Really appreciate all the support guys!!

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Our only good timetrialler is Bobridge, so we hope he can win this thing!


As expected, Tanner, Renshaw and Brown didn’t stand a chance today. The first one to finish was Renshaw, 26th +2,06’.

We were all waiting for Bobridge to start his TT.
Finally the moment is there, and he’s off! His teammates already rode the TT and told him to start slow and try to take time back at the last part of the race.



He does that exactly, but Michael Rogers and Cameron Meyer are very strong today. They are all three within 20 seconds!

In the end it is Cameron Meyer who wins here, with Bobridge coming in second and Rogers takes the 3rd place. Bobridge is only 13 seconds off! Rogers is 18 seconds off Meyer. Very close!

Not that bad, seeing as the concurrention is fierce and the form is low.

note: As you can see, the last place goes to Tanner. That's because he ran out of energy about 7 kilometres off the finish. Bad judgment on how to divide his powers!

Rank	Name	Team	Time	Player
1	Cameron Meyer	Orica - GreenEdge	53'01
2	Jack Bobridge	Blanco Pro Cycling Team	+ 13	TimoMennen
3	Michael Rogers	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	+ 18
4	Richie Porte	Sky Procycling	+ 32
5	Michael Hepburn	Orica - GreenEdge	+ 34
6	Luke Durbridge	Orica - GreenEdge	+ 35
7	Ben Day	UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team	+ 56
8	Rory Sutherland	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	+ 1'02
9	Cadel Evans	BMC Racing Team	+ 1'06
10	Brett Lancaster	Orica - GreenEdge	+ 1'10

We are looking for the GC-win here with Slagter, Bos and Renshaw are here for the sprints.


Ofcourse Graeme Brown had to show off his new Australian champion jersey!





He got four other riders with him, namely:

R. Janse van Rensburg (ARG)
M. Burghardt (BMC)
M. Delage (FDJ)
M. Krizek (CAN)



They got a maximum lead of about 5 minutes, but the problem was that nobody was willing to ride. With 30 kilometres to go, the lead was getting smaller! Brown tried to attack several times, but when he attacked all of a sudden the others decided to ride and pull him back, when they pulled him back they stopped riding again.
I just don’t get it and it was very frustrating!

We had to go for plan B, because the break was caught eventually. With 5 kilometres to go we let Slagter attack together with van Emden , who is doing great work for him!



Since the finish is slightly uphill we were not entirely confident that Bos or Renshaw could win here. It took us some time to organize a train aswell, so they were a bit far back.

Slagter was really strong today, starting the sprint with 2 kilometres left!



As you can see, he did it! Another win for the Blanco team!!
I don’t know how, but he managed to stay in front of the sprinting peleton! Meersman takes the 2nd place, and Renshaw takes the 3rd place with Bos taking the 4th place for our team!
What a brilliant stage for the Blanco team!

Rank	Name	Team	Time	Player
1	Tom Slagter	Blanco Pro Cycling Team	3h26'19	TimoMennen
2	Gianni Meersman	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	s.t.
3	Mark Renshaw	Blanco Pro Cycling Team	s.t.	TimoMennen
4	Theo Bos	Blanco Pro Cycling Team	s.t.	TimoMennen
5	Geoffrey Soupe	FDJ	s.t.
6	Christopher Sutton	Sky Procycling	s.t.
7	Samuel Dumoulin	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
8	Robert Hunter	Garmin - Sharp	s.t.
9	Fabio Sabatini	Cannondale Pro Cycling	s.t.
10	Greg Henderson	Lotto Belisol	s.t.

Jesleyh: I know! I was totally surprised by the results so far, Slagter is on fire! I hope to win some sprints with Renshaw and Bos indeed!

Selwink: I will try to do that! Thanks for following!

Mrufo87: Yeah in the TT I started a bit too slow, but still not too bad. TJ is doing great indeed! Just like real life.

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It’s a really tough climb about 8 kilometres away from the finish, riders will definitely be attacking there so we have to anticipate with Slagter, by being in front of the peleton there.





Right from the start there were a lot of attacks as usual. A lot of guys tried it, and finally four guys got away:

D. Cimolai (LAM)
L. Durbridge (OGE)
T. Gallopin (RLT)
F. Gavazzi (AST)



The four had a maximum lead of about 5 minutes, and the SKY-team kept them within reach the whole stage.
When we reach the start of the last climb the break gets caught, Slagter is placed pretty well. The climb is short but very steep, but there are no attacks yet. Slagter feels decent and just goes for it and nobody expected this!



Only one guy is awake and sees the danger, Favilli from the Lampre team!
He jumps away and is about to join our Dutchman.



Slagter is the first to reach the summit and he also takes the mountain jersey now, a nice bonus! The last 8 kilometres are downhill and they have about 40 seconds lead! It is definitely doable.

