Nokere-Koerse

Even on Extreme, this race is easy.



It is Geraint Thomas' first professional victory as DFL complete a 1-2-3.

1 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 4h53'48
2 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 7
3 Evert Verbist DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 18
4 Stijn Devolder QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
5 Ian Stannard DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 36
6 Preben Van Hecke PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
7 Kenny De Haes PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
8 Roy Sentjens PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
9 Dimitry Kozontchuk RABOBANK s.t.
10 Jérémy Roy PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
11 Tom Criel BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
12 Koen De Kort BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
13 Jan Kuyckx RABOBANK s.t.
14 Dimitri Claeys BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
15 Fabio Sabatini DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
16 Erik Zabel QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
17 Markus Eichler UNIBET.COM s.t.
18 Jonas Van Genechten STOREZ LEDECQ MATERIAUX s.t.
19 Marcel Sieberg PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
20 Christian Knees AMORE E VITA - MCDONALD'S s.t.
21 Igor Abakoumov STOREZ LEDECQ MATERIAUX s.t.
22 Gert Dockx PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
23 Ondrej Sosenka UNIBET.COM s.t.
24 Steven Tronet NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
25 Marcus Ljungqvist TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK s.t.
26 Hans Dekkers PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
27 Marco Bandiera STOREZ LEDECQ MATERIAUX s.t.
28 Matthew Hayman QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
29 Franck Rénier LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
30 Marco Brus BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
46 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
48 Marcel Kittel DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
84 Matthew Henshaw DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.

to go 1-2-3-5 on extreme is pretty amazing in any race.

Okay that was a good break SN, now turn up the difficulty again

Team: Nolf, Pliuschin, Hagen, Uran, Konovolaovs, Thomas, Verbist, Sabatini
Last Year: Nolf was 50th, our only rider in the main peleton

This is Uran's first race of the season, riding in the World Champions jersey


But as you can see, the long race and then the steep Pompeiano near the end, were not suited to DFL today


Up front a trio of Italians got clear. Teammates Ricco and Visconti, plus Pozzato


This should be Pozzato's as he makes his move


But remarkably Ricco wins in a Barloworld 1-2


After another trio took 4th-6th, 7 sprinters then charged away from the peleton - themselves getting a gap.

Nolf took 67th, lasting in the peleton right up until the end


Geraint Thomas was our only other ridewr in the top 100, taking 99th


1 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD 7h18'24
2 Giovanni Visconti BARLOWORLD s.t.
3 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
4 Alejandro Valverde LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 47
5 Alessandro Ballan TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
6 Rinaldo Nocentini CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
7 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 2'41
8 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS s.t.
9 Gerald Ciolek T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
10 Heinrich Haussler LIQUIGAS s.t.
11 Robert Hunter GEROLSTEINER s.t.
12 Juan Pablo Forero LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
13 William Bonnet TEAM MILRAM s.t.
14 Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER + 3'33
15 Stuart O'Grady LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
16 Nikolas Maes RABOBANK s.t.
17 Vladimir Gusev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
18 Bernhard Eisel LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
19 Matti Breschel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
20 Ivan Rovny LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
21 Jelle Vanendert TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
22 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
23 Geert Steurs PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
24 Kevin Van Impe RABOBANK s.t.
25 Danilo Di Luca T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
67 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'54
99 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 10'48
104 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
108 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
113 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
121 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 13'27
136 Evert Verbist DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 17'11
168 Fabio Sabatini DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 28'55

Dwars Door Vlaanderen

Team: Nolf, Verbist, Sabatini, Thomas, Stannard, Chtioui, Efimkin, Henshawe

Nolf was well placed with 20km to go in a group of 20 - but a couple of kilometres later it was clear he was not well placed enough as Steegmans ruined the race of Nolf and 7 others by allowing a gap to appear behind the first 11 riders. Nolf did his best to close it but once theres a gap its all but impossibile to bring back.


Steegmans then had the cheek to sprint away from the group at the end to take 12th.


1 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC 5h26'21
2 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
3 Jonas Decouttere GEROLSTEINER s.t.
4 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK s.t.
5 Nikolas Maes RABOBANK s.t.
6 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
7 Alessandro Ballan TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
8 Geert Steurs PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
9 Yuri Trofimov COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
10 Kevin Van Impe RABOBANK s.t.
11 Enrico Franzoï LIQUIGAS s.t.
12 Gert Steegmans T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'23
13 Marcus Burghardt FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
14 Gianni Meersman DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
15 Jesús Del Nero TEAM CSC s.t.
16 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
17 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
18 Damien Gaudin LIQUIGAS s.t.
19 Luca Paolini FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
20 Bastiaan Giling LIQUIGAS s.t.
21 Andreas Klier GEROLSTEINER + 3'06
22 Daniel Foder QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 3'41
23 Nico Sijmens QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 4'59
24 Markus Eichler UNIBET.COM s.t.
25 Manuel Quinziato QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
26 Pieter Riis Andersen TEAM CSC + 8'40
27 Matthew Hayman QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
28 Evert Verbist DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
29 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
30 Koen Barbé COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
35 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 13'49
41 Fabio Sabatini DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 14'32
136 Ian Stannard DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 22'38

