Result: A RELATIVELY FLAT 172.8 kilometre ride from Santiago de Compostela to Ferrol, ended with victory for BMC’s British rider, Stephen Cummings.
Leader Joaquim Rodriguez, was not disturbed on the overall standings, however. Cummings still resides in 155th place overall and the Spaniard still leads his countryman, Alberto Contador by 13 seconds as the peloton finished 40 seconds behind Cummings and his break-away group.
Here’s how it happened: A group of seven broke clear after just 40km and proceeded to build a healthy three minute lead. Alongside Cummings, who had failed to keep pace with yesterday’s break were: Linus Gerdemann (RadioShack-Nissan), Thomas de Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM), Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEdge), Cameron Meyer (Orica-GreenEdge), Juan Antonio Flecha (Sky) and Elia Viviani (Liquigas-Cannondale).
The Peloton steadily closed that large gap and it stood at 28 seconds with four kilometres to go. Cummings made his move with one km left and proved he still had most in the tank and out-sprinted Meyer and Flecha to the finish.
“It’s been a difficult year but this is the best win of my career,” Cummings said afterwards, ”I would like to thank by BMC team for all the support they have shown through the hard times.”
“The whole day was hard and in the end I played it really well. For me to win, I knew I had to do it alone. So I made my move and then all I could do was go 100 percent.”
Who’s wearing what?
- Red (general classification): Joaquim Rodriguez
- Green (points): Joaquim Rodriguez
- Blue dots (mountains): Alejandro Valverde
- White (all-round): Joaquim Rodriguez
How did Nico do? The boy Roche is still sitting pretty in seventh place overall. He was part of the giant peloton which powered it’s way from Compostela to Ferrol.
What’s in store tomorrow? The first day in September will see the riders depart Galicia and take the 152km trip to Puerto de Ancares. Along the way, there will be five tough climbs, including another steep one to the finish line.
