240km of pure climbing, this day is going to be brutal! Best weather here in Liechtenstein, so attention please for one of the toughest races in the ManGame!
Top-favorites are expected to be Cunego, Pluchkin, Machado or maybe Nibali.
5 riders managed to build a first breakaway group with the first climb being passed, already leading by more than five minutes with 215km to go:
Wyss Girardi Vermeltfoort Jelloul Russom
They were later joined by 3 more riders and now - we're already halfway through the race (115km to go) - this escaping group of 8 riders still leads by 6'50" on the peloton:
Jaramillo Maillet Pardilla
were those three to attack the bunch mid-race and joining the early escape quickly.
94km remaining and the peloton started to chase in the meantime. Milka, Festina and also Lotto share most of the work by now, the gap is down to less than 6 minutes.
The escaping group goes into pieces, with the mid-race-attackers dropping the early escapees now with 41km to go:
Pardilla, Jaramillo and Maillot remain in the lead, but the peloton (which went into pieces as well) is only 1'50" in arrears!
We're heading for the real action, it seems. Still about 40km to go, but the peloton is already reduced to 25 riders, with some notable names like Samwel, Costagli or Augustyn already being dropped!
It's a tough pace now and the top-favorites already show themselves at the very front of the bunch. Denifl is the first of the more promising riders to attack here!
It's an empty-handed try though. But at least the move makes for an even higher pace and the group of favorites is now down to 17 riders and also close before catching up to the three remaining escapees..
And with 30km remaining (one climb of the loop plus the finish climb) the three escapees are caught by the group of top-favorites. Time to have a look at who's still in the mix (17 riders):
Pluchkin Cunego, Moschella Machado Nibali COntador Tenorio Úran, Kulhavy Velits, Gesink Denifl Intxausti Van den Broeck Kohl Eastman Pedraza
So real surprise, even though some other riders might have hoped to be still in the race at this point..
Second to last climb (26km to go) and the first top-favorites make their moves! Is it a crucial or just a first sign of strength?
Machado goes first, with Nibali and also Contador trying to follow!
No chance for Machado to create a gap, but at least the higher pace makes for another split in the leading group, which is down to 9 riders now! Who's been dropped?
7 riders couldn't follow the very best, already facing a minutes-gap with still 23km remaining:
Van den Broeck Denifl Gesink Kulhavy (1.04 behind the leading group)
Eastman Pedraza Kohl (already 2.42 in arrears)
So three of the bottom-teams (Puma, Project, Pendelton's) are still close together in this dropped groups, but Project still has Velits in the leading group!
Next in line to be dropped, 5 riders (21km before finish), let's have a look at the overall situation now with only the finish climb ahead:
E1/ Cunego, Machado, Pluckin, Nibali
E2/ Tenorio, Contador at 0.22
E3/ Úran at 0.42
E4/ Intxausti, Velits at 0.53
E5/ Gesink, Van den Broeck, Denifl at 1.24
E6/ Kulhavy at 1.39
E7/ Eastman, Kohl, Pedraza at 3.08
So it looks like we're going to see a battle between those four in the new leading group, as the two Spaniards behind are likely to lose more time soon..
The last tricky descent makes for a maybe crucial move: Cunego went all-or-nothing there and managed to drop his three companions!
The Italian enters the final 17km with a 15"-gap on group Nibali/Machado/Pluchkin and already 56" on the second chasing group Conta/Tenorio/Úran!
And here we are on the final climb, featuring brutal slopes, but sceneric views..
The first chasing group keeps fighting, but continues to lose time on Cunego, who's already 51" in the lead with now only 6km to go!
The fans go crazy, as the Italy's Road Champion climbs towards a prestigious win.. 3km to go, still 55" for Cunego..
It's more an elimination race now, as also the chasing group goes into pieces without any real attack:
Machado "diesels" and drops both Nibali and Pluchkin, quickly establishing a 30"-gap, but still facing a huge gap on solo-leading Cunego!
Less than 2km to go and it's more and more certain, that there's only be one deserved winner today:
Cunego
Machado at 1.14
Pluchkin Nibali at 1.40
Contador at 3.08
And yes, Damiano Cunego takes it! A dominating performance, dropping names like Pluchkin or Machado 17km before finish and keeping an impressive pace til the end!
Tiago Machado comes in as 2nd, losing 1'22" on Cunego. Definitely a good result for Pearl Adidas, given that Cunego was a class of his own today.
