The Volta ends with a very short and easy stage finishing in the Circuit de Catalunya. The route has one categorized climb, but it's not hard enough to leave anyone behind. Only a crash can seize the overall win from Bauke Mollema, so the main focus of interest are the points and mountain classifications.
Jure Kocjan (HTC) was able to take the right breakaway again and that allowed him to take the KoM sprint and the final classification. He had 4 other riders with him, including Daniel Moreno (Movistar) and Sebastian Langeveld (Rabobank). From the top of the Alt de San Feliu to the finish there were 59 km and they had 5' 25'' on the bunch.
A crash hit the bunch with 11 kilometers to go. The best riders involved were Denis Menchov (Katusha) and Levi Leipheimer (Discovery). The American was 20th overall and it looks like he will lose it. However, Lars Boom took the worst part as he had to retire due to the injuries.
Another important rider crashed with 5 km to go, Steven Kruijswijk. The Movistar leader was 9th overall. The breakaway riders fought a lot for the stage victory but were eventually caught at the same time of the crash.
BMC and Lotto had the best sprint trains, as Mikel Nieve was first with 1 km to go ahead of Andre Greipel, Tyler Farrar and Alexandre Vinokourov.
Tyler Farrar wins in Montmelo! This is the second straight win for the American, who leaves Catalunya on top of his game. Right behind Farrar came Vinokourov and Greipel, what is just enough for Vinokourov to win the points jersey.
Bauke Mollema has therefore claimed victory in the Volta a Catalunya, what means that Vacansoleil has won the first two stage races of the year in his first year. Sagan and Mollema are also in the first two spots of World Tour rankings. Second overall was the surprising Cadel Evans, who was able to climb with the best to Vallnord. This means that Discovery has taken two second places in Paris - Nice and Catalunya.
The cobbled week in Belgium starts after one year of no cobbled classics. As expected, the cobble specialists will be eager to those two opportunities in Belgium: the E3 Prijs and the Gent-Wevelgem. The route is fairly hilly and the weather is always difficult in Belgium in this time of the year. The wind and rain could surely play a role in the outcome of the race.
Favorites:
- Bjorn Leukemans (Lotto-Belisol): Lotto has a very strong squad and, in a Belgian team, a cobbled specialist is mandatory. Leukemans rides at home and will be the fans candidate this week in Harelbeke and Wevelgem.
- Oscar Freire (Rabobank): Rabobank has put his hopes in Oscar Freire for the cobbles. The length of the E3 (around 200 km) fits him better than the 260 km in the Paris - Roubaix. The only worry of the Spaniard will be the lack of support in his team.
- Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quickstep): The other Belgian team also has his contender for the victory. In this case it's the French Sylvain Chavanel, who has already tasted victory this season in third stage of the Volta a Catalunya.
- Filippo Pozzato (Lampre): Filippo Pozzato already knows what winning at a big venue is, as he was the winner of Milano - Sanremo last year. The Italian is probably the weakest among the favorites in the cobbles, but in the hills he should be as good as the best.
A rainy day awaits the riders, as is very usual in Belgium in this part of the year. The route of the E3 Prijs is fairly flat most of the time, but the final part is very selective with hills and cobbled sections mixed. Hopefully we will see nice chases in the last kilometers towards Harelbeke.
It is very difficult for a break to succeed in this type of classics. Nevertheless, a group of 6 riders tried their luck today, including: Jelle Vanendert (Lotto), Pieter Weening (HTC) and Chris Anker Sorensen (Saxo Bank). Vanendert wasn't working, as Lotto had the main favorite in the bunch: Bjorn Leukemans. The gap had grown to 6' 10'' halfway through the race.
The main bunch had narrowed to only 45 riders with 48 kilometers to go, in the hardest part of the race. The main rider missing in this group is Greg Van Avermaet (Movistar). The delay to the break was 2' 50'' at the time.
The break has still 2 minutes with 29 kilometers to go. The difference isn't decreasing very much, as Vanendert is now working and the favorites group has lost a lot of domestiques.
Alessandro Ballan (Liquigas) leads the group into the last cobbled section, with 17 kilometers to the finish. The break is still ahead, but they only have 1' 05''. Vincenzo Nibali was in the break but he lost contact due to a puncture.
The escapees increased the pace in the last kilometers and have 45 seconds with 8 kilometers remaining. It is going to be a close call between both groups.
