OMG! Gesink dresses himself as Evans and takes the Tour from Andy! hehe. That big the Dutch!
For me it has been a pity to see as the Tour escapes from Klodi in only a few seconds. The worst thing is that he has not been well in its terrain, the ITT.
Am I right now lost... there are points of the mountain in the last stage or not?? I feel it but the nerves do not allow me to think with clarity. It cannot be that this jersey escapes from you for a tie
It was difficult that you were excelling yourself with a repor Pelli, and you have obtained it with this ITT... I have enjoyed as with no other post... my congratulations!
Amazing way to report such important TT. Quite simply amazing No wonder why you got my votes for couple of nominations in the awards
Now....fastt... I neeed... to now the results of the last stage. Ironically the most peacefuly day of Tour for Skil will be a battleground. Good luck !
Obviously not impossible, but I was surprised as well.
And a huge thank you for voting for me, that's a great thing to hear as a storywriter. Battleground Champs-Elysèes will definitely be a hard day for us!
baia wrote:
Pleasure to read this great ITT report..simply great reports Pelli.
Amazing stage from Gesink...
This small climb is to be conquered...fight hard.
Thanks baia! And I'll do my best to conquer Côte de Versailles!
sutty68 wrote:
Love the Andy Schleck pic at checkpoint 2
Yeah, it's very realistic.
FreitasPCM wrote:
Andy continues to fail badly in the Tour.
Yup. I wonder if he'll ever win it.
dienblad wrote:
Go Gesink, go Gesink
PLease, get those KOTM-points. I'll even start praying for you!
He was very impressive indeed. And with you praying for it, I can't miss out on those points!
valverde321 wrote:
There must be a code, that ensure's he finished 2nd in the game, every time
Something like that, yes. Wouldn't surprise me if he's second next year too.
sam1196 wrote:
i must say that this TT report was more exciting than irl! I can't believe it Gesink overtaking 2 men in GC! normally i would say Klöden but what a TT by Gesink!
Agreed, it was very exciting. Klöden must be hugely disappointed with his performance.
tsmoha wrote:
Epic race, epic reports!
And good luck for that last hill
Thanks man! Always great to see you here, especially since I know you've got no time.
Spilak23 wrote:
Great racing from Gesink. But he will crash on the champs elysees.
And what a close fight for the stage with Gesink, Wiggins and Sanchez within 2 seconds.
For sure! That wouldn't surprise me the least.
whitejersey wrote:
Gesink WTF??
nice ride thruogh whole tour, try get into the BOTD tommorrow as well
Thanks.
fcancellara wrote:
This is just too epic to be described as epic
Now get those KOTM points!
Knew you'd like it. I'll do my best.
whitejersey wrote:
is there any KOTM points left in the tour?
As said, yes there is one sprint left.
tmobile wrote:
OMG! Gesink dresses himself as Evans and takes the Tour from Andy! hehe. That big the Dutch!
For me it has been a pity to see as the Tour escapes from Klodi in only a few seconds. The worst thing is that he has not been well in its terrain, the ITT.
Am I right now lost... there are points of the mountain in the last stage or not?? I feel it but the nerves do not allow me to think with clarity. It cannot be that this jersey escapes from you for a tie
It was difficult that you were excelling yourself with a repor Pelli, and you have obtained it with this ITT... I have enjoyed as with no other post... my congratulations!
A greeting. I want to see the arrival to Paris
Big surprise indeed. Côte de Versailles next!
vangerner wrote:
Wow, what an amazing Gesink we just saw!
And Mollema also ride great, what are his stats?
Please, get those KOM-points!
I'm at another computer right now, but I'll give you Mollema's stats later, together with the next report.
Champs-Elysèes coming up later today, so stay tuned for more.
Great read and close to the death. One English point - somewhere in your report you wrote about someone's 'bugger' over someone - the word is 'buffer' - you don't want to make that mistake
wackojackohighcliffe wrote:
Great read and close to the death. One English point - somewhere in your report you wrote about someone's 'bugger' over someone - the word is 'buffer' - you don't want to make that mistake
Thanks, nice to hear. And I've fixed the buffer, it was a small typo.
Gesink enjoyed his day in the Maillot Jaune, chitchatting with his team mates while staying near the front of the field. Happy days for him.
