Sobal will try to solidate his lead in the mountains jersey, which has gone unthreatened so far.
The flat stage will undoubtedly see a sprint finish, but will Drujon actually be able to sprint at all? That was the big question.
Sobal, like planned, gets in the big break of the day, and manages to take 2nd place on the first climb due to Astana wanting the jersey.
With 11 riders in the break, it looked like it could almost go the whole way, but with attacks from inside the break with 30km remaining, the bunch started to haul them back in very fast. Sobal couldn't score on the final climb, but still leads at the end of the day.
With 2km remaining, Drujon had run out of blue bar, and was last seen hovering near the back of the bunch, whilst Vaugrenard, the in-form time trialist, was seen nearer the front. An inopportune drink however ruined his chances of a top 20 finish.
CSC were leading out OGrady, whilst Rojas was on the other side of the road. By the finish, Haussler had come from nearly no-where to win by a big margin.
KoM:
1 Yauhen Sobal AUBER - BELTELECOM 20
2 Igor Abakoumov TEAM ASTANA 15
3 Samuel Sánchez COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE 12
4 Thierry Marichal FRANÇAISE DES JEUX 11
5 Laurens Ten Dam UNIBET.COM 8
Our hopes for our first pro tour point would come today in stage 6, as a flat ITT would allow Vaugrenard, in some good form, a running shot at a top 3 place.
Vaugrenard in his splendid National Champs jersey wasn't doing too well at the first check, ending up at 10th overall, at the second he improved by a place, but by the finish he was leading! Until an in form Hoste came through, and a Hincapie, and others.
The team was happy to get a good placing in a pro tour event, but clearly disappointed to be so close, and yet so far from a podium.
The Sprinters Classic. Will it be won by a sprinter, or will someone like Cancellara surprise the fast men and go for a long shot?
The team being sent today will be mostly the classics riders, and a few looking for more experience before leaving the team at the end of the year, or being kicked out.
The team will be built around Gaudin and Drujon in a hope that one of them can at least survive in the pack until the end, but with some vicious climbs near the finale, we suspected that neither would be able to hack it up front.
A break finally went of 5 riders, but was caught after only 100km out in front.
Some other riders countered, and only Breschel and Paolini managed to get away.
On the Poggio, Gaudin was the last Auber rider to let go, and he couldnt hang in a chase group either.
At the finish, Paolini took the win over Breschel, who was lucky not to get caught as he sat up.
Boonen would be mad at his team as he took the bunch sprint.
Well, at the last race entered by the Classics squad, Auber dominated. Finishing with 4 riders in the top 10, with Gaudin taking 2nd overall, Malacarne 3rd and Valentin 4th, the 2.2 tour of some French place was a success. Not only did the team net some valuable winnings in cash, but Gaudin went from unhappy to over the moon, all very much vital in the buildup to the cobbled 3. And what a week it will be. This very week could well be the difference between the team staying up, and going down from the pro tour. With our main leader being Damien Gaudin, the team would be gunning 100% for him to do something here.
Ronde Van Vlaanderen
Previously won by Cancellara over Ballan and Flecha last year.
This year, Cancellara isn't here to defend his win. An interesting tactic by CSC as he was obviously in form, winning another minor cobble race a few days earlier.
Ballan will be here, as will Flecha, and both appear to be in flying form, either showing their colours at Milano San Remo, or in other lesser races.
Auber - Beltelekom will be eager to show their guts today as the team is headed by Damien Gaudin. Having previously won an espoirs event of the Paris - Roubaix, he is at home in the cobbled world of the tough men. With 75 stamina, cobbled, 73 flat, he is looking for a top 10 on a good day. But with only 69 resistance, he could be looking a year too early. With a fitness of 97 however, he is clearly psyched up for this week.
The remainder of the team will be here for protection, and experience.
Davide Malacarne, an Italian with a liking for flat, windy and cobbled territory will provide quality protection. Along with Tristan Valentin, Sebastian Minard and Renald Pioline, who all have 91 fitness, they should be able to protect Damien long into the race. Other riders, here for experience include Steve Chainel, Jeremie Galland, and for his first race of the season, Gerald Ciolek.
Our signing for the year from the amateur ranks, Jonas Decouttere, injured himself in a fall in another minor race this past month, and won't be able to compete this year in the classics. Instead, he will be off to the Giro later on, or if he's still not upto par by then, the Vuelta.
So off the race starts, in dry conditions, with a slight wind ~ 20-25kmph
A break of 11 finally escapes the bunch, and gets the gap upto a lead of 5 minutes where it hovers for a while, before dropping just as steadily as it rose.
Bernhard Eisel encounters early problems as he punctures, but is more fortunate than Wyss of Liquigas, who falls twice, gets three punctures, and still manages to finish well!
Well into the race, and the break has been caught. As the race starts going over the short sharp bergs, the peloton starts to split up under the pressure of the big teams.
Damien finds himself still in with a shout until he slips backwards. Mainly due to bad recovery on the downhill, as unlike many riders, he fears falling on the sharp descents.
Before long, groups form on the roads, with Damien ending up in E7 along with Malacarne. Davide attempts to pull back the gaps, but even on +4 daily form, 91 fitness and full blue bar, gets nowhere.
Up front, Gilbert initiates the attacks, and it appears only Hoste and Flecha can go with him.
Later, Ballan also tries to counter, but never makes it. He does succeed in getting away with Pozzato, but can't quite make it to the front.
