Stage 3 - Seri Manjung > Cameron Highlands And now for the first of two key mountain stages, the stage up Cameron Highlands. The route has slightly changed after several managers weren't happy about last year's final outcome (gaps anyone?). The favorites remain the same though: climbers!
Suaza, König, Pinot and Costagli should be considered the most promising contenders to take over yellow from Chavanne today. It's a first chance to at least gain back some of those minor seconds of difference made in the prologue, but especially the second part of the climb can make a difference, that's way more important than just seconds.. several more possible threats behind the big names: Anacona/Rodrigues could make for a dangerous duo, such as Pomoshnikov/Stancu. Also Diaz/Elissonde, Panayotov, Brajkovic or former race winner Hacecký will try to upset the top favorites and there's quite some potential for an interesting day.
Chavanne does everything to gain seconds - or at least fight for the points classification - and so he takes the first intermediate sprint ahead of Dahlberg and Coutinho. No attacks so far, we're obviously quite early into the stage..
A few riders would then try to break clear though: Dahlberg, Lemus Davila, Rosa, Ebsen, Appleby and Vichot..
Vichot takes the second sprint then, but the escapees are caught by the peloton, where Chavanne adds further points/bonifications as 2nd at the sprint, beating Dahlberg once again! No luck for Vichot either, as he's swallowed by the peloton soon after..
And so it took us quite a while for a first breakaway group allowed to go clear: 4 riders would make it eventually, leading by two minutes with now 111km to go..
the first sector is long (28km) but not steep (3.7% average) and only the final few kilometres show some potential to make a difference. The peloton now enters this climb up 'Ringlet' with still 33km to go and the gap goind down to 1'26" in the meantime.
Team Cerveceria Costa Rica, Valio - DeLaval and the GCN ProTeam showing their colours quite prominently at the front, with the Costa Rican squad setting the pace for quite a while now. Gonzalez Cortes as their current work horse at the very front..
The early escapees had no chance against those teams and were reeled in already 20km before the finish. With now 17km to go, the peloton has been reduced to 47 riders and Team Cerveceria is off the front with the other menioned teams taking over the pace setting:
Anguilet leading the pack now, race leade Chavanne has already been dropped (which doesn't come as a big surprise, really)!
14km to go, we're already close to the first mountaintop (just 1km, to be precisive) - the real action is kicked off! Good news for the spectators, that the GC contenders won't wait for the second ascent here:
Pomoshnikov was the first trying to go clear Pinot jumped behind quickly!
König senses some danger and goes behind, just like Costagli and Suaza!
Pinot though reaches the mountaintop first, now with a small advantage on Pomoshnikov and König!
Some further 10 seconds behind a group with 19 riders and Suaza trying to close the gap - it's 12km to the finish from here and a short downhill sector ahead..
..which may stop Pinot from going all-in:
Rodrigues as the main guy to pull him back soon and just one kilometre into the descent, the main group is back together: 22 riders inside this new leading group, with the big guns still showing themselves at the very front there..
Half a minute in arrears, there's another group of 22 riders and a few possible GC contenders are in real danger to miss out on the crucial split today:
Diaz Potocki Ahmad Zamri Elissonde Aasvold
as the most notable names back in this second group, that is now fighting to catch back to the leading group..
..no chance though, as the gap grows bigger as soon as the next big attacks goes in the front group:
Suaza goes clear 6km before finish! Obviously, his kick looks strong and who's going to respond on this move now?
Well, no one! We're on the steepest slopes of the day, as this short climb "Tanah Rata" features 7% average slopes over almost 6km.. Suaza flies away from the main group, where a couple of domestiques tries to limit the damage:
Anguilet and Stancu work for Pinot and Pomoshnikov, but Suaza is already 43 seconds ahead with now just 4km to go!
König in third position just ahead of Costagli.. more and more riders struggle to hang on!
And so the main group goes into pieces on this final few kilometres of the climb:
Suaza still with a 41 seconds gap
Stancu and Pomoshnikov Costagli Pinot König Hirschlein building a new 6-men-group
Anacona Anguilet are 24 seconds further behind
Grmay additional 12 seconds
Henttala a few seconds down the road
A next bigger group with 11 riders is already 1'50" behind Suaza with now 3km to go: Hoem, Rodrigues, Panayotov, Cataldo, Brajkovic, Hacecký, Lemus Davila, Rojas Villegas, Vuillermoz and Uwizeyimana - so definitely a few notable GC contenders likely to lose crucial time today!
Elissonde, Diaz, Potocki and Ahmad Zamri alreay a further minute in arrears..
The first chasing group reaches the mountaintop before entering the final downhill kilometre:
Suaza is going to win the stage, that's for sure! Pinot moving to the front of the group, that is now almost a minute ahead of group Anacona/Anguilet and Grmay.. no one in this group tried to attack each other and it seems, they had nothing left to respond on Suaza's move:
And so Suaza takes the first key stage in style. Opposing to Pomoshnikov and Pinot, his first attack could not be answered and given the latest gaps, he definitely played his tactics to perfection today. That's quite a showing of his strengths and he should be hard to beat in the next mountain stage in two days..
The first chasing group enters the final metres with still a gap around 50 seconds: Stancu in the leading position with Pinot right behind him..
+ 43" for this group..
..and Pinot wins the sprint from the group, which gives him some valuable bonifications at least!
Pomoshnikov 3rd ahead of Stancu, König, Costagli and a strong Hirschlein. A brilliant team effort from ENI-MOL with now two riders in a very strong GC position. Given the latest gaps on the next groups, it seems quite likely that those riders will fight for the GC's Top-5 placings eventually. But it ain't over for the other contenders, obviously!
+ 2'03" for Anacona, who crosses the line as 8th on the stage..
Grmay, Anguilet and Henttala with some great performances!
+ 2'26" for De Marchi
+ 2'35" for a bigger group with Hoem, Panayotov, Rodrigues, Brajkovic, Cataldo and Hacecký
Some of those guys will be disappointed, but there are still in Top-10 contention at least!
+ 4'01" for a group with Aasvold finishing as 23rd ahead of Potocki, Miguel Angel Lopez and Elissonde
Also local favorite Ahmad Zamri and Diaz in this group - those riders will have a tough time to fight for anything else but a lower Top-30 result here..
Suaza leading the GC by 57 seconds ahead of Pinot (who slips into the mountain shirt though)! Pomoshnikov, König, Hirschlein, Stancu and Costagli well within striking distance and with just some minor seconds separating each other. It won't be easy to beat such a Suaza, but the podium fight is still all open.