The only problem is that Favilli is a way better sprinter (74 sp), Slagter (65 sp) has to play it smart!

He sets himself in the wheel of Favilli with 2 kilometres to go, and just waits for him to start sprinting. With 1 kilometre to go he does! He follows in the slipstream and bursts out with 500 metres to go!
He is really strong and beats Favilli, two stage wins in a row for TJ!!!



He had to play poker for it, as the peleton was closing in rapidly and he wasn’t riding, but in the end he was smart enough to take the win here! Great display by Slagter!

Gianni Meersman is once again the strongest sprinter, our sprinters were too far back in the peleton to have any chance for a top 10. The climb was a bit too tough for them!

Rank	Name	Team	Time	Player
1	Tom Slagter	Blanco Pro Cycling Team	2h49'54	TimoMennen
2	Elia Favilli	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
3	Gianni Meersman	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	s.t.
4	Andrea Palini	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
5	Christian Knees	Sky Procycling	s.t.
6	Lieuwe Westra	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
7	Giovanni Visconti	Movistar Team	s.t.
8	Grégory Rast	RadioShack - Leopard	s.t.
9	Baden Cooke	Orica - GreenEdge	s.t.
10	Lars Ytting Bak	Lotto Belisol	s.t.

Rank	Name	Team	Time	Player
1	Tom Slagter	Blanco Pro Cycling Team	6h15'53	TimoMennen
2	Gianni Meersman	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	+ 10
3	Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg	Team Argos - Shimano	+ 13
4	Elia Favilli	Lampre - Merida	+ 14
5	Graeme Brown	Blanco Pro Cycling Team	s.t.	TimoMennen
6	Mark Renshaw	Blanco Pro Cycling Team	+ 16	TimoMennen
7	Tony Gallopin	RadioShack - Leopard	s.t.
8	Marcus Burghardt	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
9	Davide Cimolai	Lampre - Merida	+ 17
10	Francesco Gavazzi	Astana Pro Team	s.t.

Rank	Name	Team	Points	General	Player
1	Tom Slagter	Blanco Pro Cycling Team	8	16	TimoMennen
2	Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg	Team Argos - Shimano	0	14
3	Graeme Brown	Blanco Pro Cycling Team	0	12	TimoMennen

Rank	Name	Team	Mountain	General	Player
1	Tom Slagter	Blanco Pro Cycling Team	16	16	TimoMennen
2	Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg	Team Argos - Shimano	0	16
3	Marcus Burghardt	BMC Racing Team	0	12
4	Elia Favilli	Lampre - Merida	12	12
5	Gert Dockx	Lotto Belisol	8	8

The stage is classified as hilly, so we can expect a lot of punchers. We will try to hold on to the leader’s jersey with TJ, but we know it’ll be very tough to do so.






Right from the start van Emden attacked, he is trying to be in the breakaway today!



It’s tough to keep in front, because a lot of other riders are attacking as well; van Emden gets pulled back. After a while a group rides away, the names are:

M. Montaguti (ALM)
F. Veuchelen (VCD)
R. Sutherland (TST)
A. Jeannesson (FDJ)



Their maximum lead is 5 minutes, but Movistar kept them close for the whole stage.
Meanwhile Dekker meets the tarmac, a hard crash but he gets up and can continue! He even attacks in the last kilometers, so he’s doing well!



30 kilometers from the finish:
We should’ve brought another climber here, because it’s hard to keep Slagter in front of the peleton, he’s dropping a few places!
When he’s finally reached the front of the peleton, with 5 kilometers to go, four riders break away. Their names are:

L. Westra (VCD)
A. Kolobnev (KAT)
S. Casar (FDJ)
J. Kern (ALM)


The four riders can keep a bit of a gap and start the sprint as the first riders! Slagter doesn’t have enough punch to get back, and has to try to push for a top 10 finish!
In the end it is Kolobnev with a nice win here, no 3 in 3 for Slagter, but we are still very proud!



Westra takes 2nd place, and Kern takes the 3rd place today.
The 4-man group took 24seconds on the peloton, so Slagter loses his jersey, he’s now 5th in the GC. He had a pretty good sprint nevertheless, taking a top 10 for us (9th place)

Rank	Name	Team	Time	Player
1	Alexandr Kolobnev	Katusha Team	3h54'58
2	Lieuwe Westra	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
3	Julian Kern	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
4	Sandy Casar	FDJ	s.t.
5	Giovanni Visconti	Movistar Team	+ 24
6	Karsten Kroon	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	s.t.
7	Gianni Meersman	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	s.t.
8	Andrea Palini	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
9	Tom Slagter	Blanco Pro Cycling Team	s.t.	TimoMennen
10	Daniele Ratto	Cannondale Pro Cycling	s.t.