Stage 3

Another flat stage, but some tricky hills near the finish and then an upward sprint to the line will not favour the sprinters and shoud be suited to Stevic

And Stevic again takes a lead out from a Karpin rider


The tough hill at the end is too much for Stevic though. Celestino and Iginski battle on the right as the Caisse rider Rodriguez charges up the midde.


Rodriguez is the quickest but started too far back and Celestino wins the stage for LPR


1 Mirko Celestino TEAM LPR 5h21'03
2 Joaquim Rodríguez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
3 Maxim Iglinskiy TEAM ASTANA s.t.
4 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
5 Ivan Stevic DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
6 Diego Milán GRUPO NICOL�S MATEOS s.t.
7 Xavier Florencio BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
8 Eladio Jiménez KARPIN GALICIA s.t.
9 Rubén Plaza SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
10 Santos González KARPIN GALICIA s.t.
11 Pablo Lastras CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
12 Beñat Intxausti GRUPO NICOL�S MATEOS s.t.
13 Rodrigo García FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM s.t.
14 Luis Pérez Romero ANDALUC�A - CAJASUR s.t.
15 Patxi Vila LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
16 David De la Fuente ANDALUC�A - CAJASUR s.t.
17 José Iván Gutiérrez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
18 Luis León Sánchez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
19 Rémi Pauriol BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
20 Paco Lara ANDALUC�A - CAJASUR s.t.
21 Domenico Pozzovivo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
22 Matej Jurco TEAM MILRAM s.t.
23 Johann Tschopp BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
24 David Bernabéu FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM s.t.
25 Yon Bru EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.

A crash saw just 60 riders end on the same time, and Perez moves up to 6th in the GC

1 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK 14h23'55
2 Matej Jurco TEAM MILRAM + 1'51
3 Gustav Larsson RELAX - GAM + 2'09
4 Diego Milán GRUPO NICOL�S MATEOS + 2'23
5 Paolo Bailetti TEAM LPR + 3'21
6 Fran Pérez DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 3'26
7 Mirko Celestino TEAM LPR + 4'10
8 Ivan Stevic DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
9 Joaquim Rodríguez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 4'14
10 Xavier Florencio BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.

Stage 4


A 2nd mountain stage, but the terrain isnt really that interesting. The final climb is only around 5km long so I cant see Posthuma being threatened.

Yet again, the break is allowed a lot of space and with 15km to go, Isidro Nozal pulls away from his companions


Perez yet again makes the first move from the bunch, on the flat section just before the final cimb.


Contador waits for the actual climb to attack. Nozal still has a large gap as Saunier's Plaza pulls away from the lead chase group.


Contador reaches Perez's group as we move into the final kiometre.


Nozal wins!


Plaza is 2nd, while Perez is 3rd and Contador 4th.

1 Isidro Nozal KARPIN GALICIA 4h05'09
2 Rubén Plaza SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 40
3 Fran Pérez DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'15
4 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
5 Xavier Florencio BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 1'27
6 Joaquim Rodríguez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
7 David García Dapena TEAM ASTANA + 1'44
8 David De la Fuente ANDALUC�A - CAJASUR + 2'17
9 Luis León Sánchez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
10 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK s.t.
11 Maxim Iglinskiy TEAM ASTANA s.t.
12 Eladio Jiménez KARPIN GALICIA s.t.
13 Gianni Meersman DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
14 Patxi Vila LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
15 David Arroyo CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
16 Xavi Tondo TEAM ASTANA s.t.
17 Santiago Botero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
18 José Iván Gutiérrez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
19 David Bernabéu FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM s.t.
20 David Muñoz FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM s.t.
21 Pablo Lastras CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
22 Johann Tschopp BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
23 Roberto Heras DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
24 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
25 Santos González KARPIN GALICIA s.t.

GC

1 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK 18h31'21
2 Matej Jurco TEAM MILRAM + 1'51
3 Gustav Larsson RELAX - GAM + 2'09
4 Fran Pérez DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2'20
5 Diego Milán GRUPO NICOL�S MATEOS + 2'23
6 Rubén Plaza SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'37
7 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 3'18
8 Paolo Bailetti TEAM LPR + 3'21
9 Joaquim Rodríguez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 3'24
10 Xavier Florencio BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
11 Ivan Stevic DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'10
12 Maxim Iglinskiy TEAM ASTANA + 4'16
13 Eladio Jiménez KARPIN GALICIA + 4'20
14 Luis León Sánchez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
15 Patxi Vila LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
16 David De la Fuente ANDALUC�A - CAJASUR s.t.
17 Pablo Lastras CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
18 José Iván Gutiérrez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
19 Xavi Tondo TEAM ASTANA s.t.
20 Rodrigo García FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM s.t.

You should have gotten someone like Contador in the break.

