Thanks all - I just wish Cadel Evans' morale was a bit better than very unhappy




Poland TT
Piotr Mazur retains his title. It is likely to be his only win this season, as it was last season. This solitary win wont help him too much though, Saunier Duval are not resigning him

France TT
There was uproar on the start line as T-Mobile were prevented from riding. They have 4 frenchmen in their squad included the champion for the past two years, Benoit Vaugrenard. So in his absence, Jerome Coppel took advantage and having been 2nd last year, he is this years winner. Tony Gallopin was a surprise 2nd while despite only having a fitness of 3, Arnaud Coyot did not come last! He was 75th out of 111 participants.

Austria TT
Nobody could even come close to Bernhard Kohl as he retained his title. The 2008 Giro winner was 2nd in the Dauphine and we expect to see him line up for the Tour de France in just over a weeks time.

British TT
David Millar retained his title

Norway TT
Edvald Boasson Hagen outrode Hushovd and Arvesen to make the national championships a doubly sweet success for him

AWesome dude. Edvald Double national champion. Doesnt get better than that

Well I hope it does get better than that! Edvald Double national champion and Green jersey winner!

lol, i was talking in terms of nat champs. But yeah. Green jersey too. Good luck to the team!

Profronde van Fryslan



We experienced this race in 2007 and were unlucky to have Manan crash - but this time around we have a much much stronger team. 6 of whom are all around 90 form as they will soon ride the Tour, another is also that high due to his target of the Belgian national championships, while we also have a new national champion to make up the 8.

Who are they? Boasson Hagen, Ignatiev, Evans, Swift, Wiggins, Millar, Nolf and Thomas!

Donned in his new national jersey, Hagen was protected by the new British champ Thomas and also Ben Swift early on as Ignatiev, Millar, Wiggins and Nolf led the chase of the break


The chase looked good and the breaks lead was down to around 4 minutes with 70km to go. We therefore slowed down the tempo, and told Ignatiev to stop working - the idea that he would lead out Hagen later in the race. When we did step up the chase again, Swift and Thomas aided this time but it was less effective.

With 30km to go, the gap to the lead riders is still 3 minutes. So Cadel Evans, who is fresh having sat in the wheels all day, attacks on the circuit's climb.


Seeing Evans quickly gain a minute, with no big chase emerging. Ignatiev and Hagen then attack on the flat following the hill.

The man they are chasing is Torsten Schmidt of Wiesenhof. The 37 year old hasnt won anything since winning the final stage of the 2007 Tour of Qinghai Lake, when the breakaway he was in just survived to the line.


With 9km to go we have reached the final ascent of the bridge-climb. Hagen is closing down on Evans, despite a +5 day Mikhail Ignatiev hasnt quite managed to keep up with the storming Norwegian.


Hagen bridges up to Evans on the climb, a testament to the strength of the Norwegian. 7.5km to go, the gap is 1 minute to Schmidt


Evans tucks himself in behind Hagen as the Norwegian charges


De Groot, Brown, Tronet and Feillu are starting to pull away from the peleton but are a minute behind Hagen/Evans, with Ignatiev inbetween


Hagen's hard work is successful as Schmidt is caught with 3km to go


Ignatiev has been caught by the sprinters, but still the gap to Hagen/Evans is 50 seconds


Evans does his best to follow the wheel of Hagen


But Hagen has a good gap on him coming out of the final corner - but it doesnt look like the likes of Feillu or Brown will catch them!


Hagen slows, and Evans is moving through!


Cadel Evans is the winner!!! Hagen gave him the victory and settle for 2nd

For some reason, Feillu and Brown failed to pass their lead out men!

Like Evans and Hagen, Ignatiev also celebrated the teams result. He took 10th place.


The rest of the team all rolled in safely in the peleton, not contesting the sprint.

