Stage 2

After attempts by Chtioui, and Hammond. It was Dan Lloyd who got in the day's breakaway


It was always going to come down to a sprint though. Hagen is pefectly placed behind Kopp. Rojas won 3 Vuelta stages last year and the points classification and is a threat on Hagens wheel. (Although he has 0 wins so far this season)


Hagen is able to wait until 1.2km to go before making his move


Rojas comes close, but Hagen is the winner!


Thats the final sponsor goal completed making it 4 out of 5.


Although there are no time bonuses, Rojas still becomes the new race leader.

1 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 3h06'02
2 José Joaquín Rojas CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
3 Robert Förster GEROLSTEINER s.t.
4 Óscar Freire RABOBANK s.t.
5 Stuart O'Grady TEAM CSC s.t.
6 Gregory Baugé TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
7 David Kopp GEROLSTEINER s.t.
8 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
9 Leonardo Duque COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
10 Daniele Bennati LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
11 Allan Davis TEAM MILRAM s.t.
12 Steven De Jongh QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
13 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
14 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
15 Robert Retschke TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
16 Max Van Heeswijk COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
17 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM s.t.
18 Fran Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
19 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS s.t.
20 Tom Stamsnijder GEROLSTEINER s.t.
21 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
22 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER s.t.
23 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER s.t.
24 Theo Bos LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
25 Stefan Radochla TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.

GC
1 José Joaquín Rojas CAISSE D'EPARGNE 3h21'48
2 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
3 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
4 Vicente Reynès CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
5 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
6 Luis León Sánchez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
7 Alberto Losada CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
8 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
9 Alexis Castro DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
10 Roberto Heras DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
11 José Rujano DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
12 Óscar Pereiro CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
13 Sergio Paulinho DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
14 Fuyu Li DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
15 Michael Rasmussen DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
16 Stuart O'Grady TEAM CSC + 9
17 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
18 Nicki Sörensen TEAM CSC s.t.
19 André Steensen TEAM CSC s.t.
20 Daniel McConnell TEAM CSC s.t.

Very nice story!!!

Can I see some SS of your team, the best climbers in the game, punchers, sprinters and so on?

YES! Go Hagen

Ill planning to do that at the start of the next season

unlucky in the ttt but great sprint

i take it freire is here
what other sprinters?

Thats ok, however keep up good working!

Look at the Stage 2 results. That shows which sprinters are here

good luck in the rest of the vuelta, you should get forster B)
if you cant get cavendish of course, i cant remember saying if you got him or not

I dont know if Ill be able to even try to get Cavendish until October 15th. Cavendish is the only sprinter Im after, Ive already got Hagen, Manan and Stevic - with Swift and Thomas progressing nicely.

wtf! Bauge in top ten? hasn't he ca. 50 in all stats excluded SP and ACC?

I think some other stats are in high 50s which is why he does better than Bos. I was worried at one point as Theo Bos actually joined the sprint train but then he faded a bit and ended up 24th

there are some awesome sprinters there - thats a great win

Shame in the TTT, easy for the AI to win there. Not so easy for them to do so when racing against Hagen in a sprint

Stage 3

Rafaa Chtioui got in the breakaway and was very pleased that he was able to beat Allan Davis in all of the intermediate sprints, including this close battle at the 2nd of them.


The break was caught on the tricky hill towards the end of the stage.


Gerolsteiner set a fast tempo up the climb, making many riders suffer. Hagen and Anton were right at the front throughout, with Uran slightly further back. The rest of the team would all run out of energy before the finish.


Moletta was first and then Rebellin tookover. He deservedly took the KoM points at the top and will wear the jersey - noone attacked to try and get the jersey and its probably because they were unable to.


You can see here how stretched out the peleton was:


I noticed the likes of Cunego, Ricco, Valverde and Devolder right up there, suggesting good form. Hagen (In Pink) remained right up at the front in around 10th position while Anton had slipped back a little over the top and was in around 35th position. Although stretched, no gaps would appear in the peleton.

Hagen took the wheel of race leader Rojas and at the start of the sprint Rebellin held a small gap.


But it wouldnt last as Rojas stormed past


The charge to the line! Rojas, Hagen, Ballan, Vaitkus, Duque and O'Grady are all up at the front.


Hagen inched past Rojas and looked set to win, raising his arms in celebration to cross the line in style - but Vaitkus suddenly quickened in the closing metres and made a lunge at the line


It was a tense wait for the official results to be announced. Noone knew who had won it - Would the confidence of victory backfire into embarassment and prove correct?

It was then confirmed ... Hagen wins!

