48th Vuelta Ciclista a La Rioja - Stage One

Francisco José "Fran" Ventoso made the most out of his sprinting abilities and triumphed in the opening stage of the three-day 48th Tour of Rioja, that kicked off Friday with an effort of 142.4 kilometres from Autol to Calahorra, the second biggest town in this Spanish region.
Ventoso, obviously clinching the top spot on GC too, races for Andalucía-Cajasur, the team that stole the show since the early miles of the stage, first of all by getting José Luis Carrasco Gamiz into a breakaway attempt, later with Antonio Olmo, and later on with the 23-year-old José Antonio Redondo Ramos, who tried and tried and tried again until he succeeded in going clear after 66 kilometres, as the race hit Grávalos town.

He wasn't the only escapee though: Redondo was immediately joined by Contentpolis-Murcia, and the peloton, driven by Extremadura and Burgos Monumental, started the chase only as the pairing took about six minutes out of them. Redondo and Palomares kept losing time to the chasing machine, even if quite slowly until Redondo dropped his breakaway companion on the last ascent of the day, about 15 km. from the finish.
Without the precious help from Palomares, and with Italian teams like Acqua & Sapone (working for their fastman Gabriele Balducci) and Serramenti Diquigiovanni-Androni now leading the oncoming group, the Andalusian couldn't do much to avoid the unavoidable. Once more in this race, the stage finishing into Calahorra was going to come down to a field sprint. Redondo was reeled in with very few miles remaining, and what was left of the ride was all about the sprinter's teams keeping the race together and "Fast Fran" finishing off Andalucia-Cajasur's job with a superb sprint. Danilo Hondo couldn't place better than third, with Anthony Geslin the Frenchman in between the Teutonic knight and the stage winner. Balducci did even worse as he snatched sixth place only.
Ventoso honestly admitted that Redondo would have been a more deserving stage winner, but we don't think that the sprinting gun from Cantabria, first across the line at the USPRO Championship in Philadelphia back in the days of 2004, is so upset by the way it all ended at Calahorra. Less happy than the guy are supposed to be David Martín (Orbea), Jorge Sánchez (Contentpolis Murcia) and Portugal's Rui Sousa (Liberty Seguros), all of whom hit the tarmac Friday and consequently had to pull out of the race. With a broken collarbone in David Martín's case. Ángel Rodríguez (Extremadura) and Fabien Patanchon (Fra - Caisse D'Epargne) were the other additions to the list of DNFers.

The Vuelta a La Rioja resumes Saturday with a more challenging leg, that is set to cover 154.6 kilometres between Lardero and Santo Domingo de la Calzada, with three categorized altos (La Herrera, Rivas de Tereso and La Pradilla, the last one with some 25k to go) arguably playing a crucial role in determining the stage - and race - outcome.

www.dailypeloton.com / www.e-bici.com

72nd Fleche Wallonne - Report & Photos

Kim Kirchen of Team High Road added another win to the squads total this afternoon attacking in the pouring rain on the final 300 meters of the final climb up the Mur du Huy out distancing Cadel Evans, Damiano Cunego by a decisive margin to make up the podium for the Spring Classic. Young Guns Robert Gesink and Tom Dekker followed; with veteran war horse and previous winner Davide Rebellin following to take 6th place.

This is the fourth win for this season for the 29 year old Luxemberger who is having a banner year in his 7th season as a pro rider, having won two stages in the Vuelta Ciclista al País Vasco a few weeks ago and making up for a winless 2007 season. ”I’d been feeling I was on a good day since the third last climb, which seemed to be far easier than usual, and I was determined to go all out at the finale,” said Kirchen.

The race took off under sunny skies with 199 riders 12 km into the race a group of four escaped including Marco Pinotti (High Road) Bouygues Telecom's Mathieu Sprick, Tinkoff's Alexander Serov and Steven Kleynen (Landbouwkrediet) the quartet gained 15 seconds but were chased down by the peloton in the next 5 km... this would turn out to be the pattern for the next 70 kilometers with the peloton denying any of the optimists with a quick beating back to the pack.

Over the Mur de Huy for the first time at 65 km Rabobank's Columbian Mauricio Ardila ground out the 12% (average) climb to take the max climbing points followed by Bouygue's Johan Tshopp and CSC's Andy Schleck. Attacks continued with small groups attempting a flight off the front in the next 10 km and through the feed zone but none could give the slip to a fast moving peloton that was averaging 48 km/h.

Over the top of the Côte d’Ereffe after 85 kilometers Ag2r's Efimkin led Andy Schleck and Red Bird Fernandez de la Puebla of Saunier Duval/Scott. On the descent fifteen riders got a gap following the three leaders Efimkin, Schleck and Puebla - Niki Sorensen joined his Team CSC mate Schleck with Gerolsteiner duo Fothen and Moletta, Johan Tschopp (Bouygues) and High Road's Pinotti back in the attack, Caisse d'Epargne's Garcia Acosta, FdJeux's Mourey, Remy Pauriol (Credite Agricole), Silence lotto pair Van den Broeke and Bileka, Quick Step's Engels, Slipsteam's Hub Duyn.

10 km up the road 4 more riders joined the 15, CSC bolstered by Kolobnev for three riders in the move , Martens of Rabobank, Gilbert (FDJ) and Donald of Slipstream the group moved away increasing the gap to over a minute as 1’15 over the main pack with Lampre's Spilak trying to bridge up. Caisse d'Epargne getting some help from Barloworld led the chase behind.

As the 19 went over the Mur du Huy for the second time near the half way point of the race Johan Tschopp led for the max points with Efimkin and Pinotti following. The peloton followed over the crest at 1:50 as the sky opened up and rain poured down. In the next 12 km the group continued to slowly increase their lead to 2:30 - 108 kilometers in the race. Marco Pinotti claimed the max points over the Cote de Peu d’Eau with Tschopp and Mourey with 54 km to go as the peloton started to heat up the chase as the gap dropped below 2 minutes; 1:20 as Lampre came to the front to take a turn at making the pace.

On the next difficulty - Côte de Thon 50 km from the finish the group of 19 split with CSC's Shleck and Sorensen joined by Silence/Lotto's Jurgen Van Den Brouke gapped the group as riders spit out the back.. Pinotti led the counter with Efimkin and Martens joining the attackers gapping their former break mates with 15 seconds as the peloton led by Cofidis followed at 50 seconds. Gerolsteiner's Molletta rejoins the six at the front.

