It only took a few stages of the 94th Tour De France for the Rudy Project athletes to rise to first place.
The 25-year-old German, Linus Gerdemann (T-Mobile), won the first alpine stage, which involved a particularly difficult first-category climb of Col de la Colombiere, at just 14km from the finishing line. The rider from Munster, who took the yellow and the white jersey, chose the Rudy Project Rydon II ultra-light, wraparound sunglasses to tackle the 197,5 km’s of the Grande Boucle 7th stage.
Ever faithful to the Rydon models, Michael Rasmussen of the Rabobank team also made the same choice. Denmark’s rider succeeded in defending his yellow jersey victory of the previous Sunday, in which he triumphed with a truly impressive triple win: stage, yellow jersey and green jersey.
The athlete, who has won the 8th stage for the last two years, is an absolute protagonist of the Grand Boucle. In an exciting solo break, during the 165 km race from Le Grand Bornard to Tignes, the 33 year old cyclist took the lead and with it claimed the yellow and green jersey for the best rider.
Rudy Project is also getting great satisfaction from the new arrivals of the Barloworld Professional South African-Italian team, who competed for the first time at the three week French race. Wearing the new Sportmask Performance glasses, with their characteristic anti-fog nose bridge that improves lens ventilation, the Columbian, Mauricio Soler won the 9th stage of the 159,5 km Val d’Isère-Briançon.
