Paris - Nice - Last stage


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The last stage is quite short, only 123 kilometers. There are some hills, but the stage could be won by the sprinter like Boonen or Hushovd. There are 6 riders in the breakaway.



Rabobank is leading the pack, but it doesn't seem, that it would be a friendly stage for GC contenders.



On the last hill, the break is almost catched. We set the very fast pace to avoid attacks from the peleton.



23kms to go, Rodriguez (Katusha) attacks. He has a nice gap, but Rabobank looks relaxed.



Kreuziger (Astana) and Gilbert (Omega) attack too, but the hill is finishing.



On the downhill Rodriguez has already 1 minute gap, but...



...all of them were chased 9 kilometers to go and now the Rabobank train is leading Gesink to the victory: Ten Dam, Mollema and Dekker.



Now it's only Dekker and Gesink up front. They are going faster than the peleton, but there is Quick-Step leading out Boonen.



Well... Hard to say, but for me the winner is Boonen, but the game says the winner is Gesink, because he started the sprint later, had more energy left and was going faster in final meters. Maybe because the white line isn't the finish line, like it was on Stage 7, where the finish was around 20 meters later.



Results:

Tirreno - Adriatico - Stage 5


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Really hard stage today, but we hope to keep the overall leading.



There was a small breakaway up front, but when Cancellara (Leopard) attacked, the peleton started the real chase.



At the end of the first out of two hard climbs, the pack was together again.



Some riders attacked on the KoM finish, but they went back to the peleton.



At the intermediate sprint, there is another attack from Cancellara. This time Ballan (BMC) is following him and the gap is growing.



The pace in the peleton was very high and at the hill the peleton splitted into few groups. Breschel was in the first, while Tjallingii and some other leaders, like Haussler (Garmin), were in the second.



10kms to go, Cancellara and Ballan are 2 minutes ahead, they are going for a stage win.



The second group joined the first one and we can be relaxed about the place in GC.



Breschel attacks with 3,5 kilometers left. He is going for seconds for the third place. Rujano (Androni) tries to follow him.



Ballan wins the sprint with Cancellara and he is today's winner!



Breschel came third, moving to the 2nd place in GC.



Results:

Tirreno - Adriatico - Stage 6


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The last hilly stage. There are some riders trying to breakaway, but they aren't dangerous for us.



The breakaway is really strong. There is Sanchez (Euskaltel), but he is many minutes behind in GC.



Some riders don't want to attack and to fight for GC, so peleton is relaxed.



10kms to go, there are finally some attacks, but again, these riders aren't dangerous in GC.



Samuel Sanchez wins today's stage, while the peleton came together with all favourites.



Results:

Tirreno - Adriatico - Stage 7


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Today we don't expect any surprises, only thing we have to do, is to bring Tjallingii in the peleton with other favourites.



As it was on earlier stages, FDJ and Garmin almost caught the breakaway with 8 kilometers left.



But Paolini (Katusha) and Thomas (Sky) surprise teams with sprinters and attacks really hard. They joined the escapees almost immediately.



The peleton didn't want to chase them and Paolini is today's winner!



Maarten Tjallingii is a surprising winner of Tirreno - Adriatico! Winning the first stage gave him an overall victory. It's all because other favourites didn't attack at all and Tjallingii easily survived hilly stages.



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