You should have gotten someone like Contador in the break.

Sorry, didn't read it properly ops:

Millar would have had a better chance of success in a break, Contador would just be chased down, besides - whats the point of trying to win everything?



Stage 5

A flat finale to the tour which gives the proper sprinters a chance at glory - bad news for Stevic.

Astana take command of the sprint as Abakoumov leads out Haselbacher


Moving round the final corner with one kilometre to go, Haselbacher is looking good but can Milram's Loddo find a way through?


Haselbacher keeps strong and its an easy win in the end. Stevic manages 8th, and that is enough to win the points classification


Gustav Larsson is involved in a crash towards the end of the race causing him to lose time. Since he was ranked 3rd in the GC, it means Perez moves up to the final podium spot, Contador climbs to 6th and Stevic finishes 10th overall.

1 René Haselbacher TEAM ASTANA 2h09'37
2 Alberto Loddo TEAM MILRAM s.t.
3 Aurélien Clerc BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
4 Alexeï Markov CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
5 Alexei Zaitsev FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM s.t.
6 Carlos Eduardo Alzate EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
7 Paride Grillo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
8 Ivan Stevic DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
9 Igor Abakoumov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
10 Alberto Ongarato LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
11 Borut Bozic TEAM LPR s.t.
12 Matthew Hayman RABOBANK s.t.
13 Javier Benítez TEAM MILRAM s.t.
14 José Ruiz ANDALUC�A - CAJASUR s.t.
15 Bruno Lima GRUPO NICOL�S MATEOS s.t.
16 Bobbie Traksel DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
17 Matej Jurco TEAM MILRAM s.t.
18 Sebastian Siedler TEAM MILRAM s.t.
19 Diego Milán GRUPO NICOL�S MATEOS s.t.
20 Ersilio Calogero TEAM MILRAM s.t.
21 Matteo Priamo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
22 Xavier Florencio BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
23 Ben Swift DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
24 Jaime Ramón Barbero FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM s.t.
25 Eloy Teruel GRUPO NICOL�S MATEOS s.t.

GC
1 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK 20h40'58
2 Matej Jurco TEAM MILRAM + 1'51
3 Fran Pérez DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 2'20
4 Diego Milán GRUPO NICOL�S MATEOS + 2'23
5 Rubén Plaza SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'37
6 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 3'18
7 Paolo Bailetti TEAM LPR + 3'21
8 Xavier Florencio BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 3'24
9 Joaquim Rodríguez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
10 Ivan Stevic DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'10
11 Maxim Iglinskiy TEAM ASTANA + 4'16
12 Luis León Sánchez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 4'20
13 Aitor Pérez Arrieta CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
14 David Muñoz FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM s.t.
15 Héctor Guerra CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
16 Patxi Vila LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
17 David De la Fuente ANDALUC�A - CAJASUR s.t.
18 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
19 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
20 David Arroyo CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
21 Paco Lara ANDALUC�A - CAJASUR s.t.
22 David Bernabéu FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM s.t.
23 Rodrigo García FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS TEAM s.t.
24 Santiago Botero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
25 Rémi Pauriol BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.

Points
1 Ivan Stevic DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 45
2 Joaquim Rodríguez CAISSE D'EPARGNE 42
3 Xavier Florencio BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM 41
4 Mirko Celestino TEAM LPR 34
5 Rubén Plaza SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 32
6 Isidro Nozal KARPIN GALICIA 28
7 René Haselbacher TEAM ASTANA 25
8 Maxim Iglinskiy TEAM ASTANA 21
9 Alberto Loddo TEAM MILRAM 20
10 Matthew Hayman RABOBANK 18

You did win the points jersey

Last years winner: Luca Paolini
Best DFLs: Mattan 27th, Nolf 28th

Team: Coyot, Nolf, Hammond, Boasson Hagen, Konovalovas, Thomas, Mouris, Bodrogi

Last year I made the mistake of peaking too early but that wont be the case this year as Nolf and Coyot are firmly focused on the mid-April ProTour classics. The current form is Coyot 65 pts, and Nolf 58 pts. Nolf will be our leader in April, so Coyot will lead us in March.

The race itself was fairly eventless, and our tactic today would be to follow attacks. Last years runnerup Marcus Burghardt went with 35km to go and Nolf countered. The attack failed though.


With 26km to go, Nuyens led another attack including more riders like Wesemann and Gusev. Coyot went with them but once again, the attack did not work out.


Coyot then decided to just sit in and wait for the finish... then he punctured.

With Coyot's race over it was up to Nolf, who was already finding the pace a little tough.

Meanwhile, Cancellara had attacked, got a gap, and would never be seen again. He wins Het Volk!


Gilbert is 2nd ahead of Nuyens in 3rd. Nolf clung on to this group and finishes 14th.


