Even though there's very little flat in today's stage, especially in the last half, we should be in for a mass sprint finish, where Andrei Greipel will be looking to show his power.
Trentin's problems from Almeria continued so it was decided that Etixx will be working for Meersman today and with 5 kilometers to go we were in a perfect position.
Vandenbergh leading the pack
Tony Martin didn't have a great day though and we soon saw our train being blocked by Lotto's train, made for Andre Greipel. IAM were also featuring on the other side of the road.
Eventually, Lampaert found a way through the many riders placed at the front of the pack, but, sadly, Meersman lost his wheel, leaving the Belgian rider to fight with the likes of Haussler, Impey and Pelucchi.
Greipel was very strong in the final kilometer and gave the opposition no chance. Stage win and leader's jersey for the Germany's National Champion, with Impey second and Haussler third.
The last climb will make it virtually impossible for the pure sprinters to be a factor in fight for the stage win, which will be settle either between the sprinters who can also go over a hill or two or between a group of attackers.
But no big attacks were made on the last climb which meant we were heading towards a sprint. Still, the final climb saw Cavendish losing contact with the pack, while Tom Boonen was too far behind to count for the stage win.
In the final kilometers, it was Giant who was controlling the pack for John Degenkolb, who managed to survive the last climb. The German was quickly followed by his compatriot, the Milano SanRemo winner, Gerald Ciolek.
Ciolek wasn't strong enough to be a real threat for Degenkolb though. It was Kristoff and Coquard who did an amazing final kilometer and were very close to the Giant rider in the last corner.
And it's Coquard who takes the stage win in front of Degenkolb and Kristoff. Fantastic first stages for the French rider who was also second yesterday, which means that he will move into the lead of the general classification.
On paper, it's another day for sprinters, with the only two climbs of the day coming in the first half of the stage. Greipel will be looking to defend his yellow jersey and take another stage win.
The second category climb proved way tougher than most people expected and the gap saw itself reduced to about 70 riders at the top of the climb. This was bad news for Etixx as most of our team was dropped with only Tony Martin, Yves Lampaert and David De La Cruz left in the pack.
This meant that only Martin was left to help Lampaert in the sprint. Still, the German did a very good job and helped Lampaert get a good position in the sprint controlled by Lotto and IAM.
Martin trying to get Lampaert in the best possible position
Lotto did a fine job for Andrei Greipel and the yellow jersey wearer was leading the sprint with 1 kilometer to go, with Yves Lampaert right in his wheel.
Lampaert was not able to challenge Greipel for the stage win, but he did enough to secure himself the second place, one bike length behind the Lotto rider.
Another tricky finished in Oman, but this one should be easier than what we had yesterday, meaning Mark Cavendish should be one of those battling out for the stage win.
And Cavendish was there at the end, while Renshaw was not, meaning Tom Boonen will be last in Cav's train. Terpstra and Stybar did a very fine job bringing the train to the front.
This allowed Boonen to properly launch Cavendish in the Brit's attempt to take the stage win. It won't be easy though with Kristoff, Coquard and Degenkolb also near the front of the pack.
Cavendish entered the final kilometer in the lead and look like being able to maintain that lead, despite some very strong efforts from Degenkolb and Kristoff.
And the Brit is back at winning, after failing to do so in Qatar. Degenkolb second, Kristoff third, while Coquard keeps the race lead going into the queen stage.
The stage is going to be one of the most decisive for the outcome of the final general classification, perhaps even more important than tomorrow's queen stage if the last climb fails to deliver any gaps between the big guns.
The time - trial features a very tricky climb in its first half, meaning that today's winner will also have to be a fine climber and not just a rider who can sustain a top speed for a long amount of time.
Early leaders included Gianluca Brambilla, Jos Van Emden and Luke Durbridge, while Gianni Meersman failed to deliver a competitive time at the finish after having a very good time at the top of the climb.
