Hello and welcome to live coverage of stage 3 of the Volta a Catalunya. After yesterday's high-speed team time trial and the subsequent polemics about Movistar and pushes, the riders face a 188km stage inland than ends with the La Molina mountain finish.
The stage could decide the overall winner of this year's race.
As we join the action the riders have covered the opening 30km of racing on flat roads.
We have seen several attacks go clear to try to form the break of the day but the peloton has kept the moves under control.
Today is a busy day of racing with the Dwars Door Vlaanderen also giving riders their first taste of the Flemish cobbles and climbs before E3 Harelbeke and Gent-Wevelgem on Friday and Sunday.
We have live coverage from Belgium too.
Six riders did not start the stage this morning: Tobias Ludvigsson (FDJ), Alexandre Geniez (AG2R), Sander Armee, Sean De Bie (Lotto-Soudal), Chad Haga (Sunweb) and Manuele Mori (UAE Team Emirates).
Movistar started but were not happy about losing the stage victory over night.
We'll have full reaction from the Movistar and BMC teams very soon.
145km remaining from 188km
There are further attacks from the peloton but riders are being chased down.
For now the right combination of riders has not formed and the peloton is carefully controlling who allowed to go clear.
It has made for a fast start to the mountain stage, with riders covering 42km in the first hour of racing.
#VoltaCatalunya After one hour of racing no breakaway has established yet. Still a long way to go and a lot of climbing coming up
For a while the peloton was split into to groups but we have seen a gradual reforming and a new attack.
Now Gianluca Brambilla, Pieter Serry (Quick-Step Floors), Natnael Berhane (Dimension Data), Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Diego Rubio (Caja Rural) have pushed clear.
128km remaining from 188km
The quintet has a lead of 25 seconds.
#VoltaCatalunya we have a break group w/ 5 riders & our @Ackes171 is also in it w/ 25'' gap
The gap is up to 30 seconds but Brambilla has dropped back to the peloton.
Perhaps his job was to ensure the break got away, so that Serry can be there for Quick-Step Floors.
It appears the peloton has finally eased its grip on the break.
For a while the peloton chased and kept the gap to 30 seconds. Now it is up to 1:00 as the race nears the first intermediate sprint.
Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Drapac) needs some mechanical assistance but he is quickly away.
The BMC team has now moved to the front to protect Ben Hermans' race leader's jersey.
As you can see from the profile map of the stage at the top of our live coverage, the riders face 70km of raving on flat roads before the climbs begin.
The escapees have stretched out their advantage to 2:30 after 50 kilometers. #DDV
Pieter Serry (Quick-Step Floors), Natnael Berhane (Dimension Data), Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Diego Rubio (Caja Rural) have extended their lead to 3:00 as BMC sets a steady pace at the head of the peloton.
The road is starting to rise gradually with the mountains looming big on the horizon.
The riders reach the top of the Ribes de Freser climb after 105km. The remaining 83km are then either on the three testing climbs or their descents. There is no respite at all.
The Alt de Toses climb comes after 123km and tops out at 1770m. It is followed by a fast descent to Alp and then the two climbs up to La Molina.
#VoltaCatalunya after 105km the gap to the breakaway has risen to 3 minutes with @BMCProTeam leading the peloton behind.
The Movistar have reacted angrily to the UCI’s decision to give all their riders a penalty of one minute after Jose Joaquin Rojas was seen pushing two other riders during Tuesday’s team time trial.
After an initial penalty given to Rojas that put Valverde into the leader's jersey, the new decision leaves the veteran Spaniard 58 seconds back on the BMC riders, who were also given the stage victory.
To read the full reaction from the Movistar team, and from BMC, click here for this report by Alasdair Fotheringham, who is at the Volta a Catalunya for Cyclingnews.
As the riders pass the 100km point of the 188km stage, the gap for the break has reached 5:00.
This image shows the villain of the TTT leading the Movistar team. Race judges deemed that Rojas helped several teammates get back into the line of fast-moving riders and so gave the team an unfair advantage.
Today's stage started on the coast not far from Barcelona but finishes in the Pyrenees, not from the border with France.
The finish line is at the foot of the ski slopes, with snow still on the ground.
The latest time check for the escapees is 5:20.
The peloton has passed through the feed zone at the 100km. They're fast approaching the toughest part of this first climb. The average speed after two hours of racing has been 43kph.
Like yesterday, today will be key for the overall classification and will give riders an opportunity to take back time lost in yesterday's time trial. The results have been amended more times than we care to remember but here is the latest top 10 after the overnight changes.
1 Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC Racing Team 5:17:18 2 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team 3 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 4 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team 5 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) BMC Racing Team 6 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) BMC Racing Team 7 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team 8 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:44 9 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Team Sky 10 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Team Sky
A reminder of those in the breakaway, who now have 6:50 on the peloton. Pieter Serry (Quick-Step Floors), Natnael Berhane (Dimension Data), Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Diego Rubio (Caja Rural)
The first ascent of the day is the Collada de Tosses. It is a first cat ascent with gradients of up to 14 per cent and is just over 20 kilometres in length. That will be followed by the first of two ascents of La Molina.
