I have him contracted until 2009 And Im currently top of the Continental tour, over 100 points ahead

Now to play the final Dunkirk stage and wrap up overall victory.

DFL were out in force today, and we made sure that no break took a big lead.


With the break out of the way, it was time for the sprint but Manan was struggling. Lloyd Mondory took win number 2 of the tour.

And yes that's right, Pliuschin took 4th in his Pink leaders jersey!!

1 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 4h08'41
2 Saïd Haddou BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
3 Marco Zanotti UNIBET.COM s.t.
4 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
5 Christopher Sutton COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
6 Stéphane Bonsergent BRETAGNE - ARMOR LUX s.t.
7 Aart Vierhouten SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
8 Samuel Dumoulin AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
9 Matthew Goss TEAM CSC s.t.
10 James Vanlandschoot LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
11 Jean-Luc Delpech BRETAGNE - ARMOR LUX s.t.
12 Romain Feillu AGRITUBEL s.t.
13 Yauheni Hutarovich ROUBAIX LILLE MÉTROPOLE s.t.
14 Kenny Van Hummel SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
15 Leonardo Duque COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
16 Stefan Radochla TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
17 Mathieu Claude BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
18 Franck Rénier BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
19 Tom Criel UNIBET.COM s.t.
20 Stefan Van Dijk TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
21 Steffen Wesemann TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
22 Martin Pedersen TEAM CSC s.t.
23 Jörg Ludewig TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
24 Anuar Manan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
25 Robert Retschke TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.

2nd in the TT, 1st in the decisive hilly stage and even 4th in a sprint. Pliuschin is the deserved winner!


1 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 67
2 Stefan Radochla TEAM WIESENHOF FELT 49
3 Saïd Haddou BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM 46
4 Romain Feillu AGRITUBEL 45
5 Aart Vierhouten SKIL - SHIMANO 37
6 Kenny Van Hummel SKIL - SHIMANO 34
7 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 30
8 Matthew Goss TEAM CSC 30
9 Leonardo Duque COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE 29
10 Stéphane Bonsergent BRETAGNE - ARMOR LUX 25
11 Stefan Van Dijk TEAM WIESENHOF FELT 24
12 Anuar Manan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 22

Attacking almost non-stop, Stannard takes the KoM!

Awesome tour

We would encounter our first Mountain stage later on in the Int. Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt and Daniel Lloy hopes to do fairly well there, but before that we have some sprint stages for Anuar Manan.

A break including Roger Hammond, David O'Loughlin and Paul Manning went away, but they were to be caught and Manan took the wheel of Pollack in the sprint.



Former Continetal leader Clarke wins and Manan is unlucky to be given 3rd place.


1 Hilton Clarke NAVIGATORS INSURANCE 4h01'55
2 Olaf Pollack TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
3 Anuar Manan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
4 René Weissinger TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK s.t.
5 Gerrit Glomser TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK s.t.
6 André Schulze TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
7 Sven Teutenberg TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK s.t.
8 Alexander Kristoff TEAM MAXBO BIANCHI s.t.
9 Nico Sijmens LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
10 Wolfram Wiese TEAM REGIOSTROM - SENGES s.t.
11 Alexander Gottfried TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
12 Danilo Wyss ATLAS - ROMER'S HAUSBÄCKEREI s.t.
13 Jochen Summer ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
14 Borut Bozic TEAM LPR s.t.
15 Oleg Grishkine NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
16 Peter Möhlmann TEAM REGIOSTROM - SENGES s.t.
17 Edvald Boasson Hagen TEAM MAXBO BIANCHI s.t.
18 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
19 Marco Marcato TEAM LPR s.t.
20 Maint Berkenbosch TEAM REGIOSTROM - SENGES s.t.
21 Steve Schets CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
22 Stefan Löffler TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
23 Uwe Hardter ATLAS - ROMER'S HAUSBÄCKEREI s.t.
24 Wouter Van Mechelen LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
25 Malaya Van Ruitenbeek TEAM REGIOSTROM - SENGES s.t.

it can't get closer than that

It cant, unfortunately



Manan is wearing the blue jersey of the best young rider and is positioned behind the yellow jersey.


