Ex:


Just the bad words about the race.. looks like Your motivation isn't on the top. But hold on, I love your story!

Ive just raced Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico in no more than two days and you question my motivation

Would you rather I wasted a long time reporting Tirreno-Adriatico when the race holds no interest as far as DFL is concerned or that I quickly passed over it to get to the far more interesting races?

Ok, you won... hehehe

Nokere-Koerse

Possibly the easiest race to win in PCM - even on Extreme. Nolf knew where he had to be with 1km to go: the front.


And sure enough Frederik Nolf charges up the hill to win the race - hopefully it wont be his only win of the season, but the first of many.


1 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 4h45'48
2 Roy Sentjens PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 12
3 Pieter Jacobs JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
4 Arnaud Coyot DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
5 Jonas Van Genechten STOREZ LEDECQ MATERIAUX s.t.
6 Tom Criel BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
7 Michiel Van Aelbroeck PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
8 Daniel Foder QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
9 Andy Cappelle LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
10 Carlos Barredo RABOBANK s.t.
11 Niels Scheuneman UNIBET.COM s.t.
12 Imanol Erviti QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
13 Alessandro Cortinovis UNIBET.COM s.t.
14 Marcel Sieberg PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
15 James Vanlandschoot LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
16 David Boucher LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
17 Kenny De Haes PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
18 Janek Tombak LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
19 Johan Coenen TIME - VAN HEMERT s.t.
20 Stèphane Poulhiès BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
21 Sergey Shevlyakov STOREZ LEDECQ MATERIAUX s.t.
22 Marc De Maar TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK s.t.
23 Bram Schmitz RABOBANK s.t.
24 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
25 Stefano Zanini PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
26 Roy Curvers TIME - VAN HEMERT s.t.
27 Geert Verheyen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
28 Kobe Vanoverschelde NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
29 Marvin Van der Pluijm UNIBET.COM s.t.
30 Nilceu Santos STOREZ LEDECQ MATERIAUX s.t.
31 Emanuele Rizza TIME - VAN HEMERT s.t.
32 Ian Stannard DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
33 Luigi Sestili TEAM REGIOSTROM - SENGES s.t.
34 Nick Ingels PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
35 Gerben Löwik RABOBANK s.t.

On the morning of the Milan San-Remo, which like Tirreno-Adriatico, is a race that does not take our fancy, we received some great news - Rigoberto Uran is fully healed and can now resume training. The mid-march target proved optimistic, but it makes little difference. The injured wrist was a huge setback for Uran, and he acknowledges, disappointingly, that he will miss the Ardennes classics this year.
Every cloud has a silver lining though, and it means that the Colombian will instead makes his Tour de France debut. He will go onto ride Eneco Tour, Plouay, Tour de Pologne, and 3-Lander Tour before his peak at the Worlds and Lombardia.

nice win

although i do agree - as long as your rider is about 60 plus on hills and sprint and 65 plus on cobbles you can win - it raises sponsor confidence well for the small teams

A win for Haussler as Nolf is the only DFL finisher in the front group, taking 50th.



1 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER 7h11'29
2 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
3 Gerald Ciolek T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
4 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
5 Daniele Bennati LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
6 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
7 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS s.t.
8 Martin Mortensen TEAM CSC s.t.
9 Robert Hunter GEROLSTEINER s.t.
10 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
11 Christopher Sutton UNIBET.COM s.t.
12 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS s.t.
13 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
14 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
15 Jesús Del Nero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
16 Matti Breschel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
17 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
18 Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER s.t.
19 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
20 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
21 Andreas Klier GEROLSTEINER s.t.
22 Luca Paolini LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
23 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
24 Giovanni Visconti TEAM ASTANA s.t.
25 Danilo Di Luca T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
26 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
27 Stijn Devolder EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
28 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
29 Vladimir Gusev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
30 Fran Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
31 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
32 Ivan Rovny LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
33 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK s.t.
34 Yuri Trofimov COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
35 Mirko Celestino RABOBANK s.t.
36 Stuart O'Grady DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
37 Danilo Napolitano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
38 Nick Nuyens TEAM CSC s.t.
39 Philippe Gilbert RABOBANK s.t.
40 Tom Stamsnijder T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
41 Sergei Ivanov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
42 Nikolas Maes RABOBANK s.t.
43 Luca Mazzanti EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
44 José Joaquín Rojas CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
45 Dimitri Muravyev TEAM ASTANA s.t.
46 Dainius Kairelis BARLOWORLD s.t.
47 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS s.t.
48 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD s.t.
49 Samuel Sánchez TEAM ASTANA s.t.
50 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.




It was an easy win for Boonen while Nolf faced a tough time with a bad daily form.

