THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Klöden wins Romandie as Bennati takes finale
Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) won the fifth and final stage of the Tour de Romandie as Astana’s Andreas Klöden took the overall title.
Bennati proved fastest of the bunch after it swept up a late break by Nick Nuyens (Cofidis), who took off with 10km to race and was reeled in 5km from the finish of the 152.4km stage from Le Bouveret to Lausanne.
Markus Zberg (Gerolsteiner) and Maxim Iglinsky (Astana) took second and third on the day while Klöden crossed with the bunch to secure the overall win ahead of Roman Kreuzger (Liquigas) and Marco Pinotti (Team High Road).
Four riders did not take the start in Le Bouveret: Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Silence), winner of the first stage; Alberto Fernandez and Manuele Mori (Saunier Duval); and Leonardo Scarselmi (Quick Step).
The day’s early break came courtesy of Alex Moos (BMC), who escaped to tackle the Col des Mosses alone.
The BMC man was chased and eventually joined by Mathias Frank (Gerolsteiner), Jerome Coppel (Française des Jeux), Alexandre Botcharov (Crédit Agricole) and Stef Clement (Bouygues Telecom), and the five built a lead of nearly two and a half minutes only to see it chopped by 1:40 when they were stopped at a rail crossing, 70km into the stage.
The interruption was both unfortunate and frustrating for director John Lelangue. “Alex's attack was premeditated,” he said. “We had planned to attack at the beginning of the Col des Mosses. Unfortunately, this crossing thwarting our plans."
Alexandr Pliuschin (Ag2r) launched a pursuit of the five escapees and closed to within a minute, but never made the juncture. Behind, Liquigas and Astana controlled the pursuit. Cofidis came to the front, too, and at 110km the gap was 2:15.
Pliuschin was caught as the gap came down to 1:40, and the leaders were pulled back 14km from the line.
Four kilometers later Nuyens had a dig on a long uphill, taking about 15 seconds. Shortly afterward Lampre’s Paolo Tiralongo shot after him, followed by Alexandr Kolobnev (CSC).
Nuyens clung to a slim lead with 6km to go, but it wouldn’t last. First Kolobnev and Tiralongo were retrieved, then Nuyens, and Gerolsteiner took the front, followed by Team High Road.
In the final kilometer the bunch roared around a pair of right-hand turns and rocketed up a long climb to the line. Bennati went right as High Road’s Mark Cavendish broke left, and it was Bennati taking the win for Liquigas ahead of Zberg and Breschel.
The 2008 Tour de Romandie
Overall winner: Andreas Klöden (Astana)
Mountains classification: Francesco De Bonis (Gerolsteiner)
Sprint classification: Morris Possoni (Team High Road)
Points classification: Daniele Bennati (Liquigas)
