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29.08 to 03.09.2006: 3rd Tour of Britain
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03.09.2006 6. London - London (82 km)
Finally Tom Boonen
results:
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Tom Boonen
Martin Pedersen
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29th at 0"
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8th at 3'14"
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winner
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Une dernière étape de toute beauté pour le peloton du Tour of Britain avec une excursion en plein coeur de Londres qui visite quelques-uns des endroits célèbres de la capitale et se termine à l'ombre de Buckingham Palace. Une façon de rehausser le prestige de la course, mais aussi une répétition générale pour le départ de la Grande Boucle 2007 à Londres. Tom Boonen ne manque pas la répétition générale et s'impose au sprint, après avoir été relativement discret tout au long de l'épreuve jusque-là. L'étape est courte et le sprint est inévitable, tellement les équipes contrôlent la course et étouffent les quelques tentatives d'échapée par Iljo Keisse, Kristian House, Maarten Tjallingi et Francesco Chicchi ou encore un peu plus tard Rob Sharman, James Meadley et Casper Jorgensen. Dans la dernière ligne droite, Boonen ne se fait pas surprendre et signe la troisième victoire d'étape pour la Quick-Step en battant dans l'ordre Roger Hammond et Mark Cavendish. Andy Schleck termine le dernier tronçon dans le peloton en 29ème position, tout heureux d'éviter quelques chutes sur le circuit urbain, et peut se réjouir d'un Tour de Grande-Bretagne réussi: victoire finale pour son coéquipier Martin Pedersen, 8ème position dans le classement final et le titre de meilleur grimpeur pour lui-même. La fête continue dans la famille Schleck.
02.09.2006 5. Rochester - Canterbury (153 km)
Chicchi lancé royalement
results:
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Francesco Chicchi
Martin Pedersen
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35th at 17"
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8th at 3'14"
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premier
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Une nouvelle étape relativement facile et qui, malgré quatre petites côtes répertoriées voit une arrivée au sprint massif. En fait, les coureurs ne font pas la course jusqu'à quelques kilomètres de l'arrivée, protestant contre certains manquements du point de vue de la sécurité, comme par exemple des rond-points non-signalisés. Ce n'est qu'à deux kilomètres de l'arrivée que la course s'emballe et les sprinters sont devants avec l'inévitable équipe de la Quick-Step. L'ancien champion du monde espoirs Francesco Chicchi, auparavant équipier de Kim Kirchen chez Fassa Bortolo, est déposé parfaitement à 200 mètres de la ligne par une garde royale composée de Boonen, Pozzato et Nuyens, rien que ça, et termine le travail en beauté avec une victoire d'étape devant le jeune et prometteur stagière de la T-Mobile Cavendish et Vierhouten. Dans ces deux derniers kilomètres un peu fous, Andy Schleck perd une poignée de secondes sur les meilleurs et rétrogade donc d'une position au overall classification. En revanche, malgré le pacte de non-agression, il est autorisé à franchir en tête la plupart des côtes du parcours, et s'assure donc prématurément de la victoire finale dans le mountain classification.
01.09.2006 4. Wolverhampton - Birmingham (130 km)
Willems s'impose dans le chaos
results:
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Frederik Willems
Martin Pedersen
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39th at 5'22"
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7th at 3'02"
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premier
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Une étape courte et plate qui se doit de finir en sprint massif. Mais les sprinters et leurs équipes se font surprendre par une échapée de 8 coureurs qui se dégage peu après le début d'étape et termine son aventure avec plus de 5 minutes d'avance sur le peloton. Andy Schleck est parmi les premiers à attaquer avec 7 autres coureurs, mais le peloton ne leur laisse pas de liberté. Vient alors l'heure de Thomas, Cavendish, Partridge, Manning, Willems, Van Summeren, Jennings et Garate qui obtiennent rapidement 2 minutes d'avance. L'écart se stabilise mais sur la fin d'étape, le peloton, désintéressé, laisse filer les 8 hommes et la victoire d'étape. Dans le final, Van Summeren est le premier de l'échappée à attaquer, mais le groupe se reforme avant de se disloquer à nouveau dans les derniers kilomètres chaotiques avec des rond-points non-signalés. Finalement, c'est le Belge de l'équipe Chocolat Jacques, Frederik Willems, qui trouve le chemin le plus court jusqu'à l'arrivée et s'impose devant Cavendish et Manning. Andy Schleck termine en 39ème position dans le peloton réglé par Francesco Chicchi 5'22" derrière Willems et conserve ainsi sa 7ème place au overall classification.
