After the small surprises from yesterday´s ITT,in today´s stage can happen some big ones...
..and it really starts in that direction,9 riders attack right at the beginning and its time for D.Vitoria to try today..
...but peloton isn´t interested to let then go and catch 6 of them..Vitoria still in front..
..again peloton don´t give up and catch Vitoria group..at same time 10 riders make a second try,this time is Faiers who tries..just before the 1st Int.sprint..
We reach France..Footon has no chance to win GC but we will try to give some fight and mess a little with classifications..let´s see..
These are the teams wich are gonna participate...
Our squad for Paris..Capecchi will be our leader,he´s main function his to stay in front as long as he can...for our main sprinter Cardoso,he´s going to fight for green shirt.My personnal goal is to achieve 1 stage win,top 15 in GC and KOM shirt..
9,7km ITT,we are done here..
Vino sets virtual best time-3´14"...(+18"
..but G.E.Larsson beats it by 18"sec and sets new best time-10´37"
..behind them,R.Valls,E.King and C.Bessy launch an attack..
A.Maloni(LAM) is 1st in Int.sprint..
Before first KOM sprint,this is the situation of the race..
..at the top,Bonnafond is 1st,while Valls is getting closer...
..and Valls manage to regroup with E1,letting his 2 companions behind..
Half-stage situation..
Saxobank is doing all the work..
..before last Int.sprint...
..Bonnafond takes it fist..
Saxobank gets help from other teams,with 25kms to go E1 has 1´22" gap..
..at the front,Lövkvist,Wegmann,Horner,Mangel and Valls attack...
..they get split and manage small gap...10kms left...
..they get caught and peloton reach the 2,5km mark...Dumoulin in front , Cooke,Breschel,Farrar,Greipel on the right ...O´Grady ,Pedersen, Cardoso, Pozzato on the left...
800mts..Breschel caughts Dumoulin,Pozzato on the left,Cardoso stuck there..
..and Breschel wins,Dumoulin 2nd and Pozzato is 3rd..Cardoso finishes in 9th...
After all attacks,these are the riders who managed to stay away from peloton..
R.Pidgornyy(ISD),R.Sicard(EUS),M.Ladagnous(FDJ),R.Valls(FOT),K.De Weert (QST),G.Bonnafond(ALM) and P.Kennaugh(SKY)..
..first Int.sprint,Ladagnous is the quickest..
..back to peloton,2 riders are involved in a fall,N.Vogondy(BTL) and D.Moreno(OLO)..
..before E1 reaches the climb,SaxoBank starts to raise the pace..6´20" gap.
..back to E1,on top,R.Sicard is first,Bonnafond 2nd and Valls 3rd..
...but on 2nd KOM sprint it´s Valls turn to get first...
..back again to peloton,it´s Garmin who´s doing most of work,they have 5 riders making the pace..
..E1,last KOM sprint of the day,Valls surprises all with a great acceleration and takes the max. points..
..at the descent,Bonnafond and Valls get a 47" gap...
..but 2 against 5 have no big chances to get away and get caught by their break mates..
..one last attempt..
..20km mark..
..De weert still manages to collect the last Int.sprint points...
..a fall...this time with J.Brajkovic(RSH) and M.Renshaw(HTC)...
..10km mark..
..and we reach sprint point..Dumoulin in front(he´s doing amazing sprints) ..from the right,Haussler,Galdos,Cardoso..
..from the left,Cooke,Pedersen,Breschel,Boasson Hagen,Greipel,Farrar..
...300mts..Haussler comes fast,Cardoso takes his wheel,Pedersen makes a move to the right,Breschel and Hagen on the left...
..but Haussler is the fastest today...Dumoulin 2nd..and third?
..Breschel is 3rd..Cardoso is 5th and Pedersen 6th..
Valls told me today he wanted to try to breakaway and fight for KOM shirt,after the begginning of the stage he and 4 more riders managed to get a gap and he actually got those points wich he needed to wear the KOM shirt.
All escapees were caught at 25km mark.Peloton rolled tight until the 10km mark where Haussler and Hagen got small gap,followed by Visconti(ISD),Pimienta,Capecchi and Durán...
This two riders will fight for the win today,who will get it?
Hoped that Armstrong could show his strength... Hope Valls can get back his mountain jersey.
