News

17th April 2007

Have your voice heard on ProCycleNews... Click here to E-mail us with your comments on the stories below!

O'Grady conquers the pavé of Northern France

On Sunday Australia's Stuart O'Grady conquered the pavé roads of Northern France to claim the victory on the velodrome of Roubaix at the end of the 105th edition of the Paris-Roubaix classic. In doing so O'Grady took the biggest win of his career to date.

The race was dominated by a powerful CSC lineup that also included the 2006 winner and current world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara.

Speaking after the race on team-csc.com the Australian said, "I've dreamt of winning this race since I was a kid, and it actually still feels like a dream now it's actually come true. It's gonna be days before it hits me for real."

The new Paris-Roubaix champion was at the head of affairs throughout the event going clear in a lead group of 35 riders earlier in the race and staying at the front from then on.

Coming in towards the finish the CSC rider forged ahead alone, soloing to the finish for a powerful win crossing the line 0'52" ahead of Rabobank's Juan Antonio Flecha with Steffen Wesemann who now rides for Wiesenhof-Felt coming home third in the same time as Flecha.

Contrini wins stage one of the Tour of Georgia by Brian C. Grenier

On a day that saw the remnants of a powerful northeaster blowing through the start line the team's got off to a windy start to the 2007 Tour of Georgia.

An early break went clear staying out front for a short while before it was reeled back in. Immediately the US domestic teams vied for a chance at a break with Navigators Insurance rider Rapinski going clear after about 50 Kilometers of the stage.

The peloton seemed content to let him go for a spell. Just after the feed zone Rapinski sat up and waited for a bridging group that consisted of Daniele Contrini (Tinkoff Credit Systems), Doug Ollerenshaw (Health Net), Ben Day (Navigators Insurance), Mike Sayers (BMC) and Matt Shriver (Jittery Joe's).

It just didn’t seem that the main group had any sense of urgency to catch the blazing break away and at one point the gap was over 7 minutes. Chris Wherry was later noted as saying that they were not getting splits and the main group was unaware just how big the gap had grown.

This final group was hard to catch with such a powerful tailwind making it to the city of Macon GA intact while the teams of Discovery Channel and Slipstream chased behind.

 Just before starting the circuits in the city of Macon the main peloton saw a crash which further slowed things down, luckily though there was none injured and all riders finished. 

On the first Circuit, Contrini attacked on the first hill and opened a gap and dropped two riders from the break group. Contrini finished it off with a power full ride to the finish giving himself almost a minutes lead over the other riders to take the stage win and the first leaders jersey of this years Tour. 

Tyler Hamilton, Daniel Contrini’s team leader was happy for the win and was all smiles after the race. “ this is an important win for Tinkoff Credit Systems, we were on a waiting list for this race and we are happy we took the opening stage.”

T-Mobile and Milram name for the GP Denain

T-Mobile and Milram are just two of the teams who will lineup for the GP Denain on Thursday. Covering 199.4 kilometers, the race takes in a large 99.4 kilometer loop before the riders will tackle eight finishing circuits, each measuring 12.5 kilometers in distance.

Tailor made for the sprinters, last years edition of the race was won by Frenchman Jimmy Casper who is now riding for the Unibet.com team.

Guided by sporting director Allan Peiper, the German T-Mobile team will field: Eric Baumann (Ger), Mark Cavendish (GBr), Scott Davis (Aus), André Greipel (Ger), Roger Hammond (GBr), Greg Henderson (NZl), André Korff (Ger) and Aaron Olson (USA).

Italian Milram sporting director Vittorio Algeri will bring: Mirco Lorenzetto, Elia Rigotto, Alberto Ongarato, Sebastian Siedler, Niki Terpstra, Ralf Grabsch and Martin Müller to the race in search of success.

Quick Step-Innergetic and T-Mobile have both named their starting selections for tomorrow's 100th edition of the 197 kilometer "Scheldeprijs" in Belgium, the oldest race in Flanders that has been won by ex-world champion Tom Boonen twice in 2004 and 2006.

