Great to see someone is willing to read from the start Selwink, back when it wasn't quite as easy in CT races as it is now ... see below.

---

Here is how the ProTour rankings look after the Giro and Catalunya:


Next up is a non ProTour race though, Euskal Bizikleta. Race day fitness is the main reason for being here, ahead of the Tour de Suisse, which is Michael Rogers' main target of the season.

Looking at the top riders in the field, we can expect a good result




Euskal Bizikleta, 2010

Rogers, Ignatiev, Kittel, Nolf, Henshaw

The first stage ended with a tough hill, followed by a descent. Rogers, Ignatiev and Kittel made the selection of 5, with Gerdemann and Plaza.



Ignatiev and Kittel had to really dig deep to get there. But once in that situation, it is just one you can't lose from.

1	Mikhail Ignatiev	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	4h13'21
2	Marcel Kittel	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
3	Rubén Plaza	SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR	s.t.
4	Linus Gerdemann	CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.
5	Michael Rogers	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
6	David Herrero	KARPIN GALICIA	+ 28
7	David Blanco	CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.
8	Roberto Traficante	TEAM LPR	s.t.
9	Ricardo Mestre	LAMPRE - FONDITAL	s.t.
10	Yoann Offredo	BARLOWORLD	s.t.
11	Eduard Vorganov	EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI	s.t.
12	Iker Flores	FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM	s.t.
13	Cândido Barbosa	ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO	+ 1'32
14	Enrique Mata	ORBEA - OREKA S.D.A.	s.t.
15	Jonathan Castroviejo	TEAM LPR	s.t.

On Stage 2 both Kittel and Ignatiev abandoned the race to catch a flight to the Dauphine. They did this not before leading the peloton and controlling an early move from Plaza.

At the finish, Rogers beat Gerdemann to win.

1	Michael Rogers	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	2h28'41
2	Linus Gerdemann	CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.
3	José Serpa	RELAX - GAM	+ 44
4	Cândido Barbosa	ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO	s.t.
5	David Blanco	CAISSE D'EPARGNE	+ 53
6	José Carlos Rodrigues	TEAM LPR	+ 1'15
7	Jonathan Castroviejo	TEAM LPR	s.t.
8	Joao Cabreira	KARPIN GALICIA	s.t.
9	Nelson Vitorino	BARLOWORLD	s.t.
10	Pablo Lastras	CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.

Then Rogers won the TT

1	Michael Rogers	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	13'29
2	Rubén Plaza	SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR	+ 18
3	Przemyslaw Niemiec	CAISSE D'EPARGNE	+ 19
4	Linus Gerdemann	CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.
5	Gustav Larsson	RELAX - GAM	+ 31
6	Eladio Sánchez	FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM	+ 32
7	Joao Cabreira	KARPIN GALICIA	+ 34
8	David Herrero	KARPIN GALICIA	+ 35
9	David Blanco	CAISSE D'EPARGNE	+ 38
10	José Serpa	RELAX - GAM	s.t.

But on the final stage it was 'only' 2nd place.

1	Rubén Plaza	SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR	5h21'53
2	Michael Rogers	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
3	Linus Gerdemann	CAISSE D'EPARGNE	+ 18
4	David Herrero	KARPIN GALICIA	+ 29
5	Nelson Vitorino	BARLOWORLD	+ 1'00
6	David Blanco	CAISSE D'EPARGNE	+ 3'12
7	Danilo Wyss	TEAM LPR	s.t.
8	Klaas Vantornout	EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI	s.t.
9	Michael Albasini	LAMPRE - FONDITAL	s.t.
10	Antonio García González	LAMPRE - FONDITAL	s.t.

Final GC

1	Michael Rogers	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	12h16'52
2	Linus Gerdemann	CAISSE D'EPARGNE	+ 49
3	Rubén Plaza	SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR	+ 2'08
4	David Herrero	KARPIN GALICIA	+ 3'19
5	Nelson Vitorino	BARLOWORLD	+ 5'18
6	David Blanco	CAISSE D'EPARGNE	+ 5'43
7	Ricardo Mestre	LAMPRE - FONDITAL	+ 6'15
8	Roberto Traficante	TEAM LPR	+ 6'24
9	Cândido Barbosa	ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO	+ 6'44
10	Jonathan Castroviejo	TEAM LPR	+ 7'26
11	Iker Flores	FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM	+ 7'49
12	Eduard Vorganov	EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI	+ 8'01
13	Joao Cabreira	KARPIN GALICIA	+ 8'14
14	José Carlos Rodrigues	TEAM LPR	+ 8'20
15	Pablo Lastras	CAISSE D'EPARGNE	+ 8'27
16	Przemyslaw Niemiec	CAISSE D'EPARGNE	+ 8'30
17	Julio Alberto Pérez Cuapio	TEAM LPR	+ 8'46
18	Dimitri Champion	SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR	+ 8'53
19	Antonio García González	LAMPRE - FONDITAL	+ 9'15
20	Ben Hermans	LIQUIGAS	+ 9'20

Well, that was easy.

Great Overall win from Rogers and nice to see the team doing so well in the Rankings

Love that it's back!

Thanks all.

Criterium du Dauphine-Libere, 2010 Stage 1: Valence - Valence

Evans, Tenorio, Ignatiev, Kittel, Froome, Sabatini, Efimkin, Martin

Cadel Evans leads the team for one last big race of the season. What has he got coming out of the Giro? Tenorio is here too but after a mini peak for Catalunya, his form is lower now - but building up for the Tour.

Here are the GC riders to watch:




Two time trials in the Dauphine, starting with an opening prologue. Ignatiev and Kittel are our best bets here.

World Champion Cancellara is here, but he finishes 3 seconds behind the winner - which is only enough for 14th place!



Both Kittel and Evans finishes 2 seconds down for 7th and 12th place respectively



It's very tight. Our best rider was Ignatiev, but that was only enough for 2nd



The winner? Dmytro Grabovskyy! A bit of a surprising result with his 78 TT vs 80 TT of Ignatiev.

1	Dmytro Grabovskyy	GEROLSTEINER	2'40
2	Mikhail Ignatiev	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	+ 1
3	José Iván Gutiérrez	SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR	s.t.
4	Maxime Bouet	COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE	s.t.
5	Joost Posthuma	TEAM WIESENHOF FELT	+ 2
6	Michiel Elijzen	COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE	s.t.
7	Marcel Kittel	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
8	Kevin De Weert	FRANÇAISE DES JEUX	s.t.
9	Thomas Dekker	RABOBANK	s.t.
10	Raivis Belohvosciks	LAMPRE - FONDITAL	s.t.
11	Matthias Ruß	DISCOVERY CHANNEL	s.t.
12	Cadel Evans	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
13	Benoît Vaugrenard	T-MOBILE TEAM	s.t.
14	Fabian Cancellara	TEAM CSC	+ 3
15	Maxim Belkov	BARLOWORLD	s.t.
16	Inal Ovchinnikov	TEAM MILRAM	s.t.
17	Ondrej Sosenka	UNIBET.COM	+ 4
18	Roman Kreuziger	LIQUIGAS	s.t.
19	Bauke Mollema	SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR	s.t.
20	Stefan Schumacher	AG2R PRÉVOYANCE	s.t.

Criterium du Dauphine-Libere, 2010 Stage 2: Valence - Bourgoin Jalieu

Evans, Tenorio, Ignatiev, Kittel, Froome, Sabatini, Efimkin, Martin

A flat stage today. Sabatini tried to get in the breakaway but it was chased down close to the first intermediate sprint. Opportunity!

Ignatiev attacked 2.5km out from the sprint, to pick up enough of an advantage before the sprinters of the field made their moves a kilometre later. And it worked. Sprint won, 6 seconds gain, into a provisional race lead!



We then deployed Operation: Annoy Sprinters. We form the prominent sprint train with Evans -> Kittel -> Ignatiev. And led by former DFL rider, they line up on Ignatiev's wheel.



And then Ignatiev just sat up, taking them all back with him!!




All unfortunately, except Lampre.



And so Lampre went on to take a 1-2 of Gavazzi in front of Eisel. Stevic eventually put in a fast recovery for 4th (Sorry Ivan!) while Kittel managed a strong 5th. Remember, his sprint stat is 68 in this universe!



Had Stevic won, he would have taken the race lead. But Gavazzi was further behind on Stage 1 - so the race lead goes to Ignatiev!

1	Francesco Gavazzi	LAMPRE - FONDITAL	3h17'19
2	Bernhard Eisel	LAMPRE - FONDITAL	s.t.
3	Evgeni Popov	RABOBANK CONTINENTAL	s.t.
4	Ivan Stevic	AG2R PRÉVOYANCE	s.t.
5	Marcel Kittel	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
6	Robert Wagner	TEAM WIESENHOF FELT	s.t.
7	Romain Feillu	LAMPRE - FONDITAL	s.t.
8	Yuri Trofimov	COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE	s.t.
9	Sébastien Chavanel	CRÉDIT AGRICOLE	s.t.
10	Marco Marcato	PREDICTOR - LOTTO	s.t.

GC

1	Mikhail Ignatiev	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	3h19'54
2	Francesco Gavazzi	LAMPRE - FONDITAL	+ 2
3	Fabian Cancellara	TEAM CSC	+ 4
4	Dmytro Grabovskyy	GEROLSTEINER	+ 5
5	Maxime Bouet	COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE	+ 6
6	José Iván Gutiérrez	SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR	s.t.
7	Marcel Kittel	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	+ 7
8	Cadel Evans	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
9	Joost Posthuma	TEAM WIESENHOF FELT	s.t.
10	Benoît Vaugrenard	T-MOBILE TEAM	s.t.

Nice to see Ignatiev in the lead

Nice to see Stevic up their as a former rider, after reading yours and RJC's stories again placed an order for PCM2007 again haha for £6 can't go wrong and probably be a better game then the new one.

STEVIC! SERBIAN CYCLING FTW!

Haha, nice to see some PCM07 love going around - and yes, I thought you might comment on Stevic admir

Criterium du Dauphine-Libere, 2010 Stage 3: Vienne - Bellegarde sur Valserine

Evans, Tenorio, Ignatiev, Kittel, Froome, Sabatini, Efimkin, Martin

Some hills on Stage 3, to make a selection.



Ignatiev is happy to hold the Yellow jersey.



But on the big climb of the day, one of the main GC favourites Kreuziger (80 Mo, 76 Hl) launched an attack. Anton followed, so did Evans



And it was Evans and Anton who took the lead. 20km to go, with mostly downhill and one smaller climb.



There was a chasing group of Fothen, Russ, Dekker, Kreuziger, Nibali, Pereiro and our own Efimkin but that group was caught with 4km to go. Dekker marked the occasion by crashing.



Shortly followed by Kreuziger crashing as well!



Evans and Anton held on up front, and it was the former DFL rider who outsprinted Evans.



Still, a very good day for Evans. 40 seconds gained on most, and an extra 2 minutes gained on big rivals Dekker and Kreuziger. He takes over the race lead.

1	Igor Antón	BARLOWORLD	4h44'05
2	Cadel Evans	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
3	Francesco Gavazzi	LAMPRE - FONDITAL	+ 40
4	Pierrick Fédrigo	TEAM MILRAM	s.t.
5	Ivan Rovny	LAMPRE - FONDITAL	s.t.
6	Samuel Sánchez	LIQUIGAS	s.t.
7	José Iván Gutiérrez	SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR	s.t.
8	Jean-Marc Bideau	TEAM MILRAM	s.t.
9	Guillaume Levarlet	TEAM MILRAM	s.t.
10	Sylvain Chavanel	TEAM CSC	s.t.
11	Mikhail Ignatiev	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
12	Ivan Stevic	AG2R PRÉVOYANCE	s.t.
13	Sergei Ivanov	TEAM ASTANA	s.t.
14	Maxim Iglinskiy	CRÉDIT AGRICOLE	s.t.
15	Maxim Belkov	BARLOWORLD	s.t.
16	Ludovic Turpin	CRÉDIT AGRICOLE	s.t.
17	Vincenzo Nibali	CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.
18	Romain Feillu	LAMPRE - FONDITAL	s.t.
19	Stefan Schumacher	AG2R PRÉVOYANCE	s.t.
20	Óscar Pereiro	UNIBET.COM	s.t.

GC

1	Cadel Evans	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	8h04'00
2	Igor Antón	BARLOWORLD	+ 4
3	Francesco Gavazzi	LAMPRE - FONDITAL	+ 37
4	Mikhail Ignatiev	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	+ 39
5	José Iván Gutiérrez	SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR	+ 45
6	Jean-Marc Bideau	TEAM MILRAM	+ 46
7	Marcel Kittel	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
8	Benoît Vaugrenard	T-MOBILE TEAM	s.t.
9	Matthias Ruß	DISCOVERY CHANNEL	s.t.
10	Maxim Belkov	BARLOWORLD	+ 47

A good ride from Cadel and now the Race Lead

Good ride from Cadel there, those seconds picked up will be vital especially those on Dekker assuming he isn't injured.

Story dead?

There's various reports stored up, I'm just busy And quite obviously, this is the story amongst all others that never dies

But here, have another update:

Criterium du Dauphine-Libere, 2010 Stage 4: Bellegarde sur Valserine - Bellegarde sur Valserine

Evans, Tenorio, Ignatiev, Kittel, Froome, Sabatini, Efimkin, Martin

With some quite excellent timing, Marcel Kittel has received a stats boost just prior to Stage 4: the next time trial!



And what happened next? He won the stage!



Ignatiev had an off day but Evans rode well, putting good time into Anton by nearly catching him.



And bizarrely, the race organisers handed Kittel 20 bonus seconds for winning - which moved him into the race lead! We have now had 3 different race leaders within DFL after just 4 stages.

1	Marcel Kittel	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	38'30
2	José Iván Gutiérrez	SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR	+ 16
3	Benoît Vaugrenard	T-MOBILE TEAM	+ 27
4	Cadel Evans	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	+ 34
5	Maxime Bouet	COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE	+ 37
6	Maxim Belkov	BARLOWORLD	+ 38
7	Thomas Dekker	RABOBANK	+ 39
8	Bauke Mollema	SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR	s.t.
9	Óscar Pereiro	UNIBET.COM	+ 46
10	Peter Velits	PREDICTOR - LOTTO	+ 51
11	Sylvain Chavanel	TEAM CSC	s.t.
12	Joost Posthuma	TEAM WIESENHOF FELT	+ 52
13	Haimar Zubeldia	TEAM ASTANA	+ 58
14	Markus Fothen	GEROLSTEINER	+ 1'00
15	Fabian Cancellara	TEAM CSC	s.t.
16	Justo Tenorio	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	+ 1'02
17	Mikhail Ignatiev	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	+ 1'06
18	Roman Kreuziger	LIQUIGAS	+ 1'08
19	Michiel Elijzen	COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE	+ 1'09
20	Vincenzo Nibali	CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.

GC

1	Marcel Kittel	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	8h42'56
2	Cadel Evans	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	+ 8
3	José Iván Gutiérrez	SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR	+ 23
4	Benoît Vaugrenard	T-MOBILE TEAM	+ 39
5	Maxim Belkov	BARLOWORLD	+ 59
6	Bauke Mollema	SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR	+ 1'01
7	Óscar Pereiro	UNIBET.COM	+ 1'10
8	Peter Velits	PREDICTOR - LOTTO	+ 1'13
9	Sylvain Chavanel	TEAM CSC	+ 1'15
10	Mikhail Ignatiev	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	+ 1'19
11	Haimar Zubeldia	TEAM ASTANA	+ 1'20
12	Markus Fothen	GEROLSTEINER	+ 1'22
13	Justo Tenorio	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	+ 1'26
14	Vincenzo Nibali	CAISSE D'EPARGNE	+ 1'32
15	Mikaël Chérel	RABOBANK CONTINENTAL	+ 1'40
16	Andriy Grivko	FRANÇAISE DES JEUX	s.t.
17	Stefan Schumacher	AG2R PRÉVOYANCE	+ 1'44
18	Tom Danielson	DISCOVERY CHANNEL	+ 1'46
19	Steven Cummings	DISCOVERY CHANNEL	+ 1'56
20	Matija Kvasina	UNIBET.COM	+ 1'57
21	Andreas Klöden	TEAM ASTANA	+ 2'01
22	Igor Antón	BARLOWORLD	s.t.
23	Rémy Di Gregorio	TEAM CSC	+ 2'03
24	Sandy Casar	CRÉDIT AGRICOLE	+ 2'05
25	Matthias Ruß	DISCOVERY CHANNEL	+ 2'06
36	Thomas Dekker	RABOBANK	+ 2'54
50	Roman Kreuziger	LIQUIGAS	+ 3'25

Kittel winning a time trial, very nice

Kittel winning
Evans gaining more time

so much realisme Kittel 62 sprint

well these games aren't much for realisme anyway, Dekker is somehow always world class in a few seasons

Woohoo, free advertising.

Well I do have some reports stored up still... Time for one that neatly links together the two "Remember when..." news pieces so far.

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Criterium du Dauphine-Libere, 2010 Stage 5: Geneva - Le Grand Bornand

Evans, Tenorio, Ignatiev, Kittel, Froome, Sabatini, Efimkin, Martin

As if having the Tour de Suisse in June is not enough, the Dauphine is now in Switzerland too, at least for the start of the stage. First mountains of the race.



Kittel now in the race lead, but not for long



On the 2nd climb of the day, Efimkin did what is now known as a 'Team Sky'. Just drilling it on the front, dropping everyone - even this early in the stage. Tenorio and Evans made the split, at the back of the bunch.



This didn't exactly work, as half the group then dropped us on the descent and we just went back to the larger peloton.

Skip to the final climb, the Col de la Colombiere. And the situation has changed. Dutch duo Eltink and Mollema are away (with a former breakaway rider for company) with 30 seconds on a group of 10 - featuring Evans.



Further up, it is still Saunier Duval's Mollema going strong, cutting through the break of the day. Evans is now 2nd best GC rider on the road, but solo, and over a minute and a half behind.



And that's more or less how it stayed for the rest of the stage. Christophe Moreau won - the last survivor of the breakaway. Mollema a close second.



Evans was joined by Maxim Belkov, and takes 4th on the stage - but too much time was lost to Mollema, who leads the race by 50 seconds.



Good time gained on the rest, while Kreuziger is clearly injured - that could be one less rival for us in the Tour.

1	Christophe Moreau	RABOBANK CONTINENTAL	4h30'46
2	Bauke Mollema	SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR	+ 24
3	Maxim Belkov	BARLOWORLD	+ 2'01
4	Cadel Evans	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
5	Justo Tenorio	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	+ 3'31
6	Maxim Iglinskiy	CRÉDIT AGRICOLE	s.t.
7	Kanstantsin Siutsou	TEAM ASTANA	s.t.
8	Evgeni Petrov	TEAM CSC	s.t.
9	Andreas Klöden	TEAM ASTANA	s.t.
10	Theo Eltink	CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.
11	Matthew Lloyd	RABOBANK	s.t.
12	Francis Mourey	FRANÇAISE DES JEUX	s.t.
13	José Iván Gutiérrez	SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR	s.t.
14	Igor Antón	BARLOWORLD	s.t.
15	Sylvain Chavanel	TEAM CSC	s.t.
16	Luis Felipe Laverde	CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.
17	Rémy Di Gregorio	TEAM CSC	s.t.
18	Haimar Zubeldia	TEAM ASTANA	s.t.
19	Alexander Efimkin	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
20	Óscar Pereiro	UNIBET.COM	s.t.

GC

1	Bauke Mollema	SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR	13h15'01
2	Cadel Evans	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	+ 50
3	Maxim Belkov	BARLOWORLD	+ 1'37
4	José Iván Gutiérrez	SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR	+ 2'35
5	Óscar Pereiro	UNIBET.COM	+ 3'22
6	Peter Velits	PREDICTOR - LOTTO	+ 3'25
7	Sylvain Chavanel	TEAM CSC	+ 3'27
8	Haimar Zubeldia	TEAM ASTANA	+ 3'32
9	Markus Fothen	GEROLSTEINER	+ 3'34
10	Justo Tenorio	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	+ 3'38
11	Vincenzo Nibali	CAISSE D'EPARGNE	+ 3'44
12	Christophe Moreau	RABOBANK CONTINENTAL	+ 3'49
13	Andriy Grivko	FRANÇAISE DES JEUX	+ 3'52
14	Andreas Klöden	TEAM ASTANA	+ 4'13
15	Igor Antón	BARLOWORLD	s.t.

RABOBANK CONTINENTAL!!!!