New Signings

Anuar Manan

The young Malaysian will be our leading sprinter this year. He was hoping to ride in Langkawi but we our application was denied and he will do his best to get fit in time for Qatar.

Chris Hoy

The very talented and experience track rider is ready to have a go on the road, and we will be relying on his time trial skills to complete one of our sponsor goals, by winning Stage 1 of the Tour of Britain.

Jamie Staff

Jamie will also hope to carry his track skills across to the road, and he and Hoy will form a basis of a hopefully successful team in Qatar's opening TTT.

Ian Stannard

Ian could well be the most aggressive rider on our team - expect him to feature in many breakaways and hopefully grab some strong results.

Adam Blyth

Adam is a little disappointed that the spaniards missed off the e from the end of his name and is with us for experience.

Aleksandr Pliuchkin

At 20, this young Moldovan is already the strongest rider in our team and is a superb all rounder. He is likely to lead us in many races and we have strong hopes for him in the Tour of Ireland, where we need to get a top 5 finish.

Frederik Nolf

This young Belgian has a promising future ahead of him, particularly on the cobbles.

Pluchkin is gonna be awesome. Looking forward to see how he does

lol you signed half our team , first career is going to be team gls, or another small team, so expect a story soon

Qatar is coming soon!

Chris Hoy
Jamie Staff
Nico Mattan
Matti Helminen
Evan Oliphant
Rhys Pollock
Jens Mouris
Gert Vanderaerden

We werent expecting much in the opening, short TTT but hoped that Hoy and Staff could perform well, along with help from Finnish tt champ Helminen.


8th was all we could manage as Predictor Lotto took the win. Leif Hoste takes the leaders jersey.

1 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO 7'03
2 Fred Rodriguez PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
3 Robbie McEwen PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
4 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
5 Geert Steurs PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
6 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
7 Roy Sentjens PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
8 Bert Roesems PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
9 Maarten Tjallingii SKIL - SHIMANO + 8
10 Tomoya Kano SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
11 Mashahiro Shinagawa SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
12 Maarten Den Bakker SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
13 Aart Vierhouten SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
14 Kenny Van Hummel SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
15 Piet Rooijakkers SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
16 Fabien Bacquet SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
17 Moisés Dueñas AGRITUBEL + 9
18 Aivaras Baranauskas AGRITUBEL s.t.
19 Andy Flickinger BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
20 Jérôme Pineau BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
21 Linas Balciunas AGRITUBEL s.t.
22 Stef Clement BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
23 Hans Dekkers AGRITUBEL s.t.
24 Saïd Haddou BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
25 Alberto Martínez AGRITUBEL s.t.
58 Matti Helminen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 19
60 Nico Mattan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
61 Chris Hoy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
63 Jamie Staff DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
65 Jens Mouris DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
67 Rhys Pollock DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
70 Gert Vanderaerden DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
72 Evan Oliphant DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.

Stage 2 is our first real test and Evan Oliphant went in the breakaway. But the action came in the peleton as Predictor Lotto split the bunch.



They have split the bunch! It is kinda ironic though, as McEwen is sat at the back of the 2nd group. T-Mobile send their men forward to bring things backtogether - I thought it would be for their sprinter Cavendish but then noticed that Cavendish was one of the riders chasing down the first peleton. As I only had Mouris, Hoy and Staff in peleton 1, I sent Mattan and Helminen to help TMobile to get Vanderaerden back. The groups eventually came together and then I accidentally caused another one by forgetting to stop Helminen relaying at 99%

This time, Vanderaerden was in the front group but I decided to stop anyway. The result of all this was that the break was caught, a long way from the finish.

It also meant that the 2nd intermediate sprint would be Sprinter territory but I decided to not involve Vanderaerden. Haselbacher won it, ahead of Elmiger, Fischer and Flickinger.

Vanderaerden was well placed for the sprint, behind Ventoso and Rigotto.


McEwen and Cavendish are both nowhere to be seen.

