February
Schleck
Schleck
Kirchen
Challenge Illes Balears (05.02-09.02.06)
Volta ao Algarve (15.02-19.02.06)
News from our riders:
February |
|
|
| ||||||||
|
Challenge Illes Balears (05.02-09.02.06)
Volta ao Algarve (15.02-19.02.06)
|
|
Sunday, February 27, 2006: 60e Gran Premio di Lugano
|
26.02.2006 Lugano - Lugano (174 km)
Kirchen runner-up behind Bettini
results: | |||||||||
|
Paolo Bettini
2nd at 52"
14th at 52"
?
| ||||||||
Paris-Nice is coming closer and Kim Kirchen is approaching his
Links / Pictures:
Saturday, February 26, 2006: VIII Gran Premio Chiasso
26.02.2006 Chiasso - Chiasso (173 km)
best form. After a good performance yesterday in Chiasso, he realized his first podium spot for this season in today's Gran Premio di Lugano, beaten only by Paolo Bettini. The Olympic champion was a league of his own in Lugano and demonstrated this with a powerful attack on the last climb, the Monte Ciona. At that moment, around fifty riders were still together at the front and Kim Kirchen was surrounded by four of his team-mates (Gerdemann, Guerini, Ziegler, Klöden). But Bettini, who had been perfectly protected by his team until then, killed the suspense with an acceleration that immediately brought him 30 seconds of advance. Even after the summit, Il Grillo regularely increased his lead, up to 52" at the finish where he celebrated a fine solo victory. Behind the Italian, a small group of 22 chasers had formed with in it riders like former world champion Igor Astarloa, Davide Rebellin, Chavanel, Montfort or Nibali, but also Frank Schleck and Kim Kirchen. The latter had power enough to win the sprint for second place by a small margin in front of Kuschinsky and Rebellin. Frank Schleck has also been at the head of the battle, because he was chasing alone behind Bettini on the last climb, but has never been able to catch him. The CSC rider crossed the finish line at the back of the first group in 14th spot whereas his brother Andy finished the race, but doesn't appear among the 30 best in the result list. After the race, Kim claimed that he was satisfied with his condition and his second place, but he was angry that he wasn't able to follow Bettini on the Ciona, where the Quick-Step-rider "flew away like a rocket".
Pictures: bettiniphoto.net /
velo101.com /
cyclingnews.com
Impressive victory for Wielinga
results: | |||||||
|
Remmert Wielinga
6th at 30"
12th at 31"
| ||||||
Defending champion Kim Kirchen was surely considered as
Links / Pictures:
February 14 to 19, 2006: Volta ao Algarve
19.02.2006 5. San Antonio - Alto de Malhao (183 km)
one of the favourites in this 8th Gran Premio di Chiasso. And he did a good performance, because was always with the best on the tough course around the Swiss town. But the hero on this cold and rainy day was another one: Remmert Wielinga broke away from the rest of the field after 13 km together with Sylvain Chavanel, and after having dropped the Frenchman on the last lap, the Dutch rider from Quick-Step celebrated an impressive victory, after 160 km in the lead of the race. Behind the break, Crédit Agricole and T-Mobile of Kim Kirchen made most of the work at the end, but they weren't able to close the gap. In the last lap, Davide Rebellin showed that he has already perfect form for the spring classics by leaving all the others behind and taking 2nd place. Just after the Italian, a group of 21 riders fought out the third podium spot, among them Kim Kirchen, but also Andy Schleck, who takes a superb 12th place in this Gran Premio di Chiasso. Frank Schleck hasn't taken the start of the race in very unconfortable weather conditions.
Picture: cylingnews.com
Cabreira wins, Kirchen 5th
results: | |||||||
|
Joao Cabreira
5th at 23"
| ||||||
The Volta ao Algarve 2006 has been decided on its very last climb,
links / pictures:
the Alto de Malhao, where an unknown Portuguese rider was able to celebrate a home victory. About fifty riders presented themselves together on the foot of this climb to battle out the stage and overall victory, after that all the early breaks (Ribeira, Torres, Noval, Guesdon ...) had been caught under the impression of the T-Mobile among others. With Kirchen, Ziegler and Sinkewitz, the magenta squad still had three of the favorites for the win in the first group. But it was home rider Joao Cabreira from the Maia-Milanzena team who surprised everyone with his powerfull attack that quickly gave him 30 seconds of advance. Behind him, the one who best limited the losses was Robert Gesink and the young Dutch talent took second place in the stage. Behind Gesink, there were 12 riders chasing with also Kim Kirchen who took 3rd place in the sprint of this group behind Rebellin and in front of Rubiera. He sat at the back of the small group during the climb but overtook most of the riders near the finish just in time to add a nice 5th stage place and an 11th position overall in his palmares.
