Race Favourites:

Intxausti, Abal, Samwel, Marquez & Nazaret


A big one gets away.

It is not often you see decent sized breaks get away recently, well we would today. A 12 man break was allowed to form, the riders:

The break in action.

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The race favourites' domestiques set the pace through rustic Spain.

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Project: Africa show their faith in their leader. Augustyn is relayed back to the peloton, early on in stage, after having a mechanical.


60 KM to go: Break @ 3'33.

FCB - Polska are doing most of the pace setting the first time up the Alto de Urkiola. The break well under control. Over the top of the first ascent the peloton would be pretty much all together. As of yet, no action from the favourites.


47 KM to go.

On the next incline, with the break now 2'30 ahead, we see a big attack from Cataldo.

But, he wouldn't be the only one to attack...



Shortly afterwards we see attacks out of the favourites group by Kiserlovski and then Nazaret.



The attacks from these, outside favourites, really lights up the race. The peloton increases its speed and is quickly whittled down to around 74 riders.


Cataldo charges on.

Cataldo is clearly on a good day today. Over the next, short & sharp, incline he catches and passes the original break of the day.

With 26 KM to go Cataldo has 1'01 of an advantage over the next group on the road which is a 74 man favourites group. The biggest names missing from this group are Vazquez, Jaramillo and the likes of Mat Senan from Compal-Merida.


The race breaks up before the final climb.

Cataldo still leads with the final climb fast approaching. However, some unexpected attacking on the flat from the big favourites really destroys many. All of the above names are ahead of a 80 man peloton....


The peloton sits up.

Nerz is the biggest name in the peloton, but at this stage his chances of a good place look over.


The final climb.

After a good old game of cat and mouse it is Marquez who distances his Spanish companions with 6 KM to go, Cataldo is well within his sights.


Under 5 KM to go.

Gerdemann leads a small group as the peloton rallies to eat up the ground in front of them. Team Puma - SAP are the team which have brought the peloton back into contention for a top 5.



Team Puma - SAP's chasing was not in vein. Nerz puts in a big attack and goes flying by the likes of Nazaret and Gerdemann.



Nerz continues on, with Intxausti, Abal and Kiserlovski only around '25 seconds ahead with under 2 kilometres to go. The battle for third will be a close one.


1 KM to go.

But, well ahead of the rest is the battle for the win. Going into the last kilometre
Cataldo leads
Marquez by around '10. The Italian has been on the attack for the last 47 kilometeres, but surely Marquez would have caught the Italian by now if he was capable.



The blinding sun offers the last moment of agony before the finish. Can Cataldo hold on?



Cataldo takes the win! A stunning solo effort, showing plenty of resistance to hold off Marquez, is rewarded with the win today.

Marquez has to settle for second, but he once again shows his immense ability by out-climbing his rivals.



Race favourite Intxausti rounds out the podium today, winning the battle against Abal, in the end, who had to settle for fourth place.



After his team rallied Nerz put in a great climb to end the stage in 5th place, out-climbing the likes of Kiserlovski and Nazaret.

Gerdemann, after a solid climb, leads home a large group for 9th place, his team will be happy with that display.