31.08.2006 3. Bradford - Scheffield (180 km)
Pozzato gagne, Andy Schleck devant
results:
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Filippo Pozzato
Martin Pedersen
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6th at 39"
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7th at 3'02"
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premier
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C'est une étape très animée avec une équipe CSC offensive qui essaye de pièger le leader Matthew Goss dans le vent et cela leur réussit puisque Martin Pedersen récupère le maillot de leader de l'épreuve, tandis qu'Andy Schleck fait son apparition dans le Top 10 au overall classification et s'octroye le maillot de meilleur grimpeur. Dans la première côte déjà, le Luxembourgeois imprime un rythme impressionnant qui met plusieurs coureurs en difficulté. Mais c'est sur la partie plate en milieu d'étape que CSC frappe le grand coup en divisant le peloton en trois parties dans les bordures. 11 coureurs sont alors en tête, puis après une petit regroupement juste avant les côtes de la fin d'étape, une trentaine d'hommes se retrouvent à l'avant, parmi eux 6 coureurs de CSC. Andy Schleck franchit la côte de Broomhead en tête et celle de Strines Moore en troisième position et s'assure ainsi du maillot du meilleur grimpeur. Sur la fin d'étape, Filippo Pozzato sort un beau numéro en sortant du groupe de tête à 15 km de l'arrivée pour finir l'étape en solitaire. Derrière, cela explose à nouveau dans les dernières côtes, mais Schleck et Pedersen sont devant. Le Danois récupère le maillot de leader, tandis que son jeune coéquipier luxembourgeois termine à la 6ème position, 7 secondes derrière le premier groupe de poursuivants.
30.08.2006 2. Blackpool - Liverpool (163 km)
Hammond et Goss à la fête
results:
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Roger Hammond
Matthew Goss
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35th at 0"
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45th at 2'54"
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C'est un tandem de Davitamon-Lotto qui anime la deuxième étape avec Bert Roesems et Johan Van Summeren. Deux forts beaux rouleurs qui partent après 5 km déjà et prennent un avantage considérable de 5 minutes sur le peloton durant le première partie de l'étape très accidentée. Derrière le duo, c'est surtout l'équipe CSC qui régule le retard pour le leader Martin Pedersen. Andy Schleck fait également sa part de travail, surtout dans les trois côtes du jour qu'il passe toujours parmi les deux premiers du peloton, engrangeant au passage également des points pour le mountain classification dans lequel il est sixième ce soir. Les deux coureurs de tête sont rattrapés peu avant le dernier sprint intermédiaire au km 150 et le rapide Mathew Goss en profite pour le gagner et rajouter trois secondes de bonification aux deux qu'il avait déjà glané plus tôt dans l'étape et de ce fait reprendre le maillot jaune des épaules de Pedersen. Le sprint final pour la victoire d'étape est remporté par Roger Hammond devant Vierhouten et Downing alors que Tom Boonen ne finit pas dans le Top 10. Andy Schleck termine 35ème au beau milieu du peloton après une journée chargée de labeur pour son équipe.
29.08.2006 1. Glasgow - Castle Douglas (162 km)
Victoire pour CSC avec Martin Pedersen
results:
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Martin
Pedersen
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58th at 2'36"
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58th at 2'51"
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Le Tour de Grande-Bretagne démarre de fort belle manière pour l'équipe CSC avec la victoire du jeune et très prometteur Martin Pedersen, 23 ans tout juste et winner de Liège-Bastogne-Liège chez les espoirs l'année dernière. C'est dire qu'il grimpe bien le Danois et il sait mettre les côtes du début de parcours à profit pour se détacher avec 2 autres coureurs, Matthew Goss l'Australien et Luis Pasamontes l'Espagnol. Mais sur la rude terre écossaise, il y a une autre difficulté pour les coureurs: le vent. Il complique bien entendu la tâche des échappés, mais également dans le peloton où personne ne veut se sacrifier pour entamer la poursuite, si bien que l'avance du trio de tête atteint les 11 minutes après 60 kilomètres. Une contre-attaque initié par Barloworld réveille le peloton, mais la chasse ne s'organise toujours pas de manière efficace et les trois hommes à l'avant arrivent à rallier l'arrivée avec toujours deux minutes et demie d'avance. Martin Pedersen réussit la prouesse de battre le rapide Goss dans un sprint en légère montée et il peut se revêtir du maillot jaune de leader. Andy Schleck termine la journée en 58ème position dans le peloton réglé par Francesco Chicchi.
Translation will follow later
27.08.2006 Plouay - Plouay (226 km)
Nibali lucky, Schleck unlucky
results:
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Vincenzo Nibali
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83th at 1'20"
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74th at 30"
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DNF
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Whereas Kim Kirchen merely participates in this Grand-prix Ouest-France of Plouay as team-support for Wesemann, Rogers or Ivanov, the Schleck brothers have more liberties at CSC together with Jakob Piil. And those three riders are in very good position in the penultimate lap, being part of a chasing group behind a break that is about to be caught and formed by Di Gregorio, Sprick, Le Mével and Vila. But whereas the race enters its deciding moment, Frank Schleck is involved in a crash. He isn't injured and even finishes the race in 83rd position, but looses all chances for victory and of collecting any important Pro-Tour points. The race is finally decided shortly before the last climb or Ty Marec, where 4 riders break away after an acceleration of Vladimir Popovych. The Ukrainian takes with him Vincenzo Nibali, Manuele Mori and Juan-Antonio Flecha and the three of them take 30 seconds of advantage on the other riders. They manage to hold on to this gap until the finish line where Nibali proves fastest. Andy Schleck is in contact with the Best during the whole race and finishes 74th in the first chasing group, 30 seconds down on the winner. Kim Kirchen doesn't finish the race after working for his team at the request of his sports director Valerio Piva.
