I could choose any of them through Hannes, but I will always go for GB

Nice reporting on the TT

Here is the route:


Botero won in 2007, Wiggins in 2008, and while both start today, neither are expected to win.

Jerome Coppel was the first to start


Then cam Justo Tenorio, the young Spaniard was perhaps a surprise starter, but he will relish the opportunity


Third to go is the favourite - Fabian Cancellara - who for some reason has not ridden in any Grand Tours this season.


Geramn Jakob Fiedler has ridden some strong time trials this season


With Ruben Plaza also hoping to go well


Sebastian Rosseler rode well in the Vuelta TTs


Dutchman Rick Flens has been the Dutch TT champion for the past two seasons, so is sure to be somebody to watch out for


David Millar is the first Brit to start. His form isnt great, so dont expect too much


Marcel Kittel of Germany


Jose Ivan Gutierrez always seems to go well in time trials


Fabian Cancellara isnt the only top Swiss TT rider - Michael Schar beat him in the 2008 Swiss TT Champs, although has spent this season in the lowly Babes Only Belgian team


The best American hope is David Zabriskie, with Taylor Phinney also featuring in the American Squad


Thomas Dekker will hope to do well


Steven Cummings is the next Briton to hit the road


Riders are now starting to finish, and Justo Tenorio rode a quite ride to avoid being passed by Cancellara - but only just


Manuel Lloret is now on the course, having won the last time trial of the Vuelta


Rosseler is the 9th to finish, going comfortably 2nd - yet still over a minute behind Cancellara


Michael Mortensen has now started


12th to finish, Flens goes 2nd - just 3 seconds faster than Rosseler


Aleksandr Pliuschin, Vuelta Champion, has hit the course


With Janez Brajkovic being the last to start


Bradley Wiggins may now be on the course, but Steven Cummings looks set to be the strongest Brit today, as he passes a Moldovan rider (not Pliuschin)


Cancellara has looked untouchable so far, but CSC teammate Mortensen has just clocked in at the first check just 1 second behind him


And now Pliuschin comes in there just 3 seconds back


Michael Schar made it a Swiss 1-2 at the finish for now, coming in 55 seconds behind Cancellara.

Mortensen couldnt keep up the high pace though


So Pliuschin moved himself into a provisional 2nd at Check 2


Mortensen will eventually finish 47 seconds down, as Pliuschin comes into the finish, passing Santiago Botero


It is a 2nd place for Pliuschin, as Cancellara wins by 39 seconds.

Bradley Wiggins closed out a dissappointing season as world champion, with a 34th place finish


1 Fabian Cancellara Switzerland 1h02'23
2 Aleksandr Pliuschin Moldova + 39
3 Martin Mortensen Denmark + 47
4 Michael Schär Switzerland + 55
5 Rick Flens Netherlands + 1'03
6 Sébastien Rosseler Belgium + 1'06
7 Marcel Kittel Germany + 1'17
8 Janez Brajkovic Slovenia + 1'20
9 José Iván Gutiérrez Spain + 1'29
10 David Zabriskie USA + 1'32
11 Thomas Dekker Netherlands + 1'37
12 Jakob Fiedler Germany + 1'43
13 Rubén Plaza Spain + 1'51
14 Adriano Malori Italy s.t.
15 Ignas Konovalovas Lithuania + 1'55
16 Benoît Vaugrenard France + 1'57
17 Bert Grabsch Germany + 1'59
18 Sebastian Langeveld Netherlands + 2'00
19 Vladimir Karpets Russia s.t.
20 Jérôme Coppel France s.t.
21 Justo Tenorio Spain + 2'01
22 Steven Cummings Great Britain s.t.
23 Manuel Lloret Spain + 2'02
24 Andy Schleck Luxembourg + 2'04
25 Dominique Cornu Belgium + 2'10
26 André Steensen Denmark + 2'11
27 Maxime Bouet France + 2'14
28 Michiel Elijzen Netherlands + 2'16
29 Luigi Sestili Italy + 2'19
30 Steve Morabito Switzerland + 2'21
31 Stijn Devolder Belgium + 2'23
32 Tiago Machado Portugal + 2'25
33 Levi Leipheimer USA + 2'29
34 Bradley Wiggins Great Britain + 2'31
35 Santiago Botero Colombia + 2'38
36 Bradley McGee Australia + 2'40
37 Aaron Nicholson Australia + 2'42
38 David Millar Great Britain + 3'00
39 Brett Lancaster Australia + 3'06
40 Bernhard Kohl Austria + 3'10
41 Vladimir Gusev Russia + 3'14
42 Dimitri Champion France + 3'22
43 Manuel Quinziato Italy + 3'25
44 Taylor Phinney USA + 3'38
45 Ricardo Mestre Portugal + 3'41
46 Edvald Boasson Hagen Norway + 3'46
47 Rubens Bertogliati Switzerland + 4'01
48 Jure Kocjan Slovenia + 4'03
49 Nick Clesen Luxembourg + 4'07
50 Alexei Valuca Moldova + 5'08