1 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC 5h27'25
2 Philippe Gilbert FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 1'49
3 Nick Nuyens COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
4 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
5 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK s.t.
6 Andreas Klier T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
7 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
8 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC s.t.
9 Kevin Van Impe RABOBANK s.t.
10 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
11 Steffen Wesemann TEAM MILRAM s.t.
12 Stuart O'Grady TEAM CSC s.t.
13 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
14 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
15 Lars Michaelsen LIQUIGAS s.t.
16 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 3'27
17 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 4'33
18 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
19 Tom Veelers COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
20 Max Van Heeswijk COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
21 Christophe Mengin FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
22 Marcus Burghardt T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
23 Sébastien Rosseler QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
24 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM s.t.
25 Dimitri Muravyev TEAM ASTANA s.t.
26 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
27 Wim De Vocht PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
28 Karsten Kroon LIQUIGAS s.t.
29 Arnaud Coyot DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
30 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 5'43
31 Wilfried Cretskens QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
32 Nico Eeckhout CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
33 Gorik Gardeyn UNIBET.COM s.t.
34 Andy Flickinger BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
35 Markus Eichler UNIBET.COM s.t.
36 Andy Cappelle LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
37 Bastiaan Giling TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
38 Manuel Quinziato LIQUIGAS s.t.
39 Roy Sentjens PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 7'16
40 Sergei Ivanov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
41 Frederic Guesdon FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 8'19
42 Bert Grabsch T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
43 Geert Steurs PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 8'41
44 Jimmy Casper UNIBET.COM s.t.
45 Gabriele Balducci ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO s.t.
46 Murilo Fischer LIQUIGAS s.t.
47 Geert Omloop JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
48 Stefan Van Dijk TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
49 Fumiyuki Beppu DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
50 Mikhail Timochine LIQUIGAS s.t.
51 Grégory Rast TEAM ASTANA s.t.
52 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
53 Martin Mortensen LIQUIGAS s.t.
54 Frederik Veuchelen CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
55 Fabio Baldato COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
56 Roberto Petito LIQUIGAS + 9'37
57 Kenny De Haes CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
58 Ludovic Auger FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 10'41
59 Roger Hammond DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 11'02
60 Aart Vierhouten SKIL - SHIMANO + 11'27
61 Aivaras Baranauskas AGRITUBEL s.t.
62 Evert Verbist CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
63 Alexandre Usov AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
64 Frank Høj COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
65 Kurt Hovelynck CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
66 Steven Caethoven CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
67 Marvin Van der Pluijm UNIBET.COM s.t.
68 Anthony Geslin TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
69 Jan Kuyckx LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
70 Stéphane Augé COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
71 Imanol Erviti QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
72 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
73 Laszló Bodrogi DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
74 Alexei Kolessov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
75 Eric Baumann T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
76 Rik Verbrugghe COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
77 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC + 12'53
78 Diego Ulissi TEAM ASTANA s.t.
79 Bart Vanheule LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
80 James Vanlandschoot LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
81 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 13'24
82 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
83 Olivier Kaisen PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
84 Dmytro Grabovskyy QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 14'25
85 Jérémy Roy FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
86 Bart Dockx PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 14'49
87 Jens Mouris DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
88 Anders Lund TEAM CSC + 15'29
89 Kevin De Weert COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
90 Pieter Ghyllebert CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 16'41
91 Samuel Dumoulin AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
92 Guennadi Mikhailov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
93 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
94 Angelo Furlan UNIBET.COM s.t.
95 Viggo Klit SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
96 Matteo Tosatto LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
97 Michael Schär TEAM ASTANA s.t.
98 Jean-Patrick Nazon AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
99 Steven Tronet AGRITUBEL s.t.
100 Benoît Joachim TEAM ASTANA s.t.
101 Romain Feillu AGRITUBEL s.t.
102 Ben Hermans TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
103 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM s.t.
104 Niels Scheuneman UNIBET.COM s.t.
105 Bert Scheirlinckx LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
106 Benjamin Vervalle JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
107 Jurgen François JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
108 Bart Aernouts LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
109 Mario Ickx JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
110 Frank Vandenbroucke ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO s.t.
111 Cédric Coutouly AGRITUBEL s.t.
112 Malcolm Lange UNIBET.COM s.t.
113 Jens Erik Madsen ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO s.t.
114 Luke Roberts TEAM CSC + 17'45
115 Tom Steels JARTAZI PROMO FASHION + 18'21
116 Jelle Vanendert TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
117 Albert Timmer SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
118 David Lelay CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
119 Mathieu Criquiélion JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
120 Mickael Delage FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
121 Fabien Bacquet SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
122 Jan Soetens JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
123 Martin Velits TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
124 Julien Belgy BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
125 Paul Martens SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
126 Pierre Drancourt BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
127 Rémy Di Gregorio DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
128 Mathieu Ladagnous FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
129 Sven Nevens JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
130 Massimo Codol ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO s.t.
131 Anthony Charteau CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
132 Erki Pütsep BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
133 Daniel Musiol TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
134 Nicolas Crosbie BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
135 Masamichi Yamamoto SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
136 Cyril Lemoine CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
137 Yohann Gené BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
138 Nicolas Roche CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
139 André Steensen TEAM CSC s.t.
140 Kenny Van Hummel SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
141 Jonathan Hivert CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 20'49
142 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC s.t.

