Team Talk 3

Most of the top Pro/Continental Teams are busy riding Paris Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico, some are looking ahead to the Spring Classics.

Milram (In the wars)
The second stage of the 66th Paris Nice was not a good one for the team. During the 201 km from Nevers to Belleville, six riders from the German ProTour team were involved in crashes and thereby lost touch with the main field. That included Andrey Grivko, who after a crash and change of bikes, was not able to defend the white jersey of the best young rider.

"That was an unlucky day for us,“ said Directeur Sportif Raoul Liegbregts. "After a stage like that is is up to us Directeurs Sportif to build up the riders again. It looks like none of them were seriously injured. We just hope that things go better tomorrow.“

Milram youngster Niki Terpstra showed his aggressive riding style again in the thrid stage of Paris-Nice. Together with three other riders he put his stamp on over 150 km of the stage between Montelimar and Mont Ventoux. The escapees were overtaken by the peloton's climbers as they started up Mont Ventoux. "That was a classy performance by Niki, he showed himself very well,“ said Vittorio Algeri, Milram's Directeur Sportif. "Andrey Grivko and Peter Velits unfortunately didn't find the right rhythm that would have brought them up to the front on the final climb. We will continue to attack in the coming days.“

Team Milram continued to suffer from crashes in the third stage of Paris-Nice. Allrounder Christian Knees was forced to drop out. Injuries sustained in a crash the day before made it impossible for him to continue. Veteran Ralf Grabsch fell in a rain-wet descent but fought his way back and ended the day as best Milram rider in 52d place.

Saeco
AFP report: Cycling: Acqua & Sapone invited to Gand-Wevelgem

Italian team Acqua & Sapone have been invited to take part in the Gand-Wevelgem classic in Belgium on April 9, Ansa reported Thursday. The team of top Italian rider Stefano Garzelli had been barred from the Giro d'Italia, Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo races this season so this news is a considerable boost to the outfit.

Team CSC
Team CSC’s current main sponsor, the Information Technology company CSC, is leaving professional cycling when its contract expires at the end of this year. CSC indicated the decision reflects a shift in priorities as the company makes new investments to implement a strategic long-term growth plan - more

Liquigas
The Finn chalked up the sixth Liquigas success of the season when Kjell Carlström, the Liquigas rider, has become the first Finnish cyclist to ever win a Paris-Nice stage. He triumphed yesterday in the third stage that covered 165 kilometres from Fleurie to Saint-Etienne. Carlström beat the Frenchman Clement Lhotellerie to the finish in the final sprint. The team’s success was reinforced with an excellent fifth place by Roman Kreuziger. The breakaway trio opened up a lead of 12 minutes, 40 seconds, and bravely held off the chasing pack, led by Frenchman Rolland, which finished 43 seconds off the pace.

Johhny No Team
AFP report: Cycling: Sinkewitz denies leaking information on team-mates

Disgraced German cyclist Patrik Sinkewitz on Wednesday denied reports from the weekend claiming he passed on information about former T-Mobile team-mates' doping practices to Federal officers. "I did not say anything concrete on the doping practices of others riders,"

Sinkewitz - currently serving a one-year ban for a failed drugs test - insisted to German tabloid Bild on Wednesday.
"I do not know where this information comes from," he added about an article in Saturday's Sueddeutsche Zeitung, which said Sinkewitz had passed on detailed information about team-mates including Andreas Kloeden and Matthias Kessler.
Kloeden, who finished second in the 2004 Tour de France, has threatened legal action over the allegations. Kessler, a former T-Mobile rider until 2007, was sacked by Astana last July for a positive drugs test for abnormally high levels of testosterone.

Sinkewitz himself was sacked by T-Mobile in July 2007 after a positive drugs test. To have his ban reduced to one year, Sinkewitz has been passing on working with investigating officers to give information about his former team, especially around the 2006 Tour de France. The winner of 2004 Tour of Germany revealed to Bild he had lost around one million euros through lost earnings and sponsorship contracts since his fall from grace.

