Bak's Avenir win promises great future

Team CSC's Lars Bak was over the moon with his overall win in the French Tour de l'Avenir. "I'm really happy!' he said after the last stage on Saturday, September 10. "It's a fantastic feeling to be the winner of such an important race. First of all I would like to thank the team. The entire race they have fought for this victory, it's been tough but they've really supported me all the way. I feel I've come a long way in my own development, and I've learnt a great deal from having to defend the leader's jersey for most of this race!"

Directeur sportif Scott Sunderland was very impressed with the young Dane's performance. "Lars has got himself noticed big time internationally by winning Tour de l'Avenir," Sunderland said. "He has done brilliantly and shown great skills on the climbs. This of course is very promising for the future. Check the list of previous winners; you'll see some of the greatest names in cycling on the palmarès, and taking the overall victory in this race really counts for something.

"As a team we've had an awesome experience here in France and everyone deserves huge credit for their efforts: the three first year pro's Andy Schleck, Matti Breschel and Christian Müller, also our stagiaire Kasper Klostergaard and of course Brian Vandborg. Even with Christian out after the time-trial due to a stomach bug we were able to still carry the race. The team had to be good on all terrain over the ten days. The guys really got to test their limits here; the mental game and play of tactics were great for them to experience. There's very few races of this level young riders can compete in and this is beneficial to all of them. The personnel and myself really enjoyed doing this race with the team's youngsters," Sunderland added.