Paris - Nice Stage 2


The breakaway.


As this was the only stage for sprinters we didn't brought too many sprinters in the race. So no train for us, Eisel has to do all by himself and he takes Arvesen's wheel


That was a brilliant idea as Flecha, the man who lead out Arvesen is very fast today


Arvesen is leading with Eisel right after him looking stron


But Arvesen is just too good today and he takes the win, while Eisel has to be happy only with the second spot


Stage
1. Kurt-Asle Arvesen Rabobank 4h01'20
2. Bernhard Eisel Team Columbia s.t.
3. Nico Eeckhout Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
4. Jimmy Casper Agritubel s.t.
5. Allan Davis Mitsubishi - Jartazi - Protech s.t.
6. Gert Steegmans Quick·Step s.t.
7. Sergio Marinangeli LPR Brakes - Ballan s.t.
8. Thor Hushovd Crédit Agricole s.t.
9. Pierre Rolland Crédit Agricole s.t.
10. Heinrich Haussler Gerolsteiner s.t.

Overall
1. José Iván Gutiérrez Caisse d'Epargne 4h08'52
2. Stef Clement Bouygues Télécom s.t.
3. George Hincapie Team Columbia + 3
4. Thor Hushovd Crédit Agricole + 6
5. Sébastien Rosseler Quick·Step + 7
6. Cadel Evans Silence - Lotto + 9
7. Thomas Dekker Rabobank + 11
8. Bradley Wiggins Team Columbia s.t.
9. Kevyn Ista Agritubel s.t.
10. Marzio Bruseghin Lampre + 13

Points
1. Thor Hushovd Crédit Agricole 31
2. José Iván Gutiérrez Caisse d'Epargne 25
3. Kurt-Asle Arvesen Rabobank 25

Mountain
1. Kristof Goddaert Topsport Vlaanderen 5
2. Iñaki Isasi Euskaltel - Euskadi 5
3. Timofey Kritskiy Gerolsteiner 2

NiceNice

so easy to please - did you let kurt win for him?

im surprised he hasn't already exploded on mysigning him in my mcdonalds story

not a bad start to PN

yeah right miss a Paris Nice win only to make Halvor happy

Noone beats Kurt... If he don't have a flat or crashes...

There you go, that is the right thing

Paris - Nice Stage 3


The breakaway with Flecha and Siutsou there


Siutsou was good on the climbs but not good enough for the KoM jersey


A lot of attacks on the last climb but it was kind of obvious that the climb won't be decisive


A serious attack was made after the climb, on flat by Gilbert


With 20km to go Kirchen attacks too


Gilbert is in front with a good advantage


Voeckler is after him


While Kirchen, Joly and Gutierrez are in the first chasing group


Kirchen caught Voeckler but he brought a whole group with him


An another win for the Pro Tour leader


Close finish for the second place but Voeckler gets it


Stage
1. Philippe Gilbert Française des Jeux 5h14'41
2. Thomas Voeckler Bouygues Télécom + 49
3. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia s.t.
4. Thomas Dekker Rabobank s.t.
5. Stefan Schumacher Gerolsteiner s.t.
6. Joaquím Rodríguez Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
7. Franco Pellizotti Liquigas s.t.
8. Gilberto Simoni Astana Cycling Team s.t.
9. José Iván Gutiérrez Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
10. Marzio Bruseghin Lampre s.t.

Overall
1. Philippe Gilbert Française des Jeux 9h24'14
2. José Iván Gutiérrez Caisse d'Epargne + 8
3. Thomas Dekker Rabobank + 19
4. Marzio Bruseghin Lampre + 21
5. Stefan Schumacher Gerolsteiner + 32
6. Thomas Voeckler Bouygues Télécom + 35
7. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia + 36
8. Alexandre Moos LPR Brakes - Ballan s.t.
9. Sébastien Joly Française des Jeux + 45
10. Gilberto Simoni Astana Cycling Team + 47

Points
1. José Iván Gutiérrez Caisse d'Epargne 37
2. Thomas Dekker Rabobank 31
3. Thor Hushovd Crédit Agricole 31

Mountain
1. Juan Antonio Flecha Rabobank 18
2. Kanstantsin Siutsou Team Columbia 16
3. Niki Terpstra Team Milram 14

Paris - Nice Stage 4


Joaquim Rodriguez and Terpstra are in the first breakaway group.


