Perfect plan = perfect result in France

The opening stage of the Tour de l'Avenir went right according to plan for Team CSC, as Danish road champion Lars Bak found himself the beneficiary of a perfectly conceived plan.

"Right from the beginning we dominated the race, when Christian Müller escaped," said a happy sports director Scott Sunderland on team-csc.com. "Shortly after Matti Breschel reached Müller's group, and during the following six laps, he secured himself some bonus seconds. When the group was caught, Andy Schleck escaped with four other riders, and after that Lars Bak caught up with them.

"With two laps to go, I told Andy to attack, thereby forcing the others to use up their energy to catch him, and with that done, Lars launched a counterattack and won the stage according to plan," he said.