Looking forward to Le Tour, I think it'll be Andy Schleck's year

Hopefully Evans will spoil the Schleck party



Stage 3

The first challenging stage of the race


There is a strong wind today though, we get a first sign of this at 110km as Unibet, while working for race leader Sutton, make a small split ~ Evans and a few teammates have made the split


Its too small and comes back together but the wind is still there and a larger group of 24 goes clear. This time Rabobank and Astana have good numbers including their team leaders Dekker and Kohl - 7 of the 8 DFL riders are also there (Millar missing), aswell as race leader Chris Sutton


Rabobank and Astana are looking to take full advantage and push hard


On the 3rd KoM climb, the early break are caught but in and in the slight chaos over the top, the DFL riders lose a bit of ground.


Evans, Ignatiev, Blythe, Deignan and Efimkin push hard though to get back in, although it is soon only Evans and Ignatiev in there


But as the 5th, final and toughest KoM climb arrives it all comes back together - not good news at all for DFL


Attacks come in and Michael Rasmussen looks strong


But leading over the top are two riders who have been in the lead group for much of the day, Kohl and Dekker.


Rasmussen is caught over the top as Kreuziger gets a small gap. Evans meanwhile is struggling to cling on to the chase group


The descent flattens slightly before a slight incline and Dekker leaves Kohl behind


And Evans is dropped from the chase group


Dekker wins the stage to retake the race lead. His form is looking ominous ahead of the Tour


Evans finishes the stage in the 2nd chase group, alongside teammates Ignatiev and Efimkin. But somehow, with a huge stroke of luck, he will only lose time on Dekker! The timegaps were kind to DFL today.


1 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK 4h32'12
2 Bernhard Kohl TEAM ASTANA + 58
3 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS s.t.
4 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS s.t.
5 Iñigo Landaluze EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
6 Cândido Barbosa EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
7 Jérôme Pineau EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
8 Rémy Di Gregorio DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
9 Vincenzo Nibali T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
10 José Iván Gutiérrez SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
11 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
12 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
13 Theo Eltink SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
14 Fränk Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
15 John Gadret AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
16 Óscar Pereiro UNIBET.COM s.t.
17 Sébastien Joly TEAM CSC s.t.
18 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC s.t.
19 Domenico Pozzovivo BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
20 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
21 Luis León Sánchez DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
22 Alberto Losada CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
23 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER s.t.
24 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
25 Andrei Sartasov BARLOWORLD s.t.
26 Vladimir Karpets RABOBANK s.t.
27 Blaise Sonnery AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
28 Chris Horner CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
29 Michael Rasmussen CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
30 Pierrick Fédrigo CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
31 Ivan Rovny LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
32 Santo Anzà AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
33 Oliver Zaugg GEROLSTEINER s.t.
34 Constantino Zaballa CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
35 Óscar Sánchez BARLOWORLD s.t.
36 Maxim Belkov BARLOWORLD s.t.
37 Denis Menchov LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
38 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
39 Jurgen Van den Broeck PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
40 Gorka Verdugo EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
41 Guillaume Levarlet AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
42 José Azevedo LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
43 Libardo Niño PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
44 Mikhail Ignatiev DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
45 Cadel Evans DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
46 Alexander Efimkin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
47 Roberto Heras TEAM ASTANA s.t.
48 Luis Orán Castañeda LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
49 Patrice Halgand CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 3'15
50 Giovanni Chacón CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
51 Giovanni Visconti TEAM ASTANA s.t.
52 Arnaud Labbe BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
53 Bauke Mollema SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
54 Johann Tschopp BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
55 Benoît Vaugrenard T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
56 Mathieu Sprick T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
57 Martin Gilbert T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
58 Xavi Tondo TEAM ASTANA s.t.
59 Daniel Rincón DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
60 Manuel Medina CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
61 Christophe Kern T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
62 Nicolas Fritsch PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
63 Kim Kirchen LIQUIGAS s.t.
64 Julien Loubet AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
65 Michael Blaudzun TEAM CSC s.t.
66 Darren Lill TEAM ASTANA s.t.
67 Charles Wegelius RABOBANK s.t.
68 Dimitri Fofonov CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
69 Romain Feillu AGRITUBEL + 4'59
70 Christopher Sutton UNIBET.COM s.t.
71 Eduardo Gonzalo AGRITUBEL s.t.
72 Yuri Trofimov COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
73 Iván Parra COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
74 Jenning Huizenga COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
75 Francis Mourey FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
76 Marcel Beima LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
77 Daniele Bennati LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
78 Pierre Rolland CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
79 Adam Blythe DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
80 Philip Deignan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
81 Francesco Gavazzi LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
82 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
83 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 6'35
84 Tyler Farrar GEROLSTEINER s.t.
85 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
86 Philippe Gilbert RABOBANK s.t.
87 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK s.t.
88 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
89 Freddy Piamonte QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
90 Bobby Julich QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
91 Pavel Brutt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
92 Evgeni Sladkov BARLOWORLD s.t.
93 Virgile Hervier BARLOWORLD s.t.
94 Manuel Cardoso GEROLSTEINER + 7'39
95 Kevin De Weert FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 7'59
96 Dainius Kairelis BARLOWORLD s.t.
97 Nicolas Roche CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
98 Carl Naïbo AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
99 Jérôme Coppel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 9'20
100 Jonathan Balbuena AGRITUBEL s.t.

