03.03.2007 5. Valencia - Valencia (147 km)
Valverde takes overall victory, Frank 3rd
Results:
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Daniele Bennati
Alejandro Valverde
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60th at 3"
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21st at 43"
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31st at 3"
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3rd at 12"
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The last stage of the Vuelta Valenciana didn't present any significant climbs on its profile, so the most of the interest was focused on the last bonus seconds in the intermediate sprints that could have had an incident on the final overall classification. But the Caisse d'Epargne riders around Valverde adopted smart tactics and allowed a group of 3 riders to take one and a half minute of advance, assuring this way that Bernabeu, Sobrino and Lopes took the first ones of these bonus seconds. But the tempo was high in the peloton and the break was caught again at km 92, just before the second sprint. The riders in black didn't take any risks and sent all of their fast men to the front, taking the first three places in this intermediate classification with the yellow jersey in the lead. From that point on, Milram and Lampre took over the control of the peloton to prepare the predicted bunch sprint. A sprint in which Daniele Bennati was once more faster than his Italian mate Petacchi, taking his third victory in this stage race. Alejandro Valverde crossed the finish line in fourth place, thus assuring his overall victory in the Vuelta Valenciana 2007. Frank Schleck finished the stage in 31st position and retained thereby his third place overall. Frank is also 7th in the mountains competition and 2nd in the combination classification. His brother Andy has also passed the day in the middle of the peloton and took the 60th position at the finish, which means that he also stayed in 21st position overall. A nice beginning for the two bros, who can look forward to the spring classics with lots of optimism.
02.03.2007 4. Albaida - Alt del Campello (162 km)
Contador dominates, Schleck 4th
Results:
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Alberto Contador
Alejandro Valverde
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24th at 44"
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21st at 37"
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4th at 13"
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3rd at 6"
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The 4th stage of the Vuelta Valenciana was the queen stage this year with 5 climbs, including a mountain top finish on the Alt del Campello, the first real challenge of the season for the Schleck brothers who mastered it really well. Despite the difficult course, the peloton was nearly completely together at the foot of the last ascent since the last riders of the early break, De la Fuente, Lastras, Munos and Verdugo, were caught just before the beginning of the climb. The first slopes were very steep and Damiano Cunego was the first rider to attack, whereas Frank Schleck wasn't far behind among the early part of the peloton. But then, Alberto Contador accelerated and nobody was able to follow him. He took off and rode in impressive manner to the stage victory. Behind him, the peloton exploded into numerous small groups and together with Valjavec and Valverde, Frank Schleck led the chase behind Contador. In the end, he took a good 4th position at the top, 13 seconds behind the Discover Channel rider. Alejandro Valverde, who was just place two positions ahead of Frank at the finish, took the overall lead with 2 seconds of advantage on Valjavec. Schleck the elder is merely 6 seconds behind last year's Pro Tour winner, but in tomorrow's flat stage, he will have only a small chance to overtake him for the overall victory. Andy Schleck wasn't far behind his brother in today's stage, with a 24th position at the finish in a small group of 7, together with riders like Gutierrez, Brochard or Perez. It was in fact the third group that crossed the line, 44 seconds behind Contador. Of course, Andy also moves up several places overall, where he is now in 21st position.
01.03.2007 3. Villa Real - Villa Real (152 km)
Bennati again
Results:
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Daniele Bennati
Daniele Bennati
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59th at 0"
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55th at 16"
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19th at 0"
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25th at 16"
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Once again, the stage was presented as a sprinter stage, even if the riders had to climb up to 1000 meters of altitude on the Port del Remocador. But the long descent to the finish in Villa Real has allowed the sprinter teams to lock the race. Two riders have tried to complicate their plans: Joseba Zubeldia and David de la Fuente have led the race for over 100 km but have been chased down with 15 kilometers to go. Frank Schleck has been once again among the very first of the peloton on the Port del Remocador, before moving to the back of the peloton afterwards. Finally, the sprint wasn't massive at all because a big crash in a roundabout with less than 1 km to go brought half of the field down on the tarmac and they were only 4 to sprint for the stage victory. Petacchi was perfectly launched by teammate Erik Zabel but just like the first day, Daniele Bennati was faster than him and took the stage win as well as the yellow jersey in his ping-pong game with the Milram rider. Andy and Frank Schleck brothers have also been delayed by the crash but as it was in the last kilometers, they are noted with the same time as the winner in the finish, in 61st and 99th position respectively.
