Here we are! The peloton is ready for the ManGame debut of the Volta a Galicia, a three day race with three tough stages whose winner will need to be a really strong climber.
For today, we have a typical Galician rolling terrain, barely any flat, making the likes of
Joaquim RodrÃguez Oliver Pieter Weening Sergiu Cioban
but depending on how it's raced, some punchy sprinters could as well take the win.
Very soon, our two first attackers, Deiber Esquivel and Mikel Astarloza get a 1 minute gap on the peloton. Both being pure climbers, getting in the breakaway could be a smart way to survive today's stage, which is possibly the one which suits them less.
Only 14km into the stage, and the two men breakaway is well confirmed, as the gap goes quickly up to 2'45''. A bit surprising that there's been so feew riders trying to break away in a stage like this.
The breakaway reaches the first intermediate sprint with a 4'12'' gap. There, Astarloza beats Esquivel, we'll see whether someone in the peloton sprints for the remaining 2 bonus seconds.
Yes, both Michal Golas and Blel Kadri go for it, and it's the Polish rider who gets that third place.
The front pair reach now the only categorized climb of today's stage. Whoever makes it first under the banner will take the KoM jersey for, at least, one day - and it'll be Esquivel, who comfortably beats Astarloza. Behind, Kim Kirchen takes the remaining points, and the eloton has reduced the gap to just 3'15'', with still over 40km to go.
But Kirchen didn't stop after the climb, he's still pushing and has 56'' on the peloton, and is still 1'26'' behind the breakaway. Encouraged by this, 4 more riders attack in the descent:
Bruno Pires Michael Olsson Anders Ekh Dahlberg Juan Pablo Valencia
Interesting move, especially by Iberia, as they could make good use of having someone up the road.
The second intermediate sprint is again for Astarloza, over Esquivel and Kirchen. The race situation is very interesting right now, as the late 4 attackers have opened a good gap. The race is like this at the moment:
Astarloza
<-52''->
Kirchen
<-31''->
Pires
<-1'00''->
Peloton
Esquivel
Valencia
Dahlberg
Olsson
So we are in for a very interesting last 30km.
25km to go, and many teams are helping with the chase in the peloton, especially Gazelle and Die Berg Komt Er. The gaps are still big:
Astarloza
<-14''->
Kirchen
<-10''->
Pires
<-1'32''->
Peloton
Esquivel
Valencia
Dahlberg
Olsson
And it's easy to imagine many DSs being quite nervous about a team like Iberia not having to do any work thanks to the clever move of sending Valencia on the attack.
And now it's Jordi Grau on the attack! The gap to the breakaway has fallen to 1'45'' as all groups merged, and Barça's puncheur didn't think twice!
20km to go, and as we mentioned, the front 7 are together now. 50'' behind them comes Grau, who has just 27'' on the peloton, still led by Die Berg and Gazelle.
Grau finally bridges the gap with the other 7, but by now the peloton is just 37'' behind, and seemingly has this under control.
And that's it for the breakaway, just after Grau joined them, they're swallowed by the bunch. And at the very moment they're caught, it's Brice Feillu who attacks. Clever attack by the Frenchman in the moment when many riders would be looking for some rest after the break was caught.
And there's a crash in the peloton! The peloton led by Die Berg Komt Er was going full gas in the downhill to chase Feillu, and some riders couldn't stay upright. Very unlucky for the Dutch team, as the biggest name here is their leader - David Arroyo. Other riders involved are:
Emanuel Kiserlovski David De la Cruz Laurent Didier, Mikel Astarloza K.Dyrnes Sergiu Cioban V.Shaekhov
Fortunately all of them can stay in the race, but I don't know if this causes any relief to Die Berg's manager.
8km to go, and Feillu still has a small 8 seconds gap on the peloton, where Gazelle is pulling hard now. Arroyo is 2'20'' behind the peloton now, helped by 4 team mates. The GC is pretty much over for him.
6.5km to go, and Feillu is caught. Who'll be the next to try?
And it's Valencia again, followed by Pieter Weening and Marco Marzano just as they go under the 5km banner. Important attacks here with two team leaders on the move!
They never got to open a gap though, and with 3300m to go we have the group packed again. Reduced bunch sprint on sight?
There we go! Weening is the first to go, behind him, Valencia, Grau, Matej Mugerli and Marzano are trying as well.
2km to go and it looks set for a scary domination by Gazelle, with Weening opening a gap and Mugerli and Daspuntsag being the fastest of those coming from behind.
1500m to go, the Gazelle trio is still at the front, but way faster are coming the Italian trio from Kappa:
Manuele Mori, Mauro Da Dalto, Francesco Failli
as well as
Gustav Larsson
and, from further behind
Sergey Rudaskov
Right under the flamme rouge, and the Kappa trio have already overtaken Daspuntsag, but they are starting to fade, will it be enough for Weening?
600m to go, and Da Dalto is already head to head with Weening and Mugerli. It's going to be very close.
300m and Da Dalto and Mori are already first and second, nobody seems fast enough to take it away from them. But which Kappa rider will take it?
But wait there's Matteo Carrara coming insanely fast!
And taking the win! Brilliant sprint from Matteo Carrara, who wins in spite of starting very, vary far back. Mauro Da Dalto and Manuele Mori are 2nd and 3rd, great result for Kappa - ENI with two riders in the top 3, although being so close to the victory will make it a bit less joyous. Lars Andersson is 4th, and Joaquim RodrÃguez Oliver is 5th, taking Gazelle out the top 5 in the stage, as Erdenebayar Daspuntsag is 6th, Pieter Weening is only 7th and Metej Mugerli ends 8th. The top 10 is rounded up by Evaldas Siskevicius in 9th and Marco Marzano in 10th.
Finally, the group of David Arroyo finishes 3 minutes back, led by his team mate Leonardo Duque. Really tough luck for the Spaniard, who wanted a good result here to forget a rather disappointing performance in Algeria. Now, he'll have to settle for a stage win, as the GC is lost for him after his unfortunate fall.
