Atlantius wrote:
Good job by Egoi, but I had expected/hoped more of Verboven and Ion. Happy to get points though, especially since I had forgotten the cobbles-addition when I did the planning

And nice job on getting a good report together so fast!

Shonak wrote:

@kubys: See you at Criterium du Dauphine I guess?

Ollfardh wrote:



You're definitely not the only one. It was actually tempting to make some changes while forwarding the startlist to Shonak

Today, there are some more climbs. No summit finish this time, but a nice hilly stage, just 171km. On the other hand, ‘nice’ might not be the right choice of words, given that there’s barely any flat road today, it’s just up and down. It will be interesting to see what the 3 GC contenders do today. Contador will probably just try to hang on, considering that this isn’t his favourite type of stage. But we might see Purito taking over the leader’s jersey, who knows?
Around 16km from the end, there’s the Daone, which is a 3km hill averaging an 8% gradient. It’s followed by a downhill, and the last kilometre is slightly uphill, but not enough to make a difference. It will be interesting to see if punchers with a good kick, like Gatto & Duque, survive. Or, if no pace is made at all on the Daone, maybe even Modolo, but I doubt that.
Also, I’d say this could be a good stage for a breakaway. Some GC differences have been made, and the GC favourites might want to save energy for tomorrow’s summit finish.
It’s probably going to be the most open stage, today.

Favourites

J.Rodriguez(KAT)


V.Nibali(AST)
E.Battaglin(BAR)


D.Ulissi(LAM)
R.Nocentini(ALM)
B.Intxausti(MOV)
*Breakaway Win*

The Race
166km –

And there are the first attacks. Velasco(CJR) & Huzarski(TNE) attack. I must say that it’s really nice to see how often Netapp is attacking this race.
162km –
Just when it looked like those 2 would be the only escapees of the day, Anacona(LAM), Verdugo(EUS) & Sella(AND) attack. All of them are fairly decent climbers.
160km –
The peloton is fine with it, it seems, they all get some space.
154km -

The merged, and this group of 5 will certainly be the breakaway of the day, already having gathered 3 and a half minutes. Verdugo is the best placed rider in the GC, 39th on 8’24.
123km –

The breakaway nearly reached the KoM. The KoM could be important, given that Anacona(12pts) & Sella(8pts) are both having some KoM points. They’re in last wheel here, though.
122km –


Huzarski takes the KoM points. Verdugo got second, and Velasco could just hang on to third. That means, probably no new KoM leader today. Anacona doesn’t seem to feel well today, because he couldn’t even stay close. The gap is at 5’30.
119km –
Anacona can’t even make it back to the other 4, already being a minute behind.
92km -

Nobody cares about the intermediate sprint, which is won by Huzarski, just because he was leading the break at that moment. The break is 7 minutes ahead now, so things are looking pretty well. Anacona is just 3 minutes ahead of the pack now, and I’m sure he’ll end up in the pack soon-ish.
80km -
Reaching the long downhill, the lead is 6 minutes. Surprisingly, Anacona is coming closer now, being ‘just’ 2’30 behind.
64km –

A fairly long climb lays ahead. Anacona is just a minute behind the break, and therefore has them in sight(= LOGIC). The peloton is at 4’50.
BMC & Androni are leading the chase, for some odd reason.
58km –
It’s a miracle, Anacona managed to bridge the gap after all. Those 5 are 4 minutes ahead now. Astana finally starts helping.
53km –

Some crazy things are happening at the back of the peloton now. Arblaster(COF) crashed, and just a few meters further, Ochoa(AND) crashed as well. I wonder how that could happen. Nobody else involved, though. Gap’s just at 2’55 now, by the way. No breakaway win, it seems.
30km –

Finally, things are getting exciting. Barguil(ARG) & Taaramäe(COF) are attacking, around 10km before the Daone starts. Notable is that the breakaway is still 2’50 away, so there’s a good chance for them after all. A downhill can do miracles.
21km –
The climb is about to start, and the early escapees are still 2’40 in front. Barguil & Taaramäe are roughly on 2 minutes.
19km –

More attacks: Duarte(COL) & Nerz(BMC) try a late attack, quickly getting closer to the duo in front of them. Meanwhile, the Astana train looks strong, but there’s still a 2’20 gap.
18km -

Interesting. Just 800m later, Evans(BMC), Atapuma(COL) & Pellizotti(AND) attack. All of them have a rider in front. Purito follows as well!
A few secs later, Nibali(AST), König(TNE once again) & Intxausti(MOV) try to get away as well.
17km –

Nearly every one of them try another attack, while Contador(SAX) & Pozzovivo(ALM) try something as well, and Sella & Verdugo(just 1km from the KoM now) managed to gain a small gap on the fellow escapees as well. The pace in the peloton dropped, and this is the current situation.
Leaders: Sella & Verdugo
’13: Huzarski, Velasco & Anacona
1’30: Duarte, Barguil
1’50: Taaramäe, Evans, Nerz
2’20: Pellizotti, Nibali, Rodriguez, König, Atapuma, Intxausti
3’00: Contador, Pozzovivo
3’30: Peloton

16km -

Verdugo managed to win the 3. KoM, bringing him on 16 points. The breakaway got back together, and they’ll probably decide who wins today, having nearly 2 minutes left now, with just a downhill and a few flat kilometres ahead.
14km -

