Time to kick off this hell of a race. 37 degrees will add some "spice" to an already tough challenge.
Will anyone be able to compete with Úran? Nazaret, Eastman, Pedraza or Kaschechkin may be to most promising contenders for a prestigious victory..
Several earlier attacks ended empty-handed and it took Dyadichkin and Masuda almost 40km to finally build a first working breakaway group!
The two were later joined by Nicácio, who catches up to the leading duo 103km before finish. This breakaway establishes a 6-minutes-gap at his peak.
We're going straight into the final 30km.. the final descend prior to the tough summit finish! The peloton looked in control of the race so far, narrowing the gap to 1'40" at this point - where Morton sets a high pace, working for his captain Berhane.
And of course the challenging profile would cause major splits: only 23 riders remain in the bunch, with most of the favorites avoiding any trouble so far.
Most notable names being dropped: Feillu, Gadret, Da la Fuente, Sarmiento, Esquivel!
16km to go and Kashechkin is the first top-favorite trying to solo away from this group! Several more riders try to jump behind immediately..
..it's Nazaret, Marzano, Úran, Serpa, Pedraza and Maillet! Kashechkin established a 22"-gap quickly though.
This may be the crucial moves and so also Eastman and Berhane accelerate, trying to bridge the gap to this new chasing group as soon as possible. Eastman does 13km before finish.
In the meantime, Kashechkin catches up to the early escapees, who maintain a 57"-gap on the group of favorites at this point.. the Kazakh looks still aggressive...
..and drops this breakaway group easily, open up a 45"-gap on group Úran/Nazaret/Eastman! Berhane, by the way, also made it into this chasing group.
Also Ochoa Quintero joined group Úran in the meantime..
..while Karpets, Iglinski and Navarro have yet to counter the first serious attacks. The three face a 58"-gap on group Úran with 12km remaining!
10km to go and as Kashechkin keeps soloing at the very front, the chasing group goes into pieces! Time to take a detailed look at the situation:
with Vasquez Feillu Morton Piamonte Zurita Rojas Villegas
So Eastman ain't looking in bigger trouble, he might just have react a little bit later than the other big guns.. Pedraza though obviously can't follow neither group Úran nor Berhane. Great work by Dyadichkin to hang on, he may become important for a still fighting Iglinski though. Karpets managed to catch up to group Serpa/Pedraza..
8km to go: the first chasing groups keeps splitting, as Úran now sets a brutal pace in order to limit the gap to solo-leader Kashechkin!
Nazarat is the last man standing, but he seems to struggle keeping the top-favorite's wheel..
Úran even launches an attack the today's final flat sector, which does actually feature some descending metres.. he narrows the gap to Kashechkin back to 52" thanks to this and easily drops Nazaret, who's already 30" in arrears!
And this may become a thrilling finish! Úran's impressive acceleration brought him back to Kashechkin, who's now "only" 20" away with 3.8km remaining!
Nazaret is already 1'28" behind, this was an outstanding move. No bigger changes in the further groups, except of Iglinski finally catching up to group Serpa/Pedraza/Karpets!
2km to go... Úran closes the gap, he's right behind Kasheckin with the flamme rouge already nearing!
Nazaret comes at 1.34, while Eastman/Marzano seem to be a bit too far away to challenge for the podium.. still some tough slopes ahead though!
Berhane still solo in between Eastman/Marzano and the 7-men-group with Pedraza, Karpets, Maillet, Quintero, Iglinski, Serpa and last escapee Masuda!
Back to the fight for the win.. Úran took the the leading position as the duo enters the final km..
The two are simply too exhausted to show a "real" sprint, but Úran holds on to his position with the finish line approaching..
..and he wins! Úran takes out this brutal classic thanks to a perfect timed acceleration in this final 10km here! Well played.
Kashechkin put up a huge fight and his tactics to attack rather early into this climb almost paid off. This runner-up behind Úran is a great achievement.
The battle for the final podium-spot seems to become thrilling again, as Eastman manages to drop Marzano with a late acceleration, putting some unexpected pressure on Nazaret!
But Nazaret holds him off to take the 3rd place, losing 1'57" on Úran eventually (which again shows how impressive today's winner climbed the final 10km)!
Eastman 4th ahead of a strong Marzano, who comes in at 2'43". Eastman, who almost missed the crucial moves, did well to keep it cool and play it nicely.
A totally empty Berhane, who spent the final 10km solo, comes in as 6th at 4'08" on Úran. A huge fight and a nice result for the African!
A 6-men-group would fight for the final Top-10-spots: Ochoa Quintero 7th, Serpa 8th, Maillet 9th and Pedraza completes the Top-10. A rather disappointing result for the latter, who might have expected to fight for the Top-5 at least.
Iglinski 11th and Karpets has to settle for 12th.. both might have joined the crucial moves a few moments too late, but at least they did well to hang on.
Heads up to the escapees Masuda (13th) and Dyadichkin (15th), as well as Nicácio (17th), finishing amongst some strong(er) domestiques and other team's captains!
Only 72 riders of this 132-men-startlist made it into the finish. So almost half of the peloton fall out of the time-limit today. A thrilling, but brutal race this was.
