This surely is this years queen stage in Catalunya. Actually I think it might be one of the hardest stages all over the season and so it will be very exciting as the majority of top climbers are here.
We start with 2 early Cat.1 mountains which might let some riders already suffer a lot before we go up a HC climb in the 2nd half. After the descent we immediately go uphill again on another HC climb towards to mountain top finish there.
The winner today will earn a lot of prestige and maybe even the leader jersey.
Something like this could have been expected. Costagli attacks right after the start. As 35th with +6'51 he is not the biggest danger but on the other hand he might become one today.
He is followed by three more riders: Kern Stubbe Ortega
They are joined by 3 more riders but the peloton is just a tiny bit behind. Grabovskiy Sestili Laengen
In especially first one of this trio will make the KoM fight very interesting as he collected quite a few points so far being 3rd.
Of course the actual KoM leader mustn`t miss this opportunity. Pauwels immediately jumps after with Rolland following for helping Contador later I guess.
Same tacticts maybe for Kulhavy and Van Huffel.
Team B&O is controlling the peloton now. Obviously all teams are quite happy with the 11 riders in front, which are forming an extremely strong group.
This will hurt a lot. Due to the high pace so with all these attacks a group of 27 is already behind. We haven`t even reached the half of the first mountain of the day. These riders will struggle a lot today and if they already have problems now they will have to fight to avoid disqualification.
A 28th rider is actually behind this one in Le Gac. The young French is fighting his way back after crashing earlier today.
The two groups came together now. Costagli surely is the best climber but actually most of them are experts in the uphill part and should do very well today.
Bad news for Pauwels and Grabovskiy as Costagli will also go for the KoM jersey despite having only 4 points yet as he wins the first KoM points today. The other two follow next with Kern, Stubbe, Ortega and Kulhavy taking the small points.
Laengen, Rolland, Sestili and Van Huffel lost contact to the group as they had no interest in the KoM points and are now in between. 1'30 to the peloton and 1min to the group of 7.
It took the whole descent and also a few uphill kilometers before they were able to join again but after 25km of chasing they were successful.
Also the gap to the peloton became bigger now. Almost 6min for them, which is good news for the struggling riders behind as they might come back again.
135km to go and we almost reach the next KoM sprint. The gap is now at 10min and this means that Van Huffel is the virtual leader as best placed. He was 25th before the stage with +5'18. Also Kulhavy (29.), Costagli (35.), Grabovskiy (40.), Pauwels (42.), Rolland (43.) and Stubbe (57.) would pass Pluchkin at the moment.
Costagli also takes the points this time. Grabovskiy outsprints Pauwels for 2nd and also closes the gap. Kern, Kulhavy, Stubbe and Rolland are the next.
3 more minutes. Quite relaxed Team B&O leads the peloton over the line. 13 minutes now with 120km to go! Even the sprinters and Le Gac are back in this group again. Slowly they need to increase their pace. Otherwise we might see a huge surprise today.
So ambitions for the riders in the group for the intermediate. It`s Grabovskiy ahead of Kulhavy and Kern here.
With 60km to go and soon reaching the first HC climb the gap is down to 8'30. B&O really did a higher pace the last kilometers and the biggest danger is already over now.
Bad news for Intxausti. Still 8,5km to go on this climb and the peloton is down to 73. And the Spaniard is the only leader being totally isolated. All team mates couldn`t follow the high pace and the only one, who probably could is in the breakaway in Grabovskiy. So he has to get his bottles on his own all the time. What a bad waste of energy for him there. It surely wasn`t the last time today.
Vesuvio for Andy Schleck is coming to the front now. Kvasina increases the pace again. Schleck definitely is the best pure climber here and if he wants to win the overall today might be the last chance.
Only 5 riders left in the breakaway and no Grabovskiy. So one rider out of the KoM fight. Costagli obviously the strongest taking the maximum points once again ahead of Kulhavy, Kern, Pauwels and Stubbe. So it will still be a close battle as both are having 56 points now. So if someone wants to win it alone they need to be in front on the final climb as well.
Ortega, Laengen, Rolland, Van Huffel, Grabovskiy and Sestili coming next.
34km to go and still 5'52 for the peloton. The group is now down to 58 riders but all GC riders are still in there.
The splitted breakaway came together a bit again and so it`s Van Huffel who surprisingly takes the sprint here ahead of Stubbe and Kulhavy.
Only Sestili is definitely not coming back.
