Gerolsteiner's "perfect ending"

By Susan Westemeyer

Less than a week after a training crash that jarred his wrist and gave him a severe concussion, Gerolsteiner's Robert Förster sprinted to win the first stage of the Circuit de la Sarthe Tuesday afternoon. "A super-strong team performance, a perfect ending," said team manager Hans Michael Holczer. "After my crash last week, I sure hadn't figured on this, so that just makes me even happier," said Förster. "The team did outstanding work for me. Markus Zberg, Volker Ordowski and Stefan Schumacher set me up perfectly." After the winner's ceremony, Förster won audience approval by presenting his flower bouquet to an elderly lady in a wheelchair.

Gerolsteiner did have one thing to worry about, though. Shortly before the finish line, Stefan Schumacher crashed. "It's really too bad. Stefan gets a lot of credit for 'Frösi's' win. He has a lot of scrapes, but I hope he'll be able to put it aside and get on with things," Holczer said.