Back to good weather! That’s definitely good news for the riders ahead of this 172 kilometers long stage on the 6th day of Volta a Portugal. It’s a hilly stage, where Sanchez
must use the opportunity to come closer to Pellizotti
in the overall standing. They’re both mentioned as favourites for today’s stage win, together with Castano
Today’s stage has a brutal start, going straight into a climb. It takes a while before we get the first attacks, but 1.8 kilometers away from the top, Dieteren
attacks. He’s followed by Orozco & Baez Martin
Dieteren
leads them over the top, with a 50 seconds gap back to the peloton.
Venchi
keeps the breakaway within reach on the early kilometers, and Knees Le Bon
decide to try their luck with 145 kilometers left. They’re one minute behind the breakaway as they start their attack.
They join the 4 riders up front 3 kilometers later, with a gap of 1’40 down to the peloton.
Venchi
continues not letting the breakaway get too much rope, and Novak
uses the opportunity with 138 kilometers left.
After some seconds of thinking, WWE decides this is the move to play, and Veilleux & Gottfried
join Novak.
Aker wants another rider up the road, and Hirschlein
attacks with 131 kilometers to go, the breakaway is 2’30 ahead of the peloton, with the trio that recently attacked being one minute behind the breakaway.
Cuapio
also decides he wants to join the fun, and attacks with 128 kilometers remaining. Another Akerrider tries to join him, but Haedo
can’t follow Cuapio’s attack on the hill, and has to settle 20 seconds behind, together with team mate Hirschlein.
Veilleux & Gottfried Novak
join the breakaway with 126 kilometers left. Their gap back to the peloton is 3 minutes, with Cuapio
1’30 behind, while the duo from Aker is another 40 seconds behind Cuapio.
6 kilometers from the top of the 2nd climb of today, Cuapio
also joins up front, giving us 10 riders 4 minutes ahead of the peloton.
Dieteren
is the only one interested in the mountain points today it seems, and he takes the maximum points on the 2nd climb aswell, bringing him to 12 points in total.
Novak
immediately starts to help stretching the gap back to the peloton, and he’s rewarded, winning the first intermediate sprint. And they’ve built a healthy gap back to the peloton, with 105 kilometers left, their lead is 6 minutes.
Haedo & Hirschlein
struggle between the breakaway and the peloton, they’re currently 1’45 behind the breakaway, 4’15 ahead of the peloton.
With Novak
joining the breakaway, we suddenly have a fight for the mountain points. He wins the 3rd climb and the 6 points ahead of Dieteren
And finally, after about 40 kilometers of chasing, the Akerduo of Hirschlein & Haedo
makes it to the breakaway. We now have 12 riders almost 8 minutes in front of the peloton. To be precise their advantage is 7’45.
With 72 kilometers to go, Cerne is working for their leader Sanchez
They control the breakaway very well, they’ve cut the gap to 5’45.
No interest is shown for the sprint points on offer with 59 kilometers left, and Le Bon
rolls over first.
As the peloton takes on the flat leading to the penultimate climb, an important team mate for Eastman punctures. It’s Jeannesson
who’s unlucky, and he’ll need to burn energy if he’s going to make it back to the chasing peloton.
Though, Jeannesson isn’t the only one with problems. 15th overall Casar
crashes, luckily he’s quickly back on his bike, but he’s immediately 2 minutes behind the peloton.
Knees
leads the breakaway onto today’s penultimate climb. The breakaway has started to turn the tables, as they’re able to hold a lead of 3’30 with 28 kilometers left.
Several teams contributes back in the bunch as they’re starting to climb, but they’ll need a fast climb to take back time on the breakaway. WWE leads the process of clawing back time on the early slopes.
Novak
is back on the winning track, as he takes the maximum 10 moutain points on offer on the penultimate climb. Orozco
follows just behind.
And indeed the peloton climbed fast! It’s down to only 19 riders, with Krasnoperov
missing out due to bad positioning. He’s the only rider from the top 10 missing. The peloton flew up the climb, now being 1’20 behind the breakaway.
The breakaway except of 4 riders is caught with 18 kilometers. The 4 riders trying to hold on are Gottfried Novak Cuapio Orozco
They roll through the last intermediate sprint with 16 kilometers left, only leading the peloton with 40 seconds. Gottfried
gets the honour of taking 6 points.
The final climb will be a tough one. It starts with 11 kilometers to go, and the peloton has the break in sight as the different helpers try to position their leaders in the best possible position.
And here we see why Cerne has been working all day long! Sanchez
pulls the trigger 10 kilometers away from the finishing line. No one is immediately able to respond.
Sicard Paulinho Pellizotti Eastman
all try to follow, but they actually struggle to make a gap back to the chasing peloton, led by Pirelli
Everyone, but Sanchez
are caught with 9 kilometers left, and Sanchez starts to ride his own pace. He clearly looks to put up a fight to Pellizotti’s
yellow jersey today!
Paulinho
is really on fire here on home soil, and he tries another attack with 8 kilometers left. Pellizotti
is once again in pursuit.
Paulinho
is really at his best here, as he almost catches Sanchez
with 5800 meters left. A group of 17 riders, led by Pellizotti
desperately chases some meters behind.
Pellizotti
does what he did yesterday, he simply rides away from the front of the group! Castano
attacks to bridge the gap with 5.5 kilometers left, leaving Larsson Sicard Eastman Pires
to chase.
With 4 kilometers left, Pellizotti Castano
catches Paulinho
They’ve still got Sanchez
20 seconds ahead, and they put in another attack to try to catch him.
Sicard
does a great chase, and he pulls back Pellizotti Castano Paulinho
with 2700 meters to go of the stage.
But it’s Sanchez
who’s storming to an outstanding victory today! With 2000 meters left, his gap has grown to 40 seconds. Will he be able to wrestle the yellow jersey of Pellizotti’s shoulders?
Sanchez
goes under the 1 kilometer banner, taking one the flat run in to the finishing line. He has extended his lead with a single second, meaning he leads with 41 seconds!
Pellizotti
starts the sprint immediately behind, he can’t afford Sanchez a bigger gap!
Sanchez
wins! A brilliant climb by him, and he’s definitely back in the mix for the yellow jersey, which looks to be a fight between Sanchez and Pellizotti.
Pellizotti
takes second place on the stage, about 40 seconds behind his closest rival, while Paulinho
gets a popular third on home soil.
Castano
leads the other overall contenders over the line, and he’s closely followed by Sicard Pires Sørensen Eastman Larsson
A group of 8, led by Navarro
comes next, Richardson
is the best placed overall rider here, sitting 8th before the stage.
It was clearly not Krasnoperov’s
day today, as he comes home 3 minutes behind stage winner Sanchez.