GC
1 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK 7h50'09
2 Bernhard Kohl TEAM ASTANA + 1'05
3 Vladimir Karpets RABOBANK + 1'08
4 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS + 1'09
5 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 1'10
6 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
7 José Iván Gutiérrez SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'12
8 Luis León Sánchez DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
9 Jurgen Van den Broeck PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
10 Mikhail Ignatiev DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
11 Vincenzo Nibali T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'13
12 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER s.t.
13 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 1'14
14 Andrei Sartasov BARLOWORLD s.t.
15 José Azevedo LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
16 Libardo Niño PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
17 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS + 1'15
18 Sébastien Joly TEAM CSC s.t.
19 Maxim Belkov BARLOWORLD s.t.
20 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 1'16
21 Chris Horner CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
22 Denis Menchov LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
23 Cadel Evans DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
24 Fränk Schleck TEAM CSC + 1'17
25 Blaise Sonnery AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
26 Guillaume Levarlet AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
27 Constantino Zaballa CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 1'18
28 Oliver Zaugg GEROLSTEINER + 1'19
29 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
30 Óscar Pereiro UNIBET.COM + 1'20
31 Theo Eltink SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
32 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
33 Ivan Rovny LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
34 Pierrick Fédrigo CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
35 Óscar Sánchez BARLOWORLD s.t.
36 Roberto Heras TEAM ASTANA s.t.
37 Rémy Di Gregorio DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 1'21
38 John Gadret AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
39 Alberto Losada CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
40 Michael Rasmussen CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
41 Cândido Barbosa EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 1'22
42 Iñigo Landaluze EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
43 Santo Anzà AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
44 Alexander Efimkin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'24
45 Luis Orán Castañeda LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
46 Jérôme Pineau EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 1'26
47 Gorka Verdugo EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 1'27
48 Domenico Pozzovivo BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 1'29
49 Benoît Vaugrenard T-MOBILE TEAM + 3'28
50 Bauke Mollema SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 3'32

Im looking forward to the tour. Im sure you will dominate Sn

It's kinda funny. I remember playing the exact same stage in the Dauphine a while back and there were too a strong cross-wind which scattered the peloton all over the place. I guess there's just permanent cross-wind in that stage.

Its a shame the wind didnt quite do as much damage as I would have liked for me then. I am starting to look forward to the Tour now, but the Dauphine, Suisse, Eindhoven and National Champs are all important races for the team too.

The Tour de Suisse will be particularly interesting as Maxim Iglinsky and Saul Raisin will be battling each other for the final spot on my Tour de France team in the race.



Stage 4

An important hilly time-trialed test for the team today as we look to see how Evans, Millar, Wiggins and Ignatiev's form is progressing. All peaking for the Tour this year, and the latter 3 will be particularly useful in the long TTT in the Tour.

Anyway, enough waffling and onto the action. Bradley Wiggins was the 3rd to start and he set a strong time. He will eventually take 20th on the stage which is a promising showing of things yet to come.


Laszlo Bodrogi, a former DFL rider, took the lead from Wiggins before David Millar set a very fast time to take the lead


Another of our Brits flying the flag high is Adam Blythe, producing one of, if not the best time trial of his career. Eventually finishing 36th on the stage beating the likes of Cancellara and Devolder.

Starting the day 98th overall, Millar had a lot of riders to come after him and it was a while before anyone came close. Oscar Pereiro was 2 seconds slower while Cadel Evans went ever so slightly quicker than the spaniard to take 2nd, also at 2 seconds.


It would remain a DFL 1-2 until the final 5 riders crossed the line. The 5 are in top form for this race so it is no surprise that they all beat Millar's time.

Brajkovic took 2nd on the stage


But it was Thomas Dekker who won to extend his lead


Incidentally, Mikhail Ignatiev was the one disappointment for DFL today finishing down in 58th. He wants to become the Russian TT champion but he has a lot of work to do with Karpets firing at all cylinders currently.

