The big mountains have truly arrived! Today’s stage is 164.4km and runs to the peak of the Grossglockner in Austria. The Austrians will be looking for their two climbers Denifl and Kohl to do something. But before the riders even get close to that, they have three other Alpine climbs to deal with. The Passo di Monte Crocce Carnico is the longest, but isn’t overly steep. Following that is the short Gailbergsattel which shouldn’t challenge to many people. The third categorised of the climb today is the Iselbergpass, which is 8.1km in length and averages almost 7%, including some 10% sections. Finally, the final 14km are on the mighty Grossglockner.
Starting us off today is Jonas Ljungblad.
Straight out after him are: Donald Malori Kadri Libert Semple Hoffman
Clearly some within the peleton are less than happy with this group, particularly the presence of Libert. As such Faiers gets onto the front and brings everyone back together straight away.
On a day like today there are always going to be people chasing mountain points, so after being dragged back in the next attack to go is: Donald Kadri Hoffman Malori
This is an attractive group to some riders, so there are several more attacks straight away. First from Christensen and Sarmiento, then: Semple Traficante Libert Lang Offredo Rijntjes Howard Ljungblad Del Nero Steensen
16 riders up front is a huge number.
Unsurprisingly, once again the peleton is unhappy with this group. This time it is Vesuvio who chase things down. Once again though, you just can’t stop the attacks. The first five riders are: Steensen Kadri Del Nero Howard Ljungblad
Donald starts to bridge across alone behind them. The front group are still trying to form the break as they go through the sprint prime. It is Steensen ahead of Howard, and then Kadri.
Donald is joined by a handful of new attackers, who are Lang, Porte and Sarmiento. These four riders work together well and bridge up to the lead group of five about half way up the first climb of the day, the Passo di Monte Crocce Carnico. Thus the nine man break of the day is formed. Porte has 14 points in the mountain classification so today is a great opportunity for him to try to seize that jersey.
Bacardi control the pace well during the climb and the gap holds steady at about 3’15”. There will certainly not be a repeat of yesterday’s 10 minute breakaway win. With 4km remaining to the summit of our first categorised climb, the race radio announces another attack. This time it is Marco Marzano.
Marzano was the one who tried a long range attack on the Etna stage and though he wasn’t successful then, he still really set off the fireworks. Clearly he has a similar idea today. Alternatively, he may be going for the mountain jersey, because he already has 12 points in that competition.
Over the summit of the climb, Ljungblad leads the break over, with Porte in second, Sarmiento in third, Kadri fourth and Del Nero fifth. This puts Porte on 22 points, tied in second with Ricco.
Marzano comes through a minute behind the break and another 2 minutes in front of the peleton. The rain starts to fall on the descent, but it doesn’t trouble Marzano who descends very well and catches the breakaway riders, making a group of 10.
At the start of the fairly unchallenging Gailbergsattel, Marzano makes his intentions clear. He comes to the front and rides at a pace he finds fairly comfortable. It proves to be too fast for the rest of the breakaway riders, who are simply ridden off his wheel. Marzano wants to do this final 71km alone!
At almost the exactly same point in the course, as the road slopes upwards, Riblon decides to put in an attack. He is far enough down on GC that he isn’t a threat to the top end, but he could move himself up to the top 20 if things go his way.
Marzano goes over the top on his own. Kadri leads the chasers over, with Porte in third. Porte is now only 1 point down on Sella. The situation over the top of the Gailbergsattel is as follows:
45”
3’10”
1’40”
5’35”
Marzano
--->
9 Chasers
--->
Riblon
--->
Peleton
The descent is fairly uneventful, with Diego Ulissi falling being the only notable occurrence. Webeffect and Vesuvio start to take over on the front of the pack and are clearly ready to wind things up for Schleck and Sella.
Marzano hits the base of the Iselbergpass with just over a minute on his chasers, and the peleton is really speeding along now. The Iselbergpass is much harder than either of hte previous climbs, because it has some brutal 10% sections. Riblon takes advantage of this to catch up to the chase group, with 5km left to the summit, but he realises just how fast the peleton are moving, as they are now breathing down his neck.
Vesuvio absolutely trash the peleton on the way up and cause a big split. 61 riders make the front group, including all of the big favourites. Hoogerland keeps the pace really high and makes the catch of the chase group.
Marzano comes over the top of the Iselbergpass alone, with a 4’43” lead on the peleton. He is provisionally in the mountain jersey, though Sella can still easily avoid losing it by taking more mountain points near the top of the climb. Ghisalberti leads the bunch over ahead of Samwel. The group is now down to 53 riders, all of whom are either strong climbers or were in the break earlier.
There is a short descent before a slow and steady rise to the base of the climb proper. Marzano maintains most of his lead to there and at the very base of the final climb of the day he has a 4’10” lead.
