66km of climbing, gaining 5300 metres in total. This new HC classic is surely a challenging race. The climb up the Volcan de Agua has to be ridden three times - featuring 6% slopes over 28.5km. Not the steepest ascent, but definitely a tough one.
Contador as the top-favorite, with riders like Sella, Rujano, Van den Broeck and Brajkovic as his biggest opponents.
It took just two or three earlier attempts to find the break of the day. A first attempt by Marzano, Kudus and Kononenko was pulled back quickly, but a next trio was then allowed to go clear for the breakaway:
Kononenko Di Gregorio Kimeli
Gerdemann joins them halfway through the race (86km to go), when the group leads by 5 minutes on an already chasing peloton!
The gap is down to 2'20" with now 35km and just one more climb left: teams like ONCE, Bonsucro, Siam and BPost as the most active in this pursuit.
A huge moment of shock for one of the top-favorites now: Contador with a puncture! With the pace in the pack peaking, this is definitely the worst moment for a mechanical.
Six teammates try to bring him back to the bunch quickly, but the Spaniard will face a tough time, as he's 2 minutes behind the peloton (109 riders remaining)!
The breakaway group is caught 17km before finish, where we now see the first serious attacks:
Brajkovic, Rujano and Valverde as the first favorites to make their moves! This kicks off a wave of more attacks, while Contador hasn't yet made the way back to the very front of the race.
Sella managed to catch up to Brajkovic/Rujano, as we see two more chasing groups formed! 15km before finish, we might have seen the first crucial moves. An overview:
Group 1
< 0.24 >
Group 2
< 0.25 >
Group 3
3 riders
6 riders
8 riders
Brajkovic
Valverde
Antón
Rujano
Berhane
Moschella
Sella
Eastman
Quintana
Nazaret
Rodrigues
Kononenko
Pedraza
Talansky
Samwel
Van den Broeck
Krasnoperov
Contador is back in the peloton now, which is further 39" behind this third group there!
Less than 11km left and still the trio leading - now by 51 seconds on the second group, where we see Van den Broeck, Antón, Rodrigues and Pedraza catching up to those six!
Group Samwel/Krasnoperov additional 37" behind, Contador still fighting his way through the pack another minute in arrears!
At the 10km mark, Eastman attacks the first chasing group, aiming to bridge across the leading trio!
Contador on the hunt now, dropping the bunch (and other attackers like König and Stetina) and facing a 1'30" on this second group here..
Just a few minutes later (9km left for the leading trio), the Spaniard caught up to group Samwel! Kononenko now being dropped by group Van den Broeck/Berhane and soon to be caught by the second chasing group with Contador..
Contador keeps flying then and with 8km to go, he dropped group Samwel/Krasno, now aiming for the first chasing group!
This one goes into pieces now, with Eastman still 28" ahead and VDB/Berhane/Antón/Talansky opening up a gap on those others..
The leading trio 44" ahead of Eastman..
6.5km and Brajkovic attacks! Sella and Rujano trying to follow immediately... Eastman not able to close this 50"-gap..
Brajkovic established a small gap on Sella and Rujano lost contact, too!
Group Van den Broeck already down by two minutes and Contador dropped the next group, now aiming to close this 48"-gap on VDB!
Rujano fighting his way back to Sella after struggling a few moments before.. Brajkovic, however, goes strong towards a victory, as he's 23 seconds ahead with now just 2.5km left!
Eastman still in between those three in the lead and group VDB - which went into pieces as well now:
Van den Broeck dropping Berhane, Antón and Talansky easily and establishing a comfortable gap quickly!
Contador now almost catching up to this trio. What a huge fight from the Spaniard and surely a Top-10 result today..
The victory goes to Brajkovic though! The first favorite to launch his move and the first at the finish. His perfectly timed attack late into the climb was too strong for Rujano/Sella to follow. Well done, another big win achieved.
Rujano sprinting for 2nd place ahead of Sella, as they cross the line half a minute behind Brajkovic. Definitely a good day for both.
Eastman with a strong 4th place then, holding off Van den Broeck by 25 seconds eventually. VDB might have been a bit too late early into the climb, but shouldn't be too unhappy with a Top-5 here.
Antón, Berhane, Contador and Talansky coming in at 2.30 then!
While Antón makes it a huge 1-6 for ONCE (obviously wheelsucking this group), Contador outsprints Talansky for a respectable 8th place. Probably the best performance beside Brajkovic today. Being dropped at the worst moment and fighting his way back through all those groups. Unlucky, but epic.
A strong Valverde completing the Top-10 ahead of Nazaret, already more than 4 minutes behind the winner..
Moschella, Samwel, Quintana, Rodrigues and Pedraza finishing from 12 to 16 then.
Krasnoperov/Kononenko next to cross the line.. Chernobyl's leader suffering from the length of the race, it seems.
König (19th), Jeannesson (22nd), Cabreira (23rd) and Lebas (24th) best for their teams, while Alizadeh (26th) or Di Gregorio (28th) missed out on a Top-25 today.
An entertaining race overall. Brajkovic, Rujano and Sella giving it a thrilling fight for the victory, while of course Contador was also one of today's winner of our hearts.
