Podium in GC
Top 3 points Jersey
3 Stage Wins

Our team was founded as Team Carpano for TOTC 2. For that year, Klöden was our main GC man, and he did about what was expected from him. We came closest to victory by a second place from a breakaway by Christian Vande Velde. For TOTC 3, we had mildly high hopes, but they weren't fulfilled. We thought Förster could bag us a victory in a sprint, but he couldn't. We also thought Tschopp could achieve a Top 3 in the GC, but he failed that too. This was also the first year we operated as Aviva-Ryanair. Then came TOTC 4, our time to shine. The race started off in our home country, but we couldn't do much there. It was looking meek until the middle of the race, when Valjavec took a stage from the break, and Schorn doubled the count the stage after in a mass sprint. He would also finish second in the points competition, only behind Dean.

Win Points Jersey

Two Stage wins

Be in the breakaway five times

The Squad

91. S.O'Grady
92. S.Bewley
93. D.Frattini
94. K.Jebjerg
95. J.Louder
96. J.Sagan
97. J.Sergent
98. B.Vandborg
99. D.Windsor

Goals

Top 10 GC
2 Stage Wins
Top 10 Points

111. B.Pires
112. R.Chiarini
113. R.Feillu
114. D.Ignatiev
115. D.Kozontchuk
116. L.König
117. M.Mori
118. A.Pliuschin
119. M.Reihs

-> Two riders in the top ten (or at least one) <-

-> At least two stage victoreis (more are always welcome) <-

-> Top 5 in the UC (at least) <-

-> Drink as much coffee as possible (Nespresso, what else?) <-

-> Get 15 UC points with this awesome team presentation (nothing less) <-

Of course we'll go for the highest in TOTC and that is winning the UC
what else?

Stage Favourites:
****Malori(MOTE) ****Rosseler(CAR) ***Vermote(CEL)
**Cardoso(SWI) *Quinziato(AVI)

was Stevenson (UK Youth). The Swede would post a time of 9'40. It would not stand the test of time for long.

Shortly afterwards Veelers and Steegmans would both cross the line with a final time of 9'31. It looked very good for Celesio early on as Sieberg would come also come home at 9'24. Could a 1-2 be on the cards?

The weather changed.....

Pliuschin and Vandborg about to set off.

the change of weather began to suit the riders as a strong headwind turned to a sidewind...

The times really reflected this. Swift and a multitude come really close to beating the time of Vermote before the German, Thomel, finally beats it with a time of 9'23. Multiple riders would beat this time before.....

Former Danish champ, Vandborg, smashes all other times by '10 to set a new fastest time of 9'10. The time of Vermote is now well down and he would not finish in the top 50 today.

Danny Pate.....

continues where he left off in TOTC4. He looks in fine shape as he also finishes @ 9'10, no doubt with plenty still left in the tank for the following 27 stages!

Jesse Sergent goes fastest. This is one of the more exciting prologues you will see, fans tuned in from the beginning are being rewarded with constant GC changes.

Times at this stage in the race:
Sergent - 9'06
Roth - 9'09
Vandborg - 9'10
Pate - s.t.
Saramotins - s.t.

The Mota-Engil rider ensures there is another change in the lead, he always looked set for a good time and he delivered. He goes fastest with a time of 9'04, the changes are coming thick and fast as half of the riders have finished.

Cartoon Network 'r' here! Rosseler is the next to go fastest with a time of 9'03, '1 faster than the outright stage favourite Malori. Is that the end of the stage?

No, good times are still coming in, Keizer of T-Mobile sets a time of 9'08 to go into the current top 5.

RUSLAN KARIMOV .... does not go fastest!

But the Petro China riders would finish in the top 30 today, he will be an integral domestique for Bozic in the coming days.

Swiss Life's Cardoso is a temperamental rider. Today..... he had the good legs. Yes, we have a new benchmark. Cardoso goes fastest with a time of 9'01. That great ride looks good enough for the stage win, but after todays action and with riders like Grabsch still to come you can't be sure.

Bodnar continues his legendary form from TOTC3 by setting an astonishing time of 8'58! AHHH! We didn't expect any times under 9'00 today. Is that the win?

SwissLife hung everyone else out to dry today. A superb 1-2 shows they have came prepared and it certainly sends a message out to the opposition. If they can do this in the prologue then one presumes the no.1 rider is on some sweet form himself.

Bodnar achieves the accolade of winning stages in multiple TOTCs and in afterwards said ' That is what you get when you spend 100,000 on a rider!', no doubt taking a jibe at all managers apart from duxili. He will start stage 2 in the race lead wearing the coveted red jersey.

5 UC points bonus: Who finished 8th? (You have exactly 3 hours from the time of this post to answer)