Already the wearer of the green points jersey, Daniel Moreno almost seemed to defy gravity, taking flight up the close-to-30% wall in Valdepenas de Jaen to take the red leader’s jersey from Nicolas Roche by just one second. To add insult to injury, he also relieved the Irishman of the lead in the white jersey combined classification. Continue reading
The organisers have decided it’s time for the fireworks now. After 160-odd kilometres of rugged terrain and a cat 2 climb in the form of Alto de los Frailes, the riders hit the wall in Valdepenas de Jaen.
The name is Martin, Dan Martin. In a stage which was action-packed from start to finish, Movistar succeeded in isolating Chris Froome from his black-clad Sky army but were unable to apply the killer blow, leaving the race leader with his advantage intact to die fight another day. It was left to Martin to outfox Jakob Fuglsang in a two-up sprint to become only the fifth Irish stage winner at the Tour.