News

18th April 2007

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Ivan Stevic riding for Toyota-United takes stage two of the Tour de Georgia by Press Release

Atlanta, Ga. – In a perfectly timed move, Serbian National Professional Champion Ivan Stevic of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling team burst away from a pack of 80 riders up the 20 percent grade of Clocktower Hill and hung on the final 800 meters for a Stage Two victory at the 2007 Tour de Georgia. Top sprinters Juan Jose Haedo (Argentina) of Team CSC finished second and American Fred Rodriguez of Predictor-Lotto finished third in the stage, two seconds behind the winner.

Despite a team strategy based on a similar winning move made last year by Discovery’s Yaraslov Popovych, Stevic was ecstatic with the win. “It’s amazing to win a race at this event. It has been a big goal of me for a long time. Last year, I had an issue with my visa and couldn’t race,” said Stevic. “I just gave everything I had (up and over the hill) and I saw a small gap and I was like, I should go, I should try and here I am! So simple, but it’s not!”
While Stevic gained the victory, Tinkoff Credit Systems’ Daniele Contini will continue to lead the General Classification and wear the AT&T Overall Leader jersey. The Top 3 of the G.C. did not change today, but notable riders moved into the Top 25, including Levi Leipheimer (10th), Tom Danielson (12th), George Hincapie (13th), David Zabriskie (17th), David Millar (21st), Nathan O’Neill (24th), and Cesar Grajales (25th).
The 116 riders departed from Thomaston, Ga at 11:00 a.m. under sunny skies. While brisk headwinds slowed riders at the start, it became less of a factor as the race progressed. American Austin King of the Jittery Joe’s Pro Cycling team was awarded the Dent Wizard Most Aggressive Rider for Stage Two. King made his move early by breaking away from the field at the 20-mile mark in race. He was later joined by New Zealander Alan Chadwick of Navigators Insurance and American Garrett Peltonen of Priority Health. Peltonen faded from the group with nearly 15 miles remaining in the race, and King dropped back to the pack shortly after.

Contrini will wear the AT&T Overall Leader’s Jersey during Stage Three of the Tour de Georgia. While he is also the Maxxis Sprint Leader, the sprint jersey will be worn Ivan Stevic for Stage Three. American Austin King of the Jittery Joe’s Pro Cycling team will wear the Dent Wizard Most Aggressive Rider Jersey for Stage Three. The United Community Bank King of the Mountain jersey will be worn by American Ben Jaques-Maynes of the Priority Health Cycling Team. GE Best Young Rider jersey was awarded to American John Devine of the USA National Development team, based on his stage placing of 18th.

Stage Three will depart Wednesday from Rome at 12:00 Noon and is expected to finish between 4:14-4:57 p.m. in Chattanooga, Tenn. As the beginning of the Tour de Georgia’s mountain stages, the 118.2-mile Stage Three will feature four KOM climbs (Fouche Gap, Hwy. 48, Hwy. 136, and Burkhalter Gap.) The route will also feature a sprint line in Summerville. It is the second time Rome has hosted two stages, and a second time the Tour has been outside of Georgia to Chattanooga.

Click here for the full results from stage two of the Tour de Georgia...

Toyota-United's Ivan Stevic Conquers Rome by Press Release

Rome, Ga. – Ivan Stevic of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team charged out of the pack on the final trip up Clocktower Hill in Rome and soloed away to win Stage 2 of the Tour de Georgia.
The two-time Serbian national champion scored the biggest win of his young professional career by comfortably winning Tuesday’s 135-mile (217 km) race in five hours, 35 minutes and 27 seconds. Juan José Haedo (Team CSC) and Fred Rodriguez (Predictor-Lotto) took second and third, respectively, two seconds later.
Stevic said he had targeted the stage from Thomaston to Rome since missing the race last year while working out visa problems that kept him from competing.
“Watching Yaroslav Popovych win it, I thought this should be one of the races that I try to win,” he said. “And today, my dream came true.”
The 5-foot-7, 154-pound second-year pro said Toyota-United’s frustration of not being able to reel in a five-man breakaway on Stage 1 Monday provided an additional incentive.
“Thanks to losing yesterday’s stage, today we raced perfectly,” he said. “We knew that we had to do it. There are only two teams that have good sprinters – us and CSC. We knew we had to take responsibility and control of the race and basically we did it.”
Stevic’s win made Toyota-United the first team this year to win a stage in each of the first two USA Cycling Pro Tour races. At February’s Amgen Tour of California , Ivan Dominguez was victorious on Stage 7 in Long Beach . The victory was also the team’s 14th of the season, its 25th podium placing in 2007 and the 69th win overall in the team’s two-year history.
“If you look at who some of the guys are who have won in Rome before, guys like Lance Armstrong and Yaroslav Popovych, you’ve got to be good to win on this circuit,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said.
With 25 miles (40 km) to go, Stevic said he told teammate Henk Vogels that he felt good.
Vogels said, “I told him he needed to go for it.”
So instead of only getting Dominguez (who had finished fifth on Stage 1) in position for the final sprint, Toyota-United’s Caleb Manion and Stevic were given the green light to be opportunistic.
“We knew it would be hectic on these circuits and we wouldn’t be able to drive it home,” Jansen said.
Manion had finished third on this same stage a year ago while Jansen knew Stevic would excel on the tight finishing circuit that featured eight corners on each 2.3-mile (3.7 km) lap. The plan worked to perfection as Manion went to the front with three kilometers to go, providing the perfect leadout for Stevic’s attack up the Category 4 climb of Clocktower Hill.
“It was perfect,” Vogels said. We changed our tactics because Ivan and me weren’t exactly in good position. Caleb just drilled it.”

