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62nd Tour de Romandie - ProT
Switzerland, April 29-May 4, 2008
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Prologue - April 29: Geneve - Geneve, 1.9km
Cavendish goes full throttle to prologue victory
By Susan Westemeyer
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Team High Road's Mark Cavendish blasted his way to his fourth win of the season on the road Tuesday evening in Geneva, covering the 1.9 kilometre prologue course in 2'07.6. He beat two Liquigas riders. Daniele Bennati was the only other rider to break the 2:08 mark and finished second, while his Swiss team-mate Michael Albasini finished third.
"With two kilometers, it's like a sprint, with full throttle to the line," said the 22 year-old, who won 11 races last season. "On the return, there were very strong headwinds – whirling around," he explained, adding that this made it hard to turn his top gear. Still, the Manxman put in an average speed of 56.425 km/hour.
Cavendish has had success against the clock in the past, setting the fastest time at the 2007 Tour of Britain prologue, which was only 600 metres longer than today's effort. But the win was also part of an unusual succession of time trial victories within 48 hours. On Sunday he won the Profronde van Made by winning the time trial in the three-part (non-UCI) race.
The ProTour victory puts the High Road rider's tally up to four for the season on the road. Not quite two weeks ago he nipped none other than Tom Boonen at the finish line of the Scheldeprijs, to repeat his win of 2007. He also won two stages in the Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde earlier this month. And if that's not enough, he can boast of a gold medal in the 50km Madison, along with High Road team-mate Bradley Wiggins, who finished fifth today, in the Track World Championships in Manchester last month.
The fourth place went, surprisingly, to Milram's Björn Schröder. The 27 year-old is one of the oldest on the young squad in Switzerland. "I rode a very good prologue," said the happy German. "Unfortunately it wasn't enough for a podium place. But the most important thing is my increasingly good form. I will try to be near the front in one of the coming stages."
It was a good day for the local riders, as three Swiss riders finished in the top ten: Albasini (3rd), Martin Elmiger of AG2R (8th) and Martin Kohler of BMC Racing (10th).
How it unfolded
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The first rider out of the blocks was Brent Bookwalter of BMC Racing Team. The American Professional Continental Team was the only wildcard team in the race. The 24-year-old American set a time of 2:12.86.
This year's course was not a circuit, but a flat "there-and-back" course along the shores of Lake Geneva with many turns and climbs. And at only 1.9 km, it was a very short course which would not favour the usual time trialists.
The 13th rider was High Road's Bradley Wiggins, who set a time of 2:08.48, a time which it looked for a long time would hold up. The Londoner has concentrated on the track this year, as evidenced by his three gold medals in the Track World Championships last month in Manchester.
Shortly thereafter it became evident why BMC had received its wildcard: its young Swiss rider Martin Kohler crossed the line in 2:09.84, which in the end was enough for a top ten position.
Two surprises came up shortly thereafter. Milram's Björn Schröder is known as an allrounder, but his 2:08.29 was good enough for a fourth place in the end. But Swiss rider Michael Albasini of Liquigas was 28 hundredths of a second faster and took over first place.
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A number of riders followed with times just shy of Schröder's, but only Daniele Bennati was able to improve upon Albasini's time, becoming the first rider to break the 2:08 mark and get ahead of his team-mate.
His time in the hot seat was limited to just a few minutes, though, as Manxman Cavendish came across the line another 27 hundredths faster.
None of the others, favourites for the overall title, could challenge him today. Andreas Klöden of Astana covered the course in 2:10.74, good enough for 21st place. He is not a prologue expert and can expect to show more in the longer time trail in stage three. Defending overall champion Thomas Dekker stayed in contention with a ninth place finish.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by AFP Photo
- Mark Cavendish (High Road) takes the first yellow leader's jersey.
- Mark Cavendish (High Road) puts the hammer down on his way to the prologue win.
- Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) took a close second to Cavendish.
- Michael Albasini (Liquigas) rounded out the podium in third.
- Last year's winner Thomas Dekker (Rabobank) kept himself within shouting distance of the lead.
