Welcome to the first stage of the 35th edition of Volta ao Alentejo! This stage-race got to a 2.1 ranking this year after spending the last years has a 2.2 race. This portuguese race has the interesting fact that no-one ever conquered this race twice! Will Barbero be the first to make it? Let's advance to the stage.
Unlike most stage races, the queen stage is today, in very first stage. A hilly finish, but not too steep may end in a small group sprint or even a solo finish. Last years finishes ended in a small group but will the story be the same this year?
The breakaway was formed by Lemos (CAT) who has conquered the KoM jersey for the day, Burland (TSS), Joyce (RLY), Letras (LHL) and De Laat (MET) and got the maximum of 7'01'' advantage to the peloton but were quicky controled by Caja Rural, Movistar and W52. Entering the penultimate climb, the break has only a minute to the peloton and we saw the first attacks, with Bravo and Rodrigues at first and then Owen, Reyes, Marque and Rybalkin who crossed Senhora da Penha with 37'' second to a a group of about 40 leaded by Movistar and Caja. However before the beggining of the final hill they were caught and Movistar raised the pace not letting anyone escape and braking the group's elements to half without major missing stars.
With 2km to the end Nocentini launched a strong attack, creating a small gap to the bunch but was soon joined by Vilela, Powless, Barbero, Amador, Tratnik, Prades, Huffman, Shalunov, Mestre, Benta and Pinto. Amador leaded the peloton until the final 750m when Pinto launched a strong attack creating a gap to the others and that would be enough to win the stage with a 2'' advantage over Barbero, Prades, Benta, Nocentini, Powless, Tratnil, Shalunov, Vilela and Huffman closing the top 10. Other than Amador (lost 11'' ) the rest lost at least 51'' being probably away from the fight for the GC.
18/02/2017 - 21/02/2017
Le Tour de Filipinas (2.2)
The four strong teams of Terrenganu, Kinan, UKYO and Attaque Team Gusto played out well the hilly terrain on the 4 stages.
The japanese teams really ripped the first stage apart, leaving only 7-8 riders in the group. Most notably Earle and Crawford were the strongest, and at the end of the day it was Earle winning stage 1.
The second one belonged to the sprinters, and the fastest was Kuwait sprinter Grijalba. Park (LX) and Earle again on minor places.
The third one saw a quite bigger selection, but still 10 riders together for a sprint. The strongest of those against Grijalba, but the big upset was done by Ar-Jay Peralta for 7eleven, who did surprise everybody with a late attack with 4km to go. Not enough coorperation at thee end to catch him.
The fourth and final stage was there to determine the GC. Stefan Schumacher with a beautiful attak midrange, but dropping the pack down to six Salvador Guardiola pushed stuff for Earle. Next to drop were the duo Grijalba/Schumacher, so that Guardiola, Earle, Whitehouse and Crawford battled for the win. Whitehouse was the strongest, beating Earle and Crawford by 18 seconds.
That only meant 3rd in GC though, as Nathan Earle took it:
Spoiler
1. Earle (UKYO)
2. Crawford (Kinan)
3. Whitehouse (Terengganu)
4. Grijalba (Kuwait)
5. Guardiola (UKYO)
6. Schumacher (Kuwait)
7. Shushemoin (Gusto)
8. Nieto (7Eleven)
9. Park (LX)
10. Hill (Gusto)
Stage 2 of the Alentejana, and Edgar Pinto enters the stage with a 6'' advantage to Barbero who is favourite to win the stage and take the lead. But let's see how the stage went.
The breakaway would take a bit to form as the peloton wanted to fight for the precious seconds in the Intermidiate Sprint. Therefore, Barbero regain 2'' of Pinto who was third, after passing in first at Borba. Prades was second.
Then the breakaway formed with Tietema, Diaz Gallego and Garcia leading the stage until the final 17kms to the end. Near the end we had the formation of the sprint trains with Movistar and W52 side-by-side with Caja Rural just behind. Other main sprinters in their wheels. As the sprint began, Barbero was left in the front a bit too soon and in the final 200m started to lose some gas as Caldeira leaded the peloton with Molano and Silvestre on his wheel. However, a really strong final 100m by the Sporting-Tavira sprinter Fábio Silvestre saw him raise his arms in Portel with Molano and Ariesen just behind. Prades was 4th with Barbero and Pinto finishing inside the top 10. Neither of the contenders lost time today as Pinto remains in the lead with 4'' to Barbero and 7'' to Prades.
