2012 Giro d'Italia Stage 10

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May 15, Stage 10: Civitavecchia - Assisi 187km

Rodriguez wins Giro stage into Assisi

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/giro-ditalia/stage-10/results)

Spanish rider Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) took stage 10 of the Giro d’Italia in Assisi and also claimed the pink jersey as overall leader after an exciting climax to the afternoon’s racing in the historic Perugian town.

The final five kilometres provided some of the most intense racing of the season so far, with Rodriguez mastering the undulations best and coming home clear of Bartosz Huzarski (NetApp) and Giovanni Visconti (Movistar).

Race leader Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda) fought bravely to the death but could only finish sixth, and the time bonus afforded to Rodriguez for the win meant that he leapfrogs the Canadian to the top of the overall GC by 17 seconds.

“It was an important stage win especially for the bonus,” Rodriguez said. “Some journalists told me about the finish here and I now realise that it is suited to me. When you get to a finish like this one you have to use it to your advantage.”

The locals found themselves slightly deflated at the start by the news that one of their heroes, Filippo Pozzato (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia), had been forced to pull out of the Giro with a broken hand. Pozzato had declared himself to be in good form and capable of a stage victory, but stage 9’s crash close to the finish spelled the end of his race.

At the 10km point, a small breakaway group had escaped, and they built up a gap of almost two minutes: Guillaume Bonnafond (AG2R); Miguel Mínguez (Euskaltel-Euskadi); Francesco Failli (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia); Matthias Brandle (NetApp); and Martijn Keizer (Vacansoleil-DCM). With the top 13 riders in the GC all within one minute of race leader Hesjedal, the big guns appeared happy to play a game of cat and mouse behind the breakaway leaders, keeping their cards close to their chests as the race meandered up and down the rolling hills.

By the 50km point, the gap had increased to 4:50 and it stayed fairly constant for the best part of 40km. But as the riders approached the intermediate sprint the gap began to reduce and it was Keizer who took it ahead of Minguez in second place.

With a third of the race left the gap was down to two minutes, with Katusha doing most of the work in the chasing pack as they looked to help Rodriguez in his quest for pink. Garmin-Barracuda were live to the situation and they bunched around Hesjedal, knowing that the Canadian’s lead in the GC might be under threat.

The gap between the leading quintet and the peloton was being reduced as steadily as the excitement was building ahead of the finale. With 30km to go Keizer and Brandle had become detached from the leaders and Rabobank’s Stef Clement burst from the peloton to join them. Keizer and Brandle spent the next few kilometres over the uncategorised climbs and descents hanging on to the coat tails of the three-time Dutch national time trial champion as they tried to bridge the gap back to Bonnafond, Minguez and Failli.

But with just over 5km left, the peloton had engulfed all of the leaders and the stage was set for a breathless finish to the stage. The riders charged up the initial first climb back to Assisi, which reached a gradient of 15 percent at its steepest. Hesjedal, now without the protection of his teammates, was battling gamely at the front alongside the likes of Rodriguez, Michele Scarponi and Rabobank’s Tom Slagter, who attacked to no lasting avail.

Before the fans had time to regroup their senses, the climb turned into a sharp and fast descent, with Sky’s Rigobert Uran and AG2R-La Mondiale’s John Gadret sweeping round the outside and bursting clear. Within a matter of minutes they were climbing again and Rodriguez, aided selflessly by his teammate Daniel Moreno, positioned himself perfectly and powered away to the line for a cosy victory and possession of the maglia rosa.

Full Results

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team	4:25:05
2	Bartosz Huzarski (Pol) Team NetApp	0:00:02
3	Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team
4	Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox	0:00:06
5	John Gadret (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
6	Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Barracuda
7	Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
8	Dario Cataldo (Ita) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
9	Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Astana Pro Team
10	Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling

Vuelta a Espana: Stage 17

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/stage-17/results)

In taking the stage win atop Peña Cabarga this afternoon Team Sky's Chris Froome very nearly decided the fate of this year's Vuelta a España, forcing Juan José Cobo (Geox-TMC) to defend his red jersey in a stunning battle mano-a-mano on the tough slopes of the day's final climb.

