First stage that could really have an impact on the final overall rankings. On the first half the stage doesn't look hard at all, but on the final kilometres there are 2 climbs, where the strongest riders could make the difference.
Four riders are in the day's breakaway: Stoltz, Serov, Kupfernagel and Wacker. Serov and Kupfernagel are both at their second breakaway in this tour after their breakaway in the first stage. Serov might be a threat for the KoM rankings if they will managed to get with the breakaway so close to the finish, where the climbs are
And looking at the pack the escapes will probably have no chance to win today as Nokia - Nike, Irn Bru and 100% ME are leading the chase behind them
Right before the first climb of the day Kupfernagel was left behind and caught by the pack. Only Stoltz, Serov and Wacker are now in front
But they won't stay too much there as the pack is coming really fast, less than one minute behind them
Wacker attacks the other escapes and neither Serov or Stoltz had enough energy to come after him
He had no problems taking the KoM points at the end of the climb
Serov and Stoltz took the other points, with Thuaux and Lara Ruiz coming very fast from the pack to end the top 5 on the climb
There were some riders interested for more than just the KoM points in the pack and Szczawinski made the first important attack of the day
Three riders came with him: Hermans, Bertogliati and Sawada
Soon Wacker was caught and even left behind by the 4 attackers
As the last climb started Szczawinski stopped his efforst and he seems to have lost the contact with the other 3 riders
The climb proved to be too hard for Sawada and only Bertogliati is able to keep it up with Hermans, but the Belgian rider was the one who got the most points at the top of the climb
Szczawinski caught Sawada just before the top to finish third on the climb
There were some attacks in the pack but only for the KoM points from Caruso, Jaksche, Thuaux, Ochoa Quintero and Cassidy. Cassidy took some points there but it looks like he lost the jersey to Hermans
5 km left from today's stage and it looks like Hermans and Bertogliati will fight for the stage win
25 seconds behind them are Szczawinski and Sawada, but they don't look strong enough to catch the first group
After one minute the pack shows up there, lead by the EON Ruhrgas riders, but it looks like that they lost it today
Bertogliati got the better position there, staying behind Hermans and waiting for the perfect moment to make his move
Less than one kilometre to go and Bertogliati doesn't look strong enough to beat Hermans today as he tried to over take the Belgian rider but he failed
But with every meter past Hermans gets tired and tired, with Bertogliati looking able to make the over take now
Bertogliati looks behind... he fooled Hermans and took the win there, but Hermans is still the big favourite as he is a better puncheur than the Nokia - Nike rider
Sawada beat Szczawinski in the sprint for the third place, finishing 33 seconds behind the winner
Mohs made his first good results in this race but only to lead the pack to the finish line, behind the attackers, takings the same time with Sawada and Szczawinski, 33 seconds behind Bertogliati and Hermans
Bertogliati is the new leader of the race followed closely by Hermans, with the previous leader, Swift, third now
Stage
1
Rubens Bertogliati
Nokia-Nike
2h56'01
2
Ben Hermans
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
3
Kensyo Sawada
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
+ 33
4
Krzysztof Szczawinski
AON Global
s.t.
5
Erik Mohs
IrnBru - RBS
s.t.
6
Sébastien Minard
Team Starbucks
s.t.
7
Jaime Alberto Castañeda
Nokia-Nike
s.t.
8
Nikolai Trusov
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
9
Alessandro Petacchi
Team LEGO - Capri-Sonne
s.t.
10
Geoffroy Lequatre
Team LEGO - Capri-Sonne
s.t.
11
Mattias Westling
Team IKEA - Bianchi
s.t.
12
Fabien Bacquet
Team Starbucks
s.t.
13
Martin Elmiger
Team LEGO - Capri-Sonne
s.t.
14
Ben Swift
100% ME
s.t.
15
Grischa Janorschke
Team LEGO - Capri-Sonne
s.t.
16
Joseph Cooper
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
17
Dimitri De Fauw
EON Ruhrgas
s.t.
18
Cherif Abdallah
AON Global
s.t.