I got Vanderaerden to keep following Ventoso all the way to the line, and I got 3rd! B)


1 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM 3h05'25
2 Fran Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
3 Gert Vanderaerden DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
4 René Haselbacher TEAM ASTANA s.t.
5 Andy Flickinger BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
6 Alberto Ongarato TEAM MILRAM s.t.
7 Marcel Sieberg TEAM MILRAM s.t.
8 Martin Elmiger AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
9 Sebastian Siedler TEAM MILRAM s.t.
10 Aart Vierhouten SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
11 Murilo Fischer LIQUIGAS s.t.
12 Jean-Patrick Nazon AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
13 Kenny Van Hummel SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
14 Grégory Rast TEAM ASTANA s.t.
15 Nico Eeckhout CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
16 Saïd Haddou BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
17 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
18 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
19 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM s.t.
20 Robbie McEwen PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
21 Guennadi Mikhailov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
22 David Kopp GEROLSTEINER s.t.
23 Jérôme Pineau BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
24 Mathieu Claude BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
25 Jesús Del Nero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
67 Nico Mattan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
84 Jens Mouris DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
88 Matti Helminen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
97 Chris Hoy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
109 Rhys Pollock DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 3'50
111 Jamie Staff DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'31
127 Evan Oliphant DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 14'47
Tom Southam of Drapac Porsche had to withdraw due to a crash.

Greg Van Avermaet is the new race leader.
1 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO 3h12'28
2 Robbie McEwen PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
3 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
4 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
5 Bert Roesems PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
6 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM + 4
7 Aart Vierhouten SKIL - SHIMANO + 8
8 Kenny Van Hummel SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
9 Maarten Den Bakker SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
10 Piet Rooijakkers SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
11 Fabien Bacquet SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
12 Mashahiro Shinagawa SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
13 Maarten Tjallingii SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
14 Andy Flickinger BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 9
15 Saïd Haddou BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
16 Jérôme Pineau BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
17 Mathieu Claude BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
18 Thomas Voeckler BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
19 Anthony Geslin BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
20 Aivaras Baranauskas AGRITUBEL s.t.
21 Hans Dekkers AGRITUBEL s.t.
22 Moisés Dueñas AGRITUBEL s.t.
23 Stef Clement BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
24 Linas Balciunas AGRITUBEL s.t.
25 Romain Feillu AGRITUBEL s.t.
41 Gert Vanderaerden DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 15
46 Nico Mattan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 19
48 Matti Helminen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
49 Jens Mouris DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
51 Chris Hoy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
109 Rhys Pollock DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'09
113 Jamie Staff DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'50
127 Evan Oliphant DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 15'06

good race, next time keep helminen going B) kool third

After a great 3rd place in Stage 2, Team DFL were in a buoyant mood but today we were brought back down to earth.


Jens Mouris tried got in the unsuccessful breakaway, but they were caught eventually anyway.

Gert Vanderaerden hoped to emulate his follow tactics from Stage 2, but was continually shunted to the back of the sprint trains and stood no chance.

Rigotto won again and takes the overall lead.


1 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM 3h04'20
2 René Haselbacher TEAM ASTANA s.t.
3 Fran Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
4 Murilo Fischer LIQUIGAS s.t.
5 Martin Elmiger AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
6 Sebastian Siedler TEAM MILRAM s.t.
7 Andy Flickinger BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
8 Aart Vierhouten SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
9 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM s.t.
10 Anthony Geslin BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
11 Nico Eeckhout CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
12 Kenny Van Hummel SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
13 Robert Förster GEROLSTEINER s.t.
14 Robbie McEwen PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
15 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
19 Gert Vanderaerden DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
68 Matti Helminen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
70 Jamie Staff DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
71 Evan Oliphant DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
79 Rhys Pollock DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
83 Nico Mattan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
104 Chris Hoy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
126 Jens Mouris DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 6'13

1 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM 6h16'42
2 Robbie McEwen PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 6
3 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
4 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
5 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
6 Bert Roesems PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
7 Aart Vierhouten SKIL - SHIMANO + 14
8 Kenny Van Hummel SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
9 Fabien Bacquet SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
10 Piet Rooijakkers SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
11 Maarten Den Bakker SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
12 Maarten Tjallingii SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
13 Mashahiro Shinagawa SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
14 Andy Flickinger BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 15
15 Anthony Geslin BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
40 Gert Vanderaerden DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 21
47 Matti Helminen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 25
48 Nico Mattan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
50 Chris Hoy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
107 Rhys Pollock DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'15
110 Jamie Staff DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'56
113 Jens Mouris DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 6'38
126 Evan Oliphant DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 15'12

Jens Mouris is in good form so I sent him in the breakaway once again.

He was dropped with 24km to go but that did not matter as the rest were caught soon after him anyway.

Vanderaerden got ready for the sprint and learnt from yesterday's mistakes. Instead of trying to follow one of the big guns, he instead got behind Beat Zberg's Wheel and amazingly - the 'risk' paid off!


