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May 30 to June 3, 2007: 28th Bayern-rundfahrt
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03.06.2006 5. Rothenburg ob der Tauber - Fürth (161 km)
Siedler wins last massive sprint
Results:
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Sebastian Siedler
Stefan Schumacher
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76th at 0"
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4th at 25"
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The last stage of the Bayern-rundfahrt still provided some climbs, like a cobbled uphill with 18% gradient in Kadolzburg. But this wasn't any reason for Stefan Schumacher to be afraid, on the opposite, these are the courses that the German likes. By finishing third of the first intermediate sprint and thus taking 1 bonus second, he increased his overall lead on Bert Grabsch to 9 seconds. In addition, his team
had the race very well under control and never had to face any diffculty. On the last, flat kilometers, Gerolsteiner reduced the gap to the leading break of Anders Lund, Alvarus Baranauskus and Konstantin Schubert, before leaving the responsibilities to the sprinter teams. As usual, Milram worked a lot and the riders in blue have been rewarded by a one-two win of Sebastian Siedler ahead of Erik Zabel. Stefan Schumacher has crossed the finish line in 27th position and was able to celbrate the final overall win. Frank Schleck has also finished in the peloton, in 76th position and of course he remains in 4th place overall. A second and an fourth place in a stage race for the Schleck brothers, not to bad as a week-end.
02.06.2006 4. Rothenburg ob der Tauber (24 km c.l.m.)
Schumi takes an option, Schleck 4th
Results:
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Stefan Schumacher
Stefan Schumacher
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4th at 19"
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4th at 24"
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The sprinters had to leave the spotlights today and make place for the rouleurs, because the individual time-trial of 24 kilometers around the picturesque town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber was on the program, and there were of course important changes in the overall classification. Stefan Schumacher, winner of the Amstel Gold Race, has taken a serious option on the overall win by signing the best time today, 8 seconds faster than Bert Grabsch and 14 seconds ahead of Jens Voigt. But the German had to do a fantastic final and also take some risks on the wet and slippery downhills of the last part of the course, because with 9 kilometers to go, he was only 3rd at the intermediate timing point, in the same time than Jens Vogt. Bert Grabsch had realized the fastest intermediate time in 20'07", 9 seconds faster than a surprising Frank Schleck in second place. The Luxemburgish riders had done a perfect job on the first, more selective part of the course, but didn't take any risks in the final kilometers, where he had to leave two places, one to Schumacher and one to his team-mate Jens Voigt. With a final time of 31'03", Schleck had done a provisionnal best time at the finish, but was beaten afterwards by Schumacher, Grabsch and Voigt. He finished in a nice fourth position, 19 seconds late, the same that he has now in the overall classification, which is identical with the stage classification as far as it concerns the 5 top places.
01.06.2006 3. Eichstätt - Kitzingen (181 km)
Zabel does it again
Results:
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Erik Zabel
Erik Zabel
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67th at 0"
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25th at 20"
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Considering the results of the last stages and the profiles of the days to come, it could be quite possible that the overall victory will be decided by a few seconds only. This brings of course the intermediate sprints into the spotlight because there are precious bonus seconds to gain there. From the start, CSC, Gerolsteiner and T-Mobile have controlled the race in order to bring their riders in the best possible condition to these sprints. CSC's Stuart O'Grady was the fastest in Gunzenhausen and thus took over virtually the yellow jersey. Shortly after, Christoph von Kleinsorgen profited from a moment of calm to break clear alone and take up to 10 minutes of advantage. But just in time for the last intermediate sprint, the German was caught again and Schumacher took the points ahead of Voigt and O'Grady. The Australian of course also had ambitions for the final bunch sprint, but he was involved in a crash on the final meters and lost his chances to match up with Erik Zabel. The Milram rider didn't participate in all the intermediate sprints and surely was fresher at the end than the others. He took his second victory in two days ahead of Portuguese rider Benitez and Sebastian Siedler. Thanks to that, he can also retain the yellow leader jersey with now 6 seconds advantage on O'Grady. Frank Schleck crossed the finish line in 67th position and before the important time-trial of tomorrow, he is now 25th overall, 20 seconds late on Zabel.
31.05.2006 2. Gundelfingen - Eichstätt (185 km)
Zabel despite controversy
Results:
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Erik Zabel
Erik Zabel
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20nd at 0"
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22nd at 10"
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Under sunny weather conditions, the 119 riders of the Bayern-rundfahrt lined up for what should be the most selective stage of this year's edition, with lots of small climbs and tough local circuit at the end. The race started very fast and all the attacks were neutralized by the peloton at first. But after the riders had ridden during half an hour at 60 km/h speed, they decided to let a group away. Axelsson, Lopes, Baranauskas, Friedmann and Ermeti where the ones that managed to get an 8 minute advantage. But even before mid-race, CSC and Gerolsteiner started to reduce the gap at the front of the pack. On the difficult local circuit, the break exploded and the riders were caught one by one. The big names showed themselves with some attacks like Jens Voigt, Burghardt, Wegmann and also Frank Schleck, who tried his luck with around 10 kilometers to go. Together with Austrian Rohregger, the Luxemburgish rider took the lead for some time, but the two were joined again by a chasing group of 25. Other riders managed to bridge up to the front and finally, the stage was to be decided in a sprint between around 50 riders. Despite all the noise and controversy that exists around his person for the moment, Erik Zabel was able to take the better of Siedler, O'Grady and Ciolek, whereas Frank Schleck finished in 20th position. Due to the bonification seconds, Zabel was also able to grab the yellow leader jersey, in the same time than O'Grady in second position. Frank Schleck is noted in 22nd place overall, 10 seconds late.
30.05.2006 1. Garmisch Partenkirchen - Gundelfingen (211 km)
Schulze wins first bunch sprint
Results:
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Andre Schulze
Andre Schulze
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49th at 0"
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53rd at 10"
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Unlike some people might think, the Bayernrundfahrt is not a race for climbers with endless uphills, but it is rather an event for the fast men, and the victory record is held by sprintstar Erik Zabel with 16 stage wins. An ideal course to resume racing after one month of break, as it is the case for Frank Schleck. He rather would have liked to continue following the fantastic performances of his little brother in the Giro d'Italia, but it is now time for him to do race kilometers again and prepare the Tour de France. The first stage began in the mountains, in the winter sports town Garmisch Partenkirchen, but after two climbs, the riders took a long downhill of 150 kilometers to Gundelfingen. No wonder that it finished in a bunch sprint, even if four riders wanted to avoid this by breaking away early. But Berges, van Ruittenbeek, Schär and Ludewig were caught again with 5 kilometers to go after some hard work of T-Mobile, Milram and CSC at the head of the peloton. But it was a member of a second-division team, Andre Schulze (Wiesenhof), who was fastest in the sprint, ahead of the Pro-Tour riders O'Grady, Kopp and Zabel in this ordre. Frank Schleck finished the stage in the peloton in 49th position.
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May 12 to June 3, 2007: 90th Giro d'Italia
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03.06.2007 21. Vestone - Milano (185 km)
Petacchi finshes it off
Results:
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Alessandro Petacchi
Danilo Di Luca
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35ème à 0"
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2nd at 1'55"
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8th at 100p
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winner
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8th at 59p
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The 90th Giro d'Italia has finished as planned in Milano, but this podium surely was not predicted by anyone at the start. The name of the overall winner, Danilo di Luca, isn't a surprise, even if on such a hilly course, the former winners Simoni and Cunego or even Savoldelli and Garzelli appeared more likely as winners before the start. But the names of the runner-ups of Di Luca fill people with surprise: whereas Eddy Mazzoleni already had some serious references, nobody would have bet a cent on Andy Schleck at the beginning in Sardegna, including himself. Of course, he had built his whole season around the participation in the Giro, of course, since the Ardennes classics and the Tour de Romandie, he was known to be in excellent form, but his goals were the white jersey of best young riders and, at most
a Top 20 position overall. But then, the youngest son of Johnny has astonished us from day to day: if the third places in Montevergine and at the Santuario Nostra Signora Della Guardia were rather according to plan, it was in the big mountains that Andy has really showed extraordinary things. If it were on the slopes of the Izoard, in the mountain time-trial to Santuario di Oropa, on the way to the Tre Cime de Lavaredo or on the terrible Monte Zoncolan, Andy was always with the best, with apparent easyness and absolutely no weakness. Moreover, in his first Grand Tour over three weeks, he showed his offensive skills and didn't hesitate to attack his older and experienced opponents on their favourite ground. The cherry on the cake was the last time-trial where he did a faboulous performance and ensured a second place on the final podium. So, if Di Luca was to drink champagne at the beginning of the stage, the Luxemburgish riders, resplendant in his shining white jersey, for sure was also part of the party. The riders celebrated and joked until the arrival on the final local circuit in Milan, where the traditionnal showdown began, orchestrated by the Milram team. Despite an attempt by Ignatiev, who finishes the Giro as agressive as he began, who else than the newly re-born sprinter king Petacchi could take the last stage. And on the podium, as Di Luca just had received his last pink jersey, Andy Schleck answered to a question of a reporter from La Gazzetta dello Sport: "Yes, of course, I will come back to Italy and race the Giro again". Right, because three weeks like this, we want to have them again.
