Rujano and Van den Broeck start the day as clear favourites - and the Belgian in particular needs to make some strong gains. Other climbers likely to go well today include Ratiy and Anton.
Most GC riders are separated within a minute - but the interesting team to look at is Bianchi. Lloret knows this race well, but De la Fuente is best placed and an in form rider this season. Schwab and Gil are likely to play strong support roles - but then theres Vantornout, 2nd overall with a minute and a half's advantage on Rujano. With 73 Mountain he can stick around a bit if the splits don't happen.
Race leader is Brutt, but Tinkoff also have Efimkin well placed. Will they do the often seen crazy move of sacrificing everything for Brutt?
Early on, a break of 13 built a 2 minutes lead
Evans
Lewis
Maaskant
Clement
Cardoso
Zaballa
Howes
Maisto
Diaz Corrales
Brenes
Castroviejo
Landa
Raabe
And they led through the first sprint.
1
Clement
2
Evans
3
Zaballa
But then 3 more attacked:
Santaromita
Schachmann
Zrimsek
And the peloton didnt like that, so it all got chased down.
The 2nd intermediate sprint came with no breakaway, so Van Ooijen decided to sprint out of the pack for it. He won it from Van Poppel, who had the same idea.
And then with 85km to go, the next attack. And what an attack this is! Manuel Lloret and Igor Anton!
We're not even on the climbs yet, still on the flatlands - but Bianchi have sensibly decided to spread their bets and it is Lloret who has drawn the staw of 'long attack'. The fact that 3-star stage favourite Anton is following is very interesting - much more of a risk for the CSC rider, but perhaps more to be gained here than by waiting and just following Rujano/Van den Broeck?
It could all backfire of course, but a few others also think this move is a good idea:
Cristian Pfannburger
Andres Saldarriaga
Sergio Sousa
Pedro Nicacio
Jurgen van Goolen
Nicacio is Cerne's team leader, so a risk coming from them aswell - but the other 4 are support riders for their leaders instead.
Anton and Lloret have no intention of waiting for these 5 though. Nicacio would help, but the rest would get in the way.
Theres a strong chance for one of Anton and Lloret to take the KoM jersey today, and Lloret takes the first climb - while also sprinting away from Anton to pick up a few bonus seconds at the last sprint of the day.
In a change of positions, Anton is first over the 2nd KoM
Gaps:
Lloret
Anton
+ 2'15
Pfannburger
Saldarriaga
Sousa
Nicacio
van Goolen
+ 2'53
Peloton
Onto KoM #3, and John-Lee Augustyn attacks.
Jose Rujano badly tried to follow, but was completely blocked in, and his counter attack could not work.
Augustyn bridges to the Nicacio-led chasing group while further up, a split forms in the group after the Tinkoff pace setters drop back to support a struggling Brutt.
Niemiec
Osella
Van den Broeck
Lewis
Peterson
Raisin
Lloret leads Anton over the top of the climb
And Rujano has finally found some clean air to attack and he moves past the Van den Broeck group that had worked a small gap, with Ratiy and Stetina following.
Nicacio goes on the attack over the top, taking 3rd, but he is further behind Anton and Lloret now than before
The race is all over the place over the top - but here's the gaps directly on the summit.
Lloret
Anton
+ 2'36
Nicacio
+ 2'52
Augustyn
+ 3'06
Pfannburger
+ 3'25
Saldarriaga
Sousa
+ 3'56
Rujano
Ratiy
Van Goolen
Stetina
+ 4'39
Niemiec
Van den Broeck
Osella
Raisin
Peterson
+ 5'11
Lewis
Schwab
De la Fuente
Rodas
Vantornout
Hesjedal
Jaramillo
+ 6'25
20 man Peloton
And the end of the descent, theres just 16km to go. The Van den Broeck and Rujano groups have merged but they are still 3'48 behind Lloret and Anton!
But theres an incredible lack of urgency in the group. Surely theyre not conceding the race already? It takes the Tinkoff group catching them again to inject some life, with Van den Broeck attacking
Meanwhile, Lloret and Anton are surely riding their way to victory. 10km to go for them as Lloret takes the penultimate climb. He has a 49 second advantage on Anton in GC, so the CSC rider will need to drop him on the final climb for a change of overall glory.
Lloret is also now assured of at least a share of the KoM jersey. He has built a 6 point advantage on Anton, with 20 points on offer for 1st at the finish, and 14 for 2nd.
Augustyn and Nicacio are next to summit - having just dropped Pfannburger. Their gap? 3 minutes!
