Tamijo wrote:
Super stage, Sam Vandenborre has put himself in perfect situation to get a top position in the GC.

The second summit finish is located at Paltinis, Romania's highest mountain resort. Located at an altitude of 1440m, it's a very popular winter destination.

Team Sky maintains a high pace towards the foot, giving the others a hard time trying to keep up. It's also the kiss of death for the breakaway.

Zardini tries an attack from far out. Initially, Chernetskiy tries to chase him down. But Zardini falls back quickly.

When Kudus accelerates, the rest looks stunned.

The Eritrean takes the stage in misty conditions, and climbs from 5th to 3rd. Kennaugh stays in yellow, but where's Sam?

Stage 3 results:

1		Merhawi Kudus	Torku Seker Spor	4h04'55"
2		Peter Velits	IAM Cycling	+ 35"
3		Gorka Izagirre	Movistar Team	+ 51"
4		Lukas Pöstlberger	Felbermayr Simplon Wels	+ 1'39"
5		Paul Voss	CULT Energy Pro Cycling	s.t.
6		Juan Andrés Pardo	Movistar Team	s.t.
7		Peter Kennaugh	Team Sky	s.t.
8		Juan Chamorro	Colombia	s.t.
9		Stefan Denifl	Felbermayr Simplon Wels	s.t.
10		Natnael Berhane	Androni Giocattoli - Sidermec	+ 2'02"
…		…	…	…
14		Sam Vandenborre	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	+ 2'31"

GC after stage 3:

1		Peter Kennaugh	Team Sky	7h32'12"
2		Juan Chamorro	Colombia	+ 11"
3		Merhawi Kudus	Torku Seker Spor	+ 1'43"
4		Natnael Berhane	Androni Giocattoli - Sidermec	+ 2'50"
5		Sam Vandenborre	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	+ 3'08"
6		Gorka Izagirre	Movistar Team	+ 4'39"
7		Stefan Denifl	Felbermayr Simplon Wels	+ 4'41"
8		Peter Velits	IAM Cycling	+ 4'54"
9		Juan Andrés Pardo	Movistar Team	+ 5'12"
10		Abarran Satordi	CULT Energy Pro Cycling	+ 6'01"

sutty68 wrote:
Hope Sam can get in to the top three before the end

The last thing standing between Kennaugh and a new GC win here in Romania is an 11 km time trial. It contains a small climb just after the intermediate point and goes past the famous Ethnographic Museum.

Ben King starts early with a very fast time: exactly 15', being the fastest at both the intermediate point and the finish.

When team mate Küng fails to beat his time, King looks good for the stage win. Especially when Ludvigsson, Moser, Velits and Sütterlin fail to beat his time as well.

Coming at the intermediate points, Sam loses only 3", the 2nd time after King. Can he take those seconds back on the climb?

He gives it his all, but it's not enough. He has to conceed 5 more seconds, finishing in 2nd, 8" down.

Kennaugh loses 9" to King, beating Chamorro by more than 40". That way it looks like the GC win is already his.

Stage 4 results:

1		Ben King	BMC Racing Team	15'00"
2		Sam Vandenborre	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	+ 8"
3		Tobias Ludvigsson	IAM Cycling	+ 9"
4		Peter Kennaugh	Team Sky	s.t.
5		Peter Velits	IAM Cycling	+ 11"
6		Moreno Moser	Movistar Team	+ 12"
7		Stefan Küng	BMC Racing Team	+ 13"
8		Jasha Sütterlin	Movistar Team	+ 14"
9		Claudio Imhof	IAM Cycling	+ 18"
10		Luigi Miletta	Androni Giocattoli - Sidermec	+ 20"

GC after stage 4:

1		Peter Kennaugh	Team Sky	7h47'21"
2		Juan Chamorro	Colombia	+ 54"
3		Merhawi Kudus	Torku Seker Spor	+ 2'00"
4		Sam Vandenborre	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	+ 3'07"
5		Natnael Berhane	Androni Giocattoli - Sidermec	+ 3'21"
6		Peter Velits	IAM Cycling	+ 4'56"
7		Gorka Izagirre	Movistar Team	+ 4'57"
8		Stefan Denifl	Felbermayr Simplon Wels	+ 5'10"
9		Juan Andrés Pardo	Movistar Team	+ 5'36"
10		Paul Voss	CULT Energy Pro Cycling	+ 6'55"

Tamijo wrote:
Another brilliant stage from Sam, very sad he missed out on stage 3.
But he has definately shown a lot of what he is able to do.

Date of birth:	January 25th, 1990
Age:	27
Place of birth:	Sobral de Monte Agraço
Latest teams:	Leopard-Trek CT	2012-2013
	Trek Factory Racing	2014-2015
	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	2016-2017
Results with us:	2x 5th NC road race
	3rd Circuito de Getxo
	3rd Vuelta a la Rioja
Has signed with:	Synergy Baku

Despite the fact Fabio hasn't won since he is with us, we would to thank him expressly for all the work. He's been a great help for the other riders and we wish him all the good luck for the future.

