what riders are you looking at for next season? or are you going to quit and wait for pcm08? when i look at what you can achive with such a small base of riders i really got something to learn well pld m8

Go DFL

Team: Stannard, Thomas, McCann, Pollock, Oliphant, Sulzberger, Mouris, Smith

Ian Stannard attacked with Hincapie, Breschel and Gaudin - but could only watch as their attacks lasted a bit longer and rode away.


Stannard dropped back to the peleton but the other 3 would stay away


Victory for Matti Breschel!


Ciolek leads the peleton in in 4th but Chris Sutton gets a crucial 5th for the relegation battling Cofidis. And with Petacchi the leading Milram rider in 30th it means that Milram are now in the relegation zone - 1 point behind Cofidis!


1 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC 5h56'32
2 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
3 Damien Gaudin LIQUIGAS s.t.
4 Gerald Ciolek T-MOBILE TEAM + 43
5 Christopher Sutton COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
6 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
7 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
8 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS s.t.
9 Alexandre Pichot QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
10 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
11 Claudio Corioni AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
12 Martin Elmiger AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
13 Tom Veelers COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
14 Mark Cavendish T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
15 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM s.t.
16 Daniele Bennati LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
17 Assan Bazayev CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
18 Stuart O'Grady TEAM CSC s.t.
19 Luca Paolini LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
20 Leonardo Duque COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
21 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
22 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
23 Romain Feillu AGRITUBEL s.t.
24 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
25 Mickael Delage FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
26 Tyler Farrar COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
27 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
28 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
29 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
30 Alessandro Petacchi TEAM MILRAM s.t.
31 Allan Davis TEAM MILRAM s.t.
32 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM s.t.
33 Igor Abakoumov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
34 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
35 Nick Nuyens COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
36 Jérôme Pineau AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
37 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
38 Cândido Barbosa EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
39 Yuri Trofimov QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
40 Sébastien Rosseler QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
41 Robbie McEwen GEROLSTEINER s.t.
42 Fränk Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
43 Anthony Geslin TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
44 José Luis Arrieta AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
45 Steffen Wesemann TEAM MILRAM s.t.
46 Pavel Brutt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
47 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
48 Murilo Fischer LIQUIGAS s.t.
49 Fumiyuki Beppu DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
50 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC s.t.
51 Jimmy Casper UNIBET.COM s.t.
52 Ivan De Nobile TEAM CSC s.t.
53 Koldo Fernández de Larrea EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
54 Markus Eichler UNIBET.COM s.t.
55 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
56 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM s.t.
57 Yuri Krivtsov AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
58 Uros Murn DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
59 Bert Grabsch T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
60 Olaf Pollack GEROLSTEINER s.t.
61 Mathieu Ladagnous FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
62 Alberto Ongarato LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
63 Giovanni Visconti TEAM ASTANA s.t.
64 Erik Zabel PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
65 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER s.t.
66 Benoît Vaugrenard T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
67 Steven De Jongh QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
68 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER s.t.
69 René Haselbacher TEAM ASTANA s.t.
70 Zdenek Stybar AGRITUBEL s.t.
71 Jean-Marc Bideau TEAM MILRAM s.t.
72 Renaud Dion LIQUIGAS s.t.
73 Samuel Sánchez TEAM ASTANA s.t.
74 Manuel Lloret DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
75 Gregory Baugé TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
76 José Iván Gutiérrez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
77 Andreas Klier T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
78 Vicente Reynès CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
79 Sergei Ivanov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
80 Michael Blaudzun TEAM CSC s.t.
81 Patrice Halgand CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
82 Michiel Van Aelbroeck PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