1 Cadel Evans DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 5h22'22
2 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
3 Steven Tronet AGRITUBEL s.t.
4 Emanuele Rizza TIME - VAN HEMERT s.t.
5 Bram De Groot RABOBANK s.t.
6 Romain Feillu AGRITUBEL s.t.
7 Graeme Brown RABOBANK s.t.
8 Fabien Bacquet SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
9 Torsten Schmidt TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
10 Mikhail Ignatiev DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
11 Roberto Ferrari TIME - VAN HEMERT s.t.
12 Stefan Radochla TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
13 Jens Erik Madsen JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
14 Yauheni Hutarovich UBBINK - SYNTEC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
15 Gerben Löwik RABOBANK s.t.
16 Mark Renshaw TEAM LÖWIK MEUBELEN s.t.
17 Anthony Geslin TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
18 André Schulze TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
19 Felix Odebrecht TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
20 Steven Cozza TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
21 Sérgio Sousa T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
22 Kazuo Inoue AGRITUBEL s.t.
23 Maarten Tjallingii T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
24 Jakob Piil T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
25 Jonathan Balbuena AGRITUBEL s.t.
26 Thorwald Veneberg RABOBANK s.t.
27 Ger Soepenberg FONDAS P3TRANSFER TEAM s.t.
28 Benny Dinkel TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
29 Alexei Shchebelin TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
30 Michael Friedman TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
31 Ben Swift DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
32 Kenny Van der Schueren RABOBANK s.t.
33 Tim Dees TEAM LÖWIK MEUBELEN s.t.
34 William Frischkorn TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
35 Norbert Poels FONDAS P3TRANSFER TEAM s.t.
36 Wim Botman UBBINK - SYNTEC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
37 Lucas De Visscher RABOBANK s.t.
38 Cornelius Van Ooijen TEAM LÖWIK MEUBELEN s.t.
39 Maarten Mandemakers FONDAS P3TRANSFER TEAM s.t.
40 Christophe Kern T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
41 Andrey Zeits SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
42 Albert Timmer SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
43 Thomas Ziegler T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
44 Olmedo Capacho TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
45 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
46 Benoît Vaugrenard T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
47 Christian Leben TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
48 Emilien-Benoît Bergès SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
49 Dennis Smit UBBINK - SYNTEC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
50 Robert Van Hemelen JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
51 Allan Sødal UBBINK - SYNTEC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
52 Yasuharu Nakajima VAN VLIET - EBH ADVOCATEN s.t.
53 Niels Pieters UBBINK - SYNTEC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
54 Jonathan Patrick McCarty TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
55 Charles Wegelius RABOBANK s.t.
56 Stanley Luypers TEAM LÖWIK MEUBELEN s.t.
57 Robert Slippens UBBINK - SYNTEC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
58 Alessio Ricciardi JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
59 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
60 Jason Donald TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
61 Mashahiro Shinagawa SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
62 Cédric Coutouly AGRITUBEL s.t.
63 John Devine TIME - VAN HEMERT s.t.
64 David Lelay TIME - VAN HEMERT s.t.
65 Imperio Bosi VAN VLIET - EBH ADVOCATEN s.t.
66 Aaron Olson T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
67 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
68 Yoann Le Boulanger VAN VLIET - EBH ADVOCATEN s.t.
69 Jay Thompson TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
70 Guillermo Lana VAN VLIET - EBH ADVOCATEN s.t.
71 Edward Smolyaninov TEAM LÖWIK MEUBELEN s.t.
72 Bradley Wiggins DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
73 Adriaan Rose FONDAS P3TRANSFER TEAM s.t.
74 Milton Hargill TIME - VAN HEMERT s.t.
75 David Deroo SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
76 Rui Lavarinhas AGRITUBEL s.t.
77 Mikkel Junge Køpke AGRITUBEL s.t.
78 Joost Van Leijen VAN VLIET - EBH ADVOCATEN s.t.
79 Cristophe Collet TEAM LÖWIK MEUBELEN s.t.
80 Yohann Cauquil JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
81 Benjamin Vervalle JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
82 Bert Grabsch T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
83 Michael Creed TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
84 Sander Oostlander TEAM LÖWIK MEUBELEN s.t.
85 Doeke Kossih SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
86 Dario Andriotto RABOBANK s.t.
87 Mathieu Perget TIME - VAN HEMERT + 3'55
88 Savié Van Horik FONDAS P3TRANSFER TEAM s.t.
89 Takamitu Tsuji SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
90 Rikke Dijkxhoorn VAN VLIET - EBH ADVOCATEN + 4'33
91 Denis Flahaut JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
92 Wladyslaw Koziola UBBINK - SYNTEC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
93 Charles Guilbert AGRITUBEL + 5'05
94 Tim Van der Zanden UBBINK - SYNTEC CYCLING TEAM + 5'29
95 Artur Przydzial VAN VLIET - EBH ADVOCATEN s.t.
96 Sebastiaan Kamphuis FONDAS P3TRANSFER TEAM s.t.
97 Mathieu Drouilly JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
98 Arkaitz Durán FONDAS P3TRANSFER TEAM s.t.
99 Gianpaolo Brusadelli VAN VLIET - EBH ADVOCATEN s.t.
100 Bram Van Oosterhout FONDAS P3TRANSFER TEAM + 6'49


