Joaquim Rodriguez took the opening prologue time trial, which took place on a short 7 kilometre climb. He came home just 0.21 seconds ahead of Esteban Chaves of Lotto, with Steve Cummings 3rd just 2 seconds back. Meanwhile Lotto's leader Alberto Contador came home in 6th just 7 seconds back on Rodriguez, in what appears is going to be a close fought battle between the pair.



Roman Kreuziger took the stage win, as well as inheriting the race lead, after he attacked in the final kilometre of the today's hilly first stage. Contador and Rodriguez came home just 14 seconds back after watching each other in the finle, meaning that Kreuziger took over the race lead by 8 seconds from Rodriguez with Contador 3rd. However Lotto also had Roman Bardet in the front group as he starts to show his grand tour potential, a podium may not be out of reach for the young French man. The early break contained Michal Schar of Lotto and Simon Gerrans of Orica, with Schar going solo with 20 kilometres to go, and only being caught on the final climb of the day.



Marcel Kittel took yet another sprint win as he seems unable to stop picking up wins in the big races. Kittel was set up perfectlet by his team with John Degenkolb pulling 5 riders away in the final bend, meaning he held onfor 3rd behind Kittel and Mark Cavendish. Meanwhile Simon Yates came home 19th after being held behind a crash with 2 kilomeres to go and easing off afterwards. He told the media, "I just didn't want to press on after all my injuries, so I'm going to take a backseat for now and see what happens later in the race, maybe a break away will be my chance for a stage.



Marcel Kittel took his second stage win in as many days as the top 3 from yesterday was replicated today, however the stage win was a lot closer. On the stage finish times it says Kittel won by 0.001, which equates to about half a centimetre. The stage was another simple affair with a break going early which contained, Geoffrey Soupe, Lloyd Mondory and Leonardo Duque. The break worked well to establish a 5 minute gap, but Giant drilled it on the front and they were caught with 15 kilometres to go.



Marcel Kittel dominated another sprint as he and John Degenkolb appear to be unbeatable when it comes to a sprint, however it was Edvald Boasson Hagen who was second. Boasson Hagen was given a near perfect lead out by teammate Linus Gerdemann, who appears to be making a return to the form that saw him lead the 2007 Tour De France. However Kittel was to strong and overhauled Boasson Hagen with just 9 metres to go, crossing the line with a tyre width advantage. Meanwhile Cavendish was moved off his line by Degenkolb, so had no chance of catching a flying Kittel.



Simon Yates writes a daily column for The Times



Today I wanted to get in the early break, as I knew \i had some good climbing legs so I wanted to have a crack at the KoM jersey, as I knew that I wouldn't have a chance for the points as I didn't want to get involved in the bunch sprints. I managed to get in a break and pick up the first KoM points, which I was happy with. The plan for the day was for Contador to get the stage and the jersey, but we knew it may be hard as the other guys are all riding well at the moment, so we wanted to have a back up plan and that was me. I managed to pick up the second KoM quite easily, which surprised me as I was climbing a lot better then I have been this year, so that puts me in a good place for my next few races. I was caught just before the final climb, but I was able to set Bertie up and he stayed with the big favourites on the climb, which was the main aim for us, but we also had Esteban and Roman up high on GC, so that puts us in a good place. I'm happy with my ride today as I showed I have good power on the climbs, and I took the KoM jersey, which was my target for today, so it couldn't of gone much better for me.



I'll admit I was a bit suprised by the break being able to stay away today, we knew that we would just take it easy and then maybe have Matteo for the finish as I don't want to get caught up in the sprints as I am just using this as a stepping stone for the Worlds. I men I'm in a good place, but I have to take into account the fact that the Worlds is on a relatively flat course, so that might not suit me, but I'll have to wait and see. I always enjoy a flat stage after a mountains stage as they are taken easy by the bunch as the favourites want to have a rest, so it's always a good time to catch up with friends. Today the main thing I was talking about was next year as me and Linus Gerdemann were talking about McLaren for next year, and I spoke to a couple of riders that I want to have on the team, but I'm not going to say who yet. I'm happy for Meersman as he doesn't get as many wins as he maybe should, and his win today was really well executed by his team. So Well Done to him!



Thomas Voeckler has always been one of my hero's, the fact he just wont give up and will always fight for everything. It's a great thing for the sport as he is so determined and just all round hard. When I saw him go in the break, and the fact we had a tailwind all the way today, I kind of knew that the break would stay away as he isn't afraid to ride as hard as possible to get the win. To be honest the thing that I was most suprised about was Nacer Bouhanni beating Kittel, as Kittel has looked super strong so far this race and he's already got 3 stage wins in only 8 stages. Tomorrow I tghink I will do something as I am a good time trialler and I hope that I can maybe get the stage win or at least a top 3.



Gutted! I am absolutely gutted with today's result. I was ahead at all the time checks but then I punctured with 7 kilometres to go, and had to change wheels, which lost me about a minute as the wheel wasn't aerodynamic as I had to have a shallow on the back. I mean if I hadn't punctured I'm pretty sure I would of won as I was 10 seconds up on Boasson Hagen at the final check point, and I was still riding strong. I'll admit I crossed the line in tears as I knew I'd lost my chance of a stage win. On the plus side Alberto put in a solid ride and took the GC lead, which is great for us as we knew he would be up there, but we didn't think he would get the jersey this early to be honest.





My plan for the day was to get in the break as I wanted to try and pick up some KoM points to defend my lead as I knew that I wouldn't get any at the finish. I managed o get second at the first KoM, and I had Tony with me to help me keep the pressure on at the front. I then managed to pick up 3rd at the second KoM, so that meant I'd extended my lead to 11 points over Rodriguez and Winner Anacona. The bunch started to chase us so I decided to sit on the back, then just before we were caught I attacked and got away on my own, as Trek decided one rider couldn't stay away alone. I managed to pick up some points on the final climb before the finish, but then on the climb to the line I was caught and passed by the favourites. The team did a great job to control Rodriguez and Martin, meaning that Contador could solo away in the final few kilometres and take a great stage win.

1	Alberto Contador	Lotto Belisol	4h52'07
2	Joaquím Rodríguez	Team Katusha	+ 17
3	Rigoberto Urán	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	+ 49
4	Roman Kreuziger	Tinkoff - Saxo	+ 1'05
5	Daniel Martin	Garmin Sharp	s.t.
6	Romain Bardet	Lotto Belisol	s.t.
7	Esteban Chaves	Lotto Belisol	+ 1'27
8	Jurgen Van den Broeck	Lotto Belisol	+ 1'52
9	Domenico Pozzovivo	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 3'46
10	Simon Spilak	Team Katusha	s.t.

So Today I managed to get in the break again, and pick up all the key KoM points, meaning I extended my lead, but Bertie was second so I wasn't to worried about that as I knew he wouldn't be racing for it. Back in the bunch nobody really wanted to work as they knew they would be giving the win to Alberto, but I was a threat on GC, as we had a gap of over 9 minutes, and I had Tony to set the tempo for me. The gap slowly started to come down but when we hit the final climb I still had a 4 minute lead, so I tried to press on to keep my gap, but it started to come down, then in the final kilometre Ivan told me Kreuziger was closing fast so I tried to press on, but he came past me with 400 metres to go and I had nothing left to give, but I was happy with Second. Meanwhile Bertie managed to cross the line for third and keep the race lead. And I'm now 6th on GC, which I can't quite believe, i mean the KoM jersey is quite solid as I have 66 points to second places 20 odd, and I'm leading the young rider, which is a surprise as I'm ahead of Roman and Esteban who are two superb climbers.



Yeah I don't have much to write today a pretty simple stage, with an expected winner. Kittel is just so much stronger than everyone else. I just sat in the bunch all day and chatted to Linus [Gerdemann ,MTN] and Tony [Gallopin], sop it was a nice easy day for me after a hard stage yesterday.

6th Overall! That's my GC placing after yesterday, I can't quite believe it I mean I'm not really a climber, but I'm in with a shout of a top 10 on GC if I ride smart. Being a GC rider has never really appealed to me, but after my injury and all the crashes and stuff it's starting to appeal to me more as I've shown here that I can climb, maybe I can't win the Tour, but I could win mountains stages and stuff if I wanted to. I think I will actually think about that as I just think it would be a great thing. I mean of course the classics can still be my main aim, but Bradley Wiggins does well in both, so why can't I. They are both hard races that need stamina, which I have. Yeah I think I will do it you know. I'm going to stop sprint training and start to try and become a stronger climber, I mean I'm young enough and I have the talent. The only thing is whether I should commit to that or just focus on the classics, as I don't want to end up spreading myself to thinly. Can you my dear fans help me? Comment below your views and I will use them to help me make my decision. What Should I Train At? Sprinting? Cobbles? Stage Racing? The Ardenne Classics? Time Trialling? Climbing? I hope you will help me as I need it know more than ever.
Thanks Guys!

Today was a disappointing stage for me, as I was hoping to get the win, as it's the kind of stage that should suit me. However when I had to make the effort I found that I didn't have anything left after a difficult few stages in the mountains. I'm happy for Rui as he's a strong rider and he hasn't had much notable success in past years. Although on the whole were happy with the result as Bertie didn't lose any time, but personally I'm a bit down trodden as I've dropped to 10th overall.

Today I wanted to get into the break as I wanted to try and get ahead for the final climb, but also to pick up some more points for the KoM. I managed to do one of those goals, as I picked up all of the KoM points I wanted to, so that extended my lead further, so I'm quite comfortable with that. But I lead onto the final climb, but Alberto wasn't far enough behind and I was caught with 10 kilometres to go. From then on I just lost time, meaning I dropped back to 16th on GC, which I guess opens the chance of stage wins, but means I don't have a chance of a top 10 on GC. The thing is though I've got to think about the season I've had so far this year, and to be honest this performance is better then anything I could hope for, I mean I think I've got the KoM jersey, and the points jersey isn't out of reach if I ride smartly and maybe a stage win can be achieved.



You know I'm happy that Dan Martin won the final big mountain top finish of the race, as he has been riding well so far this race, and I'm a bit suprised he isn';t higher up the rankings. Of course he was set up well by his team mates, who chased the break which contained Hubert Dupont and Cameron Meyer, I mean I tried to get in it, but decided against it to recover a bit before the final few hard days. Before setting Martin up so he could attack the climb, which saw him distance all the main favourites, but pushing to hard allowed Contador and Rodriguez to get back to him. So its a good stage for us as Bertie extended his lead by 30 seconds and we didn't have to do to much work for it to happen.



Before today's stage we decided that we would let the break go, so that we could save energy for the next few days, and it couldn't of worked out much better for us as the guys weren't a threat on GC, so we were able to give them a big lead of 15 minutes and they wouldn't threaten us. I always love a recoverey stage as it turned out to be as it allows me to catch up with the gossip and chat to friends. Today the main topic was Tony [Gallopin] finally signing for McLaren after a couple of days of negotiation. I'm also glad to announce that Tony Martin and Yukiya Arashiro have also joined the team, so we have a lot of strength and power for the flat stages of big races. I mean we aren't finished we still need to have a look at the climbers for Adam and the cobbles riders for me, so we aren't finished yet.





We knew that it would be likely today that the break would stay away, so we wanted to make sure we got a few guys in the break as we wanted to have a few people to drive the pace and work together to get the stage win, so we put 4 guys in the break of 20, which also contained 2 MTN, 2 Sky and 3 Orica riders, so we knew it would be likely it stayed away.I managed to get in the break, which was good for us as it meant that we had the best placed rider on GC if the gap got to big, and it grew to over 17 minutes, but as I was 20 minutes down we didn't think it would be allowed to get much bigger, but we knew that it would be likely they wouldn't catch us. On the final climb I monitored any attacks, and then on the last kilometre up to the line I went full gas, and managed to hold Dennis and Zoidl off. I'm so happy to win the stage, and with the gap it means I move up to 5th overall, which I think I can hold. Meanwhile behind Alberto lost a minute to Rodriguez, but overall we re happy with how the stage went for us.



Today was quite mixed for me, I mean I'm happy to not lose to much time, and now I can get a top 10 on GC, but I'm disappointed to have lost nearly 5 minutes to Alberto, although today was a hard stage. It's all about the next 3 stages for me, if I can win one of the time trials then I'll be happy as two stage wins, the KoM jersey and a top 10 on GC, is so much more than I could of asked for going into the race.



Today was a very difficult stage for us today as Alberto suffered a lot, but we managed to limit his losses, but it means that Uran and Rodriguez are all within 15 seconds going into the two time trial stages, but I think Uran is the main threat as he is strong in a flat TT. Personally I'm happy as I did some good work for the team and I held 7th overall going into the TT's tomorrow where I should gain time.



I'm gutted with my ride today, I should of done a lot better today than I did as I was hoping to gain time on all my rivals. I mean I've gained a small amount of time on Pozzovivo, but I hoped to gain a minute or so, and to at least get into the top 10 in the stage. However I didn't achieve that as I was even behind Dan Martin who I should of gained big time on. On the whole though the team is happy as Alberto did a superb ride and gained time on all his rivals, so he now has 38 seconds on Uran going into tomorrow, which is a short TT, so should suit him more than Uran.



Another day of disappointment for me as I lost the time I gained on Pozzovivo today, it seems I just didn't have anything left after getting in the break the other day. On he whole though I'm happy I mean 7th overall, 1st in The KoM and a win in the young rides, is unbelievable after the trouble I've been through this year, it just shows that I'm coming back in time for the worlds, which gives me hope for improvement in the coming weeks. So now its just the worlds for me as me and Adam are going to Tenerife on a training camp with Great Britain in preparation for the worlds, so we aren't able to race the Tour of Britain, which is a shame as we love the race and it's been a very good race for us.

General Classification.

1	Alberto Contador	Lotto Belisol	76h58'52
2	Rigoberto Urán	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	+ 50
3	Joaquím Rodríguez	Team Katusha	+ 1'56
4	Roman Kreuziger	Tinkoff - Saxo	+ 2'53
5	Daniel Martin	Garmin Sharp	+ 7'45
6	Domenico Pozzovivo	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 11'11
7	Simon Yates	Lotto Belisol	+ 12'41
8	Rui Costa	Lampre - Merida	+ 12'52
9	Romain Bardet	Lotto Belisol	+ 14'54
10	Simon Spilak	Team Katusha	+ 15'28

Points

1	Joaquím Rodríguez	Team Katusha	0	190
2	Edvald Boasson Hagen	MTN - Qhubeka	12	185
3	Alberto Contador	Lotto Belisol	10	175
4	Rigoberto Urán	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	0	171
5	Roman Kreuziger	Tinkoff - Saxo	9	147
6	Marcel Kittel	Team Giant - Shimano	0	144
7	Daniel Martin	Garmin Sharp	0	118
8	Mark Cavendish	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	0	99
9	Tom Dumoulin	Team Giant - Shimano	25	93
10	Simon Yates	Lotto Belisol	0	92

KoM

1	Simon Yates	Lotto Belisol	0	108
2	Joaquím Rodríguez	Team Katusha	0	38
3	Daniel Martin	Garmin Sharp	0	37
4	Alberto Contador	Lotto Belisol	0	36
5	Rigoberto Urán	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	0	35
6	Roman Kreuziger	Tinkoff - Saxo	0	23
7	Cameron Meyer	Orica GreenEdge	0	21
8	Hubert Dupont	AG2R La Mondiale	0	20
9	Cyril Gautier	Team Europcar	0	18
10	Rinaldo Nocentini	AG2R La Mondiale	0	18

Young Rider

1	Tom Dumoulin	Team Giant - Shimano	+ 11'32	+ 15'10 (7)
2	Rohan Dennis	Garmin Sharp	+ 11'35	+ 10'06 (4)
3	Luke Durbridge	Orica GreenEdge	+ 11'44	+ 1h55'56 (24)
4	Davide Formolo	Cannondale	+ 11'49	+ 10'33 (5)
5	Ion Izagirre	Movistar Team	+ 11'51	+ 17'17 (8)
6	Diego Ulissi	Lampre - Merida	+ 11'55	+ 13'21 (6)
7	Taylor Phinney	BMC Racing Team	s.t.	+ 2h44'30 (31)
8	Jesús Herrada	Movistar Team	+ 11'58	+ 38'12 (11)
9	Nelson Oliveira	Lampre - Merida	+ 12'01	+ 2h13'45 (25)
10	Simon Yates	Lotto Belisol	+ 12'05	77h11'33 (1)

Team

1	BMC Racing Team	35'11	+ 1h58'22 (12)
2	Orica GreenEdge	+ 30	+ 1h53'04 (11)
3	Team Sky	+ 31	+ 1h09'55 (4)
4	Movistar Team	+ 32	+ 1h13'52 (5)
5	Lotto Belisol	+ 37	230h40'04 (1)

I knew that coming into today that I was the big favourite as there is a lot of climbing on the course, with the last 15 kilometres being all uphill, so I knew this was my chance to win the race. At the first check Ivan told me I was 5 seconds up on Martin and Cancellara, so I backed it off a bit as I was worried about going to early. Then at the second check I was 1 second ahead of Martin, 3 ahead of Cancellara and 5 ahead of Simon, which gave me confidence as we were starting to climb to the finish. At the final time check, which was with 5 kilometres to go, I was 20 seconds up on Martin with Simon just 1 second behind, and that gave me a huge boost, as I knew I could win the race, which really spurred me on. When I crossed the line I had nothing left, I was then told I'd taken 2 minutes off the current best time of Phinney, which really surprised me. Then Martin came in and I saw my time roll past. Then it was Simon and he sprinted up to the line to finish ahead of Tony Martin. Then it was only Cancellara that could beat me and my heart was in my mouth, I was so so nervous. Then with 200 metres to go I realised I'd done it. I WAS WORLD TIME TRIAL CHAMPION! I couldn't believe it and I still can't now to be honest. It;s brilliant and for Simon to get Second as well is just awesome, truely amazing. It seems the two months of TT training paid off, and I'm just so so so happy!

1	Adam Yates	Lotto Belisol	51'41
2	Simon Yates	Lotto Belisol	+ 38
3	Tony Martin	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	+ 49
4	Tom Dumoulin	Team Giant - Shimano	+ 1'26
5	Edvald Boasson Hagen	MTN - Qhubeka	+ 1'50

Today I was quite confident about how I would do as my team couldn't be stronger and I had good form coming into the race, so I was confident I could defend my title, as the course has been changed again as the UCI weren't happy about the tram lines on the course, so they moved the course into the hills outside of Milan, which suits me a lot better. At the start the team said they would all work completely for me, which I was honoured with as they could all win it in their own right, they controlled the race well and set me up perfectly. A big thanks to Brad Wiggins who rode so hard on the climbs to shrink the group, and of course Adam who was my shepherd in the final 20 kilometres. Then with 10 kilometres to go, Dan Martin attacked, and immediately Valverde went with him, so I knew this was the time to go so I killed myself to get across, and managed to which I was happy with as I knew I could outsprint them both. We worked well together to establish the gap over the pack behind and with 5 kilometres to go we knew it wasn't going to come back together, so we started to get more tactical, and then on the final climb Dan attacked, which I knew he would as he was the worst sprinter of the group. However we worked together to bring him back, and then I was able to follow the counter attack of Valverde. Then with a kilometre to go I positioned myself on Valverde's wheel and he gave me a perfect unintended lead out, so when I went with 300 metres to go I knew I had it, and had time to celebrate a win that I am very proud of as it was a great team ride. What a way to finish off this rubbish season!

1	Simon Yates	Lotto Belisol	6h34'47
2	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team	s.t.
3	Daniel Martin	Garmin Sharp	s.t.
4	Edvald Boasson Hagen	MTN - Qhubeka	+ 26
5	Simon Gerrans	Orica GreenEdge	s.t.
6	Michal Kwiatkowski	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	s.t.
7	Rigoberto Urán	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	s.t.
8	Andrew Talansky	Garmin Sharp	s.t.
9	Robert Gesink	Belkin-Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
10	Romain Bardet	Lotto Belisol	s.t.

Today I was a bit apprehensive about how I would do as I was the first rider off from my team, which I knew would mean that I wouldn't know what the conditions were like. Although at the first check I was a good distance ahead, and from then on i just tried to ride at my own tempo and empty the tank before the finish. I managed to do that and beat the fastest time by almost 3 minutes, although only 4 riders had finished. I watched as Geraint finished behind me by a big margin, so I realised that I had put in a strong ride as he was over a minute back. Then slowly riders failed to bet my time, although I thought Pete Kennaugh was going to come lose as he was only 10 seconds down at the first time check. I'd just like to give Alfie George a quick mention as he rode for use today, so that we could have a full squad of 9, and he did an amazing ride with him coming home 5th, before dropping as the fastest guys came in. Also the young guys did a great job with a number of them coming in the top 10, but both teams showed their strength as we had the majority of the best positions and that just shows the form we have at the moment.
Adam Yates

1	Adam Yates	McLaren Honda	50'34
2	Peter Kennaugh	McLaren Honda	+ 57
3	Simon Yates	McLaren Honda	+ 1'29
4	Geraint Thomas	McLaren Honda	+ 1'36
5	Chris Froome	Team Sky	+ 1'37

So obviously I was excited about today as we are racing on the London Olympic Road race course, so that's a great moment for me as I watched them on the TV, and I just loved every second. Obviously I can't wait for the Rio Olympics later in the year, but obviously the road race course is a bit strange with a summit finish I believe, so that'll be interesting and racing with only 5 riders is another difficult thing. The plan was to get Swifty in the break and then sit back and relax. Although we'd agreed before hand that we wouldn't work with the Development team as we wanted to be fair and to make the racing more interesting, which we did so that was good. The break we knew was likely to stay away as there wasn't anyone to chase it, so we were confident that with Swifty there we could win the race. I think it's a shame that the best riders like Chris Froome didn't attend as it would have made the race a lot more interesting. However when we hit box hill we made sure of get rid of any sprinters, which just left us and the Development team, who then repeatedly attacked us meaning that me and Simon got in to a break with Alfie George, Joe Nally and Brad Dransfield, which just shows the strength they have already. Then the other riders left Pete and Teo behind meaning we were outnumbered in the front group, but I was happy as it shows that we have chosen some of the strongest young riders on the scene. Meanwhile ahead Swifty had attacked the last time up Box Hill and soloed to a great win, it's a shame that the break stayed away as it would of been good for all the development guys to get their names in the top 10.
Simon Yates

1	Ben Swift	McLaren Honda	5h54'01
2	Daniel McLay	Lotto Belisol	+ 9'40
3	James McCallum	NFTO	s.t.
4	Jonathon McEvoy	Team NetApp - Endura	s.t.
5	Jonathan Bellis	Christina Watches - Kuma	s.t.
6	Yanto Barker	Team Raleigh	s.t.
7	Luke Grivell-Mellor	Rapha Condor JLT	s.t.
8	Timothy Kennaugh	Bardiani CSF	s.t.
9	Kieran Frend	An Post - Chain Reaction	s.t.
10	George Harper	Velosure - Giordana Racing Team	s.t.

With Simon Gerrans missing the championships through injury, Michael Rogers and Rohan Dennis went into the race as favourites. However Matt Hayman attacked solo from the start, and from then on it seemed that the break would stay away to the finish as Orica didn't want to drag Rogers and Dennis back to their team mate. Meanwhile in the bunch they'd sat up giving Hayman a 25 minute lead, then Meyer attacked out the bunch bridging across to Rogers over the space of 80 kilometres. From then on McLaren were in control with Rogers and Dennis constantly counter attacking each other to tear up the field for sprinter Caleb Ewan, who was sat comfortable in the bunch. Eventually with 90 kilometres to bunch started to fade and an attack for Rogers caused him to pull away building a lead over the fading bunch. Then with 50 kilometres Dennis provided the final blow with a huge attack, which saw the bunch give up and Simon Clarke and Adam Hansen tried to go with him followed closely by Caleb Ewan, but they didn't get onto Dennis and he rode away from them. However after a puncture from Dennis the four riders came together, although Hansen and Clarke didn't want to work with the two McLaren riders who didn't want to chase their team mates up the road. On the final climb Adam Hansen slipped away for 4th, but it was Meyer who took the win after leaving Hayman with 20 kilometres to go, before Hyman died and rode in unable to speak or get off the bike. Michael Rogers rounded out the top 3. A dominant performance from McLaren. Meanwhile Dennis won the TT championships held a few days later ahead of Richie Porte of Sky and Luke Durbridge of Orica.

1	Cameron Meyer	McLaren Honda	4h44'26
2	Matthew Hayman	McLaren Honda	+ 2'35
3	Michael Rogers	McLaren Honda	+ 10'45
4	Adam Hansen	Lotto Belisol	+ 15'50
5	Caleb Ewan	McLaren Honda	+ 16'49
6	Simon Clarke	Orica GreenEdge	s.t.
7	Rohan Dennis	McLaren Honda	s.t.
8	Bernard Sulzberger	Drapac Pro Cycling	+ 17'07
9	Nathan Haas	Garmin Sharp	+ 18'22
10	Jay McCarthy	Tinkoff - Saxo	+ 19'48

With only 22 riders on a flat course it was clear that the race would be decided from a breakaway, however early on it seemed that Martin and Roche were keen to get away alone as they attacked early aiming to get a gap. However after a hectic first few miles Martin punctured and dropped back to the bunch leaving Roche ahead in a 6 man group that also contained Jack Sadler of Rapha and Aaron Buggle. the group left Roche to do all the work as they slowly built up a lead over the pack behind. Then as the bunch behind saw the gap hit 18 minutes Martin decided it was time to go and attacked solo to try and bridge the gap to the lead riders, however it appeared that it would be hopeless for the chasers as Roche was alone and riding strong. Roche seemed to be able to know that the gap wouldn't fall as the bunch pulled 2 minutes off the lead, but by then Martin was starting to suffer and the gap held. It topped off a great weekend for Nicolas Roche after he took the Time Trial ahead of Ryan Mullen and Martin a few days earlier.

The German Championships werw won by Tony Martin after attacking early, with Gerald Ciolek and Marcel Kittel suffering from a lack of team mates. The bunch was forced to realise t's fate as the gap expanded to over half an hour. Second place was taken by Pfingsten of De Rijke who tried to bridge to Martin, but never got closer than 4 minutes. 3rd place was taken by Kittel who came home over 35 minutes back on Martin. The TT championships were also taken out by the Panzerwagen, followed home by team mate Gerdemann and Marcel Kittel, who showed he still had the Time Trialling skill that took him the World Under 23 TT championships.

Joaquim Rodriguez took an impressive victory in the Spanish national Road race Championships, ahead of Alejandro Valverde and Jose Rojas. On the final climb of the day Valverde slipped away with Rodriguez, with Rodriguez winning the two up sprint for the finish. Meanwhile behind in the bunch Movistar perfectly lead out Rojas as he won easily ahead of Ion Izagirre in 4th and his team mate Ventoso in 5th. Meanwhile in the Time Trial Alberto Contador took the win ahead of Gutierrez of Movistar and Valverde also from the Movistar team. With Contadors winning margin being close to 1 minute over the flat 50 kilometre course.

Roman Bardet took the win in the French title race, after defending champion Thibaut Pinot decided not to ride the race. Bardet attacked the group of favourites with 40 kilometres to go, before bridging up to the break that contained his teammate Gallopin, behind AG2R set up Vuillermoz with Geniez oof FDJ slowly closing the gap on the final climb, but Bardet was away and gone giving him an easy win in the race. Meanwhile in the Time Trial Sylvain Chavanel triumphed ahead of Pinot and Pierre Rolland, over a flat 33 kilometre course.

Edvald Boasson Hagen Won The Norwegian Road race championships, after winning a two up sprint against Thor Hushovd, after the pair found themselves off the front of the small bunch of riders. Boasson Hagen easily won the sprint to add the title to the Time Trial title he'd taken the day before. 3rd place was taken by Alexander Kristoff, after being forced to do all the work to chase the two riders up the road.

This years Itlian championships was among the most exciting in recent history, as McLaren Honda were constantly attacking trying to make the race hard to make it easier for their sprinter Matteo Trentin. The plan worked as Trentin attacked with 35 kilometres to go, and the bunch sat up sick of constantly chasing the McLaren boys they gave Trentin a gap that he extended to 3 minutes with 15 kilometres to go. Behind his team mates were dead and rolled in a long way back. Second and third was taken by Puccio and Gatto, after a late group went away from the pack.

The first stage of the Tour Down Under, and my first proper race with the team, so I was excited, obviously I wasn't the leader as we had Adam for the GC, and Swifty for the sprints, but I was looking at maybe a stage win in Willunga. Back to today's race and we decided to let the break go early, obviously our team here is very strong as all the riders apart from me have got a win this year as we've got 6 national champions, so as you can see we've come here to win, but we knew that that would mean we had to monitor the gap and we wouldn't be able to get guys into the break, which isn't the end of the world. In the finale we tried to lead out Swifty, but he launched it to early, and Cav came round him just before the line, but 3rd is a gret result for us as Cav's train has barely changed over the years, but we have a new one, so we have to learn and adapt.



