Giro del Mediterraneo/Tour Mediterranéen
Danilo Napolitano scores first season victory for Lampre Fondital after a sprint with Zabel and Renshaw. Tour of Cuba Update Stage 2, CSC News Voight and Schleck after crash update.

Giro del Mediterraneo
Lampre-Fondital's Danilo Napolitano scores first victory in Tour Mediterranéen
First stage of the Tour Mediterranéen (Marsiglia-Marignane, 108 kms) and first season victory for Lampre-Fondital. Danilo Napolitano is the winner: the Italian cyclist crossed in Marignane the finish line before the German Erik Zabel (Milram) and the Australian Mark Renshaw (Crédit Agricole).

Napolitano and Zabel copyright FotorreporterSerrotti

If Saturday only a great Petacchi had success in defeating the Lampre-Fondital’s “arrows”, today the opponents of the fast couple Bennati-Napolitano couldn’t do anything during the sprint: Corioni first, then Bennati, were skillful in  bringing Napolitano to the best position for the sprint burst and defeat all the opponents.

Lampre-Fondital conducted the peloton towards the finish in the last 60 kms to catch an escape of two cyclists: the two fugitives Cedric Vasseur and Sandy Casar were caught at 1 km from the finish line, Piovani (Lampre-Fondital’s sports director) ordered Loosli and Fornaciari to take the head of the group and bring the team's sprinters to the final straight.

Napolitano in Yellow copyright FotorreporterSerrotti

Danilo Napolitano, 9th victory in career and first yellow jersey as Tour Mediterranéen’s leader, was satisfied: “I’m very happy for the victory and for the sprint: it has been beautiful. I want to thank all the team for the perfect work done”.
Also Daniele Bennati collected a good result: 5th.

Tomorrow the race will go on with two stages: the first one will take the riders from Berre l’Etang to the Mont Faron’s climb, the second one will be a team time trial of 18 kms.

Zabel (Milram) in the closing kms. copyright FotorreporterSerrotti

Vittoria Lampre-Fondital al Giro del Mediterraneo
Arriva nella tappa inaugurale del Giro del Mediterraneo (Marsiglia-Marignane di 108 km) la prima vittoria stagionale per la Lampre-Fondital. Il merito è di Danilo Napolitano: il corridore siciliano ha tagliato per primo il traguardo di Marignane, precedendo in volata il tedesco Erik Zabel (Milram) e l’australiano Mark Renshaw (Crédit Agricole).
Se sabato, al Gp Costa degli Etruschi, solo un grande Petacchi era riuscito a battere le frecce della Lampre-Fondital, oggi per gli avversari della veloce coppia Bennati-Napolitano non c’è stato nulla da fare, con Corioni prima, e Bennati poi, bravi a pilotare Napolitano nella posizione migliore per esplodere tutta la sua velocità e lasciarsi alle spalle gli avversari.
Ottimo comunque il lavoro di tutta la squadra, chiamata a tirare il gruppo negli ultimi 60 km per andare a riprendere una fuga a due ispirata dal francese Cédric Vasseur: una volta agguantati i fuggitivi a 1 km dal traguardo, Piovani (ds della Lampre-Fondital) ha fatto entrare in azione Loosli e Fornaciari, abilissimi a condurre i compagni veloci verso il rettilineo finale.

The escapees Vasseur and Casar. copyright FotorreporterSerrotti
Danilo Napolitano, alla 9a vittoria in carriera e alla sua 1a maglia gialla di leader del Giro del Mediterraneo, ha così espresso la sua soddisfazione: “Sono molto contento per la vittoria e per lo sprint: davvero bello. Devo ringraziare tutta la squadra per il fondamentale lavoro svolto”.  Da segnalare anche il quinto posto ottenuto da Daniele Bennati.
Domani la corsa prosegue con due tappe: la prima porterà i corridori da Berre l’Etang all’ascesa del Mont Faron, la seconda sarà invece una cronometro a squadre di 18 km.

