Gippingen

07-06-2009 17:21:38

Peter Velits (Milram) has topped off the strong showings of his team with a victory at the GP Kanton Aargau (UCI category 1.HC) on Sunday. After the German ProTour team placed three riders in the Top Ten at the GP Triberg-Schwarzwald on Saturday with Johannes Fröhlinger (third), Peter Velits (eighth) and Peter Wrolich (tenth), the 24-year-old Slovakian putt he icing on the cake with his win in Switzerland, relegating Jan Baekelants (Topsport Vlaanderen) and Heinrich Haussler (Cervelo TestTeam) to second and third respectively.

„Peter Velits attacked on the last climb, nine kilometres from the finish, and was off the front on his own at first,” said Ralf Grabsch, Sports Director. „Jan Baekelants was able to bridge up to Velits. The two then raced with only 12 seconds advantage to the reduced field. With two kilometres to go, the chasers disagreed, which was what we had hoped for. Peter Velits then took advantage of the situation. We rode a top race yesterday already and could do even better today. Our team works together brilliantly and we are finally rewarded for our efforts. These two races this week-end make us very hopeful for the next important events before the Tour de France.“

At the GP Kanton Aargau, a challenging 19.6km-long course around the town of Gippingen was raced a total of ten times. On the last lap, Peter Velits attacked out of a reduced bunch of about 40 riders. Only Jan Baekelants of Team Topsport Vlaanderen succeeded in bridging up to the 24-year-old. At first, the Cervelo TestTeam organised the chasing. But two kilometres off the finish line, the chasers hesitated for a moment until team Agritubel took over the pace making. The two leaders profited of this dissent and were able to take their small lead to the finish. For Peter Velits, this is his first victory since he signed with the German ProTour team in 2008.