1 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 5h20'17
2 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 3'01
3 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
4 Kevin Van Impe RABOBANK s.t.
5 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
6 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 5'14
7 Stuart O'Grady DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
8 Nikolas Maes RABOBANK s.t.
9 Marcus Burghardt FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
10 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
11 Nick Nuyens TEAM CSC s.t.
12 Vladimir Gusev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
13 Yuri Trofimov COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
14 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
15 Andreas Klier GEROLSTEINER + 7'51
16 Tom Veelers COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 10'23
17 Sébastien Rosseler QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 10'47
18 Gianni Meersman DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 11'43
19 Damien Gaudin LIQUIGAS s.t.
20 Geert Omloop CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 13'51
21 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
22 Kevyn Ista CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
23 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
24 David Kopp GEROLSTEINER s.t.
25 Eric Baumann T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
26 Markus Eichler UNIBET.COM s.t.
27 Joost Posthuma AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
28 Erik Zabel TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
29 Manuel Quinziato QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
30 Roy Sentjens PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 16'15
31 Jan Kuyckx RABOBANK + 17'51
32 Arnaud Coyot DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
33 Simone Masciarelli DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 18'15
34 Jimmy Engoulvent FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 18'49
35 Max Van Heeswijk COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
36 Bobbie Traksel DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
37 Wim De Vocht PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
38 Staf Scheirlinckx LIQUIGAS s.t.
39 Constantino Zaballa CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
40 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
41 Kenny De Haes PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
42 Matthew Hayman RABOBANK + 20'20
43 Vincent Bastaens JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
44 Clément L'Hottelerie SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
45 Nico Eeckhout TEAM CSC + 21'46
46 Yuri Krivtsov LIQUIGAS s.t.
47 Leon Van Bon TEAM CSC s.t.
48 Fumiyuki Beppu DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
49 Steven De Jongh QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
50 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC + 22'57




Even more bad daily form for Nolf

Boonen and Ballan rode away and would battle for victory. Boonen led out the sprint but Ballan moved alongside him and edged into the lead


But Boonen came back at the World Champion and edged infront to win


1 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 5h29'11
2 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
3 Yuri Trofimov COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 4'28
4 Matti Breschel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
5 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
6 Nick Nuyens TEAM CSC s.t.
7 Kevin Van Impe RABOBANK s.t.
8 Vladimir Gusev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
9 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
10 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
11 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
12 Nikolas Maes RABOBANK s.t.
13 Gianni Meersman DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
14 Stuart O'Grady DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
15 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK s.t.
16 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 7'08
17 Luca Paolini LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
18 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
19 Arnaud Coyot DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
20 Marcus Burghardt FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
21 Enrico Franzoï LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
22 Max Van Heeswijk COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
23 Philippe Gilbert RABOBANK s.t.
24 David Kopp GEROLSTEINER + 8'52
25 Andreas Klier GEROLSTEINER s.t.
26 Damien Gaudin LIQUIGAS s.t.
27 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 10'17
28 Geert Steurs PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
29 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
30 Wilfried Cretskens CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 10'43
31 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
32 Andy Cappelle LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
33 Fabio Sabatini TEAM MILRAM s.t.
34 Sébastien Rosseler QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
35 Kevyn Ista CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
36 Dimitri Muravyev TEAM ASTANA s.t.
37 Manuel Quinziato QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
38 Evert Verbist CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
39 Bert Grabsch T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
40 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
41 Frank Høj COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
42 Roy Sentjens PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 14'03
43 Sergei Ivanov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
44 Staf Scheirlinckx LIQUIGAS s.t.
45 Joost Posthuma AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
46 Gorik Gardeyn UNIBET.COM s.t.
47 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
48 Bobbie Traksel DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
49 Mirko Celestino RABOBANK s.t.
50 Martin Mortensen TEAM CSC s.t.

Stage 1

Its no surprise that Boonen won the cobbled stage in a sprint.


1 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 4h18'28
2 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
3 Philippe Gilbert RABOBANK s.t.
4 Matti Breschel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
5 Stuart O'Grady DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
6 Kevin Van Impe RABOBANK s.t.
7 Gianni Meersman DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
8 Vladimir Gusev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
9 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
10 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
11 Geert Steurs PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
12 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
13 Nikolas Maes RABOBANK s.t.
14 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
15 Sébastien Rosseler QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
16 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK s.t.
17 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
18 Enrico Franzoï LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 54
19 Sergei Ivanov TEAM ASTANA + 1'40
20 Marcus Burghardt FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
21 Luca Paolini LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 3'03
22 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
23 Markus Eichler UNIBET.COM + 7'21
24 Jesús Del Nero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 8'07
25 Dimitri Muravyev TEAM ASTANA s.t.
26 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
27 Fabio Sabatini TEAM MILRAM s.t.
28 Erik Zabel TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
29 Jimmy Casper UNIBET.COM s.t.
30 Geert Omloop CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
31 Andy Cappelle LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
32 Damien Gaudin LIQUIGAS s.t.
33 Wim De Vocht PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
34 Staf Scheirlinckx LIQUIGAS s.t.
35 Bert Roesems LIQUIGAS s.t.
36 Arnaud Coyot DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 9'13
37 Roy Sentjens PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 10'39
38 Bert Grabsch T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
39 Kristof De Zutter CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 11'08
40 Gorik Gardeyn UNIBET.COM + 11'37
41 Vincent Bastaens JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
42 Thierry Marichal FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
43 Kevin De Weert FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
44 Niels Scheuneman UNIBET.COM s.t.
45 Dimitry Kozontchuk ACTION - UNIQA s.t.
46 Thomas Lövkvist TEAM MILRAM s.t.
47 Francesco Failli TEAM MILRAM s.t.
48 Kenny De Haes PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
49 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 13'46
50 Bobbie Traksel DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
51 Daniel Foder QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
52 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.


Stage 2

A late attack from Gert van Avermaet gave him a 40 second advantage going into the sprint - and not even Boonen can close that gap down.


