To be honest, this race hasn't been that useful, only an experience race. Tronet was the only guy to finish in the pack. And Baden Cooke showed he still has the legs to win a mass sprint!
The Giro:
A group got away, and Brouzes once again wanted to take some points. Unfortunately by the time he got across on the first climb he was really badly hurting.
He'd get dropped shortly after the first climb after taking no points. What a wasted move.
A group of minor-favourites did the usual mid-race attack, and here they are at the base of the final climb, with 16km to go with a 3minute lead.
They wouldn't survive though, as Menchov led the attacks.
Belkov was in no state to attack today, and was just hoping to minimise the gaps, and try to drop Visconti. He managed both.
Di Luca and Simoni seem the strongest in the race still.
Simoni would beat Di Luca to the line to further increase his lead.
Results:
1 Gilberto Simoni QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 6h12'44
2 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS + 8
3 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 1'17
4 Marco Marzano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
5 Rémy Di Gregorio FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
6 Damiano Cunego T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
7 Denis Menchov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
8 Maxim Iglinskiy SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
9 John-Lee Augustyn BARLOWORLD + 1'42
10 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 3'14
11 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 3'24
12 Maxim Belkov AUBER - BELTELECOM + 3'35
13 José Iván Gutiérrez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
14 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS s.t.
15 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
16 Joaquim Rodríguez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
17 Francesco Bellotti LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 3'54
18 Sébastien Joly FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
19 Thomas Lövkvist COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
20 Carlos Castaño CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
21 Chris Sørensen TEAM CSC s.t.
22 Haimar Zubeldia COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
23 Hernán Buenahora QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
24 Leonardo Duque PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
25 Guido Trentin SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
26 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC s.t.
27 Giovanni Visconti RABOBANK s.t.
28 Dario Cataldo LIQUIGAS + 4'28
29 Evgeni Petrov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
30 Andrea Tonti QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
31 Pieter Weening RABOBANK s.t.
32 Stefano Barberi PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
33 Patxi Vila LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
34 Enrico Gasparotto GEROLSTEINER s.t.
35 Cândido Barbosa PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
36 Johan Vansummeren T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
37 Amaël Moinard COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
38 Nicki Sörensen TEAM CSC s.t.
39 Libardo Niño BARLOWORLD + 5'07
40 Matija Kvasina BARLOWORLD s.t.
41 Giampaolo Cheula BARLOWORLD + 5'19
42 Julien Loubet AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 6'08
43 Marco Pinotti T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
44 Matteo Bono LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
45 Andrey Mizourov TEAM ASTANA s.t.
46 Stefan Schumacher TEAM ASTANA s.t.
47 Pavel Brutt TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
48 Mauricio Ortega SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 6'42
49 Sylvester Szmyd BARLOWORLD + 7'12
50 Matteo Carrara CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 8'33
Clinging on to that top-10. You'll probably overtake Visconti but you still have guys like Marzano, Ricco, etc. behind you. And they seem to be getting better every stage.
An important race for experience. 6 of the 7 riders here are here for experience. With a 25km TT in here as well, it'll be important for Champion and Pervis to see where they are in fitness terms.
A break went, and was brought back easily.
Chainel was on a +5 day and was near the front on Mate's wheel with 7km to go. He'd follow him to the line.
Mate took the win, and Chainel took 4th. Ahead of Hunter! What a result for the young sprinter.
Results:
1 Luis Ángel Maté TEAM VORARLBERG - VOLKSBANK 5h07'55
2 Nico Eeckhout CHOCOLADE JACQUES - TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN s.t.
3 Dariusz Rudnicki ACTION - UNIQA s.t.
4 Steve Chainel AUBER - BELTELECOM s.t.
5 Robert Hunter BARLOWORLD s.t.
6 Víctor Manuel Gomes ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
7 Danail Petrov SPORT LISBOA E BENFICA s.t.
8 Błażej Janiaczyk ACTION - UNIQA s.t.
9 André Schulze TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
10 Jochen Summer ELK HAUS - SIMPLON s.t.
79 Dimitri Champion AUBER - BELTELECOM s.t.
A transitional stage, so we hoped the break would stay away. Kiryienka and Malacarne would try for it.
In the end, Malacarne was the guy for the break, and no, it wouldn't stay away.
