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LATEST NEWS: ANDERSEN LEAVES SAXO BANK, SCHLECKS MAY FOLLOW
Road Bike Action & AFP
June 27, 2010
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Andersen Leaves Saxo Bank, Schlecks May Follow
Kim Andersen, the sporting director of the Danish team Saxo Bank, is stepping down from his job less than a week before the start of the Tour de France. The 52-year-old announced on Danish television that he was leaving the team, which is run by 1996 Tour winner Bjarne Riis, to set up his own professional team in Luxembourg.
"It is a difficult step to leave the team but I have had an opportunity that you only get once in your life and just have to take it," Anderson told TV2 Sport.
The Dane is known to be close to Saxo Bank's two leading riders Frank and Andy Schleck and it is believed that the brothers, who come from Luxembourg, may be tempted to join him after the Tour. Saxo Bank announced in January that they were withdrawing sponsorship from Riis' team for next season.
 Voeckler shown here winning stage five of the 2009 Tour de France (Photo: Roberto Bettini)
Voeckler Claims French Title
Bbox rider Thomas Voeckler on Sunday won the French national road race title for the second time. The 31-year-old, who previously won the title in 2004, the same year he wore the Tour de France yellow jersey for ten days, beat Christophe Le Mevel for gold in the 239.7km race.
Gutierrez Takes Spanish Title
Caisse d'Epargne rider Ivan Gutierrez won the road race title at the Spanish championships here on Sunday. The 31-year-old, who finished second in the time-trial two days ago, crossed ahead of Francisco Ventoso and Koldo Fernandez de Larrea after the 226km race. Stars Alberto Contador, Oscar Freire, Carlos Sastre and Samuel Sanchez stayed away to prepare for the Tour de France, which gets underway next weekend.
UnitedHealthcare Continues Winning Ways at Downer Classic
The UnitedHealthcare p/b Maxxis train was only four-deep at the Downer Classic in Milwaukee Saturday evening, but the outcome was the same as it was 10 days ago in the second stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix: Hilton Clarke and Karl Menzies took the top two spots.
Instead of a full six-rider lead-out, Clarke and Menzies need only Brad White and Jonny Clarke. “Because there were only four of us, we weren’t too aggressive,” Clarke said. “We were covering a lot of moves. And really, I wasn’t feeling that great so I ended up putting a lot on the guys.”
When no moves stuck, the Team prepared for the sprint finish. With one lap of the one-mile course to go, White took over the front with Jonny Clarke, Menzies and Hilton Clarke on his wheel.
“Brad was unbelievable,” Clarke said. “When he took over the front, he took it way further than we expected. He was going so fast, none of us could move. He got us to almost the last corner, and Jonny took us into the finishing straight.”
Finally, with 150 meters to go, Clarke and Menzies hit out from Jonny Clarke’s wheel and paid back their teammates for their work with the top two spots on the podium.
“It was a lot of fun,” Clarke said. “The race is held in an entertainment district, so there are a lot of pubs on the course and a ton of people. One of the people from UnitedHealthcare who did our group ride Friday morning has a house on the second straight on the course and there were a bunch of UHC people there cheering us on. I’m glad we were able to put on a good show for them.” |
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