The third stage starts in Paphos and finishes at the Mount Olympus, the highest point in Cyprus. It might be the deciding stage for the GC, whoever crosses to finish line first will likely be the GC leader into the final stage. Today is also a key stage for the mountains classification with a lot of sprints on some smaller climbs.
Five riders with the initial attack: Butler Lundberg Lau Rojas Villegas Agudelo
Wahyudi trying to bridge the gap.
Lau the only one with KoM points, 10 to be precise. He needs five to overtake current leader Zaccanti.
Lau takes the first sprint, but that is for the wrong classification. Wahyudi hasn't been able to join the break yet while more riders attack in the background, amongst whom Zaccanti, Roux, Reichenbach, Bernas, Rodrigues and Nolf.
The five work well together to still be ahead at the category three climb Oreites, won by Butler ahead of Rojas Villegas and Agudelo. Rodrigues is about to join the group but was just too late to take part in the sprint. Bernas at one minute, Wahyudi at two, peloton at three.
Bernas finally joins the group to give it its final tally of seven riders. Wahyudi is four minutes behind them and on a very lonely mission, the peloton slowed down to allow the lead to get up to six minutes.
The next category three climb was hotly contested with Rodrigues just edging out Butler and Rojas Villegas snatching the final two points away from Lau. Bernas struggling to stay in contact with the group. The peloton now at five minutes with Wahyudi not giving up, still somewhere in between.
Fox News dominates the category four Omodhos: Butler and Rojas Villegas first and second while Bernas has recovered to take third. Butler now tied with Zaccanti at 15 points, Lau still at 10. Next up we have a category two climb where a lot of points are available.
Butler is making KoM sprints his target, he wins at Kelokedara to take ten points and the virtual lead. Bernas eight, Rodrigues six, Rojas Villegas four and Lundberg two. Lau again leaving empty-handed. The gaps are in a status quo, peloton at 4'40 with Wayhudi at 3'15.
Rodrigues narrowly beats Butler at the category four Axylou, Bernas takes the remaining point. Rodrigues now up to second in the KoM but eleven points behind Butler. The peloton is also starting to thin out, yesterday's stage winner Tleubayev dropped amongst other sprinters.
Wahyudi's solo has come to an end, it was clear early on that he wouldn't be able to join but he kept going nevertheless. The break's lead is down to three minutes. No clear team leading the peloton, currently Scaroni, Urcelay, Paulus, Dieteren, Matsumoto and Kreder to give an indication.
Lundberg's first win at the category three climb Statos ahead of Rodrigues and Butler. The peloton has closed in to 1'30, but do they want to catch the breakaway with 95 kilometer to go? Umerbekov is still in the group but most other top ten riders had to let go. Other surprising names gone already are Hoem, Klemme and Lewis.
Up and down for the next 30 kilometer, but no mountain sprint. Bernas showing his early weakness again, this time dropping permanently. Lau followed soon after, bringing his day hunting for points to an even more miserable end. The gap stays around two minutes but we have a new batch of riders at the front of the peloton: Baltazar, Pozzo, Kebede, Pirazzi, Venter and Blikra.
Rodrigues-Agudelo-Rojas Villegas at the next category four climb. Butler still virtual leader with 30 points ahead of Rodrigues with 26. We have a category two (10 points) and four (5 points) climb up next and then 20 points at the top of the Olympus. Butler has to to hope his current tally is sufficient as he, together with Lundberg, is dropped by the leading trio.
After Wahyudi's failure, Scarponi attacks for the Sauber team with 50 kilometer to go. The gap to the front of the race is not huge, 1'20 and only 40 seconds to Butler and Lundberg.
Umerbekov breaks 2.5 kilometer from the top of the category two Prodromos, as does current KoM leader Zaccanti. The yellow jersey will change shoulders today. Agudelo, Rojas Villegas, Butler, Lundberg and Scarponi have all been caught by the peloton and only Rodrigues maintains a small lead.
