Next mountain stage, the second of three here. One big climb right at the beginning of this 155km long stage and the final third of the race will be challenging again. A rather short, but still steep summit finish should definitely make for another interesting day.
Suaza slipped into yellow in yesterday's ITT, but it's a narrow lead on Valls and Eastman. Also Salinas is well within striking distance, like a few more good climbers. Solis lost big minutes, but looked strong in the first mountain stage. And Penasa (33rd in the GC) has yet to fully recover from his unlucky start into this tour. Will he be a factor today?
Several early attempts to break clear from the pack on the first climb. A few interesting names trying to join a breakaway group:
Antón took the mountain sprint ahead of Bardet and while Bookwalter couldn't follow, the group is joined by a KoM-contender. 5 riders at the front now and it looks like they are allowed to stay clear for now:
Antón (GC's 52nd, + 6.30) Løvik (3rd in KoM, 30pts - Valls/Pirazzi leading with 36pts) Bardet (GC's 22nd, + 2.01) Cieslik (GC's 36th, + 3.43) Fuglsang
Definitely a strong breakaway group! And the peloton ain't too far behind, two minutes with now 99km remaining.
On today's second Cat1 climb, the leading group goes into pieces then:
Antón Løvik Bardet
remain in the lead, with Antón taking the next sprint ahead of Løvik and Bardet. The peloton is 2 minutes behind and down to 65 riders. The pace has been upped.
26km to go and the peloton is narrowing the gap to 1'24" - the remaining three escapees are already within sight.
Marentes leading the chase with Azteca and Repsol sharing most of the workload so far.
And now, we know why: 17km to go, we're on the last short Cat3 climb and the breakaway has been caught just a few moments before..
Valls attacks and Eastman immediately follows!
1.5km to the hilltop, the duo obviously feels good and wants to put some early pressure on Suaza here!
Medvedev though is a strong domestique for Suaza and he pulls back the attacking duo on his own! 10.5km remaining, the first big attack has been shut down by Eddie Stobart. The race settles down for a few moments.
41 riders are left in this main group now. Penasa luckily amongst them. And now they all wait for the final climb.
Where Eastman launches his second attack with now just 3km remaining!
Suaza follows on his own this time and we see a few more names trying to hang on:
Penasa Serrano and Valls Battaglin Degand Medvedev (not really following, but still there) Panayotov Bennett Karnulin
The group is down to 27 riders and more and more riders struggle to keep up with the pace at the front!
Eastman, Suaza and Penasa got a gap there! 2.3km to go and the trio appears to be the strongest with those latest attacks.
Serrano still supporting Valls, who can't yet counter this promising move from the trio ahead: 14 seconds as the current gap between group Suaza and group Valls (19 riders now)!
Most notable names being dropped from the first group:
Atapuma Moschella Mannion already a minute behind
Anacona Tvetcov something like 37 seconds in arrears!
And group Valls is getting smaller with every metre climbed: 15 riders left.
Bennett Manfredi Karnulin
initiate another attack, as they see group Suaza 18" ahead with now just 1.6km to go!
Valls responds now as well, Serrano can't help him anymore..
An overview, of who's in the front group(s):
E1
+ 0.18
E2
+ 0.10
E3
Eastman
Bennett
Valls
Suaza
Manfredi
Serrano
Penasa
Karnulin
Panayotov
Degand
Belkov
Solis
Rujano
Battaglin
Medvedev
Cataldo
Campero
Roe
Pozzo
Salinas
Claerebout
1.1km to go and it's getting closer at the fron now:
Group Bennett has almost caught up to group Suaza!
And Valls, now followed by Solis, has almost closed the gap to group Bennet! Also Panayotov is going strong to hang on with Valls.
700metres remaining and the sprint has been kicked off, yet causing some splits between the groups again!
Suaza, Eastman and Penasa still in the prime positions, but Bennett, Manfredi, Karnulin and also Valls are not far behind now.
Solis begins to struggle though and he can't follow Valls..
Panayotov, Cataldo and Degand build a next small group a few seconds behind and a further group with Campero/Roe, Rujano, Salinas, Anacona and Tvetcov is additional 15 seconds in arrears!
Suaza still ahead of Eastman, but it looks like we will get a thrilling sprint here!
Penasa now struggling though and it's Manfredi with a strong acceleration trying to catch up to the leading duo. Bennett, Karnulin and Valls yet stuck behind Penasa.
Still a gap on the next group with Panayotov and Solis, who's really suffering now.
A steep finish, which may produce some late gaps between the riders: Eastman vs Suaza, still head-to-head!
Manfredi going strong towards a podium finish and Penasa succesfully holds off Bennett, Karnulin and Valls. Panayotov closing up!
Suaza with a narrow victory over Eastman! The US boy rode an aggressive stage and will be rewarded with an improvement in the GC. Suaza though succesfully defends yellow in the best possible way. He rode it smart today. And Medvedev was a strong support earlier on.
Manfredi a strong 3rd with the same time as Suaza! What a sprint he delivered he. Well done.
+ 10" for the next group with Penasa and Bennett completing the Top-5
Valls, Karnulin and Panayotov on the same time then. Valls attacked once, but he had his problems on the final climb then. Still, only 10 seconds lost on the stage-winner.
+ 36" for Solis, Campero, Cataldo and Degand
Solis tried to follow Valls, but he cracked at some point. Campero though never had a great position and should be happy enough to somehow limit the damage eventually.
+ 1'20" for Roe as a strong 13th on the stage
+ 1'34" for a next group with Battaglin and Salinas
Also Belkov, Serrano, Rujano and Pozzo in this group.
+ 1'53" for a dead empty Tvetcov
+ 2'05" for Anacona and Ruijgh
A few more dropped riders tumbeling in then. This climb made for quite some selection and gaps after all. All riders did finish the stage though.
Suaza defending yellow thanks to the stage-win. Eastman moving up to 2nd with 15 seconds off the leader. A strong effort from him today. Definitely what he needed after the rather shocking opener.
Valls 3rd with + 0.33 and therefore still well within striking distance for the final mountain stage in two days. Karnulin + 1.23 as 4th, Manfredi closely behind as 5th, Bennett 6th ahead of Panayotov, Campero and Cataldo. They are all less than two minutes behind Suaza.
Opposing to Salinas as 10th, who's already + 2.19 now. Roe a strong 11th so far, Solis 12th ahead of Tvetcov, Degand and Anacona.
Penasa seems to be fully recovered from his horrible first day, but he surely needs to gain more time on the climbs: still improving to 18th in the GC today, + 3.32 on Suaza and at least in striking distance for the Top-15 or maybe Top-10.
Suaza also leading the points classification (10pts ahead of Eastman). Valls equalized the virtual KoM-lead for Lovik (both at 46pts now).
