Shame Rebellin didn't go for the KoM, but in the end a bad race and waste of race days :/

Sagan is too nice, giving others a chance to win a stage.
Good race for the team and a huge improvement over last year.

Great to have San Luis finished.

In the end the climbs here was too short and punchy for Nokkvason to make himself noticed. As I had expcted really.
Having Rebellin well placed going into the crucial stages probably hindered him further in terms of AI-behaviour. Not to bad in the end though considering teh route and the competition.

Short and flat with no sight of cobbles makes this the stage where the sprinters are really expectd to shine. Will we finally get to see Kittel?


6 riders form the early break: Vansummeren, Amorison, Van Hecke, Coledan, Stuyven and Traksel.
With 70 km to go they have 3'34
60 km and 3'04
50 km and 2'16
40 km and 1'29
30 km and 1'21
20 km and 1'02
15 km and 44 seconds

Styuven attacks into the final 10 km

It doesn't help much though and with 5 km to go the break is caught.

The chase leads directly into sprint trains with Roelandts leading out Greipel and Eisel leading out Boasson Hagen with 2,7 to go.

Kittel is far back as are Verboven, who won't get to win the jersey he is borrowing today.
2 km to go it's:

		Roelandts
		Greipel
	Ratto	Eisel	Haussler	Boasson Hagen
Lasca			Farrar	Hayman
Sagan		Modolo

Final km:


Not the hardest win in the career of the Gorilla…

1	André Greipel	Lotto Belisol	2h15'02
2	Peter Sagan	Cannondale Pro Cycling	s.t.
3	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Sky Procycling	s.t.
4	Greg Van Avermaet	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
5	Heinrich Haussler	IAM Cycling	s.t.
6	Taylor Phinney	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
7	Tom Boonen	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	s.t.
8	Francesco Lasca	Cannondale Pro Cycling	s.t.
9	Jürgen Roelandts	Lotto Belisol	s.t.
10	Geraint Thomas	Sky Procycling	s.t.

1	Greg Van Avermaet	BMC Racing Team	11h05'33
2	André Greipel	Lotto Belisol	+ 43
3	Guillaume Van Keirsbulck	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	+ 50
4	Peter Sagan	Cannondale Pro Cycling	+ 53
5	Björn Leukemans	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
6	Mirko Selvaggi	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	+ 54
7	Rudy Verboven	Euskaltel - Euskadi	+ 55
8	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Sky Procycling	s.t.
9	Erik McDermott	Garmin - Sharp	s.t.
10	Matthew Hayman	Sky Procycling	s.t.

1	André Greipel	Lotto Belisol	20	43
2	Greg Van Avermaet	BMC Racing Team	14	39
3	Heinrich Haussler	IAM Cycling	12	29
4	Alf Pedersen	Sky Procycling	5	28
5	Peter Sagan	Cannondale Pro Cycling	18	28

1	Guillaume Van Keirsbulck	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	11h06'23 (1)
2	Peter Sagan	Cannondale Pro Cycling	+ 3 (2)
3	Rudy Verboven	Euskaltel - Euskadi	+ 5 (3)
4	Erik McDermott	Garmin - Sharp	+ 5 (4)
5	Elia Favilli	Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox	+ 6 (5)

1	BMC Racing Team	33h18'47 (1)
2	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	+ 49 (2)
3	Cannondale Pro Cycling	+ 49 (3)
4	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	+ 49 (4)
5	IAM Cycling	+ 49 (5)

Yay

Good sprint but lost even more time on GC

Seriously Kittel? You know there's a stage win goal here, right? And what did I say about attacking, Stuyven?

You bring Vanmarcke-Kaha-Renshaw-Kittel for a stage win and this is what you get. Maybe Boom can surprise this afternoon, but against Phinney..

San Luis - Is it really finished?

Crit. Int - Quintana did good to minimize the losses there. 21 seconds only to Kelderman is looking good for now. Kuznetsov did great to grab a podium!

Catalunya - Calzone B-) Finally he shows his strengths. The team did great to deliver him into a great sprint position.
The videos looks like a very nice feature. I'd start it a bit earlier though to show the full last 3 km to see the movement inside the peleton...

Algarve - Yes, yes, yes. Costa shows that he's far better than the north korean joke. Well done! Awesome to see Amador winning the TT. Too bad that he could not get that GC podium. Machado also finishing in the top ten of the GC is a pleasant surprise though.

Greipel made that look easy !!

San Luis: Another goal failed, how surprising. Ciolek's first good performance of the season, and a KoM for a custom rider is better.

