Road: Klöden Wins TT, Leads Tirreno-Adriatrico

Astana’s Andreas Klöden took over the lead in the Italian stage race Tirreno-Adriatrico (March 11th-17th) after winning the 5th stage, an individual time trial from Loreto to Macerata. Riding a Trek Equinox TTX, Klöden finished the 30 kilometer course in 41:32, more than 20 seconds faster than Stijn Devolder. Swedish rider Thomas Lökvist finished third at 21 seconds behind. Michele Scarponi and Mikhail Ignatiev finished fourth and fifth, 21 and 32 seconds respectively. In the General Classification Klöden now leads Thomas Lökvist by six seconds.

Klöden was exhausted but happy after his strong performance. “I liked the course,” said the overall winner of the 2007 Tirreno-Adriatico. “On purpose I started very fast. I had the best time at the first time split which was good for my confidence. At the second time split I was second, but had a better time than my competitors for the general classification. It gave me a boost and extra forces to tackle the difficult climb at 4 kilometers from the finish. I am very happy. I was a bit uncertain because of three crashes in the last two days, but my condition is so good that it didn’t prevent me from performing very well. I really worked hard to be good in this race. I succeeded.”

Tirreno-Adriatico finishes on Tuesday. Tomorrow is a tough and long stage, 235 kilometer between Civitanove Marche and Camerino.  “A few days ago we lost Jani Brajkovic after a crash, but I have big confidence in my other teammates. It will be hard, but we will defend this leader’s jersey”, Klöden concluded.