ACC CONTERN

News from our riders:

March

Schleck
Schleck
Kirchen

Paris - Nice (11-18.03.07)
Paris - Nice (11-18.03.07)
Milano - Torino (10.03.07)

Critérium International (31.03.-01.04.07)
Milano - San Remo (24.03.07)
Tirreno - Adriatico (14-20.03.07)

Critérium International (31.03.-01.04.07)
Milano - San Remo (24.03.07)

March 24, 2007: 97th Milano - San Remo

24.03.2007 Milano - San Remo (294 km)
Freire wins, Kirchen in 13th spot

results:

Oscar Freire

29th at 2"

13th at 1"



Links / pictures:
report on cyclingnews.com

Pictures: bettiniphoto.net / cyclingnews.com / t-mobile-team.com
The Primavera took place on the traditionnal course, 294 km long with the usual difficulties: Turchino at mid-race and in the last 50 kilometers Capo Mele, Capo Cerve, Capo Berta, Cipressa and Poggio. After a very fast beginning, the early break took off at around km 100 and was composed by 6 riders, Kunitski, De Kort, Sella, Traficante, Hernández as well as one of the new Russian talents, Pavel Brutt. They gained up to 8 minutes of advantage, but got caught again one by one in the final. Several attacks on the Cipressa like the one from Pellizotti and Popovych decreased the number of riders in the peloton, without bringing a real selection. Milram and Lampre worked in front of the field to keep it together for their sprinters, whereas Kim Kirchen also was among the very first on the climb. The Poggio remained to bring a decision and as expected, Riccardo Ricco showed himself and crossed the summit together with Philippe Gilbert in the lead. Shortly behind, Kim Kirchen and Frank Schleck tried to divide the peloton, but they had world champion Bettini, Gasparotto and some more team-mates of the sprinters in their wheel. On the descent, Ricco and Gilbert managed to hold a small advantage, whereas the two Luxemburgish riders were at the front of the following group. But there were also numerous Quick-Step riders and the team-mates of Tom Boonen have managed a regroupement with one kilometer to go, whereas the ones of Petacchi have launched the sprint several hundred meters further on. But there was another man, Oscar Freire, who was fastest today and he took his second victory in San Remo in front of Davis, Boonen and McEwen. Kim Kirchen has also participated in the final sprint and he took a nice 13th place at the finish. Frank Schleck, as for him, he has worked for O'Grady in the last three kilometers and he hasn't participated in the sprint, he finishes the race in 29th position.

March 14 to 20, 2007: 42nd Tirreno - Adriatico

20.03.2007 7. Civitella del Tronto - S. Benedetto del Tronto (177 km)
Fernandez surprises in bunch sprint

results:

Koldo Fernandez
Andreas Klöden

28th at 0"

2nd at 4"



Links / pictures:
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Pictures: bettiniphoto.net / cyclingnews.com
There was still some suspense on the last day because in theory, it was still possible for Kim Kirchen to snatch the final win from Klöden by winning some bonus seconds in the intermediate sprints. It promised of course to be a a very tactical race, even more since the beginning of the stage was a little bit hilly, but in the end it was totally flat. The peloton arrived together at the first intermediate sprint and Klöden sent his sprinter Hasselbacher to the front and took himself the 3rd place, so that he gained one more second overall on Kirchen. Kim was a little bit disturbed by the crash of a team-mate during the preparation of this sprint and finished only 6th. After that, a group of 6 riders managed to break away and took up to 25 seconds of advantage. Ricco, Contrini, Muralia, Petito, Renier and Moreni took the first positions in the second intermediate sprint, so that the chances for Kirchen to overtake Klöden were reduced to practically zero. In the last lap, the peloton increased its speed more and more, so that the break was caught again. Milram and Liquigas prepared the sprint, but the Spaniard Koldo Fernandez surprised the favourites by being fastest on the line in front of O'Grady. Klöden and Kirchen didn't match up in this dangerous sprint, they passed the finish in 18th respectively 28th position in the peloton, so that the German could celebrate the final overall victory, 4 seconds in front of the Luxembourger. It's a shame that Kim has passed so close to the victory without being able to catch it, but in the shape that he is in for the moment, he can surely hope for a revenge next Saturday, at Milano-San Remo.
19.03.2007 6. S. Benedetto del Tronto - S. Giacomo (164 km)
Kim Kirchen now second behind Klöden

results:

Matteo Bono
Andreas Klöden

7th at 1'37"

2nd at 3"



Links / pictures:
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Pictures: acc contern / bettiniphoto.net / cyclingtime.com
After another tremendous performance, Kim Kirchen failed only by a few seconds to take over the overall lead in Tirreno-Adriatico. Two major climbs were on the menu of the queen stage with the around 20 km long Imposte, followed by the climb up to the finish in Monte della Lage at 1105 meters of altitude, in which Kirchen was undoubtfully the strongest. A break of 9 has dominated the stage by taking up to 5 minutes of advantage, among them riders like Freire, Visconti or Gasparotto. Kim Kirchen and some others also had been part of this break in the beginning, but he saw that the peloton wouldn't let him go and waited for the bunch after 15 kilometers. At the foot of the last climb, the remaining nine still had a gap of 3 minutes. Enough for Italian Matteo Bono from Lampre who dropped the other riders of the break in the last kilometers to take a nice solo victory, 32 seconds in front of Gasparotto. Behind them, it was once more Ricco who made the deciding move, followed by Vinokourov. Kim Kirchen waited for a moment and then he went into the poursuit, dropping the other GC contenders except Klöden who stayed in sight. The Luxemburgish rider passed Vinokourov and finished just behind Ricco in seventh position, 1'37" late of Bono. Unfortunately, Andreas Klöden wasn't far behind and finished in 9th position, 6 seconds behind Kim, and eventually took over the first position overall. Kirchen is now second of this classification and he is 3 seconds behind the German before tomorrow's last stage. There are still two intermediate sprints with 3, 2 and 1 bonus seconds to win and the finish of the stage to try and take over the leader jersey, but unfortunately for Kim, the last kilometers are completely flat and designed for a bunch sprint.
18.03.2007 5. Civitanova Marche - Civitanova Alta (21 km ITT)
Kirchen excellent, Schumacher takes yellow

results:

Stefan Schumacher
Stefan Schumacher

3rd at 6"

4th at 12"



Links / pictures:
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Pictures: bettiniphoto.net / cyclingnews.com
A time-trial and a big mountain stage tomorrow, that was the program of what should be the two deciding days in this year's Tirreno-Adriatico. In today's race against the clock, the riders started down at the Adria coast for around 12 flat kilometers, before they had to tackle a nice climb of 3 kilometers with slopes up to 12%. Whereas defending champion Thomas Dekker and Stefano Garzelli showed medium-rated performances, an excellent Kim Kirchen signed the best provisional time at the finish in 27'14" at 45 km/h average speed. At that moment, there were still 8 riders to come, among them the favourites Vinokourov, Voigt and Klöden. The latter was the first one to improve Kirchen's time in 27'09", that means he was 5 seconds faster than the Luxemburgish rider. Stefan Schumacher, who had already shown in the past his excellent skills in this kind of exercise, was one more second faster than Klöden, whereas Vinokourov was seven and Voigt 18 seconds slower than Kirchen. All in all, the T-Mobile rider took a superb third place at the end, whereas the overall leader Riccardo Ricco lost nearly 2 minutes. Stefan Schumacher took over the yellow and red leader jersey from him, whereas Kim Kirchen is now 4th overall at 12 seconds before the deciding stage of tomorrow.
17.03.2007 4. Pievebovigliana - Offagna (161 km)
Ricco again in copy-stage

results:

Riccardo Ricco
Riccardo Ricco

11th at 4"

9th at 26"



