damn. Now Ricco is close in the GC

He cant time trial though, so Im not worried

The last TT is in the 20th stage? And he could get the gold jersey even for a few days if he can make an another good mountain stage

Theres another TT coming up shortly too

ok. Then Ricco has really no chance to take the gold jersey from you even for a day

Well he does have a chance considering there are I think 2 mountain stages before the TT but we'll see , I doubt he can repeat that performance on a regular basis (dodgy drugs)

Stage 10

We're staying in the mountains here at the Vuelta


Ricco made a move near the top of the first of the big 2 climbs today. A wasted effort though as he was chased back in.


The action came early on the final climb (with 16km to go), with Roberto Heras looking strong


LL Sanchez, Pereiro, Sastre and Eltink lead the chase while Pliuschin is not having a good day. -3 form, as he rides with Valverde, Ricco, Zubeldia, Anton, Leipheimer and Cunego


Pliuschin tries as best he can but this is a bad, if not disastrous day for him. He is dropped and struggling with 8 and a half km to go


Heras meanwhile is pushing on with a lead of a minute over the chasing 4


But with 2km to go, LL Sanchez, Sastre, Pereiro and Eltink have pegged it back to just 35 seconds. Anton is caught in 2 minds over whether to slow his group or try to reduce the gap to the riders in front, with he, Zubeldia, Ricco and Valverde 2'20 behind Heras.


Anton is in that group and not with Pliuschin as we felt Pliuschin would fare better setting his own pace - but he is currently losing 3'40 to Heras


If the stage was a kilometre longer, the result may have been different, but as it is, Heras is able to win, with Eltink taking 2nd and Pereiro 3rd.


Anton's group is 2'34 behind Heras


Pliuschin loses 4'12 and the race lead - which now goes to LL Sanchez.


1 Roberto Heras TEAM ASTANA 4h50'14
2 Theo Eltink SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 20
3 Óscar Pereiro UNIBET.COM s.t.
4 Luis León Sánchez DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
5 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 34
6 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD + 2'34
7 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
8 Haimar Zubeldia SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
9 Igor Antón DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
10 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'12
11 Matija Kvasina UNIBET.COM + 5'26
12 Manuel Lloret DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
13 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA s.t.
14 José Angel Gómez Marchante TEAM CSC s.t.
15 Levi Leipheimer RABOBANK s.t.
16 Fran Pérez DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
17 David De la Fuente DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
18 Samuel Sánchez TEAM ASTANA s.t.
19 Mauricio Soler RABOBANK + 7'19
20 Blaise Sonnery AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
21 Tiago Machado CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
22 Alejandro Ramírez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
23 Thomas Lövkvist TEAM MILRAM s.t.
24 Mauricio Ortega SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
25 Xavier Zandio CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
26 Danilo Di Luca T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
27 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
28 Michael Rasmussen CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
29 Julián Rodas TEAM ASTANA s.t.
30 Saul Raisin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.


GC
Pliuschin has bombed down to 6th

1 Luis León Sánchez DISCOVERY CHANNEL 37h08'17
2 Óscar Pereiro UNIBET.COM + 7
3 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 20
4 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD + 58
5 Roberto Heras TEAM ASTANA + 1'08
6 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'42
7 Haimar Zubeldia SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 3'47
8 Samuel Sánchez TEAM ASTANA + 4'52
9 Theo Eltink SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 5'02
10 Igor Antón DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 5'17
11 Levi Leipheimer RABOBANK + 6'55
12 Manuel Lloret DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 9'50
13 José Angel Gómez Marchante TEAM CSC + 9'57
14 Matija Kvasina UNIBET.COM + 9'59
15 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA + 10'04
16 David De la Fuente DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 10'11
17 Mauricio Ortega SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 10'25
18 David Blanco CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 11'45
19 Emanuele Sella DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 12'09
20 Mauricio Soler RABOBANK + 12'10

Theres possible consolation in that he keeps the Points jersey for the 10th stage running, but thats not what he came for
1 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 115
2 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD 91
3 Óscar Pereiro UNIBET.COM 78
4 Luis León Sánchez DISCOVERY CHANNEL 75
5 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 74
6 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC 74
7 Roberto Heras TEAM ASTANA 63
8 Igor Antón DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 52
9 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE 52
10 Geert Steurs PREDICTOR - LOTTO 43

Not Ricco. Sanchez, Pereiro, Sastre, Heras and Ricco too bad. And is Eltink such a good climber?

