News

8th March 2007

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Caisse d'Epargne get of to a winning start at the Vuelta a Murcia with a win by Jose Joaquin Rojas

21 year-old Caisse d'Epargne rider Jose Joaquin Rojas has won the first stage of the Vuelta a Murcia, the 27th edition of the race. Rojas won the stage in a sprint finish at the end of the 166.1 kilometer stage from San Pedro Pinatar to Las Torres De Cotilla beating Danilo Napolitano from the Italian Lampre-Fondital into second with Argentinean sprinter JJ Haedo from CSC in third.

The stage was ran in wet and windy conditions that saw the peloton blew to pieces with the final group crossing the line over 9 minutes behind the stage winner.

CSC sporting director Kim Andersen said after the stage on team-csc.com, "This wasn't just ordinary winds it was gale-force, so it was all very dramatic. There were quite a few crashes at the end. It was Rabobank, which took the lead in the peloton, but we were ready and well represented up front. Initially Haedo was number 12 in the sprint, but he ended up all the way up front as number three. All our riders actually looked good out there today and I predict a stage win or two down here."

The race continues later today with stage two running from Totana to Fortuna, a stage of 162 kilometers that will see Rojas roll out leading the overall general classification.

Click here for the full results from stage one of the Vuelta a Murcia...

T-Mobile, Milram and Barloworld name their team's for the Milano-Torino

March the 10th will see some of the world's leading professional riders in action competing at the Milano-Torino race. The 92nd edition of the Italian semi-classic will take the riders over a tough 199.6 kilometer course, climbing steadily along its route from the province of Lombardy into Piedmont. Only 16 kilometers before the finish comes the Superga climb which can and often is used as a springboard for riders to jump clear. From the top of the climb the riders descend to the finish in Turin.

T-Mobile are one of nine ProTour teams who will lineup for the event, led by 27 year-old Australian Michael Rogers. The ex-time trial world champion will be joined by a mix of youth and experience in the nine man magenta clad team that will be managed by Valerio Piva, himself a native of Italy.

The T-Mobile lineup will be: Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita), Gerald Ciolek (Ger), Linus Gerdemann (Ger), Giuseppe Guerini (Ita), Serhiy Honchar (Ukr), Kim Kirchen (Lux), Marco Pinotti (Ita), Michael Rogers (Aus) and Thomas Ziegler (Ger).

Milram, one of the other ProTour squads who will be competing will field two riders who already know the taste of winning here. Mirko Celestino won the race back in 2001 while Fabio Sacchi took the win at the 2005 edition of the race.

The complete Milram selection will be: Mirko Celestino, Alessandro Cortinovis, Volodymyr Diudia, Sergio Ghisalberti, Elia Rigotto, Carlo Scognamilgio, Fabio Sacchi, Fabio Sabatini, while their sporting director will be Antonio Bevilacqua.

Barloworld, one of the Pro-Continental teams lining up will be represented by: Pedro Arreitunandia, Kastantsin Siutsou, John Lee Augustyn, Giosuè Bonomi, Diego Caccia, Gianpaolo Cheula, Enrico Degano, Paolo Longo Borghini, James Perry and Colombian’s Mauricio Soler - Alberto Volpi will be the teams sporting director at the Italian race.

It's official...Unibet go legal

Yes, the Unibet team are to go legal. Confirmation came at yesterday's press conference that they have been assured by French authorities that wearing their 'neutral' jersey's that they wore at the Grand Prix la Marseillaise and the Etoile de Bessèges races in France make the team fully legal to race in France.

Unibet's court action follow's Monday's agreement between the UCI and the organizers of the three Grand Tours (ASO, RCS Sport and Unipublic), an agreement that has still not seen them receive a start at the opening ProTour race of the season, the Paris-Nice.

More tomorrow...

Barloworld dominate at the Giro del Capo in South Africa

After missing out on the win at the prologue time trial at the Giro del Capo in South Africa, team Barloworld had their payback on stage one when they dominated the stage taking the top three placing's, control of the general classification, the king of the mountains competition and the team classification. All in all, a good day in the saddle!

Columbian Felix Cardenas took the win 0'09" ahead of team-mate Hugo Sabido with fellow Barloworld rider Alex Efimkin coming home third 0'29" behind. Sabido now leads the king of the mountains while stage winner Cardenas now wears the pink leaders jersey heading into stage two.

Barloworld team manager Claudio Corti, speaking on teambarloworld.com said, "I have selected the best riders in our team to compete in this race, and they have achieved their objective today. We wanted a podium finish, but with all three Team Barloworld riders lining the podium and securing top positions we will have our work cut out for us, in ensuring we continue to be victorious."

Milram comment on the recent agreement that will see them and the other ProTour teams start the Paris-Nice

Following Monday's 'peace talks' between the organizers of the three Grand Tours, the UCI and the IPCT, Milram are one of the teams who can now look forward to participating in the upcoming Paris-Nice stage race, the first round of the 2007 ProTour.

Milram, just like many other teams, consider the French race of special importance for those riders looking to prepare for the spring classics.

