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Posts Tagged ‘Algarve’

Heinrich Haussler van Cervélo verliet gisteren Parijs-Nice met een pijnlijke knie. De Australische Duitser viel op dezelfde knie in de Volta ao Algarve en de eerste etappe van de Koers naar de Zon. Bij die laatste val was ook Alberto Contador betrokken. Door het koude weer van de afgelopen dagen deed de knie teveel pijn om mee door te kunnen rijden. Haussler koos daarom voor een intensieve behandeling met het oog op de komende wedstrijden, zoals Milaan-San Remo.

Paris – 7th March, 2010 – Team RadioShack’s Gert Steegmans broke his left collarbone in the Prologue of Paris-Nice. Steegmans was caught in a whirlwind while on his bike. The wind picked him up off the ground while he was going 75kph/47mph on a downhill section of the course. In addition to the fracture, Steegmans suffered from a big contusion of the shoulder muscle and has road rash all over his body.

Driving behind Steegmans was Director Dirk Demol, who said, “Gert crashed on the descent of the first of two climbs, just on the fastest part where everyone was riding more than 70kph. There was an opening of maybe 20 meters between a house and a hedge. I saw the wind coming. Leaves and tree branches flew in the air and a second later Gert was lifted in the air too. He was blown away from the road and tumbled over and over many times. It was a terrible crash. I’ve never seen such a thing in my life. It took 12 minutes for the ambulance to arrive while we waited and could do nothing. Gert was screaming all the time. He seemed to have broken more than one thing. This is very bad news for him. He would have been our leader in the Classics.”

The big contusion caused the extreme pain. Earlier this season in the 3rd stage of the Tour of Algarve Steegmans crashed on his head. He recovered soon but now will be out for at least three weeks. The doctors hope he can train again soon thanks to osteosynthesis (fixing his break with a plate and screws).

On Monday the Team Doctor will bring Steegmans to the Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-van-Lourdes Hospital in Waregem, Belgium, where Dr. Sioen will perform the shoulder operation.
In the Prologue of Paris-Nice Levi Leipheimer, performing extra-strong in the second part of the course, finished third at six seconds behind winner Lars Boom. Of all the favorites for the overall victory, Leipheimer was the fastest rider. Also Jani Brajkovic (11th) and Chris Horner (16) confirmed their good form.

Photo by: CorVos Pro

Het zit Gert Steegmans tot dusverre niet mee. Na een eerdere valpartij in de Ronde van de Algarve heeft de Belg nu een sleutelbeen gebroken in de proloog van Parijs-Nice. De renner van RadioShack, die vorig jaar bijna het hele seizoen buitenspel stond vanwege een conflict met de ploegleiding van Katusha, kwam ten val in de proloog van Parijs-Nice.

Frantisek Rabon won in Murcia net als vorig jaar de tijdrit. ,,Maar het grote verschil met vorig jaar is dat ik na mijn winst in de tijdrit de dag erna in de bergen gelost werd en ik daardoor mijn trui verloor. Dit keer hebben we het echte gebergte al achter de rug en hoef ik alleen vandaag nog te overleven om deze ronde te kunnen winnen’’, aldus Rabon, die gisteren alweer voor het tiende succes van zijn ploeg HTC-Columbia zorgde. ,,Ik heb veel zelfvertrouwen geput uit mijn deelname aan de Ronde van de Algarve, waar ik als zevende eindigde in het klassement. Bovendien vertrokken er na mij nog maar twee renners in de tijdrit, dus ik wist waar ik aan toe was.’’

             

HTC-Columbia’s Frantisek Rabon has moved into the overall lead of the Tour of Murcia in Spain thanks to a convincing victory in stage four’s individual time trial.

Rabon finished 33 seconds ahead of Russia’s Denis Menchov and 48 seconds ahead of Great Britain’s Bradley Wiggins in a flat 22 kilometre course at Alhama de Murcia. With just one stage of the Tour of Murcia remaining, HTC-Columbia’s Czech rider now leads by 38 seconds on Menchov and 53 on Wiggins.

The winner of the same time trial in Murcia in  2009, Rabon said later “my performance was pretty similar, but I think the big difference overall is that last year after winning the time trial I got dropped on the mountains the following day.This time we’ve already had the race’s most mountainous stage and I got through fine.”

“I was feeling confident because I’d done pretty well in my previous race, the Tour of the Algarve [in Portugal], where I was seventh overall. I was third last rider to start, which was an advantage because I had time references on advantage because I had time references on my rivals and knew when I had to go faster.” 

Rabon said the the time trial was “like last year’s course, just six kilometres longer, so my approach was almost the same.” As for the overall, Rabon is optimistic, because “although some of the other teams will try to attack me on the last stage, and of course it can be dangerous, but I’ve already shown I’m pretty strong in the climbs.”

“We’ve got a good team here, so if everything goes well I’ll be able to hold on.” goes well I’ll be able to hold on.”

Rabon’s victory in the Tour of Murcia is the tenth of the 2010 season for HTC-Columbia men's team.