@All
Thank you guys I never had much confidence in Lequatre, but after doing a good job protecting Impey at the Giro and this 4th place, I think he deserves the honour to ride for RadioShack.
@FreitasPCM
Probably because I changed it to a flat stage. I think it is more realistic, the sprinter teams realized their chances and worked for their sprinters. The breakaway had no chance
Team goals:
- Top 5 (Brajkovic, Paulinho)
- Top 20 (Horner)
Favourites:
Alexandre Vinokourov (TT 77, RES 75, HIL 80)
Samuel Sánchez (TT 78, RES 78, HIL 81)
Michael Rogers (TT 77, RES 74, HIL 75) Janez Brajkovic (TT 78, RES 75, HIL 75)
David Zabriskie (TT 77, RES 74, HIL 74)
My tip:
Remember the real life winner here? I think it is possible that Jani can repeat his victory...
The first serious time came by the ITT world champ himself
1h15'50"
Kim Kirchen beats Spartacus.
1h15'16"
Ignatas Konovalovas confirms his good shape from the prologue again.
1h14'40"
JoaquÃm RodrÃguez only wanted to limit the damage - and failed.
1h18'00"
Chris Horner still have problems with his shape, another weak performance against the clock today.
1h15'41"
Jurgen Van de Walle was surprisingly strong today.
1h14'28"
Danny Pate was another positive surprise. He finished 50 seconds faster than the belgian.
1h13'38"
Favorite Samuel Sánchez was not able to beat Pate (Obviosly he have problems with his form, too)
1h13'51"
Geraint Thomas finished with the same time as Pate.
1h13'38"
Routinier Jens Voigt was strong today and 18 seconds faster than Pate!
1h13'20"
Janez Brajkovic, our hope for todays stage. He was about 12 minutes slower than in real life, but nonetheless he was able to beat Voigt! New besttime by Jani!
1h12'43"
Richie Porte with a pretty good time, but 33 seconds slower than Jani.
1h13'16"
Christian Vande Velde seems to be ready for Le Tour. Strong race from him. He was even 35 seconds faster than Brajkovic.
1h12'08
Michael Rogers with a similar time than Porte, only 1 second slower.
1h13'17"
Dave Zabriskie, as always strong at time trials. 4 seconds faster than Brajkovic.
1h12'39"
Christophe Moreau showed some strength from past days, only 13 seconds slower than Jani.
1h12'56"
Alexandre Vinokourouv already showed at the prologue that he iis the best time trialer in the field, so the top favourite for today. Well, he was strong - but not as strong as Vande Velde! Vino finished only 3 seconds slower than the american.
1h12'11"
Paul Voss is not that bad time trialer, but he was way to slow to defend his jersey.
1h16'08"
Not very sensefull, JoaquÃm RodrÃguez and Cyril Gautier attacked anyway, with 124km left (at least for the pack)
Group Ruß; +8'44" Gautier; +8'57" RodrÃguez; +9'17"
After relaxing the whole stage, Astana decided to work against the breakaway, with only 67 km left!
Group Ruß; +4'01" Gautier, RodrÃguez; +12'10" Peloton.
Chorges.
Group Ruß; +3'29" Gautier, RodrÃguez; +10'47" Peloton.
Spoiler:
Markus Eibegger (Footon) 6
Matthias Ruß (Milram) 4
Tom Stubbe (Omega Pharma) 2
15km to the finish. The front group reached the first slopes of the final climb, and Julien El Fares attacked immediately!
El Fares; +12" Group Voß; +2'58" RodrÃguez, Gautier; +7'51" Peloton.
The final climb to Risoul... El Fares opened a huge gap and continues to build up his advantage! Strong ride from him today, he is already the sure stage winner.
El Fares; +2'03" Stubbe, Florencio, Bernucci, Eibegger; +2'21" Flecha; +2'36" Voß; +3'05" Stewart; +3'19" RodrÃguez, Gautier; +7'25" Peloton.
Overview with 6km to go.
El Fares; +2'58" Stubbe, Florencio, Bernucci, Eibegger; +3'34" Gautier, RodrÃguez; +4'42" Flecha, Ruß; +5'45" Stewart; +6'05" Peloton.
2,2km to go, Vino and Paulinho were not able to create a gap.
El Fares;
+3'18" Florencio, Bernucci;
+3'35" Stubbe, Eibegger;
+4'03" Vinokourov;
+4'19" Group Paulinho-VandeVelde-Brajkovic;
+5'19" Löfkvist, Zabriskie;
+5'50" Group Horner-Gesink-Porte
Julien El Fares finished his great solo ride at the final climb as stage winner!
The sprint for the second place. The last escapees vs. the group with the favourites.
Vino finished second ahead of the Liquigas rider Kiserlovski and Szmyd. WEIRD GAP SYSTEM, they get Vinos time, (+3'17"), while Rogers gets his own time (+3'35"). Paulinho finished seventh (same time as Rogers).
Jani was in the same group as Paulinho (only at the back), finished 24th (+4'05").
Chris Horner had a hard day, he came in as 30th, +5'44" behind El Fares.
...but it does not really hurt. Vino is probably unbeatable, and after the time trial, Kiserlovski and Szmyd are no really threats anymore. Paulinho will attack at the next days, at least for the second place, while Brajkovic have to look out to prevent more time losses.
Chamrousse. Sergio with a little acceleration for extending his advantage. Great to see what he can do with a +5
Paulinho; +1'48" Peloton; +2'56" Group RodrÃguez-Antón.
The peloton in Chamrousse. Rogers, Sánchez, Moreau and Kiserlovski accelerated at the last meters before the top, but I guess they wanted to save them KOM points and not get away.
The sprint begins, 2000m to the finish. Vinokourov leads the peloton, John Gadret, Samuel Dumoulin (the only good sprinter in this group), Janez Brajkovic and Chris Horner in his slipstream. Paulinho still 20 seconds ahead...
900m to the line... Paulinho is losing ground...
And Dumoulin pass him, only a few meters before the finish...
I never had much confidence in Lequatre, but after doing a good job protecting Impey at the Giro and this 4th place, I think he deserves the honour to ride for RadioShack.
