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Bayern Rundfahrt
Photo ©: Schaaf

First Edition Cycling News for April 25, 2005

Edited by Anthony Tan

91st L-B-L wrap-up: Vino the Vainqueur

Alexandre Vinokourov cracks the big one
Photo ©: Sirotti
Click for larger image

Today in Ans, Alexandre Vinokourov finally took a much-needed victory for the T-Mobile Team, winning the 91st edition of the Liège-Bastogne-Liège Classic in typically aggressive fashion. The 31 year-old rider from Kazakhstan broke away with the 'Jacky Durand' of spring, Team CSC's Jens Voigt, on the Côte de La Vecquee with around 50 kilometres to go, and held off a chase group containing most of the race favourites all the way to the finish.

"I knew that I can win here," said a happy Vinokourov after the finish. "You just need the right conditions, and there were here today. When I saw Voigt jump, I immediately decided to go with him. I know what he's worth and I knew we had a chance. And now you see that it was successful!"

"It's a pity that I got second," said the second-placed Voigt. "But Vino is one of the best riders in the world, so it's not a shame. He deserves it. I had lost a lot of strength in that break, and I paid for it in the sprint. Now, I'm finished - I need to refuel my batteries!"

The pair's advantage hovered around the one minute mark for their entire escape, but were largely aided by a lack of cohesion in the rather oversized select group behind. In third place was Amstel's interminable second, Michael Boogerd (Rabobank), around 10 seconds behind, who could at least say he finished on a different step of the podium. Olympic champ Paolo Bettini didn't quite have the legs today, but still managed a credible fourth, while Davitamon-Lotto's Cadel Evans showed good form to finish just behind the Italian in fifth place.

Boogerd paid respect to his rivals, but wasn't satisfied with how the race unfolded. "The two who won are the best. If the other guys won't ride then it's hard to come back. I could have gone with them, but the others would gave reacted and got on my wheel."

Full results, report & photos
Live report
Photos

T-Mobile relieved

Ludwig: "Aggressive strategy finally paid off"

By Hedwig Kröner in Ans

Job well done, Vino.
Photo ©: Sirotti
Click for larger image

After Alexandre Vinokourov scored the first, much awaited victory for the German T-Mobile team this season by winning the prestigious "Doyenne" Liège-Bastogne-Liège today, the team management of course couldn't be happier. Talking to T-Mobile's manager and former pro cyclist Olaf Ludwig at the finish, he conveyed to Cyclingnews: "Of course it's a great relief after such a long time with no wins." We asked him to outline why the race unfolded like it did, allowing an 'outsider' breakaway to take the victory in such an important race.

"With 70 km to go, nobody thought these two would make it to the finish," explained Ludwig. "We said before the start that, because of the amended race course, one shouldn't be afraid to attack with 50/60 km to go. It was definitely a big risk to take, but once these two get a minute and keep going, it's very hard to catch them."

Further explaining the course of events, he said, "The group behind them was big, and the favourites thought the pair wouldn't be able to keep their pace. And three or four guys really did chase: at the Redoute, things got really tight for the leaders [especially Rabobank's Erik Dekker and Santiago Botero from Phonak worked a lot and decreased the gap to 20 seconds on the Côte de la Redoute - ed.]. But it got to the point where the favourites couldn't agree on the chase, so that was it. Sometimes a break succeeds, even if a lot of the time, it doesn't."

T-Mobile chose the right strategy before the race, and was rewarded. Said Ludwig: "Kessler and Vinokourov were planned to ride the finale. And our aggressive strategy had worked out very well at that moment: Wesemann had been in the early break, and he would have been a player in that group of 30 riders afterwards, too [the one that caught the leaders at the foot of the Côte du Rosier with 65 km to go - ed.]. That's were Vino and Kessler took over, and we were always in a situation where we weren't the ones who had to control."

Engaging further in the conversation, Ludwig put things into perspective, saying that the team as such hadn't made a poor performance this early season at all. "If Vino hadn't won today, the issue of us not getting any results would have been further discussed in the media. And it's not like the team has been riding badly or anything in the past! The top rider's performances were always nearly on the same level. Di Luca won Amstel in a very convincing fashion, Boonen and Petacchi also were in complete control. So I think this was also a very convincing performance of Vinokourov."