24.08.2006 Carnago - Carnago (180 km)
10th place for Andy Schleck
results:
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Felix Cardenas
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DNF
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10th at 1'28"
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Together with his team-mate Jakob Piil, Andy Schleck attacks during the difficult Gran-premio Industria & Artigianato and their tactics seem to succeed, because the two CSC riders are in the leading group of 15 riders. There are also riders like Cardenas, Sioutsou or Efimkin in this break that dominates the race. Throughout the laps, the group explodes at the front and whereas Piil stays up front, Andy has to let 9 other riders have a go. At the end, he wins the sprint of his group and thus takes 10th position. The victory is decided between Jakob Piil and Felix Cardenas who manage to get rid of all the other opponents shortly before the finish. Surprisingly, the Columbian rider of 34 years is faster or smarter than the in-form Piil and takes the victory. The group of Andy Schleck finishes one and a half minute down. Frank Schleck, who never really races for the victory, doesn't appear among the 20 riders noted at the finish.
23.08.2006 Arona - Arona (180 km)
Paolo Longo Borghini makes himslef known better
results:
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Paolo Longo Borghini
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13th at 5"
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DNF
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Stefano Garzelli and Frank Schleck are the most named favourits of the 9th Grand-prix Nobili Rubinetterie ridden on a hilly course around Arona. And the older of the Schleck brothers isn't far away from the winner at the finish, crossing the line only 5 seconds late at the 13th position. He is part of a leading group of 20 riders the establishes itself at the front of the race throughout the 11 laps to be covered, with also riders like Pellizotti, Sioutsou or Cardenas in it. But four guys manage to get away from this group and they arrive at the finish with a very tiny margin: Paolo Longo Borghini, Luis Laverde, Ruslan Pidgornyy and Kanstantin Sioutsou fight out the victory in a sprint and cross the finish line in that order. Frank Schleck is in the first chasing group, whereas Andy Schleck isn't noted among the 34 riders finishing the race.
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August 16 to 23, 2006: 2nd Eneco-Tour
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23.08.2006 7. Ans - Ans (201 km)
Schumacher wins after jury decision
results:
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Philippe Gilbert
Stefan Schumacher
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20th at 2"
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30th at 2'27"
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The Eneco-Tour 2006 finishes in very bad manner because in the final sprint, when George Hincapie thinks already to have won the race, he is touched by his rival Stefan Schumacher who wants to avoid a spectator. Hincapie goes to the ground and has to watch the German taking four bonus seconds in the last sprint and thereby taking the overall victory, that will be accorded to him only later after jury decision. It is a pity that this stages, raced on parts of the course of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, ends like that because it is very animated from the beginning. Mario Aerts, who attacked already yesterday, is one of the first riders to accelerate and he manages to break away together with Rooijakkers, De Groot, Bonnet, Olsen, Cathoeven and Thijs. Those seven riders take more than six minutes of advantage, but they are caught again shortly before the côte de la Redoute. The mose feared climb of the "Doyenne" doesn't make any decision, nor the climbs of Sart-Tilman and Saint-Nicolas, with George Hincapie controlling the race perfectly and following his rivals. Axel Merckx is the most agressive rider in the peloton and he breaks away several times with other riders, but Popovych and Ekimov chase down every move. 40 riders are still together at the foot of the last ascent to Ans, among them Kim Kirchen, and there are numerous attacks. With 4 km to go, Philippe Gilbert places a very convincing acceleration and the Belgian rider from Française des Jeux manages to hold on his small advantage until the finish line, to win the stage in front of Mori and Schumacher, who will be declared overall winner. For Kim Kirchen, the last stage is just like the rest of the tour: he is with the best, but isn't really able to play his card. The Luxemburgish champion finishes 20th of the stage and 30th overall, 2'27" late on the winner.
