Today’s stage runs through Indiana ending on the iconic Indianapolis circuit. The riders will do 4 circuits of the 6.3km long course, which is really technical and thus should prove a challenge. There are 4 print points on offer today and... well... nothing much else really. The course is mercifully only 144km long and of course almost everyone expects this to come down to a sprint finish.
Because of this expectation no one feels like an early break and so we ride the first 31km as a single bunch to the first sprint point. Here is Greipel taking the points ahead of Kip and Serebriakov.
Even though we haven’t had a lot of breaks in this race, the sprinters have at least kept it interesting by utilising these intermediate points.
There is still no break by the time we get to our second sprint point. Here there is a real surprise as Teruel wins the intermediate points ahead of Serebriakov and then Kip. Teruel is doing more than Maksimov managed and is clearly taking the opportunity that has been given to him.
The third sprint point sits 72km in and there is still no break by that point. This time it is Kip who is best at the sprint, and Serebriakov is once again in second place. Greipel is third this time. Despite some poor results in recent sprints Kip is still determined to have a real crack at the points jersey.
With 68km to go we finally have someone willing to put in an attack. Who else would it be except Thomas Ziegler? He has made a real name for himself throughout this race with these late solo attacks.
The gap goes out to a maximum time of 4’12” and Ziegler obviously reaches the final intermediate sprint point on his own. Behind him there is a sprint for the remaining points and it is Greipel taking it ahead of Kip. The gap stands at 3’16”
This means that Greipel has reduced the gap in the points competition by 2 points today, but he has had trouble finding the same speed in the mass sprint finishes so it will be interesting to see how he goes there at the end of the day.
Ziegler leads onto the finishing course 3’11” ahead of the bunch. There are 4 laps of 6.3km ahead of him.
As the second lap starts the gap is down to 1’56”. Ziegler looks across and can see Hollister pushing the pace to run him down.
And as the third lap starts the gap is at 1’37”. There are about 12.6km remaining so this is going to be touch and go, but he might do it!
Most of the way through this winding course there is a crash in the peloton! And it is a big one mid way through the peloton.
The riders going down are:
Nicacio, Oliveira, Reis Soler, Armstrong, Blanco R. Feillu, Skujins, Elissonde Vasquez, Jorgensen, Viennet Beppu, Hiratsuka, Shikai Uuguunbayar, Shatskikh, Claes Txurruka, Mayo Seeldraeyers
That means we have some really well placed riders here. Soler is in 5th, Elissonde is 9th, Nicacio is 11th and Txurruka is in 13th place. Not only that but dual stage winner Feillu is here and so is Aker’s sprinter Jorgensen.
Ziegler looks across and sees the greatly reduced peloton, as well as the fact that his gap has grown out a bit. With 5km remaining he is 1’47” ahead and things look great for him.
The pace is still high, however, and Hollister do not drop it at all. Some riders drop back to the second peloton to help out, such as Becerra, Polito and Insausti. They will hope to minimise the time loss today as much as possible.
There are points on offer today and with Feillu caught up in the crash it is a great chance to extend the lead over him, even though Ziegler is assured the win now.
With 2200m to the line the train is as follows: Martinez Serebriakov Manan Kip De Fauw Viviani Castroviejo
The question that everyone is asking is – where is Greipel? He is sitting behind the line somewhere, but with few helpers around him, he seems a bit lost.
But Thomas Ziegler doesn’t care about any of this. He savours his big moment, with his constant aggressive riding being rewarded!
Serebriakov comes to the front under the kite. The tight turns ruin any chance of a good lead-out. This is his big chance to really secure the points jersey over Greipel.
But it is Manan who comfortably wins the field sprint for 2nd place, ahead of Kip. Serebriakov can only manage 4th!
But what is this? In 5th place it is Greipel, who came from nowhere to save his day. Tereul is 6th, Kwok is 7th, De Fauw is 8th, Viviani is 9th and Martinez takes 10th after his lead-out.
But now the second peloton of crashed riders comes in.
They have lost 1’59” on the first peloton today. Soler lost contact on the run-in and lost another 31”.
Now let’s look at how this affects the jerseys. Soler dropped out of the top five to 12th place and the other GC riders all lost a few positions. Serebriakov and Greipel both gained the exact same number of points out of today and will continue to fight it out. But not tomorrow, because tomorrow marks the start of the real GC fights, as we hit the mountains of Colorado!
