Last year Jose Alarcon waited amongst a battle of attrition, then powered away to destroy the field - beating Riccardo Ricco by 2 minutes. This year Ricco has moved on to tougher races, and taken a maiden Grand Tour victory in the Giro. Alarcon remains firmly in the continental tour though, and is back to defend his title. He has the advantage of experience of the climb - all his rivals are here for the first time.
But will he even be the best Venezuelan? Jose Rujano is down as the favourite.
Then there's the Italian teams. Jurgen Van den Broeck will have support from Carlos Castano, while Italian Champion Gianpaolo Caruso is in the field, and there is also Fabio Duarte.
Returning to continental action after the Giro are Marco Marzano and Vadim Ratiy, while Gabriele Bosisio will be keen to prove a point having not been included in his team's Giro squad.
Igor Anton and Vladimir Efimkin both have hopes aswell, but the rest of the field may struggle to get a look in. Bpost and Proximus look somewhat out of place on this start list, with their squads!
Both do feature in the day's breakaway though:
Kwiatkowski
Ignatenko
Talansky
Van Keirsbulck
Cominelli
Santoro
Ovechkin
Shatskikh
Preidler
Puccio
Rojas Gil
Roux
Most of the pacemaking comes from Ferrari and Pokerstars, with a little help from Nordhaug. Nordhaug's contribution meaning the Aker pair in the break can sit back - and perhaps await company from Alarcon later?
The big climb of the day peaks with 28km to go, and aside from a bit of uphill riding early on, it mainly starts with about 52km to go.
We get some action before this though, at 65km to go. Pokerstars deploy their plan for the day by sending Kern on the attack. The break are 4 minutes away
This puts more pressure on Ferrari to relay, so Marco Osella soon follows him on the attack - pacemaking is now up to Pirelli.
Kern cruises up to the breakaway, and Osella soon follows, just as the up/down section of road is about to end ready for the more consistent upward slant of the main climb
Pirelli, Pfanburger (VW) and Aker control the pace now, but Jose Alarcon has soon had enough. With 17km until the top of the climb, he is off.
CSC and Raabe (Pokerstars) now join in the peloton relaying but nobody responds to Alarcon's attack. It does mean that Kern is no longer setting the pace in the break, which doesnt help their chances - and leaves Osella to set the tempo
Osella rides away into a solo lead, as Alarcon links up with teammate Rojas, plus Puccio and Cominelli. And a response has now come: Duarte, Castano, Efimkin and Anton.
Raabe chases them down and now Rujano makes his move
Bosisio, Efimkin and Agudelo follow, then Caruso, Duarte, Castano and Marzano - with Alarcon now up with teammate Roux
Rujano's attacking is good news for Kern, who is free to ride for himself again. He drops the rest of the break, and now looks to close the 40 second gap to Osella
Alarcon is now there with the rest of the break - 1'10 behind Kern (So 1'50 behind Osella)
A group of chasers has formed 1 minute behind Alarcon
Roux
Marzano
Duarte
Rujano
Van Keirsbulck
Van den Broeck
Efimkin
Ratiy
Caruso
Bosisio
Castano
The notable missing name here is Igor Anton.
The attacks keep coming though as Alarcon drops the break. Rujano, Duarte, Van den Broeck and Marzano
Within 4km of the summit, Kern has managed to close down Osella - but Alarcon is chasing
Alarcon is still well over a minute ahead of the rest. Van den Broeck is the latest to attack and after briefly passing Rujano, they join together - everybody else scrambling behind them but the duo are starting to move clear
Duarte launches a solo pursuit, followed by Caruso, Castano, Bosisio and Marzano
And Alarcon has made it to the front of the race, catching Osella and Kern
But the climb is too short for Alarcon, theres no chance to drop them before reaching the top.
Rujano pushes all the way to the top aswell, with Van den Broeck just keeping with him
The gaps are:
Alarcon
Kern
Osella
+ 1'28
Rujano
Van den Broeck
+ 2'20
Duarte
+ 2'36
Marzano
+ 2'44
Caruso
+ 2'49
Castano
Bosisio
+ 3'12
Efimkin
+ 4'39
Anton
Petrov
Ratiy
+ 5'01
Talansky
Shatskikh
+ 5'30
Kwiatkowski
Preidler
Ignatenko
Santoro
+ 6'12
Soler
Colorado
Agnoli
Santaromita
Maisto
Ortega
Rodas
Raabe
Agudelo
Possoni
Roux
Stubbe
+ 7'00
Sagan
15 Others
As Kern tries to disrupt Alarcon and Osella, Rujano and Van den Broeck really launch into the descent. The gap is reduced to 1'05 with 20km ot go.
Duarte remains 6th on the road, with Marzano and Caruso just behind him
While Efimkin has caught up with Bosisio and Castano
Meanwhile Shatskikh and Talansky have caught Anton, Ratiy and Petrov
12km to go, and VdB and Rujano have got the gap down to 45 seconds
Osella is helping Alarcon out, as they try to hold them off
While Duarte is still just clear in 6th place. Marzano is chasing but Caruso is sitting on - evidently he has decided he cant do any better than 6th, so using the excuse of Osella being up the road, he can sit on Marzano and store his energy to help him take 6th more easily - assuming they can get across that gap to Duarte
5km to go. Alarcon is on the front, but if he looks behind, he will see company!
Great descending by Van den Broeck and Rujano. Pokerstars now have a numbers advantage here.
While Duarte still holds off Marzano
So we're coming to the finish. Kern used up the least amount of energy on the descent, but has been on the attack the longest - and had to work hard to get back up to Osella. Van den Broeck is the strongest sprinter if the descent didnt take it out of him, while Alarcon and Rujano can use the advantage of surprise by launching from the back
Osella? Well he gets to lead them out.
But hang on, Kern is sleeping here and Osella shoots clear!!!
Kern doesnt launch until the final kilometre, when Van den Broeck also makes his move, but by now it is too late!
Marco Osella stuns everyone by winning the Transfagarasan GP!
Kern might have cost himself victory there by not simply following Osella, he takes 2nd, ahead of Alarcon, Rujano and Van den Broeck
Alarcon was the top climber in the race again, but couldnt handle the descent and finish when with company, as opposed to solo last year - while Van den Broeck and Rujano get no reward for their descending, since they take 4th and 5th positions anyway.
Into the final kilometre and Duarte has still kept his small gap
But Caruso unleashes the power he saved up, and takes 6th place away from Duarte. 8th for Marzano
Castano sprints to 9th and Efimkin rounds out the Top 10 ahead of Bosisio
The Anton and Ratiy group just about holds off a Sagan-led group of 32, with Ratiy taking 12th, and Anton 13th.
