Mountain stage number 2, a long rise up to the finish - not the steepest, but the rider's stamina will be tested
A break is still forming when we reach the intermediate sprint, but its clearly set to be a strong break. Astarloza takes the sprint from Parra Bustamente, while further back, Vantornout leads Evans over for 3rd
Astarloza is best placed, 17th at 1'37, with Jeannesson, Parra Bustamente and Evans also in the Top 25.
At 41km to go, the break leads by 3'50. Schwab and Cattaneo attack, and swiftly move halfway across the gap, before apparantely falling out and refusing to work together
27km to go and whats this? 4 Aker Solutions riders are clear of the peloton! Vasquez, Nordhaug, Jaramillo and Alarcon have gotten a gap, seemingly thanks to a bit of blocking from Haedo, and VW's Muller being unable to keep up.
Within 2km they have picked up Cattaneo and Schwab and hold 40 seconds on the peloton - although still 3'50 down on the breakaway
No organisation comes within the peloton - no team seems willing to be the one to chase after Aker, so the gap grows out closer to a minute
Theres a KoM with 20km to go. Vantornout takes it from Evans and Astarloza - having passed Evans who launched the sprint for points.
The Aker group reaches here some 4 minutes later. As you can see, Castano, Lloret and Brandt have attacked up to join them - why Brandt and not Eastman, who knows?
The situation: Parra Bustamente, Pozzo, Kwiatkowski, Astarloza, Jeannesson, Peterson, Monsalve, Murgoitio, Vantornout, and Evans
+ 2'12 Martins
+ 3'59 Alarcon, Vasquez, Jaramillo, Nordhaug, Schwab, Lloret, Brandt, Cattaneo and Castano
+ 4'24 Ratiy
+ 4'51 Carrar
+ 5'16 Paulinho, Eastman and Nazaret
+ 5'30 Colorado, Niemiec, Kessiakoff, Colex, Ochoa Quintero, Santaromita, and Krasnoperov
Ratiy is able to ride up to the Aker group
In the chaos behind, Eastman links up with Carrara as Nazaret appears to be sturggling
10km to go, the break of 10 leads, a real victory opportunity here
But at the current rate of gapdecrease it could be close! Looking to take the fight to Aker, Lloret attacked, but it is the countermove by Castano proving more successful. He is 1'47 behind the leaders, Alarcon now leading the Aker Group at 2'13, with Ratiy in between
Cerne's Martins comes next, before Nazaret, Carrara, Eastman, Kessiakoff, Niemiec, Krasnoperov, Paulinho, Ochoa Quintero, Colorado and Santaromita all together at 3'16.
The next group is the peloton, including 7th overall Rodas, and they are a further 3 minutes down the road.
Castano and Ratiy hold a small gap over Group Aker, but as Lloret tries to attack across, Aker close the gap
With 7.5km to go, Parra Bustamente attacked the breakaway. The Cal Giant pairing of Jeannesson and Peterson brought it back, and now the break is not working well at all. Gap now dropping below 1'20, they have to be careful they dont throw it away!
The 3rd group on the road has dropped Santaromita, and as Ochoa Quintero leads them past the 5km to go mark, they are closing the gap to Group Aker, but it still is at 1 minute
3km to go, Parra Bustamente has attacked again and got a gap!
Reaching a similar point, Schwab attacks from Group Aker - and that is Alarcon countering!
Major blunder by Bianchi there. Schwab falls short, as Alarcon reaches the breakaway! Lloret, Ratiy and Castano now scramble to also get across, with Vasquez also having a go
But still in front, and with a 30 second lead: Parra Bustamente
The rest of the breakaway are spread over the road unproductively as Alarcon rests amongst them. Ratiy, Castano and Vasquez try to get across as Lloret now starts to struggle
Final kilometre, and Alarcon launches away from the group, in pursuit of Parra Bustamente
But maybe he isnt so unbeatable after all? Having quickly established a 10 second gap on those who had been in the break all day, he is brought back and Astarloza and Jeannesson edge past him - with Parra Bustamente fading badly
Edwin Parra Bustamente clings on to take the stage win! First ever victory for Team CSC-Orbea!
A final kick at the end sees Alarcon regain 2nd place, ahead of Astarloza, Jeannesson and Peterson
Evans and Vantornout are also in this group, aswell as Vasquez, who made it across - great day for Aker. Ratiy is just short and loses 24 seconds, then Castano, Monsalve and Lloret at 33, Schwab and Murgoitio at 41.
Finishing at 1'40 in 20th place, Krasnoperov is the best of those who completely missed the group, finishing ahead of Eastman and Nazaret, 2 who had impressed on the first mountain stage, but flopped today.
Ochoa Quintero, Colorado, Niemiec, Carrara, Kessiakoff and Paulinho cant be too happy either, losing 2'03.
And as a result of today, its looking even better for Alarcon. He now holds a 1'12 lead over Ratiy, who climbs to 2nd, while Castano is in to 3rd not far behind. Astarloza, Jeannesson, and Parra Bustamente are all lifted into the Top 7, while Lloret is up 5 to 5th, as Nazaret and Eastman fall 6 places to 8th and 9th. Missing the move completely sees the inconsistent Rodas fall from 7th to 27th.