4th stage in this race, Pinto starts again in the lead with a 10'' advantage to Barbero, who needs a stage win to catch him up. Will he make it today?
Unlike the last 2 stages, the peloton couldn't hold the formation of a breakaway before the first intermidate sprint and 6-men were given 6 minutes to try to beat the peloton. They were Lemos (who kept the KoM), Gonçalves, Bol, Bizkarra, Costa and Barbio, and they colaborated in pefection as they entered the final 10km with a 2 minute advantage which made Costa a danger to the GC. Therefore the peloton raised the pace but it was to late as the american launched an attack that left his break partners behind and claimed the stage win with 6'' to the rest of the break (Gonçalves 2nd and Bol 3rd) and 20'' to a peloton leaded by Mendonça. All stays the same in the GC, just as we're coming to the decisive day.
21/02/2017 - 23/07/2017
Tour Cycliste International La Provence (2.1)
Stage 1: Starting off a sprinters stage. But one guy thought different. A big move by Damien Gaudin was about to be successful. And indeed it turned out well, so that AG2R was able to celebrate a big victory. In behind Barbier, Gavazzi, Jules, Finetto, Bouet and Siskevicius.
Stage 2: But the guys really have to be able to climb here. And one of the big stories of this season so far really took it after some strong results already. Rudy Barbier was the favourite and looked really good. But Jeremy Lecrocq was the man to surprise him here and beat the frenchman in the sprint. Third for Finetto ahead of Gavazzi, Jules, Manzin and Romain Feillu.
Stage 3: The GC decicive stage with a hill to close it out. Gaudin for Armee de Terre was in yellow, and his team protected him well uintil the decicive final kilometers. But there it was all over for him, when the puncheurs did let fly. Most successful of those UAE draggging a fast pace with Langen until Madrazo launched the first big attack. The big counter though came from FDJ, where Leo VIncent did put the hurt on anybody. The real deal out of that was Eiking, who stretched his legs to leave everybody behind until the line. Second for Edet, third for Finetto.
25/02/2017
Classic Sud Ardèche - Souvenir Francis Delpech
A rather selective french classic that was, as often, ridden as a selection race for a small group sprint over the climbs. FDJ again ripped the race apart, with Leo Vincent in rather strong early form and also David Gaudu. Many sprinters suffered under that on the Cotes, so that for example even big names like Simon or Gavazzi were missed there.
Instead, from a small group Bakelants and Latour tried some attacks as well as Sepulveda and Roson with a late move together. But it wasn't to be today, so that Madrazo led the group in for Finetto. Him and Vichot the fastest men left, so they battled out the win in first place. Calmejane coming up strong towards the end and even overtaking Vichot, but nobody was going to beat the Italian today!
The first big classic sees the first battle between Sagan and van Avermaet as a major part of the action. Can anybody sneak it a way from the big ones in Gent? Sky, Etixx or even a loan rider like Vanmarcke?
The first part of the race is mainly controlled by Bora, also BMC joining. Meanwhile, a group of 6 came away:
Van Breussegem (Verandas Willems)
Ista (Veranclassic)
Vallee (Fortuneo)
Brammeier (Aqua Blue)
Raim (Israel)
van Hecke (Sport Vlaanderen)
The group got a decent advantage, but as often in these first big races it's never going to be for the break. The break got overtaken pretty early, with 60 kilometers to go on the steeper sections; 3 riders came up to the fore: Kusnetzov (Katusha), Lampaert (QuickStep), Devolder (Verandas Willems).
Quickly everybody of the initial break was left behind, and the trio taken oin the final 40 kilometers with an advantage of two minutes. Stannard then launching a big attack, followed and joined by Tom Boonen and Tiesj Benoot - a big one! Both BMC and Bora not really with the numbers to chase this one down, so that Marcus Burghardt was the guy to reduce the damage. But he failed to do so.
