RABOBANK’S PIETER WEENING WINS TOUR OF AUSTRIA STAGE 3!

Chases down solo leader to claim victory

Rabobank’s Pieter Weening claimed victory in the third stage of the Tour of Austria, chasing down Italian Leonardo Bertagnolli (Team Serramenti) who seemed poised to win after a daylong breakaway.

The Dutchman, riding the Giant TCR Advanced SL road bike, easily outsprinted Bertagnoli at the finish line. At one point, the Italian had a lead of three minutes, but Weening caught up to him with 10km left to ride.

With 5 stages to go, this win puts Weening in seventh place overall.



RABOBANK TOUR DE FRANCE DIARY: SPRINTER OSCAR FREIRE
“My options are a bit limited…because of a certain Mark Cavendish…”

(Editor’s note: In the team time trial at the Tour de France, team Rabobank finished a disappointing eleventh. Rabobank’s Oscar Freire is the defending champion of the Tour de France green sprinter’s jersey. Writing just before the start of the team time trial, Freire blogs about his chances to repeat as points winner.)

Hi there. I’m writing this in the morning of the team time trial, where we’ll be going all out in Rabobank to try not to lose time to the real specialists in this kind of discipline. I’m not a big fan of team time trials, but at least this one’s not too long!

As for me, I’m doing fine, getting through the stages, recovering well and much better than this spring after crashing in California, although as yet I really haven’t had much luck in the bunch sprints.

The team’s main objective is the yellow jersey with Denis [Menchov] and that’s not a problem for me, it’s always been the case and this year is no different from the last, where things worked out for me in any case and I was the first Spaniard ever to win the points jersey.

My options are a bit limited, too, because of a certain Mark Cavendish and his squad. He’s a very fast sprinter, for one thing, and for another he’s got the entire team working for him, which isn’t exactly my situation!
Cavendish is my big favorite for the green jersey in this year’s Tour, too, but you can’t really make a call on what’s going to happen there until the first rest day at the very least. The green jersey is very unpredictable.

What I’ll have to do is watch and wait, just like I did last year where I won after nearly a fortnight of racing. I’ll keep my head down, stay out of trouble and see if I can sneak in and grab a stage when it gets tougher in the second and third week.

Barcelona on Thursday could be good for me, too, and obviously racing in Spain is always an extra motivation. But it’s an uphill finish but not too long - I’ve won quite a few races with that kind of steep, short, final climb in the past.

So it’s not the easiest of situations, but I’ve got to stay on the right wheels and then make my move when nobody’s expecting it. That’s what won me a World Championship back in 1999!”