27.01.2008 5. San Luis - San Luis (145 km)
Garrido from the beginning to the end
Results:
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Juan-José Haedo
Martin Garrido
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101st at 0"
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27th at 3'33"
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134th at 0"
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14th at 2'28"
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Like expected and despite two climbs during the stage, the last act of the Tour de San Luis has finished in a bunch sprint and didn't change anything in the overall classification. The major obstacle today didn't even consist of the two uphills, but it were the weather conditions with rain and heavy winds that forced the organizers to shorten the stage of 20 kilometers to prevent the security of the riders. A long break with David de la Fuente as most known rider didn't have any success and Juan-José Haedo was able to bring home a second trophy for this Tour to the CSC hotel after the sprint which he won ahead of Maximiliano Richeze. By crossing the finish line in the same time than the winner, Argentinian rider Martin Garrido ensured the overall win in a race that saw him in the lead from the beginning to the end, since he won the prologue and never gave up the leader jersey afterwards. Frank and Andy Schleck have finished the stage way back in the bunch, Andy around 100th place and Frank in penultimate position of the peloton, ranked 134th. The two brothers of course wanted to avoid a possible crash today and rode very carefully. They both can be happy with their season opener, especially with the performances on the Mirador El Portrero, even if their overall positions of 14th and 27th are surely not according to the value of the two brothers.
26.01.2008 4. San Luis - Mirador El Potrero (157 km)
Frank Schleck tests his form
Results:
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Carlos Ochoa
Martin Garrido
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12th at 31"
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27th at 3'33"
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4th at 17"
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14th at 2'28"
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Like they have said it before the event, Frank and Andy Schleck tried to test their form on today's queen stage of the Tour de San Luis over 157 kilometers and finishing in 1200 meters of altitude on top of the Mirador El Portero. Despite several climbs during the day, it was in the very last uphill that things were sorted out, with the riders from Diquigiovanni, the new team of Gilberto Simoni, being very active. With Ochoa, Sherpa and Rodriguez, three South-American riders from the Italian team were in the good group and they attacked several times. It was finally Ochoa who managed to break away with his team-mate Sherpa and the Spanish rider from Saunier Duval, Intxausti. Carlos Ochoa wins the stage with a few seconds advantage on Intxausti and Sherpa, whereas 20 seconds later, Frank Schleck managed to leave the next chasing group behind and finished in a good 4th position on top of the Mirador. Four more seconds later, Andy crossed the finish line in 12th position, inside the first small group of 7 riders. Overall leader Martin Garrido has well limited the losses and finished 19th at 35 seconds, just behind the group Andy Schleck. Eventually, he consolidates his lead because it is now Gerardo Fernandez who is in second position overall, more than a minute late.
25.01.2008 3. San-Luis - San Luis (20 km ITT)
Garrido continues domination
Results:
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Martin Garrido
Martin Garrido
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74th at 2'56"
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60th at 3'37"
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40th at 2'04"
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36th at 2'46"
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Martin Garrido has confirmed his domination in the Tour de San Luis by winning the 20 kilometer individual time-trial around the velodrome of the town. On a course with long straight lines and only a few obstacles, the prologue winner needed only 24 minutes to complete his lap and took the stage victory at an amazing average speed of 49,3 km/h. He was 17 seconds faster than the second placed local Guillermo Brunetta. The riders from South America have again been very performing with 7 Argentinians and one Brazilian among the Top Ten, with only Italians Daniel Oss (7th) and Manuele Boaro (10th) in between. Of course, Garrido maintains his overall lead with now 44 seconds gap on Brunetta. As expected, the two Schleck brothers took it easy today and finished off the pace, 2'04" (Frank) respectively 2'56" late on the winner in 40th and 78th position.
24.01.2008 2. La Toma - Merlo (169 km)
Richeze sprints fastest
Results:
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Maximiliano Richeze
Martin Garrido
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68th at 11"
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49th at 41"
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6th at 0"
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51st at 42"
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The third stage has taken the riders to the East of the San Luis Province and it was a lot more hilly than the first one with among others a climb just before the finish line. It all finished in a bunch sprint, but they were only around 15 riders left to contest the stage victory, among them Frank Schleck who was well up front when the peloton split up in the final kilometer. Together with Matti Breschel, he tried to challange the Argentinians on their home ground, but they seem much better in shape at this point of the season than the European riders. Eventually, they were 6 among the Top 8 today and took possession of the complete podium with Richeze, Garrido and Borrajo. Thus, it was a revange for Maximiliano Richeze who took the stage victory ahead of overall leader Martin Garrido, with Frank Schleck finishing in 6th position. Andy Schleck was a little bit more behind and finished the 169 kilometers stage, that was again covered very fast with an average speed exceeding 45 km/h, in the middle of the pack in 68th position, 11 seconds late on the winner.
23.01.2008 1: San Luis - Villa Mercedes (168 km)
Victory for CSC through Haedo
Results:
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Juan José Haedo
Martin Garrido
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76th at 0"
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67th at 24"
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63rd at 16"
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38th at 16"
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With only one categorized climb, the first stage was designed for a massive sprint and that was just what happened. After 168 kilometers between San Luis and Vila Mercedes, ridden in rainy weather conditions and at a high average speed of 43,5 km/h, CSC star-sprinter Juan-José Haedo took the stage victory with a nice margin over one of the Richeze brothers, Maximiliano. It was Matti Breschel who prepared the sprint for CSC in the last kilometers, so that Frank and Andy Schleck didn't have to mix up with the sprinters and they were able to avoid the big massive crash that happened just before the finish line. The two Luxemburgish riders finished 63rd and 76th respectively in the middle of the peloton. In the overall classification, Garrido is still in the lead ahead of Italian rider Daniel Oss, whereas both of the Schlecks moved up several places because a lot of riders were dropped today due to the high speed.