The fifth and last stage offers some climbs, but it could be a stage for the sprinters if the pack is still interested. A lot of riders will surely try to make it into the breakaway.

With the last climb dealt with, the initial breakaway still holds a nice gap of over 3 minutes. There are quite some known riders such as Marc Soler, Jack Bauer, Sergey Chernetskiy and Pello Bilbao for our team.

After having attacked along with Chernetskiy, Bilbao tries it on his own! The gap remains small but no-one looks too eager to close it himself.

Under the red kite, Bilbao still has the same gap. Can he hold on? Soler seems to be getting closer...

But there is the line! Pello wins the final stage here in Romania and becomes the 6th rider of our team to bag a win this year!

GC-wise, there's one last-minute change. Juan Chamorro, second in the GC, gets caught behind. Sam moves onto the podium!

Stage 5 results:

1		Pello Bilbao	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	2h59'59"
2		Marc Soler	Movistar Team	+ 29"
3		Sergey Shilov	RusVelo	s.t.
4		Sergey Chernetskiy	Team Katusha	s.t.
5		Bekir Baki Akirsan	ActiveJet Team	s.t.
6		Antonino Parrinello	Androni Giocattoli - Sidermec	s.t.
7		Jack Bauer	IAM Cycling	s.t.
8		Gaël Malacarne	Team Europcar	+ 1'29"
9		Jonas Dal Korsholm	CULT Energy Pro Cycling	+ 3'21"
10		Tyler Farrar	Team Katusha	s.t.
…	…	…	…	…
26		Sam Vandenborre	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	+ 3'21"
…	…	…	…	…
150		Juan Chamorro	Colombia	+ 6'09"

Final overall standings:

1		Peter Kennaugh	Team Sky	10h50'41"
2		Merhawi Kudus	Torku Seker Spor	+ 2'00"
3		Sam Vandenborre	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	+ 3'07"
4		Natnael Berhane	Androni Giocattoli - Sidermec	+ 3'21"
5		Juan Chamorro	Colombia	+ 3'42"
6		Peter Velits	IAM Cycling	+ 4'56"
7		Gorka Izagirre	Movistar Team	+ 4'57"
8		Stefan Denifl	Felbermayr Simplon Wels	+ 5'10"
9		Juan Andrés Pardo	Movistar Team	+ 5'36"
10		Paul Voss	CULT Energy Pro Cycling	+ 6'55"

	Peter Kennaugh
	Peter Kennaugh
	Sergey Chernetskiy
	Merhawi Kudus
	Movistar

Tamijo wrote:
So nice breakaway win by Pello Bilbao. Chamorro must be devastated, losing this much on this theoretically easy stage, what a wonderful surprise for Sam.

25/07

163 km from Ordizia to Ordizia

	LAST WINNERS:		FAVOURITES:				TEAM LINEUP:
	Yury Trofimov		Simon Clarke				Barbero Carlos
	Sergey Chernetskiy		Alexis Vuillermoz				Bilbao Pello
	Gorka Izagirre		Esteban Chaves				Fraile Omar
	Daniel Teklehaimanot		Enrico Gasparotto				Gonçalves José
	Gorka Izagirre		Moreno Moser				Klever Jonathan
							Mesias Renato
							Parra Heiner
							Zardini Edoardo

sutty68 wrote:
Super Pello and Sam got in to the podium places

Prueba Villafranca is one of the oldest races in Spain, being organised since 1922. Most editions were won by a Spaniard, but we have now been waiting for a Spanish winner since 2014, when Basque Gorka Izagirre won in his home region.

A small group attacks, against their better judgment. They stay in front, jointly, until the point where there are 2 ascents left. Parra, Huffman and Warbasse won't win today.

Bilbao can't answer the attacks of the favourites. Over the last top, Vuillermoz and Kennaugh seem to be on their way to a decisive sprint à deux.

And it's the Frenchman who may raise his hands after a very close sprint. Bilbao finishes just outside of the top 10, totally drained. A disappointing result for us.

Race results:

1		Alexis Vuillermoz	Team Katusha	3h52'47"
2		Peter Kennaugh	Team Sky	s.t.
3		Gorka Izagirre	Movistar Team	+ 21"
4		Jordi Simón	Movistar Team	s.t.
5		Moreno Moser	Movistar Team	s.t.
6		Reinardt J. Van Rensburg	Roompot-Oranje Peloton	s.t.
7		Jan Polanc	LA Aluminios - Antarte	s.t.
8		Robert Power	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
9		Shan Shuang	Roompot-Oranje Peloton	s.t.
10		Juan Andrés Pardo	Movistar Team	s.t.
…	…	…	…	…
12		Pello Bilbao	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	s.t.

Tamijo wrote:
Sorry about Villafranca.
But glad to see Jacob 6th at the Tour, what about Froome did he not participate ?