Today is our last truly hilly stage and the third last chance to realistically shake up the GC. It is a bumpy stage on a 204km course, which takes in 8 classified climbs before finishing on another steep climb to Nevada City. Most of the first climbs aren’t going to pose too much trouble to the riders, but our final three climbs are all worth looking at. First we have Montezuma Hill which is 10.5km long and though it only averages 4.6% that is deceptive because it actually contains three really steep ramps in excess of 10% and is mostly a series of false flats beyond that. The second last climb is up Sugar Loaf Mountain, which is 7.4km long and averaging 4.5% but once again it is much harder than this due to the first 1100 metres of the climb being over 10%. Finally there is the run in to the peak, which is a 4km hill at 7.1%. The final 1600 metres is incredibly tough, maxing out at almost 12% and staying about 9% right to the line.
With all of that in mind, our day’s stage starts off with Shatskikh putting in an attack. He sits in 44th overall and has been guarding Kip for most of the race.
Following this attack are Van Ooijen and Le Bon. Le Bon was in the break yesterday and Van Ooijen attacked the day before. Le Bon is in a good position today – he is in 27th overall and already has 35 mountain points locked away. There are a maximum of 78 on offer today and even if he doesn’t want to make a move for the mountain classification, he is bound to move up regardless.
Through the first sprint point these three are together and have truly established themselves as the break of the day. Van Ooijen leads them through with a gap of 2’11”.
The first climb is up Donner Pass, which is 4.6km long with a 7% average. By the top of the climb it looks like Le Bon is more concerned with taking a stab at a stage win today and he rolls over behind Shatskikh. The lead has started to steadily grow to 3’37”.
The second climb of the day is up Monumental Ridge, which is 3.9km long but with a biting average of 7.8%. The order over the top is the same but the gap has grown out a huge amount and is already at 7’39”.
The descent downhill is rather fast and back in the peloton there is a momentary lapse of concentration and Hacecky hits the floor. Proximus will do anything for some publicity this race.
The third climb is up Scott Hill which is a much gentler 3.5% though it is 6.8km long. Everyone seems content to take it easy and the gap to the leaders is out to 8’42” with 109km of racing still to go. Le Bon leads over this time ahead of Van Ooijen.
A sprint point follows shortly after and as Le Bon leads through there too, the gap has come down to 8’26”. CSC and WWE are starting to increase the pace for their GC men. The riders hit the fourth climb, Lowell Hill Ridge, which is 3.4km long at 6.9%, and the pace of the men up front seems to increase a bit. Shatskikh leads them over the top ahead of Le Bon, and their gap hasn’t decreased at all.
On the way down to the next climb, Hiratsuka falls off his bike. He was involved in the mass crash in stage 9 and so he may really feel the bite of this one.
Half way down the descent there is a small categorised climb, called the Camel’s Hump. Though it is only 900 metres long, it averages 7.5%. Le Bon takes the 5 points on offer here ahead of his shadow Shatskikh.
There is a brief hilly section of uncategorised climbs just after we hit the bottom of the long descent and it is here that Emu receive some bad news – Van Ooijen has been dropped by the other two. He was clearly struggling all day and is just out of energy after three weeks of hard racing.
Suddenly, behind the leaders, there is a sense of urgency at the head of the peloton. Armstrong increases the pace in this same hilly section and there is a rupture in the pack!
In addition to the sprinters, there are several names missing from the top 25! They are: Morizot (12th) Seeldraeyers (14th) B. Feillu (15th) Hirschelin (21st) Talansky (22nd) Castroviejo (23rd) Kirsch (25th)
This is an absolute disaster for Focussed, as Sicard now only has Elissonde left to support him! There is still almost 70km left to ride, but the pace is ramping up quickly. If they want to rescue their race these guys are really going to have to push it!
Up front, meanwhile, the two riders go over the top of Sonntag Hill, which is proving to be more than just a Sunday ride (Cross language puns are fun...). Le Bon leads them over. And here are the time gaps:
1’43”
3’31”
5’14”
1’20”
2 Leaders
--->
Van Ooijen
--->
Peloton (22)
--->
Chasers (9)
But things start to look different as we get the time differences through the sprint point. The gap between the leaders and the peloton has come down to 4’25” but more importantly the chase group is now more than 2 minutes behind the pack!
Van Ooijen is caught with 39km remaining and the gap is down to 3’24”. Kwok, in one of the groups behind the race, falls off.
So we hit Montezuma Hill – the first of the trio of finishing climbs for this race. Just to reiterate – it is 10.5km long and most of the difficulty comes from three ramps which are well over 10%, with 2 of those 3 actually hitting close to 20% gradients. The very start of the climb is the first of these hard sections and straight away Shatskikh is dropped by Le Bon.
Let’s have a quick look at the remnants of the peloton – these are the 21 riders who will be hoping to fight it out for the stage win. They are: Kiserlovski, Ochoa Quintero, Szmyd, Martinez, Monsalve Anton, Soler, Armstrong Kessiakoff, Txurruka, Becerra Nicacio, Vital, Reis Sicard, Elissonde Navarro, Seledkov Agudelo, Vasquez Sano
Having been dropped Shatskikh cracks completely and is reined in by the peloton. The gap to our solo leader is now down to 1’12” and it is doubtful that he will even make it to the end.
Kessiakoff is the first person to show his hand and he gets on the front to raise the pace. This forces several riders to be spit out the back: Vasquez Elissonde Armstrong Reis Becerra
In order to solidify this gap it is Kiserlovski who gets onto the front now and he is the one who makes the catch of Le Bon. There are 4.3km left to the summit and still 22.8km of racing remaining.
Kiserlovski’s pressure on the front causes more riders to drop as the race hits 20% on the final big ramp. The riders in difficulty are: Seledkov Martinez Monsalve
Then two more riders follow – Vital and Agudelo. That’s our first rider from the top ten falling off. Things get even more select, however, as Navarro follows soon after.
We are down to just ten riders left in the main bunch. Hollister still have three riders, WWE have two and so do CSC.
Soler leads this select group over the top with 18.3km to go with most of those kilometres being uphill. There is a brief descent, however, and Navarro gets back in, but he isn’t looking good.
He will need his energy as the leaders hit Sugar Loaf Mountain. That is 7.4km long with an average of 4.5%, but the real difficulty here is the start, which is 1.1km at over 10% gradient and the final 500 metres, which hits 10% again. During this first section we get someone lighting the tough paper – none other than race leader Kiserlovski!
Navarro is dropped as the pace rises, but he isn’t the only one. Also falling off the pace are: Sano Ochoa Quintero Txurruka
Sano will just be pleased that he is looking good to defend his top ten. Ochoa Quintero, however, looks likely to lose his fourth place overall. The huge amount of work he is doing every day has really taken its toll.
As Kiserlovski attacks away, one man goes with him – yesterday’s winner Kessiakoff.
As if Focussed Cycling’s day couldn’t get any worse, 12th place overall Morizot, who was dropped earlier in the day, now falls off.
With 4.5km to the summit of this climb, the race has really broken up.
The time gaps are:
22”
18”
41”
Kiserlovski
--->
Anton
--->
Soler
--->
Sano
Kessiakoff
Sicard
Szmyd
Ochoa Quintero
Nicacio
Txurruka
With 10km to go, Anton bridges up to our leaders solo. He is trying to put time in to Sicard in their fight for second overall.
Sicard responds, however, and he drags himself and Nicacio up. Nicacio is riding really well today, especially when you consider that he has lost time on every hilly stage so far this race.
With 500 metres to the summit of this penultimate climb the road ramps up to 10% again and who else would go but Kessiakoff?
It is unbelievable how well the Swede has been climbing in the last week. He won stage 11 after a long descent and he won yesterday’s tough stage on the slight rise to the finish. He goes over the top with a 28” gap over the others and there is another 1’15” to the six chasers behind. These are the two other chase groups, as well as Navarro, who has fought his way back.
Kessiakoff would dearly have loved a longer descent, but as he begins the final climb his lead is at 36”. The climb is 4km long with an average of 7.1%. The final 1.6km are where this is concentrated, and it is more than 9% almost the entire way to the finish line. Realising that this is a chance for yet another stage win, Kiserlovski launches an attack.
Anton goes with him, searching for not just the stage win but also time against Sicard. The two attackers get a gap, but Kiserlovski is able to kick again, while Anton just grits his teeth and grinds away.
Our race leader has 1.9km to shut down a gap which has grown to 38”, with most of that climb being close to 10%. The crowd is thick here and even Didi is around to cheer Kessiakoff on!
Sicard and Nicacio desperately try to close the gap.
But this is the day of one man alone – Fredrik Kessiakoff wins in grand style, taking his third stage win of this race and his second in a row.
Kiserlovski takes second place 37” behind him and in third place...
Anton holds them off and manages to get a gap on the two chasers behind him. He lost 1’26” to the stage winner but he gained 38” on the two men behind him. Sicard takes fourth and Nicacio is a well-deserved fifth.
Soler and Szmyd get a small gap on the other chasers to take sixth and seventh respectively, 3’40” behind Kessiakoff. Txurruka, Ochoa Quintero and Sano round out the top ten 4’08” back.
The GC suffered a real shake-up today, with just 2 crucial GC stages left to race (19 and 20). While Kiserlovski’s lead looks unassailable, the fight for the podium places is tightening up a huge amount! Kessiakoff moves into fourth, but he gained enough time to ensure that he is within 2 minutes of Anton’s second place, and only 29” behind Sicard in third. The Hollister domestiques are now fifth and sixth and may be staying there. Navarro lost a lot of time today but holds on to seventh. Nicacio stays in eighth but might be eyeing the much-reduced gap to the Spaniard in front of him. Agudelo lost even more time and is now in danger of losing his ninth place to Sano, who remains in tenth. In terms of the other jerseys, Kiserlovski is now also the leader of the points classification and Kessiakoff is in third place in that same classification.
And as for our withdrawals, we finally have three of them: Vojtech Hacecky Lars Tommersen Jon Ander Insausti
