Hi we just ended the hilly stage I was talking about.



Right from the start 5 riders created a 2 minutes gap and thus created a BOD.
As Sky had the leaders jersey we knew they don´t let them make it to finish.
I was perfectly placed behind Lopez.
With 50kms they still had more than 5 minutes lead. Sky sent to front best possible rider they could. Danny Pate!



With 20 kms they only had 1 minute but riders more and more riders attacked from the pack. On the final climb we sent Quintana to chase them down. He not only brought everybody back but also split the pack.
Then we let sky do the pace for a while and let Quintana regenerate a little bit. With 5 kms to go we created a sprint train.


´´Quintana-Valverde-Costa´´

With 3.3 kms to go Quintana was empty. Valverde took the charge.



He gave me perfect lead-out. We were 10 meters in front of the pack.



Can I bring home the bacon?








I won!
My first stage win this season! I really want to thank my teammates for giving me such great lead-out! Alejandro sprinted for 2nd.

Stage:

1	Rui Alberto Faria Costa	Movistar Team	4h47'09
2	Alejandro Valverde Belmonte	Movistar Team	s.t.
3	Karsten Kroon	Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank	s.t.
4	Tony Martin	Omega Pharma-QuickStep	s.t.
5	Johann Tschopp	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
6	Michele Scarponi	Lampre - ISD	s.t.
7	Luis León Sánchez Gil	Rabobank Cycling Team	s.t.
8	Bradley Wiggins	Sky ProCycling	s.t.
9	Geraint Howell Thomas	Sky ProCycling	s.t.
10	Jérémy Roy	FDJ-Big Mat	s.t.

GC:

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Geraint Howell Thomas	Sky ProCycling	4h51'42
2	Luis León Sánchez Gil	Rabobank Cycling Team	+ 4
3	Rui Alberto Faria Costa	Movistar Team	+ 5
4	Gustav Erik Larsson	Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team	+ 7
5	Tony Martin	Omega Pharma-QuickStep	+ 8
6	Bradley Wiggins	Sky ProCycling	s.t.
7	Maxime Monfort	RadioShack-Nissan	+ 9
8	Mikhail Borisovich Ignatiev	Katusha Team	+ 10
9	Stephen Philip Cummings	BMC Racing Team	+ 12
10	Steve Morabito	BMC Racing Team	+ 13

Points:

1	Rui Alberto Faria Costa	Movistar Team	25	26
2	Geraint Howell Thomas	Sky ProCycling	7	22
3	Luis León Sánchez Gil	Rabobank Cycling Team	9	21

KOM:

1	Bram Tankink	Rabobank Cycling Team	15	15
2	Pierrick Fédrigo	FDJ-Big Mat	14	14
3	Stephen Philip Cummings	BMC Racing Team	8	8

Tommorow is another hilly stage.

Seeya.

Rui.

What a Brilliant time Rui is having in Switzerland

This one's for the banana counter! Wait a minute:



Brilliant job, brilliant. The team did well, Rui did well, and all is well

sutty68: Yes he is on top of his peak.
Ian Butler: thanks! Banana counter now reached 6 bananas

Wonderful win!

thanks all it mean much for me that you are following always give me a moral boost when I see someone comented

btw: banana counter reached 7 now

Seeing that i am in a good mood, have banana number eight

thanks

Great win.

How to get tenth banana: Win a stage in tour de Romandie

Daggen,Miguel98: thanks guys, banana counter now reached double digit

I like your new avatar juan

thanks but its work of Jakstar22

Rui Costa is National Champion in 2013 and 2014 in my game (Roberto story), hope you can do it here, too

If you remember he will have form of 55 that time so maybe if I can get him in break and nobody will chase

Hi after my first stage win this year I´m really motivated.



5 riders got away and created nice 7 minute gap.



We let Sky do the pace as they have a lot of experience with holding the leaders jersey .
Danny Pate again made most of the job. We were joking with guys that we are glad he is not the one with yellow jersey .



With only 30kms to go 5 riders tried to brigde the gap. Amongs them was one of the best punchuers, Albasini. We saw that also one of the Sky riders went with them so we qiuckly went to front and controled the pack. On last of the big climbs I sent Quintana to catch them.



He did one hell of a job and with 15kms to go nobody was in front of the pack. Pace really slowed down. Nobody was doing the pace and it was really wierd.



After 5kms like this Roy couldn´t wait any longer. He attacked like only he and maybe Rodriguez can. He flew by us and created a gap of 1 minute.



We quickly create a provisor sprint train as nobody of us is good in this.



With still 6kms to go Quintana was nearly dead. He gave his all on that final climb and I had only Alejandro with me. Meanwhile Roy had only 5 seconds on the peloton.



I was sure we will catch him.
Alejandro found a wheel of Danny Pate! He couldn´t done anything better as he gave Alejandro and me slipstream that we needed.
With only 2.5kms to go Alejandro started to sprint.



Under one kilometer banner Luis Leon Sanchez came from behind. I known I had to do something. I started to sprint with 1 km to go. Could I make it a double?







Yes!!
Another victory and it taste me even sweeter than yesterday´s.
Quintana was so much happy for me.



I quickly ran to Alejandro and thanked to him. Without him I wouldn´t be able to do it. I now know that he is Man of his words! Those of you who are reading know what I ment with that .

GM took some pictures of me while I was on podium... 3 times!!

Me as a Stage winner:


Me as GC leader:


And finnaly me as Points leader:


Sorry I don´t have results I am too tired to look for them on the internet now but you can see top 10 on those pictures.
Tommorow is another hilly stage. Maybe I can make it a tripple?
Seeya.

Rui.

Very nice win!

Another Great stage from Rui

And tomorrow he will wear the Leaders Jersey

Banana 11

thanks a lot guys