Ugh, really bad day

Team:
Rigoberto Uran - Hoping for a strong GC position and victory in the hilly final stage
Maxim Iglinskiy - Aims to support Uran as best he can
Edvald Boasson Hagen - Thought his season ended at Eneco? Think again. Despite it seeming like he was starting to struggle, he will get one last go here in Poland.
Justo Tenorio - Here for some more XP
Matthew Goss and Ivan Stevic - 2 sprinters likely to leave the team - can they do anything? Goss with low form, Stevic with high.
Arnaud Coyot - Having built his form up again, he may resume domestique duties


The impossible opening TTT proved just to be that, with DFL finishing at the back and Saunier Duval winning, for local rider Piotr Mazur to takeover the race lead


You thought Hagen's season was over? Think again. He sprints to 2nd place behind Rojas, with the fastest sprinter Cavendish only taking 3rd due to poor positioning. Stevic was 14th.


Rojas won Stage 3 too, with Cavendish again sneaking into 3rd after a storming finish following bad positioning. He wouldnt have that problem if he were a DFL rider! (And if he were a DFL rider, theres no way he would ride here rather than the Vuelta or the Tour of Britain!!!). Hagen took 10th.


Current GC:
1 José Joaquín Rojas CAISSE D'EPARGNE 9h03'21
2 Mark Cavendish T-MOBILE TEAM + 10
3 Fran Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 14
4 Jesús Del Nero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
5 Piotr Mazur SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
6 José Iván Gutiérrez SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
7 Rubén Plaza SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
8 Javier Mejías SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
9 David Arroyo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
10 André Greipel T-MOBILE TEAM + 15
104 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 26
142 Arnaud Coyot DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 32
143 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
144 Ivan Stevic DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.

A new good part. I am really looking forward to the next season

As per tradition we bring an all-British team.

Evan Oliphant - The only rider in top form, but even that wont make him good.
Geraint Thomas - The British champion is starting to come into a bit of form again, having riden prominently for the team earlier in the season.
David Millar - As reigning champion, he felt obliged to be here. But his form is declining.
Bradley Wiggins - Gives his home fans a chance to see his World TT jersey, lets hope the TT field is weak ahead of Stage 1
Ben Swift - Declining form, lets see how he does
Ian Stannard - No form at all, at least he is British

Our plan is probably to hope for a good result in the opening ITT and then see if we can grab any stages.

Stage 1

Millar and Wiggins in action in London:


They will take 7th and 4th respectively as unfortunately a couple of CSC's timetrialists are using this race as World Champs preparation. In 2nd place we have, Martin Mortesen and in first, who else?


1 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC 9'42
2 Martin Mortensen TEAM CSC + 6
3 Bert Grabsch T-MOBILE TEAM + 24
4 Bradley Wiggins DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 26
5 Kasper Klostergaard TEAM CSC + 32
6 Brian Vandborg DUJA - TAVIRA + 33
7 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 38
8 Laszló Bodrogi BARLOWORLD s.t.
9 Nikolai Trussov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 39
10 Thomas Ziegler T-MOBILE TEAM + 40

Stage 2

We are in no real position to chase breaks and CSC didnt seem bothered. Its a win for Tinkoff's Wiesiak.


Thomas did attack with 8km to go but wasnt really able to close the gap as much as he would have liked. 10th on the stage, and it is now definately stages that we are going for


1 Mariusz Wiesiak TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS 3h16'16
2 Fabien Bacquet SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
3 Janek Tombak LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
4 Brad Huff NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
5 Geoffroy Lequatre DUJA - TAVIRA s.t.
6 Steven Tronet AGRITUBEL + 57
7 Pieter Seyffert TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
8 Benny De Schrooder CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
9 Hasier Olea FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM s.t.
10 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2'39
11 Miles Olman SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS s.t.
12 Eric Baumann T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
13 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
14 Jeremy Hunt CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
15 Robin Chaigneau LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.


Stage 3

The hunt for stages continues as Stage 3 comes down to a mass sprint. Bernhard Eisel wins, but Geraint Thomas takes 2nd!


The British champion finisheds just ahead of Green Jersey Cancellara, Yellow jersey Wiesiak, best Young rider Bacquet and Continental leader Feillu.

1 Bernhard Eisel T-MOBILE TEAM 4h24'06
2 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
3 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
4 Mariusz Wiesiak TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
5 Fabien Bacquet SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
6 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
7 Romain Feillu AGRITUBEL s.t.
8 HÃ¥kan Nilsson RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
9 Brad Huff NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
10 Jos Van Emden RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.