28.02.2007 2. Calp - Calp (148 km)
Petacchi's revenge
Results:
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Alessandro Petacchi
Alessandro Petacchi
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61st at 0"
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62nd at 24"
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99th at 0"
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47th at 24"
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The second stage around Calp was much more difficult than the firs one with a first category climb at the beginning of the stage and two climbs of the Alt de Benissa towards the end. But this didn't prevent a bunch sprint because the likes of Bennati and Petacchi have passed well the climbs and their teams did all it took to keep everything together behind the break composed of Martinez, Ruiz, Alarcon and Solari. With 20 km to go, Milram and Lampre have increased the speed to chase down the four riders who didn't have any chance to resist. The sprint was lightly uphill and Vicente Reynes seemed to have a good chance for the win, but Alessandro Petacchi came back from behind to take his third victory in the town of Calp and the yellow jersey at the same time Frank Schleck was very attentive at the front of the peloton during the day and he was notably among the very first on the climbs. He has also participated in the sprint and took the 19th place at the finish. Andy Schleck was also among the best on the Alt de Benissa and he has even attacked just after the climb with Valjavec. But the Milram team chased them down again and Andy has finally finished in 59th position, in the middle of the pack that was still composed by 100 riders.
27.02.2007 1. Alzira - Alzira (163 km)
Bennati holds Petacchi down
Results:
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Daniele Bennati
Daniele Bennati
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65th at 0"
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68th at 10"
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48th at 0"
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51st at 10"
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For Frank and Andy Schleck, the preparations for the first big races in the season continues in Spain, at the Vuelta Valenciana, which presents some quite tough stages until the end of the week. Emanuele Sella, Adrian Palomares and Thomas Voeckler have opened the race on the Alto de Barcheta, a difficult climb right in the beginning of the stage. But after the climb, the roads were flat until the finish, so that the return of the peloton was expected, even if the three riders held up to 7 minutes of advance. With around 10 km to go, the break was caught by a Lampre-led bunch and the massive sprint became obvious. It isn't a secret since his victories in the Tour d'Algarve that Alessandro Petacchi holds a big form, but the Italian had a flat tyre at a very bad moment of the race, with less than 10 km to go. He was back on the track quickly and his blue train towed him to the front again in time for the last kilometer. Ale-Jet launched the sprint out of the last corner, but he had Daniele Bennati in his wheel who jumped ahead in the very last meters to take the stage win. The rest of the field, including the Schleck brothers, followed several meters behind the two Italien sprinters. Frank crossed the finish line in 48th position and Andy in 65th, in the same time as the winner.
25.02.2007 Draguignan - Draguignan (200 km)
Pozzato impresses
Results:
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Filippo Pozzato
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32nd at 13"
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38th at 13"
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The 2007 season has started for Frank and Andy Schleck in the South of France, a few weeks later than last year. The Tour du Haut Var is already a difficult race to begin with, it takes place on a tough course and only riders that have early form can pretend going for the win. Whereas Milano-San Remo isn't that far away, defending champion Filippo Pozzato surely is among them and he was already present in the very first break that took off shortly after the start, together with riders like Brochard, Voeckler, Calzati, Halgand, Duma or Ignatiev. Those 22 riders were able to get a gap, but they were caught again by the main pack before mid-race. It was now time for Leonardo Giordano to take off for a long solo rider of over 100 km. But with 8 km to go, he was caught again and another group of 10 riders went away, among them once more Pozzato and super talent Ignatiev, but also Arekeev, Fédrigo, Gerrans, Kiryienka, Kuchynski, Löwik, Reda and Serrano. This was the good break and Pozzato won the sprint for the victory with narrow margin over Simon Gerrans. 13 seconds later, the next chasers crossed the finish line led by Amorison. In this group, there were also Frank Schleck who took 32nd position and Andy who made it to 38th. Thus, for their difficult opening race held under uncomfortable weather conditions, the two brothers haven't been too far away from the winner.
