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German Championships - CN
Rostock/Wiesbaden, Germany, June 24 & July 1, 2007
National Champs summary 2006 results The program Preview
The program
Preview
By Bjorn Haake
The German road race will be held on July 1, in Wiesbaden, the capital of Hessen. The circuit is 15.3 kilometres long, with the men to complete 13 laps, and the women's field doing seven laps.
Of the men's field, top teams include locals Gerolsteiner and Italy-based, German-sponsored Milram, which announced its team in early June . With Marcel Sieberg and Sebastian Siedler on hand to help 1998 and 2003 victor Erik Zabel, Milram will be hoping for a sprint finish.
Gerolsteiner will take advantage of short power climbs to propel Stefan Schumacher into a small front group, hoping he will then outsprint his companions. But don't forget about Fabian Wegmann, who always does well, having won as a junior and finished on the Elite podium twice.
This year's race is wide open and T-Mobile will not have the luxury of determining who it wants to win, a tactic that has worked for years. Gerolsteiner and Milram are sending strong teams, which also means they are more likely to neutralize each other and give the chance for a third outsider in a row to take the honours.
The women's field has a core group of five-to-ten riders that will compete to take the title, including the T-Mobile duo Ina-Yoko Teutenberg and Judith Arndt. The constant up and down of the course, which starts in Kurhaus, Wiesbaden, will be hard on sprinters like 2005 champion Regina Schleicher.
"The race has really only a couple of kilometres of flat roads," said Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung manager Jens Zemke. "Someone who can handle the many changes in terrain the best will be among the potential winners."
