The weather is nice today with little wind, this is the media favorites:



Salcone is the first rider to make a move, looking at 185 km in front of the peloton.




But the peloton seems inspired to do a hard race today and he was brought back.
After that a hard race over the next 30 km where riders try to get in one of the many breakaway attempts. Attacks are brought back with participating of Grossschartner, Oelerich, Per, Poels, Petrovski , Sakalou, Salcone, Stüssi, Viennet, Vilela and Zepuntke

Then with 150 km left we see the first breakaway get above two minutes, it is Grossschartner, Per, Petrovski and Stüssi.




100 km left, the distance have been growing steadily now 6’31�.
Up to this point it has been Bettiol, Jans, Dulanjana, Landa, Ranaweera, Kumara, Weber, Varga and Cruz working in the peloton.




The peloton increase the pace, Ranaweera, Bettiol, Dulanjana, Herrada and Burmann now working hard, but the peloton is still intact.

About 80 km left, we are past the hardest climb (Montalcino), distance 4’08�




40 km left, Evonik is doing a lot of hard work in front of the peloton, especially Sakalou and Sergis burning calories.

The breakaway still united in the common aim to get a result in this important race, the distance is now just under two minutes.




30 km left
Per either having very good legs today or just being the most desperate to get a result. He is taking a lot of hard turns in the breakaway now.

Hugo Boss have now completely takes over the chase with four riders leading the peloton, Burmann, Barbero, Herrada and Landa focusing on closing down the 1’36 advantage left for the breakaway.




20 km left
Still Per taking some very hard turns in the breakaway.

In the peloton Bettiol is now helping Hugo Boss close the last gap.

Distance 1’12�




15 km left
The breakaway is now splitting up, no attack Petrovski and Stüssi simply can’t follow the fast of Grossschartner, Per

Peloton at 1’05�




A little more than 10 km left
We have got the first decisive move from the peloton.
Ponzi have accelerated and only Lutsenko strong or alert enough to grab his wheel.

Behind those two Skujins and Kelderman have also left the peloton behind and have caught Petrovski and Stüssi




Soon Ponzi and Lutsenko catch the breakaway and Lutsenko have also started to show his interest in this move sharing the workload with Ponzi

Quite impressively they did not just fly by the previous race leaders, Grossschartner and Per is hanging in here.

Skujins and Kelderman was not able to keep a gap open and was swallowed by the peloton, same of course goes for Petrovski and Stüssi

Distance 1’02�




5 km to go
Distance from the leaders to the peloton 59�, but we have one final and very steep climb left so it is not over yet.

With and almost unreal show on power and determination Grossschartner and Per is still clinging on to the two race favorites despite the many kilometers they got in their legs and the obvious qualities difference between them.

In the stretched peloton it is now the race favorites working together to hunt down the escapees, Claeys, Bellis, Schreurs, Boswell, Bilbao, McCarthy, Kelderman sitting at the front without any domestics left to help.




4 km left
Schreurs makes a move from the peloton, a group of six riders behind him also seems to go clear, it is still Claeys, Bellis, Boswell, Bilbao, McCarthy, Kelderman




2 km left

The move made by Schreurs was unsuccessful, peloton is 69 riders and seemingly not able to agree on a high enough pace to get any closer, with a distance of 1’01 hard to imagine that they will still be fighting for a stage win, a podium cloud even be hard but we still have that hard climb left.

In the front group it is again Lutsenko tearing himself apart to keep the gap as wide as possible. Clearly not the best strategy if he wants to beat Ponzi to the line, but I am not sure he care surely knowing that his team will be very happy with 2nd here.

Hard to believe so have to mention again Grossschartner and Per is still right at Ponzi’s rear wheel.




At the exact same time but 700 meters further back on the road, this is how it looks in the peloton: Bellis leads the chase at his wheel Boswell and McCarthy
Then Kelderman, at his wheel Gaspar keeping teammate Villella as close to the front as possiable. At Villella right side Claeys and further right Schreurs

Behind those a 4-5 meters gap to Bilbao and behind him another gap down to the next chunk of riders.




1 km left for the race leaders
Lutsenko still first with, Ponzi at his left side.

This climb got sections of 10-13% and now it is too much for Grossschartner and Per they have lost 10� at this point, just 27� down to the top riders closing in from behind.




