Kreuziger wins Tour de Romandie

Eurosport - Sun, 03 May 15:03:00 2009

Promising rider Roman Kreuziger won the Tour de Romandie on Sunday and started eyeing bigger things.

CYCLING 2009 Tour de Romandie Roman Kreuziger Foto: EFE - 0

Second in the six-day Swiss race last year, the 23-year-old Czech, won the crucial mountain stage of this edition on the penultimate day on Saturday to seize the reins.

Spain's Oscar Freire added Sunday's 150.5-km fifth and last stage to the one he won in La-Chaux-de-Fonds, with Kreuziger finishing in the main pack.

Overall, the Czech beat Russia's Vladimir Karpets by 18 seconds. Estonia's Rein Taaramae took the other spot on the podium, 25 seconds adrift.

Three-times world champion Freire, led by his Rabobank team mates along the banks of the Geneva Lake, surged in the final stretch to beat American Tyler Farrar and Spain's Koldo Fernandez.

But the day's main laurels went to Kreuziger. "The Tour de Romandie was my first objective of the season, the second being the Tour de France," Kreuziger said.

A good time-trial specialist and a very able climber, the Liquigas rider has the potential to achieve his long-term plans but he asked for a little patience.

"I will now defend my title in the Tour of Switzerland and then lead the Liquigas team on the Tour de France with (Italy's) Vicenzo Nibali," he added.

"Given my qualities, my ambition is obviously to make it on the Tour de France podium one day. But it's a little early to say whether I have the calibre of riders like Miguel Indurain or Lance Armstrong," he added.

Kreuziger finished 13th in his first Tour last year. He is not entered in next week's Giro d'Italia, in which his team's leader will be Italy's Ivan Basso.

Freire, who won his only two victories this season in Romandie, also said he would take a break until the Tour of Switzerland, which starts on June 13.

Like Kreuziger, the Spaniard, world champion in 1999, 2001 and 2004, has ambitions for the Tour de France.

"My main goals this season are to win the (points) green jersey in the Tour de France, but above all to become the first rider to win four world championships in October," he said.

Freire's two stage wins were at the expense of Briton Mark Cavendish, who did not come into the race at his peak form and was never in contention in mass sprints.

Tour de Romandie results

1. Roman Kreuziger (Czech Republic / Liquigas ) 14 hrs 20 mins 14 secs

2. Vladimir Karpets (Russia / Katusha ) +18 secs

3. Rein Taaramae (Estonia / Cofidis ) +25"

4. Alejandro Valverde (Spain / Caisse d'Epargne ) +46"

5. Rigoberto Uran (Colombia / Caisse d'Epargne ) +48"

6. Lars Bak (Denmark / Saxo Bank ) +1:01"

7. Cadel Evans (Australia / Silence - Lotto ) +1:07"

8. Tony Martin (Germany / Columbia ) +1:08"

9. Fredrik Kessiakoff (Sweden / Fuji ) +1:16"

10. Kanstantsin Sivtsov (Belarus / Columbia ) +1:21"

Reuters

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  1. I knew it!!! YOU ARE BLAZING SADDLES!!

    From demi162, on Wed 6 May 11:51AM

  2. Demi...side note, I enjoy our back and forth. :) As­ acting DS I however think that Cadel's test as he­ calls it on twitter(as every rider who fails calls it)­ is representative once again of poor planning and team­ morale sapping failure. I dont think his whole team­ worked for him all week long so that he could perform­ one test. A team needs confidence heading into the big­ part of the season and all I see is fellow mates­ dogging him. A top 10 against a @#$% field is a @#$%­ result.

    From , on Mon 4 May 1:18PM

  3. Thanks DS eric,i can only hope you pass on your­ thoughts to Cadel in any way you can. Before you­ determine once and for all his tactics, perhaps you­ could consider how he has been racing this year, and­ what he may be doing differently in races and training­ to improve his current abilities.He hasnt targeted the­ GC in any race, he's only tested himself on the­ hardest stages (perhaps he attacked on the climb for­ this very reason, you think he didnt know he was little­ chance to stay away?) I seem to remember a guy from­ spain who was kinda heavy, he won a few good races in­ the 90's...Mi..migg...something, from Spain he was.

    From demi162, on Mon 4 May 8:51AM

  4. Cadel attacked, just at the wrong time...again. The guy­ cant read a race. He is also to heavy to win the TDF­ against a quality field. 5 7 and 150.

    From , on Sun 3 May 11:52PM

  5. It is not what he is doing wrong. Perhaps another­ future race is more important, and he wishes to peak­ for that event. And any illness, even slight, can­ knock off 2-3% in performance, which means just hanging­ on in the peleton becomes a challenge and a good reason­ to ease back. Of course, don't expect Reuters or­ AFP (Yahoo/Eurosport's article sources) to actually­ do real reporting. We get some whos and whats, but no­ whys and hows.

    So pray tell, anyone know of any live­ streaming of the Giro? The Tour of California had live­ web coverage (free). I do not care if it is in Italian.­ I understand "gruppo compacto" and a few­ other terms! But it would be fantastic to watch the­ stages live over the web. Stream it and we will watch!

    From cycling7000, on Sun 3 May 6:51AM

  6. Its been hours since Roman Kreuziger won this stage and­ took the overall lead, and no one has said anything­ criticising Cadel for not attacking, repeatedly like he­ is the new Cannibal, and winning covered in glory. Can­ someone please inform us what he is doing wrong? Thanks­ in advance, oh and well done Kreuziger, quietly winning­ stage races and getting the experience leading a race­ brings before he inevitably is a top 3 challenger at­ the tour in years to come.

    From demi162, on Sun 3 May 4:41AM
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