April 28/06 7:52 am - International Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt: Stage 3 & Photos

Posted by Editoress on 04/28/06
 

International Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt Germany

Photos

Blitzkrieg!! Fast, focused, and disciplined. The German fighting machine was infamous for its rapid advance and precise dissection of its opponents. Today's third stage of Rheinland-Pfalz showed that the German cycling machine could be equally focused and devastating, but would not be met without resistance as the feisty Spanish Kaiku squad, and Navigator's lads took their stabs at victory. The up and down course was spiked with several short hard climbs and three laps of a demanding finishing circuit.

Gerolsteiner took control from the start. When a 5-man break including Navigators Insurance's Shawn Milne went to over 1 minute, the German team put the field to the gutter and the breakaway's life was soon in jeopardy.

Gerolsteiner controlled the action, setting a brisk pace that whittled the field until the day's final KOM. Rocketing up the short climb, Haselbacher's team snapped the field with only 40 riders able to hold on and withstand the assault. The dwindled peloton sped to the finishing circuits as the Gerolsteiner juggernaut exerted it's dominance over rival German teams of T-Mobile, Lamonta, and Weisenhof-Akud. The Navigators had Sergey Lagutin and Glen Chadwick in the mix, but the cold temperatures had weakened climbing ace Grajales, and he barely missed the split.

With the Spanish Kaiku team reluctant to surrender, Gerolsteiner kept the pace high on the difficult circuit until Navigators' Lagutin fired a successful shot on the penultimate lap. Building a 15 second advantage, the former World Champion defied the Fatherland's home team, and forced their challenge. Although a game effort, the attack was too early, and Gerolsteiner brought it together for the final 6 km lap. The Spaniards were not finished though, and they kept the pressure on the Germans, who responded with disciplined control.

The bunch kick set up almost a full lap ahead of the main peloton as Gerolsteiner's Haussler took the prize ahead of Kaiku's Urtasun and Serpellini. Lagutin managed 7th in a game effort. "I cramped a little in the sprint" commented Lagutin. "I lost a little because of the attack. Maybe I went too early, but there were still a few good sprinters in the group, and I thought I should try to win from the front. We wanted to try to win, so I took a chance."

Stage 3: Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler to Bad Marienberg, 143.6 km

1. Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner, 3:30.42
2. Pablo Urtasun Perez (Spa) Kaiku
3. Marco Serpellini (Ita) Unibet.com
4. Paul Martens (Ger) Skil-Shimano
5. Rene Weissinger (Ger) Skil-Shimano
6. Bjorn Glasner (Ger) Team Lamonta
7. Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team
8. Pieter Ghyllebert (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen
9. Lars Wackernagel (Ger) Team Wiesenhof Akud
10. Rene Haselbacher (Aut) Gerolsteiner, all s.t.

38. Glen Chadwick (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, 0:19
61. Shawn Milne (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, 10:15
65. Mark Walters (Can) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team
92. Cesar Grajales (Col) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team
99. Benjamin Brooks (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team
100. Hilton Clarke (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team
110. Bernard Van Ulden (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, all s.t.

GC

1. Rene Haselbacher (Aut) Gerolsteiner, 11;.25:27
2. Pablo Urtasun Perez (Spa) Kaiku, 0:05
3. Thomas Ziegler (Ger) T-Mobile Team, 0:08
4. Gerhard Trampusch (Aut) Team Wiesenhof Akud, 0:10
5. Ricardo Serrano (Spa) Kaiku, s.t.
6. Bert Dewaele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago, 0:14
7. Bjorn Glasner (Ger) Team Lamonta, s.t.
8. Steven Kleynen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago, 0:16
9. Lars Wackernagel (Ger) Team Wiesenhof Akud, 0:17
10. Alberto Losada (Spa) Kaiku, 0:22

25. Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, 0:36
45. Cesar Grajales (Col) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, 10:51
60. Glen Chadwick (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, 14:07
70. Shawn Milne (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, 19:41
83. Hilton Clarke (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, 23:42
84. Mark Walters (Can) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team
88. Benjamin Brooks (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, both s.t.
112. Bernard Van Ulden (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, 29:50