The end of week 2 leads the peloton over the Sestriere, a very long climb. Not the steepest though. For that part the final climb to Jafferau is made. 8,2km with 8,9% in average with no time to relax.
Right now the GC is close. Schleck having a 24s lead over the better time trialist Amador, which might be key later on. Dombrowski at 1'32 ahead of Machado and Morton within the next minute.
Mountain Goat Alarcon the one fearing the time trial the most, which is main reason, why he isn`t already on the podium actually and actually more than 5min behind. He needs to perform here and on the other mountain stages.
Slowly getting boring with Vosekalns going into the break again and again. With the Cat.1 on the Sestriere it`s obvious and if the group stays ahead until the end, it`s lots of points for him.
His companions are decent but not as strong as him. Lunke McCutcheon Andriafenomananiaina
Olsson as KoM`s 2nd is joining them a bit later as well. Not that he can challenge the Evonik climber. He is the weakest climber of this quintett and also at 1/3 only of Vosekalns points.
Nothing happened with EA Vesuvio chasing behind.
40km to go and the break reaches the top of the Sestriere. Vosekalns wins more points with only Lunke with him and Andriafenomananiaina following with a small gap.
Olsson, McCutcheaon next and then Veyhe and Machado with small points.
Machado is not a surprise as some riders decided to attack over the top and now having a small gap.
Veyhe as first jumped to his team mate McCutcheon.
Then Machado, Lecuisinier and Alarcon with Henao Montoya being able to join a bit later.
And also Guldhammer with a 20s gap and it`s 1min already to the peloton around the podium riders.
Immediately other teams realize that EA Vesuvio might struggle to close this gap as all but Goos have worked earlier already and right now only the Dutch is in the line for them. UBS with Goncalves and Frank decent but also not the strongest support and it`s once more Bennelong for Morton chasing hard with Bayly and Smith.
At times even Moser with Prado or eBuddy with Aru/Majka are seen in first position but 90% is surely done by the Australians.
And with 25km to go they are caught. Also the gap to the break is smaller. 1min to the first trio and another 1-2min to the leading trio.
Kirsch and Heymes now able to take over again with the pace being a bit slower on the flat part.
They are supported by Majka/Aru for Dombrowski with Goos ahead of Schleck not yet working a lot and is saved for the climb surely.
Vosekalns sees that the peloton is coming closer and accelerates. None of his two companions able to follow, while the other three were already caught by now.
7km left and it`s a long way for the Latvian if he wants another stage win. That said, his first was also looking like a catch with some kilometers to go but he kept fighting.
Not getting any easier with Hirt attacking and immediately some top10 riders following in Cattaneo, Abal. Not the podium contenders yet but right after them Amador with the big GC attack!
No question. Schleck has to react and with him Alarcon.
While Goos is slowly letting a gap to them it`s Dombrowski, Lecuisinier, Morton, Guldhammer, Machado in the first rows. Behind them Nibali, Quintana, Dekker, Choi, Henao Montoya etc.
And also Demare still with them in this 79 rider peloton. Likely not for a lot longer though.
Dombrowski and Lecuisinier are the first to follow the recent attackers. Then Morton solo behind them ahead of a group around some of Vesuvio`s and Bennelongs team mates as also Guldhammer, Machado, Nibali, Quintana and Henao Montoya.
Dekker behind them trying to close the gap while the group behind him around Bibby, Bongiorno, Faiers etc.
With a bit more than 5km to go Dombrowski not in the best position. He already is "only" 3rd and would need to gain time. Instead he is losing time right now. Not so far until the Schleck group though. Morton behind looking even worse.
Right now Amador is having the virtual lead! 29s ahead of Schleck. The gaps not very big yet though and even the peloton is still in 2min range to them.
Vosekalns now losing though and just 36s ahead.
Just when Amador/Hirt/Cattaneo are passing Vosekalns, also Schleck is about to be up to them alongside Abal, who now couldn`t follow.
This also means that Alarcon is struggling as he couldn`t follow the Vesuvio rider. He got good support now though as Dombrowski is up to him.
Lecuisinier a bit behind but with support of Morton now.
Hirt and Cattaneo might improve a lot today if they can keep up with the top2.
Abal also with a huge ride but slowly dropping.
Guldhammer/Machado not in the best position and about to lose to direct rivals for the top5.
Further behind Dekker was able to jump to the Nibali/group and with him some others such as Bongiorno, Kolesnikov, Formolo...
Faiers, Preidler, Carapaz and U25 runner-up Cort Nielsen in a group behind those.
1,7km and the gaps still small. Now Alarcon, Dombrowski up to the leading group with Abal also fighting! Only Vosekalns clearly dropped now.
Schleck and Amador though immediately accelerate again and Hirt/Cattaneo looking decent still.
Machado and Guldhammer will lose time today. With Hirt having a good day so far, this is not ideal for them and also Lecuisinier/Morton about to gain time.
Flamme Rouge and only Hirt can follow the GC duo.
Alarcon not in his mountain form today and neither Dombrowski today. Cattaneo now having problems!
But the gap not really opening and staying at couple of seconds only.
Schleck though has saved some energy it seems. He attacks and no one can follow. Well Hirt trying and seems to be stronger than Amador!
And a big win for the GC leader.
Though not a big gap behind. In fact officials say, the top5 all with the same time, which means Amador, Hirt, Alarcon and Dombrowski!
Cattaneo then solo at 29s. Decent ride for him though.
Behind at 48s Abal with a brilliant performance coming in with Morton and Lecuisinier!
Guldhammer losing 1'42! Henao Montoya and Quintana with him. Where is Machado? He has lost contact in the end.
Dekker and Choi in at 2'28 and judges gave Nibali the same time actually.
Then at 2'50 Bongiorno, Kolesnikov and Vosekalns!
3'04 and now Machado finally in! Big loss for him in the final kilometer!
GC wise Hirt up to 5th ahead of Lecuisinier and Machado now with Guldhammer down to 8th.
Alarcon jumping into the top10 with Abal also there as 10th and Henao, Cattaneo, Dekker, Nibali, Quintana following outside of it.