#VoltaCatalunya 7'05" d'avance pour les 4 échappés à 80 km de l'arrivée #DDV 4'30" d'avance pour @KVanbilsen et les 5 autres fuyards
Away from Catalunya, the Classics are back on in Belgium with Dwars door Vlaanderen where team Sunweb is debuting the Dura Ace disc brakes. You can read about that here.
#VoltaCatalunya After 103km the leaders have a 6"50 advantage. Plenty of snow up at the finish in La Molina 1691m
The gap to the break touched 7:00 at one point but as the first gradual climb hurts more and more, it is coming down.
Ackermann won the intermediate sprint after 105km but that is of little consolation as the first real climv of the day kicks in.
So far today the polemic about Movistar's one-minute penality for Jojas' pushes during the TTT has been the talk of the day.
However the double climb of La Molina is likely to see the race explode, with Chris Foome, Alberto Contador, Alejandro Valverde, Dan Martin and many others forced to show their form and ambitions for the race.
Contador said he believes the time gaps will not be massive today but expects some hard racing.
Trek-Segafredo finished 1:13 down on BMC in the TTT results.
"The race has got more complicated because van Garderen and Sky with Froome and Thomas are all ahead," Contador said. "So we'll have to see what we can do."
"It's not possible to say if these differences are decisive, but in previous years the Volta has been decided by minimal gaps," he said.
"These differences can be cut back, and there are five stages left. So we will have to try. I feel good, the team is going well, but we have to congratulate the other teams who have ridden more strongly than we did."
As the Alt de Toses climb hurts more and more, Ackermann is the first to be dropped, with Trek leading the pace at the head of the peloton.
The trio of Serry, Berhane and Rubio are first over the top of the climb but behind Team Sky has taken control of the chase.
They clearly want to go for the stage victory as well as shake up the overall classification.
The gap was 5:30 at the summit of Alto de Toses.
Now for a high-speed descent and then the back to back climbs up to La Molina.
Berhane took the maximum points at the summit, a few metres ahead of the other two.
43km remaining from 188km
The gap is coming down fast thanks to Team Sky's chase. It is just 5:00. now.
The riders are now in the valley of Alp but will soon begin the first climb to La Molina.
Get ready for some attacks!
#VoltaCatalunya The breakaways gap is coming down quick time now as the bunch start to chase hard. It's just 5'00" with 40km to go.
This part of the climb is wide and has a gradual gradient. Things kick up later on and especially on the extra section ridden to the finish line on the second time up the climb.
28km remaining from 188km
The gap is down to 2:00. Kiri's big effort at the head of the peloton is having a big effect.
Team Sky also has Mikel Nieve up front to help Froome and Thomas.
The trio up front crest the climb with Berhane taking the climber's points. He should be in the climber's jersey at the end of the stage.
The peloton is 1:20 back now.
It's a busy day of racing! Check out our first report on the women's Dwars Door Vlaanderen.
Lotta Lepistö wins Women's Dwars door Vlaanderen | https://t.co/Scfnfk8m1s https://t.co/bWw8Yrdlna
Provsional results show that Adam Yates finished third, three seconds back on Valverde and Martin.
Romain Bardet was fourth and Illnur Zakarin was fifth, both in the same time.
That's @alejanvalverde's 101st career victory - our 10th of the 2017 season. And we'll keep on fighting
Geraint Thomas was sixth, ahead of Alberto Contdor and van Garderen.
This is the provisional top ten for the stage.
1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 5:07:12 2 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors 3 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott 0:00:03 4 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 5 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 6 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 7 Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 8 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 9 Michael Woods (Can) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:08 10 Davide Formolo (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac.
Michael Woods and Davide Formolo (Cannondale-Drapac) completed the top ten at eight seconds.
Chris Froome seems to have cracked slightly in the final kick and finished 12th, also at eight seconds.
Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) leads teammate Samuel Sanchez by 41 seconds now but he will have to watch for the riders near in the overall classification.
Thomas is only 44 seconds back, with Valverde at 45, Froome at 49, Contador at 1:13 and Adam Yates at 1:18.
Friday's fifth stage to Lo Port de Tortosa will be vital. It ends with a 25 minute mountain effort and is considered much harder than today's stage.
Alejandro Valverde was happy to win the stage but avoided any polemics about the TTT penalty soon after the finish.
"The team rode really well. It was a fast stage with the break, then Team Sky did a fast pace on the climb. But Soler controlled things for us and then I sprinted for the win."
"I was confident in the sprint and when Martin got on my wheel near the line, I knew I'd got it."
The Volta a Catalunya continues on Thursday with the 194km fourth stage from Llívia to Igualada.
It takes the rider down from the Pyrenees near Andorra to the hills behind Barcelona.
With a fast start and then two late climbs, it seems perfect for a breakaway.
To read all about the action from today's stage, click here for a our race report and photo gallery.
We will also have exclusive news and interviews from the finish at La Molina.
Join us tomorrow for more live coverage of all the action from the Volta a Catalunya.
Hasta luego!
We'll sign off with this first image of Valverde winning today's stage ahead of Dan Martin.
