It’s the final stage before the mountains. Today’s stage has an interesting profile with a steep hill topping about 10 kilometres from the finish, where one of the punchy riders could try and break clear of the pack, but if things stay together we should have another mass sprint. It depends on the early break though. After a hard stage yesterday this might be the day where a break gets to stay clear the whole way. Let’s tune in and see.



A big breakaway group of nine riders jumped off the front of the pack today. They were Mørkøv, Solokov, Kovalev, Van de Walle, Gaudin, Schreck, Da Dalto, Illiano and Kittel.



There were a few points and KoM sprints along the route but we have reached a point in the race, where they aren’t really interesting when contested by a breakaway group. The few points up for grabs in the KoM competition today won’t affect Joly and Visconti at the Top 2 and the same goes for the points competition. The riders didn’t even contest the sprints, as Sokolov ended up taking the first one ahead of Da Dalto and Illiano.

The gap grew to 10 minutes with just over 100 kilometres to the line when Sony Ericsson moved to the front trying to set things up for Assan Bazajev. La Gazetta joined in a bit later as they were looking to win another stage with Bennati.



Illiano won the next points sprint ahead of Gaudin and Kittel before Gaudin led over the top of a KoM sprint with Schreck and Sokolov in his wheel. Sokolov then took the final points sprint of the day ahead of Da Dalto and Van de Walle, right before they hit the foot of the climb. Only six riders were left at this point as Kittel, Mørkøv and Kovalev had been dropped.



American Suzuki’s Sokolov then took off in a last-ditch effort to hold off the pack, but he only postponed the inevitable as he was quickly reeled in.



It seemed like nothing would happen on the climb, when Schumacher attacked with 1 kilometre to the summit and got a big gap.



He had more than 1 minute as he crossed the top and with just over 10 kilometres left to race this could be it for the German.



But shockingly Schumacher doesn’t want to go for it as he already reeled in about 4 kilometres later by a pack consisting of just 76 riders, with no favourites absent. A few of the sprinters are gone though. Let’s see who’s in there.



5 riders get a small gap as the sprint begins. It’s Marcel Sieberg leading out Bernhard Eisel, who has Bazajev, Bennati and then Schumacher in his wheel. A lot of Carlsberg riders here as Eisel moves into the lead, but this is going to be close as Bennati and Bazajev are coming up on him!



It’s Bennati for the second time!



Eisel has to settle for 2nd and Bazajev for 3rd. Schumacher finishes 4th ahead of teammate Sieberg, as the front five manage to hold a 28 second-gap on the pack, meaning Schumacher will move to 4th in the GC passing countryman Markus Fothen.

