Andy Schleck takes the overall win, finally able to be named outright winner of his own TdF. He makes the trip to the podium with a lead of 39" over his nearest rival, Samuel Sanchéz.
Lance Armstrongs' second comeback may not have provided his 8th Tour victory, but we are extremely pleased with 4th place, meeting a difficult sponsor goal!
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Andy Schleck
Leopard Trek
86h35'37
2
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 39
3
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas - Cannondale
+ 2'10
4
Lance Armstrong
Exxon Duke
+ 2'37
5
Levi Leipheimer
Team RadioShack
+ 3'16
6
Cadel Evans
BMC Racing Team
+ 5'16
7
Ivan Basso
Liquigas - Cannondale
+ 5'49
8
Jurgen Van den Broeck
Omega Pharma - Lotto
+ 7'49
9
Nicolas Roche
AG2R La Mondiale
+ 8'10
10
Fränk Schleck
Leopard Trek
+ 9'38
11
Ezequiel Mosquera
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
+ 10'34
12
Christophe Le Mével
Team Garmin - Cervélo
+ 10'41
13
Joaquím Rodríguez
Katusha Team
+ 10'43
14
Christian Vande Velde
Team Garmin - Cervélo
+ 11'05
15
Ryder Hesjedal
Team Garmin - Cervélo
+ 11'08
Points Classification
Despite our best attempts, the Green Jersey is going to another stage racer, Second placed, Samuel Sanchéz. He was able to stay in the top 10 in all the flat finishes, in a tour which was highly disappointing for many major sprinters. Cavendish, Petacchi, Greipel and Bos left the tour with just 2top 10 places between them!
4 Stage wins, 4 podiums and a top 10 proved insufficient for Tyler, who has to make do with second place, 2 Stages, 7podiums and 9top 10's were Sanchéz' final score, in what proved to be an incredible tour for the Basque Rider.
Rank
Name
Team
General
1
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
338
2
Tyler Farrar
ExxonDuke
309
3
Tom Boonen
Quick·Step Cycling Team
248
4
Andy Schleck
Leopard Trek
244
5
Thor Hushovd
Team Garmin - Cervélo
226
6
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Sky ProCycling
220
7
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas - Cannondale
205
8
Cadel Evans
BMC Racing Team
163
9
Lance Armstrong
Exxon Duke
163
10
Romain Feillu
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
151
King of the Mountains
The mountains were where Andy Schleck won the Tour, with some explosive performances which no one was able to match! Therefore, it is unsurprising, that the winner of the Polka-Dot overall, is also the GC winner, Andy Schleck!
Rank
Name
Team
General
1
Andy Schleck
Leopard Trek
190
2
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
172
3
Vincenzo Nibali
Liquigas - Cannondale
154
4
Levi Leipheimer
Team RadioShack
138
5
Lance Armstrong
Exxon Duke
126
6
Jurgen Van den Broeck
Omega Pharma - Lotto
99
7
Fränk Schleck
Leopard Trek
99
8
Cadel Evans
BMC Racing Team
83
9
Ivan Basso
Liquigas - Cannondale
74
10
Ezequiel Mosquera
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
73
Young Riders Classification
25year old Jerome Coppel proved too strong for many fantastic riders, to win the -25 TdF! He took the jersey on the first day of the Pyrénees, and never let go, in the same manner as Andy Schleck, he was clear winner in the end, 6'52 ahead of Romain Sicard, who finished second!
Following the Tour, there were, as always, several shake-ups in the Rankings.
Here are the standings upon completion of Le Tour.
World Tour Individual
Chris Horner never actually got to race in the WT leaders jersey, taking it following the Giro, during which time, he has been resting. He is knocked off by Sanchéz who had an absolutely incredible Tour, and jumps from 10th to 1st in the Rankings.
Horner is our best placed man, in 4th place, with Lance positioned at 9th, and Farrar in 7th. Horner could actually end up with an incredibly high placing as he returns for the second portion of his season, containing both La Vuelta, and The Giro Il Lombardia
World Tour Team Rankings
With Great positions throughout the season, in a fantastic debut year, (4th an TdF, 2nd at Giro, MSR win, 2nd in Points at TdF, LFW win, Dauphiné win, Pal Vaisco win.) We head the Standings! A slender lead of just 36points, but Leopard have a limited number of opportunities to score big, so we may hold on with a good result in spain!
Continental Tour Team
FDJ are running away with the Conti Tour, over 500points in front of Skil!
