The favourites allowed a group of late attackers take the glory yesterday. But today is a new opportunity with another uphill finish following some tough circuits. The climbs are not categorised that high, but do have some steep sections.
Still current leader Sagan and the rest of the five men who broke away yesterday will be difficult to crack without a concerted effort. Lotto’s tactics in particular will come under scrutiny.
We join the pictures now just 3.5km from the first mountain prime of the day. White jersey wearer Sinkeldam just four points back on KoM leader and team mate Vanendert is in the break. Alongside him is McEvoy, Delage, Rodriguez Segura and Riblon. However they only have 30 seconds on a reluctant peloton.
The prime at the top though is the chance for the break to extend their time gap.
Sinkeldam makes a mess of it.
Nethertheless the attacking brings the break to a lead of of a minute as they begin to move clear. By the first sprint point which is at around 110kms to go they have a four minute lead.
Delage wins the sprint over Sinkeldam, who could move into the youth jersey lead today. Riblon is third here with the other two seemingly unbothered about sprinting being well down on GC.
Marinangelli and Favalli lead the pack cheered on by their nations fans, they are keeping the gap between four and five minutes.
The next KoM prime again sees Sinkeldam struggle.
Delage takes another one as he begins to make a move in the competition, having won the first as well he moves to 11 points. McEvoy is trying to continue Pendletons great tradition of KoM point grabbers picking up second at both so far for 7 points. Riblon is choosing the snail’s pace with third at both for 3 points.
We head down to the three hilly circuits and the final third of this stage.
The lead five are seeing their lead dramatically reducing. It’s Venchi who are really cracking the whip much like Milka did yesterday.
Delage takes the next sprint ahead of Riblon and Sinkeldam as they head to the Cat 4 KoM prime.
McEvoy surprises Delage this time moving to 12 points with Delage up to 14 points. Riblon again taking third place, just edging out an increasingly frustrated Sinkeldam.
The pack have been playing games again with the gap to the break still hovering between 3 and 4 minutes. It is a twisty descent this one all set up for an exciting finale if the riders care to produce one.
Sensing Venchi who have reduced the gap to the break to under three minutes Rabon makes an attack.
Clearly Milka have moved on from protecting Bewley as they did in a fine effort yesterday. Up front the man for the primes today Delage once again takes the maximum time and points at the sprint. Sinkeldam again second with Riblon is third.
It’s a similar situation at the mountain prime as Delage now moves into provisional joint lead of the KoM with Vanendert by nabbing the full five over McEvoy and Sinkeldam at the penultimate mountain prime.
35 km to go and the lead five have a minute over Rabon who is hanging a minute ahead of the pack. The pack drastically reduced by Aker and Pearl Adidas to about 70 riders.
All the race favourites are there. Onto that descent into to the finish area for the penultimate time and we could see a spectacular one next time as the pack are in sight of the breakaways and the chasing Rabon.
It’s Wikipedia who make the catch and as they all look at each other Rabon attacks again marked by McCarthy .
Neither of these two are big favourites then again Sagan and Rabottini were not big favourites either and they managed to win the day yesterday. Bobridge makes a move a kilometre later as Caruso marks.
Van den Hugenhaben also goes with this but it is just pulling things back together. That said we are approaching the crest so the KoM points attract McCarthy, Caruso, Rabon and Bobridge to push on.
An interesting group of riders emerge including Wallays, Van den Hugenhaben, Burghardt, Mancuso, Tamouridis, Gilbert and Cunego.
This is soon neutralised as they go through the prime with Rabon ahead. KoM holder Vanendert attacks following the prime looking to go into the descent in the lead. Caruso, McCarthy and Bobridge are on his tail.
There is a lip before the descent and Bobridge steams past with Nibali looking to go with the Australian.
13km left and these two have been joined by Caruso and McCarthy.
Passalacqua leads the pack of about 60 containing all the favourites behind.
7km to go and they have been reeled in.
