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Roberto
Bettini in una delle sue foto speciali della
3a tappa del Tour, con arrivo a
La Grande-Motte
©
BettiniPhoto.net
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COLUMBIA-HTC'S
CAVENDISH SOARS TO SECOND STRAIGHT WIN IN TOUR DE FRANCE
San
Luis Obispo, California - Monday, 6th July 2009 - Columbia-HTC's
Mark Cavendish soared to his second straight win
in the Tour de France on Monday, strengthening his
overall hold on the green jersey. In a small bunch sprint
finish, Cavendish was once again the fastest in the
196.5-kilometre stage from Marseilles to La Grande
Motte.
Cavendish's
victory was the sixth Tour stage win and 43rd victory of
his career, and came after 27 riders, including the entire
Columbia-HTC team, broke away from the peloton around 30
kilometres to go. The 24-year-old rider made a gesture of
using a mobile phone as he crossed the line, and he explained
that it was in honor of his team's new sponsor, HTC.
"This
gesture was dedicated to HTC because they [introduced] a
new phone last week and I said if I win I'd do that for
them," Cavendish explained. "There
are eight sprint stages we have targeted here, so hopefully
I'll get a few more before the end of the Tour, and
one of them will be a win on the Champs Elysées."
Speaking
of the Columbia-HTC squad's coordinated teamwork, he expleined,
"It was brilliant. We were
the only sprint team that wanted to ride today in the front
group, but it worked out and the other teams had to ride
behind anyway to chase us. You could really appreciate how
strong we were as a squad and we took a lot of time out
of the guys behind. It was a hard last kilometre, but I
had five guys around me in the last build-up for the sprint.
Mark [Renshaw] kept his cool and left it very late because
there was a headwind but it worked out well."
"It
doesn't matter who you are, if you work hard you're going
to succeed, and if you've got a team like Columbia-HTC that
are able to ride for you and they are such a great mix of
the best young talented riders in the world and the best
older experienced riders in the world, then it's a real
winning formula. When we all work together it's bound to
work out."
The
Columbia-HTC mass attack also allowed Tony Martin to
move into the lead of the Best Young Rider's classification.
Cavendish
completed a hat trick of victories for Columbia-HTC on Monday
after Switzerland's Michael Albasini won stage two
and moved into the overall lead of the Tour of Austria,
and Mara Abbott of the USA scooped first place in
stage three of the Giro d'Italia Femminile.
Tour
de France, 3^tappa: Ancora una caduta per Bruseghin
La
Grande-Motte (Francia),
6 luglio 2009 - Cadute
e vento hanno 
caratterizzato
per la Lampre-NGC la terza tappa del Tour de France (Marsiglia-La
Grande Motte, 196,5 km).
Ancora Bruseghin a dover pagare dazio all'asfalto:
a circa 40 km dall'arrivo Marzio e' rimasto coinvolto, assieme
al compagno Spilak in una caduta, riportando escoriazioni
al ginocchio sinistro e al gomito sinistro (nessun problema
invece per il giovane sloveno). Bruseghin ha portato
comunque a termine la corsa, ricevendo poi la necessaria
assistenza medica dal dottor Beltemacchi, medico
di squadra,
il quale e' intervenuto per drenare una borsite emorragica
al gomito.
L'altra
variabile che ha condizionato la corsa della Lampre-NGC
e' stata il vento, dato che tutti gli uomini blu-fucsia
sono rimasti nella seconda parte del gruppo quando, a 28
km dal traguardo, il plotone si e' rotto in due parti proprio
a causa del vento.
"Quando
si e' aperto il ventaglio decisivo con 27 corridori in avanti,
i nostri atleti erano attorno a Marzio e anche Furlan
non ha potuto rientrare sulla prima parte del gruppo
- ha spiegato il ds della Lampre-NGC Bontempi - Abbiamo
dato qualche cambio con Sapa e Righi per provare
ad avvicinarsi ai fuggitivi, ma non potevamo neanche forzare
troppo col rischio di mettere in difficoltà Bruseghin.
Ora dovremo
valutare come sta Marzio, anche in vista della cronosquadre
di domani, nella quale dovremo tenere un ritmo adatto alle
sue attuali condizioni".
La corsa è stata vinta da Cavendish (il secondo
gruppo a 41", Furlan 65°); Cancellara
ha conservato la maglia gialla (Ballan 29° a
1'51", Bruseghin 72° a 2'18").
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Lance
Armstrong ©PhotoAndreaMagnani
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