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Klier in crash, not a lucky day for the team

March 12, 2010 - Filed under: TestTeam

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Denied the win by Boonen yesterday Italian sprinter Daniele Bennati won the third stage today of Tirreno-Adriatico and with it the leader's jersey. The Italian's win was a good bike length ahead of Alessandro Petacchi (Ita -Lampre-Farnese Vini) and Bernhard Eisel (Aut-Team HTC - Columbia).

"There were two super hard climbs today in the final part of the race," said Jean-Paul van Poppel, sports director. "There was an early breakaway of three and on the last climb they had only 20 seconds on the group. Behind them we had Andreas Klier (Ger) and Gabriel Rasch (Nor) and this group ends up going to the finish where there also sprinters like Petacchi and Bennati.

However, three kilometers from the final there is a crash involving a few riders. Andreas who was not really pushing, is involved in this crash - unbelievable, as it is the second time Andreas has crashed in this race. He's having some back problems and our doctors are dealing with that now. Then the group with Thor Hushovd (Nor) tries to connect with Roger Hammond (Grb) and they're about 25 seconds apart. But on the last climb they lose contact as the attacks started. So today, we were unlucky with that and unlucky with the crash. Hopefully we will have better luck tomorrow."

Stage 3: San Miniato - Monsummano Terme 159km

1. Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) 3:54: 09
2. Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre) m.t.
3. Bernhard Eisel (HTC-Columbia) m.t.