83 André Schulze TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
84 Gil Suray TEAM CSC s.t.
85 Ian Stannard DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
86 Rubén Plaza SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
87 Ben Hermans TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
88 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
89 John Devine DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
90 Mikaël Chérel FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
91 Andrea Palini LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
92 Gert Dockx PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
93 Manuel Quinziato LIQUIGAS s.t.
94 Laurens Ten Dam UNIBET.COM s.t.
95 Enrico Franzoï LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
96 Jakob Piil T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
97 Sébastien Portal CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
98 Sebastian Schwager TEAM MILRAM s.t.
99 Gerben Löwik RABOBANK s.t.
100 Christophe Mengin FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
101 Cédric Vasseur LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
102 Linas Balciunas LIQUIGAS s.t.
103 Mirko Lorenzetto TEAM MILRAM s.t.
104 Bradley Wiggins COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
105 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
106 Jonathan Hivert CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
107 Michael Schär TEAM ASTANA s.t.
108 Florent Brard CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
109 Sébastien Hinault CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
110 David Blanco RABOBANK s.t.
111 Mikel Artetxe EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
112 Daniel Musiol TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
113 Frederic Guesdon FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
114 Stefan Radochla TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
115 Giampaolo Cheula SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
116 Christophe Edaleine CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
117 Maxime Bouet COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
118 Lilian Jégou FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
119 Christophe Laurent CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
120 Marvin Van der Pluijm UNIBET.COM s.t.
121 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
122 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK s.t.
123 Sebastian Langeveld RABOBANK s.t.
124 Tim Klinger GEROLSTEINER s.t.
125 Carlos Da Cruz FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
126 Paolo Bossoni LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
127 Kevin Van Impe RABOBANK s.t.
128 Emilien-Benoît Bergès AGRITUBEL s.t.
129 Bram De Groot RABOBANK s.t.
130 Nicolas Jalabert AGRITUBEL s.t.
131 Torsten Schmidt TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
132 Alexandre Usov AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 4'26
133 Michal Golas UNIBET.COM s.t.
134 Artur Gajek TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
135 Frederic Guémoun AGRITUBEL s.t.
136 David McCann DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
137 Eric Berthou CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
138 Beñat Albízuri EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 5'30
139 Rick Flens RABOBANK s.t.
140 Francesco Chicchi UNIBET.COM s.t.
141 Iñaki Isasi EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 6'26
142 Thomas Frei TEAM ASTANA s.t.
143 Vladimir Bileka DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
144 Yannick Talabardon SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
145 Cédric Coutouly AGRITUBEL s.t.
146 Piotr Mazur SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
147 Taylor Phinney DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
148 Sebastian Lang GEROLSTEINER s.t.
149 Christophe Rinero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
150 Enrique Ferreira CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
151 Jonathan Balbuena AGRITUBEL s.t.
152 Rhys Pollock DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
153 Yon Bru EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
154 Nick Gates PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
155 Evan Oliphant DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
156 Raivis Belohvosciks SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
157 Stefano Zanini PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
158 Nicolas Rousseau AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 7'22
159 Alexeï Markov CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
160 Lars Michaelsen LIQUIGAS s.t.
161 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
162 Antonio Quadranti UNIBET.COM s.t.
163 Cyril Lemoine CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
164 Lander Aperribay EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 10'34
165 Jens Mouris DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
166 Koen De Kort TEAM ASTANA s.t.
167 Mathieu Sprick T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
168 Henk Vogels GEROLSTEINER + 11'14
169 Thorwald Veneberg RABOBANK + 11'46
170 Yannick Martinez AGRITUBEL + 12'10
171 Jesús Herrada EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 12'50
172 Carlos Zárate SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
173 Bobbie Traksel DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
174 Volker Ordowski GEROLSTEINER s.t.
175 Alberto Benítez SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
176 Mickey Smith DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 17'38