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February 18-25, 2007: 2nd Tour of California
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25.02.2007 7. Long Beach - Long Beach (125 km)
Start to Finish victory for Leipheimer
Results:
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Ivan Dominguez
Levi Leipheimer
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67th at 0"
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12th at 2'16"
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American rider Levi Leipheimer has won "his" Tour of California after having been in the lead from start to end, since he took the leader jersey after the prologue and didn't leave it any more. The last stage was a usual criterium through the streets of Long Beach, near Los Angeles. Six riders have animated the race on a flat, but tough course due to the strong winds: Cozza, Pate (Slipstream), Menzies, Johnson (Health Net), Sullivan (Toyota), Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health) and Hansen (T-Mobile). It seemed obvious that the continental home teams wanted to try something because they hadn't brought home any flowers yet on this Tour. But behind them, Discovery channel had built up their usual train and they didn't let the gap grow to more than three minutes. Once the sprinter teams had organized the chase, the gap went down quickly and the leaders didn't cooperate well any more: they were caught in the last lap. T-Mobile, Gerolsteiner and CSC opened the sprint, but finally it was well a rider from a continental team that took the victory because Ivan Dominguez from Toyota was fastest to the line ahead of Brown and Ciolek. Kim Kirchen had with Adam Hansen a team-mate in the big break of the day, so he could hide in the pack for most of the stage, before helping his team to prepare the sprint for the likes of Henderson and Ciolek at the end. He crossed the finish line in 67th position in the middle of the pack and stayed in 12th position overerall, 2'16" behind Levi Leipheimer who has rewarded his team for their huge work over the whole week with the overall victory in front of Jens Voigt and Jason McCartney.
24.02.2007 6. Santa Barbara - Santa Clarita (170 km)
Haedo for the second one
Results:
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Juan José Haedo
Levi Leipheimer
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31st at 0"
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12th at 2'16"
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Before the last, flat criterium along the beach, the riders had another hilly stage on their program today towards Santa Clarita. A stage with lots of suspense and although it finished finally in a bunch sprint, this wasn't quite obvious until the very last kilometers. Right from the start, the peloton split up into several parts as there were lots of attacks. Jens Voigt, the second overall, also made an attempt and forced race leader Leipheimer himself to work behind him. After this, the peloton calmed down a little bit but seven strong riders had managed to get a gap: O'Grady, Hayman, Rogers, Tankink, Visconti, Gasparotto, Jufre, Rapinski and Pate. They built up a two minutes lead with O'Grady being virtually in yellow. Due to the strong turns of the two Australians, Rogers and O'Grady, the break managed to hold a substantial part of its advantage until Santa Clarita and they still had 40" with 10 km to go, despite the big work of Discovery Channel. But then, Gerolsteiner and Health Net joined the chase, the peloton got closer and closer and with 3 kilometers to go, everything was together again. CSC and T-Mobile prepared the sprint and Juan José Haedo showed out to be the fastest for the second time after Sacramento. Henderson, Bettini, Hushovd and Rodriguez took the next positions, whereas Kim Kirchen finished in 31st position in the middle of the bunch. Despite the heavy action on this stage, nothing finally changed in the overall classification.
23.02.2007 5. Solvang - Solvang (23 km ITT)
Leipheimer confirms, Kirchen surprises
Results:
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Levi Leipheimer
Levi Leipheimer
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23rd at 1'51"
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12th at 2'16"
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As expected, the dediding time trial of the Tour of California 2007 turned out to a duell between Levi Leipheimer, the overall leader and his runner-up, Jens Voigt. But the winner of the prologue didn't take long to show that he was the strongest, because at the intermediate timing, he was already faster than Voigt. Leipheimer finally finished the course, that was very tought due to the windy conditions, in 29'40" for 23,5 km, that means at an average speed of 47 km/h. Jens Voigt finished 2nd 18 seconds down, Mc Cartney 3rd at 24 seconds and world champion Cncellara 4th at 37 seconds. On the flat roads that were not really to his advantage, Kim Kirchen did surprisingly well, finishing in 23rd position. He was among the last riders to start and even if he has lost 1'51" to Leipheimer, he is in good company with riders like Piil, Van de Walle or Horner. At 45 km/h average speed, Kim moves up several places overall where he is now in 12th position, 2'16" behind Leipheimer and only 19 seconds away from a top ten position.