Finally, Cyclingnews asked Ludwig about Andreas Klöden, who was scheduled to race at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, but was replaced due to a lack of form. "Andreas just wasn't in the shape to be a helping part of the team here, so we sent him home to train," he said. "He will take some time off races to find his true level of fitness again. There's still plenty of time before the Tour de France for him to do that, so I'm not worried."

More from TdG's Brasstown Bald stage

Lance Armstrong (Discovery Channel)

Lance Armstrong (Discovery)
Photo ©: Jon Devich
Click for larger image

"Well, I felt better than yesterday, primarily because I had a bit of stomach problem yesterday and perhaps I've even had it for a few days. Obviously, it's not exactly been a stress-free week because of the announcement at the beginning. Maybe that took something out of me. I felt great today. I thought that Johan had a great plan this morning. We tried our best yesterday and it didn't work. He came back with an equally aggressive plan today and we tried to do that, too. Every guy that was part of that plan, especially a guy like Jason McCartney was superb and the team was awesome. Went Tom went, it was nice to see. I really believe when he attacked, that it was game over."

"That's a very hard climb. We rode with a 27 [tooth cog] versus a 25 last year. Tough climb. Tough, tough climb. Different conditions. Bigger crowd and obviously much, much different tactics."

"I don't know that I said I have to re-evaluate the season. I said I have to re-evaluate where I am and evaluate what needs work. Clearly the time-trial was bad. You can't do time-trials like that and win the Tour de France, that's for sure, although there's one less time-trial, thank goodness. So I have to look at where I am. Is it lack of time-trialing, is it a problem with lack of time on the time-trial bike, is it climbing, is it my condition? Did I not do enough in the winter? Um, I don't think so.

"While I was busy, I had been busy the year before and two years before. I think I'm on track. I don't know that it's perfect, but I'm not far off. So, the next few weeks after this will dictate a lot about what will happen this summer. And I know that. I know that you have to look at every aspect of cycling: the training, the diet, the rest, the recovery, the lack of distraction. All that stuff has to be perfect in order to win another Tour [de France]."

Lance Armstrong (Discovery)
Photo ©: Jon Devich
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"I didn't see [Landis, talking about sprinting at the end]. I looked back to see where he was and looked at the clock. I knew that Tom needed a minute. For me, that was a special moment. You have to keep in mind. I've been around a long time and I've had a lot of riders come onto the team. I've invested a lot of time and energy into each and every one of them, whether it's Kevin Livingston or Tyler Hamilton or Floyd Landis or, now, Tom Danielson. And they've all become much better riders after they left the team. So to see one rider who left the team on his own will be taken over by somebody who came onto the team and is happy and really pleased to be here, for me, that's a special thing.

"[Tour de Georgia] is a hard race, it's a complete race. They have a good field. They have a time-trial, they have mountain stages, they have long stages."

"The best Tour rider of [the Americans doing the Tour de France this year] is Levi, only because he's proven it, apart from Bobby [Julich] being third in 1998, in recent years. Levi has really been consistent in the Tour... I've spent more time with Levi training this year than I've ever spent with him before. And I'm impressed with how hard he works. He's a tough guy, man, he can got out five, six, seven hour rides and he never complains, never winces. He's a hard worker and that's a great thing to see. I don't train with Bobby much because he lives in Nice and we're in Girona. But I think Levi will be tough in the Tour. I can see Levi being Top-5, Top-3."

"When will we see Tom in the Tour? In two weeks, you'll see him in the Tour of Italy [laughing]. I don't know if we'll see him this summer. He's new to the program... He's still a young rider and he cannot be expected to do a Giro and a Tour in one summer. But he'll be there soon enough. I think Tom has a few things to learn. The Tour is crazy. It's ten times harder than the Giro and 50 times harder than the Tour of Switzerland, for example. It's aggressive, it's crazy, it's dangerous. The first week is like Paris Roubaix every day. It's just fighting and fighting and positioning. He has to get used to that a little more. The way he goes uphill, he could be a threat one day. And he can also time-trial."

"I haven't been doing super high intensity work, which leads to poor time-trials and when you have climbs like this where you're really in the red, it's hard to go there unless you've pushed yourself in that type of training. I haven't touched that, but it starts here..."

