12.6km course of the Doha team time trial is not long enough to prove as a deciding factor in the overall classifications, as there is a 20" bonification at the end of every stage.
As I don't really enjoy playing TTTs, I haven't won a lot of them, and just hope to stick close to the other favourites.
Rabobank was the first strong squad to take part in today's race, and they've set current best time of 14'35.
Silence-Lotto were called one of pre-race favourites, but they were 12" behind Rabobank.
Cofidis was also good today, 18 seconds behind.
Then it was time for my team to show off their ITT champion's jerseys, but result was slightly disappointing. 18 seconds behind Rabobank.
Milram came agonizingly close to winning today's stage, 3 seconds behind the Dutch squad.
Saxo Bank also came above expectation today, 3rd with 5 seconds deficit.
Kautsha was 7th, 15 seconds.
BMC were also called one of the pre-race favourites, but shared the same time as Columbia, Cofidis, Astana, Joker Bianchi, Vacansoleil, Team Designa Køkken, Liquigas, OUCH and Barloworld. 18 seconds behind Rabobank.
The former time trial supersquad, Garmin - Slipstream, was also good today, 11 seconds behind.
And finally, Trek Livestrong, absolute favourites for this race with Guy East and Taylor Phinney as their strongest men. But they failed to deliver the victory, coming to the finish line in the time of Garmin - Slipstream.
Stage classification:
1. Rabobank 14'35
2. Team Milram + 3
3. Team Saxo Bank + 7
4. Garmin - Slipstream + 11
5. Trek Livestrong s.t.
6. Silence - Lotto + 12
7. Quick·Step + 15
8. Team Katusha s.t.
9. BMC Racing Team + 18
10. Barloworld s.t.
...
14. Columbia High-Road s.t.
We're within a reach of yellow jersey if Cavendish wins tomorrow and that is the most important thing for us. We'll try to forget this slight underachievement and focus our attention on the coming stages.
If offense is the best defence, does it mean that defence is the worst defence?
If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord will delete my browser history.
18 second... long back...
personally, by a misterious destiny, I have alway finish in the top tree of this stage, but it's maybe beacause I play team that can do it.
After yesterday's bad result in the team time trial, we've decided to focus all of our energies in winning as many sprints as possible. With slight changes, this is one of our most powerful flat support teams for Mark Cavendish.
His personal lead-out man, Mark Renshaw, who's become one of the best sprinters around, but nonetheless does his share of the work.
Vicente Reynes, who is in good form after the Tour Down Under, was brought as a back-up lead out sprinter, just in case something bad happens to Renshaw.
Devolder and Maaskant will be the most important workhorses and locomotives in the sprint set-up, and a lot will depend on their good work.
Sebastian Lang, Tejay Van Garderen and Adam Hansen will be the workers in this race, and may be allowed to jump a breakaway or two, but with the sprints set as our goal, every man will be needed.
The flattest race of the season, and we are here to control it.
Today the wind is strong so we let some people charge forward, they'll burn up anyway.
And another group of riders joined them.
But the tempo in the main pack was so strong that the wind started creating menace, and some gaps were made.
First Van Garderen, then the rest of my team. A slight gap, but it was too early in the stage to take advantage of the situation. 80km to go.
Luckily for us, Rabobank also worked at the front, protecting Joost Posthuma's yellow jersey.
We've caught the break with some 40km to go, but with the strong head wind today, I doubt there'll be any more attempts to go solo.
With 5km to go, we've set up our train. Devolder, Maaskant, Reynes, Renshaw, Cavendish. Loosing is not an option.
Reynes starts the sprint.
Renshaw is the last lead-out.
And Cavendish scores our second 1-2 victory of the season, and the first win in this year's edition of Tour of Qatar.
Yesterday's team time trial is history, as we've totally dominated this stage with amazing 4 top 10 places, including the top 2 podium places.