Team: Uran, Millar, Konovalovas, Sulzberger, Stannard, Blythe, Thomas, Efimkin

Uran was ready when the attacks came on the Madonna del Ghisallo


A large group of 17 formed with attackers from the Ghisallo and also members of the day's breakaway


They were soon whittle down to 8 as the breakaway riders were dropped.

Surprise package Brambilla (No world champion Ballan in this race for Lampre), Cunego, Valverde, Di Luca, Ricco and two more surprises: FDJ's Mori and Predictor's Matt Lloyd.

The riders approached the final hill, the San Fermo della Battaglia and Lloyd and Brambilla were starting to struggle as Uran and Cunego charged away from the rest.


They got a strong gap but Uran hit red on the descent


Cunego just stayed behind him though and he had recovered in time for the sprint with the chasing 4 still behind them, not quite caught up.


Cunego made his move past Uran inside the final kilometre


And its a win for Damiano Cunego! Great 2nd place for Uran though.


Millar finished 11th, just outsprinted for 10th by Eros Capecchi.


Milram failed to score and are relegated along with Wiesenhof.

1 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA 6h32'13
2 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
3 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
4 Danilo Di Luca UNIBET.COM s.t.
5 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
6 Manuele Mori FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
7 Matthew Lloyd PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 1'15
8 Giorgio Brambilla LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
9 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 3'43
10 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS + 5'04
11 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
12 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
13 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER s.t.
14 Jaume Rovira TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
15 Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER s.t.
16 Joaquim Rodríguez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
17 Patrice Halgand CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
18 Francesco Failli LIQUIGAS s.t.
19 Giovanni Visconti TEAM ASTANA s.t.
20 Ivan Rovny LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
21 �ngel Vicioso TEAM MILRAM s.t.
22 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER s.t.
23 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
24 David Blanco RABOBANK s.t.
25 Samuel Sánchez TEAM ASTANA s.t.
26 Andrea Tonti QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
27 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS s.t.
28 Fränk Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
29 Gabriele Bosisio CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
30 Davide Malacarne CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
31 Steve Morabito TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
32 Daniele Pietropolli CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
33 Mauricio Soler BARLOWORLD s.t.
34 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
35 Wim Van Huffel DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
36 Luis León Sánchez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
37 Pieter Weening RABOBANK s.t.
38 Laurens Ten Dam UNIBET.COM s.t.
39 Dario Cataldo T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
40 Andriy Grivko FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
41 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
42 Julio Alberto Pérez Cuapio CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
43 Fortunato Baliani CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
44 David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
45 Ricardo Mestre LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
46 Guido Trentin SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
47 Josep Jufré PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
48 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
49 Luca Mazzanti LIQUIGAS s.t.
50 Edwin Orozco BARLOWORLD s.t.
51 Alexander Efimkin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
52 Alexandr Kolobnev TEAM CSC s.t.
53 John-Lee Augustyn DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
54 Emanuelle Bindi LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
55 Nicki Sörensen TEAM CSC s.t.
56 Patxi Vila LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
57 Constantino Zaballa CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
58 Thomas Lövkvist TEAM MILRAM s.t.
59 Yuri Trofimov QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
60 Michael Rasmussen DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
61 Karsten Kroon LIQUIGAS s.t.
62 Cândido Barbosa EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
63 Sergei Kolesnikov UNIBET.COM s.t.
64 Alexis Castro DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
65 Xavi Tondo TEAM ASTANA s.t.
66 Matthias Ruß GEROLSTEINER s.t.
67 Giampaolo Cheula SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
68 Marco Marzano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
69 Johan Vansummeren QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
70 Christophe Moreau CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
71 Steve Zampieri COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
72 Iñigo Landaluze EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
73 Tomislav Danculović DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
74 Rémy Di Gregorio DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
75 Simone Ponzi TEAM MILRAM s.t.
76 Iván Parra COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
77 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM s.t.
78 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM s.t.