A lot of attacks on the last climb and the escapes are caught


Kirchen goes with Bettini and Dekker


Gadret is first in the top


After him Kirchen, Bettini and the rest of the favourites


Then Kirchen takes then the lead of the race


But the others aren't far away. And there's a massive a strong group


Kirchen is still leading...


But the chasers start the sprint and Kirchen is caught


Bettini takes an important win for Milram


And an another 3rd place for Kirchen


Stage
1. Paolo Bettini Team Milram 3h45'44
2. John Gadret AG2R La Mondiale s.t.
3. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia s.t.
4. Thomas Voeckler Bouygues Télécom s.t.
5. Philippe Gilbert Française des Jeux s.t.
6. José Iván Gutiérrez Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
7. Paolo Savoldelli Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
8. Marzio Bruseghin Lampre s.t.
9. Cadel Evans Silence - Lotto s.t.
10. Gilberto Simoni Astana Cycling Team s.t.

Overall
1. Philippe Gilbert Française des Jeux 13h09'58
2. José Iván Gutiérrez Caisse d'Epargne + 8
3. Thomas Dekker Rabobank + 19
4. Marzio Bruseghin Lampre + 21
5. Stefan Schumacher Gerolsteiner + 32
6. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia + 34
7. Thomas Voeckler Bouygues Télécom + 35
8. Sébastien Joly Française des Jeux + 45
9. Gilberto Simoni Astana Cycling Team + 47
10. John Gadret AG2R La Mondiale + 1'04

Points
1. José Iván Gutiérrez Caisse d'Epargne 52
2. Philippe Gilbert Française des Jeux 41
3. Thomas Voeckler Bouygues Télécom 40

Mountain
1. Niki Terpstra Team Milram 25
2. Juan Antonio Flecha Rabobank 18
3. Kanstantsin Siutsou Team Columbia 16

Tirreno - Adriatico Stage 1


Astarloa and Ivanov are the strong guys today. Rebellin is also in the breakaway but in a second group.


Cavendish and Van Emden don't have enough power in their legs, after the fast pace that was in the pack to catch the breakaway, so a sprint train was unuseless


Milram is doing great in front. 3 riders there but only two in the real sprint train of the team. Freire and Boonen are behind!


Great job by Milram. The 3 riders are leading now, Baldato, Rigotto and Sacchi


Boonen and Breschel are comimg fast but I think it's too late


Baldato gets the win. It's a double for Milram!


Stage
1. Fabio Baldato Team Milram 3h31'54
2. Elia Rigotto Team Milram s.t.
3. Tom Boonen Quick·Step s.t.
4. Matti Breschel Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
5. Stuart O'Grady Quick·Step s.t.
6. Óscar Freire Rabobank s.t.
7. Cristiano Fumagalli Ceramica Flaminia - Bossini Docce s.t.
8. Tomas Vaitkus Astana Cycling Team s.t.
9. Filippo Pozzato Liquigas s.t.
10. Alberto Ongarato Team Milram s.t.

Mountain
1. Igor Astarloa Saunier Duval - Scott 10
2. Sergei Ivanov Gerolsteiner 6
3. Yoann Offredo Française des Jeux 1

Paris - Nice Stage 5


The breakaway.


Firsts in the top of the climb are Evans and Gadret


Dekker is close too


Kirchen hardly hangs on in the second group


While Gilbert is far away from there


But the 3 attackers are caught after a Rabobank set the pace. Strange decision as Dekker was in front...


And now a second group is going to attach itself to the main group


Kirchen has now his team-mates there to help him, Siutsou and Hincapie


Hincapie tried a move but he was caught. Kirchen's turn now


Kim starts to sprint as Moreau almost caught him


And it's a win for us! Kirchen finally gets that much wanted win.


Hincapie is also happy about that.


Stage
1. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia 4h32'16
2. Christophe Moreau Quick·Step s.t.
3. Marzio Bruseghin Lampre s.t.
4. Stefano Garzelli Euskaltel - Euskadi s.t.
5. Iker Camaño Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
6. George Hincapie Team Columbia s.t.
7. Alexandre Moos LPR Brakes - Ballan s.t.
8. Cadel Evans Silence - Lotto s.t.
9. Robert Gesink Rabobank s.t.
10. Laurens Ten Dam Rabobank s.t.