Stage Classification:
1 Mark Cavendish Team Columbia - High Road 3h04'33
2 Mark Renshaw Team Columbia - High Road s.t.
3 Matthew Goss Team Saxo Bank s.t.
4 Maximilliano Richeze Astana Cycling Team s.t.
5 Danilo Wyss BMC Racing Team s.t.
6 Vicente Reynès Team Columbia - High Road s.t.
7 Kenny De Haes Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team s.t.
8 Andrea Grendene Lampre - N.G.C s.t.
9 Marcel Sieberg Team Milram s.t.
10 Martijn Maaskant Team Columbia - High Road s.t.
General Classification:
1 Dainius Kairelis Rabobank 3h19'08
2 Pieter Weening Rabobank s.t.
3 Joost Posthuma Rabobank s.t.
4 Stef Clement Rabobank s.t.
5 Matthew Goss Team Saxo Bank + 2
6 Johnny Hoogerland Rabobank s.t.
7 Marcel Sieberg Team Milram + 3
8 Eric Baumann Team Milram s.t.
9 Andreas Stauff Team Milram s.t.
10 Sven Krauss Team Milram s.t.
...
13 Mark Cavendish Team Columbia - High Road + 4
Points Classification:
1 Mark Cavendish Team Columbia - High Road 25 25
2 Mark Renshaw Team Columbia - High Road 20 20
3 Matthew Goss Team Saxo Bank 16 16
4 Maximilliano Richeze Astana Cycling Team 14 14
5 Danilo Wyss BMC Racing Team 12 12
If offense is the best defence, does it mean that defence is the worst defence?
If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord will delete my browser history.
The wind was slightly stronger than yesterday, and added greatly to the constant excitements that happened in the first part of the race.
Hansen expressed his wish to go in the breakaway today, and ofcourse, I allowed him.
The front was never organized, but nonetheless, many riders who attempted to jump the gap fell shorthanded because the wind just wouldn't let them through.
Hansen had much trouble to stay in front because riders were reluctant to work together in such bad conditions.
Tankink and Voigt were in the back group, they seemed strongest to try and bridge the gap.
But as kilometers passed, Voigt group was trailing even more, now with little less then a minute behind.
A group with Van Impe and Santambrogio was even further behind.
Rabobank was working in the front, just like yesterday, and they did a marvelous job. The gap to the Hansen group was never larger than 3'30.
As the tempo was increasing in the last 30km, the importance of staying in front was almost essential. We were in a bad position, but there was still time to improve.
And just as I thought, the win has done it's part.
Rabobank haven't brought good sprinters, so they stopped working with 30km to go, and as soon as they lost their grip on the race, they were slipping behind. Kairelis seemed to have lost the yellow jersey.
For some reason, my lead-out train just wouldn't listen to the orders, and had a lot of difficulties to maintain position. So eventually, we had no train.
Cavendish was on Scheirlinckx's wheel.
Take a note of the 3 Lampre riders lurking from the back.
If we take the awful lead-out into consideration, you can say that my team was very lucky with Cavendish's sprint position.
Front train, last position.
Sieberg was first to strike, Mark took the wheel of his former team mate and had a good shot, but was closed by two Lampre riders, Loddo and Grendene, who were going really fast.
And then, Andrea Grandene simply exploded and showed awesome acceleration.
As Sieberg and Richeze weren't responding to this, Cavendish tried to latch onto his wheel.
Mark was definitely stronger, but Grandene's last acceleration put him in the best possible position, from then on it was a question of how close will my rider come behind him.
He came closer than I've expected. Photo fisnish will decide, this was one of the tightest finishes ever witnessed by me.
Andrea Grandene won it. Congratulations to the Lampre N.G.C. team and their first season victory.
We didn't deserve to win today. Every rider except Cavendish didn't show anything. We were too defensive and lacked concentration in crucial moments of the race.
Another mistake, but there's enough time to fix everything.
In the end, there were no time gaps, much to my surprise.
But nonetheless, Mark Cavendish will wear yellow tomorrow. Good job!
Stage Classification:
1 Andrea Grendene Lampre - N.G.C 3h27'28
2 Mark Cavendish Team Columbia - High Road s.t.
3 Markus Eibegger Cofidis, le crédit en ligne s.t.
4 David Kopp Team Milram s.t.
5 Dominik Roels Team Milram s.t.
6 Matteo Carrara Lampre - N.G.C s.t.
7 David Zabriskie BMC Racing Team s.t.
8 Alexandre Usov Cofidis, le crédit en ligne s.t.
9 Marco Bandiera Lampre - N.G.C s.t.
10 Staf Scheirlinckx Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team s.t.
General Classification:
