Welcome to the coverage of the seventh stage of Deutschland Tour. Today we have the “Queen stage” of the race, in a mountain stage with 7 climbs and ending in La Planche des Belles Filles. With 5 riders having real chances of taking the GC today being within 1’30 of the race leader, Tim Wellens, it’s going to be a great day.
Soon after the racing starts, 7 riders attack from the bunch. Some are looking to increase their KoM points tally, other trying to snatch a stage win from the breakaway and others have been told by their DS that they wanted a rider in the breakaway today.
Suryadi surprise all the better climbers in the first climb of the day, Col du Firstplan, to take the first 10 KoM points of the day. Total failure by Quintana and Tatarinov, with none of them scoring a point in this climb.
Meanwhile, Rabon, Mutsumine and Bettiol have attacked from the group in this climb, but they were already 5 minutes behind the leading group, so it’s going to be almost impossible for them to reach the first group and then have energies to fight for KoM sprints
Col du Firstplan
Suryadi 10
Nazaret 8
Feillu 6
Boswell 4
Samwel 2
Nazaret shows in Petit-Ballon why he is considered the best climber of the group, leaving everone behind in the moment of the KoM sprint. This time both Tatarinov and Quintana were more attentive, so they took some points in this Cat.1 climb. Boswell is obviously starting to struggle to follow the rest of the group, same as Samwel. Rabon, Mutsumine and Bettiol couldn’t reach the leading group, so they are all between groups.
Petit-Ballon
Nazaret 16
Suryadi 12
Quintana 10
Feillu 8
Tatarinov 6
Boswell 4
Samwel 2
Really strange behaviour of Spotify, as they are allowing the breakaway to have a gap of 12 minutes with 110 kms to go. Knowing that Nazaret is 8 minutes behind in GC, it can be risky move to allow such a gap, although it nulls any bonus seconds that Lecuisinier could take in the finish, so for Wellens it will be all about following the French’s wheel
Crash in the descent of Petit-Ballon! One of Wellens’ main domestique, Cort Nielsen, is involved, as well as Koretzky, Majka and Frank. The Swiss rider had to retire with a concussion. The cause of the crash might have been the high speed with which Eritel is descending this climb, in order to reduce the gap with the breakaway
Tatarinov totally collapsed in this climb, leaving the fight for the KoM classification between Suryadi, Nazaret and Quintana. This time it was Suryadi the first to reach the top of Platzerwasel, moving only 2 seconds behind KoM leader Mutsumine, but with the points that Quintana has already got, the Colombian is the new provisional leader of KoM, with 46 points, 8 more than Suryadi and 10 than Nazaret. The gap to the bunch with 90 kms to go is almost 10 minutes
Col du Platzerwasel
Suryadi 16
Nazaret 12
Quintana 10
Samwel 8
Feillu 6
Boswell 4
Tatarinov 2
The pace in the bunch is very high, thanks to Puma and Minions, who are using Mager and Haga to work, and that has made that only 60 riders are left in the bunch with 90 kms left in the stage. No great climbers have been dropped yet though, expect for the injured Cort Nielsen
Eritel has taken the responsability in the bunch, as with Cort Nielsen being injured and several minutes behind the bunch, Spotify’s mountain power has been heavily reduced. They have managed to close the gap with the breakaway to 6 minutes with 50 kms to go, something that has given Wellens the provisional GC lead back and if they keep with the current rhythm, that the stage win goes for the GC favourites wouldn’t be surprising.
Meanwhile, in the breakaway, Nazaret took 10 points in another Cat.2 climb, ahead of Quintana and Suryadi, so the current KoM standings are like this:
Quintana 54
Nazaret 46
Suryadi 44
Nazaret wins another KoM, this time a Cat.3 one, thus moving just 2 points shy of the KoM lead. And there’s one Cat.2 climb left before La Planche, where the KoM might be decided, if the stage win finally goes to the bunch
Finally an attack in the breakaway that isn’t for KoM points, as Nazaret and Suryadi have teamed-up to leave Quintana behind. Nazaret also knows that with the rhythm that they were having, the stage win was slipping out of his hands if he didn’t do anything soon, as the current gap with 21 kms to go and two climbs left is less than 5 minutes
Olivier doesn’t want to wait for the final climb to attack and after seeing a bit of slow down in the bunch, he’s attacking with 20 kms to go and 2 left in this climb. Kudus is trying to follow him, although the Dutchman’s acceleration was too high for his liking
Big moment in the race, as Kudus and Olivier have been joined by Chiarello, and when reaching the summit of this climb, they have a 50-seconds gap to the group, where Mager is working. But the big news are that both Wellens and Herklotz are struggling already!