Victory Was Foreseen In Team Owner's Dream
Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team Owner Sean Tucker said he has only dreamed about the team winning once – and it came true on Tuesday.
“At this year’s training camp, I had a dream where Ivan Stevic won Stage 2 at the Tour of California,” Tucker said. “In the dream, Stevic attacked from about a kilometer out.
“The next day, I told Ivan about it and (Team Director) Kirk Willett overheard me. He said Ivan couldn’t have won a stage of the Tour of California because he wasn’t going to be there. So I told him I must have been joking and that it was really the Tour de Georgia.”
A few minutes after his victory Tuesday, Stevic spoke with Tucker by cell phone. “You keep having those dreams boss,” he said.

Toyota-United's Henk Vogels speaks after his teammates win

Speaking after stage two of the Tour de Georgia Stevic's experienced Toyota-United teammate Henk Vogels said, "It’s great to see Ivan – who has worked tirelessly for others for a year and four months – get the win of his career.”

Lets look forward to more of the same from Toyota-United over the coming stages!

Problems force Boonen out of the Scheldeprijs

The Quick Step-Innergetic team will be without Tom Boonen in today's Scheldeprijs race. The Belgian ex-world champion is suffering from intestinal problems and said on qsi-cycling.com, "Today I have to stop my training because of these problems. Together with the team medical staff we decided to don’t take risks."

Boonen continues, "Traditionally this is the last race of my first part of the season. I cannot take the start but I want to be in Antwerpen and Schoten to say hallo and thanks to all my supporters and to support my team-mates during the race."

Instead of competing in the race Boonen will follow the race in the Quick Step-Innergetic teamcar in the company of his team's sporting director Wilfried Peeters supporting his teammates including Serge Baguet who will replace Boonen in the team.

The Belgian rider was also involved in a car accident on Monday evening when he swerved his car to avoid a cat that had ran out in front of him. Boonen joked, "I damaged the front part of my car but fortunately the cat is still alive!"

Crédit Agricole, Cofidis and Agritubel for the GP Denain

Tomorrow will see some of the worlds top professional teams in action on the roads of France at the GP Denain in Raismes. Crédit Agricole and Cofidis are two of the ProTour teams that will compete and, along with French Pro-Continental team Agritubel, they have each named their squads for the event.

Crédit Agricole will field: Pierre Rolland, Nicolas Roche, Christophe Kern, Mark Renshaw, Sébastien Hinault, Angelo Furlan, Jimmy Engoulvent and William Bonnet - Michel Laurent will be sporting director at the event

The Cofidis team will be represented by: Stéphane Auge, Frédéric Bessy, Marvan Hary, Yann Huguet, Damien Monier, Chris Sutton, Tristan Valentin and Bradley Wiggins..

Agritubel, guided by sporting director Frédéric Mainguenaud, will look for results from: Linas Balciunas, Emilien-Benoit Bergès, Hans Dekkers, Romain Feillu, Cédric Hervé, Nicolas Jalabert, Anthony Ravard and Benoit Sinner.

Ahead of the start of the Giro d'Italia on the 12th of May, ex-Giro champion and Lampre-Fondital leader Damiano Cunego is set to check out two of the stages for this years race.

On Thursday the Italian rider will check out the route for the 190 kilometer 15th stage of this years race between Trento and Tre Cime di Lavaredo. Then on Friday it will be the turn of the route of the 17th stage from Lienz to Monte Zoncolan, a stage of 146 kilometers.

Both mountain stages will prove decisive in the outcome of the race and could well be the key to Cunego's challenge and is why he has decided to check the stages out where he will be in the company of his teammate Paolo Tiralongo, sporting director Giuseppe Martinelli and team masseur Umberto Inselvini.

Indeed the Lampre-Fondital star is already showing good form and performed well at the Vuelta al Pais Vasco.

Check out the route of this years Giro d'Italia here on ProCycleNews.com - click here...

Frenchman Sébastien Joly wins the Paris-Camembert

Française des Jeux rider Sébastien Joly won yesterday's Paris-Camembert after he broke clear in the final kilometer to beat his breakaway companion Anthony Charteau (Crédit Agricole).

