A last view on the profile before the race starts. Lots of hills and a difficult final. Surely a great puncheur race, who have a nice kick on the way up in the end.
As usual some riders try to surprise the favourites with a long break. 226km though will be tough to stay ahead. That said some of those here surely are tactical options for some puncheurs.
In especially the duo Eyob and Zordan could helps Dowsett/Monfort later today. Njoroge Portela Watson are the other three. So at least one CT team is already showing their jersey.
Oz Cycling (Gerrans, Scully), RBC (Warbasse), Quickstep (Blazquez, Barbas) and Swedbank (Blikra, Eltink) and Venchi (Kaisen) are working at the front early on. The pace though is not very high and the breakaway quickly has a 4min gap.
Leader down! Bilbao has a chance to ride on his own here but hits the ground now. He quickly gets up again. But the question is if he is injured or only shocked for a moment. We will probably see later.
At least he is back in the peloton after just a moment. Bagdonas, Turek and Kocjan immediately waited for him and bring him back.
140km and the gap goes over 8min. Time for some teams to accelerate and slowly bring the breakaway back.
Swedbank, Quickstep and Oz Cycling are the three teams to do so.
We have reached the more difficult final part. Now your legs must be good or you have no chance.
Oz, Quickstep and RBC are the most dominant teams at the front now and with 55km left the gap is down to 2'30. Your can even see them in the far background already.
The first riders even can`t follow already and so a group of a bit over 20 is dropped. No favourites though.
Going up towards the highest point of todays stage the riders also hit the steepest part. Fans from all over the World came here to support their favourites.
But first it`s the breakaway being here. 2min left of their former 8min gap and still 44km to go.
Similar area, just a tiny bit later and we have the first serious attacks. Mandri Bobridge Craven Hatanaka Skujins Bellis
But no chance as Quickstep is immediately bringing them back. With Serry, Armee and Blazquez the support for Froome obviously is very good.
But immediately the next attacks. This time initiated by Monfort followed by Mandri Bellis Bobridge Froome
The top favourite going this is probably a move you don`t want to miss. So many more attack. Craven Skujins
And also Gautier Mendes Dowsett
So slowly the very best have attacked and not many riders are behind.
Realizing this also some of the last remaining follow: Bilbao Hatanaka McEvoy Hoogerland Wyss
So Bilbao looks still solid after his crash and luckily does not seem to be injured.
Repsol Cativen probably one of those teams, who did not attack. So they higher the pace behind trying to bring them back. Their leader here Kiserlovski might not be the best puncheur and is more a climber/stage racer but his skills on the shorter hills is not too bad. So a fair chance for him to score them a few points when bringing the group back though.
Also still in the peloton are Efimkin, who at least has a team mate ahead. Passalacqua Barredo...
The group of 15 late attackers fusioned and have a 41s gap to the peloton. Still 1'12 behind the breakaway. 33km to go and 3 more hills.
Bad news for Haas, who was obviously dropped from the peloton and trying to come back now.
On top of the last hill on the high terrain here, Repsol seems to have caught the group. But the first riders here are still quite a bit ahead.
And actually it`s Kiserlovski himself doing the work to bring them back.
Hatanaka looks very strong today and is the first to realize this. So he accelerates another time pulling most riders with him.
This leads to a 14 rider group still ahead of the peloton. Only Bilbao in last position was caught and finds himself behind now.
So is he injured now or not? Hard to say.
After the first part of the long descent a short uphill section again and with the work of Bilbao and Repsol the 14 riders are caught and this time completely.
All this moves also lowered the gap to the real breakaway. 1'22 only are left with 27km to go.
Also a group of decent puncheurs is no longer able to follow. Surprising names here are: Barredo, where the team now has to hope for the duo Busche/Devolder and Chaabane.
Back in the peloton though is Haas.
The breakaway is also no longer working very well together and so we have the first attack. It`s the strongest puncheur Portela.
The combined work of the favourite teams behind made it hard for them to survive and so the first three are caught.
Only Portela and a bit behind also Zordan have a small gap.
In the Tour Down Under, Froome waited until the final climb. Here he already attacks on the first of two passings. Behind him Craven.
Immediately they joined Portela in front and more favourites followed.
First are Skujins and Gautier but also Mendes, finally Efimkin, who was able to save energy so far, Bellis, Mandri, Hoogerland, Dowsett, Hatanaka, Kiserlovski and Bilbao follow.
So actually more or less all favourites are being pulled by those attacks.
Who is this French Champion and what has he done with Gautier?
He is just so different in comparison to last season.
He easily goes past Froome and takes the lead here with Craven behind him.
Froome not looking too well here as he can`t follow the others on that climb. Or is he just playing?
