Whaaaaatttt? I have no idea what this means

Sorry I'm pretty bad with technical stuff

Open one of the other xml files and copy that text into the algarve file

As this might take a while, please go to PM guys

Todays stage have two climbs before finish, however it is still considered a day for the sprinters, since the long climbs just remains long and without any high climb percents, it's also the perfect day for the breakaway to take a stage win with them.

It's expected that the big punchers are ready if everthing goes sideways, but some of their helpers might get a chance of their own today. Yesterday was a completely mess and I think that after that stage, some of the big GC favorites are going to try and get some of that time lost back again.

The Race

The day starts like the end of yesterday's stage with a favorite losing focus, but this time it's Roman Kreuziger (KAT) and Nicki Sorensen (TCS) in the grass. This surely will serve some frustration for Kreuziger, but his team is quick at getting him back in the pack.


Dries Devenyns (BMC) attacks on Col du Brouilly and takes 4 points in the KoM competition. J.Coppel (COF), M.von Triesenberg (TNE), P.Fédrigo (FDJ), S.Geschke (TFR) and A.Hansen (LTB) counters his attack, where von Triesenberg takes 1 points and Coppel 2 points.


It seems that someone were just trying to set our for some KoM bonus for another stage, since only D.Devenyns (BMC), J.Coppel (COF), M.von Triesenberg (TNE), A.Hansen (LTB) and O.Zaugg (TCS) forms todays breakaway.


D.Devenyns (BMC) is on the hunt for precious KoM points and takes 4 points. Coppel and von Triesenberg takes 2 and 1 point.


J.Coppel (COF) wants to challenge Devenyns and takes the next 4 points, while Hansen takes 2 points and Zaugg 1 point on the first of the two final climbs. Sky is chasing the breakaway down with 47 km left and a 3 minute gap.


At the foot of Cote de Sainte-Catherine the break still has a 3'26 gap with 23 km left. Everyone in the break is 1'55 behind Cavendish in the GC.


D.Devenyns (BMC) goes for victory with an attack with 19 km left and 6 km to the top!


The manager of BMC has calculated this attack perfectly and Devenyns takes 7 points on Cote de Sainte-Catherine with a gap of 1'08 down to the pack. Even if Devenyns is catched on the descent, he can still enjoy wearing the KoM jersey tomorrow


As you can see Devenyns has 15 points in the KoM competition and now it's Devenyns versus the sprinters!


5,5 km left of the stage and Devenyns still has 1 minute down to the chasing pack!


Several riders are crashing in the wet weather and most notable is Alexander Kristoff (KAT) crashing! First Kreuziger and then now Kristoff on the ground, this surely isn't a race for Katusha!


It's too late for the sprinters to catch Devenyns, so it will be up to them to finish the secondary places! Bouhanni starts the sprint with Mezgec, Calzone and Fenn behind him! Cavendish, Coquard and Sagan is here too.


Dries Devenyns (BMC) takes the 5th stage of this years edition of Paris - Nice and the belgian rider will surely not forget this day! Now back to the sprinters in the background, where a few surprises are looming!


Peter Sagan wins the bunch sprint while Calzone gets his first Podium! Bouhanni is once again 4th, but notice Mark Cavendish still having trouble following at the end.

Results

Points

Consistency from Bouhanni is impressive!

11	Jorge Cristobal Riquelme	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
12	Luis León Sánchez	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
13	Bauke Mollema	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.

I do hope this changes a bit in the last stages

Damn, Paris-Nice is going so badly for us.
At first we don't enter breakaways at all - we're an underdog team here, so the guys should try to take these little opportunities.

Then Kakhi loses time on stage 4, which makes it quite impossible for him to make it a good GC finish.

And stage 5 is just the next one where we did actually nothing. Now come on guys, at the moment it looks like we won't even be part of the promotion battle

Po-ding, now it's up to you in Algarve!

Yay Debusschere, that's why we brought you here

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Good to see Mathias in the break and taking some valuable mountain points

And again we haven't been part of the break, I hope that's a sign that everyone is focusing on Betancur and that he is going to get good support from his teammates in the 3 reamaining stages.

Wooohooo . There is the first Calzone podium In the race. We waited a bit too long for it but this time his finish wwas very strong!

