Daniel Martin started the moves today and was countered by 5 others. They would have got away if 7 others hadnt countered, as that brought Designa Kokken forward to bring the 13 riders back.

12 riders would later get away though, in 2 groups of 6. Laverde Jimenez, Cruz, Borrajo, Menzies, Froome and Tjalingii in group 1 with Martin, Ista, Lefevre, Dockx, Miyazawa and Sutton in group 2.


It took over 35km for the groups to meet, with Dockx, Lefevre and Miyazawa dropped along the way, and Daniel Martin being dropped as seen as the lead group was reached.

Meanwhile, De Waele, Glomser, Scheirlinckx, Hagen and one of the Une Orbitel riders tried to escape from the bunch, they did get away but hard work from Benfica, Slipstream and even Une Orbitel brought them back.

By the time the hill was reached, the break was down to just 3: Tjalingii, Froome and Ista although Laverde Jiminez and Borrajo could up on the climb, before Borrajo and Ista cracked.

Lanbouwkredit's Perez Rodriguez launched the first attack from the peleton and soon reached the Tjalingii group. Rovny, Reihs and Walker were among the many who attacked but got nowhere but Axel Merckx and Fortunato Baliani were successful.



Baliani powered past the breakaway and has a strong lead at the top, Perez Rodriguez and Merckx would soon drop Laverde Jiminez and Tjalingii, with Kenyan Chris Froome already falling back.

Froome is cahsed down by his own team but with 6km to go, Baliani holds a 2'34 lead over the peleton (Started the day over 3 minutes down on Reihsthough, like most of the riders).

The peleton werent exactly going to be able to catch Baliani, or Merckx and Perez Rodriguez.


The battle for 4 is going to be close though. Having eased away from Laverde Jiminez, Tjalingii stops sprinting. Big mistake! Markus Zberg comes charging down the last kilometre and takes 4th place in the dying metres. Reihs allbut confirms overall victory, taking 6th. Only a crash could stop him now.

It was a very disappointing sprint for Fabian Wegmann, as he finished 51st and drops to 9th Overall.

1	Fortunato Baliani	CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE	3h30'52
2	Axel Merckx	TEAM SLIPSTREAM	+ 35
3	Luis Perez Rodriguez	LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER	s.t.
4	Markus Zberg	DESIGNA KØKKEN	+ 1'42
5	Maarten Tjallingii	BARLOWORLD	s.t.
6	Michael Reihs	DESIGNA KØKKEN	s.t.
7	Luis Felipe Laverde Jimenez	CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE	s.t.
8	Edvald Boasson Hagen	MAXBO BIANCHI	s.t.
9	Santo Anza	DESIGNA KØKKEN	s.t.
10	José Ivan Gutiérrez Palacios	AGRITUBEL	s.t.
11	Kurt-Asle Arvesen	VOLKSBANK	s.t.
12	Ronny Scholz	WIESENHOF - FELT	s.t.
13	Bert De Waele	LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER	s.t.
14	Iñigo Landaluze	LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER	s.t.
15	Ruslan Sambris	HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS	s.t.
16	Gerrit Glomser	VOLKSBANK	s.t.
17	Angel Vicioso	HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS	s.t.
18	Alexandre Moos	LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER	s.t.
19	Raúl Granjel Cabrera	DESIGNA KØKKEN	s.t.
20	Pablo Lastras	DISCOVERY CHANNEL MARCO POLO CYCLING TEAM	s.t.
21	Alessandro Proni	LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER	s.t.
22	Diego Gallego	BENFICA	s.t.
23	Adam Hansen	TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS	s.t.
24	René Weissinger	VOLKSBANK	s.t.
25	Ivan Rovny	MAXBO BIANCHI	s.t.
26	Grégory Rast	UNE ORBITEL	s.t.
27	Benoît Salmon	AGRITUBEL	s.t.
28	Nico Sijmens	LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER	s.t.
29	Christophe Riblon	CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE	s.t.
30	Dmitri Grabovski	SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS	s.t.
31	Iker Camaño	NIPPO CORPORATION - MEITAN HOMPO CO. LTD - ASADA	s.t.
32	Tom Stamsnijder	WIESENHOF - FELT	s.t.
33	Staf Scheirlinckx	TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS	s.t.
34	Ruslan Grychenko	SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS	s.t.
35	Frederik Wilman	MAXBO BIANCHI	s.t.
36	Steven Caethoven	TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS	s.t.
37	Koos Moerenhout	TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS	s.t.
38	Rui Costa	BENFICA	s.t.
39	Constantino Zaballa	AGRITUBEL	s.t.
40	Carlos Maya	CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE	s.t.
41	Alejandro Borrajo	AGRITUBEL	s.t.
42	Didac Ortega	BENFICA	s.t.
43	David Kopp	AGRITUBEL	s.t.
44	Tadej Valjavec	UNE ORBITEL	s.t.
45	Julián Rodas	UNE ORBITEL	s.t.
46	Tom Leezer	UNE ORBITEL	s.t.
47	Egoitz Murgoitio	BENFICA	s.t.
48	Roman Kilun	HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS	s.t.
49	Salvatore Commesso	BARLOWORLD	s.t.
50	Chris Horner	TEAM SLIPSTREAM	s.t.

