wow two stage wins in a row - thats great ... so the last mountain stage is coming up lets see what will happen there hopefully dominik can keep up for a long time
The last mountain stage is up today. It's the last chance for weaker time trialists to make up some time. Again, the pack climbs up the Col du Tourmalet, but this time, the finish is on it's top.
Km 2: The first attacks start and Sylvester Szmyd is among the escapees.
Km 18: But the first group is caught again.
Km 34: A group of 12, including Szmyd is a bit more than a minute in front...
Km 51: 10 riders are 3 minutes in front now. Szmyd is there as well as for example Danish champion Matti Breschel.
Km 66: Yaroslaw Popovych attacks and creates a gap.
Km 88: The pack starts its chase and the advance is slowly decreasing. It's at 6'30 now, with 56 km to go.
Km 95:Popovych catches up with the original break.
Km 107: On the last descent, Sylvain Chavanel and Popovych got loose from the other escapees. The pack is down by 3 minutes.
Km 123: With Matti Breschel being caught, Samuel Sanchez tries an early attack. We're still on the flat parts of the stage.
Km 128: With still 17km to go, Vande Velde, Anton and Fränk Schleck attack as well.
Km 131: Sammy Sanchez reaches the front group, who are a little more than a minute in front.
Km 135: The pack enters the Col du Tourmalet. Igor Anton and Robert Gesink are in the lead, already with 1'45.
Km 139: Basso leads the chase in the pack. In front of him is only Tony Martin and the leading duo. 6 km to go!
Km 140: Now, Contador attacks as well. Basso stays calm.
Km 140: Due to Basso's efforts, the pack splits, and Dominik, who rode very well until now, finds himself in the second group.
Km 142: Basso is incredible and keeps bringing everyone back. Only Anton, Gesink and Contador are in front, and the Euskaltel rider attacks for the stage win!
Km 144: Anton or Contador, who will win?
Km 145: Contador takes his next stage win...
Km 145: … while Basso pays the tribute for his efforts and loses a bit time on Andy Schleck, Jurgen Van den Broeck and Andreas Klöden.
Km 145: Nerz rides a strong race and loses only a bit more than five minutes on this hard climb!
Who should stop this guy? Alberto Contador will win this Tour de France.
Result
1
Alberto Contador
Saxo Bank - Sungard
4h09'38
2
Igor Antón
Euskaltel - Euskadi
s.t.
3
Robert Gesink
Rabobank
+ 18
4
Andy Schleck
Leopard - Trek
+ 52
5
Andreas Klöden
Team RadioShack
+ 1'02
6
Jurgen Van den Broeck
Omega Pharma - Lotto
s.t.
7
Ivan Basso
Liquigas - Cannondale
+ 1'20
8
Roman Kreuziger
Astana
s.t.
9
Alexandre Vinokourov
Astana
s.t.
10
Cadel Evans
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
...
52
Dominik Nerz
Liquigas - Cannondale
+ 5'44
General Classification
1
Alberto Contador
Saxo Bank - Sungard
79h51'57
2
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 4'10
3
Ivan Basso
Liquigas - Cannondale
+ 4'34
4
Robert Gesink
Rabobank
+ 6'05
5
Michele Scarponi
Lampre - ISD
+ 6'58
6
Fränk Schleck
Leopard - Trek
+ 8'00
7
Igor Antón
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 8'26
8
Andy Schleck
Leopard - Trek
+ 9'36
9
Michael Rogers
Sky ProCycling
+ 9'54
10
Jurgen Van den Broeck
Omega Pharma - Lotto
+ 10'19
...
50
Dominik Nerz
Liquigas - Cannondale
+ 40'42
Points Classification
1
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Sky ProCycling
189
2
Alberto Contador
Saxo Bank - Sungard
175
3
Tom Boonen
Quick·Step
167
4
Mark Cavendish
HTC - Highroad
164
5
Ivan Basso
Liquigas - Cannondale
152
Mountain Classification
1
Alberto Contador
Saxo Bank - Sungard
177
2
Igor Antón
Euskaltel - Euskadi
122
3
Ivan Basso
Liquigas - Cannondale
102
4
Andy Schleck
Leopard - Trek
94
5
Robert Gesink
Rabobank
84
Young Riders Classification
1
Robert Gesink
Rabobank
79h58'02
2
Roman Kreuziger
Astana
+ 9'52
3
Robert Kiserlovski
Astana
+ 14'28
4
Romain Sicard
Euskaltel – Euskadi
+ 20'50
5
Guillaume Bonnafond
AG2R La Mondiale
+ 22'57
...
