Peñuela and DNA Pro Cycling continue to dominate, as the micro-stage of just 21km, up and over a climb from San Gil to Barichará, hometown of Hernán Buenahora, saw them lay the smack down, with Peñuela and Anet Barrera just riding away from the field completely, with Lina Hernández the only one to make it inside a minute. Peñuela took her fourth consecutive stage win out of four to show Marianne Vos over in Norway how it's done, and to match the stage win record set by Lilibeth Chacón last year (although it should be said, Chacón won an ITT and two MTFs, whereas Peñuela's have all been over very similar finishes until today) while Barrera was the best of the finishers from last year to take the start in this year's race. Ana Fagua was best of the rest, and Shoko Kashiki who climbed so well here last year also showed some form to say that without that crash on stage 1 she could have been a contender.
It's worth noting that Barrera is 23, and has been top 25 on Mount Baldy against the WWT pros three years ago, and top 5 in the Tour of the Gila earlier this year, the young Mexican does look to have some promise, similar to why Villalón and Núñez were brought across to Europe for this season, while Peñuela, at 35, obviously isn't as likely to see teams willing to bring her across the Atlantic. Prospect-watch may also suggest Ana Vivar might be worth watching - the Ecuadorian is only 18 and finished 5th ahead of a host of seasoned pros here, although obviously the short distance makes it a bit of a crapshoot as to how much can be drawn from this as an isolated result.