14th isnt bad at all with nolf in 58 form.

Last Years Winner: Nico Mattan! Nolf was 20th, while Hammond was 5th.
Team: Coyot, Nolf, Hammond, Pliuschin, Stannard, Smith, Stevic, Bodrogi

After a bitterly disappointing Het Volk, we hope to bounce back a day later in Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne - just as we did last year. Coyot will again lead, but today we do not intend to attack.


After a fairly dull first half of the race, Kevin Hulsmans started the action as he slipped away from the peleton unnoticed on one of the cobbled climbs.


He built up a lead of 3 minutes with 50km to go when Hoste and Flecha attacked.


Hoste was too much for Flecha and had soon passed Hulsmans.


Hulsmans was caught, but Flecha and Hoste looked likely to stay away. A chase group of 12 formed behind, but was ripped apart by a crash at 10km to go.


Coyot was at the front of the group at the time and missed the fall that took down Hincapie, Gilbert, Gusev, Wesemann, Breschel and Leukemens - with Leukemens abandoning the race.
Sacchi and Sabatini dropped back to help Wesemann leaving a chase group of just 4 riders: Coyot, Cancellara, Weylandt and Pozzato.

Away from all the action, Leif Hoste wins the race!


Flecha takes 2nd


Weylandt sprints to 3rd with Coyot taking 6th.

Hammond and Nolf came home in the next group, which included the crash victims.

While Het Volk had 142 finishes, only 56 riders were able to complete todays course in time and Stannard, Smith and Stevic were amongst the 130+ abandonees.

1 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO 5h09'51
2 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK + 1'55
3 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 3'35
4 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
5 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
6 Arnaud Coyot DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
7 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM + 5'50
8 Marcus Burghardt T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
9 Andreas Klier T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
10 Fabio Sabatini TEAM MILRAM s.t.
11 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
12 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
13 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC s.t.
14 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
15 Roger Hammond DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
16 Damien Gaudin LIQUIGAS s.t.
17 Steffen Wesemann TEAM MILRAM s.t.
18 Philippe Gilbert FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
19 Wim De Vocht PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 7'15
20 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
21 Nick Nuyens COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
22 Kevin Van Impe RABOBANK s.t.
23 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
24 Max Van Heeswijk COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
25 Martin Mortensen LIQUIGAS s.t.
26 Wilfried Cretskens QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
27 Bert Roesems PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
28 Staf Scheirlinckx LIQUIGAS s.t.
29 Mikhail Timochine LIQUIGAS s.t.
30 Fumiyuki Beppu DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
31 Kevin Hulsmans QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
32 Frank Høj COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 8'50
33 Dimitri Muravyev TEAM ASTANA + 9'42
34 Sergei Ivanov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
35 Stuart O'Grady TEAM CSC + 10'23
36 Geert Steurs PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
37 Grégory Rast TEAM ASTANA + 10'59
38 Alexei Kolessov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
39 Diego Ulissi TEAM ASTANA + 11'59
40 Fabio Baldato COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
41 Gorik Gardeyn UNIBET.COM s.t.
42 Roberto Petito LIQUIGAS s.t.
43 Laszló Bodrogi DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
44 Kevin Neirynck LIQUIGAS + 14'08
45 Gerben Löwik RABOBANK + 15'04
46 Manuel Quinziato LIQUIGAS s.t.
47 Guennadi Mikhailov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
48 Benoît Joachim TEAM ASTANA + 16'34
49 Nick Ingels PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
50 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM s.t.
51 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
52 Sébastien Rosseler QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
53 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC s.t.
54 Wim Van Huffel DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
55 Anders Lund TEAM CSC s.t.
56 Jimmy Casper UNIBET.COM + 18'46

In the circumstances, 14th was a great result since he had been working for Coyot all day. The puncture for Coyot was just plain annoying since he was capable of a top 10.

Having a day of hard work can give a 2-3 boost in form

130 abandons

Anyway, looking promising for the classics that matter

Last years winner: Nico Mattan
Team: Coyot, Millar, Stevic, Smith, Swift, Lloyd, Mouris, Blythe

Iljo Keisse went on a long and unsuccesful solo breakaway


With 11km to go, Wim de Vocht attacks on a cobbled section.


