some great results for the team!! well done with Lars on stage 1, and superb that Cort won the KoM jersey

Ian: Jurgen himself wasn't to thrilled though as he didn't even celebrate. Looked like just another day at the office for him

sutty: Unfortunately not

Jakstar: Well, he did get a good advantage by being in the break

the_hoyle: Thanks

Stage 5

Another mountain stage, though a break should have better chances today since it is a flat/downhill finish.

After a couple of attempts 11 riders manage to pull away from the peloton. Lasse Bøchman is representing Falcon – STARK in the break. When Bøchman is first over the first categorized climb the break has four minutes to the peloton.

Going up the main climb of the day the break is joined by Mollema and Gadret. The two immediately goes to the front of the group pulling up the mountain, but Bøchman isn’t shaken and even wins the KOM sprint at the top. With 76 km to go, most of it downhill the front group has just over 7 minutes to the peloton.

With 20 km to go it is certain victory for the escapees. 8 riders have almost three minutes to a three-man group and more than ten minutes to the peloton. Nuyens has to be the big favourite in the front group while Bøchman has to realize that he probably doesn’t have the necessary punch to win the sprint in this group.
Barredo attacks and Bøchman goes after him. With 3 km to go the duo has 46 seconds to the rest of the break but they are staring to look slightly tired.

Barredo opens the sprint 2 km out. Bøchman is only just hanging on and though he tries his best in the finish the Dane isn’t able to pass the Dutchman.

Results:
1. Carlos Barredo, Rabobank
2. Lasse Bøchman, Falcon - STARK
3. John Gadret, AG2R La Mondiale





Stage 6

Several breaks try to get away but RadioShack show no mercy today and the peloton crosses the first mountain in union. Bøchman tries to snatch the mountain jersey but Menchov is awake and beats Lasse in the sprint.

As the peloton approaches the final climb it becomes more and more obvious that this will most likely be decided between the favourites as RadioShack still isn’t taking any risks.

For a moment it looked like the peloton was loosening its grip so Juul-Jensen tried his luck, but was immediately reeled in by Michael Mørkøv of Saxo-Tinkoff.
Hansen tries to attack already at the bottom of the mountain hoping that the favourites would wait to the last few km.

They didn’t and already with 11 km of the climb to go Andy Schleck makes his first move and enters the last five km alongside his teammate Ryder Hesjedal with a small gap to Van den Broeck and Contador, but they fail to keep up the speed so on the final four km Van den Broeck is leading a 10 man group.

Contador does his best to get rid of the others, but Schleck is looking strong today.

Results:
1. Alberto Contador, Saxo-Tinkoff
2. Andy Schleck, RadioShack - Nissan
3. Jurgen Van den Broeck, Lotto Belisol
62. Jesper Hansen, Falcon – STARK



Provisional Standing:

Great second place from Bochmann on stage five

Another Podium finish. This is a great race so far

BTW: This story ain't dead - it's just resting (until I hand in my Masters Thesis on Friday)

Take your time

No problem. We can wait

Let it rest for a while, we'll wait

Your Thesis is much more important

This is mostly about preparing for the NC’s, but if someone were to pick up a win along the way that would be ok as well…


Sterebo is doing nicely getting provisional 2nd, but being the only 6th rider on the course we shouldn’t put to much into that. Next Falcon is Havard Nybö, who manages to get provisional best.

Jens Erik Madsen has a brilliant day as well finishing 2nd in same time as Havard.
Next Falcon with hopes of doing something today is Michael Færk Christensen, who only manage a provisional 13th. Brink is slightly better getting provisional 10th.

Last and best Falcon is Søren Nissen who gets provisional 4th 4 seconds slower than Ben King, but there’s still a lot of good TT’ers to go.

Team Sky have decided to only send one rider to the race, but when that riders I Edvald Boasson Hagen everything can happen. As the Norwegian is halfway through Tiago Machado beats King’s time by 6 seconds. Edvald ends a very disappointing 18th.

