*Cough* EPO *Cough* Italians I don't know as much about. Maybe blossoming like Farrar.

Gardeyn isnt lucky. he broke 4-5 ribs and his shoulder is broken on two places...

Hushovd just won the show race Oslo Grand prix in front of Kristoff and Arvesen. He went along when Armstrong attacked with around 5 to 10 kms left. Armstrong didn't manage to stay away all the time, and Hushovd finished alone. Around 5 to 10 seconds in front of the first group with riders like Arvesen, Armstrong and Pellizotti.


Haussler, Gilbert, O'Grady, and Lancaster was some of the other riders there.

Farrar won his second stage in Eneco Tour. He beat Hutarovich and EBH in a mass sprint. He also keeps the leader jersey, ahead of EBH and Boonen. Chavanel and Wiggins out of top ten.

Eneco was a good stage to watch when it's too hot to do anything

Too bad the Rabo's didnt win in the end have 3 men in a lead groupe of 5 at some point inside the final 10km...
Nuyens caugth with +- 300m to go.

If it hasnt been mentioned before, Kloden and Guttierez are out of the Eneco Tour, Kloden fell and might have fractured his wrist and Guttierez had stomach ache.

FARRAR!

Wiggins isn't out of top 10, he is sitting 5th..

And Chavanel in fourth

Coppa Bernocchi

1 Luca Paolini (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 4:23:48
2 Danilo Hondo (Ger) PSK Whirlpool - Author
3 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Lampre - N.G.C.
4 Steven Cummings (GBr) Barloworld
5 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Barloworld
6 Enrico Magazzini (Ita) Lampre-N.G.C.)
7 Mauro Finetto (Ita) CSF Group - Navigare
8 Alessandro Proni (Ita) ISD 0:02:23
9 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) ISD
10 Diego Caccia (Ita) Barloworld


Good to see Thomas recovering from his injuries to start to get decent results on the road.

That was because the TV showed a preliminary GC without those guys, there was some confusion.
But in the official results no changes indeed.

Expect things to shake up tomorrow in the queen stage

Boonen wins todays stage ahead of Farrar. Both guys showing good form. Boonen either must have found himself or is on some cocaine for a rush before the finish Good for him though.

Russel Downing took the opening stage of the Tour of Ireland with 23 men getting clear and looking set to decide the GC

1 Russell Downing (GBr) Candi TV - Marshalls Pasta 5:10:37
2 Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Saxo Bank 0:00:01
3 Matti Breschel (Den) Saxo Bank
4 Philip Deignan (Irl) Cervélo TestTeam
5 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Astana
6 Marco Pinotti (Ita) Columbia-HTC
7 Frederik Wilman (Nor) Joker Bianchi
8 Oleksandr Kvachuk (Ukr) ISD
9 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Saxo Bank 0:00:07
10 Denys Kostyuk (Ukr) ISD 0:00:16
11 Igor Abakoumov (Bel) ISD
12 Mathias Frank (Swi) BMC Racing Team
13 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Rabobank Continental Team
14 Gabriel Rasch (Nor) Cervélo TestTeam
15 Lars Petter Nordhaug (Nor) Joker Bianchi
16 Craig Lewis (USA) Columbia-HTC
17 Florian Stalder (Swi) BMC Racing Team
18 Daniel Lloyd (GBr) Cervélo TestTeam
19 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Saxo Bank
20 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) ISD
21 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana
22 Stuart O:Grady (Aus) Saxo Bank
23 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana
24 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Joker Bianchi 0:02:12
25 Michael Van Staeyen (Bel) Rabobank Continental Team

There's a recap on Eurosport at 12:00 CET.

'big' juniors 3 day race started in my village today. many of the big dutch talenst come here (evn tho the race is only 9 years old). Dekker, Gesink, Koos Moerenhout, Servais Knaven, Stuart O’Grady, Marc de Maar, Sebastiaan van Langeveld, Thijs van Amerongen, Martijn Keizer, Jetse Bol, Coen Vermeltfoort, Klaas Lodewyck, Dennis van Winden, Leezer, Tmmer, Van Emden...

well, I'll just stop. Fact is, all have done well here when still being a junior so its a good race to see the talents of tomorrow. This year I'm looking at Moreno Hofland, since I heared he's signed a contract with Rabobank CT?

Anyway, today was the frst stage. loads of wind cause one full team to be dropped and taken out of the race many riders finished 15 minutes down after a 95km flat ride
Some guy, Elmar Reinders won. Remeber that name. You'll hear it within the next 5 years tomorrow there is a morning TT and an evening stage again. and although they're still 16 - 18 years, some got some nice TT equipment

But, when I read todays avarage speed I though... fuck... they are my age. okay, I only ride for 3 months now but... they did over 42km avarage in though winds.. wow.


----
edit: to give you a better idea of the level of the race: 2002 top 10 final GC

1 Albert Timmer
2 Thomas Dekker
3 Jos Harms
4 Marc de Maar
5 Joost van Leijen
6 Jurgen Roelandts
7 Sebastiaan van Langeveld
8 Tom Stamsnijder
9 Steve Schets
10 Johan Peeters

Of that row of the first 10, only Jos Harms and Johan Peeters are not professionals...

lol @ sebastiaan van langeveld...

It's getting better; I just returned from the 8.9km TT (which is the same every year). The course record from Thomas Dekker was almost beaten, only 2 seconds slower, by Kevin de Jonghe. 10.54 I believe. Close to 50km/h

That means nothing without knowing the route and the wind

For reference here's something really impressive: back in the days when the only doping around was steroids (which is peanuts), Hinault came to the final km of the Tour's final TT. He should be dead tired at the end of a 50km TT at the end of a three-week tour....

he did that final Km at 60kms/h. That's quite amazing

Well, it means to me that taking there are a few corners, you must be doing 50km/h at least on the straigths. There was quite some wind so little slower in the headwind section, little faster in the tailwind section. But still 50km/k for 10 minutes. I dont see myself doing that for a while



btw: noone came within 15 seconds from the winner and only 7 came within 30 seconds. He was by quite far the winner.

A 60 men mass sprint in the queen stage of the ENECO Tour

Or: Tyler Farrar! He wins a mountain stage in a Pro Tour race /Norwegian Hagen fanboy mode.