Results and G.C. After Stage 1
1. Danilo Napolitano (Ita-LAM) 2h35'33"
2. Erik Zabel (Ger-MRM) s.t.
3. Mark Renshaw (Aus-C.A) s.t.
4. Andrus Aug (Est-ACQ) s.t.
5. Mauro Santambrogio (Ita-LAM) s.t.
6. Isaac Galvez (Esp-IBC) s.t.
7. Kenny Van Hummel (Ned-SKS) s.t.
8. Alexandre Usov (Blr-A2R) s.t.
9. Marco Zanotti (Ita-UNI) s.t.
10. Gabriele Balducci (Ita-ACQ) s.t

CSC News Jens Voight, Frank Schleck Crashes
Once again Team CSC had Fränk Schleck up front in Challenge Mallorca. On Wednesday the Trofeo Soller took place on the Spanish Holiday Island and Schleck finished fifth - 25 seconds behind the winner Paolo Bettini (Quick Step).

"Fränk did well on the last climb but didn't want to risk anything on the descent, when Bettini went full speed ahead. We'd already suffered two crashes today," said sports director Scott Sunderland referring to the fact that both Jens Voigt and Andy Schleck had to bite the dust in today's 150-kilometer stage.
"I lost quite a bit of skin on the left side of my body and sustained some deep cuts in my hand and around my knee, but it wasn't any worse than the doctors were able to stitch it all back together. Luckily I didn't hurt my shoulder but I'm now at the point where the only thing on my body which isn't hurting is my bad shoulder," was the dry comment from Jens Voigt, who wont be starting in tomorrow's Trofeo Calvia, but will be training a bit instead.

Team CSC's young talent Andy Schleck was in a break with Thomas Dekker of Rabobank, when he had to hit the brakes pretty hard in order to avoid crashing into a stray motorbike.
"I lost some skin but there were no broken bones so I'm fine and was able to finish the race. We were 45 seconds ahead of the favorites' group on the descent before the final five-kilometer climb so of course it was bad luck. But I'll try again another day," said a fit Andy Schleck, who is now looking ahead in the race calendar:
"I've trained hard all winter and during the first training camp, so I feel strong right now. I hope to be able to make some good results in GP Chiasso and the Tour of Georgia."

Victory for Galvez
On Monday Isaac Galvez (Illes Balears) won his second consecutive bunch sprint in Challenge Mallorca. The peloton was all together at the finish, although a break away dominated the 159-kilometer Trofeo Alcudia.
”Everything is going according to plan down here. The next three races are more hilly and some of our riders will probably use them to test their current shape. It's their first race this season, so for us it's primarily about building up the form ahead of our training camp in California,” said Team CSC's sports director Scott Sunderland.

Tour of Cuba
Jackson Rodriguez of Venezuala Wins
Stage 2 Guantanamo to Santiago
Santiago de Cuba (Cuban cycling) The Venezuelan cyclist Jackson Rodríguez won the second stage of the  XXXI Tour of Cuba.
the stage contested over 111kilometers between Guantánamo and Santiago in the Oriental province. The Cuban Pedro P.Perez remains in the lead and in yellow, followed by Jackson Rodriguez of Venezuela at  4
seconds.

GUANTANAMO-SANTIAGO DE CUBA 111Km.
1-  Jackson Rodríguez Venezuela 2:38.03
2- Bozic Borut Perutnina Eslovenia mt
3-  Pedro Pablo Pérez Cuba A mt
4.- Arnold Alcolea Cuba A mt
5-  Juan Torres (VEN) Partizan-Whistle Italia mt
6-  Wendy Cruz (DOM) Caico Puerto Rico mt
7-  Joseph Papp (USA) Partizan-Whistle Italia mt
8-  Henry Raabe (CRC) Cropusa España mt
9-  Petrus Woestenberg Altipower Holanda mt
10- Ernesto Cano ISCF-Cuba mt

CLASIFICACION INDIVIDUAL POR TIEMPOS
1. Pedro Pablo Pérez Cuba A 6.23:50
2. Jackson Rodríguez Venezuela A 4¨
3. Michel Fernández Cuba Pista A 8¨
4. Petrus Woestenberg Altipower, Holanda A 9¨
5. Wendy Cruz (Dom) Caico, Puerto Rico A 10¨
Hasta la proxima: Jose Manuel Zabala Cardenas
www.zciclismo.blog.com