02.06.2007 20. Bardolino - Verona (43 km c.l.m.)
Di Luca and Schleck assure overall positions
Results:
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Paolo Savoldelli
Danilo Di Luca
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6th at 1'28"
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2nd at 1'55"
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8th at 75p
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First
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8th at 59p
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Time for the last, overall deciding act with an individual time-trial of 43 km between the wine town Bardolino on the Lago di Gardo and one of Italy's cultural capitals, Verona. The course was mostly flat, except for two small climbs with the bigger one being at the very beginning. One of the interests of today's stage was of course the battle for the podium places between Andy Schleck, Simoni, Cunego and Mazzoleni, while Di Luca was considered out of reach for the final overall victory by most of the observers with more than 2 minutes of advantage. The Italian showed that they were right because he took the 8th place in the time-trial, 1'57" down on winner Paolo Savoldelli and thus is sure, without accident, to be the final overall winner of the 90th Giro d'Italia. But there were, of course, some (small) surprises today, at the number of three: 1. Paolo Savoldelli, well known for his excellent skills on shorter distances,
managed to hold off the big favourite for the stage win, Dave Zabriskie, who had made out of this stage his main goal for the Giro. 2. Eddy Mazzoleni finished second and ejected a rather diappointing Gilberto Simoni out of the podium places. Simoni finished only 17th in the time-trial, 2'08" behind Mazzoleni. 3. Andy Schleck has proved that, in addition to being an excellent climber, he is an allrounder and can also do extremely well in time-trials, because he has finished at a fantastic 6th place, 1'28" late on the stage winner. Andy was already well off in the first part of the race and at the mid-race intermediate timing, he had passed in 7th position, only 39" late on Savoldelli, who was fastest at all the intermidiate times. Then, between the kilometers 20 and 30, Andy had his best moment and he was faster than for example Zabriskie, Bruzeghin or Cunego, and had also overtaken Di Luca, who was 20 seconds late on the Luxemburger. "White lightning", how he was called, was in 5th position at the third intermediate timing, 54" slower than Savoldelli. But even if Di Luca has lost 9 more seconds to Schleck on the very last part, he did not have to face any difficulty, because he still had nearly 2 minutes advantage overall. The Luxemburgish rider has regressed by one place on the last 13 kilometers, overtaken by Bodrogi, but still finished as excellent 6th in a time of 53'48" (average speed 48 km/h), ahead of riders like Cunego or Ignatiev and Petrov, the former U23 time-trial world champions. Without accident, Andy Schleck will finish tomorrow in Milano as second overall of the Giro 2007 and winner of the best young rider competition.
01.06.2006 19. Treviso - Terme di Comano (179 km)
Mayo shows rising form
Results:
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Iban Mayo
Danilo Di Luca
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19th at 3'13"
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2nd at 2'24"
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9th at 85p
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First
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8th at 59p
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The last difficult climbs of this Giro, at the number of two, on the 19th leg between Treviso and Terme di Comano. The big question as the start was wether the GC contenders would battle hard again today, or if they would rather stay calm and wait for tomorrow's time-trial, leaving the space open for a break. On the Pian delle Fugazze, the first ascent, it was clear that the favourites wanted to show themselves once more. After Liquigas had driven the peloton at very high speed into the climb, there were several attacks. Piepoli, Mazzoleni and even the Maglia Rosa itself accelerated, but nobody managed to get away. Finally, Gilberto Simoni drove a leading group of around 40 riders over the summit. Andy Schleck had a puncture at the beginning of the climb, but thanks to the help of his team-mates, he worked his way up to the front again and started the wet and slippery descent together with the other favourites. On the downhill, Mayo, Losado, Garzelli, Rasmussen, Petrov, Marzano and Visconti drove away and they started the last climb 3 minutes ahead of the gruppo Maglia Rosa. Mayo was the strongest of these riders, so he crossed the summit of the Passo Ballino alone in the lead with around 40 seconds advantage on the next chasers and flew away to the victory. Liquigas and Lampre had locked the race in the peloton, so that there was not much room for attacks on this relatively flat climb. Despite the heavy rain and the risks he had to take in the last kilometers, Mayo remained in control and was able to book yet another stage victory for the strong Saunier Duval team. With a few weeks to go until the start of the Tour de France, the Spaniard clearly shows rising form... Giovanni Visconti finished second, 41 seconds late, whereas the first peloton with the pink and white jerseys, very carefull on the descent, finished 3 minutes down. Of course, Andy Schleck stays in second position overall before tomorrow's time-trial that will most certainly provide its final shape to the overall podium.
31.05.2006 18. Udine - Riese Pio X (203 km)
Petacchi rewarded
Results:
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Alessandro Petacchi
Danilo Di Luca
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34th at 0"
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2nd at 2'24"
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8th at 85p
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First
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8th at 53p
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The last days in the mountains were very tough and so it sounds normal that the few sprinters who managed to get over Izoard, Tre Cime or Zoncolan were rewarded by a typical sprinter stage. The 18th leg was indeed totally flat and its main difficulty surely was the length, 203 kilometers at the end of a three-week stage race. The sprinter teams intended of course to control the race and even if they let a group of 7 riders get away, the advantage of Ignatiev, Horillo, Berthou, Renier, Gourov, Vila and Engels never exceeded two and a half minutes. With a very good feeling for the timing, Milram,
Euskatel and Liquigas have controlled the gap and the peloton has chased down the break with 7 kilometers to go, just in time for the sprint preperations to begin. With 500 meters to go, there has been a crash in the bunch, forcing world champion Bettini to break and to give up all his chances for the victory. McEwen, Hushovd, Napolitano, Förster out, it was of course Petacchi the big favourite. And the Milram star has rewarded his team-mates for their great work today by taking the stage win ahead of Richeze, Breschel and Fothen. After the crash, Petacchi had found himself in the lead far too long from the finish, but he managed an exceptionnal long sprint and nobody managed to come around him. Andy Schleck was lucky enough to avoid the crash and he finishes in 34th position, next to Di Luca. There aren't any overall changes of course before tomorrow's last hilly stage.
30.05.2006 17. Lienz - Monte Zoncolan (142 km)
Simoni dominates on Zoncolan, Schleck breathtaking
Results:
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Gilberto Simoni
Danilo Di Luca
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3rd at 7"
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2nd at 2'24"
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7th at 60p
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First
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8th at 53p
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Here we are, at the last big mountain stage of the Giro 2007, the one that finishes on top of the Monte Zoncolan, the mountain that everyone, including the riders, speaks of since several days. The Italian people, who like to use superlatives, speak of the toughest climb in whole Europe. And it is true that the Zoncolan sounds frightening for a cyclist: 1200 meters in change of altitude on only 10 kilometers, and in the middle a piece of 5 kilometers at 15,3 % average gradient. Some questions rose at the start of the stage: will Simoni attack? will Di Luca take some more time on Mazzoleni before the time-trial? will Andy Schleck continue to ride as good? will there be an early break? Well, at least the last question was answered very soon because right from the start, 12 riders took off, among them the never tiring world champion Paolo Bettini with two of his team-mates, but also riders like Aerts, Ardila, Cioni,
Codol, Veikkanen or Baliani. They arrived at the foot of the Zoncolan with around three minutes of advantage, and the group immediately exploded under the pace-setting of Dario Cioni, who took the lead alone, but was later passed by Massimo Codol. The other questions found there answers shortly before half climb. With 7 kilometers to go, on the most steepest section of the climg, Gilberto Simoni raised the speed and only the Best were able to follow him: Di Luca, Piepoli, Cunego and Andy Schleck, whereas Ricco and Mazzoleni were dropped. One kilometer later, Gibo placed another attack and took off alone, whereas Di Luca found himself surprisingly in difficulties. But Schleck wasn't finishes yet and with Piepoli in his wheel, he slowly but surely came back onto Simoni, whereas Cunego dropped back some 30 seconds to Di Luca. Schleck seemed stronger and stronger and took himself now the lead of the little group, knowing well that he was shaking on the pink jersey. Then Piepoli took over for a long while and the rider of the early break were swallowed up one by one with the last one, Codol, caught about two kilometers from the finish. On the less steeper part of the climb, Di Luca found his legs again and he limited the losses very well, supported by Cunego. With 200 meters to go, on again very steep roads, Schleck was dropped by the two Saunier Duval riders and, with Simoni leading over the line, the team was able to celebrate another double victory on a legendary mountain stage, two days after the Tre Cime. Andy finished in a fantastic third place, only 7 seconds down, whereas Di Luca crossed the finish line 31 seconds behind the stage winner. He retained the pink jersey, even better, he gains time on the second placed rider because Mazzoleni didn't have a good day and had to leave the second place overall to a sensationnal Andy Schleck, who is now 2'24" late on the pink jersey. The last overall changes will take place two days from now in the time trial, with a special focus on the battle for second place, where Schleck has only a small advantage of 4 seconds on the next-placed Simoni. Of course, Andy consolidates his position in the best young rider classification today, with now nearly 3 minutes of advantage again on Ricco.
