First real mountain stage even though it might be not as difficult as the stage 2 days ago due to a long descent and flat finish in the end.
Several riders attack in a few groups ahead of the peloton. The first trio is hugely interesting as 2 of those are still dangerous even though had lost time in past stages. Rodrigues was not strong enough on the first GC stage being almost 3min behind in the GC as 18th. Chamorro crashed yesterday but then rode a long solo to maintain his GC chances. He is 3'30 behind as 33rd.
Both obviously hope to improve by a long range attack.
The third rider in this first group is one of Kiserlovski`s team mates in Jang.
Further back couple more try to join them.
While the two GC riders save their energy, Jang is getting the KoM quite easily.
Cat.3
Jang
6
Rodrigues
4
Chamorro
2
At the sprint mid stage a group of 7 plus 1 a bit later. So Rodrigues and Chamorro got some support to reach their goal. In addition to the 3 mentioned above: Cassidy Peterson Moreno Hernandez Pakthusov
Usandizaga
Sprint
Cassidy
6
Jang
4
Chamorro
2
The peloton is allowing them a gap of 5-6 min which means Rodrigues and Chamorro are virtual leaders. A bit problem is that Porto - Prio is having only 2 solid mountain domestiques for Machado in Batlazar and Silva, hence their uphill chasing is limited as they are not willed to use them up too early.
Quite a bit of this work is done by the stroner mountain squad of Flores as Talansky is feeling strong it seems. That said, their best domestique in Diniz already left the race after the first stage.
With the last climb just starting Flores is getting support by Vontobel. Neither the strongest mountain squad but some capable riders surely. Surprisingly two teams now chasing without the very best leaders. Gap is at 5min and slowly they need to speed up.
Halfway up hte climb, Machado realizes that the only chance to defend the lead is to chase himself. Neither Baltazar nor Silva were strong enough to close the gap.
This short acceleration by the Portuguese sees him creating a gap quickly.
4km later the gap to him is already 1min while he didn`t really gain on the split front group. Some riders such as Cassidy are already caught by him.
Marquez and Martin realize that they are going to lose all chances if they allow him such a gap. Hence their attack with 5km on that climb.
Moments later though several others decide to do the same. Pinot, Ricco, Gilanipoor, Kiserlovski, Cataldo and CT rider De la Cruz.
Talansky surprisingly missing as also Rujano, Meintjes or Ochoa Quintero. So both home riders struggle.
Also notice how the front group is only containing 4 riders including Chamorro and Rodrigues. They really went to their limit not losing ground really on Machado.
Talansky and Rujano attacked and pass a struggling De la Cruz now. It`s the first sign of weakness by the Ticos leader. Luckily he got support by Brenes. This can`t be just random luck. While he is riding for Indosat, he is Costa Rican just like Team Ticos. Is this already some transfer preperation for the upcoming season? Obviously Brenes though also one of the GC riders himself being in a bad position.
Cat.2
Chamorro
10
Rodrigues
8
Jang
6
Moreno Hernandez
4
Peterson
2
A big group is forming on the descent. Marquez Ricco Pinot Kiserlovski Rujano Gilanipoor Talansky
They are 40s behind Martin, who is doing a crazy descent at the moment slowly closing the gap to Machado.
And while the first group slowly losing ground, they still have a comfortable 4-5min gap to Machado, hence still being in virtual yellow.
Moreno Hernandez dropped from the lead group on the descent. So it`s the three strongest in front, which already were in front at the early mountain top.
Meanwhile a crash far back including some bigger names such as Serebriakov, Sutton, Visconti or Villaloboas. All continue though.
2,5km left and Chamorro attacks. In comparison to Rodrigues, he is 31s behind, hence having no chance for the GC lead when just following him.
None of the other two was able to follow this acceleration and this sees a big win for the Colombian, who just made a perfect come back after yesterdays bad luck.
Rodrigues in 2nd ahead of Jang. 21s behind Chamorro, which means, the Portuguese stays ahead by 5s!
But is this also enough for the race lead? When will Machado finish?
Here he comes. As 6th (Moreno Hernandez and Peterson finished ahead still), he finishes together with Pakthusov. But it`s almost 5min as his long solo ride saw him losing couple seconds in the end again. This will move him back to 3rd! 1'43 behind Rodrigues, who is new race leader. Big shake up stage today.
Dan Martin as 8th about 50s later but unfortunate for him the group caught him after the descent. So they are all given the s.t.
Also good news for De la Cruz, who made contact in time being still high in the GC.
~2min later the "peloton" comes in including some riders, who surely had hoped to perform better. Those are Cataldo, Meintjes, Ochoa Quintero and also Brenes, who got dropped again.
Signorini attacked late finished 30s ahead of this group. Probably working for Brenes had been the better option for the team though.
And of course such a hard stage sees another abandon: Banihammad is the 3rd abandon of the race.