1	Daniele Bennati	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	5h09'14
2	Bernhard Eisel	CARLSBERG	s.t.
3	Assan Bazajev	SONY ERICSSON	s.t.
4	Stefan Schumacher	CARLSBERG	s.t.
5	Marcel Sieberg	CARLSBERG	s.t.
6	Matthieu Ladagnous	AMERICAN SUZUKI	+ 28
7	Markus Eichler	MAPEI	s.t.
8	Maxim Iglinski	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	s.t.
9	Dmitri Kozontchuk	MAPEI	s.t.
10	Bobbie Traksel	DOMINA VACANZE	s.t.
11	Vicente Reynès	EUROSPORT	s.t.
12	Stefano Garzelli	EUROSPORT	s.t.
13	Thomas Dekker	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	s.t.
14	Matthias Kessler	EUROSPORT	s.t.
15	Giovanni Visconti	WARNER BROTHERS	s.t.
16	Michael Rogers	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	s.t.
17	Ben Hermans	WIKIPEDIA	s.t.
18	Cadel Evans	WIKIPEDIA	s.t.
19	Michail Ignatiev	ERSTE	s.t.
20	Kevin Seeldraeyers	WARNER BROTHERS	s.t.
21	Iñigo Landaluze	MOLTENI	s.t.
22	Alexandre Aulas	DOMINA VACANZE	s.t.
23	Jussi Veikkanen	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	s.t.
24	Mark Scanlon	WARNER BROTHERS	s.t.
25	Kevin Ista	WIKIPEDIA	s.t.
26	Rafaâ Chtioui	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	s.t.
27	László Bodrogi	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	s.t.
28	Koen De Kort	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	s.t.
29	Yoann Offredo	MAPEI	s.t.
30	Matea Kvasina	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	s.t.
31	Taylor Phinney	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.
32	Sébastien Joly	EUROSPORT	s.t.
33	Aleksandr Kolobnev	MAPEI	s.t.
34	Luca Mazzanti	MOLTENI	s.t.
35	Lars Boom	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.
36	Joost Posthuma	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	s.t.
37	John Gadret	CREDIT LYONNAIS	s.t.
38	Mathieu Perget	CREDIT LYONNAIS	s.t.
39	Stef Clement	NINTENDO - HONDA	s.t.
40	Arnaud Coyot	ERSTE	s.t.
41	Markus Fothen	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	s.t.
42	Roman Kilun	WIKIPEDIA	s.t.
43	Jelle Vanendert	DOMINA VACANZE	s.t.
44	Pieter Weening	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	s.t.
45	Vincenzo Nibali	DOMINA VACANZE	s.t.
46	Enrico Franzoi	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	s.t.
47	Carlo Westphal	CARLSBERG	s.t.
48	Linus Gerdemann	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	s.t.
49	Janez Brajkovic	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	s.t.
50	Michael Schär	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	s.t.
51	Axel Merckx	EUROSPORT	s.t.
52	Brian Vandborg	FESTINA	s.t.
53	Aleksandr Arekejev	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	s.t.
54	Jurgen Van Goolen	FESTINA	s.t.
55	Sandy Casar	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	s.t.
56	Rigoberto Úran	DOMINA VACANZE	s.t.
57	Sebastian Langeveld	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.
58	Jaroslav Popovych	FESTINA	s.t.
59	Francis De Greef	MOLTENI	s.t.
60	Rik Verbrugghe	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	s.t.
61	Vladimir Karpets	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.
62	Kai Reus	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	s.t.
63	Benjamin Noval	MOLTENI	s.t.
64	Wladimir Gustov	FESTINA	s.t.
65	Tom Stubbe	WIKIPEDIA	s.t.
66	Patrik Sinkewitz	ERSTE	s.t.
67	Marzio Bruseghin	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	s.t.
68	Jairo Agudelo	NINTENDO - HONDA	s.t.
69	Robert Hunter	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	s.t.
70	Danny Pate	WIKIPEDIA	s.t.
71	Santiago Perez Fernandez	NINTENDO - HONDA	s.t.
72	Steve Morabito	FESTINA	s.t.
73	Jérôme Baugnies	ERSTE	s.t.