Evans is really buoyed up by this victory. Its the first sign that he should be taken seriously at the Tour, and his morale rockes up from 'Very Unhappy' to 'Happy'.

youve still got it!

Well played SN, cant wait to see how you dominate the tour!

Andy is looking strong, he is going to be tough to beat, especially on extreme.

Good luck though

Spain TT

With Manuel Lloret of Discovery barred from entering, the favourites came from Saunier Duval with Jose Ivan Gutierrez, Ruben Plaza, and Haimar Zubeldia.


Gutierrez was the winner, while Contador could only manage 10th in his first race since the Giro


1 José Iván Gutiérrez SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 1h02'51
2 Rubén Plaza SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'28
3 Carlos Castaño TEAM 3C-GRUPPE LAMONTA + 2'25
4 Josu Agirre ORBEA - OREKA S.D.A. + 2'30
5 Haimar Zubeldia SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'43
6 Iker Camaño RABOBANK CONTINENTAL + 3'02
7 Santos González KARPIN GALICIA + 3'03
8 Toni Colom VIÑA MAGNA - CROPU + 3'05
9 Beñat Intxausti GRUPO NICOL�S MATEOS + 3'12
10 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 3'13
11 David Blanco CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 3'23
12 Héctor Guerra CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 3'24
13 Josep María Martín Esperanza MADEINOX - BRIC - LOULÉ + 3'31
14 Eladio Sánchez FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM + 3'33
15 Iván Gilmartín TEAM 3C-GRUPPE LAMONTA + 3'35
32 Justo Tenorio DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'20
34 Fran Pérez DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'29
113 David De la Fuente DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 6'15


Russia TT

Mikhail Ignatiev really put the hammer down on the climb on the route - he paid for it in the descent as he lost a minute of his advantage. But since he had nearly a 2 minute advantage at the top of the climb, he had done enough to take the title after being runnerup for the past two seasons


1 Mikhail Ignatiev DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 52'44
2 Denis Menchov LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 45
3 Vladimir Gusev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 47
4 Evgeni Petrov TEAM CSC + 56
5 Maxim Belkov BARLOWORLD + 1'01
6 Alexander Filippov TEAM GLS + 1'38
7 Nikolai Trussov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 1'39
8 Andrei Sartasov BARLOWORLD + 1'43
9 Pavel Brutt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 1'46
10 Ivan Rovny LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 2'12
11 Alexei Shchebelin TEAM SLIPSTREAM + 2'20
12 Pavel Korzh MOSCOW STARS + 2'22
13 Roman Maximov MOSCOW STARS + 2'26
14 Denis Kudashev UNIBET.COM + 2'30
15 Ilja Syrtsev UNIBET.COM CONTINENTAL + 2'36
32 Alexander Efimkin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 3'48

Denmark TT

A CSC 1-2-3 may not be much of a surprise - but the riders in those positions were. It should have been a battle between Michael Mortensen and GLS's Steensen but Mortensen was only 3rd and Steensen down in 7th. Young Jakob Siim did the ride of his life for 2nd, while the win went to a veteran - Michael Blaudzun.

Ukraine TT

Yaroslav Popovych put his crash in the Tour de Suisse behind him to win comfortably.

Portugal TT

Jose Martins came out on top by just 4 seconds over Ricardo Mestre. Last years champion Hugo Sabido was 3rd

Another Double national champ. How awesome!

Russia RR

Ignatiev is very motivated to defend his title on this course


Itll be a challenge, with just 36 men the tactics will be hard to judge. Efimkin will be here though to sacrifice himself for Ignatiev.

