Final stage of the East Java Tour and it's yet another flat stage: a 110km criterium with a short climb.. some - like Bellis - will definitely hope for this climb being decisive today. Others - like race-leader Guarnieri - will of course hope for another mass sprint finish.
And of course we have some riders hoping for a breakaway to succeed. 8 riders managed to build a group that is allowed to go, some of them are only 20" behind in GC:
Armee Zeits Mundle Schelling Sohrabi Masuda Hagen Teunissen
So it's definitely a rather dangerous move with a couple of riders within reach for a good GC-result and three intermediate sprints today!
And like yesterday, all three sprints would go to those escapees.. let's have a look at a short summary of the results:
#1
#2
#3
Sohrabi
2
6
6
14
Mundle
4
-
-
4
Schelling
6
-
2
8
Masuda
-
4
4
8
Zeits
-
2
-
2
Sohrabi is already far behind in GC, but riders like Mundle, Schelling, Masuda and also Zeits can hope for those bonus seconds to make them improve in GC. All of them are 20" behind in GC.
Now let's have a look at the action behind. And with now 50km to go, we can already say, that there will be some action today!
Vespa is leading the chase and it seems they're going fast enough to split the pack into pieces:
a group of 43 riders is already dropped! No GC-favorite though.
But there's another split just one lap later (44km remaining) and this time we've at least one big name dropped:
Bellis finds himself back in this 31-men group, so the first peloton is already cut down to 30 riders!
Of course horrible news for Bellis, who might have underestimated the importance of a good position in the bunch today.
Other riders dropped: Van Hummel (GC's 13th), as well Seledkov (GC's 5th)! The group is down by 1'10" on the first pack..
Vespa won't care too much, they keep pacing hard and there's yet another split!
16 riders remain in this group of top-favorites, which is still a minute behind the early escape..
Most prominent name being dropped in this split: Feillu, runner-up in the opening stage!
Let's have an overview of the splits here, with 30km remaining:
E1 (8)/ with Zeits, Mundle, Masuda, Schelling
E2 (16)/ with Guarnieri, Napolitano, Roelandts, Davis, Docker/Cav at 1.09
E3 (14)/ with Feillu, Bellis, Vaitkus, Van Poppel, Van Hummel, Sutton at 2.10
What an unexpected drama here! It may be the tough weather conditions (33 degrees, rain), or is it just Vespa's high pace and the climb and tricky crit-course?
13km to go and the first chasing group with race-leader Guarnieri has caught the early escapees in the meantime, where some riders already got dropped.
Now we have 20 riders in the lead and several riders desperately trying to join them:
Bellis, early escapee Zeits and Santambrogio, to mention the most promising chasers!
Final lap, 8km remaining: Hollister's Proni now took over the pace-setting position in the leading group, trying to keep the race tough.
Also the remaining top-sprinters already sit behind this "train"..
..a 35" behind it's the mentioned chasing group trying to catch up..
And yes, Bellis, Zeits (and also Seledkov) managed to re-join the leading group! Very good news for especially Bellis, who's manager might have given up this race a few minutes ago..
So.. with only the bunch sprint ahead, let's have a last look at who managed to stay in the first group today:
So bonus seconds will be crucial for the overall win here: race-leader Guarnieri faces some tough competition in guys like Docker (2nd within same time), Roelandts (3rd, + 0.08), Napo (8th, + 0.12) or Davis (9th, + 0.12)!
(Sorry for the lack of screens in this final sprint! Unfortunately, the leading group found itself "inside" the dropped bigger peloton, making it impossible to catch a useful shot of these crucial moments.. So I only tried to get the Top-3 at least..)
Allan Davis takes it easily! A dominating sprint and he proves once again, that he's a top-sprinter in the PCT!
But who's grabbing the remainig bonus seconds?
Napolitano crosses the line as 2nd, just ahead of race-leader Guarnieri, who desperately tried to defend his lead here..
Roelandts 4th and earlier-dropped Bellis complete the final stage's Top-5, failing to score valuable bonus seconds though.
The overall win goes to... Allan Davis! He finishes this race with the same time as 2nd Guarnieri, but thanks to better individual stage-finishes (3-6-1 vs 1-10-3), the Aussie veteran takes the yellow on this final thrilling day!
Napolitano ends up 3rd: no stage-win, but some well needed points. Same goes for stage-winner Docker as 4th, ahead of Roelandts. So at least five sprinters delivered here.
The remaining Top-10 goes to escapees and their bonus seconds: Seledkov (6th) and Zeits (8th), Taborre (7th) and Schelling (10th) - two teams definitely took advantage of those breaks.
Same did Masuda as 9th.. a bit disappointing: Bellis, finishing 11th. But with this final stage almost ending with a huge disaster, he may take this points.
