Shonak wrote:
FML, this stage must have been the aquivalent of a bitch slap.

brewers90 wrote:
Farrar won.

Thor was robbed of 11th place there. What a terrible race we are having.

sutty68 wrote:

Selwink wrote:


You play with PCM12? I haven't been able to find a .cdb for that, you should probably ask Atlantius.

At the first mountain sprint we already had a break established with Marek Rutkiewicz (CCC), Pierpaolo de Negri (Vini Fantini) and Dennis Van Winden. Rutkiewicz destroys his companions on the way up the climb to take maximum points.

Mountain Sprint

Marek Rutkiewicz	CCC	6
Pierpaolo de Negri	Vini Fantini	4
Dennis Van Winden	Belkin	2

Those two decided to feel offended and don't make the effort to get back to the Pole, which made him the only part of the breakaway. On his 125 kilometres solo ride he took four further mountains sprints and three intermediate sprints. Behind him only Spanish champ Lobato made the effor to sprint for points for the sprinters jersey and Simon Clarke who sprinted for points on the second climb. The rest of the points went to domestiques doing the pace at the front of the main field for Argos, Europcar, Euskaltel and Champion Systems. Especially Albert Timmer got a lot of points today.

Intermediate Sprint

Marek Rutkiewicz	CCC	6	-6"
Juan José Lobato	Euskaltel	4	-4"
Sébastien Chavanel	Europcar	2	-2"

Mountain Sprint

Marek Rutkiewicz	CCC	6
Simon Clarke	Orica	4
Albert Timmer	Argos	2

Mountain Sprint

Marek Rutkiewicz	CCC	6
Albert Timmer	Argos	4
William Clarke	Argos	2

Intermediate Sprint

Marek Rutkiewicz	CCC	6	-6"
Juan José Lobato	Euskaltel	4	-4"
Albert Timmer	Argos	2	-2"

Intermediate Sprint

Marek Rutkiewicz	CCC	6	-6"
Juan José Lobato	Euskaltel	4	-4"
Gorka Izagirre	Euskaltel	2	-2"

Mountain Sprint

Marek Rutkiewicz	CCC	6
Albert Timmer	Argos	4
Patrick Gretsch	Argos	2

Mountain Sprint

Marek Rutkiewicz	CCC	6
Pello Bilbao	Euskaltel	4
Gang Xu	Champion Systems	2

This makes Rutkiewicz take the mountains jersey with a huge gap today and Lobato move into provisional second in the competition for the green jersey.
At this point with 20 kilometres to go Rutkiewicz still has a lead of 1'19''


Then it's the current wearer of the dotted jersey to reel in the wearer of it tomorrow with 8 kilometres to go. The field is preparing for another mass sprint.


It's again Degenkolb perfectly positioned surrounded by team mates going into the sprint. On his wheel are Pellizotti, Coquard, Valverde in green, Howard and Ravard. Left to that is Euskaltel doing the leadout for Lobato, on his wheel Kakhi with his leadout Friedemann, also there Oreste Ghita going for his own today. Ratto is caught between the two trains and is trying to get himself a nice backwheel. Same goes for Peeters who is just a little behind.


With just above one kilometre to go we see Riblon trying it again with an early punch. The Euskaltel train passed the one of Giant and Ratto has found himself a wheel: The one of Kakhis leadout Friedemann. The Indian (and his agent btw as well) won't be happy with that.


It's going up now and Lobato already lost ground. Pellizotti at the moment in front but Degenkolb as well as Coquard and Ratto are coming fast.


Today it's closer than the days before but Degenkolb seems to be in front again and Ratto in second. Kakhi never left the wheel of the Italian. Pellizotti is coming to his limits now.


That's the third in a row for Degenkolb. Ratto in second and Kakhi just beats Pellizotti for third. The Indian was by far the fastest in the end. Some more metres and he could have overtaken Ratto and maybe even Degenkolb. Coquard in fifth, he could have better cards tomorrow when the finish line isn't as much rising.

1	John Degenkolb	Team Argos - Shimano	4h00'44
2	Daniele Ratto	Cannondale Pro Cycling	s.t.
3	Rajesh Kakhi	Champion System Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
4	Franco Pellizotti	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	s.t.
5	Bryan Coquard	Team Europcar	s.t.
6	Oreste Ghita	Team Argos - Shimano	s.t.
7	Pierre Rolland	Team Europcar	s.t.
8	Stefano Garzelli	Vini Fantini - Selle Italia	s.t.
9	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team	s.t.
10	Thomas Peeters	Team Europcar	s.t.

GC

1	John Degenkolb	Team Argos - Shimano	10h18'06
2	Daniele Ratto	Cannondale Pro Cycling	+ 36
3	Franco Pellizotti	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	+ 48
4	Rajesh Kakhi	Champion System Pro Cycling Team	+ 52
5	Thomas Peeters	Team Europcar	s.t.

Points

1	John Degenkolb	Team Argos - Shimano	75
2	Daniele Ratto	Cannondale Pro Cycling	44
3	Franco Pellizotti	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	34
4	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team	33
5	Rajesh Kakhi	Champion System Pro Cycling Team	33
6	Juan José Lobato	Euskaltel - Euskadi	33
7	Oreste Ghita	Team Argos - Shimano	29
8	Thomas Peeters	Team Europcar	22
9	Pierre Rolland	Team Europcar	21
10	Marek Rutkiewicz	CCC Polsat - Polkowice	18
11	Jens Debusschere	Lotto Belisol	18
12	Moreno Hofland	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	18

KoM

1	Marek Rutkiewicz	CCC Polsat - Polkowice	30
2	John Degenkolb	Team Argos - Shimano	12
3	Albert Timmer	Team Argos - Shimano	10
4	Pello Bilbao	Euskaltel - Euskadi	10
5	Daniele Ratto	Cannondale Pro Cycling	8
6	David Veilleux	Team Europcar	6
7	Simon Clarke	Orica - GreenEdge	4
8	Ryota Nishizono	Champion System Pro Cycling Team	4
9	Pierpaolo De Negri	Vini Fantini - Selle Italia	4
10	Gang Xu	Champion System Pro Cycling Team	4
11	Moreno Hofland	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	4

U25

1	John Degenkolb	Team Argos - Shimano	10h18'06 (1)
2	Daniele Ratto	Cannondale Pro Cycling	+ 36 (2)
3	Rajesh Kakhi	Champion System Pro Cycling Team	+ 52 (3)

Team

1	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	30h57'18 (1)
2	Team Argos - Shimano	+ 0 (2)
3	Movistar Team	+ 32 (3)