We’ve got the first hilltop finish of the race waiting for us today, and after only very little selection yesterday, we can expect some more significant time gaps here. Let’s jump right in.
With a lot of mountain points awarded especially in the second half today, you’d expect the breakaway to be pretty contested, but early on, only two riders even try: It’s Doull and current KoM leader Le Court.
But more attacks keep coming and at the foot of the first climb, five more riders have joined: Hindley, Portela, Landa, Pokälä and Hirschlein. His teammate Urcelay is chasing a few meters behind the group, he’d catch up soon.
Le Court took the KoM sprint head on, attacking from a kilometer out, and managed to stay ahead until the summit. She adds 5 more points to her lead; Hindley and Portela take 3 and 1 each.
Both Andorra riders, who had been the last to attack and catch up with the break earlier, lost contact on that hill. They might be in for a tough day if they don’t manage to recover enough energy soon.
On the second categorized climb, Le Court attacked early again, but here she mistimed the acceleration and gets overtaken way before the line. Doull is first ahead of Portela and Hindley. The Andorra guys fall behind again, the gap to the peloton is at around four minutes.
Only three riders contest the intermediate sprint, Le Court takes it, but it’s not like the bonus seconds or points provide any significant value. None of the riders have any GC ambitions.
Fast forward a bit to the first climb of the second category, which gives 10 points to the winner. Hindley is the first to make a move, Le Court in a more favorable position in third, but the way to the line is not very steep.
But not flat enough for Hindley to stay ahead until the line. Doull takes this one easily, Le Court collects 8 points, ahead of Landa and Pokälä.
Which leaves us with this provisional mountain ranking. Le Court has the jersey secured for another day, unless Dowsett somehow takes a lot of points on the next two climbs or the finish, which is a category 2 climb as well.
And while that’s unlikely, it may not be entirely impossible, since the peloton is already very close to the breakaway, under a minute and a half with still 10 kilometers to go to the next summit. Urcelay is already back in the pack, the rest of the group has to work a bit harder to stay ahead for longer.
Instead of consistently working together, they decide to compete for the intermediate sprint again. Well, not all of them, again it’s just Hindley, Portela and Le Court, now in a slightly different order.
The climb starts immediately after the sprint and Hindley and Portela stay ahead of the rest, albeit not by much. Le Court on the other hand has spent all of her energy and drops back, soon followed by Doull.
Hindley collects the 10 points at the hilltop ahead of Portela and Landa, who gets questionable help from the neutral car here. The peloton is coming closer and closer.
In the end, it was Landa who stayed out front the longest, but with 30 kilometers to go, all escapees are caught. 101 riders go into the final three climbs together. All major contenders are in there, Berg’s top domestique Afonso is perhaps the biggest name to have fallen behind.
Speaking of the final three climbs, here’s a closer look at them. Some nasty slopes in there that will demand everything from the riders.
Azteca, Campari and Lierse SK are the driving forces at the front of the peloton on the first climb, but no attacks yet.
However, we have some movement at the summit! Seven riders break away from the rest of the peloton. They are Chaves, GC leader Buchmann, Slagter, Kebede, Izagirre, Oomen and De Plus. If they work together, this could be a big deal, so far they have 35 seconds on the pack, Kolar is the man in between.
Big efforts first from Teklit and then Thurau bring them back though even before the final intermediate sprint.
Interestingly enough, no one really goes for that sprint, so more incidentally than anything else, De Plus collects 6 bonus seconds, Buchmann extends his lead by 4, and Kebede “steals” 2 from his leader Slagter.
In the early steep slopes of the penultimate climb, Slagter attacks! Buchmann is there again, but now also Gesink! Chaves and De Plus follow next. The descent before the finale is only very short, so any gaps now might stick!
Slagter on his own doesn’t have the power to pull away, but he manages to hang on when Buchmann takes over, and alongside Chaves, the trio gets a gap!
But it’s a trio only for a short time. Slagter and Chaves can’t hold on and they’re brough back by Gesink. Buchmann holds an advantage of 16 seconds as he heads into the final 4 kilometers.
The group around Gesink has shrunk to just 24 riders. Among those who couldn’t keep up is Gautier, in Houle’s wheel here, and so is Ulissi just a few positions further ahead. Claeys, who’d already lost time yesterday, is further behind again today.
Buchmann carried his gap into the last 2 kilometers, where the road is about to get really steep. Slagter and Gesink lead the chase and a few riders are having problems following.
Among those struggling at the backend of the group are Prevar, Schreurs and yesterday’s stage winner Yates. 1,5 kilometers to go for them.
Buchmann still leads under the flamme rouge, this is looking very well for him. Behind, Slagter gained a little seperation from the now only nine riders left together: Meurisse, Gesink, Chaves and Dulanjana in the first row, then Konig, Izagirre, Paulinho, Oomen and Haga. Some unexpected guys in there. De Plus fell behind just a few moments earlier alongside Errazkin, trying to stay in the fight for the white jersey.
700 meters for Buchmann, who seems to be losing a little bit of steam, but the road flattens significantly towards the finish line. Gesink is showing his strength, Borisavljevic has latched on to the back of the group.
400 meters and there’s a split in the chasing group. Gesink pulls away, followed by only Chaves, Slagter and Paulinho.
Gesink puts in a final big acceleration, but it comes too late: Buchmann wins the stage and extends his overall lead!
Gesink limits his losses to 15 seconds and finishes second, ahead of Chaves and Slagter, both within the same time as the Dutch.
Paulinho didn’t have the energy to keep up with those three, he falls behind and finishes seventh, behind a surprisingly strong Konig and Oomen. Meurisse and Dulanjana also finish within the same time, 38 seconds behind today’s winner.
Borisavljevic completes the Top 10 ahead of Izagirre, whose ambitions took a hit today.
Haga and Cataford finish next, ahead of this group including Gallopin, Prevar, Schreurs, Errazkin, Lemus Davila and just outside the frame De Plus. They all lose more than two minutes.
But today’s biggest loser, or at least among them, is Yates, who finishes just outside the Top 25, more than three minutes behind Buchmann.
Vuelta al Pais Vasco 