Speaking on team-milram.com, Gerry van Gerwen, commercial manager of Team MILRAM, says, "UCI ProTour teams are not allowed to participate in a race that is listed in a national calendar. If Paris-Nice had dropped out of the racing calendar and been declared a 'free race’ in the French racing calendar, no ProTour team would have been allowed to start."

Milram will now lineup against all the other ProTour teams, with the exception of Unibet.com, along with the French Pro-Continental team Agritubel in the race that is called 'The Race to the Sun'.

Frenchman Jimmy Casper wins 'Le Samyn' and gives Unibet.com another win

Frenchman Jimmy Casper has gave the Unibet.com team yet another win in the early part of the 2007 season when he easily won yesterday's GP Fayt le Franc (Mémorial Samyn) race in Belgium.

Despite repeated attempts by Belgian rider Philippe Gilbert (Française des Jeux) to break clear alone five riders approached the finish line together. In the sprint to the line though none of the other 4 riders could match Casper, the Frenchman who won a stage at last years Tour de France, who powered across the line to take the victory. Gilbert managed 2nd with Wiesenhof-Felt rider Bas Giling coming home 3rd rounded off the podium spots.

Results - Top 10:
1. Jimmy Casper (Fra) Unibet.com
2. Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Française des Jeux
3. Bas Gilling (Ned) Wiesenhof-Felt at 1"
4. Roger Hammond (G-B) T-Mobile at 2"
5. Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Cofidis
6. Adam Hansen (Aus) T-Mobile at 4"
7. Stefan Van Dijck (Ned) Wiesenhof-Felt
8. Eric Baumann (Dui) T-Mobile
9. Renaud Dion (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance
10. Gorik Gardeyn (Bel) Unibet.com

T-Mobile announce their team for the Paris-Nice

As for the German T-Mobile team, their squad will be led by 26 year-old Patrik Sinkewitz. "It's very early in the cycling season, but Patrik is already in good form. He is our man for the overall," says T-Mobile sporting director Rolf Aldag. "Patrik has been on the track in recent days to test and improve his time trial position, so he should be well prepared for the prologue opener."

Sinkewitz will be joined by British rider Roger Hammond who has been showing good form recently. Only yesterday Hammond placed 4th at 'Le Samyn', a one day race in Belgium.

Aldag continued, "We are bringing a motivated team, and each of these riders have already shown good form in their races so far this season."

The complete T-Mobile lineup will be: Michael Barry (Can), Marcus Burghardt (Ger), Bert Grabsch (Ger), Roger Hammond (GBr), Greg Henderson (NZl), Axel Merckx (Bel), Kakob Piil (Den) and Patrik Sinkewitz - The squads sporting directors for the 'Race to the Sun' will be Brian Holm and Allan Peiper.

Astana and Agritubel also name their squads for the French ProTour opener

With the Paris-Nice stage race now only a matter of days away, starting on the 11th of March, Astana and Agritubel have also named their starting rosters.

The French race, the first ProTour event of the season, will see all the ProTour teams with the exception of the Unibet team compete.

Astana will field: Igor Abrakoumov (Bel), Thomas Frei (Swi), Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz), Benoit Joachim (Lux), Gennady Mikhailov (Rus), Dimitri Muravyev (Kaz), Jose Antonio Redondo (Spa) and Aaron Kemps (Aus),

As for French Pro-Continental team Agritubel, they will be represented by: Aivaras Baranauskas (Ltu), Freddy Bichot (Fra), Romain Feillu (Fra), Mikel Gaztanaga (Spa), Eduardo Gonzalo (Spa), Nicolas Jalabert (Fra), Benoit Salmon (Fra) and Nicolas Vogondy (Fra).

Carlos Sastre abandons the Vuelta a Murcia

Spain's Carlos Sastre has been forced to abandon the Vuelta a Murcia through pain following a crash on stage one of the race. The CSC rider decided to quit the race after talking to his team doctor Joost De Maeseneer.

Speaking on team-csc.com Dr De Maeseneer said, "Carlos had a lot of pain in his back after the crash and we found that it was best to look into the injury a bit further instead of risking anything by having Carlos continue riding."

Sastre is now expected to undergo a scan to ensure there is no serious damage to the Grand Tour's challenger. Luckily though the other CSC riders that crashed during the tough first stage of the race are all fine to continue the Spanish stage race.

CSC's Karsten Kroon is out of the Paris-Nice

Danish team CSC have announced that their rider Karsten Kroon, originally scheduled to take part in the Paris-Nice, is out of the race because of a rib he broke at the Tour of California.

Kroon remains in pain and has been forced to pull out of the team for the race. Instead his place on the squad will be taken by Kasper Klostergaard who showed good form in the Belgian semi-classics, Het Volk and Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne, last weekend

Klostergaard therefore joins team-mates Íñigo Cuesta, Bobby Julich, Alexandr Kolobnev, Fränk Schleck, Andy Schleck, Christian Vande Velde and David Zabriskie in the opening ProTour race of the season which kicks off this coming Sunday, the 11th of March.