Jelle Vanendert (Lotto) rose the rhythm again with 4 kilometers to go and only Pieter Weening was able to follow. They had 35 seconds on the favorites with 2.5 km remaining, who were about to catch the other riders in the break.
The riders in the favorite group overtake some of the break riders in the sprint, with Vinokourov leading them. Weening and Vanendert are still ahead, with the Belgian about to win the E3 Prijs.
Jelle Vanendert wins in Harelbeke! A Belgian from Lotto wins the E3 Prijs but not the main favorite. This is the first important win for the very strong Lotto - Belisol team. Behind Vanendert arrived Alexandre Vinokourov, who was able to overtake Pieter Weening over the line. Fourth was the pre race favorite Leukemans.
This result gives the Lotto team a boost in confidence for the cobbled races ahead. It also allows the team to climb to the second place in the WT classification. In the riders table Alexandre Vinokourov climbs to the first spot, while Chavanel and Weening are now tied in the fourth place.
Pieter Weening was the greatest surprise in last year's Vuelta a España. The Dutch was the best by far in the first part of the race, especially in the mountains. Only some fatigue later in the last week come strip him of the leader's jersey he had worn for more than 2 weeks. The stage in Bilbao wasn't supposed to be dangerous for the GC but in the end it cost Weening the yellow jersey.
The Vuelta was not the only high point of Weening last year, as he was able to win 2 stages, the points and the general classification in the Tour de Romandie. Weening has worked a lot this year on his climbing abilities, especially in the hills. He will be targeting the general classification of the Giro, and also would like to do good on his home race in the Eneco Tour.
Pieter has already performed well this year, as he was 5th overall in the Volta a Catalunya and 3rd in the last race, the E3 Prijs. He will have the help of another good climber, Chris Froome, in his bid for the Giro. The ex Garmin rider will be the main domestique and could even target for a good final GC standing in the Italian race.
Wins:
2009
- 1st Stage 13 Tour de France
2010
- 1st Stages 3 and 5 Tour de Romandie
- 1st GC Tour de Romandie
- 1st Points Jersey Tour de Romandie
- 1st Stages 4 and 9 Vuelta a España
Other notable results:
- 4th 2009 Tour de France
- 7th 2010 Tirreno - Adriatico
- 2nd 2010 Vuelta a España
- 5th 2011 Volta a Catalunya
- 3rd 2011 E3 Prijs Vlaanderen - Harelbeke
Three days after the E3 Prijs, the Gent - Wevelgem takes place. This is a very packed week, as once they finish in Wevelgem the riders will have to face the Basque Country tour and the Paris - Roubaix. The route in this classic is a bit less selective than the E3 Prijs, so a bigger group is expected at the final sprint. This considering that another break doesn't make it all the way to the finish.
Favorites:
- Bjorn Leukemans (Lotto-Belisol): Lotto already got his share of wins in Belgium, but Leukemans will be surely fighting to start his win count this season. He managed to be 4th in the E3 Prijs but that is probably not enough for the main favorite.
- Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quickstep): Chavanel likes better the not so hilly route of the Gent - Wevelgem, so he should be stronger here than in the E3. Nevertheless, he could grab a deserved 7th place on Wednesday. This means that the French is now up to 4th in the World Tour rankings.
- Oscar Freire (Rabobank): Freire got his only decent result this year in the E3, 6th. Before that the Spaniard had been completely unnoticed in the two stage races. Maybe the route is too flat for him to make an impact, but it is a good chance for him nevertheless.
- Filippo Pozzato (Lampre): The Gent - Wevelgem is the main target for the for the Italian this season. He was 5th in the E3 Prijs and aims to improve that place at the finish in Wevelgem.
The Gent - Wevelgem route is much less selective than the E3 Prijs. There are only 4 cobbled hills where the attacks have to happen and there are 37 kilometers from the last one to the finish in Wevelgem. The rest of the route is fairly flat, with only a couple of cobbled sections earlier in the race to give the riders a taste of what is coming later.
Only two brave riders attempted a long breakaway on this awful day: Mark Cavendish (Sky) and Tiago Machado (Euskaltel). On the second cobbled section, 94 km to go, they had 5' 45'' on the bunch, so it would be difficult for them to make this succeed. The wind was also very strong and a big worry for the riders.
Lotto rose the pace on the second hill of the day and they were so strong that a small break with 5 Lotto riders, including Leukemans, and Dries Devenyns (Quickstep) opened a small gap. However, 58 kilometers are still ahead of us.
