Great set of results from Piluschin, Nolf, and Hoy

Stage 2

Haynes tried, but failed to get in the break.


And annoyingly, for the first time this season in a race ive been in, a break makes it to the finish.

Agritubel's Ravard wins, Landbouwkredit's Van Mechelen is the new race leader.


As the peleton came to the finish, Feillu caused a huge crash. Only Haynes went down for DFL (Hoy avoided it, while Lloyd had attacked off the front) but the likes of Kirchen and Cancellara were involved. There was no time loss.


1 Anthony Ravard AGRITUBEL 3h22'39
2 Nico Eeckhout CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
3 Wouter Van Mechelen LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
4 Fabrizio Guidi BARLOWORLD s.t.
5 Boy Van Poppel RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
6 Herman Fouché TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
7 Valery Kobzarenko NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
8 Zak Dempster SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS + 1'21
9 Mikel Artetxe FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM s.t.
10 Elio Aggiano TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 2'27
11 Robert Hunter BARLOWORLD + 4'21
12 Pieter Seyffert TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
13 Ricardo Van der Velde RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
14 Coen Vermeltfoort RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
15 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC s.t.
16 Nico Sijmens LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
17 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
18 Ricardo Serrano TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
19 Hans Dekkers AGRITUBEL s.t.
20 Ciaran Power NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.

1 Wouter Van Mechelen LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER 3h33'30
2 Nico Eeckhout CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 4
3 Anthony Ravard AGRITUBEL + 14
4 Fabrizio Guidi BARLOWORLD + 16
5 Herman Fouché TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 19
6 Boy Van Poppel RABOBANK CONTINENTAL + 26
7 Valery Kobzarenko NAVIGATORS INSURANCE + 42
8 Zak Dempster SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS + 1'22
9 Mikel Artetxe FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM + 1'46
10 Elio Aggiano TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 3'08
11 Chris Hoy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 3'51
12 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC + 3'52
13 Christian Müller SKIL - SHIMANO + 4'03
14 Jamie Staff DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'05
15 Martín Garrido DUJA - TAVIRA + 4'06
16 Manuel Lloret FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM s.t.
17 Nikolai Trussov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 4'08
18 Evan Oliphant DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
19 Bauke Mollema RABOBANK CONTINENTAL + 4'12
20 Martijn Maaskant RABOBANK CONTINENTAL + 4'15

Nasty crash, but at least is got you an Achievement

Stage 3

After a disappointing Stage 2, Stannard went with the break and got himself the KoM jersey.


Come the finish, it was another win for Agritubel as Feillu won the sprint.


1 Romain Feillu AGRITUBEL 4h29'25
2 Robert Hunter BARLOWORLD s.t.
3 Martín Garrido DUJA - TAVIRA s.t.
4 Kenny Van Hummel SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
5 Nico Eeckhout CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
6 Boy Van Poppel RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
7 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC s.t.
8 Javier Cherro FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM s.t.
9 Fabrizio Guidi BARLOWORLD s.t.
10 Mikel Artetxe FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM s.t.
19 Hamish Haynes DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.

KoM
1 Ian Stannard DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 16
2 Mikel Artetxe FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM 12
3 Elio Aggiano TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS 12
4 Nico Eeckhout CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN 10
5 Coen Vermeltfoort RABOBANK CONTINENTAL 10
6 Nikolai Trussov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS 10
7 Herman Fouché TEAM KONICA MINOLTA 4
8 Cameron Meyer SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS 4
9 Mashahiro Shinagawa SKIL - SHIMANO 2
10 Anthony Ravard AGRITUBEL 2

Always nice to have a jersey.

yeah, especially in a home tour/sponsor goal

Stage 4

2 wins in a row for Feillu!


2nd overall Nico Eeckhout punctures and slips to 9th.

