Welcome to China for this tough circuit that will surely favour the hilly men. We repeat the 24km circuit 11 times which should slowly soften up the peleton and force it down to the real tough men. The iconic section where we go through a gap in the Great Wall is pretty much the top of the climbing and it is followed by a very fast descent to the tight finish area which is lumpy too.
On the very first climb we saw three riders move clear of the peleton, Mai (Wikipedia), Ardila Cano (Cafe de Columbia) and Van Goolan (Festina).
Three riders make an early move
These three could not get very far as they came down the descent the currently active peleton caught them. Things remained active for the next 30 or so kilometers and it was only on the third ascent of this climb up to the walls that we established our break of the the day. Ten men were in this move:
Sesteli (Lafarge), Scholz (Petronas), Duenas Navarro (Domina Vacanze), Fouquet (Sony), Hulsmans (Warner Brothers), Mourey (Festina), Brizuela (Lipton), Machado (Cafe du Columbia), Rabou (Jack Wolfskin) and Medvedev (Vesuvio).
10 man break approach walls section on third ascent
Medvedev was the only rider not working for this breakaway and by the top of the fourth ascent they had a nice four minute lead. Back in the peleton the control of this gap was left to Damiano Cunego's Gazzeta team.
Read all about it Gazzeta lead the peleton!
The break was allowed quite a lot of breathing room for a classic and by the sixth ascent they had just over six minutes at the top. This encouraged a couple more riders to make a move on the seventh drag up to the Great Wall. These riders were Kiserlowski (Starbucks), Mehr - Wenige (Auber) and Di Maggio (Lipton).
Three riders try to bridge now
By the top of this seventh out of 11 climb up to the wall the lead 10 had 2.45 on the three chasers and now just 3.45 on the picking up speed peleton.
With the increase in speed though the favourites would look to come to the front and this caused some crashes taking down amongst others Markus Fothen (Pearl) and J Rodriguez (Philips). Some riders dropped back to help these two but their race was effectively over.
Crashes take out Fothen and Rodriguez from the chance of glory
This happened on the descent on the seventh climb, on the eighth the chasing three began to split up as it was obvious that Kiserlowski was on the best form. The Croat who we have seen a number of times on a early attack bridged to the front group and wasted no time in increasing the pace of this group.
Kiserlowski at the head of the race by top of ascent 8
At this point (the top of the eighth ascent) the lead break of now 11 had a minute on Mehr-Wenige and Di Maggio, three minutes on a slight lethargic peleton and nearly five minutes on the Fothen/Rodriguez group.
Things had become stretched in the peleton and they were no doubt taking a breather before the third to last (and ninth) climb up to the wall. Kiserlowski kept up his relentless pace up front and started to drop the breakaway in clumps.
Kiserlowski pulls the break apart
He solod over the top, but behind the pace had been really upped by the Gazzeta led peleton and by the bottom of the descent they had swallowed all ahead of them apart from Kiserlowski.
Gazzeta swallow everyone up
Penultimate climb then and the Starbucks rider only has a minute, you feel his effort today mirrors that of his teams struggle in the protour brave but going to fall short.
Starbucks man only has a minute as things behind are about to explode
Kiserlowski is reeled in on the tenth climb and having worked hard to close this all down Gazzeta now launch their leader Cunego who puts in a speculative dig.
Cunego launches near the top of climb ten
This move is marked by four other riders Trofimov (Sony), Boessan Hagan (B + O), Sinkewitz + Boom (Auber). An impressive effort by Auber to get two men up there who have had an excellent season.
