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95th Tour de France - GT
France, July 5-27, 2008
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Rest day 1 - Tuesday, July 15: Pau
An exciting Tour takes a well deserved breather
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A single second separates the top two, Cadel Evans and Fränk Schleck, after a good week of racing and with two days in the high mountains already completed. The most suspenseful Tour for years heads into the first rest day with a lot of questions unanswered. Cyclingnews' Shane Stokes and Bjorn Haake recap the first ten stages.
Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) became the first Australian since Robbie McEwen in 2004 to take over the yellow jersey. Evans fought bravely up the tough climb of Hautacam to save a single second on Fränk Schleck (CSC-Saxo Bank). The latter was in attacking mood, but cracked towards the top. The showdown in Hautacam capped a week that had more surprises than most Tours in recent years.
In fact, the first surprise happened back in October when the route was announced. The lack of a prologue, a team time trial and a long first time trial should have seen the sprinters dominate the first half of the week and the climbers the second half.
Instead, it was riders like Alejandro Valverde and Kim Kirchen who mixed it up with the fast-legged sprinters. When Robbie McEwen finally did manage to win a bunch sprint it was only for fifth place, after the sprinters' teams had failed to control a four-man break in stage three.
The next surprise was Stefan Schumacher, who beat all the favourites in the time trial, ahead of the equally unexpected Kim Kirchen. The vanquished stars against the clock included World Champion Fabian Cancellara and time trial specialist David Millar.
Thor Hushovd once and Mark Cavendish twice finally did prove that there was something to get for the fast men, while Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) gladdened French hearts with a stage victory into Nantes on day three. The French had more to celebrate, as Romain Feillu took over the yellow jersey, even if just for a day.
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Saunier Duval dominated the three mountain stages held thus far, Riccardo Riccò triumphing on the sixth stage to Super Besse and on stage nine to Bagnères-de-Bigorre. His team-mates Leonardo Piepoli and Juan Jose Cobo took the first two places on Monday's stage to Hautacam, spoiling Bastille Day for France. The riders will all take a well-earned rest day before setting out on what is going to be a very interesting four days of transitional stages.
Aside from the expected breakaways, the tiny gap at the top of the general classification will spice things up considerably. The CSC – Saxo Bank team of Fränk Schleck and Carlos Sastre are undoubtedly stronger than Evans' Silence-Lotto squad, and will most likely pull out all the stops to take the yellow jersey before the big showdown in the Alps. Schleck will definitely want a head start over Evans when they compete in the final time trial.
Alejandro Valverde and Damiano Cunego are the big losers of the days in the Pyrénées, having lost all chances for overall victory. On the other hand, Christian Vande Velde is still well in the mix of things. Equally surprising in fourth place is Austrian climber Bernhard Kohl.
The quiet Denis Menchov was hardly visible, but always stayed close to the top guys. He still has all chances of also making it to the podium in Paris.
Besides the battle for yellow, all the other competitions are equally suspenseful. The lack of real sprinters' stages leaves the door open for non-specialists. Kirchen and Valverde are breathing down the necks of green jersey wearer Oscar Freire and third-placed Thor Hushovd.
With his strong showing on the Aspin, Riccardo Riccò seemed to get a good grip in the mountains classification. The Italian is also a strong contender for the young rider competition, after Andy Schleck had a jours sans on Hautacam. But Schleck can recover a lot of time in the race against the clock. And we could well see an exciting battle of the top five, also including Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas), Maxime Monfort (Cofidis) and Tour de Suisse winner Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas). A battle for the future of cycling.
Stage 1 - Saturday, July 5: Brest - Plumelec, 197.5km
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Opening his Tour de France campaign in the same run of form which saw him win the Dauphiné Libéré and the Spanish road race championships, Alejandro Valverde took his first-ever Tour de France yellow jersey in Plumelec with an impressive uphill finish.
The Caisse d'Epargne rider timed his move to perfection, overhauling Kim Kirchen (Team Columbia) with approximately 200 metres to go and opening up a one second gap on the 46-man lead group by the line. Philippe Gilbert (Française des Jeux) and Jerome Pineau (Bouygues Telecom) were second and third. Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) had attacked with a kilometre remaining but was swallowed up on the climb.
"This is a victory for all of the fans who supported me for so many years, and also for the general supporters who just love cycling," said Valverde. "I didn't know the finale, I followed Kirchen. This finish suited my abilities perfectly.
"I have no extra pressure now, I have already achieved two of my objectives in this Tour; wearing yellow and winning a stage. Keeping the jersey will be hard because the Tour de France is so long, but I will enjoy it now."
