Another short hilly burst today and with Kristjan Fajt having seized the overall lead yesterday the question is whether Pivovarna Lasko will try to defend today. They are nowhere to be seen in the early going as they rather meekly allow a decent 11 rider breakaway to go down the road.
It's a mixed bag of riders, the two that probably stand out as possible overall contenders are South African Dennis Van Niekerk, possibly the best climber from the Metinvest outfit and Russian Aleksandr Serov . These two have nine other riders for company: Charles Dionne Andrei Krasilnikau Mark McNally Gil Suray Rasha Abbasov Lars Andersson Victor Gomes Colinas Bart Sinnige Preben Van Hecke
Ekspla and Armavia are represented once more, unsurprisingly Pivovarna Lasko are sitting this one out. Mind you the team of the race leader really are allowing riders to go up the road as five more riders jump out of the pack to join this break which is a couple of minutes down the road.
They pass the dropped Finnair rider Andersson and contain some decent climbers.
AMEX have sent Anthony Colby forward, who along with Wilson Zambrano add two more decent climbers to the breakaway. Hearing the call of his team boss Rodolfo Fernandez is in this group, as is Pekka Jääskeläinen and Laurent Mangel
The chasers are not quite in position to challange for the first sprint which goes to Suray ahead of Gomes Colinas and Dionne. The minor mountains prime is nabbed by Zambrano ahead of Sinnage and Fernandez. Fernandez, a decent sprinter meanwhile denies Suray at the second sprint with Sinnage nabbing the third place.
Back in the pack seeing as Pivovarna Lasko are not willing to do any work, Phil Zajicek is sent forward in the pack to at least keep the gap to the break respectable, despite having Colby forward. AMEX seem to be trying to cover every possibility!
The work keeps the gap pegged at about 3.30 between 30km to go and 20km to go, it's clear the break will likely survive and in a dress rehersal for the finish at the third sprint McNally surprises sprinters Gomes Colinas and Fernandez by taking it.
For UPC their odds of taking the stage win reduce as Van Heck gets dropped from the break, meaning that Alstom are the only team with two riders in play.
In the pack as Zajicek eases off the front, no-one wants to really do the pace so the punchaers try to ignite some life.
But these four do manage to prise out a 30 second gap on the very lethargic pack.
With 10km to go the lead 14 have two minutes on Van Hecke and 3.30 on the four attackers with the pack timed at 4 minutes.
In a copycat move to yesterdays stage Colby attacks on a small rise as we get towards our finale.
Meanwhile Robert Retschke and Jan Almblad attack across to the chasers which form a group of seven after catching Van Hecke.
It could be a clever move by Almblad to take the GC lead over Fajt as he started 22 seconds down. But the problem is the break have forged a lead of over three minutes which is more than the two and half he had in hand on most of the break group.
Colby looks like the rider who could gain the most as he leads by 25 seconds into the final five kilometres.
Yesterday the rest of the break failed to really commit to the chase until too late, this time though Alstorm with two riders decide to sacrifice Dionne to reel Colby in.
Into the last 1500m and Colby has settled back behind Mangel as Dionne leads us in.
Gomes Colinas must be the favourite here along with Fernendez, but the final kilomotre does involve a bit of a kick of 6%. This hurts both the speed merchants as Mangel powers through with Colby and Serov for company.
The fans look on is part frustration as the expected win for Gomes Colinas fails to materialise, instead it is the Frenchman Mangel who takes it Alstorm making a good tactical play here.
Colby takes a very decent second place though, he looked strong in the finale and is a far better climber than Mangel for the mountains in the coming days. Serov takes the third place bonus, Gazprom will have to decide whether to work for him their best Russian climber or Spanish veteren Tondo.
But for toady Mangel takes the glory and let's not forget a probably Colorado place.
Dionne is 4th ahead of Fernandez, Sinnage, McNally and the disappointing Gomes Colinas. Van Niekerk and Zambrano couldn't feature in the sprint, though either could be decent GC shouts as their both like Colby and Serov have decent mountain skills.
Timed at 2.42, Almblad is part the seven man chase group, it's not good enough for the Cativan rider goodness only what tactic that team are playing really.
The pack comes home at 3.25, the main climbers taking an easy day ahead of the tough stages to come. It will be interesting to see how some teams play it with the likes of AMEX and Pivovarna Lasko having placed climbers in breaks and other teams having sat back and waited for the big queen stages.