1 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK 38'26
2 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 16
3 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS + 40
4 Bernhard Kohl TEAM ASTANA + 45
5 Vladimir Karpets RABOBANK + 58
6 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'08
7 Cadel Evans DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'11
8 Óscar Pereiro UNIBET.COM s.t.
9 Vincenzo Nibali T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'16
10 Denis Menchov LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 1'17
11 Laszló Bodrogi BARLOWORLD + 1'22
12 Sébastien Joly TEAM CSC + 1'26
13 Fränk Schleck TEAM CSC + 1'28
14 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'31
15 Benoît Vaugrenard T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'36
16 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER s.t.
17 Luis León Sánchez DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 1'37
18 Chris Horner CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
19 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 1'38
20 Bradley Wiggins DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'39
21 Jérôme Coppel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 1'43
22 Theo Eltink SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
23 Maxim Belkov BARLOWORLD + 1'44
24 Ivan Rovny LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 1'48
25 Alberto Losada CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 1'51
26 Blaise Sonnery AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 1'54
27 José Iván Gutiérrez SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
28 Christopher Sutton UNIBET.COM + 1'55
29 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK + 1'57
30 Niels Scheuneman UNIBET.COM + 2'01
31 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
32 Bobby Julich QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 2'05
33 Jenning Huizenga COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
34 Óscar Sánchez BARLOWORLD s.t.
35 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'07
36 Adam Blythe DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2'08
37 Johann Tschopp BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
38 Rémy Di Gregorio DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'09
39 Stef Clement BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 2'10
40 Alan Suchoparek DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'11
41 Iván Parra COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 2'13
42 Roberto Heras TEAM ASTANA + 2'15
43 Bauke Mollema SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'16
44 Xavi Tondo TEAM ASTANA s.t.
45 Jurgen Van den Broeck PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
46 José Azevedo LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
47 Constantino Zaballa CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
48 Guillaume Levarlet AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 2'17
49 Martin Mortensen TEAM CSC + 2'20
50 Libardo Niño PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 2'21
51 Cândido Barbosa EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
52 Mathieu Sprick T-MOBILE TEAM + 2'22
53 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
54 Luke Roberts TEAM CSC + 2'23
55 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
56 Michael Blaudzun TEAM CSC s.t.
57 Manuel Medina CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 2'24
58 Mikhail Ignatiev DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
59 Eduardo Gonzalo AGRITUBEL + 2'25
60 Rubens Bertogliati SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'27
61 Stijn Devolder EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
62 Oliver Zaugg GEROLSTEINER s.t.
63 Kevin De Weert FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 2'28
64 Pierrick Fédrigo CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
65 Yuri Trofimov COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 2'31
66 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
67 Philippe Gilbert RABOBANK s.t.
68 Pavel Brutt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
69 Patrice Halgand CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 2'34
70 Martin Gilbert T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
71 Christophe Kern T-MOBILE TEAM + 2'36
72 Piotr Mazur SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'38
73 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS + 2'41
74 Carlos Eduardo Alzate EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
75 Daniel Rincón DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'44

GC
1 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK 8h28'15
2 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 1'34
3 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS + 2'01
4 Bernhard Kohl TEAM ASTANA + 2'10
5 Vladimir Karpets RABOBANK + 2'26
6 Cadel Evans DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2'47
7 Vincenzo Nibali T-MOBILE TEAM + 2'49
8 Óscar Pereiro UNIBET.COM + 2'51
9 Denis Menchov LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 2'53
10 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM + 3'01
11 Sébastien Joly TEAM CSC s.t.
12 Fränk Schleck TEAM CSC + 3'05
13 Luis León Sánchez DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 3'09
14 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER s.t.
15 Chris Horner CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 3'13
16 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 3'14
17 Maxim Belkov BARLOWORLD + 3'19
18 Theo Eltink SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 3'23
19 José Iván Gutiérrez SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 3'26
20 Ivan Rovny LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 3'28
21 Blaise Sonnery AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 3'31
22 Alberto Losada CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 3'32
23 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 3'35
24 Óscar Sánchez BARLOWORLD + 3'45
25 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 3'46
26 Jurgen Van den Broeck PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 3'48
27 José Azevedo LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 3'50
28 Rémy Di Gregorio DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
29 Guillaume Levarlet AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 3'54
30 Constantino Zaballa CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
31 Libardo Niño PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 3'55
32 Roberto Heras TEAM ASTANA s.t.
33 Mikhail Ignatiev DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 3'56
34 Cândido Barbosa EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 4'03
35 Oliver Zaugg GEROLSTEINER + 4'06

Looking forward for Le Tour.
Who will be your captain, Evans or Contador?

Contador won't ride it so it's Evans

As Ive said many times, Evans Even if the press will write him off before hand for poor results

Ok, sorry for not seeing that before.

GO EVANS!

