Stage 1 - Ciudad Juarez > Ascensión The first of five flat stages and it's the second longest of all stages here. Maybe the most challenging, but really not too difficult to be of any concern for the less talented "climbers" amongst the sprinters. Guarnieri as the top favorite with Van Heerden and Thorsen trying to deny their biggest weaknesses. Manninen, Salleh, Carsi/Von Hoff, Keukeleire, Vanoverschelde as other promising contenders for the first stage win.. Rowe with the slowest acceleration, Modolo as one of the best allrounders, who does lack the top speed though. We are looking forward to a hopefully tight sprint decision.
Of course there's also breakaway riders trying to fool the sprinters or at least fighting for valuable bonfications through intermediate sprints and of course the KoM classification. Several attempts go right from the start:
Out of this latest attempt - which does not really go clear from the pack yet - we have the first mountain sprint (Cat4) of the day:
Anderberg takes it ahead of Gregaard and Schinnagel!
The group is not allowed to go clear though and we have several more riders trying to attack on the further kilometres then:
#3 - Ballesteros, Powless, Machado, Ait El Abdia
#4 - Lau, Yomoto, Marchewka, Hibatullah
#5 - Eisenhart, Curry, Powless, Hibatullah, Schinnagel
#6 - Lecourt De Billot, Yomoto, Powless
And it's those latest attackers, who would battle for the first intermediate sprint with now 133km to go:
Powless takes it ahead of Lecourt De Billot and Yomoto!
The trio would also be part of the actual break of the day, that finally is formed with now 125km remaining and the peloton allowing a gap up to 3 minutes:
Powless Lecourt De Billot Yomoto Mudgway Hänninen
Those five riders would also contest for the remaining intermediate and mountain sprint:
Hänninen takes the intermediate sprint ahead of Powless and Yomoto.. Hänninen also takes the mountain sprint ahead of Yomoto and Powless!
Delvaux, Rothaus and cycleYorkshire as those teams leading the chase of the peloton, that would narrow the gap back to a minute with 20km to go in the stage..
Hänninen with a surprisingly strong performance so far, as he's the last escapee fighting to hold off the nearing peloton with now just 5km remaining! The pack struggled to finally close the gap, but it's just 22 seconds behind Hänninen, who's definitely not as fast as the chasing teams at this point..
A huge fight from Hänninen though, but with now just 3km to go and the first sprint trains being formed, he's finally about to be swallowed! He should be happy at the end of the day though, since he showed the colours of his team quite prominently today!
Let's have a look at the those sprinters, who are positioned at the front of the peloton now:
Feillu
Takenouchi
Korzh
Cullaigh
Guarnieri
Eriksson
Corti
Thorsen
Rowe
Tewelde
Manninen
Markus
Hochmann
Kruopis
Van Heerden
De Bondt
Keough
King
Habtom
Vanoverschelde
Salleh
Keukeleire
Riders like Modolo, Carsi/Von Hoff, Colbrelli or Vanderaerden are yet missing at the front!
And the sprint has been launched by the first leadout riders: Delvaux's train moving to the very front with Thorsen already trying to go past Guarnieri!
Rothaus gaining metres as well, with Markus going past cycleYorkshire's setup..
Vanderaerden and Angarita have joined the mix in the meantime, just like Manan, who's looking stronger than Salleh today!
Also Von Hoff has finally made his way to the front, where the catches up to Keukeleire, who's still rather far behind the very front of the bunch though! Modolo a few metres behind..
Kluge moved to the front as well, catching up to Manan and Angarita/King now!
At the front, Thorsen indeed with an early kick and he went past Delvaux's train already.. Tewelde/Manninen also going early and they easily passed cycleYorkshire's struggling train now! Van Heerden lost his two leadouts, with Markus now ahead of Kruopois!
Thorsen has reached the flamme rouge with a small gap on Tewelde and Manninen, who are now right ahead of Korzh/Guarnieri, Van Heerden, Kruopis..
Vanderaerden in the mix now as well, with Angarita/King catching his wheel.. Vanoverschelde/Keukeleire trying to slip through on the very right side of the road!
Keough well positioned behind Guarnieri.. Kluge still behind Manan.. Von Hoff yet struggling to move to the very front..
700metres left and Thorsen still in the leading position with the other sprinters now gaining back metres though!
Manninen, Guarnieri, Van Heerden and Vanoverschelde now in the prime positions to fight for the win..
Tewelde can't keep up with this speed and he loses ground quickly! Kruopis still doing well though, opposing to Vanderaerden, who drops back just like Tewelde!
This is going to be a tight sprint indeed and as Thorsen now pays for his early kick, there's still Manninen with a narrow advantage over Guarnieri and Van Heerden!
Vanoverschelde, Kruopis, Rowe, Manan, Angarita/King looking good.. Kluge in the mix as well, yet in danger to be boxed in - just like Von Hoff and Keukeleire! Von Hoff with a strong finish, but definitely on the wrong side of the road, it seems!
Manninen now struggling to keep up with Guarnieri and Van Heerden! He might have went too early as well!
Manan right behind him with King and Kruopis still going strong towards a Top-5 result today! Thorsen losing ground quickly and just like Tewelde or Vanderaerden, he won't make the Top-10 eventually!
It's Guarnieri vs Van Heerden for the stage win! They are head-to-head with the finish line approaching..
Manninen will fight to hold off Manan, King, Kruopis and Rowe!
Guarnieri lungs in for the victory! Van Heerden with a good 2nd place though!
Manninen managed to maintain his 3rd place!
Rowe with a strong finish to 4th place ahead of an impressive King as 5th!
Manan with a great 6th ahead of Kruopis and Angarita, who completes a very good result for Banco de Bogota!
Keough should be happy with minor bonifications, too and a strong Kluge completes the Top-10 ahead of Von Hoff, Vanoverschelde, Thorsen and Vanderaerden - those guys can't be happy to miss out on first bonus seconds here. Just like Salleh (19th), Colbrelli (21st) or Modolo (23rd)..
Guarnieri the first GC-leader and he will surely aim to defend the yellow leadir shirt until the final day here.. Anderberg/Hänninen with a tied KoM-lead and Powless leads the U25 classification.
