Time for the mountains! Cameron Highlands today and a first test for the climbers before the tougher climb in the Genting Highlands.
Top favourites are Iglinski, Arroyo and Rodrigues but many more can be expected to challenge those.
3 riders in todays breakaway. Alaphilippe Beatse Schir
First two being within 32s in the GC this is not much and some teams might not be happy to allow them a big gap.
The order is the same at the first sprint where first two were interested to gain some seconds.
Behind the team of GC leader Cameron Meyer is doing the work. 110km and 4min gap. But actually it`s very unlikely that the Aussie sprinter will stay in the lead as he is no climber at all.
Same order at the 2nd and 3rd sprint. The young French is taking all 3 sprints today with Beatse and Schir.
Let`s check the final climbs. It`s not the steepest climb in total and lots of less steep sections might make it difficult to create big gaps.
The chasing teams did change as Euskaltel, Siam Cement, Dell or Nutresa are working now. So the more mountaineous teams at the front.
72km and 5'30 gap.
Alaphilippe also takes the KoM points at the start of the first climb. This time Schir ahead of Beatse behind him.
1/3 done of that climb and we have the first attacks by 5 decent climbers: Rubiano Chavez Losada Gallego Masuda Moinard
All 5 are +32 in the GC and so a bigger danger.
Instead of other climbing teams such as Maloja, Siam or ONCE we do see the helpers of the yellow jersey again.
This is quite surprising actually as neither Meyer nor his helpers are very good on the uphill.
12km to the top and 44km to the finish.
The five attackers have reached the breakaway already and have a 3min gap to the peloton. Slowly the teams behind have to wake up!
At least Siam Cement is doing something now for their top climber Rodrigues. And surprisingly also Euskaltel. Wit hDelio Fernandes they have an outside bet here, who actually could do better in other races imo with more descent finishes. But the fact that Moinard is in front already makes their acceleration behind look weird as both riders are not as good as the top5 favourites here and so getting a gap with the French co-leader would be the best for the team.
62 riders are left in the peloton. Most sprinters have lost contact including KoM wearer Passeron as well.
Meyer though still in the peloton giving everything.
Gallego takes the big points on top of the first climb with Masuda, Losada, Rubiano Chavez and Moinard following. Schir the last of the former breakaway with a small gap only. Alaphilippe already with quite a gap while Beatse is almost back in the peloton.
On the top it`s also time for Cameron Meyer to say goodbye as he is dropped from the 43 rider peloton.
Surprisingly further behind already climber Rojas Villegas. His leader Arroyo also at the end of the peloton. At least Esquivel and Salas are still with him.
25km for the peloton and still 2min gap. At least Siam is back at the front while catching Beatse of the morning breakaway.
But where is the help of Maloja and ONCE? Iglinski and Arroyo belong to the top favourites but so far their teams don`t act like that.
So it`s time for Euskaltel again. Sanchez Gonzalez and Sabido are the two riders leading the favourite group now going up the next climb. Moinard really won`t like this as the gap is below 2min now.
Rubiano Chavez is the first to attack in the group. This also drops Schir as last of the early break.
But he can`t open a gap as all others follow him.
Siam is accelerating again and the peloton splits into two pieces. 24 riders in the first part and 16 in the second including some better climbers such as: Moreno, Gaimon, Rojas Villegas.
With 8,7km to go the group reaches the HC top. Losada attacks to get the 20 points. Behind him Rubiano Chavez, Moinard and Masuda while Gallego already has a small gap.
The favourite group still led by Siam passes this point 1'57 later!
With just two mountain stages to really create gaps, this is a very risky move by the GC favourites as the 5 riders ahead won`t be easy to gap on Genting Highlands.
6km and although the gap becomes a bit smaller the stage win is pretty much secured for those five.
Masuda with the next attack trying to gap those and at least for now it`s looking good.
Almost reaching the Flamme Rouge and he still has a 20s gap.
The others are not working well together and so the Japanese could be the big winner of todays stage!
The favourites still a few corners behind and surely will lose unnecessary time today. But how much in the end and will they be able to gain it back on the 5th stage?
Masuda timed his attack perfectly and wins todays stage and will also get the GC lead! Huge win for him.
Losada as 2nd ahead of Rubiano Chavez. 22s behind Masuda. And also Moinard and Gallego as next are counted with that time. And as the peloton is not close yet, those will also make the top5 in the GC!
Delio Fernandez as best sprinter left wins the peloton sprint. 1'40 behind the top5! This is quite a lot with only one more mountain to come. Alizadeh, Poorseyedi, Rodrigues and Iglinski to come next. Last two with a big argument about Maloja`s ignorance on todays stage. With Diniz and Yemane the team had two more riders in this group. And also ONCE had 3 riders in here! So Siam is obviously very angry with that 1'40 gap.
Biggest losers in the GC are obviously Moreno, Rojas Villegas or Gaimon as all of them lose a few minutes and won`t really have top10 chances any longer.
The big question now is if that gap is big enough for the five to steal that GC here or if the Genting Highlands climb is too hard for them. And will Iglinski and Arroyo at least show interest there?
