So with the riders arrayed at the start we are ready to tackle this rather tough 219km course. Just to remind you, there are 15 laps, each of them with two climbs. This gives a total of about 14.6km per lap. It is tough to know if this will end up with an attack that wins the day or if we will get a reduced bunch sprint.
The first attack of the day comes from Croatian neo-pro Luka Grubic. Not having to work for Ben Nasser all day would be a huge bonus for his team.
A huge list of riders are involved in the various attacks early on: David Chokheli Kristian Sbaragli Nikita Umerbekov Ulugbek Galiev Peter Pancake Maxim Burlutsky Daan Olivier Chan Jae Gang Nicolas Edet Tsgabu Gebremaryam Grmay Stefano Agostini Jens Keukeleire Souheil Khederi Phucong Sai-Udomsin Félix Emilio Besada Peter Williams Volodymyr Dzhus Yoshimitsu Hiratsuka Jerome Mainard Matic Strgar Alexandre Geniez Omar Fraile Amir Mustafa Rusli Yeison Delgado Sean De Bie
Of course not all of these riders will get away and after a whole 6 laps are completed we finally have our break of the day formed: Nicolas Edet Amir Mustafa Rusli Yeison Delgado Sean De Bie Souheil Khederi Omar Fraile
The rain was pouring as this group formed but it disappears soon after to reveal a huge number of teams working on the front: Meiji Volkswagen – Mapei Vespa Rothaus SRAM Cisco Alstom-RBC
The pace relaxes over the next couple of laps and as the 8th lap finishes there is a gap of 6’08”. SRAM is doing most of the work at this point to keep things under control.
They start to reduce the gap and with the 5th last lap starting the gap is at a very manageable 4’13”. Interestingly, everyone is still in the bunch. How much longer can that last?
There are now some interesting tactics from VolksWagen. Up front Delgado decides to sit on the back and his team come to the front of the bunch. They have clearly decided to try to set it up for their leader Flugel. With 50km remaining the gap is at 2’53”.
The gap continues to reduce with 38km remaining and it is down to 1’20”. With this chance to bridge across it was only a matter of time before someone decided to try their luck and the first one to do so is Jiao. Hatanaka follows hot on his wheel.
Just as this results in an increased pace there is a disaster for one of the big favourites of the day – Chris Froome comes off his bike!
There will be no waiting for anyone today and so Froome will not make it back. Perhaps wisely his team now decide to concentrate on Dowsett. The reason that Froome won’t be getting back is the sudden injection of pace to chase down these latest two attackers. Preidler and Bochman are the two on the front pushing things on, and they succeed in bringing back the two attackers.
In the break things start to break up a bit as De Bie and Delgado are dropped. However, they manage to get back and, curiously they lead the first big attack from the breakaway, along with Khederi and Rusli. The gap is at just 55”.
De Bie shows that he wasn’t faking it when he was dropped earlier as once again he falls off the pace and so we find ourselves with three leaders.
But that’s not what people are focussing on as back in the pack some of the outside names put in an effort – Cataldo and Schreurs.
But these two don’t get a particularly large lead and this means that Zaini and Hatanaka get the opportunity to put in a double-team attack on them. They go right past and attack up to the remnants of the break!
In fact Zaini isn’t just content with that and he attacks away from the break. As the second last lap starts, with about 29km to go, he has a lead of 33 seconds. The rain has started to fall heavily once again – will it claim any other victims in crashes?
Cisco are now doing much of the work on the front and it is Taborre who brings back Zaini and everyone else who is in front of the peloton so far. So it looks like the winner will come from this group.
The bunch hits the longer climb, the fourth last climb of the day. It is here that Roy decides to launch an attack away from the others.
Roy goes over the top of the climb solo and descends really well in order to extend his gap to 50 seconds over the chasing pack at the start of the smaller climb in this lap. Only three climbs separate him from the finish line.
The bunch hit this same climb and almost straight away Flugel decides that he will launch his attack. Be Nasser tries to follow him but can’t manage it – the German is just too strong.
Flugel manages to bridge up to Roy and as the final lap starts they have a lead of 43 seconds. Time is running out for the bunch, which is now down to 59 riders. Some of the most notable names missing here are: Schurter Kump Konte Gerrans
The British champion Dowsett launches an attack to try to bridge across on the first, longer, climb. In reaction to this Efimkin himself hits the front and tries to pull things together again.
Dowsett gets across to our two leaders prepares to increase the pace by launching another attack. Both of the others follow him. The gap is now at 27 seconds – will this be brought back?
Roy decides to go solo with 11.5km remaining, just before the descent down to the final climb. Will he be able to descend as well as he did last time he attacked alone?
Some riders try to get a gap before the summit. Schreurs leads Zaini and Ben Nasser in an effort. Wegmann and Efimkin are pacing the bunch behind them.
These three can’t get a gap and with 10km to go the situation is this:
15”
16”
31”
Roy
--->
Flugel / Dowsett
--->
Peloton (57)
On the descent Zaini decides that he will try once again. He is a fantastic descender and so it is no surprise that none of the other favourites want to go with him.
Zaini catches up to Flugel and Dowsett who are still maintaining a slim lead over the bunch as we hit the final climb. But what about Roy? Well he has extended his gap on the descent once again! With 6.5km remaining he has 36” on the chasing trio and another 12” on the bunch.
On this climb, in fact near the top of it with 5km remaining, Dowsett puts the hammer down and drops Zaini. The Italian has been very inconsistent today. He gets dragged into the bunch fairly quickly.
So over the top this is the new situation:
12”
20”
32”
Roy
--->
Flugel / Dowsett
--->
Peloton (53)
Roy’s gap has decreased again but he has been descending like a madman all day so he may be able to make up some time again towards the finishing line.
Not everything is going well for VolksWagen as their super domestique Kessler crashes out of the bunch, meaning that he won’t be able to contend the lower positions.
With the bunch down to about 50 riders now there is no chance for anyone to get organised on the front. So it may come down to whoever is near the front. Well placed are: Jiao Efimkin Wegmann Zaini Costa Anderson Schreurs Barrio Montaguti Geschke Cataldo Lloyd
The bunch go past Dowsett and Flugel, with Efimkin now leading the charge. Roy still has 27 seconds though!
As we hit the 1km to go banner Efimkin has narrowed the gap to Roy with Wegmann and Costa coming up right behind him.
With 700 metres remaining Roy still has the lead, though only just...
But with 500 metres to go he has to relinquish his lead to the fresher riders. Still, chapeau, sir. Wegmann comes past Efimkin as well with Costa trying to squeeze through.
It looks like Efimkin went too early and the other two go further past him. It looks like Wegmann vs Costa for the classic win today as we hit the 300 metre mark – who will come out on top?
And it is Rui Costa who takes a surprising but definitely deserved classic win here in Kazakhstan ahead of Wegmann.
Efimkin can at least console himself with the final podium place. Anderson is the best of the rest of the bunch, which gives Alstom some reward for Roy’s great ride today (he slips back to 24th himself). Bole wasn’t mentioned before the race but he grabs a great fifth place. Dowsett will have to settle for sixth. Visconti provides some reward to Oz for their multiple captain idea. Flugel once again disappoints with only eighth but you can’t say he didn’t try here. On the other hand Bono performed well above expectations for ninth. Finally Rocchetti rounds out the top ten.
