Ronda al Pais Mexicano (Fantasy Tour)

[Eric8-A]

September 6: Stage 5 Mazatlan, Sinaloa 106.84 kms


McEwen Still Bloody Fast

Veteran sprinter Robbie McEwen proved today that he still has some speed left in his legs by winning stage 5 of La Ronda al Pais Mexicano. As was expected, the final two turns in the final kilometer, along with some pretty strong crosswinds coming from the coast played a crucial role in the final outcome of the stage.

The wind seemed to be blowing all throughout the stage, but it wasn't until the final 10k that it really blew the field apart, seperating the peloton into three different groups. One of those caught in the back end of the peloton was two time stage winner Theo Bos. Stef Clement and Lars Boom worked hard at the front to try and catch up to the front to try and get him his third consecutive stage win.

In the final kilometer and a half, it was all Sky at the front, with Michael Rogers drilling it at the front. It was clear that they were going to set up Greg Henderson for the win. But right behind them were the red and white colors of Radioshack. Robbie McEwen was the last rider, with Rosseler, Sergent, and Hunter keeping him in good position. It was then clear that they were working for McEwen and not Hunter.

Henderson's last man was Alex Dowsett, as he swung out from his wheel to execute his sprint with 250 meters to go. McEwen though was glued onto his wheel, waiting for the right moment to pounce. When he did, he came across his Kiwi compatriot to steal the stage from the Sky rider.


Results

1. Robbie McEwen
2. Greg Henderson
3. Roberto Ferrari
4. Thor Husvhod
5. Flavio De Luna
6. Luis Amaran
7. Juan Pablo Magallanes
8. Vasil Kiryienka
9. Hayden Roulsten
10. Bernard Van Ulden


General Classification

1. Thor Hushovd
2. Sebastien Rosseler +8"
3. Christian Meier
4. Michael Rogers +24"
5. Nick Nuyens +28"
6. Juan Pablo Suarez
7. Yaroslav Popovych +34"
8. David Millar
9. Gustav Larsson +1:01"
10. Juan Pablo Suarez +1:05"


Jerseys

Leaders Jersey (White): Thor Hushovd

Telcel Points Leader (Green): Thor Hushovd

Best Young Rider (Blue): Jesse Sergent

Corona King of the Mountains: Greg Van Avermaet

Team Classification: Radioshack

 

[Eric8-A]

Stage 6: Guadalajara, Jalisco 157.45 kms

For the past three days, the stages have been relatively flat mostly suited for the sprinters. Since the start of the race, the riders that will be in contention for the overall once the race hits Mexico City have mainly just sat back, making sure that they don't lose too much time. Michael Rogers is still the best placed amongst his GC rivals, 24 seconds back on race leader Thor Hushovd.

Stage six will be somewhat of a stage finish, finishing atop the Luis Sanchez Martinez. This stage will show which riders to watch later on in the race, and should change up the general classification as the riders occupying the top 10 are not the best climbers.

 

[greenedge]

McEwan should carry that form into the TDU. I don't want to say Rogers will get the lead because you'll do something to spite me.

 

[Eric8-A]

September 7: Stage 6 Guadalajara, Jalisco 157.46 kms

Sastre Climbs To Victory!

After going two years without a victory to his name, Geox leader Carlos Sastre soloed up the Luis Sanchez Martinez climb.

Carlos Sastre attacked immediately once the final climb started. Julio Alberto Perez and Philip Deignan trailed behind the Spaniard up the climb, not letting him get his win too easy. Back in the main group, Michael Rogers was being paced up by John-Lee Augustin. Race leader Thor Hushovd was seen struggling up the climb and was looking to surrender the white jersey over to the Australian.

Michael Rogers had no reason to counter attack neither of the men up the road, as they posed no threat to the GC yet. However, he did react when the Colombian Juan Pablo Suarez flew right past Rogers. Suarez trailed Rogers by almost 40 seconds, and to let a move like that go meant that Suarez and not Rogers will take over the race lead.