Results
1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team High Road 2.07.60 (56.425 km/h) 2 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas 3 Michael Albasini (Swi) Liquigas 0.01 4 Björn Schröder (Ger) Team Milram 5 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team High Road 6 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas 7 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 0.02 8 Martin Elmiger (Swi) AG2r - La Mondiale 9 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 10 Martin Kohler (Swi) BMC Racing Team 11 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0.03 12 Jean Eudes Demaret (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 13 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Crédit Agricole 14 Gustav Erik Larsson (Swe) Team CSC 15 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Team Milram 16 Hubert Schwab (Swi) Quick Step 17 Murilo Fischer (Bra) Liquigas 18 Adam Hansen (Aus) Team High Road 19 Markus Fothen (Ger) Gerolsteiner 20 Jussi Veikkanen (Fin) Française des Jeux 21 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 22 Michiel Elijzen (Ned) Rabobank 23 Matej Mugerli (Slo) Liquigas 24 Stef Clement (Ned) Bouygues Telecom 25 Frantisek Rabon (Cze) Team High Road 0.04 26 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) AG2r - La Mondiale 27 Alexandr Pliuschin (Mda) AG2r - La Mondiale 28 Thomas Frei (Swi) Astana 29 Jérôme Coppel (Fra) Française des Jeux 30 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 31 Steve Morabito (Swi) Astana 31 Dominique Cornu (Bel) Silence - Lotto 33 Rick Flens (Ned) Rabobank 34 Rubens Bertogliati (Swi) Saunier Duval - Scott 35 Ignas Konovalovas (Ltu) Crédit Agricole 36 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Astana 37 Tony Martin (Ger) Team High Road 38 Jeffry Louder (USA) BMC Racing Team 0.05 38 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Silence - Lotto 40 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Silence - Lotto 41 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 42 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Quick Step 43 Matti Breschel (Den) Team CSC 44 Peter Velits (Svk) Team Milram 45 Fabio Baldato (Ita) Lampre 46 Sandy Casar (Fra) Française des Jeux 47 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team 48 Christian Kux (Ger) Team Milram 49 Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Team CSC 50 Carlo Westphal (Ger) Gerolsteiner 50 Maryan Hary (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 52 Vincent Jérôme (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.06 53 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 54 Maxim Iglinsky (Kaz) Astana 55 Bram De Groot (Ned) Rabobank 56 Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 57 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Astana 58 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 59 Francesco De Bonis (Ita) Gerolsteiner 60 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank 60 Luca Barla (Ita) Team Milram 62 Ian McKissick (USA) BMC Racing Team 63 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 64 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) Quick Step 65 Mathieu Claude (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.07 66 José Luis Arrieta Lujambio (Spa) AG2r - La Mondiale 67 Juan José Oroz Ugalde (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 68 Eric Berthou (Fra) Crédit Agricole 69 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott 70 Markus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 71 Laurent Mangel (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 72 José Vicente Garcia Acosta (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 73 Timothy Gudsell (NZl) Française des Jeux 74 Iñaki Isasi Flores (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 75 Marco Pinotti (Ita) Team High Road 76 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team 77 Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Quick Step 78 Claudio Corioni (Ita) Liquigas 0.08 79 David Loosli (Swi) Lampre 80 Serguei Yakovlev (Kaz) Astana 81 Matej Jurco (Svk) Team Milram 82 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) Lampre 83 Tom Leezer (Ned) Rabobank 84 Steve Bovay (Swi) BMC Racing Team 85 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Crédit Agricole 86 Nicolas Crosbie (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 87 Rémy Di Grégorio (Fra) Française des Jeux 88 Xabier Zandio Echaide (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 89 Evgeny Sokolov (Rus) Bouygues Telecom 90 Christophe Kern (Fra) Crédit Agricole 91 David Moncoutié (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 92 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Caisse d'Epargne 93 Manuel Beltran Martinez (Spa) Liquigas 0.09 94 Addy Engels (Ned) Quick Step 95 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Crédit Agricole 96 David Lopez Garcia (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 97 Francis Mourey (Fra) Française des Jeux 98 Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) Lampre 99 Francisco Javier Vila Errandonea (Spa) Lampre 100 Volodymir Gustov (Ukr) Team CSC 101 Julien El Farès (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 102 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Liquigas 103 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 104 Giovanni Bernaudeau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 105 Nick Gates (Aus) Silence - Lotto 106 Scott Davis (Aus) Team High Road 0.10 107 Sergio Ghisalberti (Ita) Team Milram 108 Mathieu