While at the front Devolder was gone after some time, the group stretched their advantage to 45 seconds over the peloton. Then it was first Gediminas Bagdonas and then Maarten Wynants stretching out, until Stijn Vandenbergh decided to pace up the cobbles for Oliver Naesen. This was a massive effort and totally ripped the peloton apart on the cobbled sections. Him alone made up for half a minute of the deficit to the (not perfectly coorperating) Stannard group. Following attacks, including one move by van Avermaet that was countered by Sagan, lead to the situation that everything was back together before the final cobbled section.
Besides Lampaert and Kusnetzov, that were still one minute ahead. But on the last section it was Greg van Avermaet really putting the hurts on and ripping the race apart. Not many could follow those, including a cooked Peter Sagan:
Martin (Katusha)
Stuyven (Trek)
Rowe (Sky)
van Keirsbulck (Wanty)
Trentin (QuickStep)
van Aert (Verandas Willems)
Group 4:
Theuns (Trek)
Gilbert (QuickStep)
Vantomme, Spengler (Veranclassic)
Naesen (AG2R)
van der Hoorn (Roompot)
Petit (Direct Energie)
Hansen (Aqua Blue)
Senechal (Cofidis)
Wisniowski (Sky)
None of these group would remerge over the race, instead only the first group was reached by the favourites group until the final rising meters. There it was Stybar launching a striking attack. Van Avermaet was the guy that had to kick behind him, and managed to reach back to him with 400 to go after some hard pacing. Though his wheel now was filled of hungry guys. Vanmarcke striked early for a surprise, but Greg was up to the job as well. Still some guys left to strike, and Demare was able to attack the lead of van Avermaet with 150. On his wheel Terpstra, who wasn't able to come round.
Instead, Demare streamed past van Avermaet to raise his arms for a surprise vicotry at the Omloop! Second for Terpstra, third for Jurgen Roelandts. Gatto and Boom following, a fading van Avermaet only 6th. Vanmarcke 7th ahead of Vandenbergh and Claeys who really suffered from their efforts on the final kilometers. Stybar to close out the Top 10, ahead of former attackers Lampaert and Kusnetzov.
The sprint for minor places in the group behind was taken by Rowe ahead of Stuyven and van Aert.
Spoiler
1. Demare
2. Terpstra
3. Roelandts
4. Gatto
5. Boom
6. Van Avermaet
7. Vanmarcke
8. Vandenbergh
9. Claeys
10. Stybar
11. Lampaert
12. Kusnetzov
13. Rowe
14. Stuyven
15. Van Aert
16. Trentin
17. van Keirsbulck
18. Martin
19. Vantomme
20. Hansen
21. van der Hoorn
22. Petit
23. Farazijn
24. Wisniowski
25. Senechal
After yesterday has been a day for the pure classics men, this is more of a strong sprinters festival for everybody that gets to the line. But there might be, like 2016, a finessuer or even a group that snatches the victory away.
A breakaway, including de Bondt and Bewley, was on the road for most of the race, but the final 50 kilometers belonged to the bunch. On the pretty windy day BMC tried to hammer the race more than it is done normally, and especially Martin Elmiger did some damage. Still, only attacks by Terpstra and Stannard were really tempting to attack the race, until the race really went flying with a joint attack by Rowe, van Avermaet, Trentin and once again Benoot.
Only left to chase were Katusha, but in Politt, Bystrom, Planckart and Martin it was 4 vs. 4 one by one fell away, but at then end Tony had to close 20 seconds by himself on the final 10 kilometers. He wasn't going to make it, but luckily he got some help by Claeys, who pulled it all back together for Bouhanni.
Near to the finish he suffered from an attack by Jasper Stuyven, and only Sagan was able to react immediately. Another big move later from Sebastian Langeveld, and also Wout van Aert tried his luck. But firstly again Martin and then Jansen pulled stuff together. The final leadout saw Lotto leading out Roelandts, but more sprinters dropped in the process like f.e. Bouhanni, McLay or Coquard.
