September
Schleck
Schleck
Kirchen
Trofeo Melinda (01.09.05)
Coppa Placci (03.09.05)
News from our riders:
September |
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Trofeo Melinda (01.09.05)
Coppa Placci (03.09.05)
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| September 25, 2005 Kim Kirchen
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Results | 25.09.2005 Madrid - Madrid (13 laps - 273 km) | Links: | |
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| 122nd at 10'43" |
Due to the new UCI-regulations and his good peformance at the Tour of Poland, Kim Kirchen was the only rider representing the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg at the 2005 Worlds in Madrid. As expected, it was difficult for him to race on his own against the dominating cycling countries like Belgium, Spain or Italy, so much more because he didn't have his best day. With three laps to go, Kirchen schowed himself at the front of the pack and seemed to be ready for the final, but when the real racing began one lap later, he was dropped, without power in the legs. Together with his team-mate from Fassa Bortolo, Fabian Cancellara, the Luxemburgish rider finished the race in 122nd position, 10'43" behind Tom Boonen, the new owner of the rainbow-jersey. The Belgian riders have dominated the race, having two men in each serious break with Gilbert, Nuyens, Devolder or Leukemans, and preparing perfectly the sprint for Boonen, the only pure sprinter that had managed to be in a lead group of 25 strongest riders that has formed on the last lap. Besides the tall Belgian, those that have marked this 2005 Worlds are surely Paolo Bettini, Jakob Piil and Alejandro Valverde, who have been several times in a break and were still among the Best at the end. The Spaniard has been rewarded for his performance with a silver medal and the surprising Frenchman Anthony Geslin completed the podium. |
news on www.cyclingnews.com
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September 12-18, 2005
Results
18.09.2005 8: Jelenia Gora - Karpacz (19 km ITT)
Links:
23rd at 1'33" of Thomas Dekker
It's in the pocket. After a very, very close finish, Kim Kirchen writes history by being the first Luxemburgish rider to win a Pro-Tour event. The Tour de Pologne, who hadn't had such a high quotation all the time in its 62 year old past, is now part of this prestigious series, making this victory the most important in Kirchens career. But before that, the rider from ACC Contern had to battle hard because at the first intermediate point after 9 flat kilometers, both Weening and Dekker where faster than him, and Weening, who realized 11'56", gained 3 seconds out of the 11 that separated him from the yellow jersey. But Kirchen knew that the decision would fall in the last, very tough uphill kilometer and had enough power left to keep an adavantage of 5 seconds on the Dutch rider. Thomas Dekker has won the stage with 7 seconds of advantage on Bobby Julich and took the third place overall with that performance. By loosing only 30 respectively 23" to these two great specialists, and by being faster than Di Luca, Boogerd or Bodrogi, Kim Kirchen has surely done one of the best time-trials in his life. In addition to the overall victory, he also wins the points competition in the 62nd Tour de Pologne. Frank Schleck has done a good time-trial too, given the fact that he was surely less motivated than his friend form Fassa Bortolo. He realized a time of 32'27", loosing a minute and a half on Dekker. In the overall classification, Schleck finishes in 27th position nearly 17 minutes down, and he had lost most of this time due to his bad luck on the 6th stage.
report on www.cyclingnews.com
27th at 16'49" of Kim Kirchen
6th at 30" of Thomas Dekker
winner
Results
18.09.2005 7: Jelenia Gora - Karpacz (61 km)
Links:
13th at 22" of Kim Kirchen
By winning the morning stage, Kim Kirchen has taken a double revenge. Revenge on the Rabobank team for the defeat of yesterday, because Weening has lost 9 seconds and Dekker 15, and revenge on Di Luca, who has defeated him on a similar, tough uphill finish at the last Flèche Wallonne and who had to settle with second place for his turn today. It was almost certain that the very short stage (61 km) would be decided in the last uphill, but some riders tried their chance earlier, among them Frank Schleck who attacked twice. First, he was in a break with Bertogliati, Zberg, Hernandez and Navarro then, later on, he tried once again together with Navarro, Brochard, Gustov and Huzarski. But the Liquigas and Rabobank teams were attentive and created a regroupement before the last climb. It was Michael Boogerd qui set the pace on the first part of the climb, but then Rutkiewicz attacked with 500 m to go, followed by Weening and Di Luca. But Kim Kirchen was the strongest and he overtook them one by one to cross the line with 2 seconds of advance on Di Luca. The Luxemburgish rider wins the stage, the yellow jersey of overall leader and the blue points jersey. Before the deciding time-trial in the afternoon, he has now 11" of advance on Weening, 33 on Di Luca and 42 on Dekker, the specialist. In spite of the efforts that he made early in the stage, Frank Schleck was able to be with the best at the end by finishing 22" late on Kim.
