Welcome to the coverage of the 2018 Colombian Venteaux.We've already seen the most brutal mountain stage race of the season, the Tour d'Andorra, which Suaza won ahead of Panayotov and Pinot. Now, it's time for the only C2HC mountain classic. Will the result be the same?

The bookies certainly don't seem to think so. They only place Suaza in 7th. Pinot, König, Pomoshnikov and Kiserlovski are their favourites for this 137-kilometer single-mountain race. But only time will tell to see who is right.



The riders are craving to start this race and give their manager and smile on their face. So let's not wait any further and get this race started!



The first attack of the day is led by Haavardsholm. Eight riders try to follow:

Mollema
Blums
Hindley
Schinnagel
Olei
Salas
Paajanen
And most interestingly, last year's second place Rujano!



They quickly get caught however, four of them and a new rider try again:


Hindley
Schinnagel
Olei
Salas
and Helme.



Andorra however didn't like this break, and we how have three new names!

Daspuntsag
Kokorevas
Cahyadi


They had two minutes already, but three more riders attempt to join them in the nick of time:

Mollema
Othman
Reza



Once again though, they quickly get reeled in. This time, it was mainly Valio chasing. Looks like they didn't want ENI-MOL to have a guy in the break to help out their leader later on.

We're already halfway the race... Will we even get a proper break?!



Yess! Finally! With only 60 kilometers to go, five riders are now three minutes ahead:

Sonnery
Taborre
Mestric
Ahmad Zamri
and Aasvold.



The favourites' teams all send a rider to the front of the peloton to help with the chase. And it's working, as just before the final climb, the gap is only 1,5 minute.

Also, it started raining... Aren't we safe of rain anywhere then?



The break gets caught, and we've reached the foot of the final climb. Andorra is leading and will likely try to help Kiserlovski diesel through the first part.

Remember: It's a 32-kilometer climb, but the middle is flat. What are we going to see on the first part then? Outsiders attacking perhaps?



Not much is happening for now at least, so it's time to look at the favourites' positioning. Most of them are placed in the top 10 of the peloton, ready for any potential attacks. Costagli, Campero, Medvedev and especially Diaz are furhter behind, but as long as nothing happens, it could be smart tactics.



And as it started snowing, we've reached the end of the first part of the climb without any attacks. Andorra ( Uwizeyimana) is still leading a 57-man peloton.



Time for some quiet minutes then... Never mind! Suaza attacks on the relative flat!!! And many riders seen to be caught off-guard!

Kiserlovski isn't though, and benefits from his team controlling the pack. Panayotov and König react as well, but have some ground to make up.



The first four seem to want to continue together. ENI-MOL immediately reacts by sending Pereyra and Stancu to the front of the pack for their leader, Pomoshnikov.

All other favourites seem to be quiet.



And rightfully so. The four riders get caught just before the start of the final part of the climb. We'll see if this weird attack cost them any crucial energy!



As we start that final climb,with 9 kilometers to go, Andorra immediately goes back into diesel mode. Rujano now leads the pack.



Rujano seems to be getting tired though and drops some pace. It's going too quiet for Suaza, who attacks with König in his wheel!



Warbasse however takes over from Rujano and catches them quite easily.

If Kiserlovski manages to win them, they've had some Sky level teamwork!



'Five kilometers to go now. And Suaza and König try again! Warbasse gets to the front of the peloton again, but this attacks seems to be more powerful. Can he get them back once again?



It isn't going too easily. But we can see that this attack has broken the pack apart. First of all, Suaza gets an 8-second gap over König and leaves him chasing! But behind him, only eight riders are left in the main group, 14 seconcs behind:

Elissonde
Medvedev
Warbasse
Kiserlovski
Panayotov
Pinot
Pomoshnikov and Stancu.

Ratiy and Anacona are close behind and are looking to slowly get back to this group.



The riders are slowly dropping from the 8-man group! They dropped in this order:

Panayotov
Panayotov
and Pinot. The latter is a bit of a shock. He'll have to regain some energy if he wants to make it to the top 5.

They are 34 seconds behind König and Suaza, who got back together.



