Welcome everyone to the most brutal race in the world; GP Liechsteinst. Today the best climbers in the world will fight for an honorific title of “Best Climber”. 13 laps in a circuit which has a “short” climb, and if that wasn’t enough, the race finish in a climb double the lenght of the circuit’s one and with a 15% or more slope average
Three riders have dared to attack in the opening lap. Very brave move by those riders
Calmejane Dulanjana Mudarra
A crash in the descent of the second lap has made three riders to abandon the race
Polanc Bibby Koch
Not the best start for this race, as we have another crash in the corner where the climb starts, and a few riders that could do well or are key domestiques are involved, as Haig, Trofimov, Vinhas, Novak or Kunshin
Nothing to report in the next 100 km. All the rider that crashed previously have rejoined the bunch, which still has around 130 riders on it with 130 km left. The 3 escapees has a 7-minute gap, but also despite having Wiesenhof, Vesuvio and Festina in the front, they aren’t doing a big work, just making sure the breakaway don’t win
Interesting move by Kulhavy I don’t see yet how this can help his leader Hirt later, but the Czech has attacked with 110 km left in the race. As expected, no one has cared about it in the bunch, so he has quickly gained a big advantage over the group.
No crash was reported, but Arndt has suddenly gave up. Also, Trofimov must be injured, as he has been dropped from the group a couple of laps ago
After more than 40 km alone, Kulhavy has finally reached the head of the race. The now four riders in the front have 6 minutes of advantage to the bunch, where now only 70 riders are left on it. We still have to do 4 laps to the circuit before the final climb
Less than 70 km left and we finally see some teams putting a high pace in the group, but for now only in the flat part. They are still doing really slow the climbs, allowing the breakaway to stay ahead for a little longer
Kulhavy and Dulanjana are the only riders now in the front, as Mudarra and Calmejane have been dropped in this climb. But the leading duo only has 3 minutes to the bunch led by Wiesenhof and Vesuvio
And the breakaway has been already caught with 40 km left. Wiesenhof still has 6 riders in the first group, where only 40 riders remain there, and are taking all the responsability to chase and set the pace at the moment. Taaramäe has a big pressure to win today with all the effort his team is doing
We are still on the final lap of the circuit, but Gesink can’t wait anymore to attack. Wiesenhof’s domestiques were almost done, and the pace had been decreased a lot in this climb. Schleck, who was in the first places in the group, has quickly jumped on the Dutch’s wheel
Spilak and Dombrowski also tried to follow Gesink’s move, but neither of them have been able to join the leading duo. Meanwhile, Taaramäe has trusted his most loyal domestique today, Pernsteiner, to do the chase, and it has worked, as with barely any effort, he has almost caught Gesink and Schleck.
After the descent and the flat part which leads to the final climb, 6 riders are in the front, with the previously 2 first groups joining together. This means that the 6 best climber on paper are on the leading group
Gesink Schleck Taaramäe Spilak Dombrowski Tenorio
1’20 behind those riders, we have another 7 riders who will have to fight for 7th place today
7 km to the finish, and the attacks are starting to come. First Schleck, which didn’t harm anyone, and then Dombrowski. This time the American, together with Schleck has opened a gap to the other four riders, with Spilak being the one who is struggling the most
Less than 6 km left, but Tenorio can’t stay anymore with the group. The Spaniard is done, and will have to settle for 6th... at best
Taaramäe has caught the leading duo on his own, and with 4 km to go, is making his move for the win. In the back of the group, Spilak has exploded
Taaramäe is on way to the win, as in only 1 km he has opened a 40-second gap to Schleck, Gesink and Dombrowski.
One minute already for Taaramäe, but look at that final part. It’s scary
Final km for the Estonian, who is about to take a really deserved win, especially for all the work that his team has done all the race. At this rate, he’ll finish with a 2-minute gap to the second
Rein Taaramae wins GP Liechtenstein!
Dombrowski beats Schleck in the sprint for the second place. Disappointing race for the Luxemborgian star, as this breaks his 3 years winning streak in the race
Dropped in the final 600 metres, Gesink finish in a great fourth place. He was the first to attack of the favourites, and that has brought him a nice result
Really close sprint between Spilak, Machado and Tenorio for fifth place, with the Slovenian winning it ahead of the Portuguese and the Spaniard
Herklotz finishes eighth, not too far from the group ahead of him
Ninth place for Yates, really overperforming, as he has finished ahead of a few 80+ climbers
If Yates overperformed, what about Nepomnyachsniy? He has won the sprint over Guldhammer for an incredible tenth place for the Kazakh