report on www.cyclingnews.com
28th at 15'47" of Kim Kirchen
winner
leader
Results
17.09.2005 6: Piechowice - Karpacz (153 km)
Links:
45th at 15'14" of Pieter Weening
Great performance by Kim Kirchen in the queen-stage of the Tour de Pologne. He was undoubtfully the strongest rider today, but the team strategy of Rabobank has cost him the stage victory. Nevertheless, the rider from Fassa Bortolo is now in a comfortable position to focus on the overall victory in the stage race, which will be decided in the double stage of tomorrow. Under terrific weather conditions, Kirchen has marked the 40 last kilometers today, after a break with Bertogliati, Huzarski, Verdugo and Barredo had been caught. In the first act, the Luxemburgish rider followed an attack by Di Luca and managed to take the lead together with the leader of the Pro Tour and young Dutch rider Pieter Weening. Then, after a regroupement in a descent, Kirchen tried himself and except Weening, no one was able to follow his acceleration. Because of Thomas Dekker being among the first chasers, Weening refused to take any turns, but Kirchen managed alone to increase the gap to the next group, led by Di Luca. In the sprint for the stage victory, the fresher Weening had no problems to outsprint Kim, who hadn't chosen the right gear for the steep uphill. Frank Schleck, for his part, has known a very bad day with four flat tyres. In addition, he had to work for Bobby Julich who was named by the team management as the only leader for team CSC on this race. He has finished the stage more than a quarter of an hour behind the winner and will have to forget all his hopes for a good overall classification..
report on www.cyclingnews.com
32nd at 15'24" of Pieter Weening
2nd at 4" of Pieter Weening
2nd at 4" of Pieter Weening
Results
16.09.2005 5: Wroclaw - Szklarska Poreba (212 km)
Links:
17th at 6" of Fabian Wegmann
The first day in the mountains brought already some useful informations: most of the favourites were in a lead group of around 40 riders with Di Luca, Wegmann, Pozzato, Boogerd, Julich, Popovich, Voigt or Dekker, but also yellow jersey Paolini and the two Luxemburgish riders Kim Kirchen and Frank Schleck. The two young and promising Belgian climbers, Johan Van Summeren and Wim Van Huffel, started the first serious break at km 48 and they took over 7 minutes of advantage. But the Liquigas-team around Di Luca raised the speed in the bunch which reduced the gap to the leaders, but also reduced more and more the number of riders in it. Of course, the two men from Davitamon worked perfectly together at the front, but towards the end, Van Huffel had to ease up a little bit and Van Summeren began the last climb alone in the lead. Until 300 m from the finish line where the chasers caught him, led by Michael Boogerd. The Dutchman tried to launch a very long sprint, but was overtaken by Pozzato, Di Luca, Kirchen, Murn and Wegmann who took the flowers. Kirchen finished in a good 5th place at 2 seconds whereas Frank Schleck needed 4 more seconds in 17th position. The big losers of the day are called Evans, Jaksche, Honchar or Bodrogi.
