Tour of California Stage 4


A lot of big names in the breakaway. Names like Loosli, Hamilton and Bertagnolli are there


Lastras is the first rider that attacks on the last climb. Mollema, Devolder, Florencio and Fothen are after him


Popoyvch, Spilak, Schleck and Voeckler are trying to go to the front of the race as well


Lovkvist tries his luck. But he's out of form and the attack isn't convincing


The escapes still have a little advantage but the big names are coming fast


Perez Romero and Peterson are in front at the top


Devolder is the first big name there


Lovkvist is now somewhere between the favourites group and the pack


With 5km to go Lastras and Peterson are in front. But Lastras is looking away better


Lastras was the only one who could maintain a good speed. The other start the sprint behind him but it could be too late


And it was too late. Lastras wins, Voeckler second.


Lovkvist finished after 2 minutes


While Hincapie and Zabriskie managed to win more than a minute over the pack on the flat portion after the climb.


Stage
1. Pablo Lastras Liquigas 4h14'21
2. Thomas Voeckler Bouygues Télécom s.t.
3. Bauke Mollema Rabobank s.t.
4. Simon Spilak Lampre s.t.
5. Stijn Devolder Quick·Step s.t.
6. Markus Fothen Gerolsteiner s.t.
7. Andy Schleck Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
8. Thomas Peterson Garmin - Chipotle powered by H30 s.t.
9. Aleksandr Kuschynski Liquigas + 54
10. Vladimir Gusev Astana Cycling Team s.t.

Overall
1. Pablo Lastras Liquigas 12h38'42
2. Thomas Voeckler Bouygues Télécom + 12
3. Stijn Devolder Quick·Step + 13
4. Bauke Mollema Rabobank s.t.
5. Andy Schleck Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 17
6. Simon Spilak Lampre + 20
7. Markus Fothen Gerolsteiner s.t.
8. Thomas Peterson Garmin - Chipotle powered by H30 + 59
9. Yaroslav Popovych Silence - Lotto + 1'08
10. Vladimir Gusev Astana Cycling Team s.t.

Points
1. Tom Boonen Quick·Step 50
2. Stijn Devolder Quick·Step 32
3. Danilo Napolitano Lampre 32

Mountain
1. Thomas Peterson Garmin - Chipotle powered by H30 30
2. Luis Pérez Romero Rock Racing 28
3. David Loosli Lampre 25

Tour of California Stage 5


The breakaway.


A big name is there. Leif Hoste.


Devolde makes an attack in the final kilometres of the stage


Andy Schleck and Hincapie are after him


And a lot more other riders


Anyway with 3km to go Frank Schleck leads


Popovych is chasing him


Hincapie and Voeckler are right after them


Then a group with Andy Schleck, Devolder, Gusev, Lastras and Fothen who seems to love one each other a lot


Frank takes the stage. And a podium for Big George.


Stage
1. Fränk Schleck Team CSC - Saxo Bank 5h21'21
2. Yaroslav Popovych Silence - Lotto s.t.
3. George Hincapie Team Columbia s.t.
4. Thomas Voeckler Bouygues Télécom s.t.
5. Pablo Lastras Liquigas s.t.
6. Vladimir Gusev Astana Cycling Team s.t.
7. Stijn Devolder Quick·Step s.t.
8. Andy Schleck Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
9. Markus Fothen Gerolsteiner s.t.
10. Simon Spilak Lampre + 1'28

Overall
1. Pablo Lastras Liquigas 18h00'03
2. Thomas Voeckler Bouygues Télécom + 12
3. Stijn Devolder Quick·Step + 13
4. Andy Schleck Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 17
5. Markus Fothen Gerolsteiner + 20
6. Yaroslav Popovych Silence - Lotto + 56
7. Vladimir Gusev Astana Cycling Team + 1'08
8. Bauke Mollema Rabobank + 1'41
9. Simon Spilak Lampre + 1'48
10. Thomas Peterson Garmin - Chipotle powered by H30 + 2'27

Tour of California Stage 6


Wiggins was the first important leader today, in front of riders good in TT as Elijzen or Backstedt


But then Hoste took the lead


At least untill Schumacher's finish


Cancellara was once more the fastest guy on the road


Zabriskie couldn't compete with him


Not a poor time for Lovkvist but not a fantastic one either


Hincapie surprises everyone. He's faster than Zabriskie and takes the second place, 1 minute behind Cancellara


Good times for Gusev, Popovych and Fothen today


Devolder almost beat Cancellara, he was only 33 seconds slower


Lastras and Voeckler lost a lot of time today and Devolder is going to wear the yellow jersey on the podium


Stage
1. Fabian Cancellara Team CSC - Saxo Bank 34'57
2. Stijn Devolder Quick·Step + 33
3. Yaroslav Popovych Silence - Lotto + 55
4. George Hincapie Team Columbia + 1'00
5. Vladimir Gusev Astana Cycling Team s.t.
6. David Zabriskie Team Columbia + 1'10
7. Stefan Schumacher Gerolsteiner + 1'16
8. Bradley McGee Garmin - Chipotle powered by H30 + 1'22
9. Janez Brajkovic Astana Cycling Team + 1'26
10. Markus Fothen Gerolsteiner + 1'27

Overall
1. Stijn Devolder Quick·Step 18h35'46
2. Markus Fothen Gerolsteiner + 1'01
3. Yaroslav Popovych Silence - Lotto + 1'05
4. Andy Schleck Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 1'16
5. Vladimir Gusev Astana Cycling Team + 1'22
6. Pablo Lastras Liquigas + 1'24
7. Thomas Voeckler Bouygues Télécom + 1'40
8. Bauke Mollema Rabobank + 3'10
9. Simon Spilak Lampre + 3'12
10. George Hincapie Team Columbia + 3'16

Good display there in California but Cancellara is unbeatable at his best...

how many stages are left?