1 Romain Feillu AGRITUBEL 3h46'16
2 Robert Hunter BARLOWORLD s.t.
3 Kenny Van Hummel SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
4 Martín Garrido DUJA - TAVIRA s.t.
5 Boy Van Poppel RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
6 Matthew Goss TEAM CSC s.t.
7 Hans Dekkers AGRITUBEL s.t.
8 Zak Dempster SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS s.t.
9 Nicolas Sanderson SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS s.t.
10 Javier Cherro FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM s.t.
22 Evan Oliphant DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.

[img-l]https://www.steephill.tv/2007/tour-of-missouri/tour-of-missouri-logo.jpg[/img-l]

The inaugeral Tour of Missouri has not been successful in drawing the big names to America as we witness a fairly weak field. Aleksandr Pliuschin leads in what should be his final race of the season. Also in the team are Vanderaerden, Cornelissen, Mouris, Helminen, Vennell, De Weerdt, and Oakley.




A break got away but was caught allowing the sprinters to battle the final intermediate sprint, with Huff beating Dominguez, but neither would feature in the final sprint as, like many, they began to struggle at the back of the field. Infact, there were no real sprinters left as we headed towards the line. A slight train did form, led by Lagutin, but they couldnt get to the front. Pliuschin moved up and at 3km just decided to go for it and see what would happen.


What happened next was unbelievable, remember that Pliuschin's sprint stat is 66, and look at how far ahead he is with 1km to go:


Vanderaerden has come through on Gottfried's wheel but noone is going to catch Pliuschin! I can barely believe it!


1 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 3h17'34
2 Alexander Gottfried TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
3 Oleg Grishkine NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
4 Andrés Miguel Díaz COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES s.t.
5 Uros Murn DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
6 Gert Vanderaerden DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
7 Jackson Stewart BMC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
8 Chad Hartley BMC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
9 Stefan Löffler TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
10 Chris Wherry TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT s.t.
11 Óscar Sánchez COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES s.t.
12 Javier Mejías SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
13 Hector Orlando Mesa UNE - ORBITEL s.t.
14 John Devine DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
15 Andrew Pinfold SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM s.t.
16 Bernard Van Ulden NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
17 Caleb Manion TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT s.t.
18 Jeff Louder HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS s.t.
19 Brad Huff TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
20 Eric Wohlberg SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM s.t.

Smashing win! by one hell of a lot

a bit unlucky not to get a time gap

Piluschin to take Missouri!

That stage was only 140km and a lot of riders couldnt seem to last and clung on - 60 riders finished on the same time, but only because they got lucky with gaps. Stage 2 is 200km, I wonder whats going to happen there.

Stage 2 would come to a sprint and unfortunately, the sprinters seem to have a better day today. That doesnt deter Pliuschin from involving himself in the sprint, as he looks to defend his jersey.


Pliuschin went from 2km out as the Sparkasse guys were too slow. Coming round the final turn with 500m to go though and Murn leads, Vanderaerden is closing on him though.


But Vanderaerden runs out of road and Murn takes the win (and the leaders jersey :x)


1 Uros Murn DISCOVERY CHANNEL 4h48'52
2 Gert Vanderaerden DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
3 Brad Huff TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
4 Kyle Gritters HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS s.t.
5 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
6 Nathan Mitchell TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT s.t.
7 Jackson Stewart BMC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
8 Iván Domínguez TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT s.t.
9 Taylor Tolleson TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
10 Andrew Pinfold SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM s.t.
11 John Murphy HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS s.t.
12 Bobby Lea TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT s.t.
13 Stefan Löffler TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
14 Oleg Grishkine NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
15 Michael Friedman TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
16 Alexander Gottfried TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
17 Jarlinson Pantano COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES s.t.
18 Chad Hartley BMC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
19 Javier Mejías SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
20 Sebastian Frey TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.

