It’s time for another tour through Germany, as we’re ready to give you the 2009 Deutschland Tour. Last year’s winner and this year’s home-favourite, Magenta All-Stars’ Markus Fothen, has lined up to defend his great win from last year, but he will face stiff competition from Thomas Dekker, Janez Brajkovic, Cadel Evans, Vladimir Karpets, Jaroslav Popovych and Vincenzo Nibali. Especially Thomas Dekker and Cadel Evans should be hungry for a great result after their individual fiascos at the Tour de France.

Today’s stage is run on rather large circuit, which the riders will travel around three times totalling about 199 kilometres. The field of sprinters isn’t very star-studded for this race as guys like Ignatiev, Schumacher and even Dekker are listed among the stage favourites. We should look after Daniele Bennati as he seems to be the strongest sprinter here in Germany.



Kolobnev, Renäng, Bodrogi, Joly, Lhottelerie, Stannard and Champion were today’s break.



While it was WikiPedia, Festina, Magenta and La Gazetta doing the majority of the work back in the pack.



The first points sprint was won by Joly ahead of Champion and Stannard, while Stannard took the following KoM Sprint ahead of Kolobnev and Renäng. Lhottelerie then took the 2nd points sprint ahead of Champion and Bodrogi on the 2nd lap.



Going up the small climb for the 2nd time it was Lhottelerie who came out on top ahead of Champion and Bodrogi just like in the points sprint a few kilometres earlier. At this point the break had 7’14 on the pack with 100 kilometres to go, but the gap never grew any bigger.

Festina, Wikipedia and Magenta working to haul in the early break.



The break would contest the last points sprint though where Joly prevailed ahead of Bodrogi and Lhottelerie. Lhottelerie then secured the next stage in KoM Jersey as he won the last KoM sprint, with the break reduced to 5 riders, as Renäng and Stannard had to let go on the climb. They only had about 1 and half minute over the top with over 30 kilometres to go, so no doubt we will have a sprint today.


Lhottelerie got something out today’s stage as he will wear the KoM Jersey on tomorrow’s team time trial.

With 18 kilometres to go we’re back on level terms, so now it’s all about the sprint. Sacchi led out his team-mate Rizza, but they had Daniele Bennati right on their wheels.



Also in there were Weylandt, Eisel, Cooke and Bazajev, but it is Rizza who bursts into the lead after a great lead-out from his team-mate.


Can Rizza hold off Bennati to take a surprising win?

But no-one could match Bennati who took a crushing win today leaving no chance to his opponents as he beats Weylandt by several bike lenghts to take the stage, the leader’s jersey and the points jersey. That might change tomorrow though, as we have a 42-kilometres team time trial.