Links / pictures:
report on cyclingnews.com

Picture: gazzetta.it
In a stage that was almost an exact copy of the one the day before, Italian rider Riccardo Ricco repeated his success by beating in this order Stefan Schumacher and Alexander Vinokourov. The stage was on paper a little bit easier than yesterday, but the final part was once again for rider with explosive power. After the long solo break of Aitor Hernandez had been caught with around 10 kilometers to go, there were several attacks until the foot of the last climb up to the finish in Offagna, near the Adria coast. Once again, Astana riders Vinokourov and Klöden were very active and they took with them around 15 riders like Ricco, the winner of the day before, Dekker, the defending champion, Boogerd, Garzelli or Kim Kirchen, just as good as yesterday. With 600 meters to go, Riccardo Ricco reiterated his performance of yesterday by accelerating and nobody was able to follow him. The Italian reached the finish line with 4 seconds of advantage on the next chasers and unlike yesterday, he was able to take over the yellow and red jersey of race leader becaus Arekeev was further back. Kim Kirchen was once again with the best and even if he wasn't able to follow Ricco, he finished in 11th position in the first group with 15 riders. Before tomorrow's time-trial, Kim enters the Top 10 overall in 9th position, 26 seconds late on the new race leader Ricco.
16.03.2007 3. Marsciano - Macerata (213 km)
Ricco wins, Kirchen very good

results:

Riccardo Ricco
Alexandr Arekeev

9th at 2"

14th at 33"



Links / pictures:
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Picture: cyclingnews.com
The third and longest stage promised to be a very interesting one because it ended on a local course with 4 short but steep climbs up to the finish in Macerata. The French rider Dimitri Champion chose this stage to illustrate himself and after 150 km in the lead of the race, he began the last lap of 25 km with still 2 minutes of advantage. But his legs were tired and the gap began to melt like snow in the sun. 16 km later, the Frenchman was caught again. 60 riders were still together at that moment and could pretend for the win, among them the Luxemburgish champion Kim Kirchen. On the last climb, Alexander Vinokourov was among the first to attack and he took with him around 20 other riders. Then, with one kilometer to go, Riccardo Ricco accelerated out of this group and nobody was able to follow him. Kirchen launched the sprint of the chasers from very far, hoping to catch the Saunier Duval rider, but it was too late. Ricco won the stage, whereas Kim was oversprinted by Vinokourov, Klöden, Garzelli and some other riders. He finished finally 9th of the stage and is now 14th overall, 33" behind leader Arekeev, who finished today in the second group, but only 11 seconds away from the second place of Riccardo Ricco.
15.03.2007 2. Civitavecchia - Marsciano (202 km)
Arekeev resists until the end

results:

Alexandr Arekeev
Alexandr Arekeev

34th at 54"

57th at 1'07"



Links / pictures:
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Russian rider Alexandr Arekeev has showed a tremendous performance on the second stage of Tirreno-Adriatico, because after having been in the lead of the race for the whole day together with Daniele Contrini, Fortunato Baliani and Sven Krauss, he managed to drop them on the climb of Castello delle Forme with 15 km to go and resisted until the end to the return of his former break-mates and the peloton. After 200 km at the head of the race, the Aqua & Sapone rider eventually takes the stage victory and also the jersey of race leader, 32" before Contrini. The break had the advantage that the peloton didn't really race tough today and no sprinter team wanted to take its responsibilities, nor Predictor-Lotto of leader McEwen, nor for example T-Mobile with Kim Kirchen, They rather roder for an overall position and not for their sprinters Ciolek and Eisel, so that the Luxemburgish rider should have passed a calm day in the pack. He crossed the finish line in 34rd position in the middle of the peloton that was led over the line by his team-mate Bernhard Eisel, 54 seconds behind Arekeev.
14.03.2007 1. Civitavecchia - Civitavecchia (160 km)
Robbie McEwen wins in kamikaze style

results:

Robbie McEwen
Robbie McEwen

84th at 0"

84th at 0"



