Is Van Emden going to be a sprinter or a time trialer, or maybe both?

Probably both and in the stage won by Kirchen some of the little hills were harder than they look on the profile

Le Tour De France Stage 8


Lovkvist wins some KOM points today too


Cavendish is out of the sprint


Same about Ciolek even he hang on more than Cavendish


So only 2 riders in the train. Hincapie and Eisel


And the sprints starts


Eisel leads with a fantastic advantage


Second win for Eisel and 5th for Team Columbia


Hincapie completes the double.


Stage
1. Bernhard Eisel Team Columbia 4h07'39
2. George Hincapie Team Columbia s.t.
3. Michael Albasini Liquigas s.t.
4. Tomas Vaitkus Astana Cycling Team s.t.
5. Aleksandr Kuschynski Liquigas s.t.
6. Matteo Carrara Quick·Step s.t.
7. Pierre Rolland Crédit Agricole s.t.
8. Markus Fothen Gerolsteiner s.t.
9. Thor Hushovd Crédit Agricole s.t.
10. Dimitri Muravyev Astana Cycling Team s.t.

Overall
1. Denis Menchov Rabobank 31h58'33
2. Linus Gerdemann Team Columbia + 17
3. Michael Rogers Team Columbia + 1'06
4. Levi Leipheimer Astana Cycling Team + 1'18
5. Fabian Cancellara Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 1'49
6. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia + 2'24
7. Samuel Sánchez Euskaltel - Euskadi + 2'26
8. Damiano Cunego Lampre + 2'43
9. George Hincapie Team Columbia + 2'55
10. Christophe Moreau Agritubel + 3'11

Points
1. Bernhard Eisel Team Columbia 109
2. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia 107
3. George Hincapie Team Columbia 103

Mountain
1. Thomas Lövkvist Team Columbia 57
2. Yuri Trofimov Bouygues Télécom 25
3. Nick Nuyens Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 21

Young: Linus Gerdemann Team Columbia
Teams: Team Columbia

AWESOM!!! THIS REALLY IS "THE COLUMBIA SPRINT TRAIN"

I know, raise the dificulty, make it more interesting.

Look at the other riders in top 10

Why didnt you put 0 Effort on Eisel and let Hincapie win!?
He deserves it!

Eisel fights for the green jersey

Hincapie too!

But he isn't so good when it comes to real sprints.

And some transfer news. Bellis signs with us while Arvesen with Rabobank.

Bellis
Arvesen

Le Tour De France Stage 9


Lovkvist is in the breakaway


He wins the first 2 climbs of the day


Leipheimer attacks early on Col d'Aspin


After an while Monfort attacks


Karpets, Valjavec and Devolder go with him


Dekker and Gesink are leading the pack


Sastre breaks away. Menchov and Contador are after him


Then moves by Cunego and Kichen


Di Luca, Sanchez and Pereiro


Leipheimer is first in the top


Sanchez is second


Third Cunego


Then Sastre and Kirchen


The yellow jersey group. Contador, Valvjavec, Karpets, Di Luca and Monfort are there too.


A.Schleck, Piepoli, Kloden, Moreau, Devolder and Pereiro are in the next group


Then the pack with F.Schleck, Rogers, Gerdemann, Evans, Dekker and Gesink


Sanchez caught Levi on the downhill


And he gets the win


Leipheimer is second and he has a good chance to be the new yellow jersey


Kirchen gains something over Sastre


Gerdemann caught the favourites/yellow jersey group on the last part of the stage and finished first in that group.


Stage
1. Samuel Sánchez Euskaltel - Euskadi 5h32'21
2. Levi Leipheimer Astana Cycling Team s.t.
3. Damiano Cunego Lampre + 51
4. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia + 1'57
5. Carlos Sastre Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 2'09
6. Linus Gerdemann Team Columbia + 2'28
7. Danilo Di Luca LPR Brakes - Ballan s.t.
8. Denis Menchov Rabobank s.t.
9. Vladimir Karpets Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
10. Andy Schleck Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.

Overall
1. Levi Leipheimer Astana Cycling Team 37h32'00
2. Samuel Sánchez Euskaltel - Euskadi + 1'00
3. Denis Menchov Rabobank + 1'22
4. Linus Gerdemann Team Columbia + 1'39
5. Damiano Cunego Lampre + 2'20
6. Michael Rogers Team Columbia + 3'03
7. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia + 3'15
8. Stijn Devolder Quick·Step + 4'33
9. Maxime Monfort Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone + 4'41
10. Vladimir Karpets Caisse d'Epargne + 4'47

Points
1. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia 120
2. Bernhard Eisel Team Columbia 109
3. George Hincapie Team Columbia 103

Mountain
1. Thomas Lövkvist Team Columbia 107
2. Damiano Cunego Lampre 42
3. Levi Leipheimer Astana Cycling Team 42

