Team line up:
Frederik Nolf - 96 fitness points - Last Year: 23rd
Arnaud Coyot - 94 fitness points - Last Year: 18th
Roger Hammond - 89 fitness points - Last Year: 17th
Geraint Thomas - 88 fitness points - Last Year: Did not ride
Laszlo Bodrogi - 73 fitness points - Last Year: N/A
Ignas Konovalovas - 76 fitness points - Last Year: Did not ride
Edvald Boasson Hagen - 67 fitness points - Last Year: Did not ride
Aleksandr Pliuschin - 72 fitness points - Last Year: 34th

172km to go: A bad start for Euskaltel as Devolder falls

Devolder would make it back unhurt, but none of the 7 riders who dropped back to help him would stay in the peleton for long, and will finish a long way outside the time limit.

141km to go: Breschel punctures

He drops the back to the peleton but recovers. Throughout this time, CSC lead the pace setting so it looks like Cancellara is team leader today

122km to go: Konovalovas crashes with a few other riders, while Andreas Klier punctures


96km to go: No attacks, crashes or punctures in the Aremberg forest


86km to go: Pliuschin punctures


77km to go: Ballan punctures

76km to go: Coyot crashes

Both riders will make it back to the front of the peleton

55km to go: Bad timing for Burghardt as he punctures

He has to waste a lot of energy to get back though.

We enter the final 50km, both Nolf and Coyot have only recently taken their first drink, the race has not been at a fast pace. That changes with 49km to go though, as Wesemann attacks and gets a gap.


33km to go: The gap has slowly drifted up to 50 seconds, so Coyot attacks.


Gilbert, Devolder and Franzoi go with him


24km to go: The four riders are caught and Wesemann's gap is now much lower


19km to go: Wesemann is caught and Cancellara attacks!


He gets a gap and starts to pull away


13km to go: Coyot puts in another attack


6km to go: Coyots gap is just over 10 seconds and his red bars are quickly growing, so Nolf attacks


Velodrome:
Cancellara starts his final lap before anyone else has entered


Coyot leads the riders into the velodrome, Nolfs attack didnot work since Van Impe just followed him


Coyot has moreorless sat up now, as Nolf leads the sprint with 2km to go


Fabian Cancellara is the comfortable winner though!


Pozzato and Van Impe start to move past Nolf


Amid the confusion of other riders who have just entered the velodrome, Pozzato takes 2nd, Van Impe 3rd.


The battle for positions 4-8 is very tight (Ignore the Liquigas rider who is a lap down)


Thats not Hoste, but - surprisingly - Greg van Avermaet! O'Grady looks a clear 5th but for some reason, he is only given 8th place as Nolf is allocated 5th! Ballan is 6th, Burghardt 7th.

