This week we're here for Alberto so that meant I didn't have to push full on in the prologue, but I knew that I wasn't going to get a result anyway as I'm not good at the short efforts that make up a prologue. Before the stage I was already looking forward to tomorrow, so I knew I wouldn't surprise myself. Up front Edvald managed to take 3rd behind Porte who did a great ride and Dumoulin who was 2nd on the stage. Alberto was the best of the GC contenders in 21st, well except for Porte that is, but he's only 11 seconds back, so he should be able to take that back pretty easily.

Today we were very happy with the result, Alberto rode very well and we all rode very well to set him up. My job for today was to be Alberto's last man as Ivan Basso found himself in the early break of 5 riders. On the final climb I sat back as we pushed the pace on the front and then I hit it, I went as hard as I could for 1 kilometre and then peeled off, and Alberto attacked, he rode away from the rest and looked incredibly strong. He managed to pull out a gap of over a minute on Rodriguez in second and over 2 minutes on Bardet in 3rd.

The second day in the mountains and a day that we were very much looking forward to. We decided that we needed to get Edvald over the top of the final climb before the rest of the bunch, so he attacked on the flat before the climb and we caught him 1 kilometre from the top, that meant he could cruise to the finish, where he took an easy sprint win. Alberto managed to get 2nd with Rodriguez in 3rd, so it was a great day for us as I managed to stay in the front group after riding up the final climb on the front.

Mezgec took today's stage which ended in a fast sprint, he was given a great lead out by Tom Veelers. Edvald tried to do something, but we weren't able to give him a strong enough lead out so he could only manage 14th. Although my former team mate Jack Barton did a superb sprint to take 9th on the stage, after a good lead out from his Omega Pharma team.

Viviani won the second sprint stage of the race as his Cannondale team rode hard on the front of the bunch to cotrol the race for him. Today Edvald said he'd try and give Ben (Moody) a chance of a result, so in the finale he gave him a lead out and he got close to the win with ben coming home in 4th, which is a great result for him as he's a young sprint talent.

Today was a slightly lumpy stage, which saw the sprinters be dropped as we entered the final few kilometres. Then as we hit the final climb Lotto pushed hard and caused a split in the bunch, which saw 11 riders pull away, that meant Tony Gallopin took a great stage win as he dominated the sprint, winning ahead of Geraint Thomas and Tommy Voeckler. Alberto managed to get in the front bunch, so that was good as he kept his GC lead and extended it over Rodriguez who lost 21 seconds as he's now almost two and a half minutes back.

Today was the start of the final few days of the race, so we knew that we had to give it everything today. We decided to let the break go today as it would take away the bonus seconds and as the finish was downhill, we knew that if we gave them a decent gap we wouldn't catch them. A break of 7 riders went away early, and on the final climb we caught 6 riders, that left Michael Morkov alone at the front and he was able to stay away to the finish. Alberto came home 2nd after attacking with 1 kilometre to the top of the final climb pulling out a 20 second lead on Bardet and Rodriguez.

Today was the final day before the race ending mountain time trial, Alberto lost 30 seconds to Rodriguez as he managed to get himself into an 8 man group that went away over the final climb just 6 kilometres from the finish. The stage was won by Geraint Thomas with Rodriguez taking 4th behind Spilak and Gesink.

Today was the final day time trial, as it was uphill I was confident I could do a respectable time, and I was able to get myself 13th just over 2 minutes behind Alberto who was able to catch Rodriguez and put 4 minutes into him, thanks to the long flat before the final climb. That gave him an easy overall win ahead of Rodriguez and Pinot. Meanwhile Ivan Basso was able to move himself up the overall with 6th on the stage, to get himself 7th overall.

I decided to miss the Time \trial this year as on the morning before the time trial I felt a bit ill, so I decided to focus everything on the road race. The time trial was going to be a hard race as this year Wiggins and Froome had decided to ride. As i wasn't racing I was able to go in the car to watch Stephen and to get a feel for the course as it was on the same one as the road race in a few days. The early best was set by Geraint Thomas of Sky, but when Joe (Nally) came home he beat that time by 16 seconds. Joe's time wasn't beaten until Froome came home and smashed it by over a minute and a half. After that I presumed that only Brad could beat that time. And so it proved as Wiggins smashed the rest to come home over a minute and a half ahead of Froome with Dowsett taking 3rd. Our best was Joe Nally in 5th and Stephen in 6th.

The road race was going to be a tough race as the Yates Brothers were here to try and break the race apart, but as they were low on numbers we knew a break could stay away, so we put Brad (Dransfield) in the break, and then started to send riders off the front to use up the Sky riders and the two Yates. With 100 kilometres to go the Yates Brothers could chase no more and Sky didn't have the same firepower, so I went up the road with Harry Hardcastle, who fully committed to try and pull me away from the group. Harry rode until he could go no more and managed to pull me out a 5 minute gap, so I couldn't of been more grateful. The race this year was a big team effort as we all worked together and I'm just the lucky guy that got to get away, so yeah I'm very happy as I knew that would get the win once Harry had got me that gap. Kennaugh and Adam Yates attacked with 25 kilometres to go, but it was to late and I knew I'd got the win. Behind Joe and the rest were in a small group that was clear of the leaders. Harry managed to hold on for second place, ut as I crossed the line all I could think of was that this was a team win that we worked for together, so It's them I have to thank for this win.

So this week our leader is new world champion Edvald Boasson Hagen, a title that he won from a 8 man sprint over the hilly course in Yorkshire. I watched the race from the pits with Chris Froome being the best placed Brit in 11th.

Today was a sprint stage, so we decided to work for Peter, but we knew that Hofland would be a big rival as he's riding well at the minute. As this was my first race back I didn't have any specific role, it was just more about getting back into the bunch. In the finale I dropped back and rolled in at the back of the bunch. Meanwhile up front Edvald gave Peter a perfect lead out as he took the stage win a whole 3 millimetres ahead of Hofland who went a fraction to early. So we were all very happy.

So today was a bit of a hilly day, so I just wanted to stay in the bunch, which i was able to do quite comfortably so I was happy with that. Up front a group of 25 riders pulled away after the final climb, we had all our main riders in it, so we were happy. The stage was taken by Visconti who timed his sprint perfectly with Barguil in 2nd and Albasini 3rd. Peter managed to get 4th, meaning he kept the lead by 1 second, so we were happy as we still were close to the front of the race.

Today was a day for Eddy Boss so we decided to control the race and then try and get hi up there on the final climb. My job was to control the race early on and then leave the others to ramp up the pace on the climb. I was able to do that and we caught the break at the foot of the final climb. Then Alberto blew the race apart, meaning Eddy got an easy win ahead of Vichot and Navardauskas. That meant Eddy moved to 1 second behind Peter who came home in 8th.

Today was a sprint stage, but we didn't contest it so the win was taken by JJ Rojas, just ahead of Gatto and Henderson. Peter didn't really contest the sprint , but took 10th as a split in the bunch meant that Eddy lost 4 seconds.

The final stage was also a sprint stage, so we tried to end on a high as Eddy led out Peter who took a good final day stage win, securing himself the overall title, as well as the points jersey. Eddy came home in 8th to secure 2nd overall, so we have had a very successful week and we're all very happy.