Early on a group of around 11 got away with Ignatiev and Efimkin in it and no other big names apart from Kolesnikov who then attacked away from it


Efimkin just stuck himself on the front of the group relaying. The gap to Kolesnikov remained steady at around 90 seconds but the gap to the other big names was extended.

After around 30km of this, Efimkin and Ignatiev then just rode away from the rest in that group.


So Efimkin pulled Ignatiev along for a long time until he would eventually won out of energy - it was good timing as Quick Steps Brutt and Kolobnev were lowering the gap to Ignatiev for their leader Gusev


Ignatiev then pressed on and caught Kolesnikov. With 45km to go, the gap to the other main players is 3 minutes


Ignatiev keeps pushing - albeit conservatively, running out of energy would be a disaster. If a couple of riders in the group behind were to completely sacrifice, his hopes would be over - but they did not and the decline in the gap was gradual. 15km to go, the gap is 1'35


The chase behind was slightly hindered when Belkov and Brutt crashed


But surprisingly, none of the group tried to attack each other, which would surely have lowered the gap to Ignatiev. Things were looking good


And he does it!!!!! A great win, thoroughlly deserved.


Well done also to Efimkin, he finished 20 minutes later but Ignatiev could not have won without him.


1 Mikhail Ignatiev DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 5h18'32
2 Sergei Ivanov TEAM ASTANA + 51
3 Ivan Rovny LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
4 Denis Menchov LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
5 Vladimir Gusev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
6 Andrei Sartasov BARLOWORLD s.t.
7 Alexei Shchebelin TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
8 Evgeni Petrov TEAM CSC s.t.
9 Denis Kudashev UNIBET.COM s.t.
10 Alexandr Kolobnev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
11 Ilja Syrtsev UNIBET.COM CONTINENTAL s.t.
12 Pavel Brutt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 3'32
13 Maxim Belkov BARLOWORLD s.t.
14 Anton Mindlin TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 4'11
15 Andrei Klyuev MOSCOW STARS s.t.
16 Vladislav Borisov TEAM UNIVERSAL CAFFÉ - ECOPETROL s.t.
17 Sergei Kolesnikov SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS + 5'54
18 Ildar Zakirov MOSCOW STARS + 9'35
19 Guennadi Mikhailov TEAM ASTANA + 10'15
20 Viktor Rapinski NAVIGATORS INSURANCE + 10'55
21 Dimitri Medvedev TEAM MAXBO BIANCHI s.t.
22 Nikolai Trussov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
23 Dmitri Nikandrov TEAM UNIVERSAL CAFFÉ - ECOPETROL s.t.
24 Vasili Khatuntsev MOSCOW STARS s.t.
25 Alexander Filippov TEAM GLS s.t.
26 Pavel Korzh MOSCOW STARS + 12'58
27 Sergei Sherbakov MOSCOW STARS s.t.
28 Valeri Valinin MOSCOW STARS s.t.
29 Nikita Novikov SPORT LISBOA E BENFICA s.t.
30 Roman Maximov MOSCOW STARS + 14'05
31 Denis Vorontsov MOSCOW STARS + 17'25
32 Ilshat Pyvin SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
33 Alexander Efimkin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 20'27
34 Alexei Schmidt MOSCOW STARS + 23'09
35 Aslan Kazikhanov VIÑA MAGNA - CROPU + 23'34
36 Oleg Grishkine NAVIGATORS INSURANCE + 29'35

Ignatiev and Hagen are already double national champions, but more riders were to become that too.

Denmark RR

Amazingly, Michael Blaudzun became a double champion, evading the peleton by 28 seconds.

Switzerland RR

Cancellara and Morabito were the strongest and Cancellara won the final sprint to become a double national champion.

Austria RR

Clearly the strongest, Bernhard Kohl took the road race, just like he did in the time trial.