Further up the road, the trio that had broken off earlier in the climb gained 28 on the Suarez/Rogers group that also had Yaroslav Popovych.

And Sastre attacked again. Deignan tried to counter but it looked as if something went wrong with his bike. He pulled over to the side, raising his arm in the air to call for help. So now, it was only Sastre up the road alone, with Perez trying to latch back onto his wheel. Slowly as the kilometers passed, Sastre was distancing himself from the Mexican. The pace Sastre was setting seemed to be too much for the former Giro d'Italia King of the Mountains.

The stage provided no downhill or flat near the finish. When the climbing started, it was just up, up, up to the finish. The crowd awaited Sastre at the finish, his body was pushing the bike forward, getting the most out of himself to bring the finish line closer to get him his first stage win since 2009.


Results

1. Carlos Sastre
2. Julio Alberto Perez +15"
3. Michael Rogers +30"
4. Juan Pablo Suarez
5. Yaroslav Popovych +32"
6. Peter Stetina +49"
7. Jose Rujano +53"
8. Rui Costa
9. David Arroyo
10. Matthias Frank

General Classification

1. Michael Rogers
2. Yaroslav Popovych +14"
3. Juan Pablo Suarez +41"
4. Rory Sutherland +1:00"
5. Peter Stetina +1:13"
6. Jose Rujano +1:24"
7. Giovanny Baez
8. David Arroyo +1:30"
9. Matthias Frank +1:59"
10. Tyler Wren +2:30

Jerseys

Leaders Jersey (White): Michael Rogers

Telcel Points Leader (Green): Thor Hushovd

Best Young Rider (Blue): Peter Stetina

Corona King of the Mountains: Greg Van Avermaet

Most Aggressive Rider: Carlos Sastre

Team Classification: Radioshack

 

[Eric8-A]

Stage 7 ITT: Puerto Vallarta 19.81 kms

Stage 7 will be an individual time trial in the city of Puerto Vallarta. The race will stay in the state of Jalisco, but move on over from Guadalajara where stage 6 was held.

Stage 7 will starts in the Marina Nacional. The riders will have a straight section of road for about 6k, before turning left and ride on the opposite side from where they started riding to finish in the Paseo de la Marina. Once again, their riding will be held close to the beach, so maybe the wind can play a crucial part like it did in stage 5.

Michael Rogers has moved himself over to the lead, look to him to produce a good result here and distance himself from his other GC rivals. The top 10 is occupied by a number of good time trialists, but it's unlikely that they'll steal Rogers' white jersey unless something happens to him along the way.

David Millar who placed second in the prologue may be the favorite for this stage. But he will also face competition from Tom Zirbel and Marco Pinotti to name a few.

 

[Eric8-A]

September 8: stage 7 Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco ITT 19.81 kms


Larsson Fastest Against The Clock

Swedish national time trial champion Gustav Larsson went on to win the time trial today in Puerto Vallarata. Larsson was in the top 10 of the general classification prior to yesterday's stage, but cracked in the Luis Sanchez Martinez in yesterday's stage.

Gustav Larsson's time was able to stand against his rivals, sitting in the hot seat, holding his breath everytime a rider crossed the line, hoping that his time would stay until the end.

Race leader Michael Rogers put in a ride that was expected from him, riding into a top 10 spot, increasing his lead over his rivals.

The GC has changed a bit, putting in some new faces and losing some. EPM-UNE's Juan Pablo Suarez is less than 40 seconds off Rogers' lead. Carlos Sastre, thanks to his ride yesterday and a decent time trial today has broken into the top 10.