22.08.2006 6. Bornem - Saint-Trond (214 km)
David Kopp creates the surprise
results:
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David Kopp
George Hincapie
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100th at 0"
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48th at 2'26"
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Despite several climbs, despite the Mur de Huy also, stage number 6 of the Eneco-Tour is decided in a bunch sprint. After half an hour of very fast racing, the peloton calms down a little bit and four riders manage to break away: Aerts, Rast, Aranage and the young Langeveld. They take a little bit more than five minutes of advantage on the Discovery led peloton, that crosses the Mur de Huy without splitting. Numerous crashes eliminate several riders in the pack during the day. The gap of the four leader decreases and they are caught only two kilometers from the finish line. The final kilometers are judged too dangerous by Tom Boonen who doesn't sprint for the victory, leaving their chance to other riders. David Kopp smells his chance and creates a surprise by beating Zanotti and Gilbert on the line. Kim Kirchen hides himself in the middle of the pack and finishes in the same time than the winner. Before the deciding stage of tomorrow, George Hincapie still has three seconds of advance on Schumacher in the overall classification, where Kim Kirchen lies in 48th postion at 2'26"
21.08.2006 5. Hasselt - Balen (183 km)
Tom Boonen for the third time
results:
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Tom Boonen
George Hincapie
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70th at 0"
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52nd at 2'26"
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The peloton comes back to Belgium and finishes this time in Balen, the home town of Tom Boonen. It sounds normal for the world champion to win the stage because he definitely is the dominating sprinter of this Eneco-Tour. Under pouring rain, Boonen shows himself faster than Dean and Cadamuro by taking the lead with 150 m to go and never let anyone come around him. The most difficult thing for Boonen doesn't seem to win the sprints, but to make sure they happen, because the stage is very animated with nearly 50 km ridden during the first race hour and several escapes. The most promising break is the one with 7 riders: the Portal brothers, Eilijzen, Roesems, Hayman, Lövkvist and Barbé are allowed three minutes of advantage before Discovery Channel and Quick-Step open the chase. In this rainy, very fast and dangerous stage, Kim Kirchen doesn't take any risks and he finishes in the middle of the pack in 70th position.
20.08.2006 4. Landgraaf - Landgraaf (16 km c.l.m.)
Finally Hincapie
results:
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George
Hincapie
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44th at 1'11"
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53rd at 2'26"
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After having failed to win several times for less than a second in time-trials over the last few months, George Hincapie changes the trend this time on the home ground of the Amstel Gold Race, by winning with a very narrow margin over Vincente Nibali, the young talent of Liquigas. In a stage that could well be deciding for the final overall victory, the other favourits finish further down: Schumacher, the winner of the prologue looses 6 seconds, Gilbert 16", Hoste 21", Wesemann 33 or Dekker 38". Tom Boonen, on his side, completely misses out his time-trial and finishes in 63rd position, loosing 1'27" seconds and the red leader jersey to Hincapie. Kim Kirchen finishes the stage in 21'09" for 16,1 km (average speed 45,7 km) and has to conceed 1'11" to Hincapie on a course that suits to the spring classic: short, steep climbs, dangerous descents and turns, turns, turns. It is normal that Kirchen doesn't take any unnecessary risks on such a course and this could explain his rather modest performance. In the overall classification, Hincapie and Schumacher are shoulder against shoulder in the lead, whereas Kim Kirchen is in 53rd position at 2'26", in the same time than Axel Merckx.
19.08.2006 3. Beek - Westmalle (185 km)
Welcome back in Belgium for Tom Boonen
results:
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Tom
Boonen
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65th at 0"
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61st at 1'32"
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In the beer town, not far away from his home, Tom Boonen is imposes his law. The world champion in fact wants support his team-mate De Jonghe in the rush to the finish line, but is so strong that he wins the sprint with several length of advance, despite of Max Van Heeswijk led out by four of his team-mates just behind. Four riders want to avoid the massif sprint during the stage: Gonzalez, Roesems, Reinerink and Thijs break away in several waves from the peloton and then work together at the front to gain more than 5 minutes of advantage. But they are caught again when the sprinter teams work at the front of the pack, including T-Mobile. Kim Kirchen and his team work for Olaf Pollak, but the latter misses out his sprint and finishes like Kirchen further down in the peloton.
18.08.2006 2. s'Hertogenbosh - Sittard/Geleen (195 km)
Quinziato surprises the sprinters
results:
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Manuel Quinziato
Tom Boonen
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91st at 53"
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66th at 1'22"
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A massive crash with about 20 kilometers to go divides the peloton into several pieces and only around 45 riders stay at the front, among them leader Tom Boonen and most of the GC favourites, but not Kim Kirchen. The Luxemburgish champion isn't able to avoid the riders at the ground and he finds himself in a second group that looses about a minute on the 40 leaders. At the front, the sprinters know about their chances to win the stage, but they haven't enough team-mates to control the race completely. Attacks are frequent and tiring the riders. With 2000 meters to go, Manuel Quinziato chooses the right moment to accelerate and the disorganized chasers are not going to catch him again. Quinziato wins the stage with 4 seconds of advance on Cadamuro, Weyland and Cooke. Tom Boonen retains the overall lead where Kim Kirchen is now 1'22" late in 66th position.
17.08.2006 1. Wieringerwerf - Hoogeveen (177 km)
Boonen's perfect sprint
results:
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Tom
Boonen
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46th at 18"
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46th at 18"
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A stage through typical Dutch countryside, where climbs are not to be found, but where the wind is the biggest obstacle for the riders, especially on the spectacular part over the "Afsluitdijk", a road of 32 km that seperates the ocean and the Ijsselmeer. But Rik Reinerink isn't afraid of the wind and he attacks several times during the very fast beginning of the stage. The rider from Skil manages to break away alone, but 20 km later, he gets company from Koen Barbé and Matthé Pronk. The three riders can take up to 6 minutes of advantage, before Rabobank of course, but also other teams like Gerolsteiner or T-Mobile organize the chase in the peloton. With 20 km to go, the gap falls under a minute and continues to decrease: the two Dutch and the Belgian are caught again 10 km later, whereas the peloton prepares for a bunch sprint. Liquigas leads out, but Tom Boonen is brought perfectly to the front by his team-mates and he wins with several lengths of advance on the two Italians Cadamuro and Gasparotto. On the same occasion, the World Champion changes his rainbow-jersey for the red leader jersey of the Eneco-Tour. Despite the many narrow turns and roundabouts, Kim Kirchen finishes the stage without major problems in 76th position, even if he looses 9 seconds to Boonen when the peloton is split in several parts on the last, very twisty kilometer.
