ZipVit powers Hammond to 1 from 1
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Roger wins first race at first attempt!
The Cervelo Test Team grabbed the second stage of the Tour of Qatar by the scruff of the neck today, and catapulted UK rider Roger Hammond to the top of the podium. With 7 riders in the lead group it was simply a matter of which one would take it.
“We started attacking and I was the lucky one,” said Hammond. “We knew it was going to be windy. We knew it wasn’t going to a be a sprint finish,” he added. “We had to attack and that’s what we did.”
Tim De Waele
The second stage was dominated by cross winds, and the TestTeam took the initiative from the start. After a war of attrition, they found themselves represented in the front group with seven riders. The next best team had three. With 10k to go, Gabriel Rasch made the first move. When Roger Hammond saw his teammate wouldn’t make it to the line, he went and once he had a gap, he relied on his TT skills and his aero set-up (Cervélo S2, Zipp 404) to secure the victory.
With stage one a team time trial this was the first stage proper of the first race of the season for the Test Team and with a show of hand like today’s (without some of the bigger hitters it must be added!) the team look set for a bumper early season.
02/02/09