Oscar Freire (Rabobank) and Sylvain Chavanel (Quickstep) managed to bridge the gap to the Lotto group before the third hill. With 42 km to go, the Spaniard put a good pace in the climb.
The break ends at the last climb, as Leukemans, Freire, Chavanel and Devenyns catch the duo. With 37 km remaining the gap they have is quite big and there needs to be understanding in the peloton to bring them down. The other Lotto riders are already 1 minute behind; 1' 50'' behind is Stefan Van Dijk (Rabobank) trying to bridge the gap and 2' 50'' behind the leaders is the peloton. Anyone left behind is going to have a hard time bridging that gap.
The peloton didn't even look like trying to catch the four riders in front. The favorites soon left behind Machado and Cavendish. With 10 km to go it was clear that the race win was among them, as the next group was 2' 50'' behind. That group wasn't a proper bunch as it only had 31 riders in it.
Dries Devenyns (Quickstep) lifted his foot as the sprint started and left his teammate Chavanel challenge for the win. However, both Leukemans and Freire seemed stronger than the French. Freire jumped from Leukemans' wheel trying to go past in the last meters.
Oscar Freire wins in Wevelgem! The Spaniard blasted past Leukemans in the last 500 meters to grab his first win of the season and the biggest he has ever had. Behind the Spaniard arrived Leukemans, who has done a great week but with no wins, and Sylvain Chavanel. 37 seconds later arrived an exhausted Devenyns to take the fourth spot.
Sebastian Langeveld (Rabobank) took the fifth spot after a series of late attacks in the second group. Behind him came Van Avermaet and Rojas. The major disappoint of the race was maybe Filippo Pozzato, as the Italian could only take the ninth place after being one of the pre race favorites.
We leave Belgium with a major winner, the Lotto-Belisol team. The Belgian team proved to be very motivated riding at home and took the win and 4th of the E3, and 2nd and 7th in the Gent-Wevelgem. They jumped to the first place of the World Tour rankings in the process. In the riders classification, the most notable movement is the tie between Chavanel and Vinokourov at the top. Meanwhile, Oscar Freire is now 7th.
The riders are back in Spain for the third stage race of the season. This is the first appearance of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco in this story, so uncharted territory for the riders. The route of the race is fairly hilly, but the most decisive stage will probably be the individual time trial of the last day.
Favorites:
- Xavi Tondo (Euskaltel): This is the home race for Euskaltel, so their sponsor will be very keen on them getting a good result. Tondo is perfect for that task, as he can go through the hills with the best of the field and won’t lose too much on the time trial.
- Dries Devenyns (Quickstep): The Belgian has had a decent start of the season with 4th in Gent – Wevelgem and 6th overall in Catalunya, but has been overshadowed by his teammate Chavanel. The route in Pais Vasco is good for him if he doesn’t suffer too much in the race ending ni Eibar.
- Steven Kruijswijk (Movistar): Movistar will also be keen to do some good performance, as they haven’t made any impact so far. Kruijswijk has been nowhere to be seen at this start of the season, so he has to start performing sooner than later.
- Thor Hushovd (Garmin): Garmin is not only Vinokourov, but the Kazakh got more than half of the points of the team last season. Hushovd can go through the hills, as he proved in last year’s Tirreno – Adriatico and Tour of Poland and is probably the best time trialist among the favorites.
The first stage is a fairly hilly but short route around the town of Ataun. The two categorized climbs at the end of the stage and the small hill within the last 10 kilometers could be used to make the first time differences in the GC.
The first successful break of the race took shape in the first kilometers of the stage. It was a group of 6 riders including: Matthew Goss (Saxo Bank), Jakob Fuglsang (Radioshack) and Andy Schleck (Katusha). At the third climb, the Alto de Deskarga, they had 5’ 50’’ on the bunch.
The work of the riders in front was really good throughout the stage, as they reached the top of the penultimate climb with 2’ 40’’ on the peloton. Even though good riders like Johan Van Summeren (Quickstep) or Greg Van Avermaet (Movistar) are helping in the chase it is going to be a close call.
The riders in the break reach the last small climb with enough time over the bunch. Matthew Goss wasn’t able to follow the pace in the last categorized climb and comes slightly behind the group of 5. The action in the bunch, 1’ 30’’ behind, has been very limited.
Bjorn Leukemans (Omega) was the only rider who moved in that small hill at the end. He could open a small gap on the peloton before reaching the top of the hill. He had 7 kilometers to try to grab a handful of seconds at the finish.
