01.07.2006 Schifflange - Schifflange (151 km road-race)
Benoît takes revenge
Results:
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Benoît Joachim
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5th at 5'37"
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3rd at 1'18"
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4th at 1'18"
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Three days ago, in the time-trial Nationals, Benoît Joachim maybe rode one of the worst races in his life, finishing as defending champion only fourth ... out of four participating riders. Today, the man from Astana took revenge and won for the third time in his career the Luxemburgish National Road-race Championship, after a very tactical race. The course of the National Championships 2007 took firt a big and relatively easy loop of 100 kilometers to the North-West of the country, then 5 laps on a local circuit with each time the short but steep climb of Kayler Poteau. On this course, it was known at the beginning that tactics would play a capital role and the victory of Christian Poos in the time-trial had reminded to everyone that surprises have always been part of the Nationals in the past. Benoît Joachim has done it the smartest way by anticipating and joining a break very early, after 25 kilometers, in which he found some allies in Christian Poos or Robert Schmitt, fighting for the U23 title. Eleven riders were in the break, among them Bintz, Wolter, Diseviscourt, Dahm, Engelmann, Theis and Libar, leaving the main peloton with the three riders of ACC Contern behind them. Just like in the time-trial, Christian Poos showed a tremendous form and was ready to challenge the Pro-Tour riders. After the first local course in Schifflange, the break had expolded and only Poos and Joachim remained in the lead, with still about four minutes advantage on the main peloton. A peloton in which the Schleck brothers and Kim Kirchen still waited before taking their responsabilities. Maybe they were afraid of chasing too early and do the work for someone else. The numerous spectators had to wait until the penultimate lap before seing the big favourites in action. Andy Schleck wasn't very well, just like in the time-trial and he finished the race only just ahead of the main peloton, but Frank and Kim had taken off in poursuit of the leading duo, and they gained nearly two minutes on them in just one lap. But it was too late: in the last hectometers of the race, Benoît Joachim managed to get rid of Poos and celebrated a solo victory at the finish, taking the flowers and the three-coloured jersey home. Frank Schleck finished in third position, just before defending champion Kim Kirchen who was so upset that he didn't even sprint for the last spot on the podium. Andy Schleck finished fifth out of seven riders in the elite with contract category. Ben Gastauer takes the title in the U23 classification after a very strong race, whereas Benn Wurth was first elite rider without a contract.
28.06.2006 Esch-sur-Sûre - Riesenhaff (15 km time-trial)
Andy Schleck Second in the time-trial
Results:
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Christian Poos
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2nd at 21"
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The Luxemburgish National time-trial championships took place today on the very, very selective course between Esch-sur-Sûre and the place called Riesenhaff. The distance was short (15 kilometers) and the views on the lake of the Haute-Sûre picturesque, but the 250 meters of change in altitude took everything out of the riders. On such a course, there could be only one favourite, Andy Schleck, because defending champion Benoît Joachim clearly is more at his ease on a fast circuit. But there has been some kind of sensation, because nor Schleck, nor Joachim were able to grab the title, but it was Christian Poos who did it. The rider form the Continental Team of Differdange, who isn't at his first National title, has realized a perfect race and has set the best time of the day in 24'15". He already showed that he is in excellent condition this year with solid performances in the Tour de Luxembourg or two wins in Differdange and Bertrange during the last two weeks, and he has confirmed this today. At an average speed of 37 km per hour, Poos was 21 seconds faster than runner-up Andy Schleck, 44" faster than Laurent Didier and a little bit more than a minute ahead of Benoît Joachim. Andy Schleck wasn't at his ease today, because he hasn't done many intensive riding in the last weeks. His next goals are still far away and he needed to rest, both physically and mentally, from his fantastic performances in the Giro d'Italia. The time-trial at the Nationals was in fact his first race after a month of break, filled with celebrations and sollicitations of all kind. Andy simply had problems to find his rythm today and against an in-form Christian Poos, this was unforgivable.
24.06.2007 9. Bern - Bern (34 km ITT)
!!! KIM KIRCHEN OVERALL RUNNER-UP!!!
