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HEW-Cyclassics-Cup - ProT

Hamburg, Germany, July 31, 2005

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Pippo pips Paolini in Hamburg

T-Mobile and Gerolsteiner come up short; Di Luca keeps ProTour lead

By Jeff Jones

Who won?
Photo ©: Sirotti
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The Quick.Step-Innergetic team achieved a near perfect result in today's 10th HEW Cyclassics Cup in Hamburg, with Filippo Pozzato beating teammate Luca Paolini and Liberty Seguros' Allan Davis in a 15 man sprint. It was the first win of the season for Pozzato, who had a disappointing spring. It was also a reversal of the result in Stage 3 of the Tour de la Region Wallonne last Wednesday, where Paolini had pipped Pozzato to win.

"Today the tables were turned," said Pozzato, who was more concerned with the fact that a Quick.Step rider won today. "But to be honest my success needs to be shared with the rest of our team, and in particular with Paolini and Tankink. I've done a lot of work over the past few weeks to get myself in top condition, even doing some intense altitude training in the mountains surrounding Livigno. At last it seems like all of my hard work is starting to pay off."

Luca Paolini almost beat Pozzato with his bike throw, but in the end was awarded second place. "I was feeling really good throughout the race," said Paolini. "Pippo and I were riding the race in parallel and we were able to rely on the help of all of our team, especially Paolo Bettini who did everything possible to keep himself as near to us as possible. Soon I'll be taking part in the GP Camaiore and the Giro del Lazio - both races are suited to my style of riding, so I'll be looking for a victory."

One team that didn't quite get it right today was Fassa Bortolo, which had four men in the final break of 15, but opted to play the Fabian Cancellara card in the sprint. Despite a perfect lead out, Cancellara wasn't up to it today, as he was passed first by Davis, then Pozzato and Paolini.

With hindsight we could say that we could have worked for the others and set up the race differently," commented a disappointed Cancellara. "But at the time, I felt strong and my teammates had confidence in me. Unfortunately it didn't go like I wanted and that's too bad."

Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas-Bianchi)
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While ProTour leader Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas-Bianchi) finished well out of the points in 52nd, one of his most important rivals Davide Rebellin managed to salvage Gerolsteiner's race by finishing fifth, and is now 83 points behind Di Luca in the ProTour standings. It still seems like too big of a deficit to make up, but anything can happen in the final part of the season.

T-Mobile's race didn't finish well at all, however. Although Jan Ullrich was strong and was the man responsible for breaking the bunch on the Waseberg, he could do no better than 12th as he was unable to do anything against the Quick.Step/Fassa Bortolo train that took the lead group to the finish. "It was very hard today," said Ullrich. "With the rain, there was a lot of jockeying for the best position. But I was hoping that Erik [Zabel] would be able to fight his way through. I am pleased with my race, but I had hoped for a better result for the team. In the final run-in I couldn't attack anymore, and my legs were too heavy for the sprint."

How it unfolded

The Fassa Bortolo boys
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A large field of hopefuls gathered under grey skies in Hamburg's Monckebergstrasse for the start of the 10th edition of the HEW Cyclassics Cup. It was not a great day for racing, with almost constant rain accompanying the riders on their 250 km tour of Hamburg and its surrounds. First up was a 90 km loop to the south of the city, which included the climb of Langenrehm - the highest point in the race at 140m - after 59 km. Then it was back over the Köhlbrandbrücke and into the centre of Hamburg for the first passage of the finish line.

After the usual flurry of early attacks, it was Jörg Ludewig (Domina Vacanze) who managed to get clear after 34 km, and built up a couple of minutes lead before Leif Hoste (Discovery Channel) and Andre Greipel (Wiesenhof) set off in pursuit. The pair took a long time to catch the German, only closing the gap at the halfway point in the race. The three worked well together, but when they hit the first climb of the Waseberg (600m at 16%) with a 12 minute lead and 115 km to go, Greipel had to let go.

The breakaway duo
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Hoste and Ludewig continued to work well together, pushing their lead out to over 15 minutes at the finish line with 100 km to go. But their strength had been sapped by the rain, and the peloton began to make big inroads into the lead courtesy of Gerolsteiner and T-Mobile - the two favoured German teams. On the finish line after a second lap of the Waseberg circuit with 56 km to go, the leading pair was still 9'07 ahead of the peloton. In other circumstances, this might have been enough to win, but the bunch cranked up the tempo even more, with Barloworld and Quick.Step joining the fray.

