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41st International Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt - 2.1
Germany, April 26-30, 2006
2005 results Stage List Preview Start List Past winners
The Stages
- Stage 1 - April 26: Kaiserslautern - Worms, 130.0 km
- Stage 2 - April 27: Worms - Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, 187.0 km
- Stage 3 - April 28: Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler - Bad Marienberg, 143.6 km
- Stage 4 - April 29: Bitburg - Koblenz, 195.4 km
- Stage 5 - April 30: Koblenz - Kaiserslautern, 148.4 km
German teams for Rheinland-Pfalz: Gerolsteiner's race?
By Susan Westemeyer
Team Gerolsteiner has a special relationship to the Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt, which starts today, and not just because it is held in the homeland of the team's sponsor. Last year the team finished first and second, and the team can count many stage wins and podium finishes, by current riders, former riders and even directeurs sportifs - for example, in 1988, DS Christian Henn won the race, while DS Udo Bölts came in third.
But Gerolsteiner is not looking strictly to the past. Bölts, now in the team car instead of on the bike, says, "I expect the guys to give their maximum. And when their performance is good enough, then the results will be good, too." The team has not nominated a captain for the Tour. "We don't need to concentrate on just one rider, that lets us manoeuvre better," says Bölts. "Such races are often decided by a large group, that arrives at the finish with a large time advantage. So we have to stay at the head of the peloton and be in the escape groups, with several riders. That means we have to pay attention, then anything is possible."
Bölts and Henn were of course not riding for Gerolsteiner when they won, but for Team Telekom, now Team T-Mobile. Unlike its national counterpart, T-Mobile has a captain for the race, Andreas Klier, who will be supported by a team made up of veterans (including Daniele Nardello, who won the race in 2003) and youngsters. Two of the latter, Andre Greipel and Bas Giling, are particularly expected "to show what they have," says DS Frans van Looy.
The Gerolsteiner connection continues with Professional Team Wiesenhof-Akud, with Captain Torsten Schmidt, who until this year rode for the bubbly water team. "With Torsten Schmidt we have a rider in our ranks who has already won three stages in this tour, and I believe that all the others can win a stage, too," says DS Markus Schleicher. "The guys are well off, no question. Because there is no time trial this year, it is very important for us to ride an offensive race. When no team with a time trial specialist controls the race, then escape groups can get away and decide the race."
Even little Continental Team Lamonta can offer a big former Gerolsteiner name: Danilo Hondo. But is also has another distinction: it offers the only native Rheinland-Pfalzer to be riding the race, Björn Glasner, who took the overall win in 2004. Although the route is more for climbers than sprinters, Glasner sees chances for his team's new sprinter. "We can attack, but don't have to, because with Danilo we have a trump card."
Gerolsteiner: Markus Fothen, Thomas Fothen, Rene Haselbacher, Heinrich Haussler, Frank Høj, Sven Kraus, Volker Ordowski, and Marcel Strauss.
T-Mobile: Bas Giling, Andre Greipel, Andreas Klier, Daniele Nardello, Olaf Pollack, Frantisek Rabon, Bram Schmitz and Thomas Ziegler.
Wiesenhof-Akud: Artur Gajek, Tim Klinger, Christian Leben, Torsten Schmidt, Corey Sweet, Lubor Tesar, Gerhard Trampusch, and Lars Wackernagel.
Lamonta: Matthias Friedemann, Björn Glasner, Uwe Hardter, Stefan Heiny, Erik Hoffman, Danilo Hondo, Christoph van Kleinsorgen, and Sören Petersen.
Start list
Gerolsteiner Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen
1 Rene Haselbacher (Aut) 11 Steven Caethoven (Bel)
2 Thomas Fothen (Ger) 12 Benny De Schrodder (Bel)
3 Markus Fothen (Ger) 13 Pieter Ghyllebert (Bel)
4 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) 14 Kenny De Haes (Bel)
5 Frank Hoj (Den) 15 Kenny Lisabeth (Bel)
6 Sven Krauss (Ger) 16 Tom Stubbe (Bel)
