Time for the climbers again, as we are heading for another key stage before tomorrow's TTT: today's stage through North Vancouver features a summit finish on Mt Seymour. A challenging climb, which has often produced some thrilling GC battles in the previous editions of the race.
Úran leading the GC by 41 seconds on Pluchkin and 59 seconds on Keizer.. after a super strong showing on the first summit finish up Cypress, Úran brought himself into a great position. Pluchkin, however, took the mountain prologue and will of course try to re-claim the race lead already today. A few other premium climbers like Velits, Monsalve or Meintjes need to bounce back from a truly disappointing stage two days ago.
11 riders build the break of the day:
Bagdonas Cherkasov Bazhkou Sanchez Gil Peterson Shirota Rolland Eyob (GC 37th + 8.00) Bostner Fernandez (GC 32th + 7.41) Denz (7th in KoM with 14pts)
No mountain sprints on the menu and none of the escapees won't care about the intermediate sprints..
The breakaway's gap would peak around three minutes at it's maximum and since halfway through the stage, the Minions would lead the chase of the peloton with up five domestiques, controlling the race rather comfortably so far.
With now 23km remaining, other teams would take over the job at the front of the pack: Team Popo4ever as the most active team with GC leader Úran already showing himself at the third position!
From the early break, only three riders are left in the leading group that is just 55 seconds ahead of the pack now:
Sanchez Gil Bostner Shirota
The trio is now just 30 seconds ahead, as they enter the bottom of the final climb up Mt Seymour with 11.1km to go:
Meintjes and Velits attack from the peloton! A much needed move, since they were amongst the biggest disappointments two days ago..
Monsalve and Roglic jump behind quickly!
Those four riders catch up to Bostner, Shirota and Sanchez Gil with now 9km to go and the peloton down by 50 seconds:
Roglic though struggles to hang on and there's Pluchkin going clear from the pack a few seconds behind him!
8.7km to the finish and Bostner can't hang on with the new leading group Velits/Meintjes/Monsalve..
18 seconds in arrears, a new chasing duo has formed:
Pluchkin Roglic
Pluchkin (+ 0.41 on Úran) does, what he had to do - putting pressure on the GC leader!
Martinez again with some great work for Úran though and the premium domestiques pulls the peloton closer towards Pluchkin/Roglic with now 7km remaining: just an 11 seconds deficit for the main group (40 riders), where we may see a major split soon!
Group Velits/Monsalve/Meintjes is 32 seconds ahead of Pluchkin and the last two early escapees have been dropped in the meantime..
5.8km to go and here's the leading trio, working quite well together so far:
Monsalve Velits Meintjes
Martinez has done his work for Úran and he can't help him anymore now: just when Úran's group was going to catch Pluchkin/Roglic, the pre-race favorite launches another attack!
Pluchkin goes again and the main group indeed goes into pieces:
Roglic Keizer Úran try to follow Pluchkin immediately..
..and then a next group with 6 riders, who struggle to follow and see the gap grow quickly:
Shikai Penasa Duarte Valls Eastman Pozzo (who worked quite well for his leaders until now)
The next bigger group/peloton (31 riders) with all other remaining GC contenders is down by further 26 seconds..
Something happens at the very front of the race though, as Pluchkin managed to join the leading group, that goes into pieces with now 4.4km to go in the stage:
Meintjes Pluchkin build the new leading group!
Keizer and Úran a few seconds behind, but Úran already has to fight hard to somehow go with the current pace!
Velits, Monsalve and Roglic additional 11 seconds in arrears:
2km to go now and while Pluchkin/Meintjes hold on to their lead, the gap is still "okay" for Úran, who's part of a new chasing group with a 17 seconds deficit on the leading duo:
Keizer, Úran, Monsalve, Velits and Roglic..
The next chasing group with Shikai, Valls, Duarte, Penasa and Eastman is further 50 seconds in arrears (Pozzo is dropping back after he's done all the work)..
De la Cruz a next solo chaser with a 24 seconds disadvantage on group Penasa/Shikai..
..and then a bigger group with Nazaret (GC 7th) as the most notable name missing in the front groups! At this point, he's in serious danger to lose his Top-10 in the GC..
1.6km remaining and Pluchkin tries to put the hammer down! With he gap to the chasing group staying the same for quite a while now, he has to keep the pressure up and his move looks strong! Meintjes tries to follow though!
Velits and Keizer try to keep the pace up as well and that's it for Úran, who can't hang on with the duo! Monsalve and Roglic not going to be much of a support for him neither and there's already a notable gap between Velits/Keizer and Úran!
Meintjes tried hard to hang on with Pluchkin, but on the steepest slopes inside the final kilometre, he's done! Pluchkin goes clear with a comfortable gap and he's not only fighting for the stage but also for the GC lead, obviously..
But first, he secures the stage: Pluchkin wins on Mt Seymour and he easily increased the gap on Meintjes, who has yet to fight his way across the finish line!
Keizer and Velits are not too far behind, as they actually manage to go for a sprint here!
Úran, Monsalve and Roglic lost quite some time on those last few hundred metres and Úran definitely has not much left to counter on any accelerations now..
+ 36" for Meintjes, who holds on to a strong 2nd place on the stage
+ 46" for Keizer
+ 58" for Velits - both him and Meintjes definitely performed much better than two days ago
+ 1'34" for Monsalve, who opened up a small gap on the final metres
Group Úran became bigger now with Duarte, Valls, Shikai and Eastman catching up inside the final kilometre..
+ 1'50" for Roglic, Duarte, Valls, Shikai, Úran and Eastman
So the race lead will change indeed, as Úran lost about one and half minutes on Pluchkin on the final 1.5km of the stage! He simply could not fight back anymore and that's maybe even to much of a gap to attack Pluchkin in tomorrow's TTT!
+ 2'09" for Penasa
A tough day for him as well and he will surely lose his 4th place in the GC that way!
+ 3'00" for De le Cruz
+ 4'02" for a group with Nazaret, who had a tough day as well..
With just the concluding TTT to come, the GC shaped up as follows:
Pluchkin might have secured the overall victory with his big win today, as he leads the GC by 1'16" on Keizer as new 2nd and 1'29" on Úran as 3rd. This may promise a thrilling fight for the runner-up in the GC at least, but Pluchkin (who's also back in the points and mountain classification lead) seems to be too far away.
Shikai going up to 4th with + 3.41, Penasa down to 5th with + 3.51, Meintjes up to 6th with + 3.53 and Roglic 7th with + 3.59: that will definitely make for an interesting battle for the final two Top-5 spots. Duarte, Velits and Eastman completing the Top-10 with a small advantage on Monsalve, who may still hope to somehow move up inside the Top-10 tomorrow.. Nazaret drops from 7th to 13th and with no real TTT setup, there's almost no chance to improve.
