Stannard goes in a break of 3 and wins the first intermediate sprint, they are eventually caught and Landbouwkredits' Kuyckx makes a fresh attack, which allows him to win the sprints at 21km to go and 9km to go (Where he was caught on the line), with Manan taking 2nd in each of them, pursuing a hope of the points jersey.

Can Manan bookend the tour? As in Stage 1, he takes the wheel of Van der Linden.


But Van der Linden is particularly strong todasy after his leadout from De Fauw.


They go side by side insite of the line! Come on Manan, you can do it!!!!


VICTORY!


Sadly, the rider in black is Van Avermaet and he has done enough to just keep hold of the points jersey.

1 Anuar Manan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 4h10'18
2 Wesley Van der Linden CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
3 Janek Tombak JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
4 Marco Zanotti UNIBET.COM s.t.
5 Tyler Farrar COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
6 Nico Sijmens LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
7 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
8 Brad Huff TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
9 Maarten Neyens DAVITAMON - WIN FOR LIFE - JONG VLAANDEREN s.t.
10 Jurgen Roelandts DAVITAMON - WIN FOR LIFE - JONG VLAANDEREN s.t.
11 Michael Blanchy BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
12 Dimitri De Fauw CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
13 Jurgen François JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
14 Geert Omloop JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
15 Roy Sentjens PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
16 Wouter Van Mechelen LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
17 Huub Duyn TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
18 Bert Scheirlinckx LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
19 Geert Steurs PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
20 Michal Golas UNIBET.COM s.t.
40 Rhys Pollock DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
47 Chris Hoy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
52 Jamie Staff DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
53 Sven De Weerdt DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
59 Robby Meul DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
80 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
106 Ian Stannard DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 11'20

1 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO 18h38'59
2 Laurens Ten Dam UNIBET.COM + 36
3 Jurgen Roelandts DAVITAMON - WIN FOR LIFE - JONG VLAANDEREN + 1'32
4 Huub Duyn TEAM SLIPSTREAM + 2'04
5 Geert Verheyen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 2'20
6 Chris Hoy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 3'22
7 Nico Sijmens LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER + 4'10
8 Kevin Hulsmans QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 4'19
9 Maarten Neyens DAVITAMON - WIN FOR LIFE - JONG VLAANDEREN + 4'33
10 Janek Tombak JARTAZI PROMO FASHION + 4'39
11 Geert Omloop JARTAZI PROMO FASHION + 4'45
12 Jonas Ljungblad UNIBET.COM + 4'47
13 Frederik Veuchelen CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
14 Roy Sentjens PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 4'49
15 Geert Steurs PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 4'51
16 Jérôme Baugnies DAVITAMON - WIN FOR LIFE - JONG VLAANDEREN s.t.
17 Marco Zanotti UNIBET.COM + 4'52
18 Michael Blanchy BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS + 4'59
19 Kevin Neirynck LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
20 Koen Barbé CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
28 Jamie Staff DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 6'49
34 Anuar Manan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 7'54
47 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 8'49
60 Robby Meul DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 10'43
78 Sven De Weerdt DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 13'34
96 Rhys Pollock DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 20'14
106 Ian Stannard DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 31'33

Rank Name Team General
1 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO 72
2 Anuar Manan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 67
3 Marco Zanotti UNIBET.COM 56
4 Janek Tombak JARTAZI PROMO FASHION 46
5 Jurgen Roelandts DAVITAMON - WIN FOR LIFE - JONG VLAANDEREN 38
6 Wesley Van der Linden CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN 34
7 Tyler Farrar COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE 30
8 Laurens Ten Dam UNIBET.COM 30
9 Nico Sijmens LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER 25
10 Jamie Staff DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 25

A number of good riders are to leave their current teams at the end of the season, it has been announced.