The next few placings are highly contested, so there is a lottery over the second promotion spot.
An Appeal: This story may be near an end... My PCM will not acknowledge the existence of any Variant files, which will make for a dull second season, thus my appeal is this. To anyone with PCM10, and a DB which has the Race Variants working, please upload me a copy, so i can use an editor to install the variants into my game!
I don't want this to end, so if any of you are able to provide this, i would be extremely grateful!
I'm not at home till Saturday, but then I can help, if you won't get it before. It would be a shame to see this story die, as you're updating very fast, and have a nice, lovely team. You brought my good feelings about story-writing back, I think I'll continue with CSC, because it's so nice to read your story!
Edited by fernando97 on 31-05-2012 21:30
Okay, cheers @Fernando, Saturday will be fine
Edit: Also, Cheers for the compliments mate! Really means a lot!
That's why i put the appeal out straight after Le Tour (Peak Viewers) and also gives me plenty of time to sort it Edited by baggieboys32 on 31-05-2012 21:31
Don't comment much but always drop in to read great tour man Tyler stage wins were really good shame about Boonen and EBH stealing stage wins early int he tour or you would have been close to Samu good luck for the rest of the season.
Following the conclusion of the Tour de France, comes the first of the late classics, the San Sebastién. 234km in length, the race will most likely be decided during the dual ascent of the Alto De Jaizkbel climb.
Our Squad: We have dual leaders here in Spain, Lance is probably the more likely to do well, as he is still in good shape following the TdF, however, Chris Horner also journeys to spain, His return ride as he warms up for the Vuelta.
Philippe Gilbert: Following early season success, Gilbert will be looking to come back strongly for the later classics.
Samu Sanchéz: On fire at the tour, he seems well set to do well here as a great hill climber, and with an explosive kick!
Damiano Cunego: He missed out on a very top placing in the ardennes, and has had a chance to rest since then, if he has put in the training miles, then he'll be one to watch.
Alexandre Vionkourov: The Kazakh veteran is a great rider over the hills, though again there may be doubts as to his fitness, as he's had a long break since placing
After several unsuccessful attacks over the first 50km, a break managed to escape containing 9men.Sheldon Deenymay not be the greatest rider over the hills, but his ability to sprint means that if this group can stay together to the end, he has a good chance of success.
After having missed out on the morning break, Geox decided to send one of there strong members to bridge across the gap of 6'14. Durán was the man in question, and having covered the gap solo, he rode straight past, with only Kiserlovski and Sicard from the break able to go with him!
On the second ascent of the routes main climb, the gap came down massively. Durán decided to make the best of his placing out in front, and was able to dig and drop the 2 men who had tracked him from the break, he had a lead of 2'27 over the summit, enough to stay out there all the way?
As the pack came over the summit, Horner attacked, followed by Samu Sanchéz, they were able to open a gap with 30km to go, but the only real effect was to up the pace and end Duráns chances.
20km... Sanchéz and Horner have been reeled in, but Samu is pulling hard at the front of the peloton. He's shedding riders out of the back, whilst the favourites are grouping around him now up at the front.
10km... For the first time in the day, Exxon are playing a major role, Horner is protecting Lance and they've got to the front to try and get Lance a gap into the final few kilometres. The break has been caught now, so the remains of the pack will fight the win out here.
4km to go, and one of the favourites in a sprint decides to make an early attack! Edvald Boassen-Hagen has jumped off the front of the peloton, this could be dangerous for the bigger favourites, as Eddie has a deadly turn of speed!
1.6km to go, Rodriguez has sensed the danger and is trying to bridge the gap, Lance is well placed in the pack on the wheel of Samu, but it looks like EBH's lead could be enough!
Edvald Boassen Hagen wins the Clasica San Sebastién! his late attack was timed to perfection, and he can throw his head back and arms high in the air with 200m to go, celebrating a great win for Team Sky.
Lance Armstrong is able to collect a great result, with 10th place here in spain! He lacks the deadly burst over the hills, so to finish in the top10 is a fantastic result for the team!
The first of 2 stage races before La Vuelta, The Tour De Pologne. Only receiving ProTour Status in '05, the race is still fairly new to the pro cycling world, however, it has actually been running as an amateur race for almost 75 years!
The Route
The race is likely to be decided amongst the hilly days of stages 5 + 6, however, a strong breakaway could find itself in with a chance of the GC, as the route has no massively decisive stages.