1 Mark Cavendish Team Columbia - High Road 6h46'28
2 Dainius Kairelis Rabobank + 8
3 Joost Posthuma Rabobank s.t.
4 Stef Clement Rabobank s.t.
5 Pieter Weening Rabobank s.t.
6 Matthew Goss Team Saxo Bank + 10
7 Johnny Hoogerland Rabobank s.t.
8 Marcel Sieberg Team Milram + 11
9 Sven Krauss Team Milram s.t.
10 Andreas Stauff Team Milram s.t.
Points Classification:
1 Mark Cavendish Team Columbia - High Road 20 45
2 Andrea Grendene Lampre - N.G.C 25 33
3 Mark Renshaw Team Columbia - High Road 0 20
4 Matthew Goss Team Saxo Bank 0 16
5 Markus Eibegger Cofidis, le crédit en ligne 16 16
And of course, a screenshot of Andrea Grendene's stats:
Winds, winds,winds, but there was comotion nonetheless.
Many riders tried to jump ahead in the first kilometers.
My team decided it was not the time to take control of the race, so many others tried to jump too.
To my advantage, Vacansoleil and BMC were'nt interested in such a large breakaway, so they worked in front for a while.
With the field stretched out, we took the good position just behind them. We figured they can't do it whole day.
After a while, fast tempo stardet to show take it's toll, as the main pack was now trailing over a minute to our group.
But the scattered breakaway riders were still in front, and posing a threat.
Wind speed was slightly increasing throughout the whole stage.
As the wind was starting to terrorize riders in the front, we've decided to relax a little and regroup with the peloton, for there was still a lot to go.
Riders in the front were scattered and disorganized, so we could treat ourselves with a bit of rest.
Noone wanted to work with us, so we took the opportunity that was presented before us.
Another chance to rip the pack apart, and we've gladly accepted it. Full throttle or not?
Better not, as peloton was going wildly and there was no chance for us to make it to the end with 40km to go.
We've shared the chase with the rest of the teams interrested in a bunch sprint, and things were going in our favor.
Devolder will lead out Cavendish, as the rest of the crew get their chance to rest after a tough work they've done splitting the peloton twice today.
Confused and disorganized, still in pursuit of the last two breakaway riders Tolleson and Goessinen, Devolder used his last ounces of strength to help Cavendish get to a good position.
Cavendish in front, Sieberg on his wheel, Devolder, Tolleson and Goessinen, Maaskant losing the grip.
With 6km to go, it was a do or die situation for Cavendish and Sieberg.
If Devolder was to lose his speed, another attempt at gaining acceleration might prove too difficult for them, so Stijn pushed forward full throttle.
They were caught with 3km to go, just in time for the Milram boys to try and propel Sieberg to victory.
Cavendish was on his wheel.
And an easy job for Mark, he is the fastest this year and he has proven it again today.
Milram did a good job, rounding up the podium with Sieberg and Baumann.
Will there be a stage without strong winds this year?
Stage Classification:
1 Mark Cavendish Team Columbia - High Road 2h51'38
2 Marcel Sieberg Team Milram s.t.
3 Eric Baumann Team Milram s.t.
4 Samuel Dumoulin Cofidis, le crédit en ligne s.t.
5 Janek Tombak Garmin - Slipstream s.t.
6 Stijn Neirynck Silence - Lotto s.t.
7 Robert Hunter Team Katusha s.t.
8 Francis De Greef Silence - Lotto s.t.
9 Paul Martens Team Milram s.t.
10 Dominik Roels Team Milram s.t.
General Classification:
1 Mark Cavendish Team Columbia - High Road 9h37'46
2 Marcel Sieberg Team Milram + 19
3 Eric Baumann Team Milram + 23
4 Dainius Kairelis Rabobank + 28
5 Joost Posthuma Rabobank s.t.
6 Stef Clement Rabobank s.t.
7 Pieter Weening Rabobank s.t.
8 Matthew Goss Team Saxo Bank + 30
9 Johnny Hoogerland Rabobank s.t.
10 Andreas Stauff Team Milram + 31
Points Classification:
1 Mark Cavendish Team Columbia - High Road 25 70
2 Andrea Grendene Lampre - N.G.C 0 33
3 Marcel Sieberg Team Milram 20 27
4 Eric Baumann Team Milram 16 21
5 Mark Renshaw Team Columbia - High Road 0 20
Cavendish has consolidated his lead in the general classification, but the longest stage is yet to come. Although it is dead flat, strong winds might hinder our success as the riders are all tired from today.
We'll se what tomorrow brings.
If offense is the best defence, does it mean that defence is the worst defence?