1	Daniele Bennati	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	4h44'42
2	Wouter Weylandt	WARNER BROTHERS	s.t.
3	Baden Cooke	ERSTE	s.t.
4	Bernhard Eisel	CARLSBERG	s.t.
5	Emanuele Rizza	AMERICAN SUZUKI	s.t.
6	Ruben Bongiorno	MOLTENI	s.t.
7	Assan Bazajev	SONY ERICSSON	s.t.
8	Fabio Sacchi	AMERICAN SUZUKI	s.t.
9	Stéphane Bonsergent	FESTINA	s.t.
10	Marcel Sieberg	CARLSBERG	s.t.
11	William Bonnet	CREDIT LYONNAIS	s.t.
12	Aitor Galdos	MOLTENI	s.t.
13	Vicente Reynès	EUROSPORT	s.t.
14	Claudio Cucinotta	SONY ERICSSON	s.t.
15	Bobbie Traksel	DOMINA VACANZE	s.t.
16	Matthieu Ladagnous	AMERICAN SUZUKI	s.t.
17	Robert Hunter	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	s.t.
18	Eric Baumann	CARLSBERG	s.t.
19	Mark Renshaw	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	s.t.
20	Arnaud Coyot	ERSTE	s.t.
21	Alejandro Borrajo	SONY ERICSSON	s.t.
22	Mauro Da Dalto	DOMINA VACANZE	s.t.
23	Bruno Neves	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	s.t.
24	Mark Scanlon	WARNER BROTHERS	s.t.
25	Alexandre Aulas	DOMINA VACANZE	s.t.
26	Marcel Barth	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	s.t.
27	Jakub Danacik	SONY ERICSSON	s.t.
28	Stefan Schreck	CARLSBERG	s.t.
29	Kevin Fouquet	SONY ERICSSON	s.t.
30	Giovanni Visconti	WARNER BROTHERS	s.t.
31	Michail Ignatiev	ERSTE	s.t.
32	Rafaâ Chtioui	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	s.t.
33	Michael Mørkøv	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	s.t.
34	Markus Eichler	MAPEI	s.t.
35	Ashley Hutchinson	NINTENDO - HONDA	s.t.
36	Sebastian Lang	SONY ERICSSON	s.t.
37	Olaf Pollack	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	s.t.
38	Stef Clement	NINTENDO - HONDA	s.t.
39	Joseph Cooper	DOMINA VACANZE	s.t.
40	Evgeni Sokolov	AMERICAN SUZUKI	s.t.
41	Dmitri Kozontchuk	MAPEI	s.t.
42	Ben Hermans	WIKIPEDIA	s.t.
43	Cadel Evans	WIKIPEDIA	s.t.
44	Stefano Garzelli	EUROSPORT	s.t.
45	Pieter Weening	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	s.t.
46	Logan Hutchings	ERSTE	s.t.
47	Gert Dockx	MAPEI	s.t.
48	Jérôme Baugnies	ERSTE	s.t.
49	Bert Grabsch	CARLSBERG	s.t.
50	Jurgen Van Goolen	FESTINA	s.t.
51	Jelle Vanendert	DOMINA VACANZE	s.t.
52	Francis De Greef	MOLTENI	s.t.
53	Jaroslav Popovych	FESTINA	s.t.
54	Dries Devenyns	AMERICAN SUZUKI	s.t.
55	Brian Vandborg	FESTINA	s.t.
56	Julien Berard	AMERICAN SUZUKI	s.t.
57	Kevin Ista	WIKIPEDIA	s.t.
58	Luca Mazzanti	MOLTENI	s.t.
59	Jussi Veikkanen	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	s.t.
60	Joost Posthuma	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	s.t.
61	Yoann Offredo	MAPEI	s.t.
62	Danny Pate	WIKIPEDIA	s.t.
63	Peter Wrolich	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	s.t.
64	Markus Fothen	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	s.t.
65	Kai Reus	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	s.t.
66	Sebastian Langeveld	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.
67	Rick Flens	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	s.t.
68	Linus Gerdemann	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	s.t.
69	Lars Boom	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.
70	Luis Perez Rodriguez	MOLTENI	s.t.
71	Damien Gaudin	MAPEI	s.t.
72	Raffaele Illiano	NINTENDO - HONDA	s.t.
73	Oliver Zaugg	FESTINA	s.t.
74	Tom Stubbe	WIKIPEDIA	s.t.
75	Jairo Agudelo	NINTENDO - HONDA	s.t.
76	Piotr Mazur	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	s.t.
77	Maxim Iglinski	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	s.t.
78	Anthony Roux	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	s.t.
79	Koen De Kort	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	s.t.