But Clarke is farely slow and Pollack storms by on the inside, Manan switches to following Pollack in the hope of being springboarded into the lead. He cant quite grasp onto Pollack fully and going on his own with 800m to go, Manan is able to take a comfortable 2nd.


1 Olaf Pollack TEAM WIESENHOF FELT 4h18'48
2 Anuar Manan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
3 René Weissinger TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK s.t.
4 Edvald Boasson Hagen TEAM MAXBO BIANCHI s.t.
5 Marco Marcato TEAM LPR s.t.
6 Gerrit Glomser TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK s.t.
7 Borut Bozic TEAM LPR s.t.
8 Nico Sijmens LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
9 Danilo Wyss ATLAS - ROMER'S HAUSBÄCKEREI s.t.
10 Alexander Gottfried TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
11 André Schulze TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
12 Sven Teutenberg TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK s.t.
13 Hilton Clarke NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
14 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
15 Peter Möhlmann TEAM REGIOSTROM - SENGES s.t.
16 Werner Riebenbauer TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK s.t.
17 Jochen Summer ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
18 Alexander Kristoff TEAM MAXBO BIANCHI s.t.
19 Steve Schets CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
20 Stefan Löffler TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
21 Wesley Van der Linden CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
22 Konstantin Schubert TEAM REGIOSTROM - SENGES s.t.
23 Jonas Owczarek TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
24 Felix Odebrecht TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
25 Jakob Piil T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.

1 Olaf Pollack TEAM WIESENHOF FELT 8h20'27
2 Anuar Manan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 6
3 Hilton Clarke NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
4 René Weissinger TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK + 12
5 Gerrit Glomser TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK + 16
6 André Schulze TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
7 Nico Sijmens LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
8 Sven Teutenberg TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK s.t.
9 Borut Bozic TEAM LPR s.t.
10 Alexander Gottfried TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.

3rd to 2nd - will first come for the sprinting sensation?

Unlucky with that 3rd, that probably is the closest finish I've seen in PCM

Manan needs to win more

great sprinting though

You cant say more when he hasnt won once yet

The break was caught and Manan was perched on Pollack's wheel with 12km to go, but with 5km to go Pollack waxs badly placed on the right hand side so Manan switched to the left hand side and moved up to the front, behind Hagen, shunting crappy sprinters out of the way. Manan was well positioned with 1 km to go as he looked to get round Hagen but he was boxed in and could not get past.


1 Edvald Boasson Hagen TEAM MAXBO BIANCHI 5h09'52
2 Björn Glasner TEAM REGIOSTROM - SENGES s.t.
3 Anuar Manan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
4 Marco Marcato TEAM LPR s.t.
5 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
6 André Schulze TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
7 René Weissinger TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK s.t.
8 Gerrit Glomser TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK s.t.
9 Alexander Gottfried TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
10 Olaf Pollack TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
11 Lucas Schädlich THÜRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.
12 Nico Sijmens LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
13 Wesley Van der Linden CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
14 Danilo Wyss ATLAS - ROMER'S HAUSBÄCKEREI s.t.
15 Stefan Löffler TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
16 Jochen Summer ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
17 Hilton Clarke NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
18 Peter Möhlmann TEAM REGIOSTROM - SENGES s.t.
19 Gabriel Rasch TEAM MAXBO BIANCHI s.t.
20 Sven Teutenberg TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK s.t.
21 Borut Bozic TEAM LPR s.t.
22 Malaya Van Ruitenbeek TEAM REGIOSTROM - SENGES s.t.
23 Werner Riebenbauer TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK s.t.
24 Wolfram Wiese TEAM REGIOSTROM - SENGES s.t.
25 Oleg Grishkine NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.

