Tour Down Under – 2008
The 2008 Pro Tour is about to begin and the city of Adelaide is in full party mode as the riders paraded through the streets in preparation for the Tour Down Under. The first ever Pro Tour race to be staged outside of Europe will have a starting field of 133 and the local news predicted that they’re expecting a crowd of 500,000 to line the streets for the opening day. Not bad when you consider that’s around half the entire population of Adelaide.
First things first, though. Tonight we saw the accompanying Tour Down Under Classic, a 50km hell for leather scramble through the streets of Glenelg around a 2km course. As expected it came down to a sprint finish and it seemed that every Australian in the field wanted to post a win on home soil. Graeme Brown (Rabobank) was sitting on the end of the orange train, Matthew Wilson (UniSA) was prominent, even Australian born Heinrich Haussler (Gerolsteiner) popped his nose in front in the final couple of laps.
In the end it was Andre Greipel (Team High Road) who took it out from last year’s winner Mark Renshaw (Credit Agricole) and Robbie McEwen (Silence Lotto) in 3rd just ahead of Allan Davis (UniSA).
Eneco Tour – Stage 7 – Final
The 2007 Eneco Tour, which used to be known as the Benelux Tour is held from August 22 – 29 and takes the riders through Belgium and the Netherlands.
As we all knew it would going into this year’s Eneco Tour, it all came down to the Individual Time Trial as to who would take out the overall victory and that person was José Ivan Gutierrez (Caisse d’Epargne) who powered around the course in 36’52″ which was good enough for second fastest for the day and 9″ seconds faster than his nearest rival David Millar (Saunier Duval).
The stage victory went to Belgium’s Sébastien Rosseler (Quickstep – Innergetic) whose time of 36′ 50″ gave him a 2″ win over Gutierrez who is the Spanish Time Trial Champion with Swedish Time Trial Champion Gustav Larsson (Unibet.com) coming in 3rd.
The major classifications were broken down like this:
General Classification – José Ivan Gutierrez (Caisse d’Epargne)
Sprint Classification – Mark Cavendish (T-Mobile Team)
Mountain Classification – Martin Pedersen (Team CSC)
Team Classification – Quickstep – Innergetic
Stage 7 Results (Top 10)
1 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Quickstep – Innergetic 36.50
2 José Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 0.02
3 Gustav Larsson (Swe) Unibet.com 0.06
4 David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval – Prodir 0.11
5 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Liquigas 0.20
6 Raivis Belohvosciks (Lat) Saunier Duval – Prodir 0.29
7 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 0.32
8 Leif Hoste (Bel) Predictor – Lotto 0.51
9 Sebastian Lang (Ger) Gerolsteiner 0.52
10 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Team 0.55
Final Overall GC Standings (Top 10)
1 José Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 26.05.44
2 David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval – Prodir 0.11
3 Gustav Larsson (Swe) Unibet.com 1.05
4 Leif Hoste (Bel) Predictor – Lotto 1.12
5 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 1.15
6 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 1.17
7 Bram Tankink (Ned) Quickstep – Innergetic 1.32
8 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Quickstep – Innergetic 1.33
9 Paul Martens (Ger) Skil – Shimano 1.34
10 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Predictor – Lotto
Points Classification
1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) T-Mobile Team 74 pts
2 Luciano André Pagliarini Mendonca (Bra) Saunier Duval – Prodir 60
3 Pablo Lastras Garcia (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 51
Mountains Classification
1 Martin Pedersen (Den) Team CSC 15 pts
2 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Team Milram 15
3 Pablo Lastras Garcia (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 8
Teams
1 Quickstep – Innergetic 78.21.52
2 Predictor – Lotto 0.18
3 Rabobank 0.27
Tour du Poitou Charentes – Stage 2
The Tour du Poitou Charentes et de la Vienne is held from August 28 to 31 and consists of 5 stages with the 4th and 5th stages – an Individual Time Trial and then a road race taking place on the last day. The race covers 670km over rolling terrain.