Team: Nolf, Verbist, Thomas, Sabatini, Stannard, Kittel, Deignan, Martin

With 85km to go an optimistic breakaway went clear - Trofimov, Rosseler, Paolini, Klier and Coyot


This split with 55km to go as German champion Klier and Continental tour leader Trofimov went away


And a breakaway looked set to win a cobbled classic! Boonen was on a late charge but still a minute down with 6km to go


The finish line came just in time for Trofimov as he is the surprise winner ahead of Klier with Boonen just coming short of catching them


DFL's cause in the race meanwhile wasnt helped by a crash to Geraint Thomas


He was uninjured though and in the end recovered for a pretty decent finish.

Once gain though Nolf's chances were ended by someone else, this time Bettini who got in his way and allowed the gap


1 Yuri Trofimov COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE 5h28'59
2 Andreas Klier GEROLSTEINER s.t.
3 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
4 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK + 1'59
5 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
6 Luca Paolini FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
7 Sébastien Rosseler LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
8 Arnaud Coyot TEAM SLIPSTREAM + 2'44
9 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
10 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
11 Jesús Del Nero TEAM CSC s.t.
12 Vladimir Gusev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
13 Nick Nuyens TEAM CSC s.t.
14 Kevin Van Impe RABOBANK s.t.
15 Nikolas Maes RABOBANK s.t.
16 Alessandro Ballan TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
17 Marcus Burghardt FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
18 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
19 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
20 Dimitri Muravyev TEAM ASTANA + 4'21
21 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
22 Gert Steegmans T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
23 Enrico Franzoï LIQUIGAS s.t.
24 Greg Van Avermaet LIQUIGAS s.t.
25 Bastiaan Giling LIQUIGAS s.t.
26 Damien Gaudin LIQUIGAS s.t.
27 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 7'18
28 Daniel Foder QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
29 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
30 Joost Posthuma TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
37 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
40 Evert Verbist DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
70 Fabio Sabatini DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 14'25

Team: Nolf, Thomas, Verbist, Sabatini, Kittel, Martin, Chtioui

Last Year: Nolf was in the front group on the Stage 1 and ultimately came 11th overall

Stage 1

The stage that tends to shape GC the most with some cobbles and some hills. When the main attack went, it was Nolf, Hoste, Flecha, Van Avermaet, with Meersman and Gusev then linking up


It was 6th in the stage for Nolf as Gusev won and Boonen and other sprinters closed the gap


At most, the top 17 should have been awarded the same time - but in actuality the 24 were. Poor decision and now Rosseler will easily defend his title of race winner (and he does do this in the TT)

1 Vladimir Gusev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 4h19'52
2 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK s.t.
3 Greg Van Avermaet LIQUIGAS s.t.
4 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
5 Gianni Meersman DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
6 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
7 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
8 Gert Steegmans T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
9 Matti Breschel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
10 Stuart O'Grady LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
11 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
12 Daniel Foder QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
13 Luca Paolini FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
14 Nikolas Maes RABOBANK s.t.
15 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
16 Geert Steurs PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
17 Kevin Van Impe RABOBANK s.t.
18 Kevyn Ista CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
19 Sébastien Rosseler LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
20 Markus Eichler UNIBET.COM s.t.
21 Enrico Franzoï LIQUIGAS s.t.
22 Bastiaan Giling LIQUIGAS s.t.
23 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
24 Damien Gaudin LIQUIGAS s.t.
25 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2'51
26 Nico Sijmens QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 4'12
27 Thor Hushovd T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
28 Frederik Veuchelen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
29 Manuel Quinziato QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
30 Matthew Hayman QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
31 Evert Verbist DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 8'30



Stage 2

Geraint Thomas is a strong 3rd in the bunch sprint


1 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 4h45'34
2 Stuart O'Grady LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
3 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
4 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
5 Gert Steegmans T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
6 Greg Van Avermaet LIQUIGAS s.t.
7 Mattia Gavazzi TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
8 Matti Breschel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
9 Daniel Foder QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
10 Luca Paolini FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
11 Javier Benítez TEAM MILRAM s.t.
12 Jimmy Casper UNIBET.COM s.t.
13 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
14 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
15 Bastiaan Giling LIQUIGAS s.t.


