There are 6 climbs on today's route with another 2 small hills right before the finsih. That and the wind should make the stage finish really interesting
Bertogliati is in the yellow jersey, but Hermans is really close and he might see a change at the top of the rankings today
On the first climb there were 2 breakaway groups. Dempster, Lara Ruiz and Scanlon were in the first group (crossing the top of the climb in that order)
In the second group we had Rajala, Cioban, Brolin and Bagdonas
After the climb ended we had another 2 attacks from the pack: Blythe and Nilsson
With 5 kilometres before the top of the second climb of the day all 9 were together
Lara Ruiz is first on the climb, followed by Bagdonas and Brolin. But they are only 8, someone must have lost the contact on the climb
It was Nilsson, who doesn't seem able to come back
Nokia - Nike don't look too intersted in chasing the breakaway at least for now and the escapes already have 5 minutes advantage
The third climb of the day came right away and it was one by Brolin. Bagdonas and Dempster completed the podium at the top
Nokia seems to have finally woke up and started to do a real chasing behind the breakaway group
The fourth climb of today's stage and also the hardest was one by Dempster, followed by Rajala and Brolin
The fifth climb was maybe the easiest of the day and it was one by Bagdonas, Dempster and Rajala followed him. Dempster seems to be going for the KoM jersey as with this points he already has a better total than Cassidy
Behind them Ernst and Young are helping Nokia - Nike and they are with 35 km left at less than 2 minutes away from the escapes
With the pack coming really fast Blythe and Bagdanos attacked from the breakaway group
Delage also attacked, but from the pack. He managed to make a gap but still he doesn't look like he could go too far with this one
As the last climb started Hermans and Bertogliati attacked from the pack
Valjavec and Bosisio were right after them as the breakaway, including Delage, is almost caught
Still Blythe and Bogdanos were helped by that attack to be the first riders on the climb. With the points won here Bogdanos is the new leader of the KoM rankings
Valjavec, Bosisio and Hermans caught the other escapes but they didn't manage to get awat from the pack
On the downhill, Wiggle took the lead of the pack, which meant the end of Bogdanos and Blythe's adventure
Inside the last 10km of the stage are 2 small uphill sections. On the first one Jaksche and Visconti attacked
Vorganov, Bosisio and Valjavec were right after them
Roche missed the best moment to attacked there, but he managed to join them on the last hill of the day
Bertogliati attacked there as well to keep his yellow jersey, while Hermans and Szczawinski are also trying to break away from the pack
Hermans and Bertogliati are chasing the leading group on the downhill but they don't have much time left to join it
With less than 3 kilometres left to ride Hermans manages to catch the first group but Bertogliati seems to have problems joining
Valjavec is leading the sprint and he might not be able to keep it up as he is a poor sprinter
Roche and Visconti are coming pretty fast as Valjavec seems to be slowing down
Just a few metres left and Valjavec lost it. It will be between Roche and Visconti
The last 100 metres weren't 100% flat and that helped Roche, even though he is not a better sprinter than Visconti, to take the stage win. Visconti was only second, while Valjavec almost lost the third place to Vorganov
Bertogliati was caught by a chasing group, made by Martin, Szczawinski and Flugel, finshing 28 seconds behind the winner
Dan Craven lead the pack, one minute and one second lost to the leading group
Hermans was in the leading group wich means that he won 28 second over Bertogliati and he is the new leader.
Stage
1
Nicolas Roche
100% ME
3h20'29
2
Giovanni Visconti
Team Starbucks
s.t.
3
Tadej Valjavec
Ernst and Young / Apple Computer and NBC News
s.t.
4
Eduard Vorganov
AON Global
s.t.
5
Jörg Jaksche
Team LEGO - Capri-Sonne
s.t.
6
Gabriele Bosisio
Vespa-Caffrey's
s.t.
7
Ben Hermans
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
8
Aleksandar Flügel
Team IKEA - Bianchi
+ 28
9
Daniel Martin
100% ME
s.t.
10
Krzysztof Szczawinski
AON Global
s.t.
11
Rubens Bertogliati
Nokia-Nike
s.t.
12
Dan Craven
IrnBru - RBS
+ 1'01
13
Mickaël Delage
EON Ruhrgas
s.t.
14
Arnold Jeannesson
Team Ultimate
s.t.
15
Salvatore Mancuso
Team Ultimate
s.t.
16
Ruggero Marzoli
EON Ruhrgas
s.t.
17
Yannick Stoltz
Team Ultimate
s.t.
18
Wilson Rincón
Team Ultimate
s.t.
19
Richard Ochoa Quintero
Nokia-Nike
s.t.
20
Gianni Meersman
IrnBru - RBS
s.t.
21
Anthony Charteau
EON Ruhrgas
s.t.
22
David O'Loughlin
Ernst and Young / Apple Computer and NBC News
s.t.
23
Phillip Thuaux
Team Ultimate
s.t.
24
Jonas Ljungblad
Team IKEA - Bianchi
s.t.
25
Gediminas Bagdonas
EON Ruhrgas
s.t.
26
Shaun Lewis
IrnBru - RBS
s.t.
27
Christopher Sutton
IrnBru - RBS
s.t.
28
Luke Rowe
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
29
Nikolai Trusov
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
30
Zakkari Dempster
IrnBru - RBS
s.t.
31
Evgeny Wacker
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
s.t.
32
Tom Diggle
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
33
Yoshiaki Shimada
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