Christophe Moreau - Recent Druggie in the Giro d'Italia
Alberto Contador - Past druggie for Mister Puerto
Levi Leipheimer
Santiago Botero - Colombian Druggie
Danilo di Luca - Italian Druggie

Now onto riders who I am interested in:
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Martijn Maaskant
Jeremy Hunt
Ivan Stevic

And the rest:
Gert Steegmens
Roger Hammond
Lars Croket
Nikolas Maes
Magnus Backstedt
Juan Jose Cobo

Giro
Despite the disappointment found out that his contract will not be extended, Danilo di Luca has won the Giro following 6th on the final stage, won by Alessandro Petacchi. Di Luca won the Points standings aswell as thew Maglia Rosa and is the new ProTour leader having won 3 stages along the way. Savoldelli took 2nd, over 6 minutes down while Cunego was 7 minutes down in 3rd. Nibali took an impressive 4th while shock rider Remy di Gregorio rounds out the Top 5 having also won the KoM competition. Simoni, Bruseghin, Pellizotti, Piepoli and Rujano round out the top 10.

With no sprinters, the Lancaster Classic was all about attacking and I did my best, but ultimately: Clarke won.


1 Hilton Clarke NAVIGATORS INSURANCE 3h08'19
2 Iván Domínguez TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT s.t.
3 Henk Vogels TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT s.t.
4 Andrew Randell SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM s.t.
5 Carlos Eduardo Alzate COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES s.t.
6 Jakob Piil T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
7 Allan Johansen TEAM CSC s.t.
8 Kirk O'Bee HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS s.t.
9 Ciaran Power NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
10 Sergei Lagutin NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
11 Michael Blaudzun TEAM CSC s.t.
12 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
13 Benjamin Brooks NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
14 Mark Scanlon TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT s.t.
15 Luke Roberts TEAM CSC s.t.
16 Karl Menzies HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS s.t.
17 Viktor Rapinski NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
18 Rodney Green TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
19 Bert Grabsch T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
20 Heath Blackgrove TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT s.t.
21 Chris Sørensen TEAM CSC s.t.
22 Frank Pipp HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS s.t.
23 André Korff T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
24 Marsh Cooper SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM s.t.
25 Chad Hartley BMC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
26 Peter Dawson SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS s.t.
27 Darren Lill NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
28 Brandon Crichton SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM s.t.
29 Jeff Sherstobitoff SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM s.t.
30 Bjorn Cornelissen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.

Nice tour in Belgium

I wont

why do you think no other team applied????

No idea, but only 4 teams applied for the Tour de Suisse

Nice wins in Belgium

well, at least they did, but I'm sure some dutch teams would applie for it if they had a chance.... or tinkoff

but you will see

You ought to try and get André Steensen, I presume you're playing with PCM Spain, so he's in there. He would be an awesome prospect on your team.

Aleksandr Pliuschin is back to lead the team over the hills of Luxembourg before resting in preperation for the Tours of Ireland and Britain later this season. Also riding are Hoy and Staff, purposefully for the TT.

Like most of the tour, the prologue is quite hilly so not entirely suited to Hoy or Staff. But at one point in the prologue, it is a Brit 1-2-3 with Staff, Hoy and Ed Clancy but a dutchman ruined all that.


Joost Posthuma today while Pliuschin takes a surprise 2nd ahead of Staff.

1 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK 6'49
2 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 5
3 Jamie Staff DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
4 Linas Balciunas AGRITUBEL + 6
5 Chris Hoy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 10
6 Matteo Priamo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 13
7 Benoît Joachim TEAM ASTANA s.t.
8 Bastiaan Giling TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 15
9 HÃ¥kan Nilsson CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE s.t.
10 David Boucher LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
11 Ed Clancy LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER + 16
12 Serhiy Matveyev CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
13 Christophe Kern CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 17
14 Andy Cappelle LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
15 Didac Ortega SPORT LISBOA E BENFICA + 18
16 David Verheyen LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER + 19
17 Johann Tschopp BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
18 Peter Velits TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 20
19 Christian Poos CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE s.t.
20 Robert Radosz ACTION - UNIQA + 21
21 Rigoberto Urán UNIBET.COM + 22
22 Antonio Bucciero CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 23
23 Sebastian Skiba ACTION - UNIQA s.t.
24 Matti Helminen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
25 Hannes Blank CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE s.t.

