First mountain stage our of two. It's a 4 laps crieterium with 2 climbs on the route, but only one of them gives points for the KoM jersey, the smaller one, the longer and the harder one closing down the lap. This will probably be the last day for Donald in the yellow jersey and most likely Danielson or Henao Montoya will take it.
There are 4 riders in today's breakaway but none of them is a good climber: Van Katwijk, Kunitski, Gastauer and Richeze
Richeze took the first KoM points of the day, followed by Gastauer and Kunitski
Raisin seems to be intersted in the KoM jersey as he attacked from the pack to take the last point
The escapes ended the first lap with 3 minutes advantage over the pack
Nespresso and Starbucks are the main chasers behind so both Henao Montoya and Danielson have big plans for today
The second categorised climb was won by Kunitski, with Gastauer and Richeze taking the other spots on the podium there
On the next climb Van Katwijk was dropped from the breakaway group
Behind the escapes, Brandt and Herve attacked and they are coming really fast looking forward to join the group
At the end of the climb the caught Van Katwijk so the others can't be too far away
Richeze took his win on a climb today and he is going to take the KoM jersey at the end of the day.
Herve and Brandt almost caught the front group, while Van Katwijk was again dropped off and finally caught by the pack
There were some other attacks from the pack, with Raisin again attacking
This time he got away from the pack and started the second climb of this third lap with a pretty good advantage in front of the pack
Meanwhile Herve and Brandt managed to join the breakaway group
Raisin is climbing really well and he caught the escapes before the lap ended
He was the first rider to enter the last lap of the day. Richeze was dropped from the group, while the pack doesn't look too far away
Raisin was way stronger than the others and soon only Gastauer and Kunitski were able to follow him, while Brandt, Richeze and Herve were caught back by the pack
On the downhill there were some other 3 attacks from the pack: Ochoa Quintero, Stetina and Creed
On the last climb Donald lost the contact with the pack and he doesn't seem able to come back
Stetina, Creed and Ochoa Quintero got away from the pack and they are looking to catch Raisin's group
And as soon as the flat portion arrived Stetina and Ochoa Quintero joined the group. But Creed wasn't able to keep it up with them and he got back in the pack
On a very small uphill section Stetina and Ochoa even left Raisin, Gastauera and Kunitski
This doesn't look good for Raisin as he was caught in the second group
And after a few kilometres they were caught by the pack. Definitly not good for Raisin
Ochoa Quintero won the last categorised climb of the day, with Stetina right after him
Some attacks from the pack there, including Danielson who seems to be really strong
And soon he joined the Stetina - Ochoa group
But he didn't stay for too long there and he continued the race by himself
Behind him, another attacker, Becerra, caught Stetina and Ochoa Quintero
Danielson starts the last climb of the day with 44 seconds advantage over his chasers and over the minute in front of the pack!
As soon as the pack started the climb the attacks started. The first one was made by Kiserlovski
The next ones were made by Petrov and Ratti
In the chasing group Becerra lost the contact with Ochoa and Stetina, with the American not looking good either
Soon Becerra was caught by Kiserlovski and Petrov, which means that Ochoa and Stetina aren't far either
With 2.5 kilometres left Henao Montoya finally made his attack, but it really is too late to catch Danielson now. Not the same about the American's chasers as they aren't too far
And before the last kilometre he joined the chasing group
Danielson entered the last kilometre with one minute advantage over his chasers. It's imposible for him to lose the stage win today
Henao Montoya is leading the sprint behind him
Stetina wasn't able to keep it up and he was caught by the pack, or at least what was left from it
Confortable win for Danielson and the yellow jersey as well
Henao Montoya took the second spot followed by Petrov, 54 seconds lost to Danielson. Ochoa Quintero and Kiserlovski took the next spots, losing 17 seconds in the last metres to Montoya