I again stuck with my follow-all-the-way tactic as it is my only hope with Vanderaerden and with less than a km to go, it is still looking good.


Murilo Fischer comes through for the win as Zberg predictably fades but another great sprint from Vanderaerden gives him 5th! Just beating Robbie McEwen.


1 Murilo Fischer LIQUIGAS 3h01'37
2 Markus Zberg GEROLSTEINER s.t.
3 Fran Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
4 Martin Elmiger AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
5 Gert Vanderaerden DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
6 Robbie McEwen PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
7 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM s.t.
8 Kenny Van Hummel SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
9 Steve Schets CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
10 René Haselbacher TEAM ASTANA s.t.
11 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM s.t.
12 Nico Eeckhout CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
13 Marcel Sieberg TEAM MILRAM s.t.
14 Mark Cavendish T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
15 Alberto Ongarato TEAM MILRAM s.t.
16 David Kopp GEROLSTEINER s.t.
17 Andy Flickinger BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
18 Anthony Geslin BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
19 Aart Vierhouten SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
20 Saïd Haddou BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
21 Fred Rodriguez PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
22 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
23 Robert Förster GEROLSTEINER s.t.
24 Jean-Patrick Nazon AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
25 Guennadi Mikhailov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
62 Chris Hoy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
80 Evan Oliphant DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
89 Jamie Staff DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
90 Nico Mattan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
94 Rhys Pollock DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
103 Matti Helminen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
127 Jens Mouris DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2'46

There is no change overall as Rigotto still leads.

Points:
Rank Name Team Points General
1 Fran Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 25 77
2 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM 10 70
3 Murilo Fischer LIQUIGAS 30 64
4 René Haselbacher TEAM ASTANA 11 64
5 Martin Elmiger AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 23 61
6 Gert Vanderaerden DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 21 48
7 Andy Flickinger BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM 4 42
8 Kenny Van Hummel SKIL - SHIMANO 15 32
9 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM 17 32
10 Sebastian Siedler TEAM MILRAM 0 32

nice start, hope it isn't long till your first win

It could be a while, I wont win in Qatar and Meditteranean is my only schedule race for February.

Im pinning my hopes on the one-day races that start in March.

Rhys Pollock couldnt get in the break, so Evan Oliphant broke away instead.


The break was, of course, caught and there would be another sprint.

I found myself too far forward with Vanderaerden and just decidfed to follow Abakoumov who was relaying. Cavendish came up behind me, as did most of the other sprinters. Piil came forward and Cavendish switched to him and I slowed down in order to latch up onto the Predictor-led train of Rodriguez, McEwen, Elmiger and Van Hummel.

Yet again, I picked the right train


Rodriguez led McEwen to the 1km point but McEwen could not take over and Elmiger powered in front, the Swiss rider hung on to win as Van Hummel edged out McEwen for 2nd. Vanderaerden got 4th!!


1 Martin Elmiger AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 3h22'47
2 Kenny Van Hummel SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
3 Robbie McEwen PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
4 Gert Vanderaerden DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
5 Aart Vierhouten SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
6 Murilo Fischer LIQUIGAS s.t.
7 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM s.t.
8 Fred Rodriguez PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
9 Fran Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
10 Markus Zberg GEROLSTEINER s.t.
11 Max Van Heeswijk RABOBANK s.t.
12 Robert Förster GEROLSTEINER s.t.
13 René Haselbacher TEAM ASTANA s.t.
14 Marcel Sieberg TEAM MILRAM s.t.
15 David Kopp GEROLSTEINER s.t.
16 Alberto Ongarato TEAM MILRAM s.t.
17 Mark Cavendish T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
18 Nico Eeckhout CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
19 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM s.t.
20 Peter Wrölich GEROLSTEINER s.t.
21 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
22 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
23 Jakob Piil T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
24 Sergei Ivanov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
25 Igor Abakoumov TEAM ASTANA s.t.

1 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM 12h41'06
2 Robbie McEwen PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 2
3 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 6
4 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
5 Bert Roesems PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
6 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
7 Kenny Van Hummel SKIL - SHIMANO + 8
8 Hans Dekkers AGRITUBEL + 12
9 Markus Zberg GEROLSTEINER + 13
10 Aart Vierhouten SKIL - SHIMANO + 14
11 Mashahiro Shinagawa SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
12 Fabien Bacquet SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
13 Maarten Tjallingii SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
14 Maarten Den Bakker SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
15 Saïd Haddou BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 15
35 Gert Vanderaerden DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 21
41 Nico Mattan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 25
42 Matti Helminen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
43 Chris Hoy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.


