Yeah, shame about Contador though

Stage 4


Its the queen stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico - infact, its the only non-flat stage of the tour.

I expected Andy Schleck to be a big factor roday, and CSC were at the front a lot - so it came as a surprise when Schleck was dropped so early on


So who would feature today? Gesink, Cobo, Ricco, and Rodriguez maybe?

Luca Mazzanti led over the penultimate climb


But he was caught by the foot of the final climb. Piepoli, Rodriguez and Rogers now lead - Rodirguez and Rogers attacked on the climb that they just descended, but Piepoli attacked before then. Behind them, Rogers teammate Kirchen has attacked.


Voigt makes his move, and is countered by Perez and Cobo, kicking off the attacks from the peleton.


Kim Kirchen takes a solo lead


Perez, Astarloza, Cobo and Voigt make up the chase group


Kirchen does not have a great TT so is looking to gain as much time on Voigt due to the 19km itt later in the tour.


And Kirchen takes victory!


Cobo is 2nd, while Perez picks up a ProTour point for 3rd.


Millar's day as race leader ends as he finishes 27th on the stage


1 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM 5h11'45
2 Juanjo Cobo CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 46
3 Fran Pérez DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
4 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC s.t.
5 Mikel Astarloza QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 1'20
6 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'38
7 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS s.t.
8 Rubén Plaza SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'54
9 Vincenzo Nibali T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
10 Kanstantsin Siutsou BARLOWORLD + 2'19
11 Aitor Pérez Arrieta CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
12 Michael Rasmussen DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'44
13 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 3'18
14 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
15 Robert Gesink RABOBANK + 3'49
16 Marco Marzano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
17 José Azevedo LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
18 Yaroslav Popovych TEAM ASTANA s.t.
19 Andriy Grivko FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
20 Hernán Buenahora QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
21 John-Lee Augustyn DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
22 Mauricio Soler BARLOWORLD + 4'19
23 Patxi Vila LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 4'51
24 Vladimir Karpets RABOBANK + 5'00
25 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
26 Alejandro Ramírez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 5'18
27 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 5'50
28 Ivan Santaromita QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
29 Stijn Devolder EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 6'06
30 Francesco Bellotti BARLOWORLD s.t.
31 Giampaolo Cheula SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
32 Guido Trentin SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
33 Fran Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
34 Ruggero Marzoli DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 6'27
35 Haimar Zubeldia RABOBANK s.t.
36 Edwin Orozco BARLOWORLD + 6'38
37 Maxime Monfort COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 7'17
38 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 7'36
39 Joaquim Rodríguez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 7'46
40 Andrey Mizourov TEAM ASTANA + 8'26
41 Tom Danielson DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
42 Charles Wegelius LIQUIGAS + 8'42
43 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
44 Alexander Khatuntsev UNIBET.COM s.t.
45 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
46 Dimitri Muravyev TEAM ASTANA + 9'06
47 Gabriele Tassinari LIQUIGAS + 9'18
48 Sergio Ghisalberti TEAM MILRAM + 10'31
49 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 10'47
50 Steffen Wesemann TEAM MILRAM s.t.
51 Patrice Halgand CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 10'57
52 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
53 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER s.t.
54 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER + 11'21
55 Alexander Efimkin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
56 Josep Jufré PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
57 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 11'40
58 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS s.t.
59 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 12'54
60 Daniele Bennati LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 13'22
61 David McCann DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
62 Félix Cárdenas BARLOWORLD + 13'34
63 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 13'54
64 Assan Bazayev CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 14'46
65 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC + 15'02
66 Denis Menchov LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
67 Óscar Freire RABOBANK + 15'34
68 Koldo Fernández de Larrea EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 15'42
69 Mirko Lorenzetto TEAM MILRAM + 15'50
70 Luca Mazzanti LIQUIGAS s.t.
71 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
72 Jesús Del Nero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 15'58
73 Marco Velo TEAM MILRAM + 17'10
74 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM s.t.
75 Matej Jurco TEAM MILRAM + 17'50
76 Ronny Scholz GEROLSTEINER + 17'58
77 Fortunato Baliani CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
78 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC + 18'06
79 Domenico Pozzovivo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
80 Stuart O'Grady TEAM CSC + 18'14

