There are 4 categorized climbs on today’s route with the last one being the longest from the entire race. Still with a long downhill section before the finish we will have to see if there will be any time gaps between the favorites. Taaramae, Kohl and Kessiakoff are rated as the 3 big favorites of the day, the Estonian being very close to Florentino Marquez in the GC as well
On the uncategorized climb at the start of the stage 7 riders got away from the pack. A few interesting names were there, yesterday’s winner Dmitri Grabovski being present. Landaluze, Serrano, Ortega and Sambris were in the breakaways in the previous stages as well, while Bragazzi and Eliad completed the group
No one from the leading group was interested in the points from the intermediate sprint. Landaluze took it in front of Grabovski and Serrano
Landaluze also took the second intermediate sprint, this time in front of Serrano and Ortega. But the more important news was that between the 2 intermediate sprints, Kroon and Bochman attacked from the pack and they both joined the leading group
On the first categorized climb of the day, Landaluze and Sambris attacked from the leading group to take the KoM points, with the Spaniard passing first the top of the climb, while Grabovski took the third place
On the second climb we had the exact same three riders taking the most KoM points, again Landaluze passing first the top after a fight with Sambris
On the third climb, Sambris took his revenge and passed first the top, with Landaluze second and Grabovski third. Also there were only 8 riders left in the leading group as Kroon was dropped off
The escapes started the last climb with an advantage of 2 minutes in front of the pack but as soon as the steepest parts where reached the gap went down. Grabovski attacked from the leading group and took the race on his own, while the favorites were coming strong from behind
Serpa made the first move in the pack, with Taaramae closely following him. Kohl also tried to follow them but he wasn’t strong enough to keep it up with them and he was brought back in the pack. Serpa and Taaramae caught the escapes one by one except for Grabovski, who was still leading and could head to his 2nd victory in a row
But right at the top of the climb he was caught by the duo made by Taaramae and Serpa. He was first at the summit but it wasn’t enough to take the KoM jersey, which will be wear by Landaluze tomorrow
25 behind them, David Abal was leading the chasing group where the rest of the favorites where, including the yellow jersey wearer, Florentino Marquez, plus some of the strongest escapes that managed to hang on the climb
At the 10 kilometers banner the leading three riders had already 45 seconds in front of their chasers, who weren’t looking too good as they didn’t work together and they were even about to be caught by the pack
As the final sprint was approaching for the 3 riders upfront, behind the chasers were brought pack in the pack. After being in the main breakaway of the day, Grabvoski seemed a little bit tired so it was going to be between Serpa and Taaramae for the stage win
Inside the last kilometer, Serpa powered away from the other 2 and head to the stage win, while Taaramae also looked like securing the second place in front of Grabovski
Jose Serpa wins the fourth stage in San Luis and with the time bonuses he should have one second in front of Taaramae in the GC
Rene Mandri led the pack 1 minute and 7 seconds behind Serpa, which means that Marquez lost the yellow jersey. Serpa takes it for one second in front of Taaramae, but the Estonian is the new leader of the points and youth rankings