report on www.cyclingnews.com
20th at 24" of Luca Paolini
5th at 2" of Fabian Wegmann
7th at 20" of Luca Paolini
Results
15.09.2005 4: Inowroclaw - Leszno (213 km)
Links:
47th at 0" of Daniele Bennati
Slowly but surely, the peloton of the Tour of Poland moves towards south, where the climbing will begin. So it was only normal that the sprinters wanted to use their last chance for a stage victory and made their teams work hard. No chance for Iker Flores and Marco Sepellini, in the lead since km 9 with a maximal advantage of 13 minutes. But on the long, straight roads, they had a very bad position against teams such as Lampre and Liquigas chasing behind them. Flores first, then Serpellini had to resign at 30 kilometers from the finish. The two teams went on with their high speed in front of the pack, more than 55 km/h and were joined by Quick-Step or Française des Jeux. At the end, Daniele Bennati scored his second win in this race in front of ... Paolini, who else. Kim Kirchen has finished the stage in 24th position, whereas Frank Schleck has crossed the line in the main pack, but not among the 30 first riders.
report on www.cyclingnews.com
38th at 24" of Luca Paolini
24th at 0" of Daniele Bennati
30th at 24" of Luca Paolini
Results
14.09.2005 3: Ostroda - Bydgoszcz (212 km)
Links:
66th at 0" of Jan Kirsipuu
Like foreseen, the third stage has also ended in a bunch sprint, even if there had been many attempts to avoid it. 2 riders have opened the road for a long time: Piotr Chmielevski (Intel) from Poland and the Spaniard Jose Julia (Iles Balears). But Lampre and Quick-Step have led the chase behind them and before entering the finishing circuit, their chances were only very small. Julia has preferred to wait for the peloton at that moment and Chmielevski had to continue alone, but his case was also settled some kilometers later. Jens Voigt has tried his luck on the penultimate lap and got a small advantage, but he was also caught again. The next attacks weren't more successfull and so Discovery Channel launched the massive sprint, but it was Estonian Jan Kirsipuu the fastest in front of Paolini, once again, who keeps his yellow jersey. Kim Kirchen and Frank Schleck have finished in the peloton.
report on www.cyclingnews.com
44th at 18" of Luca Paolini
44th at 0" of Jan Kirsipuu
36th at 16" of Luca Paolini
Results
13.09.2005 2: Tczew - Olsztyn (226 km)
Links:
18th at 0" of Daniele Bennati
The second stage has been held in splendid countryside with wide forests and lakes and has seen a long break from Steve Zampieri of Saunier Duval and Gianluca Bortolami (Lampre). The Swiss climber and the Italian classic chaser have had a maximum advantage of 6'15" before Française des Jeux around yellow jersey Baden Cooke and later on Fassa Bortolo, Discovery Channel, Liquigas or Crédit Agricol have raised the speed in the peloton. The two riders in the break have been caught on the penultimate lap of the local circuit. After that, Quick-Step took over and prepared the sprint for Luca Paolini, but the fast Italian took once more second place, this time behind Daniele Bennati of Lampre. More than a consolation prize should be for him the yellow jersey that he overtook. Frank Schleck and Kim Kirchen have been the whole day in the middle of the bunch, but towards the end on the local circuit, both of them rode near the front of the pack in order to decrease crash danger on the very bad roads. In the overall classification, Kirchen and Schleck are now seperated by only one place.
report on www.cyclingnews.com
32nd at 12" of Luca Paolini
23rd at 0" of Daniele Bennati
33rd at 12" of Luca Paolini
Results
12.09.2005 1: Gdansk - Elblag (150 km)
Links:
65th at 0" of Baden Cooke
The first stages of the Tour of Poland are held in the North of the Country and are relatively flat. Normally, they should smile to the sprinters like the one of today where a regrouped peloton has shown up in the last hectometers, despite several attacks before and on the final circuit, which had to be covered 5 times. A crash in the last, very sharp turn has disturbed the sprint preparations, but with Baden Cooke, it was one of the favourites who crossed the line as winner just in front of another fast man, Luca Paolini. Kim Kirchen and Frank Schleck have also have finished the stage side by side in the main field. The most dangerous break of the day went away at km 63 with Bichot, Huzarski, Brozyna, Bondarev, Bramati, Moreni and Kirsipuu. These riders had a maximum advantage of 3'45" before Quick-Step, Française des Jeux and Lampre chased them down again.
