Samu 3rd in Algarve

Despite crashing quite badly with only 25 kilometres left to go today, Samu capped off the team's brilliant work to grab 3rd on the stage, and move up to 5th on GC. Samu uncharacteristically overhit a bend on a descent and fell heavily on his left side. His recovery was impressive to say the least. The rest of the team spent the chunk of the day at the front, keeping a five-man break within reach of the pack. As a result the a lot of the guys ended up way back today, except for the impressive JJ and Igor, who both came in with the main pack. Mikel ended up 27 seconds adrift, Koldo 44 back, Egoi and Gorka 2:51 down and Beñat a massive 12:42 back. Today's results leave Samu in a promising 5ht place overall, only 14 seconds down on Greipel and best placed of the GC guys. The rest of the guys are, barring miracles, well out of contention, but will no doubt give it their all for the team leader. After the stage, Samu had this to say: "It's been a very hard stage. The cold and the rain, as well as distance (over 200 km), made it really tough. The team was sensational the last 50 km. Together with Caisse and Astana we reeled the break back in, something that looked highly unlikely for a long time. My third place today is not of great importance, it happened merely because I was well placed in the finale. As for the fall, I was going really fast downhill and misjudged a bend. My shoulder is pretty sore. We'll see how it is tomorrow, I hope it's nothing serious".