Quick.Step had lost Tom Boonen by this stage, but that didn't bother them as they knew Paolini and Pozzato were in good shape, having finished 1-2 in the third stage of the Tour de la Region Wallonne earlier this week. That's why 2003 HEW Cyclassics winner Paolo Bettini was seen on the front of the peloton to assist in the chase. The next 28 km proved telling for the break's chances. On the third climb of the Waseberg with 28 km to go, Leif Hoste rode away from Ludewig, but by this stage the peloton was just 1'21 behind, knocking almost eight minutes off the lead!

The peloton
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As Jan Ullrich led the bunch up behind, he was marked closely by Fabrizio Guidi (Phonak) and the Quick.Step duo Luca Paolini and Filippo Pozzato. Groups of riders gradually came back to Ullrich's quartet over the top of the climb and on the descent, and when Ullrich realised he was isolated from his teammates and was doing too much work, he sat up. This allowed a counter-attack by Vladimir Gussev (CSC), Bram Tankink (Quick.Step), and Marco Velo (Fassa Bortolo) to go clear, gradually building up a half a minute lead over the reforming peloton where T-Mobile had put Ivanov, Wesemann, and Klier on the front.

The chasing trio quickly caught and dropped Ludewig, then Hoste was swallowed with 19 km to go. When they hit the Waseberg for the last time with 16 km to go, Hoste immediately fell off the pace as Ullrich again drove the peloton up to the front riders, cracking Di Luca and O'Grady on the climb. Alessandro Petacchi crashed at the foot of the Waseberg and fractured a bone in his right little finger.

Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile)
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A 15 man lead group formed over the top of the climb, with Ullrich (T-Mobile), Velo, Bernucci, Flecha, Cancellara (Fassa Bortolo), Tankink, Pozzato, Paolini (Quick.Step), Davis (Liberty Seguros), Rebellin (Gerolsteiner), Elmiger, Grabsch (Phonak), Commesso (Lampre), Gussev (CSC), and Gonchar (Domina Vacanze). The Di Luca/O'Grady group, which also contained Erik Zabel, could not close the gap as the cooperation in front was perfect between the Fassas and Quick.Step.

Bert Grabsch was the only rider to try to break the tempo of the two teams in the downhill run into the finish, but could gain no more than 50 metres. Fassa had the numbers but Quick.Step had the big guns, and after Bernucci, Flecha, and Velo executed a perfect leadout for Cancellara in the final kilometre, it was Allan Davis who struck out for home with 150m to go. But Davis was unable to repeat his compatriot O'Grady's win of 2004, as Pozzato powered past him and hammered for the line. His teammate Paolini came up beside him and nearly got it in the throw, but the finish photo confirmed that it was the flowing-locked Italian who won the 10th HEW Cyclassics Cup.

The podium
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Erik Zabel won the bunch sprint for 16th, while Danilo Di Luca finished 52nd and well out of the points today. However, the ProTour leader still has a sizeable advantage over the rest of the competition in the standings and looks good to defend it over the second half of the season.

Photography

For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here

Images by Fotoreporter Sirotti

Images by AFP Photo

  • Shall we dance? Pozzato and Paolini cross the line together
  • Heyyyy, we did it! Quickstep teammates Pozzato and Paolini celebrate just before hitting the finish line