Links / pictures:
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picture: davitamon-lotto
For the first time in his carreer, Kim Kirchen prefers having Tirreno-Adriatico as early goal in the season than Paris-Nice. Today's stage was ridden around the town of Civitavecchia and presented like most of the other stages a hilly profile. The peloton has begun the stage fairly calm but after 41 km, 4 riders have tried their chance: Commesso, Muralia, Albizurri and Priamo took nearly 10 minutes of advantage, before the chase begun in the peloton. Lampre and Milram have led the pack, in which Kirchen tried to hide in the best possible manner. The sprinter teams didn't leave any chance to the break and chased in down on the final circuit that had to be ridden several times. Even a big crash in the penultimate lap couldn't disturb the preperation of the bunch sprint and Petacchi was well placed. But Robbie McEwen launched the sprint with 400 m to go, turned around the last two corners in kamikaze style and resisted until the line to Freire and Hushovd. Kim Kirchen has finished the stage inside the peloton in 84th position.

March 11 to 18, 2007: 65th Paris - Nizza

18.03.2007 7. Nice - Nice (129 km)
Contador turns the clock around

results:

Alberto Contador
Alberto Contador

14th at 1'00"

16th at 2'20"

9th at 22"

8th at 1'08"



Links / pictures:
report on cyclingnews.com

Pictures: letour.fr / grahamwatson.com / bettiniphoto.net / cyclingtime.com / team-csc.com
Paris-Nice 2007 finished with the now usual stage around Nice, short but spicy with the climbs of col de la Porte, de la Turbie and d'Eze. Davide Rebellin's lead had been weakened yesterday by Contador's attack, so it was expected that more riders would try something today, among others the two Schlecks. Andy was the first one who tried it early in the stage, when he got off after 10 kilometers with 7 other riders, Perez-Sanchez, Paulinho, Fofonov, Casar, Chavanel, Voeckler and Kreuzinger, joind soon afterwards by Vila Errandonea, Verdugo and Devolder. But with Kreuzinger, Chavanel and Schleck, this group was too dangerous, so that the peloton reacted and the group was caught again 40 kilometers later. After that, it were mainly the riders of the Discovery channel team that worked in front of the peloton in order to prepare an attack from Contador. This attack came on the first slopes of the col d'Eze, where the climb is the most difficult. Nobody was able to follow the Spaniard and behind him, a chasing group formed with among others Rebellin, Frank Schleck or the two Sanchez, Luis and Samuel. Schleck was among the strongest in this group and tried several times to break away, but he was caught again each time. Contador crossed the summit in Eze with half a minute of advantage and didn't weaken on the descent, so that he was able to take the stage victory and at the same time the overall victory of Paris-Nice 2007. He crossed the finish line with his arms in the air, 19 seconds in front of Lopez-Garcia and Rodriguez. Rebellin arrived 3 more seconds later in 8th position, followed by Frank in the 9th one. In the final overall classification, Contador takes the first place, 26 seconds ahead of Rebellin and 1'08" ahead of Frank Schleck in 8th position. Andy on his side was dropped on the col d'Eze, his early attack surely had cost him some strengh. But he managed to hold on to the second group together with riders like Popovych or Leipheimer and finished at a good 14th place in Nice, exactly one minute behind Contador. He finally lands on an excellent 16th position overall and is the third best young rider in the race.
17.03.2007 6. Brignoles - Cannes (200 km)
Sanchez wins tough stage

results:

Luis Sanchez
Davide Rebellin

16th at 28"

20th at 1'17"

12th at 28"

9th at 42"



