Jagoba should be able to survive until the end, but something can definitely happen in the middle.

A 7 man break got away, but it included Madrazo, who would take away my KoM jersey. So, Robinson and Juan Pablo started to pace. They weren't doing the greatest job, so I joined in a bit.


Eventually they were both empty, so I was left to my own devices. However, my pace may have been a bit high, as I decimated the peloton - leaving only 36 in the group behind the break.


And again, the curse! Unfortunately, it looked like Jagoba would not make it back to the peloton, after crashing on the downhill.


Meanwhile, in no relation to the event behind, I attacked. I needed to bridge up to the break and I felt that ultilising my downhill ability was the best way to do that.


I got there, but I kept going. I couldn't afford to take any chances.


At the top of the next climb, I celebrated, perhaps inappropriately so. Why? Because I was the King of the Moutains! (In Mallorca)


Thanks solely to the work of Leo and Jarlinson, the peloton was one big group again - although without Jagoba.


Naturally, Jarlinson led out. I took Leo's wheel, in hopes of obtaining some bonus seconds - which could shoot me up the rankings.


Gavazzi won it easily, while a very surprising Quintana was 2nd.


No bonus seconds for me, so no Top 5 GC (hey, that rhymes ). Leo and Pantano took 11th and 12th respectively, the bad results not surprising due to the fact that they were relaying (alone) for the whole stage.


A good GC place for me. It's amazing to finish with the same time as Froome, van Garderen and Sanchez.

So, you're probably wondering what this is. Well, under Sean Kelly, the team wants to have more connection with its fans. That is why we are now releasing at least weekly videos on our website. Although the videos are copyrighted, I can still give you the transcripts.

For the first video of the series, I was invited over to Jagoba's house in Catalunia, where we interviewed eachother.

Fabio Melani


Virgilijus Grazhys


Juan Pablo Valencia


Alexis Camacho


Dalivier Ospina


Wilson Marentes


Michael Rodriguez Galindo

The opening prologue. It shouldn't cause very big gaps, but you never know.

The whole team had posted poor times before me. I had the weight of Colombia (the team ) on my back.


I rode with determination. This was my chance to prove something to the world, now that they were watching - after Mallorca.


Unfortunately I joined the line of riders in an unhappy mood. I finished 31 seconds back from the winner Bob Jungels. It was the best time on the team, but only good for 49th.


Hopefully the road stages will provide better opportunities for me to shine. I do need to get better against the clock though, definitely.

That Cat. 1 climb will decide things. With a rather weak (no offense guys!) support team, I'll need to be on top of my game.

Obviously the break of the day formed.

Vallejo
Orbe
Damuseau
Livramento


With the break still ahead on the Cat. 1, I came to the very front. Much like in the final stage in Mallorca, I paced solo and caused a huge split. 25 left in front, of course chasing the break.


Eventually the 25 turned into 3.

Me
Van den Broeck
Jungels


Van den Broeck was much stronger on the higher gradients. He went up to swallow the breakaway, while we were joined by dark horse Ryder Hesjedal.


With 1km left, the Belgian now led solo. He was followed by the Canadian, who was in the process of dropping the final escapee Damuseau. I had then made a small gap behind them, and was holding of the charges of Porte, Jungels and Luis Leon Sanchez.


I was then caught by Sanchez and Porte on the flat. Damuseau still somehow led us by 1'20" with 19km to go.


Win for Lotto-Belisol! Garmin and Canada took 2nd, while Damuseau surprisingly held on for 3rd.


I wasn't up to the sprint. I dropped back a tiny bit and finished just ahead of Jungels in 6th.




A good day for me. As expected the team didn't feature much, but for once we're not in here with an aim in that classification.

This route suits me very well. No big gradients and some hills.

7 riders tried to go in the break. It was a possibility that they could survive, but it wasn't likely.

A group of 4 attacked 3 times! They were still caught every time though.

Trofimov
Barta
Goos
Gasparotto

I then tried an attack on the very short downhill after the first Cat. 3. I was unsuccesful though.


The Russian attacker then crashed! His race was seemingly over.


4 more riders attacked. I simply rode along and it was enough to stay with them.

Hesjedal
Sanchez
Roche
Jungels


The break was finally caught on the last climb. Martens (BLA) took this as an opportunity to attack. This just made me ride harder.


Under the flamme rouge Martens was still ahead. I was holding off the peloton... Just.


Martens took the win, but could I hang on for 2nd?


Yes, I did! I held them off with a late flurry while Wiggins took 3rd.


Also, without any intention of staying up front, Virgilijus made his trip rather worthwile, finishing in 7th.


No real change in the GC. I get closer to Porte with my bonus seconds.