Fant. Neutral Story [Ronde 2018]
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mpardo |
Posted on 01-05-2017 11:26
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Sprinter
Posts: 1738
Joined: 06-09-2011
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European ITT Championship
Stockton-on-Tees - Stockton-on-Tees (ITT)
Today's Winner
Stage Results
1 | | Tony Martin | Lotto - Soudal | 55'14 | 2 | | David Millar | HTC - Highroad | + 7 | 3 | | Marco Pinotti | Team Sky | + 1'23 | 4 | | Fabian Cancellara | Cannondale - Drapac | + 1'52 | 5 | | Chris Froome | Lampre - Merida | + 1'53 | 6 | | Vasil Kiryienka | IAM Cycling | + 1'54 | 7 | | Peter Velits | Discovery Channel | + 1'56 | 8 | | Jérôme Coppel | Etixx - Quick·Step | s.t. | 9 | | Jean-Christophe Peraud | Discovery Channel | s.t. | 10 | | Xavi Tondo | Lampre - Merida | + 1'59 |
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Tamijo |
Posted on 01-05-2017 14:24
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Team Leader
Posts: 7406
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Another TT win from the German machine.
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Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 14:55
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Bot Agent
Posts: Countless
Joined: 23.11.09
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sutty68 |
Posted on 01-05-2017 16:51
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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The top two were in a class of there own
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mpardo |
Posted on 05-05-2017 22:25
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Sprinter
Posts: 1738
Joined: 06-09-2011
PCM$: 200.00
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Rest of the World Road Championship
Favorites:
- Mark Renshaw (BMC Racing Team)
- Michael Matthews (Cannondale -Drapac)
- Tyler Farrar (Tinkoff)
- Matthew Goss (Movistar Team)
Other riders with a shot at the podium are Chris Sutton (Lotto - Soudal), Jose Serpa (Ag2r - La Mondiale), Peter Stetina (BMC Racing Team), Simon Gerrans and Tejay van Garderen (Trek - Segafredo) and Maxim Iglinskiy (Team Sky).
Previous winners
| First | Second | Third | 2015 | Andrew Talansky | Cadel Evans | Peter Stetina | 2016 | Michael Matthews | Cadel Evans | Peter Stetina |
Startlist
Route Preview
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sutty68 |
Posted on 05-05-2017 23:36
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
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My money is on Farrar
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mpardo |
Posted on 06-05-2017 12:12
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Sprinter
Posts: 1738
Joined: 06-09-2011
PCM$: 200.00
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Rest of the World Road Championship
Westville - Westville
Today's Winner
Stage Results
1 | | Levi Leipheimer | Trek - Segafredo | 4h27'06 | 2 | | Rigoberto Urán | Vacansoleil - DCM | + 8 | 3 | | Mark Renshaw | BMC Racing Team | + 8'43 | 4 | | Matthew Goss | Movistar Team | + 8'51 | 5 | | Tyler Farrar | Tinkoff | s.t. | 6 | | Michael Matthews | Cannondale - Drapac | s.t. | 7 | | Christopher Sutton | Lotto - Soudal | s.t. | 8 | | Peter Stetina | BMC Racing Team | s.t. | 9 | | Rohan Dennis | Lotto - Soudal | s.t. | 10 | | José Serpa | AG2R La Mondiale | s.t. |
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Tamijo |
Posted on 06-05-2017 19:23
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Team Leader
Posts: 7406
Joined: 14-07-2015
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Trek - nice !
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mpardo |
Posted on 07-05-2017 11:55
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Sprinter
Posts: 1738
Joined: 06-09-2011
PCM$: 200.00
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European Road Championship
Favorites:
- Lloyd Mondory (Etixx - Quickstep)
- Andre Greipel (Lotto - Soudal)
- Kenny van Hummel (LottoNL - Jumbo)
- Marcel Kittel (Astana Pro Team)
Other riders with a shot at the podium are Alexander Kristoff and Elia Viviani (Euskaltel - Euskadi), Ben Swift (Vacansoleil - DMC), Nacer Bouhanni (Ag2r - La Mondiale), Simone Ponzi (LottoNL - Jumbo) and Mark Cavendish (IAM Cycling).
