thanks smoothie

No problem my good sir. I love the DFL jersey i made for SN.

It's back, my day is saved (almost)

Great that this is back !

Who doesn't? It's a wonderful shirt

Stage 4

Igor Anton may well have won the most recent Vuelta a Espana - but that wasnt a sponsor goal. Top 3 in this race is a sponsor goal so this really is a vital stage.


This stage also provided a good opportunity for another of our Spaniards, David de la Fuente. Giving permission to go on the attack (He has been pestering the team management for a few days ago, almost like a little kid).

Lampre's Andrea Palini snook away unnoticed at first, but then de la Fuente made his move - attacking on a slight descent so noone would follow. At the foot of the first climb Palini held a minute on de la Fuente, but that was nothing at all. De la Fuente caught him, dropped him, and took the points. He would win the first 3 KoM of the day and also the first intermediate sprint.


De la Fuente slowed in the descent of the 3rd KoM, allowing himself to save some energy and be caught by 4 men who had attacked midway up the 3rd climb. Luis Leon Sanchez, Sebastien Joly, Bauke Mollemma and Chris Horner. (With Vladimir Karpets of Rabobank in the background)


De la Fuente stuck with them, past the intermediate sprint (4th - caught out by the others actually sprinting) until he eventually ran out of energy


Meanwhile in the peleton, Cadel Evans made an exploratory attack with 40km to go


It didnt go far so he dropped back to the peleton, and would come to regret his tactics once Astana lifted the pace in the group, dropping off with 19km to go


While Evans was busy making himself look like a rider with 0 chance of TDF victory (The press dont care if he isnt fit do they? The doubts will be spread), the first attacks came, led by Roman Kreuziger.


A few others went but Igor Anton decided not to risk it just yet. Heras hadnt made his move, so we didnt want him to attack only to be caught by Astana's relay train. Perez and Raisin are the DFL riders with Anton


But Astana werent catching the attackers, so Anton's patience finally ran out after 8km of waiting and with 11km to go. And would you believe it? Heras countered


But with a deadly green attack that none could follow, Igor Anton showed just why he is a grand tour winner, leaving Heras behind and zooming past all earlier attackers.


With 5km to the summit, Anton held a 30 second gap on Heras and Kreuziger, with Sastre just behind them, then a larger group further back. This was his chance!


Down went the hammer, Up went the gap


And up went his arms in victorious triumph to celebrate the stage - only after the line had been crossed though, every second could matter.


1 Igor Antón DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 4h49'42
2 Roberto Heras TEAM ASTANA + 1'11
3 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS + 1'19
4 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 1'32
5 Juanma Gárate QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 2'26
6 Manuel Lloret DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
7 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK s.t.
8 Alberto Losada CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
9 Theo Eltink SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
10 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
11 Pedro Nicacio BARLOWORLD s.t.
12 Haimar Zubeldia SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
13 Jaume Rovira AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
14 Oliver Zaugg GEROLSTEINER s.t.
15 Sylvester Szmyd BARLOWORLD s.t.
16 Carlos Barredo RABOBANK s.t.
17 Mikel Astarloza QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
18 Tiago Machado CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
19 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
20 Vincenzo Nibali T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
21 Óscar Pereiro UNIBET.COM s.t.
22 Giovanny Báez ANDALUC�A - CAJASUR s.t.
23 Yaroslav Popovych TEAM ASTANA s.t.
24 Luis León Sánchez DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 4'27
25 Chris Horner CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 5'06
26 Linus Gerdemann CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 5'18
27 Iván Parra COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
28 Saul Raisin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
29 Blaise Sonnery AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
30 Bernhard Kohl TEAM ASTANA s.t.
31 Fran Pérez DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
32 Xavi Tondo TEAM ASTANA + 5'33
33 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC s.t.
34 Andrei Sartasov BARLOWORLD + 5'45
35 Sébastien Joly TEAM CSC s.t.
36 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER s.t.
37 Maxim Belkov BARLOWORLD s.t.
38 David Cañada SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
39 Fränk Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
40 Constantino Zaballa CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
41 Javier Mejías SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
42 Cadel Evans DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
43 Giovanni Chacón CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
44 Francis Mourey FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
45 Óscar García-Casarrubios COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
46 Antonio Olmo ANDALUC�A - CAJASUR s.t.
47 Serguey Yakovlev TEAM ASTANA s.t.
48 Maarten Tjallingii T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
49 Ezequiel Mosquera KARPIN GALICIA + 6'45
50 Ugaitz Artola KARPIN GALICIA s.t.