A quick check on the favourites and we can see Cunego, Schleck, Hagen, Bakelandts, Ponzi, Van Garderan and Sagan all present near the front.
Caruso tries to nip off the front once again with 5.5km left.
He is a good descender and will enjoy the little last 3km uphill sprint. However Venchi reel the Wiggle wriggler in, but there goes the Luxembourg championship jersey.
Schleck puts in a big attack.
Cunego of course has to respond, Bakelants, TvG, Ponzi, Ginanni, Hagen, Pozzovivo respond right away.
Schleck gets into the 2km to go point with a gap of 20 seconds or so on TvG, Bakelants, Ponzi, Cunego et al.
It’s not really breaking apart mind you with Sagan right on teammate Di Maggio’s shoulder and everyone else behind him.
Schleck just grinds on, realising that this race could be decided in a matter of seconds. Schleck disappears over the corner with 1 km to go as the others sprint desperately for the second and third place bonuses.
Ponzi takes the central position ahead of Bakelants, TvG, Cunego. Ginanni is just behind with Hagen, Di Maggio and Pozzovivo.
Sagan is just slipping back alongside Pozzato and Ulissi.
Schleck wins though comfortably with a decent gap, a really powerful move by the veteran.
Ponzi takes second over Bakelants. Cunego is a disappointing fourth with TvG a decent fifth.
Hagen, Ginnani, Di Maggio, Claeys and Pozzovivo come in over what's looks like a gap to Sagan, Ulissi, Pozzato and the rest.
Stage result
We do get some gaps today, Schleck of course was supreme but a good day for the favourites with that monster day to Chieti to come. Lotto and Vespa do espiecially well to get two guys in the lead positions.
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Frank Schleck
Vesuvio - Accumalux
4h39'05
2
Simone Ponzi
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
+ 21
3
Jan Bakelants
Pearl Adidas
s.t.
4
Damiano Cunego
Lotto - Cervelo
s.t.
5
Tejay Van Garderen
Wikipedia
s.t.
6
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Aker - MOT
s.t.
7
Francesco Ginanni
Vespa-Aprilia Racing
s.t.
8
Cesare Di Maggio
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
s.t.
9
Dimitri Claeys
Lotto - Cervelo
s.t.
10
Domenico Pozzovivo
Vespa-Aprilia Racing
s.t.
11
Peter Sagan
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
+ 52
12
Diego Ulissi
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
13
Tanel Kangert
Pearl Adidas
s.t.
14
Filippo Pozzato
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
s.t.
15
Vincenzo Nibali
UBS - BMC
s.t.
16
Jelle Vanendert
Project 1t4i
s.t.
17
Philippe Gilbert
Pendleton's
s.t.
18
Rasmus Guldhammer
Team B&O
s.t.
19
Marcello Pavarin
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
20
Robin van der Hugenhaben
Koenigsegg
s.t.
21
Dario Cataldo
Vespa-Aprilia Racing
s.t.
22
Ioannis Tamouridis
Festina-Canal+
+ 1'14
23
Jack Bobridge
Simply Red Bull
s.t.
24
Alexandre Shushemoin
Aker - MOT
s.t.
25
Branislav Samoilev
Pearl Adidas
s.t.
26
Nathan Haas
Aker - MOT
s.t.
27
Damiano Caruso
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
28
Sam Bewley
Milka - AVG
s.t.
29
Frantisek Rabon
Milka - AVG
s.t.
30
Nebojsa Jovanovic
Pendleton's
s.t.
31
Vegard Robinson Bugge
Aker - MOT
s.t.
32
Toms Skujins
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
33
Jay McCarthy
Wikipedia
s.t.
34
Salvatore Mancuso
Team Bacardi
s.t.
35
Arnold Jeannesson
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
s.t.
36
Jelle Wallays
Pokerstars.com
s.t.
37
Marcus Burghardt
Team Bacardi
s.t.
