Potentially the hardest of all 4 mountain stages as a bit longer than some of the others, longer climbs in the middle section, no relax areas after the first quarter and in especially with the by far most difficult final climb. 16,5km and almost the whole climb at ~11% in average. Pure hell.
Obviously the worst climb for a bad day and hence changes are highly possible. Also the top 5-6 riders aren`t too far off, so we might see swaps here and there. Madrazo as GC leader just needs this one day to defend and he will be in the history books.
Early on a rather big group trying to get away but eBuddy and Movistar don`t allow them to get away really.
First Cat.3 and Samwel ahead of Kritskiy and Keizer, so you can imagine the strength of those and the purpose of some to go for the KoM and of others to get into the top10 GC.
Van den Broeck despite not getting points here also in the group with a tiny gap now to Keizer in the KoM fight.
Uran, Contador (10th in GC), Quintana, Destribois the others with Dzhus a bit behind.
And if you thought, it`s already a dangerous group, look at this. eBuddy and Movistar have gapped the remaining peloton and now it`s a 20 rider group having ~2 min with several of those two team`s support riders chasing now!
New in that group as well now:
Faiers
Kennaugh
Brambilla
Henao Montoya
Abal
and 3 of eBuddy/Movistar.
Behind a huge questionmark over the peloton. No team wants to chase early on already as it`s a tough day but then again some riders in front are just 8min down in the GC and hence could become a huge danger in such big group.
For the moment Konrad for Gazelle and Le Gac of I-Gen somehow keep the gap at ~3min. The pace is incredible high in both groups and first riders are dropped before the first Cat.1 even starts.
Agudelo and Siutsou increased the pace even more then to bridge the gap. But then it`s already Madrazo/Spilak and the other GC riders in the first rows chasing themselves that early with the Cat.1 just having started.
Quickly a group of just 34 riders with a gap chasing the 20 rider group.
The top GC riders such as Madrazo, Spilak, Taaramae, Tenorio, Dombrowski, Tenorio all make contact with the first group on that climb. Also Cattaneo, Wellens and Morton are in there making it 28 riders.
Suaza, Aru follow next ahead of Guldhammer, Arndt, Nerz, Bongiorno.
Some riders though did attack from that first group again and it`s mainly the KoM hunters.
Van den Broeck takes teh 16 points ahead of Keizer, Quintana, Samwel, Faiers and Dzhus. Then already Aru, which shows, that the Vesuvio duo also made contact with the fusioned favourites group. eBuddy and Movistar now stopped their high speed chasing for a moment.
The first group only has 5 riders now: Faiers Van den Broeck Keizer Samwel Quintana
Dzhus a bit behind them.
Then a trio of Guldhammer Contador Aru
2min behind and another minute ahead of the favourite group of just 35 riders!
Many riders are already minutes down and the hardest sections are yet to come!
VdB again taking the 5 points on top ahead of Keizer and Faiers. So virtually 108 points on the Belgium with 99 for Keizer. Samwel at 67.
The Cat.2 then sees Keizer getting back 2 points as he crosses the line ahead of VdB. Contador, Quintana, Aru next, so a bit of a fusion of those 2 leading groups.
In fact only those 3 top stage racers in the first group. Obviously two of those mainly aim the KoM and hence an exciting battle is coming while Contador as 10th in the GC could become dangerous as the peloton is already 6'39 down. Again 85 riders though as several made contact on the last kilometers.
Cat.1 and Keizer is stronger than VdB it seems. He attacks and quickly has a gap. Contador is riding his own pace not being interested in the KoM.
Meanwhile Kritskiy also on the attack again. As 16th and +12'34 he clearly was a big underperformer and hence hopes to improve or at least get a stage win.
He is past Guldhammer, Faiers, Samwel and Dzhus now with the later 3 in especially looking really exhausted already on those 12% sections.
Keizer with another 4 points gained on top and actually almost done with the descent when the peloton just only reached it. Gap at 9'30 now!
The peloton into two halfs again with 44 rides being led by Agudelo working for Madrazo. But quite easy to see, he has reached his limit. This way they will lose more time clearly as the Gazelle climber is not getting any faster and Contador as 10th and 8'18 down even in virtual leader jersey.
Cat.2 and Keizer already done with half the descent, when the peloton reaches the top and the last didn`t even start the climb...just to get an image of todays time gaps!
Keizer 10 points with Contador following and VdB only 6. Kritskiy and Aru next.
KoM wise this means Keizer is now in the lead by 1 point over VdB! Can he repeat his TdF success?
He has some support again after a long solo and it`s good for him as it`s Contador and not VdB, who is following 2min later. Being in the break one day more, clearly does now hurt his legs and hence he might lose the KoM fight despite this extra day of "20 small points only" though.
9'07 for Contador and hence still the virtual lead but the peloton has gained a few seconds recently.
Only VdB +2, Kritskiy +2'30 and Aru +6 in between now. All others caught and like Samwel or Dzhus already dropped from the 44 rider peloton. Also I-Gen losing Novak already and hence the GC riders slowly getting isolated!
Kritskiy is slowly coming towards the front. VdB just ahead of him and as it`s a long straight road up the Cat.3 he can also see Keizer and Contador. The Dutch actually has gapped the Spaniard again for the KoM points even though he should know by now, that Contador is not even interested in those...