The favourites group now reached the summit. The 11 riders that were already far ahead of the peloton, now got back together. Contador is just about to reach them. The peloton lost a lot of time on them, and behind Contador(in the right sequence) are: Pozzovivo, Izagirre, Basso & Agnoli. Both Bardet & Peraud are in the peloton, so they’ll lose their 4th & 6th place in the GC.
The gap is still 1’40, so the break has this.
12km -

Anacona attacks. He’s probably not the fastest man of the break(those are probably Sella & Huzarski). What an amazing win it would be from him though, given his comeback halfway the stage. The peloton is rapidly getting closer though, just 1 minute behind of the group of 4.
Meanwhile, Contador made it to the favourite group, and it’s unlikely that anyone will make it beside maybe Pozzovivo(50 secs behind).
10km –

Under the 10km banner, Anacona still has 15 seconds on the group of 4, and 1’20 on the favourites group, who aren’t exactly coming a lot closer.
8km –

Split in the favourites group! Evans attacks, and Nibali, Pellizotti, König, Intxausti, Purito and (on a small distance) Contador counter-attack. The rest can’t follow. The group of 4 is on 16 seconds, and group Nibali is at 1’20 from Anacona.
5km –

Under the 5km banner, Anacona has 20 seconds. With the Nibali group still being over a minute behind, Anacona might take a beautiful victory here. The group with Barguil, Duarte etc. is barely making pace, and is a minute behind Nibali. Pozzovivo & Basso are inside as well. The peloton might even pick this group up.
4km -

Verdugo is giving all he’s got, and is halfway bridging the gap to Anacona. Nibali is on the attack as well, but only gets a minor gap.
3km -
Verdugo reached Anacona, and Nibali now has a 20 secs gap, since they’re just looking at each other in group Purito.
2km –

Anacona tries to shake Verdugo off, and the other 3 are getting really close. Nibali is at a minute, and group Purito is at 1’40.
1200m -

Anacona has a small gap over Verdugo, but how much energy does he have left? The 3 at the back won’t be able to catch those 2, for sure.
700m –

Anacona is going to do this! Wow, just wow!
At 2km to go, Intxausti got a small gap over group Purito, but Purito himself is trying to close the gap. They won’t reach Nibbles though, who’s 500m further up the road.
Finish -

HE DOES IT! Fantastic victory for Winner Anacona! Don’t forget that we thought it was over for him, 100km from the line!
Verdugo hangs on to second, despite Sella having a lot of speed. The latter has to settle for third. Velasco outsprints Huzarski for fourth.

Nibali, completely tired, crosses the line in 6th, roughly 1 minute behind , but what counts: half a minute in front of Purito, who makes 7th.
The peloton finishes at 3’30. AG2R had a bad day. While they were 4-5-6 in the GC before today, they’re now 8-9-10, plus they lost the team classification. Nibali now leads both the points classification and the KoM classification(shared with Velasco and Santaromita).

Results

1	Winner Anacona	Lampre - Merida	4h30'56
2	Gorka Verdugo	Euskaltel - Euskadi	s.t.
3	Emanuele Sella	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	s.t.
4	Iván Velasco	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	s.t.
5	Bartosz Huzarski	Team NetApp - Endura	s.t.
6	Vincenzo Nibali	Astana Pro Team	+ 1'10
7	Joaquím Rodríguez	Katusha Team	+ 1'35
8	Franco Pellizotti	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	s.t.
9	Beñat Intxausti	Movistar Team	s.t.
10	Leopold König	Team NetApp - Endura	s.t.

GC

1	Vincenzo Nibali	Astana Pro Team	13h24'51
2	Joaquím Rodríguez	Katusha Team	+ 31
3	Alberto Contador	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	+ 55
4	Leopold König	Team NetApp - Endura	+ 4'15
5	Franco Pellizotti	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	+ 4'18
6	Cadel Evans	BMC Racing Team	+ 4'31
7	Beñat Intxausti	Movistar Team	+ 4'43
8	Jean-Christophe Peraud	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 5'18
9	Domenico Pozzovivo	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 5'26
10	Romain Bardet	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 5'36

Points

1	Vincenzo Nibali	Astana Pro Team	10	45
2	Joaquím Rodríguez	Katusha Team	9	38
3	Ion Izagirre	Euskaltel - Euskadi	3	28
4	Emanuele Sella	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	20	26
5	Davide Mucelli	Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox	0	26
6	Beñat Intxausti	Movistar Team	7	25
7	Winner Anacona	Lampre - Merida	25	25
8	Alberto Contador	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	4	20
9	Gorka Verdugo	Euskaltel - Euskadi	20	20
10	Bartosz Huzarski	Team NetApp - Endura	18	18

KoM

1	Vincenzo Nibali	Astana Pro Team	0	16
2	Gorka Verdugo	Euskaltel - Euskadi	16	16
3	Ivan Santaromita	BMC Racing Team	0	16
4	Winner Anacona	Lampre - Merida	2	14
5	Emanuele Sella	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	6	14
6	Joaquím Rodríguez	Katusha Team	0	12
7	Alberto Contador	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	0	10
8	Esteban Chaves	Colombia	0	10
9	Iván Velasco	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	10	10
10	Davide Mucelli	Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox	0	10

mvhoogdalem wrote:
Oh Basso, consider yourself sold next season... what a waste of space.

Shonak wrote:


Dibs.

brewers90 wrote:


Whoa, wait a second. Wouldn't you prefer Evans?