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)
| 1 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) T-Mobile Team 2 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram 3 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 4 Aurélien Clerc (Sui) Bouygues Telecom 5 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 6 René Weissinger (Ger) Team Volksbank 7 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Crédit Agricole 8 Olaf Pollack (Ger) Team Wiesenhof Felt 9 Sven Teutenberg (Ger) Team Volksbank 10 Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi |
4.08.20 |
Overall GC (Top 10)
| 1 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 2 David Lopez Garcia (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 3 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank 4 Chris Anker Sørensen (Den) Team CSC 5 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 6 Leonardo Bertagnolli (Ita) Liquigas 7 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Unibet.com 8 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 9 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner 10 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone |
27.00.44 |
Points Classification
| 1 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram 2 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 3 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) T-Mobile Team |
78 pts 78 63 |
Mountains Classification
| 1 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Team Milram 2 David Lopez Garcia (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 3 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC |
23 pts 15 12 |
Young Rider
| 1 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank 2 Chris Anker Sørensen (Den) Team CSC 3 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 4 Amaël Moinard (Fra) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 5 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne |
27.01.58 0.10 2.31 3.21 3.55 |
Teams
| 1 Team CSC 2 Caisse D'Epargne 3 Rabobank |
81.09.02 |