A 40 rider breakaway group formed which proved decisive with Joly, Charteau and Vaugrenard all present to decide the top placing's of the race.

The remnants of the breakaway were led in by Joly's Française des Jeux teammate Benoît Vaugrenard 1'35" behind the winner with Belgian Tom Stubbe (Chocolade Jacques) taking 4th and Frenchman Florent Brard (Caisse d'Epargne) 5th.

Results (Top 10) - 205 km:

1 Sébastien Joly (Fra) Française des Jeux 4.32.06 (45.204 km/h)

2 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Crédit Agricole 0.10

3 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) Française des Jeux 1.35

4 Tom Stubbe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques

5 Florent Brard (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne

6 Charles Guilbert (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux

7 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Agritubel 3.38

8 Stéphane Augé (Fra) Cofidis 3.41

9 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Crédit Agricole

10 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 3.45 .

More teams name their squads for this weekend's Amstel Gold race

CSC and Skil-Shimano have both named their starting selections for this weekend's Amstel Gold race, the latest round of the UCI's ProTour.

CSC will field defending champion Fränk Schleck from Luxembourg who will be supported by: Lars Bak, Volodymir Gustov, Alexandr Kolobnev, Karsten Kroon, Andy Schleck, Nicki Sørensen and Jens Voigt.

Pro-Continental team Skil-Shimano will look for a strong showing from: Maarten den Bakker, Floris Goesinnen, Piet Rooijakkers, Maarten Tjallingii and Aart Vierhouten from Holland who will be joined by German riders Christoph Meschenmoser and Paul Martens and the Japanese rider Yukihiro Doi who has shown well this season in the Tour of Siam, the Tour de Langkawi and the Circuit Cycliste Sarthe in France.

Den Bakker is a rider who has the knowledge and experience to do well in this race and indeed has previously finished 2nd in 1998 and 4th in 1999. With Den Bakker on the team look out for the Skil-Shimano team to make an impression on the race where each of the riders will be highly motivated for a good result.

Murphy & Gunn to race in Majorca and Ireland this weekend by Gerard Cromwell

Team Murphy & Gunn-Newlyn Group-M. Donnelly will be in action on two fronts this weekend as they tackle both the Tour of Mallorca and the important Irish classic, the Murphy & Gunn Shay Elliott Memorial in Bray on Sunday.

With Stephen Gallagher back training after breaking his wrist in a crash at the GP Lillers in France and Tim Cassidy recovering from an ankle operation, the team suffered more misfortune two weeks ago when Christophe Beddegenoodts also broke his arm. "Christophe was riding back from a race, behind the team car and he crashed into the back of it," said directeur sportif Kurt Bogaerts. "We have had a lot of bad luck and have had to change our program a little. Christophe had an operation last Friday and everything went okay. He will be out for between four and six weeks. Devi Vervaeke and Tim Meussen are also recovering from a viral infection but should be okay for the Shay Elliott on Sunday. Gallagher will also ride."

Paidi O'Brien, John Dempsey, Simon Kelly and Dane Glenn Bak will tackle the Tour of Mallorca which runs from 18th to 22nd of April while Rieno Stofferis, Devi Vervaeke, Tim Meeusen, Stephen Gallagher, Paul Healion, Morgan Fox
and possibly Tim Cassidy will fly home for the Shay Elliott race.
Despite their problems the team have had some of their best results this season just recently. Paul Healion and Morgan Fox both won stages of the Rás Mumhan while Healion also won the Monie Nolan Memorial. Paidi O'Brien had a fantastic ride to finish 28th in Hel van Mergeland, a 1.1 race in Holland and then went even better in the GP Pino Cerami in Belgium to take 25th, despite crashing and having to change bikes twice. Mark Cassidy also put in a solid ride here to infiltrate an early break before eventually finishing 63rd against seven ProTour teams.

"Also we had a strong ride for Paidi and Glenn in Brabantse Pijl 1.1," says Bogaerts. "Mark Cassidy will compete for the Irish Under 23 team in two events of the UCI Coup des Nations next week. On Wednesday (17th April) they will ride Picardie and then on Saturday the U-23 Liege-Bastogne-Liege. These are two very important events for making the selection for the Under 23 Worlds this year."
The following two teams have been announced for upcoming race also:
5th May - Overijssel 1.1 (Holland): Paidi O'Brien (Irl), Mark Cassidy (Irl), John Dempsey (Irl), Simon Kelly (Irl), Paul Healion (Irl), Morgan Fox (Irl), Rieno Stofferis (Bel) and Tim Meeusen (Bel).

6th May - Omloop der Kempen 1.1. (Holland): Paidi O'Brien (Irl), Mark Cassidy (Irl), John Dempsey (Irl), Simon Kelly (Irl), Paul Healion (Irl), Morgan Fox (Irl), Rieno Stofferis (Bel) and Tim Meeusen (Bel).