gallery: Nature Valley , Stage 6, Stillwater Crit
Tour
de Suisse: Cancellara with second stage win - Karpets overall winner
Vladimir Karpets of the Caisse d'Epargne team has won the Tour de Suisse. Karpets finished sixth in the
ninth-stage individual time trial around Berne but gained enough time on his overall rivals to move from third to first place.
T-Mobile's Kim Kirchen (Luxembourg) finished second overall, one minute and four seconds behind Karpets. Belgium's Stijn Devolder
(Discovery Channel) was third overall at 1:30.
Fabian Cancellara (CSC) rounded Tour de Suisse off nicely by winning the final stage – a 34.2-kilometer
time trial in the area around Bern. The Swiss Team CSC rider won with 20 seconds down to Astana captain Andreas Klöden, who
was in the lead at the first intermediate time.
"I'm extremely happy to have won here in my hometown. I'd hoped to
win both time trials in this race, so that was perfect really. The fact that I got three days in yellow was a nice bonus.
I had some problems with my bike at the beginning, where the officials were saying that my bike was the wrong size, so that
took some of my focus right at the very beginning of the stage, but I quickly regained my rhythm," said Cancellara after having
been celebrated on the podium by a home audience.
The overall victory went to Vladimir Karpets (Caisse d'Epargne),
who finished the stage about a minute after Cancellara, but it was enough to neutralize the other contenders and win the race.
Fränk
Schleck (CSC) lost time during the time trial and finished seventh overall, but he was still satisfied with Tour de Suisse.
"All
in all I'm quite satisfied. Two days in the yellow jersey, a stage win for me: I had one really good and one really bad day.
Today was just medium for me. I didn't have brilliant legs or anything. It wasn't totally bad either though," concluded Schleck
about himself and at the same time expressed his happiness with his team's success:
"We've had three stage wins and
four or five days in the yellow jersey. I think that's pretty good." CSC Sports director Kim Andersen was also happy with
the outcome of the race:
"We influenced the race all the way through and three stages is as much as anyone could expect.
Today's main objective was to get another victory for Cancellara and also move Fränk up a bit in the general classification.
We almost succeeded in doing both and as far as I'm told Fränk was only 17 seconds from fulfilling his part of the bargain.
So that's not too bad at all," said Andersen.
T-Mobile Sports Director Valerio Piva was satisfied with the performance of his team, Piva said: "It was a good
week for the team overall, capped off by Kim Kirchen's deserved second place overall finish. Kim was among the strongest riders
on each of the mountain stages, and though he was hurt in a crash on stage two, he didn't let it effect him and he battled
for every second in the final time trial." said sporting director Valerio Piva.
"Unfortunately we didn't have captain
Michael Rogers and climbing specialist Giuseppe Guerini for the last few stages - they dropped out due to injury and illness
respectively, but that's part and parcel of bike racing," Piva added.
A victory in the concluding time trial in the Tour of Zwiterserland was, as team leader Adri van Houwelingen
had already predicted on Saturday, not possible for Thomas Dekker. He did finish in the top ten. Dekker finished ninth and
could live with that, indicated Rabobank Sports Director Van Houwelingen. "Thomas was convinced, however, that he can and
must ride faster, but the progress he has made in this tour has been great for his morale. The time trial as well, because
one could observe enough positive aspects."
With regard to the aforementioned positive aspects, Van Houwelingen particularly aimed at the impression Dekker
made during such moments as when they raced uphill. "He did not lose anything there. Thomas rode amazingly well uphill. The
time trial offers a lot to build on for the Tour, just like the entire Swiss tour by the way," noticed Van Houwelingen. Dekker
came to Switzerland with some doubts regarding his hip injury, but these have completely vanished. And, then there is the
moral victory because of the two serious and successful tests on the Crans Montana and the one in Bern this Sunday.
"Thomas just needs to enjoy this while preparing himself for the Tour. He did what
he wanted during the moments that he had selected for himself. To ride well and claim a stage victory, that is more than we
had dreamed about, not even that," confessed Van Houwelingen, who was also delighted about the progress that Michael Boogerd
made on a daily basis, even though it was not as spectacular as Thomas Dekker. Van Houwelingen: "But, that is largely caused
by the age difference. Things, nevertheless, went well here for Michael, but he is not good enough yet to play a prominent
role in the Tour. Let us say he is halfway now. But, the period of three weeks until the first mountain stages could be enough."
