Observations on the Vuelta – Stage 4
The Route : An early mountains stage is one of the appetite-whetting aspects of the Vuelta a Espana and with the prospect of the climb up Lagos de Covadonga in only the 4th stage it was with greatt anticipation that I tuned in. Of course, there was more to the stage than the final climb, the riders also had to get over the Category 2 Alto de la Faya de los Lobos at the 17km mark and the Category 3 Alto de la Llama at the 131 km mark. But it was the Lagos de Covadonga that all the action took place.
Notable Performances : First mention must go to Carlos Sastre (Team CSC) for the aggression he displayed today. As the peloton began their ascent up the final climb chasing a lead group of 29 riders, it was Sastre who made all the pacing and all of the significant moves. If Carlos gets stronger the longer the race goes on (as he tends to do) then the other riders had beeter look out because they’re going to be chasing one determined Spanish cyclist.
Vladimir Efimkin (Caisse d’Epargne) exploded away from the breakaway group with which he rode for much of the day and never looked like being headed. In fact, on the final climb of the day he only lost around 30 – 40 seconds from the bigger names chasing him down. A fantastic stage victory was fitting reward for a strong, brave day in the saddle.
Denis Menchov (Rabobank) again showed his liking for the Spanish mountain passes with a solid performance today covering every move made by Sastre, seemingly comfortably. Riding unencumbered by team-mate based distractions he once again looks the goods for the Vuelta.
Also looking strong all the way was eventual second placed Leonardo Piepoli (Saunier Duval – Prodir) who moved through to sprint for the line after doing enough to look impressive all day.
Youngster Chris Anker Sørensen (Team CSC) displayed just what a startlingly promising talent he is in the Deutschland Tour when he finished prominently in each of the mountain stages. Today he played the part of the faithful team man for Carlos Sastre getting himself into the break away and then waiting for Sastre on the final climb before setting a damaging pace over a number of kilometres towards the end. The fact that he was able to hang on for 11th place only 1’50″ behind the winner is testiment to his strength and ability. A day away from celebrating only his 23rd birthday, this bloke’s a young man with a big future.
Strugglers
Cadel Evans (Predictor – Lotto) looks as though he is bone weary after a hard Tour de France. It may just have been a bad day, but he had major trouble going with any of the moves and his face was a picture of pain as he crossed the finish line. That being said, Oscar Pereiro was impressed with how well Evans managed to keep up, this being only the first week – I gues he knows a bit more about it than I would.
Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel – Euskadi) was gone early in the climb. I was expecting him to hang around for quite a long way into this but at the first sign of pressure from Sastre he said bye-bye.
A look at the Top Ten for Stage 4
1 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) Caisse d’Epargne 4.39.56
2 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Saunier Duval – Prodir 1.06
3 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Discovery Channel
4 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank
5 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Cofidis
6 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC
7 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor – Lotto 1.28
8 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis 1.33
9 Ezequiel Mosquera Miguez (Spa) Karpin Galicia 1.36
10 Leonardo Bertagnolli (Ita) Liquigas 1.49
Vuelta a Espana : Stages 1 – 3
The 2007 Vuelta a Espana is 3 stages old and the sprinters have had their fun sharing wins between Daniele Bennati (Lampre – Fondital) in stage 1, Oscar Freire (Rabobank) taking stage 2 and World Champion Paolo Bettini (Quickstep – Innergetic) too strong in stage 3.
As seems to be the norm in the early stages of Grand Tours, we’ve also seen our share of crashes with a couple of the more fancied riders having their chances, as well as their bodies dented. The most notable is Oscar Pereiro (Caisse D’Epargne) in the second stage who was heavily involved in a massive pile-up at the end of the stage. He came down heavily and had to be assisted across the line by his team-mates. In that crash it was Tom Danielson (Discovery Channel) who came out of it the worst with a broken shoulder blade removing him from the race.
The third stage crash victim was Haimar Zubeldia (Euskaltel – Euskadi) who came down with 20km to go when a road cone was flicked into his wheels. He ended up losing 11′ 00″ for the day.