If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord will delete my browser history.
Today, things played exactly like we hoped they would.
No wind, 4 men on the break. Frischkorn, Colli, Oredsson and Kondrut.
My boys got the chance to control the pace and chill out a bit in this longest stage of the race.
After working at the front almost whole day, Astana and Vacansoleil stepped in and started to chase with 50km to go.
In the most boring stage of the year, it was obvious that bunch sprint was the only option, as Designa Kokken's Oredsson was caught with little more than 20km to go.
Our train was out, all our riders are feeling good today.
Cavendish jumped from Renshaw's wheel as Vaitkus was charging on the right side, followed by Robbie Hunter.
On the other side were Matthew Goss and Danilo Wyss, followed by Sieberg, Vigano and De Haes.
Finally some good names contesting for the sprint victory.
Too bad Cavendish is way out of their league.
Another Columbia victory, yellow and green jerseys secured for 2nd year in a row in Tour of Qatar.
Tomorrow will probably be another easy ride, and possibly another victory.
All else would be disappointing.
If offense is the best defence, does it mean that defence is the worst defence?
If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord will delete my browser history.
And another easy ride for my boys today. 120 km of setting up the sprint.
Today's break included 14 riders, none of wich had any real chance to succeed to the end. Among the others were Impey, Santambrogio, Wynants and Portal.
We made sure again that the breakaway doesn't make a gap too big, it rose to 2'45 at it's maximum.
In return, like yesterday, Vacansoleil and Astana worked the last shift before the sprint began.
And again, we had almost perfect position with 6-7km to go.
Approaching the last kilometer, Renshaw and Cavendish had a nice chance to finish 1-2 once again, with both of them on the backwheel of Sabatini and Sieberg respectively.
But Renshaw didn't have the speed to win after jumping from Sabatini's wheel, Cavendish had to do it once again.
And of course, no problem for Mark.
Stage Classification:
1 Mark Cavendish Team Columbia - High Road 2h46'20
2 Danilo Wyss BMC Racing Team s.t.
3 Marcel Sieberg Team Milram s.t.
4 Mark Renshaw Team Columbia - High Road s.t.
5 Maximilliano Richeze Astana Cycling Team s.t.
6 Kenny De Haes Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team s.t.
7 Sébastien Harbonnier Agritubel s.t.
8 Samuel Dumoulin Cofidis, le crédit en ligne s.t.
9 Davide Viganò Liquigas s.t.
10 Matthew Goss Team Saxo Bank s.t.
General Classification:
1 Mark Cavendish Team Columbia - High Road 16h12'57
2 Marcel Sieberg Team Milram + 51
3 Matthew Goss Team Saxo Bank + 58
4 Eric Baumann Team Milram + 1'03
5 Dainius Kairelis Rabobank + 1'08
6 Joost Posthuma Rabobank s.t.
7 Stef Clement Rabobank s.t.
8 Pieter Weening Rabobank s.t.
9 Johnny Hoogerland Rabobank + 1'10
10 Andreas Stauff Team Milram + 1'11
Points Classification:
1 Mark Cavendish Team Columbia - High Road 25 120
2 Marcel Sieberg Team Milram 16 49
3 Danilo Wyss BMC Racing Team 20 46
4 Matthew Goss Team Saxo Bank 6 42
5 Mark Renshaw Team Columbia - High Road 14 39
Team Classification:
1 Rabobank s.t. 48h13'05 (1)
2 Team Milram s.t. + 3 (2)
3 Team Saxo Bank s.t. + 7 (3)
If offense is the best defence, does it mean that defence is the worst defence?
If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord will delete my browser history.
4th stage win, yellow and green jersey in 2012. Tour of Qatar.
With a team this strong, one can only feel that it should have been 5, or maybe even 6 stage wins.
In team time trial we've had 4 individual time trial champions. Mark Cavendish of Great Britain, Adam Hansen of Australia, Tejay Van Garderen of United States of America, and reigning world individual time trial champion Stijn Devolder. Surely we should have done better in that stage, 14th stage and 18 seconds behind the winners, Rabobank, was too much in my opinion.
Stage 3 victory of Andrea Grendene can be archived as an unfortunate stroke of bad luck, because if the finish line was just a couple of meters further ahead, Cavendish would have won it.
But all in all, we've scored 11 victories in 14 races my riders have taken part in. I feel it would sound stupid if I needlessly lament over the few unlucky mishaps.
