After two mountain stages with almost no selection, the Vuelta al Tachira is now heading for it's two queen-stages: the first one, 131km in total, will feature the maybe toughest mountain-top-finish.
It's similar steep like tomorrow's MTF and as race-leader Maillet still holds on to a decent gap, it's definitely time for the GC-contenders to try something more serious today!
With the first major splits in the peloton on the past few days, breakaways now are allowed for bigger gaps early into a stage - 5 riders went clear right from start and build up a 3'20"-gap with still 114km to go:
Scarponi, Bajadali, Lloyd, Yemane, Terciado!
Lloyd with another attempt after his huge solo-win in yesterday's stage, plus the chance to go for the KoM-lead (if the group will succeed).. also Terciado, Bajadali (runner-up in 5th stage) and Terciado have been seen in breakaways before! Those escapees would also battle out today's first Intermediate sprint halfway through the race, that we can already say:
Sprint #1
Bajadali
Yemane
Terciado
We already jump into the second half of the race, 43km remaining. The leading group is now to enter the first climb and we see attacks back in the bunch:
Feillu (GC + 5.56), who's already won a stage here, gives it another go and launches his move!
The Frenchman was quickly followed by three more riders, with two of them easily overtaking him 36km before finish:
Efimkin and Ndbri! Efimkin (GC's 21st) continues to go for earlier attempts and Ndbri may just go and support team-captain Samwel later on.
Also on the move is Beccerra, who joins Feillu trying to catch up to the duo.. the early escapees lead by 1'50" on Efimkin/Ndbri.
But it's a short-lived attempt, as the peloton - led by Puma - pulls all four attackers back 30km before finish. Efimkin obivously as a too dangerous rider for a rather early breakaway.
The attacking keeps going a few kilometres later though: after Morton launched an empty-handed move a few moments before, we see one of the big guns on the attack!
Kashechkin (GC's 18th) goes with 25km remaining! Also Feillu looks like he would try again. The early break's lead is down to 1'24" in the meantime.
The escaping group reaches the first KoM-sprint (21km to finish) more than a minute ahead of the bunch though. That's definitely what Lloyd was hoping for and he grabs 6 points for the provisional KoM-lead.
KoM #1 (Cat3)
Lloyd
Terciado
Scarponi
The Aussie also establishes a small gap on his breakaway companions.. will we see him repeating his move from yesterday?
1'30" later, Kashechkin is swallowed by the bunch, but the next favorite attacks: Berhane (GC's 14th) tries to solo away from the peloton!
Maybe not the best moment to do so, as it's a last flat sector before the final ascent. Berhane is reeled in by the bunch, where La Vie takes over the pace and looks in control so far.. the early escapees hold on to a minutes-gap though.
And here goes Lloyd again! He couldn't create a bigger gap so far and launches another move, followed by Bajadali this time!
The two managed to drop their former breakaway companions, but 10km before finish, the bunch is now only 30" in arrears. And today's biggest difficulties are yet to come!
And this is the mark, where the next GC-contenders try to attack:
Niyonshuti and Nerz on the move!
Maillet though tries to counter immediately.. it's still more than 9km to go.
The race-leader bridges the gap to the attacking duo quickly and those three are soon to catch up to Lloyd/Bajadali as well!
8km remaining and group Nerz/Maillet easily dropped Lloyd/Bajadali in the meantime.. Nerz with another acceleration. The German looks motivated after not being rewarded with a gap on the pack in yesterday's finish.
16" behind, Lloyd/Bajadali are joined by Berhane, who attacked the bunch a few moments before.. some more GC-favorites seem to keep a higher pace up now!
Berhane catches up to Maillet/Niyonshuti 6.4km before finish, as Nerz managed to open up a 18"-gap on those three!
The bunch (still 141 riders) is another 18" in arrears, with no more serious attack yet though.
There's a last Intermediate sprint 5km before finish, which is taken by Nerz. In such a close GC-fight (at least for the Top-10), any bonus second may become valuable:
Sprint #2
Nerz
Maillet
Berhane
So also Maillet grabbed 4 seconds, but the peloton managed to pull this chasing trio back in the meantime. It's Nerz versus a still packed bunch now - 20" advantage for the German.
But the couldn't really establish a bigger gap and 4.5km before finish, 4 more GC-contenders attack the bunch, catching up to Nerz quickly:
Nerz Nazaret Pedraza Ochoa Quintero Maillet
enter the final 4.5km with a 23"-gap on the peloton. A close race again. And Maillet keeps shadowing his biggest opponents, countering the most serious attacks.
We do have some selection this time though: Nazaret and Pedraza open up a 12"-gap on this group of favorites.
Samwel joined group Nerz/Maillet in the meantime, with the bunch being another 17" behind.. 3.9km to go.
2.5km to go and the duo holds on to a gap, even though it ain't yet enough to really attack the race-leader:
E1/ Nazaret, Pedraza
E2/ Ochoa Quintero, Nerz, Maillet, Samwel at 0.19
P/ 114 riders including all other GC-favorites at 0.38
Group Nerz/Maillet is swallowed by the still huge peloton 1.2km before finish! The leading duo maintains a 25"-gap, which ain't exactly putting pressure on race-leader Maillet, who's trying to launch another move now!
Same goes for Kashechkin and also Da la Fuente looks like he would try something!
As well as Ochoa Quintero, who's the one who tries to jump behind Kasheckin, who managed to establish a clear gap on the bunch!
Maillet and GC's 2nd De la Fuente keep shadowing each other and sit behind Quintero's wheel while entering the final km!
700metres remaining and Kashechkin catches up to the leading duo Pedraza/Nazaret!
The other attackers couldn't yet create a gap on the bunch and they are 28" in arrears for now.
300metres to go and it appears more and more like a fight between Nazaret, Pedraza and Kashechkin, as the bunch is still 24" behind! Nazaret takes the lead as the sprint for the line honours kicked off!
A few metres behind those three, we see some more late attacks, with Marzano establishing a small gap on the bunch of GC-contenders!
Also Panayotov laucnhes a move, while some big favorites like Eastman or Nerz are boxed in (without even trying to attack) or not to be seen at the front (like Berhane or Samwel)..
Nazaret sprints for the win! The Brazilian kicked with a perfect timing and takes out stage eight ahead of Kashechkin and Pedraza! There's still a clear gap behind this trio, so even though we haven't seen a selective stage, they at least gained some time on GC-leader Maillet.
Same goes for the late attacking Marzano and Panaytov, who complete the Top-5 by finishing 24" behind Nazaret but establishing a gap on the bunch.
Where 36 riders finish 36" behind the leading three.. a quite disappointing stage, but Maillet won't really care, as he finishes safely within this bigger group to limit his losses. Same goes for De la Fuente and Brandt, who defended their Top-3 in GC today.
All other GC-contenders and favorites in this group, too. Though the question remains, why top-favorites like Eastman did not even try to attack Maillet. Others (Berhane, Nerz, Quintero) did, but failed.
So.. today's biggest news: Lloyd takes the KoM-lead, Nazaret the stage to jump onto GC'S 4th.. Puma's Heider stays in Top-5 and the top-favorite did not really put pressure on Maillet. Which they should do on today's final mountain stage though!
