I did not at any point 'quited' from this story Its always ongoing, just with long gaps inbetween at times

Ok, good to know Are you going to play on the save now...?

I did Gent-Wevelgem earlier - but its Olympics on now

Nice to know that this story is up and going now

Last year: Nolf battled to an 11th place - and will hope for more this year

Team: Nolf is our leader, with the increased aid of Verbist now, who is up to 77 cobbles having reached level 4 xp. Sabatini is also 77 cobbles, but his cobbles season has been compromised already - Geraint Thomas could step up though. Only 73 cobbles sure, but he is in top form. Pliuschin, Chtioui, Stannard and Henshaw make up the numbers.

Theres not so much the great amount of cobbles here, the 4 key cobbled climbs of course, but the wind also has a major effect - but today its different, there is not enough wind.

On a good day of form, Pliuschin decided to test his legs with an attack over the cobbles. Obviously it wasnt a long lasting attack though. Good news soon after though, as Breschel (3rd in Ronde) punctures.


The cobbles end with 35km to go, still a large group


The front group shortents to 23, but inside the final 10km - still no attacks. Verbist and Thomas are still there supporting Nolf, who decides to attack


Cancellara gets onto his wheel, and Nolf cannot get a gap with this attack


Lampre's O'Grady also follows as Liquigas have Van Avermaet to set up Pozzato - but as the sprint begins, Geraint Thomas - on a +5 day, is looking to get across


Nolf tries to hold off the rest, as Thomas goes well


Cancellara doesnt have it in him, but O'Grady makes his move


Thomas darts inside to look to get past Van Avermaet - passing Pozzato in doing so


Stuart O'Grady makes full his of his sprint stat to win - but the great news is behind him. Frederik Nolf takes 2nd, equalling his best result in a ProTour race - and incredibly, Geraint Thomas is 3rd!!!


Verbist was tailed off the group late on, taking 23rd - not bad considering his -4 form day


1 Stuart O'Grady LAMPRE - FONDITAL 5h28'48
2 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
3 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
4 Greg Van Avermaet LIQUIGAS s.t.
5 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
6 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
7 Jonas Decouttere GEROLSTEINER s.t.
8 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
9 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
10 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
11 Nikolas Maes RABOBANK s.t.
12 Vladimir Gusev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
13 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
14 Preben Van Hecke PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
15 Daniel Foder QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
16 Alessandro Ballan TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
17 Kevin Van Impe RABOBANK s.t.
18 Gianni Meersman DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
19 Roy Sentjens PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
20 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK s.t.
21 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
22 Stijn Devolder QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
23 Evert Verbist DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'11
24 Yuri Trofimov COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 1'42
25 Matti Breschel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
26 Luca Paolini FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
27 Jesús Del Nero TEAM CSC s.t.
28 Nick Nuyens TEAM CSC s.t.
29 Marcus Burghardt FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
30 Sébastien Rosseler LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
31 Andreas Klier GEROLSTEINER s.t.
32 Enrico Franzoï LIQUIGAS s.t.
33 Damien Gaudin LIQUIGAS s.t.
34 Gert Steegmans T-MOBILE TEAM + 4'08
35 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
36 Thor Hushovd T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
37 Heinrich Haussler LIQUIGAS s.t.
38 Bernhard Eisel LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
39 Bastiaan Giling LIQUIGAS s.t.
40 Tom Veelers COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
41 Markus Eichler UNIBET.COM s.t.
42 Fabio Sabatini DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
43 Dimitri Muravyev TEAM ASTANA s.t.
44 Jimmy Engoulvent FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
45 Koen Barbé COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
46 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
47 Daniel Musiol TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
48 Pieter Riis Andersen TEAM CSC s.t.
49 Jan Kuyckx RABOBANK s.t.
50 Matthew Hayman QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
57 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
89 Rafaâ Chtioui DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 11'41
92 Ian Stannard DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
169 Matthew Henshaw DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 18'05

Tough luck with everyone coming to the line together, but at least Nolf sprinted well better than expected. Second is a great result all things considered, and good luck in P-R.

EDIT: And Thomas in third, didn't see that, that is great as well.

Amazing result by Thomas of course. Incredibly it seemed like no attacks from favourites - bit odd, but can't complain with two podium places!