Boonen again appears in the Quick Step-Innergetic lineup for this years event where he will be joined by Steven De Jongh, Sebastien Rosseler, Gert Steegmans, Kevin Van Impe, Peter Van Petegem, Geert Verheyen and Wouter Weylandt in a team that will be guided by their sporting director Wilfried Peeters.

T-Mobile will field Mark Cavendish (GBr), Scott Davis (Aus), Bernhard Eisel (Aut), André Greipel (Ger), Greg Henderson (NZl), Servais Knaven (Ned), André Korff (Ger) and Aaron Olson (USA).

Sporting director Allan Peiper said, "We will be making sure that we are always represented in any groups that get away." The Australian continued, "Each rider can ride his own race, attack or counter-attack."

Crédit Agricole name their selection for the Amstel Gold

French team Crédit Agricole will head to this weekend's Amstel Gold race in Holland with a strong lineup guided by their experienced sporting director Serge Beucherie.

Francesco Bellotti, Mads Kaggestad, Dimitri Fofonov, Christophe Edaleine, Alexandre Botcharov, Jean-Marc Marino, Chistophe Laurent and Christophe Kern all appear in the strong lineup that will look to be in the thick of the action throughout the race which starts in Maastrich and finishes at the summit of the Cauberg in Valkenburg.

Two more Northern races for the Barloworld team where Alex Efimkin will prepare for the Ardennes classics

In preparation for the upcoming Ardennes classics team Barloworld will be competing in Belgium and France this coming week at the GP Scheldeprijs in Belgium tomorrow and the GP Denain in France on Thursday.

The team will be specifically preparing for the Fleche-Wallonne and the Liege-Bastogne-Liege, two races on the ProTour calendar that they have been invited to ride.

Sporting director Valerio Tebaldi said, "They're going to be two interesting races and I'm sure Team Barloworld can be competitive in both of them."

Selected riders are: Giosuè Bonomi, Diego Caccia, Enrico Degano, Alex Efimkin, Robert Hunter, Paolo Longo Borghini and James Perry.

Zabel leads Milram at tomorrow's Scheldeprijs

Germany's veteran sprinter Erik Zabel will make a welcome return to competition tomorrow at the Scheldeprijs, a 197 kilometer race that will be celebrating it's 100th birthday.

Zabel, who has been out of competition since his crash at the Tour of Flanders, will lead an eight man Milram squad in the race which is usually decided in a bunch sprint.

The 36 year-old German will be joined by: Mirco Lorenzetto, Elia Rigotto, Sebastian Siedler, Alberto Ongarato, Niki Terpstra, Ralf Grabsch and Martin Müller in the team that will be guided by Milram sporting director Vittorio Algeri.

Belgium's Jartazi-Promo Fashion name their selections for upcoming races

Pro-Continental team Jartazi-Promo Fashion have named their squads for upcoming races, namely tomorrow's

Scheldeprijs, Thursday's GP Denain, the Tour du Finistère on the 21st of April, the Ronde van Noord-Holland on the 22nd and the Tro Bro Leon in France also on the 22nd of April, a race which is the Breton equivalent to the Paris-Roubaix.

Mathieu Criquielion, Vytautas Kaupas, Sven Nevens, Mindaugas Striska, Geert Omloop, Janek Tombak, Kenny Van Braeckel and Jarno Van Mingeroet will all represent the Belgian team in tomorrow's race.

At the GP Denain the riders will be: Yohan Cauquil, Mathieu Drouilly, Jurgen François, Mario Ickx, Geert Omloop, Yanek Tombak, Jan Soetens and Denis Flahaut.

At the Tour du Finistère on the 21st of this month in France the team will be: Yohan Cauquil, Mathieu Criquielion, Mathieu Drouilly, Sven Nevens, Geert Omloop, Jan Soetens, Jarno Van Mingeroet and Kenny Van Braeckel.

The selected riders for the Ronde van Noord-Holland will be: Denis Flahaut, Jurgen François, Mario Ickx, Vytautas Kaupas, Mindaugas Striska and Eddy Lembo.

Riding the Tro Bro Leon will be:Yohan Cauquil, Mathieu Criquielion, Sven Nevens, Geert Omloop, Jan Soetens, Janek Tombak, Jarno Van Mingeroet and Kenny Van Braeckel.