Tired legs again split the chase in the lead group as Slipstream's Hub Duyn slips off the back six others chase the attack on the 1.1 kilometer climb of the Côte de Bonneville. Andy Schleck leads again taking the max points with Van den Broeck and Efimkin hanging on; the group rejoins on the downhill but with 40 km to go the chase is hot on the heels of the 12 survivors. Behind the escapees Caisse d'Epargne and Cofidis lead the chase with the gap at 30 seconds playing cat and mouse with the group ahead.

Vladimir Efimkin attacks and Niky Sorensen joins him with 35 km to go Van Den Broeck and Engels counter the move and follow at 12 seconds as the Caisse led peloton starts picking off the remnants of the break only 25 seconds behind the four leaders in their brave gambit. The two rejoin the leaders as the four go over the Côte de Bohissau the gap is 25 seconds as the peloton goes over the summit chasing the determined quartet in the rain and wind.

Maxime Montfort of Cofidis counter-attacked and joined the four with 30 km to go; Milram's Girvko brides with Rabobanks Ten Dam, De Waele (Landbouwkrediet) Aussie champ Matthew Lloyd (Silence/Lotto) and we had 9 leaders driving it through the rain as Caisse leads the peloton at 30 seconds. Lampre's Righi makes a giant effort off the front and bridged to the escape as Grivko attacked. Behind the pace in the peloton and the rain have decimated the peloton with about 60 riders left.

Andriy Grivko makes a brave effort and is in the lead at the bottom of the penultimate climb of the Côte d’Ahin behind the Lampre and Cofidis led peloton sweep up the break. The break was absorbed at 16 km to go as Larsson leads, Grivko passed by Efimkin and Weggmann on the attack and then caught by the peloton. The fates strike Larsson as he crashes with 6 km to go as German champion Fabian Weggman went it alone as Efimkin falters behind Larsson losing ten seconds.

A strong ride by Weggman kept the pack at bay with a 15 second gap in the final 2 km as he started the final climb up the Mur du Huy as a group of the favorites followed on his heels. 1km to go Weggman struggled on the climb with 20 seconds. Evans, Rebellin and Kirchen lead the favorites as Weggmann is caught. Evans led at 300 meters Kim Kirchen caught Evans in the final meters to take the win with Damiano Cunego in for third with Rabobanks' Gesink and Dekker in for fourth and fifth.
High Road’s Kim Kirchen outclassed his rivals for a strong win in the Fleche Wallone Classic on Wednesday - despite fears that he had been using the wrong gear at the finish!

“I thought it was too big a gear, I went up the last 300 metres in 53x21.” Kirchen said afterwards. “but I was stronger than three years ago - when I also waited until almost the last possible moment to attack. That time, in 2005, I finished second, but on this occasion I’ve taken the most beautiful victory of my career. Often I’ve left it too late to win, and after attacking I kept on thinking I would get caught, but it didn’t happen.”

Kirchen said blasting off in the middle of the final climb, the daunting Mur De Huy, came after “following Davide Rebellin [2007 winner of the same race] for as long as possible. He’s always good at calculating how to win a race like Fleche.”

“On a wet day like today knowing the final climb, where to position yourself on it and where to attack was crucial. It’s important when it’s dry, but on a wet day like Wednesday, past experience of a race like Fleche was vital.”

Morale has been good in High Road since January, Kirchen reported, when Andre Greipel began the year with victory and four stage wins in the Tour Down Under.

“It was a great way to kick off the season, just what we needed to get started well. Then at the Tour of the Basque Country, winning two stages meant I was even keener to do well in the Ardennes Classics.”

Kirchen is the first rider from Luxemburg to win Fleche Wallone, a race which has been running since 1936.

“I didn’t know that, I’m not somebody who looks at the record books a lot, but being the first rider from Luxemburg to win Fleche does make me feel proud.”

www.dailypeloton.com

43rd Amstel Gold

Lampre's Damiano Cunego took a brilliant victory on the Cauberg today coming around a spent Frank Schleck of CSC in the final 25 meters for a decisive win of several bike lengths. Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) came off Davide Rebellin's wheel to take the final podium step with the Italian veteran taking fourth with Rabobank's Thomas Dekker fifth.

The first five finishers were part of an group who made the final selection of nine riders who made the split from a group of about 30 riders by an attack by Astana's Sergey Ivanov with about 16 km to go.

22 year old Albert Timmer (Skil/Shimano), Yuriy Krivtsov (AG2R La Mondiale) and Kristof Vandewalle of Topsport/Vlaanderen were the early breakmates leaving the peloton after 33 kilometers into the 257.4 km race the trio worked well together to gain near 13 minutes on an unconcerned peloton that started to put the heat on with 100 km to go.

Did I say heat? Well it was more of a slow boil as the Rabobank, Lampre, and Gerolsteiner, worked together sending riders to the front to pick up the pace. Michael Barry of High Road took some long pulls on the front stretching his legs and stretching out the peloton as well, and inadvertently getting a gap on a peloton pretty much unwilling to put out too much effort, too early.

As the trio passed through Valkenberg with 76 km to go the gap was down to 6:20 with the three continuing to work well together and looking no worse for the wear for the some 170 km they had been on the attack. Lampre, Caiss d'Epargne and Liquigas threw a riders to the front to stamp out the quickening pace.

With 59 km to the finish the CSC's Gustav Larsson drove the pace with Gerolsteiner in attendance as the gap closed down to 3:30... Larsson must have heard the whip as he stretched out the peloton behind him as he snapped the speed up another notch closing the gap to 2:10 Next to test his legs was Milram's Niki Terpstra who made the jump in Norbeek and joined the three castaways at the front on the Wolfsberg with 43 km to go. This brought the bunch into action as Gerolsteiner and Rabo joined the chase.

Terpstra whipped Vandewalle, Krivstov and Timmer on the climb; but the chase was on and the gap fell to 17 seconds as the quartet fell into view of the chase. The four lasted a few more km, but by 35 km to go the break was absorbed.

