The 2nd hilly stage, not as difficult as the first one but still that final climb could be a great opportunity for one to attack in order to win here today. First we have the daily break
Noe and Halgand at the front of the group
But today the break is wheeled in and then like yesterday, the favourites crawl out of their shells on the final climb. The following 2 got a gap
Ricco and Schleck will battle it out again with Kessler and Valverde in the back
Schleck does better this time but it isnt good enough to beat Ricco who is obviously in good shape and perhaps a man to look out for later this month when we have races such as AGR, LBL and Fleche Wallone.
Ricco beats Schleck again!
Result:
01. Riccardo Ricco' SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 3h49'20
02. Frank Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
03. Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
04. Matthias Kessler ASTANÁ s.t.
05. Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM + 53
06. Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS s.t.
07. Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R LA MONDIALE s.t.
08. Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER s.t.
09. Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
10. Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS s.t.
11 Jurgen Vandenbroeck SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
12 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
13 Damiano Cunego LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
14 Igor Astarloa TEAM MILRAM s.t.
15 Mirko Celestino TEAM MILRAM s.t.
16 Christophe Brandt SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
17 Markus Zberg GEROLSTEINER s.t.
18 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANÁ s.t.
19 Constantino Zaballa CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
20 Mario Aerts SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
21 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
22 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER s.t.
23 Blaise Sonnery AG2R LA MONDIALE s.t.
24 Andrei Grivko TEAM MILRAM s.t.
25 Pieter Weening RABOBANK s.t.
26 Sergio Ghisalberti TEAM MILRAM s.t.
27 John Gadret AG2R LA MONDIALE s.t. 28 Koldo Gil NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
29 Koos Moerenhout RABOBANK s.t.
30 Maxime Monfort COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
31 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK s.t.
32 Luis Perez Rodriguez TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
33 Patrik Sinkewitz T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
34 Bernhard Kohl GEROLSTEINER s.t.
35 Chris Horner TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
36 Dmitri Fofonov CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
37 Alessandro Proni QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
38 Francisco Perez Sanchez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
39 José Ivan Gutiérrez Palacios CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
40 Linus Gerdemann T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
41 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC s.t.
42 Frantisek Rabon T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
43 Santos Gonzalez Capilla COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
44 Andrea Noè LIQUIGAS s.t. 45 Konstantin Siutsou NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
46 Iker Camaño SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
47 Marzio Bruseghin LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
48 Josep Jufre SILENCE - LOTTO s.t. 49 Moises Dueñas NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
50 Mauricio Ardila RABOBANK s.t.
Since there are no boni seconds the time differences in the GC dont change
Dwight K. Schrute: 'I'm not a hero. Im just a mere defender of the office. You know who is a hero? Hiro from Heroes. That's a hero. And Bono'.
now we go back to those who are lucky enough to race on the cobbles
Not the kind of race where we will grab points, our main goal is to show ourselves up front perhaps even amongs the favourites. The real action starts when there are still 50 kms to go, before that we had an incredibly dull race but then the quick steps come to the front and the Nippo's come along!
The Quick Steps up front with Boom behind them, in the back the other Nippo's suffer...
Slowly more riders have to let go and then we have a group of 6 left over, but it isnt sure whether they'll make it since a big group of 30 riders is on the chase!
Burghardt, Ballan, Boonen, Van Impe, De Jongh and Devolder up front with 15 kms to go
And so it seems that the Quick Steps are in a very fortunate situation, but then the gap is all of a sudden very small and it seems that the Quick Steps wont win at all!
Boonen (on the left) and co. are taken in just when the sprint's about to start!
Boonen then seems frustrated and just gives up and lets himself drop to the back of the group. Now Oscar Freire just has to finish it off
Freire comes up at the other side of the road and seems too strong for the others!
Bettini is the only one to come close but it is Freire who wins!
Freire wins! Kozontchuk is celebrating in the back while Mad Max ends 3rd!
Result:
01. Oscar Freire RABOBANK 5h30'20
02. Paolo Bettini QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
03. Max Van Heeswijk RABOBANK s.t.
04. Bernhard Eisel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
05. George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
06. Marcel Sieberg TEAM MILRAM s.t.
07. Magnus Bäckstedt LIQUIGAS s.t.
08. Juan-Antonio Flecha RABOBANK s.t.
09. Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
10. Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
11 Andreas Klier T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
12 Wim De Vocht SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
13 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
14 Marc De Maar RABOBANK s.t.
15 Roger Hammond T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
16 Johan Vansummeren SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
17 Luca Paolini LIQUIGAS s.t.
18 Dmitri Kozontchuk RABOBANK s.t.
19 Tom Boonen QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
20 Stijn Devolder DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
21 Pieter Mertens SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
22 Leif Hoste SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
23 Marcus Burghardt T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
24 Sebastian Langeveld RABOBANK s.t.
25 Peter Van Petegem QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
26 Enrico Franzoi LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
27 Steven De Jongh QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
28 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
29 Kevin Van Impe QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
30 Claudio Corioni LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 2'03
31 David Kopp GEROLSTEINER + 2'23
32 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
33 Giovanni Visconti QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
34 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS s.t.
35 Tom Steels SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
36 Karsten Kroon TEAM CSC s.t.
37 Stefano Zanini SILENCE - LOTTO s.t. 38 Lars Boom NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
39 Manuel Quinziato LIQUIGAS s.t.
40 Gerben Löwik RABOBANK s.t.
41 Matthew White DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
42 Damien Gaudin LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER + 5'45
43 Dmitri Muravjev ASTANÁ s.t.
44 Clément Lhotellerie TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
45 Eric Baumann T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
46 Roberto Petito LIQUIGAS s.t.
47 Wouter Weylandt QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t. 48 Aleksei Saramotins NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
49 Robbie McEwen SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
50 Mark Cavendish T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
Dwight K. Schrute: 'I'm not a hero. Im just a mere defender of the office. You know who is a hero? Hiro from Heroes. That's a hero. And Bono'.
