Bloody hell, unlucky. Oh well im sure that you will bounce back!

Are you psychic?



Stage 3

A bit of an easier flat stage today. The plan was to have Ignatiev lead out Swift and Hagen but Swift couldnt manage to keep with the Russians pace so instead Hagen chose to push infront of Haussler, just behind Haussler's teammate Hunter. So its H-H-H at the front.


Hagen cant stay behind Hunter forever and makes his move with around 1.5km to go, making sure he preempts any move from behind


The Norwegian then unleashes his power and its almost too easy. What a win!


1 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 5h03'29
2 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER s.t.
3 Bernhard Eisel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
4 Danilo Napolitano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
5 Juan Pablo Forero PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
6 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS s.t.
7 Assan Bazayev CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
8 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
9 Robert Hunter GEROLSTEINER s.t.
10 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
11 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS s.t.
12 Romain Feillu AGRITUBEL s.t.
13 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM s.t.
14 Matti Breschel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
15 Christopher Sutton UNIBET.COM s.t.
16 Daniele Bennati LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
17 Gerald Ciolek T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
18 Leonardo Duque CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
19 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
20 Carlos Eduardo Alzate EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
21 Tyler Farrar GEROLSTEINER s.t.
22 Mark Cavendish T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
23 Manuel Cardoso GEROLSTEINER s.t.
24 Jimmy Casper UNIBET.COM s.t.
25 Tom Stamsnijder T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
26 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK s.t.
27 Tom Veelers COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
28 Mikhail Ignatiev DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
29 Mickael Delage FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
30 Dainius Kairelis BARLOWORLD s.t.

GC
1 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK 10h03'01
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 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 23

Points
1 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER 60
2 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 53
3 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE 53
4 Bernhard Eisel T-MOBILE TEAM 48
5 Danilo Napolitano LAMPRE - FONDITAL 40
6 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM 39
7 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS 37
8 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 35
9 Gerald Ciolek T-MOBILE TEAM 33
10 Robert Hunter GEROLSTEINER 31

OH my, Awesome win!! Well played Hagen!

Nice win from Hagen

great win!

Stage 4

There was a weird situation today that saw a group of 16 get away containing 7 of the top sprinters. The other riders had attacked at the same time that the sprinters went for the first intermediate sprint, and for some reason the sprinters did not go back to the peleton.


Haussler, Hushovd, Eisel, Gasparotto, Napolitano, Rasmussen and Sonnery were the sprinters there and Hushovd took full advantage by taking 16 points in the intermediate sprints


The break was of course caught and it was my hope that the sprinters would now be too tired - despite the fact that they didnt relay in the break, they should still have cost energy. But they were all in the mix with 3km to go


Still struggling with consistency, Hagen had a -3 form day today and couldnt get past either Eisel or Hushovd


Hushovd wins, he scores heavily in the points classification today


Theres a further twist as a gap visible in the above screenshot converts into a 56 second difference. Hushovd takes over the Yellow jersey, but Hagen is in 2nd. It was not such a good day for Contador though, he couldnt keep up with the peleton in the closing stages and loses time

1 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE 3h57'27
2 Bernhard Eisel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
3 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
4 Juan Pablo Forero PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
5 Danilo Napolitano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
6 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM s.t.
7 Gerald Ciolek T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
8 Daniele Bennati LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
9 Leonardo Duque CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
10 Romain Feillu AGRITUBEL s.t.
11 Assan Bazayev CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
12 Christopher Sutton UNIBET.COM s.t.
13 Mark Cavendish T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
14 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER s.t.
15 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
16 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS s.t.
17 André Greipel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
18 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS s.t.
19 Tyler Farrar GEROLSTEINER s.t.
20 Robert Hunter GEROLSTEINER s.t.
21 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
22 Carlos Eduardo Alzate EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
23 Yaroslav Popovych TEAM ASTANA + 56
24 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK s.t.
25 Vladimir Gusev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
26 Nikolas Maes RABOBANK s.t.
27 Constantino Zaballa CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
28 Mickael Delage FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
29 Kim Kirchen LIQUIGAS s.t.
30 Francesco Gavazzi LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
31 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
32 Zdenek Stybar AGRITUBEL s.t.
33 Jimmy Casper UNIBET.COM s.t.
34 John Gadret AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
35 Robert Förster PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
68 Cadel Evans DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
75 Mikhail Ignatiev DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
79 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
121 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2'42
128 Maxim Iglinskiy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
137 Ben Swift DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
144 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
159 Bradley Wiggins DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'24