1 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC 7h58'10
2 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS + 2'09
3 Kevin Van Impe RABOBANK s.t.
4 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
5 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
6 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
7 Marcus Burghardt T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
8 Stuart O'Grady TEAM CSC s.t.
9 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
10 Philippe Gilbert FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
11 Nick Nuyens COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
12 Steffen Wesemann TEAM MILRAM s.t.
13 Arnaud Coyot DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
14 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
15 Stijn Devolder EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
16 Enrico Franzoï LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
17 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC + 3'48
18 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK + 5'16
19 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 6'06
20 Jesús Del Nero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
21 David Kopp GEROLSTEINER s.t.
22 Sergei Ivanov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
23 Sébastien Rosseler QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
24 Luca Paolini LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
25 Dimitri Muravyev TEAM ASTANA s.t.
26 Roger Hammond DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 6'44
27 Roy Sentjens PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
28 Christophe Mengin FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
29 Damien Gaudin LIQUIGAS + 7'14
30 Wim De Vocht PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
31 Staf Scheirlinckx LIQUIGAS s.t.
32 Manuel Quinziato LIQUIGAS s.t.
33 Frederic Guesdon FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 8'54
34 Fabio Sabatini TEAM MILRAM + 9'54
35 Andreas Klier T-MOBILE TEAM + 10'51
36 Kevin Hulsmans QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
37 Koen De Kort TEAM ASTANA s.t.
38 Renaud Dion LIQUIGAS s.t.
39 Markus Eichler UNIBET.COM s.t.
40 Geert Steurs PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
41 Henk Vogels GEROLSTEINER s.t.
42 Martin Elmiger AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
43 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
44 Bastiaan Giling TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 14'39
45 Gil Suray TEAM CSC s.t.
46 Carlos Barredo RABOBANK s.t.
47 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK s.t.
48 Laszló Bodrogi DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
49 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 15'17
50 Jimmy Casper UNIBET.COM + 15'59
51 Alberto Ongarato LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
52 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM s.t.
53 Marcus Ljungqvist LIQUIGAS s.t.
54 Wilfried Cretskens QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
55 Markus Zberg GEROLSTEINER s.t.
56 Alexandre Usov AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
57 Constantino Zaballa CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
58 Benoît Joachim TEAM ASTANA s.t.
59 Igor Abakoumov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
60 Florent Brard CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 16'55
61 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 17'35
62 Frank Høj COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
63 Gorik Gardeyn UNIBET.COM s.t.
64 Simone Masciarelli DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 19'00
65 Gianni Meersman DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
66 Bobbie Traksel DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
67 Fumiyuki Beppu DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
68 Guennadi Mikhailov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
69 Roberto Petito LIQUIGAS s.t.
70 Michael Albasini LIQUIGAS s.t.
71 Imanol Erviti QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
72 Markel Irizar EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
73 Bradley Wiggins COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
74 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
75 Volker Ordowski GEROLSTEINER + 20'29
76 Bart Dockx PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 21'09
77 Eric Baumann T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
78 Anthony Geslin TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
79 Servais Knaven T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
80 Gerben Löwik RABOBANK s.t.
81 Thierry Marichal FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
82 Yuri Krivtsov AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
83 Bram Schmitz RABOBANK + 21'46
84 Thomas Ziegler T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
85 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC s.t.
86 Marvin Van der Pluijm UNIBET.COM + 23'38
87 Raivis Belohvosciks SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
88 Cédric Vasseur LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
89 Bert Grabsch T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
90 Preben Van Hecke PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
91 Geert Verheyen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
92 Rik Verbrugghe COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
93 Sebastian Langeveld RABOBANK s.t.
94 Pedro Horrillo LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
95 André Korff T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
96 Ludovic Auger FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
97 Stéphane Augé COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
98 Sebastian Siedler TEAM MILRAM s.t.
99 Nicolas Portal CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
100 Kevin De Weert COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
101 Niels Scheuneman UNIBET.COM s.t.
102 René Haselbacher TEAM ASTANA s.t.
103 Mickael Buffaz COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
104 Jaume Rovira TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
105 Eric Berthou CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
106 Mathieu Ladagnous FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.

Great 5th place

Very nice 5th place - and a good Paris-Roubaix, nice to see lots of favourite suffering from mechanicals and falls

ProTour Rankings

very good 2nd place with enough points to the 3rd place of course CSC is unbeatable...

and nice you manually put in the losers

Good stuff, keep it up

wierd with O'Grady

A very unusual cobbled race this year. Why? Because Tom Boonen is in it.

Filippo Pozzato led the attacks with 24km to go


A group of 6 formed: Van Impe, Nolf, Boonen, Hoste, Klier, Pozzato


A mixture of -5 daily form and a badly timed drink meant that Coyot could not keep with the main attacks and rides solo inbetween the front 6 and the main peleton.

With 10km to go, Nolf attacked and got a slight gap


It doesnt look like it will be enough though as the sprint begins


Nolf still leads into the final turn with 1.3km to go


But then Boonen makes his move


And its a win for Boonen - why wasnt he riding in Roubaix??


Nolf finished 4th, while Coyot soloed in to take 7th.