The unexpectedly brilliant result for Thomas makes up for what could otherwise be an annoyance of being beaten by O'Grady Still, it was a great sprint by Nolf to get 2nd anyway, outsprinting the likes of Cancellara.

It was an oddly realistic Gent-Wevelgem I guess - semi bunch sprint rather than the usual PCM cobbles race - shows the significance a low wind had. Perfect for Geraint Thomas though, a rare occurence to have the right conditions as it had, and a +5 form of the day, that enables a 73 cobbles guy to podium on a cobbled classic.

yeah much more realistic than usual and great 2-3

The tricky thing with Pais Vasco is, you need to be in top form on extreme to match the top riders - but thats not possible still a week or 2 prior to the Ardennes - so it is always going to be tough.

On Stage 2, Evans, Konovalovas and Uran all gave it attempts to go clear, but only 5 managed it



1 Alejandro Valverde LAMPRE - FONDITAL 4h06'30
2 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD s.t.
3 Samuel Sánchez LIQUIGAS s.t.
4 Juanjo Cobo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
5 Danilo Di Luca T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
6 Pasquale Muto RABOBANK + 1'00
7 David De la Fuente UNIBET.COM s.t.
8 Sergei Ivanov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
9 �ngel Vicioso PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
10 Matej Mugerli TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
18 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
27 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
74 Cadel Evans DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'55


It was a similar story on Stage 3, where Uran could not get away despite a good daily form. He finished in a group of 30, behind a few who did get away.


30 is significantly less than it might have been, after a chaotic run in to the finish. Valverde and Cobo were clear to decide the stage and probably the race. But Cobo crashed


He took out some of the leading chasers, including Cunego and Ricco


And when the peloton got there, a whole load more went down - inlcuding Pellizotti, but he was fine


1 Alejandro Valverde LAMPRE - FONDITAL 4h19'39
2 Danilo Di Luca T-MOBILE TEAM + 38
3 Samuel Sánchez LIQUIGAS + 1'23
4 Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER s.t.
5 Juanjo Cobo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'56
6 Martin Gilbert T-MOBILE TEAM + 2'28
7 Ivan Rovny LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
8 Leonardo Duque CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
9 Andriy Grivko FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
10 Igor Antón BARLOWORLD s.t.
21 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
28 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.

GC
1 Alejandro Valverde LAMPRE - FONDITAL 12h09'51
2 Danilo Di Luca T-MOBILE TEAM + 38
3 Samuel Sánchez LIQUIGAS + 1'23
4 Juanjo Cobo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'56
5 Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER + 2'23
6 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD + 2'28
7 Martin Gilbert T-MOBILE TEAM + 3'28
8 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK s.t.
9 Dainius Kairelis TEAM ASTANA s.t.
10 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
11 Jelle Vanendert TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
12 Andriy Grivko FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
13 Pasquale Muto RABOBANK s.t.
14 Ivan Rovny LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
15 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
(All down to 32nd had same time as 7th)

For Stage 4 noone got away, and feeling good, Konovalovas ensure he was on the front as the finish came into view, managing to take a good 3rd place


1 Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER 4h11'36
2 Vincenzo Nibali CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
3 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
4 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA s.t.
5 Kim Kirchen CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
6 Pasquale Muto RABOBANK s.t.
7 David De la Fuente UNIBET.COM s.t.
8 Andriy Grivko FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
9 Laurens Ten Dam UNIBET.COM s.t.
10 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD s.t.
43 Franco Pellizotti DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
45 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
46 Marcel Kittel DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
81 Erik Hoffmann DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
82 Alexander Efimkin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.


The next day Cadel Evans got in the break of the day. It didnt work, and again no attackers got away, as Uran managed to sneak a Top 10 placing.



Only 32 remained in the front group, and the amount on the same GC time as Uran and Konovalovas was reduced, all but ensuring Top 20 placings - and a high likelihood of improving on Konovalovas' 19th last year.

1 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD 4h10'24
2 Danilo Di Luca T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
3 Alejandro Valverde LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
4 Samuel Sánchez LIQUIGAS s.t.
5 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA s.t.
6 Tom Stamsnijder T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
7 Juanjo Cobo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
8 Pasquale Muto RABOBANK s.t.
9 Dainius Kairelis TEAM ASTANA s.t.
10 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
29 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.

