Santiago Perez (Barbot-Efape) used a well-timed move to escape a ten-man group in the Gran Premio Llodio. Perez won by four seconds over his nine chasers, led home by Daniel Ratto (Geox-TMC) and Marcos García (KTM Murcia). Troels Ronning Vinther (Glud & Marstrand) took the GP Herning in Denmark, ahead of Michael Reihs (Christina Watches - Onfone) and Lars Bak Ytting (HTC-Highroad).
On the hilly Basque parcours, there were several break attempts from small and large groups, but they were constantly reeled in. The final climb, the Alto de Gárate, was located five kilometers from the finish. There, the ten-man group formed, according to wielerflits.nl, and stayed away by around a dozen seconds - except for Perez, who was four seconds quicker.
The work throughout the day was done by Movistar and Euskaltel-Euskadi, but their work was not rewarded. Movistar's Andrey Amador was fourth and Euskaltel-Euskadi rider Mikel Nieve eighth.
Perez started his career with Barbot in 2001, then moved to the Kelme team. He spent two years at Phonak, then one season at Relax - GAM. In 2008 he downgraded back to the Continental circuit and has since raced for Centro Ciclismo de Loulé, Madeinox - Boavista and now Barbot-Efape. All of those Continental teams are from Portugal.
His best season was in 2004 when riding for Phonak. He won three stages in the Vuelta a España, including two of the three individual time trials. One day before the first time trial win, he took then stage from Malaga to Granada from a nine-man break.
Lars Bak beaten in Herning
Vinther and Reihs from the Continental Danish teams outwitted highly favored Bak in the GP Herning. The three came to the finish line 30 seconds ahead of Swedish rider Christopher Stevenson.
Michael Rasmussen raced for the second time with his new Christina Watches team. He came in eighth, with his team slightly disappointed. While placing four riders into the top ten, they only had the second place of Reihs to show for.
It was Vinther's second season victory, after also taking stage one in the Circuit des Ardennes.
GP Llodio 2011 (172,5 km - 1.1)
1. Santiago Perez (Barbot-Efape) 4u15m50s
2. Daniel Ratto (Geox-TMC) at 0'04
3. Marcos García (KTM Murcia) st
4. Andrey Amador (Movistar)
5. Juan Pablo Suárez (EPM-UNE)
6. André Cardoso (Tavira Prio)
7. José Herrada (Caja Rural)
8. Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
9. Antonio Piedra (Andalucía-CajaGranada)
10. Mauricio Ardila (Geox-TMC)
GP Herning
1. VINTHER Troels Ronning GLU
2. REIHS Michael TST
3. BAK Lars Ytting THR
4. STEVENSON Christopher SPV at 0'30
5. KIENDYS Tomasz CCC
6. JORGENSEN Rene TST
7. OLSSON Michael CYK
8. RASMUSSEN Michael TST
9. SOBOTA Kristian TST
10. BALCK Sebastian CYK