Results

1. Gustav Larsson
2. Stef Clement +7"
3. Svein Tuft +10"
4. David Millar +11"
5. Frantisek Rabon +26"
6. Michael Rogers "29"
7. Ivan Guitierrez +30
8. Juan Pablo Suarez +33
9. Luis Amaran +38"
10. Andry Grivko +45"

General Classification

1. Michael Rogers
2. Juan Pablo Suarez +37"
3. Rory Sutherland +48"
4. Peter Stetina +53"
5. Yaroslav Popovych +1:03"
6. Jose Rujano +1:10"
7. Marco Pinotti +1:11"
8. Matthias Frank +1:32"
9. Jose Serpa +1:40
10. Carlos Sastre +2:00

Jerseys

Leaders Jersey (White): Michael Rogers

Telcel Points Leader (Green): Thor Hushovd

Best Young Rider (Blue): Peter Stetina

Corona King of the Mountains: Greg Van Avermaet

Team Classification: Androni Giocattoli

 

[Eric8-A]

Stage 8: Coahuila, Nuevo Leon 102.50 kms

With the GC picture laying out since stage 6, the GC boys will really have to be on the offensive here, especially Michael Rogers. Juan Pablo Suarez lies only 19 seconds behind the race lead and you can expect the EPM-UNE team to play stage 8 real aggresively to try and take white away from the Aussie.

There are four major climbs on the day, with two smaller ones along the road. The highest peak will be a bit over 2700 meters, and the climbing starts pretty early on in the road so the domestiques will really have their work cut out for them. In the last 4k, there's a 3.5% climb that goes for 2k before it flattens out for the final 2k of the stage. So no summit finish, but there should be some attacks coming from the pack that makes it to that stretch of road. Whether the attacks come from riders in a breakaway that succeeds, or from the GC men to gain some precious seconds, expect this to be a good stage. It's the first major climbing day of the race.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

three dutch victories, keep em' coming

 

[greenedge]

Wasn't Suarez 41 seconds down on the previous GC lead??? Since he was 4 seconds down on Rogers how did he claw back 22 seconds???

 

[Eric8-A]

Wasn't Suarez 41 seconds down on the previous GC lead??? Since he was 4 seconds down on Rogers how did he claw back 22 seconds???

My bad you're right. I had a tough time today looking at the results from the TT and the GC. It gets a bit tricky sometimes. Hopefully I got it right on this one.

 

[Eric8-A]

September 9: Stage 8 Coahuila, Nuevo Leon 102.51 kms

Suarez Wins The Stage, But Fails To Snatch Lead From Rogers

EPM-UNE's Juan Pablo Suarez put in the effort today to try and take the lead from Sky's Michael Rogers. He did manage to solo into the win, but didn't take back the seconds he would have wanted.

The break today was made up Rubens Bertogliati, Sebastian Langeveld, Pieter Weening, Pat McCarty, Antonio Aldape, Karsten Kroon, and Luis Fernando Macias. These riders were given the leash to go on and try their chances up the road as they were too far down on GC to threaten Michael Rogers. The highest placed rider in the break was Pieter Weening, 9:27 back on the lead.

The break managed to get a lead of five and a half minutes, the lead wouldn't go much further than that as the peloton would eat away at their time whenever the descents came

With less than 30k to go, a heavy pace being set by EPM-UNE indicated that they were setting something up for Suarez. With the break now caught, it was now down to the GC guys to fight it out for the two things at stake. The white jersey, and any seconds that you can get to move you up further up on the GC.

High speeds were seen each time a climb hit, and higher speeds came in the descents. Giovanny Baez was pacing Suarez up in the climbs, trying to distance themselves from Rogers, but it seemed as if it wasn't enough to break the Aussie as he was still within distance of the Colombian duo.

Suarez's decisive move was made with 7k to go as he slinged out from the pack, flying up the first of the smaller climbs that remained in the stage. Mexican rider Flavio de Luna countered the attack, following Suarez, as well as Laurent Didier, but no Rogers. De Luna and Didier stayed right behind Suarez, making him work to try and get the jump on him to steal the win from him. As the kilometers passed, Sarez gripped the hoods on his brakes, gritting his teeth fighting the pain out, not looking back, keeping his eyes locked on the sights in front of him.

Suarez dug in deep in the final 2k up the final little slope of the day. Coming into the flat section that lead to the finale, Suarez swung himself over to the left side of the road, looking back and breathing a sigh of relief as all that was left was to raise his arms in victory.

