240km of pure climbing, this day is going to be brutal! Best weather here in Liechtenstein, so attention please for one of the toughest races in the ManGame!

Top-favorites are expected to be Cunego, Pluchkin, Machado or maybe Nibali.



5 riders managed to build a first breakaway group with the first climb being passed, already leading by more than five minutes with 215km to go:

Wyss
Girardi
Vermeltfoort
Jelloul
Russom



They were later joined by 3 more riders and now - we're already halfway through the race (115km to go) - this escaping group of 8 riders still leads by 6'50" on the peloton:

Jaramillo
Maillet
Pardilla

were those three to attack the bunch mid-race and joining the early escape quickly.



94km remaining and the peloton started to chase in the meantime. Milka, Festina and also Lotto share most of the work by now, the gap is down to less than 6 minutes.



The escaping group goes into pieces, with the mid-race-attackers dropping the early escapees now with 41km to go:

Pardilla, Jaramillo and Maillot remain in the lead, but the peloton (which went into pieces as well) is only 1'50" in arrears!



We're heading for the real action, it seems. Still about 40km to go, but the peloton is already reduced to 25 riders, with some notable names like Samwel, Costagli or Augustyn already being dropped!

It's a tough pace now and the top-favorites already show themselves at the very front of the bunch. Denifl is the first of the more promising riders to attack here!



It's an empty-handed try though. But at least the move makes for an even higher pace and the group of favorites is now down to 17 riders and also close before catching up to the three remaining escapees..



And with 30km remaining (one climb of the loop plus the finish climb) the three escapees are caught by the group of top-favorites. Time to have a look at who's still in the mix (17 riders):

Pluchkin
Cunego, Moschella
Machado
Nibali
COntador
Tenorio
Úran, Kulhavy
Velits, Gesink
Denifl
Intxausti
Van den Broeck
Kohl
Eastman
Pedraza

So real surprise, even though some other riders might have hoped to be still in the race at this point..



Second to last climb (26km to go) and the first top-favorites make their moves! Is it a crucial or just a first sign of strength?

Machado goes first, with Nibali and also Contador trying to follow!



No chance for Machado to create a gap, but at least the higher pace makes for another split in the leading group, which is down to 9 riders now! Who's been dropped?



7 riders couldn't follow the very best, already facing a minutes-gap with still 23km remaining:

Van den Broeck
Denifl
Gesink
Kulhavy (1.04 behind the leading group)

Eastman
Pedraza
Kohl (already 2.42 in arrears)

So three of the bottom-teams (Puma, Project, Pendelton's) are still close together in this dropped groups, but Project still has Velits in the leading group!



Next in line to be dropped, 5 riders (21km before finish), let's have a look at the overall situation now with only the finish climb ahead:

E1/ Cunego, Machado, Pluckin, Nibali

E2/ Tenorio, Contador at 0.22

E3/ Úran at 0.42

E4/ Intxausti, Velits at 0.53

E5/ Gesink, Van den Broeck, Denifl at 1.24

E6/ Kulhavy at 1.39

E7/ Eastman, Kohl, Pedraza at 3.08

So it looks like we're going to see a battle between those four in the new leading group, as the two Spaniards behind are likely to lose more time soon..



The last tricky descent makes for a maybe crucial move: Cunego went all-or-nothing there and managed to drop his three companions!

The Italian enters the final 17km with a 15"-gap on group Nibali/Machado/Pluchkin and already 56" on the second chasing group Conta/Tenorio/Úran!



And here we are on the final climb, featuring brutal slopes, but sceneric views..

The first chasing group keeps fighting, but continues to lose time on Cunego, who's already 51" in the lead with now only 6km to go!



The fans go crazy, as the Italy's Road Champion climbs towards a prestigious win.. 3km to go, still 55" for Cunego..



It's more an elimination race now, as also the chasing group goes into pieces without any real attack:

Machado "diesels" and drops both Nibali and Pluchkin, quickly establishing a 30"-gap, but still facing a huge gap on solo-leading Cunego!



Less than 2km to go and it's more and more certain, that there's only be one deserved winner today:

Cunego

Machado at 1.14

Pluchkin
Nibali at 1.40

Contador at 3.08



And yes, Damiano Cunego takes it! A dominating performance, dropping names like Pluchkin or Machado 17km before finish and keeping an impressive pace til the end!



Tiago Machado comes in as 2nd, losing 1'22" on Cunego. Definitely a good result for Pearl Adidas, given that Cunego was a class of his own today.



Pluchkin edges Nibali for 3rd place! He might have hoped for more, but it's still well needed points for B&O.



Last year's third Contador completes the Top-5, 3'46" behind Cunego, ahead of Uran, Tenorio, Velits and Intxausti!



Completing the Top-10 is Van den Broeck, 7'20" behind Cunego. He finishes ahead of Gesink (12th) and Kohl (14th), but B&O (Pluchkin) and Project 1t4i (Velits 8th, Gesink) did quite well today. So from the bottom-teams, Pendelton's may be today's biggest loser.

