We struggled here....

First breakaway formed by 11 riders, i decided to send V. Generelo mostly to have someone in the break....

Breakaway reach 1st climb with 5´57" gap to peloton... at the back, everything was rolling calm with this race entering the boring side...

.. but not for long as i decided to start to push hard from the peloton, knowing that Generelo was struggling at the front... the pack reach the top of 1st climb with G. Curran pulling hard and stretching the peloton to his maximum.... gap drops to 3´23" ..

The riders hit the 5kms mark still with my team leading the pack and the chase... breakaway was working hard to maintain their gap and we were having trouble to bring them back... they weren´t far, less then 1´00" but my riders were getting tired...

... and the inevitable happens... F. Taborre wins the race out of the breakaway with ´25" sec gap...

With so strong teams present, can we do anything good? .. some of the teams at Oman..

We had to wait some kms to see the first attacks.... C. Flakemore, F. Kuklinski and H. Merdj were the only ones today... they reach kom sprint with 5´20" gap..

This adventure was over with 12kms to go...

.. but right after the breakaway was caught, many riders got involved in a mass crash... P. Gilbert, T. Voeckler, S. Henao , just to mention some and Orica lost almost their entire train...we had some luck here...

With all the confusion inside peloton, Lotto and Garmin took the opportunity and made such a pace that no one could follow... exception here for my rider R. Manotas who taked T. Farrar´s wheel..

.. but he also couldn´t stick with them... this stage is going to be decided between A. Greipel and T. Farrar...

.. and T. Farrar is the fastest today... Greipel couldn´t even overtake his main launcher K. Dehaes... big surprise today comes from R. Manotas, he finishes 6th and P.J. Van Olst closes top 10... great start..

Couldn´t ask for more...

This 2nd stage is considered flat but those climbs near the end might bring some surprise attacks... we intend to..

We tried several times to go with the break but peloton had other intentions so only 3 riders managed to escape... E. Barbin(BAR), A. Barbari(VCS) and S. Safarzadeh(TPT)....

After the 1st Int. sprint, V. Generelo was finally allowed to go... 3´43" gap to front group..

80kms to go, Garmin decides it´s time to chase escapees down... gap drops quickly to 2´44".... Generelo has already caught up with front group...

Breakaway group reach 1st kom sprint, time for our blind plan... F. Kuklinski attacks and manage a small gap over peloton... 18kms to go..

With the stage getting close to an end, breakaway is caught and my best young at the moment, R. Manotas(white jersey) approach the front of the pack....

...it´s his last chance to avoid a mass sprint finish... Manotas launch an attack... C. Froome counters....

Both manage to stay away from the pack... Manotas did all the work downhill, he let´s Froome to take the lead inside last km...

.. there is not many room to play... Manotas jumps out from Froome´s wheel...

... but finish line is just right there... C. Froome wins... R.Manotas miscalculated the distance and pays for that... but it´s one hell of result... Pieter Van-Jan Olst once again closes top 10... great.

Look at this guy... R. Manotas is at this moment at the top of the world...

Last easy stage before an hard finish... we want to stay clear of danger and bring R. Manotas safe to the end... we might see some Once colors at the front...

R. Manotas choosed green jersey today... he said had some strange feeling.... we hope to have a good day with him.

Breakaway riders go throught 1st Int. sprint with 2´52" gap.
J. Janse Van Rensburg(MTN), F. Hamza(VCS) and S. Davis(HGP) form the break...

After this Int. sprint, F. Baraybar attacks from peloton...

He quickly catch up with front group... 4´26" gap to peloton..

We can see peloton starting the climb... escapees are 6´23" ahead..

F. Baraybar wins kom sprint...

With 71kms to go, Garmin, Europcar and Lotto join efforts to bring the break back... 4´35" gap..

2nd Int. sprint, Baraybar takes it easy here... he wants to spare energy to attack in final kms... if allowed.. for now, there are still 45kms and they have 2´50" over the pack...

20kms to go... 1´20"....gap is droping really fast even with the breakaway working well together...

but we can see why gap drops so fast... with 64kms downhill speed, peloton wants this stage to finish in a mass sprint finish... Lotto is clearly working for Greipel..

10kms to go... F. Baraybar gives his all to stay in front...

With Baraybar caught, peloton enters last km...

Final meters... A. Greipel VS Orica... (M. Matthews and L. Howard..

Greipel is the fastest ... no top 10 for us today.... Pieter Van Olst is my best rider in 14th...

General Classification

Now we understand why Manotas wanted to race in green... ..good recovery is needed today for tomorrow´s hard finish...