Also Grabovskiy didn`t make it back when the remaining 9 riders start the final climb. Only 3 minutes are left to the peloton and this will be very close and possibly too less.
An early attack in the favourite group. With 13,5km left 4 riders have a small gap: Schleck Gomez Marchante Spilak Sicard
Coming to a steeper part it`s Rujano and Henao joining them. Only 2min left for the breakaway now.
Also Schleck`s helpers Kvasina and Medvedev lost contact to the peloton.
In front Costagli is riding solo now followed by Stubbe and a recovered Van Huffel while Sella also joined the fun of the latest attackers.
12km to go and the following situation:
Peloton (42)
<37>
Spilak
<32>
Kern
<23>
Van Huffel
<14>
Stubbe
<16>
Costagli
Schleck
Kulhavy
Henao
Pauwels
Sicard
Rolland
Rujano
Ortega
Grabovskiy
Laengen
Gomez Marchante
Sella
Team B&O is bringing the late attackers back. The attempt wasn`t that serious and it was a first try.
Immediately the next attempts. Henao Sicard Rujano
With 10km to go they reach the splitted breakaway riders and also Van den Broeck with a first sign today.
Again all is brought back. Van den Broeck is trying it again and is followed by Intxausti and Kohl this time.
22s for Stubbe and another 22s for Costagli. It`s not looking too good for the Wiggle rider who most likely won`t be honoured with the KoM lead after this brilliant attempt.
This now was the moment everyone was waiting for. With 6km to go we reach the by far steepest section. Costagli suffers now and will be caught soon.
3 riders with a new attack and within those two Spaniards. Contador Intxausti Kohl
For the first time Contador attacks and this one is looking very powerful.
Intxausti and Kohl lost contact and only Rujano is able to follow Contador and another attack...Wow...it`s Costagli again. He hasn`t given up yet and tries it again.
Rujano isn`t just following. He just opens a gap to Contador.
Behind Sella is coming solo ahead of the peloton including all other favourites.
With the favourites doing the pace on their own now we soon see huge splits. Several GC riders find themselves in a later group now and the real selection has started:
Castano
<21>
Henao
<36>
Schleck
<27>
Contador
Sicard
Pedraza
Sella
Velits
Intxausti
Rujano
Brambilla
Denifl
Amador
Hacecky
Van den Broeck
Pluchkin
Roche
Gomez Marchante
Valverde
Augustyn
Panayotov
Spilak
Lloret
Scarponi
Tenorio
Frank
Kohl
Faiers
Eastman
Tenorio really would have been able to get a top5 here but his weak riding on the earlier stages ruined it. Also interesting that Panayotov seems to be stronger than Sicard today.
Amador and Schleck try to close the gap to Contador and attack. Pluchkin still is riding quite passive but so far was always in the front groups. But today he needs to do something if he wants to stay in the lead.
Meanwhile Sicard and Castano try to improve their position and attacked out of their group.
Last kilometer and Contador still having a 17s gap to the duo behind with a similar gap to the Pluchkin group.
What a win for Contador. Already the 3rd win for Festina, who have a brilliant race so far. But will it also be the race lead for him?
18s later Schleck and Amador finish. It was nice riding by both but maybe they followed Contador a bit too late to win the race.
Right behind them Pluchkin has attacked and comes in 15s later which means he will lose the GC to Contador but still being 2nd ahead of Schleck in 3rd and Amador in 4th.
The next group is led by Spilak and reaches the finish 49s after Contador. Valverde, Rujano, Sella and Tenorio in this group. Except for the last they will secure their top10 today.
+1'23 and the next group is coming in. Highest GC rider in there Gomez Marchante and he still has a chance for the 9th as Velits hasn`t finished yet.
Velits leads his group ~30s later over the line and will be 9th ahead of Gomez Marchante in 10th after this stage. Sicard finished a bit ahead of them solo but it`s only the 13th for him as Denifl and also Roche as next ING will stay in front of him.
Costagli finished totally exhausted as 39th today more than 5min later. He won`t really improve his GC position but he will share the KoM lead with Pauwels after today which could make the early KoM tomorrow very interesting.
Pluchkin taking over the point jersey by Guerao but with only -9 points he could get it back tomorrow.
Sicard still leads the Youth ranking ahead of Tenorio with wildcard team ING dominating the team ranking.
And also important. No rider felt out of the time limit today and so all 172 riders will also participate in tomorrows last stage.