GC
1 Uros Murn DISCOVERY CHANNEL 8h06'06
2 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
3 Brad Huff TEAM SLIPSTREAM + 6
4 Gert Vanderaerden DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 8
5 Alexander Gottfried TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
6 Oleg Grishkine NAVIGATORS INSURANCE + 12
7 Kyle Gritters HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS + 16
8 Iván Domínguez TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT + 18
9 Jackson Stewart BMC CYCLING TEAM + 20
10 Stefan Löffler TEAM SPARKASSE s.t.
11 Andrew Pinfold SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM s.t.
12 Chad Hartley BMC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
13 Javier Mejías SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
14 Chris Wherry TOYOTA - UNITED PRO CT s.t.
15 Taylor Tolleson TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.

Points
1 Uros Murn DISCOVERY CHANNEL 37
2 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 37
3 Gert Vanderaerden DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 30
4 Brad Huff TEAM SLIPSTREAM 22
5 Alexander Gottfried TEAM SPARKASSE 20
6 Jackson Stewart BMC CYCLING TEAM 18
7 Kyle Gritters HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS 18
8 Oleg Grishkine NAVIGATORS INSURANCE 18
9 Jason McCartney DISCOVERY CHANNEL 14
10 Andrés Miguel Díaz COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES 14

Stage 5

[IMG-r]https://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa82/SportingNonsense/DFL%20Story/tobritain10.png[/IMG-r]



Ian Stannard won the only KoM of the day to strengthen his lead in the jersey competition.

1 Ian Stannard DFL - CYCLINGNEWS 22
2 Nico Eeckhout CHOCOLADE JACQUES 12
3 Mikel Artetxe FUERTEVENTURA 12
4 Elio Aggiano TINKOFF CREDIT 12
5 Coen Vermeltfoort RABOBANK CONTI 10

[IMG-l]https://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa82/SportingNonsense/DFL%20Story/tobritain11.png[/IMG-l]



















With 7km to go, the days break, which had no DFL riders, had long been caught and Hamish Haynes decided to attack. It would not be a sprint finish today as there is an uphill finish, so its Haynes' best chance of a stage.







[IMG-r]https://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa82/SportingNonsense/DFL%20Story/tobritain12.png[/IMG-r]













With 4km to go, Haynes gap did not look great so, as planned, Dan Lloyd attacked. Both riders have a daily form of +5.








[IMG-l]https://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa82/SportingNonsense/DFL%20Story/tobritain13.png[/IMG-l]






Lloyd had made the right decision as he passed Haynes with 1.5km to go. Cancellara and Kirchen are coming up from behind though.
































[img-l]https://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa82/SportingNonsense/DFL%20Story/tobritain15.png[/img-l]








And Fabian Cancellara grabs it, Lloyd settles for 2nd while Haynes is 7th - his best result of the season. Cancellara must be kicking himself for not getting his team to chase down the Stage 2 break, he is by far the best rider in this tour, yet his stage win only moves him up to 10th.

















1 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC 4h13'23
2 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
3 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
4 David Blanco DUJA - TAVIRA s.t.
5 Nico Eeckhout CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
6 Axel Merckx T-MOBILE TEAM + 28
7 Hamish Haynes DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
8 Paul Martens SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
9 Bauke Mollema RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
10 Chris Froome TEAM KONICA MINOLTA s.t.
11 Romain Feillu AGRITUBEL s.t.
12 Nicolas Vogondy AGRITUBEL s.t.
13 Manuel Lloret FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM s.t.
14 Pavel Brutt TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
15 Andy Cappelle LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
16 Ricardo Serrano TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
17 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC s.t.
18 Anthony Ravard AGRITUBEL s.t.
19 Giampaolo Cheula BARLOWORLD s.t.
20 Chris Hoy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.