The Brit won the day and undoubtedly the hearts of many fans with his stunning attack within the final two kilometres but the Spaniard held onto his overall advantage, narrowly finishing second to Froome on the stage, with Rabobank rider Bauke Mollema taking third, 21 seconds behind the duo. Daniel Martin finished fourth, three seconds behind Mollema.

While only 565m in altitude, the finishing climb of stage 17 provided a launch pad for plenty of attacks and some intriguing racing, as man after man tried his luck with forays off the front of the peloton, only to be dragged back. Froome bided his time and kicked hard when it mattered, turning himself inside out in the final 1,500 metres to take the spoils.

Despite not snatching the jersey off Cobo's shoulders, the Kenyan-born rider was pleased with his efforts. "That was indescribable," said Froome after the finish. "It was one of the hardest days on the bicycle of my life."

"It was the last mountain top finish and both Bradley and myself came into the stage trying to do as much as we could. But as you could see, Cobo was so strong and he holds the jersey by 13 seconds."

While Wiggins went into the Vuelta as Team Sky's leader, Froome's finishing move was an obvious sign that he's currently the stronger of the squad's two men who sit high on general classification and he explained the rationale of team leadership after the stage: "Some days Bradley is stronger [than me] and other days I'm stronger; the team has been fantastic – it's been a real team effort.

"The worst is now over – we still have to go out and make the most of it but the hardest is over," he added.

Sting in the tail

The Vuelta's 17th stage didn't appear too complicated or difficult on paper but at 211km and with climbing most of the day, it would prove to be taxing for most, even those who finished the day high on the standings.

Consequently, the peloton kept matters in check for over half of the parcours, despite an aggressive start to proceedings. A 20-man group containing the likes of Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step), Greg van Avermaet (BMC Racing), Oliver Kaisen (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Guillaume Bonnaford (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Evgeni Petrov (Astana) and Johannes Frohlinger (Skil-Shimano) got away with 116km raced.

With 80km until the finish, the group had 2:50, which was cut to 1:17 at the summit of the day's first climb, the third category Portillo de Bustos, where Christophe Le Mevel picked up the intermediate points.

On the slopes of the day's second climb, the Portillo de Lunada, Kaisen tried his luck with an attack but was reeled in by his breakaway companions with 57km remaining in the stage. Five kilometres later that leading group was caught by Marzio Bruseghin (Movistar), Mathias Frank (BMC Racing) and king of the mountains David Moncoutié (Cofidis) to form a potent combination at the head of the race.

While the leaders played around with mountains points, the peloton was getting stuck into the task of making progress ahead of the day's finishing climb. At the base of the descent the break's number was up, the cue for Andrey Kashechkin (Astana) and Pablo Lastras (Movistar) to counter-attack, albeit in a short-lived endeavour.

Let the attacks begin!

Despite some one-off attacks it wasn't until five kilometres remaining that the quality moves started in earnest as stage nine winner Dan Martin (Garmin-Cervélo) jumped clear, followed by Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Chris Anker Sorensen (Saxo Bank-Sungard) and Bruseghin in pursuit.

Four kilometres from home, Martin had eight seconds over Bruseghin but that would only last for another 600 metres, as the Italian caught his Irish rival and pushed the pace even higher. With three clicks until the finish they were joined in their advance and held 14 seconds over the peloton, with Sorensen somewhere in the middle.

Unwavering in his pursuit of the leading duo, Sorensen caught Martin and Bruseghin just as Omega Pharma-Lotto's Jurgen Van Den Broeck launched the attack he'd been threatening to unleash for some time. The Belgian pinned his ears back and within 500 metres had caught and passed the front three, his sights set on the finish.

The final 1.5km averaged 13 percent and boasted a maximum gradient of 19 percent and it hurt Van Den Broeck – he was caught ahead of the flamme rouge, with Nieve keeping pace ahead of Cobo, Wiggins and Froome.

