Although Rasmus Iversen was the first rider out of the gate, he wasn't the first rider to cross the final timing line. That honour instead goes to Tore Andre Vabo, who rapidly caught and overcame is nordic compatriot.

The neo-pro set a decent early pace: 26'22" at the first time check, 49'41" at the second, closing it out at a total of 1h03'53". The likes of Kevin Colleoni, Eddie van Heerden, and
Kent Main all slowly edged that time down throughout the morning.

The first opportunity we had to see what a more representative time would look like was when Patrick Olesen took the stage. This was his first opportunity to make up for the time he had lost earlier, and he didn't disappoint.

A solid 2'34" ahead of teammate Vabo at the first time check, he had extended it out to 4'34" by the second. Eventually it culminated in the first time under an hour; at 58'40".

Just how unfortunate Olesen's early time loss was was perhaps highlighted by the fact that the majority of the peloton passed through the course before anybody was able to manage a superior effort. Among those falling short were Antunes, Sakalou, and Nepomnyachsniy.

For much of his ride it looked like Guillaume Martin was going to be another who nearly overthrew the Dane. He was down 9' seconds at the first timecheck, and although he didn't lose any between then and the second, he also didn't gain any. Thus why it was quite the surprise when he moved into the hotseat with a time just one second quicker than the previous leader.

It was clear that Henao was in a different class to those who had come before him when he hit the first timecheck having already gained the better part of a minute. Although the Colombian would slow somewhat with time he still slotted into the hotseat with an impressive 57'46".

Hardly had Henao sat down than he was being kicked off his throne. It's fair to say that Leopold Konig is generally a decent climber, but with him having something of an off-day and Pavel Potocki very much enjoying an on-day, the latter went storming past the Czech rider on the way to a 57'09" time.

Adding a very nice stage win to his palmarés and setting his campaign for the yellow jersey up rather well in addition, was Piter Campero. The thirty year old Bolivian stormed up that mountain. A very strong first sector saw him 15" up on Potocki at the timecheck. From there he continued to power away, slowly increasing his advantage across the rest of the course. An excellent winning time of 56'42".

The Irishman wasn't at the top of his game today. He was very poor on the slopes, and a decent closing sector wasn't enough to make up for the early losses. He finished more than two minutes down.

Although teammate Potocki was having an exellent time, Diaz was unable to replicate that success. He lost time steadily across the stage, finishing 1'28" down.

One of the last on the road today, and not a great result for the American. He came out of the gates slow, 44" down at the first timecheck. Although he was able to keep his losses more moderate from there on out, it was still not enough to score any better than 1'36" down.

Steady, but not excellent from the outright favourite. Losing the better part of a minute is not a good sign for his chances of beating out Pinot's record, especially having already lost out on Stage 4. Superdomestique Brenes had a torrid day: 1'31" down; although this was somewhat molified by an excellent day for Herrada.

He probably could've hoped for better. Held steady in the middle sector, but lost out big in the opening and closing parts.

An excellent performance from the Czech rider, who looked at times like he might challenge for the stage win. Had he been quicker to get up to speed he might well have seen himself on the podium. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Faiers and Bizkarra, who both lost extensive amounts of time. Fortunately that should settle the question of GC leadership.

Not a good day at the office for Bonnin nor Konig.

A number of very solid performances coming from this team. Almeida and Benito losing just over a minute, whislt Antunes lost just over two.

A day to forget for everyone at Project: Africa except for Reguigui. The Algerian probably won't bother the favourites, but he should at least have a chance at a Top 10 if he continues with performances like this.

About as mediocre as is to be expected

Although the aformentioned Almeida did extremely well to take 9th overall in the stage, it was still a full nine seconds slower than the man who both started and ended the stage in white: Will Barta.

Daniel Munoz lost a significant chunk of time today, and will need some strong performances if he is to claw his way back into the fight for white. Revard and Girdlestone round out the Top 5, but now more than three minutes down not much is expected from them.

Staying very firmly in the hands of Jonathan Salinas was the lead in the general classification. 4th place on the stage was certainly northing to scoff at, and with everybody finishing fast than him having lost time over the previous days the good news kept piling in. Far from losing time, Salinas had seen his nearest competitors lose time to him. Now he just needed to survive the next few days.