Eneco Tour Stage 3


Ballan and Dekker are the first riders on the last pass on Huy today.


But the others aren't far away


And we have a big group now in front. Stubbe attacks


He has a good chance to win today but Ballan, Cancellara, Dekker and Pozzato are there too


Cancellara takes the lead from Stubbe right in the last corner...


And win for Cancellara... on Huy...


Rogers and Igantiev lost just a few seconds and they are now 10th and 11th overall after 3 stages. Too bad that Boom lost more than 2 minutes and he also lost any chance at the final top 10.


Stage
1. Fabian Cancellara Team CSC - Saxo Bank 4h53'49
2. Francis De Greef Silence - Lotto s.t.
3. Alessandro Ballan Lampre s.t.
4. Tom Stubbe Française des Jeux s.t.
5. Filippo Pozzato Liquigas s.t.
6. Thomas Dekker Rabobank s.t.
7. Alejandro Valverde Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
8. Santiago Botero Barloworld s.t.
9. Johan Vansummeren Silence - Lotto s.t.
10. Stijn Devolder Quick·Step s.t.

Overall
1. Stijn Devolder Quick·Step 10h18'36
2. Fabian Cancellara Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 5
3. Alessandro Ballan Lampre + 15
4. Thomas Dekker Rabobank + 17
5. Alejandro Valverde Caisse d'Epargne + 20
6. Francis De Greef Silence - Lotto + 23
7. Jan Bakelants Astana Cycling Team + 37
8. Tom Stubbe Française des Jeux + 49
9. Santiago Botero Barloworld + 52
10. Michael Rogers Team Columbia + 53

Points
1. Stijn Devolder Quick·Step 58
2. Fabian Cancellara Team CSC - Saxo Bank 56
3. Alejandro Valverde Caisse d'Epargne 33

Mountain
1. Johan Coenen Topsport Vlaanderen 24
2. Christian Knees Team Milram 17
3. Laurent Mangel AG2R La Mondiale 16

what´s cancellaras hill stats? seems pretty odd that he´d beat dekker, vansummeren, valverde and pozzato in a hill like that. and what the hell does botero´doing there??

Cancellara is pretty good with 75 hills, the big big surprise de Greef who is only 72 or 73 on hills.

And Botero is still a pretty good rider. He's the Columbian National champion I think.

ok, but well, he´s a doper. too bad one can´t remove riders who don´t deserve to be in the sport

Regio Tour Stage 3


3 Germans today in our train . Burghardt - Martin - Ciolek


When the hill comes nobody has the power to make a serious attack and it looks like it will end in a mass sprint


Ciolek has now only Martin with him as Burghardt ended his job


And Martin is doing great. We are leading


But an impressive acceleration by Tjallingii to take the lead


Ciolek cracked and now is really losing speed at the moment


Fothen, Sijmens, Mollema and Tjallingii are in front with Lovkvist staying close


Very close finish but the win goes to Fothen.


Stage
1. Markus Fothen Gerolsteiner 3h59'33
2. Nico Sijmens Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner s.t.
3. Maarten Tjallingii Silence - Lotto s.t.
4. Bauke Mollema Rabobank s.t.
5. René Weissinger Team Volksbank s.t.
6. Thomas Lövkvist Team Columbia s.t.
7. Kenny Van Hummel Skil - Shimano s.t.
8. Wim Van Huffel Silence - Lotto s.t.
9. Kenny De Ketele Topsport Vlaanderen s.t.
10. Matej Stare Perutnina Ptuj s.t.

Overall
1. Markus Fothen Gerolsteiner 11h08'00
2. Fabio Sacchi Team Milram s.t.
3. Nico Sijmens Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner + 4
4. Mark Cavendish Team Columbia s.t.
5. Matej Jurco Team Milram + 8
6. Maarten Tjallingii Silence - Lotto + 12
7. Tomáš Buchácek PSK Whirlpool - Author + 14
8. Guénaël Galli Agritubel s.t.
9. Stefan Schreck Gerolsteiner + 16
10. Jan Kuyckx Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner + 18

Points
1. Fabio Sacchi Team Milram 42
2. Sébastien Chavanel Française des Jeux 39
3. Nico Sijmens Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner 38

Mountain
1. Ian Stannard Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner 10
2. Markus Fothen Gerolsteiner 10
3. Nico Sijmens Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner 8

oh Markus Fothen is a good rider
do you think Cav can win this tour?

no as the next stage is a long ITT.