GC
1 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE 14h00'10
2 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 33
3 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER + 45
4 Bernhard Eisel T-MOBILE TEAM + 48
5 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS + 52
6 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM + 55
7 Carlos Eduardo Alzate EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 59
8 Christopher Sutton UNIBET.COM + 1'00
9 Robert Hunter GEROLSTEINER + 1'03
10 Juan Pablo Forero PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 1'04
11 Mark Cavendish T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'06
12 Tyler Farrar GEROLSTEINER + 1'07
13 Assan Bazayev CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 1'11
14 Leonardo Duque CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 1'12
15 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 1'13
16 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK + 1'14
17 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS + 1'17
18 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS s.t.
19 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 1'19
20 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS + 1'20
21 Daniele Bennati LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
22 Jérôme Coppel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 1'21
23 Vladimir Karpets RABOBANK + 1'22
24 Romain Feillu AGRITUBEL s.t.
25 Mikhail Ignatiev DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'23

Points
1 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE 104
2 Bernhard Eisel T-MOBILE TEAM 82
3 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 79
4 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER 78
5 Danilo Napolitano LAMPRE - FONDITAL 62
6 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM 61
7 Juan Pablo Forero PREDICTOR - LOTTO 55
8 Gerald Ciolek T-MOBILE TEAM 52
9 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 50
10 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS 49

How the hell did hushovd do that!? Cya-Logic?

Stage 5

A 63km TTT, but Contadors poor start to the Tour was a blow as it meant Hagen would likely have to be our 5th rider which will mean a slower time


Led by Andy Schleck, CSC hoped for a decent time today


Janez Brajkovic was part of a strong Discovery Channel line up


While DFL has the perfect team starting directly infront of them. Not only good in the mountains, Rabobank also have a strong TTT line up involving Dekker, Karpets and Leipheimer.


And despite the limitations of Hagen, we managed to catch Rabobank in the closing stages


The win was never really in doubt, and it was Ignatiev who crossed the line first


Contador finished 15 seconds behind the first 5, with Uran at 2'21 - beating all teams bar Discovery Channel, and Swift and Iglinski rode in 3 and a half minutes after Ignatiev


As expected, it was a big victory


And thanks to the split on Stage 4, Edvald Boasson Hagen takes the Yellow jersey




1 Mikhail Ignatiev DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 1h21'21
2 Bradley Wiggins DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
3 Cadel Evans DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
4 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
5 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
6 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 15
7 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'02
8 Alan Suchoparek DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
9 John-Lee Augustyn DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
10 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
11 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
12 Rémy Di Gregorio DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'10
13 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2'21
14 Luke Roberts TEAM CSC + 2'24
15 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
16 Sébastien Joly TEAM CSC s.t.
17 José Angel Gómez Marchante TEAM CSC s.t.
18 Mikaël Chérel TEAM CSC s.t.
19 Gil Suray TEAM CSC s.t.
20 Dimitri Champion SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'25
21 Haimar Zubeldia SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
22 Bauke Mollema SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
23 Alexander Kvachuk SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
24 Rubens Bertogliati SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
25 Maxime Bouet COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 2'27
26 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
27 Michiel Elijzen COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
28 Tom Veelers COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
29 Andrei Kunitski COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
30 Iván Parra COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
31 Alexis Rodríguez TEAM CSC + 2'28
32 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK + 2'30
33 Levi Leipheimer RABOBANK s.t.
34 Vladimir Karpets RABOBANK s.t.
35 Robert Gesink RABOBANK s.t.
36 Charles Wegelius RABOBANK s.t.
37 Alexis Castro DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'34
38 Óscar Pereiro UNIBET.COM + 2'38
39 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM s.t.
40 Christopher Sutton UNIBET.COM s.t.
41 Niels Scheuneman UNIBET.COM s.t.
42 Markus Eichler UNIBET.COM s.t.
43 Emanuele Sella DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'42
44 Pieter Weening RABOBANK + 2'45
45 Gianni Meersman DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'46
46 Denis Kudashev UNIBET.COM + 2'48
47 Pieter Riis Andersen TEAM CSC s.t.
48 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'53
49 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM + 2'54
50 Mathieu Sprick T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
100 Maxim Iglinskiy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 3'29
103 Ben Swift DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 3'31

