Stage 5 - Runcorn > Chester We're staying at sea for the final stage, that arrives in the capital of Cheshire: Chester. Not as hilly as the first cobbled stage, but again more than 20km of cobbles, a challenging final circuit with a cobbled climb (Hill Lane, 5km) and "British weather" - crosswinds up to 70kmh and steady rain!
Baugnies leading the GC with four riders with less than a minute behind though:
The less hilly profile makes Vanbilsen a real threat and also Blythe and Vanspeybrouck should be still within striking distance, if the race turns out as tough and selective as the first stage. Less strong cobblers like Feng, Saber or Breen may hope for a less selective race and particularly Saber could be a serious GC contender with his sprint skills..
As for the U25 classification, Per comes with a nice bulster on Zepuntke: can he repeat his awesome performance on this challenging day?
Several attacks in the early stages of the day and eventually it's 11 riders forming the break of the day:
Uchima again trying to finally seal the deal as for the KoM classification, which he does by joining the break and taking the first mountain sprint easily!
We're jumping straight into the final 45km of the day, the breakaway group is already down to just 8 riders with the first cobbled sectors doing it's damage: Gidich, Uchima and Orlov have already been swallowd by the peloton, where Carlsberg and Iberia are setting the pace and reducing the pack to 88 riders with the leading group 2'40" ahead..
This gap is down to 1'39" with now 27km to go for the leading group, where only six riders are left:
Verbist, Schreurs, Jenko, Owen, Pedersen and Schoonbroodt pass the final mountain sprint/climb of the day and so Uchima only needs to finish the stage to keep the KoM-lead!
Sinkeldam keeps pacing at the front of the peloton, that is 48 seconds behind the leading group with now only 15km and two more cobbles sectors to go:
The pack is down to 41 riders with more and more riders suffering from the pace, the crosswinds and those dirt/slicky roads here:
Feng (3rd GC) amongst the latest riders being dropped - this will be some tough final 15km for him!
Burghardt (14th GC) Zepuntke (13th) Moulingui (19th) in a group further 30 seconds behind Feng..
Russo (10th) got dropped earlier and just like Feng, he will now need to limit the losses for still a notable GC result!
Holloway (20th) as well, he's even further behind..
The remaining leading group has entered the penultimate cobbles sector "Platts Lane" with just 11 seconds on the main group:
Jenko Pedersen as the only two early escapees left in the lead..
Vanspeybrouck (8th GC) bridges across from the main group with now 9km to go!
Just a few moments later, we see the next attacks from this group:
Blythe (7th GC) goes past Vanspeybrouck 7.4km before the finish!
Vanspeybrouck Thomas build a new chasing group, that is only a few seconds ahead of the peloton..
Blythe established a 25 seconds gap on Vanspeybrouck/Thomas with now 4.8km remaining!
The chasing duo is 8 seconds ahead of the main group, that went into further pieces now:
Langeveld (9th GC) as the next notable name being dropped from the 18-men-group!
Per (6th GC) got dropped a few moments before, he's a minute in arrears now!
Blythe enters the final cobbles sector of the day: the "Northgate Street" in Chester, just 2.6km before the finish!
He still goes strong and maintains a 28-seconds gap on the main group..
Vanspeybrouck/Thomas could not stay clear and they enter the Northgate Street as part of a new 6-men-group that is 32 seconds behind Blythe:
Baugnies (GC leader) Vanbilsen (2nd GC) Thomas Vanspeybrouck (8th) David (25t) Breen (5th)
Baugnies now setting the pace