Will Slipstream finally concede their leaders jersey today? And even if they do they are still looking good for 4 riders in the final top 10. Now, onto the stage.

Brett Aitken was one of many who tried (and failed) to get away but 5 men succeeded: Vigano, Sabido, Hansen, Nielsen and Salehian.

The first sprint was not very fun to watch as with 1.5km the riders all took a drink and only started sprinting too late to catch Vigano who had taken his drik at 1.2km and therefore got a bit of a gap.


The 2nd sprint was much more 'normal'


Sabido is now 1 second behind Farrar, not that it matters much as he will be dropped by the peleton at the end of the day after they were caught with 19km to go.

Coming into the sprint, Wiesiak led the pack. Markov was forced to lead out the main sprinters with Casper, Nazon, Bongiorno and Zanotti the first few rider following, while Fredrik Johansson is leading out teammate Bobbie Traksel on the left.


Now fo something that I will call Nippo Nonsense. Nazon decides to switch from Casper's wheel to teammate Graeme Brown. Brown was a rider Nippo had stupidly used to help chase down the break. Brown also chose not to take Casper's wheel, another bad choice.


Markov is looking very strong and with Casper tucked behind him, he moves past Wiesiak. Feillu is looking good for now in 4th but will almost certainly fade.


Traksel makes his move but its already looking like a 2-horse race. It looks as if Bongiorno has lost contact with Nazon, to the annoyance of Zanotti, Richeze, Priamo and Farrar who are all behind Landbouwkredit's Argentine.


Traksel passes Wiesiak with 1km to go as Casper makes his move.


Nazon waits and waits before making his move. He is extremely fortunate to still be in the Top 5. his choice to go behind Brown looks like it cost him at least 150m on Casper.


He moves quickly into 3rd...

But it is far too late to even get close to Markov or Casper.

1	Jimmy Casper	LETUA CYCLING TEAM	3h07'59
2	Aleksei Markov	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
3	Jean-Patrick Nazon	NIPPO CORPORATION - MEITAN HOMPO CO. LTD - ASADA	s.t.
4	Bobbie Traksel	DESIGNA KØKKEN	s.t.
5	Ruben Bongiorno	LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER	s.t.
6	Maximiliano Richeze	AGRITUBEL	s.t.
7	Paride Grillo	CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE	s.t.
8	Marco Zanotti	UNE ORBITEL	s.t.
9	Graeme Brown	NIPPO CORPORATION - MEITAN HOMPO CO. LTD - ASADA	s.t.
10	Ivan Quaranta	NIPPO CORPORATION - MEITAN HOMPO CO. LTD - ASADA	s.t.
11	Steven Caethoven	TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS	s.t.
12	Jurgen Van Loocke	CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE	s.t.
13	Stéphane Poulhiès	AGRITUBEL	s.t.
14	Simone Cadamuro	WIESENHOF - FELT	s.t.
15	Mariusz Wiesiak	NIPPO CORPORATION - MEITAN HOMPO CO. LTD - ASADA	s.t.
16	Max Van Heeswijk	DISCOVERY CHANNEL MARCO POLO CYCLING TEAM	s.t.
17	Gabriele Balducci	WIESENHOF - FELT	s.t.
18	Sébastien Chavanel	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
19	Tyler Farrar	TEAM SLIPSTREAM	s.t.
20	René Haselbacher	NIPPO CORPORATION - MEITAN HOMPO CO. LTD - ASADA	s.t.
21	Grega Bole	AGRITUBEL	s.t.
22	Fredrik Johansson	DESIGNA KØKKEN	s.t.
23	Romain Feillu	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
24	Stefan Radochla	WIESENHOF - FELT	s.t.
25	Simon Clarke	SOUTHAUSTRALIA.COM - AIS	s.t.
26	Victor Gomes Colinas	BENFICA	s.t.
27	Nico Sijmens	LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER	s.t.
28	Jukka Vastaranta	AGRITUBEL	s.t.
29	Anthony Lavoine	CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE	s.t.
30	Joseph Cooper	DISCOVERY CHANNEL MARCO POLO CYCLING TEAM	s.t.
31	Gordon McCauley	LETUA CYCLING TEAM	s.t.
32	Danilo Wyss	WIESENHOF - FELT	s.t.
33	Vasilis Anastopoulos	HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS	s.t.
34	Ben Swift	BARLOWORLD	s.t.
35	Salvatore Commesso	BARLOWORLD	s.t.
36	Erki Pütsep	UNE ORBITEL	s.t.
37	José Joaquin Rojas Gil	DESIGNA KØKKEN	s.t.
38	Yon Bru Pascal	TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS	s.t.
39	Kirk O'Bee	HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS	s.t.
40	Fumiyuki Beppu	NIPPO CORPORATION - MEITAN HOMPO CO. LTD - ASADA	s.t.
41	Ronald Harvey	LETUA CYCLING TEAM	s.t.
42	Bas Giling	WIESENHOF - FELT	s.t.
43	Imanol Erviti	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
44	Edmund Hollands	DISCOVERY CHANNEL MARCO POLO CYCLING TEAM	s.t.
45	Tigran Korkotyan	LETUA CYCLING TEAM	s.t.
46	José Vicente Garcia Acosta	UNE ORBITEL	s.t.
47	Danail Petrov	BENFICA	s.t.
48	Ed Clancy	LETUA CYCLING TEAM	s.t.
49	Jens Mouris	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
50	Matthew Hayman	WIESENHOF - FELT	s.t.