It is clear to see, that with less than 12km remaining, the winner would be from these three up front. Boonen, relying too heavily on an inadequate, and split, team, never sees the front.
Gilbert nigh on relays the two riders to the finish, and nearly holds off Hoste for the win, before Leif shoots past in the dying 500m
Gaudin tried to sneak away from the group he was with, but ended up loosing 5 more places in the process.
The Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco starts today, and to be honest without any hilly riders, the team is kinda screwed. So we are using it only for experience. The only slightly good rider on the hills is Vasil Kiryienka, but his form isn't too great as the plan was to save him for later on in the season.
As such, the reports will be even more sparse than normal (is that possible i hear you ask!? - yes it is)
Stage 1
Brouzes went in the break, got enough points to tie the KoM, and was put in 2nd place.
Valverde attacked late on the final climb and shot past the previous break of favourites. He won with a clear advantage over the next group, but who took 2nd?
Results:
1 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 4h06'58
2 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM + 20
3 Juanjo Cobo RABOBANK s.t.
4 Laurens Ten Dam UNIBET.COM s.t.
5 Fränk Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
6 Samuel Sánchez COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
7 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER s.t.
8 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
9 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
10 Damiano Cunego T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
11 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC + 56
12 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS s.t.
13 Laurent Lefèvre TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
14 Egoi MartÃnez TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
15 Marco Marzano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
54 Vasil Kiryienka AUBER - BELTELECOM s.t.
GC:
1 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 7h52'37
2 Juanjo Cobo RABOBANK + 20
3 Fränk Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
4 Laurens Ten Dam UNIBET.COM s.t.
5 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
6 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
7 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
8 Samuel Sánchez COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
9 Damiano Cunego T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
10 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER s.t.
11 Leonardo Bertagnolli LIQUIGAS + 56
12 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC s.t.
13 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
14 Stefan Schumacher TEAM ASTANA s.t.
15 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS s.t.
63 Vasil Kiryienka AUBER - BELTELECOM s.t.
The second of the cobbled classics. With Damien Gaudin now at 99 fitness, if he still can't get something, the team will be slightly miffed.
The team will be indentical to the previous cobbled mayhem, but all are feeling slightly better, so we hope we can get something.
And as soon as the race starts, a break forms. No worry for the main players today, and Paolini is enjoying his time in the pro tour leaders jersey.
As we hit the first cobbled section, Russel Downing is enjoying his experience at the back of the break.
By the time they hit the first cobbled climb of the day, the break still has a healthy lead.
But by the next time up and over the Monteberg, the lead is down to 30 seconds.
Damien made sure he was at the front over the top of the Kemmelberg for the final time, and he's looking good as the pack splits.
The break behaves unusually, with Gaudin feeling good one second, and really bad the next. He has, at this point with 15km left, just one bar of red filled, and has plenty of drink. As they run into the final 5km, Gaudin is trying to get a wheel, but gets shunted off Flechas, Ballans, Boonens and ends up at the back of the front group. Effing typical. Even though he is at max fitness, he can't even find a wheel of a crap rider.
As the riders hit the final 3km, Hincapie has put in a monster turn and is at the front.
But he can't hold it there, and Silence Lotto sprint out after being on the front since Km 1. Eff knows how they do it. But its a little annoying.
If you look close enough, you can see Gaudin right at the back coming in nigh on last.
Dunno who won really, just knew that Brouzes couldn't get away to get any KoM points as Mazzanti took most of the points and the jersey.
Brouzes would go up an experience level though!
Belkov fell in the finale and finished even further down the pack!
Results:
1 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 4h19'24
2 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS s.t.
3 Samuel Sánchez COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 1'08
4 Laurens Ten Dam UNIBET.COM + 1'48
5 Damiano Cunego T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
GC:
1 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 12h12'01
2 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS + 56
3 Samuel Sánchez COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 1'28
4 Laurens Ten Dam UNIBET.COM + 2'08
5 Juanjo Cobo RABOBANK s.t.
Our last chance at scoring in a classic this year as we have no hilly riders.
The Race needs no intro, nor do the riders.
As we roll straight into the race, we decided to go for a different tactic, and sent Malacarne up the road in a 5 strong break. With Valentin and Minard both able to protect Gaudin for a while now its worth trying the break.
Well, Malacarne would be dupped/skanked/ripped off/done over in the break, and was often left to do the work all by himself. To resolve this problem he dropped one of the break, and then another before having to stop going to hard. He still blew up though.
But not to worry as Gaudin was still looking good, and unlike many of the favourites, hadnt suffered mechanicals or crashes.
Ballan punctures on a cobble section. He caught on due to the slow pace. We still wonder how Coyot caught on having crashed THREE times and had two punctures...
Well sure enough, the pace doesnt stay slow for long, and Gaudin is in the right point!
He is in the top EIGHT riders, I'm currently at this point jumping around with glee... until Hoste, Flecha, Ballan and others attack. I quickly stop jumping...
But much to my delight, Gaudin still is in with a shot as he gets in a chase break with Pozzato and Del Nero.
But will he be able to avoid the blowing up?
No.
Can you guess how pissed off i am? I'm sure you can. (insert many loud yells at computer screen)
Meanwhile, up front Hoste solos to a "brilliant" victory, whilst Gaudin gets in the break behind him, which is then caught by Coyot and two others, therefore f---ing up any chance of points.
He'd sprint in for a wonderful 15th place, and hit his second full red in the race.
He did manage to beat Wesemann, which is good, because he's old enough nearly to be Damien's dad...