Previous winners
| First | Second | Third | 2015 | Jose Joaquin Rojas | Bjorn Leukemans | Elia Viviani | 2016 | Andre Greipel | Jose Joaquin Rojas | Ben Swift |
Startlist
Route Preview
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mpardo |
Posted on 08-05-2017 22:17
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Sprinter
Posts: 1738
Joined: 06-09-2011
PCM$: 200.00
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European Road Championship
Stockton-on-Tees - Stockton-on-Tees
Today's Winner
Stage Results
1 | | Lloyd Mondory | Etixx - Quick·Step | 4h59'15 | 2 | | André Greipel | Lotto - Soudal | s.t. | 3 | | Francisco José Ventoso | Movistar Team | s.t. | 4 | | Nacer Bouhanni | AG2R La Mondiale | s.t. | 5 | | Ben Swift | Vacansoleil - DCM | s.t. | 6 | | Tony Gallopin | IAM Cycling | s.t. | 7 | | Mark Cavendish | IAM Cycling | s.t. | 8 | | Kenny Van Hummel | Team LottoNL - Jumbo | s.t. | 9 | | José JoaquÃn Rojas | Movistar Team | s.t. | 10 | | Francesco Gavazzi | Lampre - Merida | s.t. |
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mpardo |
Posted on 10-05-2017 21:12
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Sprinter
Posts: 1738
Joined: 06-09-2011
PCM$: 200.00
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UCI World Tour rankings riders (after National Championships)
1 | | Lloyd Mondory | Etixx | 454.4 | 2 | | Jelle Vanendert | Lotto | 370.65 | 3 | | David Lopez | Euskaltel | 341.56 | 4 | | Alexander Kristoff | Euskaltel | 310.37 | 5 | | Björn Leukemans | Lotto | 239.25 | 6 | | Fränk Schleck | Etixx | 214.19 | 7 | | Hubert Dupont | Euskaltel | 207.54 | 8 | | Emanuele Sella | Movistar | 202.05 | 9 | | Chris Froome | Lampre | 190.07 | 10 | | Cadel Evans | Lotto | 181.15 | 11 | | Jerome Coppel | Etixx | 164.69 | 12 | | Tony Martin | Lotto | 161.41 | 13 | | Andre Greipel | Lotto | 155.15 | 14 | | Robert Gesink | Ag2r | 152.83 | 15 | | Andrew Talansky | HTC | 144.58 |
UCI World Tour rankings teams (after National Championships)
1 | | Lotto - Soudal | 1159.5 | 2 | | Euskaltel - Euskadi | 1009.5 | 3 | | Etixx - Quickstep | 878.35 | 4 | | HTC - Highroad | 528.95 | 5 | | Ag2r - La Mondiale | 455.35 | 6 | | Cannondale - Drapac | 355.2 | 7 | | Team Katusha | 351.15 | 8 | | Team Sky | 322.9 | 9 | | Movistar Team | 306.35 | 10 | | Trek - Segafredo | 298.3 | 11 | | Lampre - Merida | 282.3 | 12 | | Team LottoNL - Jumbo | 276 | 13 | | Astana Pro Team | 265.35 | 14 | | Discovery Channel | 248.5 | 15 | | Vacansoleil - DMC | 248.2 | 16 | | BMC Racing Team | 193.9 | 17 | | IAM Cycling | 185.2 | 18 | | Tinkoff | 161.95 |
UCI Pro Continental rankings riders (after National Championships)
1 | | Joost Van Leijen | Giant | 209.55 | 2 | | Gregory Rast | Orica | 70 | 3 | | Sylvain Chavanel | Giant | 22.75 | 4 | | Wilco Kelderman | Giant | 11.1 | 5 | | Thomas Voeckler | Dimension Data | 5 | 6 | | Alejandro Valverde | Cofidis | 5 | 7 | | Jonas van Genechten | Giant | 3.85 | 8 | | John Gadret | FDJ | 3.85 | 9 | | Bryan Coquard | Dimension Data | 2.75 | 10 | | Michal Kwiatkowski | FDJ | 1.65 | 11 | | Daryl Impey | Dimension Data | 1.1 | 12 | | Cyril Gautier | FDJ | 1 | 13 | | Julian Arredondo | Orica | 0.55 |
UCI Pro Continental rankings teams (after National Championships)
1 | | Team Giant - Alpecin | 247.25 | 2 | | Orica - BikeExchange | 70.55 | 3 | | Dimension Data | 8.85 | 4 | | FDJ | 6.5 | 5 | | Cofidis, Solutions Credits | 5 |
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Tamijo |
Posted on 11-05-2017 07:04
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Team Leader
Posts: 7406
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Mondory is having a great year, a teammate Frank (my hero in this story ) doing fairly well too.