28.05.2006 16. Agrodo - Lienz (189 km)
Garzelli saves his Giro
Results:
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Stefano Garzelli
Danilo Di Luca
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31st at 8'10"
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3rd at 2'56"
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8th at 76p
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Leader
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11th at 49p
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The 16th stage between Agordo and Lienz in Austria was a traditionnal transition stage with several medium-rated climbs and a flat final. Lots of attacks were expected at the beginning with riders trying by all means to get into a break, but nothing like that happened. During the first four race hours, there was no acceleration at all and the riders barely covered 100 kilometers in the rain and cold. Only at around 60 kilometers from the finish, the action began in the race with an attack by Benoît Joachim and Laurent Mangel. After their acceleration, a group of 12 riders broke away from the peloton. On the trilogy of climbs to come, Stefano Garzelli went alone on the attack and he took less than a minute advantage on 5 chasers: Rubiera, Mangel, Caucchioli, Serrano and Lastras, whereas the main peloton with the pink and white jerseys followed six minutes behind. On the final circuit around Lienz, Garzelli's advantage decreased to 30 seconds, but the chase behind him wasn't well organized, so that the Italian managed to stay away until the finish line, where he celebrated his second stage win in this Tour of Italy. A nice consolation for a rider who was among the GC favourites before the start in Sardegna, but wasn't able to realize his ambitions in the mountains. Laurent Mangel has won the sprint of the next chasers for second place, Benoît Joachim has finished in 16th position, whereas the peloton crossed the finish line more than 8 minutes down. Andy Schleck was in the first part of the main group and is noted in 31st position in the stage classification. There are no changes overall.
27.05.2006 15. Trento - Tre Cime di Lavaredo (184 km)
Ricco enters the legend
Results:
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Riccardo Ricco
Danilo Di Luca
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9th at 3'52"
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3rd at 2'56"
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8th at 76p
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Leader
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11th at 46p
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After a stage during which the pink jersey virtually changed shoulders several time, young Riccardo Ricco should enter into the legend for the Italian tifosi, because he has won the most prestigious stage of this year's Giro, on top of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo. This is the place where Merckx, Gimondi and other riders have written some of the most dramatic pages of the race's history. Ricco has won ahead of his team-mate Leonardo Piepoli and during his long break, he has threatened the maglia rosa of Di Luca as well as the white jersey of Andy Schleck. It was on the Passo di San Pellegrino where Saunier Duval sent to the front their two climbers, joined by the Columbian Parra and the Mexican Perez Cuapio. At the Passo di Giau, the advantage of the four riders was about three minutes on a chasing group that got smaller and smaller, with Schleck and Di Luca being isolated and without team-mate. The Luxemburgish rider was once again incredibly strong and one of the only ones capable of following the accelerations of Di Luca and Mazzoleni. Eddy Mazzoleni thought that he could try again the same tactics than the day before and he took off on the descent of the Giau with his team-mate Savoldelli. On the long descent and the flat part leading to the bottem of the last climb, Di Luca was barely supported with only Schleck and Cunego taking turns in his group and with Simoni in the wheels, still waiting for his hour. The gaps increased and in Cortina d'Ampezzo, both Ricco and Mazzoleni had virtually overtaken the Liquigas rider in the general classification and of course, Andy Schleck had also lost virtually his white jersey. But the reaction of Di Luca was still to come. With around three kilometers to go, where the slopes got steeper and steeper, the maglia rosa accelerated. Cunego was dropped, Schleck and Simoni too. In only a few kilometers, Di Luca had gained one minute over Mazzoleni and even more on Ricco and confirmed once again his leadership in this Giro. The young Saunier Duval rider had to settle down with the stage victory which was offered to him by his team-mate Piepoli, who took over the King of the Mountain jersey today. Andy Schleck has not followed Di Luca after his attack, but he still had some power left to finish the stage decently. By finishing 9th of the leg, he has lost only 1 minute to the pink jersey and 20 seconds to Cunego and Simoni on the last kilometers of the very steep Tre Cime, and he also took some time on Ricco. The most important was done: Andy still is 3rd in the overall classification where Bruzeghin has been replaced by Mazzoleni in second position, and he retains the white jersey of best young rider, even if he maintains only 43 seconds advantage on Ricco. Two days from now, he will certainly feel the breath of the Italian in his neck, when the riders will tackle the Monte Zoncolan, the most terrific climb ever ridden in the Giro d'Italia (dixit Cunego and Simoni).
26.05.2006 14. Cantu - Bergamo (192 km)
Simoni attacks, Di Luca defends
Results:
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Stefano Garzelli
Danilo Di Luca
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16th at 38"
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3rd at 1'57"
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8th at 83p
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First
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10th at 27p
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Andy Schleck had a difficult moment today in the 14th stage where he went to the ground, but apart from some cuts and bruishes, the crash finally didn't have any consequences for him. Next to his home in the region of Trento, Gilberto Simoni had to put the pressure down on Di Luca and gain some time on him, if he wanted to keep a chance on the pink jersey in this Giro. And so the Saunier Duval rider has transformed a so-called transition stage in the Giro di Lombardia area into a big battle for the overall classification. Of course, he had some allied riders: Eddy Mazzoleni had taken off on the descent of the Passo San Marco behind his team-mate Paolo Savoldelli, known as best downhill rider in the peloton. On wet and slippery roads, Di Luca took it easy and went down carefully, letting the two Astana riders slip away. This gave some ideas to Simoni who also attacked together with Garzelli and Codol, wheras
Andy Schleck carefully stayed behind Di Luca. There were still more than 50 kilometers to complete with one climb in La Trinita-Dossena. At the beginning of the ascent, the formerly named regrouped with the remaining riders of the early break, so that there was a group of 16 riders at the front, led by Astana and Saunier-Duval. At the top of the climb, Simoni, Garzelli, Savoldelli, Mazzoleni, Baliani, Parra and Bettini remained in the lead and they had one minute of advance on the gruppo maglia rosa led by Pellizotti. At that moment, Andy Schleck could have lost everything because he hit the ground at the very beginning of the descent together with Evgeni Petrov. But the CSC rider didn't panic and after having changed his bike and after several kilometers of hard chasing, he was able to get back into the Di Luca group with around 30 kilometers to go. The poursuit match continued with Liquigas and Lampre being able to reduce the gap by half a minute until Bergamo. In the streets of the town, there was a small but nasty climb, steep and paved, where Simoni attacked. The Italian took off and looked like the winner of the stage, but in the last downhill parts, Stefano Garzelli took a lot of risks and he was able to come around Simoni in the last 60 meters to grab the stage win. 38 seconds later, a group of 11 riders with Di Luca and Schleck crossed the finish line. Despite his crash, the Luxemburgish rider once again surprised everyone by his strengh and maturity in a difficult situation. He has finished 16th of the stage and still is third overall, 1'57" behind Di Luca. Simoni, as for him, he has moved up to 5th position, 2'42" late on the pink jersey.
