Today’s stage is a true mixed bag – we have 9 small categorised climbs, but also a 46km long flat run in to the finish line in Sacramento as well as a lot of descending beforehand. The sprinters are all favoured for the win today, perhaps unsurprisingly, and this is likely only their second last stage in this year’s race. None of the climbs are particularly worth going through, but it is just worth noting that most of them average around the 6% mark and there are a lot of 10% sections today which will hurt over the course of 211km.
Our first attack is a by-now familiar name – Viennet. He is looking for his fifth breakaway today.
And there is a big surprise as he is joined by 13th overall Seeldraeyers! Clearly he feels that a break has a real chance of succeeding on this sort of stage, so he is trying to get a gap on his rivals.
It was always likely to be tough for him, however, as Szmyd reels both riders back in whilst still on the first climb.
Szmyd continues to lead the peloton as they go over the top with Kiserlovski in second place and Elissonde in third.
Over the top 25 riders are dropped from the bunch and in there are some big names – Sicard, Agudelo and Vasquez all miss the cut. With this sort of terrain, however, there is always a chance to get back on the descent and that is exactly what happens. Things were still touch-and-go for a while though.
On to the second climb of the day and this time nothing happens as the peloton ride tempo up it. Szmyd is in first, with Ochoa Quintero in second and Monsalve in third. This means that Hollister now have the top 3 in the mountain classification once again.
The third climb of the day comes straight after this and it is the same order over the top as no one looks keen to make a move. Days of climbing in a row have probably left many people with tired legs.
Over the fourth climb of the day, Monsalve leads this time with Ochoa Quintero in second and Szmyd in third. Still no stirring from anyone else.
And the fifth climb sees Monsalve once again lead over with Szmyd in second and Ochoa Quintero in third.
The sixth climb has Szmyd lead everyone over with Ochoa Quintero in second and Monsalve in third. With these three working on the front all day so far, it isn’t a huge surprise to find that Szmyd is now only 2 points short of leading the mountain classification.
We now have a long descent on to the seventh climb and if you thought that something was finally going to happen... you were wrong. On the seventh climb Ochoa Quintero leads over with Szmyd in second and Monsalve in third. This is enough to put Szmyd in the mountain jersey.
The eighth climb out of the nine on offer today has Szmyd lead over with Monsalve in second and Ochoa Quintero in third.
Finally, with 113km still to go and almost 100km of boredom behind us, Hoste and Ziegler strike out on a descent to try to set up a break.
Szmyd decides that he isn’t having any of that, however, and he ups the pace to run them both down. That doesn’t deter them for long, however, and now they both attack again and this time they have Le Bon in tow as well.
Ziegler and Le Bon have both been in plenty of breaks throughout this race and indeed Ziegler took a solo victory with this sort of attack. Hoste has spent the entire race working for others, however, and has clearly been given some freedom to make his own chances today.
They get a small gap and this spurs another attack. This time it is Antunes.
There is a slight increase in the pace and Claes falls off his bike. This is his second crash of the tour.
Through the first of two sprint points, Hoste leads the break with Le Bon in second and Ziegler in third. Antunes is struggling 40” behind them and there is another 40” back to the peloton.
On the climb, however, he manages to use his greater climbing ability to pull himself up to the break, but their gap is hovering around the 1 minute mark now, and is slowly coming down.
This isn’t the only sign that the pace in the peloton has gone up, however, as 12 riders go clear. There are 5 Hollister riders in here and the only GC riders to make the cut are Kiserlovski and Seeldraeyers. On the other hand, most of the big sprinters are here.
Obviously this was never going to be allowed to stay away and it is Vasquez who pulls it all back together. He isn’t hte only person pulling the race back together, however, as Szmyd catches the short-lived break on an uncategorised climb with 64km remaining.
With 47km to go and the peloton still together the second sprint point arrives. Strangely, neither Serebriakov nor Greipel choose to contest this one and so it is Feillu who wins it ahead of Manan and then Teruel.
Around the same time there is a bit of a panic for Hollister as Ochoa Quintero punctures.
The pace does not drop much, but he still has no trouble getting back into the pack and right up to the front of the race. Hollister lead us into the streets of Sacramento, where the race will be finishing today. No one looks to challenge them or even to set up their own sprint train until 5km to go as out of nowhere Proximus bring up their train.
Kopp leads with Uuguunbayar second wheel and Kip in third. Serebriakov sits on his wheel and has clearly been told that he won’t be getting much sprint support today.
But nothing is simple, because with 3.5km remaining Kip loses the wheel.
Kip fades back but his lead-out men don’t seem to have gotten the message and they sit on the front. Szmyd moves Serebriakov up to third wheel. Feillu moves on to the Russian’s back.
With 1500 metres remaining the Proximus boys realise that Kip isn’t coming back and they drift aside, leaving nothing but confusion in their wake.
There is confusion in the Hollister camp and everyone starts to sprint for themselves under the 1km to go kite. Martinez is at the front with Szmyd in second and Monsalve also up there, as well as the race leader. Sensing a big opportunity Jorgensen goes on the right side of the road.
Jorgensen starts to fade, however and some bigger sprinters approach. Feillu is working his way up and so is Serebriakov. Kiserlovski and Sano clearly have good legs as they start to come up to the front as well.
But it is Feillu who finds the gap to take his third sprint victory!
Martinez is in second place and Kiserlovski somehow podiums. Sano finds a gap for fourth outsprinting Serebriakov, who is fifth. Manan gives Meiji more joy in sixth and Greipel takes seventh despite being well back when the sprint started. Szmyd is in eighth and will wear the mountain jersey tomorrow. Kessiakoff is another surprise in ninth and Kopp rounds out the top ten.
Obviously the only jersey change is in the mountain competition. More importantly, however, we have two withdrawals: Joren Claes Serafin Blanco
Claes obviously fell off his bike and never recovered. Blanco was dropped very early in the day and has been struggling through the whole race. This reduces CSC to only 5 riders and Proximus look even worse with only 4 left.
