The GP Indurain is a one day race taking place in the Spanish region of Navarre. The race often loops through the city of Estella-Lizarra including several challenging climbs and thus tends to favor a fast all-rounder. Unlike most hilly one day races, the route finishes uphill which will test the legs of the climbers after 177km raced.





*** Valverde (MOV)
** Henao (SKY), Cervero (AND), Izagirre (EUS)
* Kakhi (CSS), Gesink (BEL), Weschenbach (SKY)




The break of the day becomes apparent straight from the off. The riders are Gerard (BSE), Serov (RVL), Morajko (CCC), Tennant (SKY), De Maar (UHC), Plant (LAM), Poux (SOJ)
Moments later, Foliforov (KAT) and Chiarini (AND) attempt to bridge over to the front runners. They come together and have just over a 2 minute gap.



Movistar want to take control of the peloton, Valverde is the red hot favourite coming into this race on home soil. The hilly terrain with some high gradients definitely plays into his plans.


127km to go 6'08". The race is quiet as the peloton give the break some space. Champion System come to the front, they will be looking at Kahki for a good result today. The Indian rider showed good form on this terrain last year.

100km to go rain starts to pour, however the race stays quiet with Movistar and Champion System continuing to tap along at the font of the peloton. The break holds at 6'20"


Break crosses the starting line again today. On the parcours it indicates half the race done for the breakaway.


Fernandes for CSS takes a massive turn on the front of the peloton and brings the gap down to 4'23".


With 50km to go, Movistar have 6 men on the front and mean business. They squeeze the the gap down to under 3 minutes with the race about to get tougher.


40km to go, Chriani increases pace on the climb and the riders of the breakaway weaker up hill start to struggle. The gap is 2'10 back to the peloton.


22km to go and Valverde makes his first move, its attack with Henao (SKY) , Kahki (CSS) and Cervero (AND).


Jon Izagirre (EUS), Slagter (BEL) and Nerz (TNE) react a few moments after.


And a kilometre later Weshenbach (SKY) and Arredondo (CJR) attack out the peloton. They have some work to do to make it up to the group Valverde and group Izagirre. There isn't a lot of riders wanting to work in the peloton now so anyone behind with winning aspirations today will face a very uphill task.


18km to go group Valverde and group Izagirre form, 44 seconds behind the break, Arredondo trails another 50 seconds while Weschenbach 26 more seconds, anyone in the peloton will find its too late.


15km to go Plant, Foliforov and Poux attack out of the break. It's a last ditch effort as the group of favourites beckon.


The group of favourites bridge over to the second half of the earlier break, triggering Nerz to attack.


The attack brings back the leaders of the race. Only Plant manages to stay in with Valverde, Nerz, Slagter, Henao and Jon. Kahki, Arredondo, Cervero don't follow and are in the break group 51 seconds behind.


10km to go and Plant is left behind by Valverde's injection of pace. Other riders are more than one minute back.


7km to go and Henao attacks on a descent and this time only Valverde can follow.


Under 4km to go and it all comes back together on a small downhill. Plant makes his way back, which is a amazing effort after being in the break all day.


2km to go and Valverde hits the front again to up the pace on the climb up to the finish. Henao and Jon stick to his wheel.


1km to go and Valverde makes the first dig for home. Henao can just about hold his wheel.


He shows to have the best finish and Henao isn't able to match him.


And Valverde takes the victory, with Henao second.



Nerz takes the last podium place beating Jon to the line. Slagter beats Plant for 5th.

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team	4h42'44
2	Sergio Henao	Sky Procycling	+ 14
3	Dominik Nerz	Team NetApp - Endura	+ 47
4	Ion Izagirre	Euskaltel - Euskadi	s.t.
5	Tom Slagter	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	+ 1'26
6	Richard Plant	Lampre - Merida	+ 1'34
7	Julian Arredondo	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	+ 2'15
8	Rajesh Kakhi	Champion System Pro Cycling Team	+ 3'24
9	Marc De Maar	UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team	+ 4'06
10	Delfi Cervero	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	+ 4'20

Great result for Richard Plant

HOOOOLY SHIT!!!! NERZ TOP 3!!! First goal this season wtf!!!

So close to a podium in our home race.

Good effort and all but devestating to not get a Basque on the podium in a Basque race. Nerz must have distributed his energy very well to be able to take Ion on the final hill...

Nice that Antón picked up a few points as well though after his win here last year.

Plant Good god that guy is going to be arrogant now!

Meanwhile Arredondo continues to ply his stuff nicely!

Good ride by Slagter, the rest of the team quite disappointing. Good report!

Wow. Another 11th place. Really the motivation to continue with this team is really dwindling. To make things worse Caruso of course had to finish 21st so we miss the points twice by one position. The EPIC gods seem to have something against my team.
It wouldn't be that much of a problem for me if we had a decent/fair rankings system.