He gets a gap and it looks good for him


Coyot launches an attack with 6km to go in an attempt to reach De Vocht


He reaches De Vocht and hoping that De Vocht is weaker, Coyot leads the sprint


They go head to head down the final straight


And De Vocht edges in front


Wim de Vocht wins Le Samyn!


1 Wim De Vocht PREDICTOR - LOTTO 4h47'50
2 Arnaud Coyot DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
3 Nico Eeckhout CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
4 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
5 Tom Veelers COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
6 Roy Sentjens PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
7 Claudio Corioni AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
8 Zdenek Stybar AGRITUBEL s.t.
9 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
10 Nicolas Jalabert AGRITUBEL s.t.
11 Angelo Furlan UNIBET.COM s.t.
12 Olivier Pardini STOREZ LEDECQ MATERIAUX s.t.
13 Boy Van Poppel STOREZ LEDECQ MATERIAUX s.t.
14 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
15 Tom Criel BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
16 Kevyn Ista PÔLE CONTINENTAL WALLON BODYSOL - EUROMILLIONS s.t.
17 Gorik Gardeyn UNIBET.COM s.t.
18 Radomir Simunek Jr. BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
19 Geert Steurs PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
20 Jérémy Burton PÔLE CONTINENTAL WALLON BODYSOL - EUROMILLIONS s.t.
21 Ivan Stevic DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
22 Rik Verbrugghe COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
23 Michael Blanchy BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
24 Steven Caethoven CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
25 Kevin Van Melsen PÔLE CONTINENTAL WALLON BODYSOL - EUROMILLIONS s.t.
26 Andy Cappelle LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
27 John Gadret AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
28 Bart Dockx PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
29 Cyril Dessel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
30 Coen Vermeltfoort ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
31 Frank Høj COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
32 Jérémy Roy FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
33 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
34 Christian Knees ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
35 Rubén Pérez LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
36 Matteo Tosatto LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
37 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
38 Ben Hermans TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
39 Bastiaan Giling TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
40 Michaël Polazzi PÔLE CONTINENTAL WALLON BODYSOL - EUROMILLIONS s.t.
41 Christophe Brandt PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
42 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
43 Dirk Müller AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
44 Kevin De Weert COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
45 Jelle Vanendert TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
46 Maarten Tjallingii T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
47 Björn Schröder CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
48 Victor Hugo Peña ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
49 Peter Wrölich BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
50 Mikaël Chérel FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
51 Ben Swift DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
52 Jan Kuyckx LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
53 Kristof Vandewalle ROUBAIX LILLE MÉTROPOLE s.t.
54 Harald Starzengruber ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
55 Dominique Cornu PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
56 Steve Morabito TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
57 Bert Roesems PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
58 Marc De Maar ROUBAIX LILLE MÉTROPOLE s.t.
59 Jonas Van Genechten STOREZ LEDECQ MATERIAUX s.t.
60 Serge Pauwels CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
61 Bram Deprez LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
62 Michiel Van Aelbroeck PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
63 Steven Kleynen LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
64 Iván Parra COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
65 Niels Scheuneman UNIBET.COM s.t.
66 David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
67 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
68 Jens Mouris DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
69 Amaël Moinard COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
70 Wilfried Cretskens QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 1'57
71 Sergei Kolesnikov UNIBET.COM s.t.
72 Moisés Dueñas AGRITUBEL s.t.
73 Dmytro Grabovskyy QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
74 Jonathan Godfroid STOREZ LEDECQ MATERIAUX s.t.
75 Sven Nevens JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
76 Fabio Polazzi PÔLE CONTINENTAL WALLON BODYSOL - EUROMILLIONS s.t.
77 Marvin Van der Pluijm UNIBET.COM s.t.
78 Dario Cataldo T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
79 Nicolas Baïolet STOREZ LEDECQ MATERIAUX s.t.
80 Enrico Poitschke AGRITUBEL s.t.
81 David Derepas ROUBAIX LILLE MÉTROPOLE s.t.
82 Marko Ullmann T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
83 Laurent Mars STOREZ LEDECQ MATERIAUX s.t.
84 Kurt Hovelynck CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
85 Michael Barry T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
86 Freddy Piamonte QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
87 Laurent Fontaine PÔLE CONTINENTAL WALLON BODYSOL - EUROMILLIONS s.t.
88 Jonas Ljungblad ROUBAIX LILLE MÉTROPOLE s.t.
89 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM s.t.
90 Andreas Matzbacher PÔLE CONTINENTAL WALLON BODYSOL - EUROMILLIONS s.t.
91 Malcolm Lange UNIBET.COM s.t.
92 Fabio Gilioli UNIBET.COM s.t.
93 Steven Tronet AGRITUBEL s.t.
94 Adam Blythe DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
95 Gilles Devillers STOREZ LEDECQ MATERIAUX s.t.
96 Timothy Vangheel FONDAS P3TRANSFER TEAM + 3'24
97 André Korff T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
98 Robert Retschke TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
99 David Verheyen LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
100 Addy Engels QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
101 Kenny Lisabeth CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
102 Tomas Konecny ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
103 Steven Cozza TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
104 Jérôme Coppel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
105 Mathieu Ladagnous FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
106 Christian Pfannberger NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
107 Eduardo Gonzalo AGRITUBEL s.t.
108 Frantisek Rabon FONDAS P3TRANSFER TEAM s.t.
109 Mario Ickx JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
110 Cristiano Salerno ROUBAIX LILLE MÉTROPOLE s.t.
111 Kilian Patour TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
112 Jairo Hernández AGRITUBEL s.t.
113 Clemens Frankhauser ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
114 Jürgen Van De Walle QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
115 Mickey Smith DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
116 Peter Velits TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
117 Mindaugas Striska JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
118 Peter Stetina TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
119 Yannick Martinez AGRITUBEL s.t.
120 Jan Soetens JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
121 Lilian Jégou FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
122 Manuel Orlando Mayorga STOREZ LEDECQ MATERIAUX s.t.
123 Hernán Buenahora QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
124 Michael Lange TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
125 Michael Creed TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
126 Ken Devaere BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
127 Thierry Marichal FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
128 Célio Sousa BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
129 Kevin Maene ROUBAIX LILLE MÉTROPOLE s.t.
130 Marco Pinotti T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
131 Juan Carlos Fernández FONDAS P3TRANSFER TEAM s.t.
132 Jean Zen ROUBAIX LILLE MÉTROPOLE s.t.
133 Stijn Vandenbergh BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
134 Daniele Callegarin NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
135 Antonio Aldegani QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
136 Kristian House NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
137 Martin Velits TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
138 Vytautas Kaupas JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
139 Gideon De Jong FONDAS P3TRANSFER TEAM s.t.
140 Taha Yusri TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
141 Viktor Rapinski NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
142 Bernard Van Ulden NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
143 Guillermo Lana FONDAS P3TRANSFER TEAM s.t.
144 Kobe Vanoverschelde NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
145 Markus Reich TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
146 Reinier Honig FONDAS P3TRANSFER TEAM s.t.
147 Kenny Van Braeckel JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
148 David Navas AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
149 Fabien Patanchon FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
150 Sébastien Crowin PÔLE CONTINENTAL WALLON BODYSOL - EUROMILLIONS s.t.
151 Robert Van Hemelen JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
152 Tim Gudsell FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
153 Matt Cooke NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
154 Robert Lauscha ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
155 Kevin Seeldraeyers QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
156 Wout Poels FONDAS P3TRANSFER TEAM s.t.
157 Jorg Lehmann BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
158 Benjamin Vervalle JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
159 Oleg Grishkine NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
160 Marc Weisshaupt ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
161 Scott Davis T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
162 Iljo Keisse CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 7'39
163 Martin Müller ROUBAIX LILLE MÉTROPOLE + 8'11
164 Nico Keinath T-MOBILE TEAM + 8'51
165 Jurgen Van Goolen FONDAS P3TRANSFER TEAM s.t.
166 Brad Huff TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
167 Bart Aernouts LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER + 12'35
Former DFL rider Jamie Staff, now at Slipstream, crashed out

