For some it`s already the 2nd mountain test of the season with the Apex Mountain Classic most recently. Others such as Denifl and Henao Montoya as top favourites are here with fresh legs in their season starter.
4 riders with an early attack. Suryadi Kononenko Niyonshuti Shirota
While Shirota couldn`t follow the others as weakest climber, the group still got a 4th rider as surprisingly Spar decided to send out Chhetri.
A bold move here and putting big pressure on all other teams now. Not only the strongest climber in the peloton now but also the best in the breakaway! And likely the chance to save energy as well! Not the usual favourite move but surely an interesting one.
And at the start of the 3rd and longest climb so far also Fernandez joins. Some really could have saved some energy when joining earlier. Bridging 2:30 solo is not that easy clearly.
So far it was mainly Philips and Repsol doing the work behind but the gap dangerously went up to 6min with 120km to go. No big deal yet but the group in front are solid climbers.
Though once the flat section is slowly coming to an end Spar decides to work as well despite having a rider in front. Young future great Gidich and Ssabagwanya for the team while behind them Brandt and Koshevoy for WCC, Poels for Philips and Hatsuyama/Tsubaki for Meiji are working.
40km to go and the gap is down to 2min!
30km and still 2'10 and Chhetri is still working here for his own chance! They work really well together today and have not given up yet while behind in especially Repsol are working hard.
Ndayisenga and Novak reduce the "peloton" to a group of 24 riders. Team leader Kudus sitting well protected in 5th position.
Some of the riders being dropped already:
Van den Broeck, Augustyn, Scarponi.
20km and Spar is really looking good now as Chhetri is going solo.
Funnily Spar is also working behind now with Denifl having paced himself for a moment and now having caught his team mate Cheetri- Just behind him Henao Montoya, Berhane, Penasa, Kudus, Nazaret, Ji, Brenes, Kiserlovski, Valls, Carthy, Choi, Rodrigues, Bennett in that order. So the leaders prepare themselves for the final 11km.
Struggling now right behind those are Anacona, König, Pantano Gomez, who don`t look that good.
As Chhetri did the pace for the next 3km, it wasn`t the fastest and hence those struggling trio were always dropped and coming back again.
It wasn`t to the favour of some others, who now attack. It`s Henao Montoya, Kudus and Nazaret. In fact the three riders with the best acceleration of the top guys.
Denifl is one of those diesel climbers and slowly is closing the gap. This pace now makes more riders suffer and only the WCC duo Berhane/ Ji, Kudus support rider Ndayisenga, Brenes and Choi can follow.
A bit behind the Kulczyk duo Valls/Penasa as also Kiserlovski, Carthy and Chhetri!
Another bit behind then Rodrigues, Bennett and Iina with Anacona, Pantano and König following next.
In front Nazaret can`t follow the other two and drops back to Denifl, who is with Berhane and still Ndayisenga, who struggles though.
Behind Choi, Brenes and Ji couldn`t follow that pace.
The gap between Henao/Kudus and Berhane/Denifl though remains at ~30s with 4km to go and they use to lose every time the WCC rider is in the front and gaining a bit when Denifl sets the pace.
Nazaret and Choi then solo in 5th and 6th position still ahead of the Penasa/Valls/Kiserlovski/Brenes group, which did pass Ji and also dropped Carthy.
2.7km and Denifl going solo after dropping Berhane. Did he wait too long? Still 38s gap to the first two, who are working together.
Nice to see Didi also around that early in the season!
Flamme Rouge reached and Denifl with a strong comeback. Almost with the duo but who has most energy remaining now?
Henao realizes the danger and immediately tries to accelerate again, while Kudus can`t follow. Behind no big danger is coming and those three will decide the podium if no one is totally out of energy.
Another few hundred meters and the Philips leader still has this small gap! Denifl with a last attempt to close it once more while Kudus is trying to follow.
But the order remains! Henao Montoya with a big mark to the PCT climbers showing his strength, while Denifl must be question himself for waiting too long or probably expected Berhane to have a bit more energy left.
Kudus with a solid 3rd today and was close to more.
Berhane still with a very solid 4th today ahead of Choi a bit behind him.
Kiserlovski surely did well here as 6th for Andorra, the first CT rider on the top. With him Penasa and Nazaret. Then Valls in 9th. Good result for the Kulczyk duo but they won`t be as dominant as last year anymore.
Brenes then to complete the top10! Solid result for the Indosat co-leader, who also can score himself as shown here. Behind him Repsol`s 2nd in Ndayisenga with a strong performance today.
Carthy as 12th also decent while Ji had no more energy in the end. Must be said though, that he did work for Berhane at times. Chhetri as 14th a huge result while Pantano at 15th a bit below expectations maybe but his team won, hence can celebrate as well.
Rodrigues and Anacona with an okay starter for Banco de Bogota but surely can do a bit more. Same for König, who must realize the PCT has a number of better climbers and the bigger points might be scored in the CT stage races. Bennett as 19th as best Xero rider and also more suited to other stage races.
Couple of riders did not make it today.to the top and go OTL. 118 in total with Buckosky in the final spot