The second stage of the Tour was a 183.9km course from Mauleon to Chatellerault. In a bunch sprint it was Sébastien Chavanel (Française des Jeux) who was too strong for Stefan Van Dijk (Team Wiesenhof Felt) and Mikel Gaztanaga Echeverria (Agritubel).
Chris Sutton maintained his overall lead for GC honours finishing in the lead bunch at the line and keeping his 4″ advantage. The points classification has moved across to Yauheni Hutarovich (Roubaix Lille Metropole) while Kenny De Haes (Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen) has moved into the lead in the Mountain Classification.
Stage 2 Results (Top 10)
1 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Française des Jeux 4.16.02 (43.1 km/h)
2 Stefan Van Dijk (Ned) Team Wiesenhof Felt
3 Mikel Gaztanaga Echeverria (Spa) Agritubel
4 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Roubaix Lille Metropole
5 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic
6 David Munoz Banoz (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias
7 Stéphane Bonsergent (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux
8 Evert Verbist (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen
9 Mathieu Drujon (Fra) Auber
10 Thierry Hupond (Fra) Skil-Shimano
Overall GC Standings
1 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 12.42.59
2 Niels Brouzes (Fra) Auber 0.04
3 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
4 Evert Verbist (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 0.09
5 Piotr Zielinski (Pol) Bretagne-Armor Lux
6 Jurgen Van De Walle (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic 0.10
7 David Munoz Banoz (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 0.11
8 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) Crédit Agricole 0.12
9 Huub Duyn (Ned) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle 0.13
10 Kevin Neirynck (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Tönissteiner
Points Classification
1 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Roubaix Lille Metropole 39 pts
2 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 33
3 Evert Verbist (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 31
Mountains Classification
1 Kenny De Haes (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 18 pts
2 Kurt Hovelynck (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 10
3 Piotr Zielinski (Pol) Bretagne-Armor Lux 8
Best Young Rider Classification
1 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 12.42.59
2 Evert Verbist (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 0.09
3 Piotr Zielinski (Pol) Bretagne-Armor Lux
4 Huub Duyn (Ned) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle 0.13
5 Kevin Neirynck (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Tönissteiner
Eneco Tour – Stage 6
The 2007 Eneco Tour, which used to be known as the Benelux Tour is held from August 22 – 29 and takes the riders through Belgium and the Netherlands.
Affectionately referred to as the mini-Amstel Gold stage, Stage 6 was a rolling affair taking in a few of the climbs of the Amstel Gold race covering a distance of 177.4km from Beek to Landgraaf in The Netherlands.
It was destined to be a momentous stage in terms of the overall General Classification thanks to a crash after 44km that involved the majority of the field and would force the abandonment of race leader Nick Nuyens (Cofidis) as well as Hervé Duclos-Lassalle (Cofidis) and Anthony Geslin (Bouygues Telecom). Also involved in the crash was second placed Thomas Dekker (Rabobank) and although he was cut and bruised, was able to remount and continue on.
The stage was won by Pablo Lastras Garcia (Caisse d’Epargne) after he managed to get himself into the big break of the day with 10 others. Their lead grew out to a maximum of just over 7 minutes before it began to disintegrate and the peloton began to make their inroads.
Lastras, along with Anders Lund (Team CSC) had managed to escape from the remaining lead group by the time they reached the finish line for the first time. This marked around 33km remaining and they had gotten themselves a 42 second lead over a chase group of 4 with their lead to the peloton reduced to 3′ 26″.
Lastras finally moved clear of Lund inside the closing 10km (I think – for some reason there was absolutely no vision of the 2 leaders over the final 30km). By the time the finish line was in sight Lund plus the chase group had Lastras in their sights but he had just enough of a gap to make it across the line.
