Queen stage in Tachira. 3 tough climbs which become harder and harder towards the end. The final one ends with double digit slopes.
Machado as potentially best climber is in the lead, so it`s to his favour while others need a good day and/or a very good tactic.
Winning the queen stage is always prestigious and as many teams either have no logner big GC chances or need a relay station for their leaders later, a group of 9 riders today! Egidio Usandizaga Saldarriaga Godoy Wöhrer Sivori Navarro Sinelobov Raisin
3 teams, who don`t have a rider in the break but high placed GC men, are doing the pace. Porto-Prio for race leader Machado is obvious. Banc Ireland for runner-up Dan Martin next as also Telkom for Ricco, who sits in 5th but surely wants the podium spot!
Let the climbing begin. Still 75km to go but it`s almost no flat part from now on.
One rider decides to attack from the peloton. It`s Possoni. The 2nd Ticos rider and surely a better support for De la Cruz later on as Usandizaga.
And while GC wise the team might be quite happy, a stage win is surely hoped for, so sending Possoni now, when the gap is only 1'30 might be a good idea.
Behind him Rudaskov with a similar plan. Is Rodrigues planning something or is it for the stage win only? Both join the group of 9 quickly and the gap is widening again to more than 2min.
One reason for the extending gap is surely the "in comparison" weaker Machado mountain squad and the only 2 solid domestiques are not yet to be used early in the stage, when there is no danger from the break.
Instead it`s BoI`s Sortveit doign the job for Dan Martin.
Cat.2
Navarro
10
Wöhrer
8
Sivori
6
Godoy
4
Raisin
2
On top of the first mountain the gap is up to 5min as the peloton was not really hurrying up there. Telkom`s Bester is taking over.
Another possibly reason why the race does not pick up more speed though is then mentioned by race radio. Thibaut Pinot did crash and is looking not good at all. The French was already a bit below expectations really, but this crash might see his chances of a good GC gone completely. After couple of minutes !!! he is continue to ride, but this will be a huge time loss. And what to do now? Sisira is in the break as best support? So can`t even send him a proper support.
2nd Cat.2 was won by Wöhrer ahead of Possoni. Another news though just hit us as Ochoa Quintero is behind the peloton! No sign of a crash but he aparently must be ill or something. He is losing ground and looking very bad. So it`s the next top15 rider with a huge struggle.
Cat.2
Wöhrer
10
Possoni
8
Navarro
6
Sivori
4
Raisin
2
Those 2 crashes might be one reason for the slowish peloton as it`s almost 8 min for them. Though if someone wants to challenge Machado really, they should accelerate soon.
In front only 4 riders now. Wöhrer Possoni Navarro Sivori
With 17km to go they have 2min over the next group and ~6min to the favourites. Is this enough for the stage win or will the GC riders go for it on that hell of a climb?
At least Ricco and Martin don`t want to let it untested and attack with 17km to go! Kiserlovski, Talansky and Rodrigues follow behind and now Machado is under pressure! Immediately Baltazar goes into the lead chasing hard and also Silva is still there.
They chased the group successfully buth with 10km to go Martin tries again.
Baltazar is reaching his limit. No chance he can catch Martin by himself. It`s now in the area, where The Irish would grab the leader shirt.
Wöhrer is realizing that the favourites are coming closer. It`s still quite a gap but the final will be super steep and if you are any tired there, you can lose massively.
Also he has another goal. Next to a possible stage win, also the KoM jersey could be won by him when winning the stage! And he had 0 points before todays stage!
Martin has now 1min advantage! Highly time for Machado to do something against if he wants to win!
Together with 4 others he starts the chasing: Machado Ricco Marquez Kiserlovski Talansky
What a pace by Machado proving to be the strongest uphill! He jumps to Dan Martin, looking at him and making it obvious, that no one is going to win this race but him!
Behind the other 4 attackers have 20s gap but about twice that much to the next group.
Wow. This is close. The breakaway really was slow in those steep parts. Wöhrer is on the final kilometer but from behind you can already see the yellow jersey and also Marquez did jump to Machado/Martin now!
Almost there and it`s still very steep until the line.
Marquez, Machado, Martin behind are coming much faster!
But no problems. Wöhrer timed it to perfection and taking a brilliant win as also the KoM jersey!
Marquez with a strong last 2 kilometers taking 2nd ahead of Machado and Martin. 12s in between those 3. Ticos` Possoni was also close to a win as he comes in as 5th as next best breakaway rider.
Actually Marquez with a great jump in the GC as well passing both Ricco and Chamorro with this late push.
The next group arrives with 47s time gap. Sivori, Navarro from the break alongside Kiserlovski, Ricco, Rodrigues, Chamorro, Rujano and De la Cruz. So bad luck for Ricco, who couldn`t gain any time on the riders ahead today.
Losing about half a minute is the Vontobel duo. In the end Maillet even looked stronger than Cataldo gapping him in the end. Same for Talansky. He was strong so far but the steep parts gave him the rest.
Brenes next already 1'49 behind. Worse for Gilanipoor or Meintjes today. Both though will defend their top15, also as Ochoa Quintero is losing over 23min today and Pinot was more than 10min behind. Both lose their positions and drop outside the top15. Gallopin and Ranaweera in the end did wait for him and chased for a while. Best for the team now is Sisira in 15th!
And last but not least another abandon. Hugh Carty apparently was with Pinot after the crash and gave him his bike. Then no team car stopped for him making him an involuntary abandon.