Results

1. Juan Pablo Suarez
2. Flavio de Luna +5"
3. Laurent Didier
4. Jackson Rodriguez +11"
5. Julio Alberto Perez +14"
6. Xavier Florencio
7. Giovanni Baez
8. Jorge Azanza
9. Kiel Reijnen
10. Jose Rujano

22. Michael Rogers +17


General Classification

1. Michael Rogers
2. Juan Pablo Suarez +20"
3. Peter Stetina +57"
4. Jose Rujano +59"
5. Rory Sutherland +1:07"
6. Yaroslav Popovych +1:13"
7. Matthias Frank +1:20"
8. Jose Serpa +1:40"
9. Carlos Sastre +1:57"
10. Marco Pinotti +2:02"


Jerseys

Leaders Jersey (White): Michael Rogers

Telcel Points Leader (Green): Thor Hushovd

Best Young Rider (Blue): Peter Stetina

Corona King of the Mountains: Greg Van Avermaet

Team Classification: Androni Giocattoli

 

[greenedge]

My bad you're right. I had a tough time today looking at the results from the TT and the GC. It gets a bit tricky sometimes. Hopefully I got it right on this one.

It's fine. Just trying to be of service and lengthen the chances of Rogers winning.

 

[Eric8-A]

Stage 9: Oaxaca-San Juan 138.23 kms

There are only two major climbs in this stage, followed by a long section of flat, then hitting another smaller 9k climb. The descent on that final climb should decide the winner. Look to a punchy rider capable of getting over the climbs, or one that'll take advantage of the descent and flat section to make contact with the main group. GC wise, this shouldn't be one to shake up the general classification. It's an easier stage than stage 8. Juan Pablo Suarez put the scare into Rogers with his attack in stage 8, but the Sky captain fought it out to keep his lead.

Estadio Eduardo Vasconcelos

Estadio Benito Juarez

 

[Eric8-A]

September 10: Stage 9 Oaxaca-San Juan 138.23 kms

It's All Kiryienka

Vasil Kiryienka once again soloed into a stage victory, to claim stage 9 of La Ronda. Kiryienka was part of a 10 man breakaway that was set in the stage, eventually breaking off from his companions to go out on his own with 20k to go. It was only after the long straight in between the penultimate and final climb that Vasil put his attack in, managing to create a decent gap that only grew as the kilometers passed him by. As he crossed the line, Vasil pointed up to the sky, dedicating another one of his victories to his fallen teammate Xavier Tondo.

As was expected, there were no changes to the general classification, some small attacks came from Rory Sutherland and Peter Stetina, but succeeded to no avail.

After 10 days of racing, the riders will surely be looking forward to a day of rest. The race is more than halfway through, with 5 more stages left.

Results

1. Vasil Kiryienka
2. Bernard Van Ulden +1:51"
3. Luis Amaran +2:13"
4. Paolo Tiralongo +2:15
5. Christian Meier
6. Luis Fernando Macias
7. Giampolo Cheula
8. Johan Tschopp +2:18"
9. Caleb Fairly
10. Alexander Efimkin


General Classification

1. Michael Rogers
2. Juan Pablo Suarez +20"
3. Peter Stetina +57"
4. Jose Rujano +59"
5. Rory Sutherland +1:07"
6. Yaroslav Popovych +1:13"
7. Matthias Frank +1:20"
8. Jose Serpa +1:40"
9. Carlos Sastre +1:57"
10. Marco Pinotti +2:02"


Jerseys

Leaders Jersey (White): Michael Rogers

Telcel Points Leader (Green): Thor Hushovd

Best Young Rider (Blue): Peter Stetina

Corona King of the Mountains: Paolo Tiralongo

Team Classification: Androni Giocattoli

 

[The Hitch]

Some great effort here Eric. Well done. This looks very real. Nice to see you take the VaC/ Volta model rather than the GT one as well.