Cancellara as ITT World Champ, how unrealistic

and Valuca with 5min of delay

are moldova normally in the world champs in pcm?

Nope, but I added them in in place of Ukraine

Although the full startlist has yet to be finalised, the British line up has been confirmed, along with details of which DFL riders are participating.

Great Britain

Perhaps the big surprise in the line up is that only 1 of the 6 riders comes from DFL, with the majority of DFL's Brits now out of form. The DFL Brit that does ride is Geraint Thomas, the British Champion.

Team leader for the Worlds is Chris Froome. The former Kenyan rides for Maxbo Bianchi and is a definate DFL target for next season. Steven Cummings and Charly Wegelius will lead the support for Froome.

Also riding are sprinter Mark Cavendish, and surprisingly, Kristian House.

DFL

The DFL team have 3 riders who will hope to mount a serious challenge for victory - Rigoberto Uran, Ignas Konovalovas and Aleksandr Pliuschin. Uran missed Ardennes through injury and this race became his new season goal, while both Konovalovas and Pliuschin will be encouraged by the World Time Trial perforamances coming off the back of the Vuelta.

Despite a decreasing form Edvald Boasson Hagen will ride for Norway, while Saul Raisin lines up for USA and Geraint Thomas rides for GB, as already mentioned.

Good luck in the WC SN!

Good luck for Britain and DFL

Good luck to Chris

Road Race - Full Startlist

Spain
1. A.Valverde
2. J.I.Gutiérrez
3. M.Lloret
4. O.Pereiro
5. J.Rodríguez
6. J.Tenorio

Italy
11. D.Di Luca
12. A.Ballan
13. M.Carrara
14. F.Pellizotti
15. A.Petacchi
16. G.Visconti

Luxembourg
21. F.Schleck
22. B.Gastauer
23. B.Joachim
24. K.Kirchen
25. C.Poos
26. A.Schleck

Lithuania
31. I.Konovalovas
32. A.Baranauskas
33. D.Kairelis
34. A.Kruopis
35. T.Vaitkus

Belgium
41. J.Vanendert
42. T.Boonen
43. S.Devolder
44. P.Gilbert
45. K.Seeldraeyers
46. G.Van Avermaet

Colombia
51. R.Urán
52. L.O.Castañeda
53. L.Duque
54. E.Orozco
55. W.Pedraza
56. M.Pérez

Netherlands
61. T.Dekker
62. L.Boom
63. T.Eltink
64. R.Gesink
65. K.Kroon
66. B.Mollema

Switzerland
71. S.Morabito
72. M.Albasini
73. F.Cancellara
74. M.Elmiger
75. R.Nick
76. M.Schär

Norway
81. E.Boasson Hagen
82. K.Arvesen
83. T.Hushovd
84. L.P.Nordhaug
85. G.Rasch
86. F.Wilmann

Germany
91. F.Wegmann
92. A.Gottfried
93. H.Haussler
94. M.Kittel
95. T.Martin
96. J.Voigt

Russia
101. V.Gusev
102. S.Ivanov
103. V.Karpets
104. S.Kolesnikov
105. D.Menchov
106. Y.Trofimov

USA
111. C.Horner
112. L.Leipheimer
113. T.Phinney
114. S.Raisin
115. T.Tolleson
116. D.Zabriskie

Denmark
121. M.Breschel
122. J.Fuglsang
123. J.Jørgensen
124. M.Mortensen
125. N.Ostergaard
126. A.Steensen

Portugal
131. V.Rodrigues
132. C.Barbosa
133. R.Costa
134. T.Machado
135. R.Mestre
136. S.Paulinho

Moldova
141. A.Pliuschin
142. S.Cioban
143. R.Ivanov
144. V.Mironov
145. I.Pugaci
146. A.Valuca

