Andy wins third stage Tour de Luxembourg!
13 July 2009
It was an active Team Saxo Bank-squad that did today's 187 kilometer-long second stage of the race, Tour de Luxembourg, between Schifflange and Differdange. The entire team was at the front to catch the first breakaway and when it was inhaled, several team riders tried to go. But when Andy Schleck launched a counter-attack no one could follow the pace of the winner of Liege-Bastogne-Liege and he won a beautiful victory. Matti Breschel underlined Team Saxo Bank's power by finishing second.
The team now has three riders in the top ten with Matti Breschel in third, Andy Schleck in fifth and Fränk Schleck in eigth position in the overall standings.
“It was great winning on home ground and with Matti on second place it was a perfect day for us. Tomorrow is the queen stage of the race and we have at least three riders who will be able to win it. Astana is in the lead of the race so they have the responsibility to control the events of the course. On the other hand we can go for the stage and hopefully create a gap big enough to take the jersey”, told Andy Schleck after the stage.
"Most importantly we got a victory for the team today and of course it is always cool to be at the front of the race and be able to ride for the victory in the finals. The course is generally only getting tougher from now on, and both Fränk, Andy and I are well-placed in the GC so we must be aggressive and play the other GC-riders against each other in the finals the last two days of the race. Tomorrow's finish line is uphill so there should be an opportunity to create yet another successful result”, said Matti Breschel after the race.
Sports director Kim Andersen was content after today's victory:
"We went for the stage victory and we even got it with Matti in second place so obviously we are very pleased about today's result. The riders did the same hill three times on the last part of the stage where Chris went away with a bunch of riders on the first lap. Andy went away with a group of riders soon after and he stayed behind them before the climb but fired away as they hit it the bottom of it. But there were too many big riders on his wheel so he waited for the descent on the last lap where he gave what he had downhill and created the gap alone. Matti profited by the situation and stayed behind the riders in the group after Andy and made a sprint powerful enough to reach Andy's back wheel and finished second”, said a happy Kim Andersen after the race.
Source: Team-Saxobank
Results
1 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 5.00.46 (37.484 km/h)
2 Matti Breschel (Den) Team Saxo Bank
3 Aitor Galdos Alonso (Spa) Euskatel - Euskadi
4 Marco Marcato (Ita) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team
5 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Agritubel
6 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Astana
7 Emanuele Vona (Ita) ISD
8 Yukihiro Doi (Jpn) Skil - Shimano
9 Marco Frapporti (Ita) CSF Group - Navigare 0.05
10 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana
11 Michael Schär (Swi) Astana
12 Matteo Carrara (Ita) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team
13 Amets Txurruka (Spa) Euskatel - Euskadi
14 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank
15 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) CSF Group - Navigare
16 Baden Cooke (Aus) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team 0.27
17 Pablo Urtasun Perez (Spa) Euskatel - Euskadi
18 Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel
19 Vincent Jerome (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom
20 Robert Retschke (Ger) Continental Team Differdange
21 Fredrik Johansson (Swe) Continental Team Differdange
22 Sébastien Portal (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
23 Maxime Vantomme (Bel) Team Katusha
24 Martial Ricci Poggi (Fra) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago
25 Koen De Kort (Ned) Skil - Shimano
26 Enrico Zen (Ita) CSF Group - Navigare
27 Theo Eltink (Ned) Skil - Shimano
28 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team Saxo Bank
29 Grégory Rast (Swi) Astana
30 Gerben Lowik (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team
31 Patrick Calcagni (Swi) Barloworld
32 Olivier Bonnaire (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom
33 Geert Verheyen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago
34 Denys Kostyuk (Ukr) ISD
35 Steve Houanard (Fra) Skil - Shimano
36 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Vorarlberg - Corratec
37 Christoph Sokoll (Aut) Vorarlberg - Corratec
38 Alexei Markov (Rus) Team Katusha
39 Borut Bozic (Slo) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team
40 Francesco Bellotti (Ita) Barloworld
41 Marcus Ljungqvist (Swe) Team Saxo Bank
42 Stuart O'grady (Aus) Team Saxo Bank
43 Gustav Larsson (Swe) Team Saxo Bank
44 Sébastine Delfosse (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago
45 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom
46 Mauro Finetto (Ita) CSF Group - Navigare
47 Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskatel - Euskadi