GC
1 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM 17h08'48
2 Juanjo Cobo CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 50
3 Fran Pérez DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 52
4 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC + 56
5 Mikel Astarloza QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 1'30
6 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'48
7 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS s.t.
8 Rubén Plaza SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'04
9 Vincenzo Nibali T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
10 Aitor Pérez Arrieta CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 2'29
11 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 3'28
12 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
13 Yaroslav Popovych TEAM ASTANA + 3'59
14 Marco Marzano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
15 Andriy Grivko FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
16 John-Lee Augustyn DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
17 José Azevedo LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
18 Robert Gesink RABOBANK s.t.
19 Hernán Buenahora QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
20 Mauricio Soler BARLOWORLD + 4'29
21 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM + 5'10
22 Vladimir Karpets RABOBANK s.t.
23 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 5'20
24 Alejandro Ramírez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 5'28
25 Michael Rasmussen DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 5'49

Nice win with Millar...

Haha little men fall down... Me think it funny B)

Stage 8

Bernhard Kohl moved up to experience level 4 during Paris-Nice and his time seemed unbeatable at one point, he eventually finished 3rd.


Contador needed to beat Pellizotti by 11 seconds to salvage 5th overall after a disastrous Stage 7. He was succesful and beat the Italian by 17 seconds.


Danilo di Luca has really dominated this tour. He took his 4th stage win as he becomes the new ProTour leader


1 Danilo Di Luca UNIBET.COM 20'16
2 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 25
3 Bernhard Kohl TEAM ASTANA + 29
4 Fränk Schleck TEAM CSC + 41
5 Laurens Ten Dam UNIBET.COM + 43
6 Thomas Lövkvist TEAM MILRAM + 46
7 Santiago Botero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
8 Johan Vansummeren QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 50
9 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 51
10 Juanma Gárate QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
11 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 52
12 Pietro Caucchioli COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 56
13 Luis León Sánchez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
14 Manuel Lloret DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
15 Christophe Moreau CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 57
16 Philippe Gilbert FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 59
17 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER + 1'00
18 Óscar Pereiro CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'01
19 Pieter Weening RABOBANK + 1'02
20 Giovanni Visconti TEAM ASTANA s.t.
21 Sébastien Rosseler QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 1'03
22 Samuel Sánchez TEAM ASTANA + 1'05
23 Evgeni Petrov TEAM CSC + 1'06
24 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 1'08
25 Cândido Barbosa EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
26 Rémy Di Gregorio DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
27 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC s.t.
28 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS + 1'09
29 Leonardo Duque COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 1'10
30 Andreas Klöden LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
31 David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 1'12
32 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
33 Saul Raisin FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
34 Manuel Quinziato LIQUIGAS s.t.
35 Iván Parra COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 1'13