Several riders were faster in the final 300 meters, especially Sagan really sprinted strong. On his wheel Stybar, but on the right hand side Kristoff came up strong with Demare in his wheel. The Norwegian really looked good, but Demare was just quite a little bit faster? Can he win not also Omloop but also the revenge for het Nieuwsblad?
Yes! He indeed was faster than Kristoff and Sagan. 4th for Groenewegen ahead of Stybar and Theuns. Then initially led out Roelandts ahead of some surprising names.
The first of many sprinters meet-ups here in Abu Dhabi with the creme de la creme attending here. The startlist pretended some big names to be up here, and exactly that has been the case. A fair share of the teams of the big 3 + Ewan brought back the break of Ershov, Canola, Calabria and Hofstede.
Going onto the finishing line it was Kittel hold off by a crashing Martinelli, instead it was Cavendish having the best leadout. Eisel, Janse and Renshaw still had it in him, lunching the explosive one on the finishing straight. There the Manx Missile let fly, giving Ewan on his wheel no chance of overtaking him. Greipel came round the side to challenge Cav, but the Manx Missile was a Cruise Missile today, so that nobody could beat him. Second for Greipel, third for Andrea Guardini.
Another sprinters meet-up here in Abu Dhabi.Can Cav take another one? This time DiData did the majority of the owrk in the peloton for the leaders jersey of Mark Cavendish. Kuboki, Martens, Marangoni, Rovny, Maestri & Boaro tried for it, but it was a too stacked of a sprinters field to let an opportunity like this go.
This time it was Lotto-Soudal leading the peloton on the finishing straight, luckily without crashes. When Bak and finally de Bie let go though it was Sabatini with Kittel in his wheel overtaking them on the right, and Greipel really had to fight to come in Kittels wheel when the big german accelerated. It was a pretty early move though, did the German have enough strength to hold on to his effort?
No, not completely. Instead, the Gorilla, with gritted teeth as always came around him with 100 to go. But Kittel still left something in the tank, and kind of with a second engine he accelerated slightly more to bring it on the line. Viviani, who did sit in Greipels wheel, clearly not on form yet. Instead Cavendish, with once again Ewan in his wheel, sprinted to third to keep his leaders jersey.
Stage 3 is senn as the GC determining stage to Jebel Hafeet, where the classement should be plastered by the strongest climbers and the early birds in terms of form.
The breakawy had no impact today, Armee, Bauer, Koishi, Lozano and Mori where caught before the final climb did start. As soon as that happened it was a rough race with no attacks. Movistar burned their forces one by one, with Ruben Fernandez at last. This already thinned the peloton out, but then this continued with Mollema pacing it up for Contador. Several big names suffered under this, f.e. Kruijswijk was gone early.
Interestingly UAE with 4 guys left here still, though Durasek and Meintjes then also where cooked. Still enough firepower left for Ulissi to increase the pace again. This did hurt more riders, such as Dumoulin, van Garderen, Majka or Kreuziger. Left in the group where Costa, Contador, Quintana, Zakarin, Aru, Nibali, Konrad, Pozzovivo, Arredondo, Kudus and Bennett.
One by one they fell away like flies when Quintana inreased the pace going for a selective shootout. Contador, Zakarin, Costa, Pozzovivo and Kudus were the guys really able to follow, with Aru and Bennett at first barely hanging on and then falling off. It must have been really painful for the others, as then Zakarin and after that also Costa had to swing out of the row. The mighty Colombian with a massive effort up here, but Contador, Kudus and Pozzovivo still not willing to loose it.
An attack by Contador with 1.5 to go changed stuff though. Quintana tried to follow and did so, while Kudus hang on for some meters but then cracked under the pace. Pozzovivo didn't even try and paced his own race. This was at least sucessful, as he bridged over to Kudus, who then couldn't even hold his wheel anymore. Instead he streamed forward, but way from enough to reach out to the duo that was never seen again.
Contador and Quintana worked well together until 500 meters to go, when they started a war of accelerations against each other. Close to the finishing line they had half a minute oer the others! Then it was Nairo setting the final punch. Looking Bertie in the eyes you've seen that it was all gone now, and Nairo could celebrate a victory in the first big WT battle of most of the world class stage racers. We can't wait to see Froome joining.