1 Olaf Pollack TEAM WIESENHOF FELT 13h30'19
2 Anuar Manan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2
3 Edvald Boasson Hagen TEAM MAXBO BIANCHI + 6
4 Hilton Clarke NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
5 René Weissinger TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK + 12
6 André Schulze TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 16
7 Gerrit Glomser TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK s.t.
8 Marco Marcato TEAM LPR s.t.
9 Alexander Gottfried TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
10 Nico Sijmens LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.

I've found Manan has trouble even in flat sprint stages where he can't hang with the pelaton once it gets going really fast just before the sprint. He's always tired before the real sprint even starts.

Are you having that problem at all?

If theres a couple of tough hills then it becomes an issue but he is currently in top form (94 I think) and therefore has no trouble in keeping with the rest.

The first mountain stage of the season for DFL, and Dan Lloyd will lead (68 MO). Skil's Nodera leads solo over the first 2 climbs, ahead of Wiesenhof's Schmidt and a larger chase group. In the descent of the 2nd mountain, the peleton splits and Maxbo Bianchi and Volksbank get a gap, good news for Hagen and Glomser.

At the foot of the 3rd climb riders attack from the peleton including Dan Lloyd, Quique Gutierrez (LPR) is the best of the attackers and bridges up to the split group, allowing Hagen and Glomser to attack.


Glomser powered away from Gutierrez and Hagen, who are seen passing Schmidt, the last survivor of the BOTD.


Glomser led over the top with Hagen 2nd. Hagen had been able to attack away from Gutierrez but the spaniard's superior climbing ability almost helped him close the gap. These 3 built up too big a gap and would not be seen again.

A group of 25 formed from the remnants of the peleton with Lloyd and Sulzberger still there, albeit with Sulzberger having 3 red bars.


Glomser won:


Lloyd attack with 8km to go in an attempt to get a gap and claim 4th, the plan did not work though yet he still manged 10th. Sulzberger couldnt hang on to the group and lost a bit of time.

1 Gerrit Glomser TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK 4h05'40
2 Edvald Boasson Hagen TEAM MAXBO BIANCHI + 54
3 Quique Gutiérrez TEAM LPR + 1'26
4 Jakob Piil T-MOBILE TEAM + 3'20
5 Tomas Konecny ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
6 René Weissinger TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK s.t.
7 Alexander Gottfried TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
8 Phil Zajicek NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
9 Volodymyr Zagorodny OTC DOORS - LAURETANA s.t.
10 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
11 Paul Martens SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
12 Frederic Gabriel LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
13 Tony Martin THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.
14 Bert Scheirlinckx LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
15 Matthias Hahn THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.
16 Peter Velits TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
17 Harald Morscher TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK s.t.
18 Andreas Schillinger TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
19 Lars Petter Nordhaug TEAM MAXBO BIANCHI s.t.
20 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
21 Stefan Rucker ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
22 Glen Alan Chadwick NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
23 Florian Stalder TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK s.t.
24 Massimiliano Maisto OTC DOORS - LAURETANA s.t.
25 Florian Frohn THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.
26 Stefan Parinussa TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
27 Maarten Tjallingii SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
28 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'19
29 Lucas Schädlich THÜRINGER ENERGIE TEAM + 4'59
30 Jonas Owczarek TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
31 Nico Graf THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.
32 Enrico Rossi OTC DOORS - LAURETANA s.t.
33 Kristian House NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
34 Roger Beuchat TEAM LPR s.t.
35 Patrick Gretsch THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.

Rank Name Team Time
1 Gerrit Glomser TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK 17h36'05
2 Edvald Boasson Hagen TEAM MAXBO BIANCHI + 48
3 Quique Gutiérrez TEAM LPR + 1'32
4 René Weissinger TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK + 3'26
5 Alexander Gottfried TEAM SPARKASSE + 3'30
6 Jakob Piil T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
7 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
8 Paul Martens SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
9 Andreas Schillinger TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
10 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
11 Volodymyr Zagorodny OTC DOORS - LAURETANA s.t.
12 Matthias Hahn THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.
13 Florian Stalder TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK s.t.
14 Tomas Konecny ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
15 Florian Frohn THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.
16 Stefan Rucker ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
17 Tony Martin THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.
18 Phil Zajicek NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
19 Frederic Gabriel LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
20 Peter Velits TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
21 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'29
22 Nico Sijmens LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER + 5'09
23 Nico Graf THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.
24 Patrick Gretsch THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.
25 Glen Alan Chadwick NAVIGATORS INSURANCE + 5'38

what the??