1 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO 4h40'29
2 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
3 Luca Paolini LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
4 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
5 Matti Breschel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
6 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
7 Stuart O'Grady DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
8 Jesús Del Nero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
9 Fabio Sabatini TEAM MILRAM s.t.
10 Vladimir Gusev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
11 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
12 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
13 Antonio Aldegani QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
14 Jimmy Casper UNIBET.COM s.t.
15 Eric Baumann T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
16 Erik Zabel TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
17 Bobbie Traksel DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
18 Olivier Pardini CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
19 Jeremy Hunt CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
20 Geert Steurs PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
21 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
22 Sébastien Rosseler QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
23 Nikolas Maes RABOBANK s.t.
24 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
25 Mickael Delage FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.


Stage 3

Nolf was active late on and held a small gap going into the sprint


But Boonen shot past to win, surprise surprise. Geraint Thomas put in a great sprint for 7th though.


1 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 5h02'43
2 Stuart O'Grady DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
3 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
4 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
5 Luca Paolini LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
6 Erik Zabel TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
7 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
8 Gianni Meersman DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
9 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
10 Dimitri Muravyev TEAM ASTANA s.t.
11 Vladimir Gusev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
12 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
13 Jesús Del Nero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
14 Matti Breschel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
15 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
16 Philippe Gilbert RABOBANK s.t.
17 Eric Baumann T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
18 Fabio Sabatini TEAM MILRAM s.t.
19 Antonio Aldegani QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
20 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
21 Jimmy Casper UNIBET.COM s.t.
22 Nikolas Maes RABOBANK s.t.
23 Marvin Van der Pluijm UNIBET.COM s.t.
24 Kobe Vanoverschelde NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
25 Geert Steurs PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.


Stage 4

Sebastien Rosseler wins the time trial and since he finished in the lead group on Stage 1, he takes overall victory too


1 Sébastien Rosseler QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 12'22
2 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 25
3 Vladimir Gusev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 31
4 Niels Scheuneman UNIBET.COM + 45
5 José Iván Gutiérrez SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
6 Kevin De Weert FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 50
7 Bert Roesems LIQUIGAS + 53
8 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS + 54
9 Thomas Lövkvist TEAM MILRAM s.t.
10 Bert Grabsch T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
11 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 56
12 Thomas Ziegler T-MOBILE TEAM + 57
13 Matti Breschel T-MOBILE TEAM + 58
14 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 59
15 Piotr Mazur SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
16 Kevin Van Impe RABOBANK + 1'02
17 Bradley Wiggins DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'04
18 Gianni Meersman DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
19 Enrico Franzoï LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
20 Damien Gaudin LIQUIGAS + 1'06
21 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK s.t.
22 Olivier Kaisen PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 1'07
23 Markus Eichler UNIBET.COM + 1'08
24 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'09
25 Mark Hinnen ACTION - UNIQA + 1'12



Final GC:
1 Sébastien Rosseler QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 14h14'02
2 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 25
3 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 30
4 Vladimir Gusev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 31
5 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 53
6 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS + 54
7 Matti Breschel T-MOBILE TEAM + 58
8 Kevin Van Impe RABOBANK + 1'02
9 Gianni Meersman DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 1'04
10 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK + 1'06
11 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'09
12 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
13 Nikolas Maes RABOBANK + 1'16
14 Philippe Gilbert RABOBANK + 1'21
15 Geert Steurs PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 1'22
16 Stuart O'Grady DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 1'39
17 Enrico Franzoï LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 1'58
18 Sergei Ivanov TEAM ASTANA + 3'12
19 Marcus Burghardt FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 3'13
20 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 4'15
21 Luca Paolini LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 4'55
22 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 5'16
23 Markus Eichler UNIBET.COM + 8'29
24 Bert Roesems LIQUIGAS + 9'00
25 Damien Gaudin LIQUIGAS + 9'13
43 Arnaud Coyot DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 14'01
63 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 18'45
64 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 18'46
107 Ian Stannard DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 24'48
118 Bradley Wiggins DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 27'00

Theres is a new route for this year's hilly Ronde van Vlaanderen. The Muur is much closer to the finish and the climb up the Bosberg could be decisive right at the end - if a large group comes to the finish, it won't necesarrily play into the hands of Boonen like it often does.

176 riders line up in Brugge - but how many will finish it?


There were plenty of hills on the route and they all followed a similar patttern. Quick Step, Predictor and Lampre set the pace up them, its stretched out in the descent, and then they slow since their leaders are sat too far back. Nolf was never quite able to take advantage of this, but came close on a few occasions.


With 20km to go, Flecha attacks


World champion Ballan counters though and drops the Spaniard


A third gets away in the descent as when the relayers, once again, drop back - it leaves Pozzato in the clear and he rides off


Nolf also sees that as his chance and attacks


He reaches Pozzato, with the Muur on site


Looking to repeat his 2007 victory, Ballan leads onto the Muur with a strong gap on Flecha


Pozzato and Nolf come close to being caught


Ballan summits the Muur


The gap between the peleton and Pozzato + Nolf extends again on the top


But Nolf is struggling and has to let go of Pozzato on the Bosberg


Victory for Alessandro Ballan!


