The 2014 Kenya Mountain Classic features 2 times up the huge finishing climb. What rider will have the strength to win such a tough race?
The day started, like all races, at the start line.All predictions aside, any rider could win from this neutral position. But only a few are thought to have the ability.
From the time the white flag flew riders were scampering off the front, everyone wanting to test their legs and see if they couldn't get a gap before the first climb.
Within 5 km this led to a group of 7 at the front of the race.
But the Venchi led peloton were not very happy with it, so they immediately stared pacing on the front.
And so the first breakaway was caught fairly easily, still before the climb.
And just as they hit the slopes, Facci launched a counter move!
He jumped out to a 15 second gap with no determined effort currently being made by the peloton to catch him.
Sensing the lull in pace, Kebede and Chevrier hopped the gap and put some charge into the front group's efforts.
And so a 3 man group was formed at the front. In it:
Facci Kebede Chevrier
And the pack, led by Bacardi, seemed content with this arrangement as they crested the top of the penultimate (albeit extremely far away from the final) climb of the day.
And so it stayed as neither party wanted to spark up the race in the downhill and flat portions. 20 km to go and the break had a gap of 1:30, with Quickstep taking the reigns in the pace line.
As the gradient went up, the breakaway's gap pulled down, eventually to under a minute. Kebede decided enough as enough and accelerated off the front, while the others tried to grab his wheel.
As the chase ensued, Jaguar upped the tempo. The others did not expect such a move from the team of an outsider, but Berhane was certainly well placed.
The breakaway regrouped, but now only held a 20 second lead with 15 km to go.
David De la Fuente took the front and set a tempo as the break slipped towards them. No one dared to moved out of their positions.
Panic mode started in the peloton, riders draining all for their energy simply to keep up with the speed. Among them, Jaroslav Popovych, who was caught out some 20 riders with others who were splintering off the back. Meanwhile, the breakaway riders were finally caught by the peloton. They had given it all they had.
And it is that time with 13.3 km to go that Florentino Marquez decided to attack! As his team support diminished he went it alone!
And none other than Intxausti responded. De la Fuente, who was still at the front to mark the move, sat on his wheel. He had inadvertently gapped his team leader, Abal.
With all the action going on in the front of the group, a lot was going on in the back as well, with several outsiders falling off the back. The first being Nerz, who sat out of position and a long way to the front.
But he wasn't the only one. Ji and Maillet found themselves behind a major split with still 12 km to go!
Intxausti sits up, proving his move as a faint. Time to regroup for most teams. But not for Marquez, who had a 45 second gap!
And with 11 km to go it's a nightmare for Berthane. After Jaguar did a ton of work on the bottom of the climb he is caught behind and has to accelerate to try to bridge the gap!
This split causes the first major selection out front, and missing is Popovych. he had bad placing early and the attrition ahead did not do well for him.
Marquez still held 35 seconds, thought it looks like much less with the steep slopes of the mountain. But De la Fuente still hadn't cracked on the peloton and continued to keep it from going out beyond recovery.
3 more contenders dwindled off the back with 10.5 km to go. Bennett, Osella (Who had outlasted his team leader), and Sarmiento could not longer keep up, while Berhane tried to make his way back up.
That left a group of 10 making up the "peloton" behind Marquez.
Uran Intxausti Abal De la Fuente Duarte Kiserlovski Panayotov Marzano Nazaret Samwel
All the main contenders not previously mentioned to be dropped were there. However, the predicted cards had changed. Despite his team's strength, Kiserlovski was isolated. In fact most contenders were, besides the Bacardi duo and of course, De la Fuente, who to this point easily had the performance of the day.
With 9 km to go Rigoberto Uran attacked! Panayotov and Duarte try to follow but when the prior pulled off the latter was stuck and the gap went!
De la Fuente finally popped and Abal made a move off the front!
With 5 of the arguably strongest the rest of the group splintered apart. Intxausti had been caught out by the flurry set off by his teammate. Those in the chase were:
Intxausti Kiserlovski Marzano Nazaret Samwel
In front, Marquez had finally been caught. Uran went straight to the front to pace. Was this his decisive move?