The first of the monuments, Milan - San Remo is something most riders look forward to. As per usual, this race is the longest one of the season, with 294 kilometres of distance to cover. As this is a race that usualy goes between the puncheurs and the sprinters, a lot has been said about including the Pompeiana, a climb that would make the course considerably more difficult. In the end, the race organisation decided not to include it, so a split will have to happen on the Cipressa or the Poggio again.

In 2013, victory went to Fabian Cancellara, who accelerated unexpectedly in between the Cipressa and the Poggio. No one was able to bring him back and he made it solo to the finish line. Greipel beat Sagan in a mass sprint for second place.





Looking at the favourites, the number one would be Peter Sagan. He wants revenge for last year and has shown some early form by winning Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and riding a strong Paris-Nice. He's the fastest of the puncheurs and the best climbing sprinter, and that's what you need to win this race.

But he's definitely not the fastest in the pack. Mark Cavendish has been beating him in Paris-Nice and already showed what he can do in Qatar. Andre Greipel has been avoiding the bigger races so far, but he'll be ready as well. Marcel Kittel hasn't had much race days either, but he has shown his good shape by winning the Clasica Almeria.

There's a bunch of sprinters that will struggle less on the hilly final though. Alexander Kristoff won a hilly Tour Down Under, he looks very ready. John Degenkolb should be hanging on as well. Gerald Ciolek has not had a great season start, but a good result here could wipe that all away. Then there's Edvald Boasson Hagen and Benedikt Weschenbach, both riding for Sky, meaning they could be used as domestiques for Cavendish again, something the young German isn't really happy about. Speaking of youngsters, Adrien Hanzen is another name to look out for. BMC puts all their eggs in one basket, leaving Gilbert and Van Avermaet home to focus on one leader. We'll have to see how smart that move was.

Never underestimate the cobblers either, as Cancellara proved last year. They're not at their peak yet, but they are close. They are used to the distance and the short hills, so add Tom Boonen to the list of favourites. Not as fast as he used to be, but he can still win this. Fabian Cancellara can win two in a row, but he will probably need to finish solo. The same goes for Vanmarcke, he'll be ok with the distance and hills, but he will need to finish is a small group.

The puncheurs will be very disappointed the Pompeiana wasn't included, but still quite a few showed up. Enrico Gasparotto, Jorge Cristobal Riquelme, Christian Schroder, Rudy Verboven, Alejandro Valverde and Rui Costa, Simon Gerrans, Daniel Moreno, Delfi Cervero and Michele Scarponi seem to be the biggest names. Who can stay away after the Poggio?

Then there's the old saying that a sprinter forgets everything when he sees the final kilometre banner, so a few sprinters that could suprise, starting with the Italian army: Andrea Guardini, Giacomo Nizzolo, Elia Viviani, Carlo Calzone, Roberto Ferrari and Mario Guido. Without any doubt, it would be the biggest win of their career for them.

Finaly some other outsiders, though some will immediatly be considered favourites if they get a good position after the Poggio: Arnaud Demare, Matthew Goss, Heinrich Haussler, Sam Bennett, Danny Van Poppel and Tyler Farrar. But in the end, this race is very unpredictable and there are a lot more names that could win this.

Nice preview !

I'm hoping that the puncheurs take it this year. With Valverde, Costa und Quintana Movistar has all 3 80 Hi riders here and my custom Rider Schröder could be an interesting option, too.

As alternative Calzone and i think also Lobato are here for a possible sprint.

Lost our chance of a victory in the transfer window but should be a fun race again.

Dries in the wet.

It's a good job he did win though considering we had 11th and 12th on the stage behind.

Of course, all BMC is good for is stealing wins from Sagan....

English here please.

Yeah, we're all in with Adrien. It will either be a stratospheric fail or a moment of genius but I doubt a sprinter will win anyway.

Go Greipel

Bring on MSR! Hanzen's hugely looking forwards to this one. Could go any way because it's MSR but hopefully he'll be able to stay in the front group and sprint. Downside is the relatively low STA compared to real riders and that's gonna take a few years to fix.

FDJ sent a good team behind Demare. Arnaud has been on good/great form this season so really cannot be overlooked in the case of a sprint. The tough man has all the skills needed to win. Might also have sent Vichot to cover attacks?

starts with one and ends with one

Exports thanks to TheManxMissile