79 Pietro Caucchioli COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
80 Gianni Meersman DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
81 Andrea Palini LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
82 Saul Raisin FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
83 Fabio Gilioli UNIBET.COM s.t.
84 Christophe Laurent CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
85 Alexander Khatuntsev UNIBET.COM s.t.
86 Gorka Verdugo EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
87 Christophe Brandt PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
88 Peter Velits TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
89 André Steensen TEAM CSC s.t.
90 Francesco Bellotti BARLOWORLD s.t.
91 Dominique Cornu PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
92 Massimiliano Gentili QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
93 Alexandr Dyachenko UNIBET.COM s.t.
94 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC s.t.
95 Pavel Brutt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
96 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
97 Marco Pinotti T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
98 Yannick Talabardon SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
99 Kevin Seeldraeyers QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 8'19
100 Benoît Vaugrenard T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
101 Martin Mortensen LIQUIGAS s.t.
102 Amaël Moinard COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 9'55
103 Julien Mazet TEAM ASTANA s.t.
104 Dani Navarro TEAM ASTANA s.t.
105 Jean-Marc Bideau TEAM MILRAM s.t.
106 Sergio Ghisalberti TEAM MILRAM s.t.
107 Ian Stannard DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
108 Ronny Scholz GEROLSTEINER s.t.
109 Dmytro Grabovskyy QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
110 Alberto Losada CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
111 Michael Barry T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
112 Bert De Waele TEAM CSC s.t.
113 Francesco Tomei CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
114 Gabriele Tassinari LIQUIGAS s.t.
115 Antonio Quadranti UNIBET.COM s.t.
116 Tim Klinger GEROLSTEINER s.t.
117 Jenning Huizenga FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
118 Dries Devenyns PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
119 Philip Deignan DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
120 Bingen Fernández COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
121 Bram De Groot RABOBANK s.t.
122 Yon Bru EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
123 Grischa Niermann RABOBANK s.t.
124 Mathieu Ladagnous FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
125 Błażej Janiaczyk PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
126 Marco Velo TEAM MILRAM s.t.
127 Ondrej Sosenka UNIBET.COM s.t.
128 Serafín Martínez RABOBANK s.t.
129 Gerhard Trampusch BARLOWORLD s.t.
130 Christophe Le Mével CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
131 Aketza Peña EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
132 Andrey Mizourov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
133 Remmert Wielinga SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
134 Francis Mourey FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
135 Nicolas Roche CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
136 Evgeni Sladkov BARLOWORLD s.t.
137 Maxim Belkov TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 13'07
138 Arkaitz Durán SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
139 Ivan De Nobile TEAM CSC s.t.
140 Adam Blythe DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 13'39
141 Markus Zberg GEROLSTEINER s.t.
142 Cyrille Monnerais FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
143 Anthony Charteau CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
144 Wim De Vocht PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
145 Anthony Geslin TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
146 Marko Ullmann T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
147 Blake Caldwell LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
148 Luis Felipe Laverde CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
149 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
150 Benny Dinkel TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 15'23
151 Pablo Lastras CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
152 Mikel Artetxe EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 16'19
153 Thomas Frei TEAM ASTANA s.t.
154 Thorwald Veneberg RABOBANK s.t.
155 Dioni Galparsoro EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
156 Christian Leben TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
157 Anders Lund TEAM CSC s.t.
158 Lucas De Visscher RABOBANK s.t.
159 Felix Odebrecht TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
160 Carlo Westphal GEROLSTEINER s.t.
161 Adamo Casisa RABOBANK s.t.
162 Moisés Aldape CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 18'19
163 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 19'15
164 Aaron Olson T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
165 Alejandro Ramírez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
166 Stefano Zanini PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 20'35
167 Scott Davis T-MOBILE TEAM + 21'39
168 Lander Aperribay EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 22'19
169 Anxo Celades CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 23'07
170 Sören Hofmann CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 26'11
171 Diego Caccia BARLOWORLD s.t.
172 Lucio Capozzi BARLOWORLD + 27'55
173 Michiel Elijzen COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 28'27
174 Mario Franca COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 30'51

