The final stage for the Avenir 2014 and it's worth a concluding one: with a summit finish on the world famous Mont Ventoux, we are excited to follow a thrilling battle for yellow today:
1
Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier
Festina-Canal+
33h36'55
2
Alex Kirsch
Vesuvio - Accumalux
+ 14
3
Alexey Lutsenko
Quickstep
+ 19
4
Daan Olivier
Evonik - Signal Iduna
+ 53
5
Lachlan Morton
Jaguar - Eritel
+ 2'35
Lecuisinier slipped into yellow yesterday and has now to defend it agains Kirsch and Olivier as (most probably) the biggest threats for the GC-win. Morton struggled on the last mountain stage, but may hope to at least attack the podium. With Shikai back in shape, we may well follow his performance closely as well!
And looking at the first group of 5 riders to go clear from the peloton, it's also a day for a thrilling KoM-battle:
Dieteren (18th in GC, 3rd in KoM with 42pts) joined this first breakaway group and with Hoelgaard (64pts) as the current KoM-leader not in this group, there's indeed a chance for Dieteren to grab the lead - 23pts will be up for grabs prior to the Ventoux, which would be just enough for him to take a narrow lead!
He's accompanied by Foliforov, Bystrom, Lehtinen and Le Gac..
And of course, Dieteren is contesting for those mountain sprints! With the first two Cat3-climbs done, he's already narrowing the gap (54pts)..
The breakaway leads by 7'10" in the meantime, as we have 97km remaining..
Speaking of the KoM-lead: Hoelgaard goes down a few minutes later! A bad omen?
One thing is for sure: the GC's 12th and stage-winner from stage 8 won't make it back into the peloton, which started to chase just a few moments before! Tough luck, as he's likely to lose his Top-15 in the GC now.. but also the polka dot?
Yap, he will lose this as well: Dieteren took out all four mountain sprints to take that narrow lead with "just" the Ventoux ahead (still 45km to go though):
A few moments before, we saw the next attacks out of the peloton and it's a group of 6 riders eventually, trying to bridge the gap to the early escapees:
Kolar (GC's 17th, + 14.48) Yates (15th, + 13.46) Kung (19th, + 15.00) De Bie Haig Pereyra
And it's yet another strange race, as the peloton once again sat up for a few kilometres for no obvious reasons! With 18km to go, the early escapees lead by 1'02" on the chasing group, which is already 8'13" (!) ahead of the bunch! Will the top-favorites risk any stupid GC-movements here?
Well, at least a few of those GC-contenders have seen enough (or too less, actually) and attack the slow pacing bunch a few moments later, where it's disadvantage quickly grew up to 10 minutes!
Stancu (33rd in GC) went first, followed by
Lecuisinier Olivier Shikai Koch
So Lecuisinier putting some pressure on Kirsch, while it's also about limitting the losses to riders like Yates or Kolar now! Still 18km to go for this group..
13km remaining for the leading group, where the chasing six finally caught up now!
Those 11 riders leading by 9'26" on group Lecuisinier!
At least it's an action-packed race, as several more GC-contenders try to jump behind Lecuisinier about 14km before finish:
Galta/Kirsch Lutsenko Arndt Manfredi/Koch (who couldn't follow the first moves) Reis La Lavandier Chamorro
build a 9-men-group with a 21"-disadvantage on Le Lecuisinier/Olivier!
A further minute in arrears, the peloton with riders like Morton, Meintjes or Barguil!
Back to the very front, where we hit the 10km-mark and see a good looking attack by Yates!
He opens up a gap quickly, with just Kung, De Bie and Pereyra remaining as a new chasing group now..
About 8 minutes later, we get a clearer picture of the strongest GC-contenders today:
Galta/Kirsch caught up to group Lecuisinier Olivier, which establishes a more and more growing gap on the next group with Lutsenko:
GC's 5th Morton again not in best shape, it seems. He missed those first moves and now starts relaying at the front of a 19-men-group with also Meintjes, Barguil and Vasyliv under pressure to defend their Top-10 spots..
Morton most likely won't be able to attack the Top-4 today, that's for sure now!
The stage-win won't go to one of those top-favorites either, as they are still down by 8 minutes on solo-leader Yates, who's going strong towards line honours and a huge jump in the GC, too!