GC
1 Igor Antón DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 14h15'02
2 Roberto Heras TEAM ASTANA + 43
3 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS + 1'11
4 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 1'33
5 Manuel Lloret DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'21
6 Pedro Nicacio BARLOWORLD + 2'22
7 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
8 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK + 2'25
9 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 2'26
10 Vincenzo Nibali T-MOBILE TEAM + 2'29
11 Alberto Losada CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 2'30
12 Juanma Gárate QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 2'31
13 Haimar Zubeldia SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'32
14 Mikel Astarloza QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
15 Carlos Barredo RABOBANK s.t.
16 Yaroslav Popovych TEAM ASTANA + 2'33
17 Theo Eltink SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'35
18 Óscar Pereiro UNIBET.COM + 2'36
19 Giovanny Báez ANDALUC�A - CAJASUR + 2'42
20 Tiago Machado CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 2'52
21 Jaume Rovira AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 3'14
22 Oliver Zaugg GEROLSTEINER + 5'03
23 Maxim Belkov BARLOWORLD + 5'53
24 Cadel Evans DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 6'42
25 Luis León Sánchez DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 6'46

KoM
1 Roberto Heras TEAM ASTANA 47
2 Igor Antón DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 42
3 David De la Fuente DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 28
4 Manuel Lloret DISCOVERY CHANNEL 20
5 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS 20
6 Alberto Losada CRÉDIT AGRICOLE 16
7 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC 16
8 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK 14
9 Yaroslav Popovych TEAM ASTANA 14
10 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL 12

Stage 12

At 235km it is the second longest stage of the race. The longest stage, 236km, is still to come but while that will be mountainous, this stage is mostly flat. A long transitional stage. A breakaway stage.


Ian Stannard was the logical choice so off he went. It was a good choice as the break would succeed - but caught in the wrong position at the wrong time, namely when Sebastien Lang could no longer keep up, Stannard's victory hopes were smashed before he had a chance to respond.


Instead, the win would go to Peter Riis Anderson.


At one point, Anderson looked set to jump into the Top 10 overall as the breaks lead peaked at 26 minutes. It began to come down later on though so in the end his 31 minute deficit is only cut to 12, and he moves up to 16th overall.

1 Pieter Riis Andersen TEAM CSC 5h18'56
2 Vladimir Bileka DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
3 Lucio Capozzi BARLOWORLD + 1'17
4 Olivier Kaisen PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 1'43
5 Mirko Celestino RABOBANK + 3'51
6 Ian Stannard DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
7 Alan Pérez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 4'38
8 Sebastian Lang GEROLSTEINER + 9'27
9 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS + 18'41
10 Assan Bazayev CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
11 William Bonnet TEAM MILRAM s.t.
12 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC s.t.
13 Danilo Napolitano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
14 Carlos Eduardo Alzate EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
15 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM s.t.
16 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS s.t.
17 José Joaquín Rojas CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
18 Tyler Farrar GEROLSTEINER s.t.
19 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
20 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
21 Allan Davis TEAM MILRAM s.t.
22 Ersilio Calogero TEAM MILRAM s.t.
23 Christopher Sutton UNIBET.COM s.t.
24 Daniele Bennati LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
25 Marco Marcato UNIBET.COM s.t.

Go Peter Riis!

No wait, he's a doper

Good to se it's back anyhoo

Stage 5

Having made him resist the temptation to attack for much of the season, De la Fuente went in the break on Stage 4 and now again in Stage 5. You could make a metaphor between him and British buses if you wanted.

Now wearing the KoM jersey, he quite fancied winning it outright so needs points to catch up and pass Heras.


He took the points while the break's gap built - they were actually going to stay away. Infact at one point, De la Fuente was 3 minutes away from the race lead as the break held 17 minutes on the peleton. But the gap started to drop and when the lactic acid started to build up in de la Fuente's legs he decided to drop off and take an easy ride to the finish with an eye towards the KoM points on offer on Stage 6.

The stage win went to Flecha


1 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK 4h02'22
2 Christophe Laurent CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
3 Eduard Vorganov EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
4 Lilian Jégou FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
5 Bart Dockx PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 48
6 Enrico Franzoï LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
7 Andrei Kunitski COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
8 Remmert Wielinga SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'13
9 David De la Fuente DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 3'19
10 Gerald Ciolek T-MOBILE TEAM + 12'23
11 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
12 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER s.t.
13 Juan Pablo Forero PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
14 Wim Stroetinga UNIBET.COM s.t.
15 Vicente Reynès CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
16 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
17 Tom Veelers COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
18 Francesco Gavazzi LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
19 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
20 Manuel Cardoso GEROLSTEINER s.t.
21 Koldo Fernández de Larrea EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
22 Jaume Rovira AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
23 Cândido Barbosa EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
24 Bernhard Eisel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
25 Samuel Dumoulin AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.

