Thanks for the comments and sorry for no updates the past days, had a busy weekend.

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Paris-Nice stage 5:








Today is a day for the attackers, but we don’t want to let it come to a breakaway making it till the end, so we’ll definitely try to keep them a bit close and maybe place an attack with Luis-Leon. We get a fairly strong breakaway today:

Y. Gène (EUC)
D. Gruzdev (AST)
L. Paolini (KAT)
M. Kohler (BMC)
G. Boivin (CAN)



We slowly reach the last few climbs, the break got a big lead, but when Dennis van Winden placed himself at the front of the peloton, the gap slowly melted away! When we reach the last climb, we let our riders make the pace. With 3 km to go till the summit, Luis Leon attacks out of the peloton!

He is going for the break, wich has a minute or so lead still. It’s still 30 kilometers to go, so it’s a long way to go!

With 15 kilometers to go he catches the breakaway and immediately leaves them, he only has 45 seconds left though, it looks like he won’t make it!



And our fear has come true, he doesn’t make it, with a few kilometers left he’s caught. We had one trick up on our sleave though, Martens and Nordhaug were still pretty strong and they were in the wheel of Ventoso! When going into the sprint they easily beat Ventoso! They are lying in front now, but behind them comes a rocket!

Tom Boonen blasts past them and takes the victory today! A 2nd and 3rd place for the Blanco team! Again just short of the victory! Nordhaug takes second place and Martens takes 3rd.
A good ride by the team, but o so unfortunate… But we’re confident we’ll win someday soon!
Unfortunately the screen I made once again failed, I’ll make two next time just to be sure!

Rank	Name	Team	Time	Player
1	Tom Boonen	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	4h08'03
2	Lars Petter Nordhaug	Blanco Pro Cycling Team	s.t.	TimoMennen
3	Paul Martens	Blanco Pro Cycling Team	s.t.	TimoMennen
4	Fabian Cancellara	RadioShack - Leopard	s.t.
5	Gorka Izagirre	Euskaltel - Euskadi	s.t.
6	Matti Breschel	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	s.t.
7	Rui Costa	Movistar Team	s.t.
8	Gianni Meersman	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	s.t.
9	Simon Spilak	Katusha Team	s.t.
10	Jonathan Castroviejo	Movistar Team	s.t.

Thanks for the comments guys!

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Paris-Nice stage 6:





I forgot to take a screen of the team, but you know it by now I guess. Today’s BOTD contains four riders:

G. Meersman (OPQ)
R. Curvers (ARG)
R. Pérez (EUS)
Y. Trofimov (KAT)
C. Lemoine (SOJ)



The race was bit boring, everyone was waiting for the last climb to come. When we reached the last climb the break still had about 3 minutes lead! Looks like they’ll make it!
Ofcourse Sanchez attacked again! He is only 29 seconds behind and hopes he can take some time here!



He takes about 30 seconds on the peloton, and when he reaches the summit, the group is still 1 minute away and Porte and EBH join him!



Unfortunately, the peloton is very close! Sorry, the last sceen again didn’t take! But the group made it and Pérez won the sprint handsomely! Finally success for Euskaltel! Lemoine is second with Meersman taking 3rd. Sanchez manages to win the sprint for the 5th place but no time gaps given unfortunately. Sanchez loses the KOTM jersey to Meersman, but he still has 15 points just like Meersman.

Rank	Name	Team	Time	Player
1	Rubén Pérez	Euskaltel - Euskadi	3h48'53
2	Cyril Lemoine	Sojasun	s.t.
3	Gianni Meersman	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	s.t.
4	Yury Trofimov	Katusha Team	s.t.
5	Luis León Sánchez	Blanco Pro Cycling Team	s.t.	TimoMennen
6	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Sky Procycling	s.t.
7	Roy Curvers	Team Argos - Shimano	s.t.
8	Tom Boonen	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	s.t.
9	Lieuwe Westra	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
10	Julien Simon	Sojasun	s.t.

Paris Nice stage 7:







Immediately Martens attacked at the start of the stage! Nobody came alone so he’s alone in the break… He takes all KOTM points and nobody in the peloton was fighting for it, so Sanchez took all 2nd places and regains his KOTM jersey!
Needless to say, the stage turned out a sprint where Boasson Hagen takes the win! He also takes the 1st place in the GC due to bonification seconds! He’s now 1 second in front of Costa. Tomorrow is the all-decising stage, we’re looking forward to it!

Rank	Name	Team	Time	Player
1	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Sky Procycling	2h51'01
2	Tyler Farrar	Garmin - Sharp	s.t.
3	Lieuwe Westra	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
4	Gaetan Bille	Lotto Belisol	s.t.
5	William Bonnet	FDJ	s.t.
6	Gorka Izagirre	Euskaltel - Euskadi	s.t.
7	Fabian Cancellara	RadioShack - Leopard	s.t.
8	Jacopo Guarnieri	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
9	Alessandro Petacchi	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
10	Andrea Guardini	Astana Pro Team	s.t.

Rank	Name	Team	Time	Player
1	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Sky Procycling	23h00'56
2	Rui Costa	Movistar Team	+ 1
3	Lieuwe Westra	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	+ 5
4	Fabian Cancellara	RadioShack - Leopard	+ 9
5	Cameron Meyer	Orica - GreenEdge	+ 24
6	Simon Spilak	Katusha Team	+ 28
7	Michael Rogers	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	s.t.
8	Luis León Sánchez	Blanco Pro Cycling Team	+ 30	TimoMennen
9	Christophe Kern	Team Europcar	+ 36
10	Gorka Izagirre	Euskaltel - Euskadi	+ 44

Thanks for the great support so far guys!!