11 Sandy Casar FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 10'13
12 John Gadret AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 10'14
13 Tadej Valjavec LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 10'15
14 Juanma Gárate QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 10'44
15 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 10'45
16 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 11'16
17 Pieter Weening RABOBANK + 11'24
18 Rémy Di Gregorio DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 11'46
19 Santiago Botero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 13'35
20 Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER + 13'38
21 Thomas Lövkvist TEAM MILRAM + 13'41
22 Manuele Mori FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 13'42
23 Leonardo Duque COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 13'46
24 Johan Vansummeren QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 14'17
25 Nicolas Vogondy AGRITUBEL + 14'20
26 Giovanni Visconti TEAM ASTANA + 14'29
27 Romain Feillu AGRITUBEL + 16'21
28 Benoît Vaugrenard T-MOBILE TEAM + 16'41
29 Moisés Dueñas AGRITUBEL + 16'46
30 Evgeni Petrov TEAM CSC + 16'59
31 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 17'37
32 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 18'03
33 Óscar Pereiro CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 18'33
34 David Arroyo CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 18'39
35 Pietro Caucchioli COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 18'51
36 David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 19'01
37 Héctor Guerra CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 19'03
38 Mathieu Sprick T-MOBILE TEAM + 19'17
39 Anthony Charteau CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 19'38
40 Constantino Zaballa CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 19'58
41 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 20'00
42 Christophe Moreau CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 20'02
43 Oliver Zaugg GEROLSTEINER + 20'16
44 Marco Pinotti T-MOBILE TEAM + 20'29
45 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 21'33
46 Rik Verbrugghe COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 22'14
47 Alessandro Petacchi TEAM MILRAM + 22'24
48 Maarten Tjallingii T-MOBILE TEAM + 22'25
49 Yuri Trofimov QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 22'34
50 Benoit Salmon AGRITUBEL + 22'41
51 Saul Raisin FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 23'06
52 Allan Davis TEAM MILRAM + 23'59
53 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS + 24'08
54 Bernhard Kohl TEAM ASTANA + 24'28
55 Alexandre Botcharov CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 24'33
56 Iñigo Landaluze EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 24'42
57 Julián Rodas TEAM ASTANA + 24'55
58 Sergio Paulinho DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 25'27
59 Alberto Martínez AGRITUBEL + 25'40
60 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 26'17
61 Cândido Barbosa EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 26'44
62 Matej Mugerli LIQUIGAS + 27'14
63 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER + 27'32
64 Christophe Le Mével CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 28'03
65 Fabio Gilioli UNIBET.COM + 28'10
66 Dimitri Fofonov CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 28'25
67 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK + 28'49
68 Grischa Niermann RABOBANK + 29'08
69 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 29'22
70 Alexandr Dyachenko UNIBET.COM + 29'34
71 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 30'24
72 Sébastien Rosseler QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 30'49
73 Jaume Rovira TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 31'02
74 Iván Parra COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 31'27
75 José Angel Gómez Marchante TEAM CSC + 31'31
76 Malcolm Lange UNIBET.COM + 32'27
77 Julien Mazet TEAM ASTANA + 32'29
78 Xavier Zandio CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 32'56
79 Andreas Klöden LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 33'12
80 Manuel Lloret DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 33'38
81 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC + 33'49
82 Martin Gilbert TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 34'00
83 Linus Gerdemann QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 34'04
84 Mario Aerts PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 34'12
85 Mauricio Ortega SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 34'17
86 David García Dapena TEAM ASTANA + 34'39
87 David Lelay CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 35'35
88 Simone Masciarelli DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 37'25
89 Antxon Luengo EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 37'28
90 Yann Huguet COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 37'52
91 Gorka Verdugo EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 37'58
92 Peter Velits TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 38'13
93 Mauricio Ardila RABOBANK + 39'39
94 Dioni Galparsoro EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 40'46
95 Yon Bru EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 41'14
96 Ben Hermans TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 41'18
97 Tom Stamsnijder GEROLSTEINER + 41'46
98 Manuel Quinziato LIQUIGAS + 41'51
99 Cédric Vasseur LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 41'56
100 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 42'14

Stage 5

Not much to say about this stage, while most of the break was caught, some were not, so well done to Luca Mazzanti


Alex Efimkin caused a crash in the final few kilometres, forcing 8th overall Ruben Plaza to abandon. Plaza was a possible threat for overtaking Perez after tomorrow's TT, so good work Alex!


1 Luca Mazzanti LIQUIGAS 3h14'18
2 Mirko Lorenzetto TEAM MILRAM + 1'32
3 Daniele Pietropolli CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 2'01
4 William Bonnet CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 2'31
5 Bernhard Eisel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
6 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
7 Daniele Bennati LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
8 Erik Zabel PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
9 André Greipel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
10 Ruggero Marzoli DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
11 Óscar Freire RABOBANK s.t.
12 Mark Cavendish T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
13 Fran Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
14 Assan Bazayev CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
15 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER s.t.
16 Sébastien Chavanel FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
17 Koldo Fernández de Larrea EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
18 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM s.t.
19 Christopher Sutton COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
20 Robbie McEwen GEROLSTEINER s.t.
21 Ivan Stevic DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
22 Robert Förster GEROLSTEINER s.t.
23 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
24 Francesco Chicchi UNIBET.COM s.t.
25 Luca Paolini LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.