Front group of five forms
Once again though the descent allows others behind to get organised and a large group of 34 riders are left for our final circuit.
peleton has been whittled down to 34 riders
Here is a list of the riders left:
Plaza, Van den Hugenhaben, Van Huffel (Jack Wolfskin)
Grivko, Keinath and Boessan Hagan (B + O)
Sanchez G, Morobito, Ulissi (Festina)
De La Fuente, Rogers and Cunego (Gazzeta)
Boom and Sinkewitz (Auber)
Periero and Gomez M (Cafe de Columbia)
Iglinski and Schleck (Vesuvio)
Soler and LL Sanchez (Energie Diesal)
Anza and Trofimov (Sony)
Danielson and Ghisalberti (Lipton)
Weening and Bakelandts (Pearl)
Eibegger and Vanendert (Domina Vacanze)
Caruso (Lafarge)
Van Garderan ( Wikipedia)
Carrera (Petrona)
Casar (Carmuese)
Kolesnikov (Warner Brothers
Di Luca (Nespresso)
Philips and Starbucks are the teams missing here with Kiserlowski early attack and Joaqiun Rodriguez's fall the biggest reasons.
The first of these riders to attack on the final uphill is Bakelandts of Pearl.
Bakelandts goes at the bottom
This move is not marked but it is Keinath of B + O who chases it back for Boessen Hagen. The Norwegian youngster would favour a small group sprint one would think, he has both Grivko and Keinath to keep things together.
Keinath pulls things together
However under the bridge section we see recent Siene-Marne-Siene winner Tejay Van Garderen go on the offensive and get a gap.
What an impressive young rider this American is
However unlike at the previous mentioned event that finished in Paris, the Wikipedia man is caught. Now though there is less men for company as the front group has halved to now just 17 men left to fight for glory as we crest the last of the climbing section.
17 men left at the top - time for the descent
Ullisi + Sanchez G (Festina), Anza + Trofimov (Sony), Sinkewitz (Auber), Schleck (Vesuvio), Cunego (Gazzeta), Van Garderan (Wikipedia), Caruso (Lafarge), Baklandts (Pearl), Plaza (JW), LL Sanchez (Energie Diesal), Ghiselberti (Lipton), Vanendert (Domina Vacanze), Boessen Hagen (B + O), Di Luca (Nespress) and Carrara (Petronas).
On the descent we see that six riders have lost concentration and a gap appears between them and the front 11.
Van Garderan, Anza, Ulissi, Vanendert, Carrara and Di Luca drop off
However they do get back as the road flattens out, this could well effect their chances of getting a good sprint. The tension builds as we get to 2500m to go and noone has really made a move. It is Sammy Sanchez who perhaps is reluctantly leading them out.
Sanchez G leads them in to the tight finale.
He is leading here from Baklandts, Caruso, Schleck and Cunego. Tejay Van Garderan has ghosted up the side and has done well to get back up to the front, Ulissi has pretty much followed him up there.
The sprinting starts and Bakelandts swings to the left and Caruso to the right of Sammy Sanchez slight boxing Van Garderan. Frank Schleck meanwhile looks to squeeze between Sanchez G and Bakelandts.
1300m left to go
Frank Schleck steams through as the road thins and kicks up a bit with Bakelandts and Caruso passing the fading Sammy Sanchez who has not timed his move well. Cunego is hardly speeding but is also now looking to come through.
600m to go - Schleck is away
The man in blue in sixth place is Patrick Sinkewitz and he seems to be finishing very fast indeed. The German cleverly darts up the inside of the final bend as Caruso fades. However his move is coming too late to deny Schleck who is powering away.
Frank has a couple of bike lengths here
This years La Doyenne winner has made a couple of podiums recently and now has his second classic win of the season as he takes this uphill sprint.
Schleck wins
In the battle for the podium places Bakelandts lands the second place over the fast finishing Sinkewitz. Cunego, whose Gazzeta team worked so hard today cannot quite make a podium with a 4th place. Festina double up in the top 10 once more as Ulissi takes 5th with Sanchez G back in 9th.
The other top ten places are taken by Hagen (6th), Caruso (7th), Plaza (8th) and Anza (10th).
Bakelandts wins by a short head over Sinkewitz for second place