Who's promoted? Great 2nd place!

Lombardia saw stats boosts for Konovalovas and Sulzberger









Manuel Lloret won the Chrono des Herbiers


Rafaa Chtioui took 2nd, while Mickey Smith was 3rd and Evan Oliphant 5th


1 Manuel Lloret DISCOVERY CHANNEL 1h08'17
2 Rafaâ Chtioui DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 35
3 Mickey Smith DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'00
4 Michiel Van Aelbroeck PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 1'15
5 Evan Oliphant DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'18
6 Gil Suray TEAM CSC + 1'52
7 Yuri Krivtsov AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 1'54
8 Linas Balciunas LIQUIGAS + 2'02
9 Nicolas Jalabert AGRITUBEL + 2'03
10 Remmert Wielinga SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'04
11 Javier González PERUTNINA PTUJ + 2'08
12 Christophe Kern ROUBAIX LILLE MÉTROPOLE + 2'29
13 Anthony Roux AUBER 93 + 2'35
14 Yoann Bagot BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 2'42
15 Gerben Löwik RABOBANK s.t.
16 Yannick Talabardon SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'45
17 Jens Erik Madsen ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO + 2'48
18 Johnny Boivin BRETAGNE - ARMOR LUX + 2'49
19 Ruslan Zhak PERUTNINA PTUJ + 2'50
20 Gabriele Balducci ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO + 2'57
21 Alexandr Kolobnev TEAM CSC + 2'58
22 Jean-Marc Bideau TEAM MILRAM + 2'59
23 Martin Müller ROUBAIX LILLE MÉTROPOLE + 3'13
24 Jean Zen ROUBAIX LILLE MÉTROPOLE s.t.
25 Caleb Manion AUBER 93 + 3'32
26 Aurélien Passeron ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO + 3'49
27 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM + 3'50
28 Stefano Zanini PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 3'51
29 Maciej Ulanowski TEAM UNIVERSAL CAFFÉ - ECOPETROL + 3'59
30 Matthew Hayman RABOBANK + 4'02
31 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM + 4'05
32 Pieter Jacobs TEAM UNIVERSAL CAFFÉ - ECOPETROL + 4'10
33 Claudio Corioni AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 4'11
34 Benoit Sinner AGRITUBEL + 4'12
35 Vladimir Bileka DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 4'14
36 Florent Bonnet BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 4'16
37 Bram De Groot RABOBANK + 4'17
38 Dimitri De Fauw AUBER 93 + 4'19
39 Renaud Dion LIQUIGAS + 4'23
40 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS s.t.
41 Romain Villa PERUTNINA PTUJ + 4'29
42 Rony Martias BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 4'44
43 Stéphane Bonsergent BRETAGNE - ARMOR LUX s.t.
44 Romain Feillu AGRITUBEL + 4'46
45 Giampaolo Cheula SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 4'47
46 Hans Dekkers PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 4'56
47 Giuseppe Ribolzi BRETAGNE - ARMOR LUX s.t.
48 Alexandre Usov AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 5'00
49 Roberto Richeze TEAM UNIVERSAL CAFFÉ - ECOPETROL + 5'14
50 Allan Johansen TEAM CSC + 5'15
51 Uros Murn DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 6'03

great 2nd place

Escalada a Montjuïc

Since Ive been to Montjuïc, which is in Barcelona, this was a race that I wanted to ride and its quite a peculiar race. Stage 1 is a road race with 5 laps of a 5km circuit - half of it is a fairly steep climb, the other half is a fairly steep descent. Stage 2 is just two laps, and its an ITT.

Teams were limited to 3 riders and I chose Bernard Sulzberger, David Millar and Rigoberto Uran.

Stage 1

Millar and Sulzberger attacked from the start and rode well together - they built a large gap and they werent going to be caught.


On the final lap, Millar slowed ...


... so that Sulzberger could take his first victory in his Australian National Champion jersey - at the last possible opportunity


Millar took the last kilometre very slowly - nearly coming to a standstill at one point, and is almost caught by the 3rd place finisher - Rigoberto Uran, who had attacked about halfway through the race when seeing Sulzberger and Millar were going to comfortably win.


1 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 43'18
2 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2'19
3 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 3'06
4 David Bernabéu FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM + 5'07
5 Mattias Puga VIÑA MAGNA - CROPU + 5'22
6 Floren Márquez ANDALUC�A - CAJASUR s.t.
7 Egoitz Murgoitio GRUPO NICOL�S MATEOS + 5'36
8 Sergio Pardilla VIÑA MAGNA - CROPU s.t.
9 Aketza Peña EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
10 Isidro Nozal KARPIN GALICIA s.t.
11 �ngel Vallejo RELAX - GAM s.t.
12 Cândido Barbosa EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
13 Gonzalo Rabuñal KARPIN GALICIA s.t.
14 Miguel Ochoa GRUPO NICOL�S MATEOS s.t.
15 Héctor Guerra CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
16 Jesús Ramírez EXTREMADURA - SPIUK s.t.
17 Dani Moreno RELAX - GAM s.t.
18 José Antonio Pecharromán SPORT LISBOA E BENFICA s.t.
19 Vicente Peiró GRUPO NICOL�S MATEOS s.t.
20 �ngel Vázquez LA - MSS - MILANEZA s.t.
21 Guido Trentin SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
22 Jesús Herrada EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
23 Antonio Olmo ANDALUC�A - CAJASUR s.t.
24 Pablo Lastras CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
25 �ngel Madrazo LIBERTY SEGUROS s.t.

Stage 2

The 1-2-3 was repeated again on Stage 2.