GC
1 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM 20h25'37
2 Juanjo Cobo CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 50
3 Fran Pérez DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 52
4 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC + 56
5 Mikel Astarloza QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 1'30
6 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS + 1'48
7 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
8 Vincenzo Nibali T-MOBILE TEAM + 2'04
9 Aitor Pérez Arrieta CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 2'29
10 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 3'28
11 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
12 Hernán Buenahora QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 3'59
13 Yaroslav Popovych TEAM ASTANA s.t.
14 John-Lee Augustyn DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
15 Andriy Grivko FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
16 Marco Marzano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
17 Robert Gesink RABOBANK s.t.
18 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM + 5'10
19 Vladimir Karpets RABOBANK s.t.
20 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 5'20
21 Alejandro Ramírez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 5'28
22 Michael Rasmussen DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 5'49
23 Ivan Santaromita QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 6'00
24 Fran Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 6'16
25 Stijn Devolder EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
26 Guido Trentin SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
27 Giampaolo Cheula SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
28 Francesco Bellotti BARLOWORLD s.t.
29 Ruggero Marzoli DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 6'37
30 Haimar Zubeldia RABOBANK s.t.

Stage 6

At last we reach the 19km TT.

Will anyone manage to beat this man?


Cancellara posted a time 1'27 faster than previous leader Marco Velo, the Italian TT Champ.

A threat could be posed from the 3 national champions ranked 20th, 19th and 18th in the GC (Seperated by just 10 seconds): Millar, Karpets and Rogers.


But in the end, they couldnt challenge Cancellara, and Millar was the only one to be less than a minute slower than the Swiss rider.

Millar would have to settle for 4th on the stage though. Gusev showed his form is ready for the cobbles as he took 3rd.


And Jens Voigt took the race lead and now looks set to win Tirreno-Adriatico for the 2nd year in a row as he beat Kim Kirchen by 69 seconds, having started the day 56 seconds behind.


Fran Perez did an excellent job today as he only loses 1 spot in the GC: to Voigt - I had previously thought that he may have struggled to keep in the top 5, but obviously not.

1 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC 23'10
2 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC + 35
3 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 47
4 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 58
5 Juanjo Cobo CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 1'01
6 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 1'05
7 Vincenzo Nibali T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'12
8 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'13
9 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS + 1'19
10 Stijn Devolder EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
11 Vladimir Karpets RABOBANK + 1'20
12 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 1'26
13 Marco Velo TEAM MILRAM + 1'27
14 Nick Nuyens COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 1'28
15 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 1'30
16 Niels Scheuneman UNIBET.COM + 1'31
17 Ronny Scholz GEROLSTEINER s.t.
18 David McCann DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'32
19 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS s.t.
20 Kevin De Weert COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
21 Alejandro Ramírez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'34
22 Yaroslav Popovych TEAM ASTANA + 1'35
23 Jurgen Van den Broeck PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 1'36
24 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 1'38
25 Kevin Van Impe RABOBANK + 1'40
26 Steffen Wesemann TEAM MILRAM + 1'42
27 Andriy Grivko FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
28 Mikel Astarloza QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 1'43
29 Haimar Zubeldia RABOBANK s.t.
30 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'44
31 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK s.t.
32 Matej Jurco TEAM MILRAM + 1'45
33 José Azevedo LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
34 Robert Gesink RABOBANK + 1'47
35 Fran Pérez DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'48

GC
1 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC 20h50'18
2 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM + 13
3 Juanjo Cobo CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 20
4 Fran Pérez DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'09
5 Mikel Astarloza QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 1'42
6 Vincenzo Nibali T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'45
7 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'15
8 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS + 2'29
9 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'44
10 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 3'02
11 Aitor Pérez Arrieta CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 3'08
12 Yaroslav Popovych TEAM ASTANA + 4'03
13 Andriy Grivko FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 4'10
14 Robert Gesink RABOBANK + 4'15
15 Hernán Buenahora QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 4'20
16 John-Lee Augustyn DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 4'38
17 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'47
18 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM + 4'52
19 Vladimir Karpets RABOBANK + 4'59
20 Marco Marzano LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 5'05
21 Alejandro Ramírez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 5'31
22 Stijn Devolder EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 6'04
23 Michael Rasmussen DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 6'16
24 Haimar Zubeldia RABOBANK + 6'49
25 Guido Trentin SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 6'57
26 José Azevedo LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 6'59
27 Francesco Bellotti BARLOWORLD + 7'19
28 Ivan Santaromita QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
29 Fran Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 7'26
30 Giampaolo Cheula SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
31 Ruggero Marzoli DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 7'28
32 Mauricio Soler BARLOWORLD + 7'56
33 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS + 8'30
34 Joaquim Rodríguez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 8'50
35 Andrey Mizourov TEAM ASTANA + 9'09
36 Alexander Khatuntsev UNIBET.COM + 9'15
37 Patxi Vila LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 9'19
38 Dimitri Muravyev TEAM ASTANA + 10'10
39 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 11'02
40 Steffen Wesemann TEAM MILRAM s.t.
41 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER + 11'25
42 Sergio Ghisalberti TEAM MILRAM + 11'40
43 Josep Jufré PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 12'00
44 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER + 12'04
45 Patrice Halgand CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 12'07
46 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 12'11
47 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 12'49
48 Edwin Orozco BARLOWORLD + 12'54
49 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 14'03
50 Daniele Bennati LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 14'27
51 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC + 14'29


