2 KOM sprints but still very flat today. We're going to have to take it as it comes really. We join the race at the first KOM. There are 70km left to the line, and so far we've been in control.
El Fares was forced to defend himself though as a few KOM-challengers tried their luck. El Fares was stronger though.
They kept on going without ever establishing much teamwork and they are gonna be reeled back in before the 2nd KOM.
2nd KOM, 21km to the line, we decide not to put in too much effort to take the points. If possible, El Fares needs a good spot in the sprint and we need to conserve the energy.
10km left. Brard, El Fares, Usov. We're in a real good position today. As long as we can keep ourselves this far up front we should have a real good chance of a result.
3km to go and we're perfectly placed. We won't go too soon today!
1500m! Usov is switching to the wheel of Rooijakkers(SKS) on the far right. He's got energy to spare today! El Fares is doing surprisingly well!
Usov!! First win for our sprinterace! El Fares has to concede a few slots to some of the bigger sprinters, but he manages a very respectable 6th! 2nd is Capser, 3rd is Hondo.
Stage
1 Alexandre Usov COFIDIS, LE CREDIT EN LIGNE 2h54'58
2 Jimmy Casper BESSON CHAUSSURES - SOJASUN s.t.
3 Danilo Hondo PSK WHIRLPOOL - AUTHOR s.t.
4 Allan Davis QUICK STEP s.t.
5 Piet Rooijakkers SKIL - SHIMANO s.t. 6 Julien El Fares COFIDIS, LE CREDIT EN LIGNE s.t.
7 Jonathan Hivert SKIL - SHIMANO s.t.
8 Gianni Meersman FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
9 Hans Dekkers GARMIN - SLIPSTREAM s.t.
10 William Bonnet BBOX - BOUYGUES TELECOM s.t.
Mountains 1 Julien El Fares COFIDIS, LE CREDIT EN LIGNE 10 38
2 Anthony Charteau CAISSE D'EPARGNE 8 24
3 John-Lee Augustyn BARLOWORLD 0 20
4 Santo Anza AMICA CHIPS - KNAUF 0 18
5 Nicolas Jalabert AGRITUBEL 6 18 6 Maryan Hary COFIDIS, LE CREDIT EN LIGNE 0 16
7 Geoffroy Lequatre AGRITUBEL 0 12
8 Markus Zberg BMC RACING TEAM 0 12
9 Anthony Geslin FRANÇAISE DES JEUX 10 10
10 Jonathan Hivert SKIL - SHIMANO 0 10
Reaction
Great stage for us. This actually leaves is with a lot of options tomorrow. If Usov manages to win again, he'll get 20 bonusseconds. But you can't really plan these events. We'll first and foremost try and defens El Fares' lead. The Polkadot is safe on our backs now as there are only 12 points out there tomorrow, and we lead by 14.
Defense is the word today. El Fares & Usov absolutely have to finish well. So to avoid doing too much work in the beginning we send out Hary. He's not given all that much space though. The gap is at no point bigger than 3:40 and he's the only one working.
The move works to perfection though as the other teams do all the work in the peleton. Small attempts are made by various teams as we get nearer to the line. None really succeed today.
20km in, all square. We'll start position El Fares with Usov on his wheel.
10km to go and we've secured our spot in the line. There is a lot of wind, and a lot of riders pushing for positions.
2500m to the line and the sprint opens, El Fares aims for the wheel furthest up ahead, Usov stays glued to him!
1500m and El Fares has delivered Usov perfectly. Usov is let loose and darts forward.
Wow! The top speed of Usov caught everyone by surprise today! Bazayev(AST) came up really fast in the last 500 but he was never gonna catch him. This will put Usov in Yellow! El Fares retains 3rd, which is amazing considering the competition, which will see him keep both the green, polkadot and youth jerseys.
KOM
1 Julien El Fares COFIDIS, LE CREDIT EN LIGNE 0 38
2 Maryan Hary COFIDIS, LE CREDIT EN LIGNE 12 28
3 Anthony Charteau CAISSE D'EPARGNE 0 24
4 John-Lee Augustyn BARLOWORLD 0 20
5 Santo Anza AMICA CHIPS - KNAUF 0 18
6 Nicolas Jalabert AGRITUBEL 0 18
7 Geoffroy Lequatre AGRITUBEL 0 12
8 Markus Zberg BMC RACING TEAM 0 12
9 Jonathan Hivert SKIL - SHIMANO 0 10
10 Anthony Geslin FRANÇAISE DES JEUX 0 10
Will take a little while to get this patched with the correct patch and DB. I managed to install the 2.2 before the 2.3 was realeased and now i get some strange behaviour when i apply the PCMBenelux DB and load the savegame. Working on it! I managed to play 1 stage of Tour med without crashes and riders in wrong gear etc. Working on it
Edit: Sigh! Has anyone gotten the 2.3 patch to work with the PCMBenelux V1 DB? I'm seeing some strange behaviour still! Contemplating switching to PCMDaily's version and simming up!
Edit2: RIGHT! Did a clean reinstall last night, patched up, applied the PCMB database. Nuyens won on Mont ventoux, but it was credited, in results, to one of my riders, who wasn't even there.. ?!?!? So, what do you guys think, sim up with a new DB?
Edited by Mads_0 on 26-06-2009 07:28
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especially in TDU
