What is Le Tour de kazakhstan
This is a 9 stage custom tour consiting of 1 stage made by darth-maul and 8 by Shack, with no flat stages, 2 hill stages, 7 mountain stages. 3 or 4 of them are Time Trials.
I will be controlling Astana. Start List
I narrowed down each team to 9 riders but unfortunately it didnt quite work, notable absences from my ideal start list are Mancebo and Sevilla from Relax Gam and Voeckler from Bouygues Telecome. Nonsense is team SportingNonsense made up of some other climbers, O'Grady and Cavendish are the 2 missing.
Stage 1
Amazingly Theo Eltink of Rabobank was dropped before the first climb. Trampusch, Calzati, Zberg, Downing and Fedrigo attacked at the first sprint but were soon caught as the mountains began. Marzoli of Tinkoff took the first KoM points but Weening and Evans attacked in the descent. They were soon relleed back in though and a peleton of 101 (53 already dropped) began the second ascent. Evans attacked again and took the mountain points and as soon as the descent began Valverde crashed!
Valverde lost 3 minutes in the crash and almost all of Caisse D'Epargne slowed to help him back in, only Pererio and Zandio remained in the Peleton which now consisted of 91 riders. Contador became another crash victim but noth he, Valverde and many others made the junction back to the peleton. Ag2r's Nocentini was not so fortunate and withdrew from the race - having been riding last. Marzano attacked to cross the finish line for the first time first and the riders got an idea of how tough the finish would be. Andrew Tennant of Team 100% Me became the 2nd withdrawal and it would surely only be a matter a time before Contador joined him, as Contador had been dropped before the climb even began, obviously injured from his crash. For Astana Benoit Joachim was obviously struggling, having been dropped on the first circuit before returning. he was to and froing from the back of the peleton throughout the climb.
Meanwhile, a group of 11 riders broke clear, and kept gaining time throughout the clime. At the top the lead group of 7 had over 8 minutes over the peleton.
Brajkovic, Mayo, Evans, Pereiro and Rasmussen all attacked from the peleton towards the top, if anything to try and up the tempo from their teammates. It was too early in the race for me to put in a serious attack to join them although you never know with pereiro and Rasmussen. Indeed it seemed Pereiro was fully commited and believed he could last the remainign 170km as he had gained 2 minutes on the peleton at the top of the 4th climb, Rasmussen was a minute behind Pereiro and with the pack now chasing it seemed that the main breakaway could have its lead cut.
Here is how things stood halway through the stage:
For those interested Flens of Rabobank (50 Mt) was already 40 minutes down on the lead riders and Contador was 20 minutes down. Joachim meanwhile was in group A4, now 7 minutes down on the peleton and 13 overall, there was no way he would make it back to help out Vinokourov now.
As the peleton began the 3rd climb up the main climb they consisted of 58 riders, having caught Rasmussen, they began eating into pereiro who had been slowed by Milohjevic and Fedrigo who were 2 minutes ahead. The leading group had now just 5 minutes on the leaders. Joachim amazingly had already ran out of steam, with no drinks and no energy the rest of the race would just be hell for him.
The breakaway was caught and yet again many riders were dropepd but returned to the peleton - they would no doubt struggle and be gone for good soon. Dessel went clear followed by Julich and Zubeldia, next down the road was Karpets and Caruso, who had attacked despite both being dropped previously before rejoining the peleton. Astana rise Frei was soon and struggling while Mizourov was one of many bouncing in and out of the peleton.
As we reached the top of climb 6 we yet again had attacks from Rasmussen, Pereiro, Mayo, Brajkovic, Marzoli, Evans and Nibali - maybe theyre going for the KoM jersey?
Heres a pic of a car that seems stuck - it has stayed in the same place since the first time we passed here.
In the descent Markus Fothen became the first team leader to fall as Mizourov became the 3rd Astana member to crumble, although he had managed to stay in the peleton to protect Vino right until the end, top man. This also meant the first of 4 kazakhstanis participating had been dropped.
As the peleton began the penultimate climb it had been reduced to 36 with 7 riders out front, Kohl and Rebellin had sacrificed their chances by dropping back to try to bring Fothen back but it would be a struggle. Rebellin and Kohl began to struggle and Fothen took it to himself. Also dropped from the peleton were De la fuente, Botero and Hamilton as the stronger climbers began to struggle. Although as weve seen earlier they will no doubt make it back to the peleton before falling off again. Popovych, Beltran, Horner, Piepoli, Pellizotti, Dekker, Paulinho and voigt were the next to fall off the back as Nocentini of Caisse D'epargne crashed for the third time. Unfortunately for Fothen, Hamilton seemed to slow down his recovery.
