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09.08.2007/ Tour of Germany: Will Jens Voigt defend his title?, Paris-Corrèze: Edvald Boasson Hagen took opening
stage, Slipstream confirmes Backsted, Zingle wins Tour de Namur
Axel Merckx will retire on Monday
Andreas Klöden wins Bitburger City Nacht - morale is down
New: Andrey Kashechkin tested positive for homologue blood transfusion
New: Alberto Contador will speak to the media on Friday
New: T-Mobile to continue sponsoring pro cycling
Tour of Germany: Will Jens Voigt defend his title?
One of Team CSC's greatest victories in 2006 was by Jens Voigt, when he won the Deutschland Tour after no less than three
stage wins - one more spectacular than the other. Now it is time for "Jensie" to defend his title, when this year's
edition of the Deutschland Tour kicks off on Friday.
A while back Jens warned that it would be a lot harder for him to win this one, because the mountains are bigger and tougher
in this year's route. During a chat on the Team CSC Official Fan Club website Voigt explained:
"They've included this gigantic mountain - the toughest climb in the entire ProTour calendar - so unfortunately I've
gotta say that my chances are somewhat limited."
But this was before Voigt showed such great form during Tour de France, where he finished among the top-30 after several
brilliant performances along the way - some of these in the mountain stages. And Voigt is a modest guy so it is not entirely
unthinkable that we will be able to find him among the main contenders for the yellow jersey again.
However Voigt is not the only possible contender in Team CSC's line-up, which is both aimed at a good overall result as
well as a stage win or two. Actually it will be a very all-round group starting on Friday.
Among others Bobby Julich is said to be in great shape and if this is the case both he and Andy Schleck might be able
to mingle in the battle for a podium spot. However Schleck has only just started building up his form ahead of races like
Giro di Lombardia later on in the season.
During Dauphiné Libéré Volodymir Gustov also showed, what a great help he can be to guys like Voigt on the climbs and
this also goes for young Chris Anker Sørensen - a lot of you probably remember his fantastic 14th place on Mont Ventoux in
Dauphiné Libéré. Chris Anker has also emerged from the training camp in July in top form.
And finally Alexandr Kolobnev has done well recently with his fifth place in Tour de la Region Wallonne and Fabian Cancellara
- well, what can you say about this guy - he is capable of anything and you never quite know, what he will come up with.
So it is more or less a given that Team CSC has to be among the favorites in the team time trial, which is the second
stage.
"We have a very strong line-up and we've got high expectations for the team time trial. We're hoping it will give
Jens a good set-off for the rest of the race. And then we'll have to wait and see in fifth stage, when we reach that dreaded
mountain, but Jens has come out of the Tour in fantastic shape and he did well in many of the mountains during the Tour so
maybe he'll be able to make a repeat performance, who knows?" says CSC sports director Kim Andersen.
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| Jens Voigt during the 2nd time trail at this years Tour de France (picture: Heinz Zwicky) |
Paris-Corrèze: Edvald Boasson Hagen took opening stage
Future T-Mobile rider Edvald Boasson Hagen has earned another impressive victory to add to his ever-expanding palmarés. The
20-year-old Norwegian talent arrived solo in Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat to win stage one of Paris-Corrèze on Wednesday.
Boasson Hagen snagged the win after he and his Norwegian Team Maxbo-Bianchi team mates Lars Petter Nordhaug and Gabriel
Rasch worked over the rest of a six-man break. Rasch attacked with 7 kilometres to go to, creating the conditions for Boasson
Hagen to counter and go for gold by himself 4km from the finish.
Gerolsteiner's Oscar Gatto took second place. As there was no bonus awarded, Boasson Hagen's only leads by the 12 seconds
margin he held over Gatto at today's finish. "I don't know if I'll be able to keep this jersey," he said very cautiously
while his directeur sportif Gino van den Oudenhove added, "I'm not sure if we have the team for defending the lead."
Hagen fresh off T-Mobile training camp
Boasson Hagen, who has already won stages in Croatia in February, at the Tour of Normandy in March, at the Tour de Bretagne
in April and on home turf at the Ringerike GP in Norway in June, will now face the might of the many French ProTour squads.
Boasson Hagen recently spent a week at T-Mobile's training camp in Badenweiler, where he was introduced to his future
team mates for the first time. Bob Stapleton: "He fits perfectly to our goal of focusing on young and talented athletes.
We believe that he has the mental and physical qualities to be very successful in cycling, and we can offer him the best possible
environment for his development."
Slipstream confirmes Backsted
As reported David Zbriskie, Christian Vander velde, David Millar, Julian Dean and Magnus backstedt will join Team Slistream
for the 2008 season. After Slipstream confirmed the signing of the first four riders, the team confirmed signing Backsted
as well.
Magnus Backstedt has announced that he is the mysterious Paris-Roubaix winner signed by Jonathan Vaughters' Team Slipstream
for 2008. Vaughters' announced to Australian website cyclingnews.com last week that he had signed an active winner of the
French classic, but refused to name which professional had signed with the squad.
"I feel that it is time for a new start and I am extremely attracted by the programme and values of Team Slipstream/Chipotle,"
said Backstedt, reffering to the squad's ethos of a doping-free environment. "Jonathan Vaughters and myself were team
mates at Credit Agricole, as soon as I spoke with him regarding the possibility of me joining the team, I knew it was the
right decision."
Zingle wins Tour de Namur
Seppe Odeyn (Rock Werchter) has won the fifth and final stage of Tour de Namur yesterday. Odeyn was the strongest of a seven-headed
lead group and beat Jan Bluekens and Jarno Van Guyse.
Maciej Ulanowski (Unibet.com CT) won the sprint for fifth place. Romain Zingle is the overall winner of the 2007 Tour
de Namur.
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