Images by Andrea Hübner/www.velo-photos.com

Results - 250.5 km

1 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Quick Step                                 6.00.59 (42 km/h)
2 Luca Paolini (Ita) Quick Step                                           
3 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team                            
4 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Fassa Bortolo                                   
5 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner                                      
6 Martin Elmiger (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems                             
7 Salvatore Commesso (Ita) Lampre-Caffita                                 
8 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Team CSC                                           
9 Juan Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Fassa Bortolo                                
10 Bert Grabsch (Ger) Phonak Hearing Systems                              
11 Serguei Gonchar (Ukr) Domina Vacanze                                   
12 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team                                        
13 Bram Tankink (Ned) Quick Step                                          
14 Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita) Fassa Bortolo                                   
15 Marco Velo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo                                         
16 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team                                     0.28
17 Sébastien Hinault (Fra) Credit Agricole                                
18 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Quick Step                                           
19 Aurélien Clerc (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems                            
20 Simone Cadamuro (Ita) Domina Vacanze                                   
21 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Lampre-Caffita                                 
22 Roger Hammond (GBr) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team                 
23 Vicente Reynes Mimo (Spa) Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne               
24 Stuart O'grady (Aus) Cofidis, Le Credit Par Telephone                  
25 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto                                
26 Marco Zanotti (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi                                   
27 Koldo Fernandez De Larrea (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi                      
28 David Kopp (Ger) Team Wiesenhof                                        
29 Constantino Zaballa Gutierrez (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir               
30 Daniel Schnider (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems                           
31 José Gutierrez Palacios (Spa) Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne           
32 Matthew White (Aus) Cofidis, Le Credit Par Telephone                   
33 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Gerolsteiner                                      
34 Inaki Isasi Flores (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi                             
35 Lilian Jegou (Fra) Française Des Jeux                                  
36 Alessandro Cortinovis (Ita) Domina Vacanze                             
37 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Team CSC                                         
38 Serguei Ivanov (Rus) T-Mobile Team                                     
39 Michael Blaudzun (Den) Team CSC                                        
40 Unai Yus Kerejeta (Spa) Bouygues Telecom                               
41 Manuele Mori (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir                                
42 Pablo Lastras Garcia (Spa) Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne              
43 Luca Solari (Ita) Domina Vacanze                                       
44 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Credit Agricole                                   
45 Christophe Brandt (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto                                
46 Igor Astarloa Ascasibar (Spa) Team Barloworld-Valsir                   
47 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom                                 
48 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Fassa Bortolo                                        
49 Leif Hoste (Bel) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team                    
50 Giuliano Figueras (Ita) Lampre-Caffita                                 
51 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank                                           
52 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi                                  
53 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit Par Telephone            1.00
54 Mauro Gerosa (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi                                    
55 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi                               
56 Volodymyr Bileka (Ukr) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team          1.29
57 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner                               1.58
58 Allan Johansen (Den) Team CSC                                          
59 Marcus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner                                    2.32
60 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Rabobank                                         
61 Aart Vierhouten (Ned) Davitamon-Lotto                                  
62 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Credit Agricole                                 
63 Christophe Kern (Fra) Bouygues Telecom                                 
64 Roy Sentjens (Ned) Rabobank                                            
65 Markel Irizar Aranburu (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi                         
66 Nicola Loda (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi                                     
67 Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) Ag2r Prevoyance                                    
68 Francisco Ventoso Alberdi (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir                   
69 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi                       
70 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC                                       
71 Jan Hruska (Cze) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team                            
72 Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) Lampre-Caffita                                
73 Steffen Wesemann (Ger) T-Mobile Team                                   
74 Andreas Klier (Ger) T-Mobile Team                                      
75 Alexandre Usov (Blr) Ag2r Prevoyance                                   
76 Fabrizio Guidi (Ita) Phonak Hearing Systems                        7.13
77 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Rabobank                                           
78 Aaron Kemps (Aus) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team                           
79 Björn Leukemans (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto                                  
80 Matteo Carrara (Ita) Team Barloworld-Valsir                            
81 Daniele Righi (Ita) Lampre-Caffita                                     
82 Giulio Tomi (Ita) Team Barloworld-Valsir                               
83 Fabian Jeker (Swi) Saunier Duval-Prodir                                
84 Marcus Ljungqvist (Swe) Liquigas-Bianchi                               
85 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom                                
86 Enrico Franzoi (Ita) Lampre-Caffita                                    
87 Mikel Pradera Rodriguez (Spa) Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne           
88 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne                     
89 Nico Mattan (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto                                      
90 Grischa Niermann (Ger) Rabobank                                        