16.08.2006 P. Den Helder (5,8 km ITT)
Pole-position for Schumacher
results:
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Stefan
Schumacher
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46th at 18"
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46th at 18"
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A classic prologue of 5,8 km through the streets of Den Helder in the North of the Netherlands, before the riders head toward south in the next days, this is the opening act of the Eneco-Tour 2006, formely known as Benelux-Tour or Holland-Tour. On a course with long straight lines, but also some twisty turns, Dutchman Joost Posthuma sets the first very interesting time in 7'01" for 5,8 kilometers (average speed 49,6 km/h). He is still owner of the best time when Kim Kirchen starts about an hour later and the T-Mobile rider finishes in 7'18" which means a 16th provisional position for him at that moment, 17" late on Poosthuma. During a long time, no-one is able to match the performance of the Dutch rider, and Kirchen also maintains a Top 25 position. But then, the favourites are on their way: Gutierrez (7'03") and Tom Boonen (7'04") fail to take the lead, but Stefan Schumacher (7'00") and George Hincapie (7'01") are Fastest on the course. Schumacher takes the pole-position and can ride with the red leader jersey during tomorrow's stage. Kim Kirchen finishes 46th in the end, 18 seconds behind "Schummi".
12.08.2006 San Sebastian - San Sebastian (225 km)
Florencio surprises, Andy and Frank very good
Results:
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Xavier Florencio
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21st at 0"
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23rd at 0"
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The riders start in San Sebastian for 225 tough kilometers with 6 classified climbs, but there are attacks right from the beginning. After around 50 very animated kilometers and 3 climbs already, things calm down a bit and Yon Brun from the modest Kaiku-team can break away. He takes up to a quarter of an hour of advantage, before Milram and Euskatel, who ride on home ground, open the chase in the peloton and drop the gap back to 12, than to 7 minutes. The brave Yon Bru is finally caught again just before the Jaizkibel, the key climb of the day, after 120 km in the lead and with 40 to go. Carlos Sastre is the first to attack on the Jaizkibel, but Iban Mayo breaks up to him with Ricco, Menchov and ... Frank Schleck in his wheel. Mayo, Sastre and Menchov accelerate once again and they get a gap of 20 seconds and behind them, 25 - 30 riders regroup in the chase, among them the two Schleck brothers, Vinokourov and Valverde. 15 km later, on the Alto de Gurutze, the three riders are still in the lead, but their advantage decreases to 16 seconds. There are still 15 km to go and the gap gets smaller and smaller with Frank and Andy having a very comfortable role in the peloton as their team-mate is up front. Despite riding flat out, Menchov, Sastre and Mayo are caught with about 5 km to go under the impression of Caisse d'Epargne, who want to prepare the sprint for Valverde. Vinokourov attacks with one kilometer to go with Andy Schleck on his wheel, but the sprint is unavoidable and led out by Liquigas. Garzelli is in good position, as is Kasheshkin, but both of them must settle down against the Spanish rider from Bouyges Telecom, Xavier Florencio, who takes a surprising win by taking the lead 150 m from the finish and holding everyone off. Frank and Andy Schleck finish side by side in this first group of around 50 riders, in 21st respectively 23rd position.
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Some criteriums for Frank Schleck
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After his strong performances in the Tour de France, Frank Schleck is enroled for several criteriums in the Netherlands and in Denmark. Here are some results:
05.08.2006
| 08.08.2006
| 09.08.2006
| Profronde
| Gouden Pijl
| Peperbus Profspektakel
| Pijnacker (NED)
| Emmen (NED)
| Zwolle (NED)
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| 1. Frank Schleck
| 1. Frank Schleck
| 1. Michael Boogerd
| 2. Bram de Groot
| 2. Michael Boogerd
| 3. Frank Schleck
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Pictures: stichtingsportevenementen.nl / www.goudenpijl.nl
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09.08.2006 8. Bad Krozingen - Karlsruhe (172 km)
Second one for Brown, Zabel still second
Results:
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Graeme Brown
Jens Voigt
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109th at 0"
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16th at 6'32"
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51st at 0"
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39th at 12'52"
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Despite a long break from Mads Kaggestad (C.A.), Pascal Hungerbühler (VBG) and Lloyd Mondory (A2R), the last stage of this Tour is decided in a very traditionnal bunch sprint. The three riders in the break take up to 5 minutes of advantage, but the teams of the sprinters are attentive and begin to chase behind them at the right time, so that they area caught again with 13 km to go, after 130 km in the lead. The result of the stage is also quite familiar because Graeme Brown, the Rabobank sprinter, takes already his second win and Erik Zabel is for the fourth time on a podium place and Danilo Napolitano, the third placed, is also a usual suspect for this kind of stage. Andy Schleck and Kim Kirchen, who finish both in the peloton like nearly all the riders, surely have different levels of satisfaction after this Tour of Germany. The CSC team of Schleck counts among his members the overall winner Jens Voigt, who dominated the whole race with the help of his team-mates, notably the support from Andy Schleck in the mountains. On a more personnal level, Andy should be quite satisfied too. He is 16th overall and has a 4th position in the Best Young Rider classification on his account, as well as two places among the Top 15 during the mountain stages. On the ohter hand, the T-Mobile team of Kim Kirchen has completely missed their home tour. The two designated favourites, Sinkewitz and Gerdemann, were weak in the mountains, the young home-sprinter Andre Greipel was close to a stage victory, but didn't score and Kim Kirchen himself also has had just one valuable result, a fifth place in the second stage. But he did a very good time-trial and the 17th position shows that the form is coming back and that there are still some nice performances ahead of him for the last part of the season.
