Tony Martin almost denied the sprinters their win and the resulting chaos made for a hugely surprising outcome of the first pure sprint stage of this year's Vuelta a Espana. The fastest finishers only have one opportunity left ahead of a week-long wait and so they have to make the most of tomorrow's flat stage. The first sprint stages have, however, revealed that no team is capable of controlling the finales and tomorrow's expected bunch sprint could be another uncontrollable anarchy. Starting at 15.00 CEST you can follow the stage on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

The course

The Vuelta has been dubbed as a climbing festival but this phase of the race is more suited to the fast finishers. Compared to recent Vuelta standard, the 205,9km stage 7 is a long one and is destined to end in another bunch sprint when the riders continue their travel towards the southern coast of Spain. The stage follows straight, flat roads for most of the day and while the stage has its few occasional climbs, none of those have been categorized. A longer descent towards the midpoint sends the riders back down to sea level as they get closer to the coast.

31,5km from the finish, the riders cross the line for the first line to head onto a flat finishing circuit and like the previous one, the stage finishes with a section dominated by roundabouts. The riders will pass through 6 of those inside the final 3km. 1,5km from the line, they will turn left in one before passing straight through another just before the flamme rouge. The final one is located 700m from the line and having made it safely through that one, the sprinter will have to negotiate a slight lead-hand bend 400m from the line. Between the 5km to go banner and the flamme rouge, the roads are slightly descending while the final kilometre will be slightly uphill.

The weather

Today the riders had a hot day in the saddle and it will only get worse when they get closer to the southern coast. Once again they can expect bright sunshine for the entire stage and tomorrow the temperatures are expected to pass the 30-degree mark, reaching a 31-degree maximum towards the end of the stage.

There will only be a very light wind from a northern direction which will pick up a bit as the day goes on. This means that the riders will once again have a tailwind for most of the day and will only see a change in conditions when they reach the finishing circuit. The peloton will have a tailwind from the 5km to go mark until 2,5km remain. Then they will face a crosswind section before turning into a headwind with 1,5km to go. There will be a crosswind from the left on the final 700m straight.

The favourites

Today's confusing sprint didn't produce any sprint hierarchy and there are still plenty of fast finishers who believe they can win a stage. When the riders have reached tomorrow's finish in Mairena del Aljarafe, the sprinters won't get another chance until next Thursday and so they cannot afford to let tomorrow's opportunity slip away. Many won't reach the finish in Madrid and may abandon ahead of the Pyrenean stages and for those, tomorrow's stage may be their penultimate chance. Orica-GreenEDGE, Argos-Shimano, Garmin-Sharp, Omega Pharma-Quick Step and maybe even Lampre-Merida should all combine forces to reel in the early break and the flat terrain makes it easy to secure the right size and composition of the breakaway. At least they should now know that it's no good idea to allow the world time trial champion a 7-minute gap. The GC teams hope for a calm day and want to save as much energy as possible ahead of Saturday's, Sunday's and Monday's important stages. It's hard to imagine another scenario than a bunck kick.

With no sprint hierarchy firmly established and no very strong lead-out trains in the race, we are likely to see another confusing and unpredictable sprint in which luck and positioning play a crucial role and we could see another surprise winner. The first two sprints have, however, given a number of indications.

Tyler Farrar has proved that he is maybe the fastest sprinter in the race. The American had used most of his team to chase the breakaway down on stage 5 and so was left to fend for himself in the finale. That left him badly positioned but he still produced a fast sprint to take 5th. Today he had placed himself perfectly on the wheel of the Argos train when the Dutchmen had taken control but was overtaken when Cancellara launched his sprint. He lost multiple positions but still made a fantastic sprint to take 4th. If Cancellara hadn't kicked into action, Farrar would probably have won the sprint - but it would only have been for 2nd.

Alex Rasmussen proved that he is up to the lead-out task when he hit the front inside the final kilometre to reel in Martin. That move was brought forward by a force majeure situation and probably not part of the pre-race plan. With Rasmussen to support him in the finale, Farrar has a good chance to once again position himself perfectly for the finale and finally take that first grand tour stage win since the 2011 Tour de France.

