There's always a special kind of tension in the air on a day like today - the final, decisive stage of a stage race. So many riders have it all to gain here - but who has the guts to go for glory? Surely Schleck will lay it all on the line for a shot at the win after sliding to fifth yesterday - but will Machado be wiling to potentially give up his second place for a tilt at reclaiming yellow? Olivier has to go for a big attack if he has so much as an inkling he might have the legs - after a crappy day yesterday he's three minutes down on Herklotz in the white jersey standings. And what of the young German - he's done very well to be seventh now but then again he's only got there by trying risky moves - attacking on flat sections or the move that started it all with 55km to go on stage 3.
Koch has been the only non-top favourite who's proven himself worthy of the KoM. If anybody so far has managed to do well on GC whilst being aggressive as hell it's him and with him slipping already maybe an attack for the KoM and potentially the stage + a top 10 is more appealing than waiting for the top 15. Madrazo has had a couple of stinkers and sits in 11th - surely he'll be willing to risk it. Giro winner Alarcon showed life yesterday and plenty of fight - it's hard not to see him trying something. Vysna has showed plenty of ambition to find himself 8th on GC - how will he fare today?
Two men who have every reason to be defensive are yellow jersey Taaramäe and 6th place Wellens. The leaders of the two halves of the top 10. Taaramäe asserted more dominance putting more time into his rivals yesterday (except Amador) after it looked like he could be outgunned. He's got a gap of over three minutes to everyone except Machado and if he's feeling good he could extend it but he'll be under fire a lot today. Wellens is over 7 minutes behind fifth and after a smart ride yesterday climbed to sixth - probably the maximum he could achieve without a massive performance.
So hopefully we see an amazing race here today as we learn what this race means to many, who has the most left in the tank and what they're willing to risk for the top 10, sixth, or the yellow jersey.
Well one of those names makes his intentions very clear. Koch was allowed to start in the front row as he wears the KOM jersey (despite being third in the competition), and makes good on that privilege by attacking the second the flag dropped. He was solo for a while but 10 men (mostly familiar faces) joined him to make an 11-man escape. Koch (14th GC, 18'46, 3rd KOM, 48pts) Reguigui (27th GC, 27'35, 22nd KOM, 12pts) Herrada Ludvigsson Dees Agudelo Dyball Dunne (32nd KOM, 8pts) Kulhavy (30th GC, 31'09, 12th KOM, 20pts) Boom M. Lammertink. A couple of plausible rivals for the German for the KOM, but with 30 points needed to catch Taaramäe out of 42 intermediate points and 20 at the summit finish, he's a good bet if he can keep cool about it. However even with 42 points it's not good enough if Taaramäe gets a podium on the stage.
Koch safely takes the win on the Montèe de Veysonnaz to secure the first 16 points of his KoM ambitions. He's halfway to the provisional lead. Agudelo is second and I'm sure Koch will be happy that Kulhavy was only third.
All the breakaway men make it over safely but Lammertink in particular looked in pain. They have a healthy lead of 4'28 over the peloton.
Kulhavy has him fighting for it but it's another 10 points in the bag for Koch, he looks very strong today! 6'56 the gap.
A massive crash in the peloton, over 30 riders involved. Some big names, too - Vysna, Vosekalns, Yates, Nepomnyachsniy, Morizot, Teklehaimanot and Novikov the biggest.
Most of them are back on their feet quickly, however unfortunately we do have to report Nepomnyachsniy isn't able to carry on and abandons. The rest aren't far behind the peloton and rejoin along the valley road, except Novikov who is struggling.
Koch now has the provisional KoM lead as well as provisional GC sixth with still a gap of over six minutes.
Sadly nobody is willing to attack the penultimate climb from the peloton - though I'm sure Taaramäe isn't complaining. I'm sure there'll be action on the final climb but we won't see the big gaps some were hoping for. So far Koch is the only even minor GC leader to lift a finger.
The gap is even raising now for Koch and his merry band with 20km - however they won't be so merry on the final climb with the stage win slipping into probability territory as their buffer is over 8 minutes. Great news for the KOM ambitions of Koch, but there's two more items coming to the forefront of his agenda now - GC and stage win. The GC? He's provisionally sixth, with almost two minutes on Wellens. Stage win? Well he's looked very good, but there are quality climbers in here who haven't spent energy on the KOM sprints.
However, three riders won't be a part any stage win battles here as Boom, Dunne and Lammertink dropped during the last KOM fight.
16km to go and Dyball is the next to have to give in - Reguigui, Kulhavy and Ludvigsson starting to turn screws here. 8'01 the gap, looking very good for the breakaway.
The start of the climb for the favourites and they're all present and correct (maybe not tactically - we'll see). Who will be the first to make a move?
15km to go for the peloton now and you can almost see why people aren't attacking - Mai and Preidler are setting a high pace here and have already chipped a minute from the breakaway. Just 11km left for the escapees
Amador now makes his move! Schleck, Pluchkin, Olivier, Morton, Wellens - all of them want a ride on this train! Taaramäe and Machado aren't fazed - for now. 12km left
The move is caught by Vinhas but there's instantly a confident counter from Olivier - his form on the bike is looking very good
Amador, Schleck, Wellens, Pluchkin and Alarcon slip away from the peloton as well as two riders from the breakaway come into view under the 10km banner - a teammate for Olivier in Boom and one for Herklotz in Dunne - the latter obviously won't help his leader's rival's bid for white.
However thanks to the work of Vinhas again the move doesn't stick for too long. This has also decreased the breakaway's advantage to four minutes.