08.08.2006 7. Bad Säckingen - Bad Säckingen (38 km ITT)
Voigt flies again to victory
Results:
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Jens Voigt
Jens Voigt
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66th at 3'56"
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16th at 6'32"
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17th at 2'24"
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39th at 12'52"
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The all deciding inidividual time-trial of the Tour of Germany takes place on a flat course that is made difficult by windy weather conditions. A very good situation for Jens Voigt who can perfectly use his impressive power under these circumstances. And the man from Berlin dominates all the other riders, passing first at all the intermediate points to win in 45'03", at an average speed of 50,88 km/h and with a big gap of 1'03" on the second, Laszlo Bodrogi. Levi Leipheimer, his biggest opponent for the General Classification, is 1'14" late and Voigt, who takes already his third victory in this Tour, should have the overall victory in his pocket before the last stage of tomorrow. The first very interesting time is from Laszlo Bodrogi, who rides in 46'06" for 38,2 km. A little bit later, Kim Kirchen is on the road and he begins really strong, doing the 3rd provisionnal time after 10,6 km, 8" late on Bodrogi. On the last part of the circuit, with head-wind, Kirchen looses a little bit more time on the specialists like Sebastian Lang or Alexander Vinokourov, who are both only one second slower than Bodrogi at the finish. But Kirchen still does a very good performance, because he finishes in 17th position at the end on a course that doesn't really suit him well, 2'24" behind Voigt (average speed: 48 km/h). The best time of Bodrogi holds for a long long time, until the arrival of aeroplane Voigt. Andy Schleck has more problems with the course and the wind, and he finishes in 66th position at 46,7 km/h average speed, 3'56" behind his team-mate. By doing so, Andy isn't able to integrate the Top 10 positions overall, that bring the precious Pro-Tour points, but instead drops back to 16th position and looses also his 3rd place in the best young rider standings. Kim Kirchen, on his side, is now in 39th position in the overall classification.
07.08.2006 6. Seefled - St.Anton (197 km)
Fighter Voigt wins in yellow
Results:
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Jens Voigt
Jens Voigt
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21st at 1'29"
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12th at 2'36"
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51st at 6'28"
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43rd at 10'28"
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After yesterday's stage had been shortened, today's stage to St.Anton should be the most difficult one of the Deutschland-Tour 2006 with the final ascent to St. Christoph, but also the Hantennjoch, a climb of 18 km that is very irregular and has up to 18% gradient in its final part. And there is a surprising guest at the front for such a stage: sprinter Erik Zabel attacks right from the beginning and he takes with him Sebastian Lang, Sebastien Rosseler and Mathew Hayman. The four riders take more than 10 minutes of advantage and after Rosseler and Hayman are dropped on the biggest difficulty of the day, the Milram star continues alone with Lang. But the peloton also explodes on the Hantennjoch, with only the strongest staying at the front in a group around Voigt, Leipheimer, Vinokourov or Andy Schleck. The young Luxemburger shows once again an outstanding performance and he is right there at the front together with Cuesta to help and defend Jens Voigt's yellow jersey. Besides Schleck and Cuesta for CSC, mainly Astana is working in the chase of Zabel and Lang, whose advantage is getting smaller and smaller and they are caught at the foot of the last climb. CSC is setting the pace at the beginning until 3 km from the end, where Leipheimer attacks. Andy Schleck is dropped after having worked a lot all day, but Voigt can follow. After a second acceleration from last year's winner, Voigt is in difficulty, but the German gives everything to fight his way back and win the stage in a sprint in front of Leipheimer, Kashechkin and Petrov. What a performance !! Andy Schleck finally crosses the finish line in 21st position one minute and a half behind the winner and is despite teamwork still among the 12 first riders overall. Kim Kirchen is still with the around 60 Best after the Hantennjoch, but he is one of the first to be dropped on the final climb up to the Arlbergpass. He does the climb at his rythm and finishes the stage on his own about 6 minutes late on Voigt. He is now 43rd in the overall classification, more than 10 minutes down on the leader.