1 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 3h26'54
2 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
3 José Joaquín Rojas CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
4 Stuart O'Grady TEAM CSC s.t.
5 Leonardo Duque COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
6 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
7 Fran Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
8 Óscar Freire RABOBANK s.t.
9 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
10 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
11 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
12 David Kopp GEROLSTEINER s.t.
13 Jaume Rovira TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
14 Steven De Jongh QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
15 Luca Paolini LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
16 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
17 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
18 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA s.t.
19 Stijn Devolder EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
20 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS s.t.
21 �ngel Vicioso TEAM MILRAM s.t.
22 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER s.t.
23 Giovanni Visconti TEAM ASTANA s.t.
24 Max Van Heeswijk COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
25 David Blanco RABOBANK s.t.
26 Steve Morabito TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
27 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER s.t.
28 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
29 Toni Colom TEAM ASTANA s.t.
30 Jelle Vanendert TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
31 Tom Stamsnijder GEROLSTEINER s.t.
32 Danilo Di Luca UNIBET.COM s.t.
33 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
34 Maarten Tjallingii T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
35 Sergei Ivanov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
36 Nikolas Maes RABOBANK s.t.
37 Sebastian Langeveld RABOBANK s.t.
38 Juanma Gárate QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
39 Patrice Halgand CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
40 Óscar Pereiro CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
41 Sébastien Joly FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
42 Igor Antón DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
43 Aivaras Baranauskas AGRITUBEL s.t.
44 Michael Barry T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
45 Eduardo Gonzalo AGRITUBEL s.t.
46 Patxi Vila LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
47 Carlos Barredo RABOBANK s.t.
48 Robert Retschke TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
49 Pieter Weening RABOBANK s.t.
50 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
173 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 6'11 Player
175 Laszló Bodrogi DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 6'43
176 Rafaâ Chtioui DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
185 Jens Mouris DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 8'35
193 Roger Hammond DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 11'31
194 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 12'11


I thought Vaitkus would get the leaders jersey having finished ahead of Rojas but this was not the case and Rojas keeps the jersey.

1 José Joaquín Rojas CAISSE D'EPARGNE 6h48'42
2 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
3 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
4 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
5 Óscar Pereiro CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
6 Luis León Sánchez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
7 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
8 Sergio Paulinho DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
9 Roberto Heras DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
10 José Rujano DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
11 Vicente Reynès CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
12 Michael Rasmussen DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
13 Alexis Castro DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
14 Fuyu Li DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
15 Stuart O'Grady TEAM CSC + 9
16 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
17 Evgeni Petrov TEAM CSC s.t.
18 Nicki Sörensen TEAM CSC s.t.
19 André Steensen TEAM CSC s.t.
20 Daniel McConnell TEAM CSC s.t.
150 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 36
151 Igor Antón DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
152 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.

Points
1 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 50
2 José Joaquín Rojas CAISSE D'EPARGNE 36
3 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL 28
4 Stuart O'Grady TEAM CSC 26
5 Óscar Freire RABOBANK 22
6 Leonardo Duque COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE 19
7 Robert Förster GEROLSTEINER 16
8 David Kopp GEROLSTEINER 13
9 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 11
10 Gregory Baugé TEAM WIESENHOF FELT 10
24 Rafaâ Chtioui DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 3

KoM
1 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER 10
2 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL 7
3 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL 5
4 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL 3
5 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 2
6 Stijn Devolder EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 1

nice, anton is a force to be reckoned with.
One thing i dont get is how can he reach his full potential at 21 hes not a wim van huffel is he

Uran will still gain stats through training

A hilly stage but despite a flat run in, the sprint is one of these weird ones with just 1km of sprinting. Uran, Konovalovas and Hagen are all up there though.


Konovalovas put pressure on Ricco early on but couldnt quite keep it up, Hagen came through slightly too late so Ricco wins.


Valverde has taken the race lead.

1 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 4h15'56
2 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
3 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
4 Stijn Devolder EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
5 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
6 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
7 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
8 Carlos Barredo RABOBANK s.t.
9 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
10 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS s.t.
11 Stuart O'Grady TEAM CSC s.t.
12 Danilo Di Luca UNIBET.COM s.t.
13 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
14 Jaume Rovira TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
15 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA s.t.
16 Luca Paolini LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
17 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
18 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
19 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
20 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
21 Dimitri Muravyev TEAM ASTANA s.t.
22 Pieter Weening RABOBANK s.t.
23 Evgeni Petrov TEAM CSC s.t.
24 Roberto Heras DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
25 Luis León Sánchez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
26 Ezequiel Mosquera KARPIN GALICIA s.t.
27 Óscar Pereiro CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
28 Nicki Sörensen TEAM CSC s.t.
29 Igor Antón DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
30 Josep Jufré PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
31 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER s.t.
32 José Azevedo LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
33 Giovanni Visconti TEAM ASTANA s.t.
34 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
35 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC s.t.

GC
1 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 11h04'38
2 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
3 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
4 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
5 Luis León Sánchez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
6 Óscar Pereiro CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
7 Roberto Heras DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
8 Sergio Paulinho DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
9 José Joaquín Rojas CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
10 José Rujano DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
11 Michael Rasmussen DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
12 Alexis Castro DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
13 Stuart O'Grady TEAM CSC + 9
14 Evgeni Petrov TEAM CSC s.t.
15 Nicki Sörensen TEAM CSC s.t.
16 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
17 André Steensen TEAM CSC s.t.
18 Carlos Barredo RABOBANK + 11
19 Pieter Weening RABOBANK s.t.
20 David Blanco RABOBANK s.t.
85 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 36
86 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
87 Igor Antón DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.

Points
1 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 70
2 José Joaquín Rojas CAISSE D'EPARGNE 36
3 Stuart O'Grady TEAM CSC 35
4 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL 31
5 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 25
6 Óscar Freire RABOBANK 22
7 Leonardo Duque COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE 19
8 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 18
9 Robert Förster GEROLSTEINER 16
10 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 16


KoM
1 Manuele Mori FRANÇAISE DES JEUX 20
2 Massimiliano Gentili QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 12
3 Dario Cataldo T-MOBILE TEAM 12
4 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER 10
5 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL 7
6 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL 5
7 Allan Davis TEAM MILRAM 5
8 Leonardo Duque COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE 5
9 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL 3
10 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 2

this squad is getting better and better

Good luck with Anton, Valverde will be hard to fend off