In the final 30km, every rider apart from Belkov got shelled out the back. Mainly by Rebellin who was storming it up at the front.
Luckily Belkov had enough to stick in the pack.
Bettini took an early lead under the final 2km, but couldnt hold off Duque, Scog. and someone else i can't remember.
Results:
1 Carlo Scognamiglio TEAM MILRAM 3h43'10
2 Enrico Gasparotto GEROLSTEINER s.t.
3 Leonardo Duque PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
4 Paolo Bettini LIQUIGAS s.t.
5 Allan Davis TEAM MILRAM s.t.
6 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS s.t.
7 Christopher Sutton COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
8 Danilo Napolitano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
9 Cândido Barbosa PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
10 Maxim Iglinskiy SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
11 Mirko Lorenzetto TEAM MILRAM s.t.
12 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
13 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
14 Giovanni Visconti RABOBANK s.t.
15 Damiano Cunego T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
16 Matteo Carrara CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
17 Koldo Fernández de Larrea EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
18 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC s.t.
19 Mikhail Ignatiev PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
20 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER s.t.
21 Assan Bazayev TEAM ASTANA s.t.
22 Joaquim Rodríguez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
23 Gilberto Simoni QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
24 Daniel Musiol TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
25 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS s.t.
58 Maxim Belkov AUBER - BELTELECOM s.t.
GC:
1 Gilberto Simoni QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 73h57'00
2 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS + 2'55
3 Damiano Cunego T-MOBILE TEAM + 5'24
4 Maxim Iglinskiy SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 9'19
5 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 14'30
6 Denis Menchov TEAM ASTANA + 15'21
7 Haimar Zubeldia COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 22'39
8 Rémy Di Gregorio FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 23'29
9 Giovanni Visconti RABOBANK + 23'34
10 Maxim Belkov AUBER - BELTELECOM + 23'53
11 John-Lee Augustyn BARLOWORLD + 24'03
12 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC + 24'19
13 Marco Marzano LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 24'44
14 Leonardo Duque PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 25'20
15 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 25'41
16 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS + 26'10
17 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 27'20
18 Pieter Weening RABOBANK + 27'42
19 Thomas Lövkvist COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 28'26
20 Carlos Castaño CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 28'51
21 Enrico Gasparotto GEROLSTEINER + 29'02
22 José Iván Gutiérrez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 29'04
23 Cândido Barbosa PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 30'25
24 Francesco Bellotti LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 30'33
25 Sébastien Joly FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 30'45
Points:
1 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS 164
2 Carlo Scognamiglio TEAM MILRAM 142
3 Gilberto Simoni QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 137
4 Damiano Cunego T-MOBILE TEAM 133
5 Maxim Iglinskiy SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 118
The last vital mountain stage. With Belkov in peak form right now, he's feeling confident he can defend his top 10 position. Especially trying to overtake riders like Visconti who isn't usually a mountain goat.
Brouzes tried to get away to finish his reign on the Mountains Jersey, but wouldn't succeed.
Not a lot of action occured after that, as two riders eventually got away. Some 30th/40th placed riders attacked after the first major climb and ended up overtaking the first two, but they wouldn't last long as on the penultimate climb the pace upped.
Simoni attacked over the top and was the only favourite to escape. Some good positioning by Belkov saw him in the front group as Visconti was DROPPED!
Simoni was still leading by the bottom of the descent.
Just one heck of a climb to go.
But with Di Luca sat on the front, and Menchov behind him, the other riders attacked to no gain. Well, no gain for them. Belkov patiently waited, and then moved forward in the group. A brilliant move as when Di Luca and Menchov escaped (now trailing simoni by 2 minutes) the group split with those who had wasted energy falling back.
Zubeldia, Cunego, Vandevelle, amongst others, were dropped. Great news for Belkov.
Coming into the final 4km, Belkov was still with the three strong yellow clad riders, and was shadowing his closest rival. He was determined not to lose time at all.
Up front, Simoni won another stage over Di Luca and Menchov
Belkov literally cracked on the line due to some sneaky pacing strategy, and lost no seconds to anyone close to him.
A brilliant day for us. How much he would move up would be a mystery however.
On the other end of things, Cioleks -5 daily form meant he wouldn't see the end of the Giro this year, which is a pity, and two pan flat days remain.
