thank you

The tactics just worked 100%

Next race:


2008:
1. Thomas Lovkvist Team Columbia
2. Thomas Dekker Rabobank
3. Thomas Voeckler Bouygues Telecom
4. Frank Schleck CSC Saxo Bank
5. Manuel Beltran Liquigas
6. Josep Jufre Saunier Duval
7. Stefan Schumacher Gerolsteiner
8. Janez Brajkovic Astana
9. Philippe Gilbert Francaise des Jeux
10. Davide Rebellin Gerolsteiner

2009:
1. Stijn Devolder Quick Step
2. Markus Fothen Gerolsteiner
3. Yaroslav Popovych Silence Lotto
4. Pablo Lastras Liquigas
5. Vladimir Gusev Astana
6. Andy Schleck CSC Saxo Bank
7. Thomas Voeckler Bouygues Telecom
8. George Hincapie Team Columbia
9. Bauke Mollema Rabobank
10. Simon Spilak Lampre



Vkladimir Karpets
Martijn Maaskant
Bernhard Eisel
Edvald Boasson Hagen
David Zabriskie
Bradley Wiggins
Taylor Phinney
Craig Lewis

I dont comment a lot but i really love this story! Keep it up Alexkr!

Tour of California Stage 1


Quinziato was one of the first good time-trialists to start today but he's time wasn't too good


Cancellara started early too and his time was impressive. It seems hard for anyone to beat him today


Devolder, the defending champion, had a good time, but it wasn't even close to Cancellara


Good start for Karpets. He's the closest to beat Cancellara but still 5 seconds down


Even the World Champion, David Zabriskie, can't be even close to Cancellara


Wiggins was our last hope but he was really dissapoiting


Hincapie and Contador were the last riders who could have stop Cancellara. They both beat Karpets but neither of them was able to beat Cancellara


Results
1. Fabian Cancellara Team CSC - Saxo Bank 3'31
2. George Hincapie Bouygues Télécom + 4
3. Alberto Contador Astana Cycling Team s.t.
4. Vladimir Karpets Team Columbia + 5
5. José Rujano Saunier Duval - Scott + 8
6. Johann Tschopp Bouygues Télécom + 11
7. David Zabriskie Team Columbia s.t.
8. Matti Breschel Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
9. Niki Terpstra Bouygues Télécom + 12
10. Rubens Bertogliati Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
11. Benat Intxausti Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
12. Vladimir Gusev Astana Cycling Team + 13
13. Stijn Devolder Quick·Step s.t.
14. Alberto Fernández Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
15. Fabian Wegmann Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
16. Bradley Wiggins Team Columbia + 14
17. Andrejs Gavrilov Astana Cycling Team s.t.
18. Edvald Boasson Hagen Team Columbia + 15
19. Fränk Schleck Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
20. Vladimir Efimkin Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.

Hi.
As said so many times before: Great Story and some great riding.
Your sprint tecnique is also usefull for me in my game. (Team Capinordic - formerly Team GLS) - thanks.

I'm only at page 122 at the moment (end of season 2) and looking forward to read about season 3.

Happy to see you have signed Fuglsang :-)

Keep up the good work!

Best regards.

Tour of California Stage 2


Bertogliati, who finished 10th yesterday, and our fomer rider, Michael Barry where just some of the many escapes


Crash in the pack with only a few kilometres left. It's Rast, who went down


And Rast caused a big crash there. Tschopp and Maaskant are some other important names that crashed


Without the main leading-out man, Eisel and Hagen went on other trains. So Hagen is behind Pozzato, while Eisel is in Eeckhout's wheel


But neither of them manages to sprint properly and in front are Arvesen, Eeckhout and 2 AG2R guys


One of the AG2R riders, Ventoso, accelerates and it seems that he got away


Ventoso gets the win, while Eisel managed to save the day for Columbia with a 3rd spot


Stage
1. Fran Ventoso AG2R La Mondiale 3h51'04
2. Filippo Pozzato Liquigas s.t.
3. Bernhard Eisel Team Columbia s.t.
4. Gert Steegmans Silence - Lotto s.t.
5. Kurt-Asle Arvesen Rabobank s.t.
6. Edvald Boasson Hagen Team Columbia s.t.
7. Fabian Cancellara Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
8. Nico Eeckhout Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
9. Matti Breschel Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
10. Alessandro Ballan Lampre s.t.