Undeterred, he attacked again, putting Wiggins in difficulty while Froome went with the Belgian's move and impressively countered in an attempt to take the overall lead; belting out the final metres of the stage, his face wracked in agony, Team Sky's second in charge signaled his status as the squad's main man during the final week of racing.

He carried on his run to the line as attention turned to Cobo, whose red jersey was at stake. He was briefly distanced and looked to be losing time to Froome, but he defended valiantly to battle back to the Sky rider's wheel and very nearly took the stage win. Froome dug deep and dove into the last corner to take the stage with Cobo only just falling short. Both riders were completely spent and sitting on the ground in agony after the finish.

Behind the exhausted duo at the front, Bruseghin, Igor Anton and his Euskaltel-Euskadi teammate Mikel Nieve, Van Den Broeck and Denis Menchov (Geox-TMC) rolled in over the next 30 seconds. Wiggins would finish 39 seconds behind but remains in third overall and now looks destined to take his first Grand Tour podium, although it could have been so much more.

1	Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling	4:52:38
2	Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Geox-TMC	0:00:01
3	Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team	0:00:21
4	Daniel Martin (Irl) Team Garmin-Cervelo	0:00:24
5	Igor Anton Hernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi	0:00:27
6	Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
7	Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Movistar Team	0:00:29
8	Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto	0:00:31
9	Denis Menchov (Rus) Geox-TMC
10	Beñat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Movistar Team	0:00:35

GC Overall

1	Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Geox-TMC	69:31:41
2	Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling	0:00:13
3	Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling	0:01:41
4	Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team	0:02:05
5	Denis Menchov (Rus) Geox-TMC	0:03:48
6	Maxime Monfort (Bel) Leopard Trek	0:04:13
7	Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale	0:04:31
8	Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto	0:04:45
9	Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha Team	0:05:20
10	Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi	0:05:33

Vuelta a Espana: Stage 14

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/stage-14/results)

Rein Taaramae’s (Cofidis) mantra may well be, ‘If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again’, which paid dividends for the talented Estonian on Saturday afternoon as he won the Vuelta’s 14th stage on another summit finish in La Farrapona Lagos de Somiedo.

The 24-year-old Cofidis rider has been very active in this year’s Vuelta and finally took the reward for his efforts after what was an intense 173km in the saddle. He took his place in the breakaway early in the stage and managed to hold on to take his first Grand Tour stage win, something many pundits have been predicting for several years.

Showing dogged determination throughout the entire stage, he beat Geox-TMC duo Juan Jose Cobo and David De La Fuente, who finished second and third respectively.

It was a good day for overall leader Bradley Wiggins, the Brit finishing 45 seconds behind Taaramae and most importantly putting time into his rivals on general classification – he now leads Sky teammate Chris Froome by seven seconds, with Rabobank’s Bauke Mollema in third at 36 seconds.

Froome pointed to Wiggins as he crossed the line one place behind in sixth, an indication of the unity amongst Team Sky’s two best climbers and a sign of the pair’s confidence heading into the Vuelta’s final week – could today and tomorrow define who will be this year’s champion?

One man losing his grip on a chance at the title is defending champion Vincenzo Nibali, who now sits 1:25 behind Wiggins on the general classification and slipped from second to seventh overall on today's stage. The Liquigas-Cannondale leader finished more than a minute behind his main rival and suffered the consequences, giving himself plenty of work to do in the final week of racing if he’s to take another crown.

A weighty half needs a solid breakaway

The second half of today’s stage featured plenty of climbing, with the category two Puerto de la Ventana, the first category Puerto de San Lorenzo and a mountaintop finish at La Farrapona, Lagos de Somiedo in store for riders.

With limited opportunities in the sprints at this year’s Vuelta, HTC-Highroad youngster Leigh Howard decided to make the day’s move, taking off about a half a km into the stage. He was soon joined by the others, and after giving chase for nearly 30 km, the peloton finally decided to let them go.

