Diego Ulissi was hit by plenty of bad luck on today’s stage and the Lampre squad had to fight hard to get him back to the peloton twice. Due to these circumstances, Ulissi was unable to fight for the win on today’s stage.

He first had an incident on the approach to the Mirador de Ezaro climb. A crash forced him to come to a halt. However, he managed to reach the front of the group again on the climb.

His second piece of bad luck stroke on the downhill section when a puncture forced him to change bikes. He managed to rejoin the peloton but had no energy left for the finale.

Team captain Scarponi was well-positioned at the bottom of the climb but the Italian only intended to get safely thorugh the day

Sports director Joxean Fernandez Matxin commented on the final part of the stage: "The sprint required big power. It was not the best stage for Scarponi or Ulissi who had spent a lot of energy during the stage. We got through a very tough stage wothout any major time loss."