Twenty seconds. That is all that separates Tenorio and Madrazo. Each has 1 mountain stage win apiece, while Tenorio won the time trial yesterday. There is also a battle for 3rd as while Schreurs may have almost a 2 minute advantage on Eastman, then more to Danacik, Costagli and Guldhammer - all 4 are better climbers. Theyll do their best to crack Schreurs, as well as battling amongst themselves for the Top 5 places.
There is also Summerhill and Dowsett, who face a battle to hold onto their Top 10 spots from Brandt, Betancourt, Copeland, Ryabkin and Mat Amin - with Ryabkin currently the leading free agent in GC, of the 4 in the Top 20 (Boonratanathanakorn and Gilanipoor being the other 2 not yet mentioned).
The points jersey looks set to go to Tenorio now, who took it from Kennaugh in the TT, while the KoM may also go to one of Madrazo or Tenorio. Anguilet may lead on 59, but with Madrazo on 50, Tenorio on 45, and 40 points for the winner of the last climb - the Gabonese rider is very much fighting an uphill battle.
It doesnt help Anguilet that he is not winning the first KoM, or even near to do so. 18th overall Mach has gone with the break and duly torn it about. Cohen and Lund his closest companions, but he attacks away from them to take the points. Craddock, Sutterlin, Debusschere and Nystrand are 1'30 behind Mach over the top, with the peloton at 3 minutes
Recognising the need for points somehow, Anguilet does then go on the attack
He joins with the aforementioned group of 4 chasers, but the pack seem to be chasing him down. 25km later and yes, he has been caught - Santander and Tenorio maybe hoping to take a clean sweep of all jerseys
In the break, Cohen had caught up again with Mach - but the American again attacks before the next KoM, and this time its a gap that Cohen will be unable to bridge
Guldhammer, Costagli, Danacik and Dowsett meanwhile decide to waste energy and battle for 4th at the KoM. They do so again at the next KoM, after Mach and then Cohen have passed through - but they catch Lund in doing so - so Costagli takes 3rd here
Costagli and Danacik then spend the next 15km with just a 20 or so second gap on the peloton - wasting more energy? At least it is only descent, and Costagli is able to pick up 2 bonus seconds at the final intermediate sprint.
Onto the climb, then 24km to go. Mach leads by only 90 seconds and Cohen is caught as surprisingly, Schreurs attacks. He should surely be on the defensive of his 3rd in GC, rather than attacking? He doesnt really have much to gain, being 7 minutes down on the Spaniards
Summerhill tries to follow, but cant, as Milka execute a stupid stupid move. Kwiatkowski is dropped and for some unfathomable reason the team all drops back for the Pole, ranked 108th in GC. This will cost Boonratanathanakorn heavily, and having quietly impressed in his battles for a Top 20 spot, it is all being thrown away. The Thai will end up dropping all way down to 45th in GC, so pointless!
Schreurs catches Mach. A 1 minute lead with 16km to go - is he just being left to dangle?
The peloton is down to 57, Kennaugh is dropped and look set to lose his 16th overall and fall out of the Top 20 on the final stage. He does only have 58 mountain afterall, so its been a good effort. And attack! Danacik!
Costagli counters, while Philips rider Schiewer also tries - but fails to. Tenorio takes a look at the German, as he shoots past
Game on now as Madrazo and Eastman respond
Leading the way, Tenorio takes a look at another Philips rider, Schreurs this time - while also checking the progress of Madrazo.
And Madrazo is with Tenorio - but goes no further. Costagli is with them aswell
Time for the mind games then, and this reduction in pace allows first Guldhammer, and then Betancourt, Danacik, Copeland, Brandt, Eastman and Mach to catch up
Mat Amin, Shapira, Tenzon, Munro and Scarponi from the free agents team are at 40 seconds, with Anguilet, Gilannipoor and Curfs now moving away from the peloton also. Those last 3 are brought back again by a couple of Quiksilver riders, while Shapira leads the other 5 up to the front group - nobody is willing to take it on
Except maybe Tenorio, here he goes, does Madrazo have an answer again this time?
Well, does he? As Tenorio rides up the road, Eastman and Costagli give it a go, but not Madrazo
Schreurs is dropped, falling behind all of Danacik, Guldhammer, Brandt, Betancourt, Copeland and the two men trying to go after Tenorio. Oh and Madrazo, who finally makes his move now. Having kindly given Tenorio a 1 minute's headstart
And all he can do is reduce that gap to 40 seconds!
Tenorio is really going strong, quickly increasing that to 50 seconds - and he has just 4km to go
Betancourt is a further 50 seconds behind Madrazo
Brandt and Guldhammer then attack - as Schreurs fights hard, and drags himself back to Copeland, Eastman, Danacik and Costagli
Tenorio is riding away with this comfortably now. Gap up to 1 minute, 1km to go
He wins the stage! He wins the Tour de l'Avenir!
2nd for Madrazo then, losing 68 seconds on Tenorio, he just wasnt up for it today
A great ride for Betancourt gives the Colombian 3rd at 2'36 to Tenorio. He will be moving back into the Top 10 after falling out through the time trial
Guldhammer finishes 4th, 3'12 down. He look set to move back above Costagli but has he gained enough to first get ahead of Danacik for 5th, and then Eastman for 4th? Time will tell
A great ride by Tyler Brandt for 5th on the stage - and by 8 seconds, he does enough to hold of Betancourt for 8th overall.
Costagli takes 6th, leading in Danacik, Copeland, Eastman and Schreurs - the Dutchman having done very well to finish on the same time as this group and secure 3rd overall. Eastman is safe in 4th overall, but Danacik has lost an agonising 5 seconds too many and will lose 5th overall to Guldhammer
Copeland's efforts will take him back up ot 11th overall, but his mysterious hill stage loss denies the Wikipedia rider the opportunity for a Top 10 overall
Coming in 11th on the stage is Abolfazl Gilannipoor - one of the stars of the U23 season - finishing with Red Bull's Casey Munro, who shines today after 9 stages of 'meh'. Its a great result for Gilanipoor though, who rises to 14th overall - and the honour of best free agent in the race!
Speaking of free agents, the delegated attacker was San Marino rider Giaconomo Scarponi - who suffered with a crash or 2 earlier in the race.
A 7 man group finishes next at 6 minutes down. Led in by Tieri, Tenzon and Curfs, we have Dowsett in here, not a great fan of the mountains, who drops to 12th overall, Anguilet who drops down to 5th in the KoM classification, and Danny Summerhill, former race leader, who just holds on to his Top 10 placing.
Jelle Wallays finishes a couple of groups later at 6'53, alongside his two German free agent teammates. He limited his losses to only fall from 11th to 13th in GC.
Kennaugh ended up losing 10 minutes falling to 28th, while Boonratanathanakorn and the Milka lot lost 12 minutes.
The last of the race finishes at 25 minutes, the entire YouTube Twitter team having volunteered to pace the Grupetto
And time for the podiums. Plenty of celebrations for Justo Tenorio
Angel Madrazo gets the consolation prize of the KoM jersey
And Mercedes-Benz take the team prize from Quiksilver-Kraft
Thus ends the Tour de l'Avenir for another year. Eastman, Brandt, Betancourt, and Gilannipoor are all eligible to return next year - no doubt alongside some other new challengers, perhaps one of the 700+ new riders to the database who are born in 1990 at the earliest!
That's not it for the U23 season though, the majority of riders here will be back for the World Championships
