<DIV class=iconarea>24/07.2005/ With a third place for Jan Ullrich, victory in the Team classification and a final day stage victory by Alexander Vinokourov on the Champs Elysees, the 2005 Tour de France ended on a positive note for the T-Mobile Team. \"We missed out on our goal of winning yellow, but the bottom line is that we are pleased with our Tour performance,\" said team manager Olaf Ludwig. \"the team stayed together, showed a fighting spirit and kept a high morale. We can be proud of that.\"
Yet again, American Lance Armstrong, proved himself to be the strongest rider in the peloton. The Discovery Channel captain now leaves the sport on the back of a seventh consecutive Tour win. \"Lance was imperious again this year,\" acknowledged sporting director, Mario Kummer.
The T-Mobile Team isolated Armstrong from is team on a number of occasions, but that wasn´t enough to overcome the 34-year-old Texan. \"All the favourites had bad days and let their performance drop, except for Lance,\" said Ludwig.
The T-Mobile Team based all their preparation and team selection on a Tour victory this year. \"In the coming weeks, we´ll go about analysing how and why it didn´t work. We´ll sit together to analyse and to optimise our performance.\"
For the T-Mobile captain, Jan Ullrich, who went into the event with such high ambitions, the Tour started inauspiciously. One day before the start in Fromentine, the 31-old crashed through the back windscreen of a team car during a motor-pacing session. It contributed to his difficult moment the next day, when Lance Armstrong overhauled him on the stage one time trial.
However, Jan Ullrich didn\'t let that incident or his second crash on stage 10 to Mulhouse get him down. Ludwig: „Jan picked himself up, attacked and battled to the bitter end.“ On stage 18 the T-Mobile rider made up 37 seconds on the third placed rider overall, Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) of Denmark, thus paving the way for his final assault on a podium place. He realised that goal in the final time trial in St. Etienne, where he stormed to second behind Armstrong. „My third place is thanks to a team that kept on attacking and always stayed on the offensive“, says Ullrich.
The team gave further proof of excellent team morale and fighting spirit to win the Tour\'s team classification for the third time (previously in 1997 and 2004). Three stage wins, three second places and three third places underscore a superb overall performance. \"Together with Discovery, we dominated this Tour,“ says Kummer.
The magenta pros were also able to brush aside awkward situations, such as Alexander Vinokourov\'s collapse on the climb to Courchevel. A day later, the T-Mobile Team bounced back with an impressive Vinokourov stage win in Briancon. The team also coped superbly after the departure of \"super-domestique“ Andreas Klöden following stage 17. „The team showed great moral courage. Each rider performed his role perfectly“, states Olaf Ludwig.
Stephan Schreck was very impressive on his Tour debut. „He contributed positively to the team cause, both through his support work and his engaging personality,“ says Ludwig, who along with the trio of Ullrich, Vinokourov and Klöden also pays tribute to Tour veteran and stage winner Giuseppe Guerini, Daniele Nardello, Tobias Steinhauser, Matthias Kessler and „El Nino“ Oscar Sevilla. „They all contributed in their own way to a harmonious and cohesive team performance.“
The Team manager believes his team edged closer to the Discovery Channel this year. „We got closer to Lance Armstrong than in 2004. We have made clear progress this year, now we have to carefully assess what we need to do to further advance our peformances.“
Alexander Vinokourov pulled off a masterstroke on the Champs Elysees yesterday and, according to Ludwig, it will be impossible to replace the Kazakh when he leaves the team after this season. However, with one eye on next year\'s Tour, a very promising duo have been recruited, in the shape of Michael Rogers (Australia) and Patrik Sinkewitz (Germany). „These engagements are all about looking ahead.“
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[此贴子已经被作者于2005-7-26 9:36:51编辑过] |