Dauphine Libere Stage 5


The breakaway.


Luis Leon Sanchez and Astraloza tried to get away but they had no chance, the pack was lead perfectly by Silence Lotto


So nobody was in front of pack at the summint. Ricco, Evans, Moreau and Schleck were setting the pace there


Moreau attacked on the downhill and he got away


He still has a few seconds advantage. Can he get the win today?


And Moreau wins today. Probably his last big win before retirement


Stage
1. Christophe Moreau Quick·Step 4h22'45
2. Vladimir Efimkin AG2R La Mondiale + 12
3. Patrice Halgand Silence - Lotto s.t.
4. Igor Antón Euskaltel - Euskadi s.t.
5. Thomas Voeckler Bouygues Télécom s.t.
6. Alexandre Moos LPR Brakes - Ballan s.t.
7. Manuel Beltrán Astana Cycling Team s.t.
8. Stijn Devolder Quick·Step s.t.
9. Cadel Evans Silence - Lotto s.t.
10. David Moncoutié Quick·Step s.t.

Overall
1. Yaroslav Popovych Silence - Lotto 12h49'15
2. Cadel Evans Silence - Lotto + 19
3. Riccardo Riccò Saunier Duval - Scott + 39
4. Michael Rogers Team Columbia + 46
5. Luis León Sánchez AG2R La Mondiale + 52
6. Andreas Klöden Agritubel + 1'14
7. Mikel Astarloza Euskaltel - Euskadi + 1'20
8. Christophe Moreau Quick·Step + 1'26
9. Fränk Schleck Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 1'28
10. Sébastien Joly Française des Jeux + 1'37

Points
1. Fabian Cancellara Team CSC - Saxo Bank 45
2. Christophe Moreau Quick·Step 42
3. Yaroslav Popovych Silence - Lotto 35

Mountain
1. David Loosli Lampre 45
2. Nicolas Crosbie Bouygues Télécom 43
3. Riccardo Riccò Saunier Duval - Scott 38

Great win by Moreau.

Transfer news:

Vansummeren and Breschel renewed their contracts with Silence and CSC so they we have no chance to get them now.

We can's sign more than 5 riders and still some riders that we want are available for transfer:
- Boonen
- Karpets or Dekker
- Haussler (he refused the first offer that Gerolsteiner made to him so he has a good chance to change the team, who could be Columbia)
- Visconti
- Langeveld, Maaskant or Nuyens.

Dont sign Boonen

why?

1. I hate him
2. When Columbia would sign him in RL then Voigt is a GT favourite

Tom Boonen is the best!!!
sign him=)
he will win a lot of races

He is in the PCM Magazine, the July Edition (in my career)!

sign boonen! sure, cavendish will get concurrance in the sprints, but just think of the classics! and all the stages you´ll be able to win.

i´m not familiar with dekkers stats, but he´s perfect for week long stage races.

Maybe Columbia will not sign him in RL but I want to make a sprint team with more leaders than Cav. In RL all the Columbia sprint train is made for Cav

No Boonen ..you have enough great sprinters already. If you want cobble raider choose betwen Maaskant and Nuyens..its cheeper and you get hilly raider also.
Karpets and Dekker..first reaction is Dekker..but take your time.

Totally agree

if not Boonen then I could buy both Dekker and Karpets or both Nuyens and Maaskant or Langeveld

hmm also Nibali, Chavanel, Van den Broeck, Fuglsgang, Lang, Steegmans are still available...

Dauphine Libere Stage 6


The breakaway was split into groups because the strong wind


The same thing happened with the pack


All the big names were caught in the second group


Still no all the big names can be there as Columbia has 7 riders in the first group of the pack. Only Wiggins isn't there


A strong rider was today in the breakaway, Alessandro Ballan, who attacked on the final kilometres and took the race on his own


Easy victory for last year's Paris-Roubaix winner


Only 25 riders finished in the first pack group. The big winners of the day were Rogers, who from 4th became the new leader and Lovkvist that was 26th at the start of the day and now is very close to top 10, being 11th. Also Joly is now 3rd


Stage
1. Alessandro Ballan Lampre 3h44'32
2. Johan Coenen Topsport Vlaanderen + 28
3. Fabio Baldato Team Milram + 55
4. Marc De Maar Rabobank s.t.
5. Jonathan Hivert Crédit Agricole s.t.
6. Yoann Offredo Française des Jeux + 2'54
7. Frederik Veuchelen Topsport Vlaanderen + 3'17
8. Sébastien Joly Française des Jeux s.t.
9. Roberto Ferrari LPR Brakes - Ballan s.t.
10. Sébastien Rosseler Quick•Step s.t.

Overall
1. Michael Rogers Team Columbia 16h37'50
2. Yaroslav Popovych Silence - Lotto + 40
3. Sébastien Joly Française des Jeux + 51
4. Cadel Evans Silence - Lotto + 59
5. Riccardo Riccò Saunier Duval - Scott + 1'19
6. Luis León Sánchez AG2R La Mondiale + 1'32
7. Andreas Klöden Agritubel + 1'54
8. Mikel Astarloza Euskaltel - Euskadi + 2'00
9. Christophe Moreau Quick•Step + 2'06
10. Fränk Schleck Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 2'08

Points
1. Fabian Cancellara Team CSC - Saxo Bank 45
2. Christophe Moreau Quick•Step 42
3. Yaroslav Popovych Silence - Lotto 35

Mountain
1. David Loosli Lampre 45
2. Nicolas Crosbie Bouygues Télécom 43
3. Riccardo Riccò Saunier Duval - Scott 38

yeees! thats great! I love when one can win time on the crosswinds I hate it when it goes opposite. and I still think u should sign boonen. you´ll have a pretty hard time beating him or devolder with nuyens or maaskant in the classics.
ok, you can get a podium place in the classics with those two, and maybe a stage win at a grand tour. but it´s not that fun actually in long terms.

but you seem to have a lot of money, so offer boonen a nice contract and maybe a cobbled rider with 74 or something who can assist him.

I do believe that you might have to get rid of van emden, boom or eisel if boonen comes. It´s very hard keeping a lot of sprinters in a good mood on level hard.
I had a career for a year ago, I was team high-road and had 5 climbers over 78. When it gets too much, it takes a lot of energy from yourself keeping everyone happy.

No way I will let Boom get away or Eisel or Van Emden or other sprinter. Still the trasfers strart in July so is plenty of time for Nuyens or Maaskant to get the renewal. But if I have to choose between those 2 I would choose Maaskant as he has 25 years and from the other carrers I know that he will develope in the future.

hmm I just had a look at Boonen, Nuyens and Maaskant's stats so I thought it will be good to post them:

Normally I'd recommend Boonen, but since you already have some other very good sprinters, I'd say Maaskant. He will be better than Nuyens.

Agreed.

Maaskant 'll have a bigger chance of winning a sprint against Cancellara, Ballan(, maybe Pozzato), but they'll both be pretty lost against Boonen.

That said, do not buy Boonen