Stage 5

The first mountain stage of the race


Alex Efimkin went off up the road and took 20 points for the first KoM, beating Dainus Kairelis to the top


On the tougher 2nd climb a little later, Efimkin, Mederel (Quick Step) and Naibo (Ag2r) pulled away from the rest of the break and although Mederel tried to catch out Efimkin but Efimkin stormed past to take 30 points


Efimkin also took the 3rd smaller KoM before being swallowed by the pack. On the decisive climb, Kreuziger, Dekker, Sastre, Brajkovic and Kohl got away. Evans wasnt able to even try to attack.


The 5 went over the top, then down the descent and Thomas Dekker won the stage


1 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK 4h22'42
2 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
3 Bernhard Kohl TEAM ASTANA s.t.
4 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS s.t.
5 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC s.t.
6 Theo Eltink SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'13
7 Óscar Pereiro UNIBET.COM + 1'40
8 Manuel Medina CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 2'12
9 John Gadret AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
10 Oliver Zaugg GEROLSTEINER s.t.
11 José Iván Gutiérrez SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
12 Adam Blythe DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
13 Libardo Niño PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
14 Iván Parra COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
15 José Azevedo LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
16 Evgeni Sladkov BARLOWORLD s.t.
17 Roberto Heras TEAM ASTANA s.t.
18 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
19 Luis León Sánchez DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
20 Denis Menchov LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
21 Cadel Evans DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
22 Jurgen Van den Broeck PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
23 Philip Deignan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
24 Vladimir Karpets RABOBANK s.t.
25 Vincenzo Nibali T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
26 Michael Rasmussen CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
27 Maxim Belkov BARLOWORLD s.t.
28 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
29 Blaise Sonnery AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
30 Alberto Losada CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
31 Domenico Pozzovivo BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
32 Chris Horner CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
33 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER s.t.
34 Rémy Di Gregorio DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
35 Sébastien Joly TEAM CSC + 2'55
36 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
37 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS + 3'12
38 Guillaume Levarlet AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
39 Eduardo Gonzalo AGRITUBEL s.t.
40 Óscar Sánchez BARLOWORLD s.t.
41 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
42 Bauke Mollema SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
43 Xavi Tondo TEAM ASTANA + 5'25
44 Bobby Julich QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
45 Ivan Rovny LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
46 Pavel Brutt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
47 Fränk Schleck TEAM CSC + 6'09
48 Christophe Kern T-MOBILE TEAM + 6'36
49 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 7'18
50 Luis Orán Castañeda LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
51 Mathieu Sprick T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
52 Patrice Halgand CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
53 Daniele Bennati LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
54 Martin Gilbert T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
55 Mikhail Ignatiev DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 8'08
56 Daniel Rincón DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 8'54
57 Steven Kleynen COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 9'14
58 Pierrick Fédrigo CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
59 Kim Kirchen LIQUIGAS s.t.
60 Carl Naïbo AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.

GC
1 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK 12h50'47
2 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 1'38
3 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS + 2'11
4 Bernhard Kohl TEAM ASTANA + 2'16
5 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 3'24
6 Óscar Pereiro UNIBET.COM + 4'41
7 Theo Eltink SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 4'46
8 Vladimir Karpets RABOBANK + 4'48
9 Cadel Evans DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 5'09
10 Vincenzo Nibali T-MOBILE TEAM + 5'11
11 Denis Menchov LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 5'15
12 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM + 5'23
13 Luis León Sánchez DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 5'31
14 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER s.t.
15 Chris Horner CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 5'35

KoM
1 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK 65
2 Alexander Efimkin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 55
3 Bernhard Kohl TEAM ASTANA 47
4 Maxime Méderel QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 43
5 Carl Naïbo AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 31
6 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS 30
7 Dainius Kairelis BARLOWORLD 30
8 Igor Pugaci UNIBET.COM 24
9 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC 23
10 Xavi Tondo TEAM ASTANA 21

Stage 6

Its a transitional stage today and Mikhail Ignatiev succesfully got himself into the breakaway.


As we had hoped, the break would succeed. But two frenchmen foiled Ignatiev's hopes with an attack with 15km to go. Mikhail didnt follow, but the gap they got wasnt reduced and he would have to settle for 5th


1 Christophe Kern T-MOBILE TEAM 3h40'11
2 Jérôme Coppel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
3 Alexeï Markov CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 34
4 Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER s.t.
5 Mikhail Ignatiev DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
6 Markus Eichler UNIBET.COM s.t.
7 Maxime Bouet COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
8 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
9 Martin Mortensen TEAM CSC s.t.
10 Daniele Bennati LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 2'01
11 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS s.t.
12 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
13 Tyler Farrar GEROLSTEINER s.t.
14 Christopher Sutton UNIBET.COM s.t.
15 Romain Feillu AGRITUBEL s.t.
16 Manuel Cardoso GEROLSTEINER s.t.
17 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
18 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
19 Carlos Eduardo Alzate EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
20 Koldo Fernández de Larrea EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.

