The queen stage arrives, but much of the pre-stage talk was of yesterday's messy crit stage which saw Anthony Colby strengthen his grip on the leaders jersey.
Certainly for his AMEX team it gives them a real shot at completing their win goal and he has a strong back up team, it will require some serious attacks to dislodge him. The parcours today do make it possible with two very tough climbs to negotiate, first we go over North Fork Road which is a 12km climb averaging 7%. We have a short 6.5km 5%er before the mountain top finish up Snowbird
which is a mammoth 16.5km climb averaging 8%, certainly along with the Reunion and Sniezka climbs some of the toughest we have seen in Division 2.
Early on it is clear that the AMEX general manager has read out the orders with the ever faithful Qatari Tareq Esmaeli on the front in the early going.
As expected a large group of breakaways form before the first sprint in this long run in before the first big climb of the day.
The names: Daniel Foder Andrea Masciarelli Robert Vrecer Algirdas Mockus Andrei Krasilnikau Martin Kohler Mahdi Sohrabi Hossaini Reza Daniel Eliad Saïd Haddou Dor Dviri Jaoa Costa Dragan Spasic Pablo Urtasun
It's a real mix of riders with sprinters Haddou and Kohler in there. But the first sprint is dominated by Armavia with Sohrabi taking first and Reza taking third with Foder in between. As usual the first break doesn't get enough leeway and drops back to the pack.
There are no GC threats here but Eliad, Shapira and Vrecer are all decent enough climbers. None of these three are that interested in the second intermediate sprint this is taken by Bodnar who after some good time trials will likely register some CDiv2 points on the points classification as a result.
Reza takes second and Stevic third.
AS we move onto North Fork Road AMEX are feeling comfortable at the moment, no real moves from any GC threats who will perhaps wait for the lower slopes of Snowbird.
They are four minutes behind the break which will probably mean the break have a shot at getting to the top of this climb. With 16 points available for the winner Eliad with 10 KoM points already will be looking to add to his tally and reel in current
mountains leader Luis Felipe Laverde Jimenez who is on 26 points.
Back in the pack Franklin Chacon makes a bold move with about 9km of this North Fork Road climb to go.
He lies more than six minutes back to Colby at 27th on GC, this is a desperate move by the Venezualan but one that enlivens the race.
The break also increase the pace leaving just six survivors.
Shapira, Reza, Vicioso, Vrecer, Eliad and Kraslinikau survive and they will be joined by Franklin Chacon near the crest of this climb.
Eliad unsurprisingly takes the climb overtaking the now pacing Chacon near the top with Vrecer third.
The pack are led over by John Freddy Agudelo, with Cativen looking to pace the pack taking over from an uninterested AMEX 5.30 down on the leaders. It means Franklin Chacon is nearly our virtual leader!
Fortunes were with AMEX and Gazprom yesterday but lady luck deserts Gazpron once again as Xavier Tondo falls badly on the descent. He was lying 12th this morning at 4.25 and would have had hopes of moving higher today.
Those hopes disappear now as hw slips two and a half minutes back from the pack which is full of pace.
We are in racing mode with Division 2's top ranked teams Het Nieuwsblad and American Express pushing on.
On the small six point climb before Snowbird the breakaway of seven riders continue to work together pretty well the gap is holding at just under five minutes. They know from Mount Nebo that a decent two minute advantage going into the last climb may give one of them victory.
In the pack the pace is really being upped and another veteran stage racer struggles in Andreas Klöden.
It has been a trying year for his team, though it looked like Klodi was in a great position after the long TT the other day. The Criterium stage spoiled his race and now it looks like the German's morale has dropped.
Up ahead though Dyson's Eliad takes the climb, with dual stage winner Shaun Higgerson set to take the points jersey they now have the joint KoM lead with Eliad moving to 26 points. Chacon and Vrecer take the minor placings also moving themselves into hopes of some mountains points at the end of the race.
So we move up to Snowbird and the break have a two and a half minute lead going into the base of the climb. Vrecer and Shapira attack at the bottom of it.
Chacon and the others in the break struggle to get across as the two hold a 20 to 30 second advantage. Back in the pack the splits are beginning to appear as 15 riders move clear of another 25 with about 12km to go.
AMEX is perfect control here through Tareq Esmaeli and Adonis Cardoso Española protecting leader Anthony Colby.
It's hardly ideal for either Het Nieuwsblad or Cativen as their GC leaders in Gilberto Sampaio and Edgar Restrepo are not here. In fact no-one inside the top ten with the exception of Colby or ACE are in this front split emphasising AMEX's control.
Rather than put their foot down AMEX keep it steady, weary perhaps of pushing Colby too hard. It allows some of the riders behind to come back to the 15, nethertheless it does reel in most of the break. Vrecer is proving our Sampiao of the day though still leading by 30 or so seconds with 6km to go.
This is all looking very routine for AMEX, Esmaeli though has dropped back now leaving their ACE to control things with Colby right there on his wheel. Laverde Velez, not a GC threat is on the wheels thinking of the stage with the other Laverde perhaps also thinking that.
Behind them a number of the top ten on the GC have made it across including Sampiao and Restrepo. However 8th placed Remmert Wielinga and 9th placed Iván Melero drop back.
Vrecer keeps trying to tap it out, but Snowbird is just too tough unlike Nebo the other day and with 4km left he has to surrender.
You'll note here that it is still ACE on the front with the Laverde's and Colby on his wheel. Restrepo and Sampaio have at least got up to Colby as the top three on GC look a lock.
It's proving an attritional climb as now the best young rider Esteban Mardones slips back. He was sitting at 7th on GC so needs to keep battling to maintain his classification positions.
We enter the last two kilometres and we have 14 survivors of this climb which has been really controlled pace from AMEX. Colby is still there with ACE and Esmaeli it looks very good for the American. His closest GC rivals Sampaio, Restrepo along with Isidro Nozal and Yennier López Fonseca have made it into to this last 14.
The Laverde's Velez and Jimenez are hunting the stage, also up here are Agudelo, Mancebo, Belda, Jose Chacon and Vrecer.
As we go under the kite Mancebo who has slowly drifted forward in the last kilometers strikes out hard.
Laverde Velez and the ACE give chase, clearly they feel their teammate responsibilities are not needed any more.
Colby is just comfortably following Sampaio, with both sprinting for 5th and 6th behind Laverder Jimenez.
Mancebo will take the win, he waited behind the AMEX train free of having to think of GC and timed his kick well.
Laverde Velez takes second place with Laverde Jimenez sealing his King of the Mountains in third. ACE will not mind surrendering a podium as Colby will take the overall.
Colby crosses the line in sixth place taking by far his biggest career victory.
Sampiao, Restrepo, Nozal and Lopez Fonseca make up out GC top five all finish in this group. Mardones battles in about 50 seconds behind Colby's group moving to sixth overall. With stage winner Mancebo good enough to make the top ten on GC.