Third for Pozzovivo, ahead of Zakarin and Costa. Kudus only 6th, really suffering on the final meters and nearly caught by Aru and Bennett.
Cavendish still has the green jersey on. Can he win another stage after yesterdays tough race? Or any rider move some places up via bonifications? The very rainy and also windy day really caused some tribute surely. The breakaway, containing of Henttala, Lindeman, Dibben, Mori, Losada, Filosi and Boem, really gave the peloton a hard time.
It was a lot of rough racing on the Yas Marina Bay Circuit, and one by one the favourites fell apart. Starting of with UAE duo Guardini and Consonni, but later also VIviani and Marcel Kittel couldn't hold on to the pace, claerly affected by yesterday. Even the likes of Pelucchi and the second big name in Mark Cavendish gone soon, as only 50 riders took on the final 20 kilometers.
Lars Bak, Maxime Monfort and Adam Hansen really did put the hurt on everybody, and further minor GC contenders fell off as well as secondary sprinters. On a sidewind section the next to have a done day was Bonifazio, who had to waive his white flags 10 kilometers before the end. Ewan shortly looked like it too, but he could hang on in a dangerous situationand was then brought back to the fore by Verona. This was more of a classic than a sprint stage!
As the breakaway was caught it was Sergey Firsanov with a huge attack for Gazprom. He surely can't steal the victory away from the favourites? Lotto-NL and UAE joined in the help, as Orica was almost dead and gone besides Caleb. But then it was Lotto again taking responsibilities, bringing back Firsanov and also neutralizing an attack by Sergey Chersentskiy and Alessandro de Marchi. Like this we came onto the sprint finish, where Teuns tried his luck with 800 to go.
Lotto-Soudal clearly not able to bring him back, but Bahrain-Merida was there. They still got Boaro, who then lead out the sprint for the Latvian Navardauskas. But on his wheel Andre Greipel, keen on finally taking a stage here. He sprinted a rather powerful sprint from 200 to go, clearly overtaking Ramunas and also shaking off Enger and Ewan from his wheel. This perfectly looked like a reasonable end for Greipel.
And indeed it was. He did beat Navardauskas by 1 and a half bikelengths. Ewan shortly behind in third ahead of ENger, the consistent Lobato to round of the top five. Some young and new names at the front due to the shake up, and highly notable Porsev with another late top 10 being one of the most consistent sprinters here.
No changes in the GC, besides Konrad overtaking Arredondo for 9th. A first big win for Quintana.
Spoiler
1. Greipel
2. Navardauskas
3. Ewan
4. Enger
5. Lobato
6. Swift
7. Bauhaus
8. Grosu
9. Porsev
10. Baska
A hilly race in Slovenia to settle some points for a decent amount of European teams. The local teams of Adria and Rog controlled a bigger part of the race together with the Slovenian National Team. Out of this Jan Polanc came up with a bigger move towards the finishing line, taking Mugerli (Amplatz) and Schir (Voralberg) with him. The remaining teams, in first line Torku and Tirol, tried to chase this one down.
But they failed to do so. At the end it was the WT rider leading it out, but at the same time he was the slowest of those. Mugerli won the sprint ahead of Schir and Polanc. The bunch sprint went to Kump for the national team, followed by Fortin and Katrasnik
The Drome Classic is another one of these selective hilly french races with flat finishes. Out of a group that was reduced to 15 already 5 men went clear on the final climb of the day: Vichot, Bakelants, Simon, Calmejane, Jeannesson. Right before the descent however, Xandro Meurisse and Jaime Roson joined those.
The group of 7 headed towards Livron, but shortly behind Androni and Delko tried to pace the following group back up. At the end it was just enough coorperation to hang on for the group. But again, the fastest men in Simon and Vichot mostly had eyes for themselves. By trying to come in the spot at the back of the group they came in trouble with Calmejane and Bakelants, so that a gap ariised that they couldn't close anymore.
