I may create an original styled jersey in time for the TDF to show off the sponsors. Watch this space.
And back to the Dauphine. A TT, how I love them.
Martinez was the first good rider for Auber to have a pot. For the first 100 riders, he was doing ok, then the big guns came out and his time fell like a rock...
Cancellara is still honing his form, followed closely by Vaugrenard.
Belkov was eager to leave the starting gates, but couldn't do anything about Cobo, in front of him, extending the gap between them both.
In other news, Tronet went up another xp level to 4, ready in time for trying to win a stage of the TdFrance. The battle between him and Drujon for number one sprinter still rages.
GC Leader: Levarlet
Sprint Leader: Drujon/Tronet
Backup Sprinter: Tronet/Drujon
Team Leader: Gaudin
Domestiques: Morizot, Champion, Vaugrenard, Pervis
And there are a few other candidates for other positions. I'm almost tempted to use Belkov to aid the GC contender, but I want to go with all French riders.
A crucial mountain stage. After the longish ITT yesterday, who will have tired legs today? There is no hiding on mountain stages with such extreme conditions, so will Belkov be alright after his Giro debut?
To begin the day, Tronet is sent in the break, just to monitor it, and test out his new found sprinting legs. The break is still forming by the first sprint point, but by the second he's giving Ventoso, a well developed sprinter, a run for his money. It's close over the line, and both riders wonder who will get given the mini win.
Tronet is given the win, just.
Soon after they hit the first big climb of the day, and just to save face, Tronet just goes solo off the back. There's no point wasting energy trying to stick with the stupid pace when he's clearly no mountain goat.
At the top of the first climb, the break has split apart, and Tronet, the first man ahead of the peloton, has a four minute gap. It's maintained at this as Anton, mountains leader, attacks at the top to gain more points.
This causes chaos in the pack as he isn't instantly reeled in, but rather remains out front for 8km. Whether he was trying to or not was unclear.
We go down a mountain, and up the next, and Tronet is going to be caught.
Not a lot can be done, so Minard goes back with him to look after him. Surprisingly Tronet finished without bonking. (As did Gaudin, which is even more of a surprise).
Ventoso is caught at the top of the penultimate climb, by his own teammate, but not before he's accrued enough points to wear the jersey tomorrow.
As we go over the top, and start to descend, the pack splits into many different parts. Surprisingly, Karpets gets caught out and is left behind. He'll lose a fair bit of time today, thats for sure.
The front group starts to whittle down more and more, and before long we hit the last climb, with Voigt leading for Schleck. About half way up, the expect attacks come, and Belkov is ready. He can't quite manage to get away though, and when the attacks finish, it's Contador, Evans and Schleck who've gotten a gap, and a few big names who've been dropped. Belkov is still in the first big group on the road though, and will look to move up if he rides carefully.
Carefully he does, and over the top more GC riders get dropped. Levi Lephimer being the biggest name.
Contador has pulled a gap of 1 minute 30 over Belkovs group, and Evans is just 20-30 seconds behind Contador. Schleck is 1 minute- 1 minute 30 behind Contador, as the gaps increase and decrease around every bend.
Contador, of course, duly wins the stage, Evans rolling in second, and Schleck in 3rd.
A careful bit of manoevering by Belkov sees him snatch 4th spot.
A squad purely here for the experience prior to the TdF.
Hopefully someone will progress enough to be of an outside chance of a top 10 at the tour.
The first stage would look normally like a top 15 affair for Drujon, but with no race fitness, we doubt he'll be there.
Surprisingly, the day went really badly for us, and Drujon, Levarlet (only just) were two of the three riders not to get dropped (only due to Drujons sprinting powers to cut the gap).
A massive day today. We hoped things would be calm until nearer the end than usual, as Belkov would probably be with no support otherwise.
The normal break went, and got brought back right away. Whilst I couldn't see any threat there, the pack obviously did. Some climbers eventually went away solo, to have a total of 3 up front. This didn't do Gaudin much good as he ended up dropped, and blown, with 97 km left to go.
He'd end up finishing over 1hr 10minutes behind the leader(s), and not making the cut. Pity, as he too needed the experience of climbing prior to the tour.
At the bottom of the same climb Gaudin cracked on, Belkov was, as expected, left alone.
Bit by bit the pack was whittling down as the pace started heating up, often due to the attacks for KoM points.
Bad news as well, as a -3 day for Belkov could ruin everything for him.
Igor Anton was one of many who attacked for the KoM every time.
On the base of the penultimate climb, all hell broke loose.
Some major names were attacking from the pack, and oh so quickly Belkov was at his limits to hold on.
Hold on was all he could do, and was doing an ok job.
Over the top of the climb, Evans and Schleck led.
A second group wasn't far behind.
And Belkovs group, with him sitting nicely forward, was also not far behind them.
As the final climb loomed, the 2nd group, and Belkovs merged. As they merged, Contador, getting ready for the tour, attacked away. Followed by Remi di Gregorio.
And so the situation remained, with Evans finally riding away from his late attacking partners.
Belkov was so close to surviving the day, until he cracked in the final 700m, to lose over 2 minutes to his group.
It's been a while, but I did actually race another Criterium Dauphine stage before I stopped posting... so heres how I remember the stage going ... (if I make up half of it, you'd never know anyway...)
At the base of the final climb, the lead group - containing Kiryienka again, has 5 minutes over the peloton. Undoubtedly they'd probably be caught, but still worth Vasili trying to keep going.
As both groups continue climbing, its quite obvious they will be caught.
But not to worry, Kiryienka has got the team some much needed publicity, especially as some riders attack past him.
And whats this, Belkov is feeling good again, and manages to get an attack in!
He forms a group shortly after.
Up front, Anton was surprising many by sitting with Evans and Schleck.
Contador had of course, pressed on past them all.
Anton soon has to let go though.
With a simple descent to the finish all that was needed to win the stage, Contador doesn't fail to succeed. However, his nonexistant sprint means he doesn't gain any ground on Schleck or Evans. Not that it would have mattered anyway.
Belkov sneaks in for another 4th placed finish. Typical.
We don't expect anything any more from Suisse. Infact, so little that after todays stage, I will be simulating the rest.
Sobal is now the team leader apparantly, as Levarlet couldn't keep up with his weak flat skill and a -4 day. This brings a bit of concern for the Tour, as if he loses time on the flat and time trials, he's never going to make it back on the climbs.
Good luck in TdF, I think that you can get some stage wins 
