On probably the toughest stage of the race, we thought it was important to get riders into the break. Padun, Reis and Bagioli all get into the days move, along with some big names, Quintana, Sosa, Mader, Adam Yates, and Zakarin.
After the 2nd categorized climb of the day, a big split is made, and all of EF, but Lopez is behind. They work hard to get back, so they can support their leader though just before the next climb. The peloton didn't feel any urgency to push on and put EF at an advantage it seems.
We're now onto the third climb of the day, and the most famous. The Motirolo and we can see the race situation on the screen. Padun is still in the lead group, with Mader, Mas and Quintana all there for Movistar. Zakarin and Caruso also still there. The peloton several bends further down the mountain are only around 25 strong, with a few stragglers from the break in no mans land between.
With 1km to the top of the Motirolo, the favourites group is even smaller. Reis has been waiting up, and will joing Evenepoel and Jungels for the final climb, with Padun still up the road too, so Deceuninck may have the best numbers heading into the final climb now. However the break is looking safe for the stage win.
Up the road, the break has started the last climb and Quintana and Zakarin attack the othrers. Padun has now dropped back to support the leaders, he wasn't strong enough to win the stage anyway.
Evenepoel tries an attack again, just like the other day, with no response initially again.
Quintana wins the stage.
Behind, Jungels wins the sprint for sixth. The rest of the break took 2nd-5th behind Quintana, and the Evenepoel attack was brought back in the final 2km. Jungels even gets a small gap to Dumoulin.
Result
1
Nairo Quintana
Movistar
+00:00
2
Ilnur Zakarin
CCC Team
+01:03
3
Damiano Caruso
Bahrain McLaren
+01:22
4
Gino Mäder
Movistar
+02:07
5
Tony Gallopin
AG2R
+02:34
Stage 17
Padun, gets into the breakaway again. This time, its much weaker and he is probably the strongest rider in the group.
The peloton let the breaks advantage get to almost 15minutes. They will settle out the stage win themselves. With 10km to go, on part of the lumpy section, Padun attacks and only Jerome Cousin can follow.
They get a gap of 45 seconds to the other breakaway riders, so Padun sits up. This causes Cousin to attack, and Padun simply sits in his wheel, heading into the last km.
And Padun plays his tactics perfectly, sprinting with ease to victory. He's starting to become quite lethal from breakaways, and puts a nice cap on Deceuninck's race, as they run out of stages to gain time on Dumoulin with Jungels, and the disappointment of Hodeg.
Results
1
Mark Padun
Deceuninck
+00:00
2
Jérôme Cousin
Total Direct Energie
+00:00
3
Moreno Moser
NIPPO
+00:27
4
Jan Barta
Mitchelton - Scott
+00:27
5
Andreas Leknessund
UAE - Emirates
+00:27
Stage 18
Sam Oomen is forced to abandon only 15km into the day, as rain causes lots of crashes. With a dangerous descent to finish the stage, maybe a strong descender can go clear today?
1km to the top of the climb and the break is in sight. Dumoulin kind of looks in trouble here, so Jungels sends Evenepoel to the front to try and put some pressure on, but its not enough.
The break takes the stage again, and the leaders all come home together after a rather easy pace down the descent.
Tamijo wrote:
Remco an important asset here, clearly to win U25 always aggressive. Not the only young rider setting his mark, great stage win my Mark.
Thanks! He's been really strong. I considered him being leader early on in the race, as it didn't look like either were going to hit their fitness peaks, and he was getting a lot of +4 or +5 days. Padun was lucky it was a flat day, so he just attacked on the hard section and the weak breakaway companions really stood no chance. Probably one of the weakest breakaway days of the race which was lucky for us.
Todays stage was actually rather anti-climatic as the 3 big climbs mostly immobilized the leaders, leaving Quintana to attack from the breakaway and grab the stage victory, nearly 3 minutes ahead of the GC men.
Lopez takes the sprint for 2nd, with the major riders all getting the same time.
Results
1
Nairo Quintana
Movistar
+00:00
2
Miguel Angel Lopez
EF Education First
+03:22
3
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Team INEOS
+03:22
4
Tom Dumoulin
Jumbo - Visma
+03:22
5
Ilnur Zakarin
CCC Team
+03:22
Stage 20
Its the last day to do any big damage, and in the breakaway today, is Evenepoel, who is now 11th in the GC, after losing a lot of time the day before. He's joined by Reis, Quintana, Meintjes, Aru and Henao, as well as a few others.