Rank Name Team Points General
1 Martin Elmiger AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 30 91
2 Fran Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 13 90
3 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM 17 87
4 Murilo Fischer LIQUIGAS 19 83
5 René Haselbacher TEAM ASTANA 8 72
6 Gert Vanderaerden DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 23 71
7 Kenny Van Hummel SKIL - SHIMANO 27 59
8 Robbie McEwen PREDICTOR - LOTTO 25 52
9 Aart Vierhouten SKIL - SHIMANO 21 49
10 Andy Flickinger BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM 0 42

January Report

Races:


Continental Rankings:



Cyanide's Rider of the Month:
Hilton Clarke

3 Stage Wins in the Tour Down Under led to overall victory, plus the Points jersey after Clarke had already won the Tour Down Under Classic. Both were relative surprises after just 25th in the Aussie TT Champs and 57th in the Road Race (Out of 59).

DFL Rider of the Month:
Gert Vanderaerden

A strong showing so far in Qatar, Gert has has a 3rd, a 4th and a 5th in the first 5 stages and has given the team it's first Ranking points.

Brit of the Month:
David Millar

2nd in the prologue of the Argentine race the Tour de San Luis (Behind Svein Tuft), was a good start in a event dominated by Saunier Duval. Millar eventually finished 47th, 1'57 behind the winner, teammate Koldo Gil.

Injuries:
Daniele Bennati has a slight injury at one point but has now recovered. Erwin Thijs (Unibet) and Cyril Lemoine (Credit Agricole) are the only ProTour riders injured and the LA - MSS rider Angel Vasquez looks set to be out for the longest - his broken collarbone won't heal until March.

Look Ahead:
DFL will only be riding in the Tour Meditteranean in February, following the conclusion of the Tour of Qatar.

Time for the final stage in Qatar!

And a new tactic: Get 2 men in the break!


Jens Mouris is in the break again and so is Matti Helminen. To start with Mouris works, Helminen does not, but when I find out that Mouris has a +5 form, they switch over.

We also finally got some points in the intermediate sprints! Helminen followed Hammond the first time and the 2nd time he followed Ravard but slowed in the last few metres to allow Mouris to take the points as Mouris was following Hammond. The 2 3rd places where quite an achievement considering that Helminen has 61 Sprint, and Mouris 59 Sprint.


Inevitably though, the catch came ~ with 21km to go.

Vanderaerden was well placed yet again behind the SkilShimano train, until with 4.5km to go, Fischer barged in front.


I must have then accidentally clicked the sprint button, either that or the AI did it for me as I completely lost Rigotto's wheel. The fight for the win was the tightest yet though, could Van Hummel hang on?


It was close, but then an Aussie edged into the lead in the dying metres.


McEwen finally grabs a stage! And he takes the Overall GC too!

1 Robbie McEwen PREDICTOR - LOTTO 2h48'34
2 Kenny Van Hummel SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
3 René Haselbacher TEAM ASTANA s.t.
4 Murilo Fischer LIQUIGAS s.t.
5 Mark Cavendish T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
6 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM s.t.
7 Robert Förster GEROLSTEINER s.t.
8 Martin Elmiger AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
9 Nico Eeckhout CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
10 Fran Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
11 Gert Vanderaerden DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
12 Peter Wrölich GEROLSTEINER s.t.
13 Jean-Patrick Nazon AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
14 Marcel Sieberg TEAM MILRAM s.t.
15 Max Van Heeswijk RABOBANK s.t.
16 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM s.t.
17 Aart Vierhouten SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
18 Jakob Piil T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
19 Alberto Ongarato TEAM MILRAM s.t.
20 Steven De Jongh QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
21 David Kopp GEROLSTEINER s.t.
22 André Korff T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
23 Fred Rodriguez PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
24 Andreas Klier T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
25 Koen De Kort TEAM ASTANA s.t.