Perget (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 109 Matteo Bono (Ita) Lampre 110 Olivier Bonnaire (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 111 Manuele Mori (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott 112 Josep Jufre Pou (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 113 José Angel Gomez Marchante (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 114 Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel) Team CSC 114 René Mandri (Est) AG2r - La Mondiale 116 Yannick Talabardon (Fra) Crédit Agricole 117 Julien Mazet (Fra) Astana 118 Morris Possoni (Ita) Team High Road 119 Mathias Frank (Swi) Gerolsteiner 120 Steve Zampieri (Swi) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 121 Johann Tschopp (Swi) Bouygues Telecom 122 Nathan Miller (USA) BMC Racing Team 123 Luciano André Pagliarini Mendonca (Bra) Saunier Duval - Scott 124 Daniele Righi (Ita) Lampre 0.11 125 Leonardo Scarselli (Ita) Quick Step 126 Jérémy Roy (Fra) Française des Jeux 127 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Lampre 128 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner 129 Kasper Klostergaard Larsen (Den) Team CSC 130 Wim Van Huffel (Bel) Silence - Lotto 131 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Crédit Agricole 132 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Rabobank 133 John Gadret (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 0.12 134 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 135 Mickaël Chérel (Fra) Française des Jeux 136 Bert Roesems (Bel) Silence - Lotto 137 Oliver Zaugg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 0.13 138 Amets Txurruka (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 139 Kevin Seeldraeyers (Bel) Quick Step 140 Sebastian Schwager (Ger) Team Milram 141 Jorge Azanza Soto (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 142 Chris Anker Sørensen (Den) Team CSC 143 Matteo Carrara (Ita) Quick Step 144 Alberto Fernandez De La Puebla Ramos (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 0.14 145 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner 146 Alexandre Moos (Swi) BMC Racing Team 147 Alberto Losada Alguacil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 148 Ruben Lobato Elvira (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 149 Mario Aerts (Bel) Silence - Lotto 0.16 150 Florent Brard (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 0.18 General classification after prologue 1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team High Road 2.07 2 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas 3 Michael Albasini (Swi) Liquigas 0.01 4 Björn Schröder (Ger) Team Milram 5 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team High Road 6 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas 7 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 0.02 8 Martin Elmiger (Swi) AG2r - La Mondiale 9 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 10 Martin Kohler (Swi) BMC Racing Team 11 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0.03 12 Jean Eudes Demaret (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 13 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Crédit Agricole 14 Gustav Erik Larsson (Swe) Team CSC 15 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Team Milram 16 Hubert Schwab (Swi) Quick Step 17 Murilo Fischer (Bra) Liquigas 18 Adam Hansen (Aus) Team High Road 19 Markus Fothen (Ger) Gerolsteiner 20 Jussi Veikkanen (Fin) Française des Jeux 21 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 22 Michiel Elijzen (Ned) Rabobank 23 Matej Mugerli (Slo) Liquigas 24 Stef Clement (Ned) Bouygues Telecom 25 Frantisek Rabon (Cze) Team High Road 0.04 26 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) AG2r - La Mondiale 27 Alexandr Pliuschin (Mda) AG2r - La Mondiale 28 Thomas Frei (Swi) Astana 29 Jérôme Coppel (Fra) Française des Jeux 30 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 31 Steve Morabito (Swi) Astana 32 Dominique Cornu (Bel) Silence - Lotto 33 Rick Flens (Ned) Rabobank 34 Rubens Bertogliati (Swi) Saunier Duval - Scott 35 Ignas Konovalovas (Ltu) Crédit Agricole 36 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Astana 37 Tony Martin (Ger) Team High Road 38 Jeffry Louder (USA) BMC Racing Team 0.05 39 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Silence - Lotto 40 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Silence - Lotto 41 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 42 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Quick Step 43 Matti Breschel (Den) Team CSC 44 Peter Velits (Svk) Team Milram 45 Fabio Baldato (Ita) Lampre 46 Sandy Casar (Fra) Française des Jeux 47 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team 48 Christian Kux (Ger) Team Milram 49 Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Team CSC 50 Maryan Hary (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 51 Carlo Westphal (Ger) Gerolsteiner 52 Vincent Jérôme (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.06 53 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 54 Maxim Iglinsky (Kaz) Astana 55 Bram De Groot (Ned) Rabobank 56 Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 57 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Astana 58 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 59 Francesco De Bonis (Ita) Gerolsteiner 60 Luca Barla (Ita) Team Milram 61 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank 62 Ian McKissick (USA) BMC Racing Team 63 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 64 