Plenty of hard effort required to get in todays breakaway, with Drizners, O'Loughlin, Tikhonin, and Rojas all working together to mark the numerous attempts. The opening move, coming from yesterdays pair of Leknessund and Vabo, manages to stick; much of the contestation is over who gets to join them.

When we eventually settle down after nearly 30 kilometres of hard riding the total reaches 5. Joining the initial pair are countryman Iver Johan Knotten, Goldwijnn Cannister, and Jens Reynders.
Carlsberg - Danske Bank with a rather overwhelming presence today.

Trying and failing to bridge across were Joel Suter, Xavbier Mikel Azparren, and Dion Beukeboom. Plenty of action from ProContinental teams who haven't brought the strongest of squads to Venezuela.

Given the numbers who have made it into the breakaway today, there won't be any contestation of the intermediate sprint by the peloton. I guess their lack of success yesterday put Crabbe - CC and HelloFresh off the idea.

Instead it is the members of the breakaway the compete among themselves for the honours. Having just exhausted themselves, none of the newcomers saw fit to contribute leaving just Vabo (seen here wearing the white jersey) and Leknessund to compete. Just as yesterday, the latter came out better in their first contest.

Working in the peloton are the same trio as yesterday: Drizners, O'Loughlin, Tikhonin. Perhaps an indication that they still believe in their sprint trains despite the failures yesterday. They have done enough to reduce the gap slightly.

Leknessund decidds to leave it to Knotten to compete for these bonus points. Perhaps he was already confident in his ability to put himself in white come tomorrow? Regardless of the reasoning his plan mostly works out as Vabo can only manage second. Our understanding is that the markers were improperly angled, giving the broadcast the mistake impression that the order had been the other way round. Fortunately, this was quickly corrected by official channels.

As yesterday, the sprinters' teams began to commit more members to the front following the second intermediate sprint, and the time gaps rapidly began to drop. The first person to flinch in the breakaway was Vabo, his rapid acceleration catching everyone else by surprise.

Given the plethora of Carlsberg members, Knotten wasn't going to take up chasing duties himself. After a quick conversation check to see if any of his mates would help him out Leknessund brought his fellow Norwegian across to Vabo's wheel.

Although it initially appeared that neither Cannister nor Reynders had enough in them to bring the trio back, the Curacaoan eventually decided to bridge across and leave his teammate to slowly drift back into the clutches of the pack.

Despite Reynders
having dropped back into the pack the Carlsberg boys still had a numbers advantage. Bizarrely it was Vabo who tried to force an advantage not once, but twice. Definitely not the right move as Cannister is the first to drop off the back. Knotten stuck to Vabo's wheel like glue, whilst Leknessund was content to work his way back to the pair.

None of their maneuvering was of any consequence however, as the combined power of Crabbe - CC and Glanbia Foods was too much for the breakaway, who succumbed to the pressure. A lot of work from these two teams again, despite their sprinters only managing 10th and 11th respectively. Big expectations for Alexander Krieger and Sam Bennett.

Despite all the work his team had done Bennett was positioned as we came into the closing stages, and at this point it looked to have cost him; the Irishman was nowhere to be seen. Instead, peculiarly enough, it was rouleur Downey who decided that he ought to join the rear of the Volcanica - Fox train. His presence was never going to cause any concern for the favourites though.

Speaking of favourites, Marin was in a much worse position then the image suggests. The man ahead of him is Rojas, and for all the many nice things I have to say about the talented young Nicaraguan, a suggestion that he provides anything resembling a satisfactory leadoutman is not one of them. This meant that Krieger was in a very strong position at this point, however it must be kept in mind that he was in a similarly powerful position yesterday - and failed badly. Maybe things were destined to be different, given he still had a third-man in his train with less than three kilometres to go?

What would you know, my prediction was correct. Rojas is inadequate when it comes to bringing a leader into an excellent sprint position. Marin hard hit, dropped multiple bikelengths back from Krieger, who had had a beautiful Liepins at this point, and the Latvian was still going!

The Glanbia Foods rider that has drawn alongside Losch and Marin is Oram, not Bennett. The Kiwi rouleur with a massive burst of speed, which might've been a great leadout had it not left his leader behind.

Unfortunately, Liepins doesn't last long, and when he peels off Krieger gives up with barely a whimper. The two big engines positioned in front of him pushed it too hard, and the German National Champ doesn't have the legs to finish it off. A massive disappointment, after all the work the team did chasing and the dominant leadout he had been provided, Krieger couldn't even make it up to full speed.

Instead it is Keough coming up the left; with Bennett, Lavoine, and Avelino hammering up the right[. It is a succeed successive day where the sprinttrains have failed to deliver, although admittely only one-and-a-half actually formed today.

Lavoine and Avelino quickly began to fade inside the final 500 metres. That left it as a contest between Bennett on the right and Keough a bikelength back on the left.

Although he managed to hold his pace until the final 100 metres, Bennett legs gave out just before the finish. Keough was still coming through strong, and for a moment it looked like he would repeat yesterday's result. It wasn't to be however, as Sam Bennett repayed his team with a victory decided by a photofinish.

Another surprise placing, as Einhorn squeezes through the line of superior sprinters and into third. Closely following him is another surprise: Tzortzakis! Evidently the pace set by the guys from Krieger was obscene enough that it exhausted even those who were unable to follow it.

Closing out the remaining scoring positions were Losch, Vingerling, Jiang, and Avelino. Krieger imploded completely, finishing 16th; one position up from sprint talent like Anders Halland Johannessen. Marin also underperformed, only managing 13th. Not looking good for the sprint trains so far.