19
Ciaran Power
Ernst and Young / Apple Computer and NBC News
s.t.
20
Artur Gajek
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
s.t.
21
Thomas Murray
100% ME
s.t.
22
Mattia Gavazzi
Vespa-Caffrey's
s.t.
23
David O'Loughlin
Ernst and Young / Apple Computer and NBC News
s.t.
24
Stefan Radochla
Team LEGO - Capri-Sonne
s.t.
25
Gediminas Bagdonas
EON Ruhrgas
s.t.
26
Zakkari Dempster
IrnBru - RBS
s.t.
27
Hubert Dupont
AON Global
s.t.
28
Tom Diggle
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
29
Giovanni Visconti
Team Starbucks
s.t.
30
Sebastian Balck
Team IKEA - Bianchi
s.t.
31
Julian David Muñoz Giraldo
EON Ruhrgas
s.t.
32
George Hincapie
Ernst and Young / Apple Computer and NBC News
s.t.
33
Iljo Keisse
EON Ruhrgas
s.t.
34
Gianni Meersman
IrnBru - RBS
s.t.
35
Mark Scanlon
Vespa-Caffrey's
s.t.
36
Ruggero Marzoli
EON Ruhrgas
s.t.
37
Matthew Crane
Team Starbucks
s.t.
38
Mickaël Delage
EON Ruhrgas
s.t.
39
Daniel Martin
100% ME
s.t.
40
Dan Craven
IrnBru - RBS
s.t.
41
Aleksandar Flügel
Team IKEA - Bianchi
s.t.
42
Timothy Cassidy
Vespa-Caffrey's
s.t.
43
Jonas Ljungblad
Team IKEA - Bianchi
s.t.
44
Nicolas Roche
100% ME
s.t.
45
Luke Rowe
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
46
Christopher Sutton
IrnBru - RBS
s.t.
47
Gabriele Bosisio
Vespa-Caffrey's
s.t.
48
Ronald Harvey
Nokia-Nike
s.t.
49
Salvatore Mancuso
Team Ultimate
s.t.
50
Mark Renshaw
Team Starbucks
s.t.
51
Nicolas Brolin
Team IKEA - Bianchi
s.t.
52
Tadej Valjavec
Ernst and Young / Apple Computer and NBC News
s.t.
53
Michael Creed
Ernst and Young / Apple Computer and NBC News
s.t.
54
Keir Plaice
Ernst and Young / Apple Computer and NBC News
s.t.
55
Remco Te Brake
Team Ultimate
s.t.
56
Arnold Jeannesson
Team Ultimate
s.t.
57
Francisco Lara Ruiz
Team Starbucks
s.t.
58
Damion Drapac
Nokia-Nike
s.t.
59
Wilson Rincón
Team Ultimate
s.t.
60
Lucas Schädlich
IrnBru - RBS
s.t.
61
John Nilsson
Team IKEA - Bianchi
s.t.
62
Damiano Caruso
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
63
Chiaffredo Grippo
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
64
Sergiu Cioban
Team LEGO - Capri-Sonne
s.t.
65
Adam Petrie-Armstrong
Vespa-Caffrey's
s.t.
66
Muradjan Khalmuratov
AON Global
s.t.
67
Peter Williams
THE CONTROL TEAM
s.t.
68
Charles Dionne
Ernst and Young / Apple Computer and NBC News
s.t.
69
Anthony Charteau
EON Ruhrgas
s.t.
70
Fabio Ciccarese
Team Starbucks
s.t.
71
Ciaran Kelly
Vespa-Caffrey's
s.t.
72
Ciaran Cassidy
Vespa-Caffrey's
s.t.
73
Jonathan Tiernan-Locke
THE CONTROL TEAM
s.t.
74
Eduard Vorganov
AON Global
s.t.
75
Matías Médici
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
s.t.
76
Richard Ochoa Quintero
Nokia-Nike
s.t.
77
Jörg Jaksche
Team LEGO - Capri-Sonne
s.t.
