Kohl & team pleased with development

T-Mobile's Bernhard Kohl was looking forward to the mountainous sixth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico, with its nearly 1,100 metre climb with slopes up to 15 percent. "Monday was supposed to be my day, I absolutely wanted to attack and show what I am capable of doing right now," he said on the team's Web site.

But it wasn't to be, as the winter weather caused the race organizers to eliminate both Cat. 1 mountains from the stage. "Bernhard has really developed since last year. Too bad that the weather made a course change necessary," said team manager Mario Kummer.

Kohl started off the year with a successful Tour of California, where he finished 12th overall and wore the mountains jersey for four days. "I have made a big step and am much further along than in my first pro year," said Kohl. If he had ridden a ProTour race like T-A last year, Kohl believed he would have "been dropped on almost every stage" and "come in with the gruppetto." But this year, he says, "I can even help set the tempo."

Courtesy Susan Westemeyer