Welcome back to Vancouver for the queen stage of this race. A very tricky profile, with 8 crossings of a short hill before we turn off for an uphill finish on Mount Cypress. Top favourites are race leader Brajkovic and Intxausti . Once again the winds are very strong today, so that combined with the very tricky parcour might cause mayhem.
Sousa goes on the attack. He is soon joined by Sarmiento and Popkov . It looks like these three will form the BotD, since they already pulled out a gap of 1'13".
But no, Eritrean Champion Russom sets off in pursuit. He's 1'01" behind the three escapees, and 34" ahead of the peleton.
Another attack from the pack, this time it's Schrangl . Russom meanwhile has caught up to the break.
Popkov takes the KoM sprint ahead of Sarmiento and Russom. Schrangl meanwhile is struggling to get away from the pack. He's 1'34" behind the break, but only 19" ahead of the peleton.
KoM #1
5p - Popkov
3p - Sarmiento
1p - Russom
Crossing the hill for the second time, Schrangl has at last caught up. Gap is at 3'28".
Sousa takes the sprint ahead of Russom and Schrangl. Popkov is the only one not to contest it. The gap has grown to 4'14" with 137km to go.
IS #1
6p - Sousa
4p - Russom
2p - Schrangl
Sousa is also strongest at the next KoM sprint. He just about manages to edge out Popkov and Schrangl. The gap meanwhile is at 5'24".
KoM #2
5p - Sousa
3p - Popkov
1p - Schrangl
Again no worries for Sousa at the intermediate. He comfortably beats Schrangl and Russom. Gap at 6'56".
IS #2
6p - Sousa
4p - Schrangl
2p - Russom
Popkov takes his second KoM. He beats Schrangl and Russom to it. Gap is at 6'25".
KoM #3
5p - Popkov
3p - Schrangl
1p - Russom
Same order as last time at the intermediate. In the mean time, the gap has fallen to 4'06".
IS #3
6p - Sousa
4p - Schrangl
2p - Russom
Popkov makes it three, beating Sarmiento and Schrangl. The peleton are really turning up the heat now, cutting another minute off the gap, making it 3'14". The first sprinters have been dropped back in the pack, but nobody too big.
KoM #4
5p - Popkov
3p - Sarmiento
1p - Sousa
Maillet is the first to attack in the pack, with 50km to go. He is followed by Eltink .
Just before the last intermediate sprint, the two attackers have caught up to the breakaway. They have an advantage of 2'12" with 32km to go.
Soler is the next to try his luck from the pack.
Eltink wins the last sprint ahead of Sousa and Russom. Their gap over Soler is 1'36", whereas his gap to the pack is only 12".
IS #4
6p - Eltink
4p - Sousa
2p - Russom
In the short flat before Mount Cypress, we have a big attack. Marquez , Pozzovivo and race leader Brajkovic go for it with 15km to go. Nazaret is trying to follow them, while Intxausti is relatively far back in the pack.
Popkov realises that they are soon to be caught and decides to go solo.
The favourites have reached the breakaway. This is the current situation:
Popkov |
+22“
Breakaway plus Marquez, Pozzovivo and Brajkovic |
+44“ Nazaret |
+57“
Peleton
But with 12km to go, the break and the big attackers are caught. Popkov however is still solo up the road, and built his gap to nearly a minute.
The same favourites and Maillet try again.
Pozzovivo and Brajkovic have distanced the others and caught up to Popkov. They are 36" ahead of the other three, who are another 32" ahead of the 63 man peleton.
Eltink and Abal have caught the three by attacking. They can now also see the leading trio.
Marquez goes past Popkov, but the two top men in the GC are still ahead.
Duarte , Nazaret and Abal are the next to attack. With 7300 metres to go, they have a gap of 24" to the pack and are still 12" behind the leaders.
Popovych pulls them back on his own. The two leaders meanwhile have a gap of half a minute.
Efimkin is the first favourite to snap. He's already over a minute behind the 32 man peleton. It really isn't looking good for Privatbanks leader.
Pedraza is the next to attack, with 5km to go.
As Pedraza catches up to the leaders, there's been a split in the pack. These are the guys on the right side of it: Duarte Intxausti Abal Nazaret Marquez Kiserlovksi Popovych Karpets Panayotov.
So the main casualties are Plaza , Lövkvist and Rohregger .
Maillet makes it back to the front group, but what can we see up the road? Brajkovic has been dropped!
Intxausti came from nowhere with a huge burst of acceleration and took the race lead.
As we near the summit of Mount Cypress with 2900 metres to go, Brajkovic has made it back to his former companions. This is the current situation:
Intxausti |
+18“ Pozzovivo, Pedraza and Brajkovic |
+36“
9 Man front group
Pozzovivo has broken free from his two companions. Remember he's only 18" off the yellow jersey, so Brajkovic really needs to react now.
With 1500 metres to go, Pozzovivo has nearly caught up to Intxausti. He is in the virtual yellow jersey, too!
As the two leaders open their sprints, their gap is a bit more than half a minute.
Brajkovic and Pedraza look well and truly beaten. They're still 22" ahead of the pack, however.
Pozzovivo is coming around Intxausti, it looks like he's going to take the stage and yellow today.
What a stage for Pozzovivo ! Kappa can be more than happy with their leaders performance here. Intxausti has to make do with a second place.
Brajkovic just about beats Pedraza to third, 50" behind the leaders. A dissapointing stage for the Heineken man, though Pedraza can be happy with his performance.
Over a minute behind the stage winner, Popovych , Karpets , Kiserlovski , Abal , Panayotov and Duarte round off the Top 10.