Spain RR

A 6th double national champion! Jose Ivan Gutierrez went solo to win


Contador ended up in 19th place, while David de la Fuente had earlier been in the break of the day


1 José Iván Gutiérrez SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 5h44'29
2 Joaquim Rodríguez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 57
3 Iñigo Landaluze EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 1'47
4 Fran Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'16
5 Jesús Del Nero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
6 Enrique Mata ORBEA - OREKA S.D.A. s.t.
7 Diego Milán GRUPO NICOL�S MATEOS s.t.
8 Gustavo Domínguez KARPIN GALICIA s.t.
9 Rubén Pérez RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
10 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
11 Vicente Reynès CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
12 Yon Bru EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
13 Toni Colom VIÑA MAGNA - CROPU s.t.
14 David Herrero KARPIN GALICIA s.t.
15 José Joaquín Rojas CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
16 José Herrada VIÑA MAGNA - CROPU s.t.
17 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
18 Carlos Castaño TEAM 3C-GRUPPE LAMONTA s.t.
19 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
20 Luis Pérez Romero ORBEA - OREKA S.D.A. s.t.
21 Amets Txurruka EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
22 Josep Jufré RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
23 David García Dapena TEAM ASTANA s.t.
24 Jorge Ferrio ANDALUC�A - CAJASUR s.t.
25 Jorge Azanza EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
80 Justo Tenorio DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'33
82 Fran Pérez DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
125 David De la Fuente DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 9'31
138 Igor Antón DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 16'49

Great 1-2 in France.

Good luck in the Tour SN, GO EVANS!

Belgium RR

This race is an absolute huge goal for Frederik Nolf. He has peaked for it and is desperate to win after taking 2nd last year


The situation was all together with one lap to go, so Nolf attacked


Maes and Steurs went with him, one of the 3 will be the new national champion


Maes dropped off so Nolf would battle Steurs


Its certainly going to be close


But Steurs won





Other National Champions
Portugal - Hugo Sabido
Poland - Blazej Janiaczyk
Czech Rep - Roman Kreuziger
Ukraine - Ruslan Pidgornyy
France - John Gadret
Italy - Filippo Pozzato
Netherlands - Martijn Maaskant
Germany - Andreas Klier
Slovenia - Matej Mugerli

Nolf It was so close....

Great news for Ignative. But so unlucky with Nolf Good luck at the tour dude!

Tour de France startlist:

Team CSC - Is it Andy Schlecks year?
1. A.Schleck
2. P.Andersen
3. M.Chérel
4. J.A.Gómez Marchante
5. S.Joly
6. L.Roberts
7. A.Rodríguez
8. J.Siim
9. G.Suray

DFL - Cyclingnews
11. A.Contador
12. E.Boasson Hagen
13. C.Evans
14. M.Iglinskiy
15. M.Ignatiev
16. D.Millar
17. B.Swift
18. R.Urán
19. B.Wiggins

Rabobank - Wow! Now thats what I call a strong climbing team!
21. T.Dekker
22. R.Gesink
23. V.Karpets
24. L.Leipheimer
25. G.Löwik
26. N.Maes
27. B.Schmitz
28. P.Weening
29. C.Wegelius

Liquigas
31. R.Kreuziger
32. E.Capecchi
33. R.Dion
34. H.Duclos-Lassalle
35. E.Gasparotto
36. D.Gaudin
37. K.Kirchen
38. F.Pozzato
39. S.Scheirlinckx

Team Astana - Kohl has won the Giro last year, its about time he gave the Tour a go. Popovych will be good support.
41. B.Kohl
42. M.Coué
43. D.García Dapena
44. R.Haselbacher
45. G.Mikhailov
46. P.Niemiec
47. Y.Popovych
48. G.Visconti
49. S.Yakovlev

Discovery Channel - Brajkovic can challenge for a Top 5
51. J.Brajkovic
52. J.Augustyn
53. A.Castro
54. R.Di Gregorio
55. G.Hincapie
56. G.Meersman
57. E.Sella
58. A.Suchoparek
59. T.Vaitkus

Lampre - Fondital
61. D.Menchov - He may have help from Kloden, but shouldnt trouble Evans
62. M.Albasini
63. A.Ballan
64. D.Bennati
65. T.Bos
66. J.Castañeda
67. F.Gavazzi
68. A.Klöden
69. D.Napolitano