Australia
151. S.O'Grady
152. A.Davis
153. M.Docker
154. S.Gerrans
155. M.Lloyd
156. W.Sulzberger

Slovenia
161. J.Brajkovic
162. G.Bole
163. M.Mahoric
164. M.Mugerli
165. S.Spilak
166. T.Valjavec

France
171. J.Gadret
172. S.Casar
173. Sy.Chavanel
174. M.Chérel
175. P.Fédrigo
176. D.Gaudin

Austria
181. B.Kohl
182. S.Denifl
183. M.Eibegger
184. B.Eisel
185. T.Rohregger
186. P.Wrölich

Great Britain
191. C.Froome
192. M.Cavendish
193. S.Cummings
194. K.House
195. G.Thomas
196. C.Wegelius

I will post the report in 4 parts, to make posting it a bit quicker.



Part 1

Numerous riders want to get into the days breakaway, and 6 of those include Andy Schleck, Nick, Vaitkus, Kittel, Martin and Cherel


They werent the only ones though, as loads more riders made breakaway attempts


A group of 13 forms, although they do not have too much of a gap


They are too much of a threat though, and are brought back


Ruslan Ivanov and Mikael Cherel managed to stay ahead though, to be passed by a strong attack from Jens Voigt


A group of 5 formed - Phinney, Ivanov, Voigt, Cherel and Costa


Yet more attacks now - Cancellara, Rodriguez, Van Avermaet, Kirchen and Mortensen


Now Gesink, Kolesnikov, Paulinho and DFL rider Justo Tenorio


All these riders come together, and Leipheimer brings the tally up to 15


The Colombia team are controlling the pace, and for good reason. From Kristian House's observations, Uran is on for a great day


The break is never allowed to gather a huge lead, but they still maintain what they have. Inevitably, some of the 15 drop off, leaving 11 - Gesink, Kirchen, Van Avermaet, Leipheimer, Paulinho, Tenorio, Cancellara, Voigt, Mortensen, Kolesnikov and Rodriguez


In pulling along the peleton, Colombia have gained a gap - with all 6 Colombia riders there, aswell as Stuart O'Grady


Colombia arent seriously expecting to ride away, but the gap is kept for a while due to a disorganised chase


They ended up being ahead of the pack for around 15km, they are back in the fold now and there is 65km to go


In the front, the breakaway have lapped Moldovan Alexei Valuca who is a long way behind everyone else.


62 km to go and Cavendish is the first Briton to be dropped, a good effort though, with the likes of Brajkovic also being dropped at the same time


Kristian House soon followed Cavendish is running out of energy, House may have been a surprise selection, but he rode well doing a good job for the team.

Part 2

55km to go - and Danilo di Luca attacks


Switzerland quickly take over from Colombia as Fabian Wegmann counters the Italian


The descent comes before others can put in a meaningful attack, as Wegmann and Di Luca link up with Voigt, who had been dropped by the breakaway


Voigt finds some extra strength and tows them along but after just 7km, the trio are caught


The break is still clear though, but for how much longer? More nations are now working together in the chase


The break splits into 6 and 4 - and surprisingly the 4 lagging behind slightly are 4 of the stronger names in the break - Gesink, Leipheimer, Cancellara and Kirchen. They will come back together again though.


Philippe Gilbert takes to the front of the peleton, which still includes 4 Britons: Wegelius, Froome, Thomas and Cummings


At the top of this particular hill, Konovalovas looks to put in an attack, although the decent comes quickly


He stuck to the front, and attacked once the road flattened


Morabito, Frank Schleck and Valverde respond, as does Aleksandr Pliuschin


Now here goes Vanendert and Uran


The attackers shoot past Kirchen and approach the other 9 riders in the break


While most riders moved to the left of the break, Rigoberto Uran powers on the right hand side


He moves past the break and into the lead


He won't have it all his own way though, as Valverde is able to follow and Vanendert also comes close

Part 3

Behind Uran, Valverde and then Vanendert, Konovalovas and Pliuschin are amongst the chasers


Along with the rest of the break riders, Tenorio is dropped from that group as the pace increases, riding with Rodriguez and Van Avermaet


In the peleton (led by Italy who missed the move), Chris Froome is now isolated and towards the back of the 43 man group


Uran leads from Valverde up front, and it is looking like these two could decide the race - with the gap to Vanendert and the rest increasing


Chasing Vanendert are Morabito, Schleck, Pliuschin and Konovalovas with Mortensen still clinging on having been in the break (although the Dane did not last much longer)


