First stage of the Basque race. As all the stage is rated as hilly but the last climb of the day could be easily rated as a mountain as well. It could be a great opportunity for any of the GC favourites to win time over the others but it’s hard to make any huge gaps as the stage finishes after a 10 km downhill
There are 12 riders in today’s breakaway: Pinto, Martins, Nydam, Nicacio, Sinelobov, Khalilikhosroshani, Belmokhtar, Saldarriaga, Grippo, Alarcon, Costagli and De Vocht
Alarcon seems to be the best climber in the group and he had no problems winning the first climb of the day. He was followed by Grippo and Sinelobov
Kenda and Nespresso are leading the pack today behind the escapes but they don’t look like doing too much trouble at the moment as the escapes have more than 6 minutes advantage before the first intermediate sprint of the day
Speaking about the intermediate sprint, it was won by Nydam in front of Khalilikhosroshani and Saldarriaga
The 2nd KoM of the day was won by Grippo as Alarcon was at the back of the group and he didn’t involve. Belmohktar and Sinelobov took the other spots on the podium at the summit
Alarcon took his revenge at the third climb of they day where he was the first at the top, followed by Pinto nad Sinelobov
BMC are also now in front of the pack and with their help Nespresso and Kenda managed to bring the advantage to only 2 minutes with 40 km to go
Alarcon really seems to be the strongest rider in the leading group as he also wins the second intermediate sprint of the day in front of Nicacio and Khalilikhosroshani
The escapes couldn’t stay together for ever and after the intermediate sprint the 3 Benfica riders highed up the pace. Only Nicacio, Belmokhtar, Alarcon and Khalilihosroshani were able to follow
Behind them the attacks from the pack started with a few kilometers before the actual climb started. The first attacker from the favourites was Vicioso
Later when the climb started Del Nero, Hermans and Mercado also attacked to catch Vicioso and the 2nd breakaway group
Samoilev, Taaramae and Moreno are also coming
Meanwhile, in front Alarcon and Nicacio proved to be way stronger than the other escapes and continued the race in 2
Mercado is leading the chasing group made by almost all the favourites and some of the escapes
More and more riders are joining the chasing group from the pack, including the BMC leaders, Calzati and Wegmann, and Kessler
Taaramae and Mercado seem to be the strongest from that group and they got away in order to catch their team – mate who are still leading the race
There Nicacio had left Alarcon behind and continued on his own
Alarcon is soon caught by Taaramae and Mercado. Energie Diesel and Ikea are really dominating the race at the moment
But Alarcon doesn’t look too good at the moment and he can’t keep it up with Mercado and Taaramae either and he is going to be caught by the third group of the race, lead by Moreno
Taaramae and Mercado caught Nicacio in front. And Taaramae looks stronger than the both Energie Diesel riders
He is first at the summit but the Energie Diesel duo isn’t too far away after all. It’s 10 kilometres downhill for them now
Moreno is leading the 2nd group at the summit, 43 seconds behind Taaramae. Calzati, Efimkin, Alaracon, Kessler and Wegmann are also in the group
Vicioso and Stetina somewhere between the 2nd and the third group at the summit. In the third group we have Samoilev, Hermans, Saldarriaga, Del Nero, Sambris and Belmokhtar
Taaramae didn’t manage to get a gap there and he continues together with Nicacio and Mercado on the downhill. It’s going to be between them for the stage win
The Estonian seems to have fooled the 2 Energie Diesel riders and the starts the sprint in front with quite a nice advantage
Mercado makes a big mistakes not going after him and just staying in Nicacio’s wheel
Really bad tactics for Energie Diesel there and Taaramae gets the stage win and the first yellow jersey of the race
Wegmann was really fast in the final kilometer and he brought his group in the same time with the winner
Stetina and Vicioso gain almost one minute on the downhill over Hermans’ group. That group wasn’t fast at all on the downhill and they were caught by the pack
Stage
1
Rein Taaramäe
Team IKEA - Bianchi
4h11'28
2
Juan Miguel Mercado
Team Energie - Diesel
s.t.
3
Pedro Nicácio
Team Energie - Diesel
s.t.
4
Fabian Wegmann
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
5
Daniel Moreno
Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Michelin
s.t.
6
Matthias Kessler
Nespresso - SportZone
s.t.
7
Sylvain Calzati
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
8
Jose Alarcon
Team IKEA - Bianchi
s.t.
9
Aleksandr Efimkin
Kenda Pro Cycling P/B Spinergy
s.t.
10
Peter Stetina
BMC Racing Team
+ 1'12
11
Angel Vicioso
Team Energie - Diesel
s.t.
12
Jesus Del Nero
Santander
+ 2'08
13
Ben Hermans
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
14
Ruslan Sambris
Acqua & Sapone
s.t.
15
Branislav Samoilev
Team Energie - Diesel
s.t.
16
Abdelkader Belmokhtar
Acqua & Sapone
s.t.
17
Andres Saldarriaga
Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Michelin
s.t.
18
Wang-yip Tang
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
