More of a mountanous stage than yesterday with 3 mountains to climb, before a descent and short flat bit to the finish.
A break went clear on the first climb and on the 2nd climb, some strong attacks meant 2 good climbers led over the 2nd.
Mayo leads Cardenas over the top, while Plaza, Valjavec and Serpa are stuck with the original breakaway group. At the foot of the final climb, its still looking good for Mayo and Cardenas as theyve got a 4'24 lead over the peleton. Some questionable tactics by Caisse though as even though Cardenas is the yellow jersey on the road, he is not working as Zandio is helping Cofidis in the peleton's chase.
The attacks come behind from the pack as the contendors fight for position on the slopes. Perez Cuapio makes the most progress with his attack, catching the 2nd group on the road.
Cardenas has a little gap to Mayo, but they wil lcome together in the descent. Perez Cuapio and Serpa are 2'19 behind; Plaza +2'49; Valjavec, Evans, Di Luca, Schleck, Brajkovic, Piepoli +3'30; Peleton of 26 with the other big names +4'26.
Theres just no way that Mayo or Cardenas can be caught.
And Mayo wins it! Has Cardenas done enough to take the lead though?
1
Iban Mayo
LIQUIGAS
4h07'09
2
Felix Cardénas
CAISSE D'EPARGNE
s.t.
3
Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio
AG2R PRÉVOYANCE
+ 2'13
4
José Serpa
TEAM MILRAM
s.t.
5
Rubén Plaza
BOUYGUES TELECOM
+ 2'58
6
Danilo Di Luca
ASTANÁ
+ 3'19
7
Andy Schleck
LIQUIGAS
s.t.
8
Cadel Evans
FRANÇAISE DES JEUX
s.t.
9
Leonardo Piepoli
SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR
s.t.
10
Tadej Valjavec
LAMPRE - FONDITAL
s.t.
11
Janez Brajkovic
COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE
s.t.
12
Óscar Pereiro Sio
CAISSE D'EPARGNE
+ 4'02
13
Rinaldo Nocentini
LAMPRE - FONDITAL
s.t.
14
Isidro Nozal
T-MOBILE TEAM
s.t.
15
Xabier Zandio
CAISSE D'EPARGNE
s.t.
16
Christophe Moreau
BOUYGUES TELECOM
s.t.
17
Carlos Castaño
DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM
s.t.
18
David Moncoutié
COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE
s.t.
19
Konstantin Siutsou
DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM
s.t.
20
José Rujano
BOUYGUES TELECOM
s.t.
21
Tom Danielson
DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM
s.t.
22
Levi Leipheimer
TEAM MILRAM
s.t.
23
José Angel Gomez Marchante
DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM
s.t.
24
Cyril Dessel
QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC
s.t.
25
Ivan Parra Pinto
COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE
s.t.
26
John Gadret
TEAM CSC
s.t.
27
Iñigo Cuesta
TEAM CSC
+ 5'21
28
Francisco Perez Sanchez
DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM
s.t.
29
Joan Horrach
CAISSE D'EPARGNE
s.t.
30
Luca Mazzanti
AG2R PRÉVOYANCE
+ 6'09
31
Marco Marzano
LAMPRE - FONDITAL
s.t.
32
David López Garcia
ASTANÁ
s.t.
33
Sérgio Paulinho
DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM
+ 6'52
34
Juan José Cobo
SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR
s.t.
35
Sylvain Chavanel
COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE
+ 7'16
36
Andrea Tonti
QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC
s.t.
37
Hubert Schwab
QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC
s.t.
38
Vincenzo Nibali
LIQUIGAS
s.t.
39
Thomas Lövkvist
FRANÇAISE DES JEUX
s.t.
40
Dario Cataldo
LIQUIGAS
s.t.
41
David De la Fuente
SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR
+ 8'22
42
José Ivan Gutiérrez Palacios
CAISSE D'EPARGNE
s.t.
43
Steve Zampieri
COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE
s.t.
44
Francis Mourey
FRANÇAISE DES JEUX
s.t.
45
Egoi Martínez de Esteban
DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM
s.t.
46
Addy Engels
QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC
+ 9'42
47
Steve Morabito
ASTANÁ
+ 10'30
48
Christian Vande Velde
TEAM CSC
s.t.
49
Johann Tschopp
BOUYGUES TELECOM
s.t.
50
Rik Verbrugghe
COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE
+ 11'02
Cardenas has not done enough, and Brajkovic is now the overwhelming favourite to win the Tour de Romandie.
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Janez Brajkovic
COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE
16h49'07
2
Felix Cardénas
CAISSE D'EPARGNE
+ 12
3
Andy Schleck
LIQUIGAS
+ 1'14
4
Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio
AG2R PRÉVOYANCE
+ 1'34
5
Óscar Pereiro Sio
CAISSE D'EPARGNE
+ 1'51
6
Levi Leipheimer
TEAM MILRAM
s.t.
7
Christophe Moreau
BOUYGUES TELECOM
+ 2'04
8
John Gadret
TEAM CSC
+ 2'06
9
Rinaldo Nocentini
LAMPRE - FONDITAL
+ 2'07
10
Danilo Di Luca
ASTANÁ
+ 2'11
11
Cadel Evans
FRANÇAISE DES JEUX
+ 2'20
12
José Rujano
BOUYGUES TELECOM
+ 2'21
13
Leonardo Piepoli
SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR
+ 2'27
14
José Angel Gomez Marchante
DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM
+ 2'32
15
Iban Mayo
LIQUIGAS
+ 2'42
Brajkovic may also win the points competition.
Rank
Name
Team
Points
General
1
Janez Brajkovic
COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE
5
44
2
Danilo Di Luca
ASTANÁ
10
43
3
Felix Cardénas
CAISSE D'EPARGNE
23
33
4
Iban Mayo
LIQUIGAS
31
31
5
Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio
AG2R PRÉVOYANCE
16
29
A victory for Caisse dEpargne! Felix Cardenas has secured the KoM Jersey.