Nice start of the season

Yeah and this time I have more riders that can lead the team in different races.

In how many races do you give Fuglsang the chance to be the leader?

so far I'm sure about this and Tour of Qinghai Lake but more could come

Tour de Langkawi Stage 2


Meersman was really the strongest on the only climb of the day


But the real breakway was made after that, with Devine being in it. Though that they should stay together and work as the wind could have helped them they didn't


Still with only 20 km to go Debusschere, one of the escapes is in front


The second group of escapes, including Devine, is more than 1 minute behind him


The pack is 4 and a half minutes behind and the fight seems to be lost now


Just 10 left to ride for Debusschere and he's looking good, his advantage is still somewhere at 1 minute in front of the first chasers


Speaking about his chasers, Devine and Tronborg went together in the last atempt to catch Debusschere


But this was his day and nobody could stop him. Debusschere gets the stage win and the yellow jersey


Devine finished third, but not before being caught by the pack, that sprinted very fast in the final kilometres


Stage
1. Jens Debusschere Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner 3h45'26
2. Michael Tronborg Team Designa Kökken + 1'05
3. John Devine Team Columbia s.t.
4. Jan Ghyselinck Topsport Vlaanderen s.t.
5. Mateusz Mróz CCC - Polsat - Polkowice s.t.
6. Gabriel Rasch Crédit Agricole s.t.
7. Delio Fernández Karpin Galicia s.t.
8. Alexandre Pichot Bouygues Télécom s.t.
9. Benoit Sinner Bouygues Télécom s.t.
10. Pieter Vanspeybroeck Topsport Vlaanderen s.t.

Overall
1. Jens Debusschere Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner 6h53'13
2. Mark Cavendish Team Columbia + 1'17
3. Michael Tronborg Team Designa Kökken + 1'19
4. John Devine Team Columbia + 1'25
5. Philippe Gilbert Crédit Agricole s.t.
6. Tomasz Kiendys CCC - Polsat - Polkowice + 1'29
7. Delio Fernández Karpin Galicia + 1'31
8. Mateusz Mróz CCC - Polsat - Polkowice + 1'33
9. Gabriel Rasch Crédit Agricole s.t.
10. Nicolas Roche Crédit Agricole s.t.

Points
1. Jens Debusschere Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner 37
2. Michael Tronborg Team Designa Kökken 26
3. Mark Cavendish Team Columbia 25

Mountain
1. Gianni Meersman Team Columbia 8
2. Philip Thuaux LA - MSS - Póvoa de Varzím 6
3. David Herrero Karpin Galicia 4

Oh boy! an breakaway. You can win a sprint but if you let breakaway go to the end...

well I had Devine in the breakway so no reason for any of my riders to chase behind the brekaway. Also Devine was far the best climber in the breakway so if it was going to end with a huge advantage for the breakway he would have probably took the yellow jersey in the mountain stages and won the overall in the end.

Then smart move. 3rd isnt bad eather.

yeah but it seems that the number 13 didn't bring any luck to Devine

yeah but Debusschere wont be able to hold onto the lead till the end so everything's under control

he's 58 mountain... no chance

No chance.

sometime you have to made sacrifice... But in the case of Devine, you have take the good decision.

Tour de Langkawi Stage 3


Our friend Thuaux is in the breakaway again


But behind the breakaway Landbouwkrediet are also helped by Adam Hansen and it seems that the escapes have no chance today


Ignatiev, Van Heerden and Cavendish are getting ready for what could be Cavendish's second stage win


Our Russian Champion is doing a great job, leading the whole pack at the moment


But Van Heerden still has a lot to learn about the big guys sprints as he doesn't seem to able to help Cavendish too much today


He is obviously dominated there by the Credit Agricole and Bouygues Telecom guys. Cavendish has to get out of his wheel if he wants to count in the battle today


Pichot is leading the pack after a great work from his team mates


Cavendish really suffered in the final metres, after being forced to start the sprint too early, and couldn't catch Alex Pichot who got the win. Also Cavendish wasn't able to get the 2nd place either, finishing third


Stage
1. Alexandre Pichot Bouygues Télécom 4h14'47
2. Tomasz Kiendys CCC - Polsat - Polkowice s.t.
3. Mark Cavendish Team Columbia s.t.
4. Sébastien Chavanel AG2R La Mondiale s.t.
5. Alexander Gottfried Tinkoff Credit Systems s.t.
6. Steve Schets Topsport Vlaanderen s.t.
7. Nicolas Roche Crédit Agricole s.t.
8. David Herrero Karpin Galicia s.t.
9. Gustavo César Veloso Karpin Galicia s.t.
10. Nikolas Maes Topsport Vlaanderen s.t.