Results:
1 Gilberto Simoni QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 6h23'00
2 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS + 1'26
3 Denis Menchov TEAM ASTANA + 2'12
4 Maxim Iglinskiy SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 3'06
5 Rémy Di Gregorio FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
6 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
7 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
8 John-Lee Augustyn BARLOWORLD s.t.
9 Maxim Belkov AUBER - BELTELECOM s.t.
10 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 5'21
11 Haimar Zubeldia COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
12 Chris Sørensen TEAM CSC s.t.
13 Damiano Cunego T-MOBILE TEAM + 5'29
14 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC s.t.
15 Joaquim Rodríguez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
16 Carlos Castaño CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 6'16
17 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
18 Marco Marzano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
19 Leonardo Duque PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 9'02
20 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS + 10'56
21 Stefano Barberi PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 11'34
22 Evgeni Petrov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 11'42
23 Andrea Tonti QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 12'28
24 Thomas Lövkvist COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
25 Sébastien Joly FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
40 Aleksandr Kuschynski AUBER - BELTELECOM + 18'55
72 Jean Mespoulède AUBER - BELTELECOM + 29'09
79 Yauhen Sobal AUBER - BELTELECOM + 32'01
80 Maxime Méderel AUBER - BELTELECOM + 32'19
94 Vasil Kiryienka AUBER - BELTELECOM + 38'37
99 Niels Brouzes AUBER - BELTELECOM + 39'27
114 Davide Malacarne AUBER - BELTELECOM + 49'55
GC:
1 Gilberto Simoni QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 80h19'40
2 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS + 4'29
3 Damiano Cunego T-MOBILE TEAM + 11'13
4 Maxim Iglinskiy SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 12'45
5 Denis Menchov TEAM ASTANA + 17'45
6 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 20'11
7 Rémy Di Gregorio FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 26'55
8 Maxim Belkov AUBER - BELTELECOM + 27'19
9 John-Lee Augustyn BARLOWORLD + 27'29
10 Haimar Zubeldia COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 28'20
11 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 29'07
12 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC + 30'08
13 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 30'46
14 Marco Marzano LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 31'20
15 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS + 32'46
16 Leonardo Duque PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 34'42
17 Carlos Castaño CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 35'27
18 Giovanni Visconti RABOBANK + 37'24
19 Thomas Lövkvist COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 41'14
20 Evgeni Petrov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 42'58
21 Enrico Gasparotto GEROLSTEINER + 43'22
22 Sébastien Joly FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 43'33
23 Pieter Weening RABOBANK + 44'09
24 José Iván Gutiérrez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 44'22
25 Cândido Barbosa PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 44'45
Sobal was decided prior to the race to go in the break, as we thought the break might stay away, and he had the best sprint out of everyone left!
He attacked very late, when the main break had a gap of 1minute30, but he still got across with some others to swell the break to 14 riders. Surely they'd stay away?
Well, not long after, with 60km to go, the pack started hammering out a hard pace, which would cause Mederel and Mespoulede to drop eventually.
But, the pack just couldn't meet the pace of the break, and with 10km to go, two of the break attacked away.
Sobal sat and waited, and once no chase fully showed itself, attacked as well. However the retarded AI sat on his wheel to "follow", and so Sobal found himself attacking (with a green attack) past the first two attackers and right into the final 3km.
With 2km to go, the sprint began, and Sobal was right at the front. Tjalingy (or however you spell the name) and Bileka were seeming to be his only challengers.
THey both made their moves under the 1km to go banner and came past Sobal slowly.
By the line though, Bileka took the win, with Sobal coming in 3rd. A great result.
No time was gained on the peloton as the main sprinters closed that down.