Rabobanks Robert Gesink led the first attack, with first Mario Aerts (Silence/Lotto) catching on as Astarloa (Milram) followed suit as the three put a hundred meters into the pack. Phillipe Gilbert (Francaise des Jeux) and High Roads Kim Kirchen followed and bridged to the group. This group got the peloton's attention a hard chase had the four back as Andy Schleck went to the front and hammered the pace hard discouraging attacks as CSC organized for the final 31 kilometers. A mid pack crash as the riders started the Gulperberg took out Bouygues Telecom leader Xavier Florencio who rose to his feet rubbing his lower back in pain.

Five climbs and 28 km to go. Lampre, Rabo, led the climb up the Gulperberg as CSC's Arveson jumped to the front and then Gesink whipped the lads at the front stretching the riders in a long line behind him. Barloworld's Carlo Scognamiglio attacked on the Kruisberg getting a gap of 100 meters as Quickstep and Lampre responded reeling in the Italian. Next to fly off the front was Liquigas rider Dario Cataldo who lasted a little less time than his compatriot in the wind.

23 km to the finish and Rabobank's Flecha was feeling the pain and pedaling off the back, he wasn't the only one at this point as the natural attrition of over 200km raced and higher speeds made spit riders off the back.

High Roads Kim Kirchen now dragged the peloton gapping the leaders as Dekker and Schleck wasted no time joining him with 21 km left, the three had no luck. But Kirchen attacked again with 18 km to go and Vansummeren fought to get his wheel as he rode away up the Eyersbog. The two went over the summit as David Rebellin led the chase immediately gapping the peloton who doubled there efforts, the result was the peloton split on the climb with a lead group of about 30 chasing Vansummeren and Kirchen; where they were caught on the descent with 16 km to go.

The aqua and gold jersey of Astana's Serguei Ivanov was the next to go off the front... and go he did like he was being chased by timber wolves... Christian Pfannberger (Barloworld) fought to gain Ivanov's wheel pm the Fromberg he looked to be struggling as he came alongside the Russian but then attacked gapping him near the summit. Behind the chase was led by Zabel, Ballan with the other favorites on their heels. 30 went over the top with another group of 25 on their heels determined to catch back on during the descent.

Ivanov and Pfannberger 16 second gap was closed with 13 km to go by the lead group on the descent as Caisse d'Epargne duo Joachim Rodriguez and Alejandro Valverde, Thomas Dekker (Rabobank), CSC duo Karsten Kroon and Fränk Schleck, Damiano Cunego (Lampre) and Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) joined Ivanov and Pfannberger in a lead group of nine the two groups come within a 100 meters of joining on the descent. The 40 or so riders were stretched and single file and flat out.

12 km to go, they start the penultimate climb of the Keutenberg as the riders struggle with the 22% grade near the top. The gap grows as riders legs refuse to obey... Ballan crosses the top 42 seconds down looking tortured and wasted. It is a minute from the break to the end of the chase group.

10 km to go, Schleck attacks, Rebellin joins as Valverde, Kroon, and Dekker follow. Rebellin gaps the others as Ivanov struggles to rejoin. The nine race on as Robert Gesink with Freire on his wheel drives the chase working to bring his captain to the front. Dekker sits on.

Behind the chase is led Rabolad's Gesink and Freire, High Road's Kirchen, Silence/Lottos Vansummeren, Gerolsteinger duo Fabian Wegmann and last years winner - Stefan Schumacher,kRinaldo Nocentini (AG2R), Jérôme Pineau (Bouygues), Simon Gerrans (Crédit Agricole), Benoît Vaugrenard of Francaise des Jeux, and Kjell Carlström (Liquigas).

6 km to go, the nine had a gap of 15 seconds on the chase as Spanish Champion Rodriguez continued to hammer the pace on Valverde's behalf. On the climb of the Cauberg the group splits again with Rodriguez, Schleck, Cunego, Rebellin and Dekker gapping their rivals.

Under the flamme rouge of 1 km to go Rodriguez pulls off having given everything he could for Valverde. Rebellin takes the point, with Schleck, Ivanov, Valverde and Cunego on his wheel. Dekker falters and fights back as does Pfannberger and Ivanov. Schleck takes the lead and has a bike length on Cunego, Rebellin next with Valverde on his wheel. The four riders almost take the official car chute and correct at the last minute Valverde slows as Rebellin comes back on the course. 30 meters to go and Cunego accelerates around Schleck to the right. Valverde comes around Rebellin but his legs have nothing as he slow motion pedals around the Gerolsteiner rider.

Cunego side by side with Frank Schleck gains ground and picks up speed as Schleck tries to command his legs to catch him... the orders are issued and only silence returns! Cunego takes the win by two bike lengths as he distances himself from the CSC rider. Franke doesn't make a secret of his disappointment as he finishes... Valverde finishes third two seconds down with Rebellin doing his final Amstel Gold in tow for 4th place. What a Finish!! Thomas Dekker in for 5th.

www.dailypeloton.com

69th Paris-Camembert

Caisse d'Epargne leader Alejandro Valverde has won the 203-kilometer semi-classic Paris-Camembert. Finishing in a town famous for its cheeses, the Spaniard crossed the line ahead of French domestic stars Jérôme Pineau (Bouygues Telecom) and Benoit Vaugrenard (Francaise des Jeux) after an uphill group sprint: the rolling Normandy hills had not done quite enough to whittle down the field significantly. It is his third win of the year, and will come as a welcome tonic after being beaten to Klasika Primavera triumph by Damiano Cunego at the weekend.
Thanks to this finish, Jérôme Pineau jumps into the lead of the Coupe de France, holding a fourteen point advantage over closest challenger Casper.

Speaking on www.cyclisme-caisse-epargne.fr, the victor said: "It is a victory for the whole Caisse d'Epargne team, and it proves again that we are really becoming an exceptional team. We were capable of controlling the numerous escape efforts that were unleashed all day long, until the last, Sandy Casar's effort. The Frenchman broke away 11 kilometres from the finish and we only caught him a kilometre from the line, without a problem. I was feeling very good and I started the sprint powerfully 500 metres from the finish, which allowed me to win comfortably enough from Pineau and Vaugrenard."