10 kms left for Nazaret, who has a gap enough to get the stage win, despite La Planche being a really tough climb. The gap between Kudus, Olivier and the group keeps around 1 minute. The Brazilian rider will be the new KoM leader after the stage, with a slim gap of 2 points over Quintana, unless he can score further in La Planche, something that looks quite probable at this moment
Lecuisinier has probably never been in the situation of winning a big race like this one, so he has made the mistake of taking care of the chase in the downhill, probably wasting energies that will be useful in the final climb. Uran has trusted his team-mates Haga and Martinez all-stage and is only starting to show himself in the first place when La Planche starts with 5,5 kms to go. The gap is down to 35 seconds, while Nazaret’s is only 3’30. The Brazilian doesn’t have yet the stage win secured
Olivier is overtaking breakaway riders in the start of La Planche like if they were trees instead of people in bikes, and is attacking Kudus under the arc of 5 kms left. His gap to Nazaret is around 2’15 at this point, and with the Dutchman looking the strongest today, a stage wins is possible, and why not, a great GC place
Uran’s dropping everyone! What an attack by the Colombian, which has seen his rivals collapsing one by one. First Herklotz, then the race leader Wellens and finally Lecuisinier, in the moment that he had reached Kudus group. Olivier is still 20 seconds ahead, and Nazaret is defenitely going to lose the stage win, as his gap to Olivier is only 50 seconds with 4 kms left
Lecuisinier has been able to stick to Uran’s wheel in the very last moment, as the Colombian started to set his own pace to put more to Wellens, who is being caught by Herklotz, Roche and Marquez. And Nazaret now seems to be totally fine, as he’s even increasing his gap to Olivier
Kudus and Chiarello have cracked, while Uran and Lecuisinier have caught Olivier with 2 kms to the finish. And now it comes the hardest part of the climb, the moment where Uran should attack again to see if the young Frenchman explodes or not
And there you have it, Lecuisinier cracking without the need of Uran attacking. Olivier has been able to keep following the Colombian’s wheel and might get a surprise GC podium at this rate
Nazaret is well inside the final km and everything looks like he’s finally getting the win today. Behind him, Uran and Olivier are going past the Flamme Rouge with a 20-second gap to Lecuisinier. The current gap in GC between Uran and Lecuisinier is 42 seconds, so the Colombian needs to gain 35 seconds on the Frenchman to secure GC win even if Olivier out-sprints him for second place.
Behind them, Marquez and Herklotz are attacking a struggling Wellens, and have already caught Kudus
Magno Nazaret doesn’t have energies to celebrate, but he has won an incredible stage in La Planche des Belles Filles!
Just 600 metres for Uran and Olivier! The gap to Lecuisinier is now 25 seconds, but Marquez has reached the Frenchman, as Herklotz couldn’t follow anymore the Spaniard once they got to Kudus’s group. Uran still needs a few more seconds to get into the race lead
Uran starts to sprint with 300 metres, knowing that he has to give everything he has to win the race...
... and he crosses the line in second place, 1’27 after Nazaret. Lecuisinier needs to finish within 30 seconds to become the new race leader, or Uran will be
Olivier arrives 19 seconds later than Uran, taking a phenomenal third place in the stage. This looks really good for Uran...
... and 31 seconds is the exact time where the next rider crosses the line! But it’s not Lecuisinier, it’s Marquez. So that means that Rigoberto Uran will be the new leader of Deutschland Tour!
Lecuisinier finishes around 50 seconds later than Uran, which secures him the second place in GC. It was close for the Frenchman, but it wasn’t meant to be today his big win
3 minutes after Nazaret, and more than 1’30 after Uran, Herklotz and Kudus arrives in a group which also includes Brenes, Roche and Chiarello
Almost 2 minutes later than Uran, but Wellens finally ends his stage. He has clearly lost the leader’s jersey, but at least he’ll keep a podium spot. That’s what a bad day after an almost perfect race does to someone
Decent showings from Kiserlovski, Aru, Kunshin and Gilanipoor, who all have finished around Wellens. And a big result for Kelderman, which might compensate the non-showing of Nerz today.
Uran is the new race leader, with 23 seconds over Lecuisinier. With the final stage being flat, the GC shouldn’t change. Wellens completes the podium, 1’19 behind Uran. Herklotz is fourth only a few seconds ahead of Olivier and Marquez, while Kudus is down to seventh. Chiarello, Gilanipoor and Kunshin round up the top10, with Roche, Kelderman, Aru, Nazaret and Kiserlovski in the top15
And only one rider finished outside of the time limit today: Guchira
