Stage 20 is the last chance for the climbers and what a chance it is. 198k intense climbing. The stage opens with 2 HC climbs and finishes with 3 Cat 1s including the finish on the Pla d’Adet. The last 4 climbs have no flat between them so that is likely good news for the breakaway.
One guy who probably isn’t too worried is Herklotz.
News overnight, apparently Stalberg and Minali missed the time cut yesterday.
15k gone, an 11 rider group off the front with 57 seconds. Another group of 6 including riders like Frankiny, Lopez and Mamykin has just been shut down. Evonik heavily invested in the front group with 3 riders. The full list is: Chumil Schlegel Bauhaus Eenkhoorn Plapp Carboni Firdaus Chaiyasombat Simmons Bloem Champoussin
The catch proves just to be a trigger for numerous other riders to attack and with another 10k gone we are up to 35 in the break. They have 3’15 so this looks like it. 3k to the first climb the HC Port de la Bonaigu (13k at 8.3%). Anybody whom makes it to the top of the climb gets named. A few notes though, among GC teams, Puma, Carlsberg and UBS not here. Gazelle are in the break which generally they haven’t been as is Xero (Blums). Spark has been quiet most of the race but Rodriguez is here with some teammates. Frankiny made it to this group so it will be interesting to see how Evonik and Indosat balance the white jersey, the KOM and the stage. Frankiny’s arrival means Schlegel has one rival with him but none of the other top KOM guys is here. ELCO going with just Kiriakidis, not sure the team owner will agree with that strategy. Nobody from the top 15 in GC but everbody from 16th to 23rd except Mamykin. 5 of the top 6 in the White Jersey as well.
Bauhaus is the first rider dropped. He is quickly followed by Bloem, Simmons and Chumil who did a lot of work to keep the first group clear.
More surprising names go next, in Roson, Kiriakidis and Frankiny. The Swiss did a lot of work in that initial escape that was caught so maybe hadn’t fully recoverd. Good news for Schlegel, bad news for Firdaus. An EA and a Spark rider also dropped. Ok I’ll name them, that is Pelikan and Syritsa
Ondera goes next. Followed by Beltran and Bagioli. With 5.5k to climb the remaining riders have 8’37 on the Puma led peloton.
Another K gone. Blums out the back, Xero have been a mess, this doesn’t seem like a great use of whatever energy he has. Rikunov and Novikov gone but Tinkoff still have 2 riders up front. Ahead the riders dropped are Carboni, Dima, and De Bod. Gazelle’s breakaway adventure over pretty quickly. Skaarseth is also losing contact.
Champoussin not messing around and he pulls 7 riders clear. Not making it are Schlegel (who looks like he might try and bridge), Firdaus, Chaiyasombat, Girdlestone and Ayuso. Vanhoucke, Foliforov, and Ssabagwanya are just behind out of picture.
And then it was just two, Champoussin and Eenkhorn. The dropped group are Plapp, Rodriguez, Power, Hayter, and Rybalkin. Gap to the Red Jersey is 9’33.
Champoussin has visions of a heroic 160k solo breakaway as he ditches Eenkhoorn and opens up a gap of 1’50 by the top of the climb (10’32 to the peloton). The next 60k are downhill and flat. Next group is Hayter, Rybalkin and Rodriguez with Plapp and Eenkhoorn just behind. The 20 points move Champoussin up to 8th in the KOM competition. Lucky I decided to mention the drop riders or only one rider would have got a shout out.
Egger leads the peloton over 10’57 down. 2 riders dropped (Bauhaus and Bloem). Champoussin still a solo leader but his gap is down to 1’26 over the next 5. Schlegel picked up 5 KOM point for being 7th. There are 29 riders still ahead of the peloton.
Champoussin sits up and is quickly joined by Rodriguez, Eenkhoorn, Plapp, Rybalkin, and Hayter. Power, Schlegel and Firdaus look like they will rejoin soon. 130k to go. Puma taking advantage of the flat to chase and the lead is down to 8’02.
Chaiyasombat, Girdlestone and Ayuso are the next to rejoin. Break up to 12.
100k to go, break back to 18 and lead back to 9’05 as the larger numbers tell against the chase where Lopez Nolasco has taken over from Puma. Getting back this time are Carboni, Vanhoucke, Skaarseth, Dima (who immediately goes to the front), Foliforov and Ssabagwanya.
Just before they reach the second climb Debod, Blums, Papanov and Rikunov bring the group up to 22. The climb is the Port de Bales, 24k at 5.2%. The lead down to 7’44 with Puma back on the front. The remaining 7 escapees are over 5 minutes down so it looks like 22 will be the maximum size of the break.