report on www.cyclingnews.com
70th at 0" of Baden Cooke
60th at 10" of Baden Cooke
65th at 10" of Baden Cooke
September 18, 2005
Andy Schleck
Results
18.09.2005: Isbergues (200 km)
Links:
55th at 16" of Nico Eeckhout
In the "boucle des monts" second of the three different circuits to be run, 7 riders managed to get away and to take an advantage of 2 minutes. Several kilometers later, 7 other riders managed to bridge up, so that we had a big break of 14 riders with names like Mc Ewen, Eekhout, Gilbert or Vasseur, but also two men representing team CSC, the young Matti Breschel and Lars Bak, who is actually in very good shape. This way, Andy Schleck had to hide himself in the bunch and see what was happening. The peloton got closer and closer to the break, but without managing to reach them because the leaders still had 16" of advantage at the finish line. Despite McEwen being in this group, Nico Eekhout won the sprint for the victory. Andy Schleck finished the race in the main pack.
16 septembre 2005
Andy Schleck
Results
16.09.2005: Koolskamp (182 km)
Links:
DNF / winner Seguey Lagutin
17 riders broke clear after 60 km in the Championship of Flanders that took place on a circuit around the village of Koolskamp. All the bigger teams were represented and this group took a considerable advantage, so huge that the majority of the riders behind preferred to stop: like 156 other contestants, Andy Schleck did not finish the race. The first group continued at a good speed (43 km/h average) and broke into several parts as the race went on. They were 7 left with 50 km to go and only 3 in the lead 25 km later: Lagutin (Landbouwkrediet), De Smet (Skil) and Bazayev (Capec). 2 km before the end, Serguey Lagutin placed an attack and took over the lead alone. The former U23 world champion won the race with 10 seconds of advantage to the two chasers. Only 31 riders finished the race despite an entirely flat course.
September 14, 2005
Andy Schleck
Results
14.09.2005: Chaudfontaine - Namur (193 km)
Links:
7th at 0" of Nick Nuyens
Belgian rider Nick Nuyens has won the Grand-prix de Wallonie for the second time in a row, whereas Andy Schleck has shown once more a solid performance by finishing in 7th place. Despite the efforts of Lars-Ytting Bak, who was the most offensive rider today, the race was to be battled out on the ultimate climb of the citadelle de Namur. Bak has been part of a group of 18 riders that went off after 30 km of racing, but never had a big advance. This group reduced to 4 riders 100 km from the finish line and then to one with 20 km to go. The Danish Champion insisted alone in fact, and has only been caught with 3 km to go, after 160 km in the lead. Despite the accelerations of Vasseur and Gilbert who were the first to enter the climb of the citadelle, a group of 9 riders came together to the top with a little bit more than 10 seconds advantage on the next chasers and the rider from Quick-Step showed out to be the fastest in this group. Due to the performance of Bak in front of the race, Andy Schleck could hide himself in the bunch and save all his strength for the last climb. He managed to get to the top with the very best, but was beaten in the sprint by Nuyens, Leukemans, Abakoumov, Arvesen, Lagutin and Rinero.
September 1-10, 2005
Andy Schleck
Results
10.09.2005: 10. Blaye-les-Mines (146 km)
Links:
16th at 21" of Sébastien Minard
The Tour de l'Avenir 2005 has finished like it begun: with a stage on a circuit and with Lars-Ytting Bak in yellow. The Dane, who lives in Luxembourg, has taken the overall victory without surprise. In order to achieve this victory, he could count on a devoted team CSC and mainly a superb Andy Schleck, who was surely one of the strongest riders in the race, despite his young age (20 years). And if he hadn't lost too much time in the third stage after a flat tyre and a moment of weakness under tremendous heat, he would surely have made the top ten overall. As for the stage win, the French riders took a second victory in two days after a very bad beginning and the success of Naibo yesterday. Sebastien Minard, the rider of RAGT who is also an excellent cyclo-cross specialist with among ohters a 4th place in the U23 World Championships in Pontchâteau, has won the stage in a sprint in front of Cédric Coutouly, for the second time second in two days and the Spaniard Diaz Armas. The 3 riders were the only left of a break of 8 men that was in the lead since km 20. Andy Schleck finished the stage in the main peloton which counted only 40 riders after yet another tough stage with a lot of climbs.
