Welcome to Romania, for the first time in the Management game and the Transfagarasn GP, a race sure to suit the climbers. IKEA will be ones to watch with both Alarcon and Taaramae, while Riccardo Ricco is another top name. Theres also Kenyan Mwangi Samwel, Spaniards Perez Sanchez, Gil and Cobo, Dario Cataldo - fresh from the Giro - and Aussie Cadel Evans.
Its going to be quite a test - the main climb of the route consisting of some 27km of near constant steep climbing.
Scarponi starts the attacks, while Sagan, Serov, Libert, Serrano, Loubet, Wyss, Zingle and Kruopis follow to form a 9 man breakaway group.
Theres two real steep sections on the route, the first, and shortest, stretches from 90km to go to 84km to go. The break leads by 6 minutes at the start, as Mauricio Ortega attacks from the peloton
Infact, by the top, Ortega has caught up, wiping out the 6 minute gap.
At that point the gap to the pack was 4 minutes, over the bumpy up and down section that followed though, that was cut to just 90 seconds as we hit 60km to go and the start of the big long steep climb that should prove decisive in this race
Bimbo are doing the damage on the front, Vitor Rodrigues in particular
Ortega drops the rest of the break - Loubet the last to go - and when the Lego rider is caught by the peloton its an attack for his team leader Koldo Gil.
He doesnt get much of a gap, but looks to close on Ortega. Eltink tried to follow but failed, as Lloret now makes a move
Lloret cant get away though, as Gil catches Ortega
Having done the bulk of the early work on the climb, Bimbo's strength has diminshed as the peloton splinters. An elite group of 12 is pulling away
Gil and Ortega are caught, and no rest for the Colombian, as the Petronas rider puts what he has left into setting the pace for Lloret. It was Ricco who closed down the gap, closely marked by the IKEA pair
The road is steep, up at 15%. Ortega, Ricco, Alarcon, Samwel, Perez Sanchez, Taaramae, Cataldo, Evans, Lloret, Gil, Cobo, Schwab, and Petrov
We're down to 10 now though. Cobo, Schwab and Petrov are out of it
And its splitting further. Ortega, Evans, Gil, Cataldo and Lloret in trouble
Gil drags it back, Cataldo in tow - Lloret trying his best
Its Taaramae on the front now, Ortega and Evans clinging on
Taaramae pulls over, Samwel's turn to relay. He waits a moment and its an attack!
Alarcon and Perez Sanchez are best placed to respond and do so, but already a good gap is emerging to Ricco, Taaramae and the rest
Ricco is going for it though, as Perez Sanchez cant match it - with Taaramae joining the Spaniard, unable to go further
Samwel's efforts are over, but Alarcon's are not. He goes past, but can Ricco? No!
Up, up and away, its quickly a 1 minute gap for Alarcon
Ricco is clearly on his limit, he tries to attack from Samwel, but gets nowhere.
The Kenyan punishes him and jumps away, getting a gap
Perez Sanchez is alone behind, with Taaramae being caught by the still active chasers Evans, Cataldo, Gil and Lloret
While after a 2km chase, Ricco drags himself back up to Samwel
We reach the top! 33km of steep descent to go, only a crash stands in between Alarcon .. but saying that, he has crashed out of the lead in 2 races already this season.
Ricco has swept past Samwel to go a solo 2nd .. but he is over 2 minutes behind Alarcon!
Perez Sanchez is a minute behind Samwel, while you can see in PCM profile scaling just how high theyve gone
The chasing 5 came through next, 1'40 further down - unable to separate themselves from each other, although Lloret has looked weakest
Its another 2 minutes to Cobo - now some 7 and a half minutes behind Alarcon - the Santander rider holding a small advantage on Petrov, Schwab and Ortega. Yamaha and Falcon then lead over a 20 man group 10 minutes behind Alarcon
Speaking of the Venezuelan, he is still going well - navigating the dangerously steep descent
Ricco is a clear 2nd now, while a shaky Samwel has been hunted down by Perez Sanchez. What was a minute gap has been wiped out
Theres a small, brief flat with 20km to go - and the 5 man chasing group, battling for 5th, all go for it - but still cant get clear from each other. Meanwhile, its 10km to go for Alarcon
And those 10km fly by uneventfully. A dominating win for Jose Alarcon!
2nd for Riccardo Ricco, but he cant be too pleased to have finished over 2 minutes behind Alarcon
Samwel is forced to lead out Perez Sanchez, but such is the speed of the sprint, it very nearly works for him but no, its the UBS rider who takes the final podium spot - and a reward for his strong descending
The speed of the final sprint is proven in the battle for 5th - the climbers relishing the opportunity to sprint at a speed over 50 km/h for once. Lloret leads out and is only passed by Cataldo, as Taaramae only manages 9th
JJ Cobo kept his advantage on the descent for 10th, Ortega took the battle for 11th from Schwab and Petrov, while Belkov and Mora nipped past the Yamaha relayers for the final Top 15 spots.
