It's a downhill profile in the main today, could be a good one for a break but with plenty of sprinters here it is hard to see how a number of teams will not look to chase things down.
Veteran Juan-Antonio Flecha
gets in the break again today and takes third place at the categorised climb (after looking uninterested yesterday). Young American Bjorn Selander
takes the full points ahead of Johann Tschopp
Just two others go in the break Luxembourg sprinter Nico Schinker
and Colombian tester William Germán RodrÃguez Parra
Strangely one of the intermediate sprints was taken out this morning, none of the break are that interested in the one left with Flecha taking full points ahead of Schinker and Tschopp.
After yesterdays hard finish it is proving a pretty nice day for the pack and with 75km to go the break can only build a lead of six minutes. It looks a nice easy catch, with 27km to go the gap is under two minutes and it is time for a bridging manoeuvre Marcel Sieberg
shows us how this can be done.
It proves nothing more than a move for the camara's though with Webeffect making that final push to get the catch with 11kms to go.
They surrender the lead out however to a well organised Carmuese team, responding to the teams relegation concerns by trying to set one up for Jurgen Roelandts
It is Kevin Peeters
and Steven Caethoven
chosen as the men to be the final launch pad.
Queuing up behind Roelandts is Ivano Lo Cicero Matt Rowe Óscar Avelino Romain Vanderbiest Allan Davis Maximiliano Richeze Yauheni Hutarovich Raúl Granjel Cabrera Francisco Ventoso Tyler Farrar
and Anthony Lavoine
The riders just sit there in this orderly queue, thinking perhaps to earlier in the year when lead-outs tending to leave their riders isolated too soon. However Caethoven takes Roelants deep into the penultimate kilometer.
Matt Rowe nips past Lo Cicero to get on Roelandts shoulder, behind them the queue begins to disintegrate with Hutorovich and Granjel Cabrera losing the wheel of Davis.
with 1300m to go Caethoven pulls off forcing Vanderbeist, Richeze and Davis to go around him.
Rowe is challenging Roelandts and the Belgian answers him decisively finding another gear to power away from the Brit, Davis also finds space to move forwards as Richeze and Vanderbeist having been clocked by Caethoven lose their form.
400m to go: There can be no doubt who has got this one a stage win for Roelandts with Davis coming through to second. Lo Cicero is holding well for third now passing a fading Rowe.
It's a second win of the season for Roelandts and he may well eye up a couple more here in California having been utterly dominant today.
Davis takes second, Lo Cicero third with Richeze coming back for fourth. Granjel Cabrera came late with Ventuso to take 5th and 6th ahead of Avelino and Matt Rowe. A few domestiques were dropped near the end but no problems for the GC candidates today who have a couple of days to wait for Sierra Road.
