This stage is probably the toughest stage in this year’s Tour of America. It travels across Colorado and takes in some brutal climbs along the way. The first major climb is Madonna Dome, which is 7km in length with an average of 7.3%. Mount Evan is the next major climb – it is the highest paved road in North America and the climb to the peak is a long 11.3km at 7.3%. The race descends down for a while and eventually arrives at Red and White Mountain – a terrible 13.8km climb with an average slope of 8.5%. If that wasn’t enough, we descend down once again before reaching the climb to Game Peak. That is only 9.5km this time but the average is a whopping 9.5%. Finally we descend the 12km to the finish where several riders will, presumably, pass out from exhaustion.
Much of this race has been devoid of breaks but not today, as our action kicks off straight away. Our first attackers are Hirschlein and Kirsch.
This is a good move from both of them as they sit 22nd and 18th respectively and are decent climbers. Seeing the potential in this move two more riders attack. They are Kopp and Antunes. Together this makes a group of four that the peloton is satisfied with.
Antunes is the only one here who has been in a break so far this race, in stage 4. He is on 16 mountain points, Kopp has 9 and Kirsch has 5. With 7 mountain primes on offer today, including 3 HC climbs and 1 Category 1, it is almost certain that one of these 4 men will wear the polka dots jersey tonight, and possibly for the rest of the race.
Speaking of mountain points, we reach our first climb for the day, the Madonna Dome. Despite being 7km long and 7.3% on average, it is actually the easiest major climb on the table. 16 mountain points await the first rider to the top, and with a maximum gradient of 17.4% at the peak, they will have earned it. There is quite a big fight between Kirsch and Antunes, and it is Antunes who accelerates past at the last moment to take the points, which puts him in the provisional mountain jersey. Hirschlein is content with third place.
Over the top of the climb the peloton splits up with a group of 19 going clear. In here are 6 Hollister riders, as well as Sicard, Anton and Kessiakoff.
Of course this isn’t acceptable and on the descent to Mount Evan there is a regrouping, and there are now 54 riders in the bunch, meaning that only a few have been dropped for good so far. It is only a matter of time though.
Cerne were riding aggressively yesterday and today appears to be no exception as Oliveira tries to get away from the bunch but it is to no avail as Dempster brings him back. Clearly Hollister want to keep only a small group out front today.
At our small category 4 bump on the way to Mount Evan it is Kirsch who takes the points this time ahead of Antunes. Hirschlein is in third. The gap stands at 3’03”.
And we arrive at Mount Evan. This is 11.3km long with an average of 7.3% and a really steep section about 2.5km to the top which maxes out at 20.8%. This is the highest paved road in North America and so going over here first will be a great thing for one of these front four riders to put in their palmares. The winner at the top gets 20 mountain points.
And Hollister are on the front straight away pushing a hard pace from the bottom. They clearly want to discourage any attacks and run down anyone willing to try. And their plan has a great effect as Martinez causes the group to reduce to 33 riders, dropping everyone else. The only climbers missing are Vital and Armstrong, who try to chase on.
But these aren’t the only people to fall off the pace. Up front Kopp is cracked by the other three and starts to fall back.
The break reach the top and this time it is Hirschlein taking the maximum points ahead of Antunes and then Kirsch. Hirschlein was clearly saving himself over the Madonna Dome to have plenty left here.
And the gaps over the top are:
1’57”
2’38”
4’35”
3 Leaders
--->
Kopp
--->
Peloton (28)
Behind the peloton, Viennet is not having a good day. He was almost the last rider on course and now he falls, just to add injury to insult.
The peloton was only 28 strong going over the top, but more riders manage to chase back on during the long, slow descent to our final two climbs. A small group of 5 including Vital and Le Bon rejoins, making it 33 men together now.
Our next category 4 bump sees Hirschlein again take the points over Antunes and Kirsch. Kopp has started to catch back up slightly and the gap to the peloton has now widened to 5’42”.
Another group of 17 rejoins the peloton, with Armstrong being the best climber here. This means that there are now 50 riders together and everyone else is quite a way back, with Mayo perhaps being the only slight surprise there. He was in the stage 9 crash and appears to be injured.
And we have another category four climb now, before we hit our two big uncategorised climbs at the end of the day. Once again the order is Hirschlein, Antunes and then Kirsch. Antunes started the day in a better position though and so now he is on 55 points with Hirschlein on 41 and Kirsch on 36.
The lead over Kopp has shrunk to 1’21” and the peloton has now stabilised the gap just over 6 minutes back.
We have a sprint point before the two climbs and Kirsch rolls over in first place here, ahead of Hirschlein and then Antunes. This sprint point is actually at the finish line, which we descend to once we come down off Game Peak. CSC lead the peloton through here with their climbers massed at the front.
The break reaches Red and White Mountain first. It is 13.8km long with an 8.5% average. As they look up from the base of the climb it seems to just go straight up and last forever, but they can only see half of it from the base. The maximum gradient here is 22.4%, which edges out Mount Evan’s 20.8% maximum. Most of the steep gradients are concentrated in the first half of the climb, with the second half flattens out a bit to ‘only’ 6% or so.
And on the front of the peloton it is second overall Ochoa Quintero. Some people have been describing this team as Hollister Postal, but Kiserlovski has insulted people who have done that. Kopp is caught by the super domestique and the break is in sight.
The peloton is reduced to 26 men as the road starts to flatten out with 7.4km left to climb. Surprisingly, even with these narrow roads, there aren’t any of the big names missing.
This does not cause the pace to drop at all, however, and with 2.6km to go the summit the breakaway riders are caught by Szmyd! In the space of 8.5km of climbing the peloton has shut down the 6 minute advantage. The break were in sight of the top, which just makes this even more heartbreaking for them.