Although Valverde previously declared that he would not be tackling the Ardennes Classics as strongly as in previous years, this seems rather up-in-arms given his recent results. Valverde struck a determined if slightly cautious note: "Only four days and it will already be the Amstel Gold Race. My condition continues to improve little by little as before and I hope to be good for the Classics, although I know the level of my rivals is already very high and that it will not be easy for me. I am nonetheless very motivated to do well in the next races and I hope to be able to be at the top because the Classics are very important events and ones which suit me well."

www.dailypeloton.com / /www.elmundodeportivo.es

Boonen picks up much needed victory in Roubaix

When Tom Boonen crossed the finish line in the Roubaix velodrome for the second time in his career as a winner, a lot of things must have gone through his mind. Until today, the Belgian had struggled to find the winning legs that brought him the legendary treble of the Ronde van Vlaanderen, Paris-Roubaix and the world championships in 2005. A good 2006 also followed with wins in the Tour de France, another Ronde triumph, not to mention a bunch of semi-classics. But 2007 was a much leaner year for the Quick Step star, as even the Tour de France green jersey and two stage victories did little to hide the fact that he couldn't win one of the sport's big Monuments.

For a rider's entire season to be judged on two races during the most important week of the Spring Classics may seem a little unfair, and Boonen's reaction at the finish line was clearly one of relief. "Phew!" he said, "I can go on again for a little while." The 27 year-old had been made to endure weeks of doubting in the media, but answered his critics in style today.

"It's fantastic to win a race under a lot of pressure," he said, "but the only person who didn't need to have doubts was me. Doubts aren't good and today I wasn't in doubt, otherwise you can't win here. Criticism? If I win there is criticism, but also if I don't win, so in the end I shouldn't care about that. I didn't announce [that I would win], I only said that I would be good, but then the question is if that will be good enough to win."

He then explained that he was fed up with the mind games that have been played out in the Belgian press. "By saying that I want to be good in this week I'm not picking up extra pressure, because that pressure would be there anyway. The problem is that if I say that I want to be good, it turns out to be 'Boonen wants to put on a show' in the paper. My words are easily taken as the truth, or more easily changed to make them true," he stated.

"I shouldn't be saying that I will not try to win the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix. And if I try - I repeat - try to win them, then that turns into 'Boonen puts all his money on two races', or 'Boonen is a pompous twit'. Going for those two races is just the normal run of affairs, but now everything is considered good again," he said with a sardonic smile on his face. "I won, so ... good.

"These are the two races that I really like," he continued, "and I've never been hiding that. It takes a lot of energy as you have to live and train for it for so long. I've been thinking about these races for almost three months now. I went through all possible scenarios and that's what you think about during the race."

Back in 2005, Boonen powered past George Hincapie and Juan Antonio Flecha in a virtually identical three-man sprint in the Roubaix velodrome. But asked to compare his victory of three years ago with that of today, Boonen rated this latest triumph as more satisfying. "There were two other riders today and I think these guys are a level higher than Flecha and Hincapie. We rode with an average of 43.5 km/h, and I believe this edition was a tougher race than back then."

After the finish line Boonen crashed into the arms of his brother and was clearly ecstatic about his win. "This time the explosion of emotions after the finish line was bigger. It was a long time since I won a race of this calibre," he said.

"Today I think I rode the perfect race. We made few mistakes and in the finale we ended up riding in the front with the strongest men of the race. When I attacked I didn't feel like being the strongest man of the three. But as we were getting closer to the finish that feeling tilted towards confidence, and in the end I wasn't at all scared to show up on the velodrome with these guys.
"From the Carrefour de l'Arbre onwards, I did all I could to get them under control," he explained about his tactics. With Alessandro Ballan and Fabian Cancellara he had two very strong riders accompanying him, but Boonen played down that they were still as strong as many were thinking.

"They were dead tired. Cancellara had cramps up to his ears, and Ballan was happy that he wasn't dropped on the Carrefour de l'Arbre. If you know that, you need to be a realist and not the smart-ass that attacks them. Imagine going all out and Cancellara manages to stay on your wheel, then you end up risking losing it anyway. Once we were on the track it was easy because we were with the three of us; everybody was on the podium, which makes them keen to keep riding.

"In the end I'm very happy that I won, because of the victory. Not because some people were starting to fear for my career. Now I will cherish this victory and I hope that everybody in Belgium is as happy with it as I am."

www.cyclingnews.com

54th Klasika Primavera Amorebieta

The "Basque-Navarran Trilogy", including also GP Miguel Indurain and of course the Vuelta al Pais Vasco, came to an end Sunday with the 54th Gran Premio Primavera, a single-day event (ranked 1.1 and part of the UCI Europe Tour calendar) held over a local circuit, with the start and finishing line situated at Amorebieta town - even if it was moved from its "traditional" place, Gudari Street, to Calle Nafarroa. First across the line at the end of the 171.6-kilometre bikefight was Damiano Cunego (Lampre), who notched up his second victory in the space of a couple days only.
The man from Verona and another well-known guy such as Alejandro Valverde attacked in the third passage over the Muniketa ascent and made the gap after previous breakaway groups weren reeled in. Chasers to the front duo spared no efforts, but there was perfect cooperation between the two world-class riders, on the last passage over the third category Autazagane, that they crested with about 4k to go, as much as in the very final rush to the line.

They made it to the final straight together, but were joined by Mikel Astarloza (Spa - Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Kjell Carlström (Fin - Liquigas) in the last hundred metres. Still, Damiano had legs quick enough to launch the sprint at the right time and hold off Valverde to win by about half-a-wheel length. Carlström, paying the price of his chasing efforts, couldn't match Damiano's speed in the sprint and took third, giving the race podium some Nordic flavour at least, whilst Astarloza had to settle for 4th place only, to the dismay of fans of the "orange warriors", that finished their home campaign with quite a poor balance. The next group, consisting of about a dozen guys, came in 12 seconds behind. Igor Romero of the Orbea-Oreka squad was crowned King of the Mountains.

www.dailypeloton.com / es.eurosport.yahoo.com

48th Vuelta al Pais Vasco - Stage Six

The sun finally made its way back over the 48th Tour of the Basque Country Saturday. And especially over the yellow jersey of mighty Alberto Contador, that claimed the overall title also in this race at the end of the sixth and closing leg, a demanding challenge to the clock held over 20 kilometres, with the start/finish line situated at Orio town.