Results:
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Fabian Cancellara
Vladimir Karpets
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15th at 2'16"
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2nd at 1'04"
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29th at 2'50"
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7th at 1'47"
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Several times in its recent history, the overall victory for Tour de Suisse has been decided only on the last day in a time trial, and this was also the case this year, because at the start of the 34 hilly kilometers around Bern, 6 riders were seperated by less than a minute overall and thus still had chances for the win, among them the Luxemburgish riders Kim Kirchen and Frank Schleck. The other main contenders were of course the overall leader Efimkin, his team-mate Karpets as well as the two Italians Cunego and Carrara. Unfortunaltely, Vladimir Karpets quickly killed the suspense by setting an exceptinnal first intermediate time, exactly the same as the big favourite for the stage victory, world champion Fabian Cancellara. They have crossed the
check point in 12'02" and at that point, the Russian was only one second away from the provisionnal overall lead and had already passed Kim Kirchen. The Luxemburgish rider has arrived in 12'19" and was 17" slower than Karpets. On the second intermediate time check, the gaps had increased: Karpets was 57" faster than Kirchen who saw the dream of an overall victory slowly fade away. But the T-Mobile rider had also resolved his gap to Efimkin at that point, so he was still second overall. On the last kilometers, Karpets was a little bit less strong and Kirchen was didn't loose too much time any more. But it was too late: Vladimir Karpets finished the stage in 42'52", 1'10" faster than Kim Kirchen and he wrote his name as overall winner 2007 into the palmares of the Tour de Suisse, because neither Cunego, Carrara, Efimkin nor Schleck were fast enough today. Kirchen finished in 44'02" and took the 15th position in the classification of the day. The stage was won by Fabian Cancellara in his hometown, with 20" advantage on Andreas Klöden and 33" on Stefan Schumacher. Fourth was Stijn Devolder, who after good performances and offensive talent in the mountains showed also excellent time-trial skills and with this performance, the young Belgian moved up several places overall and was able to mount on the podium next to Karpets and Kirchen. Frank Schleck didn't have a brillant day today with a rather medium-rated performance. He took the 29th position in the stage, 2'50" late on his team-mate Cancellara, but ahead of riders like Voigt, Bruzeghin, Kessler or golden jersey wearer Efimkin. With this result, Schleck moved down to 7th position overall, 1'47" behind Karpets, but only 17" away from a podium spot. He has had a very bad day in Crans Montana, and without the time loss resulting from that stage, he would probably haved been on the podium and maybe even in first position. For him and Kim Kirchen, it is now time to think about the Tour de France that will begin in two week's time. Before, they will also meet up with Andy Schleck at the National Championships in Schifflange.
23.06.2007 7. Innertkirchen - Schwarzsee (153 km)
Uran explodes, status quo overall
Results:
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Rigoberto Uran
Vladimir Efimkin
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13th at 2"
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2nd at 24"
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16th at 2"
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5th at 33"
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Even if the course of today's stage was quite hilly with a short, but steep ramp in Fribourg as well as two other climbs in the final, the favourites didn't really show themselves and left the field open for a young Colombian rider, who has surprised the sprinters in the 50 men lead group with a tactical move in the last kilometer. The race was very, very fast from the beginning, but only after around 70 kilometers, a decent break managed to get away. They were eleven and took up to 3 minutes of advantage, among them riders like Ballan, Sastre, Van Goolen, Rodriguez or Albasini. On the cobbles in
Fribourg, the winner of the Ronde van Vlaanderen seemed to feel alright and he set off at the front together with Sastre, whereas the main peloton had reduced the gap to around 2 minutes. But a little bit later, on the climb of Weissenstein, Ballan was dropped by the Spaniard. Carlos Sastre fought hard and rode solo at the front for around 15 kilometers, but then he was also swallowed by the strung-out peloton that approached the finish line at high speed. The stage seemed promised to the sprinters and there were still riders like Zabel, Bennati, O'Grady and Moreno in the leading group, but Rigoberto Uran attacked in the last, uphill kilometer and managed to keep a small advantage until the finish line. 2 seconds behind the Colombian, the first group was led over the white line by Christian Moreni, with Kim Kirchen in 13th position and Frank Schleck in 16th place. There were no overall changes in the tough stage.
