Last stage in Eritrea and one of the hardest surely. It`s an Ardennes type of hill stage. 178km though only in comparison. But due to no relax time and up and down all day on short, steep hills, the GC could see serious chances.
Amador has an advantage of 1'46 and is not a bad puncheur. Though his biggest opponents Ricco and Cunego (+1'58) are not that far off and use to feel a lot more comfortable on a stage like this.
Also further behind some climbers could struggle to keep their GC position when stronger puncheurs attack. Roche as 11th in the GC is 4'18 down but only half to a top5. Also stage racers between 10th and 20th such as Talansky, Monsalve, Preidler, Yates, Chamorro
or Kiserlovski surely hope to climb a bit.
The first attack is interesting! It`s the Eritrean National Champion Amanuel. He was in the breakaway on the exact stage last season and won in the end. So he surely is someone, who must be watched as he knows the roads perfectly.
He later is joined by 7 more riders. So in total the break is: Amanuel Malacarne Vermeltfoort Egidio Rodas Ochoa Sayar Pranata Herrada
GC wise the most interesting is Herrada from Euskaltel. As 19th he is only 5'56 behind and hence quite a risk for the GC riders.
Boaro and Melo realize that KoM leader Sarabia is not having the energy to join the break today. So they attack a bit later trying to close the gap. With 5x Cat.3 and 1x Cat.2 on the route, the chance is there to steal the KoM lead today and both have already collected several points.
They will join a few kilometers later just before the first mountain sprint.
Though while both tried to fight for the points, they were a) too exhausted and b) the weaker puncheurs in the group. So Egidio, Herrada and Rodas Ochoa take the points.
Herrada is not only best placed in the GC, he also already had a few KoM points before today. So it`s not a surprise that he follows this goal as well and he takes the 2nd KoM ahead of Egidio and Boaro.
And he continues. Not only the next Cat.3 but also the Cat.2. Both times neither Boaro nor Melo were able to grab any.
The Cat.2 was also the moment for a big GC attack. A group of 7 riders gapped the peloton! And the very best are in there: Ricco Amador Monsalve Roche Talansky Vanendert Potts
So it`s the 1-2 in the GC and also two of the best puncheurs plus a team mate even for Vanendert. Monsalve and Talansky surely want to climb in the GC as they are definitely below their possibilities at the moment.
Behind them a group of 45 contains most of the other GC riders such as Cunego.
Though couple riders weren`t focusses and sit even another group behind! Those are: Kiserlovski Teklehaimanot Nazaret Ji Hoogerland Ziesler
So it`s Eritel working behind to defend Teklehaimanot`s decent GC despite having Berhane in front. Also Spotify is trying to bring back their duo as Lövkvist surely needs the support further up the road being quite isolated in the 45 rider group.
With 45km to go only two riders remain in the lead:
Vermeltfoort and Herrada!
Then a group of 13 including the Ricco/Amador group and also closing the next group around Cunego, Berhane, Lövkvist, Pinot etc.
Monsalve with the next attack and as Herrada scored again, he just took the KoM lead from Sarabia! So at least one goal already did work for the Euskaltel rider.
They were all caught though with 30km to go and it`s now Slagter in the attack! The win goal is impossible to reach as the mountain stage was too crucial for him. But he still wants the stage and a decent GC.
30s behind him a 40 rider group around most of the GC riders.
Then a group of 8, who are dropped follow 1min later! In there top riders: Brenes Ji Teklehaimanot Kiserlovski, who both just made it back to the favourite group.
Good news for Eritel. Teklehaimanot made it back on the next hill. All others still sit 36s behind and struggle a lot more. Nazaret who is 10th in the GC is even another group behind still. He is just not a good puncheur and prefers mountains only.
Also Slagter is struggling. A solo on such up and down profile is too difficult it seems. Still another rider tries it: Talansky.
This acceleration sees a lot more riders struggling as also Roche did accelerate!
