A short, but definitely challenging mountain classic: the final climb totals almost 20km of ascending kilometres. Not the steepest climb, but obviously a perfect day for the CT's mountain goats to shine:

Suaza as the big favorite followed by Valls, Penasa, Eastman and some more possible threats for at least the podium. It's a pretty stacked field in this C2HC classic, so there's probably more than ten riders fighting for a Top-5 result at least.



The first few breakaway attempts had been shut down quickly:

#1: Stöher, Vila, Reijnen, Geoghegan Hart, Schleck
#2: Matsumoto, Meurisse, Gradek, Restrepo, Petrache
#3: Handley, Stöhr, Belletti, O'Connor

O'Connor though kept trying and while he actually managed to stay clear with a solo atempt for a few kilometres, he's eventually joined by four more riders to build the 5-men-breakaway group then:

Vila
Schleck
Per
O'Connor
Semple

They build a gap up to four minutes halfway through the race..



No more attacks then and as the breakaway is now soon to enter the first part of the final climb, the peloton has narrowed the gap back to 1'35" with now 37km to go:

Briceno currently setting the pace with teams like Eddie Stobart, Repsol and Kulczyk sharing the work in the chase so far. They are definitely looking in control of the race, as the gap to the breakaway is melting down quickly with still the toughest part of the race yet to come!



And indeed: no chance for the breakaway today - they have already been swallowed by the pack with still 27km to go! We're on the final climb now - the first of two uphill sectors, seperated by a less challenging middle sector.

Repsol taking over the the pace now: Roson - Power - Prado at the front, with Roson now taking over the control and Power/Prado will soon be dropping back already..



23km left and we get the first big attacks!

Cataldo
Valls
Penasa
Karnulin

kick off the action still on the first uphill sector! This could make for a great race, as they put some early pressure on other favorites like Eastman and Suaza in particular!



The attackers opened up a 30 seconds gap quickly and the peloton goes into pieces with now just 45 riders in the main group:

Medvedev pulls Suaza to bridge across to the leading group!

Bennett could follow as well, while Rujano is setting the pace in the peloton now!



The race settled down for a few moments and the 7-men-group kept a 30 seconds gap for the next kilometres. Just when the gap began to get smaller, we see the next attacks from that group with now 16km to go:

Valls goes first, followed by
Cataldo
Karnulin

Medvedev, Suaza, Penasa and Bennett do not react immediately..



..in fact, they got brought back by the now 32-men-peloton a few moments later! Group Valls/Cataldo/Karnulin leading by 35 seconds with now still 15km to go and the dropped riders attack again:

Suaza is followed by
Penasa

and they try to catch up back to the leading trio!



And they do: 11km to go, we're on the almost flat middle sector and Suaza/Penasa are back in the leading group, that is 49 seconds ahead of the pack now:

Cataldo
Suaza
Valls
Karnulin
Penasa



Eastman hasn't joined any attacks yet, but he's now pulling the main group (still 32 riders) by himself: 10.5km remaining and the US boy is now trying to cut down the 47 seconds gap to a very strong leading group!

Panayotov, Bennett, Rujano, Anacona/Krasnoperov, Campero and Medvedev on the further positions at the front of this group..



7km to go, the leading group is still about 50 seconds ahead of the main group:

Suaza attacks!

Penasa trying to follow immediately and so does Cataldo and the other two as well!



It's Suaza though, who opens up a small gap on Penasa/Cataldo and Valls/Karnulin!

And there's some more attacks from the main group now:

Eastman went first

Bennett and Rujano try to follow with 6.7km remaining:





4km to go for Suaza, who now has established a minute-gap on the first group, where Eastman and Rujano have bridged across:

Valls
Eastman
Rujano
Cataldo
Karnulin
Penasa

Bennett is 32 seconds behind, he couldn't yet catch up

Anacona
Campero
Medvedev further 25 seconds behind, they went clear from the bigger group!



3km for Suaza, who looks impressive - he's growing the gap with every metre climbed and so he's leading by 1'12" on the first chasing group now...



..where a split happened:

Rujano
Eastman
Valls
Cataldo as a new 4-men-group

Bennett
Penasa
Karnulin about 39 seconds in arrears!

Group Campero/Anacona/Medvedev further 30 seconds behind...



and Manfredi attacked from the peloton as well! With 2.8km to for himself, he's now just 30 seconds behind group Campero and 2'55" behind the solo leader Suaza.

Battaglin also attacking from the main group (24 riders) now!



Just a kilometre to go for Suaza, who's 1'26" ahead of the first chasing group:

Rujano
Valls
Eastman
Cataldo and...

Manfredi!