At the exact same time but 300 meters or 37� behind the race leader, it is now Boswell leading the chase in front of McCarthy, then Kelderman, Claeys
At Claeys right side sitting outside of the pace line Bellis
Then at Claeys wheel Gaspar with teammate Villella some impressive teamwork right there.
Behind Villella, Bilbao, Froome, Bystrom, Jensen, Vogt, Dowsett, Juul-Jensen, Schreurs and Rovny




Ponzi start his sprint from 500 meters passing Lutsenko with ease




At the same time some 500 meters further back, Grossschartner have lost momentum now distanced a bit by Per, but the group of favorites have now closed the gap passing Grossschartner. McCarthy in front of Kelderman, Claeys, Bellis and Boswell

A 2-3 meters gap down to Bilbao, Gaspar and Bystrom

On their right rear Villella have fallen back to help team leader Dowsett who have finally gotten a bit closer to the front, at his wheel Froome

Another small gap down to a group led by Vogt




The Italian spectators got what they came for, seeing Ponzi winning the Strade Bianche, with time left for celebration.

Lutsenko a well-deserved 2nd, did put a lot of effort into the winning move created by Ponzi.




500 meters down the track, the sprint is also starting for the last podium McCarthy in front of Kelderman and Claeys

At their right side, I can hardly believe it, Per is still in the competition and looking rather composed at this late point of the race.

At his left rear we got Boswell and Bellis with Bilbao at wheel.

Then some gap down to Bystrom and Dowsett side by side.

On a line behind Dowsett, Villella and Gaspar with Froome.
Could turn out to be a good race for Nordstrom – BioWare with 3 riders in the top if they keep this up.

Next is Grossschartner but traveling at ½ speed of everyone else.

Vogt leading the next group some meters behind Grossschartner, with Schreurs, Jensen, Skujins
Also technically in this group Juul-Jensen and Koretzky but hanging some meters back.

Quite a gap to the next group they will not be able to close it this late.




250 meters left for the last podium
Kelderman have gone past McCarthy

Claeys in 3rd position, with Per and Boswell side by side on his rear right.

4-5 meters down to Bellis and Bilbao

A lager gap to the next group




Kelderman takes the last podium.

McCarthy 4th quite good result by the Ayubowan! team leader considering the weak team he had.

With a very fast finish Per snatches 5th, in front of Boswell 6th and Claeys 7th

Bellis keeps his distance to Bilbao for 8th and 9th, both will be sleeping well with that result.




Dowsett rounds of top ten in front of Bystrom 11th and Villella 12th.

Froome 13th Vogt 14th and Schreurs 15th Gaspar 16th and Skujins 17th of those five only Gaspar can be happy with that result.

Jensen 18th Juul-Jensen19th and Koretzky round of top 20.