I guess its a good thing Zomegnan isnt organizing this.

We would have a stage finish into Cuidad Juarez

 

[greenedge]

Some great effort here Eric. Well done. This looks very real.

Totally agree. i have loved the effort you and Jobwain have put into your respective fantasy threads. Also Luppeto's.

 

[Eric8-A]

Totally agree. i have loved the effort you and Jobwain have put into your respective fantasy threads. Also Luppeto's.

Thanks to both of you guys for the kind words. I was a bit hesitant to do this because seeing Jobiwan's reports, I thought to myself that I couldn't stand up to his since his are more realistic than mine. But I'm trying to get better.

If Zomegnan was controlling this, all stage would be in Juarez and other border towns

Someone here also has plans for a tour of the Appalachians, so that should be fun.

I just think that these types of fantasy races are really going to come in handy to beat the boredom of the off-season.

 

[Eric8-A]

Recap

So far La Ronda al Pais Mexicano has been succesful. 10 stages down, 4 stages left to go. Michael Rogers currently holds the white jersey of race leader, having a pretty hefty lead of 20 seconds behind Juan Pablo Suarez. Rogers and his Sky team have played the race pretty well, managing to keep him in white despite the attack that Suarez put in on stage 9. Although he did lose a handful of seconds, he still managed to throw on the white jersey at the end of the day.

The race has only seen three different leader. Lars Boom won the prologue, making himself the first leader of the race but then lost it to Thor Hushovd in stage 1. Thor managed to hold on to the leaders jersey up until stage 7, when the climb up to the Luis Sanchez Martinez proved too much for the Norwegian. But altough he did lose the white jersey, he kept the green jersey of points leader, a jersey he's kept on his shoulders since stage 1. Stage 7 saw Thor surrendering the jersey over to Michael Rogers who holds it up to our present state. With only two more days of climbing left, and long TT before the end of the race, it seems as if Michael Rogers is keen on winning the overall. But it can still be too early to tell. We might see Suarez put in another attack. Jose Rujano also lies less than one minute off of Rogers. If he wants to win the race, or atleast podium, he's going to have to do something real special in the couple of climbing days and really have to put in a good time trial.

Stage Winners

Prologue: Lars Boom

Stage 1: Greg Van Avermaet

Stage 2: Thor Hushovd

Stage 3: Theo Bos

Stage 4: Theo Bos

Stage 5: Robbie McEwen

Stage 6: Carlos Sastre

Stage 7: Gustav Larsson

Stage 8: Juan Pablo Suarez

Stage 9: Vasil Kiryienka

Stage 10: Poza Rica-Puebla

You can say that this will be the penultimate stage of climbing. It's more lumpy than it is mountainous. But anything can happen in any stage, even a flat one. Will the GC men just ride it out? Or will they attack and try to gain some time on Rogers? Did the rest day do some riders some good? Will it make them come into this stage with some freshness that will allow them to come out swinging, putting in an attack that may see the white jersey switch shoulders?

 

[Eric8-A]

September 12: Stage 10 Poza Rica-Puebla 123.59 kms

Tyler Wren Fights To The Finish

With the rest day behind them, it was now back to racing. The day's stage would start in the city of Poza Rica in the state of Veracruz. The riders would ride adjacent to the Rio Cazones before crossing into Puebla where they'd ride next to the Rio el Metate. After some riding in Puebla, the riders would ride into Hidalgo for a bit before riding back into Puebla where they would eventually finish.

The lumpy parcours of stage 10 gave way for breakaways to get away from the main group that contained the GC contenders. Back there, there really weren't any spring points for any of the top 10 riders to put in an attack due to the fact that each climb out on course was followed by some straight roads, allowing the peloton to reel in whoever broke away. But it was a different story with the breakway ahead. BMC's Matthias Frank was part of the breakway. Being 1:20" down, Matthias made the GC group in the back work to try and reel him back in. Had it just been the other three without Frank, it would have been OK, but Sky didn't want to gamble with it.