Flecha takes 2nd with Pozzato 3rd


Despite cracking in the final kilometre, Nolf hangs on for a great 4th place


Rank Name Team Time
1 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL 6h42'18
2 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK + 1'43
3 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
4 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 3'11
5 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
6 Vladimir Gusev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
7 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
8 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
9 Nick Nuyens TEAM CSC s.t.
10 Philippe Gilbert RABOBANK s.t.
11 Stuart O'Grady DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
12 Nikolas Maes RABOBANK s.t.
13 Jesús Del Nero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
14 Matti Breschel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
15 Yuri Trofimov COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
16 Luca Paolini LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
17 Dimitri Muravyev TEAM ASTANA s.t.
18 Marcus Burghardt FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
19 Stijn Devolder EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
20 Andreas Klier GEROLSTEINER s.t.
21 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 4'23
22 Gianni Meersman DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
23 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
24 Geert Steurs PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
25 Arnaud Coyot DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
26 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
27 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
28 Enrico Franzoï LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
29 Kevin Van Impe RABOBANK s.t.
30 Sergei Ivanov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
31 Giovanni Visconti TEAM ASTANA + 5'15
32 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER + 6'13
33 Damien Gaudin LIQUIGAS s.t.
34 Martin Mortensen TEAM CSC s.t.
35 Bernhard Eisel T-MOBILE TEAM + 7'29
36 Staf Scheirlinckx LIQUIGAS s.t.
37 David Kopp GEROLSTEINER s.t.
38 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 7'56
39 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 8'17
40 Daniele Bennati LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 9'18
41 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 10'32
42 Lars Boom RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
43 Sébastien Rosseler QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
44 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
45 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC + 10'52
46 Simone Masciarelli DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 11'47
47 Gert Steegmans T-MOBILE TEAM + 12'51
48 Bert Grabsch T-MOBILE TEAM + 14'03
49 Joost Posthuma AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
50 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS s.t.
51 Gil Suray TEAM CSC s.t.
52 Roy Sentjens PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
53 Steven Kruijswijk RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
54 Daniel McConnell T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
55 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
56 Fran Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
57 Tom Veelers COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
58 Fumiyuki Beppu DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
59 Max Van Heeswijk COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 15'47
60 Pedro Horrillo LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
61 Alberto Ongarato LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 16'11
62 Kenny Van der Schueren RABOBANK s.t.
63 Jan Kuyckx RABOBANK s.t.
64 Dmytro Grabovskyy GEROLSTEINER s.t.
65 Markus Eichler UNIBET.COM s.t.
66 Sven Nys RABOBANK CONTINENTAL + 16'35
67 Kristof De Zutter CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
68 Bobbie Traksel DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
69 Wim Van Huffel DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 16'59
70 Geert Omloop CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 17'15
71 Markus Zberg GEROLSTEINER s.t.
72 Evert Verbist CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
73 Guennadi Mikhailov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
74 Bram Schmitz RABOBANK s.t.
75 Jeremy Hunt CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
76 Klaas Sys LIQUIGAS s.t.
77 Markel Irizar EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 17'55
78 Nico Eeckhout TEAM CSC + 18'19
79 Jonas Decouttere LIQUIGAS + 18'43
80 Imanol Erviti QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 18'59
81 Raivis Belohvosciks SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 19'15
82 Ian Stannard DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 19'31
83 Constantino Zaballa CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
84 José Joaquín Rojas CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
85 Christopher Sutton UNIBET.COM s.t.
86 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
87 Danilo Napolitano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
88 Christophe Mengin FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 19'59
89 Matthew Hayman RABOBANK s.t.
90 Thomas Rabou RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
91 Stéphane Augé COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
92 Maxime Monfort COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
93 Koen Barbé LIQUIGAS s.t.
94 Gorik Gardeyn UNIBET.COM s.t.
95 David Blanco CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
96 Pierrick Fédrigo CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
97 Laszló Bodrogi BARLOWORLD s.t.
98 Henk Vogels GEROLSTEINER s.t.
99 Alessandro Cortinovis UNIBET.COM s.t.
100 Luca Mazzanti EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
101 Geert Verheyen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
102 Kevyn Ista CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
103 Leonardo Duque CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
104 HÃ¥kan Nilsson RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
105 Frederik Veuchelen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
106 Kevin De Weert FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
107 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS + 21'23
108 Patrice Halgand CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 22'09
109 Dario Cataldo BARLOWORLD s.t.
110 Michiel Van Aelbroeck PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 22'41
111 Leon Van Bon TEAM CSC + 22'53
112 Diego Caccia BARLOWORLD s.t.
113 Olivier Pardini CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 23'13
114 Robert Förster PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
115 René Weissinger TEAM ASTANA s.t.
116 Assan Bazayev CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
117 Pablo Lastras CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
118 Paul Voss TEAM ASTANA s.t.
119 Nicolas Roche CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
120 Jérôme Coppel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
121 Jimmy Engoulvent FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
122 Héctor Guerra CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
123 Thierry Marichal FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
124 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM + 24'21
125 Eric Baumann T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
126 Antonio Aldegani QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 24'33
127 Eric Berthou CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 24'49
128 Martin Pedersen UNIBET.COM + 25'05
129 Rubens Bertogliati SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 26'17
130 Beñat Albízuri EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 26'29
131 Florent Brard CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
132 Michiel Elijzen COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
133 Alexandre Usov AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
134 Marc Lotz BARLOWORLD s.t.
135 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC + 27'01
136 Yoann Offredo BARLOWORLD + 27'53
137 Ronny Scholz GEROLSTEINER s.t.
138 Yon Bru EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 28'09
139 Evgeni Popov RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
140 Tom Stubbe RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
141 Volker Ordowski GEROLSTEINER s.t.
142 Maarten De Jonge AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
143 Lucio Capozzi BARLOWORLD s.t.
144 René Haselbacher TEAM ASTANA + 28'29
145 Sébastien Portal CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
146 Juan Pablo Forero PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
147 Alan Pérez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
148 Javier Mejías SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 29'05
149 Jos Van Emden RABOBANK CONTINENTAL + 29'29
150 Carlos Eduardo Alzate EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
151 Uros Murn DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 29'57
152 Remmert Wielinga SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 30'49
153 Anuar Manan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 31'09
154 Ludovic Auger FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 31'45
155 Evan Oliphant DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 32'25
156 Rafael Valls CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
157 Ben Swift DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
158 Raúl Alarcón SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 32'53
159 Cyril Lemoine CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 33'13
160 Rick Fransen FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
161 Darren Lill TEAM ASTANA + 33'29
162 Steven Kleynen COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 33'41
163 Dirk Müller AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 34'29
164 Didier Lerda AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 35'21
165 Troels Vinther UNIBET.COM + 35'45
166 Angelo Furlan UNIBET.COM s.t.
167 Tim Gudsell FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 36'01
168 Andrei Kunitski COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 36'17
169 Will Routley AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 36'33
170 Glenn D'Hollander CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 36'45
171 Lauro Agostinelli BARLOWORLD + 37'05
172 James Lewis Perry BARLOWORLD + 39'41
173 Jesús Herrada EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
174 Theo Bos LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 40'21
175 Dainius Grigalevichius SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 40'33
176 Robert McLachlan T-MOBILE TEAM + 42'21