The riders in the break sprint for the win with Jakob Fuglsang ahead of Tony Gallopin, David Millar and TJ Van Garderen. Behind them, Leukemans is losing 25’’ and the bunch is 55’’ behind the leaders.
Jakob Fuglsang wins in Ataun! The Dane proved that he was the best sprinter in the group, as Matthew Goss could only catch them in the last kilometer. This is the second win of the year for Radioshack, but that cannot hide the fact that the team performances have been really poor through the start of the season.
Bjorn Leukemans arrives with a small advantage on the bunch but awkwardly he is not given any time over them. On the sprint of the peloton, Xavi Tondo is first ahead of Rojas.
Some moves by the front riders were expected in this first stage of the race, but only Leukemans moved in the final kilometers. In the end it was all for nothing and all the favorites are still on the same time.
The second stage has also a lot of hills and small mountains, but is easier to control than the first stage. This could be one of the few opportunities that the faster men might have in this Vuelta al Pais Vasco, so they better take advantage of it.
Only two riders were in front at the third categorized climb of the day: Michael Matthews (BMC) and Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank). At the top of the Alto de Etxauri they still had 90 kilometers to go. 2’ 20’’ behind came a group of three riders: Nizzolo, Boasson Hagen and Boonen. Meanwhile, the bunch crossed the KoM sprint 5’ 20’’ behind the leaders. Damiano Cunego and Lloyd Mondory had suffered a fall and were losing quite a bit of time.
A crash with a lot of kilometers still to go forced Bradley Wiggins (Sky) to retire from the race. Others involved were Peter Sagan, Rigoberto Uran and Gregory Rast. As the peloton was already in chase mode, it would be difficult for them not to lose time at the finish.
The break ended in the last climb, as the bunch was coming strong for the stage win. The high pace in the climb meant that a lot of riders couldn’t make it with the bunch. Pieter Weening (HTC) took the mountain points in the top.
With 7 kilometers to go the peloton is already preparing for the reduced sprint. Sprinters like Matthew Goss (Saxo) or Francisco Ventoso (Euskaltel) couldn’t make it through the last climb so the outsiders could stand a chance.
Huge crash with 6 kilometers to go! Christopher Sutton (Sky) lost control of his bike while in the front of the group and took down more than 20 riders. Pieter Weening (HTC) and Sylvain Chavanel (Quickstep) had to retire due to the injuries, while important riders were involved, like Franck Schleck, Jean-Christophe Peraud, David Lopez, Jose Joaquin Rojas and Dries Devenyns.
The Euskaltel train survived in the middle of the chaos of the last kilometers. They were coping the first positions of the sprint with 1 km to go: Luis Leon Sanchez, Alberto Contador, Xavi Tondo and Thor Hushovd were the top 4.
Xavi Tondo wins in Villatuerta! This is a very important win for the Euskaltel team at home. Tondo was able to hold off the charging Brajkovic, who almost got past the Spaniard in the last meters of the stage. Third was Hushovd, who also seemed threatening in the last part of the sprint.
Jakob Fuglsang kept the yellow jersey ahead of the decisive stage tomorrow finishing in the Santuario de Arrate. However, the stage put a huge toll on many riders through the various crashes in the stage. There are a lot of riders who have retired, suffered injuries or lost time in today’s stage, what leaves the amount of options for the overall win greatly reduced.
The third stage is probably the most relevant for the outcome of the final GC along with the last day time trial. The route is fairly flat until the last 50 kilometers of the stage. In those final kilometers the succession of climbs is continuous, with two climbs to the final ascent of Ixua before ending at the Santuario de Arrate.
The break of the day was pretty strong today, with favorites who had lost time, George Hincapie (BMC) and Damiano Cunego (Lampre), outsiders as Denis Menchov (Katusha) and Geraint Thomas (Garmin). In total there were 9 riders in front with a gap of 5’ 45’’ with 90 kilometers remaining.
Greg Van Avermaet (Movistar) and Maxime Monfort (Lotto) spiced a little bit the kilometers before the second climb of the day with several attacks. They reached the climb with 20 seconds on the group. More importantly, they reduced the gap of the break to 2 minutes and increased the effort quite a bit.
Jure Kocjan (HTC) leads the front group through the third climb, the Alto de Ixua, 35 km to the finish. The gap of the break had been greatly reduced to less than 1’ 30’’ on the bunch. Meanwhile, Giovanni Visconti attacked to pick some KoM points.