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Michael Reihs	DESIGNA KØKKEN	14h10'40
2	Ivan Rovny	MAXBO BIANCHI	+ 18
3	Tom Stamsnijder	WIESENHOF - FELT	+ 24
4	Eduardo Gonzalo	AGRITUBEL	+ 26
5	Fortunato Baliani	CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE	+ 1'22
6	Axel Merckx	TEAM SLIPSTREAM	+ 2'05
7	Luis Perez Rodriguez	LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER	+ 2'09
8	Didac Ortega	BENFICA	+ 2'48
9	Fabian Wegmann	TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS	+ 3'16
10	Christophe Riblon	CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE	+ 3'18
11	Luis Felipe Laverde Jimenez	CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE	+ 3'22
12	Markus Zberg	DESIGNA KØKKEN	+ 3'24
13	Maarten Tjallingii	BARLOWORLD	s.t.
14	Kurt-Asle Arvesen	VOLKSBANK	s.t.
15	Gerrit Glomser	VOLKSBANK	s.t.
16	José Ivan Gutiérrez Palacios	AGRITUBEL	s.t.
17	Santo Anza	DESIGNA KØKKEN	s.t.
18	Angel Vicioso	HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS	s.t.
19	Edvald Boasson Hagen	MAXBO BIANCHI	s.t.
20	Bert De Waele	LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER	s.t.

Rank	Name	Team	Points	General
1	Michael Reihs	DESIGNA KØKKEN	10	44
2	Jimmy Casper	LETUA CYCLING TEAM	0	34
3	Bobbie Traksel	DESIGNA KØKKEN	0	32
4	Fabian Wegmann	TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS	0	28
5	Gregory Henderson	SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS	0	25
6	Fortunato Baliani	CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE	25	25
7	Didac Ortega	BENFICA	0	24
8	Alejandro Borrajo	AGRITUBEL	10	22
9	Markus Zberg	DESIGNA KØKKEN	14	22
10	Maarten Tjallingii	BARLOWORLD	12	21

Rank	Name	Team	Mountain	General
1	Laurent Lefèvre	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	0	26
2	Michael Reihs	DESIGNA KØKKEN	0	22
3	Didac Ortega	BENFICA	0	20
4	Tom Stamsnijder	WIESENHOF - FELT	0	18
5	Christophe Riblon	CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE	0	16
6	Ghader Mizbani	DISCOVERY CHANNEL MARCO POLO CYCLING TEAM	0	14
7	Ivan Rovny	MAXBO BIANCHI	0	14
8	Rui Costa	BENFICA	0	10
9	Mahdi Sohrabi	HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS	0	10
10	Nico Sijmens	LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER	0	10