a mountain stage at the Rheinland tour?

the bunch finished together in all stages in reality, so that's a bit weird.

not to mention unnatural terrain for your team

Yeh, I thought it was odd since Ciolek won the whole thing in real life

I wasn't able to revise ALL stages in ALL stageraces

not a problem on my part

I left the stage profile as was, but changed the relief to "flat". the real stage did have a few serious climbs, so it fits reasonably

Like all good flat stages, it comes down to a sprint. With 12km to go, Manan immediately grabbed on to Pollack's wheel. Dan Lloyd is also mingling up front just like he would do in real life (Only difference being his underrated sprint stat of 57 :S), he's looking to consolidate a top 10 place, which is helped immensely when 3rd overall Gutierrez goes down!

The regiostorm duo of Glasner and Mohlmann moved forward and Pollack took Mohlmann's wheel, but not for long as Manan grabs Mohlmann's wheel off him! Pollack is therefore forced further down the train.


1km to go, Hagen and Pollack have already emerged from the rider they were following and Manan makes his move.


Pollack moves along side Manan but struggles to make any progress, the lines gets closer and closer and ...


MANAN wins!!! 22nd for Lloyd should be more than an enough for a Top 10 GC spot.

1 Anuar Manan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 5h09'52
2 Olaf Pollack TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
3 Edvald Boasson Hagen TEAM MAXBO BIANCHI s.t.
4 Marco Marcato TEAM LPR s.t.
5 Peter Möhlmann TEAM REGIOSTROM - SENGES s.t.
6 Hilton Clarke NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
7 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
8 Gerrit Glomser TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK s.t.
9 Björn Glasner TEAM REGIOSTROM - SENGES s.t.
10 René Weissinger TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK s.t.
11 Danilo Wyss ATLAS - ROMER'S HAUSBÄCKEREI s.t.
12 Alexander Gottfried TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
13 Jonas Owczarek TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
14 Nico Sijmens LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
15 Werner Riebenbauer TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK s.t.
16 Sven Teutenberg TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK s.t.
17 Stefan Löffler TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
18 André Schulze TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
19 Philip Patzer ATLAS - ROMER'S HAUSBÄCKEREI s.t.
20 Jochen Summer ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
21 Wesley Van der Linden CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
22 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
23 Borut Bozic TEAM LPR s.t.
24 Sascha Damrow THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.
25 Wolfram Wiese TEAM REGIOSTROM - SENGES s.t.

It is! 6th overall for Lloyd!

1 Gerrit Glomser TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK 20h24'57
2 Edvald Boasson Hagen TEAM MAXBO BIANCHI + 44
3 René Weissinger TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK + 3'26
4 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 3'30
5 Alexander Gottfried TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
6 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
7 Florian Stalder TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK s.t.
8 Matthias Hahn THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.
9 Tomas Konecny ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
10 Volodymyr Zagorodny OTC DOORS - LAURETANA s.t.
11 Jakob Piil T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
12 Tony Martin THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.
13 Andreas Schillinger TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
14 Phil Zajicek NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
15 Paul Martens SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
16 Stefan Rucker ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
17 Peter Velits TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
18 Frederic Gabriel LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
19 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'29
20 Nico Sijmens LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER + 5'09
21 Nico Graf THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.
22 Patrick Gretsch THÃœRINGER ENERGIE TEAM s.t.
23 Quique Gutiérrez TEAM LPR + 5'34
24 Glen Alan Chadwick NAVIGATORS INSURANCE + 5'38
25 Stefan Parinussa TEAM SPARKASSE + 6'29

great win. finally you got started again

Nice win