25.05.2006 13. Biella - Santuario di Oropa (12,6 km mountain TT)
Bruzeghin surprises, Schleck confirms good form
Results:
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Marzio Bruzeghin
Danilo Di Luca
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10th at 40"
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3rd at 1'57"
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6th at 82p
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Leader
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9th at 27p
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Mountain time-trial today in the Giro, up to the spectacular place Santuario di Oropa, that is situated in a picturesque location between the mountains. Over 12,6 kilometers, the road goes up with a medium slope of 5,8 %. Towards the middle and the end, there are steeper parts with up to 12 or 13 % gradient and the riders had to give their all on the 734 meters of change in altitude. For a long time, Giovanni Visconti was in the lead in the provisional classifications, but the Mexican Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio was the first one to set a time under 30 minutes at the finish in 29'38". But the favourites were still to come: Zabriskie and then Piepoli were a few seconds faster than Perez on the line and Piepoli's time seemed difficult to beat. At the first intermediate time, Andy Schleck was in 5th position, 6 seconds slower than Petrov who had the fastest time after 5 kilometers. The young rider rode well once again on the rest of the climb and at the finish, he was only 39 seconds slower than Piepoli, taking the seventh provisional place in the stage classification. In 29'35" (25,5 km/h average speed), Andy was just two second behind Damiano Cunego. Di Luca was also very fast. He had the second position after 5 kilometers behind Petrov and set the fastest time after 10 kilometers, 4 seconds ahead of Piepoli. But the surprise came form Italian time-trial champion Marzio Bruzeghin, who made a tremendous last kilometer and held off Piepoli by just one small second. With the time of 28'55", he was able to snatch the stage win at an average speed of 26,1 km/h. Di Luca faded a little bit at the end and finally finished 3rd at 8". Schleck ended up in 10th position at 40" and it was at the end of the course where he lost most of the time: with two kilometers to go, he was only 5 seconds slower than Bruzeghin in sixth position and had lost 19" on Di Luca. Other favourites also lost time today: Cunego 38 seconds, Simoni 1'06" and third placed overall Arroyo lost 1'43" to Bruzeghin. In the overall classification, Di Luca keeps the lead with 55 seconds on Bruzeghin and 1'57" on a fantastic Andy Schleck in third place. Cunego is in 4th position, 2'40" late, whereas Simoni is now 3'32" behind Di Luca. In the best young rider classification, Andy Schleck has now nearly five minutes advantage on second placed Ricco, who finished only 22nd in today's stage
24.05.2006 12. Scalenghe - Briançon (163 km)
Schleck brilliant 3rd behind Di Luca and Simoni
Results:
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Danilo Di Luca
Danilo Di Luca
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3rd at 7"
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4th at 1'25"
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Leader
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8th at 21p
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Once again, Andy Schleck rode brilliantly in today's stage and took the third place, behind the two riders that seem to be the strongest in the race, Di Luca and Simoni. The day in the Alps was the first of a long series of mountain stages that will probably decide the overall winner of the Giro d'Italia 2007. There were two monster ascents on the program and the riders first had to climb over 2400 meters to the roof of the Giro, named Cima Coppi, the Colle dell'Angelo at 2744 meters of altitude. After that, there was still the mighty col d'Izoard to come with its famous lunar landscape of the Casse Deserte. Two French contenders, Yoann Le Boulanger and Christophe Riblon, attacked early in the stage and after having had up to 20 minutes of lead, they were the first to lead the Giro into France. But behind them, Saunier Duval had accelerated on the colle dell'Angelo to make the race difficult for Simoni and the peloton broke into pieces. Favourites like Savoldelli and Popovych were dropped, but Andy Schleck was able to hold on to the very best. They were only 7 chasing behind the two
leaders: Schleck, Piepoli, Simoni, Cunego, Di Luca, Garzelli and Mazzoleni. While Riblon and later Le Boulanger were caught at the beginning of the Izoard, Piepoli and Garzelli were dropped from Schleck's group. But despite several attacks, the other five riders stayed more or less together until the sumnit. Andy rode very strongly, pedalling fast in his smooth and easy looking style that remembers the one of his brother Frank. Di Luca made an atttempt shortly before the top, he took several meters of advance and Cunego was dropped, but the five regrouped again on the descent. The decision for the stage win had to take place on the small but steep rise inside the streets of Briançon, where Di Luca was the first to attack. Only Andy Schleck managed to follow him at first, but then Simoni came up again, whereas the Luxemburgish rider was dropped on the steepest part of the climb, with less than 500 meters to go. Di Luca held off Simoni in the sprint for his third stage win for this year. Andy finished once again on a fantastic third place, 7 seconds late on the Liquigas rider who is now also overall leader, coming back into the maglia rosa that he has already worn twice in this Giro. Andy Schleck is now at an incredible fourth place overall behind Di Luca and two members of the big break in stage 8, Bruzeghin and Arroyo. He is 1'25" late on the pink jersey and of course retains the white one of best young rider, with now 3'46" advantage on Ricco.Tomorrow, the mountain time-trial to Santuario di Oropa will bring some more spectacular action with Andy Schleck in one of the major roles.
23.05.2006 11. Serravalle Scrivia - Pinerolo (198 km)
Petacchi makes it three
Results:
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Alessandro Petacchi
Andrea Noe
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126th at 0"
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12th at 4'04"
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Leader
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6th at 15p
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Between yesterday's mountain top finish in Santuario Nostra Signora Della Guardia and tomorrows big Alpine moutain stage, today's leg was one of the last occasions for the sprinters to show their talents. Everyone expected their teams to control the race and only one rider dared challenging them. Mickael Bouffaz escaped on his own after 38 kilometers and stayed most of the day alone in the lead. Later on, he must have regretted his move becaus after having had 8 minutes of advantage, he started suffering a lot and even had to stop for several minutes before being able to continue. Finally, Buffaz was caught
20 kilometers away from the finish after around 130 kilometers alone in the lead and things were set up for the bunch sprint, despite several unsuccessfull attemps of different Tinkoff riders. Alessandro Petacchi was led out by the Milram team and started the sprint early on the left-hand site of the road, whereas several others like Balducci and McEwen took off on the right side. The finish was very tight and Petacchi was only milimeters ahead of Balducci and the Australian at the finish line. On the wet and very slippery roads, a crash occured right on the finish line, taking down once more world champion Bettini and lots of other riders including maglia rosa Andrea Noe. Andy Schleck, in the white jersey of leader in the young rider classification, was right at the back of the pack and was able to avoid the crash, he crossed the white line in 126th position. There were of course no major changes overall before tomorrow's tough stage to Briançon over the col de l'Izoard.
22.05.2006 10. Camaiore - Santuario Nostra Signora Della Guardia (250 km)
Third place and white jersey for Andy Schleck
Results:
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Leonardo Piepoli
Andrea Noe
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3rd at 27"
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12th at 4'04"
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Leader
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6th at 15p
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Like on the first mountain top finish in Montevergine has Andy Schleck shown a tremendous performance today, in fact, he was even better as on stage 4 and was rewarded with a 3rd place in the stage classification and the white jersey of best young rider. Nobody was able to follow Andy when he attacked with 4 km to go out of the favourite's group and behind the leader Piépoli. This group of around a dozen riders had formed after the early break consisting of Losada, Parra, Ardilla, Alguacil, Dupont, Baliani and Hincapie had been caught and after Danilo Di Luca had seriously shaked the pack with a first acceleration. Andy was able to come within a few seconds of Piépoli, but the last kilometers were very steep with up to 14% slope and he had to slow down a little bit. Di Luca had made an attack behind the Luxemburgish rider and caught him with around 2 kilometers to go. Behind them rode Ricco and Simoni, who
had had a puncture at a very bad moment, just at the beginning of the climb and had to fight his way back to the front again. Leonardo Pièpoli didn't show any weakness at the front and was able to celebrate in Santuario Nostra Signora Della Guardia his third Giro stage win. 18 seconds later, Di Luca came in as second and 9 more seconds behind, a totally exhausted Andy Schleck crossed the finish in third position ... and wasn't able to continue for a single meter. Ricco and Simoni lost about half a minute, but after a very fast and tough stage, several riders had problems on the last climb and lost more time: Savoldelli, Cunego and Popovych only seconds, but riders like Garzelli, Rebellin or Pinotti in pink lost 2 minutes or more. The T-Mobile rider had to hand the leader jersey over to Andrea Noe, who has now 1'08" advantage on Marzio Bruzeghin in the overall classification. Di Luca as first of the main favourites is in 8th position, 3 minutes late, whereas Andy Schleck is noted in 12th spot with 4 minutes deficit on Noe. In the best young rider's classification, the Luxemburgish riders took the lead with his brillant performance and has 1'02" advantage on Riccardo Ricco. He will start tomorrow with the white jersey on his shoulders and is also in good position in the King of the Mountains competition with a 6th place.