And soon thereafter he would be caught as well, leaving the now relatively reduced favorites group at the front of the race. It might be too early to attack but the mountain points might be interesting for some, take them here and on the Olympus and you tie with Butler.
Penasa attacks right before the top and takes the ten points. The remaining points go to Bennett, Martin, Carapaz and Pomoshnikov. Penasa actually has a nice gap going into the downhill and continues solo.
The Italian is brought back after the downhill by the peloton of 37 riders led by Juul-Jensen, Hardy and Fabbro. All riders who had previously scored bonus seconds are dropped. Nibali, Borisavljevic, Stancu, Hirschlein, Pantano Gomez and Medvedev major names missing.
Penasa attacks for another mountain sprint, only a category four this time. Bennett follows him, Hardy takes remaining point. 25 kilometer to go, the duo of attackers would be caught after the downhill again. Penasa now with 15 points and Bennett with 11, so a stage win will bring them the KoM as well.
Tbe same 37 riders as before heading onto the Mount Olympus, a seventeen kilometer climb. Kunshin, Blikra and Paulus lead us onto it. Which favorite will strike first?
Martin leads the group with 10k to go but the pace is not so high. The next group including the Euskaltel duo of Nibali and Borisavljevic is at two minutes but closing in. Penasa, Machado, Bennett and Kwiatkowski in the first ten positions. Carapaz, Beltran, Schelling, Valls and Pomoshnikov and the other team leaders a bit further down the group.
Same story with five kilometer to go, Martin leading but not giving everything. The Euskaltel group has the group in sight now and might actually rejoin if the pace isn't picked up soon.
2.5 kilometer and they are back, but at the back of the group and gaining places on the steep sections is easier said than done. Really defensive riding on the climb so far, Warbasse, Juul-Jensen and Faglum Karlsson next to Martin at the front.
Still no attacks as we enter the final kilometer with a large group. Kwiatkowski setting himself up on the left, Kebede now ahead of Martin as some kind of lead-out, the other favorites lining up behind.
We can identify a front batch of riders who will likely challenge for the victory: Martin, Kwiatkowski, Machado, Bennett, Valls, Warbasse, Beltran, Faglum Karlsson and Penasa. Then a slight gap to Schelling, Chiarello, Pomoshnikov, Carapaz and Anacona, the rest of the group shattered behind
Daniel Martin wins the stage in a sprint. If there was one rider who deserved to win on the climb it was him as he took the lead at 10 kilometer to go and never really relinquished it. Teammate Kebede crossing the line in the background with his hands in the air, helping him with his lead-out.
Machado finishes second, Bennett third. Positions four to nine are claimed by Beltran, Faglum Karlsson, Valls, Penasa, Warbasse and Chiarello, all in the same time as Martin. No one wanted to lose time which led to a rather disappointing stage.
Chiarello completes the top ten ahead Schelling, Pomoshnikov, Carapaz, Anacona, Topchanyuk and Chamorro. They lose ten seconds. The next riders drop in one-by-one, Kozhatayev 17th at 27 seconds, Padun 18th at 32 seconds, Nazaret anonymous in 26th at 1'04, Borisavljevic and Nibali losing close to two minutes in the final kilometers.
The GC lead goes to Martin with eight seconds over Machado, twelve over Bennett and twenty to the others who finished with him. The power of bonus seconds. The gaps are small so everything is possible tomorrow. Schelling only moving to 33rd place at two minutes due to his time loss on stage one.
While losing the yellow jersey, the green jersey still belongs to Umerbekov as stage winner who took the most points at an intermediate sprint. Butler leading the KoM with 30 points ahead of Martin and Rodrigues with 26, Bennett with 23 and Penasa with 20. Faglum Karlsson with an important gain for white, 32 seconds ahead of Padun, 59 to Mas and 1'44 to Borisavljevic. Popo4Ever leading the teams classification ahead of UBS and ENI.
Dobre and Schomber finished outside the time limit, leaving 174 riders to participate in the final stage.