On other news, only 107 riders finished the race, so half of the peloton couldn't stay within the time limit. Definitely a tough day in the Alps.

Final Results/

1	Damiano Cunego	Lotto - Cervelo	8h45'36
2	Tiago Machado	Pearl Adidas	+ 1'22
3	Aleksandr Pluchkin	Team B&O	+ 2'10
4	Vincenzo Nibali	UBS - BMC	+ 2'17
5	Alberto Contador	Festina-Canal+	+ 3'46
6	Rigoberto Úran	Milka - AVG	+ 4'03
7	Justo Tenorio	Santander	s.t.
8	Peter Velits	Project 1t4i	+ 5'19
9	Beñat Intxausti	Team Bacardi	+ 6'01
10	Jurgen Van den Broeck	Team Puma - SAP	+ 7'20
11	Stefan Denifl	Wikipedia	+ 7'44
12	Robert Gesink	Project 1t4i	+ 7'58
13	Jaroslav Kulhavy	Milka - AVG	+ 8'17
14	Bernhard Kohl	Pendleton's	+ 10'20
15	Ryan Eastman	Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms	+ 10'47
16	Walter Pedraza	Koenigsegg	+ 10'56
17	Artemio Moschella	Lotto - Cervelo	+ 14'34
18	Hubert Schwab	Team Puma - SAP	+ 20'40
19	Paolo Scarponi	Wiggle Professional Cycling Team	+ 21'20
20	Teodoro Costagli	Wiggle Professional Cycling Team	+ 21'47
21	John-Lee Augustyn	Aker - MOT	+ 21'58
22	Petar Panayotov	Pearl Adidas	s.t.
23	Konstantin Siutsou	Pendleton's	+ 24'27
24	Matthias Frank	UBS - BMC	+ 24'42
25	Dmitri Medvedev	Vesuvio - Accumalux	s.t.
26	Matea Kvasina	Vesuvio - Accumalux	+ 25'29
27	Thomas Faiers	Pendleton's	+ 26'25
28	Dominique Nerz	Team Puma - SAP	+ 26'36
29	Mwangi Samwel	Vesuvio - Accumalux	+ 27'09
30	Remberto Jaramillo	Aker - MOT	+ 27'50
31	Tyler Brandt	Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms	+ 28'02
32	Tanel Kangert	Pearl Adidas	+ 28'33
33	Sergio Pardilla	Team Bacardi	+ 28'59
34	Daniel Navarro	Team Bacardi	+ 29'08
35	Moises Dueñas	Lotto - Cervelo	s.t.
36	Jocelin Maillet	Pearl Adidas	+ 29'27
37	Chris Anker Sørensen	Festina-Canal+	+ 29'39
38	Arnold Jeannesson	Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms	+ 30'14
39	Christoph Mai	Wikipedia	+ 30'36
40	Wout Poels	Project 1t4i	+ 30'49
41	Jackson Rodríguez	Pearl Adidas	+ 31'02
42	Thibaut Pinot	Wikipedia	+ 31'23
43	Christophe Kern	Pokerstars.com	+ 31'33
44	David Claerebout	Vesuvio - Accumalux	+ 32'30
45	Matthieu Sprick	Wikipedia	+ 32'38
46	Leopold König	Milka - AVG	+ 33'07
47	Tim Dees	Festina-Canal+	+ 33'33
48	Pierre Rolland	Festina-Canal+	+ 33'41
49	Andrew Talansky	Wikipedia	+ 33'50
50	Juan Carlos Rienda Segura	Santander	s.t.
51	Max Öste-Macdonald	Koenigsegg	+ 34'08
52	Philip Deignan	Pendleton's	+ 34'53
53	Johann Tschopp	UBS - BMC	s.t.
54	Mattia Pozzo	Team Puma - SAP	+ 35'08
55	Jude Libert	Lotto - Cervelo	+ 36'05
56	Abolfazl Gilanipoor	Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms	+ 36'15
57	Domenik Klemme	Team B&O	s.t.
58	Marcel Wyss	Wiggle Professional Cycling Team	+ 36'28
59	Jakub Danacik	Koenigsegg	s.t.
60	Meron Russom	Pendleton's	s.t.
61	Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy	Milka - AVG	+ 37'35
62	Javier Moreno	Santander	+ 38'17
63	Andrei Grivko	Team B&O	+ 38'36
64	Johannes Frohlinger	Project 1t4i	+ 39'01
65	Hector Duenas Nevado	Aker - MOT	+ 40'04
66	Adil Jelloul	Simply Red Bull	+ 40'58
67	Johannes Heider	Team Puma - SAP	+ 41'24
68	Ioannis Tamouridis	Festina-Canal+	+ 41'32
69	Rafael Serrano	Santander	+ 41'41
70	Serge Pauwels	Koenigsegg	s.t.
71	Mattia Cattaneo	Wiggle Professional Cycling Team	s.t.
72	Ivan Santaromita	UBS - BMC	+ 41'50
73	Oliver Zaugg	UBS - BMC	s.t.
74	David Livramento	Aker - MOT	+ 42'03
75	Piter Campero	Festina-Canal+	s.t.
76	José Antonio Redondo	Koenigsegg	+ 42'28
77	Mohammad Saufi Mat Senan	Project 1t4i	+ 42'39
78	Tom Stubbe	Simply Red Bull	+ 43'50
