Yesterday also part of the early moves Pierpaolo De Negri attacks out of the peloton to take the only mountain sprint today ahead of his fellow countrymen De Marchi of Cannondale.

Mountain Sprint

Pierpaolo De Negri Vini Fantini	6
Alessandro De Marchi	Cannondale	4
Russell Downing	NetApp	2

The three cyclists that scored at the mountain sprint are joined by Nishizono, Gutiérrez and Quintero to form today's break. That teams like Champion Systems and Movistar are involved is evidence for a less challenging finish than the days before. Their leaders Kakhi and Valverde respectively might can take an offday today and purer sprinters will fight it out today.


Nishizono and De Marchi are the only ones interested in the bonus seconds at the intermediate sprints and so they are the ones that take the two first spots on the intermediates today.

Intermediate Sprint

Ryota Nishizono	Champion Systems	6	-6"
Alessandro De Marchi	Cannondale	4	-4"
Ivan Gutiérrez	Movistar	2	-2"

Intermediate Sprint

Alessandro De Marchi	Cannondale	6	-6"
Ryota Nishizono	Champion Systems	4	-4"
Duber Quintero	Colombia	2	-2"

Intermediate Sprint

Alessandro De Marchi	Cannondale	6	-6"
Ryota Nishizono	Champion Systems	4	-4"
Russell Downing	NetApp	2	-2"

Meanwhile one of today's favourites Gregory Henderson has punctured. Lotto has sent three men behind to help the Kiwi back into the peloton. Ultimately they fail, with Argos and Androni upping the pace drastically after reaching the bumpy final 60 kilometres. The break is still 2 minutes ahead.


Soon later Icelandic champ Johan Nokkvason also punctures. He is one of Rolland's most important domestiques here, but could have hoped for a decent GC himself. After today that won't be happening.


On the hills the break is torn into pieces, but all are soon caught, with the two Italians De Negri and De Marchi being the last ones up the road.


The hills didn't really make any of the sprinters struggle and so all the big names, except for Henderson, take the downhill into Santo Domingo together. We see trains for Euskaltel, Argos and Europcar forming.


In the end it's again the Argos train being best placed, with Degenkolb seeking for win number 4. Leigh Howard has gathered his backwheel. Asian duo Arashiro and Khamse Khampan leadout Coquard, his wheel taken by Gatto and Kruopis. Lobato only has one man ahead of him left. Rajesh Kakhi, today in white, Robert, Lotto's emergency plan, Lasca and Pellizotti are behind him.


With a weird maneuver, moving towards the Euskaltel train, Europcar took out their chances as well as the ones of the Basque team, meaning Degenkolb's last competitor is his teammate Sinkeldam under the red kite.


The big gap means Degenkolb can start celebrating early. Lobato wins the sprint for second behind ahead of Coquard who made a strong comeback. Valverde just misses the podium on a stage that shouldn't have suited him very well. Fifth goes to Kakhi, sixth Ratto. Surprising seventh is Castroviejo. Hofland, Pellizotti and Arashiro complete the top 10.
The bonus seconds of winning four stages means that Degenkolb is more than 1 minute ahead of any GC favourite and considering that he isn't the worst of the climbers among the sprinters, he has a shot at a decent overall result in this race.

1	John Degenkolb	Team Argos - Shimano	3h23'34
2	Juan José Lobato	Euskaltel - Euskadi	s.t.
3	Bryan Coquard	Team Europcar	s.t.
4	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team	s.t.
5	Rajesh Kakhi	Champion System Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
6	Daniele Ratto	Cannondale Pro Cycling	s.t.
7	Jonathan Castroviejo	Movistar Team	s.t.
8	Moreno Hofland	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
9	Franco Pellizotti	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	s.t.
10	Yukiya Arashiro	Team Europcar	s.t.

GC

1	John Degenkolb	Team Argos - Shimano	13h41'20
2	Daniele Ratto	Cannondale Pro Cycling	+ 56
3	Franco Pellizotti	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	+ 1'08
4	Rajesh Kakhi	Champion System Pro Cycling Team	+ 1'12
5	Thomas Peeters	Team Europcar	s.t.

Points

1	John Degenkolb	Team Argos - Shimano	100
2	Daniele Ratto	Cannondale Pro Cycling	54
3	Juan José Lobato	Euskaltel - Euskadi	53
4	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team	47
5	Rajesh Kakhi	Champion System Pro Cycling Team	45
6	Franco Pellizotti	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	41
7	Oreste Ghita	Team Argos - Shimano	29
8	Bryan Coquard	Team Europcar	28
9	Moreno Hofland	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	26
10	Pierre Rolland	Team Europcar	23

KoM

1	Marek Rutkiewicz	CCC Polsat - Polkowice	30
2	John Degenkolb	Team Argos - Shimano	12
3	Albert Timmer	Team Argos - Shimano	10
4	Pello Bilbao	Euskaltel - Euskadi	10
5	Pierpaolo De Negri	Vini Fantini - Selle Italia	10
6	Daniele Ratto	Cannondale Pro Cycling	8
7	David Veilleux	Team Europcar	6

U25

1	John Degenkolb	Team Argos - Shimano	13h41'20 (1)
2	Daniele Ratto	Cannondale Pro Cycling	+ 56 (2)
3	Rajesh Kakhi	Champion System Pro Cycling Team	+ 1'12 (3)

Team

1	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	41h08'00 (1)
2	Team Argos - Shimano	+ 0 (2)
3	Movistar Team	+ 32 (3)