Alarcon desperately wants a shot at the stage and maybe a better GC spot and is straight back onto the offensive. No immediate reactions from the top 5 mean this one might not be doomed.
Politely waiting for the Venezuelan to get a comfy gap, it's now Pluchkin attacking with Amador close behind. Wellens wants in, surprisingly aggressive here. Schleck was caught out of position a bit there but is also going for it.
However, it's only those two who get a gap. Mr Party Pooper Vinhas is on their case, though, and is trying to track Machado's immediate rivals here down.
Taaramäe himself now takes the lead - is he shutting it down now his workhorses are gone or trying to bridge? We can also see in the background home favourite Frank has given up his top 10 hopes in service of Amador and is (willingly) paying the price. Also paying the price are Vysna and Vosekalns after crashing earlier obviously aren't feeling too great. Whilst the latter had not so much pressure on him thanks to Koch, the former will be gutted as his top 10 slips away - at least it will stop the Festina manager moaning until the Dauphine mountains kick in.
Speaking of Koch, just 5km left for these seven riders. Obviously waiting for the steeper sections in the last 4km, they will be well aware that their gap is melting away - just 3'11 now.
Just over 6km left for Pluchkin and Amador but they're struggling to get a gap with Taaramäe leading the favourites group. Alarcon not really getting away now either but going at the same speed as the pack means he is getting closer to Dyball and then the breakaway.
Taaramäe now ups the ante and gets a gap. Machado tries to respond. Wellens, Olivier, Schleck and Kritskiy are next in line but aren't going after the yellow jersey.
However all that comes of this is all back together as Pluchkin and Amador are back to square one. Machado the only one yet to make a move, but it's Schleck who isn't looking great so far. The Vesuvio legend needs more than a minute on Pluchkin to even podium, is he very confident or not feeling so great?
2.7km left for the breakaway and absolute status quo: Same four riders at the front, same three riders a bit behind. They have a gap of just 1'27 to Alarcon and 2'19 to the peloton - will anybody attack?
Alarcon finally catches Dyball and is in the middle of the two groups and in a very straightforward scenario - catch the break, drop the break, don't get caught. Can he do it?
So the stage win will probably be a breakaway sprint as we pass the flamme rouge - Alarcon still is 40 seconds behind, the pack 30 seconds behind that.
Reguigui leading but not sprinting yet as Kulhavy accelrates, Koch in his wheel. Could this play out like stage 4, where the best position simply won? Either way we can call the KOM win for Koch now.
600m and if Ludviggson has it in him he needs to attack that corner - otherwise Reguigui or Kulhavy will take this with Koch boxed in.
Taaramäe now attacking with the GC win basically sewn up - Amador and Schleck follow, can either make the podium? Meanwhile a few riders dropping, in the group behind there's only Pluchkin, Dyball, Dombrowski, Olivier, Kritskiy, Machado and Wellens left as Herklotz, Kudus and Keizer are the victims of this push.
Herklotz won't lose his GC spot there, he has 2 minutes on Vysna (who's behind him), and 3 on Dombrowski, who's only 30 seconds ahead. Kudus is safe as well, except maybe to Koch. Keizer though could slip - Alarcon needs 1'09 and currently has 1'20.
Currently the top 10 should include the current top 7, with Dombrowski, Olivier and Kudus (leapfrogging Madrazo) behind them as Vysna slips away, nearly five minutes behind. The Moser man should be about 14th.
Everyone here looks very tired - Reguigui has the lead and is a bit faster than Ludvigsson and Kulhavy - Koch is the fastest but has ground to make up. Just out of shot Agudelo should easily be fifth.
Koch isn't fast enough and Reguigui takes a very good win - one of the fastest in the sprint and had a great position to take the victory. A second win in two days for the wildcard teams. Koch is second and takes the KOM and a little GC boost. Kulhavy is third after some hard work today, Ludvigsson disappoints a bit in fourth. Agudelo beats out Herrada and Dees for the top 5.
Taaramäe allows a punch of the air after sealing the GC win after almost catching Alarcon on the line, finishing 9th. He should be taking a bow - he's had a near-faultless 9 days, taking three stage wins from three different situations on three quite different days and, TTs aside, never giving any ground to his rivals. He'll also take the points competition, obviously. Alarcon will be disappointed to only get 8th, whilst Amador is a solid 10th, securing at least fourth as he gaps Schleck. We'll have to wait for Pluchkin to come in for the podium confirmation, but Machado should be second.
In fact the Moldovan almost catches Schleck and stops the clock with time to spare to keep his third place. Dombrowski also with a decent day and will keep his top 10.
Behind Machado has enough time to secure a hard-fought second on GC.
Herklotz easily wins the white jersey competition, keeping Kudus in check and not conceding much time to Olivier. He's tired a bit in the second half here but had a mature, fearless first few days and one to be proud of. Kudus won't quite claw back the time to make the top 10 after a horror first mountain day really, so commiserations there but congrats to Michel Koch on a wonderful top 10! Keizer has been the unlucky man of the race from the first mountain stage and his nightmare stage yesterday, and his luck doesn't improve here asides from hanging on to the top 20 - not really his aim here.
Whilst today didn't live up to the hype really it did confirm this as the Tour de Taaramäe - winning by almost four minutes, three stages, the points jersey - what more do you want? It was Schleck last year but there's a new top stage racer now - and possibly top climber after a stunning win in Liechtenstein. The Estonian is now two from two this year and looks decisively like the man to beat at Le Tour. A bad week for Schleck to only come fifth, he'll be sorely disappointed there. Machado and Amador will be delighted with second and fourth, particularly Machado. Both of them made smart moves and deserved their spots.