The stage turned out to be a clash of two giants between Contador and Cadel Evans. But not much of a close fight, we have to say: the Spaniard rocked the clock since the first time check, and was leading the Australian by over 20 seconds after four kilometres. He kept his winning pace all the way to the line and set the best finishing time (29'10"52) of course, beating the Silence-Lotto's world-class rider (29'32"27) by 22 seconds. "Best of the rest" was Thomas Dekker, third place finisher in the GC too, and kicking Damiano Cunego - that snatched 4th both in the stage and overall standings - out of the podium spots.

Paris-Nice revelation Robert Gesink (5th at 01'16"), Maxime Monfort of Belgium (6th), Stefan Schumacher (7th), Chris Horner (8th), Sandy Casar of Paris (9th) and Marco Pinotti of Bergamo-land (10th) filled in the other top ten spots of thee day. Monfort, Mikel Astarloza, Kim Kirchen, Casar, Ezequiel Mosquera and Franck Schleck followed Contador, Evans, Dekker and Cunego in the final overall standings instead.

Alberto Contador obviously won also the prize reserved for the top Spanish finisher while Mikel Astarloza of Euskaltel turned into the best-placed local competitor after the consequences of yesterday's last-minute fall forced David Herrero not to start in the final day.

www.dailypeloton.com / www.as.com

48th Vuelta al Pais Vasco - Stage Five Updated

The 48th Tour of the Basque Country, supposedly one of the toughest and most hard-fought bike races in the international calendar, seems to be almost "freezed", and not (just) because of bad weather and low temperatures, but due to the superiority of Alberto Contador and the Astana team. None of the other possible contenders took advantage of the opportunity to try and topple the "race monarch" the first five stages provided them with, and today's 162-kilometre leg from Vitoria-Gasteiz into Orio town, featuring three second category climbs and one third category ascent, but notably the uphill finish at Orio, basically was no exception to the rule.

Yes, somehow they tried today, but it happened only in the very last portion of the stage, and with little or no success at all: too little, too late. Plus, Contador is in great form, and if it had not been for another world-class cyclist such as Damiano Cunego, first across the line today and getting more and more on-form as the Giro d'Italia kickoff gets closer, as usual, (too bad that he's NOT going to race the Corsa Rosa this year, eheh ...), he would have sealed his domination of the race with yet another stage success.

Keeping up a recent race tradition, also Friday's stage was marred by cloudy skies, rain and wind, taking toll on the bunch. The early portion of the ride was peppered with breakaway attempts: Ivan Santaromita (Ita - Liquigas) and Igor Astarloa (Spa - Team Milram) gave it a try first, later it was Matej Mugerli (Slo - Liquigas), Kanstantin Siutsou (Blr - Team High Road) and Andriy Grivko (Ukr - Team Milram). But the gap was made for real only when Mugerlj and Grivko attacked again at kilometre 69, this time alongside the Basque Egoi Martínez, doing his best to strengthen his position atop the KOM classification but also make up for Euskaltel's poor tally so far in the contest, and the climber Bernhard Kohl (Aut - Gerolsteiner).

The Ukrainian unfortunately punctured soon later, and Mugerlj was rapidly dropped too, so that just two guys remained on the front 77 km. into the stage. Still, the former Discovery man and the former T-Mobile rider were not allowed to build a significant lead. Sandy Casar of Paris and FdJ attacked the field, that split in two halves on the alto de Alkiza descent, and started his solo attempt to close down on the Lasterketa Burua. He was not going to succeed though.

The gap increased to two minutes at the Andoain meta volante with about 50 km. left, but stopped growing as a few guys from Lampre and Saunier Duval-Scott joined Astana at the front of the peloton, and quickly kept coming down, slowly but steadily, since. There was room enough for Martínez to pick up more and more King of the Mountain points at the summit of Santa Ageda, Alto de Alkiza and Alto de Aia, and for the Austrian to have his slice of glory at the aforementioned Andoain sprint, but despite perfect cooperation between them their hopes to get the biggest prize of the day vanished with about 20 kilometres to go. Efforts from the "Red Bird" squad, driving the 40-strong peloton that brought them back, proved crucial in this sense.

With (what was left of) the main peloton together again, a new, key part of the stage (and race) began on the short - 1,800 metres - but daaaaaaaamn demanding - 11.5 percent as average gradient, 18% as maxium gradient - Alto de Aia. Caisse d'Epargne lifted the pace in order to make things harder for Contador, but the Astana leader was always up to the challenge. The battle started as Joaquín Rodríguez finally made a move, but the yellow jersey himself looked after covering it. Still, this mountain monster and the skirmishes it generated succeeded in breaking the field apart; some riders even had to walk their way to the summit, others stayed in the saddle only thanks to the unrequested help from some "fans" who pushed them. Cadel Evans and Franck Schleck didn't have such kind of problems however: they joined Contador and Rodríguez to set up a 4-man lead group with the finish line about 10 km. away.

Thimgs stayed fluid on the descent into Orio, made dangerous by the slippery road. Thomas Dekker and Damiano Cunego (re)joined the front group; David Herrero, Mikel Astarloza, Davide Rebellin and a few others also did next. Euskaltel's Astarloza even gave it a shot at going away solo with 4k remaining. In vain. A dozen riders were in the front group as it went under the flamme rouge, but Contador had enough of their company and attacked in the last hundred metres.

Someone was strong good enough to follow his move this time. Someone going under the name of Damiano Cunego, who proved faster than the Spaniard in the two-man battle over stage victory, and took line honours clocking 04h02'48". Dekker, Kirchen, Rebellin and Joaquín Rodriguez filled in the other top six spots at 05 seconds. Still, they were credited with the same finishing time as the top two finishers. Ezequiel Mosquera, supposed to be Contador's most dangerous overall challenger until today's stage, came in seventh at 16". Maxime Monfort, Mikel Astarloza and Igor Anton made the top ten of the day complete, and Chris Horner rode to a solid 11th place finish, 22 seconds behind the stage winner. Cadel Evans snatched 14th.