06.08.2006 5. Bad Tölz - Seefled (192 km)
Good day for CSC with Schleck, Cuesta and Voigt
Results:
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Levi Leipheimer
Jens Voigt
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8th at 36"
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10th at 57"
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69th at 3'42"
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40th at 3'50"
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Team CSC knows a good day on the 5th stage of the Deutschland-Tour, which schould have been the queen stage, but can't pretend to this title any more after the climb of Kühtai had to be cancelled due to very bad weather conditions. Under pouring rain, the riders from Kim Andersen haven't manage the stage win, but behind Levi Leipheimer, they take the places 4, 7 and 8 with Voigt, Schleck and Cuesta and are now in command in the overall classification with the new yellow jersey Jens Voigt. Andy Schleck shows a very good performance and it is his acceleration in the only remaining real climb that tears the peloton apart. After the attack of Schleck and Cuesta, a group of around 15 riders is in the lead and it becomes of course smaller and smaller as the climb goes on. At the top, they are only three, Kashechkin, Leipheimer and Piepoli, but Voigt and Bruzeghin fight their way back a little later. 2 km are remaining until the finish line and Levi Leipheimer is smart enough to attack, get some seconds of advantage and take the victory in front of Kashechkin, Bruzeghin, Voigt and Piepoli. Andy Schleck crosses the finish line only 36 seconds later and enters the Top 10 overall with this fine performance. For team T-Mobile, the day isn't a good one at all. Kim Kirchen tries to make a big move at the very beginning by integrating a break of 20 riders that gets away despite the very high speed in the race. (43 km covered uphill in the first hour). Unfortunately for him, his break is caught again at km 40 and he will feel these efforts at the end. The Luxemburgish champion isn't able to catch the good group on the last climb and stays with the favorites and team-mates Sinkewitz and Gerdemann who aren't good enough to be with the best either. The 3 T-Mobile riders cross the finish line in a small group three and a half minutes behind the winner and Kim is now 40th overall, nearly 4 minutes late on the new leader Voigt.
05.08.2006 4. Heidenheim - Bad Tölz (203 km)
Brown sprint winner, Schleck finishes 11th
Results:
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Graeme Brown
Erik Zabel
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11th at 0"
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21st at 42"
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59th at 0"
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17th at 32"
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A very interesting final with an uphill sprint finish that the sprinter teams have some difficulties to realize. First of all, there is a three-man break with Marcel Sieberg, Markel Irizar and Sébastien Minard. The three riders get away after two hours of fast racing and they only get a little bit more than 3 minutes of advance, but they resist very good at the end, so that the last survivor of the break, Sieberg, is caught with only 3 km to go. On the last, mostly uphill two kilometers, some GC favourites show themselves like Vinokourov, Gerdeman or Voigt. The CSC rider attacks with 800 meters to go and only some very devoted Mirlam teammates from Erik Zabel can reel him in again. But the sprint is on its way with Zabel and Schumacher in the first row. They have started the final rush very early, too early, because they are doubled by Graeme Brown, who comes back from the third row in the last 200 meters. Andy Schleck is right on Voigt's wheel when the latter decides to make his move, and he leaves a gap to protect his team-mate. But when Voigt is caught again, Andy decides to participate in the sprint. He is a little bit stuck in by the real sprinters, but can nevertheless take a fine 11th position in the stage. Kim Kirchen finishes not far behind in the middle of the pack. Erik Zabel takes only third place in the sprint, but due to the bonification seconds, he can take the yellow leader's jersey from Gusev.
04.08.2006 3. Wiltzenhausen - Schweinfurt (203 km)
Ciolek wins bunch sprint
Results:
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Gerhard Ciolek
Vladimir Gusev
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63rd at 0"
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21st at 35"
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46th at 0"
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17th at 25"
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Just like yesterday, one man animates today's stage for a long while, namely Marco Pinotti from the Saunier Duval team. After a very fast start, the Italian breaks away at km 30 and continues alone towards the finish in Schweinfurt. The other riders are much more interested in battling for bonus seconds (mainly Zabel) or mountain points (mainly Schumacher) than to organize a real chase behind Pinotti. But Erik Zabel knows that he can score double today with a possible stage win and the yellow jersey, so his Milram team raises the speed in the peloton. After 140 km break, Pinotti is caught again by the bunch and there are immediately attacks afterwards. But Milram and Lampre control the race perfectly and they let nobody get away for very long, even if an attack by Bernucci in the last two kilometers looks very convincing. Erik Zabel rides a long sprint at the front, but the young talent from the modest team Wiesenhof, Gerhard Ciolek, passes him to take the stage win. With his second place, Zabel fails to take the yellow jersey from Gusev, but he takes the red jersey of the best sprinter. Kirchen and Schleck finish in the peloton.