38
Matthias Krizek
Vespa-Aprilia Racing
s.t.
39
Michael Albasini
UBS - BMC
s.t.
40
Matteo Rabottini
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
41
Nick Kinney
Wikipedia
s.t.
42
Mauro Facci
Simply Red Bull
+ 2'18
43
Daniel Oss
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
s.t.
44
Matteo Montaguti
Vespa-Aprilia Racing
s.t.
45
Jonathan McEvoy
Pendleton's
s.t.
46
Wesley Kreder
Project 1t4i
s.t.
47
Gabriele Bosisio
Vespa-Aprilia Racing
s.t.
48
Maciej Paterski
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
49
Ethan Weiss
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
s.t.
50
Sebastian Langeveld
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
+ 14'59
125
Erick Rowsell
Simply Red Bull
s.t.
126
Davide Cimolai
Vespa-Aprilia Racing
+ 15'11
127
Jocelyn Bar
Team Puma - SAP
+ 17'05
128
Bert-Jan Lindeman
Koenigsegg
+ 17'28
129
Martin Mortensen
Koenigsegg
+ 17'56
130
Pedro Pablo Pereyra
Lotto - Cervelo
s.t.
131
Oumaru Minoungou
Pendleton's
+ 20'27
132
Edoardo Girardi
UBS - BMC
s.t.
133
Sean Downey
Pendleton's
s.t.
134
Chris Opie
Simply Red Bull
s.t.
135
Luca Paolini
Control Team
s.t.
136
Morten Reckweg
Team B&O
s.t.
137
Sylwester Szmyd
Control Team
s.t.
138
Cristian Cominelli
Simply Red Bull
+ 21'20
139
Evert Verbist
Milka - AVG
s.t.
140
Nick Ingels
Pokerstars.com
s.t.
141
Michael Vanderaerden
Lotto - Cervelo
+ 22'19
142
Alfredo Balloni
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
143
Sonny Colbrelli
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
+ 23'53
144
Marco Brus
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
145
Tadej Valjavec
Control Team
+ 27'38
146
Wim De Vocht
Pokerstars.com
s.t.
147
Casper Jørgensen
Team B&O
s.t.
148
Wladimir Gustov
Control Team
s.t.
149
Thomas Riber-Sellebjerg
Team B&O
s.t.
150
Rinaldo Nocentini
Control Team
s.t.
151
Andrei Nechita
Project 1t4i
s.t.
152
Erik Mohs
Pokerstars.com
s.t.
153
Kristian Sobota
Team B&O
s.t.
154
Troels Vinter
Team B&O
s.t.
155
Andreas Klier
Control Team
+ 34'54
GC
Sagan hangs on to second place behind Schleck and his powerful team. We still have a stack of riders in the same time behind the riders who have taken bonuses - but that is quite usual in these hilly affairs.
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Frank Schleck
Vesuvio - Accumalux
15h17'52
2
Peter Sagan
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
+ 26
3
Simone Ponzi
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
+ 29
4
Jan Bakelants
Pearl Adidas
+ 33
5
Damiano Cunego
Lotto - Cervelo
+ 41
6
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Aker - MOT
s.t.
7
Tejay Van Garderen
Wikipedia
s.t.
8
Dimitri Claeys
Lotto - Cervelo
s.t.
9
Francesco Ginanni
Vespa-Aprilia Racing
s.t.
10
Cesare Di Maggio
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
s.t.
11
Domenico Pozzovivo
Vespa-Aprilia Racing
s.t.
12
Jelle Vanendert
Project 1t4i
+ 46
13
Matteo Rabottini
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
+ 56
14
Filippo Pozzato
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
+ 1'12
15
Robin van der Hugenhaben
Koenigsegg
s.t.
16
Philippe Gilbert
Pendleton's
s.t.
17
Diego Ulissi
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
18
Rasmus Guldhammer
Team B&O
s.t.
19
Vincenzo Nibali
UBS - BMC
s.t.