As we start climbing the Col de Finestre, the tallest climb of the race, the breakaway is reduced to only the best climbers. Reis, and Evenepoel are both able to hang with them for now...
We reach the gravel section, and Evenepoel is still up there, with Quintana (in the KOM jersey), Henao and Carboni. The peloton behind is also down to 60 riders.
Near the top, Jungels tries an attack. He needs over a minute, but his podium is pretty safe at this point, so theres nothing to lose really. Padun had been helping him, but was starting to fall out of the group, so bridging ahead to Reis, who dropped out of the lead breakaway group must be his plan.
Less than 1km to the top, and it looks like Evenepoel is going to conquer the Finestre. What an amazing accomplishment, as Henao is the only one that can slightly keep up from the break. Jungels move earlier was unsuccessful, as Reis couldn't help him, and the GC group, was riding too fast, catching most of the breakaway riders too.
On the descent, Evenepoel is joined by Henao again. They have a gap of about 1:30 to the leaders group, so the stage win is looking slim for these two, but they keep riding anyway. As they start the climb, the lead group is slowing down, just slightly, as there are no teammates with energy to pace. None of the leaders look like they have much energy either.
Now on the climb up to Sestriere, Evenepoel drops Henao again. The leaders are slowly catching Evenepoel, who has been riding just as quick as them for most of the climb. But inside the last km now, and Nibali attacks!
Evenepoel holds on, for his biggest win of his career! It was an amazing day, to claim the Finestre, and then taking the stage win in Sestriere. Probably the 2nd hardest day of the race. Nibali and Formolo take small seconds on the other leaders
Zakarin brings the rest home. Jungels didnt have the legs to beat Dumoulin, but it was a great race still, as he was hardly expected to finish in the Top 10.
Results
1
Remco Evenepoel
Deceuninck
+00:00
2
Vincenzo Nibali
Trek - Segafredo
+00:15
3
Davide Formolo
Astana
+00:15
4
Ilnur Zakarin
CCC Team
+00:39
5
Tom Dumoulin
Jumbo - Visma
+00:39
Stage 21
The final stage ends in a sprint, as it usually does in Grand Tours and Philipsen, who has done well in the recent sprint stages, takes a win. Hodeg finishes 2nd, ending the race with no stage wins, a disappointment for sure.
Tamijo wrote:
great win by Remco Evenepoel, and nice you could hold on to 2nd with Jungels.
FreitasPCM wrote:
Pity that Evenepoel lost the top-10 but that was easily compensated by that win. And an overall great result with Bob Jungels too.
Thanks. The win was probably my highlight of the race. Evenepoel was lucky with a +4 day despite not hitting his fitness peak, and Jungels really wasn't strong enough to win anyway.
alexkr00 wrote:
Massive result from Jungels. And for Remco, the white is the most important, I think. Top 10 would have been a nice bonus though
Thanks! Jungels rode above my expectations. Pre race I was hoping for a Top 5, so 2nd is good, and apart from the TT, Jungels was more or less tied for strongest rider in the race.
Yeah, Mollema was quite strong here. It seemed like most top riders went to the Dauphine, so Mollema faced a weaker field, and actually gained most time on the hill stage. Not sure why, but not a big fan of Suisse and Dauphine, so didn't want to spend lots of time covering them, when the Tour is so close
cunego59 wrote:
I mean, it hurts a bit to see Emu coming so close to a big win, but if he has to lose by that margin, at least it's to one of your riders
I know the feeling. I'm sure he'll get other big wins at some point and Mollema's win helps justify his selection for the tour now, over Jungels, Evenepoel etc.
Tamijo wrote:
What a route, only one flat stage it seems.
Surely the sprinters union must be protesting outside UCI headquarters in several countries
Thanks, its the 2016 route, so there definitely are flat stages, but I suppose PCS likes to give away the hilly rating for any stage with a bit of hills, even if its not at the end. Definitely helps MVDP though
FreitasPCM wrote:
Unlikely to repeat last year’s achievement but a solid team to support an eventual top-3, 5 at least. Good luck!
Thanks. Of course, we weren't expecting to win last year either Stat wise, Mollema is probably just as strong to win a GT, with +3 MO, and still strong TT skills. But I'm going for more of a stagehunting Tour de France. We will look to win the Polka Dots and Green, and if Mollema or Lambrecht can ride a good GC too, then that is a bonus.
And an overall great result with Bob Jungels too.
