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Gerolsteiner's Markus Fothen wins the fifth stage of the Tour de Suisse
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Gerolsteiner's Markus Fothen won the 189.7km fifth stage of the Tour de Suisse on Wednesday, following the crash of his breakaway companion, Frank Schleck (CSC), who appeared ready to take over the race leader’s yellow jersey before the mishap.
Astana’s Serguei Ivanov crossed second at 50 seconds with Fothen’s Swiss teammate, Markus Zberg, taking third at 57 seconds.
Igor Anton, of Euskaltel, retained the leader's yellow jersey for the third consecutive day after finishing in 15th position among a group of riders 57sec behind the leader.
The stage was marked by the spectacular fall by Schleck, who began the day 16 seconds out of first place and was challenging Anton’s hold on the lead when he crashed over a barrier on a descent, just four kilometers from the line. The CSC rider had been off the front with Fothen wheel when he fell on a tight bend, flying over a security barrier.
"I've lost the Tour of Switzerland," said Schleck, who suffered just scratches, but is now 2:11 behind Anton.
”It was a genuine miracle that I wasn't badly hurt. I'm pretty bruised and it'll hurt for sure over the next couple of days," said Schleck. "I lost the opportunity to win Tour de Suisse with that crash, but mainly I'm just really grateful that I'm all right and still able to work my way towards Tour de France,” he said.
Fothen said he was pained by watching Schleck hit the barrier.
"It was really a horrible fall, I was following him and when I saw it I thought that the race was over for him," he said. "I'm relieved that he's not injured, it's almost a miracle.
"Victories are even nicer when you finish alone because you can savour it but this one was achieved under special circumstances. Obviously I would have preferred to duel with him for victory but that's how it is. My aim coming here was to test myself for the Tour de France, where I want to do better than my 14th place in 2006."
France's Sylvain Chavanel of Cofidis opened the first attack of the day, making his move after 10km and was soon joined by a group of 14 riders who built up a lead of two minutes before splitting during the first category Lukmanier climb.
But during the difficult second category climb at Cademario some 17 kilometers from the line Schelck attacked near the summit and along with Fothen had a 35sec lead going into the tight 10km descent before Schleck ran into trouble leaving Fothen to finish alone.
Putting on the yellow jersey for another day, Anton admitted that the fall of Schleck gave him one less rival to think about.
"He (Schleck) was the strongest," Anton said. "Now that he has fallen I think my main rival for the jersey tomorrow is (Stijn) Devolder."
Top-20 Stage 5
1. Markus Fothen, (GER), Gerolsteiner,189.7km in 4:47:31 (39.587kph)
2. Serguei Ivanov, (RUS), Astana, at 50
3. Markus Zberg, (SUI), Gerolsteiner, at 57
4. Michael Albasini, (SUI), Liquigas, s.t.
5. Alexandre Botcharov, (RUS), Credit Agricole, s.t.
6. Stefan Schumacher, (GER), Gerolsteiner, s.t.
7. Daniel Moreno, (EST), Caisse d'Epargne, s.t.
8. Andy Schleck, (LUX), CSC, s.t.
9. Stijn Devolder, (BEL), Quick Step, s.t.
10. Christian Knees, (GER), Milram, s.t.
11. Roman Kreuziger, (CZE), Liquigas, s.t.
12. Alexandre Moos, (SUI), BMC Pro Cycling, s.t.
13. Oliver Zaugg, (SUI), Gerolsteiner, s.t.
14. Xavier Florencio-cabre, (ESP), Bouygues Telecom, s.t.
15. Igor Anton, (ESP), Euskaltel-Euskadi, s.t.
16. Tanel Kangert, (EST), Ag2r Prevoyance, s.t.
17. Laurens Ten-dam, (NED), Rabobank, s.t.
18. Thomas Lovkvist, (SWE), Team High Road, s.t.
19. Kim Kirchen, (LUX), Team High Road, s.t.
20. Jesus Del-nero-montes, (ESP), Saunier Duval, at 1:13
21. Andreas Kloden, (GER), Astana, at 1:17
Top-20 Overall
1. Igor Anton, (ESP), Euskaltel-Euskadi 21:25:12
2. Kim Kirchen, (LUX), Team High Road at 0:06sec
3. Oliver Zaugg, (SUI), Gerolsteiner at 0:18
4. Roman Kreuziger, (CZE), Liquigas at 0:21
5. Stijn Devolder, (BEL), Quick Step at 0:22
6. Thomas Lovkvist, (SWE), Team High Road at 0:25
7. Markus Fothen, (GER), Gerolsteiner at 0:31
8. Andy Schleck, (LUX), CSC at 0:40
9. Serguei Ivanov, (RUS), Astana at 0:50
10. Andreas Kloden, (GER), Astana at 1:00
11. Christian Knees, (GER), Milram at 1:03
12. Alexandre Botcharov, (RUS), Credit Agricole at s.t.
13. Michael Albasini, (SUI), Liquigas at 1:07
14. Alexandre Moos, (SUI), BMC Pro Cycling at 1:09
15. Damiano Cunego, (ITA), Lampre at s.t.
16. Laurens Tendam, (NED), Rabobank at 1:21
17. Daniel Moreno, (ESP), Caisse d'Epargne at 1:38
18. Tanel Kangert, (EST), Ag2r Prevoyance at 1:44
19. Frank Schleck, (LUX), CSC at 2:11
20. Xavier Cabre, (ESP), Bouygues Telecom at 2:12
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