News

4th May 2007

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McEwen dominates the sprint to win stage two of the Tour de Romandie

Aussie sprint king Robbie McEwen added another win to his palmares yesterday when he won the second stage of the Tour de Romandie. The Predictor-Lotto rider easily had the upper hand on his rivals when he thundered across the line at the end of the 166.9 kilometer stage from La Chaux-de-Fonds to Lucens.

The stage was marred by a number of crashes throughout the stage where the likes of Paris-Nice prologue winner David Millar (Saunier Duval-Prodir) coming down. Luckily, Millar and the rest of the riders involved in the days spills were not seriously injured and were all able to make to the finish and are expected to start today's third stage.

The real hero of the day was Bouygues Telecom rider Nicolas Crosbie who attacked alone on the descent of the Col des Etroits after 68 kilometers of the stage.

Crosbie continued alone in the search of a solo stage victory, gradually building his lead to 9'30" allowing him the privilege of virtual race leader on the road.

As the stage finish drew ever closer though the chase behind began in earnest with the Astana, Milram and Euskaltel-Euskadi teams taking it in turns at the front of the main peloton.

Crosbie was eventually reeled back in with 18 kilometers of the stage remaining as the peloton continued compact towards the line.

Astana continued to pile on the pressure at the front keeping their race leader and Giro d'Italia contender Paolo Savoldelli out of trouble.

With one kilometer to go the sprinters could sense a bunch sprint but no one could match the speed of the flying Predictor-Lotto rider. McEwen easily powered to the line as the riders behind fought it out for second, third and the rest of the minor placing's.

Speaking after the stage finish on team-milram.com Italian Mirco Lorenzetto, himself a rider who was indirectly affected by falling riders in the sprint finish, said, "The last meters were chaotic and some riders fell. It was very dangerous today."

T-Mobile's Greg Henderson finished 6th on the stage and said afterwards on t-mobile-team.com, "I am pleased with the result over all. I was tucked in behind Marco Pinnotti with 5km to go, but then lost him on the final straight, but could follow Michael Barry’s wheel until he dropped off. After that I spent too long out in the wind, and so sixth wasn’t a bad placing."

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

Crédit Agricole announce their lineup for the Trophée des Grimpeurs in France

ProTour squad Crédit Agricole will lineup at the Trophée des Grimpeurs, a hilly 8.3 kilometer circuit to be raced 16 times in France on the 6th of May.

The strong squad of eight riders will be guided by the teams sporting director, Michel Laurent and will feature: Anthony Charteau (Fra), Yannick Talabardon (Fra), Pierre Rolland (Fra), Benoit Poilvet (Fra), Rémi Pauriol (Fra), Christophe Le Mevel (Fra), Dimitri Fofonov (Kaz) and Mads Kaggestad (Nor).

Predictor-Lotto name their selection for the 4 Days of Dunkirk

Belgian ProTour team Predictor-Lotto have named their selected riders for the upcoming 4 Days of Dunkirk in Northern France from the 8th to the 13th of May.

Guided by sporting director José De Cauwer the squad will feature a strong lineup including ex-Belgian national champion Tom Steels.

Steels will be joined by: world under-23 time trial champion Dominique Cornu (Bel), Christophe Brandt (Bel), Wim De Vocht (Bel), Olivier Kaisin (Bel), Bert Roesems (Bel), Geert Steurs (Bel) and Preben Van Hecke (Bel).

One step closer to participation in the Tour de France for Pro-Continental team Barloworld

The first part of the season with the many spring classics is now behind us and things are now starting to take shape for the Grand Tours throughout the summer. One team who are looking back with smiles on their faces are team Barloworld, a Pro-Continental team registered in Great Britain.

Barloworld are currently leading the UCI's European Tour team standings, proof of their solid early season and, what they hope, will be a step closer to competing at the Tour de France as a wildcard invited team.

Barloworld has a total of 620 points, 58 more than second placed team Tinkoff Credit Systems, who have a total of 562 points.

Speaking on teambarloworld.com delighted team manager Claudio Corti said, "We've done really well in the first part of the season and the UCI rankings are proof of that."

Corti goes on saying, "We hope the fact that we are the best 'Professional' team in the Europe Tour will increase our chances of being invited to the Tour de France. For us it would be recognition of the impressive ability of the whole team."

