Coming to the first of 3 hilly stages in Luxembourg. It might be the easiest one as the hills aren`t that long or very steep. Can the pure puncheurs already gain time today?
7 riders in an early attempt to break away. Interesting tactic by Rothaus and Cyclevox with two riders in the group with Boom sitting in 2nd overall and Konovalovas not far behind. Surely putting pressure on the other teams.
Velits, Passeron
Coutts, Rabou
Jelloul
Haavardsholm
Barta
More riders attacked and so a group of 10 is finally formed including the 7 named riders and also Duenas, Mazur and best placed in the group Elijzen.
Behind it`s Pirelli and Tinkoff doing all the work. Ignatiev surely wants to defend his lead while Roche seems to be finally entered the season with a great 3rd in yesterdays prologue.
When the gap crossed the 2min mark two more riders decide to join. Obviously their teams haven`t been pleased without having a rider in the group.
Hopman
Astarloza
Only 3 riders fight for the first KoM points in this race.
Passeron takes it ahead of Barta and Duenas.
Very bad news for Cerne as their leader and 4th in the overall LL Sanchez falls on the wet roads.
Luckily he is able to come back immediately with the help of his team mates. But more important for them, will he be injured or can he continue on a high level after the short shock moment?
Meanwhile Veloso with the first puncture of this race. He also comes back immediately.
2nd mountain sprint and none of the point collectors on the 1st can take more points. Rabou ahead of Jelloul and Haavardsholm this time.
With 105km and 8'20 advance for the group of 12 riders also Vespa joins the pace making teams. Immediately the maximum was reached and the gap is getting smaller again.
3rd and last KoM for today. Duenas takes it ahead of Haavardsholm and Astarloza. This also means he will wear the shirt tomorrow.
The high pace in the peloton claims the first victims as a big split appeared. With 85km to go a group of 24 is falling back with Sagan and Casar being the biggest names here as both have been expected to stay longer with the best. Obviously bad positioning was the key for these two.
And it`s not looking good for them as also Cerne is working hard now. Sanchez seems to feel better again. The gap to the splitted riders is already over 2min while the breakaway is still 6min ahead with 73km to go.
With 45km Kern is the first rider with an attack. He might not be the best puncheur but the big favourites shouldn`t allow him a too big gap as he is a a decent uphill rider.
Another crash. This time in the breakaway group. Astarloza crashed very hard and this really doesn`t look good. He can continue the race but seems seriously injured as he is riding pretty slow now.
The only sprint of the day is won by Jelloul ahead of Haavardsholm and Rabou.
For some reason Tinkoff stopped the work and also Pirelli is no longer seen here. Vespa and Cerne are doing good but the pace nevertheless became slower and so the group still has a gap of 3'30 with 30km to go with Kern still 15s ahead.
With 18km to go the group starts tactical plays. Seeing that Hopman, Jelloul and Velits might be the fastest in the group other riders need to attack. Coutts, Duenas, Elijzen and Mazur try their luck.
The gap to the peloton is just 2'35 so working together for a bit longer could have been the better idea,
Surprise at the end of the peloton. Last years podium finisher Vorganov falls back.
Passeron pulled everything together again. Obviously Rothaus is trying to bring Velits in a strong position for a possible sprint finish.
And with 3km left and still 1'55 advance we will surely see a new race leader today. Hopman and Jelloul are the best sprinters in this group with Velits a bit behind.
Coutts has the unlovely job to lead out the group with Barta and Velits behind.
With 1,9km to go we see Jelloul taking a long sprint pulling Passeron, Hopman, Haavardsholm and Rabou with him. This might have been too early.
Passeron accelerates out of his back and Hopman still in a great position. Also Velits is hanging on Haavardsholm`s wheel now.
Hopman still hasn`t done his move. Therefore Velits is coming on the left bringing Barta with him.
The riders cross the line and it looks like a 1-2 for Rothaus but what`s this? They continue to sprint.
And it takes some more meters until Velits finally celebrates his stage win.
Obviously the finish line was later than printed and the riders knew this luckily. At least most of them as Passeron lost some places and felt back on the 4th. Therefore Hopman takes the 2nd with Haavardsholm sprinting on the 3rd.
Getting 20s today Velits will overtake Elijzen and takes the overall lead.
Coutts as only rider lost contact in the end and loses 37s but still all 11 will take the first 11 spots in the new ranking
Ignatiev leads the peloton over the line 1'34 later. They can`t allow a breakaway sucess on the next stages if they want to win this race.
Vorganov loses 3'30 in the end having some room for attacks probably.
The early splitted group around Casar and Sagan even lose 5'55 today.