GC
1 Wouter Van Mechelen LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER 16h03'02
2 Anthony Ravard AGRITUBEL + 14
3 Fabrizio Guidi BARLOWORLD + 16
4 Herman Fouché TEAM KONICA MINOLTA + 19
5 Boy Van Poppel RABOBANK CONTINENTAL + 26
6 Valery Kobzarenko NAVIGATORS INSURANCE + 42
7 Zak Dempster SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS + 1'22
8 Nico Eeckhout CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 1'38
9 Mikel Artetxe FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM + 1'46
10 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC + 2'58
11 Elio Aggiano TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 3'08
12 David Blanco DUJA - TAVIRA + 3'51
13 Chris Hoy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
14 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM + 3'52
15 Martín Garrido DUJA - TAVIRA + 3'54
16 Christian Müller SKIL - SHIMANO + 4'03
17 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'05
18 Romain Feillu AGRITUBEL + 4'06
19 Manuel Lloret FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM s.t.
20 Robert Hunter BARLOWORLD + 4'07
21 Evan Oliphant DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'08

Nice 2nd place

Ive just realized i dont like having right-centered text followed by left-centered text, as i dont actually having to move my eyes when i read...

Random picture layout

Nice 2nd spot

Stage 3

A 29km TT which should see Pliuschin retake the lead.

Matti Helminen went into the lead with his effort, taking 1 second off the previous best. He recovered well from the first split, at which he was 12 seconds down.


Colombian TT Champ Santiago Botero then stormed ahead by over a minute, his teammate Rodas also took 2nd.


Jens Mouris was next. 2nd at the checkpoint 23 seconds down, he took 2nd at the finish aswell, 33 seconds down on Botero.


Noone else featured a threat to the top of the leaderboard apart from Aleksandr Pliuschin, who unfortunately had a daily form of -4. Starting the day 20 seconds ahead of Botero thanks to the time bonus from Stage 1 and he was some 16 seconds down at the split.
Pliuschin did not give up and powered onwards, passing Brad Huff in the process.


He came into the finish still 2nd, but only 6 seconds down so he will take the leaders jersey.

1 Santiago Botero UNE - ORBITEL 37'14
2 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 6
3 Jens Mouris DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 34
4 Julián Rodas UNE - ORBITEL + 1'00
5 John Devine DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 1'10
6 Matti Helminen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'13
7 Juan Carlos López UNE - ORBITEL + 1'14
8 Bernard Van Ulden NAVIGATORS INSURANCE + 1'18
9 Jason McCartney DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 1'19
10 Nathan O'Neill HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS + 1'20
11 Phil Zajicek NAVIGATORS INSURANCE + 1'21
12 Andrés Miguel Díaz COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES + 1'23
13 Chad Hartley BMC CYCLING TEAM + 1'27
14 Michael Friedman TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
15 Scott Moninger BMC CYCLING TEAM s.t.
16 Michael Creed TEAM SLIPSTREAM + 1'28
17 Javier González UNE - ORBITEL + 1'30
18 Óscar Sánchez COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES s.t.
19 Ryder Hesjedal HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS + 1'31
20 Jeff Sherstobitoff SYMMETRICS CYCLING TEAM + 1'35

GC
1 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 8h43'26
2 Santiago Botero UNE - ORBITEL + 14
3 Jens Mouris DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 48
4 Julián Rodas UNE - ORBITEL + 1'14
5 John Devine DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 1'24
6 Matti Helminen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'27
7 Bernard Van Ulden NAVIGATORS INSURANCE + 1'32
8 Phil Zajicek NAVIGATORS INSURANCE + 1'35
9 Chad Hartley BMC CYCLING TEAM + 1'41
10 Michael Friedman TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.

Points
1 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 57
2 Uros Murn DISCOVERY CHANNEL 37
3 Gert Vanderaerden DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 30
4 Santiago Botero UNE - ORBITEL 25
5 Brad Huff TEAM SLIPSTREAM 22
6 Jason McCartney DISCOVERY CHANNEL 21
7 Alexander Gottfried TEAM SPARKASSE 20
8 Andrés Miguel Díaz COLOMBIA ES PASIÓN - COLDEPORTES 18
9 Jackson Stewart BMC CYCLING TEAM 18
10 Kyle Gritters HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS 18

Wearing every shirt are we?

Not the KoM

In that case, you're the shame of the British nation B)