Team
Konovalovas - Our best shot at a good GC racing
Contador - I gave Alberto the leader role though so he doesnt get upset
Ignatiev - XP
Goss - XP
Raisin, De la Fuente, Perez, Sulzberger - Race form/I had to pick someone

Stage 1

Schleck wins, Konovalovas 3rd.


1 Fränk Schleck TEAM CSC 3h42'54
2 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC s.t.
3 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
4 �ngel Vicioso PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
5 Kim Kirchen LIQUIGAS s.t.
6 Manuel Lloret DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
7 Rémy Di Gregorio DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
8 Theo Eltink SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
9 Samuel Sánchez TEAM ASTANA s.t.
10 Rubén Plaza SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
11 Óscar García-Casarrubios COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
12 Andriy Grivko FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
13 Laurens Ten Dam UNIBET.COM s.t.
14 Vincenzo Nibali T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
15 Luis León Sánchez DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
81 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.


Stage 2

Ten Dam wins, Konovalovas (In White) is 10th


1 Laurens Ten Dam UNIBET.COM 4h07'27
2 Manuel Lloret DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
3 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC s.t.
4 Fränk Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
5 Samuel Sánchez TEAM ASTANA s.t.
6 Luca Mazzanti EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
7 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD s.t.
8 Jaume Rovira AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
9 Juanma Gárate QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
10 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
11 Andriy Grivko FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
12 Kim Kirchen LIQUIGAS s.t.
13 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
14 Emanuele Sella DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
15 Rubén Plaza SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
79 Mikhail Ignatiev DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
82 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
83 David De la Fuente DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.


Stage 3

Konovalovas was unable to keep up with the late attackers as Grivko wins the stage


1 Andriy Grivko FRANÇAISE DES JEUX 4h22'32
2 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
3 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD s.t.
4 Samuel Sánchez TEAM ASTANA s.t.
5 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
6 Danilo Di Luca T-MOBILE TEAM + 32
7 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA + 49
8 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER s.t.
9 Tom Stamsnijder T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
10 Davide Rebellin TEAM CSC s.t.
11 Joaquim Rodríguez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
12 Manuele Mori FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
13 Vincenzo Nibali T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
14 Kim Kirchen LIQUIGAS s.t.
15 Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER s.t.
35 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
56 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.


Stage 4

Konovalovas leads into the final kilometre


But Barredo wins. It is Konavalovas' first ever 2nd place, having previously had 5 third places while riding for DFL.


1 Carlos Barredo RABOBANK 4h10'21
2 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
3 Laurens Ten Dam UNIBET.COM s.t.
4 Fränk Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
5 Samuel Sánchez TEAM ASTANA s.t.
6 Kim Kirchen LIQUIGAS s.t.
7 Ivan Rovny LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
8 Chris Horner CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
9 Pablo Lastras CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
10 Manuel Lloret DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
11 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC s.t.
12 Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER s.t.
13 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER s.t.
14 Joaquim Rodríguez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
15 Tom Stamsnijder T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
16 Manuele Mori FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
17 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
18 Jaume Rovira AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
19 Andriy Grivko FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
20 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
21 Davide Rebellin TEAM CSC s.t.
22 Theo Eltink SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
23 Rubén Plaza SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
24 Emanuele Sella DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
25 Dainius Kairelis BARLOWORLD s.t.
26 Luca Mazzanti EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
27 Danilo Di Luca T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
28 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS s.t.
29 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD s.t.
30 Rémy Di Gregorio DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
31 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA s.t.
32 José Iván Gutiérrez SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
33 Alberto Losada CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
34 Haimar Zubeldia SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 37
35 HÃ¥kan Nilsson RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
36 David Herrero KARPIN GALICIA + 52
37 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
38 Sergio Paulinho RABOBANK s.t.
39 Óscar Pereiro UNIBET.COM s.t.
40 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK s.t.


Stage 5

The hilliest stage of the tour but also the only one with a flat rating. The sprint is therefore longer, which suits Valverde, so Valverde wins.


1 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 4h07'36
2 Danilo Di Luca T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
3 Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER s.t.
4 Samuel Sánchez TEAM ASTANA s.t.
5 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
6 Kim Kirchen LIQUIGAS s.t.
7 Dainius Kairelis BARLOWORLD s.t.
8 Luca Mazzanti EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
9 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER s.t.
10 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD s.t.
11 Davide Rebellin TEAM CSC s.t.
12 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
13 �ngel Vicioso PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
14 John Gadret AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
15 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA s.t.
80 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
90 David De la Fuente DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
112 Mikhail Ignatiev DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
123 Fran Pérez DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
140 Saul Raisin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.