74	Victor Hugo Peña	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	s.t.
75	Sylwester Szmyd	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	s.t.
76	Anthony Roux	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	s.t.
77	Juri Krivtsov	CREDIT LYONNAIS	+ 2'00
78	David George	WIKIPEDIA	s.t.
79	William Ford	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.
80	Andrei Sartasov	EUROSPORT	s.t.
81	Arthur Garcia Rincon	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.
82	Evert Verbist	DOMINA VACANZE	s.t.
83	André Vital	MOLTENI	s.t.
84	Logan Hutchings	ERSTE	s.t.
85	Piotr Mazur	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	s.t.
86	Fabio Sacchi	AMERICAN SUZUKI	s.t.
87	William Bonnet	CREDIT LYONNAIS	s.t.
88	Wouter Weylandt	WARNER BROTHERS	s.t.
89	Gert Dockx	MAPEI	s.t.
90	Dries Devenyns	AMERICAN SUZUKI	s.t.
91	Baden Cooke	ERSTE	s.t.
92	Julien Berard	AMERICAN SUZUKI	+ 4'44
93	Matthieu Sprick	WIKIPEDIA	s.t.
94	Emanuele Rizza	AMERICAN SUZUKI	s.t.
95	Jakub Danacik	SONY ERICSSON	s.t.
96	Peter Wrolich	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	s.t.
97	Sebastian Lang	SONY ERICSSON	s.t.
98	Kevin Fouquet	SONY ERICSSON	s.t.
99	Christophe Le Mével	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	s.t.
100	Mark Renshaw	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	s.t.
101	Joseph Cooper	DOMINA VACANZE	s.t.
102	Marcel Barth	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	s.t.
103	Eric Baumann	CARLSBERG	+ 6'10
104	Claudio Cucinotta	SONY ERICSSON	+ 7'06
105	Alejandro Borrajo	SONY ERICSSON	s.t.
106	Bert Grabsch	CARLSBERG	s.t.
107	Kristof Vandewalle	EUROSPORT	s.t.
108	Luke Roberts	EUROSPORT	s.t.
109	Adrian Laidler	CREDIT LYONNAIS	s.t.
110	Evgeni Sokolov	AMERICAN SUZUKI	+ 7'54
111	Rick Flens	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	s.t.
112	Aitor Galdos	MOLTENI	+ 9'14
113	Oliver Zaugg	FESTINA	+ 9'38
114	Óscar Guerao	MAPEI	s.t.
115	Jordi Grau	FESTINA	s.t.
116	Luis Perez Rodriguez	MOLTENI	s.t.
117	Anders Lund	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	s.t.
118	Mauro Da Dalto	DOMINA VACANZE	+ 10'42
119	Ruben Bongiorno	MOLTENI	s.t.
120	Luigi Sestili	CREDIT LYONNAIS	s.t.
121	Raffaele Illiano	NINTENDO - HONDA	s.t.
122	Olaf Pollack	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	s.t.
123	Damien Gaudin	MAPEI	+ 11'38
124	Dmitri Medvedev	SONY ERICSSON	s.t.
125	Stefan Schreck	CARLSBERG	s.t.
126	Bruno Neves	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	+ 13'22
127	Jürgen Van de Walle	WARNER BROTHERS	s.t.
128	Dennis Van Winden	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	+ 14'02
129	Saulo Lay	ERSTE	+ 15'06
130	Matt Booth	AMERICAN SUZUKI	s.t.
131	Anthony Lavoine	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	s.t.
132	Michael Mørkøv	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	+ 15'38
133	Clément Lhotellerie	NINTENDO - HONDA	+ 16'02
134	Pierrick Fédrigo	NINTENDO - HONDA	s.t.
135	Fredy Montaña	NINTENDO - HONDA	s.t.
136	Michael Ford	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	s.t.
137	Ben Curfs	AMERICAN SUZUKI	+ 17'22
138	Marc Machado	CARLSBERG	s.t.
139	Ashley Hutchinson	NINTENDO - HONDA	s.t.
140	Viktor Renäng	SONY ERICSSON	+ 17'46
141	Marcel Kittel	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	+ 18'42
142	Dimitri Champion	CREDIT LYONNAIS	+ 19'38
143	Stephen Vicelich	MAPEI	+ 20'02
144	Ian Stannard	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	+ 20'51
145	Fabien Taillefour	CREDIT LYONNAIS	+ 22'03
146	Daniel Thorsen	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	+ 22'27
147	Ivan Kovalev	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.
148	Josu Irazusta	THE CONTROL TEAM	+ 27'15

