Plenty of attacks from the peloton but nothing is allowed to go by AJW and Caja Rural.
167km
The peloton reaches the first intermediate sprint, a chance for the sprinters to early points. It's Richeze (LAM) who takes it a head of Napolitano (AJW) and Duque (COL)
Straight after the sprint the attacks fly out the peloton and this time the attacks are being able to go. Kiendys (CCC) starts it of, followed by Rasch (SKY), Kovalev (RUS) and Gerard (BSE).
150km
Next IS (sorry I didn't catch it...) Kiendys doesn't sprint and gets dropped from the breakaway group, Rasch (SKY) takes the sprint, Gerard (BSE) second, Kovalev (RUS) third. Gap is 5'13
130km
Gap is out to 7 minutes, most of the work is being done by Caja and AJW.
109km
The riders see the start of the KOM 5km out going downhill, gap at its maximun of 7'38"
KOM cat 3 battle
Gerard goes early, its up to the others to react.
Gerard kicks again, Kovalev kicks himself to bridge the gap, Rasch gets a free ride, can Gerard hold on?
No, it all comes back together and Rasch, shows that he was the freshest and wins the sprint, Gerard 2nd and Kovalev is 3rd.
86km
Gap is 5'55"
32km
Cara, AJW and Colombia working hard on the front to bring back the break at 2", the peloton starts to break towards the back as the pace increases.
18km
The break is in sight, 1"
4,2km
Gerard goes from the break! The peloton still have a lot of work to do, this is going to be close!
3km
The break reforms and the break have 26 seconds still, can they do it? The leadout trains are about to unleash.
2,4km
Rasch goes solo and this time, there is no reaction, Gerard and Kovalev are done for!
Caja goes early, too early? Accent are being left behind, Traksel, Richeze, Chicci and Gavezzi are all on wheels.
1km
Rasch has a 14' gap but the sprinters are coming mighty fast, will he be able to hold on!?
0,7km
Rasch is still holding the pack off, Furan is out of energy already, Traksel leads the sprint and Napo unleashes further back. Felline and Gavezzi unleash!
0,4km
Rasch still infront! can he hold on?
Finish
No! It's total hurt for Rasch and Sky, who are denied a memorable win, but who wins? Gavazzi (AST) takes it, without a leadout he comes past everyone to take it convincingly on the line. He takes the overall on stage 1!
Not the most exciting stage profile ever so a bunch sprint seems certain.
164 km to go: Reimer (MTN) is today's first attacker, keen to follow up Venter's good work yesterday. He is followed by Hovelynck (CRE), Menzies (UHC) and Dion (BSE), which is one man too many for the sprinters' teams.
156 km: These four are reeled back in thanks to a combination of Vacansoleil and Bardiani Valvole. Everyone is back together and there is a short lull in activity.
145 km: After a while, Dion and Hovelynck escape again and these two work together to begin to build an advantage over the peloton.
136 km: Canadian champion Roth (CSS) bridges the two minute gap solo to make the lead duo a trio. All three are way down on the overall classification so Androni are more than happy to let them go.
123 km: None of the escapees are bothered about the sprints, so they just roll through, Roth first, followed by Hovelynck and Dion. The peloton follows 5'20 later.
102 km: The escapees are 8'15 clear of the bunch, so VCD begin the chase, soon joined by BAR and OGE.
73 km: Second sprint taken by Dion but none of the three care. Roth and Hovelynck follow. The peloton is already down to just 4'20 back.
23 km: At the final sprint, the escapees make sure the points are shared, so Hovelynck rolls through first ahead of Dion and Roth. All three have gained twelve points in that competition for what it's worth. The peloton is now absolutely flying along just 1'20 behind.
5 km: Incredibly, despite the very high pace, the breakaway is still 30 seconds ahead of the peloton. Dion goes on the attack, hoping to make it all the way to the finish and Roth follows him. Hovelynck calls it a day and drops back.
2 km: Finally, with just over 2000 metres to go, the escapees are all brought back. The sprinters' teams took too many risks there though. As you would expect with a late catch, the sprint preparation is disorganised. Vacansoleil are currently positioned well at the front, with all of the usual suspects not far behind.
1 km to go: Kruopis (OGE) is at the head of the bunch now as his teammate Howard starts his sprint behind him. D.Van Poppel (VCD) is well placed, whereas Brookes (BAR) is not. Alinejad (RLT) and Guardini (AST) are alongside each other.
