Cycling Beat

The 2007 Tour of Germany is held from August 10 thru August 18.

Jens Voigt not only retained his yellow leader's jersey through the Individual Time Trial he won the stage powering over the 33km course in Fuerth to finish with a time of 39.42.4. His winning margin was just under 15 seconds from Laszlo Bodrogi (Crédit Agricole) with Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel) only capable of finishing 3rd a further 10 seconds back.

Voigt's enormous effort has extended his lead out to to 1'57" and has assured himself a successful defense of his title. Levi Leipheimer has moved into second spot 13" ahead of David Lopez Garcia (Caisse d'Epargne).

Stage 8 Profile

Notable performances throughout the day, apart from Voigt's awesome effort, came from Jason McCartney (Discovery Channel) finishing in 4th place and Linus Gerdemann (T-Mobile) whose 5th placing helped move him up to 14th place overall and 5th place in the Young Rider Classification.

Of the younger brigade, Robert Gesink (Rabobank) finished his Time Trial in 29th place while Chris Anker Sørensen (Team CSC) finished in 39th. However, it was Maxime Monfort (Cofidis) who moved to 3rd on the Young Rider list with a 14th placing.

The reactions and the news...
Team CSC - not only has Jens Voigt increased his overall lead, but youngster Chris Anker Sørensen was able to maintain his place in the top ten.
T-Mobile - kudos to Jens while applauding Gerdemann and Marco Pinotti's rides.
Rabobank - the white jersey is theirs courtesy of Robert Gesink.
Cyclingnews
VeloNews
Bike Radar
Euro Sport

Stage  Results (Top 10)

Overall GC (Top 10)

Points Classification

Mountains Classification

Young Rider

Teams 

The 2007 Tour of Germany is held from August 10 thru August 18.

The Tour heads back across the border into Germany again for the trip north from Kufstein to Regensburg for a distance of 192.2km. It's a tremendously flat stage but somehow, don't ask me how, a Category 3 climb has been flagged along the way. A day to prepare for the Individual Time Trial, methinks.

For the second day in a row young German rider Gerald Ciolek (T-Mobile) won the day outsprinting Erik Zabel (Milram) and Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Caisse d'Epargne) who also took 3rd place for the second straight day.

Stage 7 Profile

Stage Summary
A group of 5 riders got themselves into today's breakaway. They were Christian Leben (Team Wiesenhof Felt), Raivis Belohvosciks (Saunier Duval-Prodir), Erki Pütsep (Bouygues Telecom), Florian Stalder (Team Volksbank) and René Mandri (AG2r Prévoyance). The peloton let them go early on, allowing the lead to grow out to 6'30" before the chase began.

By the 12 kilometre to go mark the escape was over and the field settled down to cover the attacks from opportunists such as Marten Den Bakker (Skil-Shimano) and Niki Terpstra (Team Milram) but they were easily covered.

The main problem facing the peloton was the rain that had started falling making the run into the finish line a little slick and with a sharp corner inside the last kilometre all care was necessary to ensure everyone remained upright.

A strong lead out by André Greipel paved the way for Ciolek who catapaulted into the lead with 200m to go and won by 2 bike lengths in impressive fashion.

Erik Zabel's 2nd placing has moved him back to the top of the Sprint Classification although he is level in points with Jose Joaquin Rojas. 

The Overall GC remained unchanged with Voigt still holding a 33 second advantage over David Lopez Garcia.

The big question still remains, will Jens Voigt be able to hold his led through the Individual Time Trial which is coming up next. It would be a brave person who would bet against him given that he's got a heart as big as himself and will leave absolutely nothing behind on the road.

What they're talking about...
Team CSC - are looking forward to the ITT
T-Mobile - the team is naturally excited about a 20 year old who wins two stages at the Tour of Germany
Cyclingnews
VeloNews

Stage  Results (Top 10)

Overall GC (Top 10)

Points Classification

Mountains Classification

Young Rider

Teams 

The 2007 Tour of Germany is held from August 10 thru August 18.

A chance for the field to recover from yesterday's tough climb takes the field from Laengenfeld to Kufstein over 175km of relatively flat terrain.

It was a day for the sprinters with Gerald Ciolek (T-Mobile) taking the victory from Danilo Napolitano (Lampre-Fondital) with Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Caisse d'Epargne) taking 3rd which also earned him the lead in the Sprint Classification.

Stage 6 Profile

Stage Summary
A breakaway of 2 saw Wolfgang Murer (Elk Haus-Simplon) and Paul Martens (Skil-Shimano) escape establishing a lead that rose to around 8 minutes before the big teams began to take an interest in dragging them back. From about the 95km mark they set about paving the way for their sprinters.