Links / pictures:
report on cyclingnews.com

Pictures: Team Caisse d'Epargne / team-csc.com / cyclingtime.com
Another hilly stage with no less than 9 climbs in the region of the Var. There were lots of attacks from the beginning with several groups trying to break away, among them also some big names. Levi Leipheimer, Sylvain Chavanel, Tom Danielson, Christian Vandevelde, Thomas Voeckler and Luis Sanchez composed the most dangerous of these groups. They took off after around 40 kilometers, but the Gerolsteiner team around leader Rebellin were active at the head of the peloton and never let the gap grow to more than 2 minutes. They had very hard work to do because after three hours of racing on this very hilly course, the average speed was nearly 43 km/h. The intention of Discovery Channel surely was to weaken Gerolsteiner, because on the last climb of the day, the col de Tanneron, Alberto Contador attacked out of the peloton and Rebellin suddenly was isolated. The Spanish rider bridged up to the lead with Lopez-Garcia in his wheel, whereas Frank Schleck tried to do the same with Valjavec. On top of the Tanneron, four riders were still in the lead, Contador, Lopez-Garcia, Sanchez and Chavanel, but Frank Schleck had been swallowed again by the group Rebellin. On the last, flat kilometers, Luis Sanchez had enough strengh left to attack once again and break away to a nice solo victory, whereas a very strong Rebellin managed to catch all the other riders. His group came in 28" behind Sanchez and had also Frank and Andy Schleck in it, finishing 12th respectively 16th of the stage. Frank had tried his luck on the Tanneron, but at this moment of the season, he certainly lacks a little bit of form to follow riders like Contador. He has lost one place overall to Sanchez and is now 9th, before the last and deciding stage of tomorrow. Andy Schleck showed once again his talent by following the 30 best riders of this Paris-Nice and he is now in 20th position overall, while still being the 5th best young rider.
16.03.2007 5. Sorgues - Manosque (178 km)
Popovych's masterpiece

results:

Yaroslav Popovych
Davide Rebellin

37th at 14"

23rd at 1'17"

11th at 14"

8th at 42"



Links / pictures:
report on cyclingnews.com

Bild: letour.fr
It was a prominent group that animated most of the hilly fifth stage to Manosque in the Alpes de Haute Provence region. Yaroslav Popovych, David Zabriskie, Koes Moerenhout, Johan Van Summeren, Bert Grabsch, Jurgen Van de Valle and Murillo Fischer have provided lots of work to the Gerolsteiner team by breaking away after only 9 kilometers and taking more than 4 minutes of advantage on the rest of the field. On the last classified climb, Yaroslav Popovych decided to try a masterpiece and dropped the other riders of the break. He crossed the summit of the Mont d'Imbert with still 3 minutes of gap to the peloton. Whereas his former break-mates were caught one by one, 5 teams put their forces together in the peloton to chase down the Ukranian. His advantage got slowly smaller but with ten kilometers to go, it was still of 2 minutes. Popovych's advantage decreased futher, but it showed out to be big enough for the stage win. The Discovery rider crossed the line with 14 seconds of advantage on the first chasers led by Francisco Ventoso. In the last kilometers, the peloton had split into several pieces and only the strongest rider were in the first big group of around 40 riders. Among them were most of the favourites and race leader Davide Rebellin, but also the Schleck brothers who finished 11th (Frank) and 37th (Andy) and retained their overall positions.
15.03.2007 4. Maurs la Jolie - Mende (170 km)
Contador wins, Rebellin in yellow

results:

Alberto Contador
Davide Rebellin

15th at 51"

24th at 1'17"

6th at 28"

8th at 42"



Links / pictures:
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Pictures: cyclingnews.com / cyclingtime.com
The race comes into its deciding stages now with the only mountain-top finish of this year today. The course in itself wasn't that difficult, but the final climb in the suburbs of Mende was expected to bring a big selection. On the penultimate climb already, Andy Schleck was among the very first riders in the pack, with his brother in the wheel. Valjavec and Rebellin were the first ones to attack on the last climb named after Laurent Jalabert, but they were soon caught by Frank Schleck and Contador, whereas the yellow jersey Pellizotti was stuck in the peloton. Under the red flag, Alberto Contador placed another acceleration, which the Luxemburgish rider didn't manage to follow. He found himself in a small group together with Valjavec, Lopez Garcia and Evans, whereas Contador went away to the stage victory. Only Rebellin was able to stay within reach, took the second place of the stage and the yellow jersey at the finish. Frank Schleck crossed the line in 6th position, 28 seconds down on Contador and he is now 8th in the overall classification, 42 seconds behind the new leader Rebellin. Andy Schleck hasn't been very far away from the best on the climb and he has won the sprint of the first part of the peloton for 15th place, less than a minute behind Contador. He also moves up several places overall, where he is now 17th at 1'17". He also places himself as 6th in the young rider classification. Before that, three riders haven't wanted to wait until the end to illustrate themselves: Dimitiy Muravyev, Sandy Casar and Amael Moinard were most of the day in the lead with a maximum advantage of 11 minutes but were caught shortly before the end.
14.03.2007 3. Limoges - Maurs la Jolie (216 km)
Kolobnev resists after 200 km break

results:

Alexandr Kolobnev
Franco Pellizotti

94th at 12"

58th at 35"

60th at 12"

29th at 23"



Links / pictures:
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Pictures: bettiniphoto.net / cyclingtime.com
The race to the sun gets tougher and tougher everyday with a hilly stage on Wednesday to Maurs la Jolie. Like in the very first stage, several riders attacked right from the start with Fabio Baldato, Heinrich Haussler, Alexandr Kolobnev and Nicolas Vogondy managing to build up an advantage of more than 10 minutes to the peloton, before the latter decided to react. The biggest climb of the day, the côte du Fangas, didn't bring any significant changes in the develeppement of the race, surely because there were still more than 40 kilometers to go to the finish. The 4 riders in the lead crossed the summit together, with 4 minutes gap to a compact peloton. But the gap got smaller and smaller and with about 10 km to go, Alexandr Kolobnev, the team-mate of the Schleck brothers at CSC, decided that it was the moment to have a go on his own. The Russian took a small advantage which he managed to keep on the last, downhill kilometers to the finish and he crossed the line as winner, 12 seconds before the peloton led by Tom Boonen. Pellizotti has finished the stage inside the peloton, just near Frank Schleck who finished 60th, and holds on to his yellow jersey. With a team-mate at the front for most of the stage, the Schleck brothers schould have had a rather calm day inside of the peloton, in which Andy Schleck finished 94th.
13.03.2007 2. Vatan - Limoges (177 km)
Pellizotti wins very tricky stage

results:

Franco Pellizotti
Franco Pellizotti

68th at 19"

58th at 35"

27th at 2"

25th at 23"



Links / pictures:
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pictures: team liquigas / team-csc.com / cyclingnews.com
The stage was only a little bit hillier than yesterday, but it went of very very fast with 53 km covered in the first race hours. 17 riders had formed a break and the CSC team was one of those who didn't have any rider in the break and had to work very hard in the peloton. After around 30 kilometers of restless chase, the break was stopped and 4 riders were allowed to take the lead. Philippe Gilbert, Thomas Voeckler, Stépahne Augé and Murilo Fischer took up to 6 minutes of lead. In the last kilometers, when the peloton nearly had chased them down, Augé and Gilbert and Fischer were dropped by Voeckler, but the Frenchman was also caught with one kilometer to go. The final of the stage was slightly uphill and the riders were tired from the fast stage, so that the peloton split up in several pieces at the end. Franco Pellizotti attacked with 500 meters to go, took several seconds advantage and managed to hold off the sprinters until the line. After his good prologue, the Italian rider also takes the yellow jersey of race leader. 2 seconds behind Pellizotti, 26 riders came to the finsh, among them Frank Schleck. The Luxemburger nearly didn't catch the good train but with a brillant effort, he was able to bridge up to the first group just in time. He took 27th position of the stage and also moved up several places overall to 25th place, 23 seconds behind the new leader Pellizotti. Riders like Julich, Contador, Leipheimer or Popovych have lost some precious seconds today, just as Andy Schleck who limited the damage in 68th position, 19 seconds down. Andy surely had to work hard in the tough stage and has lost some strengh. He is now in 58th position overall.
12.03.2007 1. Cloyes sur le Loir - Buzançais (186 km)
Nazon wins bunch sprint

results:

Jean-Patrick Nazon
Robert Millar

78th at 0"

48th at 12"

80th at 17"

76th at 17"



