It’s the Queen stage! Judged on the performances on the first mountain stage, this is Pellizotti’s
chance to put more time into Sanchez
And he has to, as the time trial in two days time favours Sanchez. Both of them are made favourites for today’s stage, with Eastman
being the last favourite for the stage win. He will look to consolidate his third place overall, which will no doubt be a good achievement by the young American, there’s not too many young riders with a third place overall in a .HC race!
The stage is 167 kilometers long, and it’s no doubt a tough one. The 30 finishing kilometers consist more or less of climbing, which should serve us an epic stage for the overall classification.
Like the previous days, it turns out attacking first is a good thing. Slagter
digs first, and attacks from the peloton with 145 kilometers left. He’s followed by Rabou Le Bon Novak Baez Delage Murgoito Cuapio
40 kilometers into the stage, they’ve built a lead of almost 5 minutes. It’s interesting to see Novak
once again attack, and he stands a fair chance at the polkadot, as he’s only 2 points behind Pellizotti before today’s stage.
Slagter
rolls first over today’s first intermediate sprint, with the gap back to the peloton being up to 6 minutes.
Baez
gets the pride of rolling first through the 2nd intermediate sprint of the day. They continue to work well together, and the gap back to the peloton is now 7’40 with 101 kilometers left.
The peloton continues to control the breakaway, with 88 kilometers left, the gap is down to 7’15. De Weert
gets bored of this boring pace, and gives it a go from a far way out.
It’s California and Cerne doing the early chase today, clearly having faith in Eastman Sanchez
The breakaway’s advantage is 6’40, with De Weert
only 40 seconds ahead.
De Weert
is caught 11 kilometers after he attacked, no chance for him today.
Surprsingly, Novak
isn’t interested in the first 6 mountain points, and Le Bon
takes them with no one challenging him. Novak is maybe playing it cool, saving energy for the final climb, which also is the one with most points.
The breakaway starts to climb the penultimate climb with 53 kilometers left. Their gap is 5 minutes, with Murgoito
leading them.
Cerne
leads the peloton onto today’s first tough test, 4’50 behind the breakaway.
Novak
is clearly not feeling good today, as he’s the first to get dropped from the breakaway, leaving the 7 others with 47 kilometers to go. But the peloton is climbing faster than them all, the gap is now down to 4 minutes.
The breakaway goes over the summit with 44 kilometers left, Baez
takes the 16 points on offer. Le Bon
is dropped 300 meters from the top, but he should be able to come back on the descent.
California & Brandt
leads the peloton over the summit. The peloton is down to 35 riders, with a couple of the overall challengers sitting far back in the peloton.
Cyclevox doesn’t have the needed luck anymore, and one of their overall leaders Lowe
crashes as the peloton is about to start climbing today’s major difficulty.
The breakaway starts the climb with 26 kilometers to go, and they immediately face some serious gradients of 10%-11%. Their gap 3’25, meaning they should be given a chance.
The peloton catches Novak
with 25 kilometers left, they’re really starting to dig deep on this decisive climb!
Up front, Le Bon
must let the others go with 24 kilometers left. The 6 leading riders now have a gap of 2’30 back to the peloton.
Le Bon
is caught with 22 kilometers to go, and Krasnoperov
attacks! He surely wants to show yesterday was just an unlucky day, as he goes for it with more than 20 kilometers to the line. Duenas Nevado
tries to follow.
Cuapio Baez
prove to be the strongest of the breakaway, and when everyone else is caught, including Krasnoperov, they extend their lead! Taking on the first flat section of the climb, with 17 kilometers left, their lead is up to 1’20.
Pires Brandt
has started to work in the group of favourites, and it immediately pays off, as the gap to the 2 riders in front is down to 35 seconds with 14 kilometers left. Their captains are right on their rear wheel, looking determined to do a good stage for their team.
The duo up front is about to get caught, and Castano
attacks! Sanchez Eastman
immediately follows, while Pellizotti
does nothing, just riding his own pace.
Pellizotti
won’t give up without a fight! He chases them back with 12.4 kilometers to go. Krasnoperov
is red hot today, he now attacks again, and he’s the rider you can see at the very front of the race, just passing Cuapio
What an attack from Krasnoperov!
With 10 kilometers to go, he holds a lead of 55 seconds back to an elite chase group, and he’s extending his lead with every turn at the pedals!
The elite chase group consists of 14 riders with 9500 meters left, with 6 riders just having made contact. The 14 riders in here are: Pellizotti Sanchez Eastman Castano Larsson Sørensen Paulinho Cuapio Sicard Richardson Brandt Casar Navarro Pires
But they’ll need to come up with something special to catch Krasnoperov. They’re still loosing ground to him, now they’re 1’15 behind!
The crowd appreciates the effort from Krasnoperov
Eventhough there’s a couple of Portuguese in the chasing group, this is an outstanding performance! 8000 meters from the line, he still leads with 70 seconds.
6.6 kilometers to go, and the gap is down to 55 seconds, and Castano
attacks. 7 riders follow him, they’re: Sanchez Pellizotti Navarro Eastman Larsson Sørensen Paulinho
5000 meters left, and the attack ate much of Krasnoperov’s
advantage. The attacks definitely look to prove decisive, as Pellizotti Castano Sanchez
manages to drop everyone else.
There’s only 1500 meters left of the stage, and Krasnoperov
still holds on! What a ride! But it looks like the 3 chasing favourites are going to catch him now, they follow only 8 seconds behind, with Eastman
another 24 seconds behind.
Eastman
really hammers it here on the final little climb to the finishing line, and he blows Larsson
who tried to sit on his wheel. Navarro Paulinho
can’t respond either, meaning Eastman picks up the chase to defend his 3rd place overall.
900 meters to go, and Krasnoperov
has extended his lead a bit! It’s 12 seconds now, you might say 4 seconds don’t help much, but a second is a second.
Incredible climbing from Eastman
as he catches the other big guns 600 meters from the line.
Pellizotti Sanchez Castano
seems unable to catch Krasnoperov
What a brilliant win he’s heading for, all he has to do is hold on for the final 400 meters.
Krasnoperov
takes it, truly deserved. That was an amazing effort by the Ukrainian climber.
Pellizotti
takes 2nd and some valuable bonus seconds, but will it be enough ahead of the time trial on stage 10? Castano
follows in 3rd, while Sanchez
has to settle for 4th.
Eastman
sprinted very, very well, to join them, and he takes 5th on the stage, defending his 3rd place overall.
Navarro
concludes a brilliant day for Emu Export, taking 6th on the stage, ahead of Larsson Paulinho
They’re about a minute behind Krasnoperov.
Sørensen
takes 9th ahead of Brandt
in 10th, almost 3 minutes behind stage winner Krasnoperov. This is also the group to 6th overall Sicard
who must be disappointed of his own performance today.
