Stage 3 takes us into the Portuguese capital of Lisboa and after the sprinters were denied by the breakaway, they may well be hungry today. In truth yesterdays stage was deceptively tough with six riders falling foul of the time limit and a crash with 12km to go forcing three riders out of the race and some GC candidates out of the running. Today the entrance into Lisboa has a bit of a lump and it should be interesting to see how that affects things.
No King of the mountains primes today, just the three hotspot sprints but following yesterdays break win there is plenty of interest in a break.
The ever active Milka are not out of the running today though as 3rd on GC Thomas De Gendt chases across with Gretsch, Facci and Vaugranard. However the four chasers are kept out of the first sprint .
Facci takes the prime ahead of Berthou who moves to within 37 seconds of Reimer, Banos Ballester is 3rd, though we know he is more than capable of winning from a break!
The De Gendt chase group does make contact soon after this and the Belgian knows he has a good chance of taking over the race lead standing at just 10 seconds behind Reimer. The Spyker team though will be pleased that Berthou and Facci edge the Milka man at the second of the three sprints.
Berthou edges further up the provisional standings, now 31 seconds back. Facci is also making a move up the points standings here moving to 32 points, 11 back from Reimer there. De Gendt meanwhile by taking third leapfrogs teammate Bouet to second overall at 8 seconds.
Spyker, unlike it has to be said Cafe de Colombia are fully commited to the chase today. It is not going to be easy with well known breakaway men like Berthou, Vaugranard and of course Banos Ballester ahead.
For most of the rest of the pack it is a case of keeping in the wheels, it is not too hilly out there today and with those mountains soon to come some of the riders will feel happy after yesterdays traumas to keep out of trouble. Alex Ardila Cano though punctures and is distanced, he is going to have to work hard to limit his losses with the directors in a harsh mood.
With 100km to go Spyker are keeping the gap sensible at 6.40, it was over 8 minutes so they have got the gap down a touch probably hoping to entice the sprinter teams soon enough to take over.
At the last sprint Facci nabs yet more points by winning it ahead of De Gendt and Berthou.
Facci then moves to just five points behind Reimer on the points competition (a naff opening day TT has him way down on GC). De Gendt is just a tantalising four seconds behind Reimer now with Berthou at 29 seconds.
But Spyker are looking good to reel these guys in fairly harmlessly with the gap at just 4.30 with 75km to go.
It's hardly surprising that Spyker are looking to protect their asset, a stage win was already a big result for Northern Europe team. Cleverly getting the break into catchable territory brings the sprinters teams of Wikipedia and Carmuese to the front inside the last 50 kilometres.
Having watch the other riders battle for the sprints Lagdagnous, Banos Ballester and Sokolov attack clear of their five breakaway companions as the gap comes under 90 seconds.
The other five find it difficult to chase this down and the pack seem to be happy to just let these three hang tough a bit longer. With 20km to go the lead 3 have 45 seconds on the break and 70 seconds on the pack.
Realising De Gendt's crack at the red jersey is over the ever attacking Milka squad have Jerome Coppel attack.
Coppel was 9th this morning at 1.25 to Reimer, it's a shot at the stage perhaps as much as a shot at the red jersey. Over 15 or so kilometers the Frenchman will be difficult to reel in, as he moves past our three leaders only Sokolov can join him.
These two are now dangling a minute ahead of the pack and with a bit of a hill near the ending another rider feels it is a chance of a launch pad.
Steven Kruijswijk wearing the young riders jersey (though second to Reimer in the competition) bursts out of the pack. He catches Sokolov and Coppel to make three ahead, this is forcing Carmuese to go into overdrive.
The sprinters do not know whether they have their shot at a stage win yet but they are queueing up behind Jurgen Roelandts' train.
Visable here are Mark Cavendish Michael Van Stayen Juan Van Heerden Jaime Alberto Castañeda Óscar Avelino Juan Pablo Forero Paride Grillo Matt Rowe Dan Holloway Maximiliano Richeze and Nolan Hoffman
But the three ahead still have 40 seconds with 6km left in the race.
The sprinters seem to be concerning themselves with building nice orderly queues, Carmuese in particular taking great care to get Weylandt and Caethoven in place. It's great stuff though from Wikipedia determined to pay tribute to fallen comrades from yesterday with Mai and Farrar leading Van Heerden ahead of the Carmuese.
The other sprinters are picking their trains Van Stayen, Hoffman, Holloway and Rowe are with Carmuese, whereas Cavendish, Avelino and Castanada are going with Wikipedia.
Up front though we still have the three, who have 36 seconds with 3km to go, this is going to be tight. Coppel (the best sprinter of the three) is in the wrong place leading out.
Meanwhile Carmeuse get their act together and muscle Wikiepdia out of the lead scrambling their sprint set up somewhat.
Bad news for Bacardi fans as Sokolov loses tough with Coppel and Kruijswijk with 2.8km to go.
Also Van Stayen is struggling to hold onto Roelandts as Farrar and Caethoven have a lead out's race.
They have a hell of a gap to close in the last 2200m.
Mind you they catch Sokolov really quickly just inside of 2km to go. Van Stayen has managed to power back onto Roelandts wheel with home favourite Avelino now trying to find his. Van Heerden really needs to make a move past Farrar here.
1400m left the lead two still have 18 seconds... can they hold them off?
Matt Rowe tries one of his crazy lone sprint moves, before the kite. Meanwhile Van Heerden has found space on the inside of Avelino and is bringing Cavendish and Hoffman through.
800m to go and the lead two are fading, if Kruijswijk has a burst he needs to go now. The two Van's are either side of the tank that is Roelandts!
600m to go and the sprinters are moving ridiculously fast and it is over for our two breakaway's. Roelandts is so powerful, it is Cavendish who is the only one gaining on him here.
Even Tour de France stage winner Van Stayen is feeling the force of Roelandts afterburners.
It's a hard earned win for Carmuese, Roelandts was so strong in the last kilometer using his strength well. He takes his first stage win of the 2012 Vuelta.
Cavendish is second, Van Stayen third and a really fast finish from Grillo is 4th, Hoffman 5th, Van Heerden off the mark in 6th. Avelino fails to take that home victory, fading as he often seems to back in 7th - Richeze is 8th, Holloway 9th and Kruijswijk is 10th ahead of Rowe and Coppel.
Reimer keeps the lead on GC and nobody is eliminated today, Ardila Cano finishing just inside of 20 minutes.
Points
As we saw yesterday in these early stages, the intermediates are proving valuable for the sprints competition. But Reimer has enough to hold off King of the Mountains Facci. Roelandts though has a chance tomorrow to take the jersey before the climbs.