The 3rd hilly stage which is not as hard as the previous 2 and so perhaps this would be the stage for the escapees. A nice group is formed after 30 kms without any Nippo's in it
Nozal, Vaugrenard and Riblon lead the group of 10
The group gets a huge gap and because the terrain isnt that hard the pack is still 3 minutes behind the group with 20 kms to go, they enter the final climb with a 30 second deficit and so the guys up front can feel the pack coming closer. But everyone in the group is worn down except for 1 rider who gives it his best shot!
Benoit Vaugrenard attacks while Astarloza is the only one who responds
And so climbers like Nozal, Rogers and Rolland see the Frenchie take off and even Astarloza has to abandon his chase with 800 metres to go. And so Vaugrenard is rewarded for his attacking mentality and takes the surprising win! Astarloza ends 2nd while the others are caught by the peloton on the line...
Vaugrenard takes the win but is obviously very tired!
Result:
01. Benoît Vaugrenard FRANÇAISE DES JEUX 4h04'06
02. Mikel Astarloza EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 30
03. Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS + 51
04. Fernando Torres FUERTEVENTURA - CANARIAS s.t.
05. Riccardo Ricco' SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
06. Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANÁ s.t.
07. Martin Müller TEAM MILRAM s.t.
08. Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS s.t.
09. Frank Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
10. Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R LA MONDIALE s.t.
11 Matthias Kessler ASTANÁ s.t.
12 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS s.t.
13 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
14 Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
15 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER s.t.
16 Pierre Rolland CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
17 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
18 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
19 Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER s.t. 20 Koldo Gil NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
21 Steffen Weigold TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
22 Igor Astarloa TEAM MILRAM s.t.
23 David Herrero Llorente KARPIN GALICIA s.t.
24 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
25 Mirko Celestino TEAM MILRAM s.t.
26 Andrei Grivko TEAM MILRAM s.t.
27 Sergio Ghisalberti TEAM MILRAM s.t.
28 Markus Zberg GEROLSTEINER s.t.
29 Christophe Riblon AG2R LA MONDIALE s.t. 30 Konstantin Siutsou NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
31 Chris Horner TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
32 Maxime Monfort COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
33 Pieter Weening RABOBANK s.t.
34 Alberto Contador DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
35 Jurgen Vandenbroeck SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
36 Constantino Zaballa CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
37 John Gadret AG2R LA MONDIALE s.t.
38 Patrik Sinkewitz T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
39 Mario Aerts SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
40 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK s.t.
41 Linus Gerdemann T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
42 Christophe Brandt SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
43 Bram Tankink QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
44 Frantisek Rabon T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
45 Iker Camaño SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'52
46 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK s.t.
47 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC s.t.
48 José Ivan Gutiérrez Palacios CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 2'00
49 Damiano Cunego LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
50 Luis Perez Rodriguez TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
GC:
01. Riccardo Ricco' SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 11h15'24
02. Frank Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
03. Matthias Kessler ASTANÁ s.t.
04. Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'25
05. Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS + 2'18
06. Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R LA MONDIALE s.t.
07. Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
08. Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
09. Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER s.t. 10. Koldo Gil NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
14. Konstantin Siutsou NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
Dwight K. Schrute: 'I'm not a hero. Im just a mere defender of the office. You know who is a hero? Hiro from Heroes. That's a hero. And Bono'.
This break was too small and so they are caught with 50 kms to go, on the final hill the favs attack, Ricco, Di Luca, Schleck and Valverde launch the strongest attacks but they all decide to go on their own, who had the strongest attack?
Ricco up front, behind him is Di Luca and behind him u have Schleck and Valverde
Behind these 4 there is a nice group of 5 which is trying to get closer to Valverde
Kessler, Sanchez, Nocentini, Gil (!) and Vandenbroeck are on the chase!
Up front Di Luca comes closer, and closer, and in the end Ricco and Di Luca battle it out
Di Luca comes too late and Ricco continues to dominate!
Behind them the group of 5 just dont catch Schleck and Valverde but they do have the same time, Gil ends 8th but for some strange reason the juries do not acknowledge a time gap between the group and the pack
Result:
01. Riccardo Ricco' SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 4h07'21
02. Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS s.t.
03. Frank Schleck TEAM CSC + 1'04
04. Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
05. Matthias Kessler ASTANÁ s.t.
06. Jurgen Vandenbroeck SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
07. Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t. 08. Koldo Gil NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
09. Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R LA MONDIALE s.t.
10. Maxime Monfort COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
11 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER s.t.
12 Frantisek Rabon T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
13 Markus Zberg GEROLSTEINER s.t.
14 Igor Astarloa TEAM MILRAM s.t.
15 Chris Horner TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
16 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC s.t.
17 Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER s.t.
18 Mirko Celestino TEAM MILRAM s.t.
19 Josep Jufre SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
20 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
21 Pieter Weening RABOBANK s.t.
22 Patrice Halgand CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
23 Marco Marzano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
24 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK s.t.
25 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
26 Patrik Sinkewitz T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
27 Christophe Brandt SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
28 Koos Moerenhout RABOBANK s.t.
29 Mauricio Ardila RABOBANK s.t.
30 Mario Aerts SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
31 Christophe Kern CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
32 Damiano Cunego LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
33 Linus Gerdemann T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
34 Wim Van Huffel SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
35 Sergio Ghisalberti TEAM MILRAM s.t.
36 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK s.t.
