The stage from Lieberec to Tanvald-Zbar is a fairly brutal offering. 7 really tricky climbs, and that includes the final one up to the finish line. The Studenov could be particularly important. It makes an appearance as the 3rd categorised climb on the route, and also the 4th climb much closer to the finish.
Damage limitation for the time triallists, while the puncheurs will look to attack.
This is also the day where, if you want to win the King of the Mountains jersey in this race, you had better make sure you get in the breakaway.
Many riders do try, but only 3 are clear when the Prichovice summit is reached. Ford is first over, followed by Amanuel and Goos.
It is a Cat 2 climb, which means 5 riders score points. With only 3 clear, this invites a couple of strong attacks from the peloton. Zaini takes 4th, Ilias 5th.
Most interestingly, they then decide to keep going and look to close the 2 minute gap to the front 3!
They havent caught them by the next Cat 3 climb, allowing Ford to pick up 6 more points.
On the descent the junction is made.
And on the first ascent of the steep Studenov Zaini wastes no time in really launching his assult on the King of the Mountains competition.
The standings after 3 climbs are: Ford 20 Zaini 14 Goos 14 Amanuel 12 Ilias 10
But the Studenov isn't over for the peloton, and some damage is being done. Michael Rogers has been dropped!
It doesn't look good for the Aussie, and there are no Oz teammates with him. Clearly they had already decided before the stage that they would be better served riding for one of their stronger puncheurs than try to drag around Rogers. He still has the time trial at least.
Also dropped as the peloton reduce to 82 is Andrew Tennant. He has Eritrean champion Teklit with him, but his GC hopes are also now gone.
ING are doing the damage, and this continues onto the 4th, uncategorised climb. This is not expected to be Zabriskie's best day so it is perhaps surprising that they would look to do the work of their rivals and leave him potentially exposed towards the finish, but clearly they are very worried about Zaini.
The Meiji rider is one of the best puncheurs in this race. He can't time trial remotely well, but a big gap on this stage would be all he needs. The break did lead by 5 minutes at one point, but already it has been reduced to less than 2. With this hard finale on it's way:
Pakthusov, Zakarin, Wang and Mandri look to attack the peloton going up this climb.
Meanwhile Zaini and Ilias have decided to press on, and dropped the rest of the break. Zaini will be particularly keen to remain clear until at least the top of the next Studenov climb, which would give him the lead of the King of the Mountains competition now that Ford is gone.
The Russian Zakarin is able to catch up to the duo, just after the intermediate sprint which Zaini won. The only lead the peloton by a minute at the start of the Studenov. ING have pretty much used up all their domestiques, and now Sram-Riboxx are in control.
Lars Boom then moves to the front of the peloton. A surprising move. Is he looking for the group to ride at a tempo that suits him? Surely he isn't working for Bellis?
The reason for Sram stopping is that they have decided to attack instead. Both Gerdemann and local rider Hudecek attack, and are joined by last year's race runner up Ben Nasser.
Boom chased down this move, so Ben Nasser attacked again. He rides past Ilias, and joins Zakarin. But now leading alone is Zaini to pick up 10 important points.
He has also extended his lead on the peloton, pushing it out to nearly 2 minutes by the time Boom becomes the 5th rider over the summit.
+ 44
+ 1'24
+ 1'41
Zaini
Zakarin
Ilias
Peloton
Ben Nasser
Only 29 remain in this group. Their order over the top was: Boom Gerdemann Boily Schreurs Hudecek Visconti Bellis Costa Konovalovas Sano Barrio Durasek De Maar Popkov Lloyd Karpets Roy Zabriskie Reus Kiryenka Huzarski Wang Der Duggan Warbasse Cornu Jiao Bole Gerrans
But Gerrans is dropped over the summit, and as the rain starts to fall Cornu hits trouble and sees his overall hopes slip away from him. Jiao, and Bole are also shed.