Eneco Tour Stage 4


Kopp was really strong in the breakaway today.


It seems a little bit hard to go in front. The sprint isn't perfect organized with lot of trains there


Somehow Ignatiev managed to bring us in front right before the start of the real sprint, with Barloworld and Quick Step not far away


But Hunter and Cooke are looking way faster than Boom and Eisel


Eisel is trying to get in their slipstream, while Boom doesn't seem to want to continue the effort


Cooke, Eisel and Hunter are clearly in front with 1 km to go.


A last move from Eisel...


But no. Cooke takes the win.


sorry guys but somehow I managed not to export the results so here is a picture with the stage results. No big changes at the top of the overall rankings

Regio Tour Stage 4


Lang came with a good time. Too bad he lost 2 minutes yesterday on the final hill of the day


Zabriskie was great today, like always and he's the new leader.


Grabsch is close to Zabriskie's time and manages to beat Lang's one. 1-2 for Columbia in front at the moment


Lovkvist has the number 1 on his back, but in race he is second behind his team-mate, Dave Z. 100% Columbia podium at the moment


Martin was good today. His performances are better and better. Surely one of the best time-trialist in the future


Before the start of the race Van den Broeck and Fothen were Lovkvist and Zabriskie's biggest rivals. The Belgian rider was one of the best today but what about Fothen?


Fothen started the day 20 seconds advatange over Zabriskie, Lovkvist and Van den Broek. At the intermediate times he was clearly in front of all of them, but at the end he managed to beat Z with less than a second.


Stage
1. Markus Fothen Gerolsteiner 54'11
2. David Zabriskie Team Columbia s.t.
3. Thomas Lövkvist Team Columbia + 3
4. Bert Grabsch Team Columbia + 16
5. Sebastian Lang Gerolsteiner + 29
6. Ronny Scholz Gerolsteiner + 31
7. Patrick Gretsch Thüringer Energie Team + 1'00
8. Tony Martin Team Columbia + 1'03
9. Luke Roberts Team Kuota - Senges + 1'15
10. Jurgen Van den Broeck Silence - Lotto s.t.
11. Jurgen Roelandts Silence - Lotto + 1'20
12. Brett Lancaster Team Milram + 1'33
13. Bauke Mollema Rabobank s.t.
14. Mark Cavendish Team Columbia + 1'36
15. Piotr Mazur CCC - Polsat - Polkowice + 1'39
16. Matej Jurco Team Milram + 1'40
17. Cameron Wurf Team Volksbank + 1'47
18. Sébastien Joly Française des Jeux s.t.
19. Dries Devenyns Silence - Lotto + 1'51
20. Cândido Barbosa Rabobank + 1'54

Overall
1. Markus Fothen Gerolsteiner 12h02'11
2. David Zabriskie Team Columbia + 20
3. Thomas Lövkvist Team Columbia + 23
4. Bert Grabsch Team Columbia + 36
5. Ronny Scholz Gerolsteiner + 51
6. Patrick Gretsch Thüringer Energie Team + 1'20
7. Tony Martin Team Columbia + 1'23
8. Jurgen Van den Broeck Silence - Lotto + 1'35
9. Mark Cavendish Team Columbia + 1'40
10. Jurgen Roelandts Silence - Lotto s.t.
11. Matej Jurco Team Milram + 1'48
12. Bauke Mollema Rabobank + 1'53
13. Sébastien Joly Française des Jeux + 2'07
14. Dries Devenyns Silence - Lotto + 2'11
15. Cândido Barbosa Rabobank + 2'14
16. Andrej Omulec Perutnina Ptuj + 2'18
17. Stanislav Kozúbek PSK Whirlpool - Author + 2'20
18. Maarten Tjallingii Silence - Lotto + 2'26
19. Marc De Maar Rabobank s.t.
20. Sebastian Lang Gerolsteiner + 2'28

Eneco Tour Stage 5


Hard day for everyone. The weather is really awfull with lot of wind and rain.


Problems for the race leader, Stijn Devolder. He has a puncture in a bad moment


He looked like going back in the pack but the wind stopped him


Though it looked hard to happen the stage will end in a mass sprint. Barloworld, who rulled the sprint yesterday, seems to have lost the fight today. Lampre and Columbia are in front


And a move by Lampre's sprinter Danilo Napolitano...


