Two flat stages in a row is enough, lets head to the hills
Navigating the early climbs are a breakaway of 6: Nerz, Kiprotich, Jacquier, Kwiatkowski, Batchelor and Haller
We reach the day's KoM, the winner takes the jersey, and its Victor Jacquier - the French free agent - who attacks away to take it
Nerz is 2nd, Kwiatkowski 3rd.
Just the one intermediate sprint, and Haller wins it from Jacquier, and Kwiatkowski
With 75km to go, the break leads by 4 minutes, and Van Zandbeek attacks from the peloton. Cioban, Lejman, Sagan and Bar counterattack - and Jocelyn Bar is by far the strongest
But Van Zandbeek gets a second wind, to rejoin Bar - while the other attackers are caught. 40km to go, the break are 1'20 ahead of the chasing duo, with a further 40 seconds to the peloton
A few kilometres later, and we reach a tight and chaotic corner.
Right at the front of the peloton, Guardiola Tora, relaying, loses control and crashes. Right in front of the also relaying Schadlich who has nowhere to go and hits the deck aswell.
The next 2 relayers also crash: Rinner and Bernaudeau - and Danny Summerhill attacks! Brandt and Boonratanathanakorn are immediately countering, but more drama! Just as it looks like all others have avoided the crash, podium favourite Danacik rides into Bernaudeau and hits the deck!
This is a nightmare for Danacik, crashing at exactly the moment the early attacks begin, the pace will be at it's highest. The 3 attackers move straight past Bar and Van Zandbeek and start to thread through the breakaway - which itself has recently split up through attacks.
But here we go, Tenorio attacks! And sneaky, he does so right before a descent, so although Madrazo immediately tries to counter, the descent does not allow him to - but thats a gap for Tenorio!
Riding well here, Summerhill and Boonratanathanakorn have swept past the breakaway and into the lead
Tenorio had made it up to the next group, with Kiprotich and Batchelor, with Brandt just behind, and then new attackers Kennaugh and Costagli
This chase group comes together - and Kennaugh actually gets away from Tenorio - as Boivin, Schreurs, Dowsett, Betancourt and aha, Madrazo, are all countering across
Summerhill drops Boonratanathanakorn, and here we have Dowsett, Kennaugh, Betancourt, Tenorio, Madrazo and Schreurs all coming up to the Thai rider
Further moves see Eastman, Guldhammer, Garcia De Mateos and Locatelli attack the peloton and as we reach 10km to go, it would seem a good time to assess the situation.
Summerhill leads Tenorio, Madrazo and Betancourt by 20 seconds. Theres another 14 seconds to Dowsett. At 54 seconds to Summerhill is Schreurs, Eastman, Kennaugh, Guldhammer, Wallays, Boonratanathanakorn and Brandt. While at 1'30 to Summerhill, Locatelli's attack has enabled him to reach teammate Costagli, and he is helping him to try to close the gap - Copeland and the last break survivor Jacquier are also here.
But the trio chasing Summerhill arent really pressing on. Betancourt of course, wont relay, while Madrazo and Tenorio see each other as the key rivals. So with 6.4km to go, Dowsett has caught them followed soon after by Schreurs, Kennaugh, Eastman, Guldhammer, Wallays, Boonratanathanakorn and clinging on, Brandt.
Summerhill is simply extending his lead though!
Getting towards the final few kilometres and last uphill kick to the line now, and Tenorio attacks!! Betancourt, Eastman, Guldhammer and Kennaugh are responding - but Madrazo is sitting back!
It's only when Schreurs and Dowsett also go that Madrazo wakes up to the danger
The rest of that group seems unable to respond as Summerhill now enters the final kilometre
Tenorio holds a gap in 2nd, as Eastman, Schreurs and Guldhammer lead off the sprint for 3rd - Madrazo has made it into the group alongside Betancourt and the 2 100% Me riders Dowsett, and the very impressive riding of Kennaugh - not usually known for hilly prowess.
But the stage belongs to just one man. Attacking after those crashes, with a long 35km left to go, he has held off the rest to take the stage victory - the very same stage that fellow American Van Garderen won last year.
After Madrazo won Round 1 of the Spanish Duel yesterday - where a battle was not expected at all - Tenorio has fought back today. Matching Madrazo's 2nd place, and adding to it with a time gap!
Schreurs takes 3rd from Madrazo and the rest of the group, Kennaugh having been finally tailed off in the last kilometre. 9th on the stage is invaluable in his hopes for the points jersey though, where he faces an uphill struggle to win that jersey against the main GC contenders.
Wallays takes 10th solo, before Copeland, Brandt, Boonratanathanakorn, Locatelli and Costagli
But then perhaps the most impressive ride of all. Crashing at the worst possible moment, and spending over 25km chasing to simply get back into the peloton, Danacik has done not only that, but fought his way to the front of the peloton and limit his losses to just under 3 minutes. It remains a major blow to his podium hopes, but he is not yet completely out of it