We have a new leader!

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Jimmy Casper	LETUA CYCLING TEAM	9h13'57
2	Aleksei Markov	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	+ 6
3	Tyler Farrar	TEAM SLIPSTREAM	+ 8
4	Steven Cozza	TEAM SLIPSTREAM	s.t.
5	Antonio Cruz	TEAM SLIPSTREAM	s.t.
6	Jason Donald	TEAM SLIPSTREAM	s.t.
7	Paride Grillo	CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE	+ 9
8	Jonas Aaen Jørgensen	MAXBO BIANCHI	s.t.
9	Maximiliano Richeze	AGRITUBEL	+ 10
10	Matteo Priamo	BARLOWORLD	s.t.
11	Sébastien Chavanel	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	+ 12
12	Ben Swift	BARLOWORLD	s.t.
13	Salvatore Commesso	BARLOWORLD	s.t.
14	Jens Mouris	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
15	Imanol Erviti	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
16	Nathan O'Neill	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
17	Laurent Lefèvre	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	s.t.
18	Maarten Tjallingii	BARLOWORLD	s.t.
19	Bobbie Traksel	DESIGNA KØKKEN	+ 14
20	Fredrik Johansson	DESIGNA KØKKEN	s.t.
26	Ruben Bongiorno	LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER	+ 15
40	Marco Zanotti	UNE ORBITEL	+ 17
52	Simone Cadamuro	WIESENHOF - FELT	+ 18
53	Jean-Patrick Nazon	NIPPO CORPORATION - MEITAN HOMPO CO. LTD - ASADA	+ 19
56	Stéphane Poulhiès	AGRITUBEL	+ 20

Rank	Name	Team	Points	General
1	Jimmy Casper	LETUA CYCLING TEAM	30	80
2	Paride Grillo	CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE	17	67
3	Bobbie Traksel	DESIGNA KØKKEN	23	63
4	Jean-Patrick Nazon	NIPPO CORPORATION - MEITAN HOMPO CO. LTD - ASADA	25	62
5	Maximiliano Richeze	AGRITUBEL	19	56
6	Aleksei Markov	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	27	54
7	Ruben Bongiorno	LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER	21	52
8	Simone Cadamuro	WIESENHOF - FELT	7	45
9	Marco Zanotti	UNE ORBITEL	15	43
10	Max Van Heeswijk	DISCOVERY CHANNEL MARCO POLO CYCLING TEAM	5	35
11	Ivan Quaranta	NIPPO CORPORATION - MEITAN HOMPO CO. LTD - ASADA	11	30
12	Stéphane Poulhiès	AGRITUBEL	8	26
13	Jurgen Van Loocke	CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE	9	24
14	Stefan Radochla	WIESENHOF - FELT	0	22
15	Tyler Farrar	TEAM SLIPSTREAM	2	19
16	Steven Caethoven	TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS	10	14
17	Graeme Brown	NIPPO CORPORATION - MEITAN HOMPO CO. LTD - ASADA	13	13
18	Sébastien Chavanel	DFL - CYCLINGNEWS - LITESPEED	3	12
19	Jonas Aaen Jørgensen	MAXBO BIANCHI	0	11
20	Victor Gomes Colinas	BENFICA	0	11
21	Gabriele Balducci	WIESENHOF - FELT	4	10
22	Vasilis Anastopoulos	HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS	0	10
23	René Haselbacher	NIPPO CORPORATION - MEITAN HOMPO CO. LTD - ASADA	1	8
24	Davide Viganò	AGRITUBEL	4	6
25	Mariusz Wiesiak	NIPPO CORPORATION - MEITAN HOMPO CO. LTD - ASADA	6	6