Enough sprints for a few days now, as we're going to decide the overall in this race. Today is the first of three brutal mountain stages with top finishes.
The first difficulty will be the 18,3 kilometer Jebel Habus climb, which averages 7,1% and ramps up to 16% for the whole last kilometer. A descent will then take the riders down to the foot of the Jebel Kawr, today's final climb. After 36 kilometers of climbing at roughly 5,5%, they'll reach the finish line!
Race leader Martinez completely destroyed everyone else on the Marterhorn a couple of days ago, and has a lot of pressure on his shoulders to deliver again. Rohregger and Rodas might be his biggest rivals also today, depending on how motivated the latter is after the unfortunate crash.
As traditionally, only one man in the early breakaway: Mihaylov.
Unlike in the breaks in the last few days, he isn't chased down for the intermediate points. Polivoda therefore has to settle for second, just topping Ghafari in the sprint.
Mihaylov has built up and advantage of ~ 3'30.
Kenya Air are in no hurry to bring him back, and the gap reaches 5 minutes with 100 km left to race.
The next intermediate turns out pretty funny, as Kenya Air boxes in their own man Ghafari for too long, and he misses the points he could've stolen from the badly placed other sprinters!
Up front, Mihaylov begins the Jebel Habus. 72 kilometers remain, and he is almost six minutes ahead of the main field.
The peloton also begins the climb soon afterwards, still at a very easy pace. Kenya Air makes sure to stay at the front, but finds it a little too early to start increasing the tempo.
Even this speed is too much for Chicchi however, and he is shelled out the back with over 65 kilometers remaining.
Matzka and Baumann are also dropped just minutes later, and after them also Polivoda and Belletti. 60 kilometers to go.
Kenya Air meanwhile decides that it's time to start going a little faster.
We soon reach the steepest section of the climb, and Evgeny Bakhin puts in a little dig. Both Rodas and Landa are quick to repond, together with Di Luca.
Kenya Air aren't bothered, and a rather sizable gap is opened.
Mihaylov just about manages to throw himself over the top, completely exhausted. His advantage has shrunk down massively and the recent attackers can even see him as he takes the KoM.
50s
1'45
Mihaylov
--->
Landa, Rodas, Bakhin, Di Luca
--->
Peloton
The long descent passes without any incidents or events, except for the fact that it starts raining here in the desert!
Mihaylov is very quick on the way down and has actually extended his advantage of the pursuers as he starts the final climb. The Rodas group follows 1'30 behind him, with the peloton another 1'45 back.
Bakhin sets a good pace in the escape group, and Mihaylov is captured and immediately dropped after just a kilometer of climbing. The peloton might look close, but is actually over two minutes behind.
The gap is coming down however, as Magna cranks the pace up several notches.
Kenya Air starts helping them shortly afterwards, and the peloton really strings out from the pressure applied by Camaño and Schrangl.
The leading group gets within sight with 22 kilometers to go. The peloton is still pretty big, and only two rather well placed riders have been dropped: Kastrantas and Anuar Aziz.
Play time is over for the leading group as Mestre attacks a kilometer later! The man from Privatbank lost a chunk of time on the Marterhorn, but clearly feels better today. The very aggressive Masuda follows him.
Mestre goes straight up to the front of the lead group, but Magna and Kenya Air aren't happy to let him go and the peloton speeds up too.
This is too much for Feng and Ghafari, who can both wave bye bye to all chances of a possible top 15 in the overall standings.
19 kilometers from the finish, Camaño catches the leaders with an incredible effort. The acceleration has stretched a lot of legs, and second overall and best young rider Lutsenko starts to dangle near the back!
The youngster digs deep to find new energy, but the line really snaps two kilometers later. His team mate Lewis drops back with him to help him limit his losses.
The next victim of the atrocious pace is GC's 8th: Schrangl.
At the front, it's still the amazing Camaño doing the work. Martinez is right behind him, together with Ndbri.
The road flattens out a little bit with 12 kilometers to go, and Landa attacks again.
The response comes from:
Parra Bustamante
Alizadeh
Masuda
Bakhin
Suryadi
Rodas
They can't seem to break free from Air Kenya's grip however, and Camaño continues to execute the Sky tactic, now followed by Ndbri.
The move we've been waiting for comes when the gradient gets more difficult again, 9,3 kilometers from the finish: Rohregger attacks!
Parra Bustamante continues to counter everything, and this time Sarmiento also tests his legs.
Rohregger breaks both of them easily and sits down after opening a gap of 20 seconds. Martinez gets worried by this, and the pace is lifted by Ndbri.
This acceleration goes far into the red zone for many riders, and the group is reduced to just half the size.
Landa
Rodas
Masuda
Ihlenfeldt
Camaño
Suryadi
are all out the back.
Even more riders crack as the gradient kicks up in the next turn.
Yeung
Rusli
Di Luca
Sarmiento
Parra Bustamante
Ndbri and Martinez resemble Froome and Wiggins from the 2012 real life Tour more and more the further up the climb we go and now Kononenko pops - leaving just eight riders chasing Rohregger!
Bakhin and Naibo are both dropped when Martinez takes over from Ndbri himself with 4,5 km to go. Rohregger has extended his advantage to half a minute as he finishes the final easy part and starts the steep finish.
Ndbri somehow finds a reserve tank and moves back to the front in a very steep section.
Only for a few seconds though, as he soon runs completely empty and gets unhitched together with Colorado.
Rohregger is just 20 seconds ahead as he passes under the Flamme Rouge.
Martinez still has a little left in his tank, as he lights the afterburners with 800m to go - dropping both Alizadeh and Jiriakov.
Mestre is clearly having an amazing day, and hangs on as Martinez cuts Rohregger's advantage in half with 500m to go!
But there's no stopping Rohregger today!
He kicks again through the final turn and puts at least a few seconds between himself and Martinez. Mestre goes in third, just about able to match the yellow jersey today.
Jiriakov limits his losses very well too, and crosses the line 22 seconds after Rohregger.
Alizadeh is another 10 seconds back, followed by Ndbri and Colorado at 55 seconds from today's winner.
Bakhin and Naibo are next, at just over two minutes. Kononenko follows closely behind them together with Landa, who climbed past a lot of riders in the finale.
Parra Bustamante then leads home a big group, including Suryadi among others. A clearly weakened Rodas loses another 40 seconds on these.
Several minutes later, Lutsenko arrives. He even gets dropped by Lewis, who tried to help him sprint up to the finish. The clock stops at 7'34, causing him to fall all the way down to 17th overall. Well, the saga had to end at some point, didn't it?
Without doubt, this was a dreadful day. Huge gaps opened up on the final climb, and some riders didn't even make it to the top! Worth noting is that those who didn't have all played important roles in this race so far:
Chicchi
Polivoda
Belletti
Baumann
Matzka
Martinez easily retains the overall lead, now with Rohregger in second at 1'31. Jiriakov stays in third, 1'50 down. Alizadeh and Ndbri are now fourth and fifth, while Mestre moves up to 8th. Still an open race, but it looks more and more like it's a two horse race: Martinez vs. Rohregger.
Polivoda's withdrawal also means that Martinez takes over points jersey, which will be worn by second placed Jiriakov tomorrow. No change at the top of the KoM classification, but Alizadeh is now the best young rider.