The most noteworthy effort of the day was by Maarten Tjallingii (Skil – Shimano) who was the driving force behind the original break and then, when the hard work had to be done to catch Lastras and Lund, he was the one who put the big ones in to try to close it down. For his efforts he was outsprinted by the riders who benefited from his hard work. Ain’t it always the way.
With Nick Nuyens abandoning today, Thomas Dekker has taken over the race lead with José Ivan Gutierrez (Caisse d’Epargne) in second at 4″ down and David Millar (Saunier Duval) in third a further 2″ behind.
It all comes down to the Individual Time Trial tomorrow…
Stage 6 Results (Top 10)
1 Pablo Lastras Garcia (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 4.15.28
2 Steven Caethoven (Bel) Chocolade Jacques – Topsport Vlaanderen
3 Anders Lund (Den) Team CSC
4 Sébastien Hinault (Fra) Crédit Agricole
5 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Skil – Shimano 0.03
6 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Quickstep – Innergetic 0.13
7 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Team
8 Mirco Lorenzetto (Ita) Team Milram
9 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Quickstep – Innergetic
10 Matthew Goss (Aus) Team CSC
Overall GC Standings (Top 10)
1 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 25.28.48
2 José Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 0.04
3 David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval – Prodir 0.06
4 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Predictor – Lotto 0.15
5 Leif Hoste (Bel) Predictor – Lotto 0.27
6 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Rabobank 0.31
7 Bram Tankink (Ned) Quickstep – Innergetic 0.38
8 Paul Martens (Ger) Skil – Shimano 0.39
9 Piet Rooijakkers (Ned) Skil – Shimano 0.40
10 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Rabobank
Points Classification
1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) T-Mobile Team 74 pts
2 Luciano André Pagliarini Mendonca (Bra) Saunier Duval – Prodir 60
3 Pablo Lastras Garcia (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 51
Mountains Classification
1 Martin Pedersen (Den) Team CSC 15 pts
2 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Team Milram 15
3 Pablo Lastras Garcia (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 8
Teams
1 Predictor-Lotto 76.27.29
2 Rabobank 0.19
3 Caisse d’Epargne 0.48
Tour du Poitou Charentes – Stage 1
The Tour du Poitou Charentes et de la Vienne is held from August 28 to 31 and consists of 5 stages with the 4th and 5th stages – an Individual Time Trial and then a road race taking place on the last day. The race covers 670km over rolling terrain.
Stage 1 got underway in Ruelle sur Touvre and covered 188km over some tricky climbs before ending in La Rochelle.
It would appear that Chris Sutton (Cofidis) has hit a little vein of form after taking out the Chateauroux Classic de l’Indre Trophee Fenioux on Sunday he managed to back it up with a win in the opening stage here. He came out of a 28 man breakaway to take the sprint for the line. As in the recent Tour of Ireland, if you weren’t in that opening day breakaway, you’re out of the running for the General Classification chances with the bulk of the field coming in more than 16 minutes behind.
So if last Sunday was a gift for the Cofidis team, I’m guessing that Sutton is keeping the glory of this win for himself.
And so we’d better have a look at what winning for a second time in three days looks like…
Stage 1 Results (Top 10)
1 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 4.14.57
2 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Agritubel
3 Niels Brouzes (Fra) Auber
4 Huub Duyn (Ned) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle
5 Evert Verbist (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen
6 Yoann Offredo (Fra) Française des Jeux
7 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Crédit Agricole
8 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) Crédit Agricole
9 Kevin Neirynck (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Tönissteiner
10 David Munoz Banoz (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias
Overall GC Standings
1 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 4.14.47
2 Niels Brouzes (Fra) Auber 0.03
3 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
4 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Agritubel 0.04
5 David Munoz Banoz (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 0.08
6 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) Crédit Agricole 0.09
7 Huub Duyn (Ned) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle 0.10
8 Evert Verbist (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen
9 Yoann Offredo (Fra) Française des Jeux
10 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Crédit Agricole
Points Classification
1 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 25 pts
2 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Agritubel 20
3 Niels Brouzes (Fra) Auber 19
Mountains Classification
1 Piotr Zielinski (Pol) Bretagne-Armor Lux 8 pts
2 Mickaël Buffaz (Fra) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 7
3 Pieter Ghyllebert (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 4
Best Young Rider Classification
1 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 4.14.47
2 Huub Duyn (Ned) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle 0.10
3 Evert Verbist (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen
4 Yoann Offredo (Fra) Française des Jeux
5 Kevin Neirynck (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Tönissteiner
Team
1 Fuerteventura-Canarias
2 Bouygues Telecom
3 Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 0.08
Eneco Tour – Stage 5
The 2007 Eneco Tour, which used to be known as the Benelux Tour is held from August 22 – 29 and takes the riders through Belgium and the Netherlands.