21st at 6'57" of Lars Bak
Results
09.09.2005: 9. Maurs - Carmaux (154 km)
Links:
21st at 25" of Carl Naibo
Some more climbs today, at the number of 6, as the peloton continues on its way towards Southern France. It was mostly in the first part of the stage that the battle was intense with lots of attacks on the yellow jersey. The peloton splitted into several parts already in the first climb and Andy Schleck and Lars Bak had a lot of work to control the race. But after 4 non-dangerous riders had escaped on a descent, the peloton calmed down a bit. At the front were Naibo, Pauriol, Coutouly and McCartney who was dropped later on. The three French riders fought out the stage victory and Carl Naibo, winner of this year's Tour de l'Ain, was the fastest of them. 25" later, Andy Schleck and Lars Bak finished ths stage in a group of 60 riders that had reformed after the first storm.
22nd at 6'57" of Lars Bak
Results
08.09.2005: 8. Aurillac - Aurillac (159 km)
Links:
15th at 3'26" of Bradley Wiggins
The most difficult stage on paper of this year's Tour de l'Avenir took place today with a trip through the Massif Central starting and finishing in Aurillac after 6 climbs, some of them of the second category. Like yesterday, the decision for the stage victory fell very early with a nice performance of Crédit Agricole. On the first climb, Bradley Wiggins and Saul Raisin stepped up to the front and they would be there all day. Del Nero stayed with them the longest, and after he was dropped, the American and the Australian did a team-time-trial to Aurillac, where they had three and a half minutes of advance to the next chasers. Team CSC had a tough day because several riders thougt that the time was come for a change in the lead today with Croatian Kvasina and Belgian Montfort being the most active riders. In the difficult Col de Pas-de-Peyrol, Lars Bak was in trouble, but once more very well helped by Andy Schleck, he managed to hold on to the best as did Myhre, Bonnaire and Kostyuk. Several riders came back on the long descent to Aurillac, so that the group of the favourites contained around 30 riders at the finish. Conclusion of the day: Lars Bak has done a big step towards the final victory and Andy Schleck has also gained several positions in the overall classification.
22nd at 6'57" of Lars Bak
Results
07.09.2005: 7. Guéret - Mauriac (148 km)
Links:
37th at 1'55" of Alexander Gottfried
7 difficulties of 3rd and 4th category on a spicy menu today with a 9 km climb at the end: it was normal that offensive riders were inspired today. And most inspired of all seemed the team of Française des Jeux because they sent 3 riders to the front on the first climb (Delage, Di Gregorio and Monnerais). Others bridged up to the lead and with 70 km to go, 15 riders were in front with 4 minutes of advantage. No dangerous rider was there so that CSC led the peloton but maintained the gap around 4 minutes. At the last climb, the gap decreased under the impression of Andy Schleck among others. The front group exploded completely and Alexander Gottfried, Sébastien Duret and Alexey Kolessov fought out the stage victory in this order in a sprint. 2 minutes behind, it was status quo among the favorites and Lars Bak, who finished like Andy Schleck in the first part of the peloton, maintained his overall lead.
29th at 6'57" of Lars Bak
Results
06.09.2005: 6. Chauvigny - Guéret (144 km)
Links:
21st at 2'04" of Jesus Del Nero
The Tour de l'Avenir 2005 slowly but surely enters its decisive part with the last hilly stages. The starter was today's côte de Maupuis to be climbed two times in the last 20 km and already, the field was split into pieces after attacks of among others Maxime Monfort. But Andy Schleck and Lars Bak, well present at the front of the peloton, didn't allow the former winner of the Tour de Luxembourg to take too much advantage. Finally, the favourites finished all in a group of 40 riders and there were no big overall changes. The stage win had already been decided two minutes earlier between 5 riders, who were in the lead for the last 76 km. Despite Di Gregorio and Médével trying to avoid it, the 5 finished in a sprint and Jesus Del Nero, who was already in the good break of the first day, showed out to be fastest.