KoM
1 Roberto Heras TEAM ASTANA 0 47
2 Igor Antón DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 0 42
3 David De la Fuente DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 6 34
4 Manuel Lloret DISCOVERY CHANNEL 0 20
5 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS 0 20
6 Alberto Losada CRÉDIT AGRICOLE 0 16
7 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC 0 16
8 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK 0 14
9 Yaroslav Popovych TEAM ASTANA 0 14
10 Andrei Kunitski COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE 2 13

Stage 13

Just like the Iron Curtain did, this stage ends in Trieste and Geraint Thomas is breakaway hunting. He wins the sole intermediate sprint of the day


But cursed by a -3 daily form, he cant stay with the rest of the break in the closing stages as Fabio Sabatini wins the stage. Geraint has to settle for 11th.


Some promising signs today from Matt Goss though, taking 4th in the bunch sprint. He is now thinking about quitting the Giro so he can ride in the Tour of Belgium and perhaps battle for victories - especially since the only flat stage left in this race is in over a weeks time, Stage 21.

1 Fabio Sabatini TEAM MILRAM 3h25'29
2 Massimilliano Mori COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
3 Marcel Sieberg PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
4 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER s.t.
5 Alexandre Usov AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
6 Mickael Delage FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
7 Dario Cataldo BARLOWORLD + 41
8 Raúl Alarcón SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
9 Silvino Bertolucci CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 2'16
10 Yuri Krivtsov LIQUIGAS + 3'07
11 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 3'32
12 Yon Bru EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
13 Nico Eeckhout TEAM CSC + 9'08
14 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS + 11'55
15 José Joaquín Rojas CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
16 Danilo Napolitano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
17 Matthew Goss DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
18 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS s.t.
19 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM s.t.
20 Assan Bazayev CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
21 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC s.t.
22 Tyler Farrar GEROLSTEINER s.t.
23 Carlos Eduardo Alzate EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
24 William Bonnet TEAM MILRAM s.t.
25 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.

Zoncolan is coming up on the next stage and Contador will hope to keep or extend his current advantage in the GC

1 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 49h35'06
2 Julián Rodas TEAM ASTANA + 1'55
3 Mauricio Soler RABOBANK + 4'09
4 Danilo Di Luca T-MOBILE TEAM + 4'25
5 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD + 4'31
6 Tom Danielson DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 4'46
7 Mauricio Ortega SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 5'02
8 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 6'59
9 Matija Kvasina UNIBET.COM + 9'08
10 Robert Gesink RABOBANK + 9'33
11 José Angel Gómez Marchante TEAM CSC + 10'05
12 Santiago Botero TEAM ASTANA + 10'10
13 Levi Leipheimer RABOBANK + 11'20
14 Paolo Savoldelli LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 11'34
15 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA + 12'04
16 Pieter Riis Andersen TEAM CSC + 12'35
17 Edwin Orozco BARLOWORLD + 12'45
18 Juan Carlos López EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 13'09
19 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 13'17
20 John-Lee Augustyn DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 13'26

Stage 6



An important stage all round - De la Fuente needing KoM points, while Anton may have to watch out for attacks against him later on. Add to the fact that the stage is short, and it should be an exciting charge into Barcelona.

Having got into the breakaway, De la Fuente expected to be allowed to take all the KoM points but the small Samuel Dumoulin disagreed and attacked to beat De la Fuente into 2nd in the first 2 climbs


But De la Fuente won the 3rd, and with it, the KoM classification


There was a danger that the break could be caught, allowing Heras to try and retake the jersey, but infact the break wasnt going to be caught. De la Fuente was happy to take 2nd on the tough 4th climb, behind Heinrich Haussler


Haussler was obviously the strongest left and pulled out a gap


He would comfortably keep the gap and go on to win the stage


De la Fuente would have to settle for 6th, running out of energy with 1.5km to go


While some 4 minutes later, Hagen surged out of the peleton to take 7th place with ease. Its a shame the break stayed away in that sense, but it would not have been worth the energy needed to try to reel it back in.