15k to climb Plapp on the front. Looks like Evonik is prioritizing Eenkhoorns’ GC and Stage ambition over the White Jersey. The attrition started again with 5 riders dropped (Carboni, Skaarseth, Blums, Power and Vanhoucke). Peloton at 8’01.
3k to climb and we are down to 8 – Rybalkin, Eenkhoorn, Champoussin, Rodriguez, Schlegel, Firdaus, Girdlestone and Hayter. Plapp is going to need Firdaus to blow up like he did or the White Jersey might be gone. Peloton at 8’40 with 73k to go.
Champoussin again the strongest, although not by as much, he has 20 seconds on Eenkhoorn and Rybalkin.
Schlegel picks up 8 points for 5th. He is on 127 to Champoussin’s 84. It is getting close to being a mathematical certainty for the Cedevita rider.
As they start the next climb, the Col de Peyresourde (Cat 1, 10.3k at 6.4%), 7 riders are about to catch the leader. So our 8 out front are: Champoussin, Schlegel, Eenkhoorn, Rodriguez, Firdaus, Girdlestone, Hayter, and Rybalkin. The next group at 2 minutes so it looks like this is it for the break now. Peloton at 8’18 with 58 riders left, Polar working now. Lopez Nolasco (12th) on GC and Frankiny (17th) both dropped, perhaps paying for all their prior efforts.
Schlegel is dropped with just under 4k to climb, that mathematical certainty taking a small hit. He is 8th on the road and the first 7 score on Cat 1 climbs.
Champoussin just outsprints Hayter at the top. Firdaus closest to them at 12 seconds down. Peloton at 7’36.
Puma leads the peloton over the top 10 minutes down. Polar stopped chasing and things have turned in favor of the break. Lopez Nolasco is still heroically chasing 1’01 back. The team jersey getting interesting as Indosat have Firdaus up front plus Latour and Wibisono in the peloton while Carlsberg still have 4 riders in the peloton (Carthy, Hellemose, Gregaard and Aranburu). Plapp about to be caught.
There are 5 together as they tackle the penultimate climb (Col d’Azet, Cat 1, 8.2k at 7.3%). Eenkhoorn and Rybalkin 40 seconds down. Peloton at 9’52. Champoussin, Eenkhoorn and Firdaus most relevant on GC, a 10 minute gain would put them all just inside the top 10.
Wibisono dropped with 33k to ride for the peloton. Indosat will need Firdaus to stay out front as their teams lead was just 2’53 to start the day.
Hayter is feeling good and with 4k to climb he picks up the pace and only Champoussin can stay with him.
3k to climb and Champoussin has to give in. Sony could be finishing the race with another big day.
5k to climb for the peloton and Godoy attacks, Geoghegan Hart goes with him. This might be a smarter attack than yesterday. Before the attack Mas had closed the gap to 8’03. Now Carlsberg taking over. Lopez Nolasco’s effort to rejoin is over and he is more than 4 minutes down.
Hayter is 1’14 up as he tops the climb. He has a 12k descent and a 10k climb to the finish. But the peloton has closed to 6’45 chasing the attack.
With 18 seconds to the two attackers Latour puts in a dig with Areruya on his wheel.
Those two bridge up to the two earlier attacker as Lopez fails to shut them down.
It falls to Aranburu to track them down.
Up front Champoussin took 12 points on the climb. He needs to win the stage to win the KOM jersey (assuming Schlegel doesn’t score). Cedevita may owe Sony a thank you after this. But with the peloton at 6’03 behind Hayter, and Gazelle (Peters), chasing the break could still be caught.
The peloton loses ground to the solo rider on the downhill and hit the last climb with a deficit of 6’49. Latour immediately attacks followed by Areruya, Godoy and Aular. Up front Champoussin is holding Hayter at 1’01.
Gregaard, Giannoutsos, Agrotis and Geoghegan Hart join the attack. Behind Aranburu doing the chasing. Carlsberg playing both angles. Dombrowski right at the back of the Red Jersey group, that doesn’t look good for Gazelle.
Schlegel joins the group but can’t hold the wheels and Areruya and Latour get a small gap. Agrotis works to close it while Aranburu almost has the Red Jersey group back to the rest. Dombrowski is the 2nd to last man in that long line behind. Up front Champoussin has closed to 44 seconds behind Hayter, they still have 5.8k to climb. Red Jersey at 5’19, the GC attackers are a little closer. Looks like it is all playing into Herklotz’ hands.
