Stage 7 - Limoges > Puy de Dôme The race concludes with a mountaintop finish at Puy de Dôme and of course that's a great final opportunity to attack the race leader:
1
Janez Brajkovic
Swisslion Cycling Team
21h20'47
2
Robert Kiserlovski
Andorra Project - InGamba
+ 1'50
3
Eduardo Sepulveda
Banco de Bogota
+ 2'40
4
Thibaut Pinot
GCN ProTeam
+ 3'03
5
Muhamma Afif Ahmad Zamri
Sauber Petronas Racing
+ 3'22
6
Vadim Ratiy
Oberfranken
+ 3'34
7
Leopold König
Valio - DeLaval
+ 3'57
8
Teodoro Costagli
Team Cerveceria Costa Rica
+ 4'11
9
Lawrence Warbasse
Andorra Project - InGamba
+ 4'24
10
Darwin Atapuma
Compal-Merida
s.t.
11
Piter Campero
BNZ Cycling Team
+ 4'29
12
Martin Hacecký
Telia-Brussels Airlines
+ 4'52
13
Lorents Ola Aasvold
BNZ Cycling Team
+ 5'23
14
Bjorn Tore Hoem
Equinor Pro Cycling
+ 5'45
15
Maxim Belkov
Adastra - Argon 18
+ 5'47
Brajkovic enjoys a great week so far and with almost two minutes on Kiserlovski as his most dangerous opponent, he will surely fancy his chances to defend yellow for the overall victory. Kiserlovski as the better climber (on paper) though, he will need to put some pressure today.
Sepulveda not too far ahead of Pinot, who has to aim for the podium now. Ahmad Zamri only with a small advantage on Ratiy and also König just half a minute behind. Also Costagli would love to at least go for a Top-5 in the GC.
Three riders went clear early, forming the break of the day:
Moyano (29th GC and 2nd KoM 29pts) Pomoshnikov (19th GC + 6.51 and 10th KoM 11pts) Vuillermoz (48th GC)
Moyano a real threat for KoM leader Edmondson (39pts) and also Pomishnikov keeps riding aggressively..
Provisional KoM Rojas Villegas 46, Edmondson 39, Moyano 36
With now 35km remaining, the breakaway is down to three riders and two minutes ahead of the pack!
Andorra Project and Swisslion as those teams leading the chase (with some minor support from Compal) and close to the penultimate climb, they kept narrowing the gap to 1'30" now..
Vuillermoz Pomoshnikov Rojas Villegas cross the hilltop at 'Puy de Var' (a 2.7km climb with 7% slopes) as still the leading group, more than a minute ahead of the peloton with now 15km to go!
Rojas Villegas grows his KoM lead to 48pts and Pomoshnikov moves up to 3rd with 36pts..
We see some attacks from the peloton!
Parra Bustamente (22nd GC + 7.28) was the first to attack on this short climb, easily going clear from the pack and he goes past the leading trio now at the bottom of Puy de Dôme with 10km to go:
The 11.2km climb features average slopes of 8.2%, with some very steep sectors close to the finish..
Parra Bustamente would easily drop the former leading group and is already 53 seconds ahead with now 9km remaining!
Further 25 seconds behind, a group of 4 riders tries to go clear from the peloton, too:
Hoem with an early attempt to attack the GC's Top-10, where Atapuma/Warbasse are more than a minute ahead..
This group does not stay clear though:
Warbasse and Briceno set the pace at the front of the pack, that is down to 51 riders with now just 6km to the mountaintop..
Parra Bustamente the only rider staying clear, leading by 1'37" at this point! All other escapees or attackers have been swallowed by the main group.
Matte (U25 leader and 17th GC) is the most notable name being dropped from this group, already a minute in arrears and he may struggle to defend his white jersey eventually!
3.5km to go for the solo leader and he still goes strong: 1'43" on the main group..
..where König (7th GC + 3.57) attempts to go clear 3.7km before the finish! Of course a much needed move by König, who has to deliver in today's stage..
Briceno jumping behind in order to catch him quickly..
..but König managed to open up a small gap of 17 seconds with now 3km to go!
Briceno/Warbasse still as the luxurey helpers for their captains, fighting to close the gap. Parra Bustamente lost some time due to this move by König, but he's still a minute ahead with the main group slowly getting smaller (38 riders) with the current pace going up:
Costagli (8th GC) struggles to hang on soon after, the main group is down to 27 riders now!
Aasvold (13th GC) Claerebout (16th GC) right behind him and also in danger to get dropped 3km to the finish..