In other news, Denis Flahaut of Landbouwkredit - Colnago is the new winner of Grand Prix Cycliste La Marseillaise, and Tyler Farrar of AG2R La Mondiale has come on top in the G.P. Costa degli Etruschi.
Next up: Challenge Vuelta a Mallorca.
This race will be crucial part of preparation for Tony Martin's first big goal, Amgen Tour of California.
Mallorca surely isn't marked as a top priority but nonetheless we shall send a strong squad, with Boasson Hagen, Markus Burghardt and Tony Martin making their season debut.
Mark Renshaw will be our leading sprinter, Martijn Maaskant will have a shot at the general classification because he is in a good form, and probably will be able to make it top 3.
And I will finally have some real competition.
Mikel Astarloza, Juan Jose Cobo, Philip Deignan, Sandy Casar, Bradley Wiggins and Rigoberto Uran for the GC, Koldo Fernandez de Larrea, Danilo Napolitano and Stefan Radochla for the sprints. I'm looking forward to the race, and hope to achieve as much as possible.
My riders have agreed on the team meeting that a stage win and a top 5 overall is the realistic goal that can easily be achieved, and that everything atop that will be the bonus.
I have put a positive response on their assessment of the race goals, and hope to help my boys achieve them.
Could you put up Kiryienka's stats if at all possible please? Nice wins as well. Unlike some, I enjoy seeing wins as well as struggles. I expect more in Mallorca!
Wind is again going to make our job difficult today. We have high hopes for Mark Renshaw in the first two stages, hoping to win at least one sprint.
As expected, there were a lot of riders who tried to jump in the breakaway.
9 riders were in the front, including Murillo Fischer, Jason Donald and Isidro Nozal.
Trailing behind them were Garate, Beppu, Cozza and others, unable to make it through to the front because of the strong wind.
Cozza eventually made it, front group had a solid 4 minute lead. Maybe a little too much?
There was no time to lose, so we started chasing full speed, along with Katusha.
But as the wind was very strong, we easily split the main bunch which was definitely not a part of our plan.
Lang and Van Garderen were in front, Burghardt in the middle, Renshaw and Maaskant in the main bunch.
Shall we risk it? Why the hell not.
Katusha boys returned to the peloton to try and help Napolitano get his chance at today's sprint, Markus joined Sebastian and Tejay and maintained a steady pace.
Wind was going to their favor. Let the others do the work.
Peloton was tragically disorganized in the closing part of the race, which was not working to my advantage because the leaders maintained a steady 1 minute gap over my front 3 guys.
Cycling Club Bourgas and Team Type 1 seemed more interested than others to organize a bunch sprint finish.
Strange, if we remember that Jason Donald of TT1 was in the break. Moreover, he was the current leader with a slight advantage over the rest of his breakaway companions.
With 6 km to go, Jason Donald was still in front, but my boys were hoping for a sprint.
Maaskant, Boasson Hagen, Renshaw.
Will Donald make it? Boasson Hagen wasn't much of use as a team mate today as he is still warming up, so Maaskant had to deliver Mark to the end.
Haselbacher and Donald against Renshaw. Will there be a first surprise of the season?
And yes! Jason Donald, the last man from todays breakaway held off the sprinters in the bunch sprint. What a show.
Haselbacher was second.
In the end, Mark was dead and suddenly slowed down drasticaly, so even Maaskant crossed the line in front of him to round up the top 3 today.
As other favorites were nowhere today, a green jersey for Maaskant has now become one of our goals as we are not sure if he can overcome all of the opposition in his GC campaign.
Best of luck for us tomorrow, Renshaw will have his second chance.
Stage Classification:
1 Jason Donald Team Type 1 1h54'22
2 René Haselbacher Team Capinordic s.t.
3 Martijn Maaskant Team Columbia - High Road s.t.
4 Mark Renshaw Team Columbia - High Road s.t.
5 Bastian Bürgel BMC Racing Team s.t.
6 Matej Gnezda Team Capinordic s.t.
7 Casper Jørgensen Team Capinordic s.t.
8 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team Columbia - High Road s.t.