Riccardo Riccó and David Herrero were the next victims of the weather as they fell in the last kilometre; the latter even badly hit his collarbone. Damiano Cunego wore the txapela (the typical Basque hat) on the podium today, and Contador put the yellow jersey on his shoulders once more. The man from Madrid now leads Cunego, Kirchen, Rebellin, Dekker, Herrero - still atop the points classification - and a few more, amongst whom skilled TTist Cadel Evans, by eight seconds, with only tomorrow's race decider - an individual challenge against the clock of some 20 kilometres running around Orio - between himself and the final podium. At their turn Rabobank lead Saunier by 58 seconds in the team standings, by the way.

After-race Comments

"I want to dedicate this success to my compañeros, that have worked a lot" said Damiano Cunego to a Basque TV journalist. "To win a stage here is a special thing. In my five times at this race I was able to get some good placings and come close to stage victory, but never got any until today. Today was an unusual (day in the saddle) though, because of the cold and the rain. And regarding the impressive (Alto de Aia) climb, I didn't know that ascent, but managed to stay with Schleck, Contador and all the best ones, and in the end I gave it a go at winning and everything went fine. It was a pity that Patxi (Vila) couldn't stay with me, but in conditions like today's even a 30-second deficit is something hard to make up for".

Asked about his overall chances in the contest, The Little Prince said that he might try something in tomorrow's stage, but "all I want to do now is celebrate today's victory". Last but not least, the man from Verona admitted that, as an Italian, he regrets not taking part in the forthcoming Giro, and hopes he'll be back to his country's Grand Tour (which he won in the year 2004, btw) soon. But his big target in the current season is Le Tour, and now he just wants to focus himself on that.

Next in front of the Euskal Telebista cameras was Alberto Contador. The GC leader agreed with Cunego on the toughness of today's race, because of both the weather conditions and the Alto de Aia slopes, commenting further, that the last climb was a bit too short and far from the line for his (and Joaquín Rodriguez's) move to make a solid gap and bear fruit.

Questioned about his own overall chances and tomorrow's ITT, he said that first of all his Vuelta balance is positive anyway, with one stage win and five days as race leader already in the bag. Sure a victory in the GC would be truly welcomed, also as a way to pay his teammates back for the extraordinary job they've done all through the event; plus, he likes TTs like tomorrow's. But much would depend on his condition come Saturday afternoon. Contador picked Cadel Evans and David Herrero as most dangerous rivals tomorrow, but knows well that they're not the only guys he should watch out for.

www.dailypeloton.com / www.marca.com

48th Vuelta al Pais Vasco - Stage Four

Not even the five difficulties, four of which situated in the second half of the stage, the parcours had in store for the 146 riders who showed up at start town Viana stopped Thursday's fourth leg of the Euskal Herriko txirrindulari itzulia, that finished into Vitoria (Gasteiz in the local language, the political capital of three Spanish provinces comprising the Basque region) after a journey of 162 km, from coming down to the traditional field sprint. But they came daaaamn close this time. The Luxembourgian sprinter Kim Kirchen (Team High Road) notched up his second victory in the 2008 edition of the contest, and Alberto Contador wore the overall leader's yellow jersey also on the podium after the stage. But the race was absolutely unusual, and had a really bizarre outcome.

But let's start at the very beginning. One more time the stage got off to a flying start. Jorge Azanza and Ivan Velasco tried to make the headlines for Euskaltel-Euskadi, so far quite disappointing in their home race. But the Spanish pair and fellow early attacker Alexander Botcharov (Rus - Crédit Agricole) were allowed to stay clear for a very short time only. The same happened to another "orange warrior", Egoi Martínez, on the move alongside Jérémy Roy (Fra - Française Des Jeux), Xabier Zandio (Spa - Caisse D'Epargne) and Daniele Righi (Ita - Lampre). Despite the addition of helpers Tom Stubbe (Bel - Française Des Jeux) and Koos Moerenhout (Hol - Rabobank) the front group couldn't go too far either.

Well, not all of them were reeled in: Tom Stubbe managed to ride away from the others, and his chances to make the "breakaway of the day" got bigger as he was joined by four more escapees: the Australian national champion jersey holder Matthew Lloyd (Silence-Lotto), the Italian Morris Possoni (High Road), on the attack for the second day running, his compatriot Dario Cataldo (Liquigas) and - of course - one Basque knight, Amets Txurruka.

One more time, once the gap was made, it didn't take long for the frontrunners to build up a significant margin: Stubbe, Lloyd, Possoni, Cataldo and Txurruka, working perfectly with each other, were leading the bunch by three minutes at the km. 35 check. After that, and still following in the footsteps of what happened in previous stages, their advantage basically kept yo-yoing for some time as the peloton got a little more serious about the chase, but not too much. With the "Red Bird" team Saunier Duval taking matters into their hands, but Astana not cooperating, the gap was down to two minutes on the toughest - and coming too early - climb of the day, the first category Alto de La Herrera (Possoni won the points there) but kept growing again later.

The rain falling over much of Europe these days made a brief comeback to the race. Brief, but long enough to have a devastating impact on Paolo Bettini: the World Champion fell - for the umpteenth time in the last two years - while coming down the Alto de Herrera and was forced out of the race. Amets Txurruka took revenge on Possoni at the top of the next climb (Zaldiaran) and was first across the line also at the Vitoria hot spot sprint. His victory at Vitoria was followed by a victory at Alto de Vitoria, as the Basque took the KOM prime from Possoni and Stubbe, with the gap still hovering around two and a half minutes.

Then Astana took up the chase at last, and the advantage started its decline for real. It was two minutes in the flat portion that came with 50 kilometres left, 01'30" around the 35-km-to-go banner, and a mere, little sixty seconds a dozen miles from the finish, with the sun trying to elbow its way through the clouds and some more rain rapidly kicking it out of the race. In the meantime, the front group had been downgraded to quartet as Dario Cataldo had lost contact, Morris Possoni had won the meta volante at Treviño and Lloyd the Aussie stamped his authority on the third category Alto de San Martin Zar.

The bunch was on their heels, but not that much, and the finish line was getting closer; so, as predictable, cooperation amongst the escapees ended in the last ten kilometres, while taking on the last ascent of the day (Alto de Zaldiaran. again): Lloyd started the fireworks, and only Txurruka countered his move. But when the Aussie picked up the pace again, the Basque had to give up. For a while at least, for Possoni came to his (and his own) rescue and both guys regained Lloyd's wheel in the last descent, 6.7 km.from the finish.