GC

1	Cadel Evans	WIKIPEDIA	15h46'17
2	John Gadret	CREDIT LYONNAIS	+ 1
3	Michael Rogers	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	+ 1'52
4	Stefan Schumacher	CARLSBERG	+ 2'00
5	Markus Fothen	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	+ 2'18
6	Maxim Iglinski	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	+ 2'20
7	Matthias Kessler	EUROSPORT	+ 2'23
8	Janez Brajkovic	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	s.t.
9	Sandy Casar	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	s.t.
10	Marzio Bruseghin	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	+ 2'36
11	Jaroslav Popovych	FESTINA	+ 2'49
12	Wladimir Gustov	FESTINA	s.t.
13	Ben Hermans	WIKIPEDIA	+ 2'55
14	Stef Clement	NINTENDO - HONDA	+ 3'04
15	Santiago Perez Fernandez	NINTENDO - HONDA	s.t.
16	Stefano Garzelli	EUROSPORT	+ 3'13
17	Jelle Vanendert	DOMINA VACANZE	+ 3'16
18	Vincenzo Nibali	DOMINA VACANZE	s.t.
19	Rigoberto Úran	DOMINA VACANZE	s.t.
20	Iñigo Landaluze	MOLTENI	+ 3'18
21	Luca Mazzanti	MOLTENI	s.t.
22	Francis De Greef	MOLTENI	s.t.
23	Benjamin Noval	MOLTENI	s.t.
24	Joost Posthuma	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	+ 3'21
25	Lars Boom	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	+ 3'34
26	Vladimir Karpets	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.
27	Michail Ignatiev	ERSTE	+ 4'01
28	Patrik Sinkewitz	ERSTE	s.t.
29	Matea Kvasina	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	+ 4'02
30	Linus Gerdemann	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	s.t.
31	Kai Reus	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	s.t.
32	Thomas Dekker	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	+ 4'06
33	Pieter Weening	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	s.t.
34	Dmitri Kozontchuk	MAPEI	+ 4'19
35	Steve Morabito	FESTINA	+ 4'31
36	Jurgen Van Goolen	FESTINA	+ 4'33
37	Jairo Agudelo	NINTENDO - HONDA	+ 4'46
38	Danny Pate	WIKIPEDIA	+ 5'03
39	Yoann Offredo	MAPEI	+ 5'16
40	Roman Kilun	WIKIPEDIA	+ 5'30
41	Rik Verbrugghe	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	+ 5'34
42	Tom Stubbe	WIKIPEDIA	+ 5'40
43	Aleksandr Arekejev	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	+ 6'07
44	Assan Bazajev	SONY ERICSSON	+ 6'10
45	Enrico Franzoi	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	+ 6'14
46	Markus Eichler	MAPEI	+ 6'28
47	Brian Vandborg	FESTINA	+ 6'40
48	Anthony Roux	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	+ 7'09
49	Taylor Phinney	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	+ 7'25
50	Aleksandr Kolobnev	MAPEI	+ 7'28

Points

1	Daniele Bennati	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	35	70
2	Bernhard Eisel	CARLSBERG	30	54
3	Assan Bazajev	SONY ERICSSON	26	45
4	Cadel Evans	WIKIPEDIA	8	43
5	Marcel Sieberg	CARLSBERG	22	38
6	Michael Rogers	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	10	34
7	Stefano Garzelli	EUROSPORT	14	31
8	Matthieu Ladagnous	AMERICAN SUZUKI	20	30
9	Wouter Weylandt	WARNER BROTHERS	0	30
10	John Gadret	CREDIT LYONNAIS	0	30
11	Vicente Reynès	EUROSPORT	15	28
12	Bobbie Traksel	DOMINA VACANZE	16	27
13	Stefan Schumacher	CARLSBERG	24	27
14	Baden Cooke	ERSTE	0	26
15	Markus Fothen	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	0	26
16	Matthias Kessler	EUROSPORT	12	25
17	Thomas Dekker	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	13	24
18	Emanuele Rizza	AMERICAN SUZUKI	0	22
19	Pieter Weening	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	0	22
20	Maxim Iglinski	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	18	20

KoM

1	Sébastien Joly	EUROSPORT	0	119
2	Giovanni Visconti	WARNER BROTHERS	0	102
3	Arnaud Coyot	ERSTE	0	58
4	Stefan Schumacher	CARLSBERG	30	52
5	Vincenzo Nibali	DOMINA VACANZE	14	50
6	Luca Mazzanti	MOLTENI	10	36
7	Aleksandr Kolobnev	MAPEI	0	31
8	Alejandro Borrajo	SONY ERICSSON	0	30
9	Maxim Iglinski	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	26	26
10	Dmitri Kozontchuk	MAPEI	22	22
11	Kai Reus	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	0	21
12	Clément Lhotellerie	NINTENDO - HONDA	0	20
13	Danny Pate	WIKIPEDIA	0	18
14	Jelle Vanendert	DOMINA VACANZE	18	18
15	Ben Hermans	WIKIPEDIA	0	16
16	László Bodrogi	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	0	13
17	Kevin Seeldraeyers	WARNER BROTHERS	0	12
18	Cadel Evans	WIKIPEDIA	12	12
19	Ian Stannard	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	0	11
20	Sandy Casar	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	0	10