October
Schleck
Schleck
Kirchen
Züri Metzgete (02.10.05)
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Züri Metzgete (02.10.05)
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Carlo Hastert's comments on the road-season 2005 (in French)
October 16, 2005
Results
16.10.2005 Profronde Dwars deur Grolle
Links:
Andy and Frank Schleck have participated in the farewell-race of their team-mate and future sports director Tristan Hoffmann in Groenlo (Netherlands). After his recent performances, Frank was one of the main attractions of the event and he finished the criterium on the podium. some pictures here
October 15, 2005
Results
15.10.2005 Mendrisio - Como (248 km)
Links:
3rd at 0" of Paolo Bettini
At the Giro the Lombardia, where for the second time this year after the National Championships, all three at ACC Contern licensed riders had lined up, a royal break had formed with nearly 60 km to go: the strong men of the very end of the season were there. Gianpaolo Caruso, Carlos Sastre, Gilberto Simoni and ... Frank Schleck were the only ones able to follow the accelerations of Paolo Bettini. The other favourites were a little bit less strong and the Valverde, Rebellin, Cunego, Mazzanti, Sella or Mancebo were in the first chasing group. Under the impulse of mainly Schleck and Bettini, the five leaders took a good advantage on the Ghisallo and worked also well together after the summit, so that the gap to the chasers exceeded one minute with around 30 km to go. At this moment, there were still two climbs to be done and on the next one, the Civiglio, Bettini attacked again. Simoni followed with ease, but Sastre was dropped and Schleck and Caruso also seemed in difficulties, but the Luxemburgish Champion made it again to the front just after the summit, and Caruso also came back on the descent. On the very last climb, the San Fermo di Battaglia, there was another festival of attacks and Frank Schleck also tried his chance. After his acceleration, Simoni was dropped but the two-times Giro winner soon came back and countered immediately, imitated by Bettini and they put the pressure on the CSC-rider. But finally, the three riders remained together ont the ascent and Caruso came once again back on the downhill, so that the victory was to be decided in a sprint of four. But in that game, Bettini let no chances to his opponents by attacking strongly with 300 m to go and winning in front of Simoni and an exhausted Schleck. Frank's brother Andy also performed very well by finishing his first "monument" in professional cycling in the main group of around 40 riders, whereas Kim Kirchen did not finish his very last race in the Fassa Bortolo jersey.
report on www.cyclingnews.com
64rd at 8'53"
DNF
October 13, 2005
Results
13.10.2005 Asti - Alba (176 km)
Links:
DNF, winner Murillo Fischer
Murillo Fischer seems to be in the shape of his life, because after a very good World Championship and victories in the Memorial Cimurri and the GP Beghelli just 4 days ago, he has won today's Giro del Piemonte in front of two other men with fast legs, Dutchman Steven de Jongh and Italian Paride Grillo. These three contestants were in the first part of the peloton, 35 men that took several seconds of advantage to the other 93 finishing riders in the streets of Alba. In the more selective part through the wineyards of Piemont, a break with spanish dominance had animated the race. Sastre, Sevilla, Gutierrez, Valverde and some other riders had taken two and a half minutes of advance, but on the long descent from the Monforte d'Alba to the finish, Fassa Bortolo and the Naturino-Sapore di Mare boys from Murillo Fischer led a successfull chase: the latter thanked his team-mates by winning the sprint for the victory. The two Schleck-brothers have abandoned the race, they surely wanted to save their energy for their big goal of the season's end, the Giro della Lombardia.
October 9, 2005
results
09.10.2005 Paris - Tours (253 km)
links:
139th at 6'10" of Erik Zabel
Erik Zabel hasn't won as often as usual this year, but after the Henninger-turm race at home im May, he takes home a second superb win today by winning the "classic of the sprinters" for the third time in his career. But if he has ridden the final bunch sprint in a convincing manner, even without team-mates, by passing new sprintstar Daniele Bennati just in the right moment, one must also admit that he has had a lot of luck for this sprint to take place. Because with one kilometer to go, the probable winner of the race was named Philippe Gilbert, who was in the lead with another Belgian rider, Stijn Devolder and they had nearly a minute of advance when they reached the never-ending last straight line in the avenue de Grammont. Gilbert has been very impressive on the last few climbs before Tours and there was no doubt he was going to beat Devolder in a two-men sprint. But the latter knew that he had no chance and therefore refused to take turns anymore. The time for the two Belgians to argue and the peloton was behind them, swallowing them up with less than 200 meters to go. Kim Kirchen has lost contact to the lead group of approximatively 100 riders in the last kilometers and has finished the race more than 6 minutes behind the winner in a small group with among others Monfort, Hoste and Jalabert.
