*Note: Since Gusta won't be online until sunday, I'm putting his report on for him. Full credits to Gusta!
Here we are in Central Europe to bring you a binational event, between Croatia and Slovenia. The profile might seem sprinter-prone but the last kilometer provides a nasty ramp which reaches 11% for most of its length. Welcome to puncheurland.
Six brave men find themselves too bored in the pack and force their way into a breakaway group: Aregger Alaphilippe Kocjan Banihammad Orlov Phelan
Interesting to see the Slovenian champion in this group, since the race end in his country’s capital.
Their gap hits its maximum at 6’30 with 115km remaining, when some teams in the peloton start showing interest in reducing that
As we start climbing to the plateau in the 2nd half of the stage Gazelle, Swedbank and RBC start working on bringing the escapees back. There’s a 3’44 gap to the front and 77km left to race
The peloton continues to lay down a fast pace as they break the 2min barrier, with 40km to go.
Bellis becomes the first serious attacker a few kms later
Skujins Kump McEvoy will follow this attack to form a 4-men chasing group.
The next wave of attacks is ignited by Weening, who is followed by Di Maggio
Their attempt doesn’t succeed though, as the bunch closes in on them a while later.
These two waves of attacks have caused some malfunction in the pack as the chase loses steam and the gap stabilizes. With 25km to go the escapees seem to have hampered the fast decline of their advantage.
Front group --- 43’--- Chasing group --- 31’’ --- Pack
Orlov and Kocjan start the attacks in the front group with 20km to go
Vastaranta, Di Maggio and Salerno try again but the descent and high speed of the peloton at the moment doesn’t provide them the chance of opening a gap
Kocjan has been caught by the 1st chasing group but Orlov has conquered a few seconds to his former companions
With 15km to go Orlov is also caught. Phelan launches his offensive now.
Here are the gaps
Phelan’s attempt was not successful either
We’re quickly approaching the end of the race with the peloton still nervous about the catch. The front group is about to cross the 5km banner and keeps a considerable advantage even though it seems to be narrowing:
Front group --- 41’ ---’ Chasing group --- 11’’ --- Pack
The chasing group is not able to survive the strength of the peloton though, but McEvoy answers with another powerful acceleration. The rest of his companions try to follow him.
However only the brit manages to stay clear. This causes another conflict in the pack, we’re not sure why, but the chase loses ground yet again, with the early escapees gathering 1min of advantage. There’s still the last uphill finish, but this could be decisive!
Back at the front, 3 men have outpaced the rest: Aregger, Alaphilippe and Banihammad
There are less than 3km to race for these!
The front trio starts sprinting with a 20’’ advantage to the following group with Alaphilippe leading the other two
McEvoy comes 21’’ later, but still has a 27’’ gap to the pack
Banihammad takes the lead as the road suddenly bursts into a punitive 11.6% gradient!
He keeps his lead as we take our final turn! The other 2 look spent.
In the next group Orlov is leading Kocjan and Phelan
While McEvoy has started climbing as well
The pack is still in chasing mode with all the leaders still far from the front rows… Boonratanatanakorn being the pivot here
The victory though has already been settled! Banihammad, the UAE champion, proudly shows his jersey in a sensational triumph for him and his team.
Alaphilippe beats Aregger for 2nd place
McEvoy still manages to catch the other 3 riders, but will have to settle for 6th behind Orlov and Phelan, while Kocjan will be disappointed to be the last of the escapees finishing 7th.
The pack is lead home by Del Nero which takes 8th. The rest of the top10 is completed by Grabovski and Yates. The first of the favourites to finish is Di Maggio in 12th place…
Many managers must feel robbed of their points today by this classy act of Banihammad.