Results
Stage 9
1 Fabian
Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC
41.46 (48.412 km/h)
2 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana
0.20
3 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Gerolsteiner
0.33
4 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team
1.04
5 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team
1.05
6 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne
1.06
7 Andrey Mizourov (Kaz) Astana
1.26
8 Gustav Erik Larsson (Swe) Unibet.com
1.31
9 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank
1.36
10 Kevin De Weert (Bel) Cofidis, le Credit Par Telephone
1.57
Final General
Classification
1 Vladimir
Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne
30.07.23
2 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Team
1.04
3 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team
1.30
4 Matteo Carrara (Ita) Unibet.com
5 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
1.41
6 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne
1.46
7 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC
1.47
8 Gerrit Glomser (Aut) Team Volksbank
2.50
9 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Unibet.com
3.16
10 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana
3.19
Picture gallery: Tour de Suisse , Stage 9 ITT 33.7 km, Bern - Bern (4 pages)
| Overall podium Tour de Suisse 2007 |
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| Kim Kirchen (2), Vladimir Karpets (1) & Stijn Devolder (3) (picture: Heinz Zwicky, www.radsport.ch) |
TTT Einhoven: CSC for a second year in a row
For the second year in a row Team CSC won the ProTour Team Time Trial, which took place on Sunday with a
48.6-kilometer route by the Dutch city of Eindhoven.
The victory was by one single second ahead of the Italian Team
Tinkoff Systems, while Milram took the third place just 13 seconds behind the Danish team.
It was quite a wet experience
for Team CSC and it had its price, when Nicki Sřrensen crashed in the final turn.
"I slid 10 or 15 meters on the asphalt,
because it was so wet and slippery. But for the same reason I didn't hurt myself that badly. I would easily be able to race
again tomorrow if I had to," said Nicki Sřrensen, who won't have to do any races for the next couple of days ahead of the
Danish Championships.
The same goes for the other riders – among them Bobby Julich, who was also in the line-up
this Sunday.
"We'd have liked to finish with all eight of us crossing the line – that doesn't happen too often
in a time trial and especially not in rainy weather with an average speed of 54 kilometers per hour - or whatever we were
doing out there today. So it was a brilliant team effort. Everyone did their best and we worked really well together all of
us," said Bobby Julich after the victory and continued:
"It's a nice victory as a bonus for all the hard work we do
on the time trial bikes throughout the season, so it was a good day for Team CSC."
Tinkoff Credit Systems impressed with theor second place. Composed of young Russian riders and a Byelorussian
Kiryienka, the line-up was ideally suited for this type of race because of respectable skills post-Soviet school, deeply rooted
in the victorious Olympic and World championship traditions (both on the road and on the track) brings up in its graduates. For
almost an hour of racing it was yet another confirmation that the promising Tinkoff youngsters are already level
with the brightest stars of cycling in some events.
Results
1 Team CSC
53.36.75 (54.39 km/h)
2 Tinkoff Credit Systems
0.00.43
3 Milram
0.12.38
4 Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 0.24.31
5 Liquigas
0.30.25
6 Quick Step-Innergetic
0.51.26
7 Caisse d'Epargne
0.56.36
8 Crédit Agricole
0.59.84
9 Predictor - Lotto
1.15.75
10 Ag2R Prévoyance
1.45.21
11 Astana
1.49.60
12 Rabobank
1.51.18
13 Saunier Duval-Prodir
1.52.43
14 Cofidis, le crédit par téléphone 2.11.83
15 Skil-Shimano
2.13.04
16 Francaise des Jeux
2.32.49
17 Wiesenhof-Felt
2.34.28
18 Unibet.com
2.36.79
19 Lampre - Fondital
2.37.35
20 Gerolsteiner
2.47.01
21 Euskaltel-Euskadi
2.47.46
22 T-Mobile Team
2.50.39
23 Bouygues Telecom
4.51.34
Nature Valley: Sutherland takes queen stage, Stevic defends yellow jersey
Defending Ivan Stevic’s lead at the Nature Valley Grand Prix on the penultimate stage Saturday may
have cost the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team a chance to put two riders in the top five overall and its third-place spot on
the team classification.
But the efforts of riding on the front and working hard to reel in a pair of dangerous breakaways
on Stage 5’s 86-mile (138.4 km) Mankato Road Race were more than enough to keep Stevic in the race leader’s yellow
jersey with only on stage remaining in the five-day, six-stage race. Sunday’s Stillwater Criterium – a 60-minute
race on a highly technical 1.5-mile (2.4 km) course – was one of Stevic’s seven wins of the 2006 season.
Rory
Sutherland (Health Net presented by Maxxis) emerged from a group of six riders who escaped on the final lap of the finishing
circuit to give Health Net its fourth consecutive stage win of the race. But eight seconds later, Stevic won the bunch sprint
from what remained of the shattered peloton to retain his race lead over Health Net’s Nathan O’Neill by 23 seconds.
"I bridged across to the break by myself and that really took it out of me,” Sutherland said.