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Paris-Nice stage 8:








I will make a big report for this stage as it’s the most important one of this race. Hope you guys like it!

Today is D-day! The last chance for Sanchez to try and win this thing! We have to climb a 1st category climb for 5 times today! With over 200 km this is a very long and tough race!
We knew Sanchez wasn’t going to be allowed to join a breakaway and we didn’t want to waste his energy even trying to break away. Martens had 15 points in the KOTM classification, whereas Sanchez got 19. Each summit is 10 points today, so we sent Martens into the BOTD to try and win the KOTM jersey!

Luckily it worked and he is now in a 13-man group. I won’t bother you with all the names, but his strongest opponents for the KOTM-jersey are Gruzdev (AST) and Paolini (KAT).



Martens can also work as a target for Sanchez in the last few kilometers of the race possibly. We don’t have to chase and we have a shot at the KOTM jersey. A good start of the stage!

We are happy to see that Martens wins the first mountain sprint, but in the second one Gruzdev wins, and he comes a bit closer. The peloton lets the group ride and Martens doesn’t have to do anything. He has a good daily form (+4) so he recuperates quickly!
He wins the next sprint and Gruzdev is nowhere to be seen, things are looking good. If he wins today’s 4th sprint he’ll ensure the jersey!

Meanwhile in the peloton Sanchez is relaxing and being protected by Nordhaug, who’s done amazing work for us this Paris-Nice! He’s the perfect luxury domestique!

In the break Martens wins the 4th sprint, he’s ensured the KOTM jersey! The first success for Blanco, but now we have to complete our plan with Sanchez!

When we reach the last climb Sanchez immediately attacks, and in the BOTD it also splits, Martens is riding away with Gruzdev! With a kilometer to go he drops him and wins the last mountain sprint! He wins the KOTM jersey in style!



Meanwhile Sanchez is having a great day (+5) and now goes full throttle. A couple guys tried to follow him (Tiernan-Locke and Basso), but his pace was way too high. He is 1 minute in front of the peloton when he goes into the 16km long descent. He’s a very strong downhill rider and he is 1 minute behind Martens. The other guys in the group now it’s over and let things go, Sanchez almost past them!

With about 5 km to go Sanchez joins his teammate! Our tactic works perfectly!



Martens is using his last energy to help his leader somehow! He has to take as much time as possible to ensure the GC-win!

Sanchez is extremely strong and takes the stage! With 1 minute in front of the raging peloton he has more than enough seconds to ensure the GC-win!! What a great performance by the Spaniard!! Martens has done a great job securing the KOTM-jersey and taking another podium place after his earlier third place!







Martens and Sanchez discussed the option of giving Martens the win, but he said it was better for him to ride full throttle and try and take the GC-win, that’s more important for the team! A great show of professionalism!

The small peloton finishes with 51 seconds behind, the group is in front of the peloton but there are no time gaps. Michel Kreder sprints to the third place!

The team is very happy with the first big success this year, and the motivation is at an all-time high now!

Here’s Sanchez enjoying his jersey!



And Martens with his well deserved KOTM jersey!

Rank	Name	Team	Time	Player
1	Luis León Sánchez	Blanco Pro Cycling Team	5h20'13	TimoMennen
2	Paul Martens	Blanco Pro Cycling Team	+ 26	TimoMennen
3	Michel Kreder	Garmin - Sharp	+ 51
4	Matteo Trentin	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	s.t.
5	Joost Van Leijen	Lotto Belisol	s.t.
6	Jure Kocjan	Euskaltel - Euskadi	s.t.
7	Luca Paolini	Katusha Team	s.t.
8	Karsten Kroon	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	s.t.
9	Cyril Lemoine	Sojasun	s.t.
10	Dmitriy Gruzdev	Astana Pro Team	s.t.

Rank	Name	Team	Time	Player
1	Luis León Sánchez	Blanco Pro Cycling Team	28h21'19	TimoMennen
2	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Sky Procycling	+ 41
3	Rui Costa	Movistar Team	+ 42
4	Lieuwe Westra	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	+ 46
5	Fabian Cancellara	RadioShack - Leopard	+ 50
6	Cameron Meyer	Orica - GreenEdge	+ 1'05
7	Simon Spilak	Katusha Team	+ 1'09
8	Michael Rogers	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	s.t.
9	Christophe Kern	Team Europcar	+ 1'17
10	Gorka Izagirre	Euskaltel - Euskadi	+ 1'25

Boonen wins the points jersey:

Rank	Name	Team	Points	General	Player
1	Tom Boonen	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	0	74
2	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Sky Procycling	0	70
3	Lieuwe Westra	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	4	67
4	Luis León Sánchez	Blanco Pro Cycling Team	25	58	TimoMennen
5	Rui Costa	Movistar Team	3	53

Rank	Name	Team	Mountain	General	Player
1	Paul Martens	Blanco Pro Cycling Team	40	55	TimoMennen
2	Dmitriy Gruzdev	Astana Pro Team	23	33
3	Jure Kocjan	Euskaltel - Euskadi	15	23
4	Karsten Kroon	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	22	22
5	Joost Van Leijen	Lotto Belisol	22	22

Movistar wins the team GC:
Movistar Team s.t. 85h07'12 (1)

Young jersey goes to Cameron Meyer:
Cameron Meyer Orica - GreenEdge s.t. 28h22'24 (1)