Pliuschin's sprint stat may only be 66 but the hills weakened some of the stronger guys and our Moldovan found himself in a strong position in the sprint.


With 1km to go, the strognest sprinter up there, Panaria's Bucciero faded and Pliuschin moved into 3rd.


He moved alongside Wesemann to fight for 2nd as Hannes Blank of the Luxembourg Differdange team wins it.


Pliuschin takes 3rd and grabs the leaders jersey from Posthuma.

1 Hannes Blank CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE 4h04'57
2 Steffen Wesemann TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
3 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
4 Tom Criel UNIBET.COM s.t.
5 Christian Poos CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE s.t.
6 Patrice Halgand CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
7 Antonio Bucciero CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
8 Mathieu Sprick BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
9 Andy Cappelle LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
10 Maarten Tjallingii SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
11 Johann Tschopp BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
12 Kenny Van Hummel SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
13 Bert De Waele LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
14 Robert Retschke TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
15 Didac Ortega SPORT LISBOA E BENFICA s.t.

1 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 4h11'43
2 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK + 3
3 Hannes Blank CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE + 6
4 Jamie Staff DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 8
5 Linas Balciunas AGRITUBEL + 9
6 Chris Hoy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 13
7 Matteo Priamo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 16
8 Benoît Joachim TEAM ASTANA s.t.
9 HÃ¥kan Nilsson CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE + 18
10 Bastiaan Giling TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.

Reading Classic

Evan Oliphant went with the breakaway on a flat rated course with a fairly tricky hill in it. When Piil attacked with 1 lap to go, Blaudzun and Daniel Lloyd went with him and with 12km to go, Oliphant, Another survivor from the break and the 3 attackers held a minute on the pack.

The hill was too much for Oluphant and the other breakaway rider and the 3 others remained infront as the sprint began at 2km to go.


Lloyd's underrated sprint stat means he has no chance and Blaudzun and Piil pass him, Piil takes victory.


Lloyd fades to 6th but at least Manan was there to grab 4th. Lancaster Classic winner Hilton Clarke could only manage 10th.

1 Jakob Piil T-MOBILE TEAM 3h46'38
2 Allan Johansen TEAM CSC s.t.
3 Luke Roberts TEAM CSC s.t.
4 Anuar Manan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
5 Nicolas Sanderson SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS s.t.
6 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
7 André Korff T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
8 Kirk O'Bee HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS s.t.
9 Chris Sørensen TEAM CSC s.t.
10 Hilton Clarke NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
11 Jackson Stewart BMC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
12 Bert Grabsch T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
13 Sergei Lagutin NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
14 Simon Clarke SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS s.t.
15 Andrew Randell SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM s.t.
16 Andrés Miguel Díaz COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES s.t.
17 Frank Pipp HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS s.t.
18 Pieter Seyffert TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
19 Michael Friedman TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
20 Alexandre Moos BMC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
21 Giovanny Báez UNE - ORBITEL s.t.
22 Timothy Johnson HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS s.t.
23 Matthew Crane HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS s.t.
24 Walker Ferguson TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT s.t.
25 David O'Loughlin NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.

The only flat stage of the tour and after good teamwork chasing down the lone break of Ludewig, Pliuschin again featured in the sprint. He followed Grillo head to head against the CCT Differdange train. If Grillo had gone all the way, a 2nd place looked likely but Grillo stopped sprinting with 800m to go,forcing Pliuschin to sprint for himself and get edged into 4th. Hannes Blank won again and takes the leaders jersey.


1 Hannes Blank CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE 4h39'17
2 Steffen Wesemann TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
3 Patrice Halgand CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
4 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
5 Saïd Haddou BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
6 Stefan Van Dijk TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
7 Robert Retschke TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
8 Paride Grillo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
9 Sébastien Hinault CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
10 HÃ¥kan Nilsson CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE s.t.
11 Matteo Priamo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
12 Kenny Van Hummel SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
13 Luca Mazzanti CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
14 Tom Criel UNIBET.COM s.t.
15 Jaroslaw Zarębski ACTION - UNIQA s.t.