Things really started to get interesting as soon as we reached the top 20 in the general classification as former Tour de France winner, Chris Froome was laying in the 20th spot. Froome beat the best time at the intermediate check point and once he had finished the stage, he was in the lead.
Chris Froome took full advantage of today's climb
The local supporters favorite, Rui Costa had a great day. The Former World Champion was registered with the same time as Froome at the top of the climb, but after an amazing descend to the finish line he took the lead by 7 seconds.
Rui Costa took a lot of risks on the downhill. And it paid off!
Tony Martin seems to be struggling to find his form in Algarve and today was no different. After a very disappointing time at the top of the climb (27 seconds slower than Costa and Froome) he managed to gain some back on the downhill to finish 10 seconds behind Costa, in third.
Most of Martin's fans were disappointed with today's results
The queen stage of the race, the stage that will probably decide the final outcome of the general classification. Even though there's only one climb on the route, it's right at the finish meaning this we will be in climber's territory today.
With no breakaway in front of the pack, Alberto Contador did not waste his time and attacked at the foot of the climb. Despite some very strong efforts, none of his rivals managed to match his climbing speed.
Contador looked like a man on a mission today
Behind Contador, two main chasing groups were made. Astana and Sky shook hands in the first one as Konig, Lopez and Fuglsang were the strongest today bar Contador, while in the second group we had Nerz and the Cannondale duo of Dan Martin and TJ Slagter.
Contador's early attack took some riders by surprise and one of those rider was Etixx very own Rigoberto Uran. But, after a big chasing race and some vital help from Maxime Bouet, he managed to reach the second chasing group.
Bouet did a very fine job to bring Uran back in contention
In the closing kilometers of the stage, Konig attacked the two Astana riders he was with in what was supposed to be one last attempt to catch Contador, but it looked more like a move to secure the second place.
Under the flamme rouge, Konig could see
Contador but it wasn't of much help
Contador won by quite a comfortable margin in the end. 37 seconds in front of Konig and over one minute better than anyone else. Uran reached the finish line almost 2 minutes behind the Spanish rider.
Another crucial stage in Portugal. Following yesterday's time - trial we have a pretty clear idea who are those that will be fighting for the yellow jersey. But is it really a battle though? Rui Costa seems to be by far the strongest puncheur out of the first 3 riders in the GC and with today's profile that comes more than in handy.
After missing out on the breakaway, Gianni Meersman made some huge efforts to join the it, hoping that Lampre won't chase behind them too hard, given none of them were threats for Ruis Costa's yellow jersey.
Meersman about to join the race leaders
Sadly for Meersman and his fellow escapees that did not prove to be the case as Lampre set up a high pace at the front of the pack and eventually caught them, giving the favorites another opportunity for a stage win.
With Costa's team - mates tired after chasing the breakaway for almost the entire day, Sky took over the pack on the final climb. Henao and Poels did an amazing job for Froome and only other 6 riders were able to keep up with their pace!
Tony Martin was one of them, the German knew he had to keep contact with the Sky riders if he wanted to keep his position in the general classification. Quite surprisingly though, Rui Costa was caught behind and was desperately trying to get back with the finish line not too far ahead.
Sky set up the pace, while Costa is trying to hold on
to his yellow jersey
Inside the last kilometer Poels let Henao take his turn at the front, but it looked like the Colombian forgot he was there to work for Froome and sprinter for the stage win, with Froome having some real problems in following his acceleration.
And Henao takes it, with Froome second to make it a 1-2 for Sky. It's not all good news for Sky though as Rui Costa managed to join the group in the final kilometer and with Froome only finishing second today, it means that the Lampre rider keeps the yellow jersey for only one second!
Henao celebrating his win. He had no idea
what was waiting for him at the team bus
Quite a tricky stage in Oman. And an interesting one as well. In the final part of the stage a climb will be passed 3 times, twice with an intermediate sprint at the top and once with king of the mountains points being awarded at the top.
Maxime Bouet was part of a four men breakaway group. He was clearly the strongest and at the second pass of the climb, he broke away from the other escapees. He legs were good and as he climbed the last ascent of the day he had a pretty good advantage in front of the pack.