Warbasse and Pomoshnikov are the next to drop from the group. This calls for an overview, with 2,4 kilometers left...



With 1,5 kilometers to go, we can see that the gap between Suaza and König, and Medvedev, Elissonde and Kiserlovski is closing to 26 seconds! Will they get back in time, or will the first two riders battle for victory?



It looks like this one will be between Suaza and König, as under the red kite, only Medvedev has the strength to get close to them! The gap is 16 seconds right now. Elissonde and Kiserlovski seem to have to settle with a battle for fifth.



400 metres and the sprint is on! Medvedev seems to have blown all his energy on chasing the leaders. König is now trying to pass Suaza on the left! Will he have to energy to go behind Suaza?



Nope! Jaime Suaza is the winner of the 2018 edition of the Colombian Venteaux! We alredy knew he was the strongest pure climber in the CT peloton, and proved it again today. Congratulations!

König ends up in second, in front of Medvedev. Good for König, but extremely good for Medvedev. Well done!



Kiserlovski finishes fourth, behind a surprising Elissonde. Not the result his teammates had hoped for.



Best of the rest is Pomoshnikov, over two minutes behind Suaza. Decent result by him, just not good enough to enter the top 5.



Warbasse makes up for Kiserlovski's disappointing final metres and finishes 7th. In front of Ratiy, who came back very strong on the last kilometer, and Rodrigues. Good day for Oberfranken, too!



Ahmad Zamri (!!!) completes the top 10. Pinot falls outside and finishes 11th. He won't like this, Sauber should be estatic!

Panayotov and Diaz (Oberfanken once again!) finish 12th and 13th.



We have to wait a long time them to see some of the disappointments of the day finishing. Briceno did more than fine with 14th, Pereyra, Potocki Stancu and espcially Anacona who finished behind them should've had more in the tank. Izagirre finishes 19th, Campero another big disappointment at 20th. Bummer for them!



And in the peloton, someone is doing a ride of shame: Costagli, finishing 29th.... He didn't even look lazy, he just couldn't perform any better today!



And that's it for the Colombian Venteaux! We saw that being agressive can work and saw Suaza, König and Medvedev get rewarded for this. See you again next year!