Uran and Valverde cross the finish line to begin the final lap


And they are still together after one of the two hills in that last lap


But on the flat we see them both simultaneously attack


Vanendert is now nearly 2 minutes behind them, while still maintaining a 1 minute advantage on the 4 chasers


Froome is still surviving in the peleton, now 39 men and including the early breakaway, meaning that Tenorio is there too just in front of him


Time to see the result of those attacks from the leaders - and it seems Uran has more in the tank than Valverde


But as they lap a Norwegian, it is clear that he could not get the gap he would like if he is to get rid of Valverde before the sprint. 7km to go

Part 4

Uran is continuing to pressurise Valverde .. and is that a gap appearing!?


Yes it is! Uran moves into a solo lead with just 5.6 km left


But more drama! Uran cracks not long after!


Valverde has a second chance and takes the lead, surely that is it now for Uran


He gathers his nerve, and finds his way back to Valverde's wheel


The final sprint is appraoching and Uran makes his move!


Valverde reacts but Urans got a gap now, the line is in sight!


Rigoberto Uran .... WORLD CHAMPION!


Incredible riding from the Colombian, fully deserved and a good step up having been 2nd last year.

Valverde of course took Silver, while Vanendert comes in alone to take 3rd - unable to catch Uran and Valverde having not quite managed to follow their attack all the way


3rd last year, 4th this year, Ignas Konovalovas outsprints Schleck and Morabito - but the Liege-Bastogne-Liege runnerup must surely be delighted for his DFL teammate


Aleksandr Pliuschin could not quite keep with the 4 man chase group in the final couple of kilometres, but 7th is still a strong result and it is a positive way to end the season


The peleton behind eventually splintered, with a group of 8 leading the battle towards 8th place. Di Luca is the only Italian in it though, and he takes 12th as it is surprisingly Stuart O'Grady in 8th place, ahead of Yuri Trofimov and Phillipe Gilbert


Across the finish line in 24th place came Chris Froome. That is a superb effort from him, to finish just behind last years World Champion Ballan, and prove that he is now ready to move on from relative obscurity in the teams of Maxbo Bianchi and Konica Minolta.


Justo Tenorio also produced a highly impressive ride, finishing 29th having been in the race's main breakaway. The potential big race winner, he has certainly used the Worlds to show his first real indication of that.


Steven Cummings came home in 58th place


Thomas and Wegelius were together, 15 minutes after Uran, in 75th and 76th


After 9th in 2007 and 4th in 2008, Edvald Boasson Hagen's season focus meant that he was never going to produce another Top 10 performance, as shown by a 99th place finish at 25 minutes


Around a minute and a half later came Kristian House and Mark Cavendish


Saul Raisin will have been dissappointed with his ride, over half an hour behind Uran despite coming into this in good form


So - confirmation of the result - Uran is World Champion, with Konovalovas 4th and Pliuschin 7th.