20
Dario Cataldo
Vespa-Aprilia Racing
s.t.
21
Marcello Pavarin
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
22
Tanel Kangert
Pearl Adidas
s.t.
23
Sam Bewley
Milka - AVG
+ 1'14
24
Michael Albasini
UBS - BMC
+ 1'16
25
Damiano Caruso
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
+ 1'34
26
Vegard Robinson Bugge
Aker - MOT
s.t.
27
Jack Bobridge
Simply Red Bull
s.t.
28
Ioannis Tamouridis
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
29
Nathan Haas
Aker - MOT
s.t.
30
Toms Skujins
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
31
Alexandre Shushemoin
Aker - MOT
s.t.
32
Matthias Krizek
Vespa-Aprilia Racing
s.t.
33
Branislav Samoilev
Pearl Adidas
s.t.
34
Jay McCarthy
Wikipedia
s.t.
35
Frantisek Rabon
Milka - AVG
s.t.
36
Nebojsa Jovanovic
Pendleton's
s.t.
37
Marcus Burghardt
Team Bacardi
s.t.
38
Arnold Jeannesson
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
s.t.
39
Maciej Paterski
Vesuvio - Accumalux
+ 2'20
40
Mickaël Delage
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
41
Daniel Oss
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
+ 2'38
42
Matteo Montaguti
Vespa-Aprilia Racing
s.t.
43
Chiaffredo Grippo
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
44
Gabriele Bosisio
Vespa-Aprilia Racing
s.t.
45
Christophe Riblon
UBS - BMC
+ 3'24
46
Jelle Wallays
Pokerstars.com
+ 3'25
47
David Claerebout
Vesuvio - Accumalux
+ 4'04
48
Ramon Sinkeldam
Project 1t4i
+ 6'17
49
Salvatore Mancuso
Team Bacardi
+ 6'23
50
Alex Howes
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
+ 6'26
Points
You'd fancy stage 4 is a sprinters affair so they will get the chance to snatch the points jersey. Sagan will wear it for tomorrow.
Rank
Name
Team
Points
General
1
Frank Schleck
Vesuvio - Accumalux
25
35
2
Peter Sagan
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
5
30
3
Simone Ponzi
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
20
30
4
Jan Bakelants
Pearl Adidas
16
28
5
Sam Bewley
Milka - AVG
0
25
6
Damiano Cunego
Lotto - Cervelo
14
23
7
Matteo Rabottini
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
0
20
8
Tom Boonen
Pokerstars.com
0
20
9
Mickaël Delage
Team Puma - SAP
18
18
10
Jelle Vanendert
Project 1t4i
0
16
11
Ramon Sinkeldam
Project 1t4i
10
16
12
Filippo Pozzato
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
2
16
13
Daniele Bennati
Team Puma - SAP
0
16
14
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Aker - MOT
10
15
15
Dimitri Claeys
Lotto - Cervelo
7
15
16
Michael Albasini
UBS - BMC
0
14
17
Tejay Van Garderen
Wikipedia
12
13
18
Maciej Paterski
Vesuvio - Accumalux
0
12
19
Paride Grillo
Koenigsegg
0
10
20
Francesco Ginanni
Vespa-Aprilia Racing
9
9
21
Vicente Reynès
Santander
0
9
22
Cesare Di Maggio
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
8
8
23
Christophe Riblon
UBS - BMC
8
8
24
Salvatore Mancuso
Team Bacardi
0
8
25
Robin van der Hugenhaben
Koenigsegg
0
7
26
Claudio Corioni
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
0
7
27
Artem Topchanyuk
Aker - MOT
0
6
28
Domenico Pozzovivo
Vespa-Aprilia Racing
6
6
29
Travis Meyer
Wikipedia
0
6
30
Juan Van Heerden
Simply Red Bull
0
6
Mountains
Delage narrowly failed to take the KoM jersey outright. You know the score with jersey rights the first to get it keeps it in the case of a tie. WT points of course are shared. McEvoy moves up in this with Sinkeldam only able to take a single point today.
