News

16th March 2007

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Discovery Channel's Alberto Contador takes stage 4 of the Paris-Nice ahead of Gerolsteiner's Davide Rebellin who takes over the leaders jersey

Fulfilling the promise he has shown, Spain's Alberto Contador, now riding for the Discovery Channel team, dominated on the final climb to Mende where he won the 4th stage of the Paris-Nice. The only rider who was able to follow the flying Spaniard was Italian Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) who, even though he failed to win the stage, has taken over the lead of the race.

Overnight leader Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) struggled to keep control on the climb to the line, eventually losing 0'40" finishing in 10th place on the stage.

Overall now Gerolsteiner's Rebellin leads by 6 seconds from stage winner Contador with Lampre-Fondital's Tadej Valjavec. Pellizotti now drops to 4th place at 0'31".

The race continues with a 178 kilometer stage today from Sorgues to Manosque with 4 categorized mountain climbs and 2 sprints along the course.

For CSC's Fränk Schleck the stage went pretty much according to plan. Speaking on team-csc.com he said, "Everything went according to plan until about 300 meters before the end, where I couldn't quite keep up with the other five guys in the front. The team had worked hard for me and lined me up perfectly, so I had hoped to be able to get a bit closer to the victory, but I just didn't have anything left to give at the end. We have a strong and diverse team and we're able to challenge in so many ways, so we still have some moves left for the next few days. This race is far from over yet."

Click here for the full results from stage four of the Paris-Nice...

Russian rider Alexandr Arekeev (Acqua e Sapone) solo's to the stage victory and the lead overall at the Tirreno-Adriatico

Dropping his breakaway companions before the finish, Acqua e Sapone rider Alexandr Arekeev soloed to the finish to take the second stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico and the overall lead.

From 13 kilometers out the young Russian rider went alone. Second on the stage went to Tinkoff Credit Systems rider Daniele Contrini who outsprinted the remnants of the breakaway that included Gerlosteiner's Sven Krauss.

Bernhard Eisel (T-Mobile) led in the peloton at 0'54" throwing his arms up thinking that he had won the stage, not realizing the break was ahead. Norwegian Thor Hushovd riding for Crédit Agricole finished 6th on the stage.

Speaking on team-csc.com CSC's world time trial champion and winner of the 2006 Paris Roubaix, Fabian Cancellara said, "I'm still not one hundred percent, but I didn't have a fever this morning so of course I wanted to race today. When the stage was over I felt like I'd just done a stage in Tour de France, so I'm definitely still a bit weak. But this race is important for me as preparation for the classics, so I'd really like to do it and hopefully come out feeling fairly ok."

The race continues later today with a 213 kilometer stage from Marsciano to Macerata, a course with only one climb after 77.7 kilometers and a stage that looks set to come down to a bunch sprint.

Click here for the full results from stage two of the Tirreno-Adriatico...

New Leisure cycle to precede Ireland's Shay Elliott Memorial by Gerard Cromwell

This year's Murphy & Gunn Shay Elliott Memorial will be preceded for the first time by a Randonee on the Saturday. The Murphy & Gunn sponsored leisure cycle will be held over two different routes of 75kms and 110kms, tracing the pedal strokes of much of the opening road stage of the 1998 Tour De France. The event will leave the Presentation College on Saturday 21st of April at 10am and all proceeds from the cycle will go to the National Council of the Blind. The leisure tour can be entered on the line with more details to follow.

This year's Shay Elliott Memorial, Ireland's biggest one day race, will begin the following day, Sunday April 22nd and with a massive prize fund of €2,000 is sure to attract some strong competition. As well as the Murphy & Gunn-Newlyn Group-M. Donnelly-Sean Kelly professional team, teams are expected from the UK and possibly the continent. There will also be a team prize of €500 on the day. The Shay Elliott race highlights will also be broadcast on RTE in the OB Sports programme on 30th April.

British Cycling name their team for the track world championships