GC
1 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK 16h32'59
2 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 1'38
3 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS + 2'11
4 Bernhard Kohl TEAM ASTANA + 2'16
5 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 3'24
6 Óscar Pereiro UNIBET.COM + 4'41
7 Theo Eltink SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 4'46
8 Vladimir Karpets RABOBANK + 4'48
9 Cadel Evans DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 5'09
10 Vincenzo Nibali T-MOBILE TEAM + 5'11
11 Denis Menchov LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 5'15
12 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM + 5'23
13 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER + 5'31
14 Luis León Sánchez DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
15 Chris Horner CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 5'35
16 Maxim Belkov BARLOWORLD + 5'41
17 José Iván Gutiérrez SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 5'48
18 Blaise Sonnery AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 5'53
19 Alberto Losada CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 5'54
20 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 5'57

The Tour de Suisse should be an interesting race for the team, although not because of overall victory hopes. The teams can pretty much be split into 4 groups.

1. Fight for Tour de France Squad

At the start of the season, both Maxim Iglinskiy and Saul Raisin were due to ride the Tour de France. But an injury to Uran meant that he missed the Ardennes and completely changed his schedule. So now, only 1 spot is available for Iglinskiy and Raisin. One will make the squad, the other will be the main reserve.

2. Sprinters preparing

Edvald Boasson Hagen and Ben Swift are already assured of a Tour de France place. They hope to use the flatter stages to test their sprinting legs out.

3. Eindhoven Warm Up

Rafaa Chtioui and Justo Tenorio will use this race for same race days, abandoning before the end to head to Eindhoven.

4. Other
Ian Stannard still has good form from the Giro, Frederik Nolf is building up form for the Belgian national championships.

Two epic stories making a comeback on the same day...

Looking forward to the rest of the Dauphine and the Tour de Suisse.

Stage 1

All seemed well and normal up to the intermediate sprint with 35km to go. The break had been caught and Ben Swift went for it, to be beaten by Napolitano.


Then all hell broke loose. The pace of the peleton rose dramatically and a lot of riders started stuggling - the only DFL rider unaffected was Boasson Hagen.

The peleton were shredded to just 58 riders by the sprint, and Hagen picked the wheel of Napolitano


It was the right choice and Napolitano went past Ballan early on


It would just be a question of whether Hagen has the legs to outsprint Napolitano and Davis today


Ill let Ballan tell you if he did or not...


So, only 3rd for Hagen today - and thats his first ProTour point of the season.

Meanwhile, the Raisin v Iglinskiy battle didnt really mean much today as their role will be in the mountains. But nevertheless, it is honours even - they finished side by side (along with Chtioui)


1 Danilo Napolitano LAMPRE - FONDITAL 4h52'10
2 Allan Davis TEAM MILRAM s.t.
3 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
4 Gerald Ciolek T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
5 Assan Bazayev CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
6 Bernhard Eisel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
7 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
8 Leonardo Duque CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
9 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM s.t.
10 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS s.t.
11 �ngel Vicioso PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
12 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
13 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM s.t.
14 Francisco Pacheco TEAM LPR s.t.
15 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
16 Juan Pablo Forero PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
17 Yaroslav Popovych TEAM ASTANA s.t.
18 José Carlos Rodrigues TEAM LPR s.t.
19 Tiago Machado CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
20 Kai Reus TEAM LPR s.t.
21 Manuel Lloret DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
22 Vladimir Gusev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
23 Jean-Marc Bideau TEAM MILRAM s.t.
24 Edwin Orozco BARLOWORLD s.t.
25 Carlos Barredo RABOBANK s.t.
69 Ian Stannard DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2'08
97 Ben Swift DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'03
112 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
132 Rafaâ Chtioui DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 6'06
134 Saul Raisin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
135 Maxim Iglinskiy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
146 Justo Tenorio DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 10'56

GReat to see this back.

Great to see the story back. Great read so far. Keep it up

It's back! Fantastic!

Stage 2

This is going to be a very tricky stage. Its hilly and plenty of hills are there - but the final climb up to the finish has the steepness usually associated with an alpine mountain!


Justo Tenorio got himself into the break of the day for us, also in there was Rujano and the Venezuelan took most of the KoM points on offer today


Despite the steepness of the final climb, Boasson Hagen was determined to test himself and looked to follow Gasparotto's attack with 3km to go


It was just a case of keeping as close to the front as possible - climbers Sella and Popovych had both already got a gap


It is Sella who won the stage, while Hagen finished a very credible 10th.