03.08.2006 2. Minden - Goslar (181 km)
Voigt resists to the peloton, Kirchen 5th
Results:
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Jens Voigt
Vladimir Gusev
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20th at 0"
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21st at 35"
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5th at 4"
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17th at 25"
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A first key stage with 2 climbs in the Harz mountains during the last 40 kilometers to Goslar. Despite a very fast beginning with several attacks, the peloton soon calms down after an attack of Ronny Scholz. The Gerolsteiner rider breaks away at km 25 for a long solo ride and takes up to 7 minutes of advantage before, just like yesterday, Discovery Channel takes its responsabilities in the peloton. Under a moderate speed driven by Benoît Joachim and his mates at the front of the pack, the gap to Scholz slowly but surely decreases, and the German is caught again shortly before the climb of Bad Grund, where a new race begins. A small group around Voigt, Schumacher or Kaschechkin tries his luck on the uphill, but T-Mobile and Discovery Channel drive the peloton back again. On the next climb called Bockwiese, Voigt and Kaschechkin try again and together with Rebellin, they get a small gap on around 50 other riders. Behind the trio, Kim Kirchen does a lot of work with Bernucci and several others of his team-mates. They get closer and closer, while Rabobank and Milram also participate in the chase. With 1 km to go, the advantage of the three leaders is only ten seconds, and 600 m from the finish, it is down to 8. But for rouleurs like Voigt, Kaschechkin and Rebellin, this can be enough: they resist and Jens Voigt takes the victory in the sprint before the Gerolsteiner and the Astana rider. The first peloton is led by Erik Zabel in front of Kim Kirchen and crosses the finish line 4 seconds later, with also Andy Schleck in it at the 20th position. Through this good performance, they both also gain several places overall where they are now noted on 17th (Kirchen) and 21st place(Schleck).
02.08.2006 1. Düsseldorf - Bielefeld (198 km)
Bazayev surprises in the sprint
Results:
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Assan Bazayev
Vladimir Gusev
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76th at 0"
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80th at 35"
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54th at 0"
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37th at 25"
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The first stage of the Germany-Tour from Düsseldorf to Bielefeld is categorized as sprinter stage, but a lot of up- and downhill in the first part of the race as well as a category-3 climb with 6 km to go make it tougher than that. This is also probably the reason why the beginning of the stage is abnormally calm and one has to wait after km 20 to see the first attacks. And after two riders manage to get a small gap, the Spaniard Anton Luengo and the Austrian Andreas Matzbacher, the calm returns once again. The peloton allows the break to get up to 6 minutes of advance, before Discovery Channel of leader Gusev shows a first reaction. Erik Zabel, who is racing in his home region today, is very motivated and he is probably the best climber among the sprinters. He lets his team do some work at the front of the pack and the gap decreases rapidly. With 30 km to go, the advance of the two leaders falls under one minute and they are caught about 10 km later, where it begins to rain heavily. On the last climb, called "Peter auf'm Berge", Stefan Schumacher attacks and he is very dangerous in this kind of race situation. The bunch reacts with ... Andy Schleck who passes in second position at the top of the climb. Several meters later, everything is together again, but Gerolsteiner doesn't give up with Sebastian Lang. The German time-trial champion breaks away with 2 km to go, but he is also caught again shortly before the finish line. 130 riders are ready for the bunch sprint, Napolitano and Zabel are among the first but Assan Bazayev creates the surprise and takes the first win for the new Astana team around Vinokourov. Kim Kirchen and Andy Schleck finish in the main pack in 54th and 76th position respectively.
01.08.2006 Düsseldorf - Düsseldorf (5,5 km prologue)
Vladimir Gusev wins weather lottery
Results:
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Vladimir Gusev
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91st at 34"
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91st at 34"
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40th at 23"
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40th at 23"
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The Tour of Germany 2006 begins with a prologue in the heart of the town of Düsseldof. The course of 5,5 km is flat, but also technical with several turns, that are dangerous because of rain and heavy winds. Some riders go down on the tarmac despite a very cautious driving like Stefan Schumacher, one of the favourites. Unfortunately, Andy Schleck is among the riders who have the worst conditions but nevertheless, he realizes a good time in 7'16" (44,5 km/h average speed). With about 60 riders in the finish, this time means that Andy takes a Top 10 position at that moment behind the leader Gerhard Ciolek. The roads are drying up and the times are getting faster when Kim Kirchen starts an hour later, but he also gets a little shower before seeing the sun at the end of his course. The T-Mobile rider finishes in 7'06" (average speed 46,5 km/h) and he takes a provisionnal Top 20 position among 130 riders at the finish, 15" behind the leader of the moment Inigo Cuesta. But the weather remains crazy and those riders who take off shortly after 4 o'clock finally have the best conditions ... and are doing the fastest times: Vladimir Gusev (winner in 6'42"), Linus Gerdemann (2nd), a somewhat disappointed Sebastian Lang with a mechanical problem (3rd) and Laszlo Bodrogi (4th). Some favourites like Leipheimer, Voigt, Sinkewitz or Bruzeghin race only minutes later and once again under pouring rain and loose a lot of time. Kim Kirchen finally lands in 40th position at 23" and Andy Schleck is 91st at 34" of Gusev.
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