Picture: cylingnews.com
18.02.2006 4. Lagoa - Portimao (175 km)
Double score for Steegmans
results: | |||||||
|
Gert Steegmans
46th at 0"
| ||||||
By beating this time the whole peloton in a massive sprint,
links / pictures:
Belgian rider Gert Steegmans from Davitamon-Lotto has scored double with a stage victory and the leader's jersey. The stage has been a perfect copy of the first two: a long break with Portuguese riders Gustavo Rodriguez and Pedro Fernandez that took a big advance (nearly 5 minutes this time), but was caught not far away from the finish line (10km today), after the sprinter teams had opened the chase. The protagonists in the final sprint were also riders that we had already seen in the former stagers: Steegmans, Förster, Ziegler, Zberg in this order. Kim Kirchen has finished in the peloton and had to witness a bad crash for his team-mate Baumann during the final sprint. He keeps all his chances on a good overall result before the decisive mountain stage of tomorrow.
17.02.2006 3. Castro Marim - Faro (198 km)
Steegmans wins animated stage
results: | |||||||||||
|
|
Gert Steegmans
Jeremy Hunt
17th at 0"
| |||||||||
Marco Serpellini has realized a big performance today, by being alone in the lead
links / pictures:
for over 125 km with a maximal advance of 12 minutes. This is impressive because behind him, the race was very animated on a hilly course. With 20 km to go, ont the last climb, the main pack has broken into pieces and only 70 riders were still in front, among them Kim Kirchen and several of his team-mates. This first group has well calculated the gaps because Serpellini was caught with less than 5 km to go and victory had to be decided in a sprint among the leading riders. Belgian Gert Steegmans had the fastest legs in front of Hunt and Zberg who were already second and third in the first stage. Kim Kirchen has well ridden at the front and finishes in 17th position, whereas the big losers of the day are called Eisel and Zanotti, who had to hand over his leader jersey to his team-mate Hunt, as well as Gerdemann and Montgomery who lost more than 10 minutes in today's stage.
16.02.2006 2. Vila do Bispo / Lagos (173 km)
Happy Birthday Mr Eisel
results: | |||||||||||
|
|
Bernhard Eisel
Marco Zanotti
97th at 0"
| |||||||||
Bernhard Eisel has made a bithday present
links / pictures:
to himself. The only rider with Petacchi to have beaten World Champion Tom Boonen this season so far has won the second stage of the Volta ao Algarve a day before his birthday. It was another stage destinated to the sprinters but four brave tried to anticipate by an early break. Lars Boom, second of the U23-World-Cyclo-Cross-Championhips less than a month ago, was one of them, together with Finish National Champ Jussi Veikanen, Belgian Maarten Wynants and Spaniard Angel Castresana. This quator had a maximal advance of 6 minutes and a half, before the sprinter teams took over the chase in the peloton. T-Mobile with Kim Kirchen has also worked at the front for their home-sprinter Bauman and the break had been caught with six kilometers to go. Bernhard Eisel finally had the last word in front of Cardoso and Eeckhout, whereas Kim Kirchen also finished in the peloton.
Lars Boom
Picture: acc contern
14.02.2006 1. Albufeira - Tavira (162 km)
Double victory for Unibet
results: | |||||||
|
Marco Zanotti
66th at 0"
| ||||||
Christophe Mengin and Patrick Sinkewitz, team-mate of Kim Kirchen at T-Mobile, have been the whole
links / pictures:
day at the front and the German rider has brouht the jersey of the best climber into the team. Both of them have attacked after 50 km and made a maximal gap of 8 minutes, before the peloton decided to react. After 10 km, the gap had decreased to 6 minutes and it was still 2 minutes 15 with 20 km to go. Everything seemed possible for the leading duo, but Gerolsteiner then accelerated the pace in the field for their sprinter Markus Zberg and the break has been caught with less than 10 km to go. Marco Zanotti and his team-mate from Unibet Jeremy Hunt have realized a master sprint to take over the first two positions at the finish in front of Zberg. Despite some crashes in the peloton in the last kilometers, Kim Kirchen has finished the stage without serious problems in the pack.
