1000th post!!!

WELL DONE SPORTING!

Meaning he has lost stats? No, I dont think so.

yes and good

Stage 6

Just the hilly stage left to prevent Stevic from winning the race.


A break went away and dangerously held 14 minutes with 92km to go. No gap seemed to want to lead the chase so I sent the whole team (bar Pliuschin and Stevic) forward to try to close the gap down.


We eventually received help from other teams much later


I assumed that the breakaway riders would fade as we approached the finish but 16km to go and there was still over 6 minutes to the lead breakaway rider. Pliuschin attacks.


A few riders go with him but cant keep up with Pliuschin as he powers up then down the hill. On the next hill Stevic also attacked away from the peleton


Pliuschin sweeped past breakaway riders - including the most dangerous rider who was less than 2 minutes behind Stevic. Petito and D'Hollander were still ahead as the sprint began for Pliuschin and Stevic (With the peleton not far behind them) but Petito was nearly 4 minutes down and D'Hollander over twelve.


Petito took the stage


D'Hollander was 2nd with Pliuschin 3rd and Stevic 4th


A great effort from the whole team in chasing the break means Stevic has sealed race victory.

1 Roberto Petito LIQUIGAS 4h33'48
2 Glenn D'Hollander CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 1'03
3 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
4 Ivan Stevic DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
5 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
6 Maurizio Biondo TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN s.t.
7 Jacob Moe Rasmussen TEAM GLS s.t.
8 Christian Knees ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
9 Alessandro Vanotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
10 Sebastian Langeveld RABOBANK s.t.
11 Stuart O'Grady TEAM CSC s.t.
12 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
13 Fang Xu SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
14 Erik Zabel PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
15 Gerrit Glomser TEAM MAXBO BIANCHI s.t.
16 Murilo Fischer LIQUIGAS s.t.
17 Wolfgang Murer ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
18 Marcus Burghardt T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
19 Matej Mugerli LIQUIGAS s.t.
20 Kurt Hovelynck CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
21 Kasper Jebjerg TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN s.t.
22 Lars Petter Nordhaug TEAM MAXBO BIANCHI s.t.
23 Daniel Foder TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN s.t.
24 René Jorgensen TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN s.t.
25 Fredrik Johansson TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN s.t.
26 Serge Pauwels CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
27 Saïd Haddou CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
28 Aart Vierhouten SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
29 Dario Cataldo T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
30 Preben Van Hecke PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
31 Mikhail Timochine LIQUIGAS s.t.
32 Piet Rooijakkers SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
33 Linas Balciunas LIQUIGAS s.t.
34 Hrvoje Miholjevic ACTION - UNIQA s.t.
35 Ben Swift DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
36 Sven Renders CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
37 Marco Zanotti ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
38 André Korff T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
39 Kevin Fouquet TEAM MAXBO BIANCHI s.t.
40 Vincenzo Nibali T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
41 Thomas Oredsson TEAM GLS s.t.
42 Kevin Neirynck LIQUIGAS s.t.
43 Maarten Tjallingii T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
44 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
45 Frederik Veuchelen CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
46 Fabien Bacquet SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
47 Alexander Filippov TEAM GLS s.t.
48 Damien Gaudin LIQUIGAS s.t.
49 Kevin Van Impe RABOBANK s.t.
50 Mario Aerts PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.

GC
1 Ivan Stevic DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 21h01'38
2 Maurizio Biondo TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN + 51
3 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 56
4 Linas Balciunas LIQUIGAS + 1'04
5 Jacob Moe Rasmussen TEAM GLS + 1'05
6 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 1'07
7 Chris Hoy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'09
8 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC + 1'10
9 Daniel Foder TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN + 1'11
10 Saïd Haddou CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 1'13
11 Ben Swift DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'14
12 Marco Pinotti T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'15
13 Piet Rooijakkers SKIL - SHIMANO + 1'16
14 Kurt Hovelynck CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 1'21
15 David McCann DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'23
16 Gerrit Glomser TEAM MAXBO BIANCHI + 1'25
17 Vincenzo Nibali T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'32
18 David Abal ACTION - UNIQA + 1'35
19 Stuart O'Grady TEAM CSC + 1'41
20 André Korff T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
21 Damien Gaudin LIQUIGAS s.t.
22 Thomas Oredsson TEAM GLS + 1'42
23 Alexander Filippov TEAM GLS + 1'45
24 Sebastian Langeveld RABOBANK + 1'48
25 Soren Kirkegaard TEAM GLS + 1'49
53 Fran Pérez DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 3'47
59 Laszló Bodrogi DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 5'27
65 Mickey Smith DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 7'15