In the battle for the Tour spot, Iglinskiy finished 1'47 ahead of Raisin.

1 Emanuele Sella DISCOVERY CHANNEL 4h51'27
2 Yaroslav Popovych TEAM ASTANA s.t.
3 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC + 14
4 Linus Gerdemann CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
5 Thomas Lövkvist TEAM MILRAM + 24
6 Pietro Caucchioli BARLOWORLD s.t.
7 Carlos Barredo RABOBANK s.t.
8 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
9 Matthias Ruß GEROLSTEINER s.t.
10 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
11 �ngel Vicioso PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
12 Edwin Orozco BARLOWORLD s.t.
13 Manuel Lloret DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
14 Leonardo Duque CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
15 Pieter Weening RABOBANK s.t.
16 Sylvester Szmyd BARLOWORLD s.t.
17 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS s.t.
18 Mauricio Soler RABOBANK s.t.
19 Steve Zampieri COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
20 Sergio Paulinho RABOBANK s.t.
21 Kai Reus TEAM LPR s.t.
22 Tiago Machado CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
23 Haimar Zubeldia SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
24 Ricardo Mestre LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
25 Pedro Nicacio BARLOWORLD s.t.
26 Dario Cataldo BARLOWORLD s.t.
27 Amets Txurruka EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 1'27
28 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM s.t.
29 Giuseppe Palumbo UNIBET.COM s.t.
30 Luca Mazzanti EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
31 Gerhard Trampusch BARLOWORLD s.t.
32 Óscar García-Casarrubios COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
33 Pasquale Muto RABOBANK s.t.
34 Mikel Astarloza QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
35 Francisco Pacheco TEAM LPR s.t.
36 Xavier Zandio CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
37 Przemyslaw Niemiec TEAM ASTANA s.t.
38 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
39 Juan Carlos López EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
40 Ronny Scholz GEROLSTEINER s.t.
41 Samuel Dumoulin AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 2'19
42 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
43 Joaquim Rodríguez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
44 Jean-Marc Bideau TEAM MILRAM s.t.
45 Allan Davis TEAM MILRAM s.t.
46 Steffen Wesemann LIQUIGAS s.t.
47 Stefano Barberi QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
48 Marco Marcato UNIBET.COM s.t.
49 Jorge Azanza EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
50 Maxim Iglinskiy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
73 Saul Raisin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'06
88 Ian Stannard DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 7'02
116 Ben Swift DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 11'32
118 Rafaâ Chtioui DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 11'59
145 Justo Tenorio DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 15'09


GC
1 Emanuele Sella DISCOVERY CHANNEL 9h43'27
2 Yaroslav Popovych TEAM ASTANA + 4
3 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC + 20
4 Linus Gerdemann CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 24
5 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 30
6 �ngel Vicioso PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 34
7 Leonardo Duque CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
8 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS s.t.
9 Carlos Barredo RABOBANK s.t.
10 Manuel Lloret DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
11 Edwin Orozco BARLOWORLD s.t.
12 Tiago Machado CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
13 Kai Reus TEAM LPR s.t.
14 Matthias Ruß GEROLSTEINER s.t.
15 Thomas Lövkvist TEAM MILRAM s.t.
16 Pedro Nicacio BARLOWORLD s.t.
17 Dario Cataldo BARLOWORLD s.t.
18 Mauricio Soler RABOBANK s.t.
19 Haimar Zubeldia SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
20 Pieter Weening RABOBANK s.t.
21 Steve Zampieri COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
22 Ricardo Mestre LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
23 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM + 1'37
24 Francisco Pacheco TEAM LPR s.t.
25 Giuseppe Palumbo UNIBET.COM s.t.

KoM
1 José Rujano DISCOVERY CHANNEL 49
2 Christophe Laurent CRÉDIT AGRICOLE 33
3 Fabio Sabatini TEAM MILRAM 23
4 Samuel Dumoulin AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 15
5 Alessandro Proni QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 15
6 Mathieu Ladagnous FRANÇAISE DES JEUX 14
7 Justo Tenorio DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 13
8 Dioni Galparsoro EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 13
9 Emanuele Sella DISCOVERY CHANNEL 12
10 Yaroslav Popovych TEAM ASTANA 8

Stage 7


Evans will just hope to maintain his top 10 position overall.

While Efimkin goes after KoM points. He has Jose Ivan Gutierrez for company


But frustratingly - and unexpectedly, the peleton set a furious pace. Led by Remi di Gregorio


Efimkin digs deep, goes flat out, drops Gutierrez and crosses the top first.


But theres more problems in the descent - he holds a slender minute lead over Gutierrez, Menchov and Sastre. Inevitably, the peleton are chasing.


