March 19, 2007

Germans invade Italy: Schumacher, Klöden lead Tirreno-Adriatico

Eurosport | Schumacher takes lead

Stefan Schumacher, better known as a classics rider, took over the race lead at Tirreno-Adriatico Sunday with a strong time trial.

Gerolsteiner's Schumacher rode the 20.5-kilometer (12.7-mile) course in 27:08, one second faster than Astana's Andreas Klöden and six seconds ahead of T-Mobile's Kim Kirchen. It was a great day for former T-Mobiles: Schumacher, Klöden, and 4th-place Astana rider Alexandre Vinokourov all have ridden for the team.

Schumacher takes the overall race lead, 3 seconds up on Klöden, and 11 ahead of Vinokourov.

Riccardo Riccò, who won both Stage 3 on Friday and Stage 4 Saturday, was well off the pace Sunday, clocking a 29:14 that dropped him back to 17th on GC.

Tinkoff's Tyler Hamilton, still reportedly suffering from the flu, finished in 148th on the day, at 4:38. Other Americans: Jason McCartney, 34th at 1:41; Freddie Rodriguez, 142nd at 4:25.

Posted by Frank Steele on March 19, 2007 in Andreas Klöden, Fred Rodriguez, Stefan Schumacher, Tirreno-Adriatico 2007, Tyler Freaking Hamilton | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 18, 2007

Basso exits Tirreno-Adriatico; likely to miss Milan-San Remo

www.cyclingnews.com | Basso's spring interrupted

Ivan Basso's wrist injury on Friday led him to abandon Tirreno-Adriatico on Saturday morning.

Basso strained a ligament in a fall with teammate Vladimir Gusev. He said he narrowly missed a fracture, and that fluid had collected in the injured area.

As a result, Basso is likely to miss next weekend's Milan-San Remo. More importantly for Basso's Giro d'Italia preparation, he'll miss today's time trial stage at Tirreno-Adriatico.

“I don't want to risk anything,” he stated. “If I got tendonitis in the wrist then I would compromise all of my season.”

Posted by Frank Steele on March 18, 2007 in Ivan Basso, Milan-San Remo 2007, Tirreno-Adriatico 2007, Top Stories | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack