wow... your reports and the captures are impressive! I had not seen anything equal! My congratulations.
Certainly it has not been a big day for your team, but I believe that the Skil performance in this first week has been quite good with Kittel there ahead.
@all: Thanx @fcancellara: Extra thanks for that. Already added.
Alongside the Tour, we've also been racing in Austria, and the mountainous Östtereich Rundfahrt. Since the country is situated in the middle of the Alps, the race is as I said often won by a climber, using the mountain stages to seal the overall. The real life 2011 edition was won by the best rider in the world, a.k.a. Fredrik Kessiakoff.
A top shape Geschke decided to duck the Tour in favour for this. He'll have a shot at the GC, which shouldn't be impossible to do well in, thanks to a weak startlist. Fröhlinger, Doi and French champion Sprick will help him out, while Kluge will be one of the top favourites on the flat stages.
03.07 - 10.07: International Österreich Rundfahrt
Stage 1
Dornbirn - Götzis
A short sprint stage to kick things off. Kluge gets a first chance to try his legs in the slightly uphill sprint, while Geschke will be trying to stay on his bike and save energy for tomorrow's climb of the Horn.
It turned out to be an easy victory for us, as Kluge showed who's boss by dominating the mass sprint. HTC's Rasmussen and very surprisingly Albasini rounded off the podium. The latter of those looking good for the overall.
Relatively easy for most of the day, but the final climb up to the Kitzbüheler Horn will make sure that gaps will appear, thanks to it's 12% average gradient. The favourites will have to pay attention, since this is the best opportunity to seal up overall victory.
Recently crowned German champ Geschke proved to be without opposition on the final climb and could cross the line solo, taking over the race lead as well. Fröhlinger made it a double by beating Albasini in the sprint for second, while Doi and Sprick also finishing inside the ten.
Result:
1
Simon Geschke
Skil - Shimano
3h54'51
2
Johannes Fröhlinger
Skil - Shimano
+ 1'23
3
Michael Albasini
HTC - Highroad
s.t.
4
Yukihiro Doi
Skil - Shimano
+ 1'57
5
Marek Rutkiewicz
CCC Polsat Polkowice
+ 2'13
6
Stefan Schumacher
Miche - Guerciotti
+ 2'55
7
Mathieu Sprick
Skil - Shimano
+ 3'32
8
Pedro Merino
Miche - Guerciotti
+ 3'45
9
Craig Lewis
HTC - Highroad
+ 4'29
10
Sergej Fuchs
Nutrixxion Sparkasse
+ 5'00
Stage 3
Kitzbühel - Prägraten
The race continues to be very hard with another mountainous stage, finishing in the small town of Prägraten after a hard climb. The final kilometres flattens out a bit though, so a group sprint is more likely here.
We were once again unchallenged in the final and Geschke picked up his second straight stage win ahead of Fröhlinger, who completed another one-two. The other favourites were given the same time, even though there was a a gap.
Result:
1
Simon Geschke
Skil - Shimano
4h44'58
2
Johannes Fröhlinger
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
3
Michael Albasini
HTC - Highroad
s.t.
4
Marek Rutkiewicz
CCC Polsat Polkowice
s.t.
5
Stefan Schumacher
Miche - Guerciotti
s.t.
6
Pedro Merino
Miche - Guerciotti
s.t.
7
Craig Lewis
HTC - Highroad
s.t.
8
Yukihiro Doi
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
9
Constantino Zaballa
Miche - Guerciotti
+ 48
10
Martin Velits
HTC - Highroad
s.t.
Stage 4
Matrei in Osttirol - St. Johann / Alpendorf
Stage four provided the longest stage of the race, and also another mountain one. No top finish though, but a two kilometre kickup in the final. A good opportunity for a breakaway.
The favourites arrived together in a small group, with CCC's Rutkiewicz being the fastest in to the line, beating Albasini and Geschke by a small margin. A moment of distraction costed us a 4/4 here.
Result:
1
Marek Rutkiewicz
CCC Polsat - Polkowice
5h46'56
2
Michael Albasini
HTC - Highroad
s.t.
3
Simon Geschke
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
4
Stefan Schumacher
Miche - Guerciotti
s.t.
5
Johannes Fröhlinger
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
6
Constantino Zaballa
Miche - Guerciotti
+ 16
7
Pedro Merino
Miche - Guerciotti
s.t.
8
Mathieu Sprick
Skil - Shimano
s.t.
9
Craig Lewis
HTC - Highroad
s.t.
10
Caleb Fairly
HTC - Highroad
+ 49
Stage 5
St. Johann / Alpendorf - Schladming
After three days of hard racing in the mountains, we finally have a stage for the sprinters again. No difficulties at all during the day, so a mass sprint is heavily expected.
A breakaway spoiled the party for the sprinters though, and Concordia's super talent Sebastian Lander grabbed a prestigious stage win out of the sprint. The big pack crossed the line over four minutes later.
Result:
1
Sebastian Lander
Team Concordia Forsakring
3h54'55
2
Eric Baumann
Team NetApp
s.t.
3
Ramon Sinkeldam
Rabobank Continental Team
s.t.
4
Lilian Pommier
Atlas Personal
s.t.
5
Piotr Sztobryn
Bank BGZ
s.t.
6
Glenn Bak
Team EnergiFyn
s.t.
7
Adrian Gjolberg
Joker Merida
s.t.
8
Johan Ziesler
Team Österhus - Ridley
s.t.
9
Jiri Hudecek
PSK Whirlpool - Author
s.t.
10
Guytan Lillholt
Team Christina Watches - Onfone
s.t.
...
11
Simon Geschke
Skil - Shimano
+ 4'26
Stage 6
Hainburg - Bruck
The sprinter party continues with another flat stage.
No mass sprint today either though, as the break stayed clear again. This time to the liking of Matic Strgar (Vorarlberg), who managed to beat Pelle Clapp (Christina) and Christer Rake (Joker Merida) to the line.
More important news was that a crash happened in the peloton in the final kilometres. Many riders got tangled up and lost time. Fortunately no Skil riders, but among others GC 3rd Michael Albasini got caught behind and dropped down in the overall standings.
Result:
1
Matic Strgar
Team Vorarlberg
3h22'29
2
Pelle Clapp
Christina Watches - Onfone
s.t.
3
Christer Rake
Joker Merida
s.t.
4
Lilian Pommier
Atlas Personal
s.t.
5
Jasper Bovenhuis
Rabobank Continental Team
s.t.
6
Rafal Ratajczyk
CCC Polsat Polkowice
s.t.
7
Luc Hagenaars
Team Eddy Merckx - Indeland
s.t.
8
Andreas Frisch
Team Concordia Forsikring – Himmerland
s.t.
9
Benjamin Sydlik
Nutrixxion Sparkasse
s.t.
10
Blaz Jarc
Adria Mobil
s.t.
...
16
Roger Kluge
Skil - Shimano
+ 4'41
Stage 7
Podersdorf am Neusiedlersee (ITT)
Since we've finished the mountains, all that's left for the GC contenders to shake up the overall is a longish time trial. Still probably not long enough to create any serious time gaps though, and the overall probably won't change much.
Danish time trial champion Alex Rasmussen took revenge for his second place on stage one by easily clocking the best time, winning the stage with his team mate Bert Grabsch making it a one-two HTC. Geschke limited his losses well enough to stay on top of the rankings.
Result:
1
Alex Rasmussen
HTC - Highroad
39'32
2
Bert Grabsch
HTC - Highroad
+ 24
3
Sergej Fuchs
Nutrixxion Sparkasse
+ 26
4
Stefan Schumacher
Miche - Guerciotti
+ 50
5
Patrick Gretsch
HTC - Highroad
+ 1'13
6
Rasmus Quaade
Team Concordia Forsikring – Himmerland
+ 1'34
7
Jesús Del Nero
Team NetApp
s.t.
8
Craig Lewis
HTC - Highroad
+ 1'35
9
Matthew Brammeier
HTC - Highroad
+ 1'41
10
Roger Kluge
Skil - Shimano
+ 1'42
Stage 8
Podersdorf am Neusiedlersee - Wien
A final celebration stage, where Geschke can have some champagne after his brilliant overall performance. At the finish we're expecting a mass sprint, but nothing is sure after the two successful breakaways.
The break didn't stand a chance today and it all came down to a final mass sprint inside the streets of Wien. Roger Kluge once again showed who's the fastest in this peloton by taking another superior sprint victory ahead of two surprises, GC riders Albasini and Schumacher. Geschke ended his excellent Austria Tour with a great 5th place, wrapping up the overall glory.
Very impressive Österreich Rundfahrt by Skil! And the fact that you won even the last stage (which is on my home soil) made it a lot better! Imagine me as the first guy at the second row at the spectator's place cheering at Roger! And then kindly asking for a photograph
We're back on the flat after the two harder stages in the Massif Central, ready to take on one of the shortest stages in this Tour. The 144 kilometre trip from Aurillac to Carmaux might be classified as a flat one, but it's a lot harder than many people think. A good day for a breakaway I'd say.
Ten riders in the early breakaway, with three being Skil's. Huguet for the KoM's, Timmer for a possible stage win and Hupond as helper. Some of the other names in the group were Boom (Rabobank), Chavanel (Quickstep) and Malori (Lampre).
Huguet destroyed the group completely up the penultimate climb, collecting KoM points while helping a very strong Timmer (+5). Young Italian Adriano Malori caught the train as well, while the other escapees got dropped.
Timmer took over from Huguet on the day's final climb, setting a high pace. Huguet was empty and dropped immediately, but Malori managed to glue himself onto Timmer's wheel.
A big surprise then, as Andy Schleck countered an attack from Spanish champion Rodriguez near the top of the same climb. Shouldn't he be saving energy for more decisive stages?
At the front Timmer started to gap Malori slightly... in a descent! The Italian must have been completely out of energy if he can't even follow downhill. Timmer on his way to a stage win?
Yes! Malori wasn't able to close the small gap between himself and the Dutchman, allowing Timmer to cruise home on the streets in Carmaux, taking the biggest win of his career and also our first stage win in this Tour.
Malori collapsed completely after letting Timmer go and finished over a minute behind his former breakaway companion. Still a very good result for the promising youngster.
Huguet then made our day even better after managing to recover after being dropped, saving a great third place just ahead of the closing trio Schleck, Rodriguez and Voeckler.
Luckily for the other favourites, a close sprint between Goss and Hushovd reduced group Schleck's advantage enough to give the peloton the same time as them. I'm sure Andy wasn't happy with that.
Thanks a lot everyone. Really appreciated. And yes, our sponsors are very happy, seeing we've completed the most important season goal.
13.07.2011: Tour de France
Stage 11
Blaye-les-Mines - Lavaur
*Gasp* Bring on the mountains.
Again a big breakaway on the move early in the stage. Firm H&H once again in there, with Huguet aiming for the KoM lead. Other notable names were: Nuyens (Saxobank), Quinziato (BMC) and Loosli (Lampre).
Huguet accomplished his goal today and showed his happiness when he won the day's first KoM, provisionally overtaking Cyril Gautier in the Polkadot classification.
No breakaway stage win today though, as HTC and Garmin brought it all back together in the final kilometres, setting up Goss and Farrar for the final sprint. The Skil train also in good position.
We tried to challenge the HTC and Garmin trains as we closed in on the finish line, but Curvers couldn't really match the more experienced leadout man like Vansummeren and Eisel, and we got caught a little bit behind.
Van Hummel was on a good day though, and he moved Kittel back into contention with a really strong leadout, blowing past HTC, with Degenkolb and Goss at the front.
Kittel didn't stand a chance anyway, and got blown away as the other sprinters kicked off under the Flamme Rouge. Tomas Vaitkus surprised everyone by edging out Goss to the line, picking up Astana's first stage win in this Tour. Kittel crossed the line as 9th.
for you 
hehe