Those 3 are caught and at last the peleton relaxes - but it looks like too late now for Efimkin. Even a +5 day surely cant help him reach the summit first


But by some extraordinary miracle - he does it!


He is immediately out of energy but it still takes the peleton 38km of mostly descent to catch him


Onto the 3rd climb and the attacks came from the leading GC riders. Not feeling himself strong enough to try to gollow them, Evans keeps in the peleton


Thats moreorlesss how the stage would play out. At one stage Bernhard Kohl looked set to ride into the race lead, but he weakened near the finish and Thomas Dekker came back at him. Kohl still wins the stage though - and the young doper now has a strong lead in the KoM competition - very bad news for Efimkin


Evans battled to 11th place - he didnt have anything left to give by the finish and will drop from 9th to 10th overall


1 Bernhard Kohl TEAM ASTANA 5h49'36
2 Theo Eltink SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 27
3 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK + 54
4 Óscar Pereiro UNIBET.COM + 1'19
5 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS + 1'29
6 Vincenzo Nibali T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'38
7 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
8 Maxim Belkov BARLOWORLD + 3'02
9 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM + 4'35
10 Roberto Heras TEAM ASTANA + 4'46
11 Cadel Evans DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'55
12 Vladimir Karpets RABOBANK + 5'32
13 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER + 6'06
14 Alberto Losada CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 7'23
15 John Gadret AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 7'39
16 Jurgen Van den Broeck PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 7'50
17 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 8'26
18 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS + 8'36
19 Chris Horner CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 9'17
20 Luis León Sánchez DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 9'27
21 Rémy Di Gregorio DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 9'45
22 Oliver Zaugg GEROLSTEINER + 12'54
23 Denis Menchov LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 13'02
24 Domenico Pozzovivo BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 13'35
25 Blaise Sonnery AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
26 Sébastien Joly TEAM CSC + 13'46
27 Francis Mourey FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
28 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 13'55
29 Michael Rasmussen CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
30 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 14'22
31 Fränk Schleck TEAM CSC + 14'44
32 Xavi Tondo TEAM ASTANA + 16'07
33 José Azevedo LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 16'20
34 Andrei Sartasov BARLOWORLD + 16'40
35 Bauke Mollema SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
36 Johann Tschopp BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 17'38
37 Manuel Medina CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 17'48
38 Óscar Sánchez BARLOWORLD + 18'19
39 Guillaume Levarlet AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 18'29
40 Stijn Devolder EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 19'04
41 Freddy Piamonte QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 19'14
42 Libardo Niño PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 19'22
43 Pierre Rolland CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
44 Adam Blythe DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 19'37
45 Gorka Verdugo EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 19'50
46 Evgeni Sladkov BARLOWORLD + 20'03
47 Iván Parra COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 20'14
48 Maxime Méderel QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
49 Cândido Barbosa EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 20'28
50 Iñigo Landaluze EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 21'05
54 Mikhail Ignatiev DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 21'28
64 Philip Deignan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 24'18
67 Alexander Efimkin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 25'07
69 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 25'24
105 Bradley Wiggins DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1h06'06
106 Matthew Goss DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1h09'03

GC
1 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK 22h23'29
2 Bernhard Kohl TEAM ASTANA + 1'22
3 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'22
4 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS + 2'46
5 Theo Eltink SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 4'19
6 Óscar Pereiro UNIBET.COM + 5'06
7 Vincenzo Nibali T-MOBILE TEAM + 5'55
8 Maxim Belkov BARLOWORLD + 7'49
9 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM + 9'04
10 Cadel Evans DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 9'10
11 Vladimir Karpets RABOBANK + 9'26
12 Roberto Heras TEAM ASTANA + 10'09
13 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER + 10'43
14 Alberto Losada CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 12'23
15 Jurgen Van den Broeck PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 13'06
16 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 13'29
17 John Gadret AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 13'35
18 Chris Horner CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 13'58
19 Luis León Sánchez DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 14'04
20 Rémy Di Gregorio DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 15'03
21 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS + 15'15
22 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 16'21
23 Denis Menchov LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 17'21
24 Oliver Zaugg GEROLSTEINER + 18'28
25 Blaise Sonnery AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 18'34

KoM
1 Bernhard Kohl TEAM ASTANA 177
2 Alexander Efimkin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 135
3 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK 107
4 Theo Eltink SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 73
5 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC 71
6 Denis Menchov LAMPRE - FONDITAL 70
7 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS 68
8 Maxime Méderel QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 65
9 Óscar Pereiro UNIBET.COM 62
10 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL 52

Stage 8


A 3 lap circuit, containing the ascent and descent of the Col du Revard

Its the last chance for Efimkin to get the KoM jersey, it will be tough, but he is willing to give it a go. He is joined on his attack by teammate Deignan and also Anza


They could not shake off Anza but it did not matter as Efimkin crossed first on the first two laps


So, for Efkimin to win the KoM, Kohl would have to cross the 3rd climb no better than 5th. But he crossed 3rd, behind Dekker and Sastre who was further up the road


Sastre would win the stage. Dekker wins the Dauphine


Evans tried to sprint away from his group to gain the 6 seconds needed to pass Michael Rogers. Unfortunately, he wasnt given a gap but he does still gain a position in the GC after Maxim Belkov had a bad day to drop out of the Top 10.