1 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER 2h53'45
2 Samuel Dumoulin AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 50
3 Javier Mejías SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
4 Christophe Brandt PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
5 Óscar García-Casarrubios COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
6 David De la Fuente DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
7 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'38
8 Cândido Barbosa EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
9 Jérôme Pineau EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
10 Alessandro Vanotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
11 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK s.t.
12 Philippe Gilbert RABOBANK s.t.
13 Gustavo Domínguez KARPIN GALICIA s.t.
14 Koldo Fernández de Larrea EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
15 David García Dapena TEAM ASTANA s.t.
16 Giuseppe Palumbo UNIBET.COM s.t.
17 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
18 Bram De Groot RABOBANK s.t.
19 Bastiaan Giling LIQUIGAS s.t.
20 Bernhard Kohl TEAM ASTANA s.t.
21 Yaroslav Popovych TEAM ASTANA s.t.
22 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
23 Bart Dockx PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
24 David Herrero KARPIN GALICIA s.t.
25 Serguey Yakovlev TEAM ASTANA s.t.

The GC ahead of the final stage time trial:
1 Igor Antón DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 21h28'10
2 Roberto Heras TEAM ASTANA + 43
3 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS + 1'11
4 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 1'33
5 Manuel Lloret DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'21
6 Pedro Nicacio BARLOWORLD + 2'22
7 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
8 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK + 2'25
9 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 2'26
10 Vincenzo Nibali T-MOBILE TEAM + 2'29
11 Alberto Losada CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 2'30
12 Juanma Gárate QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 2'31
13 Mikel Astarloza QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 2'32
14 Haimar Zubeldia SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
15 Carlos Barredo RABOBANK s.t.
16 Yaroslav Popovych TEAM ASTANA + 2'33
17 Theo Eltink SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'35
18 Óscar Pereiro UNIBET.COM + 2'36
19 Giovanny Báez ANDALUC�A - CAJASUR + 2'42
20 Tiago Machado CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 2'52
21 Oliver Zaugg GEROLSTEINER + 5'03
22 Jaume Rovira AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 5'33
23 Maxim Belkov BARLOWORLD + 5'53
24 Óscar García-Casarrubios COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 6'38
25 Cadel Evans DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 6'42

KoM
1 David De la Fuente DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 59
2 Roberto Heras TEAM ASTANA 47
3 Igor Antón DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 42
4 Samuel Dumoulin AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 29
5 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER 23
6 Manuel Lloret DISCOVERY CHANNEL 20
7 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS 20
8 Alberto Losada CRÉDIT AGRICOLE 16
9 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC 16
10 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK 14

Points
1 Roberto Heras TEAM ASTANA 45
2 Igor Antón DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 45
3 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER 35
4 Jakob Fiedler T-MOBILE TEAM 31
5 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK 30
6 Manuel Lloret DISCOVERY CHANNEL 30
7 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS 30
8 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK 26
9 Jaume Rovira AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 26
10 David Herrero KARPIN GALICIA 25

Stage 14

After a recent run of successful breakaways, would another breakaway win today? No chance, its the stage to Monte Zoncolan! As well as Zoncolan there are 2 more testing climbs before then.


Although a break wont make it, that doesnt stop anyone trying. We tried to cover the move so after the first 2 moves were chased down - one involving Blythe, and the other involving Lloyd, it was Stannard who made the successful one.

However, despite being the 2nd best ranked DFL rider at 75th overall, Stannard is no mountain climber and was dropped from the break on the first of the days climbs.


Stannard wasnt the only one to struggle though, as a lot of riders were dropped from the peleton - including 14th Overall Savoldelli who crashed in the flat before the climb and was unable to catch up again. He would spend his day in the Grupetto and end up dropping to 83rd overall.

Alberto Contador was looking good though, with Deignan and Efimkin still with him, expecting the attacks to come on the Zoncolan. But Julian Rodas caught everyone out by attacking on the 2nd climb!


Contador had to respond immediately and he did, Valverde and Di Luca also went


Rodas led over the top of the climb with a minutes advantage over Contador, Valverde and Di Luca. That had been cut slightly to 50 seconds though at the foot of the Zoncolan. Rodas is the current King of the Mountains - can he be King of the Zoncolan?


The answer was soon revealed as Danilo di Luca almost single handedly caught Rodas


Valverde couldnt close the gap so pulled over for Contador to have a go


And Contador led the trio onto Rodas' back wheel


Rodas then just made his job to stay with the trio and sat at the back of the group. Bluffing or struggling? With 2km to go Contador just had to find out, and increased his effort to maximum


Di Luca could match him, but Valverde and Rodas had no answer


The gaps grew bigger into the final kilometre - could Contador now get the stage win?


It was not to be, Danilo di Luca wins the stage


But more important for Contador is the time gain on Rodas - 79 seconds!