37 Bernhard Kohl GEROLSTEINER s.t.
38 Andrei Grivko TEAM MILRAM s.t.
39 Giuliano Figueras LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
40 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
41 Bram Tankink QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
42 Alberto Contador DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
43 Iñigo Landaluze EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
44 Carlos Barredo QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
45 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS s.t. 46 Konstantin Siutsou NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
47 Moises Dueñas NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
48 Alessandro Proni QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
49 Marzio Bruseghin LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
50 Martin Müller TEAM MILRAM s.t.
GC:
01. Riccardo Ricco' SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 15h22'45
02. Frank Schleck TEAM CSC + 1'04
03. Matthias Kessler ASTANÁ s.t.
04. Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS + 2'18
05. Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 2'29
06. Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 3'22
07. Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R LA MONDIALE s.t.
08. Jurgen Vandenbroeck SILENCE- LOTTO s.t. 09. Koldo Gil NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
10. Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER s.t.
15. Konstantin Siutsou NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
Dwight K. Schrute: 'I'm not a hero. Im just a mere defender of the office. You know who is a hero? Hiro from Heroes. That's a hero. And Bono'.
i wish i could play pcm so it looks like this. i can play it better on my desktop with like 128mb graph card and 512 ram then on my laptop with 512mb graphics and 1gb ram :x
The 5th stage, since we saw this stage as a stage that would be a nice one for a break we wanted to be present in the break of the day. Siutsou is too close to the leaders and so Duenas gives it a go since he is in great shape, some others join him on the first climb
Engels leads the break with Duenas in 3rd position
When we get further their lead gets bigger but the group becomes smaller, with 35 kms to go only 4 riders are left over
Duenas leads the group which consists of him, Engels, Figueras and Le Mevel
These 4 stay together but with 10 kms to go they have only 1 minute left, then when they reach the final kms the favourites get closer...
Duenas tries everything to keep the favourites behind him and his companions
But it doesnt work, with 2 kms to go guys like Di Luca, Schleck, Astarloa and Vinokourov have joined but that doesnt mean that Duenas is giving up!
The brave Spaniard gives it one more go on a short climb with 1,5 kms to go!
Duenas is still feeling good as he gets a gap but in the end Engels and Figueras get into his wheel while Astarloa is the only favourite who reacted when Duenas attacked, so in the sprint we see this
Engels, Duenas, Astarloa and Figueras all on one line, place ur bets now!
Figueras is worn down and gives up and then the small Spaniard surprisingly sprints past Addy Engels, he also manages to hang onto Astarloa's wheel but he cant beat him...
Astarloa wins and Duenas cant blame himself for ending 2nd here!
Again Gil jumps along with a group but yet again he doesnt gain anytime even though he should have gotten a 40" advantage Since Ricco didnt gain time because of this it is Frank Schleck who takes over the lead!
Result:
01. Igor Astarloa TEAM MILRAM 4h18'04 02. Moises Dueñas NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
03. Addy Engels QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
04. Giuliano Figueras LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
05. Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS s.t.
06. Frank Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
07. Luis Leon Sanchez Gil CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
08. Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANÁ s.t.
09. Blaise Sonnery AG2R LA MONDIALE s.t.
10. Christophe Le Mével CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
11 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'27
12 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
13 Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t. 14 Koldo Gil NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
15 Matthias Kessler ASTANÁ s.t.
16 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER s.t.
17 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R LA MONDIALE s.t.
18 Riccardo Ricco' SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
19 Steffen Weigold TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
20 Mirko Celestino TEAM MILRAM s.t.
21 Josep Jufre SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
22 Chris Horner TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
23 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK s.t.
24 Pieter Weening RABOBANK s.t.
25 Christophe Brandt SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
26 Maxime Monfort COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
27 Sergio Ghisalberti TEAM MILRAM s.t.
28 Antonio Colom ASTANÁ s.t.
29 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK s.t.
30 Wim Van Huffel SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
31 Jurgen Vandenbroeck SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
32 Koos Moerenhout RABOBANK s.t.
33 John Gadret AG2R LA MONDIALE s.t.
34 Linus Gerdemann T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
35 Andrei Grivko TEAM MILRAM s.t.
36 Patrice Halgand CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
37 Thierry Marichal FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
38 Mauricio Ardila RABOBANK s.t.
39 Luis Perez Rodriguez TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
40 Mario Aerts SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
41 Cadel Evans SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
42 Robert Gesink RABOBANK s.t.
43 Alessandro Proni QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
44 Iker Camaño SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
45 Patrik Sinkewitz T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
46 Frantisek Rabon T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
47 Denis Menchov RABOBANK s.t. 48 Konstantin Siutsou NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
49 Paolo Savoldelli ASTANÁ s.t.
50 Manuel Medina COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
GC with 1 stage (an ITT) to go:
01. Frank Schleck TEAM CSC 19h41'53
02. Riccardo Ricco' SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 23
03. Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS + 1'14
04. Matthias Kessler ASTANÁ + 1'27
05. Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 2'52
06. Igor Astarloa TEAM MILRAM + 3'34
07. Luis Leon Sanchez Gil CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
08. Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANÁ s.t.
09. Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 3'45
10. Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
11. Koldo Gil NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
18. Konstantin Siutsou NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
19. Moises Dueñas NIPPO CORPORATION + 4'43
Dwight K. Schrute: 'I'm not a hero. Im just a mere defender of the office. You know who is a hero? Hiro from Heroes. That's a hero. And Bono'.
hehe well it isnt that special I mean Addy Engels ended 3rd
I was just lucky that Duenas was having lots of green moments in the final 10 kms thats why he could still attack and get rid of all those favourites except for Astarloa
Dwight K. Schrute: 'I'm not a hero. Im just a mere defender of the office. You know who is a hero? Hiro from Heroes. That's a hero. And Bono'.
u still have to apply for an invitation with the giant, however I also didnt do it with all the previous races...I think
Time for the first hilly classic, we are hoping for a good result with Gil but a top 10 will be very tough. In the rain of Limburg 3 riders break away
Canada, Timmer and Laurent in the spotlight
Halfway trough the race they are caught and a group of stronger riders takes the lead
Jufre with Lovkvist, Valjavec and Montfort
The weather only gets worse and thats why the pack is having difficulties chasing down the break. Jufre is the first to let go, than Lovkvist is gone aswell and with 20 kms to go Montfort leaves Valjavec behind
Maxime Montfort up front with 20 kms to go
Montfort then has a lead of 2'34" and in the back the favourites are shattered all over the course in small groups. Gil wasnt strong enough to be in one of the first groups. With 5 kms to go we have 3 Italians chasing down Montfort but one of them decides to try it on his own
Di Luca attacks, Ricco follows while Nocentini has to let go
With 2 kms to go Montfort still holds a very small lead, but then before he goes underneath the red flag he is caught by Ricco and Di Luca
Montfort's heroic attack ends on the final climb...
Poor Montfort, when he tries to use his remaining energy by following the 2 Italians he cracks and is taken in by Nocentini, Schleck, Kroon and Astarloa who are right behind Ricco and Di Luca with 1 km to go!
Montfort suffers while Nocentini and Schleck launch powerful attacks, Astarloa also meets the man with the hammer
Up front then, with 1 km to go it appears that Di Luca has to pay for all his hard work, he cracks and is literally standing still while Ricco rides towards victory. Nocentini, and also Schleck would get past Di Luca who lost over a minute in the final km. Schleck is then left behind by Nocentini who launches a late sprint but he is too late to take in Ricardo Ricco who was the strongest and the smartest rider today
Riccardo Ricco wins the Amstel Gold Race
Result:
01. Riccardo Ricco' SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 6h25'05
02. Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R LA MONDIALE + 15
03. Frank Schleck TEAM CSC + 31
04. Karsten Kroon TEAM CSC + 1'00
05. Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS s.t.
06. Maxime Monfort COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 1'14
07. Igor Astarloa TEAM MILRAM s.t.
08. Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER s.t.
09. Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
10. Paolo Bettini QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
11 Matthias Kessler ASTANÁ s.t.
12 Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
13 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'47
14 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
15 Stefan Schumacher GEROLSTEINER s.t.
16 Tadej Valjavec LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 2'49
17 Patrik Sinkewitz T-MOBILE TEAM + 2'59
18 Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER s.t.
19 Mirko Celestino TEAM MILRAM s.t.
20 Björn Leukemans SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
21 Sergio Ghisalberti TEAM MILRAM + 4'46
22 Andrei Grivko TEAM MILRAM s.t.
23 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS + 5'06 24 Koldo Gil NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
25 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC + 5'14
26 Frantisek Rabon T-MOBILE TEAM + 5'50
27 Constantino Zaballa CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 5'57
28 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 6'27
29 Josep Jufre SILENCE - LOTTO + 6'50
30 Ruben Elvira Lobato SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
31 Thomas Lövkvist FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 7'30 32 Konstantin Siutsou NIPPO CORPORATION + 9'56
33 José Ivan Gutiérrez Palacios CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 10'04
34 Andrea Tonti QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
35 Iker Camaño SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
36 Axel Merckx T-MOBILE TEAM + 10'36
37 Iñigo Landaluze EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 10'52
38 Unai Etxebarría EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
39 Luca Paolini LIQUIGAS + 11'00
40 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 11'24
41 Steffen Wesemann TEAM WIESENHOF - FELT + 11'32 42 Moises Dueñas NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
43 Remmert Wielinga SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 11'40
44 Mikel Astarloza EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 11'48
45 Manuel Beltran LIQUIGAS s.t.
46 Christophe Kern CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 12'28
47 Nicolas Roche CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
48 Luis Perez Rodriguez TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
49 Michael Barry T-MOBILE TEAM + 12'36
50 Andrea Noè LIQUIGAS + 13'16
Dwight K. Schrute: 'I'm not a hero. Im just a mere defender of the office. You know who is a hero? Hiro from Heroes. That's a hero. And Bono'.
A B-Squad is send here since AGR was ridden on the same day, however since the field is quite weak Boom could surprise. With 40 kms to go he finds himself up front in a group of 11 riders
Boom on his own with a few Volksbank, Cofidis and AG2R riders
And in the end thats the reason why he doesnt win, all of these 3 teams manage to deliver someone up front. Baugnies, Heijboer and Boucher are then up front while Boom is right behind them together with Mondory. Since he has to do it on his own he stands no chance. The Belgian, Dutchman and the Frenchie battle it out for victory and even though Heijboer started the sprint with a small lead he doesnt hold on
Jerome Baugnies beats Heijboer and Boucher
Result:
01. Jérôme Baugnies TEAM VOLKSBANK 5h40'25
02. Mathieu Heijboer COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
03. David Boucher AG2R LA MONDIALE s.t.
04. Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 1'23 05. Lars Boom NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
06. Michiel Elijzen COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 1'49
07. Christopher Sutton COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 2'44
08. David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 3'07
09. Bram Schmitz COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
10. Tyler Farrar COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
Dwight K. Schrute: 'I'm not a hero. Im just a mere defender of the office. You know who is a hero? Hiro from Heroes. That's a hero. And Bono'.
