Another great performance for Katusha Team in “Challenge Mallorca”: Alexander Porsev is again in the podium, after yesterday’s third position in “Trofeo Palma”. Today, in “Trofeo Migjorn”, the young Russian sprinter, one of the most brilliant products of Katusha’s youth teams, went really close to the victory, but Andrew Fenn (Omega
Pharma-Quick Step), yesterday’s winner, in the end was able to win for a few. Porsev closed in second place, while Matteo Pelucchi (Europcar) completed the podium. Another product of the Katusha’s youth teams, Alexey Tsatevich, was 10th.
“First of all, I want to thank my team for today’s stage and for the fantastic help – said Porsev – without them I wouldn’t have reached any good result today. The race was different from yesterday, we faced some climbs: they were not so hard, but it was really cold on top and the downhills were quite slippery. In the final straight, I started my rush a little bit far from the leader, who finally won: Fenn is in excellent shape, so I could not reach him.
Instead I was at the same level of the other rivals, and with the help of my team I could beat all of them. I am very happy with my performance during these two days”.
“One more time we spent a good race with a great result at the finishing line – said the Sport Director Gennady Mikhaylov – Alexander was pretty powerful, but, maybe Fenn was even stronger. Anyway, I think, Alexander could even obtain the victory, but in the final he wasn’t at the best position In the last 5 kilometers we had two crashes in the peloton, we were lucky that nobody from Katusha Team fallen down. But, because of these accidents, Porsev started his sprint a little bit far from the head of the group. However, we’re on the podium again, so we can be satisfied. After Galimzyanov, another product of our Project is quickly improving and getting good results between pro: more than that, another rider from Itera-Katusha, Tsatevich, was again between the firsts today. That’s really something we should be proud of”.
Tour of Qatar: Katusha Team is 4th in the TTT
Today it took place Tour of Qatar’s second stage, a team time trial which took place around Luisal, 11,3 kilometres long. Katusha Team, thanks to a great performance, was able to achieve a good position:
the Russian team got close to the podium, in fourth place, 9” far from Garmin-Barracuda which won the stage. Omega Pharma-Quick Step was second, with a 7” gap; Team Sky completed the podium. In general classification, yesterday’s winner Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) is still the leader.