News
21st
March 2007
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Basque rider Fernández wins the final stage of the
Tirreno-Adriatico as Germany's Klöden takes the overall
 German
rider Andreas Klöden, twice a podium finisher at the
Tour de France, has defended his slender lead throughout
the final 177 kilometer stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico to
claim the overall victory.
Klöden's
Astana team kept the German ex-T-Mobile rider at the head
of affairs throughout the final stage to San Benedetto del
Tronto, keeping him out of trouble and ensuring no dangerous
riders overall slipped up the road.
The
surviving riders faced only one mountain climb on the predominantly
flat stage, a climb that was won by Tinkoff Credit Systems
Salvatore Commesso ensuring a win in that competition.
Entering
the final finishing circuit's the group remained together
but it wasn't long before a group slipped up the road. Six
riders were present in the move, namely Franck Renier (Bouygues
Telecom), Roberto Petito (Liquigas), Daniele Contrini (Tinkoff
Credit Systems), Cristian Moreni (Cofidis), Giuseppe Muraglia
(Acqua & Sapone-Caffè Mokambo) and Saunier Duval-Prodir's
double stage winner Riccardo Riccò (winner of stages 3 &
4).
Together
the leading breakaway worked together building their lead
with the Astana team controlling the main peloton behind.
With
the teams of the sprinters looking for a sprint finish though
 their
lead was never going to be enough. Realizing the break was
doomed Riccò was the first rider to drop back to the main
peloton. Soon after the race was all back together with
the Lampre-Fondital and Milram teams active in the chase.
Milram
continued to lead coming into the final kilometer looking
to set up the finish for their man Alessandro Petacchi.
Liquigas rider Filippo Pozzato was also up there looking
to snatch the stage win.
Suddenly
Julian Dean, the champion of New Zealand went hard with
his Crédit Agricole teammate Thor Hushovd on his
wheel. Dean's pace blew the Milram lead-out train to pieces
with Petacchi jumping onto Hushovd's wheel. The move also
signaled the end for Pozzato who found himself swamped by
the massing peloton
Dean
swung off the front leaving a clear line to the finish for
Hushovd, a double stage winner from last years Tour de France,
by the Norwegian didn't have the pace to finish it of. Instead
through the middle came CSC rider Stuart O'Grady who looked
like he was going to win the stage. That was right up to
the point where the orange jersey of Euskaltel-Euskadi rider
Koldo  Fernández,
a professional since 2004, powered around him to take the
stage and his first ever professional win. O'Grady held
on for second with Acqua e Sapone-Caffè Mokambo rider
Gabriele Balducci third.
Speaking
after the stage on team-csc.com, O'Grady's sporting director
Scott Sunderland said, "Stuart was great in the sprint.
He found a good wheel to stick to after great work from
the team and he opened up the sprint at the exact right
moment. But unfortunately Fernandez was right behind him
and managed to sneak past and snatch the victory. Well done
by Fernandez, but Stuart deserves credit for his sprint
as well."
For
T-Mobile's Kim Kirchen, he had to settle for second place
overall behind winner Klöden. Afterwards sporting director
Valerio Piva said on t-mobile-team.com, "We gave it
our all, but Astana weren't going to let anyone steal their
victory."
Click
here for the full results from stage seven of the Tirreno-Adriatico...
Illness takes Fred Rodriguez out the the Predictor-Lotto
team for the Milan-Sanremo
American
rider Fred Rodriguez will not line up at this weekend's
Milan-Sanremo classic in Italy as previously announced.
The
Predictor-Lotto rider has came down with a flu, a huge disappointment
for both him and his team. Instead his place will be filled
by Belgian rider Bert Roesems who will join the other riders
who have been previously selected, namely: Australian Tour
de France points competition winner Robbie McEwen, fellow
Belgian's Mario Aerts, Leif Hoste, Björn Leukemans, Wim
Vansevenant and Johan Vansummeren and Italian Dario Cioni.
Agritubel
name their lineup for the Classic Loire-Atlantique
Agritubel,
the French Pro-Continental team, have announced their team
for the upcoming Classic Loire-Atlantique this Friday, the
23rd of March.
Denis
Leproux will be the teams sporting director for the event
where the riders will be: Aivaras Baranauskas (Lit), Freddy
Bichot (Fra), Hans Dekkers (Ned), Mikel Gaztanaga (Spa),
Nicolas Jalabert (Fra), Anthony Ravard (Fra), Denis Robin
(Fra) and Nicolas Vogondy (Fra).