What a ride from Manfredi over the past 1.5kms on the steepest sector (up to 17% slopes): he easily went past group Campero/Anacona, that has caught up to group Penasa/Bennett/Karnulin in the meantime and as if it was nothing, he also bridged across group Valls/Eastman in such a short time, that it's almost scary! Wow.





Suaza won't care too much, as he crowns his big solo ride over the final 6-7kms with the prestigious victory on this challenging climb! While Penasa tried to follow on first hand, there was no one capable of hanging on with his kick. A truly impressive demonstration of strength. Well done.



And what an impressive ride from Manfredi as well: the Italian did not only caught up to group Valls/Eastman in a very short time, he's now also taking over the leading position with a strong Rujano right at his wheel and just 500metres to go!

Valls, Eastman and Cataldo totally exhausted and they can't follow the pace of the duo anymore! Their early aggressive racing might strike back now!



Further down the road, the next group is now led by Campero, Penasa and Anacona.. Karnulin, Bennett, Medvedev on the next positions.. Battaglin caught up as well!



Indeed: Valls, Eastman and Cataldo have nothing left to respond and Manfredi/Rujano will sprint for the 2nd place! Manfredi with still the better position..



..for an impressive runner-up today: Manfredi finishes the race a minute behind Suaza! He was almost three minutes in arrears with less than 3kms to go for himself. He flew past the chasing groups and put the hammer down with a strong sprint. Simply fantastic ride and an awesome result, too.

Ten seconds later, Rujano comes 3rd with a similar strong performance. It's his second podium result in this race after finishing as the runner-up in 2015. For this year, his 3rd place is surely a bigger surprise though. He certainly knew, how to ride this climb here.



Half a minute later, the next trio tumbles in:

Valls 4th ahead of Eastman and Cataldo! While Valls and Cataldo might have been too aggressive, they certainly made this race a thrilling one. Eastman went for a different tactic and since he looked in danger to miss out on the crucial moments for a while, he definitely did quite well eventually. Even though a podium must have been his goal here.



No one really able to sprint in the following groups as well:

Campero though with a strong finish to go 7th a minute behind group Valls!



Penasa 8th with Battaglin and Anacona completing the Top-10. Penasa should be disappointed with this result, since he was the first to follow Suaza's winning move 7km before the finish. He obviously couldn't recover too well from his earlier efforts then and kinda cracked to finish far behind the first chasing group. Battaglin though with a strong finish after his late attack. He couldn't go crazy like Manfredi did, but he did well to finish inside the Top-10 eventually. It didn't happen too often this year..

Karnulin 11th ahead of Bennett. Kinda underwhelming results for both, since they were amongst the leading group(s) for some moments as well.

Medvedev with a respectable 13th place then, though cracking on the final few hundred metres..

The next group comes in a minute later: Timmer a strong 14th ahead of Sella!

Diaz, Vuillermoz, Camier, Tvetcov and Pozzovivo completing the Top-20 ahead of Atapuma/Moschella and Antón. Panayotov has to settle for a 26th place eventually. Krasnoperov 25th, but Team Reddit should be more than happy with Manfredi as 2nd, Anacona as 10th and three more riders in the Top-20!

An action-packed mountain classic is over. This has certainly being the best promotion for hopefully another edition of this race next season. Suaza took this prestigious victory on home turf and he did it in style. That's definitely a great start into the final month of the season.