The stage was marked by a long breakaway of eight riders, namely Thomas Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom), Rubén Pérez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), José Luis Arrieta (AG2R La Mondiale), Geoffroy Lequatre (Agritubel), Björn Schröder (Team Milram), Lilian Jégou (Française des Jeux), David De La Fuente (Saunier Duval-Scott) and Stéphane Augé (Cofidis). De La Fuente and Jégou persisted longest, but were caught with seven kilometres to go.
Voeckler ended the day tied with Schröder on mountain points, but took the jersey by virtue of his better finish. Less happy was last year's final winner of that classification; Mauricio Soler (Barloworld) crashed near the end of the stage, damaged his wrist, and lost over three minutes.
Stage 2 - Sunday, July 6: Auray - Saint Brieuc, 164.5km
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The Mighty Thor Hushovd took out his sixth stage win of the Tour de France when he held off his competitors on the slightly uphill finish in Saint Brieuc. Hushovd started the sprint from 200 metres out and nobody could come around the strong Norwegian. Luxemburger Kim Kirchen used the uphill tilt to make up for his lack of bunch sprint experience and finished second. His Columbia team-mate, the young Gerald Ciolek, ended the day in third.
Hushovd worked tremendously for his win. "It was a really hard sprint, with the wind in the finale and in the climbs, but I knew it was a sprint that fits me well." His team-mate Mark Renshaw also proved that the two can work very well together, even though the Australian lead-out man thought they would need a few stages to get used to each other.
Kirchen took over the green jersey from Alejandro Valverde, but the latter kept the lead in the overall standings. With no prologue, the competition for the overall was determined by the stage rankings. That saw Kirchen move up from fourth to second, still a tiny second behind Valverde.
Stage 3 - Monday, July 7: Saint-Malo - Nantes, 208km
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All of France got delighted when Samuel Dumoulin won a stage in a break that was meant to be for the sprinters. At the same time Romain Feillu took over yellow, which is also something the French can't celebrate too often since the days of Bernard Hinault.
The move of Cofidis rider Dumoulin, Agritubel's Feillu, the US American William Frischkorn (Garmin Chipotle - H30) and Paolo Longo Borghini (Barloworld) went clear after two kilometres. Nobody gave the quartet a real chance. Some protesters in the middle of the stage tried to hold up the break, but it proved to be unstoppable today.
Even though Prudhomme had calmed the protesters to let the peloton pass uninterrupted, the chase was doomed. Multiple reasons contributed to the success of the four. Likely the calculations in the peloton were a bit off. The lack of a clear sprinter's team messed things up. The weather with rain throughout the entire stage may also have played a role in it. And last but not least Caisse d'Epargne controlled the front for leader Valverde, but not with the clear conviction necessary to really defend the jersey.
A bad crash took out Ángel Gómez (Saunier Duval-Scott) of his first Tour de France. The Spaniard had just recovered from his injuries following a spill in the Ronde van Vlaanderen.
The break got into Nantes with a couple of minutes at hand. Robbie McEwen of the Silence-Lotto team won the bunch sprint for fifth, but he had a feeling early on things were lost. "I knew that once they were out to 15 minutes we weren't going to catch the escape because the teams built around the other sprinters just didn't start chasing in time. When they did start chasing it was not enough and we came up way too short."
The break had a simple tactic. They let the gap grow to 15 minutes, than took a breather. When the peloton accelerated so did they. With 30 kilometres to go the gap was still six minutes and the four started to believe in their chance. The final 20 kilometres saw them ride to the Nantes with a tail wind.
Stage 4 - Tuesday, July 8: Cholet - Cholet (ITT), 29.5km
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On a day when the general classification contenders were expected to scrap it out for the stage win, Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) showed he was the rider in best time trial form when he won the 29.5-kilometre test in Cholet.
The German recorded a time of 35'44" that was ten seconds quicker than the equally-surprising Kim Kirchen (Team Columbia). David Millar finished third, a further eight seconds back.
The Scot had hoped to take the yellow jersey for his new Garmin Chipotle team but ended up third overall, with he and Kirchen both finishing the day twelve seconds behind Schumacher. Overnight leader Roman Feillu (Agritubel) suffered from his efforts of the day before, finishing 4'59 down and dropping to 28th overall.
"It's extraordinary to be on the podium in this jersey," said Schumacher, "because this is the Tour de France and everybody dreams of wearing this jersey. Also, the moment on the podium, you see it 1,000 times on television and then you're there yourself, it's impossible to imagine."
Race favourite Cadel Evans took time out of all his rivals for the general classification. The Silence Lotto rider placed fourth, beating Denis Menchov (Rabobank) by seven seconds and taking more out of Christian Vande Velde (Garmin Chipotle - H30), Stijn Devolder (Quick Step), Damiano Cunego (Lampre), Andy Schleck (CSC-Saxo Bank) and Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne). He put around a minute into Cunego and Schleck, 1'07" into Valverde, and a considerable 1'47” into Frank Schleck (CSC-Saxo Bank).