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) Quick Step 65 Mathieu Claude (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.07 66 José Luis Arrieta Lujambio (Spa) AG2r - La Mondiale 67 Juan José Oroz Ugalde (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 68 Eric Berthou (Fra) Crédit Agricole 69 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott 70 Markus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 71 Laurent Mangel (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 72 José Vicente Garcia Acosta (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 73 Timothy Gudsell (NZl) Française des Jeux 74 Iñaki Isasi Flores (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 75 Marco Pinotti (Ita) Team High Road 76 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team 77 Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Quick Step 78 Claudio Corioni (Ita) Liquigas 0.08 79 David Loosli (Swi) Lampre 80 Serguei Yakovlev (Kaz) Astana 81 Matej Jurco (Svk) Team Milram 82 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) Lampre 83 Tom Leezer (Ned) Rabobank 84 Steve Bovay (Swi) BMC Racing Team 85 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Crédit Agricole 86 Nicolas Crosbie (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 87 Rémy Di Grégorio (Fra) Française des Jeux 88 Xabier Zandio Echaide (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 89 Evgeny Sokolov (Rus) Bouygues Telecom 90 Christophe Kern (Fra) Crédit Agricole 91 David Moncoutié (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 92 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Caisse d'Epargne 93 Manuel Beltran Martinez (Spa) Liquigas 0.09 94 Addy Engels (Ned) Quick Step 95 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Crédit Agricole 96 David Lopez Garcia (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 97 Francis Mourey (Fra) Française des Jeux 98 Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) Lampre 99 Francisco Javier Vila Errandonea (Spa) Lampre 100 Volodymir Gustov (Ukr) Team CSC 101 Julien El Farès (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 102 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Liquigas 103 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 104 Giovanni Bernaudeau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 105 Nick Gates (Aus) Silence - Lotto 106 Scott Davis (Aus) Team High Road 0.10 107 Sergio Ghisalberti (Ita) Team Milram 108 Mathieu Perget (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 109 Matteo Bono (Ita) Lampre 110 Olivier Bonnaire (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 111 Manuele Mori (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott 112 Josep Jufre Pou (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 113 José Angel Gomez Marchante (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 114 René Mandri (Est) AG2r - La Mondiale 115 Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel) Team CSC 116 Yannick Talabardon (Fra) Crédit Agricole 117 Julien Mazet (Fra) Astana 118 Morris Possoni (Ita) Team High Road 119 Mathias Frank (Swi) Gerolsteiner 120 Steve Zampieri (Swi) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 121 Johann Tschopp (Swi) Bouygues Telecom 122 Nathan Miller (USA) BMC Racing Team 123 Luciano André Pagliarini Mendonca (Bra) Saunier Duval - Scott 124 Daniele Righi (Ita) Lampre 0.11 125 Leonardo Scarselli (Ita) Quick Step 126 Jérémy Roy (Fra) Française des Jeux 127 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Lampre 128 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner 129 Kasper Klostergaard Larsen (Den) Team CSC 130 Wim Van Huffel (Bel) Silence - Lotto 131 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Crédit Agricole 132 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Rabobank 133 John Gadret (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 0.12 134 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 135 Mickaël Chérel (Fra) Française des Jeux 136 Bert Roesems (Bel) Silence - Lotto 137 Oliver Zaugg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 0.13 138 Amets Txurruka (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 139 Kevin Seeldraeyers (Bel) Quick Step 140 Sebastian Schwager (Ger) Team Milram 141 Jorge Azanza Soto (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 142 Chris Anker Sørensen (Den) Team CSC 143 Matteo Carrara (Ita) Quick Step 144 Alberto Fernandez De La Puebla Ramos (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 0.14 145 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner 146 Alexandre Moos (Swi) BMC Racing Team 147 Alberto Losada Alguacil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 148 Ruben Lobato Elvira (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 149 Mario Aerts (Bel) Silence - Lotto 0.16 150 Florent Brard (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 0.18 Points classification 1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team High Road 15 pts 2 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas 12 3 Michael Albasini (Swi) Liquigas 10 4 Björn Schröder (Ger) Team Milram 9 5 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team High Road 8 6 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas 7 7 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 6 8 Martin Elmiger (Swi) AG2r - La Mondiale 5 9 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 4 10 Martin Kohler (Swi) BMC Racing Team 3 11 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 2 12 Jean Eudes Demaret (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 1
