The first mountain stage in Division two's history and we could be in for an unpredictable one. The slopes on the Alto de Colorado never go over 8% but it is a long day of climbing and the steepest sections are near the top.
One of Division two's highest paid riders in Luis Felipe Laverde Jimenez
is well favoured today as is Viatcheslav Dyadichkin
and Tareq Esmaeli
However none of these three are that high up on GC glancing down the list you'd have to fancy Isidro Nozal
who is just 22 seconds down. But he has plenty of decent climbers near to him on GC with Tamás Lengyel
at 25 seconds Kristjan Fajt
at 27 seconds Maxim Gourov
at 32 seconds Aleksandr Serov
at 33 seconds Franklin Chacon
at 36 seconds
and a second Gazprom rider Danail Petrov
at 40 seconds. All are only a time bonus away from the experienced Spaniard.
There may well be the question of just how tough is the climb anyway, they all will have to prize Oleg Chuzhda
out of his leaders jersey that he and his Eurovision team has defended well.
It's going to be a tactical one for sure and 13 riders break clear early, none probably dreaming of a stage win, just a staging base for any future moves more likely.
ENRC miss the move but have two domestiques chasing on Juri Yuda
and Victor Shishelov
along with Dyson's Marco Brus
None of the three are good climbers and they struggle to make ground as the race starts the climbs of the day. As we approach the second long ramp, tactics start to become more clear as Adonis Cardoso Española
and Gilberto Sampaio
jump clear.
These two hook up with the three chasers and make it up to the lead 13 to make a total of 18 up front with 65 to go. However behind both Ekspla and UPC have got this under tight control.
In fact they pull it all back together before this last long climb of about 20km, with the last 5km slightly downhill in fact.
It seems that whilst UPC would like things to be controlled American Express are determined to light it up and it is Cardoso Espanola once again who goes on the attack at the bottom of the climb.
Ekspla seem to be intent on controlling the pace here and it is their best climber Esteban Mardones
who is doing so. It's hard to work out why they are doing this - it seems possible that Logan Hutchings
so awesome in the time trial a couple of stages ago thinks that he can possibly hang on here. He is less one team member in sprinter and current green jersey Mike Friedman
pretty soon.
But Mardonas continues to plug away at the front keeping the gap to Cardoso to just about 45 seconds.
We are slowly shedding riders but both Chuzdha and Hutchings are still clearly near the front of the pack, but ultimately we do get more attacks with 10km (and 15km of the stage left) as now another Cuban Yennier López Fonseca
attacks.
This does look like a key moment in the race here as Oleg Chuzhda
drifts backwards.
Clearly both Hutchings (2nd on GC) and Gallagher (3rd on GC) are slipping back as their climbing teammates. Esteban Mardones
and David Belda
It seems a bit wasteful of both riders who would move up on GC if a major selection happens but clearly they feel they can whether this storm.
But the pace is forming a selection of sorts as now we can see the relatively well placed Dor Dviri
decisively dropped from the back of the reduced bunch.
4.5km to go to the top of the climb Jose Chacon reels in Cardoso Espanola, the Cuban has really given it a go and has at least forced somewhat of a selection. Laverde Jimenez tries to go over the top but he too is reeled in.
We have just 30 riders left as we approach the top of this climb and I guess some of the most talented climbers in division two.
Lets run through the riders here then Nozal, Weilinga Tamás Lengyel Goran Smelcerovic Jose Chacon, Fajt Dyadichkin, Gourov Tondo, Petrov and Serov F Chacon, Gonzalez Luengo, Kuzniak Lopez Fonseca, Melero, Jurco Johannes Frohlinger Wegelius, Eliad Peter Pancake Sampaio, Laverde Velez Cardoso Espanola, Esmeali, Colby Laverde Jimenez, Agudelo Ludvig Lundberg
It's getting more and more desperate for the South American riders in particular as they can see the uphill running out and Laverde Jimenez repeatedly tries to break free.
It does drop a few more names Kuzniak and Smelcerovic but everyone else bunches together as we go over the top. It has been more decisive then some teams such as Kingspan and Ekspla expected. News there is that Chuzdha is back with a group containing Gallagher, but Hutchings is ahead of that group by 30 or so seconds.
Back up front sensing he may be given freedom by teams not wanting a frantic battle for bonus seconds way down on GC Melero tries to get away Agudelo tries to go with.
But the power is lacking to get away as some riders can sense an oppurtunity here as the likes of Lengyel and Nozel are poorly placed as they line up into the last kilometre.
Fajt, Gourov, Pancake and Franklin Chacon are here with a chance but UPC fans can breathe a bit easier when Laverde Velez takes charge.
This will move the Het Nieuwsblad rider into the top 10, but Gourov and Fajt could still take Nozal with a second place. Though that looks like a Petrobrus rider there...
Laverde Velez sprints to the win, clearly he took some sprinting advice from his teammates.
Indeed the Petrobrus rider, revealed to be Gonzalez not Franklin Chacon takes second and Gourov nabs third. A key move that moves him into second overall behind another winner today Nozal.
So some mountain fans will have been disappointed with this but there are some far tougher climbs ahead for these racers this was just a warm up. This race it seems was as much about the time trial as todays climb. That said Hutchings was dropped and finished 3 and a half minutes down to go to 26th on GC Chuzdha drops to 28th and Gallagher 30th.
In the young riders competition Eliad takes control as he was one of just three youngsters to finish with the lead group along with Esmaeli and Lundberg. Three teams had three riders up front and Gazprom now lead the teams ahead of Samsung Mol, American Express unfortunately lost team time due to that early Colby crash.
Tomorrow could be nervous as we have a tight circuit stage.