Stage 5 - Wednesday, July 9: Cholet - Châteauroux, 232km
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He'd talked the talk, and on stage five Team Columbia's Mark Cavendish walked the walk. The 23 year-old Manx rider lived up to his claim of being one of the fastest sprinters in the sport when he thundered to his first-ever Tour stage win in Châteauroux.
Cavendish beat former world champion Oscar Freire (Rabobank) and Erik Zabel (Team Milram) to the line, the sprinters cruelly overhauling breakaway rider Nicolas Vogondy (Agritubel) inside the final 100 metres. The French champion had been clear for most of the stage with Florent Brard (Cofidis) and Lilian Jégou (Française des Jeux), but the Team Columbia-led peloton brought their lead down to a manageable level and set things up perfectly for Cavendish's win.
"I could only win with guys like that," he said afterwards, thanking lead-out man Gerald Ciolek and the others on the squad. "It was a little hectic at the end. I lost Gerald's wheel and then he picked me up at 1200 metres to go, going himself with 600 metres remaining."
Race leader Stefan Schumacher finished safely in the main bunch and held onto his overall lead. Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) was fourth on the stage and took over from Kim Kirchen in the green jersey, while Thomas Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom) and Thomas Lövkvist (Team Columbia) held onto the lead in the mountains and best young rider classification.
Stage 6 - Thursday, July 10: Aigurande - Super Besse, 195.5km
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Youngster Riccardo Riccò delivered on his promise to win a stage when he held off Alejandro Valverde in Super Besse. The finale will be remembered for its drama, when yellow jersey Stefan Schumacher crashed just 500 metres from the line. Without the three-kilometre rule applying on the uphill finish, Schumacher had to helplessly look on as Kim Kirchen rode away and took over the race lead.
Kirchen had moved over to follow the wheels of the other favourites when everybody started sprinting for the line. In the process, Kirchen and Schumacher crossed wheels, bringing down the German race leader. Kirchen became the first Luxemburger to wear yellow since Charly Gaul 50 years ago.
Australian GC hope Cadel Evans moved into second place overall, just six seconds behind Kirchen. Stefan Schumacher dropped to third, a further ten seconds back. Christian Vande Velde was now in fourth, 44 seconds adrift, followed by team-mate David Millar. Young rider leader Thomas Lövkvist (Columbia) was in sixth. First yellow jersey of the 2008 Tour, Alejandro Valverde, was lying eighth overall, one place behind Denis Menchov. The gaps of the top 10 were within 1'21.
Kirchen made his terrific day complete by also taking the green jersey from Thor Hushovd. The Norwegian finished the day in the autobus. He still would get to wear green jersey in stage seven, being second in the points classification behind the yellow-clad Kirchen.
The battle for the coveted polka dot jersey was another exciting affair on a memorable day in Massif Central. Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis) initiated a break after only six kilometres and was joined by Freddy Bichot (Agritubel) and Benoît Vaugrenard (Française des Jeux). Chavanel racked up the points on every climb, leaving him with 27 points in the end – dead even with current leader Thomas Voeckler. Chavanel took over the lead with the tie breaker rule.
The final 1.5 kilometres to Super Besse average 10 percent and most favourites stayed together and were able to follow Riccò's attack. The crash caused delays for some of the overall contenders, however. Notably delayed were Damiano Cunego, who was 23 seconds back, and Andy Schleck, finishing 45 seconds behind Riccò.
Christian Vande Velde attacked in the final part of the race to set up team-mate David Millar for yellow. Millar, only 12 seconds back from yellow, could not deliver, however. In the end Vande Velde moved up ahead of Millar in GC by three seconds. Vande Velde described his move with Italian Leonardo Piepoli (Saunier Duval-Scott). "My legs felt great, but with Piepoli I found myself a little out gunned." He would eventually finish 23 seconds behind the stage winner.
Stage 7 - Friday, July 11: Brioude - Aurillac, 159km
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Luis León Sánchez finished off a brilliant solo effort with victory in Aurillac. Stefan Schumacher made a desperate attempt to get back yellow that he lost the day before in a crash. However, the German was not able to get away on the final climb of the day.
Sánchez on the other hand used the Saint Jean-de-Donne climb to reach the lead group. It was made up of the Saunier Duval Duo David De La Fuente and Josep Jufré, as well as Liquigas rider Vincenzo Nibali. He dropped the three on the descent and held everyone else off over the flat run-in.
Schumacher finished the day in second, but his dream of regaining yellow did not come true.