Enough of the strugglers, here is the situation up front:
The atatcks for the contendors began, Kascheskin, Vinokourov, Valverde and Schleck led the first wave, with Kloden, Millar, Sastre and Moreau following in the 2nd wave. Dessell meanwhile is quickly being caught by the first 4 attackers.
The situation before the final climb:
Vinokourov < Kascheskin < Valverde < Kloden, Schleck < Mazzoleni, Savoldelli, Basso, Brajkovic < Dessel, Moreau, Millar < Evans, Sastre, Pereiro < Menchov, Mayo, Ullrich, Iglinski
Not much happened in the final climb and in the final descent Sastre crashed, fortunately he was uninjured. Vinokourov hung on and take a glorious victory in front of many cheering Kazakh supporters, and to the fans delite the Kazakh champion Kaschechkin hung on for 2nd.
Valverde came in 3rd and Frank Schleck took 4th sprinting ahead of Kloden. Basso and Brajkovic managed to drop Savoldelli and Mazzoleni at the finish and the rest of the climbers began streaming in.
Numerous crashes took place in the final descent and climb as the rest of the field struggled home. Flens was the last man home almost 2 hours back!
Stage Rsults + Overall Classification
1 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANÁ 10h04'36
2 Andrei Kashechkin ASTANÁ + 1'47
3 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 4'01
4 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC + 4'27
5 Andreas Klöden ASTANÁ + 4'57
6 Ivan Basso DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 7'04
7 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 7'12
8 Paolo Savoldelli ASTANÁ + 8'18
9 Eddy Mazzoleni ASTANÁ + 9'27
10 David Millar SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 9'39
11 Cadel Evans PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 9'48
12 Christophe Moreau AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 10'25
13 Iban Mayo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 10'41
14 Denis Menchov RABOBANK + 11'18
15 Jan Ullrich TEAM VOLKSBANK + 11'30
16 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK + 11'55
17 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 12'30
18 Jörg Jaksche TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 12'37
19 Óscar Pereiro Sio CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
20 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 13'23
21 David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 13'33
22 Tom Danielson DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 13'44
23 Cyril Dessel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 13'54
24 Levi Leipheimer DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 14'15
25 Pietro Caucchioli SPORTING-NONSENSE + 15'00
26 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 15'12
27 Maxim Iglinski ASTANÁ + 16'04
28 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER s.t.
29 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 16'13
30 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC + 16'32
31 Mauricio Ardila RABOBANK + 18'16
32 Vladimir Karpets CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 18'52
33 Sérgio Paulinho SPORTING-NONSENSE + 19'40
34 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK + 19'55
35 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 20'44
36 Gianpaolo Caruso LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 21'15
37 Haimar Zubeldia EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 21'26
38 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS + 21'28
39 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 21'58
40 Santiago Botero SPORTING-NONSENSE + 22'30
41 Manuel Beltran LIQUIGAS + 23'07
42 Jaroslav Popovych DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 23'45
43 David Arroyo CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 24'27
44 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS + 24'48
45 Tyler Hamilton TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 26'07
46 Bernhard Kohl GEROLSTEINER + 26'20
47 Matt Talbot TEAM 100% ME + 27'06
48 Robert Gesink RABOBANK + 27'25
49 Pieter Weening RABOBANK + 27'39
50 Tadej Valjavec LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 27'47
Points
1 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANÁ 20
2 Andrei Kashechkin ASTANÁ 17
3 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 15
4 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC 13
5 Andreas Klöden ASTANÁ 12
6 Ivan Basso DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM 10
7 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM 9
8 Paolo Savoldelli ASTANÁ 8
9 Eddy Mazzoleni ASTANÁ 7
10 Pierrick Fédrigo BOUYGUES TELECOM 6
Mountains
1 Ruggero Marzoli TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS 100
2 Cyril Dessel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 100
3 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC 68
4 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK 56
5 Andrei Kashechkin ASTANÁ 56
6 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANÁ 56
7 Cadel Evans PREDICTOR - LOTTO 49
8 Marco Marzano LAMPRE - FONDITAL 48
9 Haimar Zubeldia EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 48
10 Jason Queally TEAM 100% ME 44
11 David De la Fuente SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 44
12 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 44
13 Ryder Hesjedal HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS 36
14 Igor Antón EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 36
15 Vladimir Karpets CAISSE D'EPARGNE 36
16 Andreas Klöden ASTANÁ 32
17 Gianpaolo Caruso LAMPRE - FONDITAL 28
18 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC 26
19 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS 25
20 Pieter Weening RABOBANK 22
Lol, ill screenshot the rest of the top climbers sometime, I bumped them all up high. Anyway ive only had the game for a week, im not gonna challenge myself that quickly
Stage 2
Only time will tell how steep the last part is!
