Cycling Pro Road & Mtb

News of 30/06/2009

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Parent Category: Cycling Pro Road & Mtb

Category: news2009

Published on Tuesday, 30 June 2009 08:25

Tom Boonen wins the 2009 Belgian Road Championships

With a superb performance today at Aywaille, Tom Boonen won his first Belgian road championship title, beating out a group of 15 riders after 234.6 spectacular kilometres. It was a battle to the finish with Philippe Gilbert (Silence-Lotto) 2nd at the finish and Kristof Goddaert (Top Sport Vlaanderen-Mercator) that took the 3rd position. On the roads of the national championship race, the entire team QUICK STEP group orchestrated a fantastic race. First Dries Devenyns , then Kevin De Weert and  Kevin Seeldraeyers were able to stay in the front of the race, while the rest of the squad stayed close to Boonen. In the final Maarten Wynants  and Jurgen Van De Walle allowed Boonen to sprint to victory. “I’m super happy -  Tom Boonen said - In the last races, starting from the Tour du Dauphine and from then on to the Elektroer, I felt like I was really improving. I could feel the signs. In the last days leading up to the Belgian Championships I trained a lot and I trained really well. Today I wasn’t among the top favourites, and I knew that in order to win a race like this one I had to be having a great day and not make any mistakes. I did it! Now I’m feeling in top form. I’d like to thank the team once again. My team mates were fantastic. Everyone was motivated and united. It was really beautiful.”

Alejandro Valverde, the fourth in the road Spanish championship  

The road Spanish championship took place in Cantabria. Rubén Plaza won the race ahead of Tino Zaballa and Mikel Astarloza while Alejandro Valverde finished the fourth, 16 seconds behind the new Spanish champion. After he arrived at the top of the hill leading to the caves of the Soplao, Alejandro told that: “I would have liked to win another title one year after the one I get last year, but this time it was not possible.”  “The course, with a difference in height close to 3000 meters, was a hard one and the hot weather that accompanied us during the first part of the day influenced the race.  My team-mates of Caisse d’Epargne controlled the race very well and we had four riders in the most important breakaway. The intention was to lead me in the best possible conditions at the foot of the last climb.” “In the final climb I was alone against Rubén Plaza, Tino Zaballa, Mikel Astarloza and Igor Antón. I felt well and I thought it was possible for me to win, but very logically the four riders started attacking me one by one and I had to do all the job behind everybody. In final it started to rain and that played also a part because when I tried to counter-attack behind Astarloza, my legs were hurting I guess because of this sudden change of temperature. Anyway it is a fact that Rubén Plaza and Tino Zaballa, who were both very motivated because they live in Cantabria, were also very strong today. Now I will rest during three or four days without touching the bike at all and after that I will start training again to begin preparing for my next goal which will be the Tour of Spain. ”  

Numerous National Champions from Team Saxo Bank

Twelve riders were representing Team Saxo Bank during today's Danish national championships in the town of Sønderborg. André Steensen, Matti Breschel, Nicki Sørensen, Anders Lund, Kasper Klostergaard, Lasse Bøchman, Jakob Fuglsang, Frank Høj, Alex Rasmussen, Chris Anker Sørensen, Michael Mørkøv and Lars Bak were to ride the 196 kilometres by going ten large and ten small rounds of a circular route in the southern part of Denmark to defend Nicki Sørensen's victory from last year. And war took place near the Danish/German border from the very beginning of the race as a larger group with among others Matti Breschel, Alex Rasmussen, Frank Høj and André Steensen were represented. They managed to stay in the front until 128 kilometres where a trio of Jens-Erik Madsen (Capinordic), Kasper Schjønnemann (Team Concordia) and Chris Anker Sørensen (Team Saxo Bank) joined them prompting the group to 32 riders. After 140 kilometres Thomas Just (Team Concordia) and René Jørgensen Designa Køkken) escaped from the front group which led it to break into several pieces but as among others several Team Saxo Bank-riders reached the duo they immediately increased the pace in the group and with 26 kilometres left of the race only ten riders were left in the front group. Five of them were Team Saxo Bank riders. Chris Anker Sørensen, Matti Breschel and Frank Høj said goodbye to the group shortly after arrival and left it with Brian Vandborg (Liquigas). Ten kilometres from the finish line the quartet had a 50 seconds lead which seemed to be enough to last. On the very last lap Matti Breschel and Chris Anker Sørensen launched a crucial attack which left Frank Høj alone with Brian Vandborg who had to chase the Team Saxo Bank duo single-handedly. On the last hill Chris Anker Sørensen did what do best and tried to drop his team mate but Matti Breschel was simply to strong and on the finish line he put the icing on the cake after an impressive spring with numerous wins and today he made himself the Danish champion.

