Thanks everyone for support. Team is doing great and that Jensie's result is great. He'll surely go for GC, after Zubeldia unfortunately had a bad day. Now, let's switch to Australia!

The route for 3rd stage of this years TDU looks very tricky. The stage is supposed to be flat, but last hill can make big problems for classic sprinters. Puncheurs and hilly sprinters have big chance here. We can see what we can do!




Ludvigsson is once again in breakaway. That guy is active! This time, he's in it with 3 more guys, Tossato, Castroviejo and Isaychev.



Although guys at the front looked strong, Europcar controlled the race from its begin. So they're going all in for Coquard, today.



And the hard pace paid off at bottom of the last climb, where peloton finally got the breakaway. Our guy were well placed, but big mess emerged at that point, so they got blocked. Jungels and Busche are still at the front, while Van Poppel is way back.

Some favourites are trying to get the slight advantage by attacking. Can they make a new E1 group at the front?



No. Hard pace from OGE guys calmed that down, so the winner is going to be decided in mass sprint. Jungels is somewhere in the middle of the group, while Busche is still at the front.

Impey, with perfect leadout and train, gets this stage with ease.



Busche had a great sprint and finished 6th! That's great result for pure climber.

1	Daryl Impey	Orica GreenEdge	3h17'27
2	Thor Hushovd	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
3	Diego Ulissi	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
4	Bryan Coquard	Team Europcar	s.t.
5	Yukiya Arashiro	Team Europcar	s.t.
6	Matthew Busche	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
7	Tony Gallopin	Lotto Belisol	s.t.
8	Francisco José Ventoso	Movistar Team	s.t.
9	Marco Haller	Team Katusha	s.t.
10	Yauheni Hutarovich	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.

1	Thor Hushovd	BMC Racing Team	9h40'13
2	Daryl Impey	Orica GreenEdge	+ 6
3	Ramunas Navardauskas	Garmin Sharp	s.t.
4	Danny Van Poppel	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
5	Tony Gallopin	Lotto Belisol	+ 10
6	Alexey Lutsenko	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
7	Vladimir Isaychev	Team Katusha	+ 11
8	Gianni Meersman	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	+ 12
9	Diego Ulissi	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
10	Bryan Coquard	Team Europcar	s.t.

Yep, Busche was actually really good there, but got blocked at one point. He could surely reach the Top 5 without all of that mess, but it was still good sprint for a climber.

Welcome to the stage where everything can be decided, the first mountain stage, the stage where the things can go even complicated. Welcome to the stage with some huge climb degrees. Welcome to the 5th stage of Tour de San Luis.




Basically, we have no plan for today. Everything depends on how good our 2 leaders (Jensie and Haimar) are feeling today. We'll see!

As expected, breakaway was created from the first kilometre. Some strong names in it: Bauer, Kuschynski, Oliveira, Ochoa, Berard and van Keisbruck. They can surely go far if they co-operate well.



They were going pretty good, but peloton, Tinkoff Saxo mainly, controlled that all the time and managed to catch them at the perfect time, at the bottom of the mountain.

Some of the favourites didn't wait a second, so they made a move. Le Mevel and Rosa are their names.



That was neutralized quickly and now there was only one group at the race, again. Our guys had great place , just at the top of the group. Jens is protecting Haimar, which sounds crazy but Zubeldia is feeling way better today.



All of other guys are struggling with these high percentages, while our guys are keeping the great tempo. At one point, Zubeldia started making advantge which was few meters at the start and was getting bigger and bigger as the top of the mountain was closer.



Jens is behind with the rest of the favourites. Kiriyenka struggling!



1'30" is now advantage of Zubeldia. He finished the climb and he's now going on 15km long Individual Time Trial. Can Haimar keep this advantage?



Meanwhile, Kiriyenka successfuly recovered and is chasing again. Voigt is on his wheel, doing nothing obviously.



And, as it was expected, Haimar Zubeldia wins the 5th stage of Tour de San Luis!



More than a minute after, E2 group crosses the finish line. These guys looks tired!



GC fight is now getting really interesting. Is there a new leader? How big advantage he has? Let's check out!