1 Hannes Blank CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE 8h50'46
2 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 14
3 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK + 17
4 Jamie Staff DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 22
5 Linas Balciunas AGRITUBEL + 23
6 HÃ¥kan Nilsson CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE + 26
7 Chris Hoy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 27
8 Matteo Priamo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 28
9 Benoît Joachim TEAM ASTANA + 30
10 Bastiaan Giling TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 32
11 David Boucher LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
12 Christophe Kern CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 34
13 Andy Cappelle LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
14 Didac Ortega SPORT LISBOA E BENFICA + 35
15 Steffen Wesemann TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 36

Yeh, I have a lot of riders lined up who I want to buy, Steensen is one of them.

Philadelphia International Championship

There were some sharp hills to encounter in the Phildalphia race, but the crucial attacks did not come until 20km to go when Dan Lloyd followed Piil and Baez. But Lloyd struggled and was dropped by them with 5km to go, by 3km to go he had accumulated a 3rd red bar.


It was an easy win for Piil, with Baez 2nd.


Lloyd came in at his own pace (Relay 70%) to avoid the risk of 4 red bars and he somehow managed 5th, with Goss and Petersen only coming past him in the last few metres.


1 Jakob Piil T-MOBILE TEAM 7h49'15
2 Giovanny Báez UNE - ORBITEL + 28
3 Matthew Goss TEAM CSC + 1'12
4 Martin Pedersen TEAM CSC s.t.
5 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
6 Wes Sulzberger SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS s.t.
7 Luke Roberts TEAM CSC s.t.
8 Henk Vogels TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT s.t.
9 Huub Duyn TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
10 Gene Bates SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS s.t.
11 Bert Grabsch T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
12 Lucas Euser TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
13 Michael Blaudzun TEAM CSC s.t.
14 Mark Scanlon TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT s.t.
15 Víctor Hugo Orozco COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES s.t.
16 Michael Creed TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
17 Jacob Rosenbarger BMC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
18 Kristian House NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
19 Thomas Ziegler T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
20 Ian MacGregor TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
21 Bernard Van Ulden NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
22 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC s.t.
23 Adam Hansen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
24 Olmedo Capacho COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES s.t.
25 Pieter Seyffert TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
26 Edwin Orozco UNE - ORBITEL s.t.
27 Kilian Patour TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
28 Anuar Manan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
29 Alexandr Kolobnev TEAM CSC s.t.
30 Hector Orlando Mesa UNE - ORBITEL s.t.

Hannes Blank was completely out of the sprint today in possibly the hilliest stage of all.


But Pliuschin just cant find a way past Wesemann and settles for 2nd.


Rank Name Team Time
1 Steffen Wesemann TEAM WIESENHOF FELT 3h49'52
2 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
3 Tom Criel UNIBET.COM s.t.
4 Harald Starzengruber ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
5 Jörg Ludewig TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
6 Tomas Konecny ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
7 Andy Cappelle LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
8 Hannes Blank CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE s.t.
9 Bastiaan Giling TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
10 Johann Tschopp BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.

Rank Name Team Time
1 Hannes Blank CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE 12h40'38
2 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2
3 Steffen Wesemann TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 16
4 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK + 17
5 HÃ¥kan Nilsson CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE + 26
6 Matteo Priamo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 28
7 Benoît Joachim TEAM ASTANA + 30
8 Bastiaan Giling TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 32
9 Andy Cappelle LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER + 34
10 Christophe Kern CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
11 Didac Ortega SPORT LISBOA E BENFICA + 35
12 Johann Tschopp BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 36
13 Christian Poos CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE + 37
14 Peter Velits TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
15 Rigoberto Urán UNIBET.COM + 39

Unlucky there - 2nd is still good though

How is it unlcky when im unable to sprint past a better sprinter?



Pliuschin recognised that he may be sprinting well, but not well enough and launches an attack with 6km to go of the final stage.

He is followed by Cappelle and here is the gap with 2.5km to go:


He still leads with 1km to go, but Wesemann is coming up fast.


Wesemann storms past to take victory.


