Today’s stage is back onto the completely flat stages designed for the sprinters. There is hardly a bump on this 209km route through Ohio, and the only challenge will come from that very long distance. The favourites, unsurprisingly, are guys like Serebriakov and Greipel, both of whom will continue their big fight for the green jersey today.
Clearly no one is too keen on the break today, as we ride the first 57km to the first sprint point without anyone putting in an attack. Every team has brought a sprinter to this race so they are interested in keeping it all together, but you would like that teams like CSC or Emu Export would be interested in breaking away.
So we get to the first sprint point as one big bunch. Greipel is well placed near the front and he leaps out and makes a move. Serebriakov is blocked in by his teammates and struggles to get past.
And Greipel holds his lead to the line, ahead of Kip and then Manan takes third place. This reduces Greipel’s gap in the green jersey competition to only 1 point!
And finally, after 86km of racing and with 123km to go we get an attack. And who else could it be other than Thomas Ziegler? No one else goes with him and so this will be Ziegler’s third solo break of this week of racing.
Ziegler goes through the second sprint point of the day 27” ahead of the bunch. They are really looking to sprint this out behind him.
Serebriakov picks up second place ahead of Greipel, meaning that the gap in the green jersey competition is now at 3 points. You get the feeling that this is going to be fought right to the end of the race. Even without big breaks these guys are making the racing exciting every day.
And at our third sprint point, Ziegler has extended his lead to 3’19”. There is a tough three way battle for the second place at the sprint between Serebriakov, Kip and Greipel. And it is Serebriakov who takes it, while Kip edges Greipel out for third place. The gap is now out to 7 points between the two big men, though Kip is determined to show that he isn’t out of it.
Ziegler’s gap gets out to a maximum of 6’15” before the teams start to reel him in. He reaches the final sprint point, with 56km left, with the gap at 4’39”.
And the same 3 men sprint it out here and once again Serebriakov takes 2nd place. Behind him, taking the third place points is Kip, who beats Greipel by less than a wheel length. This means that Serebriakov is leading the green jersey competition with 110 points ahead of Greipel on 99, but with a mass sprint likely at the end of the day, that could easily change.
Unsurprisingly the three teams really working hard to reduce Ziegler’s gap are WWE, Hollister and Proximus. With 18km to go it is down to 1 minute between them.
And with 13km to go it is Hacecky who makes the catch.
And with 7km to go Proximus are all over the front. This is a nice change from the Hollister / WWE battles we have had thus far this week. Kip has been sprinting well today, so this could be a good move from the purple-clad team.
And with 5km to go the train is fully set up. The order is:
Kopp Uuguunbayar Kip Greipel Serebriakov Manan De Fauw Jorgensen Feillu Teruel
And with 2500 metres to go, Kopp comes off the front of the peloton and allows Uuguunbayar to start his lead-out.
And the lead-out is immensely fast. Kip has a few wheel lengths of a gap to Greipel with 1600 metres to the line, and he launches!
With 900 to go Kip starts to fade as Serebriakov and Greipel come up!
Greipel comes past and is holding off Serebriakov. But Manan is coming up fast!
And with 200 metres to the line they are all square!
Who will take it?!
Anuar Manan takes his second stage victory in this first week of the Tour of America!
Serebriakov is 2nd, just beating out Greipel. Feillu takes 4th place and De Fauw takes another 5th place. Sicard is once again in the top ten on a sprint stage with 6th, finishing ahead of 7th place Teruel. Kessiakoff, Viviani and Jorgensen round out the top ten. Kip can only manage a disappointing 11th.
There are, unsurprisingly, no changes in the jerseys. It is worth noting that Serebriakov now leads the green jersey by 15 points. Manan moves up to third place in that competition on the back of his two stage wins, but he has lacked the consistency of the other two men.
Stage Results:
1
Anuar Manan
Meiji - Fuji
5h04'30
2
Aleksandr Serebriakov
Hollister
s.t.
3
André Greipel
Team WWE
s.t.
4
Romain Feillu
Focused Cycling
s.t.
5
Dimitri De Fauw
Emu Export
s.t.
6
Romain Sicard
Focused Cycling
s.t.
7
Eloy Teruel
Team CSC-Orbea
s.t.
8
Fredrik Kessiakoff
Team WWE
s.t.
9
Elia Viviani
Cerne
s.t.
10
Jonas Aaen Jørgensen
Aker Solutions - Bergans
s.t.
11
Ismaël Kip
Proximus - Trek
s.t.
12
Kevin Seeldraeyers
Emu Export
s.t.
13
Robert Kiserlovski
Hollister
s.t.
14
Junya Sano
Meiji - Fuji
s.t.
15
Pedro Nicácio
Cerne
s.t.
16
Alex Kirsch
Focused Cycling
s.t.
17
Amets Txurruka
Team WWE
s.t.
18
David Kopp
Proximus - Trek
s.t.
19
Fumiyuki Beppu
Meiji - Fuji
s.t.
20
Khayabkhyrvaa Uugunbayar
Proximus - Trek
s.t.