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sutty68 |
Posted on 11-05-2017 13:02
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Not bad having three riders in the first seven but now its time for Euskaltel to make there move
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mpardo |
Posted on 18-05-2017 20:56
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Sprinter
Posts: 1738
Joined: 06-09-2011
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Shame Frank Schleck is not riding the Tour, which is the next race. On Euskaltel it will be Dupont fighting for the podium and Kristoff for the stages.
Apologies for the break in the story, normal service will resume shortly.
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mpardo |
Posted on 20-05-2017 09:09
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Sprinter
Posts: 1738
Joined: 06-09-2011
PCM$: 200.00
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Tour de France
One more year the World of cycling is paralysed for its most important race, the Tour de France. A peloton of 198 riders will travel through France, starting in the Belgian town of Liege this season. The route will be the same that crowned Tejay van Garderen 3 years ago, with a significant weight of time trials. There will be 2 long and flat tests against the clock, finishing in Besancon and Chartres, which will tilt the balance towards the time trialists compared to other Grand Tour routes in modern cycling. Among the stages in the mountains, the most significant ones will be those finishing at La Toussuire in the Alps and Peyragudes in the Pyrenees.
In terms of the startlist, there are a few important riders missing who probably thought that the long time trials do not suit them. Among those we can find David Lopez, Jelle Vanendert and Frank Schleck. It is most understandable for Vanendert, who also concentrates in classics and has a more natural stage racer in Cadel Evans at the team. Nevertheless, the names at the start are really strong with the riders in the podiums of 2014 and 2015 all at the race. It is worth noting that no rider has been able to win the Tour twice yet with Bauke Mollema and Hubert Dupont coming closest to achieving that feature.
Favorites:
- Cadel Evans (Lotto - Soudal): Cadel Evans has been steadily progressing in his career and he has reached a point when he can be a candidate for the Tour de France. He was in the podium a couple of years ago but he has made much progress since then. The route should also be quite favorable for him with many time trial kilometers. Nevertheless, Evans has never won a stage race in his whole career so it might be a long shot for the Tour de France to be the first. The fact that he has the Lotto - Soudal team with him should be very good news to him.
- Laurens Ten Dam (Cannondale - Drapac): Laurens Ten Dam is the current winner of both the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, so it would be quite strange not to have him among the favorites. He is probably the rider that will be most closely monitored by his rivals during the next 3 weeks. However, his season will not give him a lot of confidence. He suffered crashes early in the season wherever he went and his only decent result was a 5th place at the Tour de Suisse. It is not a bad sign if you consider that many of the riders ahead were targeting the race and skipping the Tour.
- Jean-Christophe Peraud (Discovery Channel): Peraud is one of the riders most benefited by a race that combines the mountains with long and flat time trials. The French will be delighted that it is the Tour de France, his home race, has a route with those characteristics. It would not be a new feeling for him to be in the podium of a Grand Tour as he was third in the Vuelta a España in 2010. However, he does not have results that good this season as he could only be 5th in both the Pais Vasco and the Dauphine. On the other hand, he will not have such a good support from his team as Discovery is no longer a powerhouse in the World Tour.
- Marco Pinotti (Team Sky): Pinotti is another rider that is better against the clock than in the mountains so this Tour is also a good chance for him to have a shot at the podium. However, his only podium in a stage race was in the 2016 Tour de Romandie. He has not been inspiring in his first season as a rider of Team Sky and the 5th position in the Tirreno - Adriatico has been his best result of the season. Additionally, his support in the mountains will not be good at all as Mauro Santambrogio and Bradley Wiggins should be his best helpers.