The break lost some of its members, like Cunego, in the penultimate climb. 6 riders remained in front, including Hincapie and Menchov, as they crossed Eibar and the 10 km banner. The group had slowed a bit and went past the banner 1’ 40’’ later.
Giovanni Visconti (Lampre) was in an attacking mood today, as he attacked as soon as the road started gaining gradient (7 km to go). Chris Froome and Hubert Dupont were the first to follow. This round of attacks reduced the gap of the break to only 55’’.
A good amount of riders reacted to Visconti’s attack. Xavi Tondo increased the pace as they went past the flag marking 1 km to the top of the climb. He had 10 seconds on a group of 10 riders including Dupont, Brajkovic, Visconti and Kruijswijk. The following group was losing 1’ 20’’ already.
Janez Brajkovic (Discovery) leads the front group through the top, as Xavi Tondo was reeled back in by the pace set by the Slovenian. Chris Froome and Thor Hushovd have been left behind but are trying to react.
Brajkovic attacks in the last 2 kilometers and breaks the front group before the sprint. Some of the riders in that group were really exhausted at the top of the climb. He has Devenyns trying to get to his wheel.
Janez Brajkovic wins in Eibar! The Discovery rider was the strongest in the last climb and settled the stage with an attack 2 km from the finish. The only one who could follow closely was Dries Devenyns, who crossed the line 9 seconds later. 21 seconds back were Xavi Tondo and Bauke Mollema.
This leaves Brajkovic as the new race leader with 23 seconds on Xavi Tondo. Dries Devenyns was not a threat in the GC, as he was involved in yesterday crashes and is more than 2 minutes back. Third in the GC is the Volta winner, Bauke Mollema, who is performing exceptionally again for Vacansoleil.
The fourth stage is the first where a mass sprint is expected. The route doesn’t lack hard climbs, as Urkiola, but at 30 kilometers after the start it shouldn’t pose much of a problem. The bigger problem for the pure sprinters will be to save enough energy to be able to dispute the sprint with guarantees.
The bunch decided to take a break while climbing Urkiola (with 5 km over 10%) and the first attacks only came after going through the KoM sprint. A group of 6 riders were successful, including Mikel Nieve (BMC), Sebastian Langeveld (Rabobank) and Greg Van Avermaet (Movistar). In the 3rd climb, with 78 km to go they had 4’ 55’’ on the bunch.
The bunch was in chasing mode as they went past the last climb, the Alto de Beci. They are losing 2’ 05’’ with the break at that place but a lot of teams are helping: Liquigas, Saxo Bank, Discovery. There are also some riders paying the price of yesterday’s effort and previous days’ falls and losing contact.
The peloton was having a hard time chasing the break and it was worse when Langeveld attacked from the front group. With only 6 km remaining the Dutch had 15’’ on Van Avermaet and 30’’ on the bunch.
Langeveld was reeled back in as the sprint started. Rigoberto Uran and Alexandre Vinokourov seemed strongest, as they soon opened a gap on Brajkovic and Langeveld, who were sprinting behind.
Rigoberto Uran wins in Güeñes! The Colombian gives Sky its first win of the season after outsprinting Vinokourov by the slightest margin. Most of the pure sprinters weren’t properly position ahead of the finish or didn’t have the strength to do a proper finish. Behind the leading duo came Brajkovic and Rojas.
Janez Brajkovic took a good 4 bonus seconds at the finish line, what will give him a bigger margin for Saturday’s time trial. Meanwhile, Chris Anker Sorensen grabbed the mountain jersey by leading the pack through the Alto de Urkiola.
The fifth stage will be another hilly one. The chances of a mass sprint are very slim and either a break or some late attacker will most likely grab the stage win. It shouldn’t be, however, a very relevant stage for the GC.
The day started very bad for the third in the GC, Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil). He lost the control of his bike along with Bart de Clerq on the slippery descent of the Alto de Ubai, the second climb of the day. Fortunately for him, he didn’t have trouble getting back to the bunch.
While Mollema was getting back to the peloton, the break of the day climbed the Alto de la Escrita, third climb of the day. It was a quite big group with 13 riders, some of them relevant climbers that had lost time: George Hincapie (BMC), Peter Kennaugh (Sky), Marco Marcato (Liquigas), Frank Schleck (Radioshack), Damiano Cunego (Lampre) or Chris Anker Sorensen (Saxo Bank) among them. They were 6 minutes ahead at the KoM sprint.
