The final stage is the one we've all been waiting for. Time for Chaves and me to shine.

There was a break of 5, with a lot of KoM points up for grabs today.


But they were caught a full 55km before the finish. Meaning that I took 2nd on the second Cat. 2 climb.


With 30km left, there was a leading group of 28. Chaves and I were leading it - me protecting him. We had a 2 minute gap.


On the Cat. 1 climb, 10 riders got away, us included. As you can see, the yellow jersey was left behind.


I was dropped on the downhill. Chaves was now - like the others - isolated in the lead 4 man group.


Txurruka was the first to make a move. Chaves was struggling a bit to keep up with the others trying to get back up front.


Eventually Chaves was left behind Pirazzi and Pellizotti. Txurruka was now out of it.


Pirazzi made his move with 1.5km to go. His counterpart had no meaningful response.


And he did it! Pirazzi won it for Bardiani, with Pellizotti of Androni 2nd.


Chaves went solo for 3rd.


While I finished 10th.

Fabio Duarte


Jarlinson Pantano


Robinson Chalapud


Fabio Melani


Michael Rodriguez Galindo


Wilson Marentes


Juan Pablo Suarez


Duber Quintero

A 6km TT, where we shouldn't see many time gaps at all.

There I am at the start ramp.


I finished provisional 6th, 12" behind, while Duarte was 49th.




Damien Gaudin got a rather surprising stage win, while I was happy to be in Blue.

After holding yellow for most of the Tour of Utah, Fabio Duarte lost it when Adam Phelan won a 125km stage solo by 10 minutes.

To add to the bad news, Leonardo Duque suffered a broken rib. He will be out for about another month.

A hilly stage where we'll be looking to finish in the leading group, so we don't lose any time.

No-one could get away at the start of the stage, despite tonnes of attacks. This was due to the climb at the very beginning of the course.


Finally 3 riders were able to make a gap, and just in time to contest for the KoM points.


I rode up to the front of the peloton and the 4th.

Muller (TSP) bridged the gap to the breakaway on the downhill.

The team was dying due to high pace in the peloton.


Before the climbing even started, Chalapud and Duarte rode away from the peloton. The break had previously been caught.


On the climb, the main group of four formed. The above two, me and Rolland were up the front. Surely, with him isolated we could take a convincing stage win and GC lead.


When it was time for the sprint, Rolland was - as he had been since the group formed - on Duarte's wheel.

Despite this, we had a proper leadout, so surely we could win.


But no... The Frenchman had other ideas. Rolland's amazing acceleration helped him to a stage win and the Yellow Jersey.


I lead Chalapud in for 3rd, but I still had lots of energy left.


Reda lead home the peloton, just 29 seconds behind.

This is the stage where we will start to see the bigger time gaps. Today is very important to launch the rest of the tour.

Jacobs (TSV) and Camilli (PPO) were the breakaway, however the Italian was dropped about half way through the stage. You can see Engoulvent there in the background. He succesfully bridged the gap.


Again we were the first ones to make a move. With 5.2km left on the final climb, Chalapud and Duarte rode away from the peloton.


As Chalapud dropped back, I rode up to Fabio. Again Rolland was the only one who could follow.


In the end their pace was too high for me. Pellizotti had missed the moves, but was riding up quickly. The break's gap was decreasing rapidly.

The wheelsucking Rolland was becoming a nuisance, so Duarte stopped riding.


This allowed me to ride up, so we could form our famous attack train.


Chalapud was now back in the peloton, while I had single-handedly caught the breakaway who were now being caught by the favourites - as you can see in the background - but Duarte was too tired to keep going. I was told to stay back with him. Remember that there were still 29km to go at this point.


Rolland made the catch, but eventually the 39 man peloton followed suit. Duarte had another go, and the Frenchman was the only one who could follow. However the peloton were still the strongest.


We formed our train in perfect position:

Chalapud - Suarez (No energy lost) - Pantano - Duarte


With 700m to go, the empty Suarez lead the in-form Arashiro, who was coming fast.


The Japanese man won! But, possibly a very shallow victory for Europcar. I finished in 30th, only two places behind Rolland. There was a definite split ahead of him, but, would the race organisers award it on a flat finish?


Reda came 2nd, followed by a trio of our riders: Pantano, Suarez, Duarte.


But Rolland would keep his yellow!

A short-ish hilly time-trial. We have to take time off Rolland here.

Both Marentes and Suarez both recorded provisional Top 10 times.

We had a small problem whereby our main 3 riders would start one after another, due to our consistency. It was fine though




At the time-check I was 61st, 36" behind.


Chalapud was dead with a whole kilometre left to go, while Duarte was empty at 400m from the line.




I finished 17th, down by 39", while Duarte was 7th, losing by 29". However, the French magician Rolland wasn't going down easily. He finished 2nd! 12" behind the winner Thomas Lofkvist.


Duarte replaced me in 2nd, while I dropped back to 4th - still in Blue though.

A flat stage for Pantano to impress. We're not really hoping for anything big.

After the peloton brought back several bunchy attacks, a group of 7 stuck after 28km.


So, let's cut to the chase. After an excrutiating pace, all of our riders were in bad positions. Pantano was blocked several times in his attempts to get to the front, and missed the split which left 18 in front to fight out the win.


With 500m to go, Goddaert held an easy lead. However, Van Staeyen was only just leaving his leadout man's wheel.


But it would be a victory for the IAM man!


Pantano easily held off the remaining riders.