A short, but definitely challenging mountain classic: the final climb totals almost 20km of ascending kilometres. Not the steepest climb, but obviously a perfect day for the CT's mountain goats to shine:
Suaza as the big favorite followed by Valls, Penasa, Eastman and some more possible threats for at least the podium. It's a pretty stacked field in this C2HC classic, so there's probably more than ten riders fighting for a Top-5 result at least.
The first few breakaway attempts had been shut down quickly:
O'Connor though kept trying and while he actually managed to stay clear with a solo atempt for a few kilometres, he's eventually joined by four more riders to build the 5-men-breakaway group then:
Vila Schleck Per O'Connor Semple
They build a gap up to four minutes halfway through the race..
No more attacks then and as the breakaway is now soon to enter the first part of the final climb, the peloton has narrowed the gap back to 1'35" with now 37km to go:
Briceno currently setting the pace with teams like Eddie Stobart, Repsol and Kulczyk sharing the work in the chase so far. They are definitely looking in control of the race, as the gap to the breakaway is melting down quickly with still the toughest part of the race yet to come!
And indeed: no chance for the breakaway today - they have already been swallowed by the pack with still 27km to go! We're on the final climb now - the first of two uphill sectors, seperated by a less challenging middle sector.
Repsol taking over the the pace now: Roson - Power - Prado at the front, with Roson now taking over the control and Power/Prado will soon be dropping back already..
23km left and we get the first big attacks!
Cataldo Valls Penasa Karnulin
kick off the action still on the first uphill sector! This could make for a great race, as they put some early pressure on other favorites like Eastman and Suaza in particular!
The attackers opened up a 30 seconds gap quickly and the peloton goes into pieces with now just 45 riders in the main group:
Medvedev pulls Suaza to bridge across to the leading group!
Bennett could follow as well, while Rujano is setting the pace in the peloton now!
The race settled down for a few moments and the 7-men-group kept a 30 seconds gap for the next kilometres. Just when the gap began to get smaller, we see the next attacks from that group with now 16km to go:
Valls goes first, followed by Cataldo Karnulin
Medvedev, Suaza, Penasa and Bennett do not react immediately..
..in fact, they got brought back by the now 32-men-peloton a few moments later! Group Valls/Cataldo/Karnulin leading by 35 seconds with now still 15km to go and the dropped riders attack again:
Suaza is followed by Penasa
and they try to catch up back to the leading trio!
And they do: 11km to go, we're on the almost flat middle sector and Suaza/Penasa are back in the leading group, that is 49 seconds ahead of the pack now:
Cataldo Suaza Valls Karnulin Penasa
Eastman hasn't joined any attacks yet, but he's now pulling the main group (still 32 riders) by himself: 10.5km remaining and the US boy is now trying to cut down the 47 seconds gap to a very strong leading group!
Panayotov, Bennett, Rujano, Anacona/Krasnoperov, Campero and Medvedev on the further positions at the front of this group..
7km to go, the leading group is still about 50 seconds ahead of the main group:
Suaza attacks!
Penasa trying to follow immediately and so does Cataldo and the other two as well!
It's Suaza though, who opens up a small gap on Penasa/Cataldo and Valls/Karnulin!
And there's some more attacks from the main group now:
Eastman went first
Bennett and Rujano try to follow with 6.7km remaining:
4km to go for Suaza, who now has established a minute-gap on the first group, where Eastman and Rujano have bridged across:
Valls Eastman Rujano Cataldo Karnulin Penasa
Bennett is 32 seconds behind, he couldn't yet catch up
Anacona Campero Medvedev further 25 seconds behind, they went clear from the bigger group!
3km for Suaza, who looks impressive - he's growing the gap with every metre climbed and so he's leading by 1'12" on the first chasing group now...
..where a split happened:
Rujano Eastman Valls Cataldo as a new 4-men-group
Bennett Penasa Karnulin about 39 seconds in arrears!
Group Campero/Anacona/Medvedev further 30 seconds behind...
and Manfredi attacked from the peloton as well! With 2.8km to for himself, he's now just 30 seconds behind group Campero and 2'55" behind the solo leader Suaza.
Battaglin also attacking from the main group (24 riders) now!
Just a kilometre to go for Suaza, who's 1'26" ahead of the first chasing group:
Rujano Valls Eastman Cataldo and...
Manfredi!
What a ride from Manfredi over the past 1.5kms on the steepest sector (up to 17% slopes): he easily went past group Campero/Anacona, that has caught up to group Penasa/Bennett/Karnulin in the meantime and as if it was nothing, he also bridged across group Valls/Eastman in such a short time, that it's almost scary! Wow.
Suaza won't care too much, as he crowns his big solo ride over the final 6-7kms with the prestigious victory on this challenging climb! While Penasa tried to follow on first hand, there was no one capable of hanging on with his kick. A truly impressive demonstration of strength. Well done.
And what an impressive ride from Manfredi as well: the Italian did not only caught up to group Valls/Eastman in a very short time, he's now also taking over the leading position with a strong Rujano right at his wheel and just 500metres to go!
Valls, Eastman and Cataldo totally exhausted and they can't follow the pace of the duo anymore! Their early aggressive racing might strike back now!
Further down the road, the next group is now led by Campero, Penasa and Anacona.. Karnulin, Bennett, Medvedev on the next positions.. Battaglin caught up as well!
Indeed: Valls, Eastman and Cataldo have nothing left to respond and Manfredi/Rujano will sprint for the 2nd place! Manfredi with still the better position..
..for an impressive runner-up today: Manfredi finishes the race a minute behind Suaza! He was almost three minutes in arrears with less than 3kms to go for himself. He flew past the chasing groups and put the hammer down with a strong sprint. Simply fantastic ride and an awesome result, too.
Ten seconds later, Rujano comes 3rd with a similar strong performance. It's his second podium result in this race after finishing as the runner-up in 2015. For this year, his 3rd place is surely a bigger surprise though. He certainly knew, how to ride this climb here.
Half a minute later, the next trio tumbles in:
Valls 4th ahead of Eastman and Cataldo! While Valls and Cataldo might have been too aggressive, they certainly made this race a thrilling one. Eastman went for a different tactic and since he looked in danger to miss out on the crucial moments for a while, he definitely did quite well eventually. Even though a podium must have been his goal here.
No one really able to sprint in the following groups as well:
Campero though with a strong finish to go 7th a minute behind group Valls!
Penasa 8th with Battaglin and Anacona completing the Top-10. Penasa should be disappointed with this result, since he was the first to follow Suaza's winning move 7km before the finish. He obviously couldn't recover too well from his earlier efforts then and kinda cracked to finish far behind the first chasing group. Battaglin though with a strong finish after his late attack. He couldn't go crazy like Manfredi did, but he did well to finish inside the Top-10 eventually. It didn't happen too often this year..
Karnulin 11th ahead of Bennett. Kinda underwhelming results for both, since they were amongst the leading group(s) for some moments as well.
Medvedev with a respectable 13th place then, though cracking on the final few hundred metres..
The next group comes in a minute later: Timmer a strong 14th ahead of Sella!
Diaz, Vuillermoz, Camier, Tvetcov and Pozzovivo completing the Top-20 ahead of Atapuma/Moschella and Antón. Panayotov has to settle for a 26th place eventually. Krasnoperov 25th, but Team Reddit should be more than happy with Manfredi as 2nd, Anacona as 10th and three more riders in the Top-20!
An action-packed mountain classic is over. This has certainly being the best promotion for hopefully another edition of this race next season. Suaza took this prestigious victory on home turf and he did it in style. That's definitely a great start into the final month of the season.