1 Robbie McEwen PREDICTOR - LOTTO 15h29'32
2 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM + 8
3 Kenny Van Hummel SKIL - SHIMANO + 10
4 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 14
5 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
6 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
7 Bert Roesems PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
8 Hans Dekkers AGRITUBEL + 20
9 Markus Zberg GEROLSTEINER + 21
10 Aart Vierhouten SKIL - SHIMANO + 22
11 Fabien Bacquet SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
12 Mashahiro Shinagawa SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
13 Maarten Tjallingii SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
14 Maarten Den Bakker SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
15 Romain Feillu AGRITUBEL + 23
16 Linas Balciunas AGRITUBEL s.t.
17 Aivaras Baranauskas AGRITUBEL s.t.
18 Moisés Dueñas AGRITUBEL s.t.
19 Anthony Geslin BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
20 Jérôme Pineau BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
21 Andy Flickinger BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
22 Mathieu Claude BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
23 Stef Clement BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
24 Thomas Voeckler BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
25 Martin Elmiger AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 24
36 Gert Vanderaerden DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
40 Nico Mattan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 33
41 Chris Hoy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
97 Matti Helminen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 6'17
102 Jamie Staff DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 7'43
120 Jens Mouris DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 15'44
121 Rhys Pollock DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 16'04
125 Evan Oliphant DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 24'39

Vanderaerden slipped to 8th in the Points Classification.

45 Matti Helminen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 1
46 Jens Mouris DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 1

Due to the TTT, we were the 8th best team.

Nice result still we demand a win

Unlike most people, Im playing on hard. So youll have to wait!

Preview

We are not expecting much from the French stage race and this will largely be used as a warmup for the month of March.

Nico Mattan was invited by the sponsors and will be looking to improve his form in preperation.
Both Frederik Nolf and Aleksandr Pliuchkin are not race fit at the moment and hope that the Meditteranean will increase their fitness intime for the cobbles.
Gert Vanderaerden has a high morale and is in good form, so will be our sprinter in France.
Ian Stannard and Dan Fleeman should make their season debuts, along with Hamish Haynes.
The final two slots have not been decided yet.

Nico Mattan
Daniel Fleeman
Gert Vanderaerden
Aleksandr Pliuschin
Hamish Haynes
Bjorn Cornelissen
Frederik Nolf
Robby Meul


Stage 1: the TTT.

We were very surprisewd today as our team bus passed the leading French bookmaker: Cyalogic's shop as we saw that we were listed as a favourite for the TTT!

We laughed about it as we knew we had no chance, and are only using this race as a warmup for next month.

A few more laughs came at the sign in point when we saw that Agritubel had only brought 3 riders, and Tinkoff have only brought 1! Poor Ilya Chernetskiy It wasnt all laughs though as we saw that Hushovd, Zabel, Napolitano and Bennati were amongst the starters.

The TTT itself was pretty disastrous. We werent last (We comfortably beat Agritubel and Tinkoff!) but we were pretty bad and beat noone else, coming in 1'23 behind the winners Acqua Sapone (We had some consolation in nowing that we we gained time in the 2nd half of the race, but only 7 seconds.


1 Massimo Codol ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO 35'29
2 Stefano Garzelli ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO s.t.
3 Branislav Samoilau ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO s.t.
4 Frank Vandenbroucke ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO s.t.
5 Giuseppe Palumbo ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO s.t.
6 Gabriele Balducci ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO s.t.
7 Andrea Masciarelli ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO s.t.
8 Aurélien Passeron ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO s.t.
9 Christian Knees TEAM MILRAM + 1
10 Erik Zabel TEAM MILRAM s.t.
11 Andriy Grivko TEAM MILRAM s.t.
12 Alessandro Cortinovis TEAM MILRAM s.t.
13 Enrico Poitschke TEAM MILRAM s.t.
14 Martin Müller TEAM MILRAM s.t.
15 Matej Jurco TEAM MILRAM s.t.
16 Fran Pérez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 2
17 Nicolas Portal CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
18 David Arroyo CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
19 Imanol Erviti CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
20 Xavier Zandio CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
21 Eric Berthou CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
22 Florent Brard CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
23 Mathieu Perget CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
24 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 3
25 Laszló Bodrogi CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
113 Nico Mattan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'23
114 Daniel Fleeman DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
115 Gert Vanderaerden DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
116 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
117 Hamish Haynes DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
118 Bjorn Cornelissen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
119 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
120 Robby Meul DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'45
121 Freddy Bichot AGRITUBEL + 5'47
122 Linas Balciunas AGRITUBEL s.t.
123 Hans Dekkers AGRITUBEL s.t.
124 Ilya Chernetskiy TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 6'27

at least you weren't last

Woa that was a pretty close top 3 teams