Team: Millar, Hagen, Konovalovas, Swift, Thomas, Chtioui, Stannard, Blythe
David Millar is our out and out leader for this race while everyone else is here to gain valuable experience points. Hagen is not in form but will look for a decent result in the sprint on stage 1.
Stage 1
LPR take control of the sprint as Marcato leads out Bozic with Hagen behind the Slovenian.
But it looks like LPR mixed up who should lead out who as Marcato is obviously stronger.
Marcato stupidly stops sprinting as Reynes comes through.
The Spaniard looks to have it won before Romain Feillu sneaks past him on the line, extending his lead in the continental standings and proving why he is a future green jersey winner at Le Tour. (And a transfer target for DFL
)
1 Romain Feillu AGRITUBEL 4h27'22
2 Vicente Reynès CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
3 Anthony Geslin TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
4 Jean-Patrick Nazon AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
5 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
6 Marco Marcato TEAM LPR s.t.
7 Mathieu Ladagnous FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
8 Borut Bozic TEAM LPR s.t.
9 Iñaki Isasi EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
10 Pierrick Fédrigo CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
11 Yon Bru EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
12 Enrico Poitschke AGRITUBEL s.t.
13 Rubén Pérez LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
14 Guennadi Mikhailov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
15 Ludovic Auger FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
16 Rafaâ Chtioui DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
17 Alberto Ongarato LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
18 Nicolas Jalabert AGRITUBEL s.t.
19 Marco Marzano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
20 Mathieu Claude BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
21 Franck Rénier BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
22 Bastiaan Giling TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
23 Antxon Luengo EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
24 Matteo Tosatto LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
25 Andreas Dietziker TEAM LPR s.t.
Stage 2
A very hilly stage lasting less than 100km, Stage 2 is all about patience and waiting to make your move at the right time.
Millar ignored the many attacks throughout the day and made his move, as planned, with 6km to go at the foot of the final slope.
Siutsou, Azevedo, Morabito and Vogondy countered him, and they would fight for the win.
And the Belarussian takes it, but Millar is in a perfect position for overall glory
1 Kanstantsin Siutsou BARLOWORLD 2h35'49
2 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
3 José Azevedo LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
4 Steve Morabito TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
5 Nicolas Vogondy AGRITUBEL s.t.
6 Mathieu Ladagnous FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 55
7 Joaquim RodrÃguez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'04
8 Francesco Bellotti BARLOWORLD s.t.
9 Kevin De Weert COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
10 Alberto Losada CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
11 Ivan Rovny LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
12 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC s.t.
13 Marco Marzano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
14 Xavier Zandio CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
15 Oliver Zaugg GEROLSTEINER s.t.
16 Christophe Moreau CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
17 David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
18 Dainius Kairelis BARLOWORLD s.t.
19 Andrei Sartasov BARLOWORLD s.t.
20 Xavi Tondo TEAM ASTANA s.t.
21 Edwin Orozco BARLOWORLD s.t.
22 Julien Mazet TEAM ASTANA s.t.
23 Rémi Pauriol BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
24 Johann Tschopp BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
25 Rubén Pérez LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
Stage 3
A flat 10km TT
Bradley Wiggins set the benchmark time for most of the stage
But Bobby Julich found an extra second on the course and became the new provisional leader.
Julich would have to settle for 2nd though, as with a daily form of
+5, David Millar tore apart the opposition to win the stage and the overall classification.
1 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 10'07
2 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 11
3 Bradley Wiggins COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 12
4 Kevin De Weert COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
5 Jérôme Coppel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 13
6 Koen De Kort TEAM ASTANA + 18
7 José Azevedo LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 22
8 Ronny Scholz GEROLSTEINER s.t.
9 Kilian Patour TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
10 Pedro Nicacio BARLOWORLD + 23
11 Mathieu Ladagnous FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
12 Benoît Joachim TEAM ASTANA + 25
13 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC s.t.
14 Toni Colom TEAM ASTANA + 27
15 Andrei Sartasov BARLOWORLD + 28
16 Nicolas Vogondy AGRITUBEL + 29
17 Christophe Moreau CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
18 Maxime Bouet COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 30
19 Christophe Edaleine CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 33
20 Torsten Schmidt TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
21 Peter Velits TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 34
22 Nicolas Jalabert AGRITUBEL s.t.
23 Andreas Dietziker TEAM LPR + 35
24 Julien Mazet TEAM ASTANA s.t.
25 Ivan Rovny LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
GC
1 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 7h13'12
2 José Azevedo LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 24
3 Kanstantsin Siutsou BARLOWORLD + 32
4 Nicolas Vogondy AGRITUBEL + 35
5 Steve Morabito TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 45
6 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 1'21
7 Koen De Kort TEAM ASTANA + 1'22
8 Kevin De Weert COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
9 Mathieu Ladagnous FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 1'24
10 Ronny Scholz GEROLSTEINER + 1'32
11 Pedro Nicacio BARLOWORLD + 1'33
12 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC + 1'35
13 Toni Colom TEAM ASTANA + 1'37
14 Andrei Sartasov BARLOWORLD + 1'38
15 Christophe Moreau CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 1'39
16 Nicolas Jalabert AGRITUBEL + 1'44
17 Peter Velits TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
18 Ivan Rovny LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 1'45
19 Edwin Orozco BARLOWORLD s.t.
20 Julien Mazet TEAM ASTANA s.t.
21 Iván Parra COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 1'46
22 Florent Brard CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
23 David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 1'47
24 Xavi Tondo TEAM ASTANA s.t.
25 Bastiaan Giling TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 1'48
26 Amaël Moinard COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
27 Xavier Zandio CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'49
28 Alberto Losada CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'51
29 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
30 Eric Berthou CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'52
37 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'56
80 Ben Swift DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 3'15
113 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 4'38
114 Ian Stannard DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
131 Adam Blythe DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 7'03
136 Rafaâ Chtioui DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 7'49
Millar also won the points classification
(Expect him in DFL for 2009 if I make it that far)
