So who will be able to bring Arroyo and his ONCE-team into serious trouble today? Will Majola play their cards well? Or will Quintero repeat his outstanding performance he showed in Cartago - Izaru?

Let's see...



8 riders went clear from the pack early into the stage, establishing a comfortable quickly. The break of the day:

Sammy Sánchez, Othman, Hasnaoui, Manfredi, Earle, Gaspar, Rivera and Chavanel



106km remaining and we see one of Nutresa's climbers to attack quite early here: Beltran soloes away from the bunch, trying to bridge the 4'30"-gap to the breakaway quickly!

He would bridge this gap about 30km later - with the gap on the peloton still at 4'40" and the teams starting to chase.



We reached the final 35km and the penultimate climb is yet to be climbed: Orozco is the next one to launch his move! The most serious attempt by now, definitely.

The escaping group's advantage is down to 2'20" in the meantime..



Orozco would have no problems to bridge this gap and dropping the breakaway! He enters the descend solo, with the peloton just a minute in arrears though!



No chance to hold the bunch off: Orozco is reeled in 16km before finish. The peloton already went into pieces and there's a short gap between a 21-men-group (led by ONCE) and another 37-men-group (including Feillu, Raisin, Alizadeh or Zurita)..



A few moments later, we see the next serious attempts out of the leading group:

Rodrigues goes with 13.5km remaining, followed by Txurrutka, Rodas and Moreno!



..also Iglinski, Quintero and again Orozco would jump behind a few seconds later, putting some serious pressure on ONCE in particular!

This 7-men-group managed to establish a minutes-gap, but on a short final descend, it appears, that they won't work very well together. The gap goes down quickly and the peloton (47 riders, the earlier dropped group caught up again) is soon to close the gap..



So good news for Arroyo, as his team is now in the position to set the agenda late in the race: 5km to go, we enter the steepest slopes now.

Kulhavy sets the pace, with most of the biggest names trying to fight for the best positions at the front of this big group..



4km to go and Kulhavy keeps relaying at the front of the bunch, causing a notable gap now! 12 riders remain in the leading group, which is quite stretched at this point!

Remaining in this group are (in order of their current positions):

Kulhavy
Moreno
Iglinski
Arroyo
Orozco
Rodrigues
Txurruka
Ochoa Quintero
Rojas Villegas
Castano
Esquivel
Rodas

Already 1'09" behind is the bigger group with 42 riders, including:

Schwab
Diniz
Feillu
Raisin
Alizadeh
Zurita
Di Gregorio

So especially Schwab doesn't seem to be in best shape and is likely to miss a notable result today!



3km to go and the leading group is down to 8 riders, now led by Iglinski, who may try to break ONCE's dominance yet.

Losing contact are Rodas and three ONCE-domestiques (Rojas, Castano and Esquivel).. when will we see a next attack?



The top-favorites Iglinski and Arroyo keep shadowing each other, it seems. Now just 1.7km remaining and Kulhavy is back at the front setting the pace.

Arroyo right behind now, as Iglinski couldn't shake off his components when he took the lead..



700metres... Still no attack, but Kulhavy is the first to kick off the sprint! Arroyo not exactly at his wheel though...



..and his teammate still has a few bike lengths advantage with the line approaching! Still no sign of anyone being able to counter Kulhavy's acceleration..



And so he takes it: Kulhavy secures his team the expected win, easily holding off the small group of favorites. He looked extraordinary strong on this short finishing climb and still had the power to bring it home!



10" later, Arroyo makes it a 1-2 for ONCE. He didn't really look willed to "steal" this win from his mate, who did most of the work here on the final kms..

Iglinski completes the podium: he clearly missed a chance here today, when he was part of a small attacking group, that didn't find a way to work together though.

Orozco and Moreno round up the Top-5, ahead of Quintero, Rodrigues and Txurruka. It seems that those, who launched this earlier attack(s), didn't have the legs to put some pressure on ONCE later on.

58" behind Kulhavy, Rodas sprints for a 9th place ahead of an ONCE-trio with Villegas/Esquivel/Castano... Alizadeh has to settle for 13th, Raisin 15th and Schwab finishes this race as an disappointing 21st. He clearly hadn't his best day.