He was joined by De La Fuente and Taaramae, Guilluame Bonnafond and Lloyd Mondory (AG2R-La Mondiale), Rabobank’s Luis Leon Sanchez, Jonas Aaen Jörgensen of Saxo Bank-Sungard, Sep Vanmarcke (Garmin-Cervélo), Alberto Benitez (Andalucia-Caja Granada), BMC Racing’s Karsten Kroon, Cofidis man Yohan Bagot, Jorge Azanza and Inaki Isasi of Euskaltel-Euskadi, Katusha couple Aliaksandr Kuschynski and Eduard Vorganov, Francesco Bellotti (Liquigas-Cannondale), and Daniele Righi (Lampre-ISD).

Nearing the top of the day’s first climb and with 77km remaining, the big break had 7:38, which would prove to be its maximum advantage as 27km later that mark had been cut to 4:55.

On the descent of the Ventana, Vanmarcke and Kroon found themselves being hoisted out of the forest, the pair crashing and forcing the Dutch veteran to abandon the race. Soon after the man who started the day’s break exited it, dropped on the way up the San Lorenzo; the Australian shut up shop and made his way back to the pack.

It all heats up…

With 40km to go and only 2:50 separating break from peloton, it was time for Katusha’s Alberto Losado to make a move of his own, dragging Sylvain Chavanel and several other riders with him; the bunch shut down the dangerous group that threatened to form but a kilometre later there was another attack that saw Movistar duo Beñat Intxausti and Marzio Bruseghin fly the safety of the peloton in pursuit of the leaders.

Just as this pair was gaining seconds on the field, the ever-aggressive Taaramae made what would be the race-winning move and was on his way off the front of the leading group, taking De La Fuente with him to form an attacking duo that quickly created a sizeable gap.

While these front groups continued to toil, Katusha’s Dani Moreno was another to flee the peloton with 35km remaining, followed by teammate Joaquin Rodriguez; meanwhile Leopard Trek strongman Fabian Cancellara continued to set tempo for Jakob Fuglsang and Maxime Monfort, who both sat in the top 10 of general classification and overall leader Wiggins maintained a comfortable rhythm next to them.

A kilometre after attacking, Moreno was soon within 25 seconds of Intxausti and Bruseghin, with the remnants of the break a further 2:20 up the road and rapidly splitting under the pressure of the mountain and the movement of Taaramae and De La Fuente ahead of it.

This latter duo crested the San Lorenzo together, 2:21 ahead of Moreno as the peloton topped the climb a further 13 seconds afterwards. On the descent the Spaniard caught the duo from Movistar to form a chasing trio that soon made contact with Moreno’s teammate Vorganov.

This new quartet set about building on the slender lead it enjoyed over the main field and slicing the two minutes that separated them from Taaramae, De La Fuente and what little was left of the break with the final 20km and the climb to Lagos de Somiedo approaching.

Heading to the finale

Soon Moreno and co had caught the remnants of the break – Righi, Mondory, and Bonnafond (sans Taaramae and De La Fuente) and set to work on the climb proper with the peloton still keeping the gap between itself and the Katusha rider to less than a minute. And with 15km left in the stage it continued to do that, as the leading duo still had over 60 seconds on the pursuers.

The peloton, led by Liquigas-Cannondale, Rabobank and Leopard Trek, tapped out its rapid rhythm while Movistar’s Italian stager Bruseghin carried out the workhorse duties – appropriate given that the 37-year-old famously owns a farm with donkeys.

As the leading duo crossed the 10km remaining banner, the gap stood at 57 seconds and a kilometre later that had only been cut by three seconds, with the peloton continuing its vigilance and keeping Moreno’s lead under a minute.

The Estonian-Iberian alliance at the front of affairs had 59 seconds, as Moreno’s men passed the banner indicating six kilometres remaining and were soon after caught by the peloton, providing the spark for Euskaltel-Euskadi’s Amets Txurruka to light the powder keg and explode from the main field.

