What a stage! 7 mountain sprints and 5 of those are nothing less than Cat.1!
In especially the last third can and probably will hurt a lot of riders.
But not only the profile. Also the situation makes it very exciting as several quality climbers have already lost time in the hills.
In especially you must name Cattaneo and Dombrowski of course, who belong to the best climbers.
Other riders like Kennaugh, Bennett or Kirsch are already placed pretty well and have an advantage of course.
Right from the start it went uphill and some riders created a gap at the Cat.3 sprint. Hadi, Nel and Paulus are the first on top with Bystrom, Kinoshita and Bazhkou following.
But some are then waiting for the peloton while others go ahead.
In the end we have a group of 4 riders forming the breakaway. Nel Hadi Bazhkou Bystrom
Best placed of those is Bazhkou as 46. and 6'47 down.
HTC for young Aussie Morton and Puma for their race leader Vogt or eventually their climber Bongiorno are doing the pace. Still nothing that fast of course as all teams know how hard this stage will become towards the end.
The breakaway is now ahead of the first really hard climb and already created a 6min gap. But with 135km to go and with that profile nothing too dangerous though.
The 4 riders of course know that today can decide about the KoM jersey with so many climbs. So all of them try to get those.
In the end the order is Nel, Hadi, Bazhkou and Bystrom.
Out of the peloton we see Manfredi, Kinoshita and Paulus taking the last points.
KoM leader Aleksiev btw. didn`t try even though he was in 2nd position as Alstom is doing the pace at the moment for Warren Barguil.
Crash then in the peloton. It`s Ziesler, who is having a nice ride so far as 8th in the GC.
Also we have the first dropped riders including Rick Zabel in this bigger one. Also unlucky Ziesler is in here now trying to find contact again.
Even in a later group are yesterdays winner Bennett and Petit.
Some riders really need to be careful as the profile looks like one that could disqualify some riders.
Oz and Volkswagen take over now. Something they have also done in most sprinter stages, which of course isn`t ideal for those two teams. But with 110km and a 8min gap it`s time I guess.
One rider is actually in between those groups as Antunes did attack in the descent. Being a decent climber he surely was looking at the GC at first but now being already 6'58 down he is probably aiming for a stage win instead.
On top it`s Nel taking the points with Hadi and Bystrom coming next. Bazhkou 4th and Antunes 5th are obvious. But Manfredi in 6th once again shows his ambitions for the KoM jersey. Pheland as Oz helper taking the last points.
65km left and we are on the long descent before the small Cat.4 bump, whne Antunes joins the breakaway making it 5 riders now having a 5min gap.
The peloton is down to 102 riders and some riders are in those later groups that are actually decent climbers.
We have Pereyra for example, who surely as supposed to help Kirsch a bit longer.
Also Stancu or Hasta could have been expected to stay in the peloton a bit longer.
On the other hand you never know. In such a huge field you are quickly dropped even though you were just behind the first third.
Antunes is without any question the strongest climber and so he is taking this Cat.4 easily. Bystrom and Bazhkou are the next.
Volkswagen has the topfavourite for this race after Cattaneo and Dombrowski lost time. He also needs to gain that time as he will lose a bit again in the time trial.
So they took over and highered the pace. Still the gap stays freeze at the moment at 4min as Antunes is doing a great job in front.
It had to happen at some time. And now with 40km to go Antunes accelerated and is gone. Only Bystrom is trying to follow while all others are dropped.
But the gap also to Bystrom is already quite big on top. So he also takes this mountain. Bystrom, Hadi, Bazhkou, Nel as next.
Look at those last two mountains. The first one is pretty equal for the full climb. 8-10%.
The second and final one might start a bit easier but the final is horrible for all those sprinters. More than 20% on the last kilometer!
Any climber in a bad position there can lose tons of time.
Romain Bardet crashed and is behind the group now in a 4 rider field including also Van der Lijke. Still possible to come back of course.
Lonely Antunes takes the next Cat.1 of course as well and is more and more the next KoM leader.
Almost 6min !!! to the peloton now and this means almost the virtual lead for him!
Slowly the peloton must wake up as just the descent and final climb is ahead of him.
First attacks out of the peloton already before the top. Morton and Kennaugh. That`s actually more than a normal attack as both belong to the well placed after the hills.
But no chance for them as Bennett himself is bringing them back.
This obviously highered the pace and so the peloton is down to 65 riders before the final climb with more or less all better climbers being in there alongside the better puncheurs including all crashers today.
Oz seems to have the situation under control as we see at least 3 helpers there next to Bennett. But we also see race leader Vogt still doing well in the first rows.
5km mark and with still 5min ahead of the peloton the stage win becomes more and more probable.
Attack by the leader team. But it`s not Vogt. Neither is it Bongiorno.
It`s surprisingly Kelderman followed by Koretzky and Barguil.
Also due to vesuvio waking up sending Skujins to the front they are caught. But immediately Grmay attacks and we are only 3,3km ahead of the finish with Antunes still having 2km.
Flamme Rouge for the Portuguese and the stage win is almost secured. One and probably the hardest kilometer then again is still ahead.
Also Flamme Rouge for the peloton now and some riders have created a small gap: Grmay Bennett Kirsch Kennaugh Morton
More or less expected riders even though experts had expected Cattaneo or Dombrowski to be within those.
Well. Let`s shortly ignore the action behind and celebrate Antunes, who did a tremendous ride today and wins the queen stage well deserved. What a solo ride he showed us today. First to join the breakaway and then to ride towards the finish solo on the last 40km.
He won`t make a too big jump GC wise. Maybe top20 but more important eventually the KoM jersey.
Going around the last corner we face the 20% section. Kirsch, Kennaugh and Bennett look the strongest as they are the next to come.
Morton and Grmay struggle a bit but behind them it`s Cattaneo already. After missing that attacking move he shows that he is by far stronger than the rest and is the first to follow.
Behind him still so many riders. We see most GC riders in the first part of course as also the yellow jersey of Vogt, who shows a huge ride today.
In the middle we have some less riders and the end of this group again has some GC riders such as Arndt, Olivier, Bongiorno, Bardet, Campero or Dombrowski.
Kennaugh takes the 2nd ahead of Bennett. So important bonus seconds , while the 3rd rider in that group, Kirsch is losing a little bit this way.
Still the winners of todays stage.
Also winners are Morton and Grmay as they had obviously good legs today to come in 5th and 6th but already 18s behind the trio.
Cattaneo one of todays losers as he loses another 16s.
Reis comes in next another 11s later with the first bigger group coming in almost a minute behind the trio. Including that group we have race leader Vogt, who will surprisingly stay in the lead. Also Mat Senan, Dombrowski, Shikai, Elissonde, Wellens, Campero in this group.
~40s later the next group with some of the biggest losers today such as Olivier or Bongiorno.
And last but not least. All sprinters and helpers made it to the finish in time and can continue the race with tomorrows mountain stage.
Result
Again Avenir didn`t export the results, so only as pictures.
Antunes did attack in the descent. Being a decent climber he surely was looking at the GC at first but now being already 6'58 down he is probably aiming for a stage win instead.
