The only real flat stage and so the sprinter teams are expected to do most of the work.
Hollister`s Davis won the opener and is also expected to be on of the best today. So will he take another win?
We have a 5 rider breakaway. Suryadi Olivier Vorobev Nielsen Phelan
Best placed is the young Dutch Daan Olivier as 42nd and 6'06 behind Dekker. So not the biggest danger.
Only "highlight" during the route is this intermediate sprint. "Highlight" as there was no competition here and Nielsen takes it ahead of Olivier and Phelan.
This just shows that their only ambition is the stage win.
As expected the sprinter teams support Vueling. So it`s Hollister and Repsol doing lots of work.
Different to the race opener this stage should suit pure sprinters like Ferrari a lot more and so there might be more sprinters able to challenge Davis for the win today.
We just reached the last 70km and as the gap is at 6'10, Daan Olivier is at least in the provisional lead.
50km and the gap stays pretty consistent between 6 and 7 minutes. So the peloton is still waiting. Maybe waiting too long? The usual rule of 1min/10km would favour the breakaway. But we already had 2 mountain stages and so regeneration might favour the peloton where more riders can do the pace.
And the peloton finally woke up. A mix of Hollister, ING and Repsol riders really highered the pace and while there was still a 6min gap with 30km to go it`s down to 5min just 3km later!
By that speed it doesn`t look good for the breakaway but the peloton first needs to keep it until the finish.
Normally the best idea would be to work together until the finish. But Nielsen has a different plan as he realizes the danger.
12km and just 1'40 as the peloton really wants that win here.
So the young Dane with a strong attack to distance his fellowship.
6km to go and still a 1min gap as the peloton slowed down a bit due to their sprint preparations.
Actually there are not the biggest preparations as the Hollister guys seem to struggle a bit after all the work.
3km for the peloton, who are close to catch the main part of the breakaway. But what about Nielsen? He is still 800m ahead.
Just one train in the peloton today and it`s for Ferrari.
Briceno
Ferrari
Davis
Bole
Modolo
Richeze
Zabel
Van Heerden
Keukeleire
Bazajev
Pichot
Borrajo
Vasylyuk
Mironov
Soupe
Ahlstrand
Sohrabi
Flamme Rouge for Nielsen!
Popov, Kolesnikov and Samokhvalov with a very early sprint coming from far behind. The Russian trio obviously has realized it first, that they otherwise have no chance.
Main problem is probably the lack of fast sprint trains and Briceno is definitely not the ideal leadout, in especially not if he is already at the front for ~5km.
Kolesnikov to continue his run for the most consistent rider here? At least he is having quite a gap to the main sprinters even though Allan Davis has started his sprint now as well.
But there is still Nielsen ahead!!
And the Dane celebrates a huge win and he is 21 only. He definitely was the smartest today and read the race best.
Also what a race for Swedbank. So far the much needed points are collected.
Well. No chance to beat Davis in this field. But still a loss for Hollister as it should have been the win to be honest. So a 2nd without much value for a top sprinter.
Kolesnikov as 3rd continues his impressive sprints in this race and has the lead in the point ranking now ahead of Dekker and Davis.