After AGR and Tro Bro Leon we still had 1 more race, Calzati and Benatti were our leaders here but first we have a break...
Break of the day with (almost) all the Italians teams in it
The breaks wasnt strong enough to hold on and so they are caught, a few kms later two riders attack and so the Nippo's try everything to get 'em back since Benatti is feeling good
Left: Anton and Willems up front, Right: Efimkin doing the dirty work
But the Nippo's arent strong enough and so it seems that either Willems or Anton will win here today, but then out of nowhere someone joins them, leaves them behind, and wins it all!
Domenico Pozzovivo wins the Giro D'Oro
Result:
01. Domenico Pozzovivo MICHE 4h58'08
02. Igor Antón EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
03. Frederik Willems LIQUIGAS + 29 04. Sylvain Calzati NIPPO CORPORATION + 1'12 05. Didier Rous NIPPO CORPORATION + 1'40
06. Andrew Bajadali SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t.
07. Gabriele Missaglia SERRAMENTI PVC DIQUIGIOVANNI - SELLE ITALIA s.t. 08. Aleksandr Efimkin NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
09. Paolo Bossoni LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
10. Matteo Priamo CSF GROUP - NAVIGARE s.t.
-> La Fleche Wallone
Dwight K. Schrute: 'I'm not a hero. Im just a mere defender of the office. You know who is a hero? Hiro from Heroes. That's a hero. And Bono'.
Koldo Gil dissapointed me with a 24th spot in the Amstel Gold Race, but this race should suit him more and especially if everything stays together till the 'Mur' his chances of getting into the top 10 are quite big. First we have a break
Cuesta, Vaugrenard, Gonzalez Capilla and Facci with the Mur de Huy on the right
But its still a long way to go then, with 40 kms to go they still have a 1 minute lead but behind them a small but very strong group is formed!
Pro Tour leader Ricco up front with Di Luca, Rebellin and Frank Schleck!
Ricco is ofcourse the one to watch here, he already won AGR and is in amazing shape, thats why its surprising that Schleck and Rebellin leave him and Di Luca behind with 20 kms to go!
Schleck and Rebellin leave Di Luca and Ricco behind while Kessler is on his way (in the back)
But with 5 kms to go Ricco and Di Luca get back, their lead seems safe but the Mur de Huy is one hell of a climb, if wasted too much energy before the climb you'll eventually meet the man with the hammer so the 5 guys up front are warned, yes thats 5 since Kessler joined the 4 out of nowhere! Meanwhile Gil is in the pack with Siutsou which is getting closer and closer...
Milram, TMobile and Nippo up front while the escapees have only 1 km to go!
And then the battle for the win begins, Schleck attacks and this causes Di Luca and Rebellin to crack who are now almost standing still. But Schleck overestimated his powers as also he cracks and so its down to Kessler and Ricco who turn out to be the strongest and the smartest ones today
Riccardo Ricco does it again as he leaves Kessler behind!
Meanwhile Di Luca, Rebellin and Schleck are taken in by the pack and would finish respectively 32nd, 30th and 25th. But hey, behind that Astana guy who is fighting for the 3rd spot...isnt that a Nippo rider thats behind him?!?
Left: Gil ends 4th behind the Astana Duo Kessler and Vino! Right: Just as in AGR, Di Luca cracks in the final km...
And so Gil ends 4th and that means more Pro Tour points for Nippo --8) We are now 15th with 47 points.
Result:
01. Riccardo Ricco' SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 5h10'11
02. Matthias Kessler ASTANÁ + 10
03. Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANÁ + 36 04. Koldo Gil NIPPO CORPORATION + 47
05. Igor Astarloa TEAM MILRAM + 55
06. Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
07. Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
08. Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER s.t.
09. Patrik Sinkewitz T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
10. Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
11 Karsten Kroon TEAM CSC s.t.
12 Mirko Celestino TEAM MILRAM s.t.
13 Maxime Monfort COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
14 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
15 Paolo Bettini QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
16 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS s.t.
17 Linus Gerdemann T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
18 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
19 Stefan Schumacher GEROLSTEINER s.t.
20 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC s.t.
21 Andrei Grivko TEAM MILRAM s.t.
22 Igor Antón EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
23 Sergio Ghisalberti TEAM MILRAM s.t.
24 Axel Merckx T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
25 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
26 Constantino Zaballa CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
27 Ruben Elvira Lobato SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'37
28 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS s.t.
29 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER s.t.
30 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER s.t.
31 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC s.t.
32 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS s.t.
33 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
34 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC s.t.
35 Dominique Cornu SILENCE - LOTTO s.t. 36 Konstantin Siutsou NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
37 Alberto Contador DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
38 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER s.t.
