Sparkassen Giro - Bochum: Elite Men

After winning six stages in the Tour de France Mark Cavendish continues his winning ways in Bochum. The sprinter of the Isle of Man was the best in the 2009 Sparkassen Giro over Gerald Ciolek (Milram) and Andreas Stauff (Kuota). Heinrich Haussler and Robert Wagner completed the top five. Team Columbia-HTC controlled the race perfectly despite starting the race with only five riders. Next to Cavendish the others were Tony Martin, Bert Grabsch, Bernhard Eisel and Cav's lead-out Mark Renshaw. The race was affected by lots of rain all day.

Bernhard Eisel led the peloton for most of the race
Photo © 2009 Bart Hazen

Team Report
Columbia-HTC: Cavendish nets twentieth win of the season in Germany
Mark Cavendish grabbed his twentieth victory of the season on Sunday with a win in the Sparkasse Giro in Germany. The Columbia-HTC pro outsprinted Gerald Ciolek of Germany to take the 177-kilometre one-day race, held in the city of Bochum.

"It's an impressive result for Mark," commented team manager Rolf Aldag. "He had a tough Tour de France and he's been winning all season, but the victories just keep coming. And this was not an easy race at all. It was held on a tough little circuit, with two short but hard climbs and then a fast descent to the finish, and on top of that it was raining most of the day. A break of five guys got away but in the last lap and a half we managed to bring things back together for Cavendish. He seems to be totally unbeatable in the sprints right now."

Just five riders took part in the event for Columbia-HTC, which Aldag said had forced the team to race defensively. Even so, they covered all the attacks, and kept control of the race for Cavendish. "It's really impressive when you consider we've just come out of a really successful Tour and all of the riders who took part for us in this race had taken part in the Tour. Some guys just lose their way a little if they've done well there, but not Mark and not our team. So even if it's not a huge surprise when Cav wins a sprint, this victory shows he's still focused and concentrating on winning."

Cavendish has now reached a tally of 20 victories for the 2009 season. His first win of the year came in the Tour of Qatar in February, and since then he has taken stage victories in the Tour of California, the Tour of Italy, the Tour of Switzerland, six stages in the Tour de France, as well as winning the Milan-San Remo Classic.

Team Columbia-HTC controlled the race all day for Mark Cavendish
Photo © 2009 Bart Hazen

Result
1 Cavendish, Mark THR Team Columb 04.16.30 00.00
2 Ciolek, Gerald MRM Team Milram 04.16.30 00.00
3 Stauff, Andreas TRS Kuota - Ind 04.16.30 00.00
4 Haussler, Heinrich CTT Cervelo Tes 04.16.30 00.00
5 Wagner, Robert SKS Skil-Shiman 04.16.30 00.00

Mark Cavendish
Photo © 2009 Bart Hazen

6 Baumann, Eric TSP Team Nutrix 04.16.30 00.00
7 Eeckhout, Niko SKT An PostSean 04.16.30 00.00
8 Vanmarcke, Sep TSV Topsport Vl 04.16.30 00.00
9 Curvers, Roy SKS Skil-Shiman 04.16.30 00.00
10 Vanspeybrouck, Piet TSV Topsport Vl 04.16.30 00.00

Bernhard Eisel and Tony Martin setting the pace in the bunch
Photo © 2009 Bart Hazen

11 May, Maximilian TET Thüringer E 04.16.30 00.00
12 Maes, Nikolas TSV Topsport Vl 04.16.30 00.00
13 Pohl, Dennis TRS Kuota - Ind 04.16.30 00.00
14 Martynenko, Oleksand ISD ISD-Sport 04.16.30 00.00
15 Florencio, Xavier C CTT Cervelo Tes 04.16.30 00.00

And the winner is Mark Cavendish
Photo © 2009 Bart Hazen

16 Van Vooren, Steven SKT An PostSean 04.16.30 00.00
17 Gottfried, Alexande TRS Kuota - Ind 04.16.30 00.00
18 Rake, Christer SPV Sparebanken 04.16.30 00.00
19 Wagner, Frank Danie TSS Seven Stone 04.16.30 00.00
20 Bakelandts, Jan TSV Topsport Vl 04.16.30 00.00

Cavendish showed once again he is the fastest sprinter on earth
Photo © 2009 Bart Hazen

21 Hesselbarth, David TMH Team Mapei 04.16.30 00.00
22 De Gendt, Thomas TSV Topsport Vl 04.16.35 00.05
23 Deignan, Philip CTT Cervelo Tes 04.16.35 00.05
24 Goesinnen, Floris SKS Skil-Shiman 04.16.35 00.05
25 Coenen, Johan TSV Topsport Vl 04.16.35 00.05

Erik Zabel made his debut as sport-director for the Columbia team today and with success.
Photo © 2009 Bart Hazen

26 Venter, Jacobus MPC Trek - Marc 04.16.35 00.05
27 Knees, Christian MRM Team Milram 04.16.38 00.08
28 Wegmann, Fabian MRM Team Milram 04.16.41 00.11
29 Gustov, Volodymir CTT Cervelo Tes 04.16.41 00.11
30 Hegreberg, Roy SPV Sparebanken 04.16.44 00.14

Full result

Gerald Ciolek
Photo © 2009 Bart Hazen

Mark Cavendish
Photo © 2009 Bart Hazen

The bike of Mark Cavendish!
Photo © 2009 Bart Hazen

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