Result

1	Simone Ponzi	Hugo Boss	4h30'24
2	Alexey Lutsenko	Team Reddit	+ 11
3	Wilco Kelderman	Team Puma - SAP	+ 50
4	Jay McCarthy	Ayubowan!	+ 58
5	David Per	Philips - Continental	s.t.
6	Ian Boswell	eBuddy	s.t.
7	Dimitri Claeys	Porto - Prio	s.t.
8	Jonathan Bellis	cycleYorkshire	+ 1'07
9	Pello Bilbao	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
10	Alex Dowsett	Nordstrom - BioWare	+ 1'15
11	Sven Erik Bystrom	Repsol - Netflix	s.t.
12	Davide Villella	Nordstrom - BioWare	s.t.
13	Chris Froome	Fablok - Bank BGZ	+ 1'21
14	Mario Vogt	Berg Cycles	+ 1'25
15	Maurice Schreurs	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	s.t.
16	Joao Gaspar	Nordstrom - BioWare	s.t.
17	Toms Skujins	Evonik - ELKO	s.t.
18	Kristian Haugaard Jensen	Volvo acc. by Spotify	+ 1'35
19	Christopher Juul-Jensen	Carlsberg - Danske Bank	+ 1'40
20	Clement Koretzky	Festina - Dexia	+ 1'56
21	Sergio Barrio	Repsol - Netflix	s.t.
22	Johan Esteban Chaves	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
23	Felix Grossschartner	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	s.t.
24	Laurent Pichon	Nordstrom - BioWare	+ 2'05
25	Tom Jelte Slagter	Hugo Boss	s.t.
26	Stefano Agostini	Repsol - Netflix	s.t.
27	Marcus Faglum Karlsson	Volvo acc. by Spotify	s.t.
28	David Boily	World Cycling Centre	+ 2'12
29	Ivan Rovny	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
30	Ion Izagirre	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
31	Daniel Eliad	Fablok - Bank BGZ	+ 2'23
32	Anthony Roux	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
33	Domenik Klemme	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	+ 2'29
34	Ricardo Van der Velde	eBuddy	s.t.
35	Xavier Quevedo	Minions	+ 2'49
36	Carlos Betancourt	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
37	Mekseb Debesay	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	+ 2'53
38	Calvin Watson	Bennelong - Mitchelton	+ 2'57
39	Pawel Poljanski	Fablok - Bank BGZ	+ 3'05
40	Christian Mager	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
41	Pedro Miguel Paulinho	Berg Cycles	+ 3'11
42	Alberto Bettiol	Ayubowan!	+ 3'18
43	Farzad Khodayari	Minions	+ 3'37
44	Christian Egidio	Porto - Prio	+ 3'41
45	Mike Aaron Egger	Evonik - ELKO	s.t.
46	Antoine Duchesne	Repsol - Netflix	s.t.
47	Serghei Tvetcov	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
48	Arvin Moazemi	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
49	Andrei Sakalou	Evonik - ELKO	s.t.
50	Suranga Ranaweera	Ayubowan!	s.t.
51	Andris Smirnovs	Evonik - ELKO	s.t.
52	Kamil Zielinski	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
53	Amaro Antunes	Berg Cycles	s.t.
54	Colin Stüssi	Team Puma - SAP	+ 3'55
55	Pierre Latour	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
56	Stefan Petrovski	Porto - Prio	s.t.
57	Patrick Bevin	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
58	Jan Dieteren	Philips - Continental	s.t.
59	Ryan Anderson	Nordstrom - BioWare	s.t.
60	Jesper Hansen	Carlsberg - Danske Bank	s.t.
61	Odd Christian Eiking	Minions	s.t.
62	Simon Pellaud	Nordstrom - BioWare	s.t.
63	Stefan Denifl	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
64	Gyung Gu Jang	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
65	Ramon Sinkeldam	Carlsberg - Danske Bank	s.t.
66	Anthony Turgis	Ayubowan!	+ 4'08
67	Adam Phelan	Bennelong - Mitchelton	s.t.
68	Jaka Bostner	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
69	Guillaume Levarlet	Repsol - Netflix	s.t.
70	Jasper Stuyven	Carlsberg - Danske Bank	s.t.
71	Jaoa Costa	Philips - Continental	+ 4'17
72	Pedro Sequera	Team Reddit	s.t.
73	Nur Amirul Marzuki	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	+ 4'50
74	Jaco Venter	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
75	Kaspars Sergis	Evonik - ELKO	s.t.
76	Michael Rodriguez Galindo	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
77	Pablo Mudarra	Hugo Boss	s.t.
78	Frederico Figueiredo	Porto - Prio	s.t.
79	Edison Bravo	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
80	Ricardo Vilela	Berg Cycles	s.t.
81	Carlos Barbero	Hugo Boss	s.t.
82	Havard Blikra	Volvo acc. by Spotify	s.t.
83	Jaime Roson	Repsol - Netflix	s.t.
84	Félix Emilio Besada	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
85	Fredrik Ludvigsson	Volvo acc. by Spotify	s.t.
86	Cameron Bayly	Bennelong - Mitchelton	s.t.
87	Tom Diggle	Nordstrom - BioWare	s.t.
88	Domenic Weinstein	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
89	Tim Declerq	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
90	Bjorn Selander	Minions	s.t.
91	Indulis Bekmanis	Evonik - ELKO	s.t.
92	Roy Jans	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
93	Jesús Herrada	Hugo Boss	s.t.
94	Marcio Portela	Berg Cycles	s.t.
95	Jóni Brandao	Berg Cycles	s.t.
96	Mikel Landa	Hugo Boss	s.t.
97	Rob Ruijgh	Philips - Continental	s.t.
98	Shaun Nick Bester	Team Reddit	s.t.
99	Alexander Rybakov	Nordstrom - BioWare	s.t.
100	Ran Margaliot	Fablok - Bank BGZ	+ 5'27