Instead, the three ahead in Meurisse, Jeannesson and Roson fought out the victory. The belgian went from the fore, and both Jeannesson and Roson weren't up to the speed to come round the slipstream. Like this it was a win for Xandro Meurisse (Wanty) ahead of Jaime Roson (Caja Rural) and Jeannesson (Fortuneo). Minor places for Calmejane and Bakelants, while Simon and Vichot royally screwed it up and even got snacked by the second group. In there the italians Gavazzi and Finetto dominated the sprint.
21/02/2017 - 01/03/2017
Le Tour de Langkawi (2.HC)
Stage 1: Pre-race the italians were known as the best sprinters. And proving that Willier Triestina dominated the sprint preperation on stage one, having Pozzatto, Cecchin and Andriato there. They did set up Mareczko perfectly, and the arguably fastest sprinter participating took the win with ease. In behind Marini and Simion. Minor places for Sunderland, Higuita and Benfatto.
Stage 2: Same procedure as yesterday, Willier dominated the preperation and Mareczko was the strongest. This time Palini in second and Gibbons in third. Minor places for Giacoppo and Kuroeda.
Stage 3: Another day of sprinting, another Willier train. Palini tried to bring on Benfatto, but that failed horribly. At least they made Mareczko start his sprint early. Marini benefitted from that, and managed to beat Mareczko here. Third for McCabe, who was able to join the sprint for the first time. A decent result for local hero Manan in 6th behind Pozzato and Simion.
Stage 4: The one decicive stage for the GC up to Cameron Highlands. Earlyon Androni took over control for Bernal, with DiData joining too. At the end it was Niyonshuti and Gibbons pulling up Geelong, with only Debesay, Bernal, Barbin, Bayly, Mosca, Gidich and Suaza left in the group. Soon though all the colombians and Italians would suffer, making it a race between Debesay, Gidich and Bayly. On the final kilometer Mekseb could leave the duo on the road though, making it a strong win and thus the GC lead for Dimension Data. Second for Gidich and third for Bayly, who was strong all season long so far. Fourth for pre-race favourite Bernal.
Stage 5: After yesterdays mix-up we have the same procedure as before. Bardianis set-up for Simion was just not strong enough for Willier, so that again Pozzato lead the final sprint out for Mareczko. Marini once again second, this time Benfatto in third. McCabe and Gidich onto minor places here.
Stage 6: The 6th stage was obscure. There wasn't even a team trying to compete against the sprint train, so that it was an easy game for Cecchin to make it a perfectly placed leadout. Pozzato was even able to wait until 350 to start his sprint, and like that he managed to finish 4th still. The winners place goes to Mareczko once more, ahead of Marini and Maronese.
Stage 7: A sprint was very much possible again, but this time from a very reduced bunch excluding Mareczko. Today it was DiData and Bardiani successfully reducing the bunch with some horrendous pace over the final hill. No GC affectements, but a win for Bardiani and Enrico Barbin. Second for Gibbons, third for Paredes. Yevgeny Gidich in 4th ahead of Palini.
Stage 8: The final stage, and Willier terrain again. Though it for a moment looked like they'de really suffer, when Gidich did a short range attack. But then again, nobody was allowed to snatch one away from Mareczko. Like this it was again the Italian over Marini and Sunderland. Benfatto, McCabe and Giacoppo on minor places before the disappointing Bardiani sprinters dup of Maronese and Simion.
Welcome to the final stage of the Volta ao Alentejo, when the race will finally be decided in terms of the GC. Another flat-ish stage today but with 3 intermidiate sprints to overcome and a stage win to fight for, we expect a great stage today. Just a quick reminder, Edgar Pinto leads the GC with a 10'' advantage over Barbero and 11'' to Prades.
The pace of the peloton was mad from the beggining and no one managed to form a breakaway, due to the major GC interests. The first intermidate sprint in Alvito was in the top of a short steep climb and after a massive fight, Prades took the 3' bonus ahead of Pinto and Nocentini, which ment the Caja rider would surpass Barbero in the GC. The pace remained really high until Alcaçovas where an amazing lead-out by Movistar saw Barbero recover three seconds to Pinto as Prades and Powless completed the podium. In the climb that followed we saw attempts by Benta, Huffman and Paulinho but Amador's climbing skills didn't allow any to escape as the peloton reached the last sprint in Arraiolos that resulted in a massive crash with Barbero, Tratnik, Benta, Caldeira and Mendonça envolved. That ment Prades would win the 3' bonification ahead of Pinto and Nocentini, which ment a stage win for Prades or Barbero could still give them first place in the GC.
