We've had the first stroke of big mountains, but we still haven't finished climbing for now. Today has 190km of hilly terrain. The last hill is quite far away from the finish though, so riders with good abilities on the flat may be in favour.
We will probably not see a battle for the GC today. Maybe a breakaway will be allowed to go for the whole day, maybe some puncheurs will try their luck. Even a sprint is not impossible.
Áfter we started climbing right from the start, it's Orozco who reaches the summit first for the KOM points.
Then, it's Garzelli starting the attacks to get in the early breakaway.
Le Mevel joins him, as Rosseler just misses out on the next climb. Steensen and Manan are a little furhter behind. These 5 seems to be off for the day.
On the top, Garzelli and Le Mevel have a solid gap to the rest.
Serpa wins the sprint for the 5th place on the KOM sprint, as Manan is caugth.
Better late then never, but it's still not good: Agnoli descided he should've been in the break as well, and attacks, only to catch up with Rosseler and Steensen...
As Le Mevel is first over this top, with 100km left, they have 1 minutes to Agnoli, another 2 minutes to Rosseler and Steensen who are 4 minutes ahead of the pack. 7 Minutes for the race leaders altogether.
Over the top, as some riders attacked for the remaining KOM points, L.L. Sanchez Gil could sit still anymore, and kept going after the sprint as he quickly builts a lead of two minutes in the decent.
As we reach the final climb, Sanchez still has 1'55 to the pack as he joins and passes Rosseler and Steensen. Agnoli is next, 2'40 ahead.
3km before the top, Intxausti attacks. Schleck, Marchante, Florencio and Szmyd are the first to follow. Sanchez now only has a minute left.
With Le Mevel and Garzelli only 1'30 ahead, Marchante is the strongest attacker on the top. Sanchez and Intxausti are the first chasers...
... followes by a groupe of Szmyd, de la Fuente, Schleck, Plaza, Abal, Florencio, Marquez, Castano and Pereiro.
But this groupe is caugth by the pack. Situation: 45km: Le Mevel + Garzelli - '30 - Marchante - 1'30 - Intxausti + Sanchez - '30 - pack.
And the, 10km later, Marchante joins the front groupe. Directly, teammate Garzelli starts pulling. Intxausti and Sanchez are now caugth as well. The gap is 2'10.
But, Siutsou and de la Fuente then lead another stroke of attacks.
And then, things become totally unorganized. Loads of attacks, with Abal leading the lot. In the groupe behind (although they are constatly attacking and switching positions) are Plaza, de la Fuenta, Pereiro, Monfort, Intxausti, Schleck, Marchante and Rasmussen. Gap to the pack; a small minute
As this groupe is caugth, Maistro, Phinney and Cobo are off. Abal, de la Fuente and Plaza are now together with about 1'30 to the pack.
Of course, a lot more new attacks come, untill, with 7km left, Intxausti has a gap while Schleck is not around! He only needs 27 second to regain the jersey!
4.4km left: This seems to be the groupe. 37 second behind is Mandri alone, and another 12 secs to the pack. We've got a lot of Virgin and Credit Lyonnais here: (In correct order) Anton, Duenas, Plaza, Abal, de la Fuente, Cobo, Marchante, Intxausti, Redondo, Maistro, Sanchez.
Anton has a small gap with 2km to go, this groupe will make it out for the win. None of them are sprinters, but de la Fuente should be considerd the fastest. However, it's most likely going to be the rider with most energy left...
As Plaza is pretty much the only to start sprinting, he joins up with his teammate with 1km left; it's looking good for Virgin!
De la Fuente comes, but is it too late???
Yes it is! Igor Anton takes the win! Teammate Plaza is second, and de la Fuente fullfils a Spanish podium.
As actually, the whole top 10 this stage is Spanish, Schleck leads home the pack. But will there be time differences, and if so, will it be enough for Intxausti to take the jersey???
Crash = No exported = results in screens. But you won't mind, would you?