GC
1 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 15h22'04
2 Mikhail Ignatiev DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 50
3 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'03
4 Cadel Evans DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'17
5 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'48
6 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM + 3'00
7 Christopher Sutton UNIBET.COM + 3'05
8 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 3'06
9 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK + 3'11
10 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 3'14
11 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
12 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 3'15
13 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS + 3'18
14 John-Lee Augustyn DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
15 Bernhard Eisel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
16 Vladimir Karpets RABOBANK + 3'19
17 Haimar Zubeldia SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 3'27
18 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC + 3'29
19 Alexander Kvachuk SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 3'31
20 Mark Cavendish T-MOBILE TEAM + 3'32
21 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 3'35
22 Sébastien Joly TEAM CSC + 3'36
23 Carlos Eduardo Alzate EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 3'38
24 Robert Gesink RABOBANK + 3'41
25 Maxime Bouet COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 3'42

lol cadel has almost 2 minutes on all of the other competition. I'd say you have this tour rapped up! BTW you called the stage 15 instead of 5, no offence.

Very helpful TT Will we see the defense of the yellow for the entire tour? Or is it going to be strategically given away?

Good start, and a great TT, what, if I may ask, is Contador's fitness?

OH wow. You rule at TTTs 2 mins ahead!! Wow.

Great TTT. I don't know how you do it. Good luck

Awesome TTT! And nice win with Hagen

Theres no direct plans to lose the jersey, but we wont be wasting energy leading the pack as Rabobank had done the past few days.



Currently 86 pts

Lol its like interviewing the Director Sportif.

So Mr Nonsense what do you think about wild accusations that your team is doped?

Stage 6



A hill inside the last 10 kilometres? That seems a perfect place for Ignatiev to attack


And why shouldnt Hagen tag along too?


Ignatiev catches the break over the top, as does Hagen. The rest decide to press back and throw away an opportunity


Ignatiev leads the sprint


Hagen is looming though


Hagen need not get inb top gear, he has things under control


On other occasions we may have let Ignatiev take it. But green jersey points are vital at this stage, so past goes Hagen


And victory!


1 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 3h59'28
2 Mikhail Ignatiev DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
3 Christopher Sutton UNIBET.COM s.t.
4 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
5 Robert Förster PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
6 Leonardo Duque CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
7 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS s.t.
8 Tom Veelers COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
9 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER s.t.
10 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
11 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS s.t.
12 Bernhard Eisel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
13 Assan Bazayev CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
14 Daniele Bennati LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
15 André Greipel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
16 Romain Feillu AGRITUBEL s.t.
17 Lilian Jégou FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
18 Matti Breschel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
19 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
20 Paul Martens AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
21 Tyler Farrar GEROLSTEINER s.t.
22 Mark Cavendish T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
23 Danilo Napolitano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
24 Yaroslav Popovych TEAM ASTANA s.t.
25 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK s.t.

GC
1 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 19h21'12
2 Mikhail Ignatiev DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 58
3 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'23
4 Cadel Evans DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'37
5 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 3'08
6 Christopher Sutton UNIBET.COM + 3'17
7 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 3'20
8 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM s.t.
9 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK + 3'31
10 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 3'34
11 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
12 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 3'35
13 Bernhard Eisel T-MOBILE TEAM + 3'38
14 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
15 John-Lee Augustyn DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.

Points
1 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE 128
2 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 114
3 Bernhard Eisel T-MOBILE TEAM 96
4 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER 95
5 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS 68
6 Christopher Sutton UNIBET.COM 66
7 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 66
8 Danilo Napolitano LAMPRE - FONDITAL 65
9 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM 61
10 Daniele Bennati LAMPRE - FONDITAL 60

Perfect stage!

its looking rather good

HAGEN!