The actual order with all riders solo and ~10s gaps in between is: Gautier Craven Bellis Mandri Dowsett Hatanaka
Peloton (Kiserlovski, Froome, Skujins, Efimkin…)
Amazing performance by Mandri and Hatanaka has to be mentioned. Both are not the strongest puncheurs but are within all those attacks so far.
Gautier Craven Bellis are the first three to go on the descent again. A very strong trio and already having 26s to the next! The climb really proved to be crucial.
Behind them another trio: Mandri Dowsett Hatanaka.
Another 30s behind a solo rider with Kiserlovski.
A group of 11 riders chase those 7 another 30s later. So 1'34 in total to the leading trio. Hoogerland Mendes Bilbao Efimkin Skujins Proni Kinoshita Soler Haas Froome Portela
Swedbank with two riders obviously doing most of the work here, while Meiji with also two riders not doing anything with Hatanaka in front. Also Proni not doing anything as he even has 2 team mates in front. Incredible performance by the La Vie Claire squad today.
Missing here are 2-3 very good puncheurs: Bobridge Monfort
as also riders such as McEvoy Passalacqua
The valley is reached and soon it`s going on the last 3 uphill kilometers. Still the trio in front with the 2nd trio behind. Gaps though got a bit smaller being ~25s now.
The Dowsett group realizes that only an early sprint/attack will work to fight for the win. So they are accelerating once more with 3,3km to go.
From behind Froome is attacking slowly closing the gap. Also Kiserlovski with a strong performance still in between.
Ignore the lapped Scarponi on the left. But don`t ignore Froome coming fast from behind! He already passed Kiserlovski, who got support by Skujins now. Also Kinoshita jumped out of the next group going for a top10 here.
All groups in front fusion. But that must have had cost a lot of energy. In especially this huge ride by Froome. But then again he is a beast and is eventually still having reserves to win the race?
The former front trio obviously saved the most as all three attack. Actually Gautier started and Bellis and Craven follow.
Gautier immediately opens a gap.
Hatanaka, Dowsett and Froome also going out of the saddle now and this is too much for Mandri, who can`t follow.
A bit behind Skujins and Kiserlovski try to come back as well. But the Flamme Rouge is already reached for the front and the gap still notable.
What a performance by Gautier. So different to last season and Bpost surely considering now what they did wrong with him.
Froome going past Dowsett and a very strong Hatanaka now. But the podium is already a bit ahead and might be gone for the top favourite.
One last move to the further back. Bobridge at least made it to the favourites group with Bilbao, Mendes, Efimkin etc. while Monfort is a bit further behind with Wyss, Wurf and Portela. Both obviously missed the right move and have to pay for it now.
But back to the more interesting fight for the top5.
Gautier with a nice gap on the last meters ahead of Bellis and Craven fighting for the 2nd.
Froome seems to be the strongest for 4th and might even has chances to jump to the two ahead. And then Hatanaka against Dowsett for the next positions it seems.
Totally exhausted Gautier can`t even celebrate. He is just crossing the line knowing that he won the race. What a result by him and lucky La Vie Claire to have him signed for 2014.
Bellis outsprints Craven for 2nd and celebrates a nice result for RBC while also the Namibian can be very happy with a podium here.
Behind them Froome takes a bit disappointing 4th only but showed a great fighting spirit in the end jumping from group to group to make it back to the better places.
And one surprise of the race surely is Hatanaka who holds on to 5th here ahead of Dowsett, who couldn`t pass him.
Another surprise is Mandri, who finishes as 7th just 45s behind his teammate Gautier. So a very strong team result and after already surprisingly well performances this season, the team slowly becomes a good outside bet for promotion.
Skujins outsprints Kiserlovski for 8th and at least takes a decent result home for Swedgbank. Repsol probably very happy with a top10 here seeing some stronger puncheurs still on the road.
The fight for 10th needed a photo finish. And in the end another Meiji rider takes it with Kinoshita. 11th for Bobridge only, who can`t be that happy. Then again he came from far behind and still was able to get a half decent result in the end beating a lot of other puncheurs. Meiji though with 2 riders ahead of their actual leader Efimkin which is good to see for the team, that they can nicely score even with their leader out of form.
Bilbao wins the sprint for 12th and takes an okay result for him. In especially after the crash of course. Monfort and Efimkin behind a bit disappointing but in case of Meiji a great team result.
Proni as 15th also the 3rd La Vie Claire rider already making it a brilliant race for them.
Mendes as 16th the strongest CT rider and even though this might be a bit disappointing it shows the gap between PCT and CT. A strong Soler, Hoogerland, Haas and Wurf complete the top20.
Portela a rider to mention as 22nd after being in the breakaway all day finishing as best Karcher rider.
Disappointing day for Fletcher and Amex in especially as their leaders couldn`t fulfill the expectations. 28th and 33rd their best riders.
