Stage 5

Should be fun!


There was no interesting action for the first half of the stage as all the big guns wait for the main climb of the day to the finish.

Haimar Zubeldia must be in good form as Rabobank controlled the pace for a long time


So when Zubeldia attacked, even though there was still 26km to go, Anton countered. As did Di Luca.


Di Luca was far too weak though. Zubeldia and Anton are away.


The lead builds up to 1'45 when 12km later, with 14km to go - Valverde attacks.


Brajkovic goes with Valverde while Cunego is just behind the pair. Anton and Zubeldia's gap is cut to 55 seconds.


Its little and large as the gap is maintained


5km to go and the gap has slipped to 40 seconds. With no time bonuses on the finish, Anton needs to finish alone to have any chance of the leaders jersey - and this may be his only chance to wear the jersey as after a few flat stages is the first of the ITTs.

Anton takes a drink ...

... and attacks!


Zubeldia has no response, Anton pulls away


Victory! And the race lead too!


1 Igor Antón DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 5h17'22
2 Haimar Zubeldia RABOBANK + 41
3 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'18
4 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
5 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA + 1'45
6 Stijn Devolder EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 2'41
7 Juanma Gárate QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
8 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 3'08
9 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
10 Óscar Pereiro CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 3'54
11 Mario Aerts PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
12 Steve Zampieri COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
13 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC s.t.
14 Luis León Sánchez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
15 Pietro Caucchioli COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
16 Nicki Sörensen TEAM CSC s.t.
17 Dries Devenyns PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
18 Iván Parra COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
19 Roberto Heras DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
20 Matthew Lloyd PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
21 Peter Velits TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
22 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
23 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
24 Sébastien Joly FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
25 José Rujano DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
26 Julián Rodas TEAM ASTANA s.t.
27 Mikel Astarloza QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
28 Paolo Savoldelli EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
29 Carlos Barredo RABOBANK s.t.
30 David Blanco RABOBANK s.t.
31 Jaume Rovira TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
32 Alexis Castro DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
33 Charles Wegelius LIQUIGAS s.t.
34 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
35 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
36 Evgeni Petrov TEAM CSC s.t.
37 Michael Rasmussen DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
38 Danilo Di Luca UNIBET.COM s.t.
39 Toni Colom TEAM ASTANA s.t.
40 Hernán Buenahora QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
41 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
42 Alberto Losada CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
43 Alberto Benítez SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
44 Matija Kvasina PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
45 André Steensen TEAM CSC s.t.
46 Ezequiel Mosquera KARPIN GALICIA s.t.
47 Leonardo Duque COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
48 David Cañada SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
49 Saul Raisin FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
50 Luis Fernández Oliveira KARPIN GALICIA s.t.
51 Pieter Weening RABOBANK s.t.
52 Eladio Jiménez KARPIN GALICIA s.t.
53 Jürgen Van De Walle QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
54 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
55 Aitor Pérez Arrieta CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
56 Josep Jufré PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
57 Jussi Veikkanen FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
58 Xavi Tondo TEAM ASTANA s.t.
59 Thomas Lövkvist TEAM MILRAM s.t.
60 Patxi Vila LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 5'27

GC
1 Igor Antón DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 16h22'36
2 Haimar Zubeldia RABOBANK + 16
3 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 42
4 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
5 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA + 1'27
6 Stijn Devolder EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 2'22
7 Juanma Gárate QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 2'34
8 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS + 2'50
9 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'52
10 Óscar Pereiro CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 3'18
11 Luis León Sánchez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
12 Roberto Heras DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
13 José Rujano DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
14 Alexis Castro DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
15 Michael Rasmussen DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
16 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
17 Nicki Sörensen TEAM CSC + 3'27
18 Evgeni Petrov TEAM CSC s.t.
19 André Steensen TEAM CSC s.t.
20 Carlos Barredo RABOBANK + 3'29
46 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 3'54
47 Rigoberto Urán 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 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 34
5 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 33
6 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL 31
7 Igor Antón DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 25
8 Stijn Devolder EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 24
9 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL 23
10 Óscar Freire RABOBANK 22

