Today will be an important day in La Tropicale Amissa Bongo. It’s the 4th day of the race, and the last hilly stage of the race. Except for some bonification seconds up for grabs the upcoming days, we most likely won’t see time differences appearing after this stage. Though the question is whether this profile is tough enough to really split the peloton in pieces. Or will Brouwer, Gavazzi & Ciolek battle it out for the sprint again. Cervero should really show himself today, it should be a major disappointment if he can’t grab any stage-win here in Gabon. Today is a bit similar to yesterday, except for the road being a bit more hilly close to the end and the final hill being less steep.
Favourites:

Delfi Cervero(FDJ)


Willem Brouwer(BEL)
Gerald Ciolek(MTN)


Francesco Gavazzi(AST)
Francesco Reda(AND)
Luca Paolini(KAT)

The Stage
93km -
Lequatre(BSE) wins the sprint, ahead of Venter(MTN) & De Vreese(TSV). They just snatched it away from the peloton, where Brouwer(1 point behind Gavazzi) could really use the points.
83km – Those guys manage to stay out in front, and form today’s breakaway. Suarez(COL) is the other guy. Lequatre comfortably wins this intermediate sprint, ahead of Suarez & De Vreese.
59km -The peloton speeds up a bit, led by Belkin. It is necessary; the peloton is at 4’30 from the break.
41km –
De Vreese wins the KoM in a nice forest, ahead of Suarez & Venter. 3’40 is the gap.
37km - Venter takes his revenge, winning the sprint. Lequatre & De Vreese grab the remaining points. The gap increased to 4’10, perhaps by the combination of the KoM & Intermediate Sprint? Or?
31km –
Venter dropped from the break at the last KoM sprint, which is taken by De Vreese, followed by Suarez & Lequatre. Gap is 3’02, this might be very close! De Vreese tries to stay away after the KoM
28km – The 4 are back together. Gap is 2’40, now, with the right cooperation, they might be able to grab the win.
23km –
The peloton is getting a bit restless. A lot of attacks fail, including Bole(VAC) and Zakarin(RVL) on the screenshot.
17km – With only 17km of small hills and flat roads to go, and a lead of 2’20, we should heavily consider a breakaway win here. Now, on the hills all 4 escapees are about equal(HI 67-69), with Lequatre having the highest ACC(70) and sprint(68), but the lowest HI of the 4, while De Vreese(66SP, 69HI) can sprint a bit as well.
Also, Lequatre(1’37 GC) & Venter(1’43 GC) are a threat for the GC, while the other 2 are on 3 minutes. Will they make it?
13km – 2’10 left.
10km –
Under the 10km banner, Laurens De Vreese attacks, with 2 minutes on the break left. A breakaway victory seems assured, it’s almost certain that a CT team takes the win today
7500m – De Vreese has 25 seconds on the chasing group. Meanwhile, in the peloton, most big names try to get away, but the pace is hard, it isn’t working.
6000m – De Vreese, a beast on the flat, is still going strong. Cervero(FDJ), Belkov(RVL), Ciolek(MTN) & Brouwer(BEL) go for the attack. They get a small gap, but fall back quickly.
4500m – De Vreese still steady, but it’s 3 v 1.

1200m behind, Brouwer, Ciolek & Cervero get a gap, with Zakarin(RVL) also having a small gap behind that.
3000m –
De Vreese’s gap is getting smaller, with the tough hill still ahead. Group Lequatre is on ’18, Group Brouwer/Cervero/Ciolek is on 1’30, Zakarin&Sella are on 1’45, peloton on 2’05.
1700m –
De Vreese still having a small gap, with the 1km banner in sight. This is going to be really close! Definitely no win for Group Brouwer, they are on 1’15 still. Sella tries to get to the group, while it’s raining attacks in the peloton.
900m –
De Vreese is getting close to a win now, but he looks tired.
400m –

Will he do it?!
Finish –

Yess! He throws his arms in the air, he knows that he won! A big win for Topsport. Venter is the runner-up, Suarez third, and Lequatre, somewhat disappointing, got the last of the group.

Brouwers and Ciolek got really close to the group, in the end. Brouwer wins the sprint for fifth, Ciolek and Cervero are behind that. Sella & Reda(both AND) managed to hold a gap to the peloton as well. A small split in the peloton as well, of the GC Top 20, only Mangel(FDJ) and Chiarini(AND) lost time. Lequatre & Venter move up to 3rd & 4th in the GC, Brouwer & Gavazzi still 1 & 2.
Results

1	Laurens De Vreese	Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise	2h37'26
2	Jacobus Venter	MTN - Qhubeka	+ 18
3	Juan Pablo Suarez	Colombia	s.t.
4	Geoffroy Lequatre	Bretagne - Séché Environnement	s.t.
5	Willem Brouwer	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	+ 34
6	Gerald Ciolek	MTN - Qhubeka	+ 42
7	Delfi Cervero	FDJ.fr	s.t.
8	Emanuele Sella	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	+ 1'09
9	Francesco Reda	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	s.t.
10	Jérémie Galland	Sojasun	+ 1'27

GC

1	Willem Brouwer	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	11h50'30
2	Francesco Gavazzi	Astana Pro Team	+ 57
3	Geoffroy Lequatre	Bretagne - Séché Environnement	+ 1'05
4	Jacobus Venter	MTN - Qhubeka	s.t.
5	Paul Martens	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	+ 1'21
6	Francesco Reda	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	+ 1'40
7	Delfi Cervero	FDJ.fr	+ 1'43
8	Nicolas Edet	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	+ 1'44
9	Emanuele Sella	Androni Giocattoli - Venezuela	+ 1'50
10	Gerald Ciolek	MTN - Qhubeka	+ 1'51
11	Jarlinson Pantano	Colombia	+ 2'08
12	Sébastien Delfosse	Crelan - Euphony	+ 2'09
13	Florian Vachon	Bretagne - Séché Environnement	+ 2'20
14	Pim Ligthart	Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
15	Jérémie Galland	Sojasun	s.t.
16	Robert Vrecer	Euskaltel - Euskadi	s.t.
17	Laurens De Vreese	Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise	+ 2'32
18	Luca Paolini	Katusha Team	+ 2'36
19	Alexey Lutsenko	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
20	Andriy Grivko	Astana Pro Team	s.t.

Points

1	Willem Brouwer	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	12	65
2	Francesco Gavazzi	Astana Pro Team	5	59
3	Laurens De Vreese	Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise	31	37
4	Geoffroy Lequatre	Bretagne - Séché Environnement	30	36
5	Sébastien Delfosse	Crelan - Euphony	0	35

KoM

1	Sven Vanthourenhout	Crelan - Euphony	0	13
2	Laurens De Vreese	Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise	10	11
3	Marco Corti	Colombia	0	7
4	Jimmy Engoulvent	Sojasun	0	7
5	Maarten Wynants	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	0	6

U25 jersey: Willem Brouwers(Belkin)
Team classification: Belkin