9 José Rubiera Liberty Seguros s.t.
10 Brian Vandborg Team Capinordic s.t.
General Classification:
1 Jason Donald Team Type 1 1h54'02
2 René Haselbacher Team Capinordic + 8
3 Martijn Maaskant Team Columbia - High Road + 12
4 Mark Renshaw Team Columbia - High Road + 20
5 Bastian Bürgel BMC Racing Team s.t.
6 Matej Gnezda Team Capinordic s.t.
7 Casper Jørgensen Team Capinordic s.t.
8 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team Columbia - High Road s.t.
9 José Rubiera Liberty Seguros s.t.
10 Brian Vandborg Team Capinordic s.t.
Points Classification:
1 Jason Donald Team Type 1 25
2 René Haselbacher Team Capinordic 20
3 Martijn Maaskant Team Columbia - High Road 16
4 Mark Renshaw Team Columbia - High Road 14
5 Bastian Bürgel BMC Racing Team 12
If offense is the best defence, does it mean that defence is the worst defence?
If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord will delete my browser history.
We are hopeful that today's stage will pas with a lot less excitement than yesterday's, and that Mark Renshaw will have a nice chance to go all the way.
175km of almost pancake flat terrain is ideal for us, as we have a strong flat team.
David Vitoria of Cervelo Test Team led today's breakaway which had a lead of almost 7 minutes at it's peak.
But as you can see, they weren't very organized which was of course very good.
Let TT1 control the tempo.
Fumagali, Kleynen, Stare and Stückler were trapped in the middle of nowhere, halfway between the pack and the ecapees.
As the break was finally together,
We've decided it was time to start pulling them back.
Four riders that spent the last few hours alone in the no man's land, surrendered with around 50km to go.
Just a few kilometers after the four riders were caught, another group of six attempted to bridge the gap.
Lancaster, Sanchez Pimienta, Inxausti, Bertogliati, Habeaux and Herrada.
But it was nothing to be worried about as Katusha decided to help us with the chase.
6 riders joined the original break of the day, but their advantage has dwindled to less than 2 minutes.
We were almost certain that things would come down to a bunch sprint, but yesterdays race has taught us to take all necessary precautions.
Vitoria gave it a final go in the last 25km, as the break was soon to be caught.
But the race was destined to finished in a sprint. The breakaway is over with less than 20km to go.
5km to the finish and our train is perfectly set up.
Martijn Maaskant leads out Edvald Boasson Hagen, Vicente Reynes and Mark Renshaw.
And Mark Renshaw wins the second stage of this year's Challenge Vuelta a Mallorca, while Vicente Reynes finishes 3rd.
Great job!
With this win, we are going relaxed into the next 3 stages which are certainly going to be fun.
Stage Classification:
1 Mark Renshaw Team Columbia - High Road 4h01'17
2 Aaron Kemps Garmin - Slipstream s.t.
3 Vicente Reynès Team Columbia - High Road s.t.
4 Koldo Fernández de Larrea Euskaltel - Euskadi s.t.
5 Theo Bos Rabobank s.t.
6 Stefan Radochla Team Capinordic s.t.
7 Kenny Van Hummel Skil - Shimano s.t.
8 Danilo Napolitano Team Katusha s.t.
9 Alejandro Valverde Fuji - Servetto s.t.
10 Ryan Baumann BMC Racing Team s.t.
Genral Classification:
1 Mark Renshaw Team Columbia - High Road 5h55'19
2 Jason Donald Team Type 1 s.t.
3 Aaron Kemps Garmin - Slipstream + 8
4 René Haselbacher Team Capinordic s.t.
5 Martijn Maaskant Team Columbia - High Road + 12
6 Vicente Reynès Team Columbia - High Road s.t.
7 Thomas Vedel Kvist Team Capinordic + 20
8 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team Columbia - High Road s.t.
9 Bradley Wiggins Team Type 1 s.t.
10 Vicente García de Mateos Rubio Euskaltel - Euskadi s.t.
Points Classification:
1 Mark Renshaw Team Columbia - High Road 25 39
2 Jason Donald Team Type 1 0 25
3 Casper Jørgensen Team Capinordic 12 21
4 René Haselbacher Team Capinordic 0 20
5 Aaron Kemps Garmin - Slipstream 20 20
KOM Classification:
1 Marcel Kittel PSK Whirlpool - Author 8 8
2 Julián Sánchez Pimienta Contentpolis - Ampo 5 5
3 David Vitoria Cervélo Test Team 3 3
The profile of today's winner:
If offense is the best defence, does it mean that defence is the worst defence?
If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord will delete my browser history.