1	Haimar Zubeldia	Trek Factory Racing	4h00'11
2	Diego Rosa	Androni Giocattoli	+ 1'05
3	José Herrada	Movistar Team	s.t.
4	Sérgio Paulinho	Tinkoff - Saxo	s.t.
5	Jens Voigt	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
6	David Arroyo	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	s.t.
7	Vasil Kiryienka	Team Sky	s.t.
8	Paul Voss	Team NetApp - Endura	+ 2'21
9	Philip Deignan	Team Sky	s.t.
10	Evgeni Petrov	Tinkoff - Saxo	s.t.

1	Vasil Kiryienka	Team Sky	15h17'38
2	Haimar Zubeldia	Trek Factory Racing	+ 9
3	Martin Elmiger	IAM Cycling	+ 41
4	José Herrada	Movistar Team	+ 45
5	Jens Voigt	Trek Factory Racing	+ 46
6	David Arroyo	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	+ 57
7	Alexandr Kolobnev	Team Katusha	+ 2'00
8	Philip Deignan	Team Sky	+ 2'04
9	Thomas Löfkvist	IAM Cycling	+ 2'08
10	Sérgio Paulinho	Tinkoff - Saxo	+ 2'13

Haimar indeed showed some class in that stage. There's still one hilly stage which can change everything. It's the next one, so we'll see what can happen there. It's time for some more Australia now!

Calm before the storm is the right sentence for todays stage of TDU. Nothing special, just a flat stage before tomorrows hilly one, which will surely decide the GC.




Actually, nothing interesting happened on this stage. Breakaway created and caught pretty quickly and then just a calm ride until the finish. Tjallingi, Delage, Timmer and Boaro are up at the front.



The breakaway group got caught somewhere near 50kms before the finish line and no one decided to make a move from that point.

Sprint trains were prepared, van Poppel couldn't find the way to get on the top of the group once again and he got blocked. One more stage to forget for him.

Meanwhile, AG2R had a nice train with Dumolouin and Hutarovich at the front. They were the first ones who started the sprint.



And, Yauheni won this with ease. As van Poppel couldn't sprint for us, Jungels did that instead of the young Dutch and actually got a nice 5th place at the end.



As it is obvious, nothing changed in GC.

1	Yauheni Hutarovich	AG2R La Mondiale	3h15'20
2	Tony Gallopin	Lotto Belisol	s.t.
3	Gert Steegmans	Omega Pharma - QuickStep	s.t.
4	Ariel Maximilliano Richeze	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
5	Bob Jungels	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
6	Borut Božić	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
7	Thor Hushovd	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
8	Marco Haller	Team Katusha	s.t.
9	Darel Impey	Orica GreenEdge	s.t.
10	Bryan Coquard	Team Europcar	s.t.

Yep. Shame van Poppel couldn't sprint because of the blockers, he would surely get Top 3 if not the win there. Top 5 is still good. Argentina and San Luis time now, surely most exciting stage so far.

And, the last stage for GC contenders. What can i say about these percentages on last climb except that it's surely going to be an interesting fight. Haimar is all in today!




Big group, as expected, decided to go in a breakaway early. They know that peloton is going to let them go today, since they're all far in GC. Malori is one of them.



And as it usually goes in cycling, action starts in last 30-40 kilometers. It was just like that here, since first serious relays and stuff like that started on the downhill, right before the last climb.

Caja Rural is chasing hard. They're surely working for Arroyo!



The guy at the front had big advantage and it was getting more clear that potential winner is one of them. They were first ones to head the climb and it was disaster. After only few hundred of meters, some of the guys showed that they're very tired.

Quintero and Malori are still looking good.



Few minutes later, peloton arrived. Strong pace from the bottom of the hill made many of guys drop early. C.A. Sorensen made a move just as climb started. Zubeldia/Voigt are on top and our guys are looking really good!



As the finish line was closer, the percentages gone higher and higher. Guys are in populary called "black part" of hill now. Jensie did his job, it's now Zubeldia's turn.

Everyone's struggling, Zubeldia got few meters of advantage. Kiriyenka have to catch him, or he's going to lose GC fight!



Meanwhile on the top, after short sprint, Malori gets the win. That was pretty much expected. But there's more important fight now, down the road.



Sorensen kept his pace and 3 minutes after Malori, he's the first guy to pass the finish line. But what's happening behind him? Is Zubeldia still in advantage?



Just few seconds after Chris passed the finish line, Haimar Zubeldia is the next one. He's surely 50 meters in front of Kiriyenka, but is that 9 seconds?



Tired and totally exhausted Kiriyenka passed the finish line together with Herrada. He doesnt't look good at all!