The field was all back together again with 9km to go and the race was set up for another sprint finish. We are all fairly aware that narrow roads and a hotly contested sprint finish don't go together very well and the tightness of the streets had an effect as the sprinters roared home with a number of sprinters getting checked on their runs, most notably Erik Zabel.

The Overall GC remained unchanged with Voigt still holding a 33 second advantage over David Lopez Garcia. Question for you all...how much a lead will he need heading into the Individual Time Trial, do you think?

Stage  Results (Top 10)

Overall GC (Top 10)

Points Classification

Mountains Classification

Young Rider

Teams 

The 2007 Tour of Germany is held from August 10 thru August 18.

The 5th stage of the Tour is the one we've all been waiting for with the stage culminating in the leg-deadening climb up Rettenbachferner to finish after 157km of riding.

Stage winner was a bit of a surprise in David López García (Caisse D'Epargne) but the rider who followed him were unexpected, namely GC leader Jens Voigt who was only 12 seconds behind. Robert Gesink (Rabobank) filled the 3rd placing at 20" to move him up to 3rd in the overall GC as well.

Casualties for the day included Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel) who lost a minute to Voigt, Linus Gerdemann (T-Mobile) who cracked early on the final climb to finish more than 5 minutes behind and Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) who lost 2 and a half minutes.

Stage 5 Profile

Stage Summary
The first real attack of the day started after 30 kilometre and was the first promising breakaway attempt that looked as though it had any chance at succeeding. Alan Pérez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Bingen Fernández (Cofidis), Carlos Da Cruz (Française Des Jeux), Vladimir Efimkin (Caisse d'Epargne), Matej Mugerli (Liquigas), Lloyd Mondory (Ag2r Prévoyance) and Christoph Meschenmoser (Skil-Shimano). This group would work well together taking their lead out to aas much as 4 minutes over the field that was being led by Discovery Channel.

With around 30km to go Efimkin (Caisse D'Epargne) made an attack taking Pérez with him but their lead by this time was reduced severely and the 1'50" they had over the chasers was never going to be enough. On the early slopes of the Rettenbachferner they were caught by a peloton that had disintegrated to only around 20 riders.

It was then down to the pre-rave favourites to battle out the final 10km of climbing. Continued accelerations whittled the field down to only López García, Leipheimer, Voigt, Gesink, Ten Dam, Bertagnolli Pfannberger and Sørensen and it was López García who made the decisive attack which no one could match.

Surprisingly Leipheimer then began having problems and this spurred Voigt into action setting off after López García. Damiano Cunego attempted to cover the German hard man but was unable to match his strength. As Voigt continued to attack the mountain Gesink also began to struggle and eventually left Voigt to continue the chase alone.

Stage 5 summaries can also be found at:

Team CSC site - Their heading says it all "Fantastic performance by Jens Voigt".
Caisse D'Epargne - David Lopez Garcia was understanably thrilled with his first ever victory as a professional rider. 
Cyclingnews
Daily Peloton
VeloNews

Stage 5 Results (Top 10)

1 David Lopez Garcia (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne                            4.21.07 (36.028 km/h)
2 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC                                                            0.12
3 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank                                                     0.20
4 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Fondital                                      0.33
5 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Unibet.com                                            0.46
6 Leonardo Bertagnolli (Ita) Liquigas                                              1.04
7 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel                                 1.10
8 Christian Pfannberger (Aut) Elk Haus-Simplon                               
9 Chris Anker Sørensen (Den) Team CSC                                       1.29
10 Josep Jufre Pou (Spa) Predictor-Lotto                                      1.43

     
Overall GC (Top 10)

1 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC                                           18.54.44
2 David Lopez Garcia (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne                       0.33
3 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank                                           1.14
4 Chris Anker Sørensen (Den) Team CSC                             1.24
5 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel                        1.31
6 Leonardo Bertagnolli (Ita) Liquigas                                     2.19
7 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Unibet.com                                   2.34
8 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Fondital                             2.48
9 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner                                       3.27
10 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Cofidis                                            3.45

Points Classification

1 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Caisse D'Espargne                   46 pts
2 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram                                         45
3 David Lopez Garcia (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne                    31

Mountains Classification

1 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Team Milram                          23 pts
2 David Lopez Garcia (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne           15
3 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC                                      12

Young Rider

1 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank                                        18.55.58
2 Chris Anker Sørensen (Den) Team CSC                                 0.10
3 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Cofidis                                                  2.31
4 Amaël Moinard (Fra) Cofidis                                                    3.21
5 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne                      3.55

Teams 

1 Team CSC                                         56.51.02
2 Caisse D'epargne                                      4.15
3 Rabobank                                                  6.05