José Joaquín Rojas keeps earning top places in his great 2011 season start. The rider from Movistar Team claimed his ninth top-ten position in a race this year after finishing in 4th place in the opening ride of the Tour du Haut Var, ridden on Saturday over a 168km route from La Croix-Valmer to Grimaud.

The stage’s uphill finish favoured the chances by Rojas to claim his second triumph of the season after the one notched last week in the Trofeo Deià, what made Movistar Team work to help him in the route’s finale. Rojas came in good position into the final ascent (a bit more than a kilometer), but got surprised by the early attack by Dumoulin (COF) and Nocentini (ALM), who split a second from Voeckler, Rojas himself, Izagirre (EUS) and Pineau (ALM), who took a 3-second difference over the rest of the group, which might be decisive for the final outcome after tomorrow’s final stage. The second and definitive ride will start and finish in Draguignan, with 207 kilometers including four categorized climbs -the HC Col de Mons, in the first part of the race, as the hardest one across the day’s trek-, the last one being the short, demanding Col des Tuilières, only 13km from the finishing line.