22.01.2008 Prologue in San Luis (3,5 km)
Locals masters of the prologue
Results:
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Martin Garrido
Martin Garrido
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84th at 24"
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84th at 24"
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42nd at 16"
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42nd at 16"
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The two brothers Frank and Andy Schleck have begun their 2008 season very early with the Tour de San Luis that took place around the town with the same name, situated in Argentina around 800 kilometers East of Buenos Aires. They had promised to open very calmly, accumulating only race kilometers while staying anonymously in the pack. Concerning the prologue, they held their poomise because Frank finished in 42nd position, 16 seconds late, and Andy at the 84th place at 24 seconds. Eventually, the Argentinian riders were the masters of the prologue ridden in the centre of the town. On the 3,5 kilometers that comprised some narrow turns, Martin Garrido was the fastest in 4 minutes and 26 seconds at an average speed of 47,6 km/h, 2 seconds ahead of Fernando Antogna
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January - February 2008: Cyclo-cross season
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26.01.2008: Cyclo-cross world championships in Treviso (U23)
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Niels Albert
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12th at 1'46"
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Jempy Drucker has done a good race at the U23 cyclo-cross world championships in Treviso, but he and his supporters were of course not satisfied with the result. After his recent good performances in the world-cup races, the expectations were naturally extremely high and given these conditions, a twelth place cannot be considered as satisfying.
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However, the beginning of the race went according to plan, despite the facts that the legs weren't at their best, that the course wasn't difficult and technical enough and that he found himself a little bit stuck at the start. But Jempy managed to reposition himslelf well behind the irresistible Niels Albert and the chasing Jonathan Lopez and Lukas Kloucek. He was in a group with the future silver and bronze medal winners Duval and Gominelli, as well as Voss, Van Amerongen, Sinkeldam, Perrot, Bourgoin and Ursi. In the third lap, they were just about to bridge up to Lopez and Kloucek when Jempy noticed that his tyre was flattening. He had to slow down and lost some time because he was far away from the pits. He tried to come back to the front group, riding with Voss, Van Amerongen and Sinkeldam for some time, but never managed to bridge up to the best again. Whereas Niels Albert took the world title, according to his status of top favourite, whereas Frenchman Aurélien Duval took a merited silver medal and whereas the surprising Cristian Gominelli throwed his bike into the crowd, screaming of joy about an unexpected bronze medal, Jempy Drucker finished in twelth position, far away from the goal that he had given himself and his supporters before the race.
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20.01.2008: World Cup in Hoogerheide (U23)
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Niels Albert
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2nd at 1'46"
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Behind the dominating Niels Albert, Jempy Drucker has realized a tremendous performance by finishing second of the last world-cup cyclo-cross race of the season in Hoogerheide. By doing so, he has boosted his morale and successfully closed with a double general repetition: for the world championships 2008 in Treviso which will be held in just one week and for the world championships 2009 which will be held on this same course than today in the South of the Nederlands. On a tough because muddy course, Albert broke away already in the first lap, whereas Drucker has made a more easy start behind Van Amerongen, Walsleben, Voss and some others. But he soon bridged up to the first chasing group led behind Albert by the Frenchman Duval. In the second lap, Jempy felt himself very strong and he launched a counter-atteck behind the man from Baal. Nobody was able to follow the Fidea rider and one lap later, the positions were already clear: whereas Albert continously increased his advantage on Drucker, the Luxembourger himself had created a big gap on the next chasers. Jempy didn't weaken until the end and finally crossed the finish line 1'46" behind Albert, whereas third placed Duval and fourth placed Walsleben, back in the circuit after his injury, finished more than 2 minutes down. After the fifth position in Liévin and the second one from today, Drucker moves up to the seventh place in the final overall world-cup ranking and thus assures himself to be in the first starting line in Treviso.
13.01.2008: World-cup event in Liévin (U23)
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Niels Albert
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5th at 2'12"
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Whenever Niels Albert shows up in an U23 race, which is the case for the various world-cup events and which will also be the case for the world-championships in two week's time in Treviso, all the other contenders ride for 2nd place. This was also the case today, where only Aurélien Duval managed to hold the wheel of the Belgian for a couple of minutes. But then he had to settle down and so Albert took another solo victory with nearly a minute advantage on the Frenchman, and this despite bad legs, according to himself. German Paul Voss, who matched up with Duval at the end took the third place on the podium, just before Thijs Van Amerongen. Behind these four riders, Jempy Drucker was the strongest out of a chasing group with among others Lopez, Sinkeldam, Gavenda, the newly crowned Dutch champion Van Poppel or three more French riders, who were of course very motivated today. Eventually, Drucker took the fifth place at the finish, 2'12" behind Niels Albert and a few seconds ahead sixth placed Bourgoin.
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06.01.2008: Luxemburgish cyclo-cross Nationals in Contern (elite)
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Jempy Drucker
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winner
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Despite a non-optimal preparation due to an injured hand after his crash in the last lap in Diegem, Jempy Drucker has dominated the Luxemburgish cross Nationals in Contern. He has clearly shown his class in an event marked by a very tough because muddy course and lots of spectators (an estimated 3000 fans). Under a brilliant sun, Jempy accelerated as of the first lap and created a gap exceeding half a minute in only a few hundred meters. Very impressive in the athletic parts, where he often was the only one to stay on his bike at place where all the others had to run, Jempy made also only very few errors in the technical and slippery parts. After two laps, he could already settle down to control the gap to his only serious opponent, defending champion Gusty Bausch. The new tri-coloured champion finished the race finally with 27 seconds advantage on the rider from Diekirch, whereas Pascal Triebl, the winner of the bronze medal, was four minutes behind.
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