Roman Kreuziger - Team Liquigas

Roman attacked once again, now he is third

Foto: Bettini Photo

Sat June 20, 2009, 19:29

Roman moved into third position after the penultimate stage of the Tour de Suisse. In the ascent on Crans Montana he finished in eighth and before the final time trial he is 28 seconds down. Slovene’s Valjavec maintained his lead over Cancellara by two seconds.

Roman was once again immensely active. He attacked in the final climb to the winter resort with 12 kilometers to go. He found himself riding ahead of the leading group for two kilometers and the riders of Saxo Bank pedaling on behalf of Cancellara had to make a supreme effort to catch him. Then his teammate from Liquigas Zaugg was trying to get away but unsuccessfuly. The Swiss lost the contact in the end and reached the finish line two minutes back. 
Roman, however, maintained his position in front and everything seemed to be going well. He was even third at the last mountain sprint. He watched out for attacks but the last one was beyond his skills. Team Columbia Highroad thought of perfect tactics and when Martin leapt out of his saddle nobody followed him. All the favorites finished two seconds down and only Cunego had the same time as winner. 
"The plan was to try to benefit from this stage once more. But I didn’t have as good legs as yesterday and by contrast Cancellara was riding better today. When I was riding in front it was mostly with strong headwind. At least I won the intermediate sprint. Then Zaugg was supposed to get away but that didn’t work out either. Plus the climb wasn’t so hard. Unluckily there are two teams here that control the race: Saxo Bank that has won two stages and Columbia,"Roman admitted. 
Nevertheless, he has not laid down arms before the ultimate time trial in Bern."I am going to go full gas for sure. It is going to be a great test for the Tour. I think that my legs could be better than today. In my opinion it is realistic to fight over podium spots. It is obvious that Cancellera is going to win the race overall, he is going to give us all one minute. Valjavec is not an excellent time trialist but Martin and Klöden pose a danger for me,"Kreuziger added. 
Results (Juraparc-Crans Montana, 182 km): 1. Tony Martin (Ger/Columbia-Highroad) 4:12:31, 2. Damiano Cunego (It/Lampre) the same time, 3. Fabian Cancellara (Swi/Saxo Bank), 4. Tadej Valjavec (Slo/Ag2R), 5. Kim Kirchen (Lux/Columbia-Highroad), 6. Rein Taaramäe (Est/Cofidis), 7. Andreas Klöden (Ger/Astana), 8. Roman Kreuziger (Cze/Liquigas) all +2. Overall: 1. Valjavec 32:19:48, 2. Cancellara +4, 3. Kreuziger +28, 4. Martin +39, 5. Klöden +45, 6. Cunego +54.

This article is also translated :
Roman znovu útočil, už je třetí
Giro di Svizzera: ottava tappa - Translated by: A&J Sport as Image