80	Dmitri Medvedev	SONY ERICSSON	s.t.
81	Marzio Bruseghin	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	s.t.
82	Jürgen Van de Walle	WARNER BROTHERS	s.t.
83	Jordi Grau	FESTINA	s.t.
84	Iñigo Landaluze	MOLTENI	s.t.
85	Óscar Guerao	MAPEI	s.t.
86	Michael Schär	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	s.t.
87	Kevin Seeldraeyers	WARNER BROTHERS	s.t.
88	Sandy Casar	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	s.t.
89	Christophe Le Mével	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	s.t.
90	Steve Morabito	FESTINA	s.t.
91	André Vital	MOLTENI	s.t.
92	Marcel Kittel	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	s.t.
93	Dennis Van Winden	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	s.t.
94	Taylor Phinney	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.
95	Thomas Dekker	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	s.t.
96	Benjamin Noval	MOLTENI	s.t.
97	Axel Merckx	EUROSPORT	s.t.
98	Andrei Sartasov	EUROSPORT	s.t.
99	Matthieu Sprick	WIKIPEDIA	s.t.
100	Michael Rogers	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	s.t.
101	Matea Kvasina	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	s.t.
102	Kristof Vandewalle	EUROSPORT	s.t.
103	Rigoberto Úran	DOMINA VACANZE	s.t.
104	Matthias Kessler	EUROSPORT	s.t.
105	Saulo Lay	ERSTE	s.t.
106	Roman Kilun	WIKIPEDIA	s.t.
107	Ivan Kovalev	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.
108	Luke Roberts	EUROSPORT	s.t.
109	Wladimir Gustov	FESTINA	s.t.
110	Patrik Sinkewitz	ERSTE	s.t.
111	Mathieu Perget	CREDIT LYONNAIS	s.t.
112	William Ford	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.
113	Carlo Westphal	CARLSBERG	s.t.
114	Arthur Garcia Rincon	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.
115	Stefan Schumacher	CARLSBERG	s.t.
116	Sylwester Szmyd	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	s.t.
117	Rik Verbrugghe	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	s.t.
118	Vladimir Karpets	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.
119	Aleksandr Arekejev	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	s.t.
120	Juri Krivtsov	CREDIT LYONNAIS	s.t.
121	Adrian Laidler	CREDIT LYONNAIS	s.t.
122	Janez Brajkovic	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	s.t.
123	Enrico Franzoi	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	s.t.
124	Evert Verbist	DOMINA VACANZE	s.t.
125	John Gadret	CREDIT LYONNAIS	s.t.
126	Luigi Sestili	CREDIT LYONNAIS	s.t.
127	Vincenzo Nibali	DOMINA VACANZE	s.t.
128	Victor Hugo Peña	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	s.t.
129	Pierrick Fédrigo	NINTENDO - HONDA	s.t.
130	Santiago Perez Fernandez	NINTENDO - HONDA	s.t.
131	Anthony Lavoine	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	+ 2'18
132	Anders Lund	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	s.t.
133	Ben Curfs	AMERICAN SUZUKI	s.t.
134	Michael Ford	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	s.t.
135	Clément Lhotellerie	NINTENDO - HONDA	+ 3'09
136	Matt Booth	AMERICAN SUZUKI	s.t.
137	László Bodrogi	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	s.t.
138	Aleksandr Kolobnev	MAPEI	s.t.
139	Marc Machado	CARLSBERG	+ 4'27
140	Sébastien Joly	EUROSPORT	s.t.
141	Fredy Montaña	NINTENDO - HONDA	+ 4'59
142	Daniel Thorsen	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	s.t.
143	David George	WIKIPEDIA	s.t.
144	Fabien Taillefour	CREDIT LYONNAIS	s.t.
145	Dimitri Champion	CREDIT LYONNAIS	+ 5'47
146	Stephen Vicelich	MAPEI	+ 6'35
147	Ian Stannard	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	+ 8'19
148	Viktor Renäng	SONY ERICSSON	+ 10'03
149	Josu Irazusta	THE CONTROL TEAM	+ 18'59

