Tour de Luxembourg

Tour de Luxembourg
Stage 4: Mersch to Luxembourg 149.5km/93mi
By Cathy Mehl

After a week of sunny, hot weather the peloton of 103 was met with something very different late in the race on Sunday for the final stage of the Tour de Luxembourg:  torrential rains, lightening and flooding, resulting in a shortened race.  This means for the overall general classification the results were clocked with one lap to go, marking the final general classification of Matteio Carrara (Cavansoleil), Frank Schleck (Saxo Bank) and Team RadioShack’s Lance Armstrong.   Andreas Klöden and Gregory Rast took eight and 9th on the classification and Team RadioShack took the win in the Teams Classification for the sixth time this year.


The shortened stage win went to Gorka Izaguirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi), followed by Steve Houard (Skil-Shimano) and The Shack’s Tiago Machado for third. 

Check out the photos from stage 3 of the Tour of Luxembourg.

Tour de Luxembourg
Stage 3:  Eschweiler to Diekirch, 191.5km/119mi
By Cathy Mehl

A sprint to the finish produced a winner with a familiar sounding name:  Tony Gallopin of Cofidis.  Tony is the son of Team RadioShack Race Director Alain Gallopin’s brother and a proud uncle celebrated the first professional win of his 22-year old nephew.  Second and third places went to Giovanni Visconti (ISD) and Alexandre Geniez of Skil-Shimano.  The leader’s jersey still sits on the back of Matteo Carrara (Vacansoleil) by a slim one-second lead over Saxo Bank’s Frank Schleck while The Shack’s Lance Armstrong still holds on to third place.  Team RadioShack lead in the Teams classification for the overall and have team riders Andreas Klöden and Gregory Rast in eight and 9th places on the classification, making three riders in the top ten.  Young rider Ivan Rovny is 19th overall and holds third place for the Best Young Rider competition.

Check out the photos from stage 2 of the Tour of Luxembourg.

Tour de Luxembourg
Stage 2: Schifflange to Differdange, 202.7km/126mi
By Cathy Mehl

With two stages left to race, last year’s winner and home-country favorite Frank Schleck (Saxo Bank) took the victory on the line just in front of Matteo Carrara (Vacansoleil).  Leading the chasing group the included Lance Armstrong at 35-seconds behind was Team Sky’s Juan Antonio Flecha.  Carrara’s good result was enough to move him into the leader’s jersey, taking over from Cyril Lemoine (Saur-Sojasun). Schleck took over second-place sitting just one-second behind on the General Classification with Team RadioShack’s Lance Armstrong slotting into third place at 30-seconds off Carrara’s leading time.

Check out the photos from Stage 1 of the Tour of Luxembourg.

Tour de Luxembourg
Stage 1:  Luxembourg to Hesperange, 179.7km/112mi
By Cathy Mehl

After yesterday’s short and snappy Prologue, times are close for the overall classification in the Tour de Luxembourg. Two stages of racing have been completed but only six-seconds separate the top ten riders.  Today’s difficult up-and-down stage resulted in a sprint finish won by Giovanni Visconti (ISD), followed by Yauheni Hutarovitch (FdJ) and Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil) to round out the podium.  A re-shuffling for the GC resulted in new race leader Cyril Lemoine (Saur-Sojasun), followed by Team RadioShack’s Gregory Rast and Lance Armstrong in second and third.  Team rider Andreas Klöden is in sixth place and Team RadioShack leads in the overall for the Teams competition.

Check out the photos from the prologue at the Tour de Luxembourg.

Tour de Luxembourg
Prologue:  Luxembourg – Ville, 2.659km
By Cathy Mehl
 
Team RadioShack riders got off to a strong start on Wednesday night in the Tour de Luxembourg’s Prologue opener, taking four spots in the top ten.   Best-placed rider for The Shack was Gregory Rast in third, behind Saur-Sojasun’s Jimmy Engoulvent and Cyril Lemoine who took the first two slots.  Frenchman Engoulvent was 14-th out of the start house with his time of 3:41:99 holding up for two hours as 110 more riders tried to best his time.  Lance Armstrong put up a strong performance with fifth, followed by Daryl Impey in sixth and Andreas Klöden in 9th.  Thirty-year old Engoulvent took the first leader’s jersey in the five-day race.