The peleton hit the base of the climb and are still being helped by Webeffect and Vesuvio. The bunch only gets around one corner before a big attack starts! Pozzovivo launches himself from the front of the group. He did this on Etna too and it didn’t pay off for him there. Will today be different? Certainly he seems on fine form, and he pulls out a 30” gap fairly easily.
Indeed, with 10km remaining this situation is this:
2’56”
44”
3’40”
Marzano
--->
Pozzovivo
--->
Peleton
Marzano is holding his pace nicely and Pozzovivo’s gap is very slowly widening. Things are blown apart behind, however, with 8.5km to go, when Samwel sets the pace.
A gap immediately starts to form not far behind him, and a lead group of 6 riders forms. They are: Schleck, Samwel Ricco Sella Henao Montoya Suaza
This is obviously a huge danger to all the other GC riders, and Henao Montoya appears to have really stolen a march on some of the other mid-range climbers. Suaza is performing beyond all expectations!
Realising the danger of this group, Machado and Amador try to attack across the gap.
They make the junction just as Samwel stops setting the pace. He is clearly completely empty and hurting because of it. Suaza falls off the pace too.
Seeing that Machado and Amador made it, some of the other favourites decide that now is the right moment to attack across. Denifl leads the assault, followed by Ardila, then Arroyo and Menchov. Kohl is the last one to put in a dig to get up there, but he is lifted with the Austrian champion’s jersey on his shoulders. The race is going through some tough 12-13% sections.
Denifl and Kohl make the junction with Suaza and Samwel, but are still slightly behind Ricco’s group. The other three riders just can’t make the same junction and form a new group behind them.
Big news as Schleck starts to let a gap open up between him and Sella!
The mountain points are 5km from the summit, just before a very short false flat that leads onto the final leg of the climb. Through the mountain points, the situation is:
Marzano
+49”
Pozzovivo
+34”
Ricco/Sella
+10”
Amador/Schleck/Machado/Henao
+30”
Suaza/Samwel/Denifl/Kohl
+45”
Other Favourites
Amador is clearly on a good ride today, because on the short descent he succeeds in reeling in Ricco and Sella, bringing the group with him.
Kohl realises that he could pull out something special and he tries to attack to the Ricco group. Up ahead, Pozzovivo’s gap widens slightly.
With 3km remaining and the road well and truly sloping up again, Amador puts in a dig.
Seeing a great opportunity, Ricco puts in his own attack, and he is followed by Machado and Henao. What are Schleck and Sella doing?!
Up front, Pozzovivo catches Marzano. They have a 1 minute gap, but with the hard pace behind them it is hard to say what will happen.
Ricco starts to gap the other favourites. Still no reaction from Sella, while Schleck is just determined to hold his ground.
With 1km remaining, Pozzovivo puts in his big dig. Marzano doesn’t seem to have anything left in the tank, but he wants those valuable mountain points, so he just tries to hold on as he hears Ricco behind him.
Finally Sella reacts! He surges past all the other riders around him, and opens another gap on Schleck. Is it too little, too late though?
Up ahead, Pozzovivo’s attack has paid off handsomely, with a marvellous stage victory. The clock starts ticking and he will have to wait to see if he is on the podium tonight. Behind him comes a battling Marzano in second place, who will have to console himself with the fact that he will be pulling on the mountain jersey for at least one night, and possibly longer.
Just over a minute later, Ricco leads in the others! He still has a 9” gap on Sella, who comes through in 4th. That means that Pozzovivo takes third place in GC for the moment thanks to his bonus seconds for the stage win.
Amador holds on for a solid 5th place, ahead of Machado and Henao Montoya. With Denifl further down the road, Henao will be pulling on the young rider’s jersey. Schleck, meanwhile, is in 8th place, and is looking exhausted. He loses 1’49” on Pozzovivio, 46” on Ricco and 37” on Sella. It looks like we are going to have an interesting battle for the podium places in the next couple of days.
Kohl is the better of the 2 Austrians in 9th place, 2’02” down on Pozzovivo’s time. Denifl is in 10th place, 26” behind him. In terms of the other GC riders, Arroyo is 2’53” down, Devolder 3’18” and Ardila and Menchov both come through a disappointing 3’27” off the time of Pozzovivio. Miraculously, no riders were eliminated today.
In terms of the jerseys, Ricco obviously keeps his and it looks like everyone will be struggling to prise that off his shoulders. As said, the battle for the other podium places is heating up, however. Marzano takes the mountain jersey with a 13 point lead over Ricco. VolksWagen – Siemens will have to be content with that. Despite Vesuvio making up time today, Vespa still lead the team rankings by 10 minutes. Henao pulls on the young rider jersey, and will be hoping to hold onto his fifth place.