CritInt: Not too bad for a change

It's time for stage 2 of the Volta. It should be another stage for the sprinters, so Calzone should be capable of hanging on to the lead.

Just like yesterday about 40 different riders try to break away, but after 60 km we get a four man break. Serov (RVL), Carthy (CAN), Edmondson (SKY) and Bernaudeau (EUC) are their names. The first KoM went to Kern, the second to Serov. The first intermediate sprint goes to Edmondson.


The 4 don't even reach the second intermediate sprint. After having had a max lead of 4m30 they're picked up by the Movistar-lead pack with 33km left to ride.


After Bos wins the intermediate sprint the pace remains high. Rowe, who had clearly hoped for an easier time is caught behind the pack.


Chaos is the key word today again. Only AG2R is able to set up a sprint train, but Markus has to go early. Many other sprinters are having trouble reaching the front, including Calzone.


Belkin suddenly hits the front at the far right. Riquelme leads out Bos, and nobody is following them, as Markus is giving a free lead out at the far left.


Riquelme, in fact, is so strong even Bos can't follow him. He takes the lead on his own, while Calzone, Bennett and Sinkeldam are trying to close the gap. At the far left Valverde jumps towards the front, and this seems a perfect opportunity for him to take some bonus seconds due to the chaos.


Riquelme heads into the final kilometer, still with a sizable gap, but severely decreased by Valverde.


In the battle for third Hesjedal has also decided to take part, and for now he seems the best contender to take the third place.


And Riquelme collapses! Valverde is coming closer quickly and he might even take the lead soon.


With 200m to go Riquelme still leads, but Valverde is almost past him.


The battle for third is in another world, but still lead by Hesjedal. Intxausti seems the best contender to take it away from the Canadian, but even that seems unlikely.


At the finish

it's Valverde! A small gap is enough for him at the line.

Hesjedal ends up third.

Stage Results
Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team	3h38'43
2	Jorge Cristobal Riquelme	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
3	Ryder Hesjedal	Team Giant - Shimano	s.t.
4	Beñat Intxausti	Euskaltel - Euskadi	s.t.
5	Silvan Dillier	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
6	Rigoberto Urán	Sky Procycling	s.t.
7	Luis León Sánchez	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
8	Sam Bennett	Team Tinkoff - Saxo	s.t.
9	Carlo Calzone	Movistar Team	s.t.
10	Ramon Sinkeldam	CCC Polsat - Polkowice	s.t.
11	Theo Bos	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
12	Kenny Dehaes	Lotto Belisol	s.t.
13	Alberto Contador	Team Tinkoff - Saxo	s.t.
14	Daniel Moreno	Team Tinkoff - Saxo	s.t.
15	Barry Markus	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.

GC

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team	+ 7h27'10
2	Carlo Calzone	Movistar Team	s.t.
3	Sam Bennett	Team Tinkoff - Saxo	+ 7h27'14
4	Jorge Cristobal Riquelme	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
5	Igor Boev	RusVelo	+ 7h27'15
6	Aidis Kruopis	Orica - GreenEdge	+ 7h27'16
7	Ryder Hesjedal	Team Giant - Shimano	s.t.
8	Theo Bos	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	+ 7h27'17
9	Joshua Edmonson	Sky Procycling	s.t.
10	Lars Petter Nordhaug	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	+ 7h27'18
11	Hugh Carthy	Cannondale Pro Cycling	s.t.
12	Michel Koch	Cannondale Pro Cycling	s.t.
13	Luis León Sánchez	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	+ 7h27'20
14	Kenny Dehaes	Lotto Belisol	s.t.
15	Rigoberto Urán	Sky Procycling	s.t.

Points

Rank	Name	Team	Points
1	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team	33
2	Carlo Calzone	Movistar Team	32
3	Sam Bennett	Team Tinkoff - Saxo	28
4	Jorge Cristobal Riquelme	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	20
5	Luis León Sánchez	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	19

KoM

Rank	Name	Team	Mountain
1	Carlos Verona	Team NetApp - Endura	28
2	Michel Koch	Cannondale Pro Cycling	16
3	Alexandre Pichot	Team Europcar	16
4	Igor Boev	RusVelo	14
5	Alexander Serov	RusVelo	10

-25

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Carlo Calzone	Movistar Team	7h27'10 (1)
2	Sam Bennett	Team Tinkoff - Saxo	+ 4 (2)
3	Jorge Cristobal Riquelme	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	+ 4 (3)
4	Igor Boev	RusVelo	+ 5 (4)
5	Joshua Edmonson	Sky Procycling	+ 7 (5)

Teams

Rank	Team	Time
1	Team NetApp - Endura	22h22'00 (1)
2	Colombia	+ 0 (2)
3	Bretagne - Séché Environnement	+ 0 (3)
4	Sojasun	+ 0 (4)
5	Euskaltel - Euskadi	+ 0 (5)

You know you're having a good race when your 'sprinter' only just squeezes into the top 100 and yet you still have 2 in the top 6.