T-Mobile Team - Too many sprinters here for their own good?
71. M.Rogers
72. M.Breschel
73. M.Cavendish
74. G.Ciolek
75. B.Eisel
76. A.Greipel
77. C.Kern
78. M.Sprick
79. T.Stamsnijder

Unibet.com
81. O.Pereiro
82. J.Casper
83. M.Eichler
84. L.Herbreteau
85. D.Kudashev
86. A.Rasmussen
87. N.Scheuneman
88. C.Sutton
89. T.Valjavec

Euskaltel
91. S.Devolder
92. B.Albízuri
93. C.E.Alzate
94. L.Aperribay
95. C.Barbosa
96. M.Irizar
97. I.Landaluze
98. J.C.López
99. J.Pineau

Saunier Duval - Strong in the Spanish champs, but didnt pick Gutierrez for some reason
101. H.Zubeldia
102. R.Bertogliati
103. B.Castanheira
104. D.Champion
105. K.Gil
106. A.Kvachuk
107. J.Mejías
108. B.Mollema
109. F.Ventoso

Predictor - Lotto - Surprisingly, Efimkin retires at the end of the season
111. J.Van den Broeck
112. V.Efimkin
113. J.P.Forero
114. N.Fritsch
115. R.Förster
116. L.Hoste
117. B.Leukemans
118. G.Niermann
119. L.Niño

Caisse d'Epargne - Top 10 for Gerdemann maybe?
121. L.Gerdemann
122. E.Berthou
123. F.Brard
124. G.Chacón
125. J.Horrach
126. S.Portal
127. M.Rasmussen
128. V.Reynès
129. J.Rodríguez

Gerolsteiner
131. M.Fothen
132. M.Cardoso
133. T.Farrar
134. T.Fothen
135. H.Haussler
136. R.Hunter
137. H.Vogels
138. O.Zaugg
139. M.Zberg

Barloworld
141. P.Nicacio
142. M.Belkov
143. L.Bodrogi
144. F.Guidi
145. V.Hervier
146. D.Kairelis
147. M.Lotz
148. Y.Offredo
149. G.Trampusch

QuickStep - They picked Jennings!?! A former DFL rider, sacked at the end of Season 1 for being rubbish.
151. J.Gárate
152. S.Barberi
153. P.Brutt
154. V.Gusev
155. C.Jennings
156. A.Kolobnev
157. M.Méderel
158. I.Santaromita
159. P.Walsleben

Cofidis
161. Sy.Chavanel
162. M.Bouet
163. M.Elijzen
164. O.García-Casarrubios
165. A.Kunitski
166. I.Parra
167. M.Van Heeswijk
168. T.Veelers
169. S.Zampieri

Française des Jeux
171. S.Casar
172. L.Auger
173. K.Boutal
174. M.Delage
175. T.Gudsell
176. L.Jégou
177. M.Ladagnous
178. C.Mengin
179. F.Mourey

Agritubel
181. Z.Stybar
182. J.Balbuena
183. M.Dueñas
184. R.Feillu
185. C.Guilbert
186. N.Jalabert
187. J.Mercado
188. D.Robin
189. S.Tronet

Bouygues Télécom - Bouygues got a wildcard!?!
191. D.Pozzovivo
192. Y.Bagot
193. M.Carrara
194. N.Crosbie
195. P.Drancourt
196. A.Flickinger
197. Y.Gené
198. A.Labbe
199. R.Martias

AG2R
201. J.Gadret
202. J.Coppel
203. C.Dessel
204. J.Loubet
205. P.Martens
206. D.Moncoutié
207. L.Mondory
208. C.Naïbo
209. B.Sonnery

Crédit Agricole
211. L.Duque
212. A.Bazayev
213. A.Charteau
214. C.Edaleine
215. P.Halgand
216. T.Hushovd
217. C.Lemoine
218. R.Pauriol
219. C.Zaballa

Stage 1

Millar, Wiggins, Ignatiev and Evans all hope to do well today.

The first of these to go was Millar and he took what was then 3rd at the finish. 15 seconds behind Coppel and 14 behind Karpets


Kreuziger then took the lead, a second ahead of Coppel


Ignatiev was only 3 seconds behind Kreuziger, but that didnt put him in the top 3. He went 4th


Brajkovic then went a second faster than Kreuziger


With a bad daily form of -4, Evans struggled and lost 30 seconds on Brajkovic


Brajkovic' victory hopes were dashed when Dekker went a full 5 seconds faster


Wiggins was our last hope. A good daily form, a strong ride aaaaand 6th.