The threat of Moreno negated, the peloton eased off the gas and with five kilometres remaining had allowed the leading duo a lead of 1:12, while Txurruka’s toil had only put him 10 seconds up on the main field. A kilometre later and it was time for Moreno to go again, taking Cobo with him and quickly overrunning the Euskaltel-Euskadi rider.

Behind them it was panic stations for Rodriguez and Nibali, the two overall contenders dropped from the group containing Wiggins and his faithful lieutenant Froome, plus Omega Pharma-Lotto’s Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Vacansoleil-DCM man Wout Poels and Denis Menchov (Geox-TMC).

And with Menchov’s teammate Cobo going alone it was time for Taaramae to do the same at the front of the race, dropping De La Fuente (who soon joined his pursuing companion) and heading for home with two kilometres left to ride.

Despite Cobo’s best efforts, he and De La Fuente remained 21 seconds off the Estonian with 1,000 metres remaining as Wiggins, Froome, Van Den Broeck and co continued their march away from the defending champion that could well have helped crown a new Vuelta king.

The man wearing the crown of the day was Taaramae however, kissing his jersey and raising his arm in the air to celebrate what was a well-deserved and popular win, crossing the line 25 seconds ahead of Cobo, with De La Fuente a further four seconds back on what was a good day for the Spanish squad.

1	Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne	4:39:01
2	Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Geox-TMC	0:00:25
3	David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Geox-TMC	0:00:29
4	Wout Poels (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team	0:00:40
5	Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling	0:00:45
6	Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling
7	Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
8	Denis Menchov (Rus) Geox-TMC
9	Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi	0:00:55
10	Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto	0:01:00

GC Overall

1	Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling	55:54:45
2	Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling	0:00:07
3	Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team	0:00:36
4	Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Geox-TMC	0:00:55
5	Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Leopard Trek	0:00:58
6	Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) Pro Team Astana	0:01:23
7	Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale	0:01:25
8	Maxime Monfort (Bel) Leopard Trek	0:01:37
9	Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto	0:02:16
10	Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha Team	0:02:24

Vuelta a Espana: Stage 4

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/stage-4/results)

Daniel Moreno (Katusha) took advantage of a degree of status quo between the Vuelta’s main favourites to claim victory at the race’s first summit finish on the Sierra Nevada. The Katusha rider came up towards the line on the wheel of Saxo Bank’s Chris Anker Sorensen. Then with 400 metres remaining, the Spaniard flashed by on the Dane’s left and had plenty of time to zip up his jersey and celebrate his first grand tour stage win.

The pair had come together just four kilometres from the summit. Sorensen had already jumped across from the main group to three riders who remained from the break of the day. Sorensen pushed on past them and worked hard but had no answer when Moreno jumped hard.

“I’m so happy with this beautiful win,” said Moreno. “I felt in great shape this morning. I knew I could produce a great performance because the course suited my characteristics. Before going after Sorensen, I talked with my team leader, Joaquim Rodríguez. He thought I had good chance of winning today because I’m faster than the Danish rider and told me to go for it.”

Moreno’s win lifted him up to second place overall, 43 seconds down on new race leader Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) but he was quick to downplay his own prospects.

“Despite my move up general classification, my job is still to help our leader to win the general classification,” said the 29-year-old from Madrid. “I think ‘Purito’ and me form a great partnership, I’m sure we can gain some more brilliant results in this Vuelta.”

After the red jersey of Pablo Lastras dropped away from the main group on the early slopes of the Sierra Nevada, Chavanel knew that if he could stick with or close to that group he would take over the lead.

Although he did fall back from the front group, which was eventually led home by Garmin’s Dan Martin 11 seconds behind Moreno, the French champion did enough to attain his objective for the day.

Antón cracks, Cavendish retires

While Moreno and Chavanel took the plaudits, the big loser on the day was Euskaltel’s Igor Antón. The Basque rider struggled all of the way up the final climb to the finish and in the end may not have been too disappointed to lose 1:36.