Overall
1. José Iván Gutiérrez Caisse d'Epargne 17h42'22
2. Marzio Bruseghin Lampre + 11
3. Thomas Dekker Rabobank s.t.
4. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia + 20
5. Stefan Schumacher Gerolsteiner + 24
6. Thomas Voeckler Bouygues Télécom + 27
7. Sébastien Joly Française des Jeux + 37
8. Gilberto Simoni Astana Cycling Team + 39
9. John Gadret AG2R La Mondiale + 56
10. Franco Pellizotti Liquigas + 59

Points
1. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia 65
2. Marzio Bruseghin Lampre 55
3. José Iván Gutiérrez Caisse d'Epargne 52

Mountain
1. Niki Terpstra Team Milram 25
2. John Gadret AG2R La Mondiale 19
3. Juan Antonio Flecha Rabobank 18

Great win, and nice by Hincapie

Tirreno - Adriatico Stage 2


The breakaway.


Boom attacks!


He assumes some riscks and he got away from the pack


But we also preparing our train


Boom has now even a bigger advantage


Also in the pack the things are going great for us


Boonen is now in our slipstream while Boom is away


And Boom wins!


Cavendish is second. And we were an O'Grady distance from 1-2-3


Stage
1. Lars Boom Team Columbia 4h25'44
2. Mark Cavendish Team Columbia s.t.
3. Stuart O'Grady Quick·Step s.t.
4. Jos Van Emden Team Columbia s.t.
5. Tom Boonen Quick·Step s.t.
6. Matti Breschel Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
7. Mikhail Ignatiev Team Columbia s.t.
8. Óscar Freire Rabobank s.t.
9. Filippo Pozzato Liquigas s.t.
10. Marco Frapporti CSF Group - Navigare s.t.

Overall
1. Lars Boom Team Columbia 7h57'28
2. Fabio Baldato Team Milram s.t.
3. Stuart O'Grady Quick·Step + 3
4. Mark Cavendish Team Columbia + 4
5. Elia Rigotto Team Milram s.t.
6. Tom Boonen Quick·Step + 6
7. Tomas Vaitkus Astana Cycling Team + 8
8. Erik Zabel Silence - Lotto + 9
9. Matti Breschel Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 10
10. Óscar Freire Rabobank s.t.

Points
1. Stuart O'Grady Quick·Step 19
2. Tom Boonen Quick·Step 14
3. Matti Breschel Team CSC - Saxo Bank 12

Mountain
1. Luca Mazzanti Caisse d'Epargne 13
2. Igor Astarloa Saunier Duval - Scott 10
3. Sergei Ivanov Gerolsteiner 6

Great 1-2 with Boom and Cav

Nice strategy

very well played there

I have to say that this story is one of the best. The light yet clear reporting style you use it's really atractive.

Plus your results and your fast pace is great

keep it going alex

Hey.
nice story you've got going here. i really enjoy reading it. i also like the way you set up the race articel with the pictures and the text beneath it. great job! what are breschel's stats BTW? good luck with this

thanks guys and Breschel's stats

Paris - Nice Stage 6


The breakaway.


A lot of attacks with 20km to go. Hincapie is there too


Kirchen attacks a little bit later but he still catches the favourites group


Not all the favourites are there. 4 of them are in front: Evans, Hincapie, Gilbert and Bettini


But they all look tired except Gilbert, who sprints like a demon


Gilbert takes his 2nd stage


Hincapie beats Evans and takes the third place


While Kirchen is first in the yellow jersey group


Stage
1. Philippe Gilbert Française des Jeux 4h49'41
2. Paolo Bettini Team Milram s.t.
3. George Hincapie Team Columbia s.t.
4. Cadel Evans Silence - Lotto s.t.
5. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia + 38
6. Stefano Garzelli Euskaltel - Euskadi s.t.
7. Gilberto Simoni Astana Cycling Team s.t.
8. José Iván Gutiérrez Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
9. Thomas Voeckler Bouygues Télécom s.t.
10. Thomas Dekker Rabobank s.t.