Needing only 3rd to win the overall ranking, Pliuschin takes...

4th :x

1 Steffen Wesemann TEAM WIESENHOF FELT 2h19'32
2 Luca Mazzanti CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
3 Andy Cappelle LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
4 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
5 Kenny Van Hummel SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
6 Hannes Blank CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE s.t.
7 Tom Criel UNIBET.COM s.t.
8 Matteo Priamo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
9 Johann Tschopp BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
10 Benoit Salmon AGRITUBEL s.t.
11 Maarten Tjallingii SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
12 Patrice Halgand CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
13 Bastiaan Giling TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
14 Jörg Ludewig TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
15 James Vanlandschoot LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.

Rank Name Team Time
1 Steffen Wesemann TEAM WIESENHOF FELT 15h00'06
2 Hannes Blank CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE + 4
3 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 6
4 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK + 21
5 Andy Cappelle LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER + 30
6 HÃ¥kan Nilsson CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE s.t.
7 Matteo Priamo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 32
8 Benoît Joachim TEAM ASTANA + 34
9 Luca Mazzanti CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 36
10 Bastiaan Giling TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
11 Christophe Kern CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 38
12 Didac Ortega SPORT LISBOA E BENFICA + 39
13 Johann Tschopp BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 40
14 Christian Poos CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE + 41
15 Peter Velits TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.

Pliuschin also lost the points jersey

Rank Name Team General
1 Steffen Wesemann TEAM WIESENHOF FELT 90
2 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 84
3 Hannes Blank CONTINENTAL TEAM DIFFERDANGE 68
4 Tom Criel UNIBET.COM 41
5 Patrice Halgand CRÉDIT AGRICOLE 35
6 Andy Cappelle LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER 34
7 Matteo Priamo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE 27
8 Luca Mazzanti CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE 26
9 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK 25
10 Jörg Ludewig TEAM WIESENHOF FELT 20

Now that one is unlucky

As a Hors categorie race, 100 ranking points are on offer for the winner, so this race is of added importance to us to give ourselves a buffer in the race to the ProTour before a fairly quiet remainder of June, plus July.

As such, we covered each poossibility with Stannard going with the ill fated break. With 9km to go, Dan Lloyd chose to make use of the final climb of the short 4% hill and attacked. He galloped away with ease and the gap looks promising with 3km to go, can he improve on 5th and 6th in the American races earlier this month?


But like I said, all angles covered. Zanotti leads out the sprint train for a Brit, Jeremy Hunt and Manan takes Hunt's wheel. If a Brit doesnt win today then a rider on a British team should


Hunt will be cursing his team for allowing Lloyd the gap and has to start his own sprint at 1.7km to go. Is it too early? Too late? And will it wreck his own chances against Manan? But with 800m to go, Lloyd is clinging on!


The line cant come quick enough! Closer and closer and closer and...

VICTORY for Dan Lloyd!!

It is very tight for 2nd.


But Hunt denies a DFL 1-2, although Im not complaining about a British 1-2

1 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 5h18'26
2 Jeremy Hunt UNIBET.COM s.t.
3 Anuar Manan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
4 Olaf Pollack TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
5 Wim Stroetinga UBBINK - SYNTEC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
6 Marco Zanotti UNIBET.COM s.t.
7 André Schulze TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
8 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM s.t.
9 Alberto Ongarato TEAM MILRAM s.t.
10 Marvin Van der Pluijm UBBINK - SYNTEC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
11 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
12 Nico Sijmens LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
13 Huub Duyn TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
14 Dariusz Rudnicki ACTION - UNIQA s.t.
15 Jonas Ljungblad UNIBET.COM s.t.
16 Nico Eeckhout CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
17 Peter Van Agtmaal FONDAS P3TRANSFER TEAM s.t.

18 Maarten Den Bakker SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
19 Wouter Van Mechelen LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
20 Wilfried Cretskens QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
21 Steven Caethoven CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
22 Matt Wilson UNIBET.COM s.t.
23 Kurt Hovelynck CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
24 Benny De Schrooder CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
25 Serge Baguet QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.