1 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 5h21'29
2 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
3 Kevin Van Impe RABOBANK s.t.
4 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
5 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
6 Andreas Klier T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
7 Arnaud Coyot DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 1'56
8 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK + 2'32
9 Óscar Freire RABOBANK s.t.
10 Greg Van Avermaet PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
11 Wouter Weylandt QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
12 Geraint Thomas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
13 Roger Hammond DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
14 Erik Zabel PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
15 Steffen Wesemann TEAM MILRAM s.t.
16 Fabio Sabatini TEAM MILRAM s.t.
17 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM s.t.
18 Andy Cappelle LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
19 Kevin Hulsmans QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
20 Matthew Hayman RABOBANK s.t.
21 Yuri Trofimov QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
22 Marcus Burghardt T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
23 Sébastien Rosseler QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
24 Evert Verbist CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
25 Staf Scheirlinckx LIQUIGAS s.t.
26 Wim De Vocht PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
27 Servais Knaven T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
28 Roberto Petito LIQUIGAS s.t.
29 Manuel Quinziato LIQUIGAS s.t.
30 Carlos Barredo RABOBANK s.t.
31 Frederik Veuchelen CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
32 Bert Roesems PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 3'55
33 Stefan Van Dijk TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
34 Jimmy Casper UNIBET.COM s.t.
35 Markus Eichler UNIBET.COM s.t.
36 Elia Rigotto TEAM MILRAM s.t.
37 Preben Van Hecke PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
38 Radomir Simunek Jr. BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
39 Johan Coenen CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
40 Bert Grabsch T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
41 Damien Gaudin LIQUIGAS + 4'48
42 Nico Sijmens LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
43 Eric Baumann T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
44 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
45 Björn Schröder CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
46 Bart Aernouts LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
47 Jan Kuyckx LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER + 5'45
48 André Korff T-MOBILE TEAM + 6'41
49 Koen Barbé CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
50 Graeme Brown RABOBANK s.t.
51 Alessandro Cortinovis TEAM MILRAM s.t.
52 Thomas Ziegler T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
53 Nikolas Maes RABOBANK s.t.
54 David Boucher LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
55 Bart Dockx PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
56 Aart Vierhouten SKIL - SHIMANO + 8'43
57 Iljo Keisse CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
58 Marcus Ljungqvist LIQUIGAS s.t.
59 Kevin Neirynck LIQUIGAS s.t.
60 Michael Blanchy BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
61 Mario Ickx JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
62 Sjef De Wilde LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
63 Artur Gajek TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
64 Hirota Mori TEAM TENAX - MENIKINI s.t.
65 Piet Rooijakkers SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
66 Geert Verheyen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
67 Dainius Kairelis BARLOWORLD s.t.
68 Tom Criel BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
69 Erwin Vervecken TEAM TENAX - MENIKINI s.t.
70 Huub Duyn TEAM TENAX - MENIKINI s.t.
71 Oleg Grishkine NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
72 Bart Vanheule LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
73 Guido Trenti TEAM TENAX - MENIKINI s.t.
74 Vincent Bastaens JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
75 Joaquín Sobrino TEAM TENAX - MENIKINI s.t.
76 Angelo Furlan UNIBET.COM s.t.
77 Matthew White BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
78 Niels Scheuneman UNIBET.COM s.t.
79 Sebastian Siedler TEAM MILRAM + 9'41
80 Mikhail Timochine LIQUIGAS s.t.
81 Ben Swift DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
82 Jakob Piil T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
83 Benny De Schrooder CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
84 Jarno Van Mingeroet JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
85 Rafaâ Chtioui DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
86 Robert Wagner TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
87 Ersilio Calogero TEAM MILRAM s.t.
88 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM s.t.
89 Ben Hermans TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
90 Jurgen François JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
91 Davide Viganò QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
92 Aron Huysmans BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
93 Daniele Callegarin NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
94 Robert Retschke TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
95 Óscar Gatto TEAM TENAX - MENIKINI s.t.
96 Stijn Vandenbergh BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
97 Lucio Capozzi BARLOWORLD s.t.
98 Ken Devaere BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
99 Gerben Löwik RABOBANK s.t.
100 Ciaran Power NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
101 Jelle Vanendert TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
102 Niki Terpstra TEAM MILRAM s.t.
103 Viggo Klit SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
104 Sébastien Minard TEAM TENAX - MENIKINI s.t.
105 Bram Deprez LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
106 Stefano Barberi QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
107 Jan Soetens JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
108 Viktor Rapinski NAVIGATORS INSURANCE + 11'46
109 Francesco Bellotti BARLOWORLD s.t.
110 Denis Flahaut JARTAZI PROMO FASHION s.t.
111 Francesco Chicchi UNIBET.COM s.t.
112 Gorik Gardeyn UNIBET.COM s.t.
113 Jan Almblad TEAM TENAX - MENIKINI s.t.
114 James Lewis Perry BARLOWORLD s.t.
115 Stefan Schaefer TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
116 Andrei Sartasov BARLOWORLD s.t.
117 Martin Velits TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
118 Jens Debusschere BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
119 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
120 Takamitu Tsuji SKIL - SHIMANO + 12'47
121 Masamichi Yamamoto SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
122 Malcolm Lange UNIBET.COM s.t.
123 Nick Krings NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
124 Sven Nevens JARTAZI PROMO FASHION + 13'43
125 Yoshiyuki Abe SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
126 Ignas Konovalovas DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
127 Robert Van Hemelen JARTAZI PROMO FASHION + 16'51
128 David Gear NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
129 Brad Armstrong NAVIGATORS INSURANCE s.t.
130 Enrico Degano BARLOWORLD s.t.
131 Indalecio López Duque BARLOWORLD s.t.
132 Kenny Lisabeth CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
133 Pol Bolks SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
134 David Rodriguez NAVIGATORS INSURANCE + 20'59
135 Virgile Hervier BARLOWORLD s.t.

wow i must say you are soldiering on with this story SP, great riding and its always a luxury when you get to chose who comes 2nd or 1st great riding, and excellent reporting

Im currently in the process of transfering various files over to my new (vista) laptop. I might have time to progress the story a bit more at the weekend.