And over the top Szmyd continues to lead with Ochoa Quintero in second and Kiserlovski in third. These two domestiques in particular have been picking up a lot of mountain points in this race from all the chasing that they have been doing and so they are both threatening to take the jersey. We will have to see how the next climb shapes up.
There are 37.3km to race as we hit the plateau which follows the peak and there is the first big news about the GC contenders as we hear that Sano is 57” back in a group with Monsalve and Elissonde!
But things change pretty quickly as Anton puts in an acceleration on a small bump shortly before the descent!
He is unfortunate that Hollister are controlling this well and so Szmyd is able to run this down. The sudden acceleration does have other ramifications, however, as several riders are dropped. The riders dropped are: Feillu Nicacio Hirschlein
Nicacio has been very unfortunate so far this race but looked to be in a good way yesterday with his constant attacks and second place on the stage. Let’s hope that he can recover.
But they can’t regain contact on the descent and so we get to our final climb – Game Peak. It is 9.5km in length but it is the 9.5% average which is really going to destroy the legs here. And the maximum gradient is an unbelievable 24.3%. You really get the feeling that each climb is just trying to slightly outdo the one before it. It just winds back and forth up this climb, constantly changing gradient. It is like a North American Alpe d’Huez.
It is Anton who leads us onto this climb. He has already shown that he is looking to do something big today.
And straight away a group of riders is unhitched. They are: Seeldraeyers Vasquez Agudelo Txurruka Navarro Kirsch
Aker are really struggling in this race and will really have to hope for a breakaway victory at some point to salvage this Tour. It is also unfortunate that Navarro has been dropped. After his win yesterday he looked like a real chance for a top 5 result.
Now another three riders are dropped: Armstrong Becerra Soler
Soler has been up and down through this entire race, but he has put his leader in a position where he can really have a shot at victory.
And have a shot he does! Anton launches an attack as the road ramps up to 24%. There are still many kilometres of climbing ahead of them!
And no one can hold his wheel! Morizot and Martinez are dropped from the peloton.
Behind the favourite’s group, meanwhile, Navarro, Agudelo and Nicacio have all got some sort of second wind and are starting to pass dropped riders. With the pace this high it is a tall ask to get back into the lead group but they are determined to at least limit their losses.
Kiserlovski is now pacing the shattered remnants of the lead group to try to catch Anton. Szmyd is dropped. Ochoa Quintero sits in the race leader’s wheel, while Sicard and Kessiakoff are both struggling behind him. These are clearly the best climbers of this race.
And as the road flattens to 7% Kiserlovski drops the other three who were following him and sets off alone in pursuit of the leader.
With 3.3km of climbing still ahead of them, Kiserlovski drags himself up to Anton’s wheel. The Spaniard’s gambit appears to have been countered.
And it is Sicard who puts in the effort to bring the others back up, giving us a lead group of 5 men once again.
Anton is back on the front pacing this up. He has shown that he is the best climber here today and everyone knows that if he wants to win this jersey he is going to have to attack to get it. With 1km remaining he lifts the pace as the road once again goes over 10%. This cracks everyone except the race leader.
And this time it is Kessiakoff who brings them back. He has been the quiet performer of the five riders up here and this is the first real piece of work that we have seen from him. Over the top the five lead riders are all together and they begin the descent to the finish line.
The clock starts for those riders who are behind them and the first rider across the top is a real surprise – Vasquez! He is 1’34” back.
And it is another surprise with Navarro behind him and then a small group of riders slightly further back. Here are the gaps and names:
1’34”
26”
58”
Anton
--->
Vasquez
--->
Navarro
--->
Szmyd
Kiserlovski
Nicacio
Quintero
Agudelo
Sicard
Morizot
Kessiakoff
The descent is incredibly technical, with lots of sharp turns and steep gradients, and that is perfect news for the man who is the best descender in the front group - Kessiakoff. He manages to pull out a gap thanks to a couple of hairpin turns in a row. With 1.5km remaining he has about 20” on the others. Will that be enough?
Yes it will! The Swedish rider gives WWE the win that they have been hoping for all Tour.
He registers an 11 second gap to the guys behind him. Kiserlovski is 2nd, Ochoa Quintero is 3rd. Anton is 4th and Sicard finishes off this lead group with 5th. Now we wait to see the gaps to the others today.
Vasquez comes in 1’06” behind today’s winner for 6th place. He will certainly improve his GC position.
Navarro comes in 1’29” after Kessiakoff, easily enough to have secured a place well inside the top ten.
Nicacio recovered nicely today and only finishes 2’40” back in 8th place. Szmyd and Agudelo are just behind him rounding out the top ten.
Sano comes in 14th, 7’11” down. Txurruka is 7’26” down and he comes in with a group that also contains Soler and Feillu. Miraculously, even though the injured Mayo comes in 50’49” down, no one is eliminated today.
So after that absolutely epic stage, which will go down as one of the hardest stages of the Continental season, let’s have a look at the GC more closely. Hollister still hold the top 3 positions, but Szmyd is only 16” ahead of Sicard. With tomorrow’s stage being a mountain time trial, it seems likely that Sicard will move into a podium place. Kessiakoff and Anton remain 5th and 6th. Navarro lost some time on the leaders but seems to have secured himself 7th place at least. Nicacio moves up 2 places to 8th. Agudelo moves from 13th into 9th and Morizot goes from 14th to 10th. Sano has dropped out of the top 10 into 11th and Feillu drops into 12th.
The other big change is in the mountain jersey, where it is now a fight between the breakaway riders at the GC men. Antunes leads this competition, but Ochoa Quintero is in second thanks to all his work in the peloton.
