First Edition Cycling News for August 19, 2005Edited by Hedwig Kröner and Jeff Jones Deutschland Tour stage 4 wrapLeipheimer on top of a "cruel climb"
Gerolsteiner's Levi Leipheimer could really call himself 'King of the mountains' today as he won the season's highest mountaintop finish on the Austrian Rettenbachferner climb at 2670 metres above sea level. In doing so, the American took the yellow jersey as well as the polka-dot, crossing the finish line 15 seconds ahead of his teammate Georg Totschnig and taking 50 seconds out of German Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile). The two Gerolsteiner riders proved to be the strongest over a group including Ullrich as well as Jörg Jaksche (Liberty Seguros), Cadel Evans (Lotto-Davitamon), Tadej Valjavec (Phonak) and Marco Fertonani (Domina Vacanze) - but Totschnig's forces just weren't great enough to continue the ascent together with Leipheimer, so the American decided to go for the maximum time bonus over Ullrich instead of letting his teammate win in his home region. "I can understand Georg's disappointment," said Gerolsteiner manager Hans-Michael Holczer after the stage, for whom it was enormously successful day. "But he accepted it pretty fast, because Levi was simply stronger in the end. With these rivals every second counts so sometimes it's necessary to let go of the result one wished for." Team Gerolsteiner dominated the stage with relentless attacks from Fabian Wegmann and Markus Fothen, and the final top two placings. Meanwhile, they also lost one rider, Sebastian Lang, who had to give up after a crash. The Rettenbachferner mountaintop finish proved to be fatal for some of the race favourites such as 2004 winner Patrik Sinkewitz, ProTour leader Danilo di Luca or Tour de France KOM Michael Rasmussen. Team CSC's Bobby Julich also sustained a substantial time loss towards the finish at an altitude of 2,670 meters. "This was not a good day for us," said CSC team director Kim Andersen after the stage. "Bobby didn't have the legs at all. It was a cruel climb towards finish and if you're having an off day on that type of stage, you end up paying the price. There are no excuses, now we have to abandon our ambitions about an overall victory and try for a come back with a stage win."
T-Mobile didn't have a great day either, although it was not catastrophic. Ullrich lost nearly a minute to Leipheimer to finish third, and will be looking to lose no further time before the final time trial next Monday. "I can be very satisfied with my third place just the same," Ullrich wrote in his diary on the t-mobile-team.com website. "After all, the cold last week was a little setback for me and my nose is still stuffed. However, I keep feeling better. So it was important to have put myself in a good position today. If it goes on like this, I can launch an all-out attack on the Feldberg and the time trial." T-Mobile did lose Alexandre Vinokourov, who has not been in good shape since he started the race, and pulled out on the final climb. Full results,
report & photos Liquigas for Giro del VenetoItalian Liquigas-Bianchi team has announced its roster for the Giro del Veneto taking place on Saturday 20 around Venice, Italy. The following riders will participate: Dario Andriotto, Eros Capecchi, Kjell Carlstrom, Mauro Da Dalto, Enrico Gasparotto, Mauro Gerosa, Matej Mugerli, Andrea Noè, Franco Pellizotti and Charles Wegelius. The team will be directed by Stefano Zanatta. Hammond to ride Tour of BritainThe Great Britain Cycling Team today officially announced the inclusion of Roger Hammond for the Tour of Britain, starting August 30 in Glasgow. The 32 year-old will replace the young U23 rider Tom White, who was originally selected in the squad. "This is a great opportunity for the other riders to have the experience and the professionalism of Roger riding with them," said Rob Ellingworth, the GB U23 National Endurance Coach, about the participation of the Discovery Channel rider. "Roger is great to have around and he is very excited about joining the team and pushing for a top place in the race." Bäckstedt in Surrey League Revolutions 5 Day2004 Paris Roubaix champion Magnus Bäckstedt will be riding the Sigma Sport/Integra SP Surrey League Revolutions 5 Day which starts on Friday, August 19 at Rake in West Sussex. The Liquigas-Bianchi professional pulled out