21.05.2006 9. Reggio Emilia - Lido di Camaiore (177 km)
Napolitano wins in Petacchi-town
Results:
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Danilo Napolitano
Marco Pinotti
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87th at 0"
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21st at 5'05"
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It should have been the day of Alessandro Petacchi with a finish on his home ground in Lido di Camaiore. The last 90 kilometers were completely flat, but the begining of the stage was very hilly. Fortunately for the sprinters, a lot of riders were tired from the tough stage yesterday and they began the race rather slowly, with only 26 kilometers covered in the first race hour and 27 in the second. In fact, there hasn't been any attack at all on the way up to 1250 meter of altitude at the summit of the Passo del Cerreto and only on the way down to the coast, 4 riders took off and managed to get an advantage of 3 minutes: Crosbie, Bessy, Kunitski and Masciarelli. The Tinkof team, who wasn't very happy to have missed a break for the very first time in this Giro, sent Igantiev and Rovny to the front with around 15 kilomters to go. But in the peloton, Milram and Lotto had started the chase and the gaps got smaller and smaller. The Russian duo was caught 8 kilometers from the finish and the four other riders two kilometers later. Place for the bunch sprint: Alessandro Petacchi opened it as usual very early, but Danilo Napolitano had fought hard with his elbows in the last kilometers to be in his wheel. It was the right tactic and like McEwen, Napolitano jumped ahead of Petacchi in the very last meters to take the stage win. There are no changes in the overall classification where Pinotti stays in the lead. Before the second mountain top finish of tomorrow, Andy Schleck has passed the day well protected inside the bunch and crossed the line in 87th position, next to Benoît Joachim.
20.05.2006 8. Barberino di Mugello - Fiorano Modenese (197 km)
Arvesen wins pokersprint against Bettini
Results:
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Kurt-Asle Arvesen
Marco Pinotti
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52th at 4'19"
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21st at 5'05"
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Once more, Paolo Bettini was one of the riders who animated the stage, and once more, he was beaten by a narrow margin at the end. In a very tactical Sprint of a breakaway group, the world champion lost against Kurt-Asle Arvesen, who jumped out of his wheel in the very last meters. The beginning of the stage was a real invitation to attack with hilly profile, whereas the final 100 kilometers were completely flat. After several attempts, it was Dario Cioni who initated a big and very prominent break with riders like Bettini, Hincapie, Ricco, Sella, Bruzeghin, Rubiera, Aerts or Arvesen. Tinkoff was of course also represented with the unavoidable Pavel Brutt and Petrov. Most of the teams were out there at the front, so that the gap to the peloton quickly increased, after Ricco had quit the break and waited for the pack. With 50 kilometers to go, the advantage of the break was still of seven minutes, so that T-Mobile had to go to the front of the peloton and do some serious chasing in order to retain the pink jersey of Pinotti in the Ferrari hometown. There was still a lot of suspense about the stage victory: Brutt attacked with one kilometer to go with Emmanuele Sella on his wheel, and the latter took off alone a little bit later. He had a gap of several meters to the chasers, so that Bettini couldn't wait anymore and had to open the sprint 600 meters from the line. At full speed, the world champion jumped ahead of Sella and looked like the winner, when Arvesen, who had waited until the very end, came out of his wheel and took his second victory in a Giro stage. Andy Schleck crossed the finish line in the peloton, more then 4 minutes behind the winner. Due to the big number of athletes in the break, the Luxemburgish rider looses several places overall where he is tonight 21st, still 5 minutes behind Pinotti. But compared to the fact that his team-mate took the stage win, this should be without importance and Andy will surely celebrate a little bit this evening.
19.05.2006 7. Spoleto - Scaperia (254 km)
Petacchi at the Grand-prix
Results:
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Alessandro Petacchi
Marco Pinotti
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40th at 0"
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8th at 5'05"
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The riders continue heading North with a real marathon stage, 254 mostly flat kilometers between Spoleto and Scaperia and a nice finish on the racetrack of Mugello, where a sprintfinish was expected. Alessandro Petacchi was best inspired by the motorbikes that normally race here and opened a very long sprint, where no-one managed to come around him any more. The Italian rider celebrated his 21st victory in a Giro stage ahead of Hushovd and Bettini. But the sprinter teams had to work a lot in order to make the sprint finish happen. First of all, Rubens Bertogliati initiated a break together with a man form Tinkoff, Elio Aggiano as well as Fabien Patanchon and Benat Albizuri. They had up to 11 minutes of advantage, but the sprinter teams shared the work in the main peloton and reeled the break in after more than 200 kilometers in the lead. After that, Paolo Bettini and Quick-Step profited from the only climb of the day to break the peloton into several pieces, hoping for the rainbow jersey to shine on home soil. Some sprinters (Förster, Hushovd) were the victims of this attack because they had to chase hard to come back and lost a lot of strengh. Finally, in the last kilometer, Fabian Cancellara tried to get away, one of the riders able to succeed in such an attempt after 250 kilometers. But Milram still had some power left and they brought the peloton back to the CSC rider, before being rewarded for their work by the win of their team-mate. Andy Schleck finished in the main peloton and crossed the line in 40th position.
18.05.2006 6. Tivoli - Spoleto (177 km)
Laverde and Pinotti share the cake
Results:
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Luis Laverde
Marco Pinotti
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84th at 7'09"
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8th at 5'05"
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Next to the tough stages like at the Tre Cime di Lavaredo or the Zoncolan, there are serveral medium-rated mountain stages in this year's Giro d'Italia that make the race really difficult. Today was one of them with the ascent of the Monte Terminillo at 1900 meter altitude in the middle of the course and two smaller climbs towards the end. But although it looked very tough on paper, the stage was fairly uneventfull concerning the overall victory contenders, who allowed a break to go for the win. The beginning of the race was very animated with lots of attacks that were all annihilated by the peloton. But the riders had to ease up a little bit and shortly before the main ascent of the day, five riders finally managed to break away. Behind them, Liquigas ensured a steady but moderate speed on the climb, so that the peloton stayed relatively compact. Hubert Schwab, Christophe Kern, Marco Pinotti, Luis Laverde and Daniele Contrini have crossed the summit of the Terminillo 6 minutes ahead of a big group in which Andy Schleck rode around the 30th position. The situation didn't change much, so that the fiver leaders increased their advantage over the Forca Capistrella by one more minute. Whereas nobody wanted to attack Di Luca and his green guard, Laverde accelerated at the front on the last climb and took with him only Pinotti. Both of them arrived at the finish in Spoleto with one minute and a half of advance on Kern and seven on the nearly complete big pack. Pinotti had learned from his unlucky stage in Romandie and didn't play any tactic games. He preferred leaving the stage victory to Laverde and trying to gain as much time as possible on the peloton to be sure to take the pink jersey at the end. Andy Schleck finished the stage with all the overall favourites in the main peloton led by Petacchi. He is noted on 84th position in the stage and now owns the 8th spot overall, 5'05" late on the new leader Pinotti.
17.05.2006 5. Teano - Frascati (173 km)
Förster takes the risk
Results:
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Robert Förster
Danilo Di Luca
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93rd at 0"
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5th at 53"
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173 kilometers have brought the riders from the Napoli region into the suburbs of Rome, without any big difficulties except a climb of third category with around 20 kilometers to go. Despite high speed from the beginning in the peloton, two riders have managed to escape and they are already well-known in this Giro. Mikail Ignatiev, who surely wants to compete with his team-mate Brutt for the most agressive riderd competition and Mickael Buffaz, who was already in a break with Ignatiev on the third stage. But their chances for success were very small because they never had more than four and a half minutes of advantage and above all, Buffaz was dropped with about 50 kilometers to go, so that Ignatiev had to continue alone against the wind. The olympic champion on the track and former U23 world champion resisted with lots of courage during 30 more kilometers was caught by the peloton shortly before the climb. An attempt by Sella and Bernucci on the Le Macere didn't have any success and the sprinter teams prepared for the final rush. A very dangerous final with some turns and narrow roads on the last kilometer and whereas Petacchi was blocked against a barrier by Napolitano, it was Robert Förster who took the biggest risks and was able to celebrate the win ahead of Hushovd. Andy Schleck kept himself of course away from the kamikaze sprinters and finished in the middle of the pack, in 93rd position, after a fairly uneventful stage for him. There is no change in the overall classifications.
