Definitely the queen stage in this years Romandie. 2 HC mountains, 1 Cat.1, 2 Cat.2 and an early Cat.3 plus the final small but steep climb.
With the finish on the last HC climb it surely would have been a bigger spectacle but nevertheless we can expect an exciting stage where all favourites need to be concentrated. You can definitely lose the race here today.
Coming to a favourite it`s hard to predict someone due to the brilliant startlist. Surely you can`t go wrong with Andy Schleck as he is the outstanding climber probably. Also Gesink in the leader jersey or Machado can be named. And what about Alarcon? As wild card team they want to present themselves and he lost the most in the prologue, so might have to attack.
No group has really formed yet. 2 riders have a small gap and decide the Cat.3. It`s Pardilla ahead of Kennaugh.
Kulhavy takes the last point out of the peloton and outsprints no one else than Alarcon! Also Faiers and Sprick went for the points without success.
Rank
Rider
Points
Points Total
1
Pardilla
6
6
2
Kennaugh
4
4
3
Kulhavy
2
2
Only Kulhavy wanted to join the duo while the others are back in the peloton. So we have a trio ahead with a 2min gap. Pardilla Kennaugh Kulhavy
Hard job for Project 1t4i as more and more riders try to attack. Riders like Di Maggio, Frei, Ortega, Rolland, Stubbe, Paterski or Samoilev. But as the riders in front are already good enough climbers they don`t want to allow many riders to join them.
So the pace is very high at the moment which brings the trio down to 1'40 again.
Same order at the 2nd KoM. But as it is HC rated it`s far more worth.
Also the attacks in the peloton stopped with Project 1t4i not allowing anything and the gap of those 3 going up to 6min.
Rank
Rider
Points
Points Total
1
Pardilla
20
26
2
Kennaugh
14
18
3
Kulhavy
12
14
4
Maijka
10
10
5
Castroviejo
8
8
6
Hirschlein
6
6
7
Reichenbach
5
5
8
Siutsou
4
4
9
Albasini
3
3
10
Pereyra
2
2
11
Jaramillo
1
1
A bit surprising that Alarcon didn`t attack again trying to get the bigger points this time. So the peloton just passed the line without any rider trying to grab some points.
Attack on the following descent. And it`s Jose Alarcon with 108km to go! He is just 41s back in the GC and so definitely no one to underestimate. But right now he is allowed to go.
Next KoM and this time Kennaugh takes the maximum points ahead of Pardilla. Alarcon still ahead of the peloton also gets some points.
Rank
Rider
Points
Points Total
1
Kennaugh
10
28
2
Pardilla
8
34
3
Kulhavy
6
20
4
Alarcon
4
4
5
Costagli
2
2
Costagli gets the last points after attacking out of the peloton. But he soon was back in the peloton and didn`t went on the long attack.
The actual gaps are 7'45 between peloton and breakaway. Alarcon at least gained already 2min on them but still needing 5'30.
Project 1t4i take a rest after the exhausting first kilometers. But with so many top climbers here more teams have the same interests and take over. So Aker - MOT and Team B&O do the main work right now for Spilak and Pluchkin.
Next climb. This time a Cat.1 and still no sign of Alarcon. Kulhavy taking the max points this time.
Rank
Rider
Points
Points Total
1
Kulhavy
10
36
2
Kennaugh
8
40
3
Pardilla
6
44
4
Alarcon
8
12
5
Vandborg
6
6
6
Frohlinger
4
4
7
Castroviejo
2
10
Spilak did look great yesterday taking bonus seconds on a sprinter stage. So his teams is working a lot right now. The gap to Alarcon is already at 3'30 but the gap to the trio ahead did melt to 5'40 with 71km to go.
Alarcon almost found contact at the Cat.2 but is still a bit behind, when Kennaugh takes the points with Pardilla again struggling to extend his provisional lead.
Rank
Rider
Points
Points Total
1
Kennaugh
10
48
2
Kulhavy
8
46
3
Pardilla
6
50
4
Alarcon
4
16
5
Vantornout
2
2
With 57km to go at the start of the long descent now Alarcon finally manages to join them. So his solo ride lasted 50km.
The peloton is still 5min behind.
The unavoidable really happened...again...The always ground loving Robert Gesink crashed on the descent with 48km to go. Bad moment with the long climb being that close. This surely will help the group ahead but with Alarcon becoming a real danger the peloton can`t really wait for Gesink now...
6 riders come back to help their leader. That`s all but Vaugrenard, who is already be in the 65 rider group being further behind. It`s already a 1'50 gap, so it will be hard for them.
6s for Alarcon at the sprint. Kulhavy and Pardilla come over the line next. So it`s just 35s for him and still a 3'32 gap with 42km to go.
Good news for Gesink. With 38km to go they found contact again. But the climb already started and it will cost a lot of energy to bring him back to the front before the attacks start.
One after the other they couldn`t follow Alarcon. He surely wasn`t ideal for those three. First Kennaugh, then Kulhavy and Pardilla as last rider lost contact. So he is solo again with 34km to go and still 13km to the top.
