Stage 3 is the big decider. With 4 categorized climbs on the way to Col de l'Ospedale we should expect plenty of fireworks along the way.
Cote de Roccapina & Viggianello are the first two climbs that will test the favoruite's legs today. They shouldn't cause many problems, but as said it's a good early test.
After short descent from Viggianello we find two big challenges ahead of the cyclist. Col de Sainte-Lucie-de-Tallano and Col de Bacinu.
Col de Sainte-Lucie-de-Tallano is the longer of the two with high gradients throughout the stage, just easing on the top. Col de Bacinu is shorter, but might have bigger impact after the climbers felt their legs on previous climb. We will expect many riders to drop here, and this might be the perfect launch board for attacks to come.
After long descent and bit of easier racing, the riders will face last obstacle of the day. The big decider. Col de L´Ospedale.
14.2 km long climb with average gradient of 6.2% (in the game the gradients are higher, average gradient would be about 7% for most parts) In last 3km of the stage the gradients ramp up to 10% meaning only strongest will be able to fight for victory here.
One victor. But who will that be? Let's find out.
Few km’s in and we have our first attacks. And surprisingly it’s Ardila Cano that initiates it! A very surprising and sneaky move considering Repsol don’t have a big candidate here, but have plenty of options in terms of climbing power. Other attackers are Magnus Cort Nielsen & Chun Kai Feng.
The first attacks are closed down, possibly the presence Ardila Cano. The next trio to attack again are Pawel Cieslik, Matthias Krizek and previously present in first break, Magnus Cort Nielsen.
However Ardila Cano isn’t done and along other two joins the trio to form the break of the day. It sees the peleton eased up and gap between them instantly rises to 3 minutes of advantage.
Alex Ardila Cano Pawel Cieslik Magnus Cort Nielsen Matthias Krizek Chun Kai Feng Peter Pancake
The intermediate point on the way is hotly contested and won by Alex Ardila Cano ahead of Pawel Cieslik and Chun Kai Feng. We are almost upon our first of the four 3rd category rated climbs to come.
It’s an intense fight, but there always going be one climber above all others and it’s him who takes it. Alex Ardila Cano takes 6 points. Chun Kai Feng
takes 4 points and Pawel Cieslik2 points.
With 100km to go the peleton is controlled by Tinkoff Bank - Rosneft OJSC. The gap stands at 6 minutes. Comfortable pace so far, but not giving too much time to the attackers.
2nd climb of the day is again dominated by Alex Ardila Cano who takes over the virtual king of mountain standings now. Pawel Cieslik gets 2nd and Peter Pancake snatches 3rd and last point available.
Provisional Standings:
Alex Ardila Cano – 12 points Anders Lund – 6 points Pawel Cieslik – 6 points
There’s been very little action on the Col de Sainte-Lucie-de-Tallano, the first of the two climbs shown above. With 60km to go the gap stands at 4 minutes. The mountain points are decided by Alex Ardila Cano attack meaning he’s almost sure of winning the King of Moutain Jersey at the end of this stage. Chun Kai Feng gets 2nd and Peter Pancake gets 3rd again.
1.5km to go and first attacks come from peleton led by Andreas Landa!
Even more vital Jose Alarcon has attacked with the group and is now hidden behind Oleksandr Sheydyk.
Mauricio Ardila, leader of Team WWE is also present. Alongside, Koldo Gil and Gorka Izagirre. Very interesting move here and might become decding especially for Ardila and Alarcon. If this doesn’t pay off, that’s quite a lot of energy wasted for the final climb. How will peleton react?
Well, you can see the answer to my question quite clearly. Tinkoff Bank - Rosneft OJSC taking over quickly and catching the dangerous group with the leader, Timofey Kritskiy looking quite good so far.
Col de Bacinu and another set of attacks! And this time we have a gap! 40 seconds already. 4 of those were present in last attack, and Jose Alarcon is there. Other 5 include:
Koldo Gil Mauricio Ardila Andreas Landa Winner Anacona
With Alarcon and Ardila present. As well as riders represented from Evian-MIAT, Team CSC-Orbea & VolksWagen-Mapei, it’s up to Tinkoff Bank - Rosneft OJSC & Bouygues Telecom t catch this group now!
In the break, it’s Matthias Krizek that takes the last climb of the 4 rated as 3rd category climbs and with it 6 points. Pawel Cieslik in 2nd takes 4 points and Alex Ardila Cano 2 points meaning he is the king of mountain winner of this year’s Corsica International.
Provisional Standings:
Alex Ardila Cano – 20 points Pawel Cieslik – 10 points Chun Kai Feng – 8 points
When the peleton reaches the summit the gaps with 45km to go are as follows:
Peleton
<1'01>
Alarcon
<1'41>
Ardila Cano
Ardila
Krizek
Anacona
Feng
Gil
Cieslik
Landa
Pancake
Nielsen
The peleton has split on the two climbs and only 67 riders are present. However all favoruites made it quite easily.