Stage 7

The GC did not chance on the final stage as it would come down to a sprint - after the breakaway, involving Ivan Stevic, was caught with 7km to go.




In the sprint Cavendish led out Greipel to victory



The final top 10:

Here are the current ProTour rankings, Wiesenhof and Euskaltel are yet to get off the mark. Its a good start for DFL, with 2 riders in the top 10 and 4th in the team rankings. (Incidentally, Perez is the current leader of the Superprestige rankings)

[img-r]https://87.238.162.165/uci23.gif[/img-r]

Nokere - Koerse

Team: Coyot, Nolf, Hammond, Bodrogi, Konovolas, Swift, Smith, Hoy

Last years race was full of action, but that was not the case this year. The race centres around a cobbled climb each lap, but other than that, theres just flatness.

Ben Swift punctured at the end of lap one, but nothing else interesting happened until 7km to go.


For with 7km to go, Roger Hammond muttered "Catch me if you can" as he launched himself off the front of the peleton.


And to sum up 6km in three words: he wasn't caught.


Victory for Hammond!


Coyot took 2nd while Hulsmans came past Nolf in the closing metres to spoil what would have been a DFL 1-2-3.


1 Roger Hammond DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 5h04'24
2 Arnaud Coyot DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 35
3 Kevin Hulsmans QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
4 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
5 Bert Roesems PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
6 Geert Steurs PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
7 Jan Kuyckx LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
8 Laszló Bodrogi DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
9 Olivier Kaisen PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
10 Nico Sijmens LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
11 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
12 Preben Van Hecke PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
13 Imanol Erviti QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
14 Jürgen Van De Walle QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
15 Dominique Cornu PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
16 Bart Dockx PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
17 James Vanlandschoot LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
18 Geert Verheyen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
19 Stefano Zanini PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
20 Gorik Gardeyn UNIBET.COM s.t.
21 Gerben Löwik RABOBANK s.t.
22 Geert Omloop JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
23 Bert Scheirlinckx LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
24 Tom Criel BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
25 Anthony Geslin TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
26 Hans Dekkers PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
27 Sven Vanthourenhout AMORE E VITA - MCDONALD'S s.t.
28 Bram Deprez LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
29 Jimmy Casper UNIBET.COM s.t.
30 Daniel Musiol TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
31 Bart Vanheule LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
32 Dmytro Grabovskyy QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
33 Bart Aernouts LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
34 Stefano Barberi QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
35 Matthew Hayman RABOBANK s.t.
36 Kevin Seeldraeyers QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
37 Olivier Pardini STOREZ LEDECQ MATERIAUX s.t.
38 Maryan Hary AMORE E VITA - MCDONALD'S s.t.
39 Robert Retschke TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
40 Jonas Van Genechten STOREZ LEDECQ MATERIAUX s.t.
41 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM s.t.
42 Igor Pugaci UNIBET.COM s.t.
43 Lars Ytting Bak AMORE E VITA - MCDONALD'S s.t.
44 Jonathan Godfroid STOREZ LEDECQ MATERIAUX s.t.
45 Ondrej Sosenka UNIBET.COM s.t.
46 Carlos Barredo RABOBANK s.t.
47 Tom Steels JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
48 Torsten Schmidt TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
49 Matthew White BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
50 Jeroen Boelen TIME - VAN HEMERT s.t.
56 Ben Swift DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
74 Mickey Smith DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
87 Chris Hoy DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.

You need to update your most recent win, good job with the 1-2-4 in Nokere-Koerse

well done with a solid team performance

Awesome win for Hammond, Haha 'Catch me if you can' i like it!

