The first of two hill stages and it`s the "TdU famous Stirling" finish, which isn`t the hardest puncheur stage but neither having a lot of relax sections once reaching the final circuit at around halftime.
Surprisingly the KoM points are still on the easier first half while the two sprints come at the harder second part.
Will we see a battle of the top puncheurs today, namely Claeys, Di Maggio or Schreurs/ Ulissi etc. or are the punchy sprinters able to challenge them such as Yates, Kump, Ackermann or Houle?
Having a win goal here as only team, Bakkafrost surely must hope for a huge day from either Guarnieri or Vichot.
Early on at the second climb of the day the break not yet fully formed and the peloton is still under 1min to the first.
Though some riders really going for the Cat.2 including the KoM leader Wirtgen, who though only comes over the line in 5th place.
In front the Europcar duo Jaramillo as one of the top hybrid here and Lavery as decent puncheur. A strong duo to send out early.
Gebremedhin and Nzeke some more strong uphill riders also coming over the line ahead of Wirtgen.
Scott, Weemaes, Robov, Hansen, Vahtra, Tzortzakis and Abdul Halil are more rider in between those and the peloton.
Up to Weemaes they are having a 35s gap to the group around Robov and now as well another 1'40 to the peloton, which seem to be fine with such a strong group of 12!
For now Xero, Popo4ever, Campari, Minions and Nordstrom are working behind.
2nd KoM and Europcar can`t take the maximum as Jaramillo has either worked for Lavery or was simply too exhausted after the fast pace.
At least Lavery taking the maximum points and by being 2nd and 1st on todays KoM points, he goes into the lead as neither Wirtgen was able to get any here. Gebremedhin over the line in 2nd also passing the young Luxembourgian in that competition this way.
The first circuit is almost passed when the two groups finally merged. But at this time the peloton also decided to go faster, which results in a) only a 30s gap for the break and b) a group of 44 riders only in the first peloton, which still has a few sprinters in such as all the hilly sprinters but most Gaviria, Vesely, Guarnieri, Silvestre, Bouhanni or Van der Sande.
Meanwhile peloton 2 includes some surprising names, first of all the GCN duo Schreurs/ Dowsett and also Waeytens, Edmondson, Gebrezgabihier, Gautier, Ackermann.
So maybe the 3 most experienced and successful TdU riders all being surprised by that selection.
Good news for Bakkafrost as both their leaders are still in there trying to fulfill the high goal! Guarnieri even as only rider going for the sprint at the first lap taking not only some more points but also bonus seconds.
Actually Vesely also taking 4 first points, not due to sprinting but due to chasing for GC rider Claeys and he is doing most of the work right now on his own.
Duolingo, Aramco or Berg all trying to avoid a fusion of those two groups and keep the pace up. Just 26s in between but enough to let Schreurs work behind on his own.
As the rider names show (a bit pixelated unfortunately) some more names being in later groups including Gautier even further back, but also the likes of Henao, Roux, Alaphilippe, Teklit and so on.
And actually also Vichot is no longer part of group 1 once the break was caught and the first group got reduced to 29 riders only!
Going up the 2nd lap, some riders were able to get into the mix again such as Dowsett or Ackermann, who actually even passed the whole group to take the sprint, where Guarnieri had to pass very closely totally exhausted on top of the hill.
And while the favourite group is up to 45 riders on that penultimate climb, Schreurs still sitting in group 2 as also Vichot with Gautier furter behind in group 4 only!
That`s really not the most ideal goodbye of 2 classy riders in that race.
Campari is the team contolling the pace for the last full lap. The pace isn`t very high and so the group of 45 still is the same just before the final lap. But as behind not enough riders are supporting Schreurs (only Nzeke really), they still are distanced more than 2min now.
Fiorelli, Kunshin are working with Slagter staying around Di Maggio. A strong couple of support riders for one of the top favourites.
Also Villella is visible at the front working for Kump and Russo for Ulissi, who also has Teklit and McEvoy with him.
s
Prevar, Paulinho, Yates, Dowsett, Waeytens, Di Maggio, Turgis/Bettiol, Kump the order in the first 15 spots as also couple of sprinters still staying with them such as Vesely, Van der Sande, Houle or Guarnieri and Gaviria and Bouhanni.
Claeys, Kreder, Edmondson, Borges, Ackermann, Oliveira, Lavery other mentionable riders a bit further behind in that group.
As so many times in the past couple years Ulissi is doing the first attack with 3,5km to go when the climb starts. Paulinho, Kump, Houle, Dowsett are those to first react trying to follow.
Their problem though the strength of the 3 Campari helpers, who are all, Slagter included, now at the front not allowing them to open a gap!
It basically only results to some riders losing contact including Vesely, Ackermann, Bouhanni and helpers.
Going onto the final kilometer the favourites are still next to each other with Villella and Borges now in the first two spots!
Behind them the fast riders such as Kump, Ulissi, Prevar, Houle or Yates.
In the middle Paulinho, Claeys with Turgis, Edmondson, Slagter, Dowsett, Di Maggio on the other side.
Guarnieri basically right in the middle of the full group trying to defend the GC lead while Gaviria or Van der Sande are at the very end only trying to avoid a time gap.
With the finish line in sight, Villella`s "leadout" seems to work as Kump has left his wheel and goes onto the final meters in the first row. Next to him Turgis and Borges still very strong with Edmondson, Houle and Claeys also up there trying to outsprint them.
Behind and hardly able to pass them in time Di Maggio, who can`t finish the strong work of his team as also Dowsett, Paulinho and Yates.
The closer to the line, the flatter the road and this was perfectly executed by Kump, who takes the win in Stirling ahead of a very close duel between Houle and Edmondson. First taking it by couple inches, which sees him back in the race lead!
Turgis holds on to 4th ahead of Borges, Yates, Claeys.
Fiorelli surprisingly the best Campari rider ahead of Slagter and McEvoy to complete the top10.
No time gaps here for the first 27 riders but some such as Dowsett or Waeytens lucky to still be in the GC fight while others such as Prevar, Di Maggio, Ulissi were unable to grab important bonus seconds.
Sprinter wise Gaviria and Van der Sande made it up with the best and are still potential GC riders here.
Guarnieri though lost it towards the end, basically was fighting since the first passing and looked exhausted since the 2nd. Four climbs were clearly too much as he lost 1'07 in the end and due to Kump/Houle today also the lead in the points competition.