Sánchez made clear that a stage win was just a nice extra, but that the team is targeting something else. "I had my chance today, but I am working for Valverde and the real goal is to take the jersey in Paris."
The day should have been a calm one for the GC contenders, but CSC had other plans. Using a cross wind section and helped by the chaos following a Damiano Cunego crashed, CSC put almost the entire team to the front. It split the peloton in three parts, with the front group only 23 riders strong. Some of the riders left behind were Cunego, mountain leader Sylvain Chavanel, sprint contender Thor Hushovd and two riders ranked in the top 10. Belgian hope Stijn Devolder (Quick Step) in ninth and former leader Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) were both left out in the cold.
Eventually, CSC had to realise that they weren't stronger than an entire peloton and the three groups merged back together. Jens Voigt summed up the day for the Danish team. "We had a cross-wind section, we managed to split it up. It looked promising for a moment, but we did not have the people there to help us. Even having the strongest team in the race is not good enough."
Stage 8 - Saturday, July 12: Figeac - Toulouse, 172.5km
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Team Columbia showed once again it is the strongest sprinters' team when Mark Cavendish took out his second career Tour stage win. Team-mate Gerald Ciolek finished second, relegating Jimmy Casper to third.
Oscar Freire had not a good day for the sprint, but he did take over the green jersey from Kirchen.
In wet conditions, the favourites for the overall were just trying to stay out of trouble. It was something that Riccardo Riccò couldn't do when he crashed at a roundabout, 49 kilometres from the line. But the young Italian would finish the race.
The stage was a typical sprinters affair, with an early break established. Initially, it was Laurent Lefèvre (Bouygues Telecom) by himself, but he was eventually caught by his team-mate Jérôme Pineau, Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Christophe Riblon (AG2R La Mondiale). The sprinters let them have the TV glory, before reeling in the last guy, four kilometres from the line.
David De La Fuente was in the early break and gobbled up the mountains points to take the lead in the mountains competition by one point. Kirchen held on to yellow over Australian Cadel Evans by six seconds, while he extended his lead in the points classification to 28 points. Thomas Lövkvist (Columbia) held on to the white jersey of best young rider.
Stage 9 - Sunday, July 13: Toulouse - Bagnères de Bigorre, 224km
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Accelerating clear in a style eerily similar to his idol Marco Pantani, Riccardo Riccò jumped away from a group of race favourites on the Col d'Aspin and then sped down the descent to win in Bagnères de Bigorre.
The 24 year old Italian overhauled several breakaway riders with his powerful move, passing lone leader Stefan Lang (Gerolsteiner) close to the top of the climb and ultimately hitting the finish line 1'04” ahead of Vladimir Efimkin (AG2R La Mondiale) and a further thirteen seconds ahead of the 38-man front group. Efimkin's team-mate Cyril Dessel was third.
All of the race favourites finished in this chasing group, including two who had had a tough day in the saddle. Overall leader Kim Kirchen looked fragile on the high Pyrenean mountains but avoided cracking, while race favourite Cadel Evans (Silence Lotto) had a bad crash and also seemed below par. Former race leader Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) did however lose time, dropping one place to fourth overall and thus enabling Christian Vande Velde (Garmin Chipotle) to move into third.
Thomas Lövkvist (Team Columbia) was another who dropped down the classification, his white jersey passing to Andy Schleck (CSC Saxo Bank).
Riccò was delighted to follow up on his stage win on Super Besse. "The others sort of looked at each other. I gave it everything I had and rode a time trial to the finish," he stated. "It was a formidable stage. I have now two victories – I am super happy. I was impressive, I went very fast [on the final climb].”
The day was marked by a long breakaway by Aleksandr Kuschynski (Liquigas), Sebastian Lang (Gerolsteiner) and Nicolas Jalabert (Agritubel). Lang took top points on the early climbs and then left the others on the Col de Peyresourde, continuing on alone until Riccò hauled him back on the Aspin. The German missed out on the chance for a stage win but did pick up a bundle of mountains points, ending the day just four points off the total of KOM leader David De La Fuente (Saunier Duval).
Kirchen took back the maillot vert from Rabobank's Oscar Freire but the latter would continue to wear the jersey as Kirchen remained in the maillot jaune.
Stage 10 - Monday, July 14: Pau - Hautacam, 156km
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Ending the day just one second ahead of Fränk Schleck (CSC – Saxo Bank), Cadel Evans became the first Australian rider in four years to wear the maillot jaune of the Tour de France when he rode strongly on the Pyrenean stage to Hautacam.