Tom Danielson (Discovery Channel)

Tom Danielson (Discovery Channel)
Photo ©: Trish Albert
Click for larger image

"Just being able to come to this race and race with Lance was huge motivation for me. This is his last year, and every opportunity I have to be in the same race with him and learn from him is an incredible experience... He's kind of been giving me a hard time the whole month saying, 'Oh, I'm going to be working for you.' All I wanted to do was come here and make it like a mini Tour de France and help him win today. I was just fortunate that he gave me the opportunity to race today.

"I'm really excited for the Giro, but I've never done it before. I'm very motivated for it, but the leader for it is Paolo Savoldelli. He's won it before. I've got good form to help him do a good race."

"Personally, I'm really not that concerned with proving anything to anyone, you know, more just staying on track and growing as an individual. Okay, maybe I wasn't so happy on Fassa Bortolo last year, but I think it was a path that I had to take to get to this team. And I just look at it, I met some great people that year racing in Europe and I got to meet the team and I got the opportunity I did through that year. Okay, it wasn't successful, but I see it as success because now I'm on the right team and I've found a home. I've very excited to be here for quite some time."

Trent Lowe (Jittery Joe's / Kalahari)

"It was good to actually get there because the pass was less than what we had been setting just to get back on. Then, on the descent about 30 kilometers to go, at 90 km/h I punctured. The neutral support guys were good...and chased to get back on Floyd's wheel."

Malaysian Continental team faces deregistration

Malaysia's New Sunday Times reports the Proton T-Bikes Cycling Team is facing the prospect of deregistration as a UCI Continental Team, in part due to squabbles between the team's management and Malaysian National Cycling Federation (MNCF) deputy president Datuk Naim Mohamad.

Although registered by the UCI as a Continental Team on December 12 last year, the MNCF was asked to clarify several matters, including the minimum one-year contractual agreements with the nine riders on team. The federation in turn asked for this information from the Proton T-Bikes Cycling Team, but according to Naim, he has received no communication from the team to date. "Thus far, I have not been informed by the president of any letters," he said.

However, Proton T-Bikes's acting manager, Nazry Zahar, told the paper the team had informed MNCF president Abu Samah Wahab of the team's plans in a detailed letter dated March 23. "That is not true. We wrote a letter to the president on March 23, informing him about the status of the riders, PCT and their future," Nazry said in a statement.

MNCF secretary Ibrahim Mustapha said the team has asked not to deal with Naim and would like someone else to discuss the matter, but also said this request will not be forthcoming. "As for Naim, he was appointed by the MNCF exco to handle these issues. It is not for PCT to decide who they want to deal with," he said.

Mustapha added that five riders - Suhardi Hassan, Ahmad Falanie Ali, Sazlee Ismail, Raziff Jaafar and Wan Mohamed Najmee Wan Mohamed - asked the federation for a release from the team last week.

Banking on a good Tour of Ulster

By Paul Nugent

This year's Tour of Ulster will take place on bank holiday weekend Saturday April 30 - Monday May 2 and has assembled one of the best fields in recent years.

Leading the way is Banbridge's Tommy Evans (Planet X), a previous double winner (1998 & 2004), defending champion, and a former FBD Milk Ras winner and national road race champion. Other previous winners include: Philip Cassidy (Cycleways, winner in 2000), also a former double FBD Milk Ras winner, and Stephen O Sullivan (Cycleways, winner in 1997). Top riders also include recent Ras Mumham winner John Dempsey (Carrick/Dan Morrissey), runner-up in the Ras Mumham, Emyvale's Conor Murphy (Crannog Ireland), former FBD Milk Ras winner, Andrew Roche (Isle of Man), former Tour of the North winner Ryan Connor (Ballymena/Scotts), recent Tour of the North stage winners Mark Greer (Maryland) and Brendan O'Brien (Roe Valley) and Team Giant Asia professional Paul Griffin (West Clare Composite).

Some of the strong southern teams entered include, Carrick/Dan Morrisey, M. Donnelly/Stamullen, Cycleways, West Clare Composite, Usher Irish RC and Leinster Select. Local teams entered include Planet X, East Antrim/Audi, Crannog Ireland, Phoenix CC, Ballymena/Scotts, Maryland Wheelers and Clann Eireann.

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