Let's quickly bring on the results. Everyone, we especially, were waiting for this and results are available below.

1	Adriano Malori	Movistar Team	3h52'59
2	Rudy Molard	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	+ 8
3	Carlos Quintero	Colombia	+ 22
4	Nelson Oliveira	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
5	Vyacheslav Kuznetsov	Team Katusha	s.t.
6	Cesare Benedetti	Team NetApp - Endura	+ 1'00
7	Chris Anker Sørensen	Tinkoff - Saxo	+ 3'22
8	Haimar Zubeldia	Trek Factory Racing	+ 3'42
9	Vasil Kiryienka	Team Sky	+ 4'07
10	José Herrada	Movistar Team	s.t.

1	Haimar Zubeldia	Trek Factory Racing	19h14'28
2	Vasil Kiryienka	Team Sky	+ 16
3	José Herrada	Movistar Team	+ 1'01
4	Jens Voigt	Trek Factory Racing	+ 1'02
5	Martin Elmiger	IAM Cycling	+ 1'23
6	David Arroyo	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	+ 1'39
7	Philip Deignan	Team Sky	+ 2'20
8	Paul Voss	Team NetApp - Endura	+ 2'44
9	Thomas Löfkvist	IAM Cycling	+ 2'50
10	Sérgio Paulinho	Tinkoff - Saxo	+ 2'55

And yes! Haimar Zubeldia gets the Overall win in Tour de San Luis although there's still one stage left, nothing could be changed there.



He absolutely deserved it with these 2 great rides in the mountains and that unfortunate TT ride. Trek 1-0 Sky

Zubeldia was clearly the strongest there and it's just that simple We hope Haimar can avoid crashes and Felline can get some nice result in next stage.

Thanks alot, cunego59. My personal opinion is that my reports, especially written part isn't that good enough mainly because of my, say the least, not that good English. It's great to know that you're enjoying these reports and whole story.

And, the decisive (or maybe not, who knows) day of TDU has come. It's finishing on Williunga Hill as every year. It's going to be very interesting since the guys were hit the hill not once, but twice, in only 20 kilometers.




For first time this year, we decided to send a guy in a breakaway. It was Calvin Watson, who lost some time in past few stages and is now safe to go at front. He made BOTD with 2 more guys, McCarthy and Gusev.



Surprisingly breakaway got caught quickly, even before 1st hill. That's probably because some favourites wanted an attack first time they hit the Willunga Hill.

And it was like that. Just as the peloton reached bottom of the hill, attacks started. Kern started it and he's followed by Gatto, Kelderman and Offredo.



They kept strong pace and actually got some advantage over the guys in peloton. Just before the top of hill, Kelderman decided to make solo attack.



Big fight on downhill, but BMC's/Garmin's domestiques seemed stronger than guys in break, so peloton is compact once again.



But not for long! Jungels, protected by van Poppel decides to make a move before hill starts!



That was quite unsucessful, since peloton ate the advantage just as final hill started. Total mess in peloton, everyone's looking for perfect place for finish uphill sprint or potential attack.



One guy found his path just near to banners and he's really pushing hard. His name is Matthew Busche of Trek Factory Racing. Can he make it?



Of course he can! Matthew Busche gets a win at 5th stage of TDU!



But did he get a new time on peloton? Is he new leader? Check out at the results below.

1	Matthew Busche	Trek Factory Racing	3h23'10
2	Arthur Vichot	FDJ.fr	s.t.
3	Ivan Santaromita	Orica GreenEdge	s.t.
4	Jan Bakelants	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.
5	Dario Cataldo	Team Sky	s.t.
6	Bob Jungels	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
7	Matthias Frank	IAM Cycling	s.t.
8	Diego Ulissi	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
9	Daryl Impey	Orica GreenEdge	s.t.
10	Dries Devenyns	Team Giant - Shimano	s.t.

1	Thor Hushovd	BMC Racing Team	16h18'43
2	Tony Gallopin	Lotto Belisol	+ 4
3	Daryl Impey	Orica GreenEdge	+ 6
4	Ramunas Navardauskas	Garmin Sharp	s.t.
5	Matthew Busche	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
6	Danny Van Poppel	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
7	Yauheni Hutarovich	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
8	Arthur Vichot	FDJ.fr	+ 10
9	Alexey Lutsenko	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
10	Mickaël Delage	FDJ.fr	s.t.

I was a bit disappointed when i saw it's not the gap, but well it's PCM and its logic... It's still good result!