But for now, Ive decided to post up the full list of Smoothie's achievements this story has earnt.

Brit:


The Silver award is half done since I have won a stage race with a Brit (Criterium International, Millar)

Wins:



Time Trial:



Crash:




Home Grown Hero:


Green Jersey:

Good job getting all those achievements. If you keep up with the story I bet you will get a lot more achievements.

Its amongst my motivations for continuing and not switching to the PCMdaily DB.

Another motivation is that Ive never raced any Grand Tour ever in a career, neither have I ever raced any of the other ProTour races in the season, apart from Vattenfalls, ParisTours Eneco and Deutschland, which I entered in season 1 of DFL, and the races ive done so far in season 2.

That is true. I know you will eventually have to start playing the PCM daily DB but I hope you will be able to hold off your need to play it for at least one more season. If you can't then I look forward to th next story you start.

Great, Stuff getting the Achievements. Thanks Good luck for the rest of the season!

Tour du Finistère

We bring our best possible hilly squad (Apart from Uran who is in Colombia for the National Champs: 12th in the TT, 14th in the RR) but only as preparation for tomorrow's Amstel Gold, we arent too fussed about winning here.

A 17-man breakaway went clear, and they would decide the race today.


We were hoping Bradley Wiggins would win, but a sneaky late attack from Stef Clement gave Bouygues Telecom a valuable victory.


Wiggins finished 10th, while Contador did go on an attack with 30km to go just to test his legs.

Its hard to forget the 2007 editions of this race, afterall, Nico Mattan did win by over 11 minutes!

27 riders finished last year, our aim today is to have even less finishers than that so from the start, all DFL riders other than Coyot, Nolf and Hammond, set a strong pace.


When we reached the start of the main cobbled sections, half the peleton had already been dropped and Hammond began to relay.


The pack got further stretched, Nolf came forward to strike the killer blow


And there we have the gap. Hammond and Backstedt watch as Nolf, Coyot and Elmiger ride away


Nolf and Coyot team up to distance Elmiger


And they are soon on their own


They have a lead of 5 and a half minutes with 30km to go, when Nolf runs out of energy


Coyot pulls away and he too goes slow in the last 10km to avoid running out of energy. And he is able to cross the line with a small amount of green left, finally taking his first win of the season after 4 second places!


Nolf is able to complete a DFL 1-2, despite 30km without any energy


1 Arnaud Coyot DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED 5h43'40
2 Frederik Nolf DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 3'55
3 Andy Flickinger BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 5'01
4 Magnus Bäckstedt TEAM SLIPSTREAM s.t.
5 Martin Elmiger AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
6 Anthony Colin ROUBAIX LILLE MÉTROPOLE + 7'00
7 Christophe Mengin FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
8 Fabio Baldato COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
9 Franck Rénier BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM + 8'22
10 Geert Omloop JARTAZI PROMO FASHION + 10'16
11 Frank Høj COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 13'02
12 Roger Hammond DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 14'20
13 Ludovic Auger FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 15'06
14 Xavier Florencio BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
15 Thomas Voeckler BOUYGUES TÉLÉCOM s.t.
16 Stefan Schreck NIPPO - MEITAN HONPO - ASADA + 15'42
17 Jérémy Roy FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
18 Steven Tronet AGRITUBEL + 16'42
19 Zdenek Stybar AGRITUBEL s.t.
20 Christophe Kern ROUBAIX LILLE MÉTROPOLE s.t.
21 Klaas Sys NIPPO - MEITAN HONPO - ASADA + 17'30
22 Stèphane Poulhiès BABES ONLY - VILLAPARK LINGEMEER - FLANDERS s.t.
23 Nicolas Jalabert AGRITUBEL s.t.
24 Benjamin Vervalle JARTAZI PROMO FASHION + 19'16
25 Rik Verbrugghe COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.

only 25 finishers!!!
skills

Not many teams were pleased with the wildcard allocations at Amstel Gold - Rabobank Continental have been given a spot, effectively giving Rabobank 16 riders.

