Captain Gerald Ciolek leads MILRAM squad in Batavus ProRace in the Netherlands on Wednesday

Dortmund, 11. May 2010. Team MILRAM is satisfied with its strong performances in the start of the Giro d’Italia 2010. Team manager Gerry van Gerwen drew a positive balance after the first three race days in his homeland, the Netherlands. The German ProTour team is successful in nearly all the rankings of the Italian race. Meantime, another Team MILRAM squad, led by captain Gerald Ciolek, will appear in the Netherlands on Wednesday in the Batavus ProRace (UCI 1.1).

„Our start in the Giro d’Italia exactly as we would have wished,“ is how team manager Gerry van Gerwen summed things up on the rest day. „With the mountain jersey and our passionate, aggressive riding, we have really distinguished ourselves in the Netherlands. Now it is up to us to keep our spirits up and to take the next step forward tomorrow in Italy. Before the Giro we said that we would cause some surprises in the Giro, and we have pulled off the first one with our great start. Now the others will have to keep their eye on us for further surprises.“

After the first three Giro stages in the Netherlands, MILRAM’s Paul Voß wears the green jersey as leader in the mountain ranking. In addition, he also leads the ranking as most aggressive rider and is tied for second place with Tom Stamsnijder (Rabobank) for both the most escape kilometers (189) and in the ranking for intermediate sprints.

Thanks to the very strong performances yesterday, which saw with Robert Förster (3rd), Linus Gerdemann (8th) and Thomas Rohregger (9th) three riders from the German ProTour team in the Top Ten, Team MILRAM won the team ranking for the third stage. Overall the team around captain Gerdemann is in fifth place, 48 seconds behind Saxo Bnak. Also, Linus Gerdemann is eighth overall, in good position for the pink jersey as he is only 12 seconds back. MILRAM climber Thomas Rohregger, 17th at 24 seconds and Markus Fothen, 34th at 1:13 minutes, are also keeping all their chances open.

Gerald Ciolek leads Team MILRAM at the Batavus ProRace

Led by captain Gerald Ciolek, Team MILRAM will take on the Batavus ProRace on Wednesday. The 23-year-old will be supported on the 213 kilometers with start and finish in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, by German riders Markus Eichler, Thomas Fothen, Artur Gajek, Roger Kluge and Björn Schröder, as well as Belgian Wim de Vocht and Dutch veteran Servais Knaven.

Team MILRAM at the Batavus ProRace:
Gerald Ciolek (GER/Ermatingen,SUI), Wim de Vocht (BEL/Turnhout), Markus Eichler (GER/Jülich), Thomas Fothen (GER/Neuss), Artur Gajek (GER/Bergisch Gladbach), Roger Kluge (GER/Eisenhüttenstadt), Servais Knaven (NED/Herwen en Aerdt), Björn Schröder (GER/Berlin)
Directeur Sportif: Raoul Liebregts (NED)