Overall
1. José Iván Gutiérrez Caisse d'Epargne 22h32'41
2. Thomas Dekker Rabobank + 11
3. Marzio Bruseghin Lampre s.t.
4. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia + 20
5. Thomas Voeckler Bouygues Télécom + 27
6. Cadel Evans Silence - Lotto + 30
7. Sébastien Joly Française des Jeux + 37
8. Gilberto Simoni Astana Cycling Team + 39
9. Paolo Bettini Team Milram + 44
10. Stefan Schumacher Gerolsteiner + 1'10

Points
1. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia 81
2. Philippe Gilbert Française des Jeux 66
3. José Iván Gutiérrez Caisse d'Epargne 65

Mountain
1. Niki Terpstra Team Milram 25
2. Alexandre Botcharov Team CSC - Saxo Bank 22
3. Karsten Kroon Gerolsteiner 21

Tirreno - Adriatico Stage 3


Cavendish was left behind on the climb and he never came back


Ignatiev and Boom had good feelings today and they tried to involve in the sprint


They surprised everyone leading with 2km to go


Boom looked even like going to win


But then the good sprinter came. And the win went to Oscar Freire


Stage
1. Óscar Freire Rabobank 3h17'54
2. Tom Boonen Quick·Step s.t.
3. Danilo Napolitano Lampre s.t.
4. Stuart O'Grady Quick·Step s.t.
5. Fabian Wegmann Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
6. Lars Boom Team Columbia s.t.
7. Christian Murro Lampre s.t.
8. Matteo Carrara Quick·Step s.t.
9. Alejandro Valverde Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
10. Johan Vansummeren Silence - Lotto s.t.

Overall
1. Tom Boonen Quick·Step 11h15'22
2. Óscar Freire Rabobank s.t.
3. Lars Boom Team Columbia s.t.
4. Fabio Baldato Team Milram s.t.
5. Stuart O'Grady Quick·Step + 3
6. Elia Rigotto Team Milram + 4
7. Alessandro Bertolini Tinkoff Credit Systems + 5
8. Danilo Napolitano Lampre + 6
9. Tomas Vaitkus Astana Cycling Team + 8
10. Erik Zabel Silence - Lotto + 9

Points
1. Stuart O'Grady Quick·Step 26
2. Tom Boonen Quick·Step 24
3. Óscar Freire Rabobank 20

Mountain
1. Luca Mazzanti Caisse d'Epargne 13
2. Igor Astarloa Saunier Duval - Scott 11
3. Davide Rebellin LPR Brakes - Ballan 6

Paris - Nice Stage 7


The breakaway.


There's nobody out in front so everything is going to be decided on the last climb


Voeckler makes the first move there


Evans, Kirchen and Hincapie are after him


Evans got away from Kirchen


And Kirchen is almost caught by Dekker


Evans gets the win and the yellow jersey


Kirchen is second but I think that he lost any chance to win Paris Nice this year


Stage
1. Cadel Evans Silence - Lotto 5h28'49
2. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia + 27
3. Thomas Dekker Rabobank + 38
4. Paolo Bettini Team Milram + 58
5. Thomas Voeckler Bouygues Télécom s.t.
6. Gilberto Simoni Astana Cycling Team + 1'13
7. Stefano Garzelli Euskaltel - Euskadi + 1'26
8. George Hincapie Team Columbia s.t.
9. Stefan Schumacher Gerolsteiner s.t.
10. José Iván Gutiérrez Caisse d'Epargne s.t.

Overall
1. Cadel Evans Silence - Lotto 28h01'54
2. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia + 19
3. Thomas Dekker Rabobank + 23
4. Thomas Voeckler Bouygues Télécom + 1'01
5. José Iván Gutiérrez Caisse d'Epargne + 1'02
6. Marzio Bruseghin Lampre + 1'13
7. Paolo Bettini Team Milram + 1'18
8. Gilberto Simoni Astana Cycling Team + 1'28
9. Sébastien Joly Française des Jeux + 1'39
10. Stefan Schumacher Gerolsteiner + 2'12

Points
1. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia 103
2. Cadel Evans Silence - Lotto 83
3. Thomas Voeckler Bouygues Télécom 77

Mountain
1. Stéphane Pétilleau Cycle Collstrop 45
2. Bert De Waele Team CSC - Saxo Bank 28
3. Niki Terpstra Team Milram 25

Great story and great results!