So here comes the Eneco tour. Starting and ending with ITTs, it's perfect for Vaugrenard. Some sneaky form loss right after the Tour, followed by a slow regain means he's in nigh-on tip-top form (92ish) for the tour, and is our hope for the GC as well as some stage successes.
Also here is Gaudin (on demand), Abal, in a slight hope for him to gain some fitness. It's far too late for him to gain any serious experience pre-vuelta, which was originally his GC aim, and we'll probably be looking to offload him in the off season, with Martinez taking over the mantle of 3rd GC leader, or Morizot even. That, of course, depending upon whether we stay up or not.
Drujon is still the sprinter in form for Eneco, hitting mid 90's. And with 4-5 flat stages, pending the wind and need to protect Vaugrenard, he'll be looking for success and a few podiums (win?!).
So, first stage:
Vaugrenard has, as usual, a -4 day on his favoured terrain. With Cancellara here too, it's no guess who'll win.
Heres Devolder TTing.
Vaugrenard? Well, he still manages a podium!
1 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC 5'37
2 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 6 3 Benoît Vaugrenard AUBER - BELTELECOM + 11
4 Sebastian Lang GEROLSTEINER + 12
5 Sébastien Rosseler QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
6 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK + 14
7 Tom Veelers COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
8 Bert Roesems PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
9 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 16
10 Olaf Pollack TEAM MILRAM + 17
11 Arkaitz Durán SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 18
12 Edvald Boasson Hagen EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 20
13 Christian Meier RABOBANK CONTINENTAL + 21
14 Brett Lancaster TEAM MILRAM + 22
15 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
16 Jaime Castañeda LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
17 Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER + 23 18 François Pervis AUBER - BELTELECOM s.t.
19 Damien Gaudin AUBER - BELTELECOM s.t.
20 Marc Lotz BARLOWORLD + 24
Stage 2:
A very very hilly stage, and the first of two. If Vaugrenard can survive, and I truely mean survive, these two, he stands a slight chance (pending wind) of a GC position, which could mean VITAL points for us.
With only Drujon for company by mid-way through the race, it was going to be a struggle, but Drujon sacrificed himself to keep Vaugrenard near the front.
A successful day, as Vaugrenard managed to keep up with Fabian, just.
The pivotal stage. Ascending the Mur three times will be a true test of Vaugrenard's form, that's for sure.
A two man break got away for the stage, which caused attacks on every single points or mountain sprint. Not fun. Still, a steady chase brought the two men back, and set up O'Grady for a counter attack. He'd later withdraw from the race about 200m from the finish line.
Over the penultimate Mur accent, and the following hills, a few riders got clear, with Valverde in front of them. Vaugrenard was happy to sit in with the group containing Cancellara and Ballan. He followed Ballan in the sprint uphill to claim 10th on the stage. Remaining in the top 10 of the GC is great news for us, as, with a fairly long ITT at the end of the tour, we should claw back some time on Ten Dam, Nibali, Nuyens, etc. A top 5 really is within our grasp.
Results:
1 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 5h04'16
2 Nick Nuyens COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 1'08
3 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS s.t.
4 Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER s.t.
5 Laurens Ten Dam UNIBET.COM s.t.
6 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
7 Stijn Devolder DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'01
8 Alessandro Ballan LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 2'13
9 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t. 10 Benoît Vaugrenard AUBER - BELTELECOM s.t.
11 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC s.t.
12 Philippe Gilbert FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
13 Juan Antonio Flecha RABOBANK s.t.
14 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC s.t.
15 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
16 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
17 Edvald Boasson Hagen EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
18 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC + 2'56
19 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK s.t.
20 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 3'41
GC:
1 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 10h32'08
2 Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER + 1'21
3 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM + 3'45
4 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS + 4'06
5 Laurens Ten Dam UNIBET.COM + 4'16
6 Nick Nuyens COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 4'17
7 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC + 4'28 8 Benoît Vaugrenard AUBER - BELTELECOM + 4'39
9 Stijn Devolder DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 4'47
10 Edvald Boasson Hagen EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 4'48
11 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 5'03
12 Matti Breschel TEAM CSC + 5'04
13 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 5'14
14 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC + 5'15
15 Philippe Gilbert FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 5'22
Now just a few sprint stages for Drujon, who's been Vaugrenard's best helper for these two stages.
Lets see if we can avoid bad luck, and get a sprint win!
The first of many sprint stages. To ensure the race ends in a sprint, Chainel is sacrificed to go in the break. He is caught with 50km to go, and doesn't make the cut.
Drujon, however, finds the perfect wheel for the day, Boonens. Coming off Rojas' wheel, Drujon tries to follow Boonen to the line. A quick swerve to the left also cuts up a few more sprinters, including rivals Euskaltel's EBH.
A 3rd place for Drujon!
Results:
1 José Joaquín Rojas CAISSE D'EPARGNE 4h44'34
2 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t. 3 Mathieu Drujon AUBER - BELTELECOM s.t.
4 Edvald Boasson Hagen EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
5 Lloyd Mondory AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
6 Sébastien Chavanel FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
7 Fran Ventoso SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
8 Tomas Vaitkus DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
9 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
10 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
A very windy day, so Vaugrenard was the only survivor in the pack for us. We had to sacrifice Drujon's chances to keep Benoit in the game.
Steegmans won, bringing Euskaltel some points they need more than us!
Stage 6
A pan flat, unwindy day. And, Drujon was on +5. So, as the AI does, it didn't chase. Until about 30km to go, with an 8 minute gap. So I wrote off my chances, but annoyingly, in the last 2km, we caught the break. And Drujon was blocked in next to the barriers. When he got free, he quickly gained back time on the front, but it was about 3km too late.
Great race
I'm sure you will prevent Auber from being relegated, just focus on the right races (btw how do your team stats look like after all those level-ups?)
Yeah, I'll talk about the signings during the Vuelta I imagine. Quite a few nice prospective ones
Rest of the season. Well. Tronet will be doing Poland. Everyone else at Poland will be for experience.
The Vuelta. The original plan was to lead with Abal. But his awful mountain stat, and his season long injury now means Abal will be breakaway-mountain man. And I think Vaugrenard, Belkov, Ciolek, Kiryienka, Sobal will all be there for various reasons. Ciolek sprints, with Kiryienka and Sobal as domestiques for him. Vaugrenard for some TT help and to help Ciolek. Belkov just to see if I can get a GC position. I think 15+ scores points, so I'll go for a top 15.