78
Shaun Lewis
IrnBru - RBS
s.t.
79
Kevin Barclay
Nokia-Nike
s.t.
80
Phillip Thuaux
Team Ultimate
s.t.
81
Yoshiaki Shimada
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
s.t.
82
Adam Blythe
100% ME
s.t.
83
Gert Rajala
Team Ultimate
s.t.
84
Steven Burke
Nokia-Nike
s.t.
85
Kristian House
THE CONTROL TEAM
s.t.
86
Junya Sano
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
s.t.
87
Kazuki Aoyanagi
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
s.t.
88
Ananias Ananias
THE CONTROL TEAM
s.t.
89
Richard Cleaver
100% ME
s.t.
90
Yannick Stoltz
Team Ultimate
s.t.
91
Matt Booth
100% ME
s.t.
92
Evgeny Wacker
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
s.t.
93
Esteban Mardones
AON Global
s.t.
94
Aleksandr Serov
AON Global
s.t.
95
Danilo Kupfernagel
Team IKEA - Bianchi
+ 2'57
Overall
1
Rubens Bertogliati
Nokia-Nike
9h50'41
2
Ben Hermans
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
+ 8
3
Ben Swift
100% ME
+ 33
4
Mickaël Delage
EON Ruhrgas
s.t.
5
Nikolai Trusov
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
+ 41
6
Cherif Abdallah
AON Global
s.t.
7
Dimitri De Fauw
EON Ruhrgas
+ 45
8
Artur Gajek
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
s.t.
9
Erik Mohs
IrnBru - RBS
+ 53
10
Sébastien Minard
Team Starbucks
s.t.
11
Krzysztof Szczawinski
AON Global
s.t.
12
Joseph Cooper
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
13
Mattia Gavazzi
Vespa-Caffrey's
s.t.
14
Mattias Westling
Team IKEA - Bianchi
s.t.
15
Grischa Janorschke
Team LEGO - Capri-Sonne
s.t.
16
Fabien Bacquet
Team Starbucks
s.t.
17
Jaime Alberto Castañeda
Nokia-Nike
s.t.
18
Alessandro Petacchi
Team LEGO - Capri-Sonne
s.t.
19
Geoffroy Lequatre
Team LEGO - Capri-Sonne
s.t.
20
Stefan Radochla
Team LEGO - Capri-Sonne
s.t.
21
Martin Elmiger
Team LEGO - Capri-Sonne
s.t.
22
Iljo Keisse
EON Ruhrgas
s.t.
23
Christopher Sutton
IrnBru - RBS
s.t.
24
Mark Scanlon
Vespa-Caffrey's
s.t.
25
Luke Rowe
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
Points
1
Nikolai Trusov
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
64
2
Ben Swift
100% ME
63
3
Erik Mohs
IrnBru - RBS
55
4
Sébastien Minard
Team Starbucks
52
5
Krzysztof Szczawinski
AON Global
52
6
Mattia Gavazzi
Vespa-Caffrey's
50
7
Dimitri De Fauw
EON Ruhrgas
49
8
Joseph Cooper
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
49
9
Cherif Abdallah
AON Global
47
10
Grischa Janorschke
Team LEGO - Capri-Sonne
46
Mountain
1
Ben Hermans
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
30
2
Rubens Bertogliati
Nokia-Nike
26
3
Kensyo Sawada
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
25
4
Ciaran Cassidy
Vespa-Caffrey's
23
5
Phillip Thuaux
Team Ultimate
23
6
Krzysztof Szczawinski
AON Global
22
7
Damiano Caruso
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
22
8
Aleksandr Serov
AON Global
17
9
Jörg Jaksche
Team LEGO - Capri-Sonne
14
10
Evgeny Wacker
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
10
Young
1
Ben Hermans
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
9h50'49
2
Ben Swift
100% ME
+ 25
3
Mickaël Delage
EON Ruhrgas
+ 25
4
Nikolai Trusov
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
+ 33
5
Cherif Abdallah
AON Global
+ 33
6
Artur Gajek
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