Overall
1. Jens Debusschere Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner 11h08'00
2. Mark Cavendish Team Columbia + 1'09
3. Alexandre Pichot Bouygues Télécom + 1'17
4. Tomasz Kiendys CCC - Polsat - Polkowice s.t.
5. Michael Tronborg Team Designa Kökken + 1'19
6. Philippe Gilbert Crédit Agricole + 1'25
7. John Devine Team Columbia s.t.
8. Delio Fernández Karpin Galicia + 1'31
9. Fabien Taillefer Bouygues Télécom s.t.
10. Nicolas Roche Crédit Agricole + 1'33

Points
1. Mark Cavendish Team Columbia 41
2. Jens Debusschere Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner 37
3. Tomasz Kiendys CCC - Polsat - Polkowice 36

Mountain
1. Gianni Meersman Team Columbia 8
2. Philip Thuaux LA - MSS - Póvoa de Varzím 6
3. David Herrero Karpin Galicia 4

Not going too well, better luck next stage

well we pretty much took the revenge in the next stage

Tour de Langkawi Stage 4


Devine is in the breakaway.


He and Lagutin were clearly the best climbers and tried to gain some time over the pack on the climbs


But they didn't and they were caught by the pack. Devine payed back the effort made and he was even left behind, but at least he could admire some sheep from a farm close to the race route


13 km to go and Meersman has a great attack on a small uphill section. But will bring no.13 more luck to him that it brough to Devine?


With 10 km left to ride he already had almost 1 minute advantage over the pack


It's very hard to win it all by yourself so his team-mates are preparing in the pack in case that he will be caught


Meersman's adventure ends afterall with just 2 km to go, being caught by his own team-mates!


4 riders from Columbia are at the moment leading the pack, but the feelings are totally different for them. Cavendish is about to make his final acceleration, Ignatiev seems to be in the best mood ever, while Meersman and Van Heerden are clearly suffering


Cavendish and Ignatiev are leading the pack. Van Heerden still hangs on in the third place and this could lead to a great triple for Columbia


The first one that realizes that is Ignatiev. His hands are in air in sign of victory


But the big winner of the day is Mark Cavendish! Also, behind, Meersman doesn't seem to be too afected by the fact that he was caught because the team got the win afterall


Too bad that Van Heerden lost the third spot in the final metres and it was just a double for Columbia, but still it was a double...


Stage
1. Mark Cavendish Team Columbia 5h18'49
2. Mikhail Ignatiev Team Columbia s.t.
3. Nikolas Maes Topsport Vlaanderen s.t.
4. Juan Van Heerden Team Columbia s.t.
5. Lloyd Mondory AG2R La Mondiale s.t.
6. Alexandre Pichot Bouygues Télécom s.t.
7. Tomasz Kiendys CCC - Polsat - Polkowice s.t.
8. Constantino Zaballa LA - MSS - Póvoa de Varzím s.t.
9. David Herrero Karpin Galicia s.t.
10. Luis León Sánchez AG2R La Mondiale s.t.

Overall
1. Jens Debusschere Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner 16h26'49
2. Mark Cavendish Team Columbia + 49
3. Alexandre Pichot Bouygues Télécom + 1'17
4. Tomasz Kiendys CCC - Polsat - Polkowice s.t.
5. Michael Tronborg Team Designa Kökken + 1'19
6. Mikhail Ignatiev Team Columbia + 1'25
7. Philippe Gilbert Crédit Agricole s.t.
8. Nikolas Maes Topsport Vlaanderen + 1'29
9. Fabien Taillefer Bouygues Télécom + 1'31
10. Nicolas Roche Crédit Agricole + 1'33

Points
1. Mark Cavendish Team Columbia 66
2. Alexandre Pichot Bouygues Télécom 45
3. Tomasz Kiendys CCC - Polsat - Polkowice 45

Mountain
1. Sergei Lagutin LA - MSS - Póvoa de Varzím 18
2. John Devine Team Columbia 18
3. Gianni Meersman Team Columbia 8

1-2 and 4th awesome

yeah awesome sprinting

Nice, you did well there