Perfect weather for the last race of the Continental season! Last chance for some of this division’s teams to score some important points, given that this is a C2HC race. Fablok, Netia, Indosat, Novatek, Compal and Alpina are all in the fight for the promotion and all of them line up valid leaders for this race: who will come home with a full loot and who, on the other hand, will be forced to eat humble pie?
Pszczolarski is the first rider to successfully break away from the pack. Many futile attacks follow but it seems like the group won’t let anyone else go.
Karatzios, McLay and Herrera manage to join him soon after, not before trying to escape once or twice before. It seems like the peloton calmed down for the time being.
Park, arguably the best sprinter in the field today, thinks he won’t survive the hills and therefore he won’t be able to play his cards, so decides to just attack. He hasn’t managed to join the 4 in the lead yet, the only effect he’s provoking is making the gap between the pack, that is firmly chasing him down, and the break, smaller.
As the men behind him decide he won’t be that much of a threat all in all, he manages to join the BotD. This means that the definitive break is formed with 181 kms to go, when they hold a 4 minutes edge over the bunch.
Severstal has been leading the peloton for the most time now, although they still prefer to take it fairly easy for now. In fact, we can see that the gap has grown to 8 minutes, the widest we’ll see today, with 110 kms to go.
Fast forward some kilometers, 2 of the stronger line-ups take over the lead of the pack. With 55 to go, Netia and Novatek already seem to have made a difference: since the moment they’ve been setting the pace, they’ve trimmed down the gap to less than 3 minutes.
We’ve already heard the sound of the bell indicating that this is the last lap. The situation is still well under control as the break is just 1 minute in front of the group.
The first favourites’ attack is soon launched: Shushemoin, Rabon, Soler and Simon are the first serious contenders trying to go from far out!
It looks like Netia is well over it currently, their attempt definitely won’t have easily life…
Actually, at the mouth of the steepest climb the 4 have built an impressive 30” edge over the peloton. Interestingly enough, the 5 escapees in front of them still can count on more than 1 minute on the group as well.
Nonetheless, the 4 of them soon join the former sole leaders. The group is struggling to catch up with them now, as they’ve lost 20 further seconds compared to the last time. This is getting worrying for all the other teams!
Netia are making quite a big effort to get the break back behind. It’s finally paying off though as the gap is down to 20 seconds when we’re close to the toughest part of the climb. 18 kilometers to go.
Durasek and Acevedo also try their luck right now. They get to join the 4 in the head not too much later, who had dropped the initial BotD in the meantime.
As you can see though, the peloton is not more than 10 seconds behind them. It’s not going to take much if things remain the same.
Aaand it’s game over for them! Just when they rode through the final asperity of the day, Netia swallows them up. 16 kilometers to go for the group which is made up of 66 unit at the moment, probably indicating that most of the pur-ish sprinters will be ruled out of the final sprint.
Rabon goes on his own under the 5 kilometers to go mark, his is definitely an interestingly finisseur attack, although you may argue he’s got the skills to fight for a good spot even in a tight sprint.
We’re getting really close to the sprint, and the Czech is approaching it with a 20 seconds gap between him and the bunch! Most certainly an effective attack, whatever the final outcome will be.
It seems like it won’t be enough for Rabon sadly enough, as all the sprinters are getting closer and closer to him with still quite some meters to go.
Last few meters now, we see that De Maar, Simon and Barta are holding the highest speed at the moment. Shushemoin though found the perfect position, and we can see him at the left of the screen.
Among the first positions, we can also notice Simantirakis, Uchima, Zielinski, Kuznetsov, Fankhauser, Durasek, Acevedo and Soler, all still in fight for the win. Strangely enough, no Netia riders are in sight… Bad sign for the Eastern-European team, fighting for the promotion.
De Maar is clearly in the head now, will the Danish powerhouse beast his way to yet another win in the last race of the calendar, that way also adding something more to Carlsberg’s very plain season?
From this point of view you can see that he’s almost done it. The fight for the podium will probably be between Barta, who is slipping behind a bit lately, but who is still solidly in the 2nd place, Simon, who does look to have started his sprint a tad too early, Durasek, coming from behind really quickly, Soler, who definitely isn’t a good sprinter in first place, Kuznetsov, who may carry home some additional much-needed points for his own team, and Uchima, who looks to be stuck behind Simon.
De Maar takes a dominating win! Great stuff from the Curacao National Champion and only noteworthy cyclist!
This turns out to be a great season closer for Fablok as well, who fill the 2nd and 4th place with Durasek and Zielinski, with only Barta denying them the joy of seeing two of their riders on the podium.
Uchima delivers a great performance in the last few meters taking a photofinish 5th and getting close to something more as well. Same for Zilioli, who really unexpectedly takes the 6th place! The young Italian prospect concludes his season in front of an underwhelming Simon.
Acevedo comes in 8th, in front of a Novatek combo of Pozdnyakov and Kuznetsov, who round off the top 10. Not bad at all for them to have 3 in the first 10!
Soler, Simantirakis, Godoy and Moyano all come short narrowly.
No Netia riders in the top 10… Not even in the top 15! After a whole race they’ve been fully in control of you’d expect something more than 20th, the position achieved by their best rider today, Mørkøv. They have to say goodbye to the CT top 8 this way, if not to even more!
