Much like the first stage this one does not look that selective with the tough climbs a bit too far from the end of the stage.
The bonuses are strangely split with two early sprint primes and two 3rd cat bonuses in the really lumpy stuff in the second third of today's stage.
Some aggressive early riding see's Ovechkin take the first sprint prime ahead of the disinterested pair of Cunha and Vandousselaere.
These three make our break of the day, Ovechkin is a dangerous rider for the break really being as he finished in the front group yesterday and is a good time trialler. He misses out on the second sprint mind with Vandousselaere winning over Cunha.
It's up and down a lot again today with that middle third in particular shark tooth like which is where the pack will be doing much of the chasing you think.
The three man break go into it with a 4 and a half minute lead.
We can see Boily near the front with Soupe on domestique duty.
Cunha just takes the first KoM prime nipping past Ovechkin at the last minute, Vandousselaere not quite having the legs.
Onto the second of the categorised climbs and the bigger sprinters are already dropped from the now chasing pack.
It also includes Matt the KoM from yesterday. Amusingly he could well keep that jersey today.
At the prime Ovechkin is too much for Cunha this time.
It means that Matt keeps the jersey despite struggling today (that is if he makes the time limit).
The pack goes over the prime with it being reduced to 75 riders. Mandri decides to try something as they end the descent.
It's still 30km out and the gap to the lead trio is just under two minutes, so it's a brave probably foolhardy move. The terrain looks rolling at best.
Rothaus are helping Alstom control things.
It's enough to distance Ma who was in a decent GC position following yesterday's breakaway.
As Mandri is drawn in and the gap to the break gets down to a minute Efimkin tries his luck.
He joins the breakaway as they reach a particularly nasty wall like section.
Ovechkin does not like the presence of a LukOil rider at attacks over the top.
18km to go we have:
Ovechkin leading
Vandousselaere, Efimkin and Cunha at 24 seconds.
Gil at 44 seconds, Lowe at a minute
The Alstom led pack of 65 riders at 1.21.
That pack is pretty stretched out mind and begins to splinter with the wind beginning to blow very hard as the dust settles we have just 38 riders left up front.
The riders still in the pack include:
Race leader Boily, Anderson, Roy Mehr-Wenige, Mandri, Richardson Gerdemann Kirylenka Popkov Scarponi Fonte Cornu Costa Santos, Mendes.
Brutt is just behind with 3rd on GC Hoelgaard.
Zabriskie is about one minute twenty off the pack with Van Huffel trying to lead his group back.
Nicacao, Cardoso, Huzarski and Boom, Geschke are also here.
It's really scattered all over the place with Ovechkin unaware of the chaos behind pushing on.
With 12.5km to go he has just 16 seconds on the chasers who have merged to create a group of five (Efimkin, Vandousselaere, Gil, Lowe, Cunha). At 45 seconds we have two ambitious movers in Silva and Pakhusov.
With the first peloton at 1.14 and the second peloton (that merged with Hoelgaard - Brutt) at 3.04. This is looking like a disaster for Zabriskie and Boom.
10km to go.
Cunha shocks the leaders as they catch Ovechkin by attacking. Meanwhile the first peloton catches Silva- Pakhosov.
Efimkin and Lowe go with Cunha as the other three drop off.
Alstom keep the pace high in the pack, it looks likely that Zabriskie - Boom group will lose two minutes here.
Under 5km to go they mop up all the breakaways. great work.
We head into the last 3km and Alstom look to control the sprint.
Soupe, Durasek, Roy, Anderson, Boily are all well forward with Kirylenka possibly the best placed GC candidate in Boily's wheel.
2.3km to go.
Indeed he and Mendes follow Boily through as Roy and Anderson sprint for themselves.
1.8km to go.
Mendes makes his move, a bit too early in this wind surely as Anderson fades. Popkov, Fonte, Devenyns, Cornu are still in the hunt here.
1.2km to go.
Alstom's control disappears as the followers take command. Mendes leads (still surely too early) as Kirylenka, Cornu, Popkov come through.
800m to go.
Kirylenka charges through as Mendes fades blocking Cornu slightly. Mandri and Costa have come from nowhere to challenge.
400m to go.
Surely no doubt Kirylenka is going to take this, expertly positioned throughout today's stage. Boily is leading in second place with Mandri, Costa, Cornu and now Scarponi and Mehr-Wenige coming through.
200m left.
Scarponi and Mehr Wenige are finishing like bullets!
Will they deny Kirylenka?
Unbelievable...
Scarponi wins it, Mehr-Wenige second, Kirylenka third, Mandri 4th, Costa 5th.
A dramatic finish see's Mehr-Wenige sneak into the GC lead.
Geschke leads a desperate late rush from the Zabriskie- Boom group.
Alas, they lose 2.24 meaning some big names are possibly out of the GC hunt.
Stage result
A dramatic finish there as Scarponi's late, late dart the kind that works under windy conditions. The other drama of course is the big loss of time for Zabriskie and Boom before the Malhao stage.
GC
The race is busted wide open here with Kirylenka, Popkov, Costa, Cornu possibly the best time triallers ahead. Ovechkin is also good against the clock and managed to hold on to the front group at the end. Mehr-Wenige has been highly active in the early season and still is showing some form.
KoM
Matt remains the mountains leader going into the hardest climbing stage, difficult to see him maintaining that.
Rank
Name
Team
Mountain
General
1
Jörgen Matt
airBaltic - Endura
0
12
2
Artem Ovechkin
Tinkoff Bank - Rosneft OJSC
10
10
3
Marco Alexandre Ferreira Cunha
Team Privatbank
10
10
4
Haijun Ma
Metinvest-Emirates
0
8
5
Daniel Hoelgaard
Team Privatbank
0
4
6
Sven Vandousselaere
Team BPost
4
4
Youth
Five riders remain in contention for the young riders jersey, Oliveira will wear it on stage three with Boily in the points and Mehr-Wenige in the leaders jersey.
Name
Team
General Time
Dietmar Mehr-Wenige
Adira-Isq Project
8h45'26 (1)
David Boily
Alstom-RBC
+ 4 (2)
Nelson Oliveira
Prio - Porto
+ 24 (3)
Lawrence Warbasse
Sram-Riboxx Cycling Team
+ 24 (4)
Pierre Paolo Penasa
Kappa-ENI
+ 24 (5)
Davide Appollonio
Kappa-ENI
+ 1'56 (6)
Daniel Hoelgaard
Team Privatbank
+ 2'36 (7)
Hugo Houle
Alstom-RBC
+ 2'48 (8)
Gökhan Hasta
Adira-Isq Project
+ 3'02 (9)
Luis Afonso
Prio - Porto
+ 4'12 (10)
Davide Villella
Kappa-ENI
+ 5'23 (11)
Oleksandr Prevar
Metinvest-Emirates
+ 6'41 (12)
Pedro Miguel Paulinho
Adira-Isq Project
+ 7'19 (13)
Sven Vandousselaere
Team BPost
+ 9'29 (14)
Geoffrey Soupe
Alstom-RBC
+ 9'37 (15)
Teams
Seven teams sit on the same time leading going into Malhao.
Alstom, Sram, Airbaltic, Mobil, Prio-Porto, Kappa and Metinvest.