Team: Millar, Uran, Pliuschin, Efimkin, Stevic, Manan, Sulzberger and Lloyd

Not a target for us, and most of the team is here for experience - infact, Millar is the only rider not here for experience and he and Uran will be our joint leaders today.

After around 100km of attacking, some riders did finally get away, although their gap was never big.

Moletta and Wesemann in Group 1, Pellizotti and Gilbert in Group 2.

But these 4 never got far and were soon caught again as Jens Voigt went on a solo attack.


Voigt was away for over 60km, his gap varying between 20 seconds and 50 seconds. Nothing happened on the Cipressa, and nothing looked like happening on the Poggio until Millar attacked.


Millar couldnt get far though and was soon reeled back in


Some action finally happened on the descent of the Poggio as Valverde and Napolitano collided.


A lot more riders went down, including Boonen and Freire


The best train in the sprint was clearly Milram's as Allan Davis leads out Alessandro Petacchi. The other train was led by Eisel for Cavendish but the Austrian really let Cavendish down and ruined his chances.


While Petacchi waited behind Davis, Bennati made his move early


Bettini followed him but seemed unable to find a path through


Daniele Bennati wins!


1 Daniele Bennati LAMPRE - FONDITAL 7h06'28
2 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
3 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
4 Fran Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
5 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER s.t.
6 Alessandro Petacchi TEAM MILRAM s.t.
7 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC s.t.
8 Danilo Di Luca UNIBET.COM s.t.
9 Allan Davis TEAM MILRAM s.t.
10 Christopher Sutton COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
11 Assan Bazayev CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
12 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
13 Mark Cavendish T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
14 William Bonnet CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
15 Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER s.t.
16 Bernhard Eisel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
17 Jesús Del Nero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
18 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
19 Sergei Ivanov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
20 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
21 Stuart O'Grady TEAM CSC s.t.
22 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
23 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
24 Samuel Sánchez TEAM ASTANA s.t.
25 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
26 Nick Nuyens COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
27 Marcus Burghardt T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
28 Kevin Van Impe RABOBANK s.t.
29 Giovanni Visconti TEAM ASTANA s.t.
30 Andreas Klier T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
31 Stijn Devolder EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
32 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER s.t.
33 Dimitri Muravyev TEAM ASTANA s.t.
34 Luca Paolini LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
35 Karsten Kroon LIQUIGAS s.t.
36 Luca Mazzanti LIQUIGAS s.t.
37 Fränk Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
38 Enrico Gasparotto LIQUIGAS s.t.
39 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 1'58
40 Christophe Moreau CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
41 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC s.t.
42 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
43 Cândido Barbosa EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
44 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
45 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK + 2'45
46 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS s.t.
47 Óscar Freire RABOBANK s.t.
48 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
49 Koldo Fernández de Larrea EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
50 Andriy Grivko FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
51 David Kopp GEROLSTEINER s.t.
52 Manuele Mori FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
53 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
54 Giampaolo Cheula SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
55 Fabio Gilioli UNIBET.COM s.t.
56 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
57 Anthony Geslin TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
58 Danilo Napolitano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
59 Mikaël Chérel FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
60 Erik Zabel PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
61 Ivan Stevic DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
62 Iñigo Landaluze EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
63 Joaquim Rodríguez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
64 Manuel Quinziato LIQUIGAS s.t.
65 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
66 Johan Vansummeren QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
67 Mathieu Ladagnous FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 4'18
68 Gerald Ciolek T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
69 Sébastien Chavanel FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
70 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
71 Dainius Kairelis BARLOWORLD s.t.
72 Leonardo Duque COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
73 Ben Hermans TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
74 Steve Morabito TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
75 Constantino Zaballa CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
76 Luis León Sánchez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
77 Enrico Franzoï LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
78 Pieter Weening RABOBANK s.t.
79 Pietro Caucchioli COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
80 Martin Gilbert TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
81 Koldo Gil SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
82 Roy Sentjens PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 5'54
83 Antonio Quadranti UNIBET.COM + 6'26