48 Carlo Scognamiglio (Ita) Barloworld
49 Ivan Velasco Murillo (Spa) Euskatel - Euskadi
50 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Skil - Shimano
51 Markel Irizar Aranburu (Spa) Euskatel - Euskadi
52 Jempy Drucker (Lux) Continental Team Differdange
53 Chris Anker Sorensen (Den) Team Saxo Bank
54 Joan Horrach (Spa) Team Katusha
55 Ruslan Pidgornyy (Ukr) ISD
56 Rémi Cusin (Fra) Agritubel
57 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Astana
58 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team
59 Bjorn Leukemans (Bel) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team
60 Alan Marangoni (Ita) CSF Group - Navigare
61 Canuti Ederico (Ita) CSF Group - Navigare
62 Diego Caccia (Ita) Barloworld
63 Mitchell Docker (Aus) Skil - Shimano
64 Aitor Hernandez Gutierrez (Spa) Euskatel - Euskadi
65 Guennadi Mikhailov (Rus) Team Katusha
66 Oleksandr Kvachuk (Ukr) ISD
67 Anthony Ravard (Fra) Agritubel
68 Daniel Musiol (Ger) Vorarlberg - Corratec
69 Hannes Blank (Ger) Continental Team Differdange
70 Florent Brard (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
71 Franck Bouyer (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom
72 Martin Mortensen (Den) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team
73 Benjamin Gourgue (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago
74 Wim Van Huffel (Bel) Vorarlberg - Corratec 1.03
75 Steven Caethoven (Bel) Agritubel
76 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne 1.21
77 Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz) Astana
78 Sébastien Turgot (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom 2.14
79 Tiziano Dall'antonia (Ita) CSF Group - Navigare
80 Vitalyy Kondrut (Ukr) ISD
81 Filippo Savini (Ita) CSF Group - Navigare
82 Josef Benetseder (Aut) Vorarlberg - Corratec
83 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Agritubel 2.18
84 Bert De Backer (Bel) Skil - Shimano 6.07
85 Alexandre Usov (Blr) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
86 Jonathan Bertrand (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago
87 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Team Katusha
88 Michele Merlo (Ita) Barloworld
89 Gianluca Mirenda (Ita) ISD
90 Josu Agirre Aseginolaza (Spa) Euskatel - Euskadi
91 Mathieu Drouilly (Fra) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago
92 Rob Peeters (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago
93 Guillaume Blot (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
94 Marco Corti (Ita) Barloworld
95 Michaël Buffaz (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
96 Romain Villa (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
97 Mathieu Claude (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom
98 Alexandre Blain (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
99 Rony Martias (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom
100 Yoann Le Boulanger (Fra) Agritubel
101 Damien Gaudin (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom
102 Maxim Belkov (Rus) ISD
103 Bolat Raimbekov (Kaz) Astana
104 Valeriy Dmitriyev (Kaz) Astana
105 Igor Abakoumov (Bel) ISD
106 Philipp Ludescher (Aut) Vorarlberg - Corratec
107 Silvere Ackermann (Swi) Vorarlberg - Corratec
108 Tom Veelers (Ned) Skil - Shimano
109 Kenny Dehaes (Bel) Team Katusha
110 Ludovic Capelle (Bel) Continental Team Differdange
111 Christian Poos (Lux) Continental Team Differdange
112 Hakan Nilsson (Swe) Continental Team Differdange
113 Rene Haselbacher (Aut) Vorarlberg - Corratec
114 Cyrille Heymans (Lux) Continental Team Differdange 11.45
DNS Robert Hunter (RSA) Barloworld
General classification after stage 3
1 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Astana 8.53.06
2 Marco Marcato (Ita) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team 0.03
3 Matti Breschel (Den) Team Saxo Bank 0.05
4 Aitor Galdos Alonso (Spa) Euskatel - Euskadi 0.06
5 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0.08
6 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana
7 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Agritubel 0.09
8 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0.10
9 Matteo Carrara (Ita) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team 0.11
10 Michael Schär (Swi) Astana 0.17
11 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) CSF Group - Navigare 0.18
12 Emanuele Vona (Ita) ISD
13 Marco Frapporti (Ita) CSF Group - Navigare 0.19
14 Yukihiro Doi (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 0.20
15 Amets Txurruka (Spa) Euskatel - Euskadi 0.22
16 Grégory Rast (Swi) Astana
17 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Skil - Shimano 0.24
18 Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel 0.26
19 Gustav Larsson (Swe) Team Saxo Bank 0.28
20 Baden Cooke (Aus) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team 0.30
21 Alexei Markov (Rus) Team Katusha
22 Rémi Cusin (Fra) Agritubel 0.32
23 Jempy Drucker (Lux) Continental Team Differdange
24 Sébastien Portal (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne 0.33
25 Anthony Ravard (Fra) Agritubel 0.34
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