Points
1 Ivan Stevic DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 116
2 Maurizio Biondo TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN 72
3 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO 70
4 Saïd Haddou CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN 70
5 Erik Zabel PREDICTOR - LOTTO 55
6 Stuart O'Grady TEAM CSC 44
7 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 41
8 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC 38
9 Roberto Petito LIQUIGAS 38
10 Jacob Moe Rasmussen TEAM GLS 37

Nice win in the end, but anyhoo, why did you give the break so long a leash?

so close to a 1-2

but still fantastic results and surely Pluischin will do well in germany

great win for Stevic

Great overall win, good riding SN

Well I generally 8x through the boring bits of the stage and presume that other teams will chase down the breaks. I just waited too long before actually checking the gap and realising it was dangerous.

Still, it all turned out ok in the end and made the stage much more interesting.

Aleksandr Pliuschin is our team leader and starts the race at 88 Fitness, it will be over 90 by the important mountain stage and ITT.
Chris Hoy, Laszlo Bodrogi, David McCann and Evan Oliphant have been picked for their TT skills and will be the leading 5 riders in the TTT with Pliuschin.
Stevic is here to sprint while Swift and Stannard will gain experience.

Stage 1

Like in Denmark, Swift led Stevic into a strong position. Ian Stannard is behind Stevic as I want as high a team classification position as possible so I can be one of the last teams to start the TTT.


But unlike in Denmark, Stevic is not the best sprinter. Boonen moved into the lead with 2km to go


Boonen powered across the bridge


And he won the stage ahead of Cavendish and Bonnet


Our plan for the teams classification worked - we lead it and will start the TTT last.

1 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 4h46'43
2 Mark Cavendish T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
3 William Bonnet CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
4 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS s.t.
5 Fran Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
6 Alessandro Petacchi TEAM MILRAM s.t.
7 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER s.t.
8 Ivan Stevic DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
9 Óscar Freire RABOBANK s.t.
10 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
11 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC s.t.
12 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
13 Ben Swift DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
14 Robert Wagner TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
15 Leonardo Duque COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
16 André Greipel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
17 Jesús Del Nero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
18 Olaf Pollack GEROLSTEINER s.t.
19 Ian Stannard DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
20 Francesco Chicchi UNIBET.COM s.t.
21 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM s.t.
22 Robert Retschke TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
23 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM s.t.
24 Carlos Eduardo Alzate EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
25 Fabio Sabatini TEAM MILRAM s.t.

Stage 2

42 TTT Kilometres


Discovery Channel will be a threat today


CSC could also do well, but the crowd are making it hard for them


T-Mobile have the best young rider Cavendish (In his Procycling shirt) and Rogers but their performance was disappointing


Astana have two national TT champs. Schar and Kohl


Would Boonen be able to keep his jersey?


DFL started in an orderly fashion, looking for the right pace. They were 10th at the first split as Discovery Channel led Astana by 3 seconds.


Things werent looking as bright at the 2nd split as the riders were stretching out. DFL were 4th as Quick Step now led Discovery by 5 seconds and Astana by 6.


DFL seemed to deteriorate and it looked disastrous. Pliuschin was the first to finish - but where was the rest of the team?


Astana must surely have won by 1 second over Discovery and 15 over Rabobank and Quick Step. How much would DFL lose?



DFL won?

Incredible!