22.02.2007 4. Seaside - San Luis Obispo (215 km)
A World Champion can hide another one
Results:
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Paolo Bettini
Levi Leipheimer
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48th at 0"
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15th at 25"
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The fourth stage of the Tour of California, with 215 km the longest one, was held mostly on the beautifull and scenic Highway 1 along the Pacific Coast. It was expected to be a very nervous stage with no really big climbs, but rollercoaster-like roads with no meter of flat.
In fact, it was mainly in the beginning that there was a lot of animation and during the first 30 kilometers, on wet roads, one attack followed the other. But Discovery Channel managed to control the race and finally one break got the permission to stay away. The were 7 riders: Aaron Olson (T-mobile), Kirk O'Bee (Health Net), Alejandro Acton (Colavita) and Christophe Laurent (Credit Agricole), soon joined by Lucas Euser (Team Slipstream), Hilton Clarke (Navigators) and Sean Sullivan (Toyota United Pro) were allowed to win all the KOM competitions and intermediate sprints of the day. They had up to 4'30" of advance, until Rabobank and Liquigas opened the chase in the pack. In the last kilometers, led by Jens Voigt and the CSC, the peloton caught the break and it was Kim Kirchen's new team-mate at T-Mobile, Gerald Ciolek, who came first out of the last corner and had a good chance for the win. Unfortunately for the U23 world champion, he had another rainbow in his wheel, Paolo Bettini who jumped him on the last meters to take a very narrow win. A few meters behind the two world champions, Kim Kirchen has crossed the line in 48th position. Despite a crash on the day before that damaged the same elbow that had already suffered in Qatar, the Luxemburish rider finised in the middle of the pack and he still has a chance for a good overall position.
21.02.2007 3. Stockton - San José (152 km)
Voigt wins, Kirchen in the first group
Results:
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Jens Voigt
Levi Leipheimer
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30th at 4"
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15th at 25"
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Today's stage was the first real test for the GC contenders because in addition to the Patterson Pass, the course also had with the 500 m elevation of the Sierra road climb in San José a category 1 rated ascension on the programm, just around 30 km from the finish. Jens Voigt has anticipated the climb by betting on a 17 men break that went away shortly after the start, with riders in it like Van de Walle, De Groot, Wegelius, Hiekmann or Olsen and Piil, the team-mates of Kim Kirchen. Jason McCartney and Jens Voigt were the only ones of this group to survive until after the Sierra road, where they were joined by Leipheimer, Horner and Gesink. These three riders had taken off from a peloton that was completely split up after the teamwork of Ivan Basso. Rogers and Bettini led the chase, whereas Kim Kirchen was just several seconds behind with other riders, but was able to catch up in the descent. On the last flat kilometers, the chasers, led mainly by T-Mobile and the Luxemburgish champ, came closer and closer to the leaders who had lost Gesink and McCartney, but were able to keep a few seconds of advantage until the finish line. In the tactical sprint for the stage victory, Jens Voigt had enough power left after 150 km break to hold down Leipheimer and Horner. Kim Kirchen came in with the next group on 30th position and 4 seconds late. He moves up to 15th position overall, 25 seconds behind Leipheimer who is still leader but now feeling Jens Voigt in his back.