The flat nature of the 2007 Eneco Tour continued in Stage 5 which rolled onwards through The Netherlands. The course was a 179.9km flattie starting at Terneuzen and finishing in Nieuwegein.
If ever there was a feel good victory in a cycling race it was played out through the exuberance and excitement of the stage winner Luciano André Pagliarini (Saunier Duval – Prodir) from Brazil. I found that I enjoyed watching him enjoy his victory almost as much as actually enjoyed it – if that makes sense.
This was his first Pro Tour victory and there was no doubting the unadulterated pleasure he felt over the victory. He dedicated his victory to his baby daughter which was touching and his excitement over the win was gratifying to see. Blown kisses to the camera after crossing the line, cradle-rocking motions and handshakes and hugs all round – Luciano was making the most of his success and more power to him.
With no mountains to speak of the Mountain Classification was unchanged and with a 3 man escape that started after the first kilometre of the day, the Sprint Classification was unchanged until the final sprint for the finish. In that, Mark Cavendish took second place across the line to extend his lead to 14 points with Pagliarini moving into second place courtesy of his win.
The General Classification was once again unchanged with Nick Nuyens still clinging to his 10 second lead.
Stage 5 Results (Top 10)
1 Luciano André Pagliarini Mendonca (Bra) Saunier Duval – Prodir 4.01.10 (44.757km/h)
2 Mark Cavendish (GBr) T-Mobile Team
3 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank
4 Gorik Gardeyn (Bel) Unibet.com
5 Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team
6 Alexei Markov (Rus) Caisse d’Epargne
7 David Kopp (Ger) Gerolsteiner
8 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Quickstep – Innergetic
9 Juan José Haedo (Arg) Team CSC
10 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Liquigas
Overall GC Standings (Top 10)
1 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Cofidis – Le Crédit par Téléphone 21.12.57
2 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 0.10
3 José Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 0.14
4 David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval – Prodir 0.16
5 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Predictor – Lotto 0.25
6 Leif Hoste (Bel) Predictor – Lotto 0.37
7 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Rabobank 0.41
8 Bram Tankink (Ned) Quickstep – Innergetic 0.48
9 Paul Martens (Ger) Skil – Shimano 0.49
10 Piet Rooijakkers (Ned) Skil – Shimano 0.50
Points Classification
1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) T-Mobile Team 74 pts
2 Luciano André Pagliarini Mendonca (Bra) Saunier Duval – Prodir 60
3 Gorik Gardeyn (Bel) Unibet.com 49
Mountains Classification
1 Martin Pedersen (Den) Team CSC 15 pts
2 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Team Milram 15
3 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Skil – Shimano 6
Teams
1 Predictor-Lotto 63.40.26
2 Rabobank 0.19
3 Caisse d’Epargne 1.01
Châteauroux Classic de l’Indre Trophée Fenioux
The 2007 Classic de l’Indre over a demanding 200km course and ending in Châteauroux proved to be an eventful race with a few breakaways, none of which would prove to be successful as the big teams held things tightly in check so that the sprinters would have their say.
It’s been a fairly productive few days for the Cofidis team with their strong early form in the Eneco Tour, so when Chris Sutton took out the Classic de l’Indre it would have been icing on the cake.
Sutton is on his way to the Slipstream team at the end of the season so, charitable bloke that he is, he wanted to give Cofidis a going away present…at least, that’s sort of how he tells it.
So let’s have a look at the jublilation of the win…
Results (Top 10)
1 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Cofidis – Le Crédit par Téléphone 4.26.56
2 Aurélien Clerc (Swi) Bouygues Telecom
3 Stefan Van Dijk (Ned) Team Wiesenhof Felt
4 Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel
5 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Française des Jeux
6 Stéphane Bonsergent (Fra) Bretagne – Armor Lux
7 Lloyd Mondory (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance
8 André Schulze (Ger) Team Wiesenhof Felt
9 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Nippo Corporation – Meitan Honpo Co LTD – Asada
10 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne
Eneco Tour – Stage 4
The 2007 Eneco Tour, which used to be known as the Benelux Tour is held from August 22 – 29 and takes the riders through Belgium and the Netherlands.
The flat nature of the 2007 Eneco Tour continued in Stage 4 with the profile mirroring that of the previous day. Starting in Belgium in the town of Maldegem, the Tour crossed the border into The Netherlands to finish in Terneuzen for a distance covered of 182.7km.
Once again the obligatory break away was allowed to take place before the peloton did their thing and closed it down to ensure that the sprinters would get another chance to shine. The far from popular winner (at least with his fellow sprinters) was Wouter Weylandt who can strike the names Thor Hushovd, Matthew Goss and David Kopp off his Christmas card list, with Kopp at one point questioning his sanity. Weylandt was relegated to the rear of the bunch after the sprint of stage 2 and once again he made his presence known in the run to the line, but legally this time. He earned the ire of Hushovd thanks to a bump of handlebars just before the line. Goss found his line removed but this came significantly early in the sprint. As for Kopp, I think he truly wanted to know about Weylandt’s sanity.
No change in the General Classification with Nick Nuyens maintaining his 10 second lead over Thomas Dekker with Jose Ivan Gutierrez another 4 seconds further back.
Stage 4 Results (Top 10)
1 Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Quickstep – Innergetic 4.09.31
2 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole
3 Matthew Goss (Aus) Team CSC
4 Gorik Gardeyn (Bel) Unibet.com
5 Fabio Baldato (Ita) Lampre – Fondital
6 Luciano André Pagliarini Mendonca (Bra) Saunier Duval – Prodir
7 Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Liquigas
8 Saïd Haddou (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
9 David Kopp (Ger) Gerolsteiner
10 Steven Caethoven (Bel) Chocolade Jacques – Topsport Vlaanderen
Overall GC Standings (Top 10)
1 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Cofidis – Le Crédit par Téléphone 13.02.16
2 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 0.10
3 José Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 0.14
4 David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval – Prodir 0.16
5 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Predictor – Lotto 0.25
6 Leif Hoste (Bel) Predictor – Lotto 0.37
7 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Rabobank 0.41
8 Bram Tankink (Ned) Quickstep – Innergetic 0.48
9 Paul Martens (Ger) Skil – Shimano 0.49
10 Piet Rooijakkers (Ned) Skil – Shimano 0.50
Points Classification
1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) T-Mobile Team 49 pts
2 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 47
3 José Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 43
Mountains Classification
1 Martin Pedersen (Den) Team CSC 15 pts
2 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Team Milram 15
3 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Skil – Shimano 6
Teams
1 Predictor-Lotto 51.36.56
2 Rabobank 0.19
3 Caisse d’Epargne 1.01
Rothaus Regio-Tour International – Stage 5
The Rothaus Regio-Tour International takes place across 3 countries – Germany, France and Switzerland.
