News

7th April 2007

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Teams announce lineups for the Tour of Flanders

Tomorrow's Tour of Flanders will see all the ProTour teams back in action at the next round of the UCI's ProTour.

Unibet.com and Astana are two such teams and they have named their strong lineups for the Belgian classic race.

Lining up for Unibet.com will be: Jimmy Casper, Baden Cooke, Arnaud Coyot, Markus Eichler, Gorik Gardeyn, Matthe Pronk, Laurens ten Dam and Matthew Wilson.

Originally Jeremy Hunt had been expected to participate but is now out of the team [see separate story below].

Mario Kummer will guide a strong Astana team in the event, the 91st edition of the race. Selected riders are: Igor Abakoumov (Bel), Koen De Kort (Ned), Sergueï Ivanov (Rus),Benoît Joachim (Lux), Aaron Kemps (Aus), Gennady Mikhailov (Rus), Dimitri Muravyev (Kaz) and Gregory Rast (Swi).

Toyota-United riders among the favorites for the US Open by press release via Brian C. Grenier

Richmond, Va. (April 5, 2007) – The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team will put its top riders on the start line of Saturday’s inaugural U.S. Open Cycling Championships. Two of them – sprinter Ivan Dominguez and veteran European pro Henk Vogels – are being pegged as favorites to win the UCI 1.1-rated, 112-mile (179 km) race.
The event is the second stop on the USA Cycling Professional Tour. It begins in colonial Williamsburg at 8:10 a.m. and finishes with eight laps of a 5.5-mile circuit in the capital city of Richmond .
Dominguez has started 20 races to date, scoring seven victories (three in National Race Calendar events) and one third place finish. His victories include: Roger Milliken Memorial Criterium, Red Trolley Classic Criterium, Stage 7 at the Amgen Tour of California , Merco Cycling Classic Downtown Grand Prix, Sequoia Cycling Classic Criterium, Indio Grand Prix and the Garrett Lemire Memorial Grand Prix.
Vogels has won one race (Central Valley Classic Criterium) and also has a third place (Sequoia Cycling Classic Criterium). Joining him and Dominguez on the Toyota-United start list are: Chris Wherry, Ivan Stevic, Sean Sullivan, Justin England, Jose-Manuel Garcia and Caleb Manion.
Overall, Toyota-United has four NRC victories, 10 wins and 18 podium finishes to date.
“I will probably designate some of our guys to do a job early on – riders who have a lesser chance of making it happen,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said. “They’re there to cover breaks. That’s one thing we can control: being represented in every break that goes up the road. If we don’t like the representation of the break, we will chase it down immediately.”
Saturday’s weather could play a decisive factor. The current forecast calls for temperatures in the mid-30s at the start, with a 30 percent chance of rain and/or sleet and snow mix. Temperatures in Richmond for the finish (expected to be around noon) are forecast to be in the middle 40s under cloudy skies.
Sullivan, who serves as one of the riders on the Toyota-United “lead-out train,” said Dominguez will be hard to beat if he is near the front as the finish line nears.
“When he gets to the last corner in the first two or three positions, it’s kind of hard for anyone to get near him,” Sullivan said. “I think we have a really strong chance of winning. We just have to keep doing what we’re doing.”
NBC Sports, in conjunction with Kent Gordis Productions, will provide same-day coverage from 2 to 4:30 p.m EDT. Live, start-to-finish coverage on NBCsports.com and at the finish venue is also being planned. Announcers for the race are Al Trautwig, John Eustice and Bob Roll. Coverage is expected to include live in-race phone updates with Jansen from the Toyota Prius Team Car.

Milram announce for the Vuelta al Pais Vasco

The Vuelta al Pais Vasco from the 9th to the 14th of April will see a strong Milram lineup led by ex-world champion Igor Astarloa.

With six stages covering over 863 kilometers and 35 classified climbs the Milram team are ready to be in the thick of the action throughout in the 5th ProTour race of the season.

Guided by Milram sporting director Oscar Pellicioli Spanish rider Astarloa will be joined by Mirko Celestino, Sergio Ghisalberti, Carlo Scognamiglio, Sebastian Schwager, Andrey Grivko, Matej Jurco and Björn Schröder.

Tomorrow's Tour of Flanders will see Danish team CSC mount a serious challenge in a race they are hoping to be a dominate force at.

One of the rider, Karsten Kroon. speaking on team-csc.com said, "We have a very strong line-up for this race. I think I'm getting close to top-form and both Fabian Cancellara and Stuart O'Grady proved themselves among the favorites during E3 Prijs Vlaanderen last weekend. I also think, that both Kasper Klostergaard, Lars Michaelsen, Matti Breschel, Allan Johansen and Marcus Ljungqvist have done well lately, so there are no weak links really. In a race like Ronde van Vlaanderen it's important to have a lot of cards on your hand, because it often comes down to tactics, so I think we have a realistic chance of a good result."

O'Grady has been on-form pretty much from the start of the season as his results go to show. Can O'Grady, Kroon or one of the other team CSC riders pull it all together to win tomorrow? Stay tuned to ProCycleNews.com to find out!

T-Mobile ready with a two pronged attack in Flanders

Kim Kirchen and Marcus Burghardt will spearhead an experienced T-Mobile team as they mount their challenge in tomorrow's Tour of Flanders in Belgium. The team will be completed by: Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita), Marcus Burghardt (Ger), Bernhard Eisel (Aut), Bert Grabsch (Ger), Roger Hammond (GBr), Andreas Klier (Ger), Servais Knaven (Ned).

Flanders is one of Kirchen's main targets of the 2007 season Indeed both riders have been in great form recently with Burghardt placing 3rd at the E3-Prijs in Harelbeke.

Speaking on t-mobile-team.com 23 year-old Burghardt said, "My hard preparations were worth it - I'm in top shape for the Tour of Flanders."

"I have enjoyed a great start to the season. My result in Brabant proved to me that I am in the right form to have a shot at this classic, even if ‘Flanders’ is a completely different kind of a race," said Kirchen also on t-mobile-team.com.

T-Mobile team sporting director Allan Peiper added, "These guys can offer a lot of experience, strength-in-depth and race knowledge - that’s critically important for this race especially."

The teams sporting directors at the event will be Tristan Hoffman (Ned) and Allan Peiper (Aus).

British rider Jeremy Hunt out of the Tour of Flanders

Ex-British national champion Jeremy Hunt is out of the Tour of Flanders. The Unibet.com rider still hasn't fully recovered from his crash in the Dwars door Vlaanderen.

Hunt had been originally been expected to participate in the event, the next round of the UCI ProTour in Belgium tomorrow.

Check out the Unibet selection at the top of the page.