Last stage in Eritrea and a chance for the puncheurs to gain time on the climbers. It`s really Ardennes like with almost no flat section in between.
Up and down all day and then a short Mur in the end to finish the stage.
Kwiatkowski obviously in a nice position already in front and then also the best of the top GC riders.
The other GC riders such as Kudus, Schelling, Pinot, Ji, Roglic and so on surely not very weak on hills but nothing against the clear puncheurs.
Pure climbers that are expected to have a tough day are Marquez, Costagli, Brenes, Nazaret etc., that might even have to defend their position against todays favourites such as Roche, Reichenbach, Zardini.
7 riders in the breakaway. No GC danger but some riders clearly interested in the KoM jersey. Haga Lane Pranata Antunes Mollema Malacarne Anguilet
Girdlestone Rojas Villegas
are two more riders trying to join and with within the ~15-20 KoM point area.
Dall'Oste as actual leader is at 46 with Brandao as 2nd with 38. Both not in the break today. In total 40 points on offer today and hence the jersey could swap.
And Girdlestone indeed goes first over the line at the two opening KoM`s climbing to 30 points already.
Netia not having the strongest team here, hence it`s good for them that Fablok (for Roche) and Meiji (for Zaini) are supporting them. 100km left and still only 2'30 gap. Not looking good for the break today as the GC riders/puncheurs clearly want that stage.
Girdlestone getting tired now. No points at the 3rd KoM and just 2 on hte long Cat.2. Instead Mollema, Malacarne and Lane getting the big points and those 3 aren`t a big danger and Dall'Oste looking better now to defend his shirt.
Huge move by UBS then.
Reichenbach, who lost his chances to improve really in the GC yesterday, now powering over the Cat.2 and continues in the descent. Clearly a move for his team mate and actual GC rider Schelling, who sits nicely in the first positions while many riders got surprised by this and get dropped!
Just 27 riders in the first group!
Riders dropped include: Úran Berhane Marquez Nazaret Chiarello Grmay Poljanski Teklehaimanot Zardini Martinez
For full overview here the riders in the first group which includes a massive amount of UBS, Meiji and Fablok riders, who now chase a lot. Shapira Stepniak Reichenbach Gilanipoor Eliad Shirota Kwiatkowski Molard Roglic Kudus Girdlestone Anguilet Schelling Ji Pinot Roche Chamorro Zaini Kuboki Feillu Dall'Oste Van den Broeck Hiratsuka Haga Serry
You notice that Girdlestone is caught and won`t get more points while GC leader Kwiatkowski is isolated while Roche misses his best support rider in Poljanski and Kudus as well isolated.
A group behind Berg Cycles, Minions and Indosat trying to come back but not successful so far. It`s ~90s at the moment.
40km and no more breakaway as all got caught. Dall'Oste pretty much guaranteed the jersey now and also is in the first group to defend his GC position or even improve.
But now the attacks start and still 43km to go. Serry starting and Reichenbach following. Hence his acceleration earlier might not only be work for Schelling but also his own ambitions on todays stage. Chamorro as 3rd rider but none of them really able to open a gap.
Though the next attacks look more powerful and they also split the "favourite group" yet another time. Zaini first and behind him Roche, Serry and Chamorro.
With Meiji and Fablok now no longer work in the peloton the pace drops a bit. As said no Netia, Eritel riders in and UBS can`t do it all.
Hence some riders come back to them with 19km to go incl. Uran or Marquez.
Nazaret and Zardini probably the biggest names behind.
Chamorro clearly being no puncheur as the others and hence back in the peloton.
But Zaini is not done yet and as the gap to the "favourites" is already at 2-3min he attacks again trying to get rid of Roche and Serry.
Those three almost guaranteed to decide todays stage.
Behind also some more action. Reichenbach might not be the biggest danger, Roglic though as 9th indeed is and apparently afraid of the big gap Roche is getting.
Good for Kwiatkowski that Eritel no longer is low in numbers and Teklehaimanot and Khederi immediately higher the pace.
13km and this acceleration yet again sees some riders drop and this time you can see their exhaustment clearly: Marquez Berhane Úran Chiarello Kuboki
The Reichenbach group caught again and hence UBS chasing with Fumeaux and Kung again. No chance to catch the trio but making it hard for the dropped top10 riders to come back.
Kwiatkowski in the end a rather lucky rider as Roche is ~5min behind in the GC and only the support of other teams makes Kwiatkowski staying safely in the lead. Rabottini was with him for a few kilometers again but also is behind most times. Hence Netia not able to do anything for Kwiatkowski today.
Meanwhile Zaini looking good. His last attack worked well and it`s 1min already between him and Roche! Serry another minute behind almost with the GC rider group again.
And Meiji indeed takes the stage. The strongest puncheur on paper was strongest on the road as well and hence the team taking something from the race as well.
Roche over the line as 2nd, 1'16 down and might improve a bit in the GC.
Serry still 3rd but just ahead of the first riders from the next group.
Pinot, Ju and wow...Dall'Oste already! All 2'17 behind and actually the uphill sprint saw some gaps here.
Those 3 gain 8s on Meyer, Schelling, Canola, Van den Broeck, Roglic and GC winner Kwiatkowski, who rode a calm last stage but probably smart race once isolated to safe as much energy as possible to defend his overall.
And then there`s the riders that apparently did too much today and then had no energy left for the sprint itself.
Kudus being the obvious big name here. He has 2 helpers ahead of him but for a long time, he was isolated and this on terrain, that is not 100% ideal. Hence the time loss. And it`s huge as the gap is big.
Chamorro, Reichenbach, Poljanski, Feillu all in between the groups while Teklehaimanot sprints to 17th already more than 4min in total, which means almost 2min loss on the final 2km uphill, where Kudus totally collapsed.
With him also Brenes.
Anotehr 2min loss for the group around Chiarelle, Berhane, Uran. Not the best race by the Colombian clearly.
GC wise this means Kwiatkowski in first but Schelling moving up to 2nd! Huge race by the Swiss rider. Pinot and Ji also go past Kudus, who is losing the podium and drops down to 5th!
Roglic, Van den Broeck and then Roche already next. Dall'Oste the rider of the race maybe! Not only the KoM but also jumping up to 9th in the GC and with his superb sprint in the end also getting the point jerey. Not bad at all.
Brenes in 10th as Maruqz, Uran and Nazaret lost too much.
