The break of eight today for the first time consisted of a Tinkoff rider with Kolesnikov getting in the break the russian seemed shy to do any work on the day though and Pinot was the main protagonist from the break taking on the responsiblity today of driving the break



And it seemed to be working as after the first two climbs of the day although BMC and Radioshack had been chasing hard they were struggling to make in roads even though they had lost a lot of riders in the bunch which was down to 99 riders.



And as they reached the last 10km of the race the break smelled victory with pinot following an attack from Gaudin of Europcar he became the leader on the road but now only 1"05 up on the pelton who had made significant ground Tinkoff rider Kolnesikov seemed to be waiting just behind the break he obviously had another role to play today



And with 5km to go he played it driving the peleton which was down to 56 riders through 5km to go with 4 man just bridging across to Pinot.



But then BANG Taarmae and Moreno are off the fly up to the breakaway there are 6 more riders just behind them and they seem to be bridging



And as they come under the flamme rouge the 8 are togther and Taarmae is leading out the sprint yellow jersey Greg Van Avamaert is there as is Cadel Evans and Phillp Gilbert



But Taarmae is holding them he's fought off Rabon who's weakening and Evans is his main challenger it's going to come down to the wire.



But Taarmae wins! and a great win it is he moves to 2nd overall after Van Avamaert's 6th he is only 28 seconds behind also important is the top 6 got a 20 second gap over the rest of the bunch giving Taarmae a great chance going into the TT

Today we go to Haut Var before the 4th stage in Algarve

Tinkoff have

Freire
Lagutin
Kiryienka
Akhmetshin
Pliuschin
Smukulis




The break of the day was 6 riders including Kessiakoff from RusVelo who had to borrow some of Tinkoff's equipment today after a robbery in the RusVelo bus. These riders wern't given much of a lead today as the pace was very high in the peleton.



And this had had a drastic effect on the peleton which was down to 68 riders and still losing riders as they entered 2 laps to go.



But the attacks weren't sticking until William Bonnet just rode off the front and gained a small advantage coming to the uphill sprint.



And under the 1km to go mark Bonnet was leading but Oscar Freire was flying he's taken the lead up with 800m to go.



But he's weakening now and struggling Gallopin and Voeckler are coming back at him the 3 times world champion is hanging tough though...



And he takes the win 2 in 2 days for tinkoff a great run of form for the team Gallopin is 2nd and 3rd for Voeckler with 1 stage to go only 36 riders finish in the first group and that will shake it up for tommorow

Tinkoff place 3 riders in the first group with Kiryenka and Lagutin both finishing in the peleton

Today tinkoff decided to go with Kritskiy in the break with Offredo, Amador, Beppu and Benitez and this break was destined to succeed for the whole race getting a massive 15"04 during the race.



With 5km to go the first attack came from Beppu attacked from the break all the work was left to Offredo and he brought Beppu back with 2km to go and opened the sprint



Offredo brought a big gap to everyone apart from Amador who set on his wheel and there was only 1 outcome.



Amador wins Offredo 2nd and Kritisky riding brilliantly for 3rd another great ride from him as he has been instrumental this week to the sucess of Tinkoff and gets his own bit of Glory. The bunch finishes 3"24 down with Thomas coming just in front of it but no action their today, On to the TT tommorow