Top 5 is a sponsor goal for the race, but its my least important sponsor goal as far as I am concerned, since I have no chance of getting it. Contador is our best bet, but he is only at 80 fitness since Im not prepared to train him over 60% and thus gain fatigue before the build-up to the tour begins.



Dekker, Voigt and Pellizotti are involved in a crash early on that forces Roberto Heras to abandon


The attacks began with 40km to go, led by Visconti


Contador countered but could not make the front group of Visconti, Rebellin, Valverde and Di Luca


Schleck joined Contador, Ricco and Grivko but Contador struggled and was eventually dropped


Kirchen made a late attack from the peleton and was countered by Uran


Kirchen dropped Uran though and caught up with Contador.

With 7km to go, Di Luca and Valverde attacked.


Visconti faded and Rebellin couldnt quite reach them again, so they would decide the win


And its Valverde!


Contador finshes 9th


And Uran ends in 10th


1 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 6h33'10
2 Danilo Di Luca UNIBET.COM s.t.
3 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER + 33
4 Giovanni Visconti TEAM ASTANA + 1'37
5 Fränk Schleck TEAM CSC + 3'03
6 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 3'43
7 Andriy Grivko FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
8 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM + 5'48
9 Alberto Contador DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 6'15
10 Rigoberto Urán DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 9'21
11 Vincenzo Nibali T-MOBILE TEAM + 9'41
12 Juanjo Cobo CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 9'49
13 Samuel Sánchez TEAM ASTANA s.t.
14 Laurens Ten Dam UNIBET.COM s.t.
15 Karsten Kroon LIQUIGAS s.t.
16 Paolo Bettini QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
17 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER s.t.
18 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS s.t.
19 Joaquim Rodríguez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
20 Johan Vansummeren QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
21 Bernhard Kohl TEAM ASTANA + 10'17
22 Damiano Cunego TEAM ASTANA s.t.
23 Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER s.t.
24 Tom Stamsnijder GEROLSTEINER s.t.
25 Manuele Mori FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
26 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC s.t.
27 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
28 Luis León Sánchez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
29 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
30 Mathieu Sprick T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
31 Christophe Moreau CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
32 Alexander Efimkin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
33 Constantino Zaballa CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
34 Alexandre Botcharov CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
35 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 10'47
36 Dario Cataldo T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
37 Toni Colom TEAM ASTANA s.t.
38 Pierrick Fédrigo CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
39 Pieter Weening RABOBANK s.t.
40 Antonio Quadranti UNIBET.COM s.t.
41 Niels Scheuneman UNIBET.COM s.t.
42 Aleksandr Pliuschin DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
43 David Millar DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
44 Matthew Lloyd PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
45 Maxime Monfort COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
46 Alexandr Kolobnev TEAM CSC s.t.
47 José Angel Gómez Marchante TEAM CSC s.t.
48 Alberto Losada CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
49 Edvald Boasson Hagen DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
50 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
51 Kevin Hulsmans QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
52 Wim Van Huffel DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 11'15
53 Cândido Barbosa EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
54 Fran Pérez DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED s.t.
55 Kevin De Weert COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
56 Staf Scheirlinckx LIQUIGAS s.t.
57 Thomas Lövkvist TEAM MILRAM s.t.
58 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
59 José Azevedo LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
60 Anthony Charteau CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
61 Gerben Löwik RABOBANK + 12'24
62 Bauke Mollema RABOBANK CONTINENTAL + 12'32
63 Michael Barry T-MOBILE TEAM + 12'40
64 Carlos Barredo RABOBANK s.t.
65 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK s.t.
66 Anthony Geslin TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 12'48
67 Matija Kvasina PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 12'56
68 Julián Rodas TEAM ASTANA s.t.
69 Xavier Zandio CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
70 Yaroslav Popovych TEAM ASTANA + 13'04
71 Matthias Ruß GEROLSTEINER + 13'28
72 Sergio Paulinho DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
73 David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 13'36
74 Michael Rasmussen DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
75 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM + 13'44
76 Josep Jufré PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 13'52
77 Robert Gesink RABOBANK s.t.
78 Haimar Zubeldia RABOBANK s.t.
79 Christophe Brandt PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 14'00
80 Francesco Gavazzi LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 14'08
81 Frederic Guesdon FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
82 Giorgio Brambilla LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
83 Dirk Müller AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 14'16
84 Paolo Tiralongo LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