A few attacks early on led to nothing, and even before the 2nd mountain pointds half of the field had been dropped. The slope soon rose to 15% and De La Fuente, Julich, Brajkovic, Evans, Rasmussen and Dessel tried and failed to get away.
At the halfway stage Pereiro held a 30 second lead over Kloden and Rasmussen, 2 minutes on Kohl, and 2 and a half minutes on the 60man peleton.
Kohl was caught and the peleton had soon split into an elite group of 17.
The leaders took the race off the map scale and yes it got steeper still, up front Kloden and Rasmussen caught up pereiro and hold a 90 second lead.
The attacks began, led by valverde Basso and of course Vinokourov.
The lead group now consisted of Basso, Valverde, Pereiro, Rasmussen, Kloden, Kascheskin, Vinokourov and Schleck. The other 9 couldnt follow but are next down the road, 3:29 behind are: Millar, Menchov, Brajkovic, Danielson, Evans, Fothen, Dessel, Moncoutie and Moreau. Savoldelli and Mazzoleni are on their own behind this group before the next group of 20+ riders.
Rasmussen was dropped and a flourish of attacks from the chasing group increased their speed although noone got away. After the 4th KoM points the percent rose to 23.4%!!!
With 10km to go the lead group split, Kascheskin and Valverde; Vinokourov, Schleck and Pereiro; Basso; Kloden
Further down the chasers also split after Ramuseen a group of 5 consists of Millar, Moreaus, Brajkovic, Menchov and Evans.
More splits late on but Valverde and Kash held on and Valverde took a tight and painful sprint to pip Kasheshkin.
Vinokourov headed in 3rd, Schleck 4th, basso 5th and pereiro 6th.
Rick Flens withdrew literally metres from the line after yet again being a long way down and this has appeared to cause a bug in the game. It wouldnt go onto the next part after the race was over I left it for 10 minutes and "18 hours" had passed and still bnothing so i had to quit.
This means that the stage doesnt count and ill have to repeat it.
Stage 2 Re-run
Well after it crashed yesterday I decided in the rerun since id done a story for that I would not bother this time, although i will post some more detailed results.
Vinokourov took the stage, he was by far the strongest and blew away Valverde, Pereiro and Kascheskin came up next having struggled in the last 2 kilometers. Down the field Flens and Lefevre abondoned and Carlos Sastre showed the side effects from the Stage 1 crash, he finished a long way behind.