39 Pieter Weening RABOBANK + 2'12
40 Gianpaolo Caruso LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
41 Robert Gesink RABOBANK + 2'22
42 Iker Camaño SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'50
43 Francisco Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
44 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 3'07
45 Antonio Colom ASTANÁ + 4'05
46 Andrei Kashechkin ASTANÁ + 4'50
47 Blaise Sonnery AG2R LA MONDIALE + 5'32
48 Benoît Vaugrenard FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 5'40
49 Mauro Facci QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC + 6'12
50 Björn Schröder TEAM MILRAM + 6'38
Up Next -> Liege Bastogne Liege
Dwight K. Schrute: 'I'm not a hero. Im just a mere defender of the office. You know who is a hero? Hiro from Heroes. That's a hero. And Bono'.
haha just kiddin I know my squad isnt that strong, Gil and Benatti are 2 great riders and they basically have to make sure that Nippo doesnt relegate, Siutsou, Docker, Abal etc. are also nice riders but arent strong enough to compete with the elite in the Pro Tour (yet)
thanks guys, it took me 3 times to complete this race, and even though I experienced alot of lag...here it is :wink:
Gil is again our leader with Siutsou being his main helper, all the others will help Koldo in the beginning. Even though Gil isnt in the form of his life, which he is saving for some race called 'Le Grande Boucle', should still do well here altough I dont expect another top 5. The break of the day
The break of the day with Kozontchuk, Stangelj and Fernandez in the back
'Radio tour has announced that there is a rider with a flat tire'
Koldo punctures! However he manages to get back but still he's been wasting valuable energy now
Then the break is wheeled in and just before La Redoute 4 riders attack, on this climb they increase their lead
Ricco, Sanchez, Vinokourov and F. Schleck leave the pack behind
Later on Kirchen and Di Luca attack but they cannot join the 4 up front, with 10 kms to go it is clear that one of these 4 will win. But with 7 kms to go its down to 3...
Sanchez cant hold on anymore!
And then they reach the final climb, its none other than the man himself, Riccardo Ricco who accelerates!
Ricco's acceleration is too much for Vino!
Frank Schleck holds on but the look on his face says it all, Ricco is too strong and wins again...
After AGR and Fleche Wallone its Riccardo Ricco who also wins LBL! What a performance!
In the back Gil is positioned nicely, at first it seems he's definately going to end in the top but unfortunately for him he can't sprint at all and so he loses a few spots and ends 13th, no pt points this time but still im satisfied since 13th in a race like this aint bad at all
Result:
01. Riccardo Ricco' SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 6h58'29
02. Frank Schleck TEAM CSC + 12
03. Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS + 55
04. Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
05. Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANÁ + 1'15
06. Björn Leukemans SILENCE - LOTTO + 2'30
07. Mirko Celestino TEAM MILRAM s.t.
08. Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
09. Patrik Sinkewitz T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
10. Matthias Kessler ASTANÁ s.t.
11 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
12 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER s.t. 13 Koldo Gil NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
14 Paolo Bettini QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
15 Constantino Zaballa CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
16 Maxime Monfort COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
17 Axel Merckx T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
18 Andrei Grivko TEAM MILRAM s.t.
19 Igor Astarloa TEAM MILRAM s.t.
20 Christophe Brandt SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
21 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
22 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK s.t.
23 Gianpaolo Caruso LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
24 Tadej Valjavec LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
25 Ruben Elvira Lobato SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
26 Carlos Barredo QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
27 Linus Gerdemann T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
28 Karsten Kroon TEAM CSC s.t.
29 Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER s.t.
30 Pieter Weening RABOBANK s.t.
31 Sergio Ghisalberti TEAM MILRAM s.t.
32 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER s.t.
33 Stefan Schumacher GEROLSTEINER s.t.
34 Vladimir Karpets CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
35 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS s.t.
36 Alberto Contador DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
37 Andy Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
38 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
39 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS s.t.
40 Patxi Vila LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 3'17
41 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 3'29
42 José Ivan Gutiérrez Palacios CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 3'37
43 Thomas Lövkvist FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 4'41
44 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC + 5'07
45 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC s.t.
46 Paolo Tiralongo LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 5'34
47 Antonio Colom ASTANÁ s.t.
48 Iñigo Landaluze EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t. 49 Konstantin Siutsou NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
50 Koos Moerenhout RABOBANK s.t.
:arrow: Tour de Romandie, our last race before we go to Italy for the Giro D'Italia...the first time im riding the giro in the 2nd season B)
Also we chose not to enter that much ct races unless we really feel we need to (like in Japan where I feel its our task to show up in the Tour of Japan) Because we only have 26 riders, lots of them are quite young and I dont want to tire them down by sending them to unimportant stage races in Holland or France :wink:
Dwight K. Schrute: 'I'm not a hero. Im just a mere defender of the office. You know who is a hero? Hiro from Heroes. That's a hero. And Bono'.
Boom does well and ends 6th, many topriders are not present here and so a Swede ends up with the win!
Result:
01. Thomas Lövkvist FRANÇAISE DES JEUX 7'07
02. Sérgio Paulinho DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 1
03. Sebastian Lang GEROLSTEINER s.t.
04. Saul Raisin CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 2
05. Dominique Cornu SILENCE - LOTTO + 4 06. Lars Boom NIPPO CORPORATION + 5
07. Gerben Löwik RABOBANK + 7
08. Niki Terpstra TEAM MILRAM + 8
09. David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 9
10. Manuel Beltran LIQUIGAS + 10
Stage 2/6:
Even though we've brought Mitch for the sprints we do want to be present in the breaks
Dall'Antonia in the daily break which consists of 8 riders
But after passing the climbs only 5 riders are left over, Dall'Antonia, Rast, Ballan, Barry and Verheyen.
Rast leads the group of 5 as they try to keep the pack behind them
But they fail, with 3 kms to go they are caught and we have a sprint. There aren't too many topsprinters here and so Mitch might be able to shine, he decides to follow fellow Aussie O'Grady and that was a good decision since O'Grady is immediatly up front. But O'Grady is too strong for young Mitch, however both have to settle with a podium spot since 1 rider was clearly too strong for the Aussies today
Fabio Sabatini takes the stage!