This is the debut appearance for our youth signing, Shy Vogel. He will hope to perform both here, and in the cobbled Eneco Tour later in the month.
This will be the last stage race of the season for Lance Armstrong, he will hope to bring a strong end to a very solid return season. Many of the riders here will be riding La Vuelta as well, so it will be a good chance to re-awaken some legs which have been dormant several weeks.
Alexandre Vinokourov: The Kazakh is well suited to the par cours of the route, his first win of 2011?
Peter Sagan: He may not be the strongest in the Mountains, but the classified Mountain day is far from the hardest out there, and he may be able to collect bonus seconds in sprints and hilly days.
Ryder Hesjedal: Steadily improving as a rider, Ryder will look to do well in the harder days, with a strong garmin team to support him.
Jakob Fuglsang: The Leopard man has possibly the strongest team around him, with men such as Cancellara to control the pack, if he can get into teh lead, his team will be able to protect him there!
The first day of the Tour of Poland, is a flat one for the sprinters, expect to see a large group contest the finish, but we are unlikely to be involved, as we are without a major sprinter.
8 men got away after around 40km of racing. An earlier 12man break including Shy Vogel was closed down, before a second group formed around Hubert Dupont.
with 60km to go, the peloton was still 7'23 down on the break, despite not having a sprinter, we are here for the overall GC, and as there are some decent climbers in the break, we sent Taylor Phinney to pull up the pace to stop the break, not wanting to let silly miscalculations take away the race.
Phinney really showed his ability to TT, he along with one man from Quickstep, and a Garmin rider, cut 6'15 off the lead, in just 35km! Posthuma saw that the break was dying and tried to get away from the rest of the break. He never really threatened though, and with 10km to go, he was caught by the peloton.
With 5km to go, we saw another major crash, containing around 40riders. The group were fortunate not to lose any time on the leaders, but Jussi Vaikennen was forced to retire due to a broken rib sustained in the crash.
Boonen has been on fire throughout the season, 3minor classics victories, success at the RvVlandaaren, and he easily outsprinted Cavendish, Hushovd and Pozzato.
Unfortunately, the game crashed before I could export the results, so here is a brief round up of the jersey wearers at this point.
@Tmobile Cheers mate, glad you're enjoying the read! seems to be the story of this story that... always losing out by just a small margin to someone else...
Scarponi at the Giro, Sanchéz for Green, Just off the podium etc etc
The terrain is flat today, the only problem the riders are going to face is the length... At 238km long, this might be too much for some men, so expect a slightly odd top 10!
After an early break failed, 7 men including Bernardo Colex (At the back in Mexican NC) were able to breakaway and gain a large lead, with no teams interested in being the first to chase on such a long route.
At the only KOM sprint of the day, Nuyens and Colex fought for the points. Colex is a slightly stronger climber, and was able to take 3points, placing him join first in the KoM competition.
Nuyens seemed to feel the break had given him all they could as they passed the KOM, he kept up his attack, and tried to go solo. His lead was still at 3'28, but he'd been working hard all day, so he'll have a job to hang on alone!
With 10km to go, the Nuyens had been caught. Phinney had spent all day protecting Lance, and suddenly with 5.6km to ride, Lance found himself with a small gap and strong legs!
Knowing he couldn't really outsprint anyone, he had to do the damage before the final few hundred metres, he set about TTing all the way to the line, and with 400m to go... He still had a gap!
Not a day where we had any expectations, but the sprinters were just too far back from Lance to get ahead of him! A surprise Stage win, before we even get to the more favourable terrain!
The difficulty caused by the length was evidenced by how many sprinters missed the top places, with people such as Hesjedal, also making the top10!
The third stage should prove to be a much more standard sprint finish. with 7laps of a 14km Critérium to finish the 131km route.
13men made up the break today, our targets are GC and KOM here, so we avoided the break, which was easily reeled in with with 17km to go.
Fabain Cancellara has returned in order to prepare for his late season goals of the Eneco tour, and the Worlds. However, he was unfortunate today and fell losing 4'26, placing him all but out of contention here in Poland.
The sprint once again this season was not completely built from those really top end sprinters, Cavendish could only place 6th, Petacchi missed out completely, and Haussler and Hushovd, only made top 20!
The victor here was Pippo Pozzato of Katusha, he showed real power with a late sprint, to pick up a convincing win, and the leaders jersey into tomorrows stage.
(even if you let dopers off the hook 
)