1 Rigoberto Urán Colombia 7h00'00
2 Alejandro Valverde Spain s.t.
3 Jelle Vanendert Belgium + 1'23
4 Ignas Konovalovas Lithuania + 2'52
5 Steve Morabito Switzerland s.t.
6 Fränk Schleck Luxembourg s.t.
7 Aleksandr Pliuschin Moldova + 3'40
8 Stuart O'Grady Australia + 5'09
9 Yuri Trofimov Russia s.t.
10 Philippe Gilbert Belgium s.t.
11 Fabian Wegmann Germany s.t.
12 Danilo Di Luca Italy s.t.
13 Vitor Rodrigues Portugal s.t.
14 Thomas Dekker Netherlands s.t.
15 Lars Boom Netherlands s.t.
16 Vladimir Karpets Russia + 5'44
17 Vladimir Gusev Russia + 6'29
18 Chris Horner USA s.t.
19 Dainius Kairelis Lithuania s.t.
20 José Iván Gutiérrez Spain + 7'40
21 Alessandro Ballan Italy + 7'52
22 Martin Mortensen Denmark s.t.
23 Greg Van Avermaet Belgium s.t.
24 Chris Froome Great Britain s.t.
25 Sylvain Chavanel France s.t.
26 Óscar Pereiro Spain s.t.
27 Pierrick Fédrigo France s.t.
28 Stefan Denifl Austria + 8'32
29 Justo Tenorio Spain s.t.
30 Ricardo Mestre Portugal + 8'47
31 Bauke Mollema Netherlands s.t.
32 Kurt-Asle Arvesen Norway s.t.
33 Stijn Devolder Belgium + 9'04
34 Levi Leipheimer USA s.t.
35 Matteo Carrara Italy + 9'22
36 John Gadret France s.t.
37 Fabian Cancellara Switzerland s.t.
38 Franco Pellizotti Italy + 9'41
39 Joaquim Rodríguez Spain s.t.
40 Bernhard Kohl Austria s.t.
41 Tiago Machado Portugal s.t.
42 Heinrich Haussler Germany s.t.
43 Robert Gesink Netherlands s.t.
44 Sergio Paulinho Portugal s.t.
45 Sergei Kolesnikov Russia s.t.
46 Giovanni Visconti Italy + 10'30
47 Kevin Seeldraeyers Belgium s.t.
48 David Zabriskie USA s.t.
49 Allan Davis Australia + 10'53
50 Thor Hushovd Norway + 11'06
51 Thomas Rohregger Austria s.t.
52 Andy Schleck Luxembourg + 11'24
53 Alexander Gottfried Germany + 11'38
54 Karsten Kroon Netherlands s.t.
55 Tom Boonen Belgium + 12'04
56 Denis Menchov Russia + 12'18
57 Marcel Kittel Germany + 12'42
58 Steven Cummings Great Britain + 12'59
59 Sergei Ivanov Russia + 13'11
60 Theo Eltink Netherlands s.t.
61 Tony Martin Germany s.t.
62 Igor Pugaci Moldova s.t.
63 Kim Kirchen Luxembourg s.t.
64 Manuel Lloret Spain s.t.
65 Niki Ostergaard Denmark s.t.
66 Matthew Lloyd Australia + 13'38
67 Jakob Fuglsang Denmark + 13'55
68 Janez Brajkovic Slovenia + 14'07
69 Cândido Barbosa Portugal s.t.
70 Matti Breschel Denmark s.t.
71 Jens Voigt Germany s.t.
72 Simon Spilak Slovenia s.t.
73 Sandy Casar France + 14'47
74 Matej Mugerli Slovenia + 15'01
75 Geraint Thomas Great Britain + 15'11
76 Charles Wegelius Great Britain s.t.
77 Simon Gerrans Australia + 15'28
78 Grega Bole Slovenia + 15'38
79 Martin Elmiger Switzerland s.t.
80 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Denmark s.t.
81 Michael Albasini Switzerland + 16'06
82 Leonardo Duque Colombia + 16'26
83 Mitja Mahoric Slovenia s.t.
84 Rafael Nick Switzerland s.t.
85 Tomas Vaitkus Lithuania + 17'33
86 Edwin Orozco Colombia + 17'45
87 André Steensen Denmark + 18'12
88 Marlon Pérez Colombia + 18'42
89 Walter Pedraza Colombia + 18'53
90 Aidis Kruopis Lithuania s.t.
91 Luis Orán Castañeda Colombia + 19'12
92 Michael Schär Switzerland + 20'07
93 Taylor Phinney USA + 21'34
94 Markus Eibegger Austria + 22'23
95 Wes Sulzberger Australia + 22'47
96 Mikaël Chérel France + 23'12
97 Rui Costa Portugal s.t.
98 Tadej Valjavec Slovenia + 24'36
99 Edvald Boasson Hagen Norway + 24'51
100 Benoît Joachim Luxembourg + 25'12
101 Christian Poos Luxembourg + 25'24
102 Ben Gastauer Luxembourg + 26'25
103 Kristian House Great Britain s.t.
104 Mark Cavendish Great Britain s.t.
105 Mitchell Docker Australia + 27'06
106 Ruslan Ivanov Moldova + 28'46
107 Aivaras Baranauskas Lithuania s.t.
108 Saul Raisin USA + 30'44
109 Taylor Tolleson USA s.t.
110 Lars Petter Nordhaug Norway s.t.
111 Gabriel Rasch Norway + 31'43
112 Damien Gaudin France s.t.
113 Peter Wrölich Austria + 32'07
114 Alessandro Petacchi Italy + 34'22
115 Frederik Wilmann Norway + 38'10
116 Bernhard Eisel Austria + 39'18
117 Victor Mironov Moldova + 43'38
118 Sergiu Cioban Moldova + 44'38
DNF Alexei Valuca Moldova

great results for DFL

great riding for DFL

Nice done by Uran, and Froome