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Italy's Furlan wins bunch sprint at Dauphine Libre
Source: Agencies |
June 10, 2009, Wednesday
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ITALIAN fastman Angelo Furlan took an unexpected victory in a chaotic bunch sprint at the end of stage two of the Dauphine Libere on Monday.
The Lampre rider easily outpowered Markus Zberg of Switzerland while stage favorite Belgian Tom Boonen was third. Australian Cadel Evans remains the overall leader after the 2009 race's longest stage, a rain-soaked 228km run from Nancy to Dijon.
Evans, who won Sunday's opening individual time trial, remains eight seconds ahead of Spaniard Alberto Contador while last year's champion Alejandro Valverde is third, 23 seconds back.
A strong lone late attack by Britain's David Millar made the sprinters' teams work hard in the closing kilometers but the Garmin-Slipstream rider was caught less than 100 meters from the line.
"I wasn't a favorite today like Boonen and I think that played in my favor," Furlan said. "Nobody was expecting me to do more than get a third or fourth place in the sprints, everybody was watching Boonen so I could surprise them.
"The rain made everybody much more cautious, and then there was a roundabout close to the finish which made it even trickier. This is definitely the biggest win of my season. It's not every day that you go head to head with Boonen over the last 200 meters and beat him."
The 31-year-old recognized his win was much-needed by his Lampre squad following its disappointing Giro d'Italia in May. "It's an important win for the team, we're not going through easy time," he said.
The Dauphine Libere finishes on June 14 in Grenoble.
The Lampre rider easily outpowered Markus Zberg of Switzerland while stage favorite Belgian Tom Boonen was third. Australian Cadel Evans remains the overall leader after the 2009 race's longest stage, a rain-soaked 228km run from Nancy to Dijon.
Evans, who won Sunday's opening individual time trial, remains eight seconds ahead of Spaniard Alberto Contador while last year's champion Alejandro Valverde is third, 23 seconds back.
A strong lone late attack by Britain's David Millar made the sprinters' teams work hard in the closing kilometers but the Garmin-Slipstream rider was caught less than 100 meters from the line.
"I wasn't a favorite today like Boonen and I think that played in my favor," Furlan said. "Nobody was expecting me to do more than get a third or fourth place in the sprints, everybody was watching Boonen so I could surprise them.
"The rain made everybody much more cautious, and then there was a roundabout close to the finish which made it even trickier. This is definitely the biggest win of my season. It's not every day that you go head to head with Boonen over the last 200 meters and beat him."
The 31-year-old recognized his win was much-needed by his Lampre squad following its disappointing Giro d'Italia in May. "It's an important win for the team, we're not going through easy time," he said.
The Dauphine Libere finishes on June 14 in Grenoble.
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