There was a big early presence at the front from Red Bull - Zalgiris, but their only interest was in launching their own man into the breakaway rather than actually controlling it. Instead a variety of teams were forced to cooperate in order to keep the fluctuating number of escapees from reaching critical mass.

Given that there was still fighting to determine who the constituents of the day's break would be, the leading group came rolling through the intermediate sprint with Pieter Serry at its head.

The quartet of teams working in the peloton eventually decided that 18 riders was an acceptable number. A large number, but not overly significant given the existing gaps in the general classification. The day's break consisted of:

Gautier
Johannessen	Lavery
Main	Seibeb
Konig
Serry
McConvey
Bayer	Lasinis	Juodvalkis
Robov	Jacobsen	Sakalou
Olesen
Lopez Nolasco
Bizkarra
Hecht

The names to keep an eye on were Leopold Konig, Patrick Olesen, Costa Seibeb, Mikel Bizkarra, and Andrei Sakalou.

Not much excitement happening throughout the central third of the stage. The breakaway's lead slowly worn down, with those working in the peloton suggesting that Andrei Amador (the overall favourite) and one of Daniel Ricardo Diaz or Pavel Potocki were in at least decent form.

With barely more than a minute-and-a-half over the pack and more than thirty uphill kilometres remaining the breakaway's chances of making it the line had rapidly disappated. That can be hardly be surprising, given that all the teams that were contributing to the chase needed a disruptive day in order to claw back time on the yellow jersey.

Konig was the first to launch, and the Czech climber quickly built up a gap that only Olesen appeared interested in bridging. Lopez Nolasco was leading the chase, and the neo-pro was never going to be capable of catching that pair.

Instead it was the arrival of the Sauber Petronas train which finally spurred action from the remaining members of the break, as they fought to stay clear. Serry moved himself to the front, and was able to bring Olesen back into the fold.

The high pace in the pack, which by then had been taken over by Gaspar, meant that the remaining escapees splintered. Lavery bridged his way across to Konig; leaving behind a group consisting of Bizkarra, Olesen, Sakalou, Seibeb, Serry, Juodvalkis, and McConvey as the only other survivors as they completed the climb's first section.

The first notable rider to fall off the back of the pack was Munoz, who was out with 13 kilometres remaining. A severe blow was dealt to the Colombian's hopes of winning the U25 classification. Gaspar was the one setting the pace.

At the front, Lavery proved that he had timed his move better, as he accelerated away from Konig. Also on the move was Bizkarra, who quickly caught and surpassed the fading Czech cyclist.

Konig was not one to give up easily however, and managed to fight his way back to Bizkarra after the latter's inital acceleration ended. They would later be joined by Seibeb as well, but even with his support were not able to close on Lavery.

The breakaway didn't have enough steam to pull themselves all the way to victory either, and the infighting certaintly didn't help. Aasvold took over from Gaspar with four kilometres remaining, and under his demanding tempo the escapees were forced to relent. Lavery was the last to be captured with just inside two kilometres remaining.

Aasvold did an excellent job controlling the pack for his leader Salinas; the pace too unrelenting to allow any of the other favourties to launch an attack. This instead meant that the winner would be determined by something of a mountain sprint. Accordingly, those who felt they had the legs for it approached the front.

From left-to-right we see Herrada riding protection for Amador, with Campero and Hoem just inside of them. Then there was Antunes being shielded by Benito, with Potocki caught in no man's land behind them.

Clustered together were Girdlestone, Salinas, and Roson; all trying to make the most of Aasvold as a windbreak. Against the barrier on the right were former escapee Jacobsen and Dan Martin.

The strongest of the bunch early on was Piter Campero, who built out a lead of a bikelength over Hoem and Herrada. Amador was sat on the shoulder of the latter.

Also making good progress was Salinas, who had swung all the way across the road before beginning to accelerate - perhaps positining himself for the turn ahead. Potocki had additionally done well for himself by closing up with those who had had superior early positioning.

Going the other way were Dan Martin and Roson; who didn't look like they would be competing today.

Although he was still going strong Campero was facing challenges from both sides. On the left was a rapidly approaching Salinas with Potocki locked to his wheel; whilst Jacobsen had emerged as an unlikely challenger on the right.

The other surprise was that Amador looked like he had run out of gas, putting his teammate in an unfortunate position. The question being asked was whether Herrada ought to eek out every bit of performance his leader was capable of, or see what he could salvage himself.

Eventually deciding on the latter option resulted in a podium finish for Jesus Herrada; but given his pace in the final few metres he could've easily managed the extra bikelength necessary for the stage win had he abandoned Amador as soon as he cracked instead of hesitating for a moment.

Instead the victory goes to Jonathan Salinas, much to the delight of the home fans. The yellow jersey wearer again showed his ability to time his surge perfectly to win shootouts on the most vicious of slopes. Pavel Potocki rounded out the top spots.

With his form evident and his nearest competitor ( Piter Campero) nearly a minute and a half down, Salinas was looking increasingly likely to add the overall victory to his tally. In the U25 competition, an excellent ride to 9th from Almeida saw him usurp a mediocre, but not poor, Barta by a matter of seconds.