Young: Linus Gerdemann Team Columbia
Teams: Team Columbia

NOOOOOO. No Arvesen... DAMN, DAMN, DAMN

Le Tour De France Stage 10


Trofimov is first on Tourmalet


Sanchez tried something on the downhill, Leipheimer went after him, so they start Hautacam with a little advantage


Di Luca attacks


Sastre, Cunego and Gerdemann are after him


Kirchen goes after Devolder and Karpets


Evans attacks


Menchov is preparing to go with him


Sastre, Leipheimer and Di Luca are in front


After them it's Moreau


And then a group with Menchov, Evans, Kirchen, Monfort, Sanchez and Valjavec


Meanwhile Gerdeamann and Cunego are almost caught by the rest of the pack


Evans attacks again


And Kirchen cracks


Di Luca is leading


But Evans is very fast today


And Cadel gets the win


Leipheimer is in the first group and keeps his jersey


Nice performance by Kirchen too.


Stage
1. Cadel Evans Silence - Lotto 4h34'19
2. Denis Menchov Rabobank s.t.
3. Danilo Di Luca LPR Brakes - Ballan s.t.
4. Carlos Sastre Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
5. Christophe Moreau Agritubel s.t.
6. Levi Leipheimer Astana Cycling Team s.t.
7. Vladimir Karpets Caisse d'Epargne + 59
8. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia + 1'13
9. Óscar Pereiro Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
10. Alberto Contador Astana Cycling Team s.t.

Overall
1. Levi Leipheimer Astana Cycling Team 42h06'19
2. Denis Menchov Rabobank + 1'10
3. Samuel Sánchez Euskaltel - Euskadi + 2'40
4. Linus Gerdemann Team Columbia + 3'19
5. Damiano Cunego Lampre + 4'00
6. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia + 4'28
7. Cadel Evans Silence - Lotto + 4'53
8. Carlos Sastre Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 4'56
9. Christophe Moreau Agritubel + 5'08
10. Vladimir Karpets Caisse d'Epargne + 5'46

Points
1. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia 128
2. Bernhard Eisel Team Columbia 109
3. George Hincapie Team Columbia 103

Mountain
1. Thomas Lövkvist Team Columbia 107
2. Danilo Di Luca LPR Brakes - Ballan 78
3. Damiano Cunego Lampre 68

Young: Linus Gerdemann Team Columbia
Teams: Astana Cycling Team

Too bad you lost your position over teams classification.

wow Gerdemann still 4th, nice job

Agree

Nice job!

Le Tour De France Stage 11


George Hincapie is in the breakaway


Schleck, Di Luca and Cunego are gone


Leipheimer makes his move too


Kirchen went with Menchov


Hincapie is first in top of the mountain


Hincapie and Nuyens will be caught on the downhill by the favourites group. Still no all the favourites are there. Evans, Gerdemann or Contador aren't there


A massive crash in the pack on the downhill


Riders like Cancellara, Bennati, Haussler, Contador, Moreau, Bettini, Gusev, Fothen, Chavanel, Piepoli or Pereiro were involved



Returning to the race... Kirchen leads the sprint


And Kirchen gets his third stage in this Tour


Stage
1. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia 4h09'08
2. Samuel Sánchez Euskaltel - Euskadi s.t.
3. Fränk Schleck Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
4. George Hincapie Team Columbia s.t.
5. Denis Menchov Rabobank s.t.
6. Levi Leipheimer Astana Cycling Team s.t.
7. Vladimir Karpets Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
8. Carlos Sastre Team CSC - Saxo Bank s.t.
9. Paolo Savoldelli LPR Brakes - Ballan s.t.
10. Danilo Di Luca LPR Brakes - Ballan s.t.

Overall
1. Levi Leipheimer Astana Cycling Team 46h15'27
2. Denis Menchov Rabobank + 1'10
3. Samuel Sánchez Euskaltel - Euskadi + 2'28
4. Damiano Cunego Lampre + 4'00
5. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia + 4'08
6. Linus Gerdemann Team Columbia + 4'45
7. Carlos Sastre Team CSC - Saxo Bank + 4'56
8. Vladimir Karpets Caisse d'Epargne + 5'46
9. Danilo Di Luca LPR Brakes - Ballan + 5'52
10. Cadel Evans Silence - Lotto + 6'19

Points
1. Kim Kirchen Team Columbia 163
2. George Hincapie Team Columbia 135
3. Bernhard Eisel Team Columbia 109

Mountain
1. Thomas Lövkvist Team Columbia 107
2. Danilo Di Luca LPR Brakes - Ballan 96
3. Damiano Cunego Lampre 78

Young: Linus Gerdemann Team Columbia
Teams: Astana Cycling Team

- One?
- No
- Two?
- No
- Three?
- YES!

Three stages for Kirchen!

Kirchen the man