22.06.2007 6. Ulrichen - Grimselpass (126 km)
Kim Kirchen moves up
Results:
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Vladimir Gusev
Vladimir Efimkin
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6th at 4'09"
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2nd at 24"
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14th at 4'27"
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5th at 33"
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Kim Kirchen has shown himself once more from his best side during the queen stage of the Tour de Suisse. On the last climb to the finish, he was the strongest out of the GC contenders and with a powerfull acceleration shortly before the finish, he moved up to second spot in the overall classification, 24 seconds behind Efimkin. The stage was short, but with Furkapass (2436 m), Sustenpass (2215 m) and Grimselpass (2164 m) there were around 60 uphill kilometers on today's program with up to 4000 meters of change in altitude. Of course, this was suitable for attacks and some riders like Klöden, Gusev or Horner wanted to give themselves a last big test before the Tour de France by being up front from the beginning. The two
latter rode in the lead with Bruzeghin on the Furkapass, whereas the German was shortly behind in a chasing group with riders like Zberg, Ten Dam or Zampieri. On the Sustenpass, some of these riders managed to bridge up to the front, so that we had 9 riders in the lead: Beat Zberg, Steve Zampieri, Marzio Bruseghin, Vladimir Gusev, Patrice Halgand, Daniel Navarro, Andreas Klöden, Martin Elmiger and Chris Horner. The first part of the peloton with Kirchen, Schleck and the other favourites was more than four minutes down. On the descent, the first group splitted up again and at the beginning of the last climb, Vladimir Gusev was alone in the lead with Chris Horner chasing behind. But the Russian rider from Discovery Channel didn't show any weakness on the climb and arrived at the finish for a solo victory, with nearly two and a half minutes of advantage on the American. In the main peloton, the Caisse d'Epargne has set a very high speed on the last ascent with Vladimir Karpets doing a lot of work. Nobody dared to attack except Glomser and Cunego who tried their luck without success. But Kim Kirchen put in a very strong acceleration in the last kilometer and managed to drop the other riders in the group. He crossed the finish line alone in 6th position, but Karpets, Efimkin and Cunego were only 6 small seconds late on him. Other riders like Gomez Marchante, Carrara and also Frank Schleck have lost some more time, so that Kim was able to move up to second place overall, 24" late on Efimkin. Schleck was with the best until nearly the end, but he was dropped near to the finish. Once again, the CSC riders managed to come back into the Efimkin group, but he was dropped again in the last kilometer and crossed the finish line together with Devolder and Dekker. He took the 14th position in the stage, 4'27" behind Gusev and 18 seconds behind Kim Kirchen. In the overall classification, Schleck moves down to 5th position, but he still has only 33 seconds gap to Efimkin and can still hope for a podium spot at the End.
21.06.2007 6. Giubiasco - Crans-Montana (191 km)
Dekker wins, Schleck looses golden jersey
Resultate:
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Thomas Dekker
Vladimir Efimkin
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15th at 41"
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6th at 30"
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26th at 1'21"
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3rd at 21"
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The weather goes crazy, even in Switzerland. Two days ago, the riders went up to Malbun under big heat, and today, they have known lots of rain and even hail. Professional cycling isn't an easy job. Already at the beginning of the stage, the hail has fallen down on the peloton and even caused some damages on the cars. If the riders had started, it was soon clear that it would not be possible to continue under these conditions. The stage has been neutralized and the real start transfered into the next valley of Wallis. Thus, the Tour de Suisse has lost its roof, because the Nufenenpass at 2500 meters of altitude wasn't part of the stage any more. Today's course was reduced to 95 kilometers, meaning 80 kilometers of flat and than the tough climb up to Crans Montana. Unfortunately, Frank Schleck wasn't as strong as in Malbun and he lost the leader jersey to Vladimir Efimkin. Immediately after the second start, Victor Hugo Pena and René Weissinger attacked, but they were caught again just in time for the beginning of the final obstacle. CSC has set a high pace at the beginning of the climb with golden jersey Frank Schleck being in second position behind Carlos Sastre. But soon, the first attacks took place: Devolder, Lopez Garcia, Glomser and then Simoni and Cunego. The first group exploded and surprisingly, Frank Schleck found himselves in difficulties, just like Kim Kirchen. 8 riders crossed the summit of the climb with 2 kilometers to go together in the lead, among them Cunego, Simoni, Karpets, Gomez Marchante or Efimkin. Some 40 seconds later, Kim Kirchen followed in a small group with Lopez Garcia and Devolder, whereas Frank Schleck was already more than a minute late. On the last, flat Kilometers, Thomas Dekker attacked out of the lead group and he was able to snatch the stage win ahead of Glomser and Simoni. Kim Kirchen followed in 15th position, 41" late, whereas Frank Schleck finished in 26th place, 1'21" behind Dekker. Vladimir Efimkin was well present in the first group behind Dekker and he was able to take over the golden leader jersey with now 21" advantage on Schleck in 3rd position and 30" on Kirchen in 6th place. Nothing is decided yet as tomorrow will take place the queen stage with Furkapass, Sustenpass and mountain top finish on the Grimselpass.