Stage 3

3rd again in the bunch sprint for Thomas but a breakaway made it to the finish first


1 Sébastien Delfosse LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER 4h53'56
2 Gorik Gardeyn UNIBET.COM + 1'23
3 Martin Velits TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 2'19
4 Gert Steegmans T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
5 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
6 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
7 Bram Schmitz RABOBANK s.t.
8 Greg Van Avermaet LIQUIGAS s.t.
9 Luca Paolini FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
10 Mattia Gavazzi TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.


Stage 4

Nolf rode himself to 9th overall after the final stage TT


1 Sébastien Rosseler LAMPRE - FONDITAL 12'12
2 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 39
3 Vladimir Gusev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 41
4 Kevyn Ista CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 53
5 Alessandro Ballan TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 54
6 Rick Flens RABOBANK + 56
7 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS + 59
8 Gianni Meersman DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 1'01
9 Olivier Kaisen T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'02
10 Damien Gaudin LIQUIGAS + 1'05
11 Markus Eichler UNIBET.COM + 1'06
12 Daniel Foder QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 1'09
13 Manuel Quinziato QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
14 Matti Breschel T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'10
15 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'12
16 Thor Hushovd T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'13
17 Nikolas Maes RABOBANK s.t.
18 Enrico Franzoï LIQUIGAS + 1'14
19 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 1'17
20 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.


GC
1 Sébastien Rosseler LAMPRE - FONDITAL 14h13'53
2 Vladimir Gusev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 31
3 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 39
4 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS + 59
5 Gianni Meersman DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 1'01
6 Damien Gaudin LIQUIGAS + 1'05
7 Daniel Foder QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 1'09
8 Matti Breschel T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'10
9 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'12
10 Enrico Franzoï LIQUIGAS + 1'14
11 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 1'16
12 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK + 1'18
13 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 1'19
14 Kevin Van Impe RABOBANK s.t.
15 Gert Steegmans T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'23
16 Greg Van Avermaet LIQUIGAS + 1'24
17 Bastiaan Giling LIQUIGAS + 1'25
18 Stuart O'Grady LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 1'46
19 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
20 Luca Paolini FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 2'08
21 Kevyn Ista CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 3'19
22 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'04
23 Markus Eichler UNIBET.COM + 4'44
24 Nikolas Maes RABOBANK + 4'51
25 Manuel Quinziato QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 5'21
32 Evert Verbist DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 10'17
62 Fabio Sabatini DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 16'43
108 Marcel Kittel DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 22'40
116 Rafaâ Chtioui DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 24'10

Nolf seems in good form for Vlaandern and Paris Roubaix

Its a bit of a pain that Sabatini isnt though following his Kuurne crash and injury - but at least Thomas is going well and Verbist should be getting a stats boost after Ronde - or at most after Wevelgem.

Two days, no races?! What is this?! Get racin'!

Note: This was raced back in August




Nolf continues to be our cobbles leader, but our preparation has been hampered by a crash to Sabatini, and Verbist not expected to be a great help until Paris-Roubaix. Geraint Thomas is inform though, while team leader Alexandre Pliuschin also rides. Ignas Konovalovas, Wes Sulzberger and World Champion Rigoberto Uran make up the numbers.

Last year: Nolf was 4th, and he would love to better that, and perhaps should do so.

But in short, this race was frustrating. Exceedingly frustrating.

Ballan got away relatively early on, just riding away, with around 70km to go


T-Mobile and Liquigas slipped away behind him, and from there, Pozzato and Breschel would later emerge


Without much in the way of effective support, there was little we could do. Only rely on Quick Step, who in theory should be dominant in the chase, no point Nolf relaying as that will only tire him.

But Quick Step didnt seem to care, and worse came when the hardly great (77 cobbles) Meersman somehow managed to get a gap


Effectively trapped, the best Nolf could do was attack on the penultimate climb inside 10km to go - he didnt have much blue attack energy, but just about enough for a small gap


Leukemans went with him


And while Ballan celebrated a huge solo win


Nolf ended up 5th, dropping Leukemans and holding off the sprint of Boonen and Maes


On the face of it, a Top 5 is a strong result - but had it been a more conventional race, so much more was possible