Danish national championships:

1. Matti Breschel (Team Saxo Bank)

2. Chris Anker Sørensen (Team Saxo Bank)

3. Frank Høj (Team Saxo Bank)

“Our plan was to make the race as hard as possible all the way through to the finish line. However, we did not expect the front group to last very long and Chris Anker Sørensen joined the leaders very late on the course. But of course I can only be happy to see three Team Saxo Bank riders on the podium. They did an amazing finale where Brian Vandborg loses due to the general tactical element of racing”, said a happy Dan Frost after the championships. In both Norway and Sweden Team Saxo Bank riders won the national championships. Kurt-Asle Arvesen will be riding with the flag of Norway on his back during the Tour de France from next week after a ten kilometer solo ride. In Sweden, Marcus Ljungqvist outsprinted Fredrik Ericsson in a very exciting finale. In Luxembourg, Andy Schleck took over the national champion's jersey from his big brother after a stunning solo performance.

Murphy solos to win in Cytomax Benicia Criterium

As John Murphy of the OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis noted after the Cytomax Benicia Criterium, “you don’t want to leave empty handed from a race sponsored by one of your sponsors.” Murphy took this race by the hands and came away with the win after attacking out of a small break with four laps to go and soloing in for the victory on an afternoon where temperatures hovered around the 100-degree mark. Murphy and teammate Roman Kilun helped make the race early, joining a 12-rider lead group just a handful of laps into the 60-minute race that would prove to be the decisive move. With a number of top teams represented in the break, and packing plenty of horsepower, the front group steadily extended its gap to the peloton, eventually gaining 0:50 on the main bunch. With about a dozen laps remaining, the break splintered, with five riders up front group, including Murphy and Kilun along with Scott Swizanski (Kelly Benefit Strategies) and a resurgent Chad Gerlach (Amore e Vita). They steadily gained on their former break-mates, while former team member Mike Sayers (Amgen) spearheaded a chase out of the peloton marked by Floyd Landis of OUCH Presented by Maxxis. While the chase closed the gap a bit, they never threatened the lead group, leaving the five riders to contest the closing laps for the win. As the five-rider group closed in on the back end of the main peloton, Bobby Lea of OUCH Presented by Maxxis dropped back to the back end of the main bunch and paced his two teammates, as well as the other members of the break, to the front of the bunch. Within a lap, the break was once again clear of the peloton. On the fifth lap from the end, Swizanski put in a dig which Gerlach covered. When that came back, Murphy dove the first left-hander after crossing the start/finish line and drove it. The sprinter, also known to be a strong time trialist, put his engine to work and opened a 10-second gap with two laps remaining. Swizanski and Gerlach were leading the chase while Kilun covered. Murphy went into the bell lap holding a five-second lead, with a highly motivated Gerlach trying to shut it down. Coming out of the final turn, Murphy was hanging on to a two-second lead, with Gerlach starting to close on the 300-meter, slightly uphill drag to the line. Murphy took a quick look behind him and dug deep for one last effort over the final 150 meters, holding off Gerlach by several bike lengths, while Swizanski came home in 3rd place. Kilun rolled in for 5th. “I saw Gerlach coming after the last turn and I just put my head down and went one last time,” Murphy said. “I was really glad I had Cytomax in me today.”

White takes overall of Wyoming stage race

Brad White of the OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis ventured north from his Colorado home base to Wyoming to contest the Dead Dog Classic around Laramie, Wyoming and came away with the overall title of the two-day, three-stage race. “It was a good, strong field,” White said. “It’s good to get the GC win here, even though it’s a smaller race.” It’s also a race with which White is familiar, having won the Category 3 race there in 2006, the same year BMC’s Scott Nydham won the pro race. The race opened with a challenging 86-mile road race that included passes reaching over 10,000 feet of elevation. White finished a close second on the stage to Ian McGregor (Team Type 1). In Sunday morning’s criterium, White stayed close to the front and out of trouble, trying to conserve a bit of energy for Sunday afternoon’s decisive time trial. His strategy paid off. White took a strong 2nd place in the TT, while putting over a minute into McGregor to jump up to the top spot overall. The win also came with the Federation of Independent Associations for Cycling (FIAC) National Championship. Photo: Jonathan Devich

Quick Step Cycling Team to the Tour de France 2009

These are the first 8 names of the riders that will partecipate in the Tour de France ‘09. The 9th rider of the team will be known after the decision of the Court. If Tom Boonen can’t take the start of the race he will be replaced by Allan Davis. 

D.S.: Wilfried Peeters, Rik Van Slycke