16.05.2006 4. Salerno - Montevergine di Mercogliano (153 km)
Di Luca wins, Schleck brilliant in 4th
Results:
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Danilo Di Luca
Danilo Di Luca
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4th at 3"
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5th at 53"
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After the riders have left Sardegna and enjoyed a day of rest, they had to be ready for the first real highlight of the Giro 2007 today. A twisty and hilly trip on the beautiful Amalfi coast in the South of Napoli was followed in fact by a climb up to 1200 m of altitude, over the 22 turns of the 17 km long and medium sloped Montevergine di Mercogliano. A lot of the riders surely had respect from this last uphill part, because the beginning of the stage was really calm and only after around 50 kilometers, three riders brought some action: Pavel Brutt, once again, Yuri Krivtsov and Markel Irizar attacked at the foot of the Picco San Angelo and quickly created a gap of more than 6 minutes to the rest. Rain started to fall on the riders, causing some massive crashes on the slippery and narrow roads and the peloton hesitated to start the chase after the leading trio. Immediately behind Saunier Duval who controlled the bunch, Andy Schleck rode together with some of his team-mates, trying to reduce the crash-risk that way. At the beginning of the final climb, Brutt, Krivstov and Irizar still had 3 minutes of advance on the main peloton. With around 10 km to go on the climb, the first attacks occured in the peloton, but Liquigas stayed in control. Andy Schleck was still in good position behind the green train of Di Luca. Julio Perez Cuapio was the only one able to get away, whereas the three men of the break had been passed by a first group that got smaller and smaller. Perez was caught again shortly before the finish and the stage was finally decided in a sprint between a group of about 20 riders, among them the Luxemburger from CSC. Big favourites Di Luca and Ricco were strongest and the Liquigas rider celebrated his second stage victory in this place after 2001. Andy Schleck was also very strong and one of the only ones able to hold Di Luca, Ricco and Cunego's wheels in the very last meters. He finished finally behind those three in 4th position of the stage, only 3 seconds down. Of course, the 6th youngest rider of this year's Giro d'Italia jumps also up in the overall classification where he is now at a brillant 5th position tonight, 53 seconds behind Di Luca. Andy also takes second place in the best young rider classification and 5th in the King of the Mountains competition.
14.05.2006 3. Barumini - Cagliari (181 km)
Petacchi is back again
Results:
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Alessandro Petacchi
Enrico Gasparotto
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100th at 0"
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12th at 30"
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Another stage for the sprinters in the south of the Island with the last 40 kilometers this time entirely flat alongside the gulf of Cagliari. Like yesterday, the young russians of the Tinkoff team rode in a very aggressive style with the other big talent, Mikhail Ignatiev, who broke away together with his team-mate Elio Aggiano as well as Alexander Pichot, Giovanni Visconti and Mickael Buffaz. After a fast start, the riders in the peloton slowed down a little bit, so that the five riders were able to build up a seven minute lead. With 60 kilometers to go, Igantiev and Visconti dropped the others, trying to get to the finish as a duo. 20 Kilometers later, their advantage was still of 5 minutes on a peloton where the sprinter teams hadn't started the real chasing yet. This was done 5 kilometers later, when Predictor and Milram send their riders to the front of the pack to give a hand to Liquigas. The gap now decreased rapidly: 3 minutes with 25 km to go, only one left at 9 km from the finish. A little bit later, the two leaders were caught and everything was ready for the showdown between McEwen and Petacchi, whose team-mates prepared the sprint. And this time, big Alessandro didn't deceive them by taking the lead very early and dominating the sprint until the end. After a difficult period, the Italian star was able to celebrate with tears his first big victory after he broke his knee just one year ago. Second and third in the stage were Robert Förster and the surprising Richeze, whereas Robbie McEwen passed the finish line in 4th position. Andy Schleck also finished in the main peloton, more at the back in 100th spot. In the little game of the pink jersey, sprinter Gasparotto took the better again of Di Luca by taking the 8th place at the finish.
13.05.2006 2. Tempio Pausania - Bosa (205 km)
McEwen opens his account
Results:
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Robbie McEwen
Danilo Di Luca
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40th at 0"
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13th at 30"
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The peloton has visited the North-East of Sardegna today, with a mostly flat stage that had nevertheless some hills in the final to make it very interesting. A certain number of sprinters like Hushovd, Förster, Brown or Haedo eventually weren't able to keep up with the peloton on this hills and they had nothing to do with the stage victory at the end. McEwen and Petacchi, as for them, managed to hold on to the very last positions of the main field and immediately afterwards, Milram worked hard to bring back their leader to the front in time for the bunch sprint. But in his luggage, the blue train brought an opportunistic Mc Ewen who didn't hesitate to take the chance and open his account on the 2007 Giro, with a bike length advantage on the Italians Bettini and Petacchi. The stage was animated for a long time by 5 riders, Frédéric Bessy, Mauro Facci, Pavel Brutt, Arnaud Labbe and Simone Masciarelli who had up to 5 minutes of advantage. The last survivor of the break, young and talented Pavel Brutt, was caught with only 8 kilometers to go. Andy Schleck has passed the day in the peloton and managed to avoid all the traps, even the big massive crash with less than 1500 meters to go. He has crossed the finish line in 40th position in the middle of the first group of around 100 riders. Andy moves up two positions overall where he is now in 13th place, 30 seconds behind the new leader Danilo Di Luca, who took over the pink jersey from his team-mate due to a better position in the stage classification (12th).
12.05.2006 1. Caprera - La Maddalena (24 km TTT)
CSC Third behind Liquigas and Astana
Results:
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Liquigas
Enrico Gasparotto
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3rd at 30"
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15th at 30"
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For the first time in his career, Andy Schleck participates 2007 in a Grand Tour lasting for three weeks. And he does it under good circumstances because first, he is in very good shape, second, the tough course should suit him and finally, his team hasn't really a big contender for the overall victory and so Andy could have a very interesting role in the CSC tactics. The Giro 2007 has started with a team-time-trial between the two islands of Caprera and La Maddalena, northern of Sardegna. A spectacular stage concerning the landscape, but also the sport because the stage took place on a hilly and twisty course, non-typical for this kind of disciplin. In the team-time-trial, CSC generally counts among the favourites and it is true that Andy Schleck's team-mates looked good in their various distinctive jerseys: the ones of World Champion (Cancellara), of United States (Zabriskie) or Norvegion (Arvesen) National Champion. They worked well together and the speed was high, until the very last climb with 3 kilometers to go. Like all the other teams, the group exploded on the 10% slopes and only the 5 strongest rider remained together at the front: Schleck, Cancellara, Zabriskie, Arvesen and Gustov. At the conclusion, CSC set a time of 34'08" (precisely 45 km/h average speed), the best time at that moment and it seemed unbreakable for a long time. But then Astana and Liquigas arrived and they were 17 respectively 30 seconds faster than CSC. Enrico Gasparotto was the first rider from Liquigas to pass the line and so he was the one who was handled out the pink jersey. Andy Schleck made a big performance to equal the time-trial specialists of his team and he makes a good deal in the overall classification where he is in 15th position, only 30 seconds late on the leader.
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May 21 to 27, 2007: 87th Volta Ciclista a Catalunya
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27.05.2006 7. Lloret de Mar - Barcelona (119 km)
Karpets stands tall
Results:
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Samuel Sanchez
Vladimir Karpets
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70th at 28"
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21st at 5'15"
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Unlike the last year, the organizers of the Volta a Catalunya have offered a special gift to the cycling fans on the last stage, namely a mountain top finish at 500 meters of altitude on the Tibidabo, on the northern heights of Barcelona. The race wasn't decided yet at the start, even if Vladimir Karpets had a rather confortable advantage of 40 seconds to Rogers. There was some suspense, even more because the only real break of the day consisting of Wiggins, Casar and Vaugrenard had been chased down shortly before the finish and the peloton went grouped into the last climb. Kim Kirchen had worked all day to control the race for his team and has been seen several times at the front of the pack. But Michael Rogers didn't have any occasion to show himself because Alexander Vinokourov attacked right from the beginning of the Tibidabo with Samuel Sanchez in his wheel. The Basque rider fought very hard and was able to come around the Astana riders in the last meters to grab the stage win ... and fall of his bike totally exhausted. Behind the two leaders, there was a group of nine rides with Menchov, Moreau, Rogers, Sevilla, Gadret, de la Fuente, Carrara and Lövqvist, but also Vladimir Karpets who didn't leave any chance for Rogers or Menchov to attack his overall lead. Kim Kirchen has ridden the last climb inside the peloton and finished in 70th position, 28 seconds late on Sanchez. In the final overall classification, he looses one place to Vicioso and is noted in 21st position, 5'25" behind Karpets. Rogers and Menchov complete the final podium.
