Welcome to todays Le Tour de Langkawi. A belated update indeed, but its also a very important one as we will most likely see a winner emerge from today's mountainous finish.
We start this stage with an attack and a sprint. Listed in the order they crossed the first sprint is: Ospina (DHS), Roulston (IBB), Martin (PBC), Frischkorn (TSL), Nally (NIB), Tinajero (still not supposed to attack), Retired, Retired and Burke (VRB)
The second sprint is uneventful and the winners are Ospina, Martin and Retired with Roulston fourth.
6kms before the 3rd sprint, 2 riders decide that they are not bothered to hang around with the rest. Ospina and Martin attacks, and as the distance implies on the screenshot, it doenst last long (1800 meters to be exact)
Desperate to prove his awesomeness, Frischkorn strikes an immediate counterattack.
His attack is nullified by a Martin which appears to have a good day. The third sprint also concludes with these three riders. Martin 1st, Frischkorn 2nd and Roulston 3rd.
With 62kms, 2 KoM sprints, 1 point sprint and some steep grades to go. The break is holding a 2'40" advantage.
A few things happened on the first hill: Martin sets a hard pace, dropping Burke and an AI. Martin also takes the first KoM sprint ahead of Nally, Tinajero, Ospina and Frischkorn. Roulston doesnt look too good right now.
The break is still holding 3 minutes to the pack.
On the downhill section, Ospina attacked, and was quickly caught again by Martin. To illustrate the sheer speed Martin rode with, the producers added some motion blur.
Ospina tried again on the flat section right before the third sprint. He failed, but won the sprint ahead of Martin and Roulston. The AI rider Tinajero was finally dropped also.
Equally impressive: B&O's Jørgensen is still holding with the pack.
23kms to go: The breakaway is breaking up due to La/MSS/Pearl Jam's pressure and is ultimately caught with 19kms to go, leaving the pack to fight the final KoM and the stage.
14 to go: Jimenez Sanchez opens the ball. Stetina, Van Huffel, Mestre, Pugaci counters.
10.8 to go: (gaps shown is to group in front of the rider) E1: Van Huffel
E2: Mestre. 13"
E3: Jimenez Sanchez, Stetina 19"
E4: Wegelius, Pugaci, Rodrigues, Pluchkin, Cooke. 1'04"
E5: Jiriakow, Hacecky. 45"
P: 12 riders, including Bernabeu and Zandio.
Mestre overtakes Van Huffel. Jimenez Sanchez attacks.
They are side by side...
Van Huffel seems faster, but Mestre got the inside track.
And its Mestre on the line! That was incredibly close!
A minute later, Pluchkin takes 3rd ahead of Jimenez Sanchez on 4th, Rodigues on 5th and Stetina on 6th.
The only team that can complain today is LA/MSS/Pearl Jam.
GC:
Mestre leads the GC of course, and most of the results are the same as the stages. That said, Pluchkin and Wegelius was invovled in the stage 1 crash that costed them 2 minutes, and is penalized accordingly.
Sprinters Jersey:
The top 8 had no changes, and Huff is still holding the jersey ahead of Breschel.
U-25
Mestre has taken the lead ahead of Rodrigues.
Teams:
B&O is now the leading team, but only by 10 seconds to La/MSS/Pearl Jam. Nippo is sitting on 3rd 4 minutes away, and Slipstream practically out of the competition on 4th.
Edited by Roman on 18-10-2016 00:23