Results

Position	Name	Team	Time
1	Jaime Suaza	Compal-Merida	00:00:00
2	Leopold König	Valio - DeLaval	00:00:09
3	Dmitri Medvedev	Eddie Stobart	00:00:09
4	Kenny Elissonde	Oberfranken	00:00:53
5	Robert Kiserlovski	Andorra Project - InGamba	00:01:10
6	Sergei Pomoshnikov	ENI-MOL	00:02:08
7	Lawrence Warbasse	Andorra Project - InGamba	00:02:24
8	Vadim Ratiy	Oberfranken	00:02:24
9	Vitor Rodrigues	Banco de Bogota	00:02:24
10	Muhamma Afif Ahmad Zamri	Sauber Petronas Racing	00:02:55
11	Thibaut Pinot	GCN ProTeam	00:02:55
12	Petar Panayotov	Adastra - Argon 18	00:02:55
13	Daniel Ricardo Diaz	Oberfranken	00:02:55
14	Jimmi Briceno	Swisslion Cycling Team	00:04:10
15	Pedro Pablo Pereyra	ENI-MOL	00:04:32
16	Pavel Potocki	GCN ProTeam	00:04:32
17	George Alexandru Stancu	ENI-MOL	00:04:32
18	Winner Anacona	Banco de Bogota	00:04:45
19	Gorka Izagirre	DK Zalgiris	00:04:45
20	Piter Campero	BNZ Cycling Team	00:04:45
21	Dayer Quintana	Team Cerveceria Costa Rica	00:05:46
22	Johannes Heider	Oberfranken	00:05:46
23	Ole Hirschlein	Andorra Project - InGamba	00:05:46
24	Sebastian Henao	Compal-Merida	00:05:46
25	Tsgabu Gebremaryam Grmay	Team Cerveceria Costa Rica	00:05:46
26	Lorents Ola Aasvold	BNZ Cycling Team	00:05:46
27	José Rujano	Andorra Project - InGamba	00:05:46
28	Heiner Rodrigo Parra Bustamente	Banco de Bogota	00:05:46
29	Teodoro Costagli	Team Cerveceria Costa Rica	00:05:46
30	Jasper Ockeloen	Rothaus - Aegon	00:05:46
31	Janez Brajkovic	Swisslion Cycling Team	00:05:46
32	Gökhan Hasta	Valio - DeLaval	00:05:46
33	Sakari Lehtinen	Valio - DeLaval	00:05:46
34	Carlos Baltazar	Andorra Project - InGamba	00:05:46
35	Hossein Alizadeh	Oberfranken	00:05:46
36	Alexis Vuillermoz	Telia-Brussels Airlines	00:05:46
37	Ludvig Lundberg	Telia-Brussels Airlines	00:05:46
38	Shaun Lewis	Eddie Stobart	00:05:46
39	Bonaventure Uwizeyimana	Andorra Project - InGamba	00:05:46
40	Dario Cataldo	Campari - Super Dry	00:05:46
41	Karol Andrzej Domagalski	Compal-Merida	00:05:46
42	Jonathan Camargo	Banco de Bogota	00:05:46
43	Darwin Atapuma	Compal-Merida	00:05:46
44	Hideto Nakane	Adastra - Argon 18	00:05:46
45	Estifanos Kebede	Campari - Super Dry	00:05:46
46	Songezo Jim	Telia-Brussels Airlines	00:05:46
47	Valerio Agnoli	Eddie Stobart	00:05:46
48	Bjorn Tore Hoem	Equinor Pro Cycling	00:05:46
49	Michael Cuming	GCN ProTeam	00:05:46
50	Romain Bardet	Adastra - Argon 18	00:05:46
51	Asmund Romstad Lovik	Equinor Pro Cycling	00:05:46
52	Timothy Roe	BNZ Cycling Team	00:05:46
53	Diego Rosa	Campari - Super Dry	00:05:46
54	Charles Anguilet	GCN ProTeam	00:05:46
55	John Kronborg Ebsen	Adastra - Argon 18	00:05:46
56	Kyeng Ho Min	DK Zalgiris	00:05:46
57	Costa Seibeb	Swisslion Cycling Team	00:05:46
58	Nino Schurter	Compal-Merida	00:07:14
59	Egidijus Juodvalkis	DK Zalgiris	00:10:28
60	Joonas Henttala	Valio - DeLaval	00:10:28
61	Romain Hardy	Eddie Stobart	00:10:28
62	Sota Ikibe	Campari - Super Dry	00:10:28
63	Charles Matte	Adastra - Argon 18	00:10:28
64	Enzo Moyano	Banco de Bogota	00:10:28
65	Salvador Moreno Hernandez	Eddie Stobart	00:10:28
66	Jorge Abreu	Banco de Bogota	00:10:28
67	Zachary Hughes	Adastra - Argon 18	00:10:28
68	Julian David Arredondo	Banco de Bogota	00:10:28
69	Vegard Robinson Bugge	Equinor Pro Cycling	00:10:28
70	Manuel Fumic	Oberfranken	00:10:28
71	David Claerebout	Compal-Merida	00:10:28