Eisel doesn't want to let him go


And this looks like a business in 2. Eisel and Napolitano


Win for Napolitano. Eisel again second.


Devolder lost more than 10 minutes today! This means that Cancellara is the new overall leader.


Stage
1. Danilo Napolitano Lampre 3h51'56
2. Bernhard Eisel Team Columbia s.t.
3. Lars Boom Team Columbia s.t.
4. Mikhail Ignatiev Team Columbia s.t.
5. Borut Božic Cycle Collstrop s.t.
6. William Bonnet Crédit Agricole s.t.
7. Baden Cooke Barloworld s.t.
8. Gert Steegmans Quick·Step s.t.
9. Greg Van Avermaet Silence - Lotto s.t.
10. Daniele Bennati Liquigas s.t.

Overall
1. Fabian Cancellara Team CSC - Saxo Bank 18h47'59
2. Alessandro Ballan Lampre + 10
3. Thomas Dekker Rabobank + 12
4. Alejandro Valverde Caisse d'Epargne + 15
5. Francis De Greef Silence - Lotto + 18
6. Jan Bakelants Astana Cycling Team + 32
7. Tom Stubbe Française des Jeux + 44
8. Santiago Botero Barloworld + 47
9. Mikhail Ignatiev Team Columbia + 48
10. Filippo Pozzato Liquigas s.t.

Points
1. Stijn Devolder Quick·Step 58
2. Fabian Cancellara Team CSC - Saxo Bank 56
3. Mikhail Ignatiev Team Columbia 48

Mountain
1. Johan Coenen Topsport Vlaanderen 24
2. Christian Knees Team Milram 17
3. Laurent Mangel AG2R La Mondiale 16

If Devolder was both race and team leader, then why didn't his teammates wait for him?

oh they waited. 5 of them including O'Grady and Voigt but I don't know what happened and Devolder left them behind. Probably because of the wind.

you´ve had pretty unlucky with the results. lots of 2nd or 3rd places. hope the luck will change

yeah. Hope that I can defend the title won in Plouay last year.

Regio Tour Final Stage


This is going to end in a mass sprint and Fothen will get the overall win. But now lets focus on the stage finish


Team Columbia, Volksbank, Topsport Vlaanderen and Rabobank are in front with the same chances to win today


Ciolek is now trying to put Cavendish in the best position he can


But Barbosa seems to be in a better position that both Cavendish and Ciolek


An another win for the Portuguesse sprinter. He is some kind of revelation of the season


Stage
1. Cândido Barbosa Rabobank 3h28'26
2. Eric Baumann Team Sparkasse s.t.
3. Mark Cavendish Team Columbia s.t.
4. Kenny De Ketele Topsport Vlaanderen s.t.
5. John Degenkolb Thüringer Energie Team s.t.
6. Gerald Ciolek Team Columbia s.t.
7. Sébastien Chavanel Française des Jeux s.t.
8. Joachim Tolles Team Kuota - Senges s.t.
9. Kenia Van Hummel Skil - Shimano s.t.
10. Sebastian Siedler Skil - Shimano s.t.

Overall
1. Markus Fothen Gerolsteiner 15h30'37
2. David Zabriskie Team Columbia + 20
3. Thomas Lövkvist Team Columbia + 23
4. Bert Grabsch Team Columbia + 36
5. Ronny Scholz Gerolsteiner + 51
6. Patrick Gretsch Thüringer Energie Team + 1'20
7. Tony Martin Team Columbia + 1'23
8. Mark Cavendish Team Columbia + 1'32
9. Jurgen Van den Broeck Silence - Lotto + 1'35
10. Jurgen Roelandts Silence - Lotto + 1'40

Points: Mark Cavendish Team Columbia
Mountain: Bjorn Thurau ELK Haus - Simplon
Young: Thomas Lövkvist Team Columbia
Teams: Team Columbia

Eneco Tour Stage 6


This is going to end in a mass sprint, but not an organized one because the weather is awfull again, with strong wind and rain.


Ignatiev is doing his best there, really. But we obviously aren't the best train there


So Eisel tries to find other wheels to get


Cooke seems to be in a very good position there. And that seems to be a bad from Eisel as Ignatiev and Boom were finally helped by the wind and are now in a better positon that Eisel


Ignatiev and Boom are the only ones who can stop Cooke today


But they aren't fast enough and Cooke wins again.