Kakhi also not very convincing, only getting 8th, but at least he is in the top 10.

No graphics in this stage, as they are absent. Weird stuff





Time for the queen stage. The first kilometers may be easier than the ones of stage 3, but at least the final climb is very hard. In Vallter 2000 the winner of the stage may well be taking a good step towards an overall win. After yesterday's surprise victory Pinot may have the best papers to keep his lead, especially if the final kilometers run the same.

7 men form today's break. Zandio (CJR, +3'39), Vorganov (KAT, +11'42), Velits (GRS, +3'39), Landa (EUS, +3'39), Silin (AST, +3'39), Busche (TFR, +3'39) and Gautier (EUC, +12'55) make it into the group. Pinot seems to have opted for a way in which his team does not work in the pack, by sending Busche forward. The lead of the escapees grows rapidly.


With 88 mountain points available surely there'll be a fight for the KoM. Silin leads over the first climb (Cat1), ahead of Busche and Zandio. However, after the climb the lead decreases very quickly, as Belkin does not seem too pleased with this break.

Zandio leads the break over the second climb, ahead of Silin and Busche. The lead has gone up again to 5 minutes. At the intermediate sprint Velits leads ahead of Vorganov and Silin.

Shortly after this 4 riders attack from the pack, hoping to achieve a stage win from the break. Henao (BEL, +3'39), Szmyd (CCC, +3'38), Dupont (AG2, +10'23) and Birt (OGE, +3'19) are their names.


3kms from the next summit they catch up, meaning we now have a break of 11 riders. They hold a lead of about 2m45. At the summit Silin leads again, meaning he takes over the lead in the KoM provisionally. Still a Cat.1 and an HC to go though.


In the pack many riders start to suffer. Main victim is Burton (CAN).

At the next climb we see yet another attack. Hesjedal (GRS) goes, and it's Rodriguez (TCS) who follows him! We still have over 35km to go, and thus this attack may have come a bit too early. It may be their luck they're picked up just 3km later.


While Silin takes some more points leading the break at the summit Nibali has managed to escape, and get a gap of about 40 seconds. His lead does not last very long though.


The break enters the final climb united and with a lead of almost 3 minutes. Landa and Zandio spot opportunities for a stage win, and decide to attack. 15km may be too far out though.


With 12km to go the attacks from the pack start as well. Valverde, Nibali, Rodriguez and Uran go on the attack. Gautier, who has been dropped ahead, is their first target.


Landa and Zandio have been caught, so we have 10 leaders going into the final 10km. They lead by about 1m40 to the 4 chasers, and an additional 20 seconds to the pack.


After catching and dropping Gautier the chase is joined by Contador and König. Pinot and Yates are trying to reach them, with the pack just behind them.


The break splits into two groups of 5. Dupont, Birt, Henao, Vorganov and Velits are the remaining leaders. Their lead to the GC riders shrinks quickly.


The lead of the GC riders to the pack is increasing. Where it had been just 20 seconds earlier on, it's over 30 seconds already now. Rodriguez, who had done most of the relays, manages to distance his companions.


Pinot has attacked from the pack now, Hesjedal, De Gendt, Intxausti and Yates are following.

Rodriguez quickly goes up and over the second group, which is caught by the rest of the GC riders.


With Rodriguez approaching very quickly Velits decides to take matters into his own hands and go on the attack with 6.8km to go. It looks like Rodriguez is too close though.


Pinot is not as strong as yesterday seemingly. He's catching up with the chase now, but his rivals, apart from Contador are further ahead of him.


Urán, König and Nibali have also attacked. Valverde can't keep up and has to accept he's being dropped.


Velits heads into the final 5km with half a minute lead on Dupont, Henao and Birt and another half minute on Rodriguez. It looks like we could have a surprise winner here.


When Rodriguez heads into the final 5km he's about to be caught by Urán, who has been pacing towards the Catalan very quickly.


With a powerful acceleration it's König who comes from far out and reaches Rodriguez! Together with Uran these three are about to catch the second group now.


When catching the second group it's Rodriguez who accelerates again. Nobody can follow, although Henao tries.


With two km to go Rodriguez and Henao are actually together. König, Uran, Dupont and Birt are 20 seconds behind, and some 10 seconds behind them a wild Nibali appeared.


Up front, Velits still leads with a similar gap he had 4 km earlier. It looks like he'll take victory here.


Rodriguez and Henao have 13 seconds going into the final km. Nibali has more trouble catching up now.


But first many credits for Peter Velits, who takes a very nice victory here. This must be an enormous boost for Garmin after Talansky's abandon!


König and Urán come closer and closer to Rodriguez/Henao, but with 700m to go they're not there yet.