The leaders jersey has been on the back of two riders so far. Daniele Bennati took hold of it with his first satge victory but then, when he was caught up in the crash of stage 2, it was passed across to Oscar Freire. Freire then held onto it in the 3rd stage with a fighting 2nd placing also ensuring that he has taken a 20 point lead in the Points Classification.
So now we come to the 4th stage and the sprinters can go into survival mode. All of the pre-race favourites are present and accounted for with Cadel Evans (Predictor Lotto) sitting in 6th place, Jose Angel Gomez Marchante (Saunier Duval) in 10th, Denis Menchov (Rabobank) in 15th, Carlos Sastre (Team CSC) in 16th, Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel) 48th and Oscar Pereiro (Caisse D’Epargne) 50th. But all of them have the same time as the leader.
It’s all about to get ugly in the heat of battle.
Cycling Stars of the Future – Linus Gerdemann
Name : Linus Gerdemann
Country : Germany
Date of Birth : 16 September, 1982
Weight : 70kg
Height : 1.82m
Turned Pro : 2005
Notable Performances
2005 Bayern-Rundfahrt – 3rd GC
2005 Tour de Suisse – 51st GC (1st in stage 7)
2005 4 Days of Dunkirk – 4th GC (Held leaders jersey after stage 3)
2006 Volta a Catalunya – 6th GC
2006 GP Kanton Aargau – 7th GC
2006 Sachsen Tour – 46th (2nd in stage 5)
2006 Tour de Suisse – 7th GC (2nd in stage 3)
2007 Ruta del Sol – 9th GC
2007 Milano – Torino – 9th GC
2007 Tour de France – 36th GC (1st in stage 7 – Held leaders jersey for 1 stage)
2007 Deutschland Tour – 14th GC (5th in Young Rider Class.)
About Linus
Linus Gerdemann hit most people’s radars on Stage 7 of the 2007 Tour de France somewhere between Bourg-en-Bresse and Le Grand Bornand. It was on this stage that he attacked a break away group of 15 riders and then rode solo over the summit of the Col de la Colombière before diving down to his most memorable finish with a coveted yellow jersey, a white (Young Riders) jersey and combativity awards all waiting for him.
But others could see the potential in him long before this day. In fact, it was CSC rider Jens Voigt who tipped team manager Bjarne Riis off about the young 22 year old from Munster. Back then he had ridden for Team Winfix and Team AKUD Arnols Sicherheit before being invited by Riis to a Team CSC training camp and was quickly signed to a 2 year deal.
He began his career strongly with good finishes in the Bayern-Rundfaht and the 4 Days of Dunkirk in which he wore the leaders jersey for a stage. A stage win in the Tour de Suisse also signalled his ability.
Towards the end of the 2005 season he took the opportunity of signing with the T-Mobile Team and has had a number of top 10 finishes. He does his best work when the course goes into the mountains, as illustrated by his most famous win to date in the 2007 Tour de France. He can also Time Trial strongly when he has to which gives him the credentials to challenge in the bigger races on the calendar.
With these attributes I thought it would be an opportune time to throw a little spotlight on the young German rider who was dubbed the “next Jan Ullrich” by Bjarne Riis, a tag I’m sure he’d like to shake off and just concentrate on being the current Linus Gerdemann.
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
Get Over It, Robbie
It wouldn’t be easy to out-sprint a top quality field of professional cyclists whilst hampered by a bottom lip that is dragging so low it occasional gets caught under your front wheel, but Robbie McEwen achieved it to win the 3rd stage of the Eneco Tour. His jubilation after crossing the finish line was underwhelming to say the least but at least he thanked his team-mates for their outstanding lead out that virtually forced him across the line in first place.
Unfortunately, McEwen has decided it’s a case of job done and chose to lie doggo at the rear of the peloton with another dose of the sulks as the sprinters of the other teams actually went out and earned their salary and contested the stage 4 sprint.
If he was looking for a reason why he has been left out of the team for the Vuelta he need go no further than that little performance right there. Why would a sponsor prefer a guy who may or may not decide to contest a stage for the final 20 seconds over a guy who will likely be in the spotlight for hours at a time, day after day. Short answer: they haven’t.
I’ve long been an admirer of McEwen for his competitive drive and flat out speed but right now it’s all getting a bit much. Robbie, it’s time to build yourself a bridge and get over it, mate!!!