1 Danilo Di Luca T-MOBILE TEAM 5h40'53
2 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 10
3 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'07
4 Julián Rodas TEAM ASTANA + 1'29
5 Mauricio Ortega SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'47
6 Matija Kvasina UNIBET.COM s.t.
7 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD s.t.
8 Tom Danielson DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'02
9 Mauricio Soler RABOBANK + 2'43
10 Robert Gesink RABOBANK + 2'58
11 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA + 4'08
12 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS + 4'20
13 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS s.t.
14 Santiago Botero TEAM ASTANA s.t.
15 Samuel Sánchez TEAM ASTANA + 4'32
16 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 4'41
17 Laurens Ten Dam UNIBET.COM s.t.
18 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
19 Michael Rasmussen CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
20 José Angel Gómez Marchante TEAM CSC s.t.
21 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS + 5'03
22 Manuel Medina CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
23 Daniele Pietropolli CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
24 Vladimir Efimkin PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
25 José Joaquín Rojas CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 5'20
26 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
27 Pietro Caucchioli BARLOWORLD s.t.
28 Matthew Lloyd RABOBANK + 5'33
29 Tadej Valjavec UNIBET.COM s.t.
30 Francesco Bellotti BARLOWORLD s.t.
31 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS s.t.
32 Nicki Sörensen TEAM CSC s.t.
33 Daniel Rincón DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
34 Mauricio Ardila CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 5'52
35 John-Lee Augustyn DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 6'01
36 Edwin Orozco BARLOWORLD s.t.
37 David Blanco CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 6'45
38 Evgeni Petrov TEAM CSC + 7'04
39 Guillaume Levarlet AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
40 Alexander Efimkin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 7'16
41 Philip Deignan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 7'27
42 Dario Cataldo BARLOWORLD + 7'52
43 José Rujano DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
44 Jenning Huizenga COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
45 Andrea Tonti AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
46 Andriy Grivko FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
47 Matthias Ruß GEROLSTEINER s.t.
48 Luca Mazzanti EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 8'23
49 Joost Posthuma AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
50 Amets Txurruka EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.

GC
1 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 55h15'57
2 Julián Rodas TEAM ASTANA + 3'26
3 Danilo Di Luca T-MOBILE TEAM + 4'07
4 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD + 6'20
5 Tom Danielson DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 6'50
6 Mauricio Ortega SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 6'51
7 Mauricio Soler RABOBANK + 6'54
8 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 8'00
9 Matija Kvasina UNIBET.COM + 10'57
10 Robert Gesink RABOBANK + 12'33
11 Santiago Botero TEAM ASTANA + 14'32
12 José Angel Gómez Marchante TEAM CSC + 14'48
13 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA + 16'14
14 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 18'00
15 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS + 18'25
16 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS + 18'45
17 Edwin Orozco BARLOWORLD + 18'48
18 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 19'27
19 John-Lee Augustyn DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 19'29
20 Daniele Pietropolli CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 19'33
21 Samuel Sánchez TEAM ASTANA + 19'57
22 Vladimir Efimkin PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 20'17
23 Levi Leipheimer RABOBANK + 20'30
24 Juan Carlos López EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 22'03
25 Matthias Ruß GEROLSTEINER + 22'18
74 Alexander Efimkin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 38'02
84 Philip Deignan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 42'26
93 Ian Stannard DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 50'40
112 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1h03'04
118 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1h05'26
124 Adam Blythe DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1h06'42
169 Matthew Goss DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1h35'06

great riding all round!

Stage 15

Classified as hilly, but not particularly hilly at all. A breakaway stage and it was won by Robert Retschke (2x stage winner of the Vuelta and 2nd place in a stage at Le Tour - all from breakaways).


Matt Goss took 8th place on the stage after coming 2nd in the bunch sprint, behind Alex Rasmussen. After a slow start to the Giro, he is starting to redeem himself


1 Robert Retschke CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE 4h41'03
2 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM s.t.
3 Pasquale Muto RABOBANK s.t.
4 Cetteo Carlotti PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 1'41
5 Torsten Hiekmann GEROLSTEINER s.t.
6 Dailos Díaz FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 4'37
7 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM + 15'55
8 Matthew Goss DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
9 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
10 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC s.t.
11 Daniele Bennati LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
12 Danilo Napolitano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
13 Max Van Heeswijk COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
14 Carlos Eduardo Alzate EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
15 William Bonnet TEAM MILRAM s.t.
16 Ian Stannard DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
17 Christopher Sutton UNIBET.COM s.t.
18 Antonio Aldegani QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
19 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM s.t.
20 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD s.t.
21 Alberto Ongarato LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
22 Angelo Furlan UNIBET.COM s.t.
23 Alessandro Proni QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
24 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
25 Daniel Foder QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.




Stage 7

Normally, if Igor Anton led into the final stage of a race and it was a 32km time trial, he would not be looking forward to it much. But fortunately, this time trial is a mountain time trial.


