Here we go then, the last mountain stage, and arguably the hardest. The first climb looks like the toughest of the race, and despite the unfortuante flat downhill that follows, the last few km go steeply uphill again. Rodas leads Alarcon by 2'43, and the Aker manager appears to have given up on victory - but has Alarcon?
Not that 1st place is the only place of contention. 10 seconds between Ratiy and Castano for 3rd. 19 seconds between Lloret, Astarloza, Eastman and Parra Bustamente for 5th. 36 seconds between Niemiec, Nazaret, Krasnoperov, Kessiakoff and Vasquez for 9th.
Also up for grabs today is the KoM jersey. Chris Anker Sorensen leads Alarcon by 1 point. 10 points for first on the mid-climb sprint, 10 points for first at the finish - best chance for Alarcon is that he gets in the break, and wins the first KoM without Alarcon scoring. And sure enough, Sorensen makes the break.
Mazur doesnt make it across, but is getting help from Locatelli and Raisin as the intermediate sprint is reached. Cattaneo takes it from Viviani and Evans.
Breakaways are proving popular, with such an apparent stage win opportunity. But the bad news for Sorensen and the rest is, too many got interested, and its all been chased down.
Surely now more attacks will come? Or not. Craig Lewis sums up the new situation 8km later.
At last after 15kms of peace, with 63km to go, 17th overall Tyler Brandt reopens the hostilities
Except, nobody goes with him. So Brandt is forced to go on a solo attack, perhaps not what he planned on doing!
A lead of 3'47 is reached with 40km to go, but VW and Aker are now doing work - Ratiy keen for his team to set a pace on the remaining flat, because theyll all be unable to help on the climb itself. The peloton stretches.
Brandt takes the intermediate sprint, with Haedo 2nd and Rojas 3rd, the Aker pair leading the peloton over. Brandt starts the big climb, 20km to go, 3 minutes lead.
Not for the first time, after showing strong intent, Aker then allow CSC to play a role in setting the pace. But its neverthless a strong pace, as the peloton looks set to split up for good
Infact on closer inspection, it HAS split! 21 man group, Vadim Ratiy being the 21st man
Lloret, Astarloza and Niemiec amongst those to miss out, but it is brought back together, Lloret having to lead the chase back
17.6km to go, Alarcon is sat behind the relay train, Rodas further back. Surely Alarcon MUST attack if he has any hope to win the race?
16.6km to go. ALARCON ATTACKS!
Castano, Paulinho and Nazaret try to respond, but theres no following him this time.
Brandt passes through the KoM, oddly not at the top of the climb.
1'25 later, its Alarcon
38 seconds later, Parra Bustamente leads over the peloton Parra Bustamente, Colorado, Duenas, Rodas Jaramillo, Vasquez Carrara Ratiy Paulinho Eastman, Stetina Martinez, Ochoa Quintero Castano, Saldarriaga Lloret Nazaret, Raisin, Krasnoperov
1 minute later, another 12 Sorensen, Kessiakoff, Astarloza, Txurruka Nordhaug Lewis Niemiec, Maisto Santaromita Schwab Orozco, Evans
So, KoM jersey wise, thats it all but secured for Alarcon, with Sorensen in trouble - Parra Bustamente moving up to 3rd for now. GC wise, Astarloza and Niemiec - two Top 10 riders - are both dropped. And to make it worse for WWE, 3 Emu riders are in that CSC-Orbea group compared to only 1 WWE - with the two in a close teams classification battle.
Nazaret attacks now, as the CSC-Orbea group splits. Eastman, Lloret, Carrara, Raisin, Martinez, Ochoa Quintero, Saldarriaga and Krasnoperov in trouble.
Alarcon catches Brandt. Theyve got a 48 second lead
And is Rodas now struggling?
Duenas and Parra Bustamente drop back to support Rodas, while Jaramillo is dropped, and Ratiy takes up the pace.
And Rodas is dropped!!
Colorado was still ahead, and he drops back, and the process doing so helps to reduce the gap a little, and crucially, we have topped the climb now and are into the slight downhill!
Castano now attacks, Vasquez and Nazaret responding, but the CSC-Orbea group are back with Paulinho and Ratiy
Still with Brandt, Alarcon doesnt seem to be enjoying the descent section - Castano has got the gap down to 16 seconds
Meanwhile, Eastman, Ochoa Quintero and Lloret - who did get detached on the climb - have made an attack. They are 45 seconds behind the Rodas group
And whats this, the descent has clearly done wonders for Rodas. He seemed on the limit, but now he attacks!!
At this point, Alarcon can be no more than 35 seconds ahead of Rodas, as he and Brandt hit the climb. 2km to go, Rodas seems to have this covered.
Immediately, Alarcon drops Brandt
Rodas' moment of defiance is over, and he settles back in this group, Colorado setting the pace
Ratiy and Nazaret now attack, Nazaret not happy with 10th overall, while Ratiy needs to act to stop Castano riding away with the final podium spot.
Alarcon is really on a charge. Gap on Castano and Brandt up to 48 seconds with 1km to go
And in the next 300m, he adds a further 18 seconds to that gap
Its not like Castano is going slow, driving on to hold off the pursuit of Nazaret and Ratiy
Alarcon takes the stage! No celebration, its all about time. 20 bonus seconds for the win, so he just needs 2'24 to move into a 1 second lead
+1'37 Carlos Castano takes 2nd
+1'48 Brandt holds on for a great 3rd place
+1'55 Nazaret is 4th, should move up in GC, and good news for Emu in the teams classification
+2'03 Ratiy and Paulinho - where was Paulinho on Stage 9 then? Much better today, while Ratiy loses 3rd overall here.
Vasquez is next, but right in front of Rodas! What on earth is he doing? Rodas' time loss to Alarcon is going to be reduced by Alarcons own teammate!!!
Next come the other 3 CSC riders, great effort by them, Parra Bustamente securing his own Top 10 placing.
Ochoa Quintero, Carrara, Eastmen and Lloret are together at 3'02
Of the rest of the days starting top 10. Astarloza loses 4'08, Niemiec 4'22.
But what you really want to know is the gap between Alarcon and Vasquez/Rodas.
4'16!
Rodas keeps Yellow by 7 seconds!!!!!
Thats not the only close one. Nazaret takes 5th place overall - 1 second ahead of both Lloret and Parra Bustamente. Eastman and Astarloza lose places but stay in the Top 10, while Vasquez is up to 9th. Tyler Brandt's ride moves him up to 11th.
Teams Classification wise, Emu gain 1'07 on WWE and take the lead 52 seconds, with only a further 14 seconds to CSC-Orbea, who were 1'07 better than Emu today. Aker had the best time of the day, but were already too far back to come into play.
