One crit is still missing and the last one will decide over the GC. It`s incredibly close and we still have 36 riders being theoretically able to take the GC win here. And the fight for the podium is even closer. Actually all riders can still join the fight as the winner will get as many points as the actual 3rd.
Best chances for the GC win have abviously the two Hong Kong riders Yeung and Kwok as also the American Duggan.
Devine, Tiernan-Locke or Cassidy must be watched as well as they made a good impression so far.
Craddock (Kenda) with the first attack of the day. But his attempt is not strong enough as he is caught quite immediately again.
Tanguy (Raleigh), B.King (Chipotle) and Hansen (Denmark) with the next attempt. Raleigh was nearly invisible on the first hilly crit and they surely hope to improve today. Denmark as well was only doing well on the last flat crit and had bad luck in the other two.
Once again Cassidy (Ireland) and Brammeier (Aviva) attack making it a Irish duo leading the race ahead of the former trio. First mentioned is just 5 points behind race leader Yeung and is a strong contender.
35km left and the peloton seems to be fine with that group. More than 2min gap and soon they need to hurry up behind. In especially HongKong and Sram under pressure of course.
Pendletons, Sram, HongKong and sometimes also Cykelcity take care for the pace in the peloton.
The more serious part begins soon when the pace starts to get highered on the hills. At the moment all riders are still in the bunch.
Appleby (IG Sigma) is the first rider to become nervous. The Brit attacks with 28km to go and a gap of 2min. With 5 points only he needs to attack if he wants to improve his GC position.
Tiernan-Locke, Gingsjo and Lewis are the next. Except for the first they haven`t scored points. But as Tiernan-Locke is one of the best placed Brits the crowd obviously goes crazy. So far we haven`t seen any British stage win here.
Another Brit with Kennaugh attacks. It`s their last chance and obviously they don`t want to lose this as well.
All the late attackers and the former breakaway come together making it a group of 10. With 15km to go they have a gap of 1min. Not that much but it`s a strong group and the other teams first need to catch them.
No surprise that we see Sram and HongKong with their full squad at the front doing the work. These two teams have the best placed riders and surely don`t want to just give up.
10km left and the group is down to 47s. E.King, Ollson and Deignan attack our of the peloton realizing that the group could be successful.
Still no sign by Duggan or Cheung.
Their teams are still trying to close the gap. Jorgensen just lost contact, so one rider is definitely out of the fight for the GC win. But this isn`t the biggest surprise to be honest on this kind of terrain.
More attacks. This time in the breakaway. Cassidy, Hansen, Tanguy and Brammeier try it. Surprisingly that`s the early breakaway and not the stronger puncheurs.
But they are already more exhausted and so they are soon be caught again. It was a nice try but quite desperate probably.
Here it comes. HongKong`s Yeung, GC leader is attacking with 6,3km to go and still a 40s gap. This will be very close until the finish line.
Galle, Ollson, Juul-Jensen, E.King and finally also Duggan follow him. Is this move too late or will they be able to join the breakaway? At the moment the gap is melting quickly.
Gingsjo and Lewis obviously heard of the closer coming danger and did also attack out of the group. They lead the race now but as none of them has a single point yet, they are no danger for Cheung and Kwok. But it`s about Duggan losing his podium spot, if the American can`t score today.
Plus more important maybe. Both aren`t Brits and so those need to work hard behind now.
The duo is working very well together and has a ~650m gap while passing the Flamme Rouge. Behind all other attackers are back in a bigger group again as the gaps won`t be that big today in general. So all other riders will ride for at least the 3rd or will they come back again?
Soon Lewis can`t follow Gingsjo`s acceleration and falls back. Big chance for the Swede to step up today with a nice win.
Quite weird sprint in the peloton. All riders just want to close the gap and so all riders just sprint on their own. The two Pendleton riders Cummings and McEvoy in the best positions with Young, Yeung and Duggan just behind. This might become a very close finish between Duggan and Yeung for the overall.
Gingsjo celebrates a nice win for CykelCity. Well deserved as his team was pretty active on every stage with lots of attacks and also pace making in the peloton.
8s later Lewis finishes as 2nd. Both are climbing up the ranking a lot today.
But the bigger question is, who will win the GC?
Cummings and McEvoy kept their position until the line and take a 3-4 for Pendeltons. Right behind them it`s already Duggan.
And as his team mates Young (6.) and Warbasse (8.) cover his back and finish ahead of Yeung in 9th Duggan will win the GC of the Halfords Crit Series. Congrats to him and Sram in their crit debut.
Not to forget Olsson on a good 7th today and another Sram rider with Beyer in 10. Strong team performance by them today.
Yeung and Kwok at least secure the GC podium and make it still a successful series for Hong Kong.
Gingsjo climbs up to 4th with McEvoy as 5th and Lewis in 6th. So todays stage might have made the biggest GC switches probably.
For the Brits this was quite a disaster. No stage win and only the 5th in the GC with McEvoy was surely less than expected.
Alexander Gingsjo
Craig Lewis
Steven Cummings
Ying Hon Yeung
Jonas Aaen Jørgensen