Heras would be the biggest threat today - 43 seconds down on Anton in the GC, level on points with Anton on top of the points classification, and if he posts the fastest time at the 2nd checkpoint, he will take the KoM jersey from de la Fuente


But after a slower start to the TT, Anton stormed up the climb itself, setting the fastest time to albut secure the GC and secure the KoM for De la Fuente. Now came the descent to decide the points jersey - the rest of the team had all lost time on the descent despite going at 99%


And this would be the same for Anton, he will eventually finish the stage 6th, failing to win the Points jersey as Heras came in 5th - but that is only minor, the important thing is that the sponsor goal has been achieved.

The stage winner turned out to be Manuel Lloret


Stage results:


Top 10 GC:

Evans was 24th overall, Perez 25th Overall, Raisin 31st, De la Fuente 39th and Tenorio 42nd

KoM:

Go Anton

Great results and I'm so glad that this story is back !

Stage 16

This will be a tough stage, have no doubt about that


Rodas currently leads the KoM but only has 46 points - a maximum of 95 is on offer today so Philip Deignan decided to go attack and go for points.


He took 30 pts by winning the first 2 climbs but things are hotting up behind


The big guns have already gotten away from everyone else. A group of 16 is clear and just 2 minutes behind Deignan. In the group for DFL are Contador, Efimkin and Lloyd. The highest placed rider missing was 11th overall Botero.


Deignan though was determined to at least make it to the top of the 3rd climb for a further 20 points. It was tough for him and with 6km still to the top of the Passo Fedaia it doesnt look like he will make it. His lead down to 40 seconds and now with 2 red bars.


But incredibly Deignan did it!


He had even extended his lead to 80 seconds, with Ricco taking 2nd and Contador moving forward to take 3rd. Efimkin is still in there with Contador but Lloyd has been dropped.


Deignan was eventually caught by the chasing group of 12 shortly before the only intermediate sprint of the day


Di Luca took the sprint ahead of Cunego, with Contador placing himself in 3rd.


The pace then started to lift up putting at least half the group in trouble, including Efimkin and Deignan who is now out of energy anyway


The front group is down to 6 - Di Luca, Soler, Cunego, Gesink, Contador and Rodas. Some highly placed riders are struggling having perhaps done too much work too soon - Ricco and Valverde were both prominent pace setters previously.


Onto the fourth climb, the Passo Costalunga, Soler and Rodas would lose their teammates Gesink and Cunego, and Rodas then went on the attack


He went over the top, quickly building up a gap of 50 seconds. Contador has started to relay now having sat in the wheels previously.


Onto the Passo Lavaze and its almost a repeat of the Zoncolan as Rodas is brought back in, largely by Di Luca


Soler and Di Luca are looking very strong though - they leave behind Contador and Rodas!


Contador doesnt need to worry too much at the moment, Di Luca is 4 minutes down on GC, and Soler 7 minutes down. But it would help if Rodas would actually help with the relaying as Rodas' GC position is at stake


Soler and Di Luca go over the top with a 1'15 lead over Contador and Rodas


The Alpe di Pampeago is the summit climb and with 4.5km to go the gap is down to 1 minute - but Contador must be careful, he has not much energy left and its better to try and limit losses than push hard and lose bucketloads.


The gap therefore started to rise up a lot more with Di Luca moving closer to Contador on the GC. Fortunately though, it was not Di Luca but Soler who won the stage


Di Luca crossed the line 33 seconds down on Soler


Contador came across the line 3'05 behind Soler. Disappointing but he couldnt have done much else, running out of energy right on the line.


In 4th was Robert Gesink who really judged his effort well to come back strongly late on and even pass Rodas. Astana riders took up places 5-8 and apart from Rodas in 5th, they like Gesink, judged their efforts well, didnt push themselves too hard to early on. A lot of the next placings were also taken up by those who werent amongst the 16 riders who broke clear after only the 2nd climb.

This day proved to be the queen stage of the race - just looking at the results will show you what huge time gaps there were to be seen. Ricco, Danielson, Valverde, Kvasina and Ortega all lost a lot having started the day in the top 10 but the gaps were so profound all round that all 5 remain in the top 12 at least.

On the DFL front, Contadors lead on Di Luca is now down to 1'25 but with a time trial still to come we do feel that we retain the upperhand. The rest of the team have never really cared much about the GC, looking after Contador being their only goal but are nevertheless progressing up it. Before Stage 14 to the Zoncolan, Efimkin was 95th, he was up to 75th before this stage and is now in 53rd after 43rd on the day. Similarily, Deignan had also shot up. 114th before Stage 14, 86th before this stage, and now 71st. Dan Lloyd has also now moved into the Top 100. Rodas remains the KoM leader on 62 points but Contador is just 3 points behind, and Deignan just 12 back.