And he also showed all his climbing skills in comparison to the team`s helpers behind. The gap is up to 4'36 again.
Half of the climb is done and Aker - MOT desperately trying to close the gap. But while the riders in between slowly coming closer, Alarcon widens the gap to 5min. Huge effort by him. The Gesink crash surely had impact as well as Project 1t4i was expected to do a lot of work but then they were missing.
Pluchkin realizes the danger first. He comes to the front of the group and is setting a higher pace. Only 59 riders are left now with Gesink luckily being in there but he is isolated now and at the end of the group.
Missing out are Lloret, Kern, Jeannesson or Schwab.
Contador with the first attack. He is followed by Schleck, Machado and Brajkovic.
Also Uran, Denifl, Rujano and Sella try to follow while Amador, who was in between those two quartetts decided to wait a bit longer and so a gap was opened. Spilak was in ~10th position and is the last rider to attack now.
Lloret fought his way back into the bigger group and attacks now together with Valverde and Van den Broeck, who also missed the right moment.
Behind them another trio with Nazaret, Amador and Gesink complete the list of real favourites but still being in the group of 37.
P (37)
<21>
Lloret
<57>
Spilak
<24>
Uran
<5'25>
Alarcon
Nazaret
Valverde
Pluchkin
Brajkovic
Pardilla
Amador
Van den Broeck
Contador
Kulhavy
Gesink
Rujano
Costagli
Denifl
Brambilla
Schleck
Machado
Sella
Amador and Gesink are going now as well. Very late but as they can still see the next groups it might be not too late. Still they need to gain more than 1min to them.
Lonely Jose Alarcon passes the top first taking the full points. But how much time does he still have?
The counter stopps at 3'40! What a gap. 37s behind this group Van den Broeck comes next with Valverde following another 30s later. Amador joined Lloret but it`s already 2'30 to this group while Gesink is even 31s behind them.
Rank
Rider
Points
Points Total
1
Alarcon
20
36
2
Machado
14
14
3
Spilak
12
12
4
Pluchkin
10
10
5
Schleck
8
8
6
Contador
6
6
7
Uran
5
5
8
Sella
4
4
9
Rujano
3
3
10
Denifl
2
2
11
Brajkovic
1
1
Unlucky Gesink will definitely lose his GC lead today but how far will he fall? Lloret and Amador are still within sight. Both of them also belong to todays losers. The attack by Contador was the deciding one and all those, that waited too long still haven`t found contact again.
Descent done and now just 4km left on a hard uphill section. With 2'50 left he looks like the winner and most probably also new GC leader. But his attempt already lasts longer than 100 kilometers!
Sella attacks first out of the group of favourites. Behind him surprisingly also Van den Broeck, who just found contact again. Strong performance by the Belgium.
Even stronger as he is the one creating a gap while Sella was falling back again. But the group is pulling hard with Rujano doing the main work now.
And Alarcon`s gap is down to 1'34 with still 1,7km to go.
There won`t come anything from behind. Only Van den Broeck managed to come back while Valverde (+2min to this group), Amador (+2'29) and Gesink/lloret (+3'29) are far behind.
Alarcon fought another time and is passing the Flamme Rouge now. Still 1'26 for him and the steepest part is done already.
Machado starts teh sprint with Pluchkin, Uran, Spilak, Contador and Schleck behind him. Sella and Van den Broeck look empty after their attack. And also Brajkovic, Denifl and Rujano can`t follow.
But the man of the day is Jose Alarcon. With a 100km attack he takes the win and also the GC lead! What a legendary ride by him today.
Pluchkin passes Machado for 2nd and surprisingly Schleck has a small gap now.
But out of nowhere he he passed all others when he started his sprint pretty late and takes the 2nd today ahead of Contador. Both will get nice bonus seconds.
Pluchkin, Uran, Machado and Spilak in this order come over the line next and won`t lose time to them.
55s was the gap to Alarcon in the end, which gives him a 44s advance to Pluchkin in the GC. But between Pluchkin and the 6th Contador, there is only a 7s gap.
Sella and Van den Broeck lose 17s in the end but still keep chances to improve on the next stages.
Rujano, Denifl and Braijkovic in the background lose another 13s. Behind them there is a huge gap, so the fight for the first 12 spots might already be decided.
Disappointing performance by Valverde. He finishes almost 4min down on Alarcon and 3min to the favourites.
Amador behind him already losing the realistic chances to win their team goal here and is another 8s back.
Gesink with +5'15 with an unlucky day. His crash cost him all chances to perform on his normal level. He also might be a bit injured. Tomorrow will probably show.
The next groups come into the finish splitted with a few minutes in between always. Gesink will at least keep the sprinter jersey, while Pardilla leads the KoM ranking very closely. All 3 other long range attacker today follow with less than 4 points.
Even though it was ridden very fast today no rider was out of the limit. Yesterdays winner Caethoven and former white jersey wearer Bernaudeu came in last with more than 40min.
