It is going to be pretty tough out there today with four categorised climbs before the downhill and 30 or so flat kilometres at the end. It probably is not a day which a rider can win the Volta ao Algarve but could be a day where one could lose it.
Nikolai Trusov
took the sprint yesterday and leads. His squad T.CS Bank are very strong here, and Trusov is probably a good enough climber to stick with the front group today, but so is second placed Sergio Marinangeli
and punchaers like Luis Leon Sanchez Gil
and Franco Pellizotti
will be eyeing the oppurtunity to make up for time before tomorrows queen stage and the last stage time trial.
It is also a day which could suit a break win and we get five riders who take this chance.
It contains two Costa Ricans! Gregory Brenes Henry Raabe
The Latin flavour of the break is continued by the presence of Jaume Rovira
and Jordi Grau
this is slightly watered down by the presence of 20 year old Belgian rider Frederik Frison
Grau is a decent climber and has shown he can win from breakaways in the past with a stage win last year in Colombia. He edges out Rovira and Brenes in the first King of the Mountains.
But the Aker Solutions man gets his revenge at the sprint soon after, Brenes getting second this time to Grau's third place.
The roads are a little wet as we started the day with quite heavy rain, unfortunately this caused the inexperienced Belgian rider from the breakaway Frederik Frison
to fall.
The Spanish speaking riders in the break shrug their shoulders and continue on, their lead has grown quite rapidly but they have heard through their radios that T.CS Bank are pulling already through Artem Ovechkin
and Pavel Brutt
The second climb is pretty nasty and Henry Raabe
who barely raced last season is still needing races as he slips off the back of the breakaway group on the steep sections.
Meanwhile Jordi Grau
moves into the provisional King of the Mountains lead taking the win at the top. Rovira takes second and Brenes third.
The third King of the Mountains proves another easy grab for Grau, Rovira again loses out but he at least moves into provisional second in that competition and sticks with Grau. The same cannot be said for Brenes who loses touch here.
With two left up front and the dropped riders between this is making the job of chasing a bit easier. T.CS Bank have this well under control, Ovechkin is doing a lot of monster turns as he keeps the gap under five minutes.
The last 75 kilometres have a long lumpy section followed by a quick downhill and a long flat section into the finish. The finish is slightly uphill though and it may well suit Marinangeli.
Coming onto this awkward section some riders are looking a bit tired at the back of the pack, but a couple of youngsters are fresh and raring to go as Georg Preidler
and Toms Skujins
attack the pack.
Ouch the roads are still wet and a crash with one of yesterdays break men and KoM jersey wearer. Matthias Brändle
Brandle cannot rejoin here as T.CS Bank are determined to keep a high pace on this climb. This is bearing fruit as another dangerman for the final sprint Samuel Dumoulin
drops off the back.
Taylor Tolleson
also drops back and rather frustrating for Pokerstars will be the sight of Stef Clement
dropping back to help Dumoulin try to get back.
Pokerstars do still have Jurgen Van Goolen
still up there but they were rather hoping for a dual GC threat.
Another team hoping for a dual GC threat is Bpost however their best time trialler Michiel Elijzen
is now put into difficulty on this climbing section.
The front group has dwindled slowly to 29 riders, T.CS Bank will probably be pretty pleased with things and they have reduced the gap to the lead 2 to under three minutes with 50 kilometres to go having reeled in Preidler and Skujins. Grau and Rovira continue to push on, hoping that the chase runs out of steam.
Rovira takes the last King of the Mountains climb ahead of Grau (Preidler attacks again to take third). This means Grau has 22 KoM points to Rovira's 18, these two are 8 points clear of Brandle and Koep.
The young German Koep is wearing the young riders jersey however he is part of the Dumoulin group that was dropped by the infernal T.CS Bank pace, Ovechkin seems to be tireless on the front. Yellow jersey Trusov also looks comfortable.
All the work is thrown into turmoil as we get massive moment of drama as Mikhail Ignatiev
crashes!
A key moment here as the pace is one to catch the breakaway, Ovechkin does drop off but Brutt carries on pacing. No T.CS Bank rider drops back to help Ignatiev, they still have Kiryenka in the front group who got third last year but this is a surprise.
Chaotic scenes as eventually Brutt eases off at the front, however the opportunistic Rothaus take over the pacing as we get into the last 12 kilometers.
The gap back to Ignatiev has risen pretty quickly to over two minutes, the Russian seems to be struggling slightly and may be injured by the fall.
A lot of excitement at the finish as it looks like last years champion is going to lose a lot of time today, the lead two have just kept going and still have 30 or so seconds into the last 5 kilometres.
Some arguements seem to be taking place about the pacing, Aker Solutions decide to try and slow things down for their teammate ahead.
The team of Jose Alarcon have been pretty quiet after that spectacular win in Tachira but they look to strike today with Spanish journeyman Jaume Rovira
he has a good sprint and looks to have too much for Jordi Grau
Behind frustrated by the slowing tactics Sergio Marinangeli
launches hard after the leaders.
He knows as perhaps Grau does that there is a nasty little kick in the last 600 metres or so and the better climber Grau eases back at Rovira as the gradient stiffens.
In fact Rovira has misjudged this and fades pretty badly, Grau meanwhile looks good for the win.
The gap has closed between the lead two and the front group, Marinangeli has closed it pretty much by himself. The closest follower is Vasili Kiryenka
However despite a nervous look over his shoulder Grau has enough to win and will take the race lead due to bonuses grabbed on the road and the 20 second bonus for the race win.
Marinangeli looks a good contender for the green points jersey and takes third place ahead of Kiryenka, Weening and Koren.
Kiryenka's 4th place cannot disguise the fact that this has been a horrible day for T.CS Bank though. They lose the leaders jersey and Ignatiev finishes thee minutes back also to compound the misery Ovechkin having done so much work finishes 57 seconds off the pace with Brenes.
A couple of more teams and riders will be disappointed with todays hard stage Elijzen 5th here last year finishes 4.42 back, Clement is at 5.33 with white jersey Koep (Skujins takes that over) and Bonnet is at 10.58.
