Third day in Colombia and it's the second mountain stage: a truly epic stage, even though it's rather short with less than 150km in total. Several challenging climbs though - not as brutal as yesterday - and the summit finish is surely another big test for the GC contenders. Given the profile, we may even expect to see the peloton going into pieces quite early again.
Amador soloed to an impressive stage-win yesterday, with also Úran showing a good form as a clear 2nd on the stage. Montoya, Kudus, Nazaret, Quintana, Duarte, Intxausti/Brenes and also Denifl finished in the next group then.
Today's stage kicked off with quite an interesting breakaway group going clear with a 2 minutes advantage at the first mountain sprint:
Two GC contenders, who lost big minutes yesterday! They are allowed to stay clear, which should make things interesting today..
KoM#1 (Cat3): Shikai 6pts, Ji 4, Moscon 2
KoM#2 (Cat4): Ji 5, Shikai 3, Moscon 1
The group would then be joined by Stetina (GC's 33rd, + 7.46) prior to the third climb with 93km to go:
KoM#3 (Cat3): Ji 6, Stetina 4, Shikai 2
On the next climb (the first of three consecutive Cat2 climbs), KoM-leader Kolesnikov would also join the breakaway, that established a gap of 4 minutes at this point..
This climb also made the peloton go into many pieces and it made for a first crucial selection between the GC contenders - just 16 riders are left in the main group, that is still more than 9 minutes behind the leading duo with now 47km remaining and a long downhill sector ahead:
Pantano Gómez Amador Intxausti Kudus Maillet Alizadeh Denifl Henao Montoya Eastman Quintana Úran Rodrigues Choi Contador Brenes De la Cruz
A next group with two main GC contenders is already 1'14" behind group Amador:
Duarte (GC's 7th) Nazaret (GC's 8th)
Another group with Talansky another minute in arrears..
Brajkovic really struggling and already four minutes behind group Amador!
A crash with Signorini and Brandt then - the latter has to abandon from the race. Signorini seems to be hurt as well..
Shikai/Ji still leading by a huge margin as they now enter the long climb up to the finish - Shikai took the last mountain sprint:
Provisional KoM: Ji 44, Shikai 42, Kolesnikov 37
We're now jumping straight into the final 10km of the stage: Shikai/Ji still leading by 8'35" on the main group of favorites, which still has 13.5km to go!
Kolesnikov more than six minutes ahead of group Amador, that has grown the gap to group Duarte/Nazaret to almost four minutes in the meantime! Pantanto Gómez setting the pace for a long time now..
This is looking quite promising for the leading duo - not only for the stage win, but also for a huge jump in the GC! Will Amador be in danger to lose yellow like this?
9km remaining for group Amador, that is still 7 minutes behind Shikai/Ji, but now making up some ground quickly - the pace is set by Rodrigues now and the group goes into pieces:
Rodrigues Úran Denifl Henao Montoya Intxausti Amador building a new 6-men-group
Eastman Pantano Gómez Kudus Choi now 20 seconds behind
Quintana Brenes Contador De la Cruz Stetina further 19 seconds in arrears
Group Duarte / Nazaret more than 3 minutes behind group Quintana!
5km left for group Amador, the gap to Ji/Shikai is down to 5'37" with Kolesnikov still more than 4 minutes ahead:
Intxausti went for another attack, just three riders hanging on Denifl Henao Montoya Amador
Úran struggling to follow, being 23 seconds behind quickly!
Intxausti cracks just a few moments later though! He's been dropped from group Amador/Denif/Montoya and is already behind Úran with now 4km to go!
Group Amador now 4'15" behind Ji/Shikai, who have just 2.5km to go.. at least, Amador looks on his way to defend yellow, if he continues to make up ground..
Intxausti fading away, now also in danger to be caught by Kudus and Choi, who are just 15 seconds behind him..
Shikai and Ji will battle for the stage-win and it's Shikai, who has the better position with the line already approaching..
Shikai takes the stage - the second stage victory for Meiji in three days here! Given his losses yesterday, that's certainly a huge way to bounce back and with all those quite big gaps today, he will definitely move up in the GC and take over the KoM-lead from Kolesnikov!
..just like Ji - with his advantage on Shikai prior to the stage, he's also the biggest threat for Amador now..
+ 1'15" for Kolesnikov, who fought hard to defend his polka dot today. In the end, he did not succeed, but the consolation price is an impressive 3rd place on this brutal stage! And of course, he remains in contention for the KoM classification..
As group Amador enters the final 600metres of the climb, the latest gap has clocked at just 2'40".. so Amador is going to defend yellow, if he doesn't crack on the final metres:
Henao Montoya ahead of Amador with Úran making his way back into the group! Denifl now struggling to follow the pace.. Choi 39 seconds behind.. Intxausti further 19 seconds.. Kudus has cracked now - losing ground quickly!
+ 2'28" for Henao Montoya and Amador, who indeed defends the GC-lead
+ 2'40" for Úran and Denifl
Úran did pretty well to recover from his struggles and he finishes just a few seconds behind Amador.. a strong performance from Henao Montoya of course, also Denifl should be happy after such a tough challenge here!
+ 3'12" for a strong Choi as 8th
+ 3'21" for Intxausti, who almost lost a minute on Amador eventually
+ 4'15" for Kudus, who completes the Top-10 - some tough final few hundred metres though
+ 5'08" for Eastman, who comes in next with Contador a few seconds off
De la Cruz, Brenes, Rodrigues next, all finishing between 6 and 7 minutes off Shikai..
+ 7'17" for Quintana as one of the biggest losers amongst the GC favorites
+ 11'11" for group Nazaret and Duarte! That's quite some heavy losses for those two in particular..
+ 12'37" for a group with Talansky
+ 19'10" for a group with Brajkovic (48th on the stage) - he will need a breakaway like Ji/Shikai now!
Eight riders DNF the stage, next sprinter gone: Reinhardt and former race leader Yudai Arashiro couldn't finish in the time limit neither..
The GC with quite a shake-up today:
Amador retains his yellow shirt with Úran still 2nd (+ 1.09)! Henao Montoya 3rd (1.37) ahead of Ji (1.45) then! A huge day for the Chinese. Denifl 5th (1.57) ahead of Intxausti and Shikai, who moved up to 7th ahead of Choi, Kudus, Brenes, Eastman and Kolesnikov as a strong 12th now. Quintana dropping to 13th, Nazaret 17th, Duarte 18th, Talanksy 20th. Brajkovic 28th now.
Amador leading the points classification by 6pts on Shikai, Shikai leading the KoM classification by 4pts on Ji! Shikai also moving up to 1st in the U25 competition, with a 50 seconds advantage on Kudus now.
