Holczer not amused with Henninger Turm

By Katharina Schulz

Yesterday's Rund um den Henninger Turm was one of the few races where an attack was actually rewarded. Usually, a group of attacking riders is caught just before the finish line and there's a mass sprint if it's a flat race.

In the race around Germany's banking capital, a group got away from the peloton quite early after an attack by Maint Berkenbosch (Team Regiostrom-Senges) and René Obst (Team Lamonta). They were joined among others by Magnus Backstedt (Liquigas) and Kurt-Asle Arvesen (CSC) and the group gained over four minutes' lead at one point. Later Patrik Sinkewitz, who was to win the race, caught up with them from a large pursuit group.

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However, there was no-one from Gerolsteiner or Milram in any of the groups, even though David Kopp (Gerolsteiner) launched an attack at one point. Gerolsteiner's boss Hans-Michael Holczer was not amused that Milram didn't join the chase very enthusiastically. "One gets the impression that only Gerolsteiner and T-Mobile have a real interest in winning the race," he told radsport-aktiv.de.

Milram's spokesman Stefan Schwenke responded that the milkmen simply were too tired to work any harder. "We were at the front during the whole of the Niedersachsen-Rundfahrt. The riders simply were completely exhausted," Schwenke said. Thus, the field could not decide whose job it was to lead the hunt, and the group was never caught up with, making it possible for soloist Sinkewitz to win the race.