Some attacks were expected in the last kilometers, but maybe not from the leader of the race. Brajkovic attacked with 13 kilometers to go. Meanwhile, Chris Anker Sorensen had been able to pull away from the break. The men in front had a comfortable gap of 2’ 15’’ on the bunch.
Sorensen was able to open a good gap in front of the break, as he had 50 seconds on the rest of the break with 8 kilometers to go. 1’ 50’’ behind Sorensen a group with Brajkovic, Devenyns and Tondo had jumped from the bunch, with another trio 2’ 30’’ back: Visconti, Leukemans and Albasini. Bauke Mollema was suffering in the pack following his fall.
Sorensen’s lead decreased in the last kilometers, but he reached the last kilometer with 25 seconds in hand so his win was safe. Meanwhile, Sebastian Langeveld, Marcel Kittel and Peter Kennaugh sprint for the second place in the stage.
Chris Anker Sorensen wins in Zalla! The Danish completes a long break with an attack in the last climb to grab his first win of the season. After him arrived his breaks fellows, Langeveld took the second place while Kittel was third.
Brajkovic, Tondo and Devenyns all arrive ahead of the pack to make a bit of time on the bunch. The surprise came when the judges awarded the trio the same time of the winner Sorensen! In the end they got 1’ 13’’ on Visconti, Leukemans and Visconti and 1’ 48’’ on the bunch.
This result has lead to big changes on the GC. Brajkovic now leads Tondo by 27 seconds. Behind them, Dries Devenyns has moved ahead to 3rd overall tied with Bauke Mollema 2’ 29’’ behind. With only the time trial remaining, Brajkovic looks good for the overall win while Tondo is a safe second. Behind them the fight will be great for the third step on the podium.
The last stage of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco is a rather long ITT that will settle the final positions of the GC. Although the length is on the high side for this kind of route, it is not a TT that benefits a los the specialists. There are two climbs in the first part of the stage, especially the Alto de Beci, where the intermediate time was located.
Rigoberto Uran (Sky) had lost a lot of time due to falls during the week, so he hit the road very early. As expected, he set the reference time so far on 38’ 18’’, 39 seconds better than the leader so far Sacha Modolo.
Samuel Sanchez (Saxo Bank) was also looking for a stage win in Zalla. However, it was soon clear that he wouldn’t be close to Uran’s time. At the finish line he was second, 11’’ behind the Colombian.
Lars Ytting Bak (Liquigas) did a good time trial, but he never threatened the times of the top two. He recorded a decent time 27’’ worse than Uran, which put him third as he crossed the line. This served him to jump from 37th to 18th in the final GC.
Oscar Freire (Rabobank) did a solid time trial, but it also looked like with a better place in the GC he would have performed better. Freire got the 4th place at the finish, 25 seconds behind Uran. That moved him to 17th in the final GC.
Thor Hushovd (Garmin) started the stage 14th, but with a target of climbing to the top 10. He over delivered, as the Norwegian ended 9th in the final GC after climbing even over Jakob Fuglsang. As he crossed the line, Hushovd set the 4th time, 21 seconds slower than Uran.
Steven Kruijswijk (Movistar) did just great. He wasn’t among the favorites for the time trial but as he crossed the finish line he was 3rd only behind the two greatest specialists. With such a time and considering he was gaining time in the intermediate point over Mollema and Devenyns he could challenge for the third spot in the podium.
Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil) was already losing 18 seconds on the intermediate point, as the injuries from yesterday’s fall were slowing him. He crossed the line on the 18th position, 35 seconds slower than Uran. That means he lost his GC spot to Steven Kruijswijk.
Dries Devenyns (Quickstep) was even slower than Mollema in the intermediate point, but only 1 second. Things weren’t better at the finish, where he could only get the 29th position, 38 seconds behind Uran and 22’’ slower than Kruijswijk. This meant Kruijswijk won the third place of the podium, ahead of Mollema and Devenyns.
Xavi Tondo (Euskaltel) had to put pressure on Brajkovic just in case he got lucky. However, 27 seconds seemed like a lot to gain. The Spaniard did a great time trial, as he crossed the line in the fifth position, only 18’’ slower than Uran.
Janez Brajkovic (Discovery) made a statement on his form by taking a top 10 in the stage and the overall win in Pais Vasco. He was 9th, 25 seconds behind Rigoberto Uran. The Colombian time was set very early in the order, but no one could improve it, what gives him the second stage win in the race.
The greatest fight in today’s stage was that for the white jersey, as Chris Froome recovered 13 seconds on Giovanni Visconti to take the overall win by just 1 second.