16km of steep climbing starts for Keizer while the tail of the starters is still on the descent of the Cat.2 several kilometers ago...surely a lot of riders will get over the time limit today.
55s for Contador to gain again and as the peloton is just at his GC mark now.
VdB at 2'25 and Kritskiy 3'27 after losing a bit in the descent again with Aru also ahead of the peloton.
Keizer (17th, +13'09) and Kritskiy (16th, +12'34) both obviously also attack the top 10 with that attack as the gap isn`t too big for them.
The peloton also did split and just 19 riders in the first half and big news as Cattaneo as 6th in the GC is dropped alongside Kirsch and Arndt, who also were well placed in the top15.
The later half is obviously led by Kirsch, Cattaneo and Arndt themselves and they make contact again a bit later but the peloton is about to split again. So not looking too good for those as the struggle on that long climb will be big.
The pace dropped early on and the gap to Keizer is at 11min now! Contador really happy man right now but Madrazo has taken over and hence the pace is up behind.
Contador though has this info and hence found some legs again chasing on Keizer and is only 40s from him now.
Behind though the pace is incredible high now and Madrazo has opened a gap and only Dombrowski with him!
Spilak and Taaramae behind also having a gap to Alarcon, Tenorio and a struggling Velits.
Then after another gap Morton and Henao Montoya.
Wellens, Abal, Uran, Nerz and Guldhammer another 20s with Karnulin, Brambilla, Bongiorno, Keinath, Chamorro, Galta and Chiarello next but already 70s later.
Cattaneo, Kirsch and Arndt again struggling being another 40s down. At least they have some support as Quintana is with them as also Olivier, who is not chasing though.
Spilak jumped to the Madrazo group and with him Taaramae and Alarcon and he immediately accelerates again.
Tenorio more the diesel climber not getting nervous and riding his own pace while Velits is dropped to Morton/Henao.
The acceleration of Spilak worked well as only Madrazo and Dombrowski with him now. They are past Aru and just 7min to Contador, hence no more GC danger for Madrazo.
But more important for Spilak. They are 45s ahead of Taaramae and Alarcon! Tenorio another gap behind then.
Alarcon is one of the greatest climbers and he is back with the group.
This means not only will Spilak attack Taaramae`s 2nd in the GC. Dombrowski and Alarcon will also attack Tenorio`s 4th at the moment.
The gap melts and melts. VdB just a bit ahead and they can even see up to Keizer, Contador and Kritskiy. Will it be another last minute catch?
Taaramae really struggling and the gaps is getting wider. Same for Tenorio. Both have passed Aru now while Morton/Velits/Henao are also not far behind.
Yesterday Keizer was caught at the 1km mark. Today it looks a bit better as the top riders are still 4min behind. But Contador is not giving up yet and could make it another late catch for the Dutch.
Or even Kritskiy? Unlikely. The Russian actually is quite isolated in between the groups.
And also Keizer was able to hold off Contador and takes the win. What a performance by him today clearly being the strongest of the VdB/Contador/Keizer trio.
The Spaniard of wildcard team Flores though came close and passing the line 38s later. Already being 10th in the GC he surely will improve.
Kritskiy as 3rd is at 2'28 and hence just like Keizer now needs to wait for all riders to come in to see if they made it into the top10.
Flamme Rouge only now for the top GC riders. Spilak in the lead while VdB is passed. Despite being a "loser" of the day due to losing the KoM lead, it`s still a fantastic effort by VdB all over the race being one of the most active for sure and I think even being in the break in all 4 mountain stages.
Spilak in the end the only one to get some kind of sprint and by seeing this, he maybe should have attacked Madrazo earlier for the big coup. But probably he wasn`t able to do so neither or Madrazo fooled him a bit by not showing it.
So Spilak gains couple seconds on them as 4th at 3'33 while all three behind at 3'48. Hence Madrazo is the GC winner of this epic showdown today. Spilak though easily goes past Taaramae while Dombrowski and Alarcon likely pass Tenorio.
VdB behind them rewards himself with a solid top10 stage result.
Aru actually kept ahead of the next and hence can celebrate a good 9th. Not unimportant seeing at the team ranking, where Vesuvio lost quite a bit yesterday but might strike back today with all those huge gaps.
Henao Montoya with a huge finish going past Taaramae and Tenorio to complete the top10 today. Behind them it`s Abal out of nowhere as well while Morton was dropped a lot it seems.
Here he comes. About 2min later after clearly fading.
Nerz behind him as strongest Puma rider today and also a good sign for them in the team ranking as I-Gen is leading but not a lot after Spilak today so far.
Wellens, Uran and Suaza also in that group.
Velits another huge struggler today at 19th only and almost 10min already!
Guldhammer next after a long solo today while Cattaneo and Arndt lose 13min with Brambilla and hence Cattaneo is losing his top10 to the likes of Keizer/Kritskiy, Contador and Henao Montoya.
And as Bongiorno comes in at 15'36, Puma takes the lead in the team category! Nice finish for them. Vesuvio with Kirsch at 33rd also improve again but remain behind I-Gen and Pokerstars.
A huge list of riders was over the time limit as already the 93d rider was 44min down. Hence 48 OTL as you can see below in the results.