Nice Race keep it going

Last Years Winner: Wouter Weylandt

Team: Swift, Oliphant, Marzoli, Mouris, Millar, Smith, Blythe, Sulzberger

With the decisive stage being a time trial, David Millar is hoping for a good result.

Stage 1

A flat stage, although with the only climb in the tour, we were active in the breaks. Sulzberger tried early on but it was caught, then Oliphant went taking 3rd in an intermediate sprint but was caught aswell - then Suzlberger attacked 5km from the KoM and eventually took 3rd at the summit as Meersman took the full points and the jersey.

In the sprint we have Marzoli and Swift. Marzoli has the Predictor train, Swift is behind Piil.


Unfortunately for us, its the Landbouwkredit train which is the strongest. So Sijmens leads into the final kilometre, Marzoli is well positioned in 4th though.


Rizza moved into the lead ahead of Sijmens and held off a late charge from Eeckhout to win the stage.

Marzoli faded to 12th while Swift outsprinted our expectations of him and took 8th.

1 Emanuele Rizza TIME - VAN HEMERT 3h52'06
2 Nico Eeckhout CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
3 Roy Sentjens PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
4 Nico Sijmens LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
5 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
6 Steven Tronet AGRITUBEL s.t.
7 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM s.t.
8 Ben Swift DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
9 Gorik Gardeyn UNIBET.COM s.t.
10 Tom Steels JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
11 Angelo Furlan UNIBET.COM s.t.
12 Ruggero Marzoli DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
13 Zdenek Stybar AGRITUBEL s.t.
14 André Schulze TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
15 James Vanlandschoot LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.