Pluchkin edges Nibali for 3rd place! He might have hoped for more, but it's still well needed points for B&O.
Last year's third Contador completes the Top-5, 3'46" behind Cunego, ahead of Uran, Tenorio, Velits and Intxausti!
Completing the Top-10 is Van den Broeck, 7'20" behind Cunego. He finishes ahead of Gesink (12th) and Kohl (14th), but B&O (Pluchkin) and Project 1t4i (Velits 8th, Gesink) did quite well today. So from the bottom-teams, Pendelton's may be today's biggest loser.
On other news, only 107 riders finished the race, so half of the peloton couldn't stay within the time limit. Definitely a tough day in the Alps.
Final Results/
1
Damiano Cunego
Lotto - Cervelo
8h45'36
2
Tiago Machado
Pearl Adidas
+ 1'22
3
Aleksandr Pluchkin
Team B&O
+ 2'10
4
Vincenzo Nibali
UBS - BMC
+ 2'17
5
Alberto Contador
Festina-Canal+
+ 3'46
6
Rigoberto Úran
Milka - AVG
+ 4'03
7
Justo Tenorio
Santander
s.t.
8
Peter Velits
Project 1t4i
+ 5'19
9
Beñat Intxausti
Team Bacardi
+ 6'01
10
Jurgen Van den Broeck
Team Puma - SAP
+ 7'20
11
Stefan Denifl
Wikipedia
+ 7'44
12
Robert Gesink
Project 1t4i
+ 7'58
13
Jaroslav Kulhavy
Milka - AVG
+ 8'17
14
Bernhard Kohl
Pendleton's
+ 10'20
15
Ryan Eastman
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
+ 10'47
16
Walter Pedraza
Koenigsegg
+ 10'56
17
Artemio Moschella
Lotto - Cervelo
+ 14'34
18
Hubert Schwab
Team Puma - SAP
+ 20'40
19
Paolo Scarponi
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
+ 21'20
20
Teodoro Costagli
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
+ 21'47
21
John-Lee Augustyn
Aker - MOT
+ 21'58
22
Petar Panayotov
Pearl Adidas
s.t.
23
Konstantin Siutsou
Pendleton's
+ 24'27
24
Matthias Frank
UBS - BMC
+ 24'42
25
Dmitri Medvedev
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
26
Matea Kvasina
Vesuvio - Accumalux
+ 25'29
27
Thomas Faiers
Pendleton's
+ 26'25
28
Dominique Nerz
Team Puma - SAP
+ 26'36
29
Mwangi Samwel
Vesuvio - Accumalux
+ 27'09
30
Remberto Jaramillo
Aker - MOT
+ 27'50
31
Tyler Brandt
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
+ 28'02
32
Tanel Kangert
Pearl Adidas
+ 28'33
33
Sergio Pardilla
Team Bacardi
+ 28'59
34
Daniel Navarro
Team Bacardi
+ 29'08
35
Moises Dueñas
Lotto - Cervelo
s.t.
36
Jocelin Maillet
Pearl Adidas
+ 29'27
37
Chris Anker Sørensen
Festina-Canal+
+ 29'39
38
Arnold Jeannesson
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
+ 30'14
39
Christoph Mai
Wikipedia
+ 30'36
40
Wout Poels
Project 1t4i
+ 30'49
41
Jackson RodrÃguez
Pearl Adidas
+ 31'02
42
Thibaut Pinot
Wikipedia
+ 31'23
43
Christophe Kern
Pokerstars.com
+ 31'33
44
David Claerebout
Vesuvio - Accumalux
+ 32'30
45
Matthieu Sprick
Wikipedia
+ 32'38
46
Leopold König
Milka - AVG
+ 33'07
47
Tim Dees
Festina-Canal+
+ 33'33
48
Pierre Rolland
Festina-Canal+
+ 33'41
49
Andrew Talansky
Wikipedia
+ 33'50
50
Juan Carlos Rienda Segura
Santander
s.t.
51
Max Öste-Macdonald
Koenigsegg
+ 34'08
52
Philip Deignan
Pendleton's
+ 34'53
53
Johann Tschopp
UBS - BMC
s.t.
54
Mattia Pozzo
Team Puma - SAP
+ 35'08
55
Jude Libert
Lotto - Cervelo
+ 36'05
56
Abolfazl Gilanipoor
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
