The wind is basically absent, the sky is clear and the temperature is not that high. Not the day some were hoping to find, but a good day for long-ish range attacks for sure. Hopefully that means great racing!
5 riders compose the break that will try to animate what is probably going to be the more boring part of the race. Possoni, Pedrero, Ferrari, Ebsen and Ikibe are the brave men who will try to gain some glory.
At the top of the first ascent up the Volcan de Agua, they are 4 minutes clear of the peloton, where it's mostly Elta domestiques taking turns right now.
Ferrari is the most out of shape among the break riders, as he gets dropped close to the top of the second climb, and as he reaches the finish line and hears the bell ringing he's 1 minute and a half behind the other 4. He won't make it back in the front.
4 minutes and a half behind the Uruguayan, the group also reaches the top. Elta keeps laying down a great pace and the main bunch keeps slimming down, with now only about 30 riders making it up.
We have to wait for the 10 kms to go mark for something to happen, which is a violent acceleration launched by Garby, that only Antón and Sella could follow immediately, and only De la Cruz, Hacecký and Salinas are trying to counter from behind.
The break still has an interesting advantage on all the other riders, we're talking about c.a 5 minutes they can still try to administrate, which could and should be worrying for the favourites.
Meanwhile, in the front it's Pedrero and Possoni trying to go at their own pace. 6 kilomters and a half to go for them, and they can still count on a 4 minutes advantage on Garby, Antón, Sella and Ferrari, who got caught by the 3 of them.
Hacecký, Salinas and De la Cruz can't really find an agreement or a good pace and they keep losing from the other 3 favourites, while the main bunch of about 25 units keeps making up terrain on them.
Sella is not on a good day and gives up on following the pace Garby alone is setting. Ferrari on the other hand tries to stick with the two at first, but then blows up and fades far behind.
Pedrero, who had been pulling alone for a couple kilometers now, just decides to increase the pace enough to drop Possoni from his wheel.
The Italian seems to have blown away all of his energies by trying to follow the Spanish, and is now looking a lot less sharp than both Ebsen and Ikibe, who with 4 kms to go holds a 3 minutes lead on both Antón and Garby.
Further behind, it's a group of 4 riders escaping from New Balance's led pack. They are Pomoshnikov, Martinez, and Spark's duo of Di Gregorio and a surprisingly good Krasnoperov.
The 4 don't seem able to catch up with the trio in front of them, but are looking good for a top 10 at least, with a gap on about a minute on the group of 20 behind them.
Garby tried to shake Antón off his wheel for about 300 meters in what looked like an infinite attack, but in the end he made it and the Dane has now caught the 3 in front of him and is less than a minute shy of catching Pedrero too, with about 2 kms to go. It's going to be an exciting finale!
Pedrero has gotten past the last kilometer arc and it's looking like he might keep his advantage! Ebsen is there to help Garby, but his pace is not high enough at all and Antón makes it back in the chase group as well.
Pedrero takes a fantastic, totally unexpected win! He's not sure himself how he did it, but he's perfectly aware of what he has achieved and proudly raises up his arms!
Garby didn't attack in the last kilometer for a simple reason: he lacked the energy to do so. He still holds off his teammate for 2nd, and Carlsberg are not going to be that unhappy with the result for sure.
Antón is 4th and Ikibe 5th, with Possoni resisting for 6th.
Behind, Hacecký wins the sprint for 7th place and Kraftwerk once again manage a great race with two riders in the top 10. Krasnoperov probably has his best performance of the season to end up in 8th ahead of Sella and Pomoshnikov, who rounds off the top 10.
Salinas is right outside to take 11th, while Martinez is 12th and De la Cruz 13th. De Marchi, Khripta, Hirschlein, Sarmiento, Di Gregorio conclude their effort behind them.
