BiciRace.com

• News
• Races
• Photos
• Interviews
• Inside Scoop
• Gear & Gadgets

19 June 2005

20 June News ...

Pablo Lastras Blasts From Day-Long Escape, Rogers Still GC Man

With 2K remaining, Pablo Lastras (Illes Balears) put in a fatal attack that secured him a victory in stage 8 of the Tour de Suisse. The life-time Banesto-Illes Balears man was involved in a day-long escape, which formed before the first climb, the Col du Pillon.

"In the escape we had a good understanding. We wanted reach the foot of the final climb with a three minute lead," Lastras said post race. The Spaniard was extra attentive in the day's move, "I especially watched Wegmann and Aebersold. I thought to myself: I will put everything on one attack, but then Barredo went, it was difficult, but the others also had it difficult, and that gave me strength." The difficulties paid off for the Illes Balears rider, and a stage win was rewarded.

Michael Rogers (Quick-Step) held on to his leader's jersey, but a dent was put into his lead by Aitor Gonzalez (Euskaltel-Euskadi). In today's final stage Euskaltel-Euskadi will go guns-out for another overall ProTour victory, after winning Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré seven days previously. Jan Ullrich's T-Mobile squad will surely set up something for the German. Don't expect the classy rider to lay-down his arms and easily settle for second. Ullrich writes, "The last stage around Ulrichen is extremely demanding." Stay tuned for the roller-coaster: three huge climbs compacted into a 'short' 100K stage.

Tour de Suisse: Overall Map, Startlist, Main Page

UCI ProTour Eindhoven Team Time Trial

Today is the innovative UCI ProTour Eindhoven Team Time Trial held in Holland. The race is set to cover 51 kilometers, which is 15 kilometers shorter than the team time trial that the riders will do 2 weeks later in the Tour de France. But the idea is the same - go eyeballs out and hone the team's precision. The original idea was to have 8 or 9 riders per team, but after objections from the teams, the UCI conceded and agreed on 6 riders per team.

Two teams to watch are Team CSC and Disco.
Team CSC: Arvesen Kurt-Asle, Peron Andrea, Piil Jacob Storm, Roberts Luke, Sastre Candil Carlos, Zabriskie David
Discovery Channel: Hincapie George, Devolder Stijn, Padrnos Pavel, Popovych Yaroslav, Joachim Benoit, Noval Benjamin

Start order of the teams:
14.00 Intel-Action
14:04 Team Wiesenhof
14:08 MrBookmaker-Sportstech
14:12 Chocolade Jacques-T Interim
14:16 Shimano-Memory Corp
14:20 Euskaltel-Euskadi
14:24 Domina Vacanze
14:28 Française des Jeux
14:32 Bouygues Telecom
14:36 Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne
14:40 Lampre-Caffita
14:44 Gerolsteiner
14:48 Quick-Step
14:52 Liquigas-Bianchi
14:56 Cofidis
15:00 T-Mobile Team 15:04 Discovery Channel
15:08 Liberty Seguros-Würth Team
15:12 Crédit Agricole
15:16 Saunier Duval-Prodir
15:20 Fassa Bortolo
15:24 Team CSC
15:28 Phonak Hearing Systems
15:32 Rabobank
15:36 Davitamon-Lotto

Check out the Eindhoven Team Time Trial course map, startlist and complete preview for more race details. Stay tuned for complete race coverage on BiciRace.com.

18 June News ...