13 laps of the same climb, and then a summit finish. Welcome to hell for anyone who doesn’t call themselves a top climber.
We’re on the second climb of the race expecting to see the breakaway finally properly form, when we see both of the Schleck brothers on the move! They are swiftly brought back by the peloton however, as are the others who attempted a break - but a notice of intent from the World Champion.
A fall on the descent then splits the race - Machado is the most notable faller, while all of the top climbers except from Schleck, Kritskiy, Spilak, Sicard, Henao Montoya, Dombrowski and Nibali are caught behind. Only 45 riders remain in the front group for now, but on the brief flat section it all comes back together.
The third climb would see the break finally form then. Grygorenko, Boswell, Jiao, Abreu and Marzuki the riders wishing to be brave today.
Nothing much happens until the 6th climb of the day, when Penasa decides he fancies his chances of bridging to the 5 men up front. He’d make his way up to them on the 7th climb, with the gap over 6 minutes at this point.
On the 9th climb the break splits up (92km to go), with Boswell and Jiao unable to hold onto the wheels. The gap to the peloton now down to around 4 minutes.
The next climb would see Marzuki be dropped - as you can see lapped riders are becoming a common theme! The gap to the peloton is now up to over 5 minutes (74km to go).
Machado is clearly injured after his earlier crash, and he drops out of the peloton on the 11th climb of 13 (before the summit finish). Kohl another notable name being dropped at this point (61km to go).
The same climb would also claim another notable victim in Guldhammer. He was caught behind the crash earlier but our cameras didn’t see him hit the ground, perhaps another casualty of it? He manages to make it back to the main group, but is clearly struggling.
44km to go and the 12th climb on the circuit, and Schleck launches an attack!
Interestingly nobody seeks to counter, and he crosses the summit alongside Penasa - Grygorenko and Abreu having been dropped.
Around 1 minute later and the first proper chase group summits the climb - Spilak, Sicard, Dombrowski, Morton and Suaza. Abal is at 1’30 with all the other notable names except Berhane (+2’30) and Machado (now 10 minutes down) at 1’50.
The descent would make getting information difficult, but at the foot of the final climb on the circuit the situation was:
Schleck Stancu, Penasa, Morton, Dombrowski, Spilak, Sicard, Suaza, Abal, Henao Montoya, Kritskiy, Cattaneo and Wellens +1’24 Keizer +2’41 Berhane, Guldhammer, Lecuisinier, Nibali and Nerz +3’21 Kudus +3’42 Arndt +4’42 Machado is well down the order, 12’36 behind
On the climb we would see Henao Montoya, Dombrowski and Spilak choose to leave their companions behind. Spilak would prove too strong for them quickly and crest the summit 40 seconds behind Schleck, with the others at 1’35. Morton proved next strongest at 2’05, before Sicard, Kritskiy and Penasa found themselves at 2’24. Other big names are spread out all over the mountain.
As Schleck turns onto the start of the final climb of the day with 10km to go, the race situation is as follows:
7km to go and Spilak can see Schleck, but the gap isn’t really decreasing - nothing has changed in the groups further down the climb.
5km to go and the leaders turn onto the final slog to the summit. Spilak is now almost a minute down, while the most notable thing behind is Penasa finally fading and dropping into the Berhane group, while Keizer and Lecuisinier have caught Guldhammer and Stancu.
It’s fair to say nothing happens between there and the line, at least up front. Schleck holds on to take a dominating victory!
Spilak did his best today, but he’ll have to settle for second.
Dombrowski sprints to third in the end, with Morton jumping past Henao Montoya to take 4th on the line.
Sicard is a lonely 6th ahead of Kritskiy and Wellens, before Cattaneo and Abal complete the top 10. Only 161 riders make it to the finish after an awful 9 hours in the saddle for the last finishers.