7 Marcel Strauss (Swi) 17 Bart Van Heule (Bel)
8 Volker Ordowski (Ger) 18 Glenn D'hollander (Bel)
German National Team Kaiku
21 Finn Heitmann (Ger) 31 Antonio Berasategui (Spa)
22 Christoph Klipp (Ger) 32 Gustav Cesar Valoso (Spa)
23 Kim Lachmann (Ger) 33 Ricardo Serrano (Spa)
24 Tino Meier (Ger) 34 Jose Lopez Gil (Spa)
25 Sebastian Schwager (Ger) 35 Alberto Losada (Spa)
26 Philipp Seubert (Ger) 36 Pablo Urtasun Perez (Spa)
27 Thorsten Struch (Ger) 37 Ruben Oarbeascoa (Spa)
28 Mathias Wiele (Ger) 38 Juan Jose Oroz (Spa)
Team Lamonta Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
41 Björn Glasner (Ger) 51 Jurgen Van Loocke (Bel)
42 Uwe Hardter (Ger) 52 Steven Kleynen (Bel)
43 Erik Hoffmann (Ger) 53 Jean-Claude Lebeau (Bel)
44 Matthias Friedemann (Ger) 54 Kevin Neirynck (Bel)
45 Stefan Heiny (Ger) 55 Sven Renders (Bel)
46 Danilo Hondo (Ger) 56 Bert Dewaele (Bel)
47 Christophe Von Kleinsorgen (Ger) 57 Frederic Amorison (Bel)
48 Alexander Gut (Ger) 58 James Vanlandschoot (Bel)
Team Milram Navigators Insurance Cycling Team
61 Alexander Müller (Ger) 71 Benjamin Brooks (Aus)
62 Stefan Adamsson (Swe) 72 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb)
63 Robert Wagner (Ger) 73 Glen Chadwick (Aus)
64 Karsten Volkmann (Ger) 74 Shawn Milne (USA)
65 Patrick Keller (Ger) 75 Hilton Clarke (Aus)
66 Sebastian Koch (Ger) 76 Cesar Grajales (Col)
67 Tilo Schüler (Ger) 77 Bernard Van Ulden (USA)
68 Andreas Schillinger (Ger) 78 Mark Walters (Can)
Team Regiostrom-Senges Skil-Shimano
81 Maint Berkenbosch (Ned) 91 Paul Martens (Ger)
82 Joshua Collingwood (Aus) 93 Yukihiro Doi (Jpn)
83 Markus Eichler (Ger) 94 Hidenori Nodera (Jpn)
84 Elnathan Heizmann (Ger) 95 Tomoya Kano (Jpn)
85 Jens Mouris (Ned) 96 Masahiro Shinagawa (Jpn)
86 Matthias Bertling (Ger) 98 Rene Weissinger (Ger)
87 René Schild (Ger)
88 Konstantin Schubert (Ger)
Team Sparkasse T-Mobile Team
101 Mark Cavendish (GBr) 111 Bas Giling (Ned)
102 Ed Clancy (GBr) 112 Andre Greipel (Ger)
103 Richard Faltus (Cze) 113 Andreas Klier (Ger)
104 Tom Flammang (Lux) 114 Olaf Pollack (Ger)
105 Timo Honstein (Ger) 115 Daniele Nardello (Ita)
106 Alexander Maul (Ger) 116 Frantisek Rabon (Cze)
107 Jonas Owczarek (Ger) 117 Bram Schmitz (Ned)
108 Stefan Parinussa (Ger) 118 Thomas Ziegler (Ger)
Unibet.com Team Vorarlberg
121 Jonas Ljungblad (Swe) 131 Vasili Anastopoulos (Gre)
122 Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) 132 Pascal Hungerbühler (Swi)
123 Marco Serpellini (Ita) 133 Christophe Girschweiler (Swi)
124 Geert Omloop (Bel) 134 Fraser Macmaster (NZl)
125 Petter Renäng (Swe) 135 Andreas Matzbacher (Aut)
127 Bobbie Traksel (Ned) 136 Gregor Gut (Swi)
128 Kurt Van Den Wouwer (Bel) 137 Werner Riebenbauer (Aut)
138 Patrick Riedesser (Aut)
Team Wiesenhof Akud
141 Tim Klinger (Ger)
142 Lubor Tesar (Cze)
143 Christian Leben (Ger)
144 Torsten Schmidt (Ger)
145 Corey Sweet (Aus)
146 Gerhard Trampusch (Aut)
147 Lars Wackernagel (Ger)
148 Artur Gajek (Ger)
Past winners
2005 Michael Rich (Ger) Gerolsteiner 2004 Björn Glasner (Ger) Team Lamonta 2003 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Team Telekom 2002 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 2001 Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 2000 Marc Wauters (Bel) Rabobank 1999 Marc Wauters (Bel) 1998 Lance Armstrong (USA) 1997 Dainis Ozols (Lat) 1996 Olaf Ludwig (Ger) 1995 Jörn Reuss (Ger) 1994 Cèdric Vasseur (Fra) 1993 Bert Dietz (Ger) 1992 Gerd Audehm (Ger) 1991 Gerd Audehm (Ger) 1990 Kai Hundertmarck (Ger) 1989 Joachim Halupczok (Pol) 1988 Christian Henn (Ger) 1987 Mario Kummer (DDR) 1986 Thomas Barth (DDR) 1985 Olaf Ludwig (DDR) 1984 Milan Jurco (Cze) 1983 Dan Radtke (DDR) 1982 Helmut Wechselberger (Aut) 1981 Ladislac Ferebaur (Cze) 1980 Thomas Möller (Den) 1979 Jostein Wilman (Nor) 1978 Theo de Rooy (Ned) 1977 Krystof Sujka (Pol) 1976 Miercyslaw Nowicki (Pol) 1975 Thorleif Andersen (Nor) 1974 Aard van den Hoek (Ned) 1973 Peter Weibel (Ger) 1972 Karl-Heinz Küster (Ger) 1971 Dieter Koslar (Ger) 1970 Karl-Heinz Muddemann (Ger) 1969 Fedor den Hertog (Ned) 1968 Ortwin Czarnowski (Ger) 1967 Martin Gombert (Ger) 1966 Ortwin Czarnowksi (Ger) Past winners by Mario Stiehl, www.world-of-cycling.com