A big group of fourteen eventually got away, as always knowing they'd be caught sooner or later. However, one person in there had a very important mission - Bonnin.
He placed himself in a perfect position just before the tiny climb kicked up in gradient. How ironic that the mountains classification would be decided on the Tour's easiest day, with the Tour's easiest climb.
His companions weren't interested in the points, so Bonnin could just move to the front of the group in the final metres of the "climb", picking up the three points and the Polkadot jersey! Mission accomplished!
The Astana controlled peloton entered the Champs a few minutes later, having started a little chase, reducing the breakaway's advantage with every pedal throw.
However, the escapees fought hard, and got caught with less than ten kilometres to go, as HTC prepared the final leadout. Bonnin made sure that he was the last rider to be caught in this Tour, after being the first to attack on stage one.
Matthew Goss got a perfect leadout in the final kilometres, with Frantisek Rabon moving into the lead with about four kilometres to go, making sure to keep final leadout man Peter Velits and Goss in good position.
Velits launched his sprint just as they swepped around the final corner, completing the schoolbook leadout for his team mate and Maillot Vert Goss. Late attempts from Johan Vansummeren (Garmin) and Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha) was closed down by Velits in the process.
Goss made his jump quite early, moving into the wind with over a kilometer and a half to go. Tomas Vaitkus and Edvald Boasson Hagen were placed perfectly in the Aussie's slipstream, while Thor Hushovd tried to challenge Goss on the left.
As I expected, Goss had gone too early, and Vaitkus was able to slip around inside the final kilometer for a big stage win, his second in this Tour. Out of nowhere came Jurgen Roelandts, also passing Goss, for second, while the HTC man had to settle for third.
Gesink finished near the front of the field, and kept the yellow jersey without problems. What a surprising winner in this Tour!
Solid climbing and an amazing time trial eventually turned out to be enough for Robert Gesink to win this Tour. A disastrous TT from Andy Schleck of course helped him a lot, but overall he has been strong, so it's a deserved win for him after many years of bad luck in GT's.
Matthew Goss has been the most consistent of the sprinters, and is therefore a well deserved winner of the points jersey. Be sure that he'll back back next year looking for the same jersey with his GreenEDGE team.
Côte du Versailles of all climbs decided the KoM jersey. Bonnin's first place over it secured him the three points, overtaking Peter Velits with those. According to me also pretty well deserved. After all, he has probably been the most active rider of all in this Tour.
King of the Mountains:
1
Thomas Bonnin
Skil - Shimano
175
2
Peter Velits
HTC - Highroad
172
3
Bradley Wiggins
Sky ProCycling
131
4
Igor Anton
Euskaltel - Euskadi
119
5
Andy Schleck
Leopard Trek
116
6
Fredrik Kessiakoff
Pro Team Astana
111
7
Andreas Klöden
Team RadioShack
109
8
Wouter Poels
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
95
9
Robert Gesink
Rabobank Cycling Team
94
10
Yann Huguet
Skil - Shimano
89
As a young overall winner, Gesink obviously also takes the white jersey. His team mate Mollema and big rival Kreuziger never came really close to him, handing him a superior victory in this category.
U25:
1
Robert Gesink
Rabobank Cycling Team
85h55'49 (1)
2
Bauke Mollema
Rabobank Cycling Team
+ 3'18 (2)
3
Roman Kreuziger
Pro Team Astana
+ 6'05 (3)
4
Arnold Jeanneson
FDJ
+ 9'10 (4)
5
Wouter Poels
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
+ 9'12 (5)
6
Steven Kruijswijk
Rabobank Cycling Team
+ 10'36 (6)
7
Thibaut Pinot
FDJ
+ 34'25 (7)
8
Thomas De Gendt
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
+ 57'28 (8)
9
Egor Silin
Katusha Team
+ 58'38 (9)
10
Peter Kennaugh
Sky ProCycling
+ 1h03'58 (10)
With Gesink and Mollema in the Top 10 and Kruijswijk as 18th, Rabobank dominantly won the team classification. Leopard Trek was close in the middle of the race, but faltered in the third week, where only the Schleck brothers kept the highest quality. Strongest team won, no doubt.
That's impossible. Gesink ? 