26.05.2006 6. Llivia - Lloret de Mar (177 km)
Second victory for Cavandish
Results:
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Mark Cavendish
Vladimir Karpets
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38th at 0"
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20th at 4'56"
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This was a very tricky stage between Llivio and Lloret de Mar, whith a hilly beginning and then a long downhill run to the sea. The teams of the sprinters as well as those of the GC contenders had to take care that no break was able to take too much time in the first part with a climb of category one. For T-Mobile, Kim Kirchen had to do most of the work and several times, the Luxemburgish riders had to chase at the front of the pack after an break. The speed was very high and there were lots of attacks, but most of them didn't have any success. Finally, it was one rider alone who was allowed by the peloton to slip away. José Ruiz has taken up to 6 minutes of advantage, but he was caught again shortly before the finish. At the end, Kim Kirchen again had to work had, because Michael Rogers had a puncture and needed some help to get into the bunch again. After a short chase, the team succeeded and Kirchen and Rogers crossed the finish line side by side in around 40th position in the peloton, whereas their team-mate Mark Cavendish held off Columbian sprinter Leonardo Duque for the stage win. For Vladimir Karpets, it has been a good day, because he managed to hold on to his lead and his main opponent for the final overall win, Denis Menchov, has lost some time due to a crash.
25.05.2006 5. Sornas - Vallnord Arcalis (17,1 km mountain TT)
Menchov wins mountain time trial
Results:
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Denis Menchov
Vladimir Karpets
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10th at 1'19"
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20th at 4'56"
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Just as in the Giro, the Volta a Catalunya had a mountain time trial on the program today, which ended on 2200 meters of altitude in the ski resort of Andorra. The climb was similar to the one in Italy (700 meters of change in altitude in 10 kilometers), but in Spain, the riders also had 7 flat kilometers before the climb itself began. French rider Remy Di Gregorio set the first reference times, on the flat, but also at the finish in 39'22" (26 km/h average speed). Alexander Vinokourov was not able to be faster than the Frenchman and he had to settle down with the second provisional position at the finish. Kim Kirchen wasn't far behind and managed to take a fifth provisional position at the finish, 55 seconds slower than Di Gregorio. But the favourites were still to come: Moreau, Menchov, Karpets or Rogers. The three times world champion didn't succeed either in beating the young rider of La Française des Jeux and became the new runner-up in the provisionnal classification. But in the end, the event turned out to be a Russian matter because Denis Menchov finally realized the best time in front of Vladimir Karpets. The latter profited form a less brillant performance of Sevilla in 21st place to take over the white jersey from him. Di Gregorio finally takes third place in the stage classification in front of Rogers and Vinokourov, whereas Kim Kirchen finishes in 10th position, 1'19" down. He continues to progress in the time-trials because this isn't a bad result at all for a rider who came here without any personal ambition in the overall classification. Nevertheless, he moves up there by several places to the 20th position.
24.05.2006 4. Tarrega - Vallnord Arinsal (203 km)
Oscar Sevilla scored double
Results:
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Oscar Sevilla
Oscar Sevilla
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35th at 4'04"
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37th at 4'12"
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A big stage waited for the riders today in the Volta a Catalunya, with a mountain top finish in Andorra, at 1950 meters of altitude. Oscar Sevilla scored double by taking the victory as well as the overall lead on this queen stage. 9 riders had attacked already after 7 kilometers and they wanted to stay at the front at least until the foot of the difficult, final climb: Samuel Doumoulin, Maryan Hary, Maarten Wynants, Murilo Ficher, Luis Pasamontes, Eladio Jimenez, Joaquin Ortega, David Millar and Jerôme Pineau. Behind the leaders, Astana had not much help in the pousuit, so that some of the riders in the break, namely Pasamontes and Jimenez, eventually realized this goal. But they were caught shortly after the beginning of the climb and immediately, Oscar Sevilla launched an attack. The Relax-Gam rider quickly took half a minute of advantage, before Kim Kirchen's team-mate Michael Rogers accelerated in the next group and continued chasing alone. But it was too late for the Australian and Sevilla was able to celebrate again a victory after several months, whereas Rogers took second. Moreau and Menchov weren't far behind, but other favourites lost more time like Karpets, Sanchez or Vinokourov, who finished the stage 4 minutes late in 38th position, in the same group as Kim Kirchen. The Luxemburgish rider doesn't have any personal ambition in Catalunya, he is there to find a good racing rythm again after his break and to do some teamword. Today, he helped bringing Rogers to the foot of the last climb in the best conditions and was next to the favourites until then. But Kim took it easier on the last climb, finishing the stage in 35th position. He is in 37th spot overall, 4'12" behind the new leader Oscar Sevilla.
23.05.2006 3. Perafort - Tarrega (182 km)
Davis wins another sprint finish
Results:
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Allan Davis
Imanol Erviti
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60th at 0"
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74th at 41"
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Despite two climbs of second category and another, uncategorized climb near the end of the course, stage 3 of the Volta ended again in a bunch sprint which was won by Allan Davis from Discovery channel ahead of another Autralian, Baden Cooke. It was mostly Caisse d'Epargne around leader Erviti and Unibet around Baden Cooke that worked in the chase of an early break of five riders: Sylvain Chavanel, Paolo Bossoni, Julian Sanchez , Jose Antonio Lopez and Javier Cherro broke away after 3 kilometers only and were given a lead of several minutes, but under big head, they faded on the biggest climb of the day, the Alt de Fores and were caught shortly after. Except 20 riders, including yesterday's winner Cavendish, all the people were still together at that moment and so a sprint finish in Tarrega was unavoidable. Kim Kirchen was also present at the front of the peloton and he took the 60th position in the stage. There are no major changes in the overall classification.
22.05.2006 2. Salou - Perafort (170 km)
Victory for T-Mobile with Cavendish
Results:
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Mark Cavendish
Imanol Erviti
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141st at 0"
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80th at 41"
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Kim Kirchen's T-Mobile team has had something to celebrate after the second stage of the Volta and the victory of its rising sprint star Mark Cavendish. On a somewhat strange downhill finish, the young Britain took his fourth victory of the season ahead of Aaron Kemps, Leonardo Duque and Baden Cooke. Althouth the stage counted three categorized climbs, it was one of the only opportunities for sprinters in this Tour of Catalogna and their teams made sure that the break consisting of Victor Hugo Peña (Unibet.com) and Francisco Jose Martinez (Andalucia-Cayasur) , who stayed in the lead for most of the day, was caught right in time for a bunch sprint. Kim Kirchen crossed the finish line in the middle of the pack in 141st position. Imanol Erviti was the first rider of Caisse d'Epargne to cross the finish line in 23rd place and took over the white coloured leader jersey of the race.
21.05.2006 1. Salou - Salou (15 km TTT)
Caisse d'Epargne confirms favourite status
Results:
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Caisse d'Epargne
Vladimir Karpets
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13th at 40"
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80th at 40"
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After nearly a month of break, Kim Kirchen resumes competition at the Volta a Catalunya and begins his preparation for the Tour de France. His first race as a married man started with a short team-time-trial on a flat course in the streets of tourist city Salou. The spanish team Caisse d'Epargne, without Valverde, but with riders like Pereiro, Karpets or Gutierrez, has confirmed their favourite status by taking the win at an average speed of more than 53 km/h, ahead of Team CSC with O'Grady, Vandevelde or Lars Bak. CSC looked like the winner for a long time after having set the best time, but Caisse d'Epargne as last team did 16 seconds better than the Danish squad. The third place was claimed by the Vinokourov-team Astana, 17 seconds late on the winner. For Kim Kirchen and his team, the result wasn't really good. They had several strong riders in their team like Rogers, Guerini or Gerdemann, but didn't find a good rythm on the technical course. T-Mobile finally finished in 13th position, 40 seconds behind Caisse d'Epargne. Vladimir Karpets was the first rider of the winning team to cross the finish line and will thus wear the leader jersey on tomorrow's stage. Kim Kirchen is in 80th position overall, just behind his team-mate Michael Rogers.