9
Dominik Nerz
Liquigas – Cannondale
+ 34'37
Team Classification
1
Euskaltel - Eukadi
.
240h06'08
2
Leopard – Trek
.
+ 3
3
Team RadioShack
.
+ 10'27
Dominik's Comment:
Hell yeah! The mountains are over! Only three flat stages are left, then we're in Paris!
And we seem to achieve our main goal. Ivan Basso shouldn't lose his podium spot anymore, which is great! And I had a good day as well, and am still in the Top 50. Maybe I can keep that, which would be a nice result.
Tomorrow, the sprinters should be in the center of attention again.
yea you cracked the top50 + you are again in the top10 of the young riders - this would be a nice result in paris hopefully you can keep that but there is still a time trial coming up, isnt there?
We're back on sprinter's terrain. The stage to the wine growing town of Bordeaux should end in a mass sprint, but remember the flat stages between the Alps and the Pyrenees: Breakaways won there.
Km 1: Thomas Voeckler, the old and new French champion shows his jersey and attacks. Dominik Nerz follows!
Km 12: While Dominik, Voeckler and O'Grady are 1'30 in front, the attacks from the pack keep coming.
Km 23: The three riders have an advance of four minutes to the pack. Two minutes behind them are Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) and Cyril Dessel (Ag2r).
Km 50: The advance is growing fast and is now at 8 minutes. The two followers are still two minutes behind the leaders.
Km 65: 10 minutes now, with 110 km to go.
Km 86: Under the lead of Garmin, Quick·Step and HTC, the advance starts to melt.
Km 100:Voeckler starts another attack to increase the pace in the front group. Only O'Grady is able to follow.
Km 120: Nerz got caught by Dessel and Hoogerland, the leading duo is three minutes in front of them and five minutes in front of the pack.
Km 126: A horribly tired looking Dominik is swept up by the bunch.
Km 134: And soon loses contact with the pack. 40 long and hard kilometers await him.
Km 154: Everything is back together now.
Km 171: During the sprint preparations, the worst case scenario happens for Mark Cavendish. The British crashes and probably loses all his chances for green.
Km 172: Meanwhile, RadioShack leads out Thor Hushovd. Boasson Hagen is a bit behind.
Km 173: The sprint begins, and Hunter, Duque and Pozzato are in the front row. Yukiya Arashiro (Europcar) has the Italian's wheel.
Km 174: Entering the last kilometer, Pozzato is still in front with the Japanese following him!
Km 175: And Arashiro isn't able to use the slipstream. Pozzato wins! Boasson Hagen cannot make use of Cavendish's crash and finishes 30th.
Km 175: 15 minutes later, a completely empty Dominik Nerz finishes.
Who would have thought that Filippo Pozzato won a mass sprint here in the Tour de France?
Did I say something about the Top 50 yesterday? I think I can forget about that. But hey, who cares? It was more important for both me and the team to be present in a break again, and the chance of another good stage result is more important than a Top 50.
Tomorrow, we have the time trial, and then we hit Paris!
By the way: I have two questions regarding the transfers:
First of all, how do you want me to present the transfers of Liquigas? Step by Step or all at once? An then rather at the end of the season?
Second is, tbh, not really a question but more a statement: I will make some changes in the transfers manually. Because I don't want to see Danilo Di Luca at Euskaltel, neither Geraint Thomas at MTN - Qhubeka. Do you agree?
About the transfers: Totally agree about Di Luca and Thomas. As long as you don't change every transfer, it's definitely okay. I did this by myself in my story, too... and I prefer the presentation of transfers step by step, but it's up to you
ohhh too bad you lost the top 50 but nice to see dominik in the break again
i would like a step by step presentation too - but dont wait til the end of the season because i m curious about the new riders for liquigas
ohhh too bad you lost the top 50 but nice to see dominik in the break again
i would like a step by step presentation too - but dont wait til the end of the season because i m curious about the new riders for liquigas
tsmoha wrote:
About the transfers: Totally agree about Di Luca and Thomas. As long as you don't change every transfer, it's definitely okay. I did this by myself in my story, too... and I prefer the presentation of transfers step by step, but it's up to you
Yeah I'm doing this in my story too. Its something I feel I have to do to make the career more enjoyable.
