some nice results you're getting thereB)

Nice win with Lloyd - now get that GC

Stage 6 is another flat one and Manan is well positioned for the sprint.


But he struggles and clings on to 3rd as Vaitkus wins.


Meanwhile, Bernard Sulzberger has somehow taken the young riders jersey

1 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL 4h55'37
2 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen TEAM GLS s.t.
3 Anuar Manan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
4 �ngel Vicioso RELAX - GAM s.t.
5 Gene Bates SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS s.t.
6 Steffen Wesemann TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
7 Jacob Moe Rasmussen TEAM GLS s.t.
8 Robert Radosz ACTION - UNIQA s.t.
9 Takashi Miyazawa NIPPO - MEITAN HONPO - ASADA s.t.
10 Pieter Riis Andersen TEAM GLS s.t.
11 Alessandro Bertolini SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
12 Stanislav Kozúbek PSK WHIRLPOOL HRADEC KR�LOVÉ s.t.
13 Andrei Klyuev MOSCOW STARS s.t.
14 Vladimir Bileka DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
15 Ivan Seledkov MOSCOW STARS s.t.
16 André Schulze TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
17 Tiziano Dall'Antonia CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
18 Jörg Ludewig TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
19 Rhys Pollock DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
20 Martin Mares PSK WHIRLPOOL HRADEC KR�LOVÉ s.t.

Rank Name Team Time
1 Maarten Tjallingii SKIL - SHIMANO 21h24'13
2 �ngel Vicioso RELAX - GAM + 4
3 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 6
4 Giovanny Báez UNE - ORBITEL + 14
5 Alessandro Bertolini SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA + 18
6 Sergio Barbero SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA + 26
7 Santo Anzà SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
8 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
9 José Serpa SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
10 Marek Rutkiewicz ACTION - UNIQA s.t.

But it is the next 2 stages which will decide this tour, hopefully Lloyd will hang on to a top 10 GC place.

Mortenson > Liquigas
Coppel > Ag2r
Renshaw > Team Lowik
Sieberg > Predictor Lotto
Arnaud Coyot > DFL Cyclingnews - Our new Cobbled leader, a risky choice since he did not figure well at all this season.
More info on Kangharid Naran: He is from Mongolia and with an average of 54 he is the worst rider in the database. Incase you forgot, the 18 year old recently signed for the American National team.


Valverde won again in Briancon, finishing with Evans and Leipheimer who move into 2nd and 3rd in the GC. Next is a chance for the sprinters. Ventoso takes his 3rd stage but Freire bounces back to win the next day. Freire also won the bunch sprint on Stage 13, but Dumoulin had finished 1st a minute earlier. Freire leads the points jersey by 1 point over Ventoso and 2 over Valverde.



Lets hope noone attacks on the climb

And amazingly, that is what happened. Well, kind of. Vicioso launched an attack right at the top.


Other countered, but only he got away. He was caught after around 20km.


Sulzberger and Lloyd got well positioned for the sprint. Sulzberger behind Anza, Lloyd behind Missaglia.


The Selle Italia riders didnt want to start sprinting so Sulzberger started it all, waking up Missaglia who went past the breakaway with Lloyd in toe. Lloyd would not be able to pass Missaglia but can he hold off Serpa?


Missaglia wins, and Lloyd does get second!! (Ironically, that was the overall positions of the reallife Qinghai Lake). Sulzberger earnt his first ranking points with 7th.

1 Gabriele Missaglia SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA 3h50'25
2 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
3 José Serpa SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
4 Andrés Miguel Díaz COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES s.t.
5 Alessandro Bertolini SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
6 Santo Anzà SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
7 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
8 Massimiliano Maisto OTC DOORS - LAURETANA s.t.
9 Hector Orlando Mesa UNE - ORBITEL s.t.
10 Giovanny Báez UNE - ORBITEL s.t.

Lloyd is the new race leader!
Rank Name Team Time
1 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 25h14'32
2 Maarten Tjallingii SKIL - SHIMANO + 6
3 �ngel Vicioso RELAX - GAM + 10
4 Giovanny Báez UNE - ORBITEL + 20
5 José Serpa SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA + 24
6 Alessandro Bertolini SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
7 Santo Anzà SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA + 32
8 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
9 Hector Orlando Mesa UNE - ORBITEL s.t.
10 Edwin Parra COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES s.t.

@Kangharid Naran: Maybe he's trying to immigrate into the states


Also, well done on Lloyd

Its the fourth and final mountain stage with only a flat stage to come, but it is also the hardest mountain stage and Lloyd cant keep hold of yellow, can he? Statswise - absolutely not, but races arent won on stats alone.