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May 01-06, 2006: 71st Tour de Romandie
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06.05.2006 5. Lausanne - Lausanne (20,4 km ITT)
Dekker dominates, Schleck confirms
Results:
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Thomas Dekker
Thomas Dekker
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22nd at 1'29"
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8th at 1'53"
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The last stage took place traditionnally as an individual time-trial in Lausanne, mostly flat at the beginning but with a nasty climb at the very end. If we feared that Andy Schleck could loose his 10th position, earned yesterday, to more experianced riders or better time-trialers than him, the young talent took away those fears quickly and confirmed that he is in excellent shape for the moment. He had found a good rythm and finished the 20,4 kilometers in 28'05", at an average speed of 43,6 km/h. This means for him a 22nd place in the stage classification, 1'29" late on the winner. If the Luxemburgish rider was overtaken in the battle for the General classification positions by Kreuziger, he resisted to the specialists Janez Brajkovic and Christophe Moreau and was able to catch Szmyd, Gadret and Joaquin Rodriguez. Eventually, Andy Schleck has finished 8th in the final overall classification of the Tour de Romandie 2007 and has thus collected his very first Pro-Tour points. As for the overall victory, there was of course also lots of supense. Andrej Kashechkin set a very fast time and seemed able to snatch the win, before his team-mate and winner of the prologue, Paolo Savoldelli, did better than him by 7 seconds. But the strongest rider was without doubt Thomas Dekker, who had already yesterday impressed by his strong performance in the mountains. Obviously, this didn't influence his time-trial skills because the young Dutchman won the test against the clock in 26'36", at an average speed of 46 km/h and 5 seconds faster than Savoldelli. Too much for yellow jersey Chris Horner who, despite a nice seventh place in the stage, had to see the first, second and third positions overall fade away one after another.
05.05.2006 4. Charmey - Morgins (156 km)
Fantastic performance by Andy Schleck
Results:
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Igor Anton Hernandez
Chris Horner
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7th at 16"
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10th at 33"
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Beautiful performance from Andy Schleck in today's queen stage of the Tour de Romandie, where he took a Top 10 spot in the stage rankings, but also in the overall classification of this evening. This legendary stage probably set a new record in the history books of the Tour de Romandie with more than 3400 meters of climbing on a single day, passing through the cols du Jaun (1508 m), du Pillon (1546 m) and de Villars (1261 m) and finishing on top at 1270 meters above sea-level in the ski resort of Morgins. In addition, the race was made very tought by the weather, with cold and rain that made the roads very dangerous, so that after the first up- and downhill, the main peloton was already very small. It continued to decrease on the next obstacles, especially after attacks from Menchov or Beltran. Behind Goradz Stangelj, the only rider left in the lead out of the early break, only 30 riders were still together at the foot of the last climb up to Morgins. Astana made most of the work at the front, but after attacks from Igor Anton, Chris Horner, Thomas Dekker and John Gadret, Savoldelli had to slow down a little bit and let them go. The four riders fought out the stage victory in a four man sprint where Basque rider Igor Anton Hernandez was fastest ahead of Dekker and Horner. 16 seconds later, a prominent chasing group passed the finish line with Evans, Szmyd and Savoldelli, but also a totally wet and tired Andy Schleck, who surely was very happy about his 7th place. Chris Horner takes over the yellow jersey and has now 7 seconds advantage on Anton Hernandez in the overall classification, where Andy Schleck lies in 10 position, 33 seconds late. The small gaps between the main protagonists will surely lead to a dramatic last time-trial tomorrow.
04.05.2006 3. Moudon - Charmey (163 km)
Second season victory for Matteo Bono
Results:
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Matteo Bono
Paolo Savoldelli
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12th at 3'51"
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25th at 18"
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A hilly stage with 3 climbs towards the end and a mountain top finish, but much less difficult than the one of the day after. Part of the interest surely was know wether the GC contenders would look at each other today, waiting for tomorrow's deciding stage, or wether they would already try something now. The first issue was probable and the favourites were very calm for most of the day, letting three riders animate the race at the front and taking a big advantage: Marco Pinotti, Matteo Bono and Fumiyuki Beppu. Enough advantage, up to 19 minutes, to be able to fight out the victory among themselves. Finally, it was Matteo Bono who took his second stage victory for this season in the sprint ahead of Japanese champion Beppu and Pinotti. Behind them, Astana controlled the race in the last kilometers and set a very high speed, so that no attack on Savoldelli was able to succeed. Christophe Moreau took fourth place at the finish in the sprint of a group of 75 riders, among them also Andy Schleck. The Luxemburgish rider was near the front of the pack in the end, he sprinted also for fourth place and finally took the 12th spot. They came in around 4 minutes after the winner, so that it was very close for the yellow jersey. Due to the big work of Astana in the final kilometers, Savoldelli was finally able to keep the leader position, with only 4 seconds advantage on Pinotto. Before tomorrow's queen stage, Andy Schleck is still 18 seconds behind the former Giro winner and has a good chance on a nice overall position at the end.
03.05.2006 2. La Chaux-de-Fonds - Lucens (167 km)
McEwen takes his chance
Results:
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Robbie McEwen
Paolo Savoldelli
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32nd at 0"
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28th at 18"
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Despite a climb of the first category at the beginning of the course, stage number 2, heading south towards Lucens, was presented as one of the most easiest stages of the race, the only one which possibly could suit to a sprinter. Eventually, the team-mates of the fast men controlled the race and let only one rider break away, Nicolas Crosbie. Alone against the bunch, the rider form Bouygues managed to get up to 9 minutes of advantage, but the gap decreased towards the end of the stage like snow in the sun, which was shining today unlike yesterday. With 25 kilometers to go, the Frenchman still was 2 minutes ahead of the peloton led by Milram and Euskatel. 17 km from the finish, Crosbie was caught by the bunch and immediately, there were more attacks, also from CSC with Kroon and Julich. Suddenly, it began to rain shortly before the finish and on a tricky downhill, the peloton broke into several pieces, with Andy Schleck being attentive and up in the first groupe. Around 50 riders came together to the finish for a sprint and without surprise, Robbie McEwen had the fastest legs out of them. During the sprint, a dangerous move caused a massive crash that brought lots of riders to the ground, but Schleck fortunately avoided it and finished in 32nd position in the middle of that small peloton.
02.05.2006 1. Granges-Paccot - La Chaux-de-Fonds (158 km)
Fothen wins after dramatic final
Results:
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Marcus Fothen
Paolo Savoldelli
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81st at 0"
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28th at 18"
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First stage with 158 km around the lake of Neufchatel and 4 climbs already, with the last one, the col de Tourne of 1st category, situated at around 25 kilometers from the finish line. 6 riders have anticipated the uphills by attacking in the first, flat part of the stage: Brochard, Bodrogi, Capecchi and Chris Anker Sörensen, the young team-mate of Andy Schleck, joined a little later by Ferrara and Facci. They have had up to 6 minutes of advantage, but Astana of the race leader Savoldelli controlled the gap at the head of the peloton. On the last climb, Brochard and Capecchi dropped the other riders of the break, whereas several attack splitted up the peloton with Andy Schleck being in the very first part. Around 15 kilometers from the finish, the leading duo was caught by the first chasing group. There were lots of attacks at the front of the race, Francisco Perez broke away and Schleck also tried his luck on a small climb together with Wegelius, but it was Markus Fothen who managed to bridge up to the Spaniard and win the stage in front of Perez. The first group, consisting of 85 riders with also Andy Schleck in it, finished in his wheel led by Joaquin Rodriguez. The Luxemburgish rider is noted in 81st position of the stage and moves up to the 28th position overall, still 18" seconds behind Savoldelli.
01.05.2006 P. Fribourg - Fribourg (3,5 km ITT)
"Il Falco" flies to prologue victory
Results:
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Paolo Savoldelli
Paolo Savoldelli
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40th at 18"
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40th at 18"
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Whereas Frank Schleck and Kim Kirchen have some rest days on their program at the beginning of the month of May, the season continues for Andy Schleck, who lines up in the Tour de Romandie, a few days before participating in his first major Tour, the one of Italy. The Tour de Romandie is a race in the mountains and the first heights are already on the menu for tomorrow. But also the prologue in the streets of Fribourg has a little climbing in its profile. This certainly pleased to Chris Horner, an excellent climber who took the start on a normal bike and after Russian rider Mizurov, he set a real reference time in 4'42". But he would not stay in the lead for very long because Paolo Savoldelli was on his way, whose technical skills and kamikaze riding style were perfect for this very twisty circuit with narrow turns. For the second time in a row, the Italian won the opening round of the Tour de Romandie with a time of 4'35" (45,8 km/h), 5 seconds ahead of Roman Kreuziger, who confirmed his talent for this kind of exercise, and 7" faster than Horner. Andy Schleck needed 4'53" for the 3,5 km, which means he rode at an average speed of 43 km/h. Eventually, he finished in 40th position, in the same time than Valjavec or Bernhard Kohl, but faster than some of the favourites like Honchar, Rogers, Menchov or Moreau.
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