1 Alessandro Ballan TEAM WIESENHOF FELT 6h25'54
2 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS + 1'56
3 Matti Breschel T-MOBILE TEAM + 2'23
4 Gianni Meersman DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 4'02
5 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 5'23
6 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
7 Nikolas Maes RABOBANK s.t.
8 Vladimir Gusev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 5'40
9 Stijn Devolder QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
10 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 5'54
11 Nick Nuyens TEAM CSC + 6'07
12 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK + 6'37
13 Luca Paolini FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
14 Dimitri Muravyev TEAM ASTANA + 7'39
15 Giovanni Visconti BARLOWORLD + 7'57
16 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
17 Johan Vansummeren TEAM MILRAM + 8'23
18 Gert Steegmans T-MOBILE TEAM + 8'38
19 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 9'09
20 Kevin Van Impe RABOBANK + 9'27
21 Daniel Foder QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
22 Stuart O'Grady LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
23 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
24 Yuri Trofimov COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
25 Andreas Klier GEROLSTEINER + 10'56
26 Damien Gaudin LIQUIGAS s.t.
27 Greg Van Avermaet LIQUIGAS s.t.
28 Sébastien Rosseler LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 11'19
29 Koen Barbé COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
30 Preben Van Hecke PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
31 Dimitry Kozontchuk RABOBANK s.t.
32 Simone Masciarelli DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
33 Sergei Ivanov TEAM ASTANA + 11'50
34 Enrico Franzoï LIQUIGAS + 14'18
35 Heinrich Haussler LIQUIGAS + 14'44
36 Bastiaan Giling LIQUIGAS s.t.
37 Thor Hushovd T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
38 Jérôme Baugnies TEAM CSC + 15'00
39 Evert Verbist DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
40 Pieter Jacobs QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
41 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
42 José Joaquín Rojas CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 15'17
43 Kenny De Haes PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
44 Mario Ickx DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 16'21
45 Sven Nys RABOBANK CONTINENTAL + 18'13
46 Frederik Veuchelen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
47 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
48 Raúl Alarcón SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 18'48
49 Markus Eichler UNIBET.COM s.t.
50 Steven Kruijswijk RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
64 Fabio Sabatini DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 20'55
67 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 21'51
95 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 27'49
122 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 29'27
124 Wes Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 29'50

Note: These were the other 2 races raced back in August (And the only 2, nothings been raced since, but maybe at some point some more could be done)

Rund um Koln

A group got away to decide victory, while Geraint Thomas highlighted his form to sprint to 5th, just ahead of Nolf


1 Kurt-Asle Arvesen T-MOBILE TEAM 4h57'51
2 Luca Mazzanti TEAM MILRAM s.t.
3 Stijn Devolder QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
4 Sébastien Joly TEAM CSC s.t.
5 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'32
6 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
7 Pieter Riis Andersen TEAM CSC s.t.
8 Alessandro Proni QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
9 Daniel Musiol TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
10 Boris Shpilevski TEAM MILRAM s.t.
92 Rafaâ Chtioui DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
93 Evert Verbist DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
128 Fabio Sabatini DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'26
154 Daniel Martin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 9'28
159 Matthew Henshaw DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 12'56



Team: Rigoberto Urán, Ignas Konovalovas, Franco Pellizotti, Cadel Evans, Alexander Efimkin, Marcel Kittel, Erik Hoffmann, Wes Sulzberger
I dont remember what forms are all like, but I imagine Uran and Konovalovas are building up to the Ardennes, and may be able to do something, as Evans and Pellizotti gather race days ahead of the Giro.

Stage 1

Not hilly enough to avoid a bunch sprint, albeit with a slightly reduced group. Uran finds himself with good daily form and on the front at the start of the shortened sprint


But these sort of sprints tend to be hard to win, so its 5th in the end as CSC's Barredo takes victory


1 Carlos Barredo TEAM CSC 3h43'42
2 Jaume Rovira AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
3 Laurens Ten Dam UNIBET.COM s.t.
4 Kim Kirchen CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
5 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
6 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD s.t.
7 Ivan Rovny LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
8 Manuel Lloret DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
9 Samuel Sánchez LIQUIGAS s.t.
10 Martin Gilbert T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
30 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
52 Franco Pellizotti DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
124 Cadel Evans DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
146 Alexander Efimkin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2'04
148 Marcel Kittel DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
154 Erik Hoffmann DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 3'48
161 Wes Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 5'56
144 Peter Velits PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.

Not the greatest results, but great to have this back

Indeed, a trio of 5ths - 2 in at least meaningless races though. And whether its back or not, we'll see, its just that I finally got round to sticking those 3 up - they were all raced on August 8th last year

Well I hope you continue writing your story! It's cool that it's for several years and that riders switched teams!

P.S: Yes, Nokere Koerse is easy to win. I'll always do my best to not end up with 6 riders in the top 10

i saw that auber was back so i figured yours was as well

some pretty frustrating racing for you. cobbled classics are so unrealistic in the way they are raced

Nice to have you back

Incredible...I type in the URL, look at the newest topics, and what do I see: DFL, Auber and Allan Smile...
The good old times are back, and as usual: great story, please keep it up and good luck for many other seasons

Are you just going to post results from the races that you raced before you quited, or are you going to play on your save-game and race new races?
Looks like rjc have done that too...

He's raced some more Don't you worry.