91 Jörg Ludewig (Ger) Domina Vacanze                                      
92 Christophe Detilloux (Bel) Française Des Jeux                          
93 Pedro Horrillo Munoz (Spa) Rabobank                                    
94 Janek Tombak (Est) Cofidis, Le Credit Par Telephone                    
95 Rony Martias (Fra) Bouygues Telecom                                    
96 Ian Mcleod (RSA) Française Des Jeux                                    
97 Angel Edo Alsina (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir                            
98 Jose Julia Cegarra (Spa) Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne                
99 Marco Milesi (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi                                    
100 Mirko Celestino (Ita) Domina Vacanze                                  
101 Steffen Radochla (Ger) Team Wiesenhof                                 
102 Grégory Rast (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems                             
103 Michael Albasini (Swi) Liquigas-Bianchi                               
104 Uros Murn (Slo) Phonak Hearing Systems                                
105 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Fassa Bortolo                                    
106 Antonio Salomone (Ita) Team Barloworld-Valsir                         
107 Mirco Lorenzetto (Ita) Domina Vacanze                                 
108 Fabio Baldato (Ita) Fassa Bortolo                                     
109 Stefan Adamsson (Swe) Team Barloworld-Valsir                     12.23
110 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Wiesenhof                             13.15
111 Koen De Kort (Ned) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team                    14.34
112 Jose Luis Carrasco Gamiz (Spa) Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne    17.54
DNF Jimmy Casper (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit Par Telephone                   
DNF Arnaud Coyot (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit Par Telephone                   
DNF Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit Par Telephone               
DNF Axel Merckx (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto                                     
DNF Henk Vogels (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto                                     
DNF Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto                              
DNF Matti Breschel (Den) Team CSC                                         
DNF Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC                                             
DNF Lars Michaelsen (Den) Team CSC                                        
DNF Marco Pinotti (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir                              
DNF Ivan Ravaioli (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir                              
DNF Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Fassa Bortolo                               
DNF Mads Kaggestad (Nor) Credit Agricole                                  
DNF Sébastien Joly (Fra) Credit Agricole                                  
DNF Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Credit Agricole                               
DNF Kilian Patour (Fra) Credit Agricole                                   
DNF Damien Nazon (Fra) Credit Agricole                                    
DNF René Andrle (Cze) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team                          
DNF Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team            
DNF Sergio Miguel Paulinho (Por) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team               
DNF Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team               
DNF Antonio Cruz (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team                 
DNF Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team        
DNF Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team             
DNF Guennadi Mikhailov (Rus) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team           
DNF André Korff (Ger) T-Mobile Team                                       
DNF Stephan Schreck (Ger) T-Mobile Team                                   
DNF Thomas Ziegler (Ger) Gerolsteiner                                     
DNF Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step                                           
DNF Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quick Step                                       
DNF Joan Horrach Rippoll (Spa) Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne             
DNF Giosuè Bonomi (Ita) Lampre-Caffita                                    
DNF Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Bouygues Telecom                             
DNF Yohann Gene (Fra) Bouygues Telecom                                    
DNF Anthony Ravard (Fra) Bouygues Telecom                                 
DNF Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz) Domina Vacanze                                  
DNF Baden Cooke (Aus) Française Des Jeux                                  
DNF Fabien Sanchez (Fra) Française Des Jeux                               
DNF Christophe Mengin (Fra) Française Des Jeux                            
DNF Antton Luengo Celaya (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi                          
DNF Aketza Pena Iza (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi                               
DNF Enrico Degano (Ita) Team Barloworld-Valsir                            
DNF Sean Sullivan (Aus) Team Barloworld-Valsir                            
DNF Andy Flickinger (Fra) Ag2r Prevoyance                                 
DNF Laurent Mangel (Fra) Ag2r Prevoyance                                  
DNF Erki Pütsep (Est) Ag2r Prevoyance                                     
DNF Christophe Riblon (Fra) Ag2r Prevoyance                               
DNF Mark Scanlon (Irl) Ag2r Prevoyance                                    
DNF André Greipel (Ger) Team Wiesenhof                                    
DNF Jens Heppner (Ger) Team Wiesenhof                                     
DNF Roberto Lochowski (Ger) Team Wiesenhof                                
DNF Björn Schröder (Ger) Team Wiesenhof                                   
 
Climbs classification
 
1 Leif Hoste (Bel) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team                    9 pts
2 Jörg Ludewig (Ger) Domina Vacanze                                      6
3 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team                                        1
4 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Fassa Bortolo                                        1
 
Sprints classification
 
1 Jörg Ludewig (Ger) Domina Vacanze                                      8 pts
2 Leif Hoste (Bel) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team                    5
3 André Greipel (Ger) Team Wiesenhof                                     5
4 Giulio Tomi (Ita) Team Barloworld-Valsir                               4
5 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick Step                                         1
6 Sébastien Hinault (Fra) Credit Agricole                                1

ProTour standings

1 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi                                184 pts
2 Lance Armstrong (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team             139
3 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) T-Mobile Team                             136
4 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step                                          120
5 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Fassa Bortolo                              111
6 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner                                   101
7 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team                                       98
8 Santiago Botero Echeverry (Col) Phonak Hearing Systems                95
9 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank                                     94
10 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team            92

Full standings