Astana apparently weren't too hungry to ride their legs off in the pursuit, neither any other teams were, and the gap was still a decent 35 seconds as the stage entered the five closing kilometres. This boosted the morale of the three frontrunners, back to helping each other and flying on the flat roads into Vitoria/Gasteiz at 65 kph, but despite all efforts they put in their chances got slimmer as the gap was down to 12" under the red pennant.

The last thousand metres were truly epic and dramatic: Possoni, Lloyd and Txurruka perhaps turned back a bit too many times, and Possoni maybe launched his sprint a bit too late. But they never gave up, and at some point it looked like the Italian was going to make it ... but, but ... but paradoxically and cruelly enough, after staying clear almost all-day long, Morris and the two others were captured in the veeeeery last few metres. Well, in fact, only one rider caught Possoni and denied him the joy of victory. And it was a teammate of his!!!!!!!!!! Yep, Kim Kirchen won the stage ahead of Possoni, with David Herrero ... back to the place he belongs to (he scored his third-place finish in four days!!!). Lloyd took fourth and Txurruka snatched a solid seventh place result.

In his first after-race statements Kirchen, talking in fluent Italian, "apologised" to his team-mate: "He deserved to win, but I'm a young rider, and you just can't ask me to give up my chances of victory when I'm given some, you know. Had I realized it was Possoni that was going to win, I would have stopped myself". Will Possoni believe and "forgive" him? hmmm ...

We don't know about that, but there's one thing we can tell you for sure: any would-be "peacekeeper" inside Team High Road is not going to have a easy time tonight ...

www.dailypeloton.com and www.publico.es

Oscar Freire takes revenge

Gent-Wevelgem reunites the best classic cyclists since the very beginning.

Every year the cycle race is an exceptional event. Surely everybody remembers how Marcus Burghardt started under a red flag last year. The fierce reaction of the triple champion Oscar Freire came too late. This way we have a second German champion, after Andreas Klier.

There are only few or no other classic cyclist tours which can be proud of such an international champions list.

The biggest champions have won once or several times Gent-Wevelgem : Briek Schotte, Rik Van Looy, Eddy Merckx, Walter Godefroot, Francesco Moser, Sean Kelly, Mario Cipollini, Tom Boonen…

We only mention some names … the others can be found in the complete honour list.

Specific tour cyclists, such as Jacques Anquetil an Bernard Hinault, have won this tour as well.

The development of this classic tour Gent-Wevelgem would not have been possible without the numerous efforts of the founders Gerard Margodt and especially Georges Matthys.

Both have passed away at an advantaged age. They have organised Gent-Wevelgem for the first time in 1934 …

Their task was taken over by the 10 members of the organising committee ‘Het Vliegend Wiel’. In 1982 Luc Gheysens took over the presidency of Georges Matthys.

Till 1994 the organising newspaper was the unique sponsor. From 1995 onwards, Bernard Langedock, secretary, together wit the complete committee of ‘Het Vliegend Wiel’ have put all their efforts in the course. Without their continuous support Gent-Wevelgem would not be the same today.


At last I would like to thank our faithful sponsors and especially the municipality of Wevelgem, which through the years has contributed (and not only financially) to the success of this course. Our previous mayor, Gilbert Seynhaeve, was a fierce supporter. Our current mayor, Jan Seynhaeve, has taken over this passion and continues this mission together with the municipal council. They deserve our greatest esteem.

When the world cup was replaced by the ProTour in 2005, Gent-Wevelgem was nominated immediately.

As a ProTour competition Gent-Wevelgem belongs to the worlds cycling top.

The participation in the ProTour accelerated the renewal and the professionalism of the organisation of Gent-Wevelgem.

This innovation can be found in a new logo and a new style of Gent-Wevelgem in 2008.

Next to this the organisation also took a big interest in the security of the cyclists.

In order to limit the risk of falls when descending the Mount Kemmel, this year a special alternative asphalted road has been chosen, especially rearranged by the municipality of Heuvelland. There has been a more selective choice of track as well.

We hope to meet you at one of our hospitality events; at the start in Deinze, on the Mount Kemmel, at the arrival or somewhere along the track.

www.gent-wevelgem.be

Cancellara faces Belgian cycling test in muddy Flanders

Fabian Cancellara's scintillating early season form will be tested to the full when he lines up as one of the favourites for what could be a rain-lashed Tour of Flanders this Sunday.
As the early spring classics move up a gear ahead of next week's 'Hell of the North' at Paris-Roubaix, the Swiss all-rounder has every right to believe he can win the 264 km one-day classic from Bruges to Meerbeke.
Yet more than a few obstacles stand in his way, not Belgium's two-time winner Tom Boonen, or Alessandro Ballan, the man who romped home in unusual Flanders sunshine last year to end Italy's five-year wait for a win.
The 17 steep hills, variously known as 'bergs', on the race course make life tough enough for the peloton.
The fact they are sometimes cobbled, often narrow and usually lined 10-deep with hundreds of beer-swilling, screaming cycling fans makes the job that little bit harder.
And umbrellas are likely to be a big feature on the bergs this Sunday, with the weather men predicting wind, rain and even hail.
Cancellara, a two-time world time trial champion, comes into the race on the back of victory at Milan San Remo and the Tirreno-Adriatico stage race.
But even his team manager, Australian Scott Sunderland, knows he will have to excel on several fronts if he is to conquer the race known as the 'Ronde'.
"Fabian's definitely capable of winning Flanders. He's proved at the Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan San Remo that he's strong," Sunderland told AFP Friday.
"But Flanders is a different kettle of fish."
The threat of inclement weather has automatically reduced Ballan's victory chances as the Italian is said to dwell in dry conditions.
And that could boost the chances of the weather-hardened Belgians such as Quick Step's Boonen, Leif Hoste of Silence-Lotto, on-form Philippe Gilbert of Francaise des Jeux or Cofidis hard man Nick Nuyens, who finished metres behind Ballan in 2007.
Hoste, a three-time runner-up, will be looking for new Belgian sensation Greg Van Avermaet to earn his spurs and help him shake off his rivals as he bids to shake the 'Ronde' monkey off his back again.
"I don't feel like I'm the eternal runner-up. I'm looking forward, not backwards," said Hoste, third in 2004, 2006 and 2007.
A Belgian victory in what has been a fairly barren season so far for Boonen and his compatriots would go down well in Flanders.
Sunderland said they've done everything possible to be ready, but that anything is possible.
"Material-wise we're ready for all kinds of weather though it looks like wind, rain and even hail - a real spring day in Flanders!" he added.
"But you just don't know how the riders will go in the race. We've got a strong team and ideally we'll hope to have the numbers up there, but keeping the guys together until the end is going to be a difficult task."
The main issue for any Flanders contenders will be the climbs, over three-quarters of which feature in the final 80km.
It's on the 'bergs' that the heart rates of Cancellara, Boonen and Ballan will rise a few notches as they aim to keep pace without falling victim to the treacherous cobblestones.
This year the legendary Koppenberg, the maximum gradient of which rises to a whopping 22 percent, has returned to the delight of fans at least.
It took only one rider to fall on the Koppenberg in 2005, and while Boonen escaped the mayhem in his wake the victory hopes of many of his rivals virtually ended there.