Stage 6

After Stage 5, Ignatiev received a useful stats boost


Still not in particularly good form, the boost helped him to take 12th


Valverde wins the stage to secure overall victory


1 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 19'22
2 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC + 20
3 Manuel Lloret DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
4 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM + 26
5 Sebastian Langeveld GEROLSTEINER + 34
6 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK + 35
7 Danilo Di Luca T-MOBILE TEAM + 36
8 Benoît Vaugrenard T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
9 Santiago Botero TEAM ASTANA + 38
10 Andriy Grivko FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 42
11 Luis León Sánchez DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 43
12 Mikhail Ignatiev DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 44
13 Mauricio Ortega SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
14 Julián Rodas TEAM ASTANA s.t.
15 Rubén Plaza SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
41 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'04
50 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'13



Final GC:
1 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 20h50'12
2 Andriy Grivko FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 42
3 Samuel Sánchez TEAM ASTANA + 46
4 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 1'00
5 Danilo Di Luca T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'08
6 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC + 1'09
7 Manuel Lloret DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
8 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD + 1'20
9 Rubén Plaza SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'33
10 Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER + 1'38
11 José Iván Gutiérrez SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'41
12 Chris Horner CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
13 Kim Kirchen LIQUIGAS + 1'43
14 Fränk Schleck TEAM CSC + 1'46
15 Tom Stamsnijder T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
16 Laurens Ten Dam UNIBET.COM + 1'48
17 Ivan Rovny LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 1'51
18 Alberto Losada CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
19 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'53
20 Theo Eltink SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
21 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA + 2'02
22 Joaquim Rodríguez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 2'03
23 Pablo Lastras CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 2'08
24 Rémy Di Gregorio DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'09
25 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER + 2'14
26 Benoît Vaugrenard T-MOBILE TEAM + 2'17
27 Luis León Sánchez DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'24
28 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS s.t.
29 Levi Leipheimer RABOBANK + 2'27
30 Jaume Rovira AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
31 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER + 2'28
32 Vincenzo Nibali T-MOBILE TEAM + 2'30
33 Manuele Mori FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 2'31
34 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC + 2'37
35 Óscar Pereiro UNIBET.COM + 2'43
36 Emanuele Sella DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'45
37 Luca Mazzanti EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 2'46
38 �ngel Vicioso PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 2'49
39 David Blanco CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 2'54
40 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
41 Denis Menchov LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 2'56
42 Sergio Paulinho RABOBANK + 2'59
43 Bernhard Kohl TEAM ASTANA + 3'01
44 David Herrero KARPIN GALICIA + 3'10
45 Mauricio Soler RABOBANK + 3'18
46 Tadej Valjavec UNIBET.COM + 3'19
47 Amets Txurruka EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 3'22
48 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM + 3'24
49 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK + 3'33
50 Julián Rodas TEAM ASTANA + 3'42
113 Mikhail Ignatiev DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 14'43
117 David De la Fuente DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 16'03
127 Fran Pérez DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 19'09
155 Saul Raisin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 32'21
159 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 37'55
169 Matthew Goss DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 57'45

wow, Ignatiev's boost was good!

High winds will dominate this Belgian classic.

Ballan lost contact with the front group with 92km to go as he punctures


He falls back to a group containing Hoste, Hincapie and ProTour leader Gusev


Nolf meanwhile is feeling strong (for now) in the lead group along with Coyot


Breschel's hopes of winning this race for 2 years running are all but ended when he punctures


And after the last climb/descent of the Kemmelberg, who else but Tom Boonen has a gap


Nolf sstarts to struggle and cant keep up with the CSC pair of Nuyens and Cancellara, and the Rabobank pair of Maes and Gilbert.


Flecha and Weylandt just sit in his wheel, not helping at all. Nolf cant just drag them to the finish and when he stops riding, Weylandt just rides off. Nolf cant go too fast either or he will crack with 4 red bars.

Ballan and Franzoi catch up with Nolf and Flecha but Nolf cant even stay with them


Nolf is able to stay with the next duo of Pozzato and Hoste though


Celebrations all round as Flecha gets what he derserves - he crashes


Boonen wins Gent - Wevelgem


Maes is 2nd, Cancellara 3rd


Nolf, Hoste and Pozzato will battle 9th, 10th and 11th and you can guess where Nolf ended up Im sure: 11th. He is a normally a better sprinter than Hoste, but not with 3 and 2/3 red bars filled.