Stage
1 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANÁ 3h16'05
2 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 2'33
3 Óscar Pereiro Sio CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 6'29
4 Andrei Kashechkin ASTANÁ + 7'18
5 Andreas Klöden ASTANÁ + 8'02
6 Cadel Evans PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 8'44
7 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC + 8'54
8 Ivan Basso DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 9'23
9 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK + 10'31
10 Christophe Moreau AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 12'02
11 Denis Menchov RABOBANK + 12'27
12 Cyril Dessel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 13'11
13 David Millar SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 13'26
14 David De la Fuente SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 14'10
15 David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 14'53
16 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER + 15'06
17 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 15'22
18 Bernhard Kohl GEROLSTEINER + 15'57
19 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
20 Eddy Mazzoleni ASTANÁ + 16'31
21 Haimar Zubeldia EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 17'09
22 Levi Leipheimer DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 17'21
23 Iban Mayo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 18'13
24 Vladimir Karpets CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 20'09
25 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
26 Jörg Jaksche TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
27 Mauricio Ardila RABOBANK s.t.
28 Igor Antón EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
29 Tom Danielson DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
30 Paolo Savoldelli ASTANÁ s.t.
31 Pietro Caucchioli SPORTING-NONSENSE s.t.
32 Manuel Beltran LIQUIGAS s.t.
33 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
34 Jan Ullrich TEAM VOLKSBANK + 21'20
35 Tadej Valjavec LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 23'04
62 Maxim Iglinski ASTANÁ + 29'26
77 Andrei Mizourov ASTANÁ + 37'42
118 Thomas Frei ASTANÁ + 57'18
145 Alberto Contador DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 1h12'03
146 Ilya Chernetsky TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 1h12'43
147 Matthew Goss TEAM CSC + 1h19'23
148 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 1h21'07
149 Daniele Contrini TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 1h25'07
150 Doug Ollerenshaw HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS + 1h28'03
Overall
1 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANÁ 13h20'21
2 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 6'42
3 Andrei Kashechkin ASTANÁ + 9'25
4 Andreas Klöden ASTANÁ + 13'19
5 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC + 13'41
6 Ivan Basso DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 16'47
7 Cadel Evans PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 18'52
8 Óscar Pereiro Sio CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 19'18
9 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK + 22'46
10 Christophe Moreau AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 22'47
11 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 22'54
12 David Millar SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 23'25
13 Denis Menchov RABOBANK + 24'05
14 Eddy Mazzoleni ASTANÁ + 26'18
15 Cyril Dessel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 27'25
16 David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 28'46
17 Paolo Savoldelli ASTANÁ + 28'47
18 Iban Mayo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 29'14
19 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER + 31'30
20 Levi Leipheimer DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 31'56
21 Jörg Jaksche TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 33'06
22 Jan Ullrich TEAM VOLKSBANK + 33'10
23 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 33'52
24 Tom Danielson DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 34'13
25 Pietro Caucchioli SPORTING-NONSENSE + 35'29
26 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 36'42
27 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 37'01
28 Mauricio Ardila RABOBANK + 38'45
29 Haimar Zubeldia EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 38'55
30 Vladimir Karpets CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 39'21
31 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 42'34
32 Bernhard Kohl GEROLSTEINER + 42'37
33 Manuel Beltran LIQUIGAS + 43'36
34 David De la Fuente SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 44'59
35 Maxim Iglinski ASTANÁ + 45'50
36 Sérgio Paulinho SPORTING-NONSENSE + 45'58
37 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC + 46'02
38 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 48'24
39 Santiago Botero SPORTING-NONSENSE + 48'56
40 David Arroyo CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 49'25
41 Jaroslav Popovych DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 50'19
42 Igor Antón EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 50'23
43 Tadej Valjavec LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 51'11
44 Gianpaolo Caruso LAMPRE - FONDITAL + 53'09
45 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK + 53'25
46 Pieter Weening RABOBANK + 54'13
47 Robert Gesink RABOBANK + 54'15
48 Tyler Hamilton TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 55'29
49 Ivan Parra Pinto COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 58'14
50 José Luis Arrieta AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 58'47
73 Andrei Mizourov ASTANÁ + 1h19'17
86 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 1h33'57
123 Thomas Frei ASTANÁ + 1h57'53
137 Benoît Joachim ASTANÁ + 2h12'57
150 Doug Ollerenshaw HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS + 3h06'48
Stage 3
The first time trial and possibly one of the toughest, as in Stage 2 it is continous uphill and it will surely be unforgiving for those currently struggling. It certainly made a bike choice rather hard.
As expected the lead changed many times early on and the first pass was made by Goss over Verdugo and Indeeed it was Goss who took the early lead, before being beaten by Pineau, 37 riders later - Goss was then pushed down to 3rd when Cancellara took second. Frei and Joachim made it to the finish both takign a provisional top 5 place - that they obviously could not keep.
Miholjevic took over a minute from Pineau and then Charly Wegelius took a further 30 seconds. The fin Matti Helminen then knocked off 30 seconds more and an honourary mention goes to Mizourov who took a strong third. As the final riders rode towars the first split Iglinski took the overall lead at the top.
With everyone passed the first split the top 10 were:
basso, Valverde, Schleck, Millar, Vinokourov, Evans, Brajkovic, Pereiro, Moreau and Rasmussen. I was not too worried - even with Kascheskin 37th as I started slower than the rest. Karpets edged past before Danielson sat a new, tougher margin. Meanwhile, further down Valverde had made it within 30 seconds of Kasheskin.
Savoldelli took 30 more seconds before Millar took 30 more. Top 10 once everyone had finished the 2nd split:
Vinokourov, Valverde, Basso, Schleck, Millar, Evans, brajkovic, Pereiro, Kashechkin and Moreau.
Basso took 1st, Schleck went in second and Kloden took 3rd as Vinokourov passed Valverde!
Kashechkin took 1st but it did not last long as VCinokourov took his 3rd straight stage win. Valverde took 3rd.