Result:
01. Fabio Sabatini TEAM MILRAM 4h02'12
02. Stuart O'Grady TEAM CSC s.t. 03. Mitch Docker NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
04. Stéphane Poulhiès AG2R LA MONDIALE s.t.
05. Frantisek Rabon T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
06. Vicente Reynès CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
07. Mickaël Delage FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
08. Martin Elmiger AG2R LA MONDIALE s.t.
09. Evgeni Sladkov ASTANÁ s.t.
10. Paolo Bossoni LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
11 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC s.t.
12 Francisco Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
13 Lloyd Mondory AG2R LA MONDIALE s.t.
14 Nikolai Trusov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
15 Elio Aggiano TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
16 Tyler Farrar COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
17 Niki Terpstra TEAM MILRAM s.t.
18 Vladimir Bileka DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
19 Marcus Ljungqvist TEAM CSC s.t.
20 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER s.t.
21 Mathieu Perget CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
22 Maxime Monfort COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
23 Gerben Löwik RABOBANK s.t.
24 Bram Schmitz COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
25 Maxim Iglinski ASTANÁ s.t.
26 Leon Van Bon RABOBANK s.t.
27 Addy Engels QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
28 David Cañada SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
29 Ivan Santaromita QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
30 Grégory Rast ASTANÁ s.t.
31 Tristan Valentin COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
32 Christian Knees TEAM MILRAM s.t.
33 David Boucher AG2R LA MONDIALE s.t.
34 Michael Barry T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
35 Florent Brard CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
36 Thomas Lövkvist FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
37 Arkaitz Durán SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
38 Maxim Gourov ASTANÁ s.t.
39 Mathieu Heijboer COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
40 Thierry Marichal FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
41 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS s.t.
42 Pavel Padrnos DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
43 Nicki Sørensen TEAM CSC s.t.
44 Massimilliano Mori LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
45 Raffaele Ferrara TEAM LPR s.t.
46 Trent Lowe DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
47 Cyrille Monnerais FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
48 Tadej Valjavec LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
49 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
50 David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
GC:
01. Thomas Lövkvist FRANÇAISE DES JEUX 4h09'19
02. Sérgio Paulinho DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 1
03. Saul Raisin CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 2
04. Dominique Cornu SILENCE - LOTTO + 4 05. Lars Boom NIPPO CORPORATION + 5
Dwight K. Schrute: 'I'm not a hero. Im just a mere defender of the office. You know who is a hero? Hiro from Heroes. That's a hero. And Bono'.
Tommorow we have a real mountain stage but today is already a nice test to see who's in shape and who's not. The break of the day:
Gomez Gomez, Schar, Charteau and Mangel
On the final hill the strongest riders attack as the pack becomes smaller and smaller and smaller, up front Mangel decided to leave the other 3 behind and it seems that this was the right decision because right after he passes the top its Gadret who joins him. However 4 others manage to join them aswell. In the back Duenas hangs on together with Boom and Docker.
Left: Paulinho, Mayo, Mangel, Gadret, Sastre and Moncoutie, Right: Duenas, Boom and Docker in the back of the pack
But the downhill section proved to be dangerous as many riders fell, it began with Montfort who fell and after that many others fell aswell in the chase group and also in the groups behind them, 2 riders, one with the yellow and one with the green jersey, also fall. Lovkvist was already about to lose his lead but a nasty crash takes away the last hope of the Swede. Sabatini, who won yesterday, breaks his hand and even has to abandon...Duenas doesnt fall as he just manages to evade Montfort and Lovkvist!
Left: Lovkvist cannot go around Montfort and falls, Duenas just escapes from a nasty crash! Right: Sabatini would fall aswell and had to abandon (resizing went a bit wrong here)
Back to the front, one rider decided to attack
Iban Mayo attacks as he doesnt want to sprint for it!
In the end this proved to be a smart move, Mayo just wins while Mangel surprisingly ends 2nd!
Mayo takes the stage, Paulinho takes the lead!
Result:
01. Iban Mayo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 4h15'39
02. Laurent Mangel AG2R LA MONDIALE s.t.
03. Sérgio Paulinho DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
04. John Gadret AG2R LA MONDIALE s.t.
05. David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
06. Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC s.t.
07. Maxim Iglinski ASTANÁ + 46
08. Beat Zberg GEROLSTEINER s.t.
09. Axel Merckx T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
10. Gorka Verdugo EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
11 Vladimir Efimkin CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
12 Mauricio Ardila RABOBANK s.t.
13 Thomas Fothen GEROLSTEINER s.t.
14 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER s.t.
15 Markus Zberg GEROLSTEINER s.t. 16 Mitch Docker NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
17 Dominique Cornu PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t. 18 Moises Dueñas NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
19 Saul Raisin CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
20 Bernhard Kohl GEROLSTEINER s.t.
21 Christophe Brandt SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
22 Igor Antón EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
23 Markel Irizar EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
24 Gregorio Ladino COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
25 Ivan Parra Pinto TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t. 26 Lars Boom NIPPO CORPORATION s.t.
27 Manuel Beltran LIQUIGAS s.t.
28 Aitor Perez Arrieta CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'51
29 David López Garcia CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
30 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC s.t.
31 Nikolai Trusov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
32 Jurgen Vandenbroeck SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
33 Rémi Pauriol CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
34 Jorge Azanza EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
35 Nicki Sørensen TEAM CSC s.t.
36 Óscar Solis COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
37 Alberto Benitez SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
38 Mario Aerts SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
39 Raffaele Ferrara TEAM LPR s.t.
40 Trent Lowe DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
41 Andrea Noè LIQUIGAS s.t.
42 Evgeni Sladkov ASTANÁ s.t.
43 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK s.t.
