Yeah, well, I never really kept my promise about the stages yesterday - sorry
I have to say that I haven't looked at the forthcoming stage profiles yet, but this stage looks like the queen stage of this tour with its two very, very long and steep mountains. Maybe, today will finally be the day where we can sort the no-so-good riders from the excellent mountain goats. And it's most probably also a goodbye to Swindlehurt's leader jersey. After these 176 km. we will know a lot more.
From the very first meter, the peloton started riding uphill. The sprinters stayed in front, hoping to survive the mountains, maybe? It didn't really help much - it was too steep with its 7.5 % and this started after just 5 km. And well, it's remarkable that so many riders are dropped this early. They will fight to stay within the time limit.
In front, we also had a few riders to watch. A bunch of the attackers we've seen on other stages tried their luck again: Barberi, Lefevre, Arretuinanda, Dyadichkin and Nydam. Best placed in the GC of these guys are Lefevre with +2'13. We also got to remember that Dyadichkin is 2nd in the Mountain Class. and Nydam is third.
And not very surprisingly, we saw Barberi, Nydam and Dyadichkin fight it out for the first mountain points. Barberi won it in front of Nydam and Dyadichkin, and with that Dyadichkin has taken the Mountain Jersey. At the top, they 5 riders had a gap of 3'25 to the peloton.
Behind them, two riders had attacked from the peloton: Esmaeli and Hicks, and they were succesfully getting closer and closer to the 5-man-break. At the bottom after the first mountain, Esmaeli decided to leave Hicks behind and bridge the gap himself, and shortly after Hicks fell, so he would have been left behind anyway
Esmaeli tried the best he could to get up to the 5 man group, but on the mountain it started looking difficult. And Hicks? He was caught by the peloton.
At this 2nd - and hopefully exciting - mountain Wiggle was leading the peloton up, resulting in more riders getting dropped. At the start of this mountain, there's 32 riders in the P with Swindlehurst fighting to hang on. Sonnery is still there, but not for long, I think. The break has a gap of 5'39 with Lefevre about to be dropped.
... and then it finally happened. The first attack from a favourite, Marques of Benfica. His team has been up front all day, and this is why. No one goes after him. Marquez catches Esmaeli who manages to hang on.
In the back, Bertagnolli is - all alone - ripping the peloton apart. Botero and Jaksche are both dropped, so is Sonnery. In the peloton, we still have Medina, Danielson, Sevilla, Blanco and other prominent names. In front, Marquez is continuing his one-man-show by dropping Esmaeli and passing Lefevre who has been dropped from the front group. There's still 75 km to go, and Marquez has 1'35 up to Nydam who has also been dropped from the front group.
Behind, the peloton is reduced to 14 riders with Bertagnolli having been dropped now. They are also getting closer to Marquez - and Lefevre who got back on Marquez' wheel.
Few moments later, with 70 km. to go, Medina paces the peloton forward until they catch Lefevre and Marquez. We're back at where we started, but there's still 16 km left of the mountain. He doesn't give up that easily, though, and continues being at the front of the peloton, keeping up the pace. More riders are dropped as we see Martinez De Esteban, Lara, Blanco (current 2nd) and Peterson go. Nydam is caught and dropped, and Vitor also has to give up. 8 riders are left in the P with 10 km of the mountain to go. These are: Marquez, Raisin, Medina, Ribeiro, Siutsou, Arriagada, Danielson and Sevilla. They have 1'21 to Barberi and Arreitunandia who have been dropped by Dyadichkin.
With 60 km to go, the two riders are caught. Left in front is just Dyadichkin who will take the mountain points and get a comfortable left in the Mountain Class.. He has about 1'15 to the P, but there's still 50 km to go.
At the top of the mountain, Medina attacked for the points, but afterwards he didn't drop back -- so, suddenly the peloton had another - and much more important - guy to chase. In front, Medina had caught Dyadichkin, and in the peloton Ribeiro was screaming for help for the chasing. 25 km to go, gap of 1'12 to Dyadichkin who has been dropped by Medina. He's looking really strong!
18 km to go, and Dyadichkin is caught - but he doesn't care. He has the Mountain Jersey. 8 km later, and the peloton can eye Medina in front of them. He still has 52 seconds, though. Will he take the victory today?
It certainly looks like a victory for Medina!
Medina takes the victory! You can see the peloton coming from behind. Siutsou takes 2nd in front of Danielson.