As previously mentioned, dont be fooled by the big gaps, the following is the stage result, not the GC:

1 Mauricio Soler RABOBANK 5h49'21
2 Danilo Di Luca T-MOBILE TEAM + 33
3 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 3'05
4 Robert Gesink RABOBANK + 3'49
5 Julián Rodas TEAM ASTANA + 4'22
6 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA + 8'07
7 Santiago Botero TEAM ASTANA + 10'38
8 Samuel Sánchez TEAM ASTANA + 11'16
9 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 11'26
10 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 12'56
11 Andreas Klöden LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 13'18
12 Vladimir Efimkin PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 13'28
13 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS s.t.
14 Daniele Pietropolli CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 13'36
15 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD s.t.
16 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 13'46
17 Michael Rasmussen CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 14'05
18 Tadej Valjavec UNIBET.COM s.t.
19 José Rujano DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 14'16
20 Matthew Lloyd RABOBANK + 14'27
21 Tom Danielson DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 14'36
22 Wim Van Huffel DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 14'55
23 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 15'02
24 Pietro Caucchioli BARLOWORLD s.t.
25 Laurens Ten Dam UNIBET.COM + 15'16
26 Francesco Bellotti BARLOWORLD + 15'28
27 David Blanco CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
28 Edwin Orozco BARLOWORLD + 15'39
29 Matija Kvasina UNIBET.COM s.t.
30 José Angel Gómez Marchante TEAM CSC s.t.
31 Levi Leipheimer RABOBANK + 16'13
32 Manuel Medina CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 17'04
33 Daniel Rincón DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 17'20
34 Leonardo Duque CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 17'30
35 John-Lee Augustyn DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 17'40
36 Dario Cataldo BARLOWORLD + 17'50
37 Juan Carlos López EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 18'32
38 Amets Txurruka EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 19'10
39 Mauricio Ardila CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 20'12
40 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS + 21'28
41 Mauricio Ortega SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
42 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS + 22'18
43 Alexander Efimkin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 22'30
44 Luca Mazzanti EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 26'05
45 Mario Aerts PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 26'49
46 Matthias Ruß GEROLSTEINER + 27'19
47 Giampaolo Cheula SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 27'29
48 Guillaume Levarlet AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 27'40
49 David Muñoz CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
50 José Joaquín Rojas CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 28'50
51 Steve Zampieri COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 29'11
52 Pablo Lastras CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
53 Andrea Tonti AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 29'57
54 Jenning Huizenga COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 30'27
55 Luis Felipe Laverde CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 31'26
56 Joost Posthuma AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
57 Santo Anzà AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
58 �ngel Vicioso PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
59 Martin Gilbert T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
60 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS s.t.
61 Philip Deignan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
62 Sergio Ghisalberti TEAM MILRAM s.t.
63 Dimitri Champion SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
64 Andriy Grivko FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 32'01
65 Hector Orlando Mesa CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 32'37
66 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM s.t.
67 Massimo Giunti CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 32'51
68 David Moncoutié AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
69 Paolo Bailetti T-MOBILE TEAM + 33'40
70 Kenny Van der Schueren RABOBANK + 33'53
71 Rubén Lobato SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 34'39
72 Marco Pinotti T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
73 Dioni Galparsoro EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 35'15
74 Gabriele Tassinari QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 35'55
75 Steven Kleynen COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 36'11
76 Ivan Santaromita QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 36'31
77 Freddy Piamonte QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 37'51
78 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
79 David George DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 38'11
80 Pierrick Fédrigo CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
81 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER s.t.
82 Patrice Halgand CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
83 Manuele Mori FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 38'27
84 Angel 'Litu' Gómez SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 38'43
85 Dimitri Fofonov CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 39'07
86 Mirko Celestino RABOBANK s.t.
87 Cetteo Carlotti PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 39'43
88 Alexandr Kolobnev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
89 Rémi Pauriol CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 39'59
90 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 40'13
91 Pasquale Muto RABOBANK + 41'28
92 Adam Blythe DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 42'49
93 Torsten Hiekmann GEROLSTEINER + 43'13
94 Dainius Grigalevichius SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 43'29
95 Robert Retschke CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 43'37
96 Dailos Díaz FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 44'26
97 Daniel Foder QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 47'32
98 Benoît Vaugrenard T-MOBILE TEAM + 47'44
99 Alessandro Proni QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 47'53
100 Shaun Higgerson FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 48'04
Of the 191 starters only 173 made it home inside the time limit. Thomas and Stannard were in the Grupetto (although had a little fun in ripping it up a bit in the closing stages) while Matt Goss abandoned the race before crossing the startline, now hoping to ride the Tour of Belgium.