79	Edoardo Girardi	UBS - BMC	+ 44'12
80	Rafel Majka	Project 1t4i	+ 46'27
81	Tom Copeland	Pendleton's	+ 47'16
82	Matej Vysna	Milka - AVG	+ 47'23
83	Maxim Belkov	Wiggle Professional Cycling Team	+ 48'26
84	Ole Hirschlein	Lotto - Cervelo	+ 48'36
85	Darwin Atapuma	Wikipedia	s.t.
86	Jonathan Castroviejo	Project 1t4i	s.t.
87	Marek Canecky	Milka - AVG	+ 48'55
88	Jakub Kratochvila	Milka - AVG	s.t.
89	George Bennett	Simply Red Bull	+ 49'03
90	Alex Howes	Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms	+ 49'41
91	Pedro Pablo Pereyra	Lotto - Cervelo	+ 50'09
92	Tim Kennaugh	Pendleton's	+ 50'58
93	Jose Goncalves	Pearl Adidas	s.t.
94	Artem Topchanyuk	Aker - MOT	s.t.
95	Alex Kirsch	Vesuvio - Accumalux	+ 51'13
96	Ran Margaliot	Simply Red Bull	+ 51'22
97	Vegard Robinson Bugge	Aker - MOT	+ 51'33
98	Frantisek Rabon	Milka - AVG	+ 52'00
99	Florian Morizot	Pearl Adidas	+ 52'09
100	Amaël Moinard	Simply Red Bull	+ 52'42
101	Thurakit Boonratanathanakorn	Simply Red Bull	+ 53'06
102	Laurent Pichon	Festina-Canal+	+ 53'28
103	Simon Zahner	UBS - BMC	+ 53'58
104	Aberlardo Ablenado	Santander	+ 54'12
105	Coen Vermeltfoort	Lotto - Cervelo	+ 54'26
106	Sebastien Reichenbach	UBS - BMC	+ 54'55
107	Valerio Agnoli	Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi	+ 55'03
DNF	Laurens Ten Dam	Project 1t4i
DNF	Christopher Juul-Jensen	Aker - MOT
DNF	Alexandre Shushemoin	Aker - MOT
DNF	Evgeni Sokolov	Team Bacardi
DNF	Mathieu Perget	Team Bacardi
DNF	Tom Thill	Team Bacardi
DNF	Pello Bilbao	Team Bacardi
DNF	Aidis Kruopis	Team Bacardi
DNF	Steele Von Hoff	Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
DNF	Evan Huffman	Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
DNF	Kiel Reijnen	Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
DNF	Ivan Kovalev	Festina-Canal+
DNF	Mauro Facci	Simply Red Bull
DNF	Erick Roswell	Simply Red Bull
DNF	André Mourato	Pearl Adidas
DNF	David Rosch	Pendleton's
DNF	Roger Kluge	Pokerstars.com
DNF	Johim Ariesen	Pokerstars.com
DNF	Julien Vermote	Pokerstars.com
DNF	David Boucher	Pokerstars.com
DNF	Welle Jayllas	Pokerstars.com
DNF	Samuel Dumoulin	Pokerstars.com
DNF	Martijn Maaskant	Pokerstars.com
DNF	Juan Abenhamar Gallego Martin	Santander
DNF	Mario Gonzalez Salas	Santander
DNF	Jon Ander Insausti	Santander
DNF	Nejc Kosic	Koenigsegg
DNF	Santo Anza	Koenigsegg
DNF	Kevin Fouquet	Koenigsegg
DNF	Rasmus Quaade	Team B&O
DNF	Jempy Drucker	Team B&O
DNF	Michael Faerk Christensen	Team B&O
DNF	Michael Morkov	Team B&O
DNF	Thomas Riber-Sellebjerg	Team B&O
DNF	Piet Rooijakkers	Lotto - Cervelo
DNF	Fabio Felline	Team Puma - SAP
DNF	Tom Dumoulin	Team Puma - SAP
DNF	Mario Vogt	Team Puma - SAP
DNF	Gert Dockx	Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
DNF	Alberigo Passalacqua	Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
DNF	Marco Corti	Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
DNF	Sonny Colbrelli	Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
DNF	Elia Favilli	Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
DNF	Marcel Aregger	Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
DNF	Michele Viola	Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
DNF	Bob Jungels	Vesuvio - Accumalux
DNF	Moreno Hofland	Vesuvio - Accumalux
DNF	Philipp Walsleben	Vesuvio - Accumalux
DNF	Daniele Ratto	Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
DNF	Alfredo Balloni	Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
DNF	Rob Partridge	Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
DNF	Travis Meyer	Wikipedia
DNF	Blake Caldwell	Wikipedia