Fuente : uk.eurosport.yahoo.com Foto : www.abc.net.au

Gran Premio Miguel Induráin

The German mountain goat Fabian Wegmann (Gerolsteiner), winner of Gran Premio Miguel Induráin two years ago, got back to Big Mig's land Navarra and rocked the field again in the 2008 edition of the event named after the five-time Tour de France winner, which ran Saturday over 199 kilometres around Estella town. The race result was determined in the short but steep (average gradient: 8 %. Max. gradient: up to 15 %) third category final ascent to the line, situated at Basílica de El Puy. Michael Albasini (Swi - Liquigas) and Joaquín Rodríguez (Spa - Caisse d'Epargne) secured the other top spots, respectively in the same time (4 hours, 57 minutes, 23 seconds) and two seconds behind the winner. Bobby Julich was the best English-speaker at the finish line as he took 11th.

Sunny skies and springish weather conditions welcomed the bunch, that was still together at the foot of the last climb despite multiple breakaway attempts. Spain's Rafa Serrano (Contentpolis-Murcia) and Jorge Azanza (Euskaltel Euskadi), as well as Eduard Vorganov of Russia and the Karpin Galicia team had made the brekaway of the day and built up a six-minute lead over the field. Azanza was later dropped, and the two others stayed clear over the Guirguillano climb just to see their hopes for glory vanish later.

More moves followed on the way to the last ascent, but the likes of Vladimir Efimkin (Rus - AG2R-La Mondiale), Chris Sorensen (Den - Team CSC), Manuel Vázquez (Spa - Contentpolis-Murcia) and Amael Moinard (Fra - Cofidis) couldn't prove themselves stronger than the Gerolsteiner and Caisse d'Epargne chase machines. Such that the final battle broke out on the challenging Puy, with "home side" Euskaltel-Euskadi driving the peloton charge first, but Wegmann, that definitely had a good knowledge of the parcours, stealing the show at the right time to finish off the job done by his teammates all through the day.

Most of the GP Miguel Indurain peloton now moves a little northward to the Basque Country, "crime scene" of the upcoming Vuelta al Pais Vasco, the third round of the UCI Pro Tour, which is set to run Monday thru Saturday next week.

Fuente: www.dailypeloton.com (05.04.2008)

43rd Cinturón a Mallorca (2.2) - Stage Three

Russell Downing scored again, but as solo winner this time. The Pinarello Racing Team star rider from the UK crossed the line eight seconds clear of his six nearest pursuers in Friday's "halfway" stage, held around Inca town. The 134.4 kilometre leg featured two passages over the second category hill of Sa Batalla. No selection was made there, but still the climb had some significant impact on both the legs of several contenders and the stage outcome: after struggling on its slopes many riders weren't left with enough gasoline to counter the seven-man move that went away with a dozen miles remaining.
Downing was obviously one of the Seven Wonders and successfully attacked his breakaway mates in the final mile. But so was Germany's Cristopher Meschenmoser (Team Ista), who snatched seventh in the day's ranking and took the yellow jersey from teammate Joerg Lehmann. The race opener winner lost 31 seconds to the new GC leader as he finished with the next bunch of 29. The most dangerous GC threat is now another Briton, Daniel Lloyd of the Sean Kelly team, who was on the move both early and late in the stage and is currently down on GC by just a mere second. The Irish squad also got Paidi O'Brien as tenth-place getter and sits in spot number of the Teams ranking, led by Germany's Ista. At his turn Russ Downing powered his way up to the top ten places overall and - needless to say - to the very summit of the points classification.

"The stage was fast and tough, but I worked hard to win it" Downing said, adding that he had a hard time after the first passage over Sa Batalla, but held on and later found the power to take his second victory in a row. When the race hit the ascent again, he was surprised that nobody went on the attack, and that he wasn't dropped again, so he decided to give it a try in the last kilometres of the stage. He must be glad he did. Still, he doesn't think he can be a serious overall contender; his goals in this race were (are) some stage win and to finish atop the regularidad classification. He's not doing bad in this sense, is he?

Cristoph Meschenmoser, who experienced the UCI Pro Tour scene when wearing the Gerolsteiner and Skill-Shimano jerseys in the past, is confident that he can win this race instead, even if he admitted that it's gonna be tough for him in both stages to come. He didn't have a easy time on the Sa Batalla either, but his morale is high, so everything can happen. Even that Daniel Lloyd would stole the yellow jersey ...

www.dailypeloton.com

Etapa y liderato para Di Luca en la Semana Lombarda

El italiano Danilo Di Luca, del conjunto LPR, es el nuevo líder de la Semana Lombarda, al imponerse un sprint reducido en la cuarta etapa que tuvo como punto de salida y llegada la localidad de Vertova, provincia de Bergamo.

Danilo di Luca, que logra su primera victoria en la presente temporada, se impuso al suizo Roger Beuchat (Diquigiovanni) y al polaco Krystzof Szczawinsky (Miche).

La quinta jornada tendrá como escenario la ciudad de Flero, ya que será punto de salida y llegada y por sus calles y alrededores se completarán los 163,5 kilómetros previstos para la etapa.

Fuente : www.marca.com Foto: www.elmundo.es