Final Criterium of the Tour of Dairyland. It`s also the first real uphill sprint and will decide the GC winner.
Best chances has Pendleton`s McEvoy. But in especially Duggan and Busche will keep the trophy in the USA. Nardin also is a dangerous rider while the sprinters might struggle.
Britton (Spidertech) and Armstrong (Kenda) are the first attackers this morning. We are still on the first of 9 laps.
Behind them a group of 4 including Raabe (Costa Rica), Bru (Zulia), Horton (GB) and Talbott (Chipotle).
Going up the 4th climb the 3 expected teams do the pace. Sram for Duggan, 7 Up for Nardin and Pendleton`s for McEvoy.
Only Busche`s team mates won`t work as they have a rider in the breakaway with Talbott.
Maybe due to this fact the other teams try to catch the group as fast as possible and the gap is still less than a minute.
After the 4th climb the group is caught and Chipotle`s tactic did not work obviously. Still 5 full laps to go plus the final climb.
Immediately the next attacks and with Tamayo Martinez a very dangerous rider is in there. He can`t reach McEvoy but with the win today he could still get 2nd in the GC.
The other riders are Chaves, S.Salas, Dombrowski, Roman and Anacona. So definitely a stronger group than before and finally Dombrowski is showing himself in his home criteriums. He was far more active in Great Britain.
But the attack didn`t last long. Up on the climb they are caught again.
Some of them though immediately go again.
Dombrowski, Tamaya Martinez, Chaves and as new rider Brenes.
These four already have 42s and it seems as if this could finally last a bit longer.
With 3 1/2 laps to go they are joined by Delgado with the gap up to 1'07.
Soon the teams behind must react.
Strong effort as well by Opie. The Brit closed the gap on his own and joins.
It`s not his ideal terrain but it`s the last day and so far he couldn`t have the biggest impact on the race.
2nd last climb done and we have a surprise. Nardin attacked obviously and found contact on the descent. Dangerous and smart move by him.
Opie on the other hand lost contact again with more riders trying to bridge from behind.
The first two riders jumping out of the peloton now are Boswell and Busche. Behind them Boily, Warbasse and McEvoy follow.
Weird that Duggan decides to send his team mate while all other GC riders attacked.
We have a group of 7 chasing the breakaway now and also Duggan in there now. We are already on the last full climb and they must hurry up now.
Peloton (57)
Boswell
Nardin
Valencia
Boily
Dombrowski
Roman
<20>
McEvoy
<35>
Tamayo Martinez
Tiernan-Locke
Busche
Delgado
Duggan
Chaves
Lewis
Brenes
Opie
Late but not too late. With only 2km left the two groups come together and all the possible GC winners are in there. It couldn`t be much more exciting.
Also Valencia found contact and can sprint for the win.
Nardin and Duggan in the bad position in the first row. Behind them Busche having the best wheel next to Brenes.
And it must be mentioned that McEvoy doesn`t look very well today as he sits in the second last position. He needs a good sprint now if he wants to keep the GC as the first 3 can all pass him.
Busche overtakes Nardin, who loses the GC chances here. Can the US American win his 2nd consecutive crit?
Also Duggan in 2nd position has not given up yet.
Busche seems the strongest as he opened a gap. And bad news for Duggan as Boily seems to pass him soon.
And still no sign by McEvoy. Is he throwing his advantage away on the last stage?
Huge win for Busche. He was only the 4th of the puncheurs before today but it might be enough to win the GC as the others struggled a bit.
Boily in 2nd is stealing all chances by Duggan, who finishes 3rd.
Tamayo Martinez as 4th with a strong ride today is ahead of Nardin in 5th. So also the Brasilian won`t win.
And as McEvoy is still behind Brenes, Boswell, Chaves and Lewis and only finishes 10th it`s indeed enough for Matthew Busche.
After a bad start into the Crit Series he improved hugely with 2 wins and deserves the trophy.
Matthew Busche
David Boily
Juan Sebastian Tamayo Martinez
Thiago Duarte Nardin
Gregory Brenes
Jonathan McEvoy
Marco Guillén
Pablo Andres Alarcon
Eduardo Sepulveda