Stage
1 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANÁ 1h20'37
2 Andrei Kashechkin ASTANÁ + 2'10
3 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 2'59
4 Ivan Basso DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 3'06
5 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC + 3'19
6 Andreas Klöden ASTANÁ + 3'31
7 David Millar SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 4'04
8 Cadel Evans PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 4'18
9 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 4'19
10 Óscar Pereiro Sio CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 4'29
11 Paolo Savoldelli ASTANÁ + 4'32
12 Christophe Moreau AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 4'53
13 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK + 5'00
14 Tom Danielson DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 5'10
15 Cyril Dessel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 5'22
16 Jan Ullrich TEAM VOLKSBANK + 5'23
17 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER + 5'24
18 Eddy Mazzoleni ASTANÁ + 5'36
19 Denis Menchov RABOBANK + 5'44
20 Vladimir Karpets CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 5'45
21 Pietro Caucchioli SPORTING-NONSENSE + 5'47
22 Maxim Iglinski ASTANÁ + 5'50
23 David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 5'51
24 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 5'52
25 Bernhard Kohl GEROLSTEINER + 5'54
26 Jaroslav Popovych DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 5'59
27 Iban Mayo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 6'00
28 Levi Leipheimer DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 6'01
29 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 6'04
30 Jörg Jaksche TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 6'13
31 Manuel Beltran LIQUIGAS + 6'18
32 Santiago Botero SPORTING-NONSENSE + 6'20
33 Matti Helminen SPORTING-NONSENSE + 6'21
34 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 6'34
35 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 6'38
Overall
1 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANÁ 14h40'58
2 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 9'41
3 Andrei Kashechkin ASTANÁ + 11'35
4 Andreas Klöden ASTANÁ + 16'50
5 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC + 17'00
6 Ivan Basso DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 19'53
7 Cadel Evans PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 23'10
8 Óscar Pereiro Sio CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 23'47
9 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 27'13
10 David Millar SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 27'29
11 Christophe Moreau AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 27'40
12 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK + 27'46
13 Denis Menchov RABOBANK + 29'49
14 Eddy Mazzoleni ASTANÁ + 31'54
15 Cyril Dessel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 32'47
16 Paolo Savoldelli ASTANÁ + 33'19
17 David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 34'37
18 Iban Mayo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 35'14
19 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER + 36'54
20 Levi Leipheimer DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 37'57
21 Jan Ullrich TEAM VOLKSBANK + 38'33
22 Jörg Jaksche TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 39'19
23 Tom Danielson DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 39'23
24 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 40'26
25 Pietro Caucchioli SPORTING-NONSENSE + 41'16
26 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 43'20
27 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 43'39
28 Vladimir Karpets CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 45'06
29 Haimar Zubeldia EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 45'47
30 Mauricio Ardila RABOBANK + 46'40
31 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 48'26
32 Bernhard Kohl GEROLSTEINER + 48'31
33 Manuel Beltran LIQUIGAS + 49'54
34 Maxim Iglinski ASTANÁ + 51'40
35 David De la Fuente SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 52'22
Points
1 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANÁ 15 55
2 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 10 42
3 Andrei Kashechkin ASTANÁ 12 42
4 Andreas Klöden ASTANÁ 5 29
5 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC 6 28
6 Ivan Basso DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM 8 26
7 Cadel Evans PREDICTOR - LOTTO 3 18
8 Óscar Pereiro Sio CAISSE D'EPARGNE 1 16
9 David Millar SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 4 13
10 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM 2 11
Mountains
1 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANÁ 0 203
2 Andrei Kashechkin ASTANÁ 0 182
3 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 0 181
4 Óscar Pereiro Sio CAISSE D'EPARGNE 0 169
5 Andreas Klöden ASTANÁ 0 159
6 Cyril Dessel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 0 134
7 Cadel Evans PREDICTOR - LOTTO 0 132
8 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK 0 125
9 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC 0 100
10 Ruggero Marzoli TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS 0 100
11 Ivan Basso DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM 0 82
12 David De la Fuente SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 0 80
13 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC 0 72
14 Marco Marzano LAMPRE - FONDITAL 0 49
15 Haimar Zubeldia EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 0 48
16 Jason Queally TEAM 100% ME 0 44
17 Igor Antón EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 0 42
18 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM 0 40
19 Christophe Moreau AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 0 39
20 Denis Menchov RABOBANK 0 36
This looks like an easy stage in comparison with some otherse
With an early climb it was obvious that thered be attacks and it was Kashechkin who took the points as he aimed to take the lead in the K0M competition. Pereiro alsop attacked and took 2nd.
