It’s all coming down to this final hilly stage in Portugal. Sanchez’
is in command for the yellow jersey, and today’s terrain should by no means do his chances to overall success less. But it won’t be a walk in the park, his main, and most likely only, competitor for the overall win Pellizotti
is also made favourite for the stage win. According to the bookmakers the last favourite for the stage win is Pineau
who must hope to snap the stage win from a overall contender.
The stage is 165 kilometers long, finishing with 3 laps on a hilly circuit. That’s most likely where we’ll see the attacks today, both for the stage win and for the yellow jersey. The riders look motivated, and the reasons are obvious, afterall, this is the 11th and final day of racing in a tough .HC stage race.
Eventhough the main focus of today is who’ll win the yellow jersey, there’s of course the usual early attacks. 11 riders try their luck, hoping for fame and glory on the finishing circuits. The riders trying are: Slagter Seledkov Pineau Le Bon Gottfried Martin Beyer Ortega Cuapio Scheit De Greef
Good to see both De Greef and Ortega in the attack, meaning they might have recovered from crashes earlier this race.
Kopp King
join the breakaway after 32 kilometers of riding today, as they’ve just rolled through the first intermediate sprint, which wasn’t contested, and won by Seledkov
But you can see the peloton less than a minute behind, not happy to allow these 13 riders go away.
Hardy
isn’t afraid of the fast pace set by Cerne, and he attacks and bridge the gap with 129 kilometers left, though, Cerne
is still just behind.
The breakaway won’t give up this easy though, and over the first climb, they’ve extended the lead to 2’30. Gottfried
leads them over, taking the 6 mountain points on offer.
Cerne
definitely allows the breakaway to have their chance, 103 kilometers from the line, the gap is up to 5’30. But look how Pellizotti is watching Sanchez in the early phase today! He must be looking for Sanchez’ body language, to see how he feels today. Pellizotti is serious today, he wants to take back that yellow jersey.
Cerne
has decided to play it cool today, which might be a clever call. Hardy
leads the breakaway with 70 kilometers left, with the gap up to almost 10 minutes. Venchi
must start to chase if they want Pellizotti to get some extra time through bonus seconds today.
But there’s no reaction from Venchi. 62 kilometers to go, and Cerne is everywhere at the front of the peloton, 10’30 behind the 14 riders up front.
The breakaway takes on the final kilometers of the stage with 41 kilometers left. It’s a beautiful finish with wide roads close to the sea. Le Bon
leads the breakaway through the final intermediate sprint, and they’ll definitely fight for the stage win. The gap is 11 minutes.
The hill on the final circuit seems a bit overrated. The peloton tests it for the first time with 40 kilometers left, and it’s only a couple of hundred meters long, with maximum 10.6%
The breakaway is actually not far from lapping the peloton! Martin
leads them on the hill for their second time, being now only 3 kilometers behind the peloton. Their advantage is extending even more, now it’s 12 minutes.
With 20 kilometers to go for the peloton, this is turning out to be a huge anticlimax. They’re barely riding! No chase, Cerne
only controls things at the head of the peloton, now 13 minutes behind the 14 early attackers.
Up front, the riding isn’t much more interesting to be honest, but at least they’re riding for the stage win! 10 000 meters to go, everyone takes their turn, now with Scheit
5 kilometers to go, and you can start to feel the nerves in the breakaway. Seledkov
leads, but still no attacks whatsoever. Aker
has both their riders at the back of the group, are they planning something?
De Greef
leads out, that’s not the position you want to have when 14 riders will sprint it out for a big stage win!
Seledkov
flies past him as they start the hill for the final and decisive time! Everyone else in the group is just following wheels.
Seledkov
was by far the strongest on the climb, but now they’re back to the flat. He leads Gottfried Slagter
with all others being too far behind.
Gottfried
clearly saved something for the flat finish, as he goes head-to-head with Seledkov
with 500 meters to the line! Pineau
has also found space for his sprint behind, and he’s now up to 4th.
Gottfried
takes it by a few centimeters! Well done to him, knowing his strength in the final sprint, and timing his sprint to perfection. Seledkov
has to settle for 2nd, after a very long sprint.
Kopp
is the fastest finisher, taking 3rd, just ahead of Pineau Beyer Slagter
has to settle for 5th and 6th.
Hardy Martin King De Greef
rounds up the top 10 today.
The peloton you ask? Well, Sinner
leads them home, almost 14 minutes after Gottfried’s great stage win. That was hugely disappointing, especially from Venchi and Pellizotti, but it looked like the course wasn’t challenging enough. Though, it's the riders who makes the race, not the course, Pellizotti and Venchi might have learned a thing or to two for the future today.
