Kloeden wins third stage to seize Tour of Romandie lead

By Francois Thomazeau

SION, Switzerland (Reuters) - Andreas Kloeden, done out of the top two stage races this season, snatched the lead in the Tour de Romandie on Friday with victory in the third-stage individual time trial.

Twice a Tour de France runner-up, in 2004 and 2006, the German will not have the chance of going for victory this year in the world's biggest race after his Astana team was not invited because of its past doping record.

As a result, the Tour de Romandie became a major objective for the Berliner, whose team have also been declined a place in the Giro d'Italia although they will take part in the Tour of Spain.

Kloeden won in 25 minutes and 32 seconds, at a rather low average speed of 44.19 kph, a testament to the toughness of the 18.8-km course, which included a steep hill halfway.

The other pre-race favourite, last year's winner Thomas Dekker, finished six seconds adrift with the rest of the field more than 20 seconds further back.

Overall, Kloeden leads Dutch rival Dekker by five seconds, a slim margin ahead of a short but daunting mountain stage from Sion to Zinal on Saturday. Czech Roman Kreuziger is third, 35 seconds behind.

OTHER TOURS

"Of course, I would like to ride the Tour and other big races, but the Tour de Romandie and the Tour of Switzerland are great races too," said Kloeden, who was for long the closest aide of 1997 Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich.

"I hope the situation will improve in years to come because the anti-doping system is now very efficient and we submit to it so there's no reason to stop the fans from seeing the best riders," Kloeden, who has never tested positive for doping, told reporters.

In the Astana team, Kloeden is the alternate leader to last year's Tour de France champion Alberto Contador of Spain.

After the Tour de Romandie, Kloeden will take part in the other big Swiss stage race, the Tour of Switzerland, and the Tour of Austria.

But Kloeden, who won a bronze medal at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, has no plans yet to take part in the Beijing Games in August. "It's too far ahead yet," he said.

Closer in time is Saturday's 112.5-km mountain stage to Zinal, which will probably decide the outcome of the tour.

"The race is far from over with Dekker and other riders like Russian Denis Menchov so close behind me. Saturday's stage looks hard on paper but only the race itself will tell whether I can win," Kloeden said.

"With my current form and the help of my team-mates, I'm confident."

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