Final Results/

1	Jaime Suaza	Eddie Stobart	3h38'30
2	Andrea Manfredi	Team Reddit	+ 1'03
3	José Rujano	Andorra Cycling Project	+ 1'13
4	Rafael Valls	Repsol - Honda	+ 1'49
5	Ryan Eastman	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
6	Dario Cataldo	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
7	Piter Campero	Garmin - BikeNZ Cycling	+ 2'47
8	Pierre Paolo Penasa	Kulczyk - DMTEX	+ 2'59
9	Enrico Battaglin	Philips - Continental	s.t.
10	Winner Anacona	Team Reddit	s.t.
11	Denys Karnulin	The Balkan Cycling Project	s.t.
12	George Bennett	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
13	Dmitri Medvedev	Eddie Stobart	+ 3'22
14	Albert Timmer	Philips - Continental	+ 4'06
15	Emanuele Sella	Team Reddit	+ 4'32
16	Daniel Ricardo Diaz	SanCor	+ 4'40
17	Alexis Vuillermoz	Team Reddit	s.t.
18	Jean-François Camier	Team Reddit	s.t.
19	Serghei Tvetcov	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
20	Domenico Pozzovivo	Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes	s.t.
21	Darwin Atapuma	Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo	s.t.
22	Artemio Moschella	Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo	s.t.
23	Igor Antón	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
24	Pedro Pablo Pereyra	Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo	s.t.
25	Mikayil Krasnoperov	Team Reddit	s.t.
26	Petar Panayotov	VMP - Argon 18	s.t.
27	Jonathan Salinas	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
28	Rob Ruijgh	Philips - Continental	s.t.
29	Timothy Roe	Garmin - BikeNZ Cycling	s.t.
30	Hideto Nakane	Repsol - Honda	s.t.
31	Rob Britton	Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack	s.t.
32	Edoardo Girardi	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
33	Robbie Squire	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
34	Carlos Baltazar	Andorra Cycling Project	s.t.
35	Romain Bardet	Philips - Continental	s.t.
36	Ilia Koshevoy	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
37	Shaun Lewis	Eddie Stobart	s.t.
38	Ignacio Jesus Prado	Repsol - Honda	s.t.
39	Alex Ariya Destribois	The Balkan Cycling Project	+ 5'36
40	Richard Ochoa Quintero	Azteca-NBCSN	+ 6'04
41	Thomas Peterson	Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack	+ 6'37
42	Asela Sisira	Campari - Super Dry	+ 8'13
43	Mohammad Saufi Mat Senan	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
44	Mirsamad Poorseyedi	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
45	Mikel Nieve	VMP - Argon 18	s.t.
46	Mathieu La Lavandier	The Balkan Cycling Project	s.t.
47	asmund Romstad LOvik	Statoil Pro Cycling	s.t.
48	Thomas Degand	VMP - Argon 18	s.t.
49	Johan Le Bon	In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	s.t.
50	Mattia Pozzo	Kulczyk - DMTEX	s.t.
51	Ben Curfs	Proximus Continental Team	s.t.
52	Jimmi Briceno	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
53	Rafael Serrano	Repsol - Honda	s.t.
54	Bart De Clercq	Löbauer Stadtwerke - Etixx	s.t.
55	Peter Stetina	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
56	Stefano Pirazzi	Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo	s.t.
57	Songezo Jim	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
58	Egidijus Juodvalkis	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
59	Diego Rosa	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
60	Redi Halilaj	The Balkan Cycling Project	s.t.
61	Enzo Moyano	SanCor	s.t.
62	Muhamma Afif Ahmad Zamri	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
63	Maxime La Lavandier	The Balkan Cycling Project	s.t.
64	Sebastian Salas	Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack	s.t.
65	Gavin Mannion	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
66	Romain Hardy	In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	s.t.
67	Michael Rodriguez Galindo	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
68	Maky Roman	Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo	s.t.
69	Danny Osorio	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
70	Clovis Kamzong	Garmin - BikeNZ Cycling	s.t.
71	Kevin Seeldraeyers	Team Reddit	s.t.
72	Pawel Cieslik	Kulczyk - DMTEX	s.t.
73	William Maesen	Proximus Continental Team	s.t.
74	Anders Ekh Dahlberg	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
75	Roniel Campos	Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo	s.t.
76	Mauro Finetto	Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes	s.t.
77	Michael Woods	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
78	Bonaventure Uwizeyimana	Andorra Cycling Project	s.t.
79	Andreas Landa	Statoil Pro Cycling	s.t.
80	Ariel Sivori	SanCor	s.t.
81	Sondre SOrtveit	Statoil Pro Cycling	s.t.
82	Pedro Sequera	Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo	s.t.
83	Sergio Godoy	SanCor	s.t.
84	Michael Cuming	Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes	s.t.
85	Jaime Roson	Repsol - Honda	+ 10'14
86	Dimitri Jiriakov	Andorra Cycling Project	s.t.
87	Mark Dowling	Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes	s.t.
88	Nicholas Schultz	Garmin - BikeNZ Cycling	s.t.
89	Nino Schurter	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
90	Oleg Berdos	VMP - Argon 18	s.t.
91	Cleberson Weber	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
92	Erick Rowsell	Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes	s.t.
93	Marvain Tognama Kossouhorou	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
