Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) had red-circled yesterday's stage as a big opportunity to increase his already sizeable tally of grand tour stage wins but a crash brought an end to his hopes. Instead, the team put its faith in Michael Matthews who struggled to keep up with the climbers in the tough finish.

Few knows how to pick out certain stages like Simon Gerrans. That's what he did in the Volta a Catalunya, the Vuelta al Pais Vasco and the Tour de France earlier this season and he went on to win his targeted stages in all three races.

This year he rides the Vuelta a Espana to prepare for the world championships but he would like to take a second win in the grand tour along the way. He had pointed to yesterday's stage as a big opportunity as the uphill finish suited him perfectly.

However, it all came to nothing when the former Australian champion went down in the big crash that split the peloton. He faced a long chase to get back on but never rejoined the peloton.

“Gerro almost made it back,” sports director Neil Stephens said. “He was nearly on at 35km, but the race came to a narrow bridge, and there was a crash over the bridge right in front of him. He had to come to a dead stop and unclip to avoid crashing again. When that happened, it was all over for him.”

The team had originally planned to wait for Gerrans but the captain told them to do otherwise. Instead, they put their faith in in-form sprinter Michael Matthews.

“Gerro had to change bikes after his crash,” Stephens said. “I asked them team to wait for him, but he said he wasn’t feeling great – and he told them to keep going without him.”

However, the stage ended up being one for the climbers and despite a brilliant effort on the tough climb, Matthews could only finish 50th.

“We changed tactics to ride for Bling [Matthews] after Gerro’s crash,” he added. “It didn’t matter much in the end. The real climbers took over at 1.5km and that’s how things finished up for us.”

“The boys worked well together today,” Stephens continued. “Fortunately, it doesn’t seem as if Gerro is hurt too bad. He has ice on several parts of his body as I speak in an effort to get back into shape. Michael Matthews is going well, and he gives us a second option on the stages we’d choose to target for Gerro. We didn’t attain our objective today, but we worked really well. We’ll live to fight another day, and hopefully tomorrow is one of them.”

The stage had started off calmly but when crosswind started to make its presence felt, chaos and anarchy ruled.

“It started off alright today,” team rider Sam Bewley said“It was much the same as yesterday at the beginning. The break went straight away, and it was pretty non-stress in the bunch. We were just going through the usual race proceedings. It wasn’t until the last 50km that things got really stressful.”

“We heard Stevo telling us to wait for him so that we’d help Gerro get back,” Bewley added. “Straightaway, Gerro said no. He told us to carry on with Bling because he worried it would be too tough to make it back to the bunch in time. That’s when we knew were riding for Bling.”

“It was unfortunate to lose Gerro the way we did,” he said “We tried to set things up for Bling today, but it turned out not to be our day.”

The race continues with another uphill finish today. Being far easier than yesterday's, the finish should suit the Australian team even better.

“For sure, we’ll give it another crack tomorrow,” Bewley added. “It’s another good chance for Gerro and Bling. There’s a steep climb in the middle of the stage, but if we can get most of our guys over it, we have a good chance. The finish definitely suits us.” 

Starting at 15.00 you can follow the stage on CyclingQuotes.com/live.