Quick
Step-Innergetic confirm their roster for the Milan-Sanremo
this weekend
 Belgian
team Quick Step-Innergetic will line up at this weekend's
Milan-Sanremo classic with the current world champion,
Paolo Bettini and ex-world champion, Tom Boonen. Together
they will lead their squad in the longest one day classic
of the season, looking for the win when the race finishes
on the Via Roma at the end of the 100th edition of the
race.
Belgium's
Boonen and Italy's Bettini will be joined in the squad
by: Italian's Matteo Tosatto and Giovanni Visconti, Belgian
riders Kevin Hulsmans, Sebastien Rosseler and Kevin Van
Impe and the lone Spaniard on the team, Carlos Barredo.
Discovery
Channel's Alberto Contador leads the ProTour standings
 Alberto
Contador, the winner of the Paris-Nice stage race is the
leader of the 2007 ProTour standings going into this weekend's
Milan-Sanremo. Only 3 points behind the Spaniard is Tirreno-Adriatico
winner Andreas Klöden who took 53 points in total,
50 for his overall win and 3 from stage placing's.Third
overall in the current standings is Italy's Gerolsteiner
rider Davide Rebellin who has 42 points.
Expect
this to change though this weekend when the classics specialists
come into their own. Will Contador remain on top or will
Rebellin leapfrog both riders ahead of his to take the
series lead? Lets wait and see what happens at the Milan-Sanremo
classic this coming Saturday, the third round of the ProTour
and the longest classic on the calendar.
Carlos
Sastre resumes training
 CSC
rider Carlos Sastre is back on his bike and training once
again following his crash at the Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia.
Even
though the Spanish star is only just back on his bike
since Monday, it is reported that he could be back racing
as early as next week, Monday to be exact, after being
named in the team roster for the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon.
Sastre
is expected to make his final decision whether or not
to compete at the Spanish race over the coming days when
he evaluates how his form is.
Even
though he has had a 10 day enforced lay-off he is determined
not to let it affect his preparation for his main target
of the season, the Tour de France, a race he finished
4th in last year.
"At the moment it's not ideal of course, but I have lots
of time before the Tour so I'm going to stick to my program,"
he said. "Of course it's always bad with a crash, but
this one wasn't too serious I guess."
Unibet.com
train for the Milan-Sanremo
 "Our
team is preparing perfectly. The weather is fine and
our riders are very motivated," says Unibet.com
sporting director Jacques Hanegraaf who has gathered
some of the riders of his team in the South of France
where they are training for Saturday's Milan-Sanremo
classic.
Initially,
the team which is registered in Sweden, were not invited
to ride the 'Primavera' race but that all changed
recently. And now that they are invited they are determined
to make their mark.
Marco Zanotti (Ita), Matteo Carrara (Ita), Matthew
Wilson (Aus), Jeremy Hunt (GBr), Gustav Larsson (Swe),
Michal Golas (Pol), Victor Hugo Pena (Col), Sergey
Kolesnikov (Rus), Gorik Gardeyn (Bel), Laurens ten
Dam (Ned) and Arnaud Coyot (Fra) all traveled to Nice
where they have been training all week with Australian
Baden Cooke and France's Jimmy Casper flying into
Nice to meet them a little later.
As
yet Unibet have not named their squad for the prestigious
Italian race but the team will be selected from this
list of riders at the camp in Nice. As soon as the
team has been named though we will have it here on
ProCycleNews.
Milram
aim for a win at the Primavera this weekend
 Milram
will be looking for a strong result this weekend
at the Milan-Sanremo and will be fielding such names
as Erik Zabel, Alessandro Petacchi, Igor Astarloa
and Mirko Celestino.
Zabel,
himself is already a four time winner of the 'Primavera'
race, considers the race among his favorites, as
does his Italian teammate Petacchi who is also a
previous winner of the classic race. Sprinter Petacchi
took the win back in 2005 and will once again be
aiming for the top step on the podium in a race
he is targeting.
Spain's
ex-world champion Igor Astarloa will be looking
to make his mark this year in the spring classics
with Milram and will be looking for opportunities
in breakaway's throughout the race, as will Celestino,
a rider who finished second at the Milan-Sanremo
back in 2003.
So
who will Milram's main hopes be supported by at
the 294 kilometer event that will be celebrating
it's 100th birthday? Keep checking ProCycleNews
to find out over the coming days!
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