2.5km to go - the riders enter the steepest slopes - and Kiserlovski (2nd GC + 1.50) does, what he has to do:
he attacks from the main group and tries to bridge across König, who's 30 seconds ahead at this point!
Parra Bustamente leads by 39 seconds on König..
Kiserlovski with a strong move there and he does not only catch up to König, but the new chasing duo is quickly 57 seconds ahead of the main group with now just 1.6km to go!
Warbasse surprisingly still at the front of this group. A tactical move to control the pace and slow down things? It looks like it coul work that way.
Brajkovic with no more support at the front of the group then, instead it's Ratiy (6th GC) moving to the leading position now..
Belkov (15th GC) as the next GC contender being dropped from the main group!
Back to the front of the race, where Kiserlovski and König catch up to Parra Bustamente with 1.3km to go and the main group a minute in arrears!
Inside the final kilometre, König can't hang on anymore! Kiserlovski kept pacing and he drops König with just a few hundred metres to the mountaintop. Parra Bustamente tries to follow..
..but Kiserlovski was too strong, easily taking the stage with a comfortable gap eventually! Given the latest gaps on group Brajkovic, he's definitely a real threat for the man in yellow and this strong finishing kick surely won't hurt his chances to move up to 1st in the GC..
+ 27" Parra Bustamente, who rode a very strong stage here
+ 51" König - quite some big losses on those final metres, but still a good result and of course a chance to improve in the GC that way!
The main group is still about 40 seconds behind König after all! A few riders do have some energy left and a trio goes clear in the sprint to the line:
Ratiy, Atapuma and Rodrigues quickly open up a notable gap on the main group!
Sepulveda and Roe at the front of this group, where Brajkovic does not like he could put up a final push here! Still 500metres to go and Kiserlovski crossed the line already one minute ago!
+ 1'33" for Ratiy, Atapuma and Rodrigues
A great result for Ratiy in particular, but also the other two will surely improve in the GC then..
+ 2'17" for Sepulveda as 7th on the stage - a huge effort on those final couple of hundred metres and this should be enough for him to defend the GC podium!
+ 2'45" for Roe and Warbasse, who finish a few seconds ahead of the group
+ 3'00" for a bunch of GC contenders: Brajkovic, Pinot, Campero
Also U25 contender Lopez in this group, finishing as 17th on the stage..
+ 3'36" for Ahmad Zamri, who lost some seconds on the final metres..
+ 4'49" for a group with a disappointing Costagli and Aasvold/Claerebout
Kiserlovski with a crucial stage win then and he takes the GC quite comfortably! In addition to winning the points classification with a narrow 2pts gap on Brajkovic and 4pts on Atapuma, this has been a great inaugaral Grand Prix du Midi Libre for the premium climber, who went for a perfect attack on this final day.
Brajkovic 2nd in the GC with + 1.30 eventually. A tough day with no chance to counter Kiserlovski, but still a great GC result for the aging veteran. Some credits most go to Briceno today, who did everything possible to defend yellow as long as he could.
König completes the podium ahead of Sepulveda! So he actually did enough to move up from 7th to 3rd, which must be considered a success after all. Just 17 seconds between König and Sepulveda, who should be still happy with a good performance today and of course a great 4th in the GC of this premium stage race for CT teams.
Ratiy's final push makes him finish a solid 5th in the GC and also Atapuma did great to move up from 10th to 6th today!
Pinot rode a (too) quiet final stage and drops from 4th to 7th in the GC. After winning the first mountains stage ahead of Atapuma, this may be a disappointing result eventually. A stage win may be some kind of redemption, however.
Ahmad Zamri had a tough day, too, but did well enough to finish a good 8th in the GC. Certainly a nice achievement for a less strong climber amongst the main GC contenders here.
Warbasse and Campero complete the Top-10 ahead of Parra Bustamente, who made a huge jump up to 11th in the GC today. Hacecký, Hoem, a disappointing Costagli and Aasvold roun up the Top-15.. Cataldo (29th) amongst those most disappointing climbers here.
Rojas Villegas with some good news for his team at least, taking the KoM ahead of Edmondson and Pomoshnikov!
With Matte losing more than six minutes on him today, Lopez takes the U25 classification by just 3 seconds on Lehtinen and three minutes on Matte as 3rd!
Banco de Bogota the best team by more than five minutes on Andorra and eight on GCN..
An entertaining first edition of this race and surely an event, that may become an interesting CT event in the forthcoming years. Thanks for following and see you again then.