Stage 2

Unibet clearly have the best train today and Ben Swift has a great position


Gardeyn passes the baton over to Furlan as Swift makes his move out from Tom Steels.


Furlan took the victory, as Eeeckhout won a tight battle for 2nd with Swift sneaking 3rd ahead of Steels. (Unlike Langkawi, Swift is doing this on pure stat and not following all the way to the line)


1 Angelo Furlan UNIBET.COM 2h10'40
2 Nico Eeckhout CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
3 Ben Swift DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
4 Tom Steels JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
5 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
6 Gorik Gardeyn UNIBET.COM s.t.
7 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM s.t.
8 Kobe Vanoverschelde NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
9 Steven Tronet AGRITUBEL s.t.
10 Nico Sijmens LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
11 Sven Nys RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
12 Marco Zanotti ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
13 James Vanlandschoot LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
14 Ruggero Marzoli DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
15 Emanuele Rizza TIME - VAN HEMERT s.t.

Stage 3

Millar produced a strong ride today and took the lead at the finish, 15 seconds ahead of Bert Roesems


But Millar would only take 2nd, as Dominique Cornu beat the Brit by 6 seconds.


1 Dominique Cornu PREDICTOR - LOTTO 18'25
2 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 6
3 Bert Roesems PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 21
4 Bert Grabsch T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
5 Lars Boom RABOBANK CONTINENTAL + 27
6 Niels Scheuneman UNIBET.COM + 34
7 Thomas Ziegler T-MOBILE TEAM + 35
8 Aivaras Baranauskas AGRITUBEL + 38
9 Victor Hugo Peña ELK HAUS - SIMPLON + 39
10 Olivier Kaisen PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 41
11 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM s.t.
12 Steven Cummings DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
13 Nico Keinath T-MOBILE TEAM + 42
14 Magnus Bäckstedt TEAM SLIPSTREAM + 47
15 David George DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 48


GC
1 Dominique Cornu PREDICTOR - LOTTO 6h21'11
2 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 6
3 Bert Grabsch T-MOBILE TEAM + 21
4 Bert Roesems PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
5 Lars Boom RABOBANK CONTINENTAL + 27
6 Niels Scheuneman UNIBET.COM + 34
7 Thomas Ziegler T-MOBILE TEAM + 35
8 Aivaras Baranauskas AGRITUBEL + 38
9 Victor Hugo Peña ELK HAUS - SIMPLON + 39
10 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM + 41
11 Olivier Kaisen PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
12 Steven Cummings DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
13 Nico Keinath T-MOBILE TEAM + 42
14 Magnus Bäckstedt TEAM SLIPSTREAM + 47
15 David George DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 48
16 Bram Deprez LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER + 52
17 Christian Knees ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
18 Kenny De Ketele CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 54
19 Andy Cappelle LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
20 Zdenek Stybar AGRITUBEL + 56
21 Kilian Patour TEAM SLIPSTREAM + 58
22 Jens Mouris DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 59
23 Glen Alan Chadwick NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
24 Daan Rijntjes TIME - VAN HEMERT + 1'02
25 Torsten Schmidt TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 1'03
26 Steven Cozza TEAM SLIPSTREAM + 1'04
27 Evan Oliphant DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'05
28 Michael Friedman TEAM SLIPSTREAM + 1'06
29 Nicolas Jalabert AGRITUBEL + 1'08
30 Tom Stubbe RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
31 Bauke Mollema RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
32 Mickey Smith DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
33 Nico Eeckhout CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN + 1'09
34 Imanol Erviti QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
35 Ben Swift DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'10
36 Ricardo Van der Velde RABOBANK CONTINENTAL + 1'11
37 Thomas Berkhout RABOBANK CONTINENTAL + 1'13
38 Fumiyuki Beppu DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
39 Sjoerd Botter TIME - VAN HEMERT s.t.
40 Gorik Gardeyn UNIBET.COM + 1'14
41 Stefano Barberi QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
42 Sven Nys RABOBANK CONTINENTAL + 1'16
43 Geert Omloop JARTAZI PROMO FASHION + 1'19
44 Samuel Plouhinec AGRITUBEL s.t.
45 Martin Velits TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 1'20
46 Servais Knaven T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'24
47 Stefan Schaefer TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
48 Sergei Kolesnikov UNIBET.COM + 1'25
49 Roy Sentjens PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 1'28
50 Vytautas Kaupas JARTAZI PROMO FASHION + 1'29
65 Ruggero Marzoli DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'38
113 Adam Blythe DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'23
133 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 11'15

Team: Contador, Perez, Konovalovas, Boasson Hagen, Thomas, Chtioui

A break was still infront by a minute as we reached the main hill of this race. Celestino attacked launching counter attacks of him - with Contador, Perez and Konovalovas all going with the move.


