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Saturday's EuroFile: Ongarato wins in Portugal, Caethoven in Regio, Vaitkus in Denmark; French coach told to shun doctor
Ongarato sprints to win in Portugal
Alberto Ongarato (Fassa Bortolo) won the 147.2km ninth stage of the Tour of Portugal between Figueira da Foz and Alcobaca on Saturday.
The Italian outkicked Pedro Costa (ASC-Vila do Conde) and Ramon Zaragosa (Imoholding-Loule Jardim Hotel) to win in 3:18:48.
With only Sunday’s final stage remaining, David Bernabeu (Milaneza-Maia) held onto his eight-second overall lead on David Arroyo (L.A. Pecol), with Rui Lavarinhas (Milaneza-Maia) third at 0:36.
66th Volta a Portugal (POR 2.2), Figueira da Foz to Alcobaca, 147.2km
1. Alberto Ongarato (I) Fassa Bortolo, 3:18:48
2. Pedro Costa (Por) ASC-Vila do Conde
3. Ramon Zaragosa (Sp) Imoholding-Loule Jardim Hotel
4. Jose Rodrigues (Por) Carvalhelhos-Boavista
5. Luis Passamontes (Sp) Relax-Bodysol – all same time
Overall (after nine stages)
1. David Bernabeu (Sp) Milaneza-Maia, 38:11:12
2. David Arroyo (Sp) L.A. Pecol, at 0:08
3. Rui Lavarinhas (Por), Milaneza-Maia, at 0:36
4. Nuno Ribeiro (Por) L.A. Pecol, at 0:49
5. Txema del Olmo (Sp) Milaneza-Maia, at 1:33
Caethoven wins stage in Regio Tour
Steven Caethoven (Vlaanderen) sprinted to victory in the fourth stage of the Regio Tour on Saturday, a 168km leg from Emmendingen to Lahr.
Caethoven crossed ahead of Germans Sebastian Siedler (Team Wiesenhof) and Olaf Pollack (Gerolsteiner).
Alexandre Vinokourov (T-Mobile) retains the overall lead going into Sunday’s final stage, a 177.1km run between Herbolzheim and Vogtsburg.
Vaitkus claims stage in Denmark
Tomas Vaitkus (Landbouwkrediet) won the fifth stage of the Tour of Denmark, a 195km leg from Odense to Roskilde.
Australian Stuart O' Grady (Cofidis) and German Andre Korff (T-Mobile) crossed second and third, respectively.
German Jens Voigt (CSC) remains overall leader by a single second over teammate Kurt Asle Arvesen going into Sunday’s final stage.
French sprinters’ coach ordered to shun doctor
France's head athletics coach has ordered the coach of Olympic medal hope sprinters Christine Arron and Muriel Hurtis to sever his ties with a doctor implicated in the doping scandal at the Cofidis cycling team.
Robert Poirier said in a letter to coach Guy Ontanon on Friday that he feared parallels might be drawn between Dr. Jean-Jacques Menuet and French athletes.
Ontanon insists that Menuet only acts as nutritionist to his group and has no role as doctor to his athletes.
The demand follows a report in the sports daily l'Equipe on Friday claiming that Italian rider Massimiliano Lelli has told investigators Menuet had injected him with drugs.
Lelli is facing accusations of importing, trafficking, and inciting the use of doping products.
The French team Cofidis has been under investigation since March last year. One of its top riders, David Millar, was this week banned for two years and stripped of his world time trial title after admitting he took the endurance-boosting drug EPO.