The bad wather made some victims today. Breschel, Stubbe, Botero, Arvesen and Langeveld were caught in a trap and lost almost 3 minutes.


Stage
1. Baden Cooke Barloworld 4h37'02
2. Lars Boom Team Columbia s.t.
3. Mikhail Ignatiev Team Columbia s.t.
4. Nico Eeckhout Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
5. Filippo Pozzato Liquigas s.t.
6. Borut Božic Cycle Collstrop s.t.
7. Danilo Napolitano Lampre s.t.
8. Bernhard Eisel Team Columbia s.t.
9. Heinrich Haussler Gerolsteiner s.t.
10. Gert Steegmans Quick·Step s.t.

Overall
1. Fabian Cancellara Team CSC - Saxo Bank 23h25'01
2. Alessandro Ballan Lampre + 10
3. Thomas Dekker Rabobank + 12
4. Alejandro Valverde Caisse d'Epargne + 15
5. Francis De Greef Silence - Lotto + 18
6. Jan Bakelants Astana Cycling Team + 32
7. Mikhail Ignatiev Team Columbia + 44
8. Filippo Pozzato Liquigas + 48
9. Michael Rogers Team Columbia s.t.
10. Lars Bak Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 54

Points
1. Baden Cooke Barloworld 70
2. Mikhail Ignatiev Team Columbia 68
3. Lars Boom Team Columbia 66

Mountain
1. Johan Coenen Topsport Vlaanderen 24
2. Christian Knees Team Milram 17
3. Laurent Mangel AG2R La Mondiale 16

Next race:



2008 Results:
1. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia
2. John Gadret AG2R
3. Linus Gerdemann Team Columbia
4. Carlos Barredo Quick Step
5. Peter Velits Team Milram
6. Michael Albasini Liquigas
7. Thomas Voeckler Bouygues Telecom
8. Manuele Mori Saunier Duval
9. Aleksandr Kuschynski Liquigas
10. Andrea Moletta Gerolsteiner


2009 Team Columbia:
Kim Kirchen
Linus Gerdemann
Tony Martin
Marcus Burghardt
Gerlad Ciolek
Frantisek Rabon
Craig Lewis
Taylor Phinney

I'm amazed at how long this story is! And you're only in your second season! But, great story!

Thanks. It's great to hear/read that.

Gp Ouest de France - Plouay


Steurs, Vanotti and Lequatre are in the breakaway, but as ussual it's hard for the escapes to make it to end in such a race.


The first serious attack was made by on of the Silence leaders, Patrice Halgand.


And one of our leaders today went after him. It's the German champion Linus Gerdemann


Then Kirchen made it. He is the big favourite today and all the eyes are on him


All the favourites are in front group on the last hill of the day, where everything should be decided. Kirchen, Garzelli, Gadret, Pineau, Halgand, Van Huffel, Weening, Cobo, Ten Dam are all there


Kirchen seems to be the strongest and he makes an serious acceleration trying to get rid of the others


That was a big move indeed. Only Pineau has the power go after him


It looks like of them will win today as the other are far away


And the sprint starts. It should be very exciting as both are good sprinters


Kirchen surprises Pineau with a perfect move to take the lead


Kim wins it, defendig his title! Also his Pro Tour jersey is secured with some more points and he is the favourite to win it second year in a row.


Gerdemann finished in the third group. But this was just in preparation for his home race, Deutschland Tour.


Results
1. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia 5h48'54
2. Jérôme Pineau Bouygues Télécom s.t.
3. Stefano Garzelli Euskaltel - Euskadi + 43
4. Chris Anker Sörensen Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
5. Laurent Lefèvre Bouygues Télécom s.t.
6. Joaquím Rodríguez Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
7. Juanjo Cobo Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
8. Patrice Halgand Silence - Lotto + 1'19
9. Pieter Weening Rabobank s.t.
10. John Gadret AG2R La Mondiale s.t.
11. Gabriele Bosisio LPR Brakes - Ballan s.t.
12. Laurens Ten Dam Rabobank s.t.
13. Mario Aerts Silence - Lotto s.t.
14. Daniele Pietropolli LPR Brakes - Ballan s.t.
15. Volodymyr Gustov Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
16. Linus Gerdemann Team Columbia s.t.
17. Wim Van Huffel Silence - Lotto s.t.
18. Aleksandr Kuschynski Liquigas + 2'03
19. Thomas Voeckler Bouygues Télécom s.t.
20. Manuele Mori Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.