Last stage in Ukraine and the 140km flat stage is likely to suit the sprinters. With also two KoM-sprints, mountain leader Kiserlovski (36) may also fear Pagoto (30) to join a breakaway here.
So how will Venchi do today? It's all about keeping Craven out of trouble, plus maybe repeating Van Avermaet's stage win back on the first day here. Will Greipel strike back? Will Ignatiev (4th in GC, 5" down on Gerdemann) be in the mix for a bunch sprint again, aiming for those 20-12-8 bonus seconds? Or will a breakaway survive like on the second day?
It's the last chance to grab line honours and therefore it's quite a huge group of 11 riders trying to go clear from the bunch:
So it ain't Pagoto, but the KoM-leader himself to join this early attempt! None of the most notable sprinter teams (Privatbank, AMEX, Venchi, Lierse) involved, which is worth a mention.
The group ain't allowed a too comfortable gap though: with already just 101km remaining, the peloton keeps the gap under a minute. Do the teams behind fear the strength of a that large group?
And due to this small gap, the escapees ain't exactly working well together, with single attacks going almost every 5km. It would take a second report to cover all those countless attacks, as every of those riders tried to go for a smaller breakaway group so far.
At least the group holds on to this gap for a while, so Kiserlovski takes the first KoM-sprint to finally secure the mountain-shirt!
It took almost 80km for the race to settle down.. with now 66km remaining, the 11-men-breakaway is allowed a 1'20"-gap for the first time in the day!
May the sprinter teams intend to pull them back until the last two Intermediate Sprints? Any point may count towards the points competition..
Nah, it seems to be more of taking control of this bigger group. We enter the final 50km and the gap's still at 1'30" with teams like Lierse, AMEX and also Venchi sharing the work at the front of the pack.
And so it's the escaping group passing the sprints uncontested. The chase is on again though: 27km to go and their lead is down to under a minute - yet again.
But the game is over 18km before finish. The group that was never really allowed to establish a breakaway-worth gap is swallowed in by the peloton.
No more action until the final 6km, so it's going to be the expected bunch sprint! AMEX, Privatbank and Venchi still at the very front, as we may expect the sprint trains being built soon..
And here they are: for Grillo, for Greipel and for Van Avermaet will feature the three trains today!
A more clearer picture of who's also in the mix to follow..
2km to go and the sprint kicks off with the following riders in the mix:
Keough
Kump
Grillo
Polivoda
Vaitkus
Park
Greipel
Aregger
Papok
Dockx
Van Avermaet
Docker
Peeters
Ignatiev
Popov
Iglinski
Grosu
Facci
1.4km to go and it's the similar picture except of Kump/Polivoda, as well as Aregger dropping after their leadout-work!
Vaitkus/Greipel with a small advantage on Keough/Grillo, while the duo Dockx/Van Avermaet is still trying to move forward, with most other contenders at their wheels.
800metres remaining and now kicks Greipel, leaving Vaitkus' slipstream. Also Papok goes on his own now, same goes for Grillo.
Van Avermaet couldn't start his sprint from a perfect position and Docker tries to move forward. Park again struggles to benefit from his position behind Grillo.
With the line approaching, it looks more and more like a thrilling finish, with four riders head-to-head:
Grillo, Vaitkus/Greipel, Papok!
Already a small gap on Docker and Van Avermaet ain't looking like he would repeat his victory on first day.
Right after the earlier mentioned riders in the mix (19 in total), there's a clear gap now though! Ignatiev as the only GC-contender in the "leading" group.. may we see a huge surprise here?
But first back to the front, where Grillo and Greipel look like the fastest at this point!
Yes, it will be a fight between those two, as Papok and a now suffering Vaitkus are too far behind. Also Docker will only fight for a podium-finish here...
Greipel did it! Thanks to a nice leadout by eventually 6th Vaitkus, the German takes out the final stage ahead of Grillo! Thils will be also interesting for the points-competition, as both (as well as Ignatiev, 7th today) did pretty well in all three bunch sprints here!
Papok holds on for 3rd, ahead of Docker and Van Avermaet. His train didn't look as strong as in the opener.. but where will his captain finish?
There's still a clear gap behind the first 19 riders, but the race organizers won't go mad and reward this with an official gap in the stage results. So except of a few weaker riders (Rogers, cough, cough) being dropped today, there won't be major changes in the GC!
Which is all Craven would have asked for prior to the stage. Thanks to his dominating stage-win on third day and a good TT as well, he takes out the Tour of Ukraine 2014. Kangert 2nd ahead of a strong Gerdemann!
Ignatiev did again pretty well today, but missed the needed bonus seconds. He has to settle for 4th in the final GC. Nepomnyachsniy, Koren, Westra, Konovalovas, Grabovski and Durasek will be more or less satisfied to complete the Top-10.
Like already said, Kiserlovski wins the KoM-competition. A close one for the points today though: Greipel overtook leading Ignatiev thanks to his victory! 57 points eventually, so just 1 point ahead of Grillo and 4 points on Ignatiev!
Oz Cycling Project takes the win in the team's rankings, ahead of Kazzinc and local team Metinvest.
