Calzati A Winner Before A Day Of Rest...!

Stage Details _ Four climbs: Cote de Mur-de-Bretagne (cat-3 at 75.0km), Cote de Saint-Mayeux (cat-4 at 78.5km), Cote de Gouarec (cat-4 at 94.0km) and Cote de Ty Marrec (cat-4 at 138.5km). _ Intermediate sprints: Plessala (at 38.0km), Locmalo (112.5km) and Plouay (142.0km). _ Weather conditions: A light drizzle of rain and temperatures of 19 degrees Celsius in the air and 22 degrees at road level at the start of the stage. _ Number of starters: 170 – Julich (CSC) abandoned during stage seven because of a crash at the 1.5km mark. Official start time: 12.31pm. _ _ The Progress Report _ _ Eight Early Aggressors… _ There were a number of early escape attempts but none succeeded until Etxebarria (EUS) instigated a move at the 17.5km mark. He was joined by seven others – Voigt (CSC), Dumoulin (A2R), Weening (RAB), Vansevenant (DVL), Garcia-Acosta (CEI), Grabsch (MRM) and Coutouly (AGR) – at the 18km mark. At 20km, they led by 20”. Lampre, T-Mobile and later Bouygues led the peloton. At 29km the advantage of the escapees was just 35”. Dumoulin, Garcia-Acosta and Voigt led the escapees over the first intermediate sprint line. The peloton was behind by just 22”. The fugitives were caught at the 45.5km mark. The average speed for the first hour was 45.5km/h. _ _ Zabriskie Becomes Virtual Leader _ Zabriskie (CSC), Kessler (TMO), Calzati (A2R), Aerts (DVL) and Carlstrom (LIQ) attacked at 47km. Halgand (C.A) set off in pursuit at 48km. At 50km the peloton was 1’40” behind the five while Halgand was still 20” shy of the leading quintet; he caught up with the lead group at the 56km mark. Zabriskie was stung by a bee at the 55km mark and was treated by the race doctor. The CSC rider became the virtual leader of the Tour, starting the stage in 10th place, 2’03” behind Gonchar. The advantage of his group grew quickly: 3’10” at 48km, 7’30” at 62km… this was the maximum gain of the sextet. Calzati led Aerts, Kessler and Halgand over the first climb. The peloton was behind by 6’55”. Over the second summit, Calzati again collected first-place points. The entire Phonak team led the peloton. At the 82km mark, the advantage of the escapees was 6’15”. Calzati led the escape over the third climb; and the peloton was closing in on the fugitives: at the 94km mark, it was 5’40” behind. _ _ Zabriskie Gains Six Seconds _ At the 2nd intermediate sprint, Zabriskie led Calzati and Aerts over the line. He gained a six-second time bonus which was enough to push him ahead of Kessler in the general classification. The peloton was 5’10” behind in Locmalo at the 112.5km mark. Francaise des Jeux sent some riders to the front of the bunch to assist Phonak with the chasing duties with 48km to go; 45km from the finish, the peloton was 3’50” behind the six escapees. Calzati claimed first-place points on the 4th climb, the peloton was at 3’40”. Aerts, Zabriskie and Carlstrom claimed the points at the Plouay sprint. Phonak had retreated into the midst of the peloton and allowed FDJ to set the pace of the pursuit. In Plouay the bunch was 3’25” behind. _ _ Calzati Claims His First Tour Stage Win! _ With 32km to go Calzati attacked and was chased by Halgand. With 25km to go, Calzati led Halgand and Carlstrom by 30”, Kessler, Aerts and Zabriskie by 1’00” and the peloton by 2’30”. Kessler, Aerts and Zabriskie were caught with 17km to go. Calzati led by 2’30”. There was little urgency in the peloton’s pursuit and Calzati was able to increase his advantage on both Halgand and Carlstrom as well as the peloton which only really wound up the pace in the final five kilometers. Calzati began his celebrations three kilometers before the finish. He claimed the victory 2’05” ahead of Carlstrom. The peloton was led home by McEwen 2’15” behind Calzati. _ Serhiy Honchar finished in 100th place at the same time as McEwen. The Ukrainian will wear the yellow jersey after the first rest day.