Yeah, Boonen is extreme! Thanks for the comments guys! I'm happy with that result!

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Today is another hilly stage and a chance for us to get a win! The BOTD contains a big rider today! Bradley Wiggins joins the BOTD! He’s already 4 minutes behind and the peloton lets him ride. He is together with 7 others, I won’t bother you with the names.



Nothing really happens now, they take a max lead of 5 minutes and when we reach the last climb they still have about a minute’s lead! We attack with Kruijswijk to pressure the other GC opponents and let Ten Dam take it easy!



He doesn’t get really far, only about 50 seconds, but he is making the others work! When we reach the last 10 km the front group is still 35 seconds in front and Kruijswijk is caught. We are hoping for a sprint and gambling that the break gets caught. And the break gets caught with 5 km to go! We are now preparing for the sprint!

With 2,5 km left Martin is starting the sprint, Ten Dam sticks to his slipstream and starts sprinting with 1,3 km to go!! He has a lot of power and is in front quickly, Slagter is coming from behind aswell! They are now both in front but who will win?



It’s really, really close but Ten Dam wins it! A 1-2 for Blanco!! What a sprint and the energy-saving tactic works here!! The third place goes to Michel Kreder, he’s in great shape this race!



Bad luck for the GC number two, Simon Clarke, as he falls in the last few kilometers! He loses almost three minutes today! Only 6 riders left within the same time now, with Ten Dam moving up to 3rd!

Rank	Name	Team	Time	Player
1	Laurens Ten Dam	Blanco Pro Cycling Team	5h31'37	TimoMennen
2	Tom Slagter	Blanco Pro Cycling Team	s.t.	TimoMennen
3	Michel Kreder	Garmin - Sharp	s.t.
4	Francisco José Ventoso	Movistar Team	s.t.
5	Martin Elmiger	IAM Cycling	s.t.
6	Fredrik Kessiakoff	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
7	Yury Trofimov	Katusha Team	s.t.
8	Simone Ponzi	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
9	Gorka Izagirre	Euskaltel - Euskadi	s.t.
10	Cameron Meyer	Orica - GreenEdge	s.t.

Rank	Name	Team	Time	Player
1	Tony Martin	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	24h23'09
2	Cameron Meyer	Orica - GreenEdge	s.t.
3	Laurens Ten Dam	Blanco Pro Cycling Team	s.t.	TimoMennen
4	Fredrik Kessiakoff	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
5	Wout Poels	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
6	Andy Schleck	RadioShack - Leopard	s.t.
7	Jonathan Tiernan-Locke	Sky Procycling	+ 49
8	Hubert Dupont	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
9	Andrey Amador	Movistar Team	s.t.
10	Rinaldo Nocentini	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.

Today is a rainy, rainy day. Lots of falls happened in the peloton today, I can tell you that!

We initially have a breakaway with Kelderman in it, the others are:

J. Hernández (TST)
J. Serpa (LAM)
D. Rebellin

The old knight, Rebellin, joins later on.



As I said, Kelderman was in it aswell, in fact he was the one who attacked first. Unfortunately he fell on the slippery roads and we let him take it easy, as it was pointless trying to get back in the last 50 kilometers, with a minute behind and his leg hurt pretty much, he said. (sorry Jesley)

In the peloton a lot of riders fell, including Alberto Contador! It has been raining all day long and the riders are having a tough day. It seems like most riders are getting a bit tired, this penultimate stage. The concentration is a bit lowered and that leads to falls. None of the favorites loses time though.

Due to the tired peloton, the first group makes it! The peloton doesn’t have enough juice in the legs to get them back and lets them sprint for the win! The best sprinter is an old fox, a very wise old fox!



He sprints just at the right time and with the right power! What a great rider! Serpa takes 2nd place and it is now 2 minutes behind the leader instead of 4 minutes, a good stage for him! He moves up to the 123th place in the GC. Hernández takes 3rd place!

Delage wins the sprint of the peloton, Slagter and Ten Dam finish safely in the thinned out peloton, Kruijswijk and Kelderman lose some time though…Kruijswijk fell aswell and Kelderman just took it easy for the remainder of the stage.

Rank	Name	Team	Time	Player
1	Davide Rebellin	CCC Polsat - Polkowice	4h08'24
2	José Serpa	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
3	Jesús Hernández	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	s.t.
4	Mickaël Delage	FDJ	+ 2'16
5	Gorka Verdugo	Euskaltel - Euskadi	s.t.
6	Michel Kreder	Garmin - Sharp	s.t.
7	Julien Simon	Sojasun	s.t.
8	Cayetano Sarmiento	Cannondale Pro Cycling	s.t.
9	Martin Elmiger	IAM Cycling	s.t.
10	Simone Ponzi	Astana Pro Team	s.t.