Looks like GVA vs EBH vs Phinney vs Boom for the win. Lots of outsiders though. #shittingmyself

Stage 2 and I already have my 2 stage wins. Sponsor goal completed
I should go back to select more difficult goals for the next season part

The GC looks nice, too. It's propably better for me that Valverde is now in the leader jersey (if it stays that way) for the more difficult stages...

Double post required for Dillier.

Dillier for Green? You heard it here first (and last)

Not this again. If he was in the right jersey, Jorge would have won

8 points isn't much, but I'll take it every day Amazing seeing Sinkeldam out sprinting stronger sprinters

A podium would have been nice obviously but nice to see Intxausti show some form before the hard stages. Hopefully he can keep this up.

Since it's Three Days in Panne I might as well give you all four stages on three days I guess...

Tomorrow will see the third race in EHST by the way. Profile can be seen at my HQ.


Closing with a 11,2 km flat ITT.
GVA should be able to defend his lead but with so many rider within a minute including strong TT-riders like Boasson Hagen and Phinney nothing is certain.
Even Greipel and Van Keirsbulck can ride a decent TT, when this short and will hope to defend their podium or even try to advance though it will be hard considering the small gaps they have to those behind.

Myrvold has set 14'35 as the time to aim for before the 68 potential GC riders start clocking in.

Grawunder is looking sharp as he goes by Longo Borghini. He is 4 seconds slower than Myrvold in finish.

Vandewalle surpsises with new best time.
Penarossa is 5 seconds slower in 4th best time.

Phinney gives it everything across the line, but he is still 16 seconds slower than Vandewalle.
Greaint Thomas clocks in at 5th best time
Boasson Hagen catches up to McDermott right on the line and is registred as 3rd best time within less than a second of both Myrvold and Vandewalle.
Sagan disappoints by finishing a provisional 25th 33 seconds down.

Van Keirsbulck has a youth jersey and a GC podium to defend so he certainly gives it his all and finishes 43 seconds down on 36th place.

André Greipel is a bit faster losing 38 seconds on the strongest today.

Van Avermaet has 55 seconds to spare on Boasson Hagen before today.
He finishes 64th only 3 seconds short of defending his GC.

1	Kristof Vandewalle	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	14'35
2	Anders Myrvold	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	s.t.
3	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Sky Procycling	+ 1
4	Lars Grawunder	Team Champion System	+ 5
5	Silvio Pennarossa	Cannondale Pro Cycling	+ 6
6	Lars Boom	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	+ 8
7	Geraint Thomas	Sky Procycling	s.t.
8	Alex Rasmussen	Garmin - Sharp	+ 12
9	Tom Boonen	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	+ 14
10	Taylor Phinney	BMC Racing Team	+ 17

1	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Sky Procycling	11h21'04
2	Greg Van Avermaet	BMC Racing Team	+ 3
3	Kristof Vandewalle	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	s.t.
4	Lars Grawunder	Team Champion System	+ 8
5	Silvio Pennarossa	Cannondale Pro Cycling	+ 9
6	Geraint Thomas	Sky Procycling	+ 11
7	Lars Boom	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
8	Alex Rasmussen	Garmin - Sharp	+ 15
9	Tom Boonen	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	+ 17
10	Taylor Phinney	BMC Racing Team	+ 20

1	André Greipel	Lotto Belisol	43
2	Greg Van Avermaet	BMC Racing Team	39
3	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Sky Procycling	33
4	Heinrich Haussler	IAM Cycling	29
5	Peter Sagan	Cannondale Pro Cycling	28

1	Lars Grawunder	Team Champion System	11h21'12 (1)
2	Silvio Pennarossa	Cannondale Pro Cycling	+ 1 (2)
3	Taylor Phinney	BMC Racing Team	+ 12 (3)
4	Peter Sagan	Cannondale Pro Cycling	+ 23 (4)
5	Julien Vermote	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	+ 24 (5)

1	BMC Racing Team	34h03'51 (1)
2	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	+ 13 (2)
3	Sky Procycling	+ 18 (3)
4	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	+ 32 (4)
5	Garmin - Sharp	+ 45 (5)