Danielson wins Tour de Georgia; Alex Vinokourov takes Liège-Bastogne-Liège

[HuckleB]

Vinokourov's win showcased cycling at its best. Absolutely incredible day. While Danielson led fellow Americans, Levi Leipheimer and Floyd Landis, to a 1-2-3 US finish in the GC.

Danielson wraps up Tour de Georgia

http://www.velonews.com/race/dom/articles/7935.0.html

"...

In the overall standings, Tom Danielson (Discovery) easily held onto his overall lead in the six-day race, giving the young American his second major stage race win of his career. In 2003 he won the 10-day Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia. Next up for Danielson: the Giro d'Italia.

"I'm really excited for the Giro but I've never done it before," said Danielson on Saturday moments after he grabbed a stage 5 win and the overall lead, ousting Phonak's Floyd Landis from the top spot. "I'm excited for it, but our team leader is Paolo Savoldelli and he's won it before. I have good form to help him do a good race. I'm very excited to go there and do a good race for Discovery Channel."

American Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner) was second overall at 0:04 at the race in Georgia, with Landis third at 0:09.

..."

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Vino's Liège victory worth waiting for

http://www.velonews.com/race/int/articles/7936.0.html

"Alex Vinokourov's exciting victory over Jens Voigt in Sunday's Liège-Bastogne-Liège not only ended the T-Mobile's season-long losing streak, but also laid to rest the assumption that a long-range breakaway couldn't succeed in this super-hilly classic. Vinokourov was not among the top favorites to win this 10th race of the UCI ProTour, but his rising form and savvy racing brain allowed him to take advantage of a race that was in flux after the trilogy of climbs that were restored to the 260km course.

"I knew there were some changes to the course," Vinokourov said, "but when I saw them on Friday, it gave me some ideas. I spoke with Walter Godefroot and said to him, Why not me?"

What the Kazakhstan rider saw and liked was the juxtaposition of the restored trilogy (Wanne, Stockeu, Haute-Levée) with the following Côte du Rosier. It was through these critical climbs (and descents) that this 91st edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège was won and lost.

On reaching the first of these climbs, the Côte de Wanne, 90km from the finish, the lead of the day's early, five-man break had been cut to three minutes from a maximum of 8:35. Cleverly, T-Mobile had sent its ever-willing Steffen Wesemann into the move that began only 28km out of Liège. Wesemann and the Discovery Channel's Benjamin Noval were the strongest of the five and broke clear on the Wanne.

..."

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What a great day of cycling!



:bounce:

[keith the dem]

1. Thank you for the post

Got on the computer, was going to go to DU first then to Velonews, Do I need to go to any other place than DU for the news I need?

With Armstrong looking to retirement, maybe we have yet another up and coming star in Danielson! He was something else in the mountains yesterday.

[HuckleB]

2. Thanks for responding.

Even with all the top-flight US cyclists out there (look at the season Bobby Julich has had, so far), there are few responses to reports of their success at DU -- or anywhere else except cycling sites, I suspect.

Here's to a bright future for Mr. Danielson. :toast: I look forward to watching his progress in the Giro.