GC

1	Daniele Bennati	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	4h44'22
2	Wouter Weylandt	WARNER BROTHERS	+ 8
3	Baden Cooke	ERSTE	+ 12
4	Bernhard Eisel	CARLSBERG	+ 20
5	Emanuele Rizza	AMERICAN SUZUKI	s.t.
6	Ruben Bongiorno	MOLTENI	s.t.
7	Assan Bazajev	SONY ERICSSON	s.t.
8	Fabio Sacchi	AMERICAN SUZUKI	s.t.
9	Stéphane Bonsergent	FESTINA	s.t.
10	Marcel Sieberg	CARLSBERG	s.t.
11	William Bonnet	CREDIT LYONNAIS	s.t.
12	Aitor Galdos	MOLTENI	s.t.
13	Vicente Reynès	EUROSPORT	s.t.
14	Claudio Cucinotta	SONY ERICSSON	s.t.
15	Bobbie Traksel	DOMINA VACANZE	s.t.
16	Matthieu Ladagnous	AMERICAN SUZUKI	s.t.
17	Robert Hunter	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	s.t.
18	Eric Baumann	CARLSBERG	s.t.
19	Mark Renshaw	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	s.t.
20	Arnaud Coyot	ERSTE	s.t.
21	Alejandro Borrajo	SONY ERICSSON	s.t.
22	Mauro Da Dalto	DOMINA VACANZE	s.t.
23	Bruno Neves	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	s.t.
24	Mark Scanlon	WARNER BROTHERS	s.t.
25	Alexandre Aulas	DOMINA VACANZE	s.t.
26	Marcel Barth	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	s.t.
27	Jakub Danacik	SONY ERICSSON	s.t.
28	Stefan Schreck	CARLSBERG	s.t.
29	Kevin Fouquet	SONY ERICSSON	s.t.
30	Giovanni Visconti	WARNER BROTHERS	s.t.
31	Michail Ignatiev	ERSTE	s.t.
32	Rafaâ Chtioui	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	s.t.
33	Michael Mørkøv	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	s.t.
34	Markus Eichler	MAPEI	s.t.
35	Ashley Hutchinson	NINTENDO - HONDA	s.t.
36	Sebastian Lang	SONY ERICSSON	s.t.
37	Olaf Pollack	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	s.t.
38	Stef Clement	NINTENDO - HONDA	s.t.
39	Joseph Cooper	DOMINA VACANZE	s.t.
40	Evgeni Sokolov	AMERICAN SUZUKI	s.t.
41	Dmitri Kozontchuk	MAPEI	s.t.
42	Ben Hermans	WIKIPEDIA	s.t.
43	Cadel Evans	WIKIPEDIA	s.t.
44	Stefano Garzelli	EUROSPORT	s.t.
45	Pieter Weening	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	s.t.
46	Logan Hutchings	ERSTE	s.t.
47	Gert Dockx	MAPEI	s.t.
48	Jérôme Baugnies	ERSTE	s.t.
49	Bert Grabsch	CARLSBERG	s.t.
50	Jurgen Van Goolen	FESTINA	s.t.

Points

1	Daniele Bennati	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	35	35
2	Wouter Weylandt	WARNER BROTHERS	30	30
3	Baden Cooke	ERSTE	26	26
4	Bernhard Eisel	CARLSBERG	24	24
5	Emanuele Rizza	AMERICAN SUZUKI	22	22
6	Ruben Bongiorno	MOLTENI	20	20
7	Assan Bazajev	SONY ERICSSON	19	19
8	Fabio Sacchi	AMERICAN SUZUKI	18	18
9	Stéphane Bonsergent	FESTINA	17	17
10	Marcel Sieberg	CARLSBERG	16	16

KoM

1	Clément Lhotellerie	NINTENDO - HONDA	20	20
2	Aleksandr Kolobnev	MAPEI	17	17
3	László Bodrogi	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	13	13
4	Ian Stannard	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	11	11
5	Dimitri Champion	CREDIT LYONNAIS	8	8
6	Viktor Renäng	SONY ERICSSON	5	5
7	Sébastien Joly	EUROSPORT	4	4