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(adds details) ROME, March 12 - Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara
battled through rain and hailstorms to win the 20-km stage five
time trial in the Tirreno-Adriatico cycle race in Servigliano on
Sunday. The Team CSC rider set a time of 27 minutes 37 seconds for
the hilly course, while Leif Hoste of Belgium was second, three
seconds slower. Dutchman Thomas Dekker became the new overall race leader
after finishing 18 seconds adrift in third place. He is ahead of
Germany's Joerg Jaksche and Alessandro Ballan in the overall
standings. Cancellara was delighted at recording his first victory in
2006 and the 21st of his six-year professional career. "I did everything I could do to win today. It's an important
result for me and for my CSC team," Cancellara said. "It's important for me because it motivates me for the
spring classic races. It's important for the team because we're
going through a black cloud at the moment with riders crashing
and being injured. "I hope this is the start of a lucky spell just in time for
the big one-day races." The CSC team have lost several key riders in recent races.
Stuart O'Grady broke his collar bone and five ribs during stage
two of Tirreno-Adriatico and will miss next Saturday's Milan-San
Remo race. Christian Vandevelde, Michael Blaudzun, Matti Breschel and
Dave Zabriskie are all injured, while Bobby Julich pulled out of
the Paris-Nice race on Sunday after hitting a motorbike. Monday's sixth stage has been modified due to the weather
and will now end in Torricella Sicura instead of the hill-top
village of San Giacomo. The Tirreno-Adriatico finishes on Tuesday.
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