72	Nandra Eko Wahyudi	Sauber Petronas Racing	00:10:28
73	Anders Ekh Dahlberg	Telia-Brussels Airlines	00:10:28
74	Oscar Cabanas	Andorra Project - InGamba	00:10:28
75	Gabor Kasa	Swisslion Cycling Team	00:10:28
76	Gasore Hategeka	GCN ProTeam	00:10:28
77	Nikita Umerbekov	Eddie Stobart	00:10:28
78	David Veilleux	Telia-Brussels Airlines	00:10:28
79	Blaise Sonnery	Telia-Brussels Airlines	00:10:28
80	Constantinos Thymides	Swisslion Cycling Team	00:11:52
81	Abel Kenyeres	ENI-MOL	00:11:52
82	Ole Haavardsholm	Compal-Merida	00:11:52
83	Aiman Cahyadi	ENI-MOL	00:14:26
84	Alexey Vermeulen	Team Cerveceria Costa Rica	00:14:26
85	Mujtaba Hussein	GCN ProTeam	00:14:26
86	Simone Petilli	Campari - Super Dry	00:14:26
87	Bauke Mollema	Rothaus - Aegon	00:14:26
88	Nicholas Schultz	BNZ Cycling Team	00:14:26
89	Erdenebayar Daspuntsag	BNZ Cycling Team	00:14:26
90	Paavo Paajanen	Valio - DeLaval	00:14:26
91	Jai Hindley	BNZ Cycling Team	00:15:40
92	Johan Fredrik Ziesler	Telia-Brussels Airlines	00:15:40
93	Zydrunas Savickas	DK Zalgiris	00:16:32
94	Vladimiras Kokorevas	DK Zalgiris	00:16:32
95	Brent Bookwalter	Equinor Pro Cycling	00:16:32
96	Adria Urcelay	Andorra Project - InGamba	00:16:32
97	Dmitri Grabovski	Adastra - Argon 18	00:16:32
98	Muhamad Adiq Othman	Swisslion Cycling Team	00:16:32
99	Johannes Schinnagel	Oberfranken	00:16:32
100	Sasu Helme	Valio - DeLaval	00:16:32
101	Rob Partridge	Eddie Stobart	00:16:32
102	Miha Poljanec	Swisslion Cycling Team	00:16:32
103	Fabio Taborre	Equinor Pro Cycling	00:18:17
104	Vincenzo Albanese	Campari - Super Dry	00:18:17
105	Jonas Gregaard	ENI-MOL	00:21:43
106	Gregory Hugentobler	Sauber Petronas Racing	00:21:43
107	Kévin Reza	Sauber Petronas Racing	00:21:43
108	Martins Blums	DK Zalgiris	00:23:07
109	Airidas Videika	DK Zalgiris	00:23:07
110	Dario Puccioni	Oberfranken	00:23:07
111	Sean Downey	Rothaus - Aegon	00:23:07
112	Kristian Aasvold	Valio - DeLaval	00:23:07
113	Jack Bauer	Rothaus - Aegon	00:23:07
114	Matija Mestric	Swisslion Cycling Team	00:23:07
115	Jelle Wallays	Banco de Bogota	00:23:07
116	Geoffroy Ngandamba	GCN ProTeam	00:23:07
117	Aleksi Hänninen	Valio - DeLaval	00:23:07
118	Syver Waersted	Equinor Pro Cycling	00:23:07
119	Sabelo Mngometulu	Control Team	00:23:07
120	Mikaël Chérel	Eddie Stobart	00:23:07
121	Dragan Jasovic	Control Team	00:23:07
122	Husain Al Basri	Control Team	00:23:07
123	Nick Reddish	BNZ Cycling Team	00:26:37
124	Federico Olei	Sauber Petronas Racing	00:26:37
125	Arnaud Grand	Sauber Petronas Racing	00:26:37
126	Bryan Salas	Team Cerveceria Costa Rica	00:26:37
127	Audun Brekke Flotten	Equinor Pro Cycling	00:26:37
128	Campbell Flakemore	BNZ Cycling Team	00:26:37
129	Martin Puusepp	Team Cerveceria Costa Rica	00:26:37
130	Owain Doull	Sauber Petronas Racing	00:26:37
131	Nikolay Mihaylov	Adastra - Argon 18	00:27:00
132	Ryan Gibbons	GCN ProTeam	00:27:00
133	Nikola Lefkov	Team Cerveceria Costa Rica	00:30:58
134	Marc Gasa	Team Cerveceria Costa Rica	00:30:58
135	Jordi Warlop	Equinor Pro Cycling	00:30:58
136	Federico Rocchetti	Campari - Super Dry	00:30:58
137	Lukas Talacka	DK Zalgiris	00:30:58
138	Maciej Bodnar	Rothaus - Aegon	00:30:58
139	Tom Meeusen	Telia-Brussels Airlines	00:30:58
140	Vojtech Hacecký	Rothaus - Aegon	00:30:58
141	Freddy Johansson	Campari - Super Dry	00:30:58
142	Miles Olman	Sauber Petronas Racing	00:33:02