The time trials werent great, but it didnt really matter, as Konovalovas took 15th overall, and Uran 16th overall

1 José Iván Gutiérrez SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 19'21
2 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK + 17
3 Juanjo Cobo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 21
4 Alejandro Valverde LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 23
5 Vincenzo Nibali CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 30
6 Luis León Sánchez DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 37
7 Matthias Ruß DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 41
8 Shaun Higgerson TEAM MILRAM + 42
9 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC + 45
10 Jurgen Van den Broeck PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 46

Final GC
1 Alejandro Valverde LAMPRE - FONDITAL 20h51'35
2 Danilo Di Luca T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'04
3 Samuel Sánchez LIQUIGAS + 1'51
4 Juanjo Cobo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'54
5 Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER + 3'06
6 Riccardo Riccò BARLOWORLD + 3'11
7 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK + 3'22
8 Vincenzo Nibali CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 3'35
9 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC + 3'50
10 Dainius Kairelis TEAM ASTANA + 3'55
11 José Angel Gómez Marchante TEAM CSC + 3'57
12 Andriy Grivko FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 4'04
13 Carlos Barredo TEAM CSC + 4'08
14 Mauricio Soler DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 4'17
15 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'26
16 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'29
17 Steve Morabito T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
18 Martin Gilbert T-MOBILE TEAM + 4'32
19 Igor Antón BARLOWORLD + 4'38
20 Jelle Vanendert TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 4'39
21 Pasquale Muto RABOBANK + 4'43
22 Kim Kirchen CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 4'55
23 Yaroslav Popovych LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 5'08
24 Ivan Rovny LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 5'13
25 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA s.t.
69 Franco Pellizotti DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 11'16
81 Marcel Kittel DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 14'40
86 Alexander Efimkin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 17'02
104 Cadel Evans DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 20'54
121 Erik Hoffmann DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 25'44
141 Wes Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 33'56

Profronde van Drenthe

Nolf is the double defending champion, with our record here standing at 1-2-7 in 2008, and 1-2-4 in 2009.

Sabatini was keen to destroyed the field, even getting a green moment, despite not attacking


And the field were ripped to shreads, with Nolf, Verbist and Thomas accompanying the Italian


When Sabatini ran out of juice, Nolf went off alone to test his solo riding


While Thomas and Verbist still had to fight hard to hold off Renier and Ghyllebert, with neither of our 2 on particularly good form days


Nolf celebrated his 3rd successive victory here


As Verbist and Thomas held on to secure 1-2-3, our best result in this race


1 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 5h06'34
2 Evert Verbist DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'11
3 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
4 Franck Rénier LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
5 Pieter Ghyllebert JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
6 Danilo Wyss TEAM LPR + 2'33
7 Zdenek Stybar TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
8 Lars Boom TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
9 Michael Morkov TEAM LPR + 4'34
10 Thijs Van Amerongen VAN VLIET - EBH ADVOCATEN s.t.
11 Thomas Rabou RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
12 Ricardo Van der Velde RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
13 Claudio Cucinotta KIO-ENE - TONAZZO - DMT s.t.
14 Yoann Offredo BARLOWORLD s.t.
15 Joost Van Leijen VAN VLIET - EBH ADVOCATEN s.t.
37 Fabio Sabatini DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 6'55
132 Philip Deignan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 19'32
138 Matthew Henshaw DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 24'13

3rd in a row... And 1-2-3. Cool!

Exam Revision is boring --> Exam revision needs revision breaks --> PCM07

Exams over --> Story time!

But first, a race that was raced over a year ago.



Unfortunately, the team car broke down early on, so we have no idea what happened. And also the TV crews, while they did film the race, refused to broadcast it.

We do have the results though!

And for the 3rd year in a row, its 5th place for Frederik Nolf!

It was to be no 3rd successive victory for Cancellara though, he is down in 9th, as Tom Boonen took a dominant victory - taking his 2nd victory in the race, having previously won it in 2005.