1 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 5h17'37
2 Nikolas Maes RABOBANK + 1'37
3 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
4 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
5 Philippe Gilbert RABOBANK s.t.
6 Nick Nuyens TEAM CSC s.t.
7 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 3'38
8 Enrico Franzoï LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
9 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS + 4'17
10 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
11 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
12 Kevin Van Impe RABOBANK + 4'58
13 Matti Breschel T-MOBILE TEAM + 5'51
14 Jesús Del Nero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
15 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
16 Stuart O'Grady DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
17 David Kopp GEROLSTEINER s.t.
18 Yuri Trofimov COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
19 Marcus Burghardt FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
20 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK + 6'45
21 Dimitri Muravyev TEAM ASTANA + 7'56
22 Sergei Ivanov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
23 Stijn Devolder EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
24 Luca Paolini LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
25 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
26 Sébastien Rosseler QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
27 Geert Steurs PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
28 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
29 Gianni Meersman DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 10'32
30 Gert Steegmans T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
31 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
32 Bernhard Eisel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
33 Gil Suray TEAM CSC s.t.
34 Geert Omloop CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
35 Gorik Gardeyn UNIBET.COM s.t.
36 Arnaud Coyot DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
37 Markus Eichler UNIBET.COM s.t.
38 Evert Verbist CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
39 Martin Mortensen TEAM CSC s.t.
40 Jonas Decouttere LIQUIGAS s.t.
41 Fran Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 13'15
42 Wilfried Cretskens CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 13'38
43 Jimmy Engoulvent FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 14'03
44 Christophe Mengin FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 14'29
45 Daniele Bennati LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 15'57
46 Vladimir Gusev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
47 Max Van Heeswijk COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
48 Andreas Klier GEROLSTEINER s.t.
49 Tom Veelers COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
50 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
51 Nico Eeckhout TEAM CSC s.t.
52 Wim De Vocht PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
53 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS s.t.
54 Alberto Ongarato LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
55 Leon Van Bon TEAM CSC s.t.
56 Frederik Veuchelen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
57 Koen Barbé LIQUIGAS s.t.
58 Staf Scheirlinckx LIQUIGAS s.t.
59 Simone Masciarelli DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
60 Steven De Jongh QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
61 Matthew Hayman RABOBANK s.t.
62 Bert Roesems LIQUIGAS s.t.
63 Jan Kuyckx RABOBANK s.t.
64 Damien Gaudin LIQUIGAS s.t.
65 Sébastien Joly TEAM CSC s.t.
66 Mirko Celestino RABOBANK s.t.
67 José Joaquín Rojas CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
68 Steven Kruijswijk RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
69 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
70 Fumiyuki Beppu DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 17'54
71 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
72 Olaf Pollack GEROLSTEINER s.t.
73 Grégory Rast TEAM ASTANA s.t.
74 Laszló Bodrogi BARLOWORLD + 18'31
75 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
76 Joost Posthuma AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
77 Bobbie Traksel DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 19'38
78 Kenny De Haes PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
79 Olivier Pardini CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 20'20
80 Guennadi Mikhailov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
81 Bert Grabsch T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
82 Imanol Erviti QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
83 Christopher Sutton UNIBET.COM s.t.
84 Thomas Ziegler T-MOBILE TEAM + 21'56
85 Thierry Marichal FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
86 Danilo Napolitano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
87 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC s.t.
88 Kenny Van der Schueren RABOBANK + 22'44
89 Romas Sobolis QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 24'20
90 Mickael Delage FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
91 Geert Verheyen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
92 Michael Albasini LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
93 Sven Nys RABOBANK CONTINENTAL + 25'00
94 Maarten Tjallingii T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
95 Raivis Belohvosciks SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.

Coyot and Nolf are too strong for the rest of the field, just like last year.


Nolf takes a comfortable victory


Coyot crashed in the closing stages


Since Geraint Thomas was looking strong in the next group I decided that I would get Geraint Thomas into 2nd place so Coyot went slow and Thomas shot past in the closing metres - as did Jacobs, so Coyot ends 4th.


1 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 5h06'06
2 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'02
3 Pieter Jacobs JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
4 Arnaud Coyot DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
5 Juan Van Heerden CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE s.t.
6 Christian Knees ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
7 Nico Sijmens LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
8 Marcus Ljungqvist TEAM LPR s.t.
9 Laszló Bodrogi BARLOWORLD s.t.
10 Steven Kruijswijk RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
11 Pieter Ghyllebert JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
12 Thomas Berkhout RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
13 Koen De Kort CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE s.t.
14 Diego Caccia BARLOWORLD + 4'46
15 Marco Zanotti ELK HAUS - SIMPLON + 5'08
16 Daniel Musiol TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 7'14
17 Luigi Sestili TEAM REGIOSTROM - SENGES + 7'54
18 Dimitry Kozontchuk ACTION - UNIQA + 8'02
19 Norbert Poels FONDAS P3TRANSFER TEAM s.t.
20 Joost Van Leijen VAN VLIET - EBH ADVOCATEN s.t.
21 Fredrik Johansson TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN s.t.
22 René Jorgensen TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN s.t.
23 Arne Hassink UBBINK - SYNTEC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
24 Claudio Cucinotta KIO-ENE - TONAZZO - DMT s.t.
25 Jens Erik Madsen JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.

Amazing rate of posts . did well in the cobble classics considering the extreme level and the cyclers the team has

Its Paris-Roubaix!


Ben Swift created the breakaway group and surprisingly, it included Flecha


After around 80km up front, they were caught with 120km still to go.

At 48km to go, it was bad timing for a puncture for Coyot


Although he did regain contact with the 37 man lead group, he wouldnt reach up to the front of it to Nolf again as with 39km to go, Burghardt attacked.


Hoste, Maes, Cancellara and Pozzato countered with Cancellara being the strongest.


Here's the scene with 20km to go. The gaps arent huge but they are still there


Nolf took a risk by not attacking but it was a calculated risk since neither Boonen nor Ballan attacked either. Here we see Boonen and O'Grady (Discovery) come forward to make inroads into catching the group of 4 ahead


And Boonen brought it all back together


Well, I say all - but Cancellara is still infront as he enters the velodrome.


