Kloden wins Trentino time trial. A tour boss?

//Kloden wins Trentino time trial. A tour boss?

Kloden wins Trentino time trial. A tour boss?

Kloden. Tour leader?

Andreas Kloden might be crazy but he’s making his case. His time trial win in stage one of the Giro del Trentino was his latest proof.

In the aftermath of last year’s Tour de France, Kloden stated that at age 36 and with Lance gone, he should be the Radio Shack leader. “I think for sure that next year the team will focus on me, and I’ll have a chance to do a good ride at the Tour.”

That elicited some snickers and shoulder shrugs. After all, he’d finished 14th and 16 minutes behind winner Alberto Contador. But still, the old German keeps motoring on and he’s having a terrific start to the season.

Trentino marks his fourth win so far along with the overall in the Tour of the Basque country, 2nd overall in Paris-Nice and a victory in stage 3 of the Critérium International.

He’s got that energizer bunny thing going and while Johan Bruyneel wishes that Janez Brajkovič was off to a faster start and Tiago Machado was a few years older, he might not have a choice come July. Other options: a 37 year old Levi Leipheimer and 39 year old Chris Horner!

In Trentino, Kloden smoked  Italian youngster Adriano Malori (Lampre-ISD) by one second while his teammate Tiago Machado took  third place around 13.4km course around Lake Garda.

You have to admire the man’s staying power. But his idea of a “good” Tour de France might not be good enough.

By |2019-02-03T16:20:56-08:00April 19th, 2011|Uncategorized|1 Comment

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  1. Heidi Marie Moser April 19, 2011 at 9:18 am - Reply

    I'm happy to see such an "old" guy having a good season. There's Jens Voigt-style German tenacity for you! I don't foresee a podium place at le TdF in Kloden's future, but I think top ten is reachable!

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