Gerolsteiner takes the good and the bad

It was a good news, bad news sort of day for Gerolsteiner at the Vuelta a España on Wednesday.

The good news was that captain Davide Rebellin has apparently fully recovered from his crash in the opening stage team time trial. The Italian finished the stage in 20th place, two minutes down on winner Danilo Di Luca. "After his crash and the difficult stage today, I hadn't reckoned with that," said a pleasantly surprised directeur sportif Reimund Dietzen. "But Davide rode a super race and has surely gained motivation for the coming stages."

The bad news side was young Marcus Fothen, who was considered a back-up co-leader to Rebellin. Far from finishing up as high as team-mate Rebellin, Fothen came in with the last big group at 27'59. "After the Tour and the subsequent racing pause, that was clear," said Dietzen. "He wanted to see how it would go, and it didn't. But he'll still be looking to do well in a stage or two."

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