500m to go: Howard leads the way but Brookes is going very quickly. Guardini has managed to get himself blocked again, while Alinejad appears to be struggling today. Did he use too much energy trying to keep the leader's jersey yesterday?
FINISH: Brookes timed his sprint to absolute perfection, just beating Howard, Guardini and D.Van Poppel. I think it's fair to say that it was quite close! Siskevicius (SOJ) finally turns up, narrowly beating Alinejad into fifth.
Yay, I am winning, unlucky for Furan in Algarve though, but I didn't expect much. Looking forward to dominating some more later in Langkawai! shame it's not all flat
Don't get cocky . You're certainly not dominating and if it wasn't for Vacansoleil having a really strong team, that breakaway would not have been caught.
Your team isn't strong enough to bring anyone back, poor old Baggio is emptying himself every day. That's why Brookes is always way back when the sprint starts, because his team have got nothing left.
You're just lucky Guardini hasn't turned up yet. One of the reasons why this race is so enjoyable is how close everyone is, unlike that disaster in Qatar. Still, Brookes is easily the best sprinter here and as long as Vacansoleil keep working on the front (don't know why, would be much easier to put Leukemans in the break), he should get some more wins.
brewers90 wrote:
Don't get cocky . You're certainly not dominating and if it wasn't for Vacansoleil having a really strong team, that breakaway would not have been caught.
Your team isn't strong enough to bring anyone back, poor old Baggio is emptying himself every day. That's why Brookes is always way back when the sprint starts, because his team have got nothing left.
You're just lucky Guardini hasn't turned up yet. One of the reasons why this race is so enjoyable is how close everyone is, unlike that disaster in Qatar. Still, Brookes is easily the best sprinter here and as long as Vacansoleil keep working on the front (don't know why, would be much easier to put Leukemans in the break), he should get some more wins.
Yeah, sorry, I'm just not used to winning at something! I tried to address team strength in the off season, by asking about 20 people to join, but only two said yes, SOOO, big thankyou to Cycleman and dippofix!
Also, is Algarve being played with some below par graphics, or is there something wrong with the stage, it's all blank, except a river!
Weather: 24°, sunny. Moderate breeze, getting stronger all day.
Here is the key stage in the race. With five flat stages to follow, the GC will almost certainly be decided here. Time to go hard or go home.
117 km to go: Lewis (CSS), Lequatre (BSE) and Leukemans (VCD) go on the attack early on. Nobody responds and these three pull away. Leukemans is the closest on the GC, 3'45 down.
115 km: Tewelde (MTN) comes down in the peloton and is in a lot of pain. He was 32nd overall, twenty seconds down but now he's off to hospital with a broken collarbone. The only useful teammate Hintermuller seemed to have has gone.
105 km: Lequatre wins the first sprint, ahead of Leukemans and Lewis. Just like yesterday, they aren't competing for them, just rolling through. Vanspeybrouck (TSV) oddly tries to attack from the peloton now even though the breakaway is established. He is quickly brought back.
82 km: At the second sprint, the escapees roll through in the same order as the first sprint, Lequatre getting maximum points. At this moment, the peloton is 4'30 behind.
75 km: The breakaway has reached a five minute advantage which is the maximum they will be allowed today. A wide variety of teams begin the chase. UHC, RVL, RLT, MTN and BAR all have riders on the front. Shouldn't they be leaving it to Androni, Colombia and Katusha?
62 km: Lequatre takes the third and final sprint aswell. He's cleaned up today. For the third time today, Leukemans gets second and Lewis takes third. No sharing today. The peloton is now 3'45 back as the teams on the front chase surprisingly hard, considering the difficulty of the final climb.
25 km: Bennett (RLT) decides that he can't wait for the ascent and puts in a big attack on the flat. The breakaway is still a minute and a half ahead but the climb is just around the corner.
23 km to go: The final climb starts. It's now or never for the GC contenders. Leukemans, Lewis and Lequatre are 1'00 ahead of Bennett, who has just 15 seconds on the peloton as Bardiani Valvole send Bongiorno to the front....
Volta ao Algarve 
Le Tour de Langkawi Stage 4 
Fabian Brookes
Andrea Guardini
Danny Van Poppel
Evaldas Siskevicius
Naveed Alinejad
Leonardo Duque
Simon Spilak
Josef Hintermuller
Juan Antonio Flecha
Dermot Walker
Maxime Vantomme
shame it's not all flat 
. You're certainly not dominating and if it wasn't for Vacansoleil having a really strong team, that breakaway would not have been caught.