1 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC 5h05'03
2 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK s.t.
3 Theo Eltink SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
4 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS s.t.
5 Óscar Pereiro UNIBET.COM s.t.
6 Bernhard Kohl TEAM ASTANA s.t.
7 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
8 Vincenzo Nibali T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'07
9 Denis Menchov LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
10 Jurgen Van den Broeck PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 1'37
11 Cadel Evans DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2'18
12 Oliver Zaugg GEROLSTEINER s.t.
13 Vladimir Karpets RABOBANK s.t.
14 Alberto Losada CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
15 Rémy Di Gregorio DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
16 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
17 Sébastien Joly TEAM CSC s.t.
18 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
19 Pierre Rolland CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
20 José Azevedo LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
21 Michael Rasmussen CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
22 Roberto Heras TEAM ASTANA s.t.
23 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER s.t.
24 Chris Horner CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
25 Domenico Pozzovivo BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
26 Luis León Sánchez DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 4'16
27 Cândido Barbosa EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
28 Iñigo Landaluze EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
29 Freddy Piamonte QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
30 Maxim Belkov BARLOWORLD s.t.
31 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
32 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS + 6'54
33 José Iván Gutiérrez SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
34 Johann Tschopp BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
35 Patrice Halgand CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
36 Kim Kirchen LIQUIGAS s.t.
37 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
38 Fränk Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
39 Constantino Zaballa CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
40 Xavi Tondo TEAM ASTANA s.t.
41 Manuel Medina CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
42 Andrei Sartasov BARLOWORLD s.t.
43 Bauke Mollema SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
44 Mathieu Sprick T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
45 Libardo Niño PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
46 Iván Parra COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
47 Blaise Sonnery AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 8'06
48 Charles Wegelius RABOBANK s.t.
49 Guillaume Levarlet AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
50 Francis Mourey FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
57 Adam Blythe DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 10'30
59 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
73 Mikhail Ignatiev DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 15'34
88 Philip Deignan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 21'34
89 Alexander Efimkin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
125 Matthew Goss DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 37'58
129 Bradley Wiggins DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.

GC
1 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK 27h28'26
2 Bernhard Kohl TEAM ASTANA + 1'28
3 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'28
4 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS + 2'52
5 Theo Eltink SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 4'21
6 Óscar Pereiro UNIBET.COM + 5'12
7 Vincenzo Nibali T-MOBILE TEAM + 7'08
8 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM + 11'28
9 Cadel Evans DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 11'34
10 Vladimir Karpets RABOBANK + 11'50
11 Maxim Belkov BARLOWORLD + 12'11
12 Roberto Heras TEAM ASTANA + 12'33
13 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER + 13'07
14 Alberto Losada CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 14'47
15 Jurgen Van den Broeck PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 14'49
16 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 16'17
17 Chris Horner CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 16'22
18 Rémy Di Gregorio DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 17'27
19 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS + 17'39
20 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 17'51
21 Luis León Sánchez DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 18'26
22 Denis Menchov LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 18'34
23 Oliver Zaugg GEROLSTEINER + 20'52
24 Sébastien Joly TEAM CSC + 21'22
25 Michael Rasmussen CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 22'26
47 Adam Blythe DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 43'40
52 Mikhail Ignatiev DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 46'59
60 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 53'38
68 Philip Deignan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1h00'52
78 Alexander Efimkin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1h07'59
132 Matthew Goss DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2h31'15
158 Bradley Wiggins DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2h40'54

KoM
1 Bernhard Kohl TEAM ASTANA 199
2 Alexander Efimkin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 195
3 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK 133
4 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC 113
5 Theo Eltink SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 91
6 Óscar Pereiro UNIBET.COM 80
7 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS 78
8 Denis Menchov LAMPRE - FONDITAL 78
9 Maxime Méderel QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 65
10 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL 64
11 Dainius Kairelis BARLOWORLD 56
12 Santo Anzà AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 52
13 José Iván Gutiérrez SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 48
14 Philip Deignan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 46
15 Vincenzo Nibali T-MOBILE TEAM 40