Final stage in the Giro di Padania and it`s another very interesting one.
An early Cat.1 climb might decide the KoM competition with a smaller Cat.3 following.
And then it`s going down to the final circuit with a hard climb there, which might lead to selections as the pure sprinters might struggle there.
Sprinters like De Ketele, Stevic or even GC`s 2nd Sabido might have a good shot there.
5 riders in todays break and just like on the other days we should see a battle for the KoM jersey.
GC wise not the biggest danger, but in especially Wurf could win the KoM competition as he is only 16 points behind with 22 points given today.
Don`t mix todays Pulido with the one, that did an awesome job jesterday. He`s he is the other, but still a decent climber.
The Cat.1 is pretty contested between 3 riders, but in the end Wurf was the strongest and equals with Matzbacher and Tarqui.
Pulido takes the first 12 points ahead of Pardini, Banos Ballester and Sakellaridis.
4 more points are given to the next rider and so Matzbacher/Tarqui could get the lead back.
But even though Matzbacher is in a very good position, he seems to have no ambitions to defend the jersey. In ~10th position he passes the line.
But another rider did attack to collect the points. It`s Fuji`s Chu, who for some reason wanted them. He will be back in the peloton on the descent though.
Pulido takes the sprint ahead of Wurf and Pardini but as all of them are far outside in the GC, they have no ambitions. Neither here nor on the other sprints.
They just want to win todays stage and need to save their energy.
At least at the sprints I guess. The KoM is still contested and Wurf takes also this one here which moves him into the lead and as there are no more points given, he will win the KoM competition of the Giro di Padania.
Pardini and Sakellaridis to come over the line next.
Kalev and Miche come to the front with 90km to go and immediately start to reduce the gap from 7min to less than 6min in 5km.
Miche once again with a weird decision here as Borghesi has to do the work. But eventually they don`t expect him to make it over the hills, so he has to do the earlier work.
First lap on the circuit and we reach the climb. More than 11% here and not just for a few meters. So it`s a very tough climb and surely won`t help the sprinter teams.
70km -> 4'20
Banos Ballester leads the group over the 2nd climb. The gap is down to 2'40 with 43km to go. But we have one more lap to go and the breakaway really struggles.
3rd climb and the breakaway is almost caught. And we have some action this time.
No one else than Schoffmann (8.) initiates a GC attack. Bajadali (11.) and Bitew Shiferaw (15.) immediately follow.
This wasn`t expected to be honest, but now Borghesi`s early work does make more sense obviosly as the team wasn`t planning to ride for Sabatini after their 2 unsuccessful attempts.
Seeing an opportunity, more riders do attack.
Sabido (2.) and Bonnafond (5.).
Now it really becomes a great race as the riders try to improve their GC position even on the last, flat rated!!! stage.
Node4 came to the front to eventually get a 2nd stage win with Hawkins, but they don`t look that strong and also Dyadichkin does not have that much support here.
And so we see the man in yellow doing the work on his own with 15km to go. You don`t see that very often on a final stage.
All these attacks did also split the breakaway and it`s Banos Ballester leading solo now.
13km to and the following situation:
P (156)
<38>
Sabido
<31>
Schoffmann
<33>
Wurf
<24>
B.B
Bajadali
Bitew
Bonnafond
Pulido
Pardini
Good news for Dyadichkin as his teammate Tleubayev found his way to the front and is now chasing for him as the gaps really are dangerous as he is losing the lead right now.
Also Renev can still do some seconds on the front for him.
But it`s not fast enough for him. And so the race leader has to work on his own again.
3km for the first group with Bitew, Schoffmann, Wurf and Banos Ballester.
33s later Sabido, Bonnafond and Bajadali and another 46s later the peloton led by Dyadichkin. Huge gaps here but the peloton is surely the fastest group.
The groups in front look too much at each other for the stage win instead of fighting for every second. And that some sprinters are left in the peloton, who try to close the gap now doesn`t help neither.
We see Jules, Lovassy, De Ketele, Poulhies and Hawkins in a good position.
1km left and the group Sabido/Bonnafond is caught now with De Ketele going strong on the right.
Bad luck for this duo as their attempt looked good for a moment.
But there is still a group including the 8. in the GC ahead.
Bitew is leading out here. But he won`t care as he still hopes to improve his GC position. Schoffmann right behind with former breakaway riders Wurf and Banos Ballester.
300m left and Schoffmann comes around Bitew Shiferaw while the other two look too exhausted.
And the Austrian takes a huge win, which will give him 20s that will definitely move him up from 8. to 6. This might also help Miche, who surely had expected a stage win here. And if the sprinters don`t make it, the GC rider has to take case then.
Bitew Shiferaw as 2nd also moves up a bit while Banos Ballester takes a nice 3rd ahead of Wurf.
But did they also have a gap, that might move them up even more?
No. De Ketele with a huge sprint comes in 5th and might have saved Dyadichkin's overall lead. Or at least the podium riders Sabido/Matzbacher.
Kuzniak, Saeidi Tanha, Montiel, Frazer and Sabido to complete the top 10. All the sprinters in a good position struggled in the end and had no chance on this hard stage.
GC wise we only have the mentioned changes, while the KoM goes to Wurf and the U23 to Bakke.
Coldeportes at least get teh team ranking after disappointing in the individual GC.