|
February 5 to 9, 2006: Challenge Illes Balears
|
09.02.2006 Magalluf - Palmanova (149 km)
Bernabeu overall winner, Schleck 5th
Results: | |||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
David Kopp
David Bernabeu
34th at 10"
DNF
19th at 7"
| |||||||||||||||||||
For the first time in this Mallorca Challenge, a large break dominated the race for most of the stage.
Links / Pictures:
08.02.2006 Soller - Port de Soller (150 km)
19 riders have got a gap after less than 20 km, among them Kim Kirchen's team-mates Burghardt and Ziegler, but also riders like Pellizotti, Zaballa or Sanchez-Pimienta, best placed overall. On this very tough course with no less than 5 King-of-the-Mountain challenges, they had up to 4 minutes of advantage. But the big battle for the overall victory began behind them with an attack of Colom on the Coll de Claret, with 50 km to go and the chasers closed the gap slowly but surely. In the first group, it was Sanchez-Pimienta, who attacked on the Coll des Tords and chased down the leading Losada, Isasi and Azanza. He was than virtually winner of the overall classification, but on the descent and under the impulse of Phonak, a regroupement of about 80 riders took place in the lead and finally, David Kopp of Gerolsteiner won the stage in a sprint. Kim Kirchen and Frank Schleck also crossed the finish line in this group, Schleck insuring thereby a good 5th place overall, 28 seconds behind final winner Bernabeu. Andy Schleck, who suffered of the consequences of yesterday's crash when he was in the lead with Dekker, didn't finish the race
Andy Schleck attacks, Bettini wins
Results: | |||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Paolo Bettini
David Bernabeu
5th at 25"
63rd. auf 3'22"
DNF
| |||||||||||||||||||
You take the same and then you start again. The same riders, but also the same mountains, because today, Coll de Soller and Coll de Puig Major were once more on the menu, even though from a different side.
Links / Pictures:
07.02.2006 Pollença - Mirador es Colomer (150 km)
Despite the four difficulties, the race began again very fast with 42 km covered in the first hour and 41 km in the second hour. There were many attacks but the peloton was never really splitted until the the second climb of the Sa Batalla, where Andy Schleck attacked. He managed to get away together with Thomas Dekker and on the top, where the Dutch rider passed first, the two men had an advantage of 35" on the next chasers. But under the impression of the Illes Balears and the Communitat Valenciana, they were swallowed up again a few kilometers later on the Puig Major. In the last turns of this climb, Toni Colom placed a counter-attack and crossed the sumnit together with the strongest men of yesterday: Sanchez Pimienta, Bernabeu and Bettini. On the spectacular descent to Soller and its picturesque port, this group lost an element in Sanchez Pimienta, but managed to keep a small advantage on the chasers and in the last straight line, Paolo Bettini had no problems to win the sprint for the stage win. 25 seconds later, Alejandro Valverdo won the sprint of a first bigger group, in which Frank Schleck finished fifth of the stage. Andy Schleck, who has been victim of a crash, finished finally in 63rd position, three and a half minutes down, whereas Kim Kirchen has abandoned today in this series, where the riders are not obliged to participate in each particular race. Of course, only the riders that have finished all the stages are taken into account for the overall classification.
Picture:
t-mobile-team.com
Pictures: acc contern
Schleck brothers show good form
Results: | |||||||||||||||
|
David Bernabeu
6th at 3"
19th at 46"
56th at 3'25"
| ||||||||||||||
Today's stage of the Challenge contained the "classics" of Mallorca, those roads that every cyclist and every tourist on the island has done at least once during his stay like the Coll de Soller, the Coll de Puig Major and the finish up to the beautiful site of Mirador Es Colomer, just above Port de Pollença.
