2 stages raced and so far Murray and Gazelle are the stage winners and will be on the favourite list also for this stage.
But as you can see, the stage is not really flat no matter the rating. A tough Cat.2 climb just ahead of the finish will probably make it very difficult for the sprinters.
Maybe we can even see some attacks there?
3 riders in todays breakaway and two of them know each other very well.
PCT riders Burlutsky and Hamza were already in the breakaway of the first stage. So those two might fight for the KoM points.
This time they are joined by a 3rd rider with Perez Sanchez.
But Burlutsky is not only a high KoM man. As 5th in the GC he is only +26s to race leader Nardin. So the other teams mustn`t underestimate the Isreali.
No surprise that Burlutsky goes for the bonus seconds. A bit more surprising that he is challenged by Hamza, who is more than 4min down.
Perez Sanchez saves his energy for later tasks.
Full control by the Gazelle squad on the first and probably hardest mountain in this race ranked as Cat.1.
The gap is up to 4'40 but still 130km to go.
Hamza couldn`t follow on the top and lost contact at the KoM.
But in front it is more exciting as Perez Sanchez isn`t giving those points to Burlutsky for free.
And the Spaniard is outclimbing him here to take the maximum points with Burlutsky still getting lots of points to defend the jersey.
A bunch of Gazelle helpers roll over the line next to take the remaining points.
Again Burlutsky is the strongest at the sprint to take another 6s.
This time all 3 were sprinting and it`s Perez Sanchez being just a bit ahead of Hamza for 2nd.
Good news for Gazelle. Some of the sprinter teams send their riders to the front. In especially MTN for Tyler Day, Die Berg Komt Er for Rizza and Ekspla for Meenhorst.
With 88km to go the gap is at 6'38 but slowly melting.
The trio is already at the Cat.2 climb and we expect a hard fight for the KoM points.
But the gap is down to less than 2min with 24km to go. And who knows, if they come to the top first.
The gap is down to 1min but more important now was to get the points here. This time Burlutsky wasn`t surprised and takes the maximum with Perez Sanchez closely behind.
Hamza once again being the weakest climber here to take 3rd only.
This keeps Burlutsky in the lead with 32 points. But Hamza and Perez Sanchez follow closely on a shared 2nd with 24 points.
10km to go and they are caught by a still pretty big peloton. So we might indeed see a sprint finish here.
Iberia seems to have booked a lot of bad luck here. Again one of their riders on the ground. It`s Toribio, who already lost all chances on a good overall.
The second rider on the asphalt is Lahsaini, which is awful news for their manager. He was the team`s leader with good chances on a high GC.
Immediately Hadi and Gebremedhin are sent back to support him. But with 5km to go it will be close to impossible for them.
No matter the hard stage we see 3 sprint train a 3 riders.
Joeaar
Friedman
Meenhorst
Kochetkov
Lutsenko
Torckler
Duque
Fouche
Rizza
Day
Murray
Nardin
So Ekspla surely having won the positioning here with Torckler having a good wheel as well.
Other sprinters like Anton Martin for example are not far behind but couldn`t close the gap to the trains yet.
The sprint started and the other trains are coming closer.
Friedman would normally be a great leadout but he seems to be too exhausted after the climbs.
Surprisingly Torckler has lost Meenhorst`s wheel and might be out of todays competition while his teammate Murray changed over to Rizza`s wheel...
...which might have been a smart decision as Duque is proving to be an elite leadout today. Ekspla totally messed up their sprint while MTN is trying to rescue it by hanging behind them.
500m left and Rizza starts his sprint but also Murray is not far behind him, also coming around now, while all other sprinters lost contact.
What an effort by Duque.
Very close finish but in the end Murray was a bit stronger to take a 2nd stage win here. Quite a surprise to be honest.
Rizza can`t finish Duque`s work but as 2nd he still has a good result ahead of Nardin in 3rd, who started from too far behind.
Day as 4th ahead of Martinez, Ghafari, Duque, Anton Martin, Barbari and a once again high performing Tom David complete the top10.
Meenhorst as 11th and Torckler as 12th without good luck today.
GC wise Nardin keeps the lead but Burlutsky is coming closer now being 2nd after taking the bonus seconds!