of this year Tour de France and has been suffering from sinusitis. Bäckstedt is now putting in the final preparations for the Vuelta a España. Also down to start is top British team Recycling.co.uk, which will field 10 riders in A and B teams including Chris Newton, Robin Sharman, Ben Greenwood and on-form British national champion Russell Downing, who won the UCI ranked Havant GP on Sunday. Former wold track silver medalist Tony Gibb (PCA) teams up with James Taylor and four riders brought over from South Africa to help Tony in the tough 500-mile race in Surrey and Sussex finishing on Tuesday with the hardest stage around the Ashdown Forest. However Gibb will find this a different matter from the two races the team have already contested in the UK over the last week, where they simply destroyed the hopes of the local talent. Other top UK teams DFL, Viner Bikes and Fuji Bikes are also competing. Yanto Barker has shown he is currently the strongest in the now stabilised set up of DFL squad and he may able to take time on many adversaries on the days where it's simply down to strength and ability rather than team tactics. More information at www.surreyleague.co.uk Courtesy of Gerry McManus Skil Moser to Tour de RijkeAfter winning a stage of the Idea Mazovia Tour with Dariusz Rudnicki, Skil-Moser is looking to continuing its success in the Tour de Rijke in The Netherlands on August 20th. The Skil-Moser riders will be: Jan van Velzen, Bert Hiemstra, Bart Voskamp, Arkadiusz Wojtas, Dariusz Rudnicki, Marek Wesoly, Wouter Mol, and Andy de Smet. British trackies on top at IPC European ChampionshipsGreat Britain has topped the medal table with seven gold and four silver medals after the completion of the track events at the IPC European Championships (for Athletes with Disabilities) in Alkmaar, the Netherlands. In second place was Australia, which bagged four gold, two silver and three bronze medals for a total of nine. Of the Australians, Athens Paralympic triple gold medallist Chris Scott bettered his own world mark for gold in the 1km time trial for Division CP4 (Cerebral Palsy). Scott also won the Individual Pursuit with a time of 3:35.947. West Australian Jane Armstrong claimed gold and a world record for the 3km individual pursuit in the LC3 competition, posting a time of 4:34.553 in the final to better the mark of 4:36.333 she rode in the qualifying round. Armstrong backed up to also win gold in the LC3 500m time trial in a time of 48.217. Victorian Martin Vcelka, took silver in the LC2 kilometre time trial in 1:13.672. South Australian Angela Fleming (LC2) was second in the Combined LC2/CP3 Individual Pursuit and collected bronze in the 500m time trial. LC1 competitor Claire McLean from Western Australia picked up bronze in the 500m time trial in 43.428 and was also third in the individual pursuit. In the men's LC1 4km Individual Pursuit, Michael Gallagher from Victoria placed fourth with a time of 5:07.960 while in the CPDiv4 Individual Pursuit, Tasmanian Trent Deacon was fourth in 3:57.520. The first of the road events got under way on Wednesday with Peter Allen and Karl Livingstone making their international debut in the handcycle events. Livingstone completed the 41km, five lap distance 2:50 behind the winner's time of 1:25:34 for ninth place, with Allen 5:30 off the lead in 13th place. The Championships run until August 21. Wyley leads going into final round of CI Classic LeagueBy Shane Stokes The sixth and final round of the Cycling Ireland Men's Classic League will take place this Sunday at the Sheffry GP in Westport. Dan Morrissey Carrick rider Rory Wyley has a clear lead in the league, having gathered 35 points during his campaign. David McCann (Giant Asia) is second with 26, while Eugene Moriarty (Cycleways.com) has 23. The overall league winner will receive €500.00 in prizemoney. Cycling Ireland Classic League rankings after 5 events:1 Rory Wyley (Dan Morrissey Carrick) 35 points 2 David McCann (Giant Asia) 26 3 Eugene Moriarty (Cycleways.com) 23 4 Ken Norgrove (DWCC) 20 5 Tommy Evans (Planet X) 20 6 Kevin Dawson (Planet X) 20 7 Philip Cassidy (Cycleways,com) 16 8 Philip Finegan (Cycleways,com) 15 9 Timmy Barry (Dan Morrissey) 15 10 Conor Murphy (Crannog Ireland) 13 (All rights reserved/Copyright Knapp Communications Pty Limited 2005) |
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