Before the riders have to tackle the mountains in the next two days today is another sprint stage. Will someone stop Gaviria or will the Colombian win his sixth stage?
Hulgaard, Dversnes, Onodera and R. S. Pedersen are on breakaway duty today. It would be a huge surprise if they get anything out of it apart from TV time.
The four riders at the front have a gap of 2’27 with 96 km to go. At least they could admire the scene if there was any …
45 km later the gap is exactly the same. But we have to take a look from time to time to keep the sponsors happy.
The break is nearly caught with 23 km to go, but there are some random splits again. We’ll see if they persist.
The break resists for another 18 km, but is ultimately caught under the 5 km mark. The peloton is also back together with Groenewegens train in front.
They were too early. This results in some hesitation with 1.6 km to go as it’s clearly too early to launch a sprint yet. Cerny is on the way to take over the front, but on the left side of the road Prasad and Dainese are ready to go for it.
The Italian launches early and takes the lead under the kite. Cerny, Groenewegen and Gaviria are on his wheel. Samolenkov still has the time to talk to his DS.
All of them were too early though. Gaviria is still in the lead with 300 m to go but the other sprinters are closing in. Especially Samolenkov on the far left seems to be fast.
But the Russian only finishes in 8th in the end. Instead Halvorsen takes the win in a close call against Wouters and Sureda. Gross, Rajovic, Van der Lijke and Dekker finish in 4th to 7th. Thijssen and Manninen complete the top 10.
Congratulations to Halvorsen for his first big win in the new colours!
[PTM] Vuelta a España 