First to the line was Saunier Duval pair Leonardo Piepoli and Juan Jose Cobo, the duo dropping Schleck on the final climb and hitting the line together. The Luxembourg national champion took third, finishing well clear of Bernhard Kohl (Gerolsteiner) and Vladimir Efimkin (AG2R La Mondiale), while the previous day's stage winner Riccardo Riccò led home the next riders, 2'17 back.
Present in this group were Carlos Sastre (Team CSC – Saxo Bank), Evans (Silence Lotto), Denis Menchov (Rabobank) and an impressive Christian Vande Velde (Team Garmin-Chipotle). Race leader Kim Kirchen (Team Columbia) cracked on the final climb and dropped to seventh overall, 1'56 back.
Other prominent riders also lost time, including Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) and Damiano Cunego (Lampre). Both of these lost contact on the Tourmalet and conceded almost six minutes to Piepoli and Cobo.
"Cobo was really thinking more of the overall [he moved up to eighth - ed.]," said Piepoli afterwards. "He has already gotten fifth or sixth at Plateau de Beille. I was a tad stronger today. I dreamt of this victory. But this is more than a dream!"
The significant break of the day was a seven-man move which went clear from a larger escape. Those present included Fabian Cancellara (CSC-Saxo Bank), Hubert Dupont (AG2R La Mondiale), Markus Fothen, Oscar Freire (Rabobank), Rémy Di Gregorio, Jérémy Roy (both Française des Jeux) and Leonardo Duque (Cofidis).
Di Gregorio took the €5000 prize at the top of the Tourmalet but was ultimately caught on the climb of Hautacam. In the valley in-between the two climbs, Cancellara joined up with team-mate Jens Voigt and drove hard at the front, keeping Carlos Sastre, Fränk and Andy Schleck [plus other race favourites such as Evans] clear of the group containing Valverde and Cunego.
Freire's efforts in the break saw him mop up the two intermediate sprints and take over from Kim Kirchen in the green jersey competition. Riccò succeeded team-mate David De La Fuente in the mountains classification, and also took over from Andy Schleck in the best young rider ranking.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by AFP Photo
- Frank Schleck answers questions before heading out for a rest day spin.
- Bjarne Riis rides alongside Fabian Cancellara on the team's rest day ride.
- Fabian Cancellara (CSC-Saxo Bank) enjoys the sunshine on the rest day.
- Carlos Sastre has a laugh at the team's press conference.
- Frank Schleck knows it will be hard to get the yellow jersey even if he only trails by one second.
- Andy and Frank Schleck flank their father Johnny at the team's hotel in Lescar on the rest day.
- Cadel Evans reads the newspaper with breakfast before heading out for a spin on the rest day.
- The yellow jersey is proudly displayed at Cadel Evans' breakfast table in Ousse.
- Cadel Evans shows the effects of his crash on stage nine during a training ride on the first rest day in Ousse.
- Cadel Evans has a chat with fellow Australian Robbie McEwen on the rest day ride.
- Cadel Evans was understated on his rest day ride choosing only to have a touch of yellow on the sunglasses.
- The cameras followed Evans as he put in a few easy kilometres on the rest day.
- Evans' bodyguard Serge Borlee followed in the team car.
Images by Gregor Brown/ Cyclingnews.com
- Fabian Cancellara (CSC-Saxo Bank)
- Cancellara talks to the press on the rest day in Lescar.
- Press surrounds Fränk Schleck (CSC-Saxo Bank)
- Carlos Sastre (CSC-Saxo Bank)
- Carlos Sastre is still a contender after a strong ride on Hautacam.
- Frank and Andy Schleck (CSC-Saxo Bank) answer reporters' questions poolside.
- Leonardo Piepoli (Saunier Duval-Scott) was 'in heaven' after winning stage 10.
- Frank Schleck (CSC-Saxo Bank)
- Andy Schleck (CSC-Saxo Bank) had a bad day, but can now try to escape for a stage win.
- Andy Schleck (CSC-Saxo Bank)
- Jens Voigt (CSC-Saxo Bank) was the team's work horse on stage ten
- Bjarne Riis is happy with the team's performance.
- Bjarne Riis ponders his team's strategy.