1 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 57'11
2 David McCann DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
3 Laszló Bodrogi DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
4 Chris Hoy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
5 Evan Oliphant DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
6 Ivan Stevic DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
7 Ben Swift DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
8 Julián Rodas TEAM ASTANA + 10
9 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA s.t.
10 Michael Schär TEAM ASTANA s.t.
11 Toni Colom TEAM ASTANA s.t.
12 Dani Navarro TEAM ASTANA s.t.
13 Bernhard Kohl TEAM ASTANA s.t.
14 Sergei Ivanov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
15 Maxim Iglinskiy TEAM ASTANA s.t.
16 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 12
17 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
18 John Devine DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
19 José Rujano DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
20 Alexis Castro DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
21 Gianni Meersman DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
22 Roberto Heras DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
23 Jason McCartney DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
24 Haimar Zubeldia RABOBANK + 25
25 Sébastien Rosseler QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
26 Linus Gerdemann QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
27 Robert Gesink RABOBANK s.t.
28 Juanma Gárate QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
29 Vladimir Karpets RABOBANK s.t.
30 Johan Vansummeren QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
31 David Blanco RABOBANK s.t.
32 Grischa Niermann RABOBANK s.t.
33 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
34 Pavel Brutt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
35 Óscar Freire RABOBANK s.t.
36 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
37 Nikolas Maes RABOBANK s.t.
38 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
39 Ian Stannard DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 36
40 Matija Kvasina PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 38
41 Marcel Sieberg PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
42 Mario Aerts PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
43 Juan Pablo Forero PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
44 Dries Devenyns PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
45 Błażej Janiaczyk PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
46 Geert Steurs PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
47 Josep Jufré PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
48 José Angel Gómez Marchante TEAM CSC + 42
49 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC s.t.
50 Alexandr Kolobnev TEAM CSC s.t.
51 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC s.t.
52 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC s.t.
53 Daniel McConnell TEAM CSC s.t.
54 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC s.t.
55 Héctor Guerra CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 46
56 Pablo Lastras CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
57 Luis León Sánchez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
58 Alberto Losada CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
59 Joaquim Rodríguez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
60 Nicolas Portal CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
61 Aitor Pérez Arrieta CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
62 Torsten Hiekmann GEROLSTEINER + 47
63 Ronny Scholz GEROLSTEINER s.t.
64 Tim Klinger GEROLSTEINER s.t.
65 Olaf Pollack GEROLSTEINER s.t.
66 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER s.t.
67 Oliver Zaugg GEROLSTEINER s.t.
68 Johannes Fröhlinger GEROLSTEINER s.t.
69 Mathieu Heijboer COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 51
70 Leonardo Duque COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
71 Michiel Elijzen COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
72 David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
73 Óscar García-Casarrubios COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
74 Maxime Monfort COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
75 Max Van Heeswijk COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
76 Bingen Fernández COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
77 Bram De Groot RABOBANK + 54
78 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM + 56
79 Nico Keinath T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
80 Jakob Fiedler T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
81 Mark Cavendish T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
82 Andreas Klier T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
83 Michael Barry T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
84 André Greipel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
85 Marko Ullmann T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
86 Santiago Botero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'04
87 Mauricio Ortega SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
88 Jesús Del Nero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
89 Rubén Plaza SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
90 Manuel Medina SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
91 Fran Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
92 Alberto Benítez SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
93 Christophe Rinero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
94 Maxim Belkov TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 1'08
95 Stefan Schaefer TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
96 Christian Leben TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
97 Anthony Geslin TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
98 Martin Gilbert TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
99 Jelle Vanendert TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
100 Robert Wagner TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
101 Robert Retschke TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
102 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC + 1'20
103 Philippe Gilbert FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 1'22
104 Jussi Veikkanen FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
105 Vicente Reynès CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
106 Sébastien Joly FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
107 Tim Gudsell FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
108 Jérémy Roy FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
109 Frederic Guesdon FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
110 Fabien Patanchon FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
111 Arnaud Gérard FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
112 Thomas Fothen GEROLSTEINER + 1'23
113 Santiago Ojeda UNIBET.COM + 1'25
114 Alexander Khatuntsev UNIBET.COM s.t.
115 Markus Eichler UNIBET.COM s.t.
116 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM s.t.
117 Troels Vinther UNIBET.COM s.t.
118 Martin Pedersen UNIBET.COM s.t.
119 Francesco Chicchi UNIBET.COM s.t.
120 Sören Hofmann CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 1'27
121 William Bonnet CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
122 Juanjo Cobo CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
123 Christophe Edaleine CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
124 Christophe Laurent CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
125 Yvan Muratet CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
126 Christophe Le Mével CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
127 Anthony Charteau CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
128 Ricardo Mestre LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 1'29
129 Denis Menchov LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
130 Ivan Rovny LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
131 Patxi Vila LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
132 Blake Caldwell LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
133 Francesco Gavazzi LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
134 Matteo Bono LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
135 Paolo Bossoni LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
136 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS + 1'43
137 Marcus Ljungqvist LIQUIGAS s.t.
138 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS s.t.
139 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS s.t.
140 Staf Scheirlinckx LIQUIGAS s.t.
141 Kjell Carlström LIQUIGAS s.t.
142 Gabriele Tassinari LIQUIGAS s.t.
143 Michael Albasini LIQUIGAS s.t.
144 Domenik Klemme TEAM 3C-GRUPPE LAMONTA + 1'45
145 Mikel Nieve TEAM 3C-GRUPPE LAMONTA s.t.
146 Carlos Castaño TEAM 3C-GRUPPE LAMONTA s.t.
147 Tobias Erler TEAM 3C-GRUPPE LAMONTA s.t.
148 Chris Sørensen TEAM 3C-GRUPPE LAMONTA s.t.
149 Walter Pérez TEAM 3C-GRUPPE LAMONTA s.t.
150 Kurt Steffen TEAM 3C-GRUPPE LAMONTA s.t.
151 Matthias Friedemann TEAM 3C-GRUPPE LAMONTA s.t.
152 Jimmy Casper UNIBET.COM + 1'51
153 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM + 1'54
154 �ngel Vicioso TEAM MILRAM s.t.
155 Alessandro Petacchi TEAM MILRAM s.t.
156 Sebastian Schwager TEAM MILRAM s.t.
157 Fabio Sabatini TEAM MILRAM s.t.
158 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM s.t.
159 Mirko Lorenzetto TEAM MILRAM s.t.
160 Sebastian Siedler TEAM MILRAM s.t.
161 Coen Vermeltfoort ELK HAUS - SIMPLON + 2'03
162 Ben Gastauer ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
163 Christian Knees ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
164 Stefan Denifl ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
165 Marco Zanotti ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
166 Michael Pichler ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
167 Malte Knödler ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
168 Daniel Daunis ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
169 Eduard Vorganov EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 2'11
170 Carlos Eduardo Alzate EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
171 Jorge Azanza EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
172 Paolo Savoldelli EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
173 Alan Pérez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
174 Joseba Zubeldia EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
175 Aitor Ocampos EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
176 Koldo Fernández de Larrea EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.