Zaini is pressing on up front. There are 14km to go - meaning that he has now been clear of the peloton for over 100km! And he had pulled out a gap of 1'15 on Zakarin and Ben Nasser, with the peloton now at 1'50.
Crash on the descent in the chasing group, and oh no, the defending champion is down! Horrible luck for Kai Reus.
By the time he got to his feet, he had lost over 2 minutes on the group. Cornu rode past him, but he does have the company of Pakthusov, Grygorenko and Mandri. Not that it matters - his dreams of defending his title have been dashed.
King of the Mountains Huzarski tried to attack on the descent, but couldnt break free of a peloton led by Gerdemann, Schreurs and Boom.
Onto the penultimate climb today then, Tesarov, and Ben Nasser rides away from Zakarin - the Russian falling back to the peloton.
Wang, Ilias and Warbasse are dropped from the group.
Zaini leads into the final 10km and over the summit - which this time effectively secured victory in the King of the Mountains classification from this race.
Ben Nasser is still chasing, and starting to close that gap. The peloton are keeping in touch too - but with team leaders doing the work, they arent looking to sacrifice themselves in a way that a domestique would.
Bad news for Tinkoff as just before the summit, Kiryenka is dropped! If he could just have hung on for a little longer!
Race leader Schreurs leads the group downhill towards the final uphill finish. He needs time to have a good chance of a Top 10 overall finish, but this has been a very tough stage, and he is probably riding close to his limit as it is.
Visconti has become the new Oz leader and tries to attack. He too needs time on the stronger time triallists that are left.
The rain has stopped, but that doesnt help Visconti get clear.
The final uphill section begins. Zaini has just 16 seconds on Ben Nasser, plus another 30 to the peloton. A heroic effort from the Italian looks set to fall just short.
This all seems to be playing into Zabriskie's hands. Not much more than a kilometre to go, and he could be in a perfect position to take race victory.
But let's not underestimate the finish climb. It's going to be a steep ending, and the group are made to feel some Dutch pain as Schreurs and Boom are quick to apply pressure and try to sprint away. Bellis and Popkov also well placed.
Into the final kilometre and still Zaini is holding off Ben Nasser .. surely he can't win this?
Lars Boom is looking very good as he powers up the climb
Zabriskie is starting to struggle. The group splits in two and the American is the wrong side of it.
Boom moves up towards the wheel of Ben Nasser, with Jeremy Roy also going strong.
But Tommy Zaini has pulled off an extraordinary victory! A brutal day of climbing, and one that he attacked on with 116km remaining. Yet he has beaten the odds and won the stage!
22 seconds later and Roy takes 2nd place. The Frenchman can time trial fairly well too. 3rd for Ben Nasser and a true World Champion's ride for Lars Boom.
Maurice Schreurs takes 5th place, leading in a group of 9 that contains some strong time triallists: Costa, Karpets, Popkov, Konovalovas, Gerdemann. Their gap to Zaini is 43 seconds.
Boily and Duggan finish at 1'21, just ahead of Zabriskie's group at 1'33. HTC team leader De Maar is also in here.
Zabriskie has lost over a minute on Lars Boom here, and the World Champion surely now becomes favourite for race victory.
Now for the gaps of the contenders who struggled today.
Kiryenka finished at 3'12, with Cornu coming in at 5'13. A crash cruelly cost Reus - who would probably have finished alongside Zabriskie at least - and he loses 7'06.
Tennant fought hard after being dropped, overtaking many riders, but still loses over 10 minutes. And Rogers? Well he opted for the Gruppetto, 25 minutes down. At least he is rested for the time trial...
16 riders missed the time limit. Hardest hit are CSC-Orbea and Jaguar-Eritel, with each losing 4 each. Particularly unlucky is Sam Bennett who was safely in the Gruppetto at one stage, until he crashed. The most notable name eliminated is his teammate Ian Stannard. The British time trial champion won't get to ride the time trial here.