29th at 6'51" of Lars Bak
Results
05.09.2005: 5. Leignes-sur-Fontaine - Montmorillon (22 km ITT)
Links:
36th at 2'01" of Christian Müller
The riders of team CSC have once more demonstrated that they like time-trials with 2 riders among the 5 best. Christian Müller has won the stage with 16" of advantage in front of Bradley Wiggins and Kai Reus. Lars Bak, who has finished 4th at 31" has recaptured the yellow jersey from Bozic, who had done a deceiving performance in 56th position at 2'41" The most dangerous rival of Bak for the final victory seems to be Kai Reus of Rabobank who is now in 2nd position overall, 13" behind the Dane. Andy Schleck has done a good time-trial, finishing 36th 2 minutes down on the winner, despite the fact that he had to start at a moment where the weather conditions were very bad with rain and heavy wind. On a mostly easy course with several uphill false flats at the end, Schleck has ridden with over 47 km/h average speed and he is now in 33rd position overall, nearly 7 minutes behind the leader.
33rd at 6'51" of Lars Bak
Results
04.09.2005: 4. Sassay - Sauvigny (151 km)
Links:
60th at 1'02" of Koen de Kort
Like yesterday, a long break managed to stay clear until the end, but the damages were less impressive. 12 riders have come to the front in several waves after 47 km and their advantage has come to a maximum of nearly 5 minutes with 50 km to go. After several attacks of Danish rider Muller, only 7 remained in front: De Kort, Müller, Danculovic, Martias, Stubbe, Heyboar et Mazet and fought out the stage victory in a sprint. De Kort, Dutch rider at Liberty Seguros and excellent time-trialer, showed that he can also sprint very well by taking the victory. Andy Schleck finished in the main peloton.
28th at 5'26" of Borut Bozic
Results
03.09.2005: 3. Ste-Scolasse-sur-Sarthe - Sassay (203 km)
Links:
33rd at 5'13" of Borut Bozic
No chance for Andy Schleck today who was in the good break, but had a flat tyre at a bad moment in a long stage under burning heat that has done a lot of damage. 23 riders got clear on the small hills of Loir-et-Cher before half of the race and among them Andy Schleck, but also Lars Bak and riders like Montfort, Reus or Scanlon. This group had made a considerable gap when Andy Schleck was victim of a mechanical problem. Having problems with the heat, the Luxemburgish rider didn't manage to come back to the front and had to wait for the first chasers. By finishing with this second group more than 5 minutes behind the leader, Schleck has probably lost all his chances on a good overall classification. CSC has also lost the yellow jersey because Lars Bak has been surprised by a group of 4 riders that attacked with 15 km to go and took a small advantage, among them the fast Borut Bozic, stage winner and new leader of the race.
24th at 5'26" of Borut Bozic
Results
02.09.2005: 2. Argentré-du-Plessis - Ste-Scolasse-sur-Sarthe (173 km)
Links:
77th at 9" of Tyler Farrar
Team CSC, big winner of the opening stage, had to face its responsabilities today after a break of 5 riders (Dalibard, Kolessov, Deignan, Habeaux, Martias) had managed to get a 5 minute advantage. Andy Schleck, who like leader Lars Bak has a protected role in the team didn't have to work, but the 4 other riders reduced the gap between the peloton and the break. Rabobank took over at the end to lead the field to a bunch sprint won by a new rising star from the United States, Tyler Farrar. Unfortunately, Andy Schleck was stopped by a crash in front of him with less than 2 km to go and lost several seconds and a top-ten position overall.
11st at 21" of Lars Bak
Results
01.09.2005: 1. Argentré-du-Plessis (141 km)
Links:
5th at 2" of Lars Bak
Nice collective performance by team CSC on stage 1 of the Tour de l'Avenir, to which Andy Schleck also contributed a lot and which was rewarded by the stage win, the yellow jersey and the green jersey for Lars-Ytting Bak. On this stage ridden on a circuit, the riders of Directeur sportif Scott Sunderland were present on the first break with Müller and Breschel, a break that has lasted for a long while, until 50 km from the end. It was still Breschel who tried once more to escape in a group of 4. When this group was caught, it was the turn for Andy Schleck to attack. He managed to get a gap together with his team-mate Bak and Duret (Jean Floc'h), Kostyuk (Jartazi) and Del Nero (Orbea). Despite only a small advantage, these riders have reached the finish together. In the last kilometers, Andy Schleck attacked several times in order to put the pressure on his rivals while Bak was preparing his sprint.