Other riders with a shot at the podium are Robert Gesink (Ag2r - La Mondiale), Jerome Coppel (Etixx - Quickstep), Chris Froome (Lampre - Merida), Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil - DMC), Mathias Frank (IAM Cycling) and Tejay van Garderen (Trek - Segafredo).
Among the sprinters, we can find some of the best in the World, like Lloyd Mondory (Etixx - Quickstep), Andre Greipel (Lotto - Soudal), Mark Renshaw (BMC Racing Team), Kenny van Hummel (LottoNL - Jumbo), Marcel Kittel (Astana Pro Team) and Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel - Euskadi).
Previous winners
| First | Second | Third | 2009 | Hubert Dupont | Janez Brajkovic | Rigoberto Uran | 2012 | Bauke Mollema | Mikel Nieve | Hubert Dupont | 2014 | Tejay Van Garderen | Bauke Mollema | Matthias Frank | 2015 | Laurens Ten Dam | Hubert Dupont | Cadel Evans |
Startlist
Route Preview
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Ripley |
Posted on 20-05-2017 09:44
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3341
Joined: 25-11-2014
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I'm looking forward to this. The flat 52 km ITT on stage 20 should make the pure climbers push hard in the mountains to have any chance of a good result.
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Raziz |
Posted on 20-05-2017 10:30
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Domestique
Posts: 552
Joined: 22-12-2016
PCM$: 200.00
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GO CADEL!
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Tamijo |
Posted on 21-05-2017 10:35
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Team Leader
Posts: 7406
Joined: 14-07-2015
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With no Frank my applause(s) goes to Cannondale
Mondory in the sprint
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sutty68 |
Posted on 21-05-2017 19:36
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
Joined: 22-08-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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The Tour de France should be a nice time for Euskaltel to shine !!!
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mpardo |
Posted on 21-05-2017 22:51
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Sprinter
Posts: 1738
Joined: 06-09-2011
PCM$: 200.00
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I can't remember having that much expectation for a race in this story before
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mpardo |
Posted on 22-05-2017 22:11
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Sprinter
Posts: 1738
Joined: 06-09-2011
PCM$: 200.00
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Tour de France
Stage 1: Liege - Liege (ITT)
The Tour de France starts in Liege with a 6 kilometers long prologue that should not make significant gaps in the GC but that will hurt the chances of some of the sprinters to take the yellow jersey in one of the upcoming stages. The route itself is completely flat so the favorites will be the time trialists and those that are specialists in prologues. This is only the first of a couple of stages in Belgium, which make for the Grand Depart of the 2017 Tour de France, none of them suitable for the sprinters to take the win before hitting France.
The first of the candidates for the win in the prologue was Cameron Meyer (Trek), the time trial World Champion. Meyer took the win in the National Championship again last week but that has been his only win of the season so far, which is not such a good sign for him. The early pace today had been set by Andrew Talansky (HTC), so it was already a good benchmark for Meyer. The Australian easily took the first place provisionally by cutting 6 seconds off his time, which is a significant gap in a 6 kilometers long time trial.
Tony Martin (Lotto) has been the best rider against the clock in the season so far, with wins twice in the Tour de Romandie, the time trial of the Criterium du Dauphine and the National Championship. Today he was outstanding again and he managed to beat Cameron Meyer's best time by a margin of 3 seconds. It may not look like a big gap but the fact that he beat Meyer again must be hard psychologically for the Australian. It is worth noting how good the season for Martin has been so far and how much he has improved in the last few seasons.
Jerome Coppel (Etixx) started his run much later than Tony Martin. He is one of the local hopes for the GC alongside Hubert Dupont (Euskaltel). His prologue performance was really good and at some point he looked like beating Martin but in the end he could only take the provisional 2nd position, losing only on the hundredths of a second against the German. Coppel had already won the time trial at the Vuelta al Pais Vasco this season and even though he is missing a really good result like the podium in the Dauphine last season his performances with Etixx have been really good and consistent.
Another of the French riders that could do well in the Tour de France is Jean-Christophe Peraud (Discovery). He is quite a good time trialist, as he proved a couple of seasons ago by taking the win in the European Championship. His start of the Tour was really good and he also narrowly missed on the provisional best time held by Tony Martin. He took the third position but also within less than a second off Martin's time. This was a proof of how close the top riders are matched in such a short time trial as the top 3 was within less than a second at that stage.