20.06.2007 5. Vaduz - Giubiasco (193 km)
Mc Ewen wins bunch sprint, Schleck retains yellow
Resultate:
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Robbie McEwen
Frank Schleck
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47th at 0"
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3rd at 49"
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32nd at 0"
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first
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An extraordinary day today for Frank Schleck, for the first time in the leader jersey of an important stage race and it wasn't too difficult for a day, except for the beginning. There were lots of attacks and the peloton broke several times into small pieces. Only after a regroupement at km 30, the riders calmed down and two of them, Bertogliati and Ten Dam, were allowed to break away and take an important advantage. Biggest obstacle of the stage was the Lukmanierpass, but the long climb was situated around 80 kilometers from the finish line, whereas the final kilometers were completely flat. The favourites continued to neutralize each other on their way to the summit, so
that Laurens Ten Dam, who had dropped Bertogliati in the mean time, still had more than 9 minutes of a gap at the top. But the sprinter teams had their idea on the finish, so that Milram and Lampre took over the chase in the peloton. Behind them, Kim Kirchen and Frank Schleck showed themselves in the first positions of the peloton, in order to avoid any negative surprise and minimize the crash risk. The gap melted down quickly now and with 13 km to go, after 150 of them in the lead, Ten Dam has been caught again. Liquigas started preparing the sprint, whereas the yellow jersey, just like the red-white-blue one, still constantly was among the very first of the pack. On the left side of the road, Christian Moreni opened the sprint, but at the same time, Robbie McEwen made a move on the right-hand side and nobody was able to come around him. The Australian rider took the stage win ahead of Bennati and Zabel. Frank Schleck and Kim Kirchen crossed the finish line in 32nd respectively 47th position in the peloton. There are no changes overall before tomorrow's Mountain Top Finish in Crans Montana which Schleck will still tackle in yellow.
19.06.2007 4. Nauders - Triesenberg/Malbun (167 km)
!!! FRANK SCHLECK SCORES DOUBLE !!!
Resultate:
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Frank Schleck
Frank Schleck
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5th at 48"
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3rd at 49"
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winner
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first
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On the steep slopes up to the ski resort of Malbun, the cycling world discovered three years ago a young Luxemburgish rider who seemed to have impressive climbing skills. That year, Frank Schleck finished third of the stage behind Totschnig and this seemed to have inspired him, because today, he flew away from his opponents at mid-climb to score double: stage victory and golden jersey. Stage number 4 can thus be reduced to just the single climb in the streets of Liechtenstein, because despite the Arlbergpass towards the middle of the course, despite a very animated race begin where the peloton was split into several groups for nearly 50 kilometers, despite the attempt of Kevin de Weert and Arkati Duran Aroca, who have had up to 9 minutes of advantage, the CSC and T-Mobile led peloton was still compact at the foot of the ultimate climb. But then of course, it
quickly exploded and the number of riders in the first group decreased rapidly. At mid-climb, Frank Schleck took over the lead and accelerated seriously, with only Carrara staying in his wheel. After a small regroupement, Schleck insisted and this time, he was able to take off alone. Kim Kirchen had some problems at that moment, because he still wasn't at his best after his crash of the day before. But he found his own pace and managed to hang on just behind the first chasers of Schleck, who were at the number of six: Devolder, Efimkin, Carrara, Karpets, Cunego and Gomez Marchante. But Frank Schleck had gone away for good, in his fluent and elegant style. With 5 kilometers to go, he had 20 seconds of advantage, whereas the chasing group had exploded after an attack of Gomez Marchante. During this time, Kim Kirchen felt better and better and passed one rider after the other in front of him. Finally, Frank Schleck has crossed the finish line with his arms up to the sky, 32 seconds ahead of Efimkin, 42 ahead of Gomez Marchante and 48 seconds ahead of Carrara and Kim Kirchen in 5th position. After this fantastic peformance, the two Luxemburgish riders of course are well up at the overall classification, where Schleck has taken the golden leader jersey from the shoulders of his team-mate Cancellara. He has now 49 seconds advantage on Efimkin in second and Kim Kirchen in third position. What a geat day again for Luxemburgish cycling after the performances of Andy Schleck in the Giro.