2.

I hate that race now... Took the yellow jersey with Gerdemann, but he lost it with one single second on the last stage!



Hope your luck is better

Hincapie fights for the 8th place not for the first

Would be great if you would still win this race, quite impossible i think

I don't have where to gain 3 minutes

Tour of California Stage 7


No big names in the breakaway.


Hincapie tries a knock-out in the last kilometres


Ciolek first was after the CSC train, then he switched to Silence


Hincapie starts the sprint in front


But Zabel accelerates (?!) and Hincapie is caught


Zabel wins today!


Ciolek third, Hincapie fifth


Stage
1. Erik Zabel Silence - Lotto 4h13'18
2. Matti Breschel Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
3. Gerald Ciolek Team Columbia s.t.
4. Tom Boonen Quick·Step s.t.
5. George Hincapie Team Columbia s.t.
6. Murilo Fischer Liquigas s.t.
7. Fabian Wegmann Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
8. Greg Van Avermaet Silence - Lotto s.t.
9. Stuart O'Grady Quick·Step s.t.
10. Danilo Napolitano Lampre s.t.

Overall
1. Stijn Devolder Quick·Step 22h49'04
2. Markus Fothen Gerolsteiner + 1'01
3. Yaroslav Popovych Silence - Lotto + 1'05
4. Andy Schleck Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 1'16
5. Vladimir Gusev Astana Cycling Team + 1'22
6. Pablo Lastras Liquigas + 1'24
7. Thomas Voeckler Bouygues Télécom + 1'40
8. Bauke Mollema Rabobank + 3'10
9. Simon Spilak Lampre + 3'12
10. George Hincapie Team Columbia + 3'16

Points
1. Tom Boonen Quick·Step 64
2. Stijn Devolder Quick·Step 61
3. George Hincapie Team Columbia 58

Trofeo Laigueglia


A massive breakaway group there. But still nobody looks strong enough to make the surprise today


Barredo was the first rider than attacked on the last climb of the day. The one that will decide everything today


A lot of riders follow him.


The attackers caught some of the riders than were in the breakaway and could maintain a good speed on the climb. Now a big group is in front, lead-out on the downhill by Savoldelli


Kirchen is the only Columbia rider that is there


10km to go. All flat and a lot of attacks


Kirchen tried too but this is his first race in 2009, not a good form for him then.


Not the same thing about Gasparotto. Nobody could keep it up with the new Silence rider


Only 1 more kilometre for him


And he doen't dissapoint his fans and team-managers. Enrico Gasparotto gets the win!


Kirchen out-sprinted surprising Pellizotti with only a few centimetres ever less then that! He took the 10th place which is very good for his season openner


Results
1. Enrico Gasparotto Silence - Lotto 4h36'56
2. Gabriele Bosisio LPR Brakes - Ballan + 23
3. Jérôme Pineau Bouygues Télécom s.t.
4. Sandy Casar Française des Jeux s.t.
5. Patrice Halgand Silence - Lotto s.t.
6. Santo Anzà Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni - Androni Giocattoli s.t.
7. Maarten Wynants Quick·Step s.t.
8. Christian Pfannberger Barloworld s.t.
9. Jelle Vanendert Française des Jeux s.t.
10. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia s.t.

I'm looking forward to the next part of this great story.

maybe it will come tonight before Romania-Croatia

Tour of California Final Stage


The best climber of the tour is in the breakaway.


A lot of attacks on the downhill that came after the hardest climb of the day


Lovkvist was the only rider from Team Columbia that tried something then


Devolder, Lastras and Popovych were the best. But Lastras doesn't relay and Popovych is angry because of that


They caught the escapes and Popovych attacks


Lastras is the only one that goes with him, but again he refuses to relay


Behind them has been made a massive chasing group. Lovkvist and a lot of other big names are there


But sudenly they are caught by the pack


Hincapie attacks and some others too


Lastras and Popovych are caught by Fothen, Andy Schleck, Gusev and Hincapie


An another attack from Hincapie


Nobody goes after Big George and they've lost him


So Hincapie gets the stage win, the 8th place in the overall rankings and the points jersey


Stage
1. George Hincapie Team Columbia 3h53'27
2. Pablo Lastras Liquigas + 28
3. Vladimir Gusev Astana Cycling Team s.t.
4. Yaroslav Popovych Silence - Lotto s.t.
5. Markus Fothen Gerolsteiner s.t.
6. Andy Schleck Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
7. Fränk Schleck Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
8. Fabian Cancellara Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
9. Yuri Trofimov Bouygues Télécom s.t.
10. Gert Steegmans Quick·Step s.t.

Overall
1. Stijn Devolder Quick·Step 26h42'59
2. Markus Fothen Gerolsteiner + 1'01
3. Yaroslav Popovych Silence - Lotto + 1'05
4. Pablo Lastras Liquigas + 1'12
5. Vladimir Gusev Astana Cycling Team + 1'14
6. Andy Schleck Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 1'16
7. Thomas Voeckler Bouygues Télécom + 1'40
8. George Hincapie Team Columbia + 2'28
9. Bauke Mollema Rabobank + 3'10
10. Simon Spilak Lampre + 3'12

Points: George Hincapie Team Columbia
Mountain: Thomas Peterson Garmin - Chipotle powered by H30
Young: Andy Schleck Team CSC - Saxo Bank
Teams: Liquigas

Great stage win from big George!

Yeah, good stage win, and great with the points jersey!

It's so confusing to see Big George in the WC jersey I'm not used to it

sometimes is hard even for me

Nice win with Hincapie

a win in the rainbow bands! does it get any better?

(don't answer that)