1 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK 9'19
2 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 5
3 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS + 6
4 Jérôme Coppel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 7
5 Vladimir Karpets RABOBANK + 8
6 Mikhail Ignatiev DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 9
7 Bradley Wiggins DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 15
8 Linus Gerdemann CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 19
9 Jurgen Van den Broeck PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
10 Bernhard Kohl TEAM ASTANA s.t.
11 Yaroslav Popovych TEAM ASTANA + 21
12 Haimar Zubeldia SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
13 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 22
14 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM + 23
15 Tim Gudsell FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
16 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER s.t.
17 Laszló Bodrogi BARLOWORLD s.t.
18 Pedro Nicacio BARLOWORLD + 24
19 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
20 Denis Menchov LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
21 Alexander Kvachuk SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 25
22 Andreas Klöden LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
23 Levi Leipheimer RABOBANK + 26
24 Stijn Devolder EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
25 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 27
26 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
27 Zdenek Stybar AGRITUBEL s.t.
28 Maxim Belkov BARLOWORLD + 29
29 Óscar Pereiro UNIBET.COM s.t.
30 Robert Gesink RABOBANK + 30
31 Sébastien Joly TEAM CSC + 31
32 Vladimir Gusev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 32
33 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
34 Niels Scheuneman UNIBET.COM s.t.
35 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
36 Luke Roberts TEAM CSC + 33
37 Mathieu Ladagnous FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 34
38 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
39 Maxime Bouet COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
40 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 35
41 John-Lee Augustyn DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
42 Tom Veelers COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 36
43 Cadel Evans DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
44 Markus Eichler UNIBET.COM s.t.
45 Alan Suchoparek DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 37
46 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
47 Dimitri Champion SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
48 Andrei Kunitski COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 38
49 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
50 José Angel Gómez Marchante TEAM CSC s.t.
62 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 43
78 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 48
92 Ben Swift DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 51
117 Maxim Iglinskiy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 56

Stage 2

It was a tough flat stage that had a lot of people struggling - Contador was even dropped from the peleton thanks in part to a -5 day, but he loses no time as the peleton was very stretched.

The stage also seemed to have an affect on Hagen, first he struggled to get well positioned


Then he struggled in the sprint itself. To make makkers worse, he was given 8th place when he quite clearly was 7th, ahead of Mondory


1 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE 4h50'13
2 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER s.t.
3 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM s.t.
4 Gerald Ciolek T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
5 Bernhard Eisel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
6 Daniele Bennati LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
7 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
8 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
9 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS s.t.
10 Danilo Napolitano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
11 Christopher Sutton UNIBET.COM s.t.
12 Robert Hunter GEROLSTEINER s.t.
13 Tyler Farrar GEROLSTEINER s.t.
14 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS s.t.
15 Mickael Delage FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
16 Leonardo Duque CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
17 Juan Pablo Forero PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
18 Romain Feillu AGRITUBEL s.t.
19 Carlos Eduardo Alzate EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
20 Robert Förster PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
21 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
22 Tom Stamsnijder T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
23 Mark Cavendish T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
24 Manuel Cardoso GEROLSTEINER s.t.
25 Vladimir Gusev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
43 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
45 Mikhail Ignatiev DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
47 Cadel Evans DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
123 Bradley Wiggins DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
124 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
133 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
146 Ben Swift DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
155 Maxim Iglinskiy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.

GC
1 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK 4h59'32
2 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 5
3 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS + 6
4 Jérôme Coppel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 7
5 Vladimir Karpets RABOBANK + 8
6 Mikhail Ignatiev DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 9
7 Bradley Wiggins DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 15
8 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 18
9 Bernhard Kohl TEAM ASTANA + 19
10 Jurgen Van den Broeck PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
11 Linus Gerdemann CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
12 Yaroslav Popovych TEAM ASTANA + 21
13 Haimar Zubeldia SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
14 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 22
15 Tim Gudsell FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 23

Unlucky start for Hagen. He'll come around.