Uran took 3rd


Millar won the stage


2nd for Sulzberger secures a nice and easy overall triumph


1 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 15'18
2 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 14
3 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 20
4 Aketza Peña EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 46
5 Sergio Pardilla VIÑA MAGNA - CROPU + 47
6 Joaquim Rodríguez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 49
7 Cândido Barbosa EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 52
8 Floren Márquez ANDALUC�A - CAJASUR + 59
9 Héctor Guerra CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'03
10 David Bernabéu FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM s.t.
11 Dani Moreno RELAX - GAM + 1'11
12 Isidro Nozal KARPIN GALICIA + 1'13
13 Mikel Pradera SPORT LISBOA E BENFICA + 1'18
14 Víctor Elduayen SPORT LISBOA E BENFICA s.t.
15 Piotr Mazur SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'20
16 Miguel Ochoa GRUPO NICOL�S MATEOS s.t.
17 Gonzalo Rabuñal KARPIN GALICIA + 1'21
18 Egoitz Murgoitio GRUPO NICOL�S MATEOS s.t.
19 José Herrada VIÑA MAGNA - CROPU s.t.
20 Ramón Troncoso KARPIN GALICIA + 1'22
21 Pablo Lastras CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
22 �ngel Vallejo RELAX - GAM s.t.
23 Guido Trentin SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'24
24 Mattias Puga VIÑA MAGNA - CROPU + 1'26
25 José Antonio Pecharromán SPORT LISBOA E BENFICA + 1'27

GC
1 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 58'30
2 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2'13
3 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 3'24
4 David Bernabéu FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM + 6'16
5 Floren Márquez ANDALUC�A - CAJASUR + 6'27
6 Aketza Peña EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 6'28
7 Sergio Pardilla VIÑA MAGNA - CROPU + 6'29
8 Cândido Barbosa EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 6'34
9 Héctor Guerra CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 6'45
10 Dani Moreno RELAX - GAM + 6'53
11 Mattias Puga VIÑA MAGNA - CROPU + 6'54
12 Isidro Nozal KARPIN GALICIA + 6'55
13 Mikel Pradera SPORT LISBOA E BENFICA + 7'00
14 Miguel Ochoa GRUPO NICOL�S MATEOS + 7'02
15 Piotr Mazur SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
16 Egoitz Murgoitio GRUPO NICOL�S MATEOS + 7'03
17 Gonzalo Rabuñal KARPIN GALICIA s.t.
18 �ngel Vallejo RELAX - GAM + 7'04
19 Pablo Lastras CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
20 Guido Trentin SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 7'06
21 José Antonio Pecharromán SPORT LISBOA E BENFICA + 7'09
22 �ngel Vázquez LA - MSS - MILANEZA + 7'11
23 �ngel Madrazo LIBERTY SEGUROS + 7'12
24 Juan Gomis RELAX - GAM s.t.
25 Vicente Peiró GRUPO NICOL�S MATEOS + 7'17
26 Jesús Herrada EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 7'18
27 Antonio Olmo ANDALUC�A - CAJASUR + 7'19
28 Hasier Olea FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM + 7'20
29 José Ruiz ANDALUC�A - CAJASUR s.t.
30 Jon Angeru Pardillos EXTREMADURA - SPIUK s.t.
31 Joaquim Rodríguez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 7'25
32 Carlos Zárate SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 7'28
33 Jesús Ramírez EXTREMADURA - SPIUK + 7'33
34 Ramón Domene LIBERTY SEGUROS + 7'44
35 Ramón Troncoso KARPIN GALICIA + 7'48
36 José Herrada VIÑA MAGNA - CROPU + 7'57
37 Marco Bandiera LA - MSS - MILANEZA + 8'00
38 Sergio Herrero EXTREMADURA - SPIUK + 8'09
39 Rogério Batista LA - MSS - MILANEZA + 8'12
40 Nelson Oliveira LIBERTY SEGUROS + 8'14
41 Jon Aberasturi FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM + 8'30
42 Víctor Elduayen SPORT LISBOA E BENFICA + 8'48

Team: Chtioui, Smith, McCann, Konovalovas, Thomas, Oliphant, Stannard, Blythe, Hammond

Stage 1

8 laps of a 12km circuit totalling 92km of flat road. Flat rating, Sprint length: 3km.

Hans Dekkers wins, with Geraint Thomas 3rd.


Stage 2

8 laps of a 12km circuit totalling 92km of flat road. Mountain rating, Sprint length: 1km.