84 André Greipel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
85 Manuel Medina SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 7'06
86 Simone Masciarelli DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
87 Fabio Baldato COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
88 Mirko Lorenzetto TEAM MILRAM s.t.
89 Michael Rasmussen DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
90 Robert Förster GEROLSTEINER s.t.
91 Bram Schmitz RABOBANK s.t.
92 Marco Pinotti T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
93 Francesco Chicchi UNIBET.COM + 8'41
94 Marco Velo TEAM MILRAM s.t.
95 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
96 David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
97 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
98 Angelo Furlan UNIBET.COM s.t.
99 Alexander Efimkin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
100 Gerben Löwik RABOBANK + 10'15
101 Emanuele Sella CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
102 Alberto Ongarato LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 10'51
103 Olivier Kaisen PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 11'15
104 Anthony Charteau CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
105 Robbie McEwen GEROLSTEINER + 11'39
106 Sébastien Rosseler QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 12'19
107 Andrei Sartasov BARLOWORLD s.t.
108 Ivan De Nobile TEAM CSC s.t.
109 Dimitri Fofonov CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
110 Eduard Vorganov EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
111 Roberto Heras DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 13'31
112 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC s.t.
113 Yuri Trofimov QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
114 Aketza Peña EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
115 Diego Ulissi TEAM ASTANA s.t.
116 Mauricio Ardila RABOBANK s.t.
117 Christophe Edaleine CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
118 Matteo Priamo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
119 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
120 Benoît Joachim TEAM ASTANA s.t.
121 Marc Lotz BARLOWORLD s.t.
122 David George DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
123 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA s.t.
124 Bastiaan Giling TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
125 Paride Grillo CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
126 Xavier Zandio CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 15'15
127 Gorka Verdugo EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
128 Niels Scheuneman UNIBET.COM s.t.
129 Sergio Ghisalberti TEAM MILRAM s.t.
130 Stefan Van Dijk TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
131 Giorgio Brambilla LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
132 Saul Raisin FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
133 Andrey Mizourov TEAM ASTANA + 16'03
134 Anuar Manan DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 16'51
135 Peter Velits TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 18'06
136 Daniele Colli CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 18'41
137 Gabriele Bosisio CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 19'17
138 Francis Mourey FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
139 Ivan Santaromita QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
140 Fabrizio Guidi BARLOWORLD s.t.
141 John-Lee Augustyn DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
142 Simone Ponzi TEAM MILRAM s.t.
143 Stefan Schaefer TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
144 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
145 Jean-Marc Marino CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
146 Ersilio Calogero TEAM MILRAM s.t.
147 Antonio Aldegani QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
148 Alberto Losada CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
149 Bernard Sulzberger DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 20'33
150 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
151 Tyler Farrar COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
152 Daniel Lloyd DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
153 Emanuelle Bindi LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 21'28
154 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM s.t.
155 Philippe Gilbert FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
156 Carlos Eduardo Alzate EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
157 Steffen Wesemann TEAM MILRAM + 21'57
158 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER s.t.
159 Antonio García González SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 22'24
160 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC + 23'46
161 Gerhard Trampusch BARLOWORLD + 24'18
162 Olaf Pollack GEROLSTEINER + 25'06
163 Francesco Failli LIQUIGAS + 25'30
164 Graeme Brown RABOBANK s.t.
165 Laurens Ten Dam UNIBET.COM + 26'02
166 Stefano Zanini PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
167 Enrico Degano BARLOWORLD s.t.
168 Max Richeze CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 27'38
169 Aitor Pérez Arrieta CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
170 Cláudio Apolo BARLOWORLD + 32'18
171 Fernando Capecchi CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 33'46
172 Virgile Hervier BARLOWORLD + 36'10

Too bad stevic was back in pack, he might have been able to get you a top-10, provided you were in a good spot on the right train and followed all the way to the finish.

He wasnt back in the pack, he was in a group that finished nearly 3 minutes down My only finisher in the 38 man lead group was Millar, who had 2 red bars from his attack so couldnt do much in the sprint.

Well, tough luck anyway

Anyone, Badly Injured after that mass crash?

Hopefully Levi, he deserves it (yes, this was to piss off Levi4Life)

Only Gusev had to withdraw



Leipheimer wasnt riding Milan San Remo for the simple fact that he doesnt have a team this season - he is a free agent.

Then sign him.......No, you already have a good team, and I was joking

Well like I think I already said a few pages back, I had a chance to sign him very cheaply but chose not to.