1 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 7h20'26
2 Gert Steegmans T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'23
3 Matti Breschel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
4 Marcus Burghardt FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
5 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
6 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
7 Alessandro Ballan TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
8 Stuart O'Grady LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
9 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
10 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
11 Jonas Decouttere GEROLSTEINER s.t.
12 Jesús Del Nero TEAM CSC s.t.
13 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK s.t.
14 Dimitri Muravyev TEAM ASTANA s.t.
15 Damien Gaudin LIQUIGAS s.t.
16 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
17 Vladimir Gusev QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 2'23
18 Nick Nuyens TEAM CSC s.t.
19 Greg Van Avermaet LIQUIGAS + 3'26
20 Nikolas Maes RABOBANK s.t.
21 Sébastien Rosseler LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
22 Enrico Franzoï LIQUIGAS s.t.
23 Yuri Trofimov COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 4'22
24 Bastiaan Giling LIQUIGAS + 5'24
25 Gianni Meersman DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
26 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
27 Evert Verbist DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
28 Daniel Foder QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 6'42
29 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 8'58
30 Kevin Van Impe RABOBANK s.t.
31 Luca Paolini FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 9'35
32 Koen Barbé COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
33 Andreas Klier GEROLSTEINER s.t.
34 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 11'45
35 Jimmy Casper UNIBET.COM + 12'21
36 Daniel McConnell T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
37 Sergei Ivanov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
38 Kevin Neirynck LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
39 Markus Eichler UNIBET.COM s.t.
40 Henk Vogels GEROLSTEINER s.t.
41 Raúl Alarcón SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
42 Jimmy Engoulvent FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 13'34
43 Fabio Sabatini DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 14'19
44 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM + 16'04
45 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
46 Ricardo Van der Velde RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
47 Fredrik Johansson TEAM CSC s.t.
48 Max Van Heeswijk COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
49 Sven Nys RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
50 Sébastien Chavanel CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
55 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
73 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 21'31


---

So, yes, DFL is back. Still on Extreme and still Season 4, 2010 - which was started over 2 years ago - but real progress is being made this time around, as youll see in the coming days/weeks.

For those who have never come across this story before, itd be great if you want to start following. And you dont even have to read all the pages to catch up!

On Page 101: https://www.pcmdaily.com/forum/viewthr...start=2000
You can see a summary of the DFL squad, and of all other ProTour squads - plus the leading Continental teams. The results so far this season take up the next 5 pages, to summarise:
- Wes Sulzberger became Australian Champion
- DFL team leader and current Vuelta champion Aleksandr Pliuschin took a stage on his way to 8th in Paris-Nice
- David Millar took 8th in Tirreno-Adriatico, also taking a stage win along the way
- Our lead puncheurs Ignas Konovalovas and World Champion Rigoberto Uran took 15th and 16th in Vuela al Pais Vasco
- In the cobbles, Frederik Nolf was 5th in Ronde van Vlaanderen, and 2nd in Gent-Wevelgem (And now 5th in Paris-Roubaix)
- British champion Geraint Thomas was 3rd in Gent-Wevelgem. He has 74 cobbles, so that was probably the performance of the season so far.

ha. over a year passed and it's back. good luck with this sporadic burst of energy

It's a longer burst this time Itll take some time for the posts to catch up with all the racing.

And heres a proper return updated. i.e. It has pictures, and wins

After battling through Northern Europe, a brief American vacation! It’s the Tour de Georgia.


DFL Race History:

Last season he-who-must-not-be-named took the GC for us here as part of his Giro warm-up, while an epic ride saw Saul Raisin take the Brasstown Bald mountain stage.

We have plans for success this year, but won’t be sticking around as long. The squad is Uran, Konovalovas, Thomas, Verbist, Sabatini, Martin
So to Stage 1.

Its a flat stage, Geraint Thomas is the best sprinter in the race, and still in top form after his career best showing over the cobbles – 3rd in Gent-Wevelgem- and first pro victory – Nokere-Koerse. Guided to the front by Konovalovas, Uran and Sabatini, he jumps ship as Predictor power on. Dockx delivers Sieberg nicely, but the speed of Thomas is vastly superior and victory!


1 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 4h44'56
2 Marcel Sieberg PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
3 Martijn Maaskant DRAPAC PORSCHE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM s.t.
4 Koldo Fernández de Larrea NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
5 Mario Ickx DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
6 Alessandro Proni QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
7 Gert Dockx PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
8 Nikolai Trussov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
9 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
10 Francisco Pacheco TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT s.t.
13 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
14 Fabio Sabatini DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.

Thats all for Sabatini and Verbist in this race. They were set to leave to join up with cobbles leader Nolf in Scheldeprijs, but disaster struck and the flight was cancelled! A day stranded in Atlanta airport instead then for the Italian and Belgian. They could tune in to Versus on American TV for commentary from Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen though, as Geraint Thomas looked for his 3rd win of the season.