18.06.2007 3. Brunnen - Nauders (229 km)
Proni surprises, Kirchen misses win
Resultate:
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Alessandro Proni
Fabian Cancellara
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3rd at 7"
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3rd at 14"
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5th at 0"
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13h at 23"
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The serious things have begun today because the riders not only had the longest stage with 229 kilometers on their program, but also the second highest point of the Tour with the Fluelapass at 2.383 meters of altitude. In addition to this monster uphill of more than 30 kilometers, a climb of third category just before the finish was meant to bring a first big selection among the GC contenders. But they remained rather clam with the next, very tough days in view, although the two Luxemburgish riders Kim Kirchen and Frank Schleck showed themselves up front and were among the strongest in the final. After a very fast start, the peloton quickly decided to allow a break and three riders, Daniel Navarro Garcia, Luis Pasamontes Rodriguez and Alessandro Proni, tackled the Fluelapass with more than 10 minutes of advantage on the peloton. On the climb, the bunch used a steady and average-rated tempo, so that most of the riders stayed more or less together and the break still had a big advantage on the summit. But after that, the gap melted very quickly and at the foot of the final climb there were only less than two minutes left. Kim Kirchen suffered from a crash on the descent from Fluelapass, but quickly managed to get into the peloton again. Alessandro Proni realized that he had to react and accelerated on the first slopes of the Norberthöhe, leaving the two other riders behind. Lampre and T-Mobile led the bunch, and an attack from Kim Kirchen shortly before the moutain-top reduced the gap further more. The Luxemburgish rider took off in the pursuit together with Cunego and Carrara, but on the short dowhnill to the finish, they were caught again by around 20 chasers. With lots of courage, Proni managed to get to the finish line with a small advantage of only 7 seconds and took the stage win. No luck for Kim Kirchen because the T-Mobile rider seems to be in very good form and took the third place in the stage behind Florencio. Shortly behind him, Frank Schleck arrived in 5th position, after having supported his team-mate and race leader Cancellara in the final. In the overall classification, both the Luxemburgish riders move several positions up, Kirchen into 3rd position, 14 seconds late and Schleck into 13th spot, 23 seconds behind Cancellara, who showed surprising climbing skills today, just like he has shown good sprinting capacities yesterday.
17.06.2007 2. Olten - Luzern (159 km)
Zabel wins bunch sprint
Resultate:
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Erik Zabel
Fabian Cancellara
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63rd at 0"
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12th at 18"
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42nd at 0"
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36th at 23"
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Traditionnaly, the first stage of the Tour de Suisse is dedicated to the sprinters. But after a mostly flat stage, two climbs of third and fourth category in the last 20 kilometers to Luzern complicated their mission. Of course, several riders asked for less than that to go into the attack, like Steve Zampieri, who always set himself into the spotlights with agressive racing style in his home Tour. His acceleration was fatal for Pascal Hungerbühler, who was alone in the lead for more than 50 kilometers, but was caught on the climb of Rengg by a 5-man group around Zampieri. But the sprinter teams, most of all Lotto, had organized the chase in the main bunch and the break was annihilated by the peloton a little later, just like another attempt of the trio Barredo, Stalder and Carrara. Barredo insisted alone with 5 kilometers to go, but the massive sprint has become unavoidable, though heavily influenced by a big crash with less than one kilometer to go. But the fastest were up at the front, Bennati of course, Zabel, but also Fabian Cancellara, who had to participate into the sprint in order to avoid losing his golden leader jersey to Bennati. And the CSC rider was incredibly strong, he even looked like the winner for a moment, but in a very tight finish, Zabel and Bennati came around him and crossed the finish line in that order. Frank Schleck and Kim Kirchen finished the stage in the peloton, in 42nd respectively 63rd position, so they were able to avoid all the traps in this stage, including the massive crash in the final kilometer.
16.06.2007 1. Olten (prologue 3,8 km)
No surprise in Olten
Results:
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Fabian Cancellara
Fabian Cancellara
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11th at 12"
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11th at 12"
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39th at 17"
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39th at 17"
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The Tour de Suisse has begun with a 3,8 kilometer prologue in the streets of Olten. For Kim Kirchen, Frank Schleck and many others, the hilly race is a last stage before the National Championships and the Tour de France at the beginning of July. But there weren't any climbs yet, the prologue was mostly flat with a few turns and several long straight lines, where the specialists could perfectly develop their power. And Fabian Cancellara, the world champion and archi-favorite at home, did this in impressive manner. He has really dominated the stage at an average speed of 52,6 km/h and was an incredible 8 seconds faster than his runner-up, sprinter Daniele Bennati. Behind them, the gaps were tight: Gutierrez followed at 9 seconds, O'Grady, Gusev and the surprising Frenchman Bonnet at 10 seconds. Kim Kirchen also had a good race and finished 11th of the stage, in the same time than Schumacher, Vaugrenard or Belgian champ Leif Hoste. The Luxemburgish rider needed 4'32" for the 3,8 kilometers, riding at an average speed well above the 50 km per hour, and he took the provisionnal 4th position at the finish, behind the temporary leader Bennati. Frank Schleck was less at his ease on the twisty course and didn't take any risks. He finished the stage in 39th position in 4'37", the same time like three times time-trial world champion Michael Rogers, Robbie McEwen or Brochard. He has lost 17 seconds to his team-mate Cancellara, but only very little time on most of the GC contenders like for instance Klöden (4 seconds), Karpets (2 seconds) or Sastre (1 second).
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