Only 17 riders in the first favourite group, which means the 2nd group of 10 includes big names. Those are: Berhane (6.) Valls (9.) Teklehaimanot (12.) Monsalve (14.) Slagter (22.) Meintjes (23.)
Preidler even a bit further behind. So not a good moment for Wiesenhof and Eritel!
With 5km to go the situation is a lot of small groups.
Talansky still going strong.
Behind him the strongest today in Ricco/Amador/Lövkvist/Vanendert/Roche. So the GC seems to be sealed for the UBS leader as he is not allowing any gaps.
Then a group of 12 including Cunego, who must fear his podium as also the Ayubowan riders. Eritel`s Teklit seems to be allowed to go on his own instead of helping the GC riders. While most of those are puncheurs, the big surprise is once more Trent Lowe, who is overperforming yet again. Also Chamorro with a nice performance.
Behind Teklehaimanot is chasing hard to keep Berhane in the GC fight. Monsalve and Slagter seem to be too tired after their earlier attacks. And worst for Brenes, Kiserlovski or Ji, who will lose a lot of time today.
The final climb is one of the hardest of the day and it`s the moment, when Ricco attacks GC leader Amador, who tries to follow. Talansky is almost caught while Lövkvist is riding nicely in 4th position.
Ricco takes the lead and has gapped Amador! Still 2km left and Amador is not looking that good.
Behind next to Lövkvist also the two puncheurs Vanendert and Roche. Both had hoped to get the stage win but Ricco seems too strong.
800m for Ricco. And Amador is almost staying!
Vanendert provest strongest of the 2nd group going into 2nd under the Flamme Rouge.
And also Pinot is back! Great news for Ayubowan as he attacks past Lövkvist/Talansky/Roche.
Also not far behind coming fast are Teklot, Landa, Gallopin and Yates. So great stage for Ayubowan!
What a gap for Ricco in the finish. He takes the stage and definitely is close to the GC win as Amador was absolutely staying in the end, while Ricco wasn`t even able to celebrate giving it all until the line was passed.
Behind him Vanendert takes 2nd 28s later! This will also see him climbing in the GC. He was 27th only but will make a bit jump.
Lövkvist passes the line in 3rd and it`s already 1'04 behind Ricco plus bonus seconds. Pinot, Talansky and Teklit next. All within the same time! So Eritel with a decent stage result but losing in the GC! Teklit btw. was 6th here last year as well. So he must have been focussed on himself too much today.
Amador does beat Roche for the next spot, which normally would be a good result on the hilly stage. But is it enough to remain the GC lead? The clock stops at 1'26, hence yes, he does win the race! Ricco as runner-up was super close though and is only 10s behind him! What a finish and what happy end for UBS as this was a much needed GC win after a weak start into the season.
Landa as well in that group in 9th today.
Gallopin and Yates complete a strong Ayubowan race.
Almost 3min behind Cunego finishes as one of todays big losers. He will lose his podium spot to Pinot but at least is not dropping too much being 4th just 3s ahead of Lövkvist and half a minute to Talansky! Though this was a bad day for him where he normally should have attacked the GC lead even!
Also in this group Trent Lowe and Chamorro. First the sensation in this race, who remains in the top10 of the GC as 9th, while later is just ouside being in a decent top15 in this field.
Teklehaimanot leads in the next group. Obviously many aren`t happy here but at least they won`t lose too much. Berhane drops from 6th to 8th behind Roche, who stepped up a lot.
Teklehaimanot is 12th now losing his spot to Adam Yates. Valls also in that group is 10th in the end while Monsalve is one of the big disappointments here as 14th only in the GC instead of the expected podium. Same for his team mate Preidler or Slagter.
Worse even for Ji, Kiserlovski, Rodriguez or Nazaret. They all drop out of the top20 after todays disaster. In especially Ji, who climbed that great, then lost it all in the hills.
