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Arndt and Teutenberg victorious in Tuscany
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Columbia women take the lead in Giro della Toscana
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Greipel takes his 13th win of the season
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Arndt Blasts to Third World Cup of Season and Wins Series Overall
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Three for Cavendish in Missouri
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Boasson Hagen takes third win at Tour of Britain
Klier moves up a notch in time for classics
March 28, 2008
High Road’s Andreas Klier has shown rising form for the Classics in the Across Flanders one-day race in Belgium on Wednesday.
The German finished a solid fourth place at the end of the rainsoaked 200 kilometre race. But what really impressed was the way the Classics specialist helped forged the main chase group behind final winner Sylvain Chavanel - and still had enough fuel left in the tank for a top five finish.
“He’s definitely on the up.” reported High Road’s Tristan Hoffman, team sports director at the 62-year-old event.
“At the start, team orders were simple - everybody had a chance to go with the breaks. There was no single leader.”
“Andreas proved to be the strongest. He’s earned the right to have protected status in our next Classic on Saturday.” - in the E3-Harelbeke Classic.
“The rain didn’t really influence the race - the weather only got really bad in the last 30 kilometres.”
“By that point things had already become clear and Andreas had made the right move at the right time, even if Chavanel more than deserved his win.”
A former Ghent-Wevelgem winner who regularly places well in the Classics, Klier “didn’t have such a brilliant early spring. He struggled a bit to get into condition.”
“We had a later start to racing than in previous years and that affected his form, I think, although he was doing better by Milan-San Remo.”
“Normally he wouldn’t do Across Flanders. He prefers to do training in this period. But this result proves that taking part was the correct choice to make.”
Hoffman noted that neither of the top two Belgian squads, Quick Step and Silence-Lotto, had such a big impact on Across Flanders as in other years.
“Maybe they’re not going quite as well as in the past seasons. But that’s the beauty of the Classics - they’re never predictable!”
High Road for E3-Harelbeke: Andreas Klier (Ger), Bernhard Eisel (Aut), Andrei Greipel (Ger), Roger Hammond (GBR), Servais Knaven (Hol), Vicente Reynes (Spa), Marcel Sieberg (Ger).