Noone took up the chase and Kasheckin easily took the sprint aswell and his lead increased as the next climb began. Further up the climb CSC, Discovery and Caiss D'Epargne began to take chase but Kash took the climb easily anyway and eased up - not wanting to waste too much energy before the end - there was little point trying to survive alone even with 10 minutes advantage.
Pereiro and Kashechkin obviously were not willing to push hard and the 2 other escapees De La Fuente and Marzano caught up with them. Meanwhile the top of the climb had caused a split in the peleton - with it being wittled down to 73. Benoit Joachim with a full bar of blue attacked in the descent from group A1 and caught back up - to hopefully gain a few places at the end of the day.
Brajkovic suffered a puncture - which took Discovery off the front of the peleton. He fell back to A1 a minute down as the breakaways lead fell to 2 minutes. Kashechkin hung on to take the 3rrd climb though and Evans escaped from the peleton to pip Pereiro for second. Kashechkin was then soon caught with 26km to go. Brajkovic meanwhile was still a minute back in A1, which was being led by Team 100% Me and Bouygues Telecom.
A flurry of attacks began with Salvodelli on the climb and the groups soon split, Kashechkin then cracked - although not as bad as Pereiro. Up front Valverde, Moreau and Mayo forged a gap but the Astana boys brought them back before Moreau, Valverde, Vinokourov and Kloden went away in the decisive move. Basso, Schleck and Rasmussen formed chase behind, followed by a group of 10 and then any stragglers littered down the mountain.
Moreau cracked and fell away as Kloden set a high tempo, Vino followed and Valverde just about hung on. As the sprint begun Kloden sprinted but Valverde did not react immediateely and this was enough, Valverde began to close the goap but ran out of space. Vinokourov meanwhile following his 3 stage wins and huge overall lead, did not take part in the sprint, taking third.
Savoldelli, Mazzoleni and Iglinski could not last having done the work bringing back Valverde's original trio or attacking themselves and finished a couple of inutes down ahead of Kashechkin who following his breakaway could not finish well. He still finished ahead of the likes of Millar and also Brajkovic who had to fight hard after his puncture. Of Kash's fellow escapees Pereiro finished 5 minutes down, de la Fuente 6:45 down and Marzano 8 minutes down.
Stage
1 Andreas Klöden ASTANÁ 4h47'39
2 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 9
3 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANÁ + 17
4 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC + 42
5 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK s.t.
6 Ivan Basso DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
7 Jan Ullrich TEAM VOLKSBANK + 1'00
8 Cadel Evans PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
9 Tom Danielson DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
10 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER s.t.