44 Steffen Weigold TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
45 Steven Cummings DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
46 Dries Devenyns SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
47 Ivan Santaromita QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
48 Bram Tankink QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
49 Mickaël Delage FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
50 Kevin Seeldraeyers QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
GC:
01. Sérgio Paulinho DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM 8h24'55
02. Iban Mayo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 11
03. David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 12
04. John Gadret AG2R LA MONDIALE + 19
05. Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 20
06. Laurent Mangel AG2R LA MONDIALE + 22
07. Saul Raisin CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 51
08. Dominique Cornu SILENCE - LOTTO + 53 09. Lars Boom NIPPO CORPORATION + 54
10. Manuel Beltran LIQUIGAS + 59
Dwight K. Schrute: 'I'm not a hero. Im just a mere defender of the office. You know who is a hero? Hiro from Heroes. That's a hero. And Bono'.
The first real test to see who's ready for the Giro D'Italia and also a chance for Duenas to see whether he can keep up with the top guns here. First we have a break of 10 with the young Dutchman Boom init for Nippo, later on Valjavec would join them and on the final climb 2 others also decide to go after them
Left: Edaleine, Ljunqvist and Boom up front, Right: Lopez Garcia and Ladino are trying to get up front
However as expected Valjavec leaves the others behind and while Lopez Garcia and Ladino get closer they see lots of rider joining them except for 1 who goes all the way! This rider also takes down Valjavec with 3 kms to go and seems determined to win today
Lovkvist seeks revenge and is on a rampage as he leaves everyone in the back begging for mercy!
Behind Valjavec there is still a significant gap with the 1st chasing group, which exists of 14 riders after Lopez Garcia and Ladino also dropped back into this group.
The chasers, and look who's in the back its Duenas!
I was also very surprised by this because first Duenas missed all the attacks and was in the group behind this one but out of nowhere he still joined this group! Its very clear that some riders missed the attacks and are now trying to get back, especially Paulinho has to work even though it seems sure that he wont be wearing his leadersjersey tommorow
Paulinho, Parra Pinto, Sastre and Raisin didnt attack and will lose valuable time
Up front the man with the plan, Thomas Lovkvist, increases his advantage and gets his revenge by winning the stage and taking back the jersey that he lost yesterday after he fell...
Victory for Thomas Lovkvist!
Duenas just loses contact with the first group but still ends 16th and leaves riders like Sastre, Parra and Paulinho behind him
Result:
01. Thomas Lövkvist FRANÇAISE DES JEUX 4h00'23
02. Tadej Valjavec LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 1'08
03. Vladimir Efimkin CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'46
04. David López Garcia CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
05. Bernhard Kohl GEROLSTEINER s.t.
06. Axel Merckx T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
07. Gregorio Ladino COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
08. Mauricio Ardila RABOBANK s.t.
09. Igor Antón EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
10. David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
11 John Gadret AG2R LA MONDIALE s.t.
12 Manuel Beltran LIQUIGAS s.t.
13 Maxim Iglinski ASTANÁ s.t.
14 Iban Mayo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
15 Gianpaolo Caruso LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 2'27 16 Moises Dueñas NIPPO CORPORATION + 3'12
17 Andrea Noè LIQUIGAS + 3'35
18 Óscar Solis COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 3'45
19 Sérgio Paulinho DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
20 Saul Raisin CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
21 Ivan Parra Pinto TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
22 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC s.t.
23 Charles Wegelius LIQUIGAS + 3'59
24 Christophe Brandt SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
25 Dominique Cornu SILENCE - LOTTO + 4'27
26 Mario Aerts SILENCE - LOTTO s.t.
27 Paolo Tiralongo LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 4'47
28 Gorka Verdugo EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
29 Jurgen Vandenbroeck SILENCE - LOTTO + 5'00
30 Christophe Edaleine CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 5'11
31 Dries Devenyns SILENCE - LOTTO + 6'13
32 Philip Deignan AG2R LA MONDIALE s.t.
33 Alex Coutts TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
34 Maxime Monfort COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
35 Rémi Pauriol CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 6'31 36 Lars Boom NIPPO CORPORATION + 6'43
37 Raffaele Ferrara TEAM LPR s.t.
38 Trent Lowe DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
39 Marcus Ljungqvist TEAM CSC + 8'02
40 Nikolai Trusov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 8'10
41 Steven Cummings DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 8'27
42 Nicki Sørensen TEAM CSC s.t.
43 Jurgen Van Goolen DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
44 Frantisek Rabon T-MOBILE TEAM + 8'45
45 Eric Berthou CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
46 Mathieu Perget CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
47 Thomas Fothen GEROLSTEINER s.t.
48 Florent Brard CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
49 Jakob Piil T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
50 Beat Zberg GEROLSTEINER s.t.
GC:
01. Thomas Lövkvist FRANÇAISE DES JEUX 12h27'02
02. Iban Mayo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 13
03. David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 14
04. John Gadret AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 21
05. Manuel Beltran LIQUIGAS + 1'01
06. Mauricio Ardila RABOBANK + 1'02
07. Igor Antón EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
08. Bernhard Kohl GEROLSTEINER + 1'03
09. Maxim Iglinski ASTANÁ + 1'11
10. Gregorio Ladino COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 1'15
16. Moises Dueñas NIPPO CORPORATION + 2'29
Dwight K. Schrute: 'I'm not a hero. Im just a mere defender of the office. You know who is a hero? Hiro from Heroes. That's a hero. And Bono'.