On a day where Wiggins and Millar only managed 19th and 20th in the Tour de France TT, Lloyd will look to keep the British flag held high in BritishCycling and is in perfect condition: +5.

Attacks started once the mountain was reached, but Lloyd held back a little as Relax Gam were still setting a quick pace, but once Vicioso so much as twitched a muscle, Lloyd was off - countering the spaniard and going past him!!!

Perez Cuapio was the best of the attackers then there is Serpa and then Lloyd/Baez.


Perez Cuapio goes over the summit with a 2 minute advantage and his lead peaks at 2'27 on the descent. Behind him, a group of 7 has formed. Lloyd, Vicioso, Serpa, Baez, Maisto, Fuglsang and Rincon.


Perez Cuapio still had 2 minutes with 10km to go and although the gap started to decline, he looks to have this tour in the bag.

Behind him, Lloyd is forced to lead out the sprint but refuses to, so Vicioso goes for it and then Lloyd does his best to grab Vicioso's wheel. No chance of that but still leaves him in a good position.


Perez Cuapio wins!


Vicioso eases to 2nd - but did he ease too much?


There wont be a time gap between Vicioso and Lloyd so yes, Vicioso stopped sprinting too early! Lloyd takes 3rd, looking for 2nd in the GC.


1 Julio Alberto Pérez Cuapio CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE 4h04'34
2 �ngel Vicioso RELAX - GAM + 1'01
3 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
4 Giovanny Báez UNE - ORBITEL s.t.
5 José Serpa SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
6 Massimiliano Maisto OTC DOORS - LAURETANA s.t.
7 Jakob Fuglsang TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN s.t.
8 Daniel Rincón COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES s.t.
9 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'05
10 Frantisek Kloucek PSK WHIRLPOOL HRADEC KR�LOVÉ s.t.
11 Maarten Tjallingii SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
12 Andrés Miguel Díaz COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES s.t.
13 Paolo Bailetti TEAM LPR s.t.
14 Donato Cannone OTC DOORS - LAURETANA s.t.
15 Stanislav Kozúbek PSK WHIRLPOOL HRADEC KR�LOVÉ s.t.
16 Vladimir Bileka DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
17 Óscar Sánchez COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES s.t.
18 Domenico Pozzovivo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
19 Edwin Parra COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES s.t.
20 Martin Mares PSK WHIRLPOOL HRADEC KR�LOVÉ s.t.
23 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
31 Cameron Jennings DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
43 Evan Oliphant DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
55 Adam Blyth DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.

And Lloyd does take 2nd, behind Perez Cuapio.

1 Julio Alberto Pérez Cuapio CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE 29h19'18
2 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 41
3 �ngel Vicioso RELAX - GAM + 47
4 Giovanny Báez UNE - ORBITEL + 1'09
5 José Serpa SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA + 1'13
6 Massimiliano Maisto OTC DOORS - LAURETANA + 1'21
7 Jakob Fuglsang TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN s.t.
8 Daniel Rincón COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES s.t.
9 Maarten Tjallingii SKIL - SHIMANO + 1'59
10 Alessandro Bertolini SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA + 2'17
11 Edwin Parra COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES + 2'25
12 Óscar Sánchez COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES s.t.
13 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
14 Domenico Pozzovivo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
15 Manuel Orlando Mayorga COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES s.t.

oh dear, a sad day for British cycling everywhere

I cant see anything sad about Dan Lloyd taking 2nd in Qinghai with stats of 68 MO, 66 HL and 57 SP

Evan Oliphant went away in the break and as we neared the finish a crash occured. None of the top 10 went down, but Steffen Wesemann did and was forced to abandon He's out til mid-august and that could be it for him this season.

I experimented by setting my own train with Pollock and Manan. It didnt work but that didnt matter as 3 of the break survived to the finish ~ just.


With 17th, Sulzberger moves from 13th to 11th in the GC.