Rujano, Van den Broeck, Ratiy, Stetina and Niemiec cross together - 4'16 behind! As it stands, theyre battling for 5th in GC, so they need to really attack the final climb. They ought to at least catch Nicacio and Augustyn to battle for the final podium spot.
At 5'17 is a 21 man group, with Brutt still clinging on in there. Brandle and Vantornout are also here, so on current gaps, theyd be maintaining Top 10 GC positions. Hesjedal, Jaramillo, Efimkin, de la Fuente, Gil and Schwab all also in this group.
Onto the final climb. Augustyn and Nicacio are doing a good job at holding the lead of Anton and Lloret to 3 minutes - and their advantage over the rest is extending!
Osella and Peterson catch the Rujano/VdB group and Vantornout is on the front of the group behind reeling them in. Finally, Rujano launches another attack.
But once again, its a case of attack and then what? The pace drops and its all back together again - with Augustyn and Nicacio now 1'50 away and looking increasingly comfortable in securing 3rd and 4th, with just 5km to go.
And to top it all off, Klaas Vantornout attacks from his group and catches Rujano and co! It's an admirable effort, though you have to wonder why De la Fuente isnt also getting involved aswell for Bianchi rather than just sitting back.
But let us not forget the riders of the day. Lloret and Anton surely never expected their ambitious move with 84km to go to be so successful. Lloret can sense victory in the race where he has been 2nd and 3rd in the past 2 years, with Anton unable to dislodge him.
3 minutes back, Nicacio and Augustyn are still going strong, theyve kept a good rhythym and worked together well, while those behind screwed up their own hopes. The South African holds a 19 second GC lead on the Brazilian, who has also been on the attack for longer, but its all still to play for.
Final kilometre for Lloret and Anton. Lloret seems set for the overall race, but can Anton grab the stage?
But in emphatic style, Manuel Lloret surges clear. It will be the Stage, GC, King of the Mountains jersey, and even the Points jersey for him. He completes the set of finishing 3rd, 2nd and now 1st in the Vuelta a Burgos!
A valiant 2nd for Anton, the risk paid off for him, and 2nd on Stage and GC remains a great result.
And finally, Rujano and co have woken up behind. Gaps are starting to emerge, and Rujano has now gone solo.
Nicacio and Augustyn are into the final kilometre and the Brazilian is looking strong
Nicacio comes home for 3rd, 3'12 down. He worked just as hard as Anton and Lloret for that, and its perhaps even more impressive that he has managed to take 3rd place today!
Its a bit of a surprise that Augustyn couldnt keep up, but he really hit the limit in the final kilometre. He crosses the line at 3'48, so will finish behind Nicacio in GC
But look at Rujano! He finally started riding and its a fast finish for him. The clock stops at 4'04.
This means that 3rd in GC goes to Nicacio, with Rujano 12 seconds back in 4th, and Augustyn a further 13 seconds behind in 5th. Pokerstars will be seriously dissapointed in Rujano though - this race was his for the taking. Who knows what would have happened had he successfully been able to follow Augustyn when the South African went clear - rather than being blocked in by Tinkoff riders. Not that he can use that as an excuse - he had plenty of time after that and he wasted it.
At 4'44, its Niemiec edging out an even more dissapointing Van den Broeck. Niemiec started the day 9 seconds ahead of the Belgian, and it will remain that way.
But close behind are Stetina and Ratiy - finishing at 5'02. Theyve limited their losses enough to ensure that both finish ahead of Niemiec and Van den Broeck in GC. Stetina and Ratiy were also contesting the White U25 jersey, and with them being unseparable today, it is Stetina who wins that jersey - by just 7 seconds.
Theres a bit of a gap now before Jaramillo taking 10th at 6'52, then Hesjedal at 7'07 and Raisin at 7'14.
Soon after, De la Fuente leads the next group in at 7'30. An oddly passive ride today for him, aswell as Gil and Schwab. Its not that they stopped riding to wait for Vantornout at any point, they just followed the wheels all through the stage.
Vantornout just falls short of taking 6th overall, and will take 10th - only 21 seconds behind Van den Broeck. Infact Bianchi end up taking 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th in GC - aswell as 1st and 2 jerseys! A successful race for them for sure! No prizes for guessing who won the Teams classification!
And until this stage, the same applied to Tinkoff. But having fought hard, Brutt finally collapsed at the end of the stage and unfortunately, Efimkin and Kolesnikov both waited for him - while Kiryenka suffered from a crash. Not a good end result for the Russians, losing over 10 minutes.