Godoy brings the other attackers back to the other two as Agrotis cracks. The gap to the Red Jersey group is 37 seconds as Lopez takes over the chasing. Hayter’s lead is down to 29 seconds.
As the attack group gets to the 5k banner the lead is out to 57 seconds. Herkotz on the front for the Red Jersey group but he isn’t worried about the gaps here. Dombrowski is worried, he only had 1’03, on Latour to start the day. Although the French rider has been doing all the work in the attack group so this will be a test of his strength. Firdaus is just ahead so that could help him.
3.3k to climb and Champoussin catches Hayter. They have 2’40 on the Latour group who have caught the remaining breakaway riders. The Red Jersey group now at 2’08 from the Latour group with nobody to chase. Dombrowski has two riders with him but isn’t clear if they can up the pace without dropping their leader. His gap to Areruya was 2’37 to start the day, the podium at risk. Wellens, Carthy and Valter the other top 10 riders losing ground here. Wellens also has teammates but he doesn’t look strong either.
Firdaus immediately goes to work for Latour and brings the gap down to the leaders down to 2’01 and up versus the chasers to 2’56. 3k for this group. Firdaus looking good for the White Jersey with Plapp in the Red Jersey group.
After a brief respite Latour takes over again and with 2k to climb it is almost over for the break. Only Areruya and Godoy still with him. Then a small gap to Aular and the rest. Meanwhile the gap to the Red Jersey group almost 4 minutes, Herklotz still leading but not going hard.
Finally, Herklotz decides he needs to move. Only Valter can stay with him. Carthy next strongest. Up front Gregaard has cracked so he isn’t gaining ground any more. Panic stations for Gazelle and Fastned as they try and organize a chase for their aging leaders.
1k banner for the leaders, the breakaway guys staying with them. They have 15 seconds on Aular and Giannoutsos. 1k left and the stage, KOM jersey, teams jersey and White jersey all could be in play. Although Firdaus and Plapp both struggling now which means it will likely be a huge White Jersey win for the Indonesian as he is further up the road. Gazelle is organized and the gap from Areruya to Dombrowski is 3’10. That needs to come down to 2’37 to keep the American on the podium. Plus, Areruya could be getting a time bonus.
Areruya can see the finish and the rest don’t seem to have anything left. Dombrowsk hasi closed within 2’45 of Areruya.
Areruya gets the kind of stage win you would expect. His 2nd of the race. The site of his clearly beaten rivals behind him would add to the satisfaction.
Latour rolls across in 2nd, 24 seconds down. He gave up his reputation as an attacker this race and replaced it with some real diesel performances. He will get 2nd in GC as reward for his aggression today. A great race for him.
Godoy is 3rd, 32 seconds down we will see if the bonus seconds help in the GC. Champoussin gets 4th. 2nd in the KOM competition will be his most concrete benefit from the race. Hayter is 5th, still a performance to be proud of him for him. A good day for two of the teams in the relegation battle.
Aular proves to the silent assassin once again, you rarely mention him but he is usually where he needs to be. 6th today. Giannoutsos 7th, a good day for him, he gets 2 KOM points which is enough for sole possession of 3rd in that competition.
Herklotz looks stylish finishing in 8th, he enjoyed a relaxing day watching the GC action among the humans in the race.
Geoghegan Hart with a better day today, he is 9th and Valter with a solid ride for 10th. He also limits his losses to Giannoutsos to just enough to maintain his GC position. Behind Carthy catches Gregaard and takes 11th. The Dane holds off Mamykin for 12th.
Leemreize takes 14th giving Sony two in the top 15.
Wellens loses 2’51 in 15th and a tired looking Dombrowski is 16th, 3’10 down. Dombrowski drops too 4th, one stage to many for him. Maybe his team should have chased earlier but he didn’t have a lot left. Better news for Wellens as he only drops one place to Aular but holds off Godoy. He would have taken GC 6th before the race.
There are no other changes in the top 10 as Cathy and Gregaard end up in the same places they started, just by different routes. Champoussin does gain 8 places up to 15th.
Firdaus easily beats Plapp to take the White Jersey. A great stage win from one break and a disastrous bonk from another for the Australian. Worse news for Indosat on the Teams Jersey as they lose over 5 minutes to Carlsberg and the jersey changes hands. Gazelle’s efforts move them up to 3rd.
Kragh Andersen barely survives the time cut and is the Lanterne Rouge, but he can win the points jersey with first or second tomorrow.
Vuelta a Espana 