GC
1 Mariusz Wiesiak TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS 7h50'49
2 Janek Tombak LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER + 19
3 Fabien Bacquet SKIL - SHIMANO + 24
4 Geoffroy Lequatre DUJA - TAVIRA + 32
5 Brad Huff NAVIGATORS INSURANCE + 34
6 Hasier Olea FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM + 1'18
7 Steven Tronet AGRITUBEL + 1'23
8 Pieter Seyffert TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 1'27
9 Benny De Schrooder CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 1'36
10 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC + 1'40
11 Martin Mortensen TEAM CSC + 2'00
12 Bert Grabsch T-MOBILE TEAM + 2'18
13 Bradley Wiggins DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2'20
14 Kasper Klostergaard TEAM CSC + 2'26
15 Brian Vandborg DUJA - TAVIRA + 2'27
16 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2'32
29 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2'45

Tinkoff finally do something in your game! woop woop!

that GC in the vuelta is really close!

terrible day with the king of moldova though

This is the game? Please explain what is being done on this site?

what?

We are Aliens, we come in peace

It's a story. Someone plays a career and does creative writing about it.

The other one you asked about was the management game. Everyone has there own team which they take care of, add to or sell riders.

Stage 11



The mountains continue and the attacks come with 11km to go, led by Ricco


Pliuschin (In Pink) and Anton are both feeling better today


Heras tries to attack away from the DFL duo and will be brought back


Anton, LL Sanchez, Pliuschin, Ricco and Heras from the lead group, with the other 3 riders in the Top 8 GC (Pereiro, Sastre and Zubeldia) chasing behind.


Anton controls the pace for most of the climb, but with 1.5km to go LL Sanchez starts to pull away


Anton leads the charge after him as we enter the final kilometre


LL Sanchez wins the stage, but Anton (2nd) and Pliuschin (4th) manage to finish on the same time on him. And they, along with Heras, gain a little time on the other 4 riders.


1 Luis León Sánchez DISCOVERY CHANNEL 4h41'23
2 Igor Antón DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
3 Roberto Heras TEAM ASTANA s.t.
4 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
5 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD + 15
6 Óscar Pereiro UNIBET.COM s.t.
7 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC s.t.
8 Haimar Zubeldia SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
9 Julián Rodas TEAM ASTANA + 1'33
10 Levi Leipheimer RABOBANK + 1'50
11 David Blanco CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 2'43
12 Theo Eltink SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 3'44
13 Matija Kvasina UNIBET.COM s.t.
14 David De la Fuente DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
15 José Angel Gómez Marchante TEAM CSC s.t.
16 Mauricio Soler RABOBANK s.t.
17 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
18 Manuel Lloret DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
19 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
20 Laurens Ten Dam UNIBET.COM s.t.
21 Mauricio Ortega SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
22 Fran Pérez DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
23 Samuel Sánchez TEAM ASTANA s.t.
24 Blaise Sonnery AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
25 Danilo Di Luca T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
26 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA s.t.
27 Andrea Tonti AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
28 Saul Raisin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
29 Hector Orlando Mesa CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
30 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
31 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER s.t.
32 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
33 Emanuele Sella DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
34 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
35 Ezequiel Mosquera KARPIN GALICIA s.t.

GC
1 Luis León Sánchez DISCOVERY CHANNEL 41h49'40
2 Óscar Pereiro UNIBET.COM + 22
3 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 35
4 Roberto Heras TEAM ASTANA + 1'08
5 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD + 1'13
6 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'42
7 Haimar Zubeldia SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 4'02
8 Igor Antón DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 5'17
9 Samuel Sánchez TEAM ASTANA + 8'36
10 Levi Leipheimer RABOBANK + 8'45
11 Theo Eltink SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 8'46
12 Manuel Lloret DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 13'34
13 José Angel Gómez Marchante TEAM CSC + 13'41
14 Matija Kvasina UNIBET.COM + 13'43
15 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA + 13'48
16 David De la Fuente DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 13'55
17 Mauricio Ortega SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 14'09
18 David Blanco CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 14'28
19 Emanuele Sella DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 15'53
20 Mauricio Soler RABOBANK + 15'54

Points
1 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 129
2 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD 103
3 Luis León Sánchez DISCOVERY CHANNEL 100
4 Óscar Pereiro UNIBET.COM 88
5 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC 83
6 Roberto Heras TEAM ASTANA 79
7 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 74
8 Igor Antón DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 72
9 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE 52
10 Geert Steurs PREDICTOR - LOTTO 43

nice riding there, it looks good for a podium position after the TT