19k to go saw the duo from the Jamis Sutter-Home team attack with Guido Palma setting the pace at the front, indicating that he was setting something up for Wren. Their other breakaway companions quickly caught up to them as they only managed a slim 7 second lead. As Frank and Brammeier caught up, Wren put in another attack on the other three with Frank staying glued to his wheel. It seemed know that the other two were now spent and didn't have the fuel in the tank to follow the accelerations.

Wren put in acceleration after acceleration to drop Frank, managing to finally succeed. But once he did, in the final kilometers of the climb Wren's body was rocking back and forth showing that he clearly went too hard to drop the BMC rider. But once Wren dropped Frank, it stayed for good. The flatter sections toward the end did Wren some good as he seemed to recover enough to power his way to the finish line, claiming the biggest win of his career.

Results

1. Tyler Wren
2. Matthias Frank +4"
3. Matthew Brammeier +22"
4. Guido Palma
5. Laurent Didier +39"
6. Javier Armendia
7. Moises Aldape
8. Flavio De Luna +40"
9. Peter Stetina +45"
10. Marco Pinotti


General Classification

1. Michael Rogers
2. Juan Pablo Suarez +20"
3. Matthias Frank +41"
4. Peter Stetina +57"
5. Jose Rujano +59"
6. Rory Sutherland +1:07"
7. Yaroslav Popovych +1:13"
8. Jose Serpa +1:40"
9. Carlos Sastre +1:57"
10. Marco Pinotti +2:02"


Jerseys

Leaders Jersey (White): Michael Rogers

Telcel Points Leader (Green): Thor Hushovd

Best Young Rider (Blue): Peter Stetina

Corona King of the Mountains: Paolo Tiralongo

Team Classification: Androni Giocattoli

Most Agressive Rider: Tyler Wren

 

[Eric8-A]

Stage 11: Campeche-Sabancuy 151.59

Can the sprinters ask for a flatter course than this? La Ronda will once again wander into sprinters territory in stage 11. During the climbing stages, the sprinters have mainly ridden at the back, riding their own pace, making sure that they just finish within the time cut. So far in the sprints Theo Bos has won two stages and so has Robbie McEwen. There's still a good abundance of sprinters that have been in the mix in the sprints but really havn't gotten their day.

 

[Eric8-A]

September 13: Stage 11 Campeche-Sabancuy 151.59 kms

Henderson Edges Out The Competition

After the few stages of climbing in La Ronda, Team Sky's Greg Henderson proved that he had the best legs out of the group of sprinters in today's stage.

Because of the profile of today's stage, there were several people nicknaming it the pancake, but the Mexican riders, along with several others nicknamed it la tortilla due to its flatness. Stage 11 truly was a sprinters delight as it was all straight from start to finish. Not even a slight bump in the road.

Close to the finish, an unusual sight was seen as we saw race leader Michael Rogers take part in Sky's leadout train. Although he wasn't the last man to sling Henderson, he was in the midst of the chaos that comes along with a bunch sprint.

The finish was a close one with Henderson keeping one hand in his handlebars. Officials had to look at the photo finish to determine who exactly won the stage. The Aussie just edged out the Argentinian JJ Haedo by a tire's length. Greg Henderson did truly have something to celebrate atop of the podium, able to finally raise both his hands in the air victorious on the day.

Results

1. Greg Henderson
2. Juan Jose Haedo
3. Thor Hushovd
4. Robert Forster
5. Leigh Howard
6. Ken Hanson
7. Alexander Kristoff
8. Alejandro Borrajo
9. Eduard Beltran
10. Francisco Ventoso

General Classification

1. Michael Rogers
2. Juan Pablo Suarez +20"
3. Matthias Frank +41"
4. Peter Stetina +57"
5. Jose Rujano +59"
6. Rory Sutherland +1:07"
7. Yaroslav Popovych +1:13"
8. Jose Serpa +1:40"
9. Carlos Sastre +1:57"
10. Marco Pinotti +2:02"