Prior to the race, we had high expectations for the Argos-Shimano, Garmin-Sharp and Orica-GreenEdge trains. Until now, the latter two have been completely invisible in the finales - Garmin mostly due to the effects of their team time trial crashes - but the young Argos team has done a fabulous job. The team has been in total control in both sprint stages so far. Yesterday Nikias Arndt simply wasn't fast enough and today the team had to launch their train earlier than planned to catch Martin. Hence, Reinhardt Van Rensburg ran out of power and the team was overtaken by Cancellara, leaving Ramon Sinkeldam to open a very long sprint.

However, Sinkeldam is fast enough to win a stage in this race and with the best support team, he has a very solid chance of doing so. Tomorrow there is unlikely to be a world time trial champion ahead and so they will have a better chance of timing things as they did it yesterday. The team also has Arndt for the sprint and it is not unlikely that the team will put their faith in the German tomorrow. The flat course should, however, suit the faster Sinkeldam better and it would be a wise decision to give their Dutchman another chance.

The most consistent sprinter so far has been Maximilano Richeze who has returned to his best form after getting back to top level racing this season. The Argentinean may not be the fastest sprinter in the peloton - he was even beaten by Zdenek Stybar on a stage in the Eneco Tour - but he is superior when it comes to positioning. Today he was well-placed on the wheel of Farrar and the Argos boys but quickly reacted to Cancellara's move and made it into a good position in the Swiss' slipstream. That positioning ability is reflected in consistent performances that have allowed him to finish 4th and 2nd on stages of the Eneco Tour and 2nd on the first two sprint stages of the Vuelta.

Richeze has Manuele Mori and Massimo Graziato to bring him into position and from there, he has to fend for himself. He may not be the fastest sprinter in the peloton but he may overcome his lack of top speed by positioning himself on the right wheel and if so, he could take the 2nd grand tour stage win of his career, the first one having been taken on the final stage of the 2007 Giro d'Italia following the disqualification of Alessandro Petacchi.

It has been a surprise to see that Orica-GreenEdge hasn't been able to provide Michael Matthews with any kind of lead-out yet. Yesterday the team was on its knees due to the hard chase work but today the team only used Simon Clarke and Christian Meier for the early work. That should have left Matthews with crucial support from Leigh Howard and Mitchell Docker but he ended up being completely on his own.

On paper, the train should be one of the strongest in the race and if they can finally get everything right, Matthews will have a chance. The Australian is usually not fast enough to win a bunch sprint on such an easy stage without any kind of support and he will be hugely reliant on his team. On paper, Leigh Howard may be the team's best option for tomorrow's stage and it is not impossible that the team will change captain. However, Matthews leads the points competition and while the team acknowledges that it is likely to be won a GC rider, they won't give it up without a fight. Hence, we expect them to once again back Matthews tomorrow.

Gianni Meersman was the best-placed of the Omega Pharma-Quick Step riders on today's stage but in the finale it was actually Andrew Fenn who was in last position in the Belgian team's train. This indicates that the team's original plan was to support the Brit in the sprint but something must have gone wrong as Fenn finished far down the rankings in 52nd.

The team may give Fenn another chance tomorrow and that could be a wise decision. It's hard to imagine Meersman win at the end of a very easy stage while Fenn is much more of a traditional sprinter. Martin will be back in usual support role for tomorrow and when he combines forces with Zdenek Stybar, Guillaume Van Keirsbulck and Meersman, the team has some serious horsepower in the finale. Tomorrow could be the day when Fenn makes the headlines.

The first two sprint stages have proved that anarchy rules. Apparently, Argos-Shimano is the only team whose lead-out train is strong enough to control the final kilometres and their young team can't keep everything in check. This could open the door for late finisseur attacks like we have seen it plenty of times during the month of August. The rider most likely to make such a move is Fabian Cancellara who has twice proved that he is getting into his best form. Today he stayed attentive near the front and launched his sprint when he saw an opportunity. He may try a move again tomorrow and if he gets clear, he will be very hard to catch.

Finally, we will once again pick Francesco Lasca as a joker. The Caja Rural sprinter was riding strongly earlier in the race but yesterday a cold knocked him out of contention. He is gradually recovering and finished 12th today. As he is completely on his own in the sprints, he is an unlikely winner but don't be surprised to see him make it onto the podium.

CyclingQuotes' stage winner pick: Tyler Farrar

Other winning candidates: Ramon Sinkeldam, Maximilano Richeze

Outsiders:  Michael Matthews, Andrew Fenn, Nikias Arndt

Joker: Francesco Lasca, Fabian Cancellara