Paris Nice, stage 5 summary

[Bob Martin]

Changes in stage 5 compared to stage 4

Biggest gainers by position :
+63 Tomas Vaitkus
+61 Alberto Ongarato
+59 Luca Paolini
+59 Christophe Rinero
+57 Aleksandr Kuschynski
+55 Matej Mugerli
+55 Guennadi Mikhailov
+52 Benoît Joachim
+49 Alan Pérez
+48 Daniele Righi

Biggest losers by position :
-62 Juan Antonio Flecha
-56 Rémi Pauriol
-54 Alberto Fernández De La Puebla
-54 Josep Jufré
-53 Pieter Weening
-47 Heinrich Haussler
-45 Amaël Moinard
-45 José Antonio Redondo
-45 Yoann Le Boulanger
-40 Xavier Florencio
-37 Freddy Bichot

Biggest gainers by time :
+0:30 Yaroslav Popovych
+0:06 Francisco José Ventoso
+0:04 Samuel Dumoulin

Biggest losers by time :
-19:24 Heinrich Haussler
-17:26 Iban Velasco Murillo
-17:26 Juan Antonio Flecha
-17:26 Marcus Zberg
-17:26 Mikel Gaztañaga Echeverria
-17:18 Remmert Wielinga
-14:19 Mathieu Ladagnous
-13:59 Aivaras Baranauskas
-13:59 Alexandr Kolobnev
-13:59 Amaël Moinard
-13:59 Andoni Aranaga

Favourites by position :
+59 Luca Paolini
+17 Yaroslav Popovych
+7 Igor Astarloa
+6 Chris Horner
+3 Bobby Julich
-20 Thomas Fothen

Favourites by time :
+0:30 Yaroslav Popovych
-0:38 Chris Horner
-4:39 Igor Astarloa
-13:59 Thomas Fothen

Top 3 and favourites standings :
1 Davide Rebellin 21.52.39
2 Alberto Contador 0.06
3 Tadej Valjavec 0.23
4 Franco Pellizotti 0.31
.....
6 Cadel Evans 0.35
7 David Millar 0.42
8 Fränk Schleck 0.42
.....
10 Samuel Sánchez 0.46
.....
13 Levi Leipheimer 0.50
.....
17 Thomas Voeckler 0.58
18 Joaquím Rodríguez 1.03
.....
30 Yaroslav Popovych 1.51
31 Bobby Julich 1.53
.....
39 Chris Horner 2.50
.....
66 Igor Astarloa 10.08
.....
74 Luca Paolini 11.19
.....
114 Thomas Fothen 22.59

Retirements to date :
Agritubel Eduardo Gonzalo
Caisse d'Epargne Vicente Reynes
Crédit Agricole Angelo Furlan
" Anthony Charteau
" Pietro Caucchioli
Française Des Jeux Benoît Vaugrenard
" Christophe Detilloux
" Thierry Marichal
Lampre-Fondital Massimiliano Mori
Liquigas Alessandro Vanotti
Rabobank Kai Reus
T-Mobile Michael Barry
Total retirements : 12

[ilan]

The most original thing I noticed on today's stage was Sylvain
Chavanel winning an intermediate sprint
with a mouthful of food. It's the first time I've ever observed
someone sprinting while eating. It also says
something about Leipheimer's sprinting, he got beat. Right after, you
can see Chavanel chewing his
food disgustedly.

For some reason, Voeckler looked taller than I remembered him from the
2004 Tour. I don't think he grew,
maybe he raised his saddle. In any case, he looks much stronger, and
his riding is better.

Otherwise, I found out that Laurent Jalabert ran a 2:45 marathon last
Sunday.

-ilan

[ilan]

Sorry, it was for Stage 6

-ilan