The 27-year-old is trying to find a new team for July 2008 when his ban finishes. "I train daily for up to five hours per day, I want to show that I can be powerful," he insisted.

BarloWorld
Team Barloworld invited to the Tour of Flanders, Ghent-Wevelgem and the Amstel Gold Race

Team Barloworld has received official confirmation of three more prestigious race invitations. The Team Barloworld red and white jerseys will be in action in the three Spring classics: the Tour of Flanders (April 6), Ghent-Wevelgem (April 9) and the Amstel Gold Race (April 20).

Astana
The team were jolted by exclusion from Paris Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico and report that their next race will be Volta ao Distrito de Santarém in Portugal over March 13/16.

Riders: Thomas Frei, Benoît Joachim, Andreas Klöden, Andrej Mizurov, Dmitriy Muravjev, Gregory Rast, Tomas Vaitkus and Sergey Yakovlev. D.S.: Alexandr Shefer

Cycle Collstrop
UCI report: After a frustrating year as Unibet Colstrop have featured in a number of early races such as Het Volk and now the squad has obtained“wild card” label from the UCI

The License Commission on March 12 awarded the “wild card” label to the Swedish UCI professional continental team Cycle Collstrop (ex-Unibet.com) for a period of one year. The “wild card” label gives the recipient teams the right to be invited to races on the UCI ProTour calendar. Teams may only receive this label if they meet strict quality criteria in the sporting, legal, financial and ethical areas.

Teams with the label are obliged to participate in the biological passport programme.

High Road
Michael Rogers, a member of Team High Road, has been diagnosed with EBV (Epstein-Barr-Virus) infection that will require Rogers to rest completely for at least four weeks, and remove himself from competition for at least eight weeks. The diagnosis was confirmed by physicians for Team High Road and independently by physicians for Rogers.

"Having expedited the same virus in 2001, I have the necessary knowledge of what required of me to get my health back to a level that will allow me to train and race at full intensity. In the meantime I will rest as much as possible to give myself a fast turnaround" said Rogers - more (Team Website)

Rabobank
Freire loses jersey in pesky stage

Having gained the leaders jersey after stage one of the Tirreno-Adriatico, fortunes changed on stage two, Rabobank say on their website: We had hoped for a sprint, but that was unfortunately not possible at all. It was tougher than we had expected," reflected team-leader Erik Breukink. "The climb was definitely a hard one and perhaps the temperatures today made things even more difficult. It was really warm. It is the first time this year, and you can see that riders have to get used to that again." But not Posthuma. He made a strong impression and maintained his position in the group of favorites. "Joost has set his eyes on a good ranking in this Tirreno. This is definitely a good start," said Breukink.

Successor of Boogerd?
Meanwhile in Paris Nice Robert Gesink has taken hold of the yellow jersey after stage three. The team's website reports: The new leader has strong beliefs that he can keep the yellow jersey until Nice. "The team is very strong. I think that my teammates can help me to win the tour." Gesink very much enjoyed the results of his efforts which were for everyone, but Evans, too good. "It is fantastic to see all the rivals go by one by one on a nice, long climb. I could go up in a good pace." He can become the fifth Dutchman to win the tour. The last one was Michael Boogerd in 1999.

And finally....

Slipstream
Jonathan Waughters writing on the team's website as they compete in Paris Nice. ".... And now the reality of what’s going on is tough. That is the way cycling really is. Mechanical victories and spotlessly perfect racing is something you’ll never see with us. Because, quite frankly, if that were the case, we wouldn’t be who we say we are - we wouldn’t be human.

In true cycling, you have very few great moments a year surrounded by a sea of suffering. This is just the way the sport is. It’s a sport where if one little thing goes wrong, everything comes crumbling down. That’s why you must celebrate, truly celebrate in your heart, when you do happen upon a win.

I know, I know. Paris-Nice was supposed to be our first “objective,” but let me tell you a secret: when you race with a human body, form comes and goes. Good days happen when you least expect them, and bad days happen when you’re supposed to be good."