Rank
Name
Team
Mountain
General
1
Jelle Vanendert
Project 1t4i
0
19
2
Mickaël Delage
Team Puma - SAP
19
19
3
Ramon Sinkeldam
Project 1t4i
1
16
4
Salvatore Mancuso
Team Bacardi
0
16
5
Peter Sagan
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
0
15
6
Matteo Rabottini
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
0
15
7
Jonathan McEvoy
Pendleton's
15
15
8
Travis Meyer
Wikipedia
0
14
9
Mauro Facci
Simply Red Bull
0
14
10
Gustavo Veloso
Santander
0
14
11
Michael Albasini
UBS - BMC
0
12
12
Evgeni Sokolov
Team Bacardi
0
10
13
Maciej Paterski
Vesuvio - Accumalux
0
8
14
Geert Steurs
Festina-Canal+
0
8
15
Steven Kruijswijk
Team B&O
0
7
16
Frank Schleck
Vesuvio - Accumalux
5
5
17
Frantisek Rabon
Milka - AVG
5
5
18
Simone Ponzi
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
3
3
19
Christophe Riblon
UBS - BMC
3
3
20
Jelle Wallays
Pokerstars.com
3
3
21
Marcus Burghardt
Team Bacardi
0
2
22
Thomas Vedel Kvist
Team Puma - SAP
0
2
23
Jan Bakelants
Pearl Adidas
1
1
24
Robin van der Hugenhaben
Koenigsegg
1
1
25
Rafael RodrÃguez Segarra
Santander
1
1
Youth
Sagan winning the race would have been a stretch - how about the Youth jersey? He lost a small amount of time to TvG and teammate Di Maggio here but impressively finished alongside Ulissi. Guldhammer did nothing but gained over the attacking Bobridge and McCarthy who look keen.
Name
Team
General Time
Peter Sagan
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
15h18'18 (1)
Tejay Van Garderen
Wikipedia
+ 15 (2)
Cesare Di Maggio
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
+ 15 (3)
Diego Ulissi
Festina-Canal+
+ 46 (4)
Rasmus Guldhammer
Team B&O
+ 46 (5)
Vegard Robinson Bugge
Aker - MOT
+ 1'08 (6)
Jack Bobridge
Simply Red Bull
+ 1'08 (7)
Nathan Haas
Aker - MOT
+ 1'08 (8)
Toms Skujins
Vesuvio - Accumalux
+ 1'08 (9)
Matthias Krizek
Vespa-Aprilia Racing
+ 1'08 (10)
Jay McCarthy
Wikipedia
+ 1'08 (11)
Jelle Wallays
Pokerstars.com
+ 2'59 (12)
Ramon Sinkeldam
Project 1t4i
+ 5'51 (13)
Alex Howes
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
+ 6'00 (14)
Jonathan McEvoy
Pendleton's
+ 7'09 (15)
Wesley Kreder
Project 1t4i
+ 7'09 (16)
Alberigo Passalacqua
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
+ 7'09 (17)
Markus Fahnert
Project 1t4i
+ 7'09 (18)
Ethan Weiss
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
+ 8'50 (19)
Joseph Biziyaremye
Aker - MOT
+ 9'31 (20)
Teams
Our first look at the teams classification. It's a tight one between Vespa and Wiggle, you'd expect these two to be prominent being the two best pure Italian teams in the world.
Team
General Time
Vespa-Aprilia Racing
45h56'10 (1)
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
+ 27 (2)
Pearl Adidas
+ 53 (3)
Wikipedia
+ 1'15 (4)
Aker - MOT
+ 1'15 (5)
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
+ 1'31 (6)
Vesuvio - Accumalux
+ 1'40 (7)
UBS - BMC
+ 3'26 (8)
Project 1t4i
+ 3'36 (9)
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
