Enric Mas (Movistar) was absolutely furious and looked close to tears after suffering rotten luck in the TT at Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana and losing his yellow jersey.
The Spanish rider went to his team car immediately after the stage 4 test today and, while a staff member tried to console him, Mas took his TT helmet off and slammed it into the ground.
He then looked close to tears at the back of the car as he lashed out in frustration at losing his yellow jersey, with just one stage to go, to TT specialist Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ).
After Mas had passed through the intermediate time check it was clear he was shedding time to Küng and that the Swiss rider may take the yellow jersey off him.
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But when Mas suffered a front wheel puncture in the final kilometre, and had to limp to the finish line, that was the final nail in the coffin for him. He lost 1:27 to stage winner Küng in the TT and slipped from 1st overall to 3rd, at 36 seconds.
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The 14.3km TT from Xilxes to Playa Almenara was flat and into a headwind and Küng may well have taken the yellow jersey even if Mas had not punctured. The intermediate time splits showed Küng was flying down the course and that Mas was struggling in comparison.
Küng, the European TT champion and Swiss road race and TT champion, put a deposit down on the race lead yesterday when he was 9th on stage 3, despite an uphill finish, which was won by Mas. Küng lost just 38 seconds to Mas and he went into today's test 7th overall at 51 seconds.
In today's TT the only Irish rider in the race, young Ben Walsh of Irish Continental team EvoPro Racing, was 85th at 3:08. His was the best performance from the team.
With just one stage remaining tomorrow Walsh is now on the cusp of a nice finish in this event; his first Continental European stage race with the pros.
Küng now leads overall by six seconds from Nelson Oliveira (Movistar) with Mas, also of Movistar, in 3rd place and at 36 seconds. Barring incident, it is hard to see how Küng could lose yellow as the 91.2km final stage into Valencia tomorrow is flat.
The race leader's Groupama-FDJ team has already won three of the four stages so far; Miles Scotson winning the opening stage solo, Arnaud Demare the following day in a sprint and Küng today in the TT. And despite having the yellow jersey to protect tomorrow it will be looking to set up Demare for another stage win.
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