11 Iban Mayo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
12 Christophe Moreau AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
13 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
14 David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
15 Jörg Jaksche TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
16 Pietro Caucchioli SPORTING-NONSENSE s.t.
17 Manuel Beltran LIQUIGAS s.t.
18 Paolo Savoldelli ASTANÁ + 2'04
19 Eddy Mazzoleni ASTANÁ s.t.
20 Maxim Iglinski ASTANÁ s.t.
21 Andrei Kashechkin ASTANÁ + 2'28
22 Bernhard Kohl GEROLSTEINER s.t.
23 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS + 2'39
24 David Millar SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'59
25 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS + 3'08
26 Tyler Hamilton TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 3'34
27 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
28 Tadej Valjavec LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
29 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
30 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
31 Denis Menchov RABOBANK s.t.
32 Jaroslav Popovych DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
33 Ivan Parra Pinto COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
34 Charles Wegelius LIQUIGAS s.t.
35 Andrei Mizourov ASTANÁ s.t.
Overall
1 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANÁ 20h18'31
2 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 11'14
3 Andrei Kashechkin ASTANÁ + 14'58
4 Andreas Klöden ASTANÁ + 17'41
5 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC + 19'07
6 Ivan Basso DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 22'05
7 Cadel Evans PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 24'49
8 Christophe Moreau AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 29'06
9 Óscar Pereiro Sio CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 29'41
10 David Millar SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 30'25
11 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 31'55
12 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK + 33'28
13 Denis Menchov RABOBANK + 35'04
14 Paolo Savoldelli ASTANÁ + 35'45
15 Eddy Mazzoleni ASTANÁ + 37'45
16 David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 37'52
17 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER + 38'55
18 Iban Mayo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 40'17
19 Jan Ullrich TEAM VOLKSBANK + 40'26
20 Jörg Jaksche TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 41'38
21 Levi Leipheimer DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 42'15
22 Cyril Dessel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 43'09
23 Tom Danielson DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 43'25
24 Pietro Caucchioli SPORTING-NONSENSE + 44'00
25 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 47'31
26 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 49'21
27 Vladimir Karpets CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 50'22
28 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 50'52
29 Haimar Zubeldia EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 51'09
30 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 51'44
31 Manuel Beltran LIQUIGAS + 53'17
32 Bernhard Kohl GEROLSTEINER + 54'52
33 Mauricio Ardila RABOBANK + 55'12
34 Maxim Iglinski ASTANÁ + 56'51
35 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 58'32
Points
1 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANÁ 15 82
2 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 17 59
3 Andrei Kashechkin ASTANÁ 10 52
4 Andreas Klöden ASTANÁ 20 49
5 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC 13 41
6 Ivan Basso DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM 10 36
7 Cadel Evans PREDICTOR - LOTTO 8 26
8 David Millar SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 0 23
9 Óscar Pereiro Sio CAISSE D'EPARGNE 6 22
10 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK 12 19
Mountains
1 Andrei Kashechkin ASTANÁ 65 247
2 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANÁ 30 233
3 Óscar Pereiro Sio CAISSE D'EPARGNE 51 220
4 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 35 216
5 Andreas Klöden ASTANÁ 41 200
6 Cadel Evans PREDICTOR - LOTTO 29 161
7 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK 30 155
8 Cyril Dessel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 14 148
9 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC 26 126
10 David De la Fuente SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 40 120
11 Ivan Basso DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM 18 100
12 Ruggero Marzoli TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS 0 100
13 Marco Marzano LAMPRE - FONDITAL 38 87
14 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC 0 72
15 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM 8 48
16 Haimar Zubeldia EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 0 48
17 Christophe Moreau AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 6 45
18 David Arroyo CAISSE D'EPARGNE 22 44
19 Jason Queally TEAM 100% ME 0 44
20 Igor Antón EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 0 42
21 Denis Menchov RABOBANK 0 36
22 Ryder Hesjedal HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS 0 36
23 Vladimir Karpets CAISSE D'EPARGNE 0 36
24 Tom Danielson DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM 12 34
25 Paolo Savoldelli ASTANÁ 0 32
Stage 6
We pick up the action at the foot of the penultimate climb.
A group of 9 has the lead:
Schleck, Kloden, Savoldelli, Kashechkin, Pereiro, Rasmussen, Evans, Basso and Brajkovic. Amazingly the lead group did not include Vinokourov or Valverde, who were 40 seconds behind with Millar and Moreau.
So how did this happen? At the foot of the second climb the peleton contained around 70. Savoldelli and Mazzoleni set a very tough pace and many riders fell off an attack at the top was followed by many, which created a group of 7. Kloden attacked to make his way back and Savoldelli eased back in.
Savoldelli and Kloden among others continued to set a tough pace, and I decided that Vinokourov had had enough fun and a 10 minute GC lead and did not bother making him chase.
9 turned to 5 who took a couple of minutes lead over a chasing group of 7.
Schleck cracked and then Kloden suffered the same fate, Pereiro and kashechkn then broke clear from Basso and produced an advantage. Behind there was a split in the chasing group and Millar and Vinokourov were left behind (Ive already said iI wasnt gonna do any work with Vino today).
Kash and pereiro held a minutes lead over basso and Kloden and schleck where somewhere inbetween the 7 minutes back to valverdes group and 8 back to Vino and millar.
Despite doing no work it was Pereiro that cracked first and Kashechkin went on alone. valverde attacked down the mountain to try and close the gap on Kashechkin as Vinokourov was now 10 minutes down.
Kashechkin reached 5km to go with 2 minutes on Pereiro, 3:45 on Basso, 7'38 on Schleck and Valverde and 9 and a half minutes on Vinokourov but Kash was now the only Astana rider with any green energy bar left.
kashechkin then ran out of green but had done enough in this torturous stage - the peleton consisted of just 8 riders, so i presume 8 riders must of been the largest group of riders done the mountain. The last rider was in something like group A55.
and Kashechkin reached the first 0% stretch on the stage as he took a fabulous victory. Pereiro comes in second over 3 minutes down in a day where the top 2 teams' number 2s finally beat their leaders. Basso also took his strongest result finishing 3rd over 4 minutes back.