Also it really depends what you want to do. For my story I decided to announce the Free Agent signings, but the team to team transfers will wait till the end of the season.
Thanks to this story, I began liking Dominik Nerz as a cyclist, wondering what he can do IRL.
As for the transfers, I think you should present it step by step. I think it's the best way to do it. And you're right about Di Luca/Thomas, I always do some changes when I think they're unrealistic.
@ tsmoha, alexanderlens & Valverde321: Ok, I think I'll do it step by step then. Thinking about it, it's also more realistic, as the "real" teams announce their transfers when they're signed as well, and not at the end of the season.
@ johannes-w: I thought about it, but figured that being in the top 10 or 5 once again is more desirable than being in the top 50. Sure, eventually, I got neither one nor the other, but I don't regret the try
@ FreitasPCM: What more can a story-teller wish for, than to arouse real interest? Glad about that, and thanks for the huge compliment!
In general, I think you can expect some really good transfers, I hope you like them. I was uncertain whether they might be too good, but eventually, I thought the team could do with a little improvement, and the transfers aren't that superior. Plus, I took care of them being realistic in terms of nationality. So stay tuned, I'll announce them probably between the Tour and the Vuelta then
Oh, and a fun fact on the sidelines: I write everything firstly on Word before I post it here (mostly because I'm a lot further in the game than here), and I reached page 250 now Probably a joke compared with tsmoha's or roturn's story, but I felt like sharing it with you^^
Today, the general classification will be fixed. The Top three seem to be clear already, but the rest of the Top 10 is relatively close, and 51 km can produce large time gaps. Also, strong time trialists like Christian Vande Velde (11), Levi Leipheimer (12) and Alexandre Vinokourov (13) are only shortly outside the Top 10, and will try everything to ameliorate.
10:00: Timothy Duggan has been holding the Lanterne Rouge for quite a long time now and is the first starter today.
11:21: Baden Cooke (Saxo Bank) sets a first good time to beat. 1h15'03
12:15: Tom Boonen crushes all former times. 1h13'37
12:47: Dominik Nerz starts the race.
12:58: World time trial champion Fabian Cancellara is on his way. Let's see how good he could recover from the mountains.
13:18: On the first checkpoint, Dominik is provisional 31st, 3'25 behind Tony Martin, who is still on his way.
13:27: Gustav Erik Larsson (Saxo Bank) sets a new best time, four seconds in front of Boonen. 1h13'33
13:48: Second checkpoint for Dominik: Almost seven minute behind Martin.
13:59: New best time by Lance Armstrong. 1h13'04
14:01: This is the time to beat for the moment: Tony Martin comes in, more than 3 minutes faster than Armstrong. 1h09'48
14:03: Dominik could see his team mate Sylvester Szmyd, who started in front of him, when he finished. Provisional 34th, a good time. 1h17'12
14:06: Tony Martin didn't hold the best time for long. Fabian Cancellara underlines his ambitions on the stage win with a great time. 1h08'25
15:34: The Top 10 are about to start now! Vande Velde is on his way.
15:50: Ivan Basso starts the race.
15:53: Richie Porte comes in provisional third, 2'09 behind Cancellara. 1h10'34
16:23: Alberto Contador takes the second best time on the first checkpoint, 11 seconds behind Cancellara.
16:28: Sammy Sanchez rides a great time trial and catches up with Basso.
16:32: Levi Leipheimer is even faster than Tony Martin, and lowers his time by 5 seconds. 1h09'43
16:34: Even Contador overtakes Basso now...
16:46: Contador is only 8 seconds behind Cancellara on the second checkpoint.
17:02: Contador overtook Sanchez as well, but won't take the stage win today. He is 13 seconds slower than Cancellara. 1h08'38
17:04: As the last rider, Ivan Basso enters the finish. He ends up 35th, which is enough to keep his third overall. 1h14'06
Fabian Cancellara again proved to be the best time trialist around.
Well, not much to say for us. A favorite's win, and Basso kept his 3rd.
But apart from that, there were quite a lot of changes in the Top 10. Fränk Schleck fell from 6 to 13, Anton from 7 to 12! Christian Vande Velde climbed from 11 to 6, Leipheimer from 13 to 7. That shows how close the Top 15 were together.
Tomorrow, the last decision of this Tour will be made: Boasson Hagen will try to defend the green jersey.
See you,
Dominik
Edited by cunego59 on 05-08-2011 11:19
looks like a good first Tour for Nerz 
