It`s only 130km and for a long time very flat. Then though a long double climb to finish the stage. The first half might still be quire simly with lower gradients and a flat part afterwards. Then though some very tough climbing with ~12km length and ~6% in average. Though the final 7km are in especially steep making it a great opportunity to attack.
The stage starts with a shock moment! Salas crashed and no one else than Martin is also on the ground. The Bank Ireland team sends almost all their riders back to bring him back just a bit later.
5 riders in the break then and once again a blue-white domination. Also the KoM leader in there! Wöhrer Jang Sivori Raisin Cassidy
Bad luck for the break. It`s not even really windy but some teams apparently want to go all-in today as the peloton is going at 57km/h at halftime!
Just at the sprint it was over for the break! Next to Novatek it`s Porto Prio now controlling. Easy to guess, who will attack today.
Sprint
Raisin
6
Jang
4
Meintjes
2
With 30km to go the flat part is done and from now on the climbers will be on their terrain! Novatek with 4 riders ahead of Rodrigues. Their climbing depth in this race might be crucial for Rodrigues.
As expected not a lot happend on the first part. The slopes were just too easy but the peloton thinned out to 69 riders and Rodrigues only has 2 riders left ahead of him while all the high placed riders are following with Chamorro, Ricco, Martin, Rujano, Talansky, De la Cruz, Machado (incl. 2 helpers), MArquez, Gilanipoor, Pinot, Cataldo, Kiserlovski...
Cat.3
Rudaskov
6
Grigrian
4
Rodrigues
2
No surprise. Just after the flat bit the first GC attack. It`s Martin, who luckily seems to be alright despite his earlier crash!
Behind him Brenes follows instantly.
And of course Machado musn`t miss that move seeing the time he needs to gain on Rodrigues/Chamorro but also the time he must not lose to Martin neither.
As said earlier, the first few kilometers though were rather easy also on that 2nd climb and so Bagot was able to bring back the later two while Martin`s gap was tiny.
Sprint
Martin
6
Bagot
4
Machado
2
About 5km to go and Martin still has a small gap. Time for Ricco and Machado to attack again.
Behind them a group of 6: Pinot Rodrigues Chamorro Marquez De la Cruz Talansky
Missing are Kiserlovski, Cataldo, Meintjes, Brenes, Ochoa Quintero or Gilanipoor.
Rujano, Cataldo and Brenes though join the group while it`s Marquez and De la Cruz, who attacked them again trying to join the Machado/Ricco duo.
Quite impressive how De la Cruz challenges all the PCT climbers here.
Dan Martin still has 21s but it`s melting and still 3km to go.
Further behind Kiserlovski woke up also chasing solo behind the yellow jersey group.
Russom and Niyonshuti chase in the "peloton". None of Gilanipoor, Signorini etc. who is in there is a threat for Ricco ahead. But Meintjes is not giving up on his decent GC spot while not having the energy to follow himself.
1,7km and still the Irish Man in the lead. Machado/Ricco though continue to reduce it to 16s now.
Only 15s behind them Marquez and another 23s De la Cruz.
With similar gaps the next groups follow and impressively Kiserlovski did not only join the group but also realized he had the best legs of those. So he attacks straight away and goes into 6th position!
Also Rujano and Talansky a bit later go faster and leave the Rodrigues group behind. For the GC leader this is a tough fight now. Not yet but just a bit more time loss and Machado goes into the lead again.
800m and another 3s lost by Martin.
And what a ride by Kiserlovski, who now passed De la Cruz. If only he had attacked earlier, he had been a serious challenger for the stage win today! Definitely climbing the fastest of all.
Machado and also Martin in the meantime have now passed the difference to Rodrigues. If it stays like this, we will see a new and old leader in Machado.
Martin though does not think about the yellow jersey right now. He knows Machado is too close. Though he can celebrate a big win on this stage.
Only 8s in the end to Machado, who wins the uphill sprint against Ricco.
Marquez at +29s also rode a strong climb but was not able to close the gap.
Kiserlovski in the end lost 1'14. This is some quality climbing of him today but his move was too late to challenge the top positions.
De la Cruz only 9s later with a huge result as 6th. He was sticking on Kiserlovski`s wheel for the final part not giving up.
Next Jose Rujano at 1'52. The final kilometers really made a lot of them suffer, hence quite big gaps towards the end. Behind him Talansky at 2'08.
As Rodrigues hasn`t finished yet, this means Machado is secured as new GC leader.
Here he comes. Rodrigues couldn`t follow all the late attacks and so also Cataldo, Pinot and Brenes gapped him by quite a bit.
Almost 3min difference in the end, so he drops into 3rd position in the GC. Similar for Chamorro, who comes in 14s later and is the 4th in the GC now.
Seeing their earlier time losses, this is still fantastic GC for them.