Intxausti sprung right back through as riders cracked around him. No need to wait with the weaker riders I suppose, even if his teammate was out front.
As the pace eased up with a lack of strong men, the chase group swelled, bring quite a few riders back into the fold. 8 km to go.
Kiserlovski Samwel Marzano Nazaret De la Fuente Bennett Osella Berhane Sarmiento
In the 3rd group a collection of dropped outsiders had come together.
Agudelo Maillet Ji Briceno Devolder Dyachenko
Some of them expected to be higher at this point, but they were also dropped early, so they had done well to get themselves even in this position.
And with 6 km to go it has all come back together up front. Uran and Intxausti are relaying with each other while the others sit on. Here's the group.
Uran Intxausti Abal Duarte Marquez Panayotov
With 5 km to go it's almost gone for the rest behind. 1'03'' was the gap, and despite Berhane giving it everything he had, it didn't seem likely for them to come back against the pace for Bacardi ahead. Nobody else seemed willing to relay if it could be potentially pointless.
Only 3 km left and Panayotov, who had been holding on for dear life, finally had enough and cracked off the back of the front group. And then there were 5!
A final pull from Uran and Inxtausti sprung out of the wheel with an attack! Who could answer! Only 2 km left!
Intxausti quickly pulled a gap of about 20 seconds! Duarte goes to the front with Abal on his wheel. Uran and Marquez trail behind!
But Abal couldn't hold the wheel! And Duarte surged away from the group! But could he catch Intxausti!?
30 second gap under 1 km to go! Intxausti was mustering everything he had!
Meanwhile, Berhane and Samwel had emerged from the chase group and were almost to 1 km to go. No doubt they will be happy with where they end up, even if the Kenyan wanted to win in front of his home crowd.
500 meters to go! Duarte had Intxausti in his sights and was gaining time!
Abal was pulling away in the "peloton," as Uran and Marquez cracked, obviously suffering from their early antics.
200 meters to go for the leader! It looks like he had the gap!
He made the decisive move at the perfect moment! Beñat Intxausti wins the 2014 Kenya Mountain Classic for Bacardi Limited!
2nd for Fabio Duarte is a fantastic result for a rider with little support! He just couldn't close the gap farther than 19'' in the end.
Abal snags 3rd. A great result, although I'm sure he will wish he could follow Duarte in the finale.
Uran holds on for 4th. Great race for him and his team of course, and his placing will only add to it. Marquez rounds out the top 5. He went from 13 km out and still holds on to the front group. Fantastic result for him with no one helping him on the final climb.
Panayotov really impressed today. Considered no more than an outsider, he stepped up big time and showed he could play around with the big boys. Wonderful 6th place for him.
Samwel takes 7th ahead of Berhane. He put in a solid ride but just couldn't match the accelerations of the group after the strong men started attacking. Still, it's always great to place well in your home country, and the fans are happy.
With Berhane, it was more ups and downs. Jaguar paced early and looked strong, then he fell behind, missed a split and had to play catch-up for the rest of the stage. In the end 8th is a nice result for a rider of his caliber, but it was obvious he was feeling tremendous today. Who knows what could have happened if he hadn't missed the initial split.
More groups trail in behind in 2s and 3s, this one including remnants of the once 10 man lead pack. Kiserlovski, Marzano and Nazaret all had been in the original selection but couldn't follow the accelerations.
Nazaret nudges Kiserlovski to the line for 9th, while Marzano just loses out on a top 10. All of them, especially Kiserlovski, hoped to do better today. but they don't go home empty handed at least.
The last notable group is surprisingly led to the finish by Jianhua Ji. He missed a very early split and had to make up a lot of ground, but he salvages something for Meji with a 12th place finish. He beats Maillet, Bennett and Sarmiento to the line, placing in that order. Nice day for Boeing-Bulgaria Bicycling, who place well with 2 riders, getting 6th and 15th.
And finally Popovych crosses the line. He definitely will and should be disappointed about his ride today. It just never pieced together, and he finishes 23rd, behind his teammate Osella.
Tremendous day of racing today in Kenya! Congrats to all who did well!