Links / Pictures:
06.02.2006 Cala Millor - Cala Bona (159 km)
After the domination of Illes Balears in the flat stages, most of the people expected to see a great performance on these hilly grounds by home rider Toni Colom or Alejandro Valverde, winner of last year. And as expected, the men in black controlled the peloton most of the time and their leader showed himself several times at the front of the pack. But in the end, the rival spanish team of Communidad Valenciana took the glory with a double victory for the less-known David Bernabeu and Julian Sanchez Pimienta, in front of Paolo Bettini himself. Bernabeu has attacked at the foot of the last climb, with 2 km to go, out of a group of 30 riders and has managed to keep a very small advantage on his team-mate and on the Quick-Step rider who seems to be already clear for the spring classics. Behind these riders, another one showed very good early form: Frank Schleck. Together with his brother, he was in the first group after having made a big impression on the Coll de Soller and was one of the few that could follow Bettini when the latter launched the final assault behind Beranbeu. The CSC rider finished the stage in 6th position, only 3 seconds down and preceeded by David Munoz and Koes Moerenhout. Andy Schleck, as for him, has managed to catch the good train on the two major difficulties of the day and has also done well in the last climb, finishing just behind riders like Valverde or Dekker in 19th position. The Schleck brothers now are 6th respectively 13th in the overall classification with of course very interesting perspectives for the next two hilly days. Kim Kirchen has found himself in a second group on the Coll de Puig Major and he ahs finished the stage in 56th position 3 and a half minutes down together with riders like Pozzato and Pedriguero.
Pictures: t-mobile-team.com
Pictures: acc contern
Isaac Galvez bis repetita
Results: | |||||||||||||||
|
Isaac Galvez
32nd at 0"
81st at 0"
169th at 33"
| ||||||||||||||
With 159 km on the South-East side of the island, today's piece was already more complete than the starter of yesterday,
Links / Pictures:
05.02.2006 Palma - Palma (100 km)
while the main dishes of this Balears menu are still to come in the next days. At the beginning, the speed was high but although there were lots of attacks, the 189 riders stayed together until km 40. Here, Israel Nunez from Kaiku, still him, managed to get away and formed once more a duo in the lead of the race with Adolfo Garcia this time. Together, they took an advantage of over 7 minutes on the peloton, but even before mid-race, the gap started do decrease under the impression of the Illes Balears, so that with about 30 km to go, the adventure of the two riders was over. The end of the tale sounds nearly familiar: despite some attacks like that from Louis Pérez on the last climb, the Illes Balears riders controlled the peloton and led out their sprinter Isaac Galvez to the second victory in a row, in front of Bettini, Chicchi and Elmiger. Both of the Schleck-brothers have finished the race inside the main pack, but Kim Kirchen has lost about half a minute in the last kilometers due to a race incident.
Pictures: acc contern
Massive sprint for the opener
Results: | |||||||||||||||
|
Isaac Galvez
139th at 0"
132nd at 0"
137th at 0"
| ||||||||||||||
With a criterium over 100 km in the haven of Palma de Mallorca
Links / Pictures:
have the three at the ACC Contern licensed professional riders, Kim Kirchen, Frank Schleck and Andy Schleck, launched their road season 2006.
A very important season in their career for Kim and Frank indeed, becauses whereas the first must find himself a place in his new team T-Mobile, the latter will have to confirm his abilities in the Tour de France for the first time in his life this year.
189 riders have taken the start in the capital of the Balears islands shortly before midday, and two of them have been particularly offensive.
Pictures: vueltamallorca.com
t-mobile-team.com
Victor Hernandez and Israel Nunez attacked after 17 km and soon took some advantage over an medium-fast peloton. But after an hour and a half of racing, the advantage got over a minute and Quick-Step and Illes Balears began to lead the chase. Of course, the team-mates of Alejandro Valverde, defending champions and riding at home, wanted to do well in their race. And they did so because after bringing back the two fugitives, the Spaniards conducted the field perfectly to a massive sprint won by Isaac Galvez in front of Martin Elminger and Heinrich Häussler. Kim Kirchen and the Schleck-brothers have ridden the whole stage in the main peloton and the have crossed the finish line nearly side-by-side in the last part of the peloton, waiting for the mountain stages in two days.
Pictures: acc contern
Note: "This site contains links to other Internet pages, on which content and presentation we don't have any influence. These refences are indicated merely for your information and and we can't be made reliable for any of the content of any of the Internet pages our links may take you to."
11th at 33"