And thanks on the kind words about reports/English/story. You guys seems to like this pretty much and i am enjoying it even more now. I will surely try to keep this one alive for long time!

Both of the races are finishing today and both of the last stages are flat ones actually. We don't expect too much here, except making Zubeldia safe from any kind of crash/injury.




Few guys that are down in GC decided to make a breakaway today. With big dose of respect to all other guys, only known guys from this breakaway were Brandle and Avila.



While the guys at the front were relaying and giving their all to finish the stage before peloton, guys in peloton were calm. We were mainly focused on saving Zubeldia from crashes. It was calm day for our guys.



Nothing really happened until last few kilometers. 10 kilometers to go and action started. Brandle decided to make an attack and he's followed by Avila. Rest of the guys can't keep this tempo, although they're trying to catch them by relaying.



Peloton literally "ate" guys that were in BOTD, but Brandle and Avila were still at front. Sprint started!



At the end, Avila outsprints Brandle and gets the win just at the front of the peloton. He'll surely have great picture for the rack in his room!

1	Edwin Avila	Colombia	3h20'52
2	Matthias Brandle	IAM Cycling	s.t
3	Manuel Belletti	Androni Giocatolli	s.t
4	Matteo Trentin	Omega Pharma - QuickStep	s.t.
5	Juan Jose Lobato	Movistar Team	s.t.
6	Jose Joaquin Rojas	Movistar Team	+ s.t.
7	Iljo Keisse	Omega Pharma - QuickStep	+ s.t.
8	Lloyd Mondory	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
9	Fabio Silvestre	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
10	Matin Elmiger	IAM Cycling	s.t.

1	Haimar Zubeldia	Trek Factory Racing	19h14'28
2	Vasil Kiryienka	Team Sky	+ 16
3	José Herrada	Movistar Team	+ 1'01
4	Jens Voigt	Trek Factory Racing	+ 1'02
5	Martin Elmiger	IAM Cycling	+ 1'23
6	David Arroyo	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	+ 1'39
7	Philip Deignan	Team Sky	+ 2'20
8	Paul Voss	Team NetApp - Endura	+ 2'44
9	Thomas Löfkvist	IAM Cycling	+ 2'50
10	Sérgio Paulinho	Tinkoff - Saxo	+ 2'55

And once again, our leader for this race Haimar Zubeldia appeared on the podium. It was the last time for this edition of Tour de San Luis since race is finished and Haimar is the winner of it!



"And that was pretty much it for this race. By this, the 2014 edition of TSL is closed." - Director of the Race

Also, today's last stage of first UWT race of the year. We're entering the last stage with all 3 positions on podium, so we can't be unhappy with the actual race. We'll try to do something today, tho.




From the early start the breakaway is created, since the stage is only 85 kilometers long. Some strong names here: Ulissi, Devenyns, Amador, Geslin, Tjallingi and Saramontis are in there.



Of course, as expected BMC did everything to save the jersey and they caught the breakaway 20 kilometers before finish line. Trains were created few kilometers after that and we had our one there, aswell.



We had our train there, and it was Busche - Jungels - Beppu - van Poppel. In all of this mess, someone managed to hit van Poppels bike from back and it damaged his gearshift. This guy is so unlucky!



At the end, Coquard takes a win in close sprint and comes only 1 second close to Hushovd in GC, but experienced Norwegian takes the overall win.

1	Bryan Coquard	Team Europcar	1h41'51
2	Gert Steegmans	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.
3	Nikolas Maes	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.
4	Fabio Sabatini	Cannondale	s.t.
5	Samuel Dumoulin	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
6	Gianni Meersman	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.
7	Ariel Maximiliano Richeze	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
8	Borut Božic	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
9	Yauheni Hutarovich	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
10	Danny Van Poppel	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.

1	Thor Hushovd	BMC Racing Team	18h00'34
2	Bryan Coquard	Team Europcar	+ 1
3	Tony Gallopin	Lotto Belisol	+ 4
4	Daryl Impey	Orica GreenEdge	+ 6
5	Ramunas Navardauskas	Garmin Sharp	s.t.
6	Matthew Busche	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
7	Danny Van Poppel	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
8	Gert Steegmans	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.
9	Yauheni Hutarovich	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
10	Diego Ulissi	Lampre - Merida	+ 9

See ya next time, at the preview of GP Costa della Etruschi, DS of Trek FR