Navigation

Home
News
- Latest
- Blog
- Product news
- Comment
- Giro d'Italia
- Olympics
- Tour de France
- Time Trial
- Twitter
Reviews
Marketplace
Routes
Forum
Events
Galleries
Cycling Weekly TV
Subscribe

BURGHARDT SHOWS TEAM COLUMBIA CAN WIN WITHOUT CAV

Thursday, 24 July 2008
Lionel Birnie
0 Comments

Marcus Burghardt stage 18 tour de france 2008

Stage 18 photo gallery>>

German rider Marcus Burghardt gave Team Columbia their fifth stage win of the Tour de France in Saint-Etienne, outsprinting Quick Step's Carlos Barredo after a cagey finish.

Burghardt and Barredo escaped after 68 kilometres of the 196-kilometre 18th stage from Bourg d'Oisans and stayed clear of a chase group of Christophe Le Mevel (Credit Agricole), Romain Feillu (Agritubel) and Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel) to contest the finish.

The Feillu group crossed the line 3-33 behind the winner. There was more drama behind as Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas) tried to gain time on Andy Schleck to pinch the white jersey as the best young rider in the race.

Schleck quickly marked it and was in a five-man group that came in a few seconds in front of the peloton, which was at 6-50.

Oscar Freire won the bunch sprint for 11th place to add a little more of a cushion in his quest to win the green jersey. The overall picture was largely unchanged, with yellow jersey holder Carlos Sastre and his main rivals all finishing in the bunch.

Once again there was an extremely aggressive start to the stage. Seven riders broke clear in the first ten kilometres. They were Marcus Burghardt of Team Columbia, Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas), former king of the mountains leader Sebastian Lang (Gerolsteiner), Freddy Bichot (Agritubel), Bjorn Schroder (Milram) and Cofidis duo Stephane Auge and Maxime Montfort.

Quick Step and Bouygues Telecom had missed the move so were keen to chase. For 40 kilometres the break persisted and the bunch insisted and eventually it all came together again.

Meanwhile, the Italian, Damiano Cunego, was caught in a crash and took his time getting back on his bike. By the 60 kilometre stage, he was almost ten minutes behind the peloton.

After 70 kilometres the attacks started again, with Carlos Barredo of Quick Step, former yellow jersey Romain Feillu and Burghardt again going clear.

Burghardt and Barredo teamed up and very quickly had a huge lead over the peloton, with a chase group consisting of Feillu, Christophe Le Mevel and Mikel Astarloza in between.

The maximum lead for the front pair over the bunch was just over 10 minutes but the bunch showed little interest in chasing down. Cunego trailed in a long way behind the bunch surrounded by Lampre team-mates. One thing is certain, the Italian has had appalling luck in this Tour.

Stage 18 results
1. Marcus Burghardt (Germany) Team Columbia in 4-30-21
2. Carlos Barredo (Spain) Quick Step same time
3. Romain Feillu (France) Agritubel at 3-33
4. Christophe Le Mevel (France) Credit Agricole same time
5. Mikel Astarloza (Spain) Euskaltel at 3-35
6. Samuel Dumoulin (France) Cofidis at 6-39
7. Cyril Dessel (France) AG2R
8. Roman Kreuziger (Czech Republic) Liquigas
9. Leif Hoste (Belgium) Silence-Lotto
10. Andy Schleck (Luxembourg) CSC all same time

Overall
1. Carlos Sastre (Spain) CSC in 79-16-14
2. Frank Schleck (Luxembourg) CSC at 1-24
3. Bernhard Kohl (Germany) Gerolsteiner at 1-33
4. Cadel Evans (Australia) Silence-Lotto at 1-34
5. Denis Menchov (Russia) Rabobank at 2-39
6. Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin-Chipotle at 4-41
7. Alejandro Valverde (Spain) Caisse d'Epargne at 5-35
8. Samuel Sanchez (Spain) Euskaltel at 5-52
9. Tadej Valjavec (Slovenia) AG2R at 8-10
10. Vladimir Efimkin (Russia) AG2R at 8-24

Tour de France 2008
Burghardt wins stage 18 (LC)

Carlos Sastre

Barredo and Burghardt

Carlos Sastre

Photos by Graham Watson and Luc Claessen (LC)