Christian Vandevelde wins with 6 DFL riders in the top 18 - Chtioui is the best placed in 4th.


Stage 3

Its the same flat 12km circuit - but only 4 laps, so totalling 46km, and this time its an ITT. Its a very weird ITT aswell - since each rider needs to do 4 laps, it means we see 4 riders riding on different laps yet at similar points on the course! Must be very confusing for the time keepers who have already proved a distinct lack of cycling knowledge by calling Stage 2 mountainous.


There are no time bonuses in the race so the only ones not on the same time are those who lost time on previous stages through crashes or being in no form in Mid-October. This meant that somehow, Rafaa Chtioui was given the overall race lead - with Geraint Thomas 2nd overall. Here we see Chtioui passing Thomas:


Chtioui produced a brilliant effort to finish 3rd on the stage, and 2nd overall - since 2nd place on the stage Sebastien Langeveld had previously lost time. The winner by a country mile was Bradley Wiggins.


Final Top 25 GC:
1 Bradley Wiggins COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE 5h17'19
2 Rafaâ Chtioui DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'47
3 Jenning Huizenga FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 2'34
4 Luis León Sánchez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
5 Alexander Khatuntsev UNIBET.COM + 2'49
6 David McCann DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
7 Ondrej Sosenka UNIBET.COM + 2'50
8 Thomas Lövkvist TEAM MILRAM + 2'51
9 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC s.t.
10 Dmytro Grabovskyy QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 2'54
11 Ronny Scholz GEROLSTEINER + 3'09
12 Torsten Hiekmann GEROLSTEINER + 3'11
13 Niki Terpstra TEAM MILRAM + 3'15
14 Arkaitz Durán SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 3'23
15 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC + 3'31
16 Matthias Ruß GEROLSTEINER s.t.
17 Maxime Bouet COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 3'33
18 Linas Balciunas LIQUIGAS + 3'37
19 Carlos Eduardo Alzate EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 3'38
20 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
21 Sebastian Lang GEROLSTEINER + 3'39
22 Yuri Krivtsov AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 3'47
23 Kevin De Weert COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 3'49
24 Steven Cummings DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 3'50
25 Markus Eichler UNIBET.COM + 3'54

Alberto Contador wins the 2008 ProTour by just 5 points over Alejandro Valverde



DFL were comfortably the best team. Milram and Wiesenhof go down.



In the continental tour, having led all season Romain Feillu saw Stefano Garzelli slip past thanks to 2nd in the Giro dell'Emelia. So Garzelli wins the continental individual standings for the 2nd year running.



Barloworld and Ag2r win promotion to the ProTour.



100 wins!

the abu dabi race of champions was left out of the pcm spain rigth? how come you have it?

Dankan posted an advanced copy of the PCM Spain DB in the private moderators forum here a few days before it was released to everyone. I downloaded it and thats what I use - I presume that in the few days between him posting it there and the full release, he replaced the Abu Dhabi race with the Monte Paschi Eroica.

too bad because the prize money is one million

Is that possible to implement in the game?

Great Season SN, dont think any team coming into their first year in the ProTour would do that well. Good luck for Season 3!

Having already signed Cadel Evans, Matt Goss, Maxim Iglinski, David de la Fuente, Bradley Wiggins, Mikhail Ignatiev and Justo Tenorio, I only targeted a few riders in the transfer season.

Mark Cavendish was one but T-Mobile just would not accept any price for him. I also tried to get Chris Anker Sorenson but in the end he moved from Lamonta to Cinelli Endeka. Daniel Martin stayed at Volksbank, Dave Zabriskie stayed at Rabobank Continental while Marcel Kittel went from Thuringer Energie to Ceramica Flaminia of other riders I made an offer for.

I did manage to make 2 successful signings though, to strengthen DFL's climbing unit. Philip Deignan and Saul Raisin!

SAUL!!!!!

Im sure youre all quite interested in what the stats are like in 2009, after 2 full seasons.

The best climbers:


The best puncheurs:


The best time trialists:


The best cobbled riders:


The best sprinters:


The best Under 25s:


The best Under 23s:


The best Under 21s:


The best Under 19s:

Can we see a 2009 team stat list?

Ill be posting screenshots of all the ProTour teams