Anyway, the battle for yellow is becoming more and more interesting, now that we see group Lecuisinier/Kirsch going into pieces 8km before finish:
Shikai is pacing hard at the front, with just Kirsch and Stancu to hang on!
Lecuisinier quickly down by 23" now and in danger to lost his maillot jaune!
Further two minutes behind, Morton at least shows some sign of strength now, bridging across the group with Lutsenko!
This chasing group though also went into pieces, with some strong performances by Reis, Chamorro and Koch, who climb along Arndt and dropped GC's 3rd Lutsenko!
Morton apparently fearing Arndt as a possible threat for his Top-5, so he needs to show something now! Lutsenko more and more suffering, too: will this be a late chance for Morton to attack the Top-4?
While Yates is still leading comfortably, we see a strong duo Kirsch/Shikai dropping Stancu and growing their gap on Lecusinier to 50" with now 4.5km remaining!
Shikai obiviously back in form and providing his Vesuvio-teammate Kirsch some great support that way! Which is bad news for the man in yellow..
..who at least gets some support from Le Gac now with just 3km remaining:
Lecuisinier is putting up a huge fight, but he's likely to lose out on Kirsch today - he's more than a minute in arrears at this point, but caught up to Stancu.
Olivier and Galta still with him, so Olivier definitely on a good way to make the podium! Another strong effort by him.
Yates though is the man of the day, as he climbs to an undisputed solo-victory on the Mont Ventoux! It's not just about this line honours though: looking at the latest gaps, he's also a real threat for those inside the Top-10!
Two minutes later, Kung, De Bie and Pereyra cross the line next.. Kung may also do a nice jump today, same goes for all remaining escapees, actually!
Also Kolar and Haig, as well as the King of Mountains Dieteren reach the mountaintop ahead of the first favorites..
..where it's certain, that Kirsch will slip into yellow! Shikai and him accelerate inside the final km, as they now fight for the final Top-10 spots..
+ 6'06 Shikai
+ 6'13 Kirsch
+ 7'27 Lehtinen, who rounds up the Top-10
So Shikai with another strong showing after yesterday's stage-win. Kirsch definitely got some great support by both Galta and Shikai today.
+ 7'51 Lecuisinier
+ 8'12 Stancu
+ 8'24 Olivier
So no chance for Lecuisinier to keep yellow. Still a huge fight and he did enough to secure himself the runner-up ahead of Olivier!
+ 8'49 Arndt
+ 8'59 Morton
Morton therefore with a strong finish to limit the losses on Arndt! But where's Lutsenko?
+ 9'32 Koch
+ 10'33 Lutsenko, as 23rd on the stage!
So less than two minutes lost on Morton, which is enough to stay inside the Top-4 in the final GC!
Riders like Meintjes (+ 9.47), Barguil (10.56) and Vasyliv (10.51) though may fear to drop out of the Top-10, thanks to those efforts by Yates or Kung in particular!
But first, let's celebrate the Avenir-winner 2014: Kirsch takes the GC-victory on the final day and keeps the ball rolling for PT-title-favorite Vesuvio! A huge finish today.
Lecuisinier (+ 1.24) and Olivier (+ 2.50) complete the podium. Both did quite well today, but had nothing to give against this strong duo. Shikai, who lost his title-ambitions too early here, jumped onto 19th place in the GC today.
Lutsenko 4th ahead of Morton, who couldn't really live up to the high expactations.. and then... Yates! Thanks to the peloton taking it too easy for a few kilometres, the Brit goes up to 6th ahead of Arndt and Meintjes!
Also Kung with a great move up to 9th ahead of teammate Koch, Barguil and Vasyliv. What a fail from those Top-10-candidates.. also Kolar (13th), Dieteren (14th) and Haig (15th) with some nice moves up today.
Quickstep and Vesuvio, no real surprise to see those two teams on the top of the podium so often here: Lutsenko defended a narrow points-lead today. A great tour he had, including a huge stage-win and some days in yellow to finish it off as 4th!
Dieteren with a great day, too. Moving up in the GC plus taking the KoM-victory from Hoelgaard. He added some minor points at the finish, so wins the polka dot with 70pts to 64pts eventually.
That's it for the "Tour de Breakaway and Future" 2014. Some surprising results, but a thrilling battle for yellow.
