Alexandre Vinokourov is showing some great time trialling abilities as he captured the bronze medal in the World Time Trial Championships. Vino’s third place spoiled the Team CSC domination as he displaced Brian Vandborg to forth. Fabian Cancellara and David Zabriske two of CSCs time trialing specialist took first and second.
David Millar had a bad day as he came in 11th place and three time former World TT Champ Michael Rogers finished 8th.
Cancellara’s win is sweet revenge for the time trial loss to David Millar in the Vuelta. Plus, this win justifies Cancellara leaving the Vuelta just as Sastre needed all the team support he could get going into the last week.
Danilo Napolitano the Sicilian sprinter for Lampre Fondital won the first semi-stage at the Settimana Coppi and Bartali. Napolitano improved on his fifth place showing in Milano San Remo. Although most of the top sprinters that beat him were not present today.
In the second half stage- a team time trial, CSC got a rare 2006 early season win. The unlucky squad finally got through with no injuries and actually grabbed the leaders jersey which now sits on David Zabriske’s shoulders. The CSC winning riders included: Gustov, Lombardi, Zabriskie, Klostegaard, Piil, Luttenberger, Blaudzun and Sorensen. They beat Gerolsteiner by 5 seconds and T-Mobile by 8 seconds.
Gazzetta Dello Sport
The tattered ProTour begins it’s second year on Sunday with Paris Nice. The ProTour may or may not be in disarray since the three Grand Tours pulled out of the competition only to setup their own Grand Tour Cup or prize. The ASO meanwhile has kept Paris Nice on the ProTour schedule. This year’s race has been moved farther south to avoid the snow and cold that have been sticking around longer than usual. The course if a bit tougher with more climbing and fewer chances for sprinters to show their stuff. Tom Boonen elaborates:
Last year’s Paris-Nice left me very satisfied, but I think this year’s route will be harder. The prologue certainly will be a bit too tough for me but I’ll still do my very best,” he said. “Then there are a few stages where I should be able to look toward a win. I’ll be taking part in the Paris-Nice in function of the classics that will follow shortly after and in particular the Milano-San Remo. Winning a race is always great for morale, but at the moment, is not absolutely necessary. One thing I’m certainly hoping is that the weather is better than it was during last year’s race. — Tom Boonen via Velonews.
CSC will be looking for their first win of 2006. They won the race last year with Bobby Julich and usually have a strong team that can detonate the field in the crosswinds. This year’s race is a bit hillier, and Carlos Sastre is there with Julich to help in the mountains. Jens Voight’s form is not the best yet, but he will be working himself into form. Julich and Zabriske are flying after the Tour of California. The prologue looks to be perfect for Zabriske, who missed out on a prologue win in California due to a slipped chain.
The rest of the American contingent at Paris Nice could shake things up. Floyd Landis brings a strong Phonak team to Paris Nice and is carrying over great form after winning the Tour of California. If he does go to Paris Nice to win is the question, as he may not want to carry over too strong of form so early in the year especially as he is planning on riding the Giro D’Italia to train for the Tour de France.
Lampre sprinter Danilo Napolitano may be one of the few challeneges to Tom Boonen in the sprint stages. Napolitano and teammate Bennati have been racking up a few wins in smaller Italian races. They were able to beat Erik Zable consitently in stright sprints but were no match for Petacchi. Napolitano was stil able to capitalize and get a few wins when stages did not end up in full field sprints. Look for Napolitano to bag a win when everyone is caught out.
It is tough to tell who is exactly on form for this year’s Paris Nice, especially since not all riders may be interested in taking a win, but training for Milan San Remo and the Classics. The hillier edition this year will give Julich a tough takes to defend his 2005 title.
Official Start List
Le Tour Parcours
Sorry, this title had to be used at some point. The Tour of California starts Sunday with a prologue Time Trial in San Francisco that sweeps along the Embarcadero and finishes at the famous Coit Tower. The first edition of the hopefully long running Tour of California will kick off with plenty of American riders willing to take the first win.
Velonews has a bit of history about the Tour of California along with news that Amgen will sponsor the race for 5 years.
CSC has lots to gain from this race since the title sponsor CSC is based in El Segundo, Cailfornia. David Zabriske is one of the CSC men who is most “on form” at the moment. He beat Ivan Basso up the Mont Serra climb in Italy a few weeks ago. That climb wasn’t simply a ride up the mountain, but a CSC free-for-all where each rider tested their fitness. Ivan Basso actually bettered his time from last year. The surprise came from David Zabriske who beat his team captain. Zabriske’s form is sharp ealry this year presumably to have a strong showing in California.
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Ivan Basso improved his personal best climbing time up the Monte Serra climb in Tuscany. BiciRace reports that the CSC training camp currently underway in Italy had all of the CSC team tackle the 6.3k climb as a group. The group became a duo of Basso and David Zabriske. The Z man actually beat Basso’s time up the climb, a possible indication that Zabriske’s goal may come earlier this year with the Tour of California.
Basso’s time was 50 seconds better than last year’s test at this time and only 20 seconds below his on-form time of 16′10″.
Above all I am satisfied with my new time because it is very good considering of the small amount of training and that I am currently three kilograms over my ideal weight of 69