1 Torsten Schmidt TEAM WIESENHOF FELT 1h56'04
2 Víctor Hugo Orozco COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES s.t.
3 Janif Hecht TEAM GLS s.t.
4 Takashi Miyazawa NIPPO - MEITAN HONPO - ASADA s.t.
5 Thomas Oredsson TEAM GLS s.t.
6 Andrei Klyuev MOSCOW STARS s.t.
7 André Schulze TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
8 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen TEAM GLS s.t.
9 Simon Clarke SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS s.t.
10 �ngel Vicioso RELAX - GAM s.t.
11 Ivan Seledkov MOSCOW STARS s.t.
12 Gene Bates SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS s.t.
13 Anuar Manan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
14 Robert Radosz ACTION - UNIQA s.t.
15 Robert McLachlan DRAPAC PORSCHE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM s.t.
16 Stanislav Kozúbek PSK WHIRLPOOL HRADEC KR�LOVÉ s.t.
17 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
18 Bastiaan Giling TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
19 Jacob Moe Rasmussen TEAM GLS s.t.
20 Ildar Zakirov MOSCOW STARS s.t.
21 Mads Christensen TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN s.t.
22 Vasili Khatuntsev MOSCOW STARS s.t.
23 Petr Bencik PSK WHIRLPOOL HRADEC KR�LOVÉ s.t.
24 Rhys Pollock DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
25 Martin Mares PSK WHIRLPOOL HRADEC KR�LOVÉ s.t.
26 Fredrik Johansson TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN s.t.
27 Vladimir Bileka DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
28 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
29 Martin Velits TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
30 Daniel Foder TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN s.t.

1 Julio Alberto Pérez Cuapio CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE 31h15'22
2 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 41
3 �ngel Vicioso RELAX - GAM + 47
4 Giovanny Báez UNE - ORBITEL + 1'09
5 José Serpa SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA + 1'13
6 Daniel Rincón COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES + 1'21
7 Jakob Fuglsang TEAM DESIGNA KOKKEN s.t.
8 Massimiliano Maisto OTC DOORS - LAURETANA s.t.
9 Maarten Tjallingii SKIL - SHIMANO + 1'59
10 Alessandro Bertolini SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA + 2'17
11 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2'25
12 Óscar Sánchez COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES s.t.
13 Julián Sánchez Pimienta RELAX - GAM s.t.
14 Edwin Parra COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES s.t.
15 Domenico Pozzovivo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
16 Luca Solari TEAM LPR s.t.
17 Emanuele Sella CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
18 Manuel Orlando Mayorga COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES s.t.
19 Freddy Piamonte UNE - ORBITEL s.t.
20 Hector Orlando Mesa UNE - ORBITEL s.t.
40 Evan Oliphant DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 6'14
46 Adam Blyth DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 7'36
61 Cameron Jennings DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 11'30
97 Rhys Pollock DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 30'53
112 Anuar Manan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 48'15


1 �ngel Vicioso RELAX - GAM 101
2 Andrei Klyuev MOSCOW STARS 78
3 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL 74
4 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 64
5 Takashi Miyazawa NIPPO - MEITAN HONPO - ASADA 63
6 Gene Bates SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS 63
7 Anuar Manan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 59
8 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen TEAM GLS 56
9 Torsten Schmidt TEAM WIESENHOF FELT 45
10 Robert Radosz ACTION - UNIQA 40

"Steffen Wesemann did and was forced to abandon He's out til mid-august and that could be it for him this season."

Karma just called. Pliuschin will break an arm soon.

Pliuschins pretty useless at the moment ~ 26 fitness points.

Great 2nd place

Brajkovic won the Albi TT and Thomas Lovkvist won the stage to Plateua du Beille, he outsprinted Horner and Moncoutie. New DFL Signing Rigoberta Uran was 6th, while Valverde took 7th - extending his lead once again. Arnaud Coyot somehow won Stage 16 to Loudenville, a mountain stage. The best overall contender to finish was not Valverde - it was Evans! Evans gained over 2 minutes on Valverde, while Contador gained 1 and a half minutes too. This tours not over yet!


Sartasov > Barloworld
Vandborg > Auber
Kvasina > Predictor
Botero > Saunier Duval
Wesemann > Milram
Rigoberta Uran > DFL Cyclingnews
Ruggero Marzoli > DFL Cyclingnews

UranB)

Marzoli... He doesnt exactly start as the most useful man in Continental. Despite having the highest hill stat of all the Free Agents. I cant imagine him being useful for you in the ProTour.

He's a fairly decent allrounder, and im not having much look getting anyone better than that.

Marzoli is a class act, he should be at Tinkoff though... where he rightly belongs

You should look at Maxim Belkov, or Davide Malacarne, i sign both with whichever team i start with as they will mature in time into some pretty good riders. At least they will with the right trainers.

Otherwise nice story so far Im enjoying reading about brits doing well!

Thanks, Ill have a look for those 2 riders when I next get on the game.

July Report

Races


Ind. Ranking


Team Ranking


Cyanide's Rider of the Month:
Alejandro Valverde

Tour de France domination.

DFL Rider of the Month:
Daniel Lloyd

Who else? Stunning performance in Qinghai Lake.

Brit of the Month:
Bradley Wiggins

Since I gave this award to Lloyd last month, Wiggins gets it for 3rd place in the Tour de France prologue in London.

Look Ahead:
Post Danmark Rundt, ProTour action, Tour of Ireland

Is this great story dead?