The gap is closed with 300m to go, but it seems too far out for König to grab any bonification seconds.


And indeed, Rodriguez comes second, ahead of Henao, König, who will take over the race lead, and Urán.


Dupont beats Birt for 6th.


Nibali comes 8th.


Contador and Valverde complete the top-10, ahead of Busche and Pinot.


Stage Results

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Peter Velits	Garmin - Sharp	4h31'38
2	Joaquím Rodríguez	Team Tinkoff - Saxo	+ 1'05
3	Sebastian Henao	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
4	Leopold König	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
5	Rigoberto Urán	Sky Procycling	s.t.
6	Hubert Dupont	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 1'28
7	Mitchell Birt	Orica - GreenEdge	s.t.
8	Vincenzo Nibali	Astana Pro Team	+ 1'46
9	Alberto Contador	Team Tinkoff - Saxo	+ 1'59
10	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team	s.t.
11	Matthew Busche	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
12	Thibaut Pinot	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
13	Roman Kreuziger	Katusha Team	+ 2'37
14	Thomas De Gendt	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	s.t.
15	Eduard Vorganov	Katusha Team	+ 3'17

GC

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Leopold König	BMC Racing Team	+ 16h38'47
2	Rigoberto Urán	Sky Procycling	+ 16h38'49
3	Joaquím Rodríguez	Team Tinkoff - Saxo	+ 16h39'02
4	Thibaut Pinot	Trek Factory Racing	+ 16h39'37
5	Vincenzo Nibali	Astana Pro Team	+ 16h39'49
6	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team	+ 16h39'52
7	Thomas De Gendt	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	+ 16h40'40
8	Roman Kreuziger	Katusha Team	s.t.
9	Alberto Contador	Team Tinkoff - Saxo	+ 16h40'41
10	Peter Velits	Garmin - Sharp	+ 16h41'04
11	Ryder Hesjedal	Team Giant - Shimano	+ 16h41'34
12	Beñat Intxausti	Euskaltel - Euskadi	+ 16h41'38
13	Romain Bardet	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 16h41'53
14	Sebastian Henao	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	+ 16h42'18
15	Adam Yates	Garmin - Sharp	+ 16h42'19

Points

Rank	Name	Team	Points
1	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team	49
2	Joaquím Rodríguez	Team Tinkoff - Saxo	40
3	Rigoberto Urán	Sky Procycling	38
4	Leopold König	BMC Racing Team	34
5	Carlo Calzone	Movistar Team	32

KoM

Rank	Name	Team	Mountain
1	Egor Silin	Astana Pro Team	57
2	Peter Velits	Garmin - Sharp	52
3	Gianluca Brambilla	Trek Factory Racing	40
4	Sergey Firsanov	RusVelo	37
5	Joaquím Rodríguez	Team Tinkoff - Saxo	33

-25

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Thibaut Pinot	Trek Factory Racing	16h39'37 (1)
2	Romain Bardet	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 2'16 (2)
3	Sebastian Henao	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	+ 2'41 (3)
4	Adam Yates	Garmin - Sharp	+ 2'42 (4)
5	Mitchell Birt	Orica - GreenEdge	+ 2'48 (5)

Teams

Rank	Team	Time
1	Team Tinkoff - Saxo	50h03'03 (1)
2	Trek Factory Racing	+ 2'46 (2)
3	Garmin - Sharp	+ 6'06 (3)
4	Euskaltel - Euskadi	+ 8'00 (4)
5	BMC Racing Team	+ 8'13 (5)

A great ride from the young Henao!

Good report but a very disappointing effort from Intxausti. Guess he didn't want to catch Landa, who seeminlgy cracked completely in the end.

Very sad to see Beñat drop out of the top ten, hopefulyl he'll find a way to compensate in one of the remaining stages.

I'm enjoying this race. All hail the King!

11th place in GC now, very disappointing riding from Ryder.

De Gendt doing well...

Great Indurain from Valverde and the rest of the team. Perfectly executed their favourite role and never really got in danger. That's how you play the game!

On the other side, a bit disappointing what Valverde delivered in Catalunya. The gap to the front was a bit too large for my ambitions.

Jurgen, that's not top 5 worthy

Very good racing from König. Sine I put a shit ton of updates in him, I'm hoping he takes it home.

Can't wait for Plant's next forum post at Lampre HQ

Grawunder winning the Youth Classification in De Panne is quite nice
(we've never been working for sprint finishs there but to keep the peloton together in order to give him his chance in the GC)

There hasn't been any big results, bit the steady podiums and minor classifications are just enough to like my team..

Indurain experiences:
-Kakhi riding among the big favourites
-More guys joining
-Kakhi being left behind
-Coming in 8th

And YES we are still fighting for promotion
(though my lack of time and the therefore rather less updated HQ don't help our chances)

Velits!