GC
1 David McCann DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 5h43'54
2 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
3 Laszló Bodrogi DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
4 Chris Hoy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
5 Evan Oliphant DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
6 Ivan Stevic DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
7 Ben Swift DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
8 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA + 10
9 Julián Rodas TEAM ASTANA s.t.
10 Michael Schär TEAM ASTANA s.t.
11 Toni Colom TEAM ASTANA s.t.
12 Bernhard Kohl TEAM ASTANA s.t.
13 Sergei Ivanov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
14 Maxim Iglinskiy TEAM ASTANA s.t.
15 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 12
16 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
17 John Devine DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
18 José Rujano DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
19 Alexis Castro DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
20 Gianni Meersman DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
21 Roberto Heras DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
22 Jason McCartney DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
23 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 15
24 Sébastien Rosseler QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 25
25 Robert Gesink RABOBANK s.t.

how did you get the same time?

Well the first 5 all get the same time as the time is taken on the 5th rider and I presume that the time gap setting for the stage was on 20, and that Stevic and Swift finished less than 20 'seconds' behind Oliphant.

that was, umm an interisting TTT

to say the least.....

lets just say i'm glad Auber have so far avoided TTT's as mine turn out more "interesting" then that...

I'm still lovin' the reporting SN

That's good luck

That os very, very lucky

Wow, team went to bits. Lucky win, good luck in the mountains

Stage 3



A challenging hilly day and only race leader David McCann and Ivan Stevic could offer any real support to Aleksandr Pliuschin


But the hills went fine, Stevic had 3 red bars and McCann 2 after the 4th and toughest KoM but they kept with Pliuschin.

But then Menchov made a sneaky attack on a small hill 10km from the line. Pliuschin was caught by surprise but Gesink and Gerdemann went after the russian


Pliuschin attacked on the next, shorter, and less steep hill


With 3km to go, the gap was stilll quite big


But Pliuschin's sprint stat is superior to the other 3 and he stormed up to them


He moved past Gesink and Gerdemann


But the line came too soon, Menchov wins


1 Denis Menchov LAMPRE - FONDITAL 4h53'29
2 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
3 Robert Gesink RABOBANK s.t.
4 Linus Gerdemann QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
5 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 34
6 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
7 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER s.t.
8 Leonardo Duque COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
9 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS s.t.
10 Mark Cavendish T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
11 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA s.t.
12 Fran Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
13 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
14 Philippe Gilbert FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
15 Óscar Freire RABOBANK s.t.
16 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS s.t.
17 Anthony Geslin TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
18 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
19 Jesús Del Nero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
20 Oliver Zaugg GEROLSTEINER s.t.
21 Marcus Ljungqvist LIQUIGAS s.t.
22 Sergei Ivanov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
23 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
24 Matija Kvasina PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
25 Jelle Vanendert TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
69 Ivan Stevic DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
73 David McCann DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.

GC
1 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 10h37'17
2 Robert Gesink RABOBANK + 27
3 Linus Gerdemann QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 31
4 Ivan Stevic DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 40
5 David McCann DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
6 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA + 50
7 Sergei Ivanov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
8 Toni Colom TEAM ASTANA s.t.
9 Maxim Iglinskiy TEAM ASTANA s.t.
10 Julián Rodas TEAM ASTANA s.t.
11 Bernhard Kohl TEAM ASTANA s.t.
12 Michael Schär TEAM ASTANA s.t.
13 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 52
14 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
15 John Devine DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
37 Denis Menchov LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 1'25