Indeed Barloworld had ambitions of becoming a ProTour team for the 2007 season but without any guarantees they lost some of their key riders, the most high-profile being ex-world champion Igor Astarloa who moved to the Milram team.

ProCycleNews would like to wish Barloworld continued success over the coming months and hopefully we will see you in action on the roads of France this coming July in the world's Grandest stage race, the Tour de France.

Astana's Paolo Savoldelli looks good before the start of the Giro d'Italia

Currently leading the Tour of Romandy in Switzerland, Astana's Paolo Savoldelli looks set to be one of the major challengers at the Giro d'Italia, a race that is now only one week away.

Savoldelli, already a two time winner of the Italian Grand Tour, will be supported throughout the event by a strong Astana team who will be looking to keep their leader to the fore and in the leaders pink jersey if he manages to claim it.

The Italian rider will be one of the many favorites for the race that will also include Lampre-Fondital's Damiano Cunego who recently won the Giro del Trentino for the second time and Saunier Duval-Prodir's Gilberto Simoni.

These are the riders we here at ProCycleNews would consider the most serious contenders to the overall crown when the race reaches it's climax in Milan on the 3rd of June.

ProCycleNews will bring you all the in-depth race coverage, reports, results and images throughout the event. Stay tuned to follow your favorites in the sprints at the end of the flatter stages, climbing the high mountains and time trialing their way into contention.

Baldwin third as Toyota-United team leads at Gila by Press Release via Brian C. Grenier

Mogollon, N.M. – Toyota-United’s Chris Baldwin climbed into second place overall at the Tour of the Gila Thursday with a third-place finish on Stage’s 2 Silver City to Mogollon Road Race.
Baldwin is now one minute and 59 seconds behind overall leader Nathan O’Neil (Health Net presented by Maxxis), who finished second in Thursday’s 94.1-mile (152.3 km) road race that finished with a challenging climb. Hernan Munoz (P&S Halco Hermosillo) won the stage, finishing 10 seconds ahead of O’Neil and 35 seconds ahead of Baldwin .
With four riders finishing in the top 12 on Thursday, the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team moved into the overall lead on the team classification. Justin England finished sixth (53 seconds behind), Burke Swindlehurst was ninth (1:16 behind) and Stefano Barberi was 12th (1:49 behind). In the overall standings, Swindlehurst is eighth (3:45 behind), England is 10th (3:56 behind) and Barberi is 11th (4:03 behind).
Toyota-United’s Ivan Stevic was part of a six-man breakaway group that escaped the field 10 kilometers after the start and built a maximum lead of six minutes. But upon reaching the initial portion of the final climb, the group splintered. When the remnants of the peloton caught up, only two of the original breakaway members – Stevic and Dave McCann (Colavita/Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light) – could stay with the leaders.
With four teammates around him, Stevic provided to be a valuable asset on a crosswind section before the final steeper portion of the climb.
“When Stevic came back from the break, he got right on the front of the group and just drilled it,” Baldwin said. “It put everybody behind him in trouble while Burke and I pretty much got a free ride.”
Swindlehurst then attacked at the base of the final portion of the climb, further diminishing the lead group. That set the stage for the decisive attack, which was launched by O’Neil with less than 3 km to go. Only Baldwin and Munoz could follow, with Munoz eventually going to on win the stage.
“There was no hesitation on Burke’s part to step up and sacrifice himself for Baldwin, Barberi and England ,” Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett said of the three-time Tour of the Gila champion. “That’s what pleases me most about this team. The guys know what to do and when to do it.”
Baldwin said he hopes Stevic or Swindlehurst can be rewarded for their efforts in the days to come.
“Those guys were really the heroes for Toyota-United today,” the defending champion said. “The plan all along was to get as many guys as we could into the top 10. It gives you more options on the last day. Unfortunately, Burke had to sell out at the bottom for me, but he still managed a strong finish.”
Friday’s stage is the 80-mile (129.6 km) Inner Loop Road Race that starts and finishes at the Fort Bayard Medical Center , traveling in a clockwise loop through the town of Bayard , N.M.
“The climbs aren’t decisive, but it’s a stage where the wind can sometimes play a role,” Willett said. “Our sprinter here is Stevic, so if he didn’t burn too many matches today, we’ll look for him to be there tomorrow.”