The final event in the triple header, with a long hilly affair in store for the riders today.
It takes almost 30km for the break to establish itself as many riders want to be involved and Puma does a lot of work chasing moves back but eventually a 4-man group forms:
Garcia Feiereisen Lund Walsleben
It’s a quiet race today and not much happens until the third last climb, where Garcia attacks his companions, Feiereisen also leaves the other two behind as he pursues Garcia.
There’s little action for most the race as Bouygues controls the pack, as we get closer to the finish Gazelle takes over with a little support from Puma and begin to reel the break back, catching Lund and Walsleben with 18km to go, Garcia is still 1’30 up the road with Feiereisen half-way in between.
Gazzelle doesn’t put in a concerted chase however and Garcia’s lead has stretched to almost 3 minutes entering the final 5km as Van Garderen makes a move Spilak, Ponzi, Kelderman and Bakelants are all right behind him while Gazelle opts to chase rather than have Ginanni follow.
Gazelle have almost closed the gap as Van Garderen launches another attack, very strange move from him with his teammate Garcia 2 minutes up the road and Feiereisen a minute behind him. Spilak, Ponzi, Kelderman and Bakelants all line up behind him before a small gap to a Gazelle led peloton, with Ginanni and Sagan right near the front and Gastauer, Schreurs, van der Hugenhaben, Lutsenko, Juul-Jensen and Pichon all in the first 20 riders.
Garcia enters the final kilometre but in this overhead view you can see the peloton just one hairpin down, he’s really struggling with the gradient here but still has 1’40 lead so it’ll be difficult for him to lose it now.
Van Garderen has sat back down but keeps the pace going catching Feiereisen with no trouble but also eating into his teammate’s lead up front. All the big names are still right behind Van Garderen all waiting to make a move.
Van Garderen strikes again however and launches his sprint into the final kilometre, Spilak is once again right on his wheel and Bakelants is behind him, Kelderman doesn’t react quite as fast and has to close a small gap, while Ponzi begins to lose ground as Gastauer passes him! Hofland leads Furdi past Ponzi on the other side, but their leader, Ginanni is still around 15th position. Lutsenko, van der Hugenhaben, Sagan and Vichot are all well-placed in the top 15 too.
The peloton really made a blunder today and Garcia crosses the line almost a minute ahead of the pack, a great win for the Spaniard, who escaped the break and didn’t look back.
The order in the peloton is pretty similar with 700 metres left, with Spilak and Bakelants waiting behind Van Garderen. Ponzi has found the energy to reclaim Kelderman’s wheel in front of Gastauer and Lutsenko follows him. Hofland still leads Furdi while Sagan must be on a bad day as he leads Vichot in a struggle to stay behind Furdi.
Van Garderen steps on the pace once more and quite a few riders can’t handle the pace. Spilak begins to falter as Bakelants manoeuvrers past him and Kelderman tries to move around him on the other side. Ponzi begins to lose the wheel while Gastauer is a bike length behind with Lutsenko maintaining his position behind him.
Bakelants accelerates in a final attempt to pass Van Garderen on the final steep pinch. Kelderman is moving fastest however but way too late and is racing against Spilak for 4th place now.
Van Garderen secures the 1-2 for Movistar taking 2nd place once again! Bakelants can’t quite pass him but still gets on the podium while a photo finish determines Spilak ahead of Kelderman, while Ponzi, Gastauer, Lutsenko, Hofland and Furdi maintain their top 10 positions.