Perez is the strongest of the 3 and is one of the first attackers to reach the breakaway


Over the top and down the descent sees the attackers come to the front.

Aswell as the DFL 3, there is Nocentini, Gil, Vila, Voigt and Celestino.

My 3 riders all keep relaying as other riders try to attack with a limited blue bar. The stage ends in flat kilometres and Contador loses contact with 5km to go - he still sint in great fitness and his daily form is -4


Voigt leads Celestino in the sprint with Perez in the 3rd position


Celestino is surely the favourite today as he moves alongside Voigt


And it is victory for the LPR rider!


1 Mirko Celestino TEAM LPR 4h57'31
2 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC s.t.
3 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
4 Fran Pérez DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
5 Patxi Vila LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
6 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
7 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
8 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'00
9 Daniele Pietropolli CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 1'28
10 Mikhail Ignatiev TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
11 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
12 Stefano Garzelli ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÉ MOKAMBO s.t.
13 Antonio Bucciero CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
14 Martin Elmiger AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
15 John Gadret AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
16 Alberto Ongarato LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
17 Ricardo Serrano TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
18 Marco Marzano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
19 Maarten Tjallingii T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
20 Salvatore Commesso TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
21 Daniele Colli CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
22 Edgardo Simón SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
23 Yuri Trofimov QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
24 Nikolai Trussov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
25 Marco Marcato TEAM LPR s.t.
26 Mathieu Sprick T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
27 Max Van Heeswijk COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
28 Mikhaylo Khalilov CERAMICA FLAMINIA s.t.
29 Alessandro Proni QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
30 Juanma Gárate QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
31 Cyril Dessel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
32 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
33 Benoît Vaugrenard T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
34 Antonio Aldegani QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
35 Dainius Kairelis BARLOWORLD s.t.
36 Michael Barry T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
37 Massimiliano Gentili QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
38 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM s.t.
39 Francesco Bellotti BARLOWORLD s.t.
40 Andrea Tonti QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
41 Dario Cataldo T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
42 Davide Malacarne CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
43 Frank Høj COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
44 Tadej Valjavec LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
45 Fabio Sabatini TEAM MILRAM s.t.
46 Matteo Bono LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
47 Santiago Botero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
48 Giorgio Brambilla LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
49 Sebastian Siedler TEAM MILRAM s.t.
50 Florian Morizot TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
104 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
107 Rafaâ Chtioui DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.

A top quality field is here for the ProTour season opener, and we hope that Alberto Contador can take a top 10 finish in the GC.

Team: Contador, Uran, Manan, Bodrogi, Lloyd, Pliuschin, Haynes and Hammond

Stage 1 ~ Prologue

We brought Laszlo Bodrogi to hopefully do well here today but with a daily form of -5 he stood no chance.

World TT Champion Santiago Botero was in action, he finished 7th ~ 10 seconds down.


2nd today is Caisse d'Epargne rider Luis Leon Sanchez who will no doubt look to help teammate Valverde win this race.


But the first ProTour points leader of the season is Sebastien Rosseler, who wins the prologue


1 Sébastien Rosseler QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 7'50
2 Luis León Sánchez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 6
3 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 7
4 Manuel Quinziato LIQUIGAS + 9
5 Olaf Pollack GEROLSTEINER s.t.
6 Marco Pinotti T-MOBILE TEAM + 10
7 Santiago Botero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
8 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK + 15
9 Torsten Hiekmann GEROLSTEINER s.t.
10 Thomas Lövkvist TEAM MILRAM + 16
11 Sebastian Lang GEROLSTEINER s.t.
12 Rik Verbrugghe COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 17
13 Laszló Bodrogi DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
14 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC s.t.
15 Jérôme Coppel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 18
16 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 19
17 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
18 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 20
19 Christophe Moreau CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 21
20 Evgeni Petrov TEAM CSC s.t.
21 Óscar Pereiro CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 23
22 Brett Lancaster TEAM MILRAM s.t.
23 Emilien-Benoît Bergès AGRITUBEL + 24
24 Michael Schär TEAM ASTANA + 25
25 Juan Pablo Forero PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
26 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
27 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
28 Benoît Vaugrenard T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
29 Grischa Niermann RABOBANK + 26
30 Danilo Di Luca UNIBET.COM s.t.

Hapless, there was strong riders in this break, nevertheless you gotta to have 3 riders in the top 10. That's well. B)

Good story.

By your goal on this TT, Contador wasn't so far. Only 3 secondes behind the 10h.

He'll get back on them for sure.