The final stage of the 2007 Rothaus Regio-Tour International – Stage 5 - is a 169.1km course. The stage winner was Adrian Palomares Villaplana who slipped clear after a break away group of 8 riders had been brought to heel. His move came with 3 kilometres to go in the race, spoiling Alessandro Petacchi’s plans of taking out the final sprint victory.
Winner of the Tour was Spain’s Moises Duenas Nevado (Agritubel) who safely travelled within the peloton and allowed his team to cover every move that was attempted as the race wound down.
Stage 5 Results (Top 10)
1 Adrian Palomares Villaplana (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 3.56.22
2 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Team Milram
3 Giuseppe Palumbo (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo
4 Honorio Machado Perez (Ven) Tenax Salmilano
5 Daniele Pietropolli (Ita) Tenax Salmilano
6 Richard Faltus (Cze) Team Sparkasse
7 Daniel Musiol (Ger) Team Wiesenhof Felt
8 Aurélien Passeron (Fra) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo
9 Robert Retschke (Ger) Team Wiesenhof Felt
10 Marcel Fischer (Ger) German National Team U23
Final Overall GC Standings
1 Moises Duenas Nevado (Spa) Agritubel 17.08.10
2 Mikhail Ignatiev (Rus) Tinkoff Credit System 0.23
3 Andrei Kunitski (Blr) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 1.23
4 Michael Rogers (Aus) T-Mobile Team 1.33
5 Adrian Palomares Villaplana (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 1.46
6 Robert Retschke (Ger) Team Wiesenhof Felt 2.16
7 Beat Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 2.18
8 Mikel Artetxe Gezuraga (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 2.43
9 Alexander Gottfried (Ger) Tinkoff Credit System
10 Niklas Axelsson (Swe) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni- Selle Italia 3.05
Sprint Classification
1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Team Milram 27 pts
2 Andy Cappelle (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Tönissteiner 22
3 Adrian Palomares Villaplana (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 20
Mountain Classification
1 Cristiano Salerno (Ita) Tenax Salmilano 44 pts
2 Dailos Diaz Armas (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 44
3 Vasil Kiriyienka (Blr) Tinkoff Credit System 32
Young Rider Classification
1 Moises Duenas Nevado (Spa) Agritubel 17.08.10
2 Mikhail Ignatiev (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems 0.23
3 Andrei Kunitski (Blr) Acqua & Sapone – Caffe Mokambo 1.23
4 Alexander Gottfried (Ger) Tinkoff Credit Systems 2.43
5 Cristiano Salerno (Ita) Tenax Salmilano 4.04
Teams
1 Tinkoff Credit System 39.41.02
2 Fuerteventura-Canarias 3.58
3 T-Mobile Professional Cycling 5.00
Clasica Ciclista los Puertos – Results
A strong team representation and showing by Caisse D’Epargne was thwarted by Héctor Guerra (Liberty Seguros) in the 30th Clasica Ciclista los Puertos at Guadarrama. He broke away on the ascent of the Category 1 Alto de Navacerrado (a regular Vuelta mountain) and rode away to take the 146 km long race by 41″ from Alejandro Valverde (Caisse D’Epargne) with Daniel Moreno (Relax-Gam) in 3rd place in an all Spanish affair.
The race was marred by an early crash that forced around 20 riders to abandon.
The profile of the race and the course plus past winners is detailed here:
Results (Top 10)
1 Hector Guerra (Spa) Liberty Seguros 3.17.55
2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse D’Epargne 0.41
3 Daniel Moreno (Spa) Relax-Gam
4 Carlos Castaño (Spa) Karpin-Galicia
5 David Muñoz (Spa) Fuerteventura-Canarias 1.00
6 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Caisse D’Epargne 1.42
7 Javier Moreno (Spa) Extremadura-Spiuk
8 Julian Schez.Pimienta (Spa) Relax-Gam
9 Eladio Jimenez (Spa) Karpin-Galicia
10 Sergi Escobar (Spa) Grupo Nicolas Mateos 4.10