Today was a hard day in the saddle as the temperature was very high. The break went away early, but we didn't fuss and they were caught with 15 kilometre. Then in the final kilometre Veelers perfectly placed Kittel going into the final few metres, so there was nothing we could do to respond. Although we're happy to get 3rd with ben, and I think if we get the lead out right he can get the win. Tomorrow is going to be another hard day as it's a mountain top finish, so hopefully Simon will be able to get the win like we hope he can.





So today was the big day, where hopefully Adam would take the race by the scruff of the neck. We managed to put Arashiro in the break, whcih meant we didn't have to chase unless we wanted to, so we could save our guys for the final climb, where we aimed to break up the race completely. On the final climb of the day we set a hard tempo for a few kilometres and then Adam attacked and rode away from everyone, the favourites started to ride away, and I was surprised to find I was able to stay with them as the climb wasn't as hard as we were expecting. Ahead Adam was riding away from us, as the favourites weren't working together completely, meaning he could ride away when they eased up. Then in the final kilometre I gave it everything to stay with them, and managed to get 4th on the stage meaning I moved up to second on GC, which I was very happy with as I could never of expected that result.

Today was a hard day as Omega Pharma wanted to control the break completely, so they never gave them more than 2 minutes, and they were caught with 50 kilometres to go. Then Tony [Martin] countered and rode away for the next few kilometres, but he was caught with 15 kilometres to go. Then in the sprint Swifty went a little to early and was swamped by the fast men, although I'm happy for Andre as he suffered a bit over the last few weeks of last year, so it's good to see him back at the top.




Today we knew would be a day for the break., but we didn't have anything we could do as we had our best climbers at the top of the GC, so we knew that the stage was probably out of reach. On the final climb the break still had a one minute gap, so we knew it was unrealistic we'd catch them, but I went full on and got close, but not quite close enough, but I showed I had good legs, which is a good sign for my target races. Also we managed to gain time on all our GC rivals, meaning Nico moved up to 4th and Cam (Meyer) moved up to 3rd as Talansky lost almost a minute on us, as he struggled on the climb.



Today we were all tired after the big effort yesterday, but it was all worth it as we got the result we'd wanted. Cav took the stage today, after OPQS did a lot of work early on to set him up. Swifty managed to get a top 10 which was good as we weren't able to position him correctly in the sprint. But for me I'm over the moon to get second on GC, and to be up there on the summit finish, even though it wasn't as steep as we expected, was a great confidence boost as I'm riding well and the season only just started.

I'm kind of glad we're riding this race as the stages are a lot more interesting as there is a lot more climbing and there is going to be more of the big favourites here as although the weather would be better in Langkawi, I'm confident we will get a better benefit from riding here. Today was quite a simple race really a short Team Time Trial to kick off the race, before the race we talked about the fact that we wanted to get the win, but I didn't want to take the jersey, so we decided to let Simon or Mikel [Nieve] take the jersey, so that would mean them crossing the line first. We managed to get Mikel to the front and he took the jersey as we took the win. Of course the development team have got a ride here, so I'm looking forward to seeing how they do as they've trained hard for this race, and I think they could get a top 10 on GC, if not a top 5 with Joe Nally or Stephen Dent.





Some how today we managed to get Rohan in the break, which surprised us as we didn't think the bunch would lets us get a guy in the break, but he was able to ride away and then pick up the KoM points, which was good for us. On the final climb we'd planned to ride as hard as we could to shrink the group and to hurt the other favourites, but we didn't want to close up to Rohan, but he told us to do it anyways, so we did. We hit the pace hard and with 10 kilometres to go I made my move, but I was followed by Valverde, Uran and Dayer Quintana, as well as a few others, but I decided that I wouldn't work with them as I was already ahead of them on GC, so in the final kilometre I had the strength to go for it, and I managed to get the stage win as well as the leaders jersey. So yeah I'm happy. I'd also just like to say a quick well done to the development team, who managed to get a rider in the top 10, which is a great result for them, and they'll only get stronger. I mean they got 3rd on the team prize ahead of Sky, so it just shows that they are some of the best young riders out there.