It`s the only sprinter stage in this years route. So the sprinters can be counted on one hand. Forero, Grillo, Vanoverschelde, Caethoven or maybe Maaskant for the win today?
A group of 4 sees the chance to surprise the peloton. The reduced number of sprinter teams could struggle to control the peloton. Weiss Zeits Kelderman Margaliot.
The chasing teams could have been expected. Milka probably has the strongest sprinter here with Forero while Project 1t4i have the race leader in Gesink. But as the gap is up to 4min with a bit less than 100km to go they are obviously quite happy with the actual situation.
Later on they need to accelerate for sure.
As no single KoM point was rewarded yet it`s a bit surprising that none of those 4 is fighting at the first of the two KoM.
So it`s an easy win for Margaliot, who was leading the group at that moment.
Rank
Rider
Points
Points Total
1
Margaliot.
5
5
2
Zeits
3
3
3
Kelderman
1
1
As yesterdays prologue didn`t deliver big time gaps there was a bigger fight at the intermediate sprints. Weiss wins with ~half a bike length.
Rank
Rider
1
Weiss
2
Margaliot.
3
Zeits
Second KoM of the day and even though the riders already collected a few points now, there was no fight here. Kelderman was the lucky one this time taking the full points.
Rank
Rider
Points
Points Total
1
Kelderman
6
6
2
Zeits
4
7
3
Margaliot.
2
7
Margaliot and Zeits have the same amount of points but as first one took the win at the Cat.4 earlier he will wear the jersey tomorrow. But if they continue to avoid fighting for the points it won`t last long.
It`s still only Milka and Project 1t4i working in the peloton. But the pace definitely changed. The riders just passed the Cat.3 climb and go with a fast pace into the descent. 55km are left and they still need to gain 3'55 on the group.
Koenigsegg with Paride Grillo as their top sprinter realizes first, that they need to help to secure a sprint finish. With 26km it`s still a bit more than 2min. Good for Grillo, bad for Valverde as he is also ordered to do some work at the front. The Spanish GC man surely won`t be too happy about this.
Later with Aker-MOT also working for Vanoverschelde the gap is melting quite a lot and the group will most probably be caught soon.
With 21km to go we reach the next sprint and the riders once again fight for the bonus seconds. This time Margaliot takes the full 6s.
Rank
Rider
1
Margaliot.
2
Weiss
3
Zeits
Weiss fought the longest but also the Heineken rider couldn`t survive in front of the peloton. With 4,7km to go he is caught while the last sprint preparations start behind.
After Valverde it`s also Uran doing some work at the front. But different to the Spaniard he just needs to work on the last 5km.
And he is doing an excellent job pulling Forero into a great position. Behind him Von Hoff found his wheel. On the other hand this might have been too early as it`s still 3,5km to go and he is already the last lead-out.
Behind those three we see several Koenigsegg riders including Valverde. Grillo is actually none of those first 3. He is behind Leezer and Maaskant and probably in a good position.
Behind him we have more sprinters with Dumoulin or Caethoven in ~20th position. No sign of Vanoverschelde though as Spilak is the only Aker rider in front.
Uran might have done well on the last kilometers but he definitely had to break a bit obviously. Now Koenigsegg, Leezer and Maaskant are in the first positions and Forero would need to hang onto those now.
He should have at least. But he lost several positions. All other sprinters are in front of him now.
Meanwhile Maaskant and Leezer are in the first positions with Grillo coming fast. Caethoven looks a bit blocked behind.
Last kilometer and Maaskant has a small gap. Grillo is coming fast overtaking Leezer now.
Both Maaskant and Leezer struggle to keep their pace. Grillo on the other hand has a nice gap and looks like the winner.
But with Spilak and Caethoven behind him two more riders found their way through the slower riders. Quite surprising what Spilak is showing here today instead of his team mate Vanoverschelde.
On the right it`s Sagan and Bonnet also trying to close the gap.
Just a few more meters for Grillo. Caethoven definitely the fastest right now with Spilak being in 3rd position now. This will be very close.
Grillo celebrates and looks like the winner. All the Valverde effort earlier paid out.
But look at the 2nd replay. Caethoven clearly overtook him on the last meters and takes the win instead. Grillo was Zabel`d on the line. If only he would have finished his sprint until after the line instead of celebrating.
So it`s a big win for Caethoven.
Spilak surprisingly on the 3rd taking important bonus seconds moving him to 3rd overall. Behind him another surprise. Van Den Broeck seems to be in a good form already taking the 4th. This can only happen in such a weak sprinter field.
Sagan, Bonnet, Gesink, Maaskant, Leezer and Arndt complete the top10, while Forero (29th) and Vanoverschelde (45th) have to explain their managers, what they were doing today. Huge disappointments today.
GC wise all important riders finishes within the group and Gesink will keep the lead due to his strong prologue yesterday. Just Medvedev and Cattaneo lost a bit time in the end, but more than a top20 maximum couldn`t have been expected by them.
Result
1
Steven Caethoven
Vesuvio - Accumalux
3h23'32
2
Paride Grillo
Koenigsegg
s.t.
3
Simon Spilak
Aker - MOT
s.t.
4
Jurgen Van den Broeck
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
5
Peter Sagan
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
s.t.
6
William Bonnet
Lotto - Cervelo
s.t.
7
Robert Gesink
Project 1t4i
s.t.
8
Martijn Maaskant
Pokerstars.com
s.t.
9
Tom Leezer
Pearl Adidas
s.t.
10
Nikias Arndt
Team B&O
s.t.
11
Benoît Vaugrenard
Project 1t4i
s.t.
12
Alejandro Valverde
Koenigsegg
s.t.
13
Nikola Aistrup
Team B&O
s.t.
14
Jack Bobridge
Simply Red Bull
s.t.
15
Petar Panayotov
Pearl Adidas
s.t.
16
Andrei Amador
UBS - BMC
s.t.
17
Bert-Jan Lindeman
Koenigsegg
s.t.
18
Leopold König
Milka - AVG
s.t.
19
Steven Kruijswijk
Team B&O
s.t.
20
Samuel Dumoulin
Pokerstars.com
s.t.
21
Christophe Riblon
UBS - BMC
s.t.
22
Vicente Reynès
Santander
s.t.
23
Mario Vogt
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
24
Steele Von Hoff
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