Jerseys

Leaders Jersey (White): Michael Rogers

Telcel Points Leader (Green): Thor Hushovd

Best Young Rider (Blue): Peter Stetina

Corona King of the Mountains: Paolo Tiralongo

Team Classification: Androni Giocattoli

 

[Eric8-A]

Stage 12: Baja, California 131.78 kms

Stage 12 will be the last time the riders go uphill. Dubbed la etapa reina, or the queen stage by the organizers, stage 12 is seen by them to be the hardest stage of the race by far meaning that this is the stage for Rogers to be at his maximum. Michael Rogers and his Sky team have played the race well, making sure that he stays ahead of his rivals. Stage 10 saw Matthias Frank move up the general classification, gaining close to a minute and moving into a potential podium spot once the race finishes on Friday. There are four riders less than a minute down on Rogers. What happened on stage 10 proved that it is possible to escape and gain some time on Michael Rogers.

Towards the final 30k is when the real climbing starts. The first climb will run for over 15k, following the descent, there's really not much flat for the riders to work with. The they hit another climb for the final 5k, til they reach the top of the Sierra de San Pedo Martir Observatory. The riders contending for the GC will really have to watch their effort here because if they go too hard, they might not have enough left in the tank for the lengthy time trial the following day.

That dome at the top will be the finish

 

[greenedge]

Sky dominating. Showing good dedication, riding for a sprint even with a ( leader's jersey ). They are practicing for when they have Cav.

 

[Eric8-A]

September 14: Stage 12 Baja, California 131.78 kms

Rujano Climbs to the Stars!

On the queen stage of La Ronda al Pais Mexicano, Jose Rujano used his climbing prowess to solo into a stage win atop the observatory of Sierra de Pedro Martir.

The Venezuelan accelerated and broke off from the GC group. A seemingly dangerous move, Rogers was unable to follow the speed of Rujano as the pint-sized climber rode up the largest of the final two climbs as if it was a flat.

At the back, Rogers and the other men from his group worked in unison to try and bring back Rujano. But it didn't seem to work as Rujano only seemed to increase his advantage over the mainfield with each pedal stroke.

With the pace being set in the back, we saw HTC's Marco Pinotti get dropped, as he was struggling, pedalling squares up the climb.

With Pinotti out of the picture, Tiralongo put in an attack of his own to steal the 10th spot in the general classification from the Italian as he occupied the 12th spot in the general classification



Results

1. Jose Rujano
2. Giovanny Baez +14"
3. Jose Andres Sanchez
4. David Arroyo +15"
5. Michael Rogers
6. Juan Pablo Suarez
7. Paolo Tiralongo
8. Peter Stetina +20"
9. Julio Alberto Perez
10. Carlos Sastre +21"

General Classification

1. Michael Rogers
2. Juan Pablo Suarez +20"
3. Jose Rujano +45"
4. Peter Stetina +1:02"
5. Yaroslav Popovych +1:17"
6. Rory Sutherland +1:31"
7. Matthias Frank +1:43"
8. Carlos Sastre +2:03"
9. Jose Serpa +2:22"
10. Paolo Tiralongo +2:25"

Jerseys

Leaders Jersey (White): Michael Rogers

Telcel Points Leader (Green): Thor Hushovd

Best Young Rider (Blue): Peter Stetina

Corona King of the Mountains: Paolo Tiralongo

Team Classification: Androni Giocattoli

 

[Eric8-A]

Stage 13: Leon, Guanajuato ITT 53.10 kms

A final shake-up for the general classification will be a lengthy 53 kilometer timr trial in Leon, Guanajuato which is dubbed as Mexico's most bike friendly city.

Stage 13 will start and end in Leon de los Aldama. A circuit-like course, stage 13 will take the riders along a good amount of farmland along their way which will be a transtion from the prologue and the stage 7 time trial which took the riders close to coast of the beach.

After this stage is done with, it will definately show who will go on to be crowned the first winner of La Ronda al Pais Mexicano in Mexico City the following day.