KoM
1 Massimiliano Gentili QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 30
2 Igor Antón DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 30
3 Haimar Zubeldia RABOBANK 25
4 Manuele Mori FRANÇAISE DES JEUX 20
5 Fabio Gilioli UNIBET.COM 20
6 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 20
7 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL 16
8 Dario Cataldo T-MOBILE TEAM 12
9 Iban Mayoz EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 12
10 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA 12

great work, you destroyed them all!!!!

anton!

you look good for a top 5

We havent had any of the 'evil' flat 40+ km ITTs yet so its too hard to tell imo.

At least ive got the race lead for a bit

A daring move thats paid off well for Anton on stage 5 there, its always good to see attacks working so successfully

B-E-A-utiful! Go Anton!

Hope you can stay in gold for the rest of the race

Or atleast wear it as long as possible first TT will show us alot

Well Anton will get problems in the 3rd weak, but nice to se him performe so well

How high is Anton's fatigue level? Hope you can crush them in the mountains

Anton is in maximum 100 pts fitness and his fatigue level is under control. He reached peak at the mountain stage and fatigue should only have an affect from the last stage on wards, and the last stage is flat

Good start in the Vuelta with Anton!

That sounds great, you WILL crush them in the mountains

And they WILL crush Anton in the TT

Just wondering if you have changed your level back to hard from normal as i started reading got to page 8 and skipped most of it to the vuelta??? I dont have enough time as i have college and work

Please answer what level you are on as most stories are on normal and i find them better if they are on hard level setting as it is very difficult to get a win unless you have one of the main favourites!!

SN is actually a man and plays on hard, not some pussy setting called normal.

nice story making my 3 last days abit more fun he never said he changed back from normal to hard tho rjc_43, but im not saying he didnt.

When does the next part come?

Well ive played the next few stages and they only need brief summaries, so soon. Ill be following in rjc's footsteps and doing Extreme for Season 3.

Stage 6

In these coming flat stages, I will not contribute to the chase. I dont mind if a break wins or if it comes down to a sprint where Hagen can feature. Hagen already has a comfortable lead in the points jersey, so its up to the other sprinters to close down the break and try to take points off the Norwegian.

The break still had 1'20 lead with 3 minutes ago so he went flat out with 3km to go with Cancellara and Ricco in his wheel - the other sprinters waited too long between Paolini and his out of form teammate Bennati.

Although Hagen produced an excellent sprint, it wasnt enough and CSC's Ivan de Nobile takes the victory, with Cancellara celebrating in the background.


1 Ivan De Nobile TEAM CSC 4h54'52
2 Aivaras Baranauskas AGRITUBEL s.t.
3 Mickael Buffaz COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
4 Kevin Hulsmans QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
5 Piotr Mazur SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
6 Damien Gaudin LIQUIGAS s.t.
7 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
8 Thomas Ziegler T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
9 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
10 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
11 Leonardo Duque COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
12 José Joaquín Rojas CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
13 Allan Davis TEAM MILRAM s.t.
14 Fran Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
15 Stuart O'Grady TEAM CSC s.t.
16 Daniele Bennati LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
17 Óscar Freire RABOBANK s.t.
18 Robert Förster GEROLSTEINER s.t.
19 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
20 David Kopp GEROLSTEINER s.t.
21 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
22 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
23 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
24 Luca Paolini LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
25 Steven De Jongh QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.

Points
1 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 79
2 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 42
3 José Joaquín Rojas CAISSE D'EPARGNE 40
4 Stuart O'Grady TEAM CSC 36
5 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 34
6 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL 31
7 Igor Antón DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 25
8 Ivan De Nobile TEAM CSC 25
9 Leonardo Duque COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE 24
10 Stijn Devolder EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 24