General classification after stage 10 1 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto 42.29.09 2 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 0.01 3 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 0.38 4 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner 0.46 5 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 0.57 6 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 1.28 7 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia 1.56 8 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 2.10 9 Riccardo Riccò (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott 2.29 10 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale 2.32 11 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 3.51 12 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 4.18 13 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 4.26 14 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 4.41 15 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) AG2R La Mondiale 5.23 16 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre 5.37 17 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 6.01 18 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Gerolsteiner 6.11 19 Moises Dueñas Nevado (Spa) Barloworld 6.43 20 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 6.47 21 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas 7.00 22 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 8.34 23 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Rabobank 8.48 24 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott 11.27 25 Matteo Carrara (Ita) Quick Step 11.59 26 Sandy Casar (Fra) Française des Jeux 13.00 27 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Lampre 13.24 28 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Quick Step 13.36 29 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Team Columbia 16.02 30 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Milram 16.39 31 Markus Fothen (Ger) Gerolsteiner 18.08 32 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Silence - Lotto 18.09 33 Eduardo Gonzalo Ramirez (Spa) Agritubel 18.15 34 Stéphane Goubert (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 20.10 35 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Crédit Agricole 20.47 36 Dario David Cioni (Ita) Silence - Lotto 22.43 37 Amaël Moinard (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 26.11 38 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 27.00 39 Cyril Dessel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 28.05 40 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Team Columbia 28.36 41 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Crédit Agricole 28.41 42 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 29.54 43 Mario Aerts (Bel) Silence - Lotto 30.38 44 Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) Lampre 30.49 45 David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 32.09 46 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 33.52 47 José Iván Gutierrez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 34.49 48 David Millar (GBr) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 35.22 49 Volodymir Gustov (Ukr) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 35.41 50 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Lampre 36.17 51 Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Rabobank 36.27 52 Pierrick Fédrigo (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 53 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 36.48 54 Bram Tankink (Ned) Rabobank 37.10 55 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram 38.10 56 Rémy Di Grégorio (Fra) Française des Jeux 39.15 57 George Hincapie (USA) Team Columbia 39.51 58 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Rabobank 40.09 59 Marco Velo (Ita) Team Milram 40.19 60 Jesús Del Nero (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 40.44 61 Christophe Le Mével (Fra) Crédit Agricole 42.12 62 David López García (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 43.54 63 Félix Rafael Cárdenas (Col) Barloworld 44.07 64 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank 47.09 65 Leonardo Duque (Col) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 47.40 66 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 49.13 67 Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 49.42 68 Josep Jufre Pou (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 50.06 69 David Moncoutié (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 50.54 70 Trent Lowe (Aus) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 51.06 71 Sebastian Lang (Ger) Gerolsteiner 53.12 72 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 53.14 73 Joost Posthuma (Ned) Rabobank 53.28 74 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 54.02 75 Johann Tschopp (Swi) Bouygues Telecom 55.11 76 John-Lee Augustyn (RSA) Barloworld 56.18 77 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Liquigas 57.21 78 Amets Txurruka (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 57.33 79 Yoann Le Boulanger (Fra) Française des Jeux 58.56 80 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 59.35 81 David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 1.01.10 82 Murilo Fischer (Bra) Liquigas 1.02.22 83 Peter Velits (Svk) Team Milram 1.03.09 84 Gorka Verdugo Markotegi (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 1.05.55 85 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Crédit Agricole 1.06.38 86 David Le Lay (Fra) Agritubel 1.06.43 87 Marco Marzano (Ita) Lampre 1.06.57 88 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Quick Step 1.07.28 89 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 1.08.12 90 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Agritubel 1.08.56 91 Christopher Froome (Ken) Barloworld 1.08.58 92 José Luis Arrieta Lujambio (Spa) AG2R La Mondiale 1.09.32 93 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Silence - Lotto 1.09.33 94 Pieter Weening (Ned) Rabobank 1.09.42 95 Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Crédit Agricole 96 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 1.10.30 97 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 1.10.32 98 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Gerolsteiner 1.10.36 99 Martin Müller (Ger) Team Milram 1.10.39 100 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 1.11.22 101 Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Spa) Quick Step 1.11.39 102 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) Française des Jeux 1.13.28 103 Jurgen Van De Walle (Bel) Quick Step 1.13.40 104 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Quick Step 1.13.53 105 Stef Clement (Ned) Bouygues Telecom 1.15.11 106 William Bonnet (Fra) Crédit Agricole 1.15.38 107 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Agritubel 1.16.21 108 Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 1.16.22 109 Iñaki Isasi Flores (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 1.16.30 110 Juan José Oroz Ugalde (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 1.19.44 111 Xavier Florencio Cabre (Spa) Bouygues Telecom 1.21.08 112 Baden Cooke (Aus) Barloworld 1.21.24 113 Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita) Barloworld 1.21.41 114 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Team Columbia 1.22.22 115 Adam Hansen (Aus) Team Columbia 1.23.40 116 Julian Dean (NZl) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 1.25.08 117 Matteo Bono (Ita) Lampre 1.25.19 118 Robert Hunter (RSA) Barloworld 1.25.20 119 Danny Pate (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 1.25.36 120 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 1.26.15 121 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 1.26.48 122 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Lampre 1.26.50 123 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 1.27.05 124 Martin Elmiger (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale 1.27.40 125 Rubens Bertogliati (Swi) Saunier Duval - Scott 1.27.53 126 Björn Schröder (Ger) Team Milram 1.28.13 127 Jérémy Roy (Fra) Française des Jeux 1.28.44 128 Sven Krauss (Ger) Gerolsteiner 129 Aleksandr Kuchynski (Blr) Liquigas 1.30.49 130 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Silence - Lotto 1.31.46 131 Nicki Sørensen (Den) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 1.31.56 132 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Team Milram 1.32.56 133 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Agritubel 1.33.09 134 Ralf Grabsch (Ger) Team Milram 1.33.57 135 Arnaud Coyot (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 1.33.59 136 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quick Step 1.34.27 137 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Française des Jeux 1.34.57 138 Massimiliano Mori (Ita) Lampre 1.34.58 139 Daniele Righi (Ita) Lampre 1.35.22 140 Frederik Willems (Bel) Liquigas 1.35.32 141 Christophe Brandt (Bel) Silence - Lotto 1.35.46 142 Laurent Lefèvre (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 1.35.52 143 Gianpaolo Cheula (Ita) Barloworld 1.36.42 144 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Liquigas 1.36.45 145 Leif Hoste (Bel) Silence - Lotto 1.37.47 146 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Agritubel 1.38.03 147 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner 1.39.18 148 Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel 1.40.09 149 William Frischkorn (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 1.40.53 150 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Quick Step 1.41.38 151 Martijn Maaskant (Ned) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 1.41.50 152 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) Team Columbia 1.41.52 153 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Crédit Agricole 1.43.02 154 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) Rabobank 1.43.18 155 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Française des Jeux 1.43.31 156 Florent Brard (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 1.43.58 157 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 1.44.06 158 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team Columbia 1.44.41 159 Brett Lancaster (Aus) Team Milram 1.45.35 160 José Vicente Garcia Acosta (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 1.45.58 161 Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Crédit Agricole 1.46.23 162 Arnaud Gérard (Fra) Française des Jeux 1.47.46 163 Jimmy Casper (Fra) Agritubel 1.47.56 164 Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Liquigas 1.48.02 165 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Team Columbia 1.48.33 166 Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 1.49.47 167 Stéphane Augé (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 1.53.10 168 Matthieu Sprick (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 1.54.57 169 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Silence - Lotto 1.56.39 Points classification 1 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank 131 pts 2 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia 124 3 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 105 4 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 96 5 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram 92 6 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team Columbia 86 7 Riccardo Riccò (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott 85 8 Robert Hunter (RSA) Barloworld 82 9 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto 70 10 Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel 68 11 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Silence - Lotto 60 12 Leonardo Duque (Col) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 58 13 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 57 14 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Team Columbia 56 15 Jimmy Casper (Fra) Agritubel 55 16 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 54 17 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 54 18 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 48 19 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Gerolsteiner 46 20 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale 45 21 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 45 22 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 43 23 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Liquigas 42 24 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 40 25 William Frischkorn (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 38 26 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quick Step 38 27 Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Liquigas 38 28 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 37 29 Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita) Barloworld 34 30 Iñaki Isasi Flores (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 34 31 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Française des Jeux 34 32 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Française des Jeux 32 33 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott 31 34 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 31 35 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 30 36 Julian Dean (NZl) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 30 37 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 28 38 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 27 39 Matteo Carrara (Ita) Quick Step 27 40 David Millar (GBr) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 26 41 Martin Elmiger (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale 25 42 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas 23 43 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Crédit Agricole 23 44 Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 23 45 Baden Cooke (Aus) Barloworld 22 46 Martijn Maaskant (Ned) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 21 47 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 20 48 Josep Jufre Pou (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 19 49 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Agritubel 19 50 Moises Dueñas Nevado (Spa) Barloworld 19 51 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Agritubel 18 52 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 18 53 Laurent Lefèvre (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 16 54 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 16 55 Cyril Dessel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 15 56 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) Française des Jeux 14 57 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner 14 58 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Milram 14 59 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Crédit Agricole 14 60 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Agritubel 12 61 Florent Brard (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 12 62 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 12 63 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre 12 64 