But Antón was far from the only rider to suffer on another blisteringly hot Vuelta day. Winner of the points title last year, Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) abandoned on the second of the day’s three climbs, while 2008 Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre saw his hopes of a high overall finish disappear as the race climbed to the 2112-metre summit.

Seven riders for the break of the day

After a number of attacks had been neutralised in the opening few kilometres, the break of the day formed at the 10km mark as the riders started up the slopes of the first-category climb of Alto de Filabres.

Seven riders got into it: Guillaume Bonnafond (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Matthew Busche (RadioShack), Yohan Bagot (Cofidis), Thomas Rohregger (Leopard-Trek), Eduard Vorganov (Katusha), José Vicente Toribio (Andalucía-Caja Granada) and Koen de Kort (Skil-Shimano).

By the time De Kort led the seven over the Filabres ahead of Vorganov and Rohregger, their advantage was seven minutes on the peloton. Lastras’ Movistar team tried to keep it under control but it did edge out to more than eight minutes with less than 60km remaining.

After the third-category Blancares climb, where Cavendish became the second rider to abandon the race after HTC team-mate Matt Goss on stage two, Rabobank began to push the pursuit of the seven breakaways with a little more purpose.

Sierra Nevada’s long and winding road

Soon after the escape reached the first slopes of the 23km ascent of the Sierra Nevada, riders began to drop away as the heat hurt as much as the gradient. Bagot was the first to go, followed by De Kort and Torobio, although the Spaniard did battle back up to the four leaders at one point, only to blow apart in visibly painful fashion once he got up to them.

Rabobank were still leading the peloton as it started up the final climb, by now less than four minutes down on the break. Their pace soon saw Lastras fall out of the back. RadioShack’s Andreas Klöden was another early casualty of the Dutch team’s pace. This front group thinned down to 50-odd riders, with Antón struggling right at the back.

Up front, Bonnafond and Rohregger were doing most of the pace-making, although with 10km remaining the four leaders had little more than a minute in hand on the peloton as defending champion Vincenzo Nibali’s Liquigas team went to the front. Their efforts saw Antón finally fall away from the back of the group containing the main contenders.

Perhaps sensing that some of his other rivals might be in difficulty as the race headed towards 2000 metres, a very comfortable-looking Nibali launched a brief foray with 7.5km left. The Italian got a decent gap before easing off as the chase began behind.

As Nibali was brought back, Sorensen made his move off the front of this group, and got across to the four leaders inside the 5km mark. The Dane pressed on through the tiring escapees, with Moreno by now chasing hard behind, perhaps with a view to setting up a late attack by his team leader, Joaquim Rodríguez.

But over the closing couple of kilometres the Katusha leader and his main rivals were content to sit in behind Sky’s Chris Froome as he set the pace for Bradley Wiggins, allowing Moreno and Sorensen the chance to battle over the day’s spoils and Chavanel the chance to lead the Vuelta for the first time in his illustrious career.

This was just an early skirmish for overall victory in the Vuelta, with Antón the big loser and Moreno and Chavanel the day’s victors.

Result
1	Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha Team	4:51:53
2	Chris Anker Sörensen (Den) Saxo Bank Sungard	0:00:03
3	Daniel Martin (Irl) Team Garmin-Cervelo	0:00:11
4	Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team
5	Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre - ISD
6	Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
7	Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
8	Wout Poels (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
9	Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre - ISD
10	Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team

Overall Standings:

Result
1	Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quickstep Cycling Team	13:19:09
2	Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha Team	0:00:43
3	Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Leopard Trek	0:00:49
4	Maxime Monfort (Bel) Leopard Trek
5	Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale	0:00:53
6	Kanstantsin Sivtsov (Blr) HTC-Highroad	0:00:58
7	Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) Pro Team Astana	0:00:59
8	Sergio Pardilla Belllón (Spa) Movistar Team	0:01:03
9	Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Movistar Team
10	Kevin Seeldraeyers (Bel) Quickstep Cycling Team	0:01:04