A YEAR ago, Marcus Burghardt's first Tour de France nearly ended in tragic fashion when he crashed after hitting a dog in the Alps. He was lucky to escape unhurt and finished the Tour in 127th position.
Yesterday, the dogged German rider attacked twice to hand his Team Columbia their fifth stage victory in this Tour after the four won by Briton Mark Cavendish.
"Today I really wanted to make it in a break at all costs," said the 25-year-old, w
inner of last year's Ghent-Wevelgem classic.
Burghardt was part of the first breakaway of the day, which started almost on the gun. He later joined Carlos Barredo, who had moved on the first climb, to finally out-sprint the Spaniard to the finish line.
"I worked a lot for Mark in the beginning of the Tour and I wanted to bring my own victory to the team," Burghardt said.
Cavendish has quit the Tour in the Alps to concentrate on his preparation for next month's Beijing Olympic Games. Team Columbia, built on the ruins of the Telekom team after their sponsor left, have been the most successful outfit this season with 43 wins.
"We had a great pre-season preparation and the team spirit is excellent. After Mark quit, they told me I would have my chance in the last week of the Tour. Here it is," Burghardt said.
For Burghardt, a tall, powerful one-day classic specialist, the season had previously been frustrating because a knee injury prevented him from taking part in his favourite events.
"I had a terrible time in spring with my knee, which was injured in California. Surgery was unavoidable but I've been feeling better and better since then.
"As a result, a stage win on the Tour de France was my main goal this season," he said.
His sprint technique, perfected on the track, was decisive yesterday when he found himself battling for victory with Barredo. "In the last 10 kilometres, Barredo told me he would not take his turns any more and let me lead because he thought I was faster in the sprint. I'm glad he was right."
Frank Schleck, who lost the race leader's yellow jersey on Wednesday, is second overall, one minute and 24 seconds behind Spanish CSC team-mate Carlos Sastre.
He declined to comment when asked for a reaction to the fact customs officers stopped a car driven by his father, Johnny, during the stage.
Andy, Frank's younger brother, said: "I am not worried. They can take everything, I have no doubts."
Customs officers stopped the car driven by Johnny Schleck, who drives guests around for one of the Tour sponsors, 35 km into the stage. He was asked to step out of the car at a roundabout and was searched by a police officer. He was then asked to drive the car towards the other side of the roundabout, where the vehicle was searched by officers for 30 minutes.
The full article contains 503 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