Now in leader’s jersey rather than the much nicer British champion’s jersey, he received a World Champion leadout and duly delivered – stage win number 2!


1 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 4h15'11
2 Carlos Torrent SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM s.t.
3 Nikolai Trussov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
4 Giosuè Bonomi HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS s.t.
5 Enrico Rossi SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM s.t.
6 Koldo Fernández de Larrea NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
7 Martín Mata TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
8 Daniele Callegarin NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
9 Luke Best SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM s.t.
10 Carlo Westphal TEAM CSC s.t.
15 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.

Stage 3 and will Geraint Thomas defend his lead again? Nope, he is somewhere over on the midatlantic – ending up on the same plane in the end as fellow Cobbles liking riders Verbist and Sabatini. The only remaining sprint stage in this race is at the end – not worth hanging around for.

Not to worry though, for instead we have a hilly stage!

Konovalovas and Uran did not particularly enjoy Pais Vasco, finishing 15th and 16th in GC – too soon in the form cycle really – but here is an opportunity for one of them to find their winning legs. The route sees the penultimate hill summit at 21km to go before a stretch of downhill leading into uphill for the final 5km.

On this penultimate climb, the day’s break started with a 3 minute lead. Konovalovas therefore attacked, and led over the top. So far so good.


The only notable counter attack is that of Slipstream’s Oscar Sanchez – the 24 year old Colombian who has already won the Tour of California this season. He claws his way back up to the Lithuanian and with 6km to go they lead by 1’20 on a group of 10. Some of the break are in that 2nd group, plus some attackers – and Uran. He didn’t attack, but simply rode clear of the peloton.

Konovalovas isn’t going to relay with Sanchez – he can work for his GC gains, we want the stage. And on this final hill, it’s Uran’s turn to test his legs. Charging all the way to the line, eating a whole minute into the lead up front – but it’s 3rd for Uran, and 2nd for his fellow Colombian, as Konovalovas duly takes the win.


1 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 4h16'41
2 Óscar Sánchez TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
3 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 18
4 Carlos Barredo TEAM CSC + 1'10
5 Rubén Plaza SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'25
6 Pierre Rolland QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 2'01
7 Trent Lowe PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 2'10
8 Martijn Maaskant DRAPAC PORSCHE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM + 2'18
9 Francisco Pacheco TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT + 2'28
10 David Abal BMC CYCLING TEAM s.t.

At this point we are 1-2 on GC (Uran and Konovalovas had gained 40 seconds in a split on Stage 1 over the main GC candidates for the race) and could probably retain the GC title if wanted. But we don’t want that, the final stage clashes with Amstel Gold! Back to Europe it is then, bye bye Georgia.

Just mocking the field.

I like it

Come back after more than a year and winning again.

Indeed, its nice when Extreme is actually pretty Easy, gotta make the most of it!

Just played an epic Dauphine stage, be a while before that gets posted, but its a good one!

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Scheldeprijs time, and Nolf continues his search for a major victory. This is harder today though, with all of his support crew forced out of action by the crappy aviation industry. He has a good record here mind, 5th in 2007, 4th in 2008 and 2nd last year.

Our Africans, Chtioui and Hoffman, spent the day in the breakaway. They don’t really like cobbles though.


And disaster at 37km to go!


A very badly timed puncture, just as the peloton is imploding. He is close to at least getting back to the front group with 25km to go – but already attacks are happening. Boonen punctures aswell, leading to hope of tagging along with the Quick Step support crew bringing him back – but slow riders get in the way and stop Nolf from taking Boonen’s wheel.

Not that it matters as not even Boonen could get back. It was game over as soon as he punctured – a bit of a shame as there could have been a real opportunity here considering Boonen punctured aswell. Ballan was the winner, a forgettable 23rd for Nolf.

1 Alessandro Ballan TEAM WIESENHOF FELT 5h07'38
2 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
3 Gert Steegmans T-MOBILE TEAM + 45
4 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK s.t.
5 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
6 Matti Breschel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
7 Greg Van Avermaet LIQUIGAS + 1'13
8 Nikolas Maes RABOBANK s.t.
9 Heinrich Haussler LIQUIGAS s.t.
10 Bastiaan Giling LIQUIGAS s.t.
14 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 2'01
23 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2'56