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 12 65 Sebastian Lang (Ger) Gerolsteiner 12 66 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 12 67 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) AG2R La Mondiale 11 68 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Quick Step 11 69 Aleksandr Kuchynski (Blr) Liquigas 10 70 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Agritubel 10 71 Amets Txurruka (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 10 72 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner 10 73 Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 8 74 Xavier Florencio Cabre (Spa) Bouygues Telecom 8 75 George Hincapie (USA) Team Columbia 7 76 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Rabobank 7 77 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Silence - Lotto 6 78 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Team Columbia 6 79 Sven Krauss (Ger) Gerolsteiner 6 80 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) Rabobank 5 81 Stéphane Goubert (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 4 82 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 4 83 John-Lee Augustyn (RSA) Barloworld 4 84 Stéphane Augé (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 4 85 Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Spa) Quick Step 3 86 Volodymir Gustov (Ukr) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 2 87 Pierrick Fédrigo (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 2 88 David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 2 89 David Le Lay (Fra) Agritubel 2 90 Jérémy Roy (Fra) Française des Jeux 2 91 Brett Lancaster (Aus) Team Milram 1 92 Dario David Cioni (Ita) Silence - Lotto -5 93 Danny Pate (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 -5 94 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) Team Columbia -5 95 Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi -10 Mountains classification 1 Riccardo Riccò (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott 77 pts 2 David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 65 3 Sebastian Lang (Ger) Gerolsteiner 57 4 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner 56 5 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 46 6 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott 41 7 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 36 8 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 31 9 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto 30 10 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 30 11 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 27 12 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 27 13 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 24 14 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale 24 15 Rémy Di Grégorio (Fra) Française des Jeux 23 16 Aleksandr Kuchynski (Blr) Liquigas 22 17 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 21 18 Leonardo Duque (Col) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 20 19 Jérémy Roy (Fra) Française des Jeux 19 20 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Agritubel 19 21 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 18 22 Josep Jufre Pou (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 18 23 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 16 24 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 16 25 Markus Fothen (Ger) Gerolsteiner 14 26 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia 12 27 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 12 28 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Agritubel 12 29 Laurent Lefèvre (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 11 30 Sandy Casar (Fra) Française des Jeux 11 31 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 10 32 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 10 33 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas 10 34 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Team Columbia 10 35 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 10 36 Björn Schröder (Ger) Team Milram 9 37 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 8 38 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank 8 39 Christophe Le Mével (Fra) Crédit Agricole 6 40 Gorka Verdugo Markotegi (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 6 41 David Millar (GBr) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 5 42 Matteo Carrara (Ita) Quick Step 5 43 Amets Txurruka (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 5 44 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 3 45 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Liquigas 3 46 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) Française des Jeux 3 47 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 2 48 David Moncoutié (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 2 49 Yoann Le Boulanger (Fra) Française des Jeux 2 50 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Crédit Agricole 2 51 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 2 52 Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 2 53 David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 1 54 Pierrick Fédrigo (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 1 55 Bram Tankink (Ned) Rabobank 1 56 Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 1 57 David Le Lay (Fra) Agritubel 1 58 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Agritubel 1 59 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 1 Young rider classification 1 Riccardo Riccò (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott 42.31.38 2 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 1.49 3 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 4.18 4 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas 4.31 5 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 6.05 6 Eduardo Gonzalo Ramirez (Spa) Agritubel 15.46 7 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Team Columbia 26.07 8 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 34.19 9 Rémy Di Grégorio (Fra) Française des Jeux 36.46 10 Trent Lowe (Aus) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 48.37 11 John-Lee Augustyn (RSA) Barloworld 53.49 12 Peter Velits (Svk) Team Milram 1.00.40 13 Christopher Froome (Ken) Barloworld 1.06.29 14 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Team Columbia 1.19.53 15 Matteo Bono (Ita) Lampre 1.22.50 16 Jérémy Roy (Fra) Française des Jeux 1.26.15 17 Sven Krauss (Ger) Gerolsteiner 18 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Team Milram 1.30.27 19 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner 1.36.49 20 Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel 1.37.40 21 Martijn Maaskant (Ned) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 1.39.21 22 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) Team Columbia 1.39.23 23 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) Rabobank 1.40.49 24 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team Columbia 1.42.12 25 Arnaud Gérard (Fra) Française des Jeux 1.45.17 Teams classification 1 Saunier Duval - Scott 127.29.48 2 Team CSC Saxo Bank 4.40 3 AG2R-La Mondiale 9.29 4 Gerolsteiner 19.49 5 Caisse d'Epargne 22.34 6 Rabobank 23.24 7 Euskaltel - Euskadi 25.34 8 Silence - Lotto 32.55 9 Lampre 34.43 10 Team Columbia 37.19 11 Barloworld 46.40 12 Liquigas 48.30 13 Francaise des Jeux 53.43 14 Garmin Chipotle 57.13 15 Credit Agricole 1.00.55 16 Cofidis Credit Par Telephone 1.02.45 17 Quick Step 1.03.19 18 Bouygues Telecom 1.19.50 19 Team Milram 1.23.59 20 Agritubel 1.40.22