“Nathan [O'Neil, Heath Net p/b Maxxis] waited for me at the top and then he drilled it all the way down the hill. After
that effort, I couldn’t exactly let the other guys win at the finish!"
“Today was the hardest stage for us because we had to do so much to control the race,” Stevic
said.
Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said defending the jersey became most difficult when a group of about
15 riders rolled off the front 35 miles into the race.
“The gap may have never gone past 20 seconds, but it
was a hard, hard chase,” he said. “We spent 30 minutes on the front before we brought them back.”
A
second break of four riders later rolled off the front and had a 20-second lead as the race entered Mankato for four laps
of a 2.2-mile (3.5 km) finishing circuit featuring the challenging climb up Man Hill Road that gains 200 feet of elevation
in half-a-mile. But Toyota-United’s all-out chase pulled them back and the field was together as it received the bell
for the final lap.
Moments later, teammates Sutherland and O’Neill joined up with two riders >from the Navigators
Insurance Cycling Team (Darren Lill and Phil Zajicek), Anthony Colby (Colavita-Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light) and
Cesar Augusto Grajales (Jittery Joe’s Pro Cycling Team) and charged up the climb as Stevic found himself isolated for
the first time. With O’Neill 31 seconds off the lead in third place, Stevic knew he had to keep the break in sight.
"His legs weren’t the best at the end,” Jansen said. “But he did what he had to do to keep the jersey."
Results
Stage 5
1 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Health Net p/b Maxxis
3.05.01 (35.489 km/h)
2 Anthony Colby (USA) Colavita - Sutter Home p/b Cooking Light
3 Cesar Augusto Grajales (Col) The Jittery Joe's Pro Cycling Team
4 Darren Lill (RSA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team
5 Phil Zajicek (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team
6 Nathan O'Neill (Aus) Health Net p/b Maxxis
7 Ivan Stevic (SCG) Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team
0.08
8 Frank Pipp (USA) Health Net p/b Maxxis
9 Jeff Louder (USA) Health Net p/b Maxxis
10 Neil Shirley (USA) The Jittery Joe's Pro Cycling Team
General Classification after stage 5
1 Ivan Stevic (SCG) Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team
7.35.39
2 Nathan O'Neill (Aus) Health Net p/b Maxxis
0.23
3 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Health Net p/b Maxxis
0.27
4 Ben Jacques-Maynes (USA) Priority Health Cycling Team p/b Bissell
0.31
5 Kirk O'Bee (USA) Health Net p/b Maxxis
0.39
6 Phil Zajicek (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team
0.40
7 Anthony Colby (USA) Colavita - Sutter Home p/b Cooking Light
0.43
8 Darren Lill (RSA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team
0.45
9 Cesar Augusto Grajales (Col) The Jittery Joe's Pro Cycling Team
0.55
10 Frank Pipp (USA) Health Net p/b Maxxis
0.56
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| Lots of riders got dropped in the hills...(picture: Sean Weide) |
Experienced
team for Rabobank in Tour de France
Sport
Directors Erik Breukink and Erik Dekker of the Rabobank Cycling Team have announced their selection of nine riders who will
represent Rabobank in this year’s Tour de France. The nine are: Michael Boogerd, Bram de Groot, Thomas Dekker, Juan
Antonio Flecha, Oscar Freire, Denis Menchov, Grischa Niermann, Michael Rasmussen and Pieter Weening . The Tour de France starts
July 7th in London, Great Britain, and will finish three weeks later on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, France.
Theo Eltink
and Koos Moerenhout will be listed as reserves by Breukink and Dekker.
In
Rabobank’s selection no less than six riders are former stage winners in the Tour de France: Michael Boogerd (1996 and
2002), Juan Antonio Flecha (2003), Oscar Freire (2002 and 2006 – two stages), Denis Menchov (2006), Michael Rasmussen
(2005 and 2006) and Pieter Weening (2005). On top of that, Denis Menchov won the young rider classification of the Tour de
France in 2003. Michael Rasmussen was the 2005 and 2006 winner of the mountains classification on behalf of Rabobank.
Michael
Boogerd is by far Rabobank’s most experienced rider in the Tour de France. Boogerd will make his twelfth start in the
Tour de France on July 7th. In 1998 he came in fifth; his best final result so far. In 2001, Boogerd also finished in the
Tour de France top ten. Denis Menchov’s best result was his sixth place in the final classification in 2006. Michael
Rasmussen was the number seven of the 2005 edition of the Tour de France.
All together,
the nine riders of the Rabobank Cycling Team combine for the experience of 39 starts in the Tour de France so far.
Thomas
Dekker is the only first time starter in the Tour de France squad of Breukink and Dekker.
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| Thomas Dekker at yesterdays final stage of the Tour de Suisse(picture:Heinz Zwicky, www.radsport.ch) |
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