Here is the new GC, a pleasing one for Rabobank with Soler up 4 places to 3rd and Gesink up 5 to 5th. It is surely safe to say though that the current four riders at the top will remain the top 4 riders all the way to the end of the race - although the exact order remains to be seen.

1 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 66h05'09
2 Danilo Di Luca T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'25
3 Mauricio Soler RABOBANK + 3'41
4 Julián Rodas TEAM ASTANA + 4'55
5 Robert Gesink RABOBANK + 13'29
6 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD + 17'03
7 Tom Danielson DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 18'33
8 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 20'09
9 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA + 21'22
10 Santiago Botero TEAM ASTANA + 22'17
11 Matija Kvasina UNIBET.COM + 23'43
12 Mauricio Ortega SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 25'26
13 José Angel Gómez Marchante TEAM CSC + 27'34
14 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 28'03
15 Samuel Sánchez TEAM ASTANA + 28'20
16 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS + 29'20
17 Daniele Pietropolli CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 30'16
18 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 30'20
19 Vladimir Efimkin PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 30'52
20 Edwin Orozco BARLOWORLD + 31'34
21 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 33'46
22 Levi Leipheimer RABOBANK + 33'50
23 John-Lee Augustyn DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 34'16
24 José Rujano DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 34'19
25 Andreas Klöden LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 34'25
26 Pietro Caucchioli BARLOWORLD + 35'24
27 Francesco Bellotti BARLOWORLD + 35'41
28 David Blanco CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 36'58
29 Matthew Lloyd RABOBANK + 37'13
30 Manuel Medina CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 37'14
31 Juan Carlos López EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 37'42
32 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS + 37'50
33 Michael Rasmussen CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 40'14
34 Amets Txurruka EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 40'52
35 Dario Cataldo BARLOWORLD + 42'02
36 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS + 42'55
37 Wim Van Huffel DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 43'13
38 Laurens Ten Dam UNIBET.COM + 43'14
39 Mauricio Ardila CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 43'16
40 Daniel Rincón DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 44'36
41 Tadej Valjavec UNIBET.COM + 44'42
42 Matthias Ruß GEROLSTEINER + 46'44
43 José Joaquín Rojas CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 49'32
44 Leonardo Duque CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 49'48
45 Joost Posthuma AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 52'28
46 Luca Mazzanti EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 52'38
47 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS + 53'15
48 Giampaolo Cheula SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 53'16
49 Guillaume Levarlet AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 53'19
50 Andrea Tonti AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 55'12
51 Steve Zampieri COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 55'45
52 Jenning Huizenga COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 56'59
53 Alexander Efimkin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 57'39
71 Philip Deignan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1h10'59
95 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1h42'46
105 Adam Blythe DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1h52'02
111 Ian Stannard DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1h59'35
120 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2h09'57
173 Jesús Herrada EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 3h23'39

Go Contador !

Stage 17

Classed as a hilly stage thanks to a fairly tough hill that peaks some 100km from the finish. The result seemed almost farcial. A small break went away, split apart on that hill and it was like a procession for the rest of the way. 2 riders, 2 Italians, led all the way and the sprint for victory wasnt even contested. Italian National Champion Paolo Bettini was quite simply handed the victory on a plate.



The rest of the break were just swallowed up on the line by the rest of the peleton, who did make things interesting at the finish. Geraint Thomas was in the mix and unfortunate to miss out on a top 10 placing. Also up there was Ian Stannard

1 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 4h30'32
2 Manuele Mori FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
3 Pasquale Muto RABOBANK + 8'02
4 Rémi Pauriol CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
5 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS s.t.
6 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS s.t.
7 Danilo Di Luca T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
8 Robert Retschke CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
9 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM s.t.
10 Danilo Napolitano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
11 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
12 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC s.t.
13 Leonardo Duque CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
14 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
15 Tyler Farrar GEROLSTEINER s.t.
16 William Bonnet TEAM MILRAM s.t.
17 Carlos Eduardo Alzate EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
18 Ian Stannard DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
19 Allan Davis TEAM MILRAM s.t.
20 Mirko Lorenzetto TEAM MILRAM s.t.
21 José Joaquín Rojas CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
22 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM s.t.
23 Pieter Riis Andersen TEAM CSC s.t.
24 Ersilio Calogero TEAM MILRAM s.t.
25 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM s.t.

Some brilliant results so far - especially on Extreme!