Andrew Talansky again rode a strong race to finish near the front on a tough uphill climb, while teammate Martijn Maaskant spent the day in the main break. Director Sportif Bingen Fernandez sent this report:
After the easy stage the riders had yesterday we had a fast start as expected.
Martjin was able to jump in a group of five and after 6 km fighting with the bunch they made it away. Katusha controlled the gap, keeping it around three minutes because they wanted to try for the win.
When we were in the last 50km the road narrowed and it was there that the race started accelerating. In the bunch Movistar started riding in the front with Katusha and later Saxo pitched-in.
It was a hard chase and the peloton lost riders. They caught Martijn before the last climb. He did a really good job. Andrew finished strong in the end too.
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