report on www.cyclingnews.com
October 9, 2005
results
09.10.2005 Milano - Vignola (200 km)
links:
15th at 0" of Murillo Fischer
The two Schleck brothers were once again on top of the list at the former Milano-Vignola, called GP Beghelli now. Andy has been in a lead group during 60 kilometers, whereas Frank has finished with the very best in Monteveglio and in the same time than the winner. By reacting to an attack of Belohvosciks shortly before the 90 km mark, Andy Schleck has managed to get into a group of 14 riders, led by the fast Danilo Napolitano. This groupe took a maximum advantage of more than 2 minutes and a half, before the Quick-Step team reacted behind and raised the speed in the main peloton. They were working of course for Paolo Bettini and the latter attacked in the last lap, exploding litteraly the field on a selective, but less difficult course than the day before. But despite a series of impressive attacks, the Olympic champion was caught again by a group of 26 riders just before the finish, still having enough strengh left to finish second in the final sprint, beaten only by the fast Brazilian Murillo Fischer, 5th at the Mundial in Madrid. Frank Schleck has finished in 15th position in the lead group, whereas Andy has abandoned after his break had been caught again at km 150.
report on www.cyclingnews.com
DNF
October 8, 2005
results
08.10.2005 Giro dell'Emilia (200 km)
links:
2nd at 6" of Gilberto Simoni
Frank Schleck doesn't normally like rain, fog and cold wind, but under these conditions, similar to Zurich, he has realized once more an outstanding performance, taking second place at the Giro dell'Emilia. He was preceeded again by an Italian superstar, this time two-times Giro-winner Gilberto Simoni, who won the race six seconds ahead of the Luxemburgish champ. Both of them have been part of a break of 16 riders that included among others Rebellin, Sastre, Mercado, Cunego or Celestino and that had established itself comfortably in the lead on the tough final circuit. Schleck attacked on the penultimate lap and only Simoni was capable of following him, with Mirko Celestino joining them a little later. But an acceleration of the Lampre-rider on the steepest part of the last climb (18 %) was very impressive and he could gain an advantage of just 50 m which he kept all the way up until the conclusion. Only 29 riders have seen the finish line under those terrible weather conditions and Andy Schleck has abandoned the race after having been in front for a long while and being completely exhausted after having helped his brother to bridge up to the front group.
report on www.cyclingnews.com
DNF
October 2, 2005
Results
02.10.2005 Zurich championships (242 km)
Links:
2nd at 2'57" of Paolo Bettini
A great, great performance by Paolo Bettini in the Zurich championships, but also from Frank Schleck. The Olympic champion has dominated the race, winning with nearly 3 minutes of advance, whereas the Luxemburish champion has ridden perfectly in the last 20 kilometers, passing one by one the riders before him to finish in second place, and show on the same occasion, that he should also have had the right to start at the World Championships in Madrid. After the attacks and breaks of the beginning, a serious group of 11 riders broke clear with 100 km to go, after an attack of Rik Verbrugghe. Later Paolo Bettini bridged up to this group with his mate Paolini, thus increasing the number of Quick-Step riders in the front group to five. On the penultimate climb of the Pfannenstiel, it was obvious that Bettini was clearly the strongest, and the little Italian flew away to a great victory. The fight for second place was undecided until the end. For a while, Lorenzo Bernucci, team-mate of Kim Kirchen at Fassa Bortolo and strongest rider of the break of 11, seemed to be able to make it, but then Frank Schleck attacked on the Pfannenstiel out of the group of favourites around Di Luca and Cunego, passed all the riders in between and caught the Italian with 20 km to go. Despite the riders chasing behind, the two held their small gap until the finish, where Bernucci hadn't any power left to sprint for second place. Danilo Di Luca took 4th place seconds later and by doing that, he secured the overall victory in the UCI Pro-Tour. Under terrible weather conditions with rain, wind and temperatures below 10 degrees, Kim Kirchen wasn't able to keep up with the best and abandoned the race.