Results:
1 Vladimir Bileka DISCOVERY CHANNEL 2h45'28
2 Maarten Tjallingii RABOBANK s.t.
3 Yauhen Sobal AUBER - BELTELECOM s.t.
4 Manuele Mori EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
5 Matteo Carrara CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
6 Christian Poos TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
7 Giampaolo Cheula BARLOWORLD s.t.
8 Christophe Brandt PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
9 Martin Velits TEAM WIESENHOF FELT s.t.
10 Julien Loubet AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
11 Enrico Gasparotto GEROLSTEINER s.t.
12 Leonardo Duque PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
13 Assan Bazayev TEAM ASTANA s.t.
14 Carlo Scognamiglio TEAM MILRAM s.t.
15 Danilo Napolitano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
16 Christopher Sutton COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
17 Francesco Gavazzi LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
18 Koldo Fernández de Larrea EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
19 Giovanni Visconti RABOBANK s.t.
20 Paolo Bettini LIQUIGAS s.t.
21 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
22 Cândido Barbosa PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
23 Mark Cavendish GEROLSTEINER s.t.
24 Mirko Lorenzetto TEAM MILRAM s.t.
25 Fabrizio Guidi BARLOWORLD s.t.
GC:
1 Gilberto Simoni QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 83h05'08
2 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS + 4'29
3 Damiano Cunego T-MOBILE TEAM + 11'13
4 Maxim Iglinskiy SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 12'45
5 Denis Menchov TEAM ASTANA + 17'45
6 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 20'11
7 Rémy Di Gregorio FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 26'55
8 Maxim Belkov AUBER - BELTELECOM + 27'19
9 John-Lee Augustyn BARLOWORLD + 27'29
10 Haimar Zubeldia COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 28'20
Give up?! Never! It's just I've been busy with other things *cough jersey cough*
Giro Stage 20
The final test for Belkov. He'll be hoping he can pull out all the stops to move up another spot in the GC, but even if he falls to 10th, we'd be happy with his work so far. It's been amazing watching him ride his heart out during the Giro.
First off, a picture of Brouzes, who has also performed exceptionally well to win the Mountains Jersey.
Malacarne was our first real good time trialist, and he'd beat the first intermediate check point, but would fade later on.
Overtaking the first minute man.
Overtaking the second:
When it came to Belkovs turn, he pulled out all the stops, and with 10km remaining was moving away from Di Gregorio, and towards Augustyn, whom he'd catch and pass easily.
Results:
1 Roman Kreuziger LIQUIGAS 1h16'56
2 José Iván Gutiérrez CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 23
3 Brian Vandborg DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 59
4 Mikhail Ignatiev PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 1'03
5 Thomas Lövkvist COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 1'22
6 Marco Pinotti T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'47
7 Carlos Castaño CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'51
8 Rik Verbrugghe COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 2'10
9 Haimar Zubeldia COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 2'13
10 Manuel Quinziato LIQUIGAS + 2'23
11 Maxim Belkov AUBER - BELTELECOM + 2'29
12 Matija Kvasina BARLOWORLD s.t.
13 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC + 2'30
14 Michiel Elijzen COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 2'31
15 Matías Médici DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
16 Libardo Niño BARLOWORLD + 2'44
17 Denis Menchov TEAM ASTANA + 2'46
18 Andrey Mizourov TEAM ASTANA + 2'47
19 Evgeni Petrov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 2'54
20 Mauricio Ortega SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'57
21 Mark Cavendish GEROLSTEINER + 2'58
22 Marc De Maar RABOBANK + 3'05
23 Rick Flens RABOBANK + 3'09
24 Gaizka Moreno Vázquez SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 3'11
25 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS + 3'13
26 Lars Boom QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 3'17
27 Sébastien Joly FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 3'21
28 Vasil Kiryienka AUBER - BELTELECOM + 3'23
29 Hernán Buenahora QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 3'25
30 Pavel Brutt TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 3'28
GC:
1 Gilberto Simoni QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 84h27'51
2 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS + 1'55
3 Damiano Cunego T-MOBILE TEAM + 10'25
4 Maxim Iglinskiy SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 11'05
5 Denis Menchov TEAM ASTANA + 14'44
6 Rinaldo Nocentini AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 18'55
7 Maxim Belkov AUBER - BELTELECOM + 24'01
8 Haimar Zubeldia COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 24'46
9 Rémy Di Gregorio FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 26'08
10 John-Lee Augustyn BARLOWORLD + 26'48
11 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC + 26'51
12 Riccardo Riccò SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 29'43
13 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 31'20
14 Carlos Castaño CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 31'31
15 Marco Marzano LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 31'49
He moved up a GC place! Great stuff! He also will win the Young Riders Classification:
Great riding rjc 