Stage
1 Andrei Kashechkin ASTANÁ 7h10'58
2 Óscar Pereiro Sio CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 3'27
3 Ivan Basso DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 4'15
4 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 6'53
5 Cadel Evans PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
6 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 8'40
7 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK + 9'50
8 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC + 10'11
9 Christophe Moreau AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 11'04
10 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANÁ + 12'24
11 Andreas Klöden ASTANÁ + 13'57
12 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER + 15'17
13 Tom Danielson DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 16'37
14 David Millar SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 17'09
15 Iban Mayo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 19'41
16 Pietro Caucchioli SPORTING-NONSENSE + 19'57
17 Denis Menchov RABOBANK + 21'01
18 David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 22'13
19 Cyril Dessel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 22'45
20 Haimar Zubeldia EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 23'57
21 Jan Ullrich TEAM VOLKSBANK + 24'13
22 Jörg Jaksche TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 25'49
23 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 27'09
24 Eddy Mazzoleni ASTANÁ + 28'45
25 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 29'09
26 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 29'17
27 David De la Fuente SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 29'49
28 Levi Leipheimer DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 30'13
29 Mauricio Ardila RABOBANK + 30'21
30 Vladimir Karpets CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 31'09
31 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 31'33
32 Paolo Savoldelli ASTANÁ + 31'41
33 Bernhard Kohl GEROLSTEINER + 31'49
34 Manuel Beltran LIQUIGAS + 34'21
35 David Arroyo CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 34'29
Overall
Rank Name Team Time
1 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANÁ 27h41'53
2 Andrei Kashechkin ASTANÁ + 2'08
3 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 5'43
4 Ivan Basso DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 13'46
5 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC + 16'54
6 Cadel Evans PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 19'14
7 Andreas Klöden ASTANÁ s.t.
8 Óscar Pereiro Sio CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 20'26
9 Christophe Moreau AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 27'46
10 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 28'11
11 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK + 30'54
12 David Millar SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 35'10
13 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER + 41'48
14 Denis Menchov RABOBANK + 43'41
15 Iban Mayo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 47'34
16 Tom Danielson DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 47'38
17 David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 47'41
18 Pietro Caucchioli SPORTING-NONSENSE + 51'33
19 Jan Ullrich TEAM VOLKSBANK + 52'15
20 Cyril Dessel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 53'30
21 Eddy Mazzoleni ASTANÁ + 54'06
22 Paolo Savoldelli ASTANÁ + 55'02
23 Jörg Jaksche TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 55'03
24 Levi Leipheimer DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 1h00'04
25 Haimar Zubeldia EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI + 1h02'42
26 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1h04'24
27 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1h06'29
28 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 1h07'37
29 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 1h08'30
30 Vladimir Karpets CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1h09'07
31 Mauricio Ardila RABOBANK + 1h13'09
32 Bernhard Kohl GEROLSTEINER + 1h14'17
33 Manuel Beltran LIQUIGAS + 1h15'14
34 David De la Fuente SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1h19'28
35 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 1h20'45
Points
1 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANÁ 6 88
2 Andrei Kashechkin ASTANÁ 26 78
3 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 13 72
4 Andreas Klöden ASTANÁ 5 54
5 Ivan Basso DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM 17 53
6 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC 8 49
7 Óscar Pereiro Sio CAISSE D'EPARGNE 23 45
8 Cadel Evans PREDICTOR - LOTTO 16 42
9 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK 9 28
10 David Millar SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 2 25
Mountains
1 Andrei Kashechkin ASTANÁ 195 442
2 Óscar Pereiro Sio CAISSE D'EPARGNE 167 387
3 Cadel Evans PREDICTOR - LOTTO 127 288
4 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 52 268
5 Alexandre Vinokourov ASTANÁ 30 263
6 Michael Rasmussen RABOBANK 86 241
7 Andreas Klöden ASTANÁ 38 238
8 Cyril Dessel AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 43 191
9 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC 62 188
10 Ivan Basso DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM 78 178
11 Janez Brajkovic DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM 114 162
12 David De la Fuente SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 10 130
13 Ruggero Marzoli TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS 0 100
14 Marco Marzano LAMPRE - FONDITAL 0 87
15 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC 8 80
16 Christophe Moreau AG2R PRÉVOYANCE 30 75
17 Iban Mayo SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 22 48
18 Haimar Zubeldia EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 0 48
19 Tom Danielson DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM 12 46
20 David Arroyo CAISSE D'EPARGNE 0 44
21 Jason Queally TEAM 100% ME 0 44
22 Igor Antón EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 0 42
23 David Millar SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 20 41
24 Paolo Savoldelli ASTANÁ 9 41
25 Denis Menchov RABOBANK 2 38