20.02.2007 2. Santa Rosa - Sacramento (187 km)
JJ Haedo: new sprint star for CSC
Results:
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Juan-José Haedo
Levi Leipheimer
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62th at 0"
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27th at 15"
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The beginning of the stage was rather hilly with 2 KOM competitions and several other climbs, but towards the end, the profile became flatter and flatter, so that a bunch sprint was expected in Sacramento. The history of the stage wasn't in fact interesting, because 3 riders broke away after only one kilometer and took quite a big gap on the peloton, so that the main question of the day was about the moment when they would be caught again. From nearly 5 minutes after 50 km, the advantage of Christophe Laurent, Omer Kem and David McCann decreased to 3’40 at mid-race, then to 2’45” with about 50 km to go, at the moment where T-Mobile as first sprinter team took over the lead of the peloton from Discovery Channel. Omer Kern was then dropped in the lead after a flat tyre, whereas CSC, Liquigas and Slipstream joined the chase behind the leaders. With around 25 km to go, the adventure of the remaining duo in the lead of the race also was terminated. A late attack of Danny Pate was unsuccessfull, so that the massive sprint was unavoidable and perfectly prepared by CSC. Stuart O'Grady led out the new home sprinter Juan José Haedo with 350 m to go and the Argentinian showed his muscles in front of guest Arnold Schwarzenegger to take an easy victory from Paolini and Hushovd. Kim Kirchen has been in the peloton the whole day, he has shown up at the front towards the end to avoid crashes and help bringing the sprinters Henderson and Ciolek into position. He has crossed the finish line in 62th position and is still only 15 seconds down on the overall leader Leipheimer before the first key stage of tomorrow.
19.02.2007 1. Sausalito - Santa Rosa (156 km)
Photo-Finish sprint for Graeme Brown
Results:
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Graeme Brown
Levi Leipheimer
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70th at 0"
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23rd at 15"
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The riders have left Sausalito, just on the other side of the Golden Gate bridge, to head northwards following the rough Californian coast. A tricky profile though that favoured attacks of all kinds and even World and Olympic champion himself Paolo Bettini has been offensive on the road. But the strong headwinds made it easier for the peloton to controll the breaks and each attempt was annihilated under the lead of Discovery Channel. Towards the end of the stage, the peloton left the coast und turned direction Santa Rosa via several climbs. A promising group with Van De Walle, Peterson, Eltink and Adam Hansen created an interesting gap, but the sprinter teams took over in the peloton and the break was caught again before the finishing circuit. While there was a massive crash that brought half of the field down on the tarmac with 10 kilometers to go, CSC, T-Mobile and Quick-Step prepared the sprint at high speed. But in the end, it was Rabobank rider Graeme Brown who was fastest, just a few milimeter in front of Kim Kirchen's teammate Greg Henderson. The Luxemburgish champion had been delayed by the big crash in the penultimate lap, but just as yellow jersey Levi Leipheimer, he profited from the extra regulations of the race commissioners and was noted in 70th position, in the same time than the winner. This tough first stage had already caused some damage among the riders before the crash, so that Kim moves up 4 positions in the overall classification.
18.02.2007 P. Prologue in San Francisco (3 km)
Leipheimer again
Results:
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Levi Leipheimer
Levi Leipheimer
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27th at 15"
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27th at 15"
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After the Tour of Qatar, the season starts more seriously for Kim Kirchen at the Tour of California, where the landscapes, the stage profiles and also the contenders are a lot more challenging than at the Persian Gulf. 12 month after having won the prologue of the very first edition, Levi Leipheimer did it again on exactly the same course than last year through the streets of San Francisco. For the 3,1 kilometers, the Californian native used only one second less than the surprising Jason Donald and 5 seconds less than cyclo-cross specialist Ben Jacques-Maynes. World time-trial champion Fabian Cancellara was the first European rider in 5th position. Leipheimer crossed the finish line in 4'49", which represents an average speed of 38,6 km/h on a very difficult course where the last uphill kilometer to the Coit Towers shows slopes of up to 20 %. A course which also suits to Kim Kirchen and should have reminded him of the prologue of the Tour de Luxembourg which he won in 2006, less the paved section and the beautiful sights on San Francisco. The Luxemburgish rider rode a good time in 5'04", at 35,5 km/h average speed, which allowed him to take 27th place out of 144 riders in the stage, 15 seconds behind Leipheimer and surrounded by a whole bunch of Americans like Julich, Horner, Wherry, Vandevelde and more.
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Picture: 
Photo: Team Lampre
Photo: acc contern
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