Overall
1. Fabian Cancellara Team CSC - Saxo Bank 3h54'35
2. Alberto Contador Astana Cycling Team + 4
3. George Hincapie Bouygues Télécom s.t.
4. Rubens Bertogliati Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
5. Filippo Pozzato Liquigas + 5
6. Vladimir Karpets Team Columbia s.t.
7. José Rujano Saunier Duval - Scott + 8
8. Matti Breschel Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 11
9. David Zabriskie Team Columbia s.t.
10. Beñat Intxausti Saunier Duval - Scott + 12

Points
1. Fabian Cancellara Team CSC - Saxo Bank 34
2. Fran Ventoso AG2R La Mondiale 25
3. Filippo Pozzato Liquigas 20

Mountain
1. Doug Ollerenshaw Rock Racing 6
2. Rubens Bertogliati Saunier Duval - Scott 4
3. Tim Johnson Health net presented by Maxxis 2

Tour of California Stage 3


Langeveld went in a solo breakaway and he had no chance to maintain in front at finish too


Problems for Devolder as he had a puncture. 2 team-mates waited for him but still it doesn't look too good for him


Maaskant, Hagen and Eisel will probably be in our train in Le Tour this year, so this is a great training for them


But Maaskant seem to still be affected by yesterday's crash as he isn't in a very good position


So now Hagen was to get Eisel out of there but it seems imposible


Arvesen, Pozzato and Ventoso are in front


Eisel is coming but is too late, is going to be between Pozzato and Arvesen


Double victory for Pozzato! Stage win and the yellow jersey as well. Eisel got again the third place on the podium


Not a good day for Quick Step. After Devolder's puncture, Van Huffel, one of the riders that waited for Devolder crashed pretty badly in the final kilometres


Devolder has no chance to defend the title won last year as today he lost more than 6 minutes


Stage
1. Filippo Pozzato Liquigas 4h31'08
2. Kurt-Asle Arvesen Rabobank s.t.
3. Bernhard Eisel Team Columbia s.t.
4. Fran Ventoso AG2R La Mondiale s.t.
5. Alessandro Ballan Lampre s.t.
6. Matti Breschel Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
7. Gert Steegmans Silence - Lotto s.t.
8. Danilo Napolitano Lampre s.t.
9. Grégory Rast Astana Cycling Team s.t.
10. Assan Bazayev Astana Cycling Team s.t.

Overall
1. Filippo Pozzato Liquigas 8h25'28
2. Fabian Cancellara Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 15
3. George Hincapie Bouygues Télécom + 19
4. Rubens Bertogliati Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
5. Alberto Contador Astana Cycling Team s.t.
6. Vladimir Karpets Team Columbia + 20
7. José Rujano Saunier Duval - Scott + 23
8. Bernhard Eisel Team Columbia + 24
9. Matti Breschel Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 26
10. David Zabriskie Team Columbia s.t.

Points
1. Filippo Pozzato Liquigas 45
2. Fran Ventoso AG2R La Mondiale 39
3. Fabian Cancellara Team CSC - Saxo Bank 37

Mountain
1. Sebastian Langeveld Rabobank 15
2. Doug Ollerenshaw Rock Racing 14
3. Rafael Rodríguez BMC Racing Team 9

Awesome story,
I just have begon reading (I'm at page 5 or so) but I really love it. I think I can learn alot from it so that my own skills will improve

Love that pic where Van Huffel falls

well it wasn't so bad as it looks like, at least at x1

good result for Eisel
X2

Tour of California Stage 4


Both Zabriskie and Lewis tried to get away but the pack just didn't want to let them go


But some guys managed in the end to do that and the strongest of the was Fajt, who is still in front on the last climb with a pretty good advantage


Behind him was made a group of favourites including Contador, Karpets, Tschopp, Hincapie, Kolobnev, Schleck, Mollema and Rujano


Schleck and Karpets are leading the group in the final kilometres, while Hincapie is preparing to make an attack as Fajt isn't far away


And Fajt is caught by Hincapie and Rujano, who is also coming pretty fast, right before the final kilometre


Though that he was one of the strongest riders today, Karpets is losing place after place in the final sprint


With Fajt dead no one was able to be a threat for Hincapie in the sprint so he got the stage win and the yellow jersey as well


Stage
1. George Hincapie Bouygues Télécom 4h10'09
2. José Rujano Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
3. Kristjan Fajt Perutnina Ptuj s.t.
4. Bauke Mollema Quick·Step s.t.
5. Steve Morabito Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team s.t.
6. Alexandr Kolobnev Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
7. Alberto Contador Astana Cycling Team s.t.
8. Fränk Schleck Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
9. Vladimir Karpets Team Columbia s.t.
10. Danny Pate Drapac Porsche Development Program + 59

Overall
1. George Hincapie Bouygues Télécom 12h35'36
2. José Rujano Saunier Duval - Scott + 12
3. Alberto Contador Astana Cycling Team + 20
4. Vladimir Karpets Team Columbia + 21
5. Fränk Schleck Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 31
6. Alexandr Kolobnev Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 32
7. Bauke Mollema Quick·Step + 33
8. Steve Morabito Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team + 35
9. Fabian Cancellara Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 1'15
10. David Zabriskie Team Columbia + 1'26

Points
1. George Hincapie Bouygues Télécom 45
2. Filippo Pozzato Liquigas 45
3. Fran Ventoso AG2R La Mondiale 39

Mountain
1. Kristjan Fajt Perutnina Ptuj 26
2. Johann Tschopp Bouygues Télécom 22
3. Alexandr Kolobnev Team CSC - Saxo Bank 22

Tour of California Stage 5


The escapes had no chance today as this is one of the important stages for the overall rankings