Results:
1. Tiago Machado, RadioShack - Nissan
2. Liuwe Westra, Vacansoleil - DCM
3. Ben King, RadioShack – Nissan
10. Søren Nissen, Falcon – STARK




The first break of the stage has participation of Søren Nissen, but is reeled in right after the Dane won the first KOM-sprint of the day. Later on Rasmus Sterebo got away with ten riders, who are all strongest on the flat. The break gets a good lead of up to eight minutes but with 70 km to go Gilbert tells his OmegaPharma – QuickStep team to start working to reel in the break. With 40 km to go Sterebo starts to put pressure on his breakaway companions on the hills. At first the only effect is a slight grow on the gap to the peloton which with 30 km to go is around five minutes.
Rasmus are painstakingly aware that he will not win a sprint finish against this lot. With 15 km to go he uses a small uphill section to get away from the others along with Capelle and Debusschere. The trio never gets more than 40 seconds lead so with 7 km Sterebo give it another go and goes into the last five km with the slenderest of leads. To slender and in the end all eleven breakers are left to sprint for the stage win.

Results:
1. Michael Van Stayen, Topsport Vlaanderen – Mercator
2. Frédéric Amorison, Landbouwkredit - Euphony
3. Michael Kurth, Eddy Merckx - Indeland
9. Rasmus Sterebo, Falcon – STARK




A large break gets away with both Brink and Christensen.

Nothing much happens throughout the stage, but near the finish a lot of riders start attacking in the group including Brink and Christensen, but no luck there for the Danes…

Results:
1. Juan Manuel Gárate, Rabobank
2. Dylan Van Baarle, Rabobank Continental
3. Sam Bennett, An Post – Sean Kelly
12. Morten Kruse Brink, Falcon – STARK
13. Michael Færk Christensen, Falcon – STARK

Some steady performances from the team in Holland

Cool victory from Van Staeyen, though

A good bunch of riders try to get away but once again RadioSchack is keeping the peloton together. On the second climb Jesper Hansen finally manage to get away as Chris Horner is worn out for today.

25 km to go and the break starts climbing the final mountain 6 minutes ahead of the favourites.
Duarte is setting the pace and Hansen is not able to do anything but sit in the back of the group finding his own rhythm.

Once again Andy Schleck and Contador is equally strong and stronger than the other GC-riders and they catch up with Hansen 400 m from the line.

Results:
1. Fabio Duarte , Colombia - Coldeportes
2. Luis Pasamontes, Caja Rural
3. Steve Morabito, BMC
8. Jesper Hansen, Falcon – STARK




There’s a lot of tension early on the stage as both Scheck and Contador finds a position among the front 15 in the peloton.
Juul-Jensen got in the break, but then he got a puncture and was reeled right back in. Bøchman tries a couple of times to get away but without any luck. In the end a 12-rider group establishes with Atapuma and Mosquera being the biggest names.

With 30 km to go Tejay Van Garderen crash in the white jersey. Will he lose time – and will it be enough for Jesper Hansen to take over the jersey?

Schleck starts the battle as soon as the road starts going uphill with 20 km to go. At this time Van Garderen is four minutes behind. The rest of the stage is full of attacks, but as suspected the terrain is not hard enough for the favourites to make a difference.

With 3 km to the finish line almost everyone seems to be attacking and no one can get away. Hansen is keeping near the front of the peloton well protected by Lasse Bøchman. In the finish Lasse tries to make a leadout for Jesper Hansen, but none of them have developed into a decent finisher just yet…
Di Luca takes the win ahead of three RadioShack riders.
Van Garderen ends up losing about ten minutes after his crash, which puts him out of the youth competition on this penultimate stage.

Results:
1. Danilo Di Luca, Acqua & Sapone
2. Ryder Hesjedal, RadioShack - Nissan
3. Fränk Schleck, RadioShack - Nissan
30. Jesper Hansen, Falcon – STARK



Provisional standing:


Mountains: Denis Menchov, Katusha
Points: Alberto Contador, Saxo-Tinkoff
Young rider: Jesper Hansen, Falcon - STARK
Team: RadioShack - Nissan

Jesper doing what he does best again

Great riding from Jesper on stage seven and thoroughly deserving the Young rider jersey on his shoulders

I'm thinking of changing the format of the story after the NC's so that it will be told from a first person view of the team manager.

That way I can put a bit more passion in to the race reports since it is the words of the manager rather than a neutral part.

That also means that when multiple races are raced at the same time I will focus on making good reports from one race and just tell if something happened in the others/do a quick summary of the results in the end.

How does that sound to you?

Sounds Great , but at the end of the day its your story so do what you feel is right for you to keep the motivation going

Sounds good for me

Sounds like more writing but a more exciting story. I like it