Spoiler
21 Ho-Ting Kwok Meiji - Fuji s.t.
22 Mauricio Soler Team CSC-Orbea s.t.
23 Jonathan Castroviejo Aker Solutions - Bergans s.t.
24 Zakkari Dempster Hollister s.t.
25 Jairo Agudelo Aker Solutions - Bergans s.t.
26 Daniel Navarro Emu Export s.t.
27 Yonathan Monsalve Hollister s.t.
28 Igor Antón Team CSC-Orbea s.t.
29 Andrew Talansky Team CSC-Orbea s.t.
30 Ivan Seledkov Emu Export s.t.
31 Damian Martínez Hollister s.t.
32 Toms Skujins Focused Cycling s.t.
33 Julián Becerra Team WWE s.t.
34 Brice Feillu Focused Cycling s.t.
35 Cornelius Van Ooijen Emu Export s.t.
36 André Vital Cerne s.t.
37 Johan Le Bon Aker Solutions - Bergans s.t.
38 Tom Scully Meiji - Fuji s.t.
39 Florian Morizot Focused Cycling s.t.
40 Richard Ochoa Quintero Hollister s.t.
41 Nelson Oliveira Cerne s.t.
42 Amaro Antunes Cerne s.t.
43 Wilmer Vasquez Aker Solutions - Bergans s.t.
44 Jon Ander Insausti Cerne s.t.
45 Chen Shikai Meiji - Fuji s.t.
46 Leif Hoste Team WWE s.t.
47 Sylwester Szmyd Hollister s.t.
48 Kenny Elissonde Focused Cycling s.t.
49 Brad Armstrong Team CSC-Orbea s.t.
50 Ole Hirschlein Aker Solutions - Bergans s.t.
51 Rafael Reis Cerne s.t.
52 Vojtech Hacecký Proximus - Trek s.t.
53 Muhammet Eyüp Karagobek Emu Export s.t.
54 Yoshimitsu Hiratsuka Meiji - Fuji s.t.
55 Emilien Viennet Aker Solutions - Bergans s.t.
56 Shy Twing Team A s.t.
57 Juliano Polito Team WWE s.t.
58 Lars Tommersen Proximus - Trek s.t.
59 Joren Claes Proximus - Trek s.t.
60 Shadrack Sackville Team A s.t.
61 Serafin José Blanco Team CSC-Orbea s.t.
62 Davronjan Shatskikh Proximus - Trek + 1'40
63 Justo Mayo Team WWE s.t.
64 Thomas Ziegler Emu Export + 2'35
General Classification:
1
Robert Kiserlovski
Hollister
31h56'47
2
Sylwester Szmyd
Hollister
+ 8
3
Richard Ochoa Quintero
Hollister
+ 1'25
4
Romain Sicard
Focused Cycling
+ 3'08
5
Mauricio Soler
Team CSC-Orbea
+ 3'51
6
Igor Antón
Team CSC-Orbea
+ 3'59
7
Fredrik Kessiakoff
Team WWE
+ 4'10
8
Damian Martínez
Hollister
+ 4'41
9
Kenny Elissonde
Focused Cycling
+ 4'51
10
Daniel Navarro
Emu Export
+ 4'55
11
Pedro Nicácio
Cerne
+ 4'56
12
Junya Sano
Meiji - Fuji
+ 5'00
13
Amets Txurruka
Team WWE
+ 5'27
14
Brice Feillu
Focused Cycling
+ 5'37
15
Florian Morizot
Focused Cycling
s.t.
16
André Vital
Cerne
+ 7'37
17
Alex Kirsch
Focused Cycling
+ 7'47
18
Toms Skujins
Focused Cycling
+ 7'49
19
Kevin Seeldraeyers
Emu Export
+ 8'06
20
Ivan Seledkov
Emu Export
+ 8'17
Spoiler
21 Jairo Agudelo Aker Solutions - Bergans + 8'37
22 Johan Le Bon Aker Solutions - Bergans + 9'40
23 Ole Hirschlein Aker Solutions - Bergans + 11'33
24 Muhammet Eyüp Karagobek Emu Export + 11'59
25 Amaro Antunes Cerne + 13'54
26 Rafael Reis Cerne + 15'37
27 Jonathan Castroviejo Aker Solutions - Bergans + 16'08
28 Wilmer Vasquez Aker Solutions - Bergans s.t.
29 Justo Mayo Team WWE + 16'25
30 Andrew Talansky Team CSC-Orbea + 16'39
31 Nelson Oliveira Cerne + 16'49
32 David Kopp Proximus - Trek + 17'04
33 Romain Feillu Focused Cycling + 17'06
34 Julián Becerra Team WWE + 17'54
35 Zakkari Dempster Hollister + 21'01
36 Leif Hoste Team WWE + 21'02
37 Brad Armstrong Team CSC-Orbea + 21'04
38 Chen Shikai Meiji - Fuji + 21'08
39 Yoshimitsu Hiratsuka Meiji - Fuji s.t.
40 André Greipel Team WWE + 21'56
41 Elia Viviani Cerne + 23'01
42 Aleksandr Serebriakov Hollister + 23'31
43 Cornelius Van Ooijen Emu Export + 23'35
44 Yonathan Monsalve Hollister + 24'10
45 Thomas Ziegler Emu Export + 25'54
46 Eloy Teruel Team CSC-Orbea + 28'53
47 Tom Scully Meiji - Fuji + 28'56
48 Fumiyuki Beppu Meiji - Fuji + 31'12
49 Davronjan Shatskikh Proximus - Trek + 33'58
50 Anuar Manan Meiji - Fuji + 34'28
51 Vojtech Hacecký Proximus - Trek + 34'54
52 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Aker Solutions - Bergans + 35'15
53 Dimitri De Fauw Emu Export + 35'29
54 Emilien Viennet Aker Solutions - Bergans + 35'32
55 Ho-Ting Kwok Meiji - Fuji + 37'36
56 Khayabkhyrvaa Uugunbayar Proximus - Trek + 38'14
57 Ismaël Kip Proximus - Trek + 38'58
58 Jon Ander Insausti Cerne + 40'31
59 Joren Claes Proximus - Trek + 41'01
60 Lars Tommersen Proximus - Trek + 45'14
61 Juliano Polito Team WWE + 45'21
62 Serafin José Blanco Team CSC-Orbea + 51'15