Mollema makes the first attack on the final climb


Pate, Karpets and Hincapie are right after him


Hincapie seems to be the strongest as he took a little advantage over the others


Karpets is trying to catch him but Hincapie still maintains a advantage of a few metres


And the advantage becames bigger and bigger. With 5km left Hincapie has almost one minute advantage over the second group of the race


Karpets, Rujano, Contador, Mollema and Ballan are in the second group


Right after them we have Schleck, Duque, Pate, Zabriskie and Vanendert, while the pack isn't far away either


Hincapie gets the second stage win in a row and he consolidates his yellow jersey


Again problems for Karpets in the sprint and he couldn't get any bonififcations


Stage
1. George Hincapie Bouygues Télécom 5h11'15
2. Alessandro Ballan Lampre + 45
3. Bauke Mollema Quick·Step s.t.
4. José Rujano Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
5. Alberto Contador Astana Cycling Team s.t.
6. Vladimir Karpets Team Columbia s.t.
7. Leonardo Duque AG2R La Mondiale s.t.
8. Jelle Vanendert Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
9. Fränk Schleck Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
10. Danny Pate Drapac Porsche Development Program s.t.

Overall
1. George Hincapie Bouygues Télécom 17h46'31
2. José Rujano Saunier Duval - Scott + 1'17
3. Alberto Contador Astana Cycling Team + 1'25
4. Vladimir Karpets Team Columbia + 1'26
5. Bauke Mollema Quick·Step + 1'30
6. Fränk Schleck Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 1'36
7. Alexandr Kolobnev Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 1'37
8. Steve Morabito Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team + 1'40
9. Fabian Cancellara Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 2'20
10. David Zabriskie Team Columbia + 2'31

Points
1. George Hincapie Bouygues Télécom 70
2. José Rujano Saunier Duval - Scott 46
3. Filippo Pozzato Liquigas 45

Mountain
1. Kristjan Fajt Perutnina Ptuj 26
2. Johann Tschopp Bouygues Télécom 22
3. Alexandr Kolobnev Team CSC - Saxo Bank 22

sorry you lost but Im happy hincapie won.

yeah he left us as I thought he is a old man with nothing left to prove and now he is going to win Tour of California...

Haha good ol' George! I don't think he will ever leave. He will race the tour til he is 60

Obviously out to prove something to you~!

I'm just surprised to see how much of a lead he has.

well since the first cobbled races are coming soon he is probably in better form than the others

Tour of California Stage 6


The World Champion, David Zabriskie, was the first from the top 10 to start


But right after him Cancellara came and he beat Z with almost 1 minute


Karpets didn't had a great time and it seems that Cancellara will be over him in the overall rankings


Contador was the closest to beat Cancellara but still long way to there


Hincapie was pretty good and I don't see how could he lose the yellow jersey now


Stage
1. Fabian Cancellara Team CSC - Saxo Bank 35'14
2. Alberto Contador Astana Cycling Team + 28
3. Stijn Devolder Quick·Step + 30
4. George Hincapie Bouygues Télécom + 34
5. David Zabriskie Team Columbia + 52
6. Alessandro Ballan Lampre s.t.
7. Sébastien Rosseler Quick·Step + 54
8. Danny Pate Drapac Porsche Development Program + 58
9. Vladimir Gusev Astana Cycling Team s.t.
10. Vladimir Karpets Team Columbia + 1'06
11. Filippo Pozzato Liquigas + 1'10
12. Giovanni Visconti Quick·Step + 1'22
13. Sebastian Langeveld Rabobank + 1'24
14. Leif Hoste Silence - Lotto + 1'28
15. Tejay Van Garderen Garmin - Chipotle powered by H30 + 1'30
16. Edvald Boasson Hagen Team Columbia s.t.
17. Rubens Bertogliati Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
18. Manuel Quinziato Liquigas + 1'34
19. Matti Breschel Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
20. Chris Horner Astana Cycling Team + 1'35

Overall
1. George Hincapie Bouygues Télécom 18h22'19
2. Alberto Contador Astana Cycling Team + 1'19
3. Fabian Cancellara Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 1'46
4. Vladimir Karpets Team Columbia + 1'58
5. José Rujano Saunier Duval - Scott + 2'29
6. Bauke Mollema Quick·Step + 2'34
7. Steve Morabito Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team + 2'44
8. David Zabriskie Team Columbia + 2'49
9. Alessandro Ballan Lampre + 2'50
10. Vladimir Gusev Astana Cycling Team + 2'57
11. Fränk Schleck Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 3'02
12. Alexandr Kolobnev Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 3'11
13. Danny Pate Drapac Porsche Development Program + 3'28
14. Chris Horner Astana Cycling Team + 3'40
15. Beñat Intxausti Saunier Duval - Scott + 3'42
16. Giovanni Visconti Quick·Step + 3'52
17. Craig Lewis Team Columbia + 3'55
18. Vladimir Efimkin Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 3'59
19. Alberto Fernández Saunier Duval - Scott + 4'01
20. Ryder Hesjedal Quick·Step + 4'09

Karpets seem to be in dificulties.