We've reached the queen stage, which tackles three first category climbs before a long descent down towards Å kofja Loka and the finish. All three of the climbs feature long-ish sections of gruesome 10-15% gradients, so there's definitely terrain to cause damage for those intending to.
Perhaps the two biggest favourites, Alarcon and Gomez Marchante, will be two of those. Whether stronger TTists like Keizer can limit their losses ahead of tomorrow will be the most important question today.
Reaching the first intermediate sprint, 20 km into the stage, we still don't have any established breakaway. The six bonus seconds go to Zabalo, who attacked just beforehand along with Vosekalns.
This may be noteworthy, since the man from Rothaus finished in the peloton yesterday and sits just 28 seconds shy of the race lead.
After a few more turns back and forth from the peloton, a gap starts to open after eight more riders join the previous two. The joining names are:
That's three more potential GC threats in Grosu, Ovechkin and Bazhkou. The last two in particular, as they're the first across the 2nd sprint prime a few kilometers later.
It seems to be an excellent constellation of riders, as the group works together almost too well across the summit of the first climb of the Soriska.
"Too well" because they don't even bother fighting for the points offered at the top. Zabalo just paces them over from the front, jumping up to 2nd in the KoM classification behind Gil, with 16 points against 20.
Vosekalns and Bazhkou follow right behind.
Perhaps due to orders from the team cars, most of the riders in the group change their mind regarding the points as they reach the next summit.
After a fierce battle that shattered the group towards the end of the climb, it's Grosu who takes 16 points ahead of Vosekalns and Zabalo. This means that the latter moves into provisional KoM lead, closely followed by Vosekalns just two points down.
The climb also sparks some activity going in the peloton, with Bole's Pivovarna team having begun reducing the breakaway's advantage to around four minutes.
After a fast and technical descent down to the day's last intermediate sprint, the final climb hits the riders with a boom. A relatively steep gradient, but still not the worst part the climb includes.
Interestingly, Ben Nasser has now joined some of his team mates in setting the pace. Could this perhaps mean that the team has decided to support Bole again today?
And just for the record, the order at the last sprint was Grosu - Ciccarese - Zabalo
The Pivovarna riders set a good pace as the climb continues, bringing the breakaway closer and closer to their expected demise.
The peloton isn't really shrinking in size that much however, so Huzarski decides to leave the rest behind with 4,4 km left to the summit.
The acceleration is impressively powerful, allowing the Polish rider to open a gap over the main field. He also makes it across to the breakaway without any trouble at all, and soon starts to drop them one by one.
Reaching the summit of the climb, he has distanced the main field by over two minutes. Very interesting that no one even tried to go with him. Good news for the escapees, as it gives them the opportunity to take some more KoM points.
Fraile is the strongest behind the lone leader, but Zabalo comes over in 4th and thereby seals the jersey.
Up front, Huzarski quickly finishes the steep section of the descent and starts the real test as the road flattens out somewhat with 30 km to the finish.
Not much has changed in terms of gaps, but the peloton did lose a number of riders in the descent - leaving 44 in contention. Bazayev (2nd GC), Sobal (3rd), Hansen (7th), Golas (8th) and former break members Grosu (11th) and Ovechkin (25th) are among those left behind.
It doesn't take very long for Huzarski to realise that it's going to be very hard to hold off a charging field all the way. Already at the 20 km to go banner, the gap has been halved by Pivovarna.
It's a stressful period for the riders in the main group, and the inevitable happens just moments later.
A tricky turn is misjudged by KoM leader Gil, who can't avoid the crash. Visconti, Cornu and Tennant all go down with him.
The accident also causes a split in the group, with 33 riders staying up. Horrible luck for Jaguar in particular, as Tennant seemed to be on his way to an excellent GC with only a time trial remaining.
The race leader is also affected by the crash, albeit slightly. He is however forced to go down to the team car to have his saddle fixed, which leads to his team putting an end to the pacemaking.
With no one else ready to take over for now, the group significantly slows down. Noticing this, Acevedo attacks along with Zeits.
The road kicks up on a small hill right after this, allowing the duo to create an advantage of 30 seconds over the peloton. Huzarski meanwhile, remains 15 seconds further ahead with less than 10 km to the finish.
He is not willing to give up those last few seconds easily however, and the gap starts to increase the other way when the hill is passed.
Entering the last 5 km, his lead is back up to over 30 seconds!
Pivovarna have meanwhile realised what they've done by leaving the front and now resumes reponsibility of the hunt in the last 3 km. They have a lot of ground to make up, however!
Amazing! Huzarski found an extra tank of energy towards the end and powers home to win the stage after a magnificent solo!
Acevedo and Zeits hold on for 2nd and 3rd by a slim margin. They rode well with a cleverly timed attack, but simply couldn't match Huzarski's inhuman strength.
The gap to today's stage winner is clocked at 41 seconds. Huzarski is thus the new leader of this race!
The unlucky Tennant finishes 2'17 down today. He might still be able to salvage a decent GC result tomorrow, but could've done better if it wasn't for the crash.
For tomorrow, we now have 29 riders within 61 seconds of the race lead!