Behind him, all hell broke loose. The pack was shredded between different group of riders. Even though, at first, he was very well protected by Sagan, Contador eventually decided to not take any risks on the downhill.
That decision proved to be a poor one for his general classification lead as he not only lost contact with the strongest riders in the pack(Sagan, Dan Martin, Stybar and Van Avermaet), he was also losing time to Konig (2nd in the GC), who had a very important asset in Nicolas Roche.
Contador taking it easy on the downhill,
while his rivals are getting away
Meanwhile, Bouet was riding his own race and never looked like he could lose the stage win. Another impressive victory for the Frenchman who now makes it two out of two with his breakaways.
Bouet turning into quite the stage hunter
In the end, Contador lost only a few seconds to Konig, which meant that he managed to keep his position in front of the Sky rider. But he did not manage to keep the race lead! Dan Martin won approximately 2 minutes and a half on Contador and move into the leader's jersey.
A short flat stage will put an end to this year's Volta ao Algarve. The yellow jersey wearer, Rui Costa only has an advantage of one second in front of Froome, but with this type of route it's virtually impossible for Froome to put Costa's lead in danger.
With less than 5 kilometers to go, the Etixx train was flying. But the good news for the Belgian team ended there as the breakaway was still to be caught and eventually they even lost the leading positions in the pack.
In front, the breakaway still held a decent advantage over the pack, with Marco Coledan and Daniel Mestre making a move for the stage win by attacking their fellow escapees.
Both were almost dead in the final kilometers, but they managed to hang on in front of the pack, with Coledan taking the stage win, while in the pack Rui Costa was celebrating a fantastic win on home soil.
I don't think narrow roads are to blame for Contador's poor result. Stybar wasn't with the best at first but he found a way to join the leading (well, not really leading but you know what I mean) group. Or maybe I just got the whole narrow roads problem wrong
Last stage in Oman should be a day for sprinter. But with the wind and the small uphill sections in the last part of the race, the sprinters won't have this one served on a plate.
A few important names were involved in a crash early in the stage, including the race leader, Daniel Martin. The Irishman had no problems getting back on his bike and in the pack. His cousin, Nicolas Roche (10th in the GC) was not so lucky and was forced to abandon the race.
With 5 kilometers to go, one of the escapes, Tanel Kangert was still in front. And the Estonian looked strong enough to hold on for the stage win.
The small hills proved to tougher than expected and 3 riders broke clear on them: Terpstra, Stybar and Sagan (4th in the GC, but 47 seconds behind Daniel Martin).
Terpstra was riding like a man possessed
As soon as the last hill ended, Stybar took over the lead in the group, with the leader, Kangert, now in their sight.
And the former Estonian Champion was caught right under the flamme rouge. Stybar wasted no time and put in a very strong acceleration to get away from the other riders. Sagan was somehow surprised by this as he was stuck in Terpstra's wheel.
Etixx playing their number advantage right
Sagan eventually realized Terpstra has no reason to bridge the gap to Stybar, but it was too late to stop the Czech Champion from claiming the stage win.
Sagan was only second today, but with the leading group gaining more than one minute on the pack, it means that he is the winner of this year's Tour of Oman! A very surprising winner, considering he is not the most gifted climber in the pack.
Three distinctive jerseys for Sagan,
including the most important one
I thought having a powerful computer will keep me away from PCM crashes. I was wrong as I saw myself forced to simulate the next two races. And it's quite a same since, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad was one of our goals for this season.
In the simulation, Stybar was very close to bring home the bacon, but lost the final sprint to Cancellara.
This looks great so far, great reports and the brilliant screens make them look even better. Hopefully you can continue this at this for a while, could turn into a real gem.
Shame Omloop had to be simulated but Stybar got a good result for you there. Still, I'm sure you'll be wanting to go one better in the rest of the cobbled classics!
I really like the flags you use by the way, any chance you could link to where you get them from?