Final Results/

1	Jaroslav Kulhavy	ONCE-Eroski Cycling Team	4h48'07
2	David Arroyo	ONCE-Eroski Cycling Team	+ 10
3	Maxim Iglinski	Maloja Mountain Nomads	s.t.
4	Víctor Hugo Orozco	Alpina - Avianca	s.t.
5	Daniel Moreno	Team TomTom	s.t.
6	Richard Ochoa Quintero	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
7	Vitor Rodrigues	Siam Cement - Lenovo	s.t.
8	Amets Txurruka	Bonsucro	s.t.
9	Julián Rodas	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	+ 58
10	César Rojas Villegas	ONCE-Eroski Cycling Team	s.t.
11	Deiber Esquivel	ONCE-Eroski Cycling Team	s.t.
12	Carlos Castaño	ONCE-Eroski Cycling Team	s.t.
13	Hossein Alizadeh	Sauber Petronas Racing	+ 1'24
14	Mirco Saggiorato	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
15	Saul Raisin	Dell - 361° Racing	s.t.
16	Brice Feillu	Dell - 361° Racing	s.t.
17	Rémy Di Gregorio	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	s.t.
18	Gilber Zurita	Alpina - Avianca	+ 1'39
19	Pedro Nicácio	Bonsucro	s.t.
20	Viatcheslav Dyadichkin	Maloja Mountain Nomads	s.t.
21	Hubert Schwab	Maloja Mountain Nomads	+ 2'36
22	Alex Diniz	Maloja Mountain Nomads	s.t.
23	Dimitri Jiriakov	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
24	Fan Hsin Chu	Dell - 361° Racing	s.t.
25	Diego Gallego	Team TomTom	s.t.
26	Peilun Wu	Siam Cement - Lenovo	s.t.
27	Ruben Fernandez	Euskaltel-Bavaria Continental Team	s.t.
28	Valerio Agnoli	Eddie Stobart Pro Cycling	s.t.
29	Bereket Yemane	Maloja Mountain Nomads	s.t.
30	Denis Menchov	Euskaltel-Bavaria Continental Team	s.t.
31	Remo Schuler	Team Vontobel	s.t.
32	Mirsamad Poorseyedi	Siam Cement - Lenovo	s.t.
33	Amir Mustafa Rusli	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
34	Julian David Arredondo	Euskaltel-Bavaria Continental Team	s.t.
35	Emanuel Kiserlovski	Team Nordeus	s.t.
36	Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez	Alpina - Avianca	s.t.
37	Christophe Kern	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	s.t.
38	Nariyuki Masuda	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
39	Jonathan Camargo	Bonsucro	s.t.
40	Rodrigo Melo	Bonsucro	s.t.
41	Vassilis Adamou	Euskaltel-Bavaria Continental Team	s.t.
42	Mathias Flückiger	Maloja Mountain Nomads	s.t.
43	Esad Hasanovic	Team Nordeus	s.t.
44	Francisco Colorado	Euskaltel-Bavaria Continental Team	s.t.
45	Nino Schurter	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
46	Manuel Fumic	Maloja Mountain Nomads	s.t.
47	Mustafa Sayar	Siam Cement - Lenovo	s.t.
48	Marco Salas	ONCE-Eroski Cycling Team	s.t.
49	Juan Ernesto Chamorro	Alpina - Avianca	s.t.
50	Juan Sebastian Tamayo Martinez	Euskaltel-Bavaria Continental Team	s.t.
51	Luis Angel Mate	Team TomTom	s.t.
52	Andrea Manfredi	Team Vontobel	+ 4'05
53	Sylvain Chavanel	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	+ 4'35
54	Eduard Alexander Beltran	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
55	Nathan Earle	Eddie Stobart Pro Cycling	+ 4'48
56	Maher Hasnaoui	Dell - 361° Racing	+ 5'07
57	Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez	Euskaltel-Bavaria Continental Team	+ 5'29
58	Hichem Chaabane	Fletcher - Garneau	+ 5'47
59	Robinson Chalapud	Alpina - Avianca	s.t.
60	Alberto Losada	Bonsucro	s.t.
61	Sho Hatsuyama	Dell - 361° Racing	s.t.
62	Ever Rivera	Alpina - Avianca	+ 6'45
63	Hernâni Broco	Bonsucro	+ 7'08
64	Nebojsa Jovanovic	Team Nordeus	s.t.
65	Craig Lewis	Dell - 361° Racing	+ 7'24
66	Gennadiy Tatarinov	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
67	Ruben Ibanez	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
68	Dale Appleby	Eddie Stobart Pro Cycling	s.t.
69	Jose Vicente Toribio	Team TomTom	s.t.
70	Heiner Rodrigo Parra Bustamente	Alpina - Avianca	s.t.
71	Mark Galedo	Siam Cement - Lenovo	+ 8'45
72	Muhamad Adiq Othman	Fletcher - Garneau	+ 9'12
73	João Gaspar	Bonsucro	s.t.
74	Lachlan Norris	Eddie Stobart Pro Cycling	+ 10'13
75	Dayer Quintana	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
76	Brian Bulgac	Team TomTom	s.t.
77	Baasankhuu Myagmarsuren	Siam Cement - Lenovo	s.t.
78	Sergey Chernetskiy	Grupo Nutresa	s.t.
79	Ajay Pandit Chhetri	Siam Cement - Lenovo	s.t.
80	Miguel Angel Benito	ONCE-Eroski Cycling Team	s.t.
81	Théry Schir	Team Vontobel	+ 11'16
82	Boris Borisavljevic	Team Nordeus	s.t.
83	Joshua Edmondson	Eddie Stobart Pro Cycling	s.t.
84	Eugenio Alafaci	Team Nordeus	s.t.
85	Paul Van der Ploeg	Eddie Stobart Pro Cycling	+ 11'57
86	Nandra Eko Wahyudi	Sauber Petronas Racing	+ 13'38
87	Rob Partridge	Eddie Stobart Pro Cycling	s.t.
88	Pirmin Lang	Team Vontobel	s.t.
89	Muhamma Afif Ahmad Zamri	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
90	Jean-Lou Paiani	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	s.t.
91	Raphael Addy	Team Vontobel	+ 15'20
92	Ethan Kimmince	Fletcher - Garneau	+ 16'15
93	Dries Beatse	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	+ 17'37
94	Simon Pellaud	Team Vontobel	+ 17'51
95	Cedric Lebris	Team TomTom	+ 20'04
96	Indulis Bekmanis	Team TomTom	+ 20'38
97	Marco Haller	Fletcher - Garneau	s.t.
98	Aljaz Hocevar	Team Nordeus	+ 23'20
99	Robert Gavenda	Fletcher - Garneau	s.t.
100	Eric Young	Dell - 361° Racing	s.t.
101	Johim Ariesen	Fletcher - Garneau	+ 23'42
102	Tesfay Abraha	In-n-Out Racing Powered by Auchan	s.t.
103	Dan McLay	Fletcher - Garneau	s.t.
104	Stéphane Poulhiès	Team Vontobel	+ 26'04
105	Nico Schinker	Team Nordeus	+ 26'34