5th at 12" of Lars Bak
September 4, 2005
Frank Schleck
Results
04.09.2005 San Francisco Grand-prix
Links:
42nd at 8'57" of Fabian Wegmann
Every year, the impressive San Francisco Grand-Prix attracts nearly 500.000 spectator into the heart of the Californian city, where the course with the short, but incredibly steep Filmore and Taylor Streets is perfect for the show. This time, Frank Schleck took part in the adventure and he finished the race in the main peloton. Although the Luxemburgish rider had very good legs, him as well as the big stars and favourites (Hincapie, Leipheimer, Basso, ...) couldn't really take part in the action because a group where every big team was represented took the lead early on and the race was to be decided between the riders in this group. Fabain Wegmann of Gerolsteiner dominated the American riders on their home soil by catching the leading Lieswyn and Mc Cartney in the last lap and holding them off in the sprint for the 15.000 dollar cheque.
report on www.cyclingnews.com
September 4, 2005
Kim Kirchen
Results
04.09.2005 Giro di Romagna (196 km)
Links:
45th at 0" of Danilo Napolitano
The course of the Giro di Romagna is less difficult than those of Trofeo Melinda or Coppa Placci with one sole climb to do with 50 km to go and it isn't quite surprising that the victory had been battled out in a massive sprint. 122 riders have presented themselves together at the entrance of the small town of Lugo but the twisty turns in the last kilometers have divided this peloton into two groups. Danilo Napolitano has won the sprint by beating his countyman Daniele Bennati despite a small mechanical problem. Kim Kirchen finished the race in the first part of the peloton.
September 3, 2005
Kim Kirchen
Results
03.09.2005 Coppa Placci (198 km)
Links:
2nd at 0" of Paolo Valotti
Throwing his bike on the line and grimacing from the effort, Kim Kirchen has been very close to another victory for 2005 in the Coppa Placci. He has only been beaten by Paolo Valotti who has signed a splendid victory in a race that sent him to hospital for 150 stitches and 3 months of competition stop just one year ago. On a selective course between San Marino and Imola with 8 climbs, Swiss rider Beuchat has been for a long time in the lead. After the general regroupement, 27 riders went clear on the last climb, the Colle dell'Osservatorio with 19 km to go. In this group were some of the favourites like Cunego, Mazzanti or Visconti and also Kim Kirchen who tried to anticipate the sprint by attacking with less than 500 m to go. But Valotti who was thirsty for revenge come back into his wheel, cleverly waited for a moment and then passed him just before the line.
September 1, 2005
Kim Kirchen
Results
01.09.2005 Trofeo Melinda (227 km)
Links:
DNF
Like 94 other riders, Kim Kirchen has not finished the Trofeo Melinda, ridden on 194 very tough kilometers with over 2500 m of difference in altitude between the two towns of Male' and Fondo in the Italian Alps. Damiano Cunego showed out to be the best today by beating Stefano Garzelli in a sprint. Third at 2" behind was Luca Mazzanti, team-mate of Cunego at Lampre. These riders, like also the very offensive riding Fabian Jeker and Giovanni Visconti were part of a 9-men break, that broke completely apart on the last climb to the finish. All the other of the 32 finishing riders came in one by one 2 minutes or more behind the winner.
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Frank Schleck
Kim Kirchen
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Grand-prix d'Isbergues
Kampioenschap van Vlannderen
Grand-prix de Wallonie
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Tour de l'Avenir
Lars Bak and Andy Schleck at the Gala Tour de France 2005
Picture: cyclingnews.com
Pictures: cyclingnews.com
Lars Bak at the Gala Tour de France 2005
Picture: abbiorca.com
Picture: cyclingnews.com
Giro di Romagna
Coppa Placci
Trofeo Melinda