23km to go and the peleton is furiously paced by three teams now. Joining Tinkoff Bank - Rosneft OJSC, & Bouygues Telecom are Prio – Porto who will be hoping for another brilliant showing from Plaza.
Peleton
<0'56>
Alarcon
<1'08>
Ardila Cano
Ardila
Krizek
Anacona
Feng
Gil
Cieslik
Landa
Pancake
Nielsen
In the intermediate sprint before the climb Matthias Krizek sprints to a win ahead of Pawel Cieslik & Alex Ardila Cano. If the break survives longer, this might prove great position for Ardila Cano to create a surprise in the GC if he climbs well on this last climb.
14km to go and the real climb begins! Magnus Cort Nielsen is the first brave rider to attack.
Jose Alarcon is right now absolutely destroying the gap and single handedly should catch the break.
The break is caught by the late attackers and Jose Alarcon says bye bye to them all.
The peleton really needs to speed up if they stand a chance of catching up with on fire right now Alarcon. The gap is now 1’30 minutes with 13km ahead.
The break also splits. Andreas Landa, Koldo Gil Mauricio Ardila & Winner Anacona are the strongest remaining after Alarcon. The others look to be soon caught by the 48 rider strong peleton.
10km banner and Alarcon is all now alone pacing his effort extremely well. The Venezuelan is 10km from possibly changing the tide of this season so far for Team Bintang!
Peleton
<0'31>
Ardila
<0'38>
Alarcon
Anacona
Gil
Landa
David Abal is making the move and no one seems to be following. Can he make this gap stick?
As David Abal catches the 2nd group on road quite quickly, he isn’t given much leeway however.
Pozzovivo decides with 8km to go he has to try to catch up with Abal, the gap to Alarcon is not going down quickly enough. If this continues, this will be a mere battle for 2nd place only.
Rein Taaramäe puts the screw, catching both Abal and Pozzovivo and cutting the distance to Ardila. The peleton has only 30 riders now, but basically all the favoruites and team leaders made it so far. However with biggest gradients of this climb to come, the small peleton should split quite soon in more selective groups!
Jose Alarcon passes the 5km point with peleton in the distance.
Ardila is caught and now it’s the peleton against lonely, but looking strong Alarcon. 1’10 is the gap. Looks like unassailable now, but anything can happen yet!
4km mark and the big split has happened! 12 riders make it to the front and all the big guns are here. Who’s in the group ?
1 minute is the gap to Alarcon. It definitely looks like it’s over and the fight is for 2nd on the stage. However the GC fight is on if they leading group hurries up! 51 seconds is the difference between Alarcon and Kritskiy. Can they cut his lead by around 30 seconds?
The last dropped riders from the leading group have been Stijn Devolder, Wilmer Vasquez & Jairo Agudelo, Aleksej Kunshin & Yeison Delgado.
Devolder will be disappointed especially after looking strong early on. Repsol as well failing to make a cut.
He doesn’t even. After Pozzovivo ends his attack, Rein Taaramäe stops his attack too and the duo are caught. Now Rein Taaramäe is pacing hard in order to reduce the gap to Alarcon that stands at 1’13 with 2 km to go. It looks like a stage and GC is sawn up by Alarcon here if nothing dramatic happens.
Didi himself is cheering on the Venezulan Champion as he’s almost under 1km banner and cruising to a famous victory! No attacks come from the next leading group, it seems all riders are settling for the final sprint, as with bonus seconds on offer, coming 2nd on the stage may well mean coming 2nd in GC for many in this group.
David Abal leads the group at 1.1km, with Domenico Pozzovivo, Timofey Kritskiy & Rein Taaramäe closely following him. Those 4 look definitely like the strongest from this group and should challenge for podium places!
As the fight is happening behind him for lower places, Jose Alarcon is raising his hands. A win and a epic win at that. With 20 bonus seconds as well, Jose Alarcon becomes the winner of the Corsica International. What a day for him and his team!
Timofey Kritskiy followed Abal and opens his final sprint with 500 metres looking the strongest so far. If he takes 2nd here, he will maintain his 2nd in GC. Rein Taaramäe is looking like only one that can challenge Kritskiy for 2nd.
However it’s Timofey Kritskiy that takes relatively easy 2nd in this sprint and 2nd in GC. He also takes the points jersey, an excellent race for Tinkoff Bank - Rosneft OJSC. Rein Taaramäe ends 3rd and 3rd in GC. Not a bad race for Estonian too, providing steady amount of points for his team.
Jose Alarcon
Timofey Kritskiy
Rein Taaramäe
Jaroslav Popovych
David Abal
Domenico Pozzovivo
John Gadret
Martijn Keizer
Thomas Lövkvist