Nolf is focused on getting a good a place as possible by following wheels. He starts the sprint in 10th position of this group, just infront of Ballan and Boonen


He moves over to take the wheel of Breschel


Before switching back on the inside to follow Maes


Going round the final bend its clear that O'Grady is the strongest sprinter so Nolf tries to get over to the Australian


But all of this is a battle for 2nd as Fabian Cancellara wins Paris-Roubaix for the 2nd year running


O'Grady 2nd, Boonen 3rd, Breschel 4th and Nolf is 5th - the same position as last year.


Coyot's race was comprimised by a puncture, but he still managed to outsprint Klier to take 20th


Geraint Thomas took a good 28th aswell


DFL only had 3 finishers - although Swift and Ignatiev were in the velodrome when the time limit kicked in.

1 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC 7h28'29
2 Stuart O'Grady DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 28
3 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
4 Matti Breschel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
5 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
6 Nikolas Maes RABOBANK s.t.
7 Dimitri Muravyev TEAM ASTANA s.t.
8 Marcus Burghardt FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
9 Yuri Trofimov COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
10 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
11 Jesús Del Nero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
12 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
13 Vladimir Gusev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
14 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
15 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
16 Nick Nuyens TEAM CSC s.t.
17 Stijn Devolder EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
18 Enrico Franzoï LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
19 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 1'49
20 Arnaud Coyot DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 3'56
21 Andreas Klier GEROLSTEINER s.t.
22 Gert Steegmans T-MOBILE TEAM + 5'34
23 Sergei Ivanov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
24 Kevin Van Impe RABOBANK s.t.
25 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
26 Luca Paolini LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
27 Fabio Sabatini TEAM MILRAM s.t.
28 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
29 David Kopp GEROLSTEINER + 8'42
30 Geert Steurs PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
31 Tom Veelers COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
32 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
33 Bastiaan Giling LIQUIGAS s.t.
34 Philippe Gilbert RABOBANK s.t.
35 Steffen Wesemann LIQUIGAS s.t.
36 Damien Gaudin LIQUIGAS s.t.
37 Sébastien Rosseler QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
38 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
39 Markus Eichler UNIBET.COM s.t.
40 Max Van Heeswijk COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 10'25
41 Gianni Meersman DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
42 Grégory Rast TEAM ASTANA s.t.
43 Martin Mortensen TEAM CSC s.t.
44 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK s.t.
45 Laszló Bodrogi BARLOWORLD + 11'51
46 Gil Suray TEAM CSC s.t.
47 Sébastien Joly TEAM CSC s.t.
48 Jimmy Engoulvent FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 12'30
49 Matthew Hayman RABOBANK + 13'12
50 Guennadi Mikhailov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
51 Fumiyuki Beppu DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
52 Daniel Foder QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
53 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM + 13'49
54 Alberto Ongarato LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
55 Henk Vogels GEROLSTEINER s.t.
56 Renaud Dion LIQUIGAS s.t.
57 Imanol Erviti QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
58 Gorik Gardeyn UNIBET.COM s.t.
59 Leon Van Bon TEAM CSC s.t.
60 Daniel McConnell T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
61 Bobbie Traksel DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
62 Roy Sentjens PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
63 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM s.t.
64 Frederik Veuchelen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
65 Raivis Belohvosciks SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
66 Jimmy Casper UNIBET.COM s.t.
67 Jan Kuyckx RABOBANK s.t.
68 Zdenek Stybar AGRITUBEL s.t.
69 Markel Irizar EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
70 Simone Masciarelli DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
71 Joost Posthuma AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 14'48
72 Bram Schmitz RABOBANK + 17'53
73 Stefano Zanini PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 18'57
74 Klaas Sys LIQUIGAS s.t.
75 Murilo Fischer LIQUIGAS s.t.
76 Eric Baumann T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
77 Alexandre Usov AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
78 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC s.t.
79 Frank Høj COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
80 Hervé Duclos-Lassalle LIQUIGAS s.t.
81 Dmytro Grabovskyy GEROLSTEINER s.t.
82 Christophe Mengin FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
83 Iñigo Landaluze EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
84 Cédric Coutouly AGRITUBEL s.t.
85 Marcel Beima LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
86 Alain Van Katwijk PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
87 Volker Ordowski GEROLSTEINER s.t.
88 Troels Vinther UNIBET.COM s.t.
89 Stefano Cavallari LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
90 Benoît Vaugrenard T-MOBILE TEAM + 20'13
91 Eduard Vorganov EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 20'57
92 Florent Brard CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
93 Antonio Aldegani QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 22'05
94 Pierrick Fédrigo CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 23'09
95 Jérémy Roy FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
96 Diego Caccia BARLOWORLD s.t.
97 Yoann Offredo BARLOWORLD s.t.
98 Patrice Halgand CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
99 Uros Murn DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
100 Stéphane Augé COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
101 Julian Dean CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
102 Gorka Verdugo EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
103 Jonathan Hivert CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
104 Cyril Lemoine CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
105 Eric Berthou CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 24'21
106 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
107 Andrea Tonti AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
108 Didier Lerda AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
109 René Weissinger TEAM ASTANA s.t.
110 Mickael Delage FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
111 Pablo Lastras CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
112 Lucio Capozzi BARLOWORLD + 26'53
113 René Haselbacher TEAM ASTANA + 28'53

Too bad you didn't get a win. Better luck next year

EDIT: Ohh, and Ignatiev is going to be a beast

most pictures in you 4 last posts are gone

I know. Was it the form?

Theyre probably just loading

no, there was a small white square with a red cross...

edit: nvm they're back now