Tejay van Garderen (Trek) has a target of adding second win in the Tour de France this season and he will need to put the foundations of that win on the time trials. However, he has not been historically as good in prologues as in longer time trials. Nevertheless, he took the 5th provisional time as he crossed the finish line, which is a good result for him. He lost 7 seconds to Tony Martin but put a few seconds on most of the strongest climbers in the race. Tejay has had a few good performances this season but he has lacked consistency and his only podium so far was in the Tirreno - Adriatico.
There are also sprinters that are specialists in prologues but most of them started very late in the day and the rain had started to fall in Liege. The first of those was Tyler Farrar (Tinkoff). The American sprinter is not the dominant rider that he used to be a few years ago but he already took two wins at the start of the season, proving that he can still be a factor. Today he kept his options of getting the leader's jersey eventually by taking the 9th provisional time, 10 seconds behind Tony Martin. Tinkoff is in dire need of results and Farrar is a rider that can get them.
Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel) is a very versatile rider that may not take that many wins in straight-forward sprints but will be incredibly effective as soon as there is any difficulty along the route. Most notably, he won the Paris - Nice and the Milano - Sanremo in quick succession. His time in today's time trial was similar to the one recorded by Tyler Farrar, although he took the 10th provisional time on the hundredths of a second. Kristoff is quite capable of getting a good result in tomorrow's difficult stage so he is a rider to be considered.
The last of the riders with a shot at the final win in the prologue was Marcel Kittel (Astana). The German is a rider that has promised a lot in the last few seasons but that has regularly left a bitter-sweet taste among his fans. He is yet to win this season but took a total of 15 wins during the last 3 seasons, which is not within the reach of many riders. However, today was not the day when he would take a win as he had to settle for the 5th position, only 5 seconds behind Tony Martin. If Kittel is able to survive tomorrow's finish in Seraing he could well aim for the yellow jersey in the first week.
The gaps were not too big in this prologue but it is worth mentioning how some of the favorites that were outside the top 10 fared: Marco Pinotti (Sky) +13''; Chris Froome (Lampre) and Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil) +14''; Robert Gesink (Ag2r) +18''; Cadel Evans (Lotto) and Mathias Frank (IAM) +20''; Laurens Ten Dam (Cannondale) +21''. Tomorrow's stage will be quite different and it will not be one for the pure sprinters as the route will finish at Seraing after a gentle climb during the last 3 kilometers of the stage. There should not be big gaps either.
Today's Winner
Stage Results
1 | | Tony Martin | Lotto - Soudal | 7'45 | 2 | | Jérôme Coppel | Etixx - Quick·Step | s.t. | 3 | | Jean-Christophe Peraud | Discovery Channel | s.t. | 4 | | Cameron Meyer | Trek - Segafredo | + 3 | 5 | | Marcel Kittel | Astana Pro Team | + 5 | 6 | | Tejay Van Garderen | Trek - Segafredo | + 7 | 7 | | Andrew Talansky | HTC - Highroad | + 9 | 8 | | Wilco Kelderman | Team Giant - Alpecin | + 10 | 9 | | Jonathan Castroviejo | Lampre - Merida | s.t. | 10 | | Tyler Farrar | Tinkoff | s.t. |
Points
1 | | Tony Martin | Lotto - Soudal | 20 | 2 | | Jérôme Coppel | Etixx - Quick·Step | 17 | 3 | | Jean-Christophe Peraud | Discovery Channel | 15 | 4 | | Cameron Meyer | Trek - Segafredo | 13 | 5 | | Marcel Kittel | Astana Pro Team | 11 |
Young
1 | | Rohan Dennis | Lotto - Soudal | 7'56 | 2 | | Tom Dumoulin | Cannondale - Drapac | + 1 | 3 | | Adriano Malori | Trek - Segafredo | + 3 | 4 | | Tanel Kangert | Team Katusha | + 5 | 5 | | Ruben Plaza | BMC Racing Team | + 8 |
Teams
1 | | Trek - Segafredo | 23'38 | 2 | | Etixx - Quick·Step | + 7 | 3 | | Lotto - Soudal | + 8 | 4 | | Discovery Channel | + 11 | 5 | | Tinkoff | + 16 |
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