report on www.cyclingnews.com
DNF
September 29 to October 2, 2005
Andy Schleck
Results
02.10.2005: 4. Mons - Tournai (155 km)
Links:
27th at 0" of Marco Zanotti
Like forseen and despite 4 climbs up to the Mont St.Aubert in the north of Tournai, the stage was decided in a bunch sprint and so was the overall classification, because all GC contestants, including Andy Schleck, were present in a lead group of 50 riders. By winning the stage, Marco Zanotti, 31 years and performing well in small stage races, also took the overall victory in front of Casper and Hinault, the two Frenchmen. In a race where Team CSC rode mostly for Matti Breschel after his good perfomances in the first stage, Andy Schleck never had any big opportunity, but he should be happy with his overall performances.
42nd at 20" of Marco Zanotti
Results
01.10.2005: 3. Maubeuge - Quiévrain (211 km)
Links:
56th at 2" of Frank Hoj
The longest stage of the Circuit Franco-Belge, 211 km between Maubeuge and Quiévrain, was also the toughest one because of strong crosswinds that splitted the peloton into several parts around mid-race. Despite his lack of experience in this kind of race-situation, Andy Schleck has managed to be in the front group, on the contrary of some older riders like race leader Nico Eeckhout who has been trapped behind. After a very hard poursuit over several kilometers, the second group abandoned the chase and finally lost 25 minutes to the leaders. Frank Hoj broke clear at the front with 20 km to go, together with Vilcinskas and Auger and the first two managed to hold a tiny gap until the finish line, where the rider from Gerolsteiner took the victory. The winner from the day before, Sébastien Hinault, took the leader's jersey.
59th at 20" of Sébastien Hinault
Results
30.09.2005: 2. Leffrinckoucke - Poperinge (167 km)
Links:
82nd at 6" of Sébastien Hinault
A similar course like the day before with 5 typical Flemish climbs to spice up a little bit. But the racing wasn't as animated as yesterday, maybe because of the rain and the slippery roads. Cédric Coutouly has opened the road for a long while, together with Cédric Vaugrenard. Later, it was Frank Vandenbroucke who tried to break away, but the team-mates of leader Eeckhout did their job and chased down every attempt ... until Sébastien Hinault attacked under the flamme rouge and managed to maintain a small advantage on a group led by Kirsipuu over the line. In a dangerous final, the peloton was split into three pieces, with Andy Schleck being in the second part of it. He has lost only 4 seconds to the favourites, but another group of 30 riders has lost nearly 2 minutes.
83rd at 18" of Nico Eeckhout
Results
29.09.2005: 1. Comines - Estaimpuis (163 km)
Links:
82nd at 0" of Nico Eeckhout
150 riders have taken the start to a first stage of the Circuit Franco-Belge that wasn't this easy. As the name says it, the race is held alongside the French-Belgian border and some of the unavoidable climbs of the region, like the Kluisberg or the Kvaremont, were on the menu today. But these obstacles were relatively far from the finish and despite the high speed, a regroupement took place only a few kilometers from the finish. The stage was decided in a bunch sprint and the in-form Nico Eeckhout, winner of the recent GP d'Isbergues and Omloop Vlaamse Scheldeborders, was yet again the fastest in front of Zanotti and Casper. Andy Schleck shouldn't have had too much work today because his team-mate Matti Breschel was at the front all day with Coyot and Delage, and behind this break, mainly Rabobank, Mr. Bookmaker and Chocolat Jacques set the tempo. Schleck finished in the main field at the same time than the winner.
82nd at 10" of Nico Eeckhout
Frank Schleck
Andy Schleck
Frank Schleck
Andy Schleck
Kim Kirchen
Pictures: cyclingnews.com
Pictures: cyclingnews.com
Frank Schleck
Andy Schleck
Kim Kirchen
Philippe Gilbert
Frank Schleck
Andy Schleck
Photo: cyclingnews.com
Frank Schleck
Andy Schleck
Photo: gsemilia.it
Photos: cyclingnews.com
Frank Schleck
Kim Kirchen
Pictures: radsport.ch
Circuit Franco-Belge
Frank Hoj at the Gala Tour de France 2005
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