85 Piotr Mazur SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 14'24
86 Mauricio Ardila RABOBANK + 14'32
87 Manuel Medina SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
88 Koen De Kort TEAM ASTANA + 14'40
89 Matthew Goss TEAM CSC s.t.
90 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER + 14'48
91 Saul Raisin FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 14'56
92 Preben Van Hecke PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 15'04
93 Jussi Veikkanen FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 15'12
94 David Lelay CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 15'20
95 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
96 Dmytro Grabovskyy QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 15'28
97 Remmert Wielinga SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
98 Gorazd Stangelj LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 15'36
99 Marvin Van der Pluijm UNIBET.COM + 15'44
100 Steven Kruijswijk RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
101 Malcolm Lange UNIBET.COM + 15'52
102 Eduard Vorganov EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
103 Servais Knaven T-MOBILE TEAM + 16'08
104 Florent Brard CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
105 Bert Roesems PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 16'16
106 Ricardo Mestre LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 16'56
107 Tom Veelers COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 17'04
108 Bastiaan Giling TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
109 Alexeï Markov CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 17'12
110 Stefano Barberi QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 17'28
111 Alexandre Pichot QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 17'44
112 Arkaitz Durán SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 17'52
113 Alessandro Proni QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
114 Christophe Edaleine CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
115 Gil Suray TEAM CSC + 18'00
116 Thomas Berkhout RABOBANK CONTINENTAL + 18'40
117 Claudio Corioni AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 18'48
118 Torsten Hiekmann GEROLSTEINER s.t.
119 Thomas Rabou RABOBANK CONTINENTAL s.t.
120 Pedro Horrillo LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 18'56
121 Alexis Castro DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
122 Fabio Sabatini TEAM MILRAM + 19'04
123 Francis Mourey FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 19'28
124 Evgeni Popov RABOBANK CONTINENTAL + 19'52
125 Thierry Marichal FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 20'08
126 Jean-Marc Marino CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 20'48
127 Oliver Zaugg GEROLSTEINER s.t.
128 Raivis Belohvosciks SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 20'56
129 Yon Bru EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 21'28
130 Aaron Olson T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
131 Christophe Rinero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
132 Santiago Ojeda UNIBET.COM + 21'36
133 Anders Lund TEAM CSC s.t.
134 Alex Rasmussen UNIBET.COM + 21'44
135 Igor Antón DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED + 22'00
136 David George DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 22'24
137 Niki Terpstra TEAM MILRAM + 22'32
138 Max Van Heeswijk COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
139 Tomislav Danculović DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 22'40
140 Lucas De Visscher RABOBANK + 23'20
141 Massimiliano Gentili QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
142 Kevin Neirynck LIQUIGAS + 23'28
143 Maxim Belkov TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 23'36
144 Torsten Schmidt TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 23'52
145 Lars Michaelsen LIQUIGAS + 24'00
146 Bradley Wiggins COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 24'24
147 Patrick Calcagni LIQUIGAS + 24'32
148 Sergio Ghisalberti TEAM MILRAM + 24'56
149 Stefan Van Dijk TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 26'00
150 Maarten De Jonge AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 27'04
151 Paolo Bossoni LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 27'12
152 Markel Irizar EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
153 Jérôme Coppel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 27'20
154 Iñaki Isasi EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
155 Ludovic Turpin AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 27'28
156 Bobbie Traksel DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
157 Peter Velits TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 28'48
158 Stefan Radochla TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 29'28
159 Mikhail Timochine LIQUIGAS + 30'00
160 Mathieu Heijboer COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 30'48
161 José Luis Arrieta AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 30'56
162 �ngel Rodríguez RABOBANK CONTINENTAL + 31'36
163 Sebastian Siedler TEAM MILRAM + 31'44
164 Ersilio Calogero TEAM MILRAM s.t.
165 Michiel Elijzen COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 33'04
166 Hans Dekkers PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 35'04
167 Joseba Zubeldia EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 35'12
168 Thom Van Dulmen RABOBANK CONTINENTAL + 35'28
169 Robert Wagner TEAM WIESENHOF FELT + 35'44
170 Tim Gudsell FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 36'32
171 Blaise Sonnery AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 37'52
172 Javier Benítez TEAM MILRAM + 38'00
173 Iban Iriondo EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 42'16
174 Alan Pérez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 42'32
175 Matt Reekers RABOBANK CONTINENTAL + 51'52

unlucky

I dont think it was bad luck, more that the riders I have arent good enough to compete in a race like that.