The peloton re-united after the sprint and Movistar lead the peloton until the finish not allowing anyone to create a gap, which ment as the final km arrived the perfect sprint train was set to Barbero who would take an easy stage win, but would he take the GC and break the tradition? NO, because Pinto finished 6th which ment by the position system Pinto wins due to Barbero's crash in stage 3! Silvestre finished second with Molano closing the top 3 of the day. Let's take a look at the final GC:
27/02/2017 - 05/05/2017
La Tropicale Amissa Bongo (2.1)
Stage 1: A lumpy one with an uphill final kilometer. The strongest two teams here are clearly Direct Energie with Voeckler and Delko. This stage was too tough for the french, so they went for Laas instead. Aristi launched him perfectly, and Laas delivered a nice victory. Second for BikeAid rider Meron Teshome, ahead of the Estonian in third. Bazhkou and Kragh with minor places, ahead of 2 Direct Energie guys.
Stage 2: The second stage was pretty similar. The main protagonists stayed together until the 3k to go mark, where a short but stepp inclimb started. Bazhkou set the first attack, but Aristi countered it with Laas in his wheel. Teshome again there, Again these four headed onto the line, this time though with Bazhkou having the best punch ahead of Laas and Teshome. In behind a bigger group containing Voeckler, Vorganov, Ndayisenga, Abraham, Holler, Kipkemoi, Kragh, Diaz, Rodriguez, Mraouni and Belmokhtar.
Stage 3: A shark teeth profile, and the major stage to do some damage. Direct Energie and Delko worked well together to do so, eventhough yellow jersey Laas wasn't the first option for the french. Instead he worked for Aristi and Diaz. When the Argentine took over it was only Voeckler and Bazhkou left with him, and still 40 kilometers to go. And the old Frenchie still had enough in the engine room to play his cards perfectly and take a big win ahead of Aristi and Bazhkou. Holler bringing in Teshome in behind with Diaz, then a group including Vorganov, Laas and Ndayisenga.
Stage 4: The first sprinters stage? Well, it did look like it, but the breakaway had a reasonable amount of time and the group wasn't really working together well - Delko didn't want to burn their riders, Direct Energy didn't use up their power too well and haven't had enouogh men. Like this it was a big win for Traore (Ivory Coast), who did beat Sikandji (Cameroun) and Temalew (Ethiopia) in the sprint. Minor places for Kangani (Bike Aid), Haile (Eritrea) and Karegeya (Rwanda). The bunch sprint was won by Gene.
Stage 5: Finally a flat stage for the sprinters you'd say, as the breakaway was caught early enough. But then it was an uprising finishing line, and Direct Energie wiht Hurel and Gene lost the battle with the Delko train. There it was this time Kragh Andersen to ride for, and the dane perfectly turned the strong leadout by Laas into a 1-2. Third for Teshome again, ahead of Hurel and Aristi, the third Delko rider.
Stage 6: The last chance to turn around the GC, and Delko tried to break down Direct Energie. One move succeeded perfectly, but it wasn't a major one for the GC: John Anderson Rodriguez (Delko) made it through, but it wasn't enough to win. He did beat Ndayisenga (Rwanda) in the final sprint of the 3, but the very surprising winner of this stage was Kipkemboi (Bike Aid).
1:15 down the next riders came in, and the first one was indeed Mikel Aristi. He did pull out a gap that was big enough to beat Thomas Voeckler in the overall standings. In fact, even Teshome and Bazhkou managed to settle on the podium with their performances today.
Stage 7: The final stage. Breakaway seemed to be decently positioned, but a strong pace by Minsk and Direct Energie pulled them back. At the end Delko again had one of the strongest trains, shamefully for those Direct Energie was a little bit faster. Nauleau - Hurel - Gene worked very well. But DE would leave without a victory, as the so far anonymous Siarhei Papok was able to outsprint the favourized french. Third for Kragh ahead of Teshome, Laas and Abelouache.
