The last stage of the Tour de Beauce is a punchy circuit race. There are 11 laps of about 11.6km. Each lap’s major obstacle is a 1.4km climb that averages around 6%, with a maximum close to 9%. Following this the top of the hill is fairly lumpy, and then it descends back to the flat for the run in to the finish line.
The first man to try something today is Capecchi
He is joined by a few other early attackers. They are: Tankink Stallaert Vesely Fothen Novak
Tankink will be disappointed that no mountain points are on offer today, as he still sits second in that competition.
Back in the peleton the few days of hard racing is clearly taking its toll on some of the riders, as Veloso falls comes off his bike. He doesn’t look good and can’t get back into the pack, but hovers a couple of minutes behind.
Through the first sprint Tankink leads ahead of Capecchi and Fothen, though none of them are really interested in the time bonuses. The gap is still only at one minute so a number of other riders bridge up: Abdallah Durbridge Gelabert Locatelli
The gap is still only 1’23” after 2 laps, and a few more riders sense a chance to bridge up to our leaders. They are: Oliphant Bennet Bazajev
They get up and our lead group now contains 13 riders, none of them a threat on GC and indeed none of them are what you would call a puncheur, so the gap shouldn’t get too out of control.
As always with these circuit races, there are going to be crashes. The next person to come off his bike is 9th place over all Maisto.
Thankfully for him his teammate Girardi drops back to help and succeeds in bringing him back to the peleton. Veloso manages to come back up with them.
The lead group goes through the second sprint point, with 80.5km to go. Capecchi leads over ahead of Bazajev and then Tankink. Their lead is 3’25” and Puma seem to have this well under control.
After the climb, on the lumpy part on top of the hill, a real puncheur attacks away. It is Sambris, who is looking to give Hollister another strong result from this race.
After 5 laps the gaps look like this:
3’27”
1’19”
4’46”
Leaders
--->
Sambris
--->
Pack
Sambris joins up with the leaders with 4 laps to go. That’s roughly 48km. The gap is at 4’16”. Vesely leads the break over, ahead of Bennett and then Capecchi.
Sambris sits on the back for a moment, but once the break hits the climb, he gets on the front and puts the hammer down. Gelabert is in a bit of trouble, but he rejoins just over the top.
A tough day for Ferrari as yet another one of their riders falls off. This time it is Osella, who sits 23rd on GC. He can’t get back in, and can only join up with some riders who had been dropped on an earlier lap.
With 3 laps to go the break’s leap is still at 3’44”. Rapha and Bianchi are doing a lot of work on the front, with Claeys and Appleby particularly present on the front.
By the time the race goes through the second lap the pace has really been lifted and a lot of teams are helping out now. The gap has dropped quickly to 2’48”, with about 24km to go. The potential for a stage victory is there for a lot of teams.
The pace up front is clearly on too as Gelabert is finally dropped.
On top of the hill, with 18.5km to go, the first of the big favourites show themself, as Monfort puts in a big attack, followed by Proni. The gap is still at 2’24”, so they have their work cut out for them but this is doable.
Emu work hard for Navarro and pull them both back in. This has clearly set the mark, however, as Roche, Pineau and Hesjedal now launch an attack. This time it is Red Bull who chase it down pretty quickly.
Though no one gets away the gap as the race starts the final lap is down to 1’48”. Gelabert has been caught by the peleton.
This time, when the race is on the major climb for the final time, Monfort puts in another dig.
Pineau sets off after him.
The next two to go are Martinez and Roche. A lot of the stage and race favourites are showing themselves.
Roche goes past Martinez and links with up with Monfort and Pineau. This is really dangerous group.
Speaking of dangerous groups, another one has gone behind them. It is Hesjedal, Froome, De Greef and Busche.
Hansen works hard for Red Bull on the front and he manages to pull back De Greef and Martinez. Meanwhile the other 6 up the front have grouped together and have about 30” on the peleton. The pace is incredibly high.
Not wanting to take any chances with his yellow jersey, race leader Pierre Rolland attacks. There are just over 3km remaining.
Up front, Tankink leads out the sprint. Sambris is just behind him, with Capecchi on his wheel.
Hesjedal has a gap on the rest of the attackers, just as Rolland pulls them back.
Up front, meanwhile, the sprint is well and truly on. Tankink is holding his sprint well, but Sambris has come around and Capecchi comes up quickly on the inside.
And Capecchi takes a stage win for Ferrari, on a day where they have struggled greatly!
Bazajev is 2nd and Novak gets 3rd place. The other breakaway riders scramble across the line, as the peleton is charging along behind them. Roche manages to pull back Hesjedal’s advantage and leads the bunch home, almost catching the dropped Stallaert on the line.
This group contains all of the top riders on GC and so Rolland wins is a surprising, though not undeserved winner of the Tour de Beauce! He also takes home the points jersey. Capecchi scored 39 points in that competition today, which moves him into 2nd in that competition. Selander’s great Tour de Beaucenets him the mountain jersey. The team competition unsurprisingly goes to Red Bull, who brought a really strong team here. Bobridge will be pleased to hold onto the young rider jersey.