101	Daniel Juarez	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
102	Dion Smith	Bennelong - Mitchelton	s.t.
103	Marc Christian Garby	Carlsberg - Danske Bank	s.t.
104	Chun Kai Feng	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
105	Armanto Archimandritis	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
106	Thomas Lövkvist	Volvo acc. by Spotify	s.t.
107	Geremie Nzeke	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
108	Matteo Fabbro	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
109	Sachin Dulanjana	Ayubowan!	+ 5'38
110	Marc De Maar	Carlsberg - Danske Bank	s.t.
111	Jacob Salcone	Bennelong - Mitchelton	s.t.
112	Rafel Majka	eBuddy	s.t.
113	Cristian Rodríguez	Repsol - Netflix	s.t.
114	Tom David	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
115	Muhamad Zawawi Azman	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	+ 5'47
116	Raymond Kreder	Volvo acc. by Spotify	s.t.
117	Jan Oelerich	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
118	Yoann Bagot	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	s.t.
119	Tim Kennaugh	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
120	Sascha Weber	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
121	Jay Thomson	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
122	Marc Soler	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
123	Peter Varga	Team Reddit	s.t.
124	Timo Roosen	eBuddy	s.t.
125	Michael Woods	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
126	Wolfgang Burmann	Hugo Boss	s.t.
127	Gaëtan Pons	Carlsberg - Danske Bank	s.t.
128	Eddie Dunbar	Repsol - Netflix	s.t.
129	Nurbolat Kulimbetov	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
130	Lucas Manuel Gaday	Team Reddit	+ 6'33
131	William Ford	cycleYorkshire	+ 7'17
132	Christoph Mai	Philips - Continental	+ 8'50
133	Alexis Gougeard	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
134	Tadej Logar	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	s.t.
135	Sarawut Sirironnachai	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
136	Antonio Barbio	Porto - Prio	+ 9'08
137	Wout Poels	Philips - Continental	s.t.
138	Leandro Marcos	Minions	s.t.
139	Kristaps Budenieks	Evonik - ELKO	s.t.
140	Arnold Jeannesson	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
141	Niels Albert	Minions	s.t.
142	Evgeny Russo	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
143	Clement Chevrier	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
144	Jose Fernandes	Berg Cycles	s.t.
145	Joseph Areruya	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	+ 9'27
146	Ahmad Arissol	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
147	Varsham Darbinyan	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	s.t.
148	Maxime Daniel	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
149	Antonio Carvalho	Porto - Prio	+ 9'37
150	Youcef Reguigui	Berg Cycles	s.t.
151	Fabian Lienhard	Evonik - ELKO	s.t.
152	Amith Udaya Kumara	Ayubowan!	+ 10'26
153	Ha Jeon Jung	Philips - Continental	s.t.
154	Jiri Hudecek	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	s.t.
155	Tim Ariesen	eBuddy	s.t.
156	Ruben Zepuntke	Minions	s.t.
157	André Steensen	Carlsberg - Danske Bank	s.t.
158	Rui Pedro Vinhas	Porto - Prio	s.t.
159	Dmitriy Ignatiev	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
160	Jeroen Meijers	eBuddy	s.t.
161	Klever Cuasquer	Hugo Boss	+ 11'03
162	Clenne Morvan Moulingui	Minions	+ 11'36
163	Georgios Karatzios	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
164	Emilien Viennet	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
165	Harry Tanfield	Volvo acc. by Spotify	+ 11'41
166	Laurens Sweeck	Volvo acc. by Spotify	s.t.
167	Jordan Schleck	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
168	Jhonatan Casillas	Azteca-NBCSN	+ 11'50
169	Robert Power	Bennelong - Mitchelton	s.t.
170	Chu Thien Sinelobov	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	+ 11'54
171	Antwan Tolhoek	eBuddy	s.t.
172	Glenn O'Shea	Bennelong - Mitchelton	s.t.
173	Guy Sagiv	Team Puma - SAP	+ 12'02
174	Lennard Hofstede	Philips - Continental	s.t.
175	Jamalidin Novardianto	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
176	Óscar Avelino	Porto - Prio	s.t.
177	James Oram	Bennelong - Mitchelton	s.t.
178	Freddy Cruz	Team Reddit	s.t.
179	Rudy Barbier	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
180	German Nicolas Tivani	Azteca-NBCSN	+ 12'15
181	Hersony Canelon	Team Reddit	+ 12'57
182	Rafael Andriato	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
183	Salem Kemboi	Ayubowan!	s.t.
184	Andrew Fenn	cycleYorkshire	+ 13'44
185	William Barta	Azteca-NBCSN	+ 15'05
186	Damien Howson	eBuddy	+ 15'27
187	Morne Van Niekerk	Team Reddit	s.t.
188	Hamish Schreurs	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
189	Madushanka Perera	Ayubowan!	s.t.
190	Dylan Kennett	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	+ 17'16
191	Husain Al Basri	Control Team	+ 33'38
192	Dragan Jasovic	Control Team	s.t.
193	Sabelo Mngometulu	Control Team	s.t.