Final stage and it`s another hilly one. Definitely not as hard as the 4th, but with some nice bumps.
Weening could be attacked today, so that Gazelle must be concentrated.
Broberg and Hamza in the early attack.
Last one is in a good position for the KoM jersey as he sits in 3rd position just 8 points behind Burlutsky.
Not in the camera but here the first sprint: Less important that Hamza won ahead of Broberg.
But the fight for the 3rd was more interesting. Rizza outsprinted Day, Murray and Nardin here. Still Nardin can secure the point jersey today if he gets a high finish on terrain that normally suits him.
First KoM and Hamza takes 10! points, which give him the lead as Burlutsky is not going for the remaining 6 points...
3 Gazelle helpers roll over the line first there.
2nd sprint and this time Nardin wins the peloton fight to extend his lead a bit.
Camano and Niyonshuti attack with 39km to go with a 3'20 gap to the breakaway.
As 15. and 19. in the GC they might hope to improve a bit but are not really a danger for the top riders.
No chance for both of them as they got caught soon after.
But here is the next attack. Krasnilikau moved into 13th position after his long breakaway two days ago. And so he hopes to enter the top 10 with another attack.
But again, no chance for attackers as Gazelle is doing a high pace.
Within 10km they gained almost 3min on the breakaway which is soon to be caught. (The narrow roads were just on this short piece here. I watched the replay a few times and can guarantee that there were no splits, blocked attacks or anything like this.)
Just under the KoM the Gazelle train catches the breakaway. A fully exhausted Hamza in 2nd here takes a few more points, but already after the first KoM sprint he secured the KoM lead due to Burlutsky`s ignorance.
Weening in 3rd and Ngue in 4th might prepare an attack eventually?
An attack indeed. But it`s Wang to initiate it with several riders to follow: Weening Ngue Abrekov Frend
But once again they were caught again as FC Barcelona was chasing hard behind.
12,5km to go and we reach the last hilly section. Ngue with another try. As 4th in the GC with +1'56 you mustn`t underestimate him.
Nieve comes to the front to chase as Ngue already got a 24s gap.
Tough time now as Gazelle stopped the chasing due to the pretty big advantage. And Nieve has no strong teammates here to help him. Plus Armavia is not careing about their GC danger.
Now they are. Tamayo Martinez attacks with strangely Minnard behind him instead of Weening or Nardin.
Also behind: Frend Ibarguren Chacon
Sure the better placed riders couldn`t let those go and follow: Martinez Joeaar Nieve Weening
Ospina and Torckler follow a bit behind to save their GC spots.
So who of the top 10 is missing here?
It`s Nardin and Wang only.
And unfortunate for them the peloton did slow down a bit, so they might lose a bit today, if they don`t attack soon.
4km to go and Ngue has a nice gap. And he really fights for the podium here.
Behind just one rider did attack to chase him solo. It`s Minnard, who seems to get some freedom today as his GC is not that dangerous.
Joeaar leads out the group sprint with Martinez behind. Due to his consistent point collecting on the sprint stages last mentioned has good chances to overtake Nardin as the Brazilian is not here.
Huge win for Ngue. He celebrates a brilliant solo win which might move him on the podium.
Already 31s behind Minnard with a good result for himself and another good result for Gazelle.
Yasmani Martinez continues to sprint strong and wins the fight for the 3rd and will also take the point ranking!
Seeing the time gap of 53s it`s obvious that Weening will win the overall.
But due to his coup today Ngue will climb up to 2nd with Nieve moving on the 3rd and Tamayo Martinez losing the podium AND the youth competition to Ngue.
Due to the gap to the peloton Chacon moves into the top10 as 9th, which compensates Iberia`s bad luck in this race a bit.
He overtakes Nardin, who falls back to 10th and Wang (11th) as they lose almost 3min here.