94	Robert Power	Repsol - Honda	s.t.
95	Alejandro Valverde	Repsol - Honda	s.t.
96	Albert Kireva	Andorra Cycling Project	s.t.
97	Marcel Wyss	Philips - Continental	s.t.
98	Jordan Schleck	Statoil Pro Cycling	s.t.
99	David Per	Philips - Continental	+ 11'46
100	Ivan Vila	Andorra Cycling Project	s.t.
101	Dale Appleby	Eddie Stobart	+ 13'07
102	Geremie Nzeke	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
103	Ryan Anderson	Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack	s.t.
104	Maxime Monfort	Team Reddit	+ 14'16
105	Gabor Kasa	The Balkan Cycling Project	s.t.
106	Adria Urcelay	Andorra Cycling Project	s.t.
107	Jasper Ockeloen	Proximus Continental Team	+ 16'18
108	Guy Diaz Groiller	Andorra Cycling Project	s.t.
109	Ricardo Mestre	In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	s.t.
110	Dmitri Grabovski	Philips - Continental	s.t.
111	Connor McCutcheon	Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack	s.t.
112	Tormod Jacobsen	Statoil Pro Cycling	s.t.
113	Luca Forcellini	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
114	Lars Petter Nordhaug	Statoil Pro Cycling	s.t.
115	Jan Stöhr	VMP - Argon 18	s.t.
116	Matthew Lloyd	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
117	Richard Handley	Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes	s.t.
118	Erdenebayar Daspuntsag	Garmin - BikeNZ Cycling	s.t.
119	Steven Lampier	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
120	Niklas Eg	Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes	s.t.
121	Roman Kreuziger	In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	s.t.
122	Tao Geoghegan Hart	Kulczyk - DMTEX	s.t.
123	Yosukue Matsumoto	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
124	Mikaël Chérel	Eddie Stobart	s.t.
125	Ben O'Connor	Garmin - BikeNZ Cycling	s.t.
126	Ole Haavardsholm	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
127	Kamil Gradek	Kulczyk - DMTEX	s.t.
128	Paul Van der Ploeg	Eddie Stobart	+ 16'59
129	Gabriel Juarez	SanCor	s.t.
130	Adam Semple	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
131	Stanislav Zaraliev	VMP - Argon 18	+ 18'42
132	Kilian Frankiny	Sauber Petronas Racing	+ 20'40
133	Michael Vanthourenhout	Löbauer Stadtwerke - Etixx	s.t.
134	Carlos Quintero	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
135	Aleksa Crncevic	Garmin - BikeNZ Cycling	s.t.
136	Kiel Reijnen	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
137	Laurens De Vreese	Proximus Continental Team	s.t.
138	Clément Venturini	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
139	Eliot Lietaer	Proximus Continental Team	s.t.
140	Simon Pellaud	Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack	s.t.
141	Marius Petrache	VMP - Argon 18	s.t.
142	Xandro Meurisse	Proximus Continental Team	s.t.
143	Michael Torckler	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
144	Federico Rocchetti	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
145	Lionel Biondo	SanCor	s.t.
146	Hussein Manfred	The Balkan Cycling Project	+ 22'02
147	Dmitry Trakhov	Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo	+ 22'55
148	Mauro Santambrogio	Telia-Brussels Airlines	+ 24'28
149	Tom Thill	Löbauer Stadtwerke - Etixx	s.t.
150	Xhuliano Kamberaj	VMP - Argon 18	s.t.
151	Odd Christian Eiking	Statoil Pro Cycling	s.t.
152	Tom Schwarmes	Löbauer Stadtwerke - Etixx	s.t.
153	Loic Vliegen	Proximus Continental Team	s.t.
154	Shengjun Wu	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
155	Tiesj Benoot	Löbauer Stadtwerke - Etixx	s.t.
156	Jhonatan Restrepo	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
157	Olivier Lecourt De Billot	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
158	Michal Golas	Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack	s.t.
159	Gregory Daniel	Statoil Pro Cycling	s.t.
160	Thanawut Sanikwathi	In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	s.t.
161	Piotr Konwa	Kulczyk - DMTEX	+ 24'57
162	Julian Gaday	SanCor	s.t.
163	Jelle Wallays	Proximus Continental Team	s.t.
164	Kasper Asgreen	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
165	Abou Sanogo	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
166	Gatis Smukulis	Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack	s.t.
167	Eryk Laton	Kulczyk - DMTEX	s.t.
168	Sebastian Tolosa	SanCor	s.t.
169	Juraj Ugrinic	The Balkan Cycling Project	s.t.
170	Nicola Ruffoni	Eddie Stobart	+ 26'24
171	Michal Paluta	Kulczyk - DMTEX	s.t.
172	Alexandre Aulas	In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	s.t.
173	Arnaud Grand	Sauber Petronas Racing	+ 28'48
174	Ivan Centrone	Löbauer Stadtwerke - Etixx	+ 30'56
175	Jonas Koch	Löbauer Stadtwerke - Etixx	s.t.
176	Yu Takenouchi	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
177	Sayed Alawi	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
178	Maximilian Beyer	Repsol - Honda	s.t.
179	Lotto Petrus	Garmin - BikeNZ Cycling	s.t.
180	Manuel Belletti	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
181	Kevin Barclay	Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes	s.t.
182	Hamish Schreurs	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
183	Evert Verbist	Campari - Super Dry	+ 31'30
184	Owain Doull	Eddie Stobart	s.t.
185	Max Losch	Löbauer Stadtwerke - Etixx	s.t.
186	Miles Scotson	Philips - Continental	+ 35'29
187	Marco Zafferani	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.