Links / pictures:
report on cyclingnews.com

pictures: bettiniphoto.net / cyclingtime.com
The first stage was mainly flat with only one climb of third category and a very classic screenplay: 4 riders took off at the very beginning and took a big advantage of over 10 Minutes. Romain Feillu, Christophe Laurent, Ivan Velasco and Hervé Duclos-Lassale were most of the day out there in front, but behind them, Saunier Duval of Millar and Lampre of Bennati took care to decrease the gap. With 60 km to go, it was down to 5 minutes and 50 km later, the peloton had the break in sight. But Duclos-Lassale didn't wan't to give up and took the lead alone, soon replaced by Romain Feillu. But the Milram-led peloton was already too close and Feillu was caught with just around one kilometer to go, after more than 180 km of break. Favourites in the massive sprint were Boonen and Bennati, but they were surprised by the Frenchman Jean-Patrick Nazon who took of with 300 meter to go and managed to stay in front until the finish line in front of Siedler and Hayman. The Schleck brothers have finished the stage side by side in the peloton, in 78th and 80th position, whereas the overall classification didn't show any major changes.
11.03.2007 P. Issy-les-Moulineaux (4,7 km Zeitfahren)
Millar celebrates, Frank Schleck upset

results:

Robert Millar
Robert Millar

46th at 12"

46th at 12"

75th at 17"

75th at 17"



Links / pictures:
report on cyclingnews.com

pictures: sports.yahoo.com / cyclingnews.com
After that the race to the sun nearly had been cancelled due to the fight between the UCI and the orgnazier ASO, Paris-Nice 2007 has opened this Sunday with the traditionnal prologue in Issy-les-Moulineaux, in the garden of ASO. The course was very tricky with lots of curves and a nice uphill in its very middle. The first rider to be noticed was the young Czech talent Roman Kreuziger, whose time of 6'02" stayed on top of the rankings for a very long time. Until a quarter of an hour before the finish, where prologue specialist David Miller was faster than the Liquigas rider. The Scotsman won the stage with 46,9 average speed and one second of advantage on Kreuziger, who remained in second place. Frank Schleck surely has upset some of the critics that see him as favourite number one for the overall win. At an average speed of 44 km/h, he has lost 17 seconds on Millar, 15 seconds on Sanchez or Contador and 14" on the newly crowned overall winner of the Tour of California, Levi Leipheimer. But the legs are good and after Wednesday, Frank will find more favourite ground for his skills. Andy Schleck has made a good race, because with a time of 6'13", he was egal to time-trial specialists like Lancaster or Rosseler and faster than riders like Sinkewitz, Boonen or Flecha. On the tricky course with lots of turns, the younger Schleck took the 46th position at 45 km/h average speed, 12" behind David Millar.

Marc 10, 2007: 92nd Milan - Turin

10.03.2007 Nova Milanese - Torino (199 km)
Di Luca wins, Kim Kirchen on the podium

results:

Danilo Di Luca

3ème à 9 secondes



Links / pictures:
report on cyclingnews.com

pictures: bettiniphoto.net / cyclingtime.com
The 92nd edition of Milano - Torino was articulated as often around its main difficulty, the Colle di Superga which culminates at 620 meters above sea level. This climb is located at around 15 kilometers from the finish in Torino, whereas the rest of the course is relatively flat. Despite several escapes, the peloton tackled the climb in compact form, after having covered the first raced hours with 44 km/h average speed. Ricco was the first one to attack and a group of nine riders went away with also Di Lucca, Mazzanti, Gerdemann, Noé, Arreitundia, Gasperoni, Bertagnolli and Soler. The Latter accelerated once more and only di Luca was able to follow him. At this moment, Kim Kirchen chasing not far behind them with Bettini among others, but he couldn't bridge up to Di Luca and Soler. But the small peloton remained close to the leaders, so that the suspense was present until the end. Di Luca was experienced engough to avoid a cat and mouse game and so he led the break until the finish line, where he held off Soler easily. 9 seconds later, there was a group with 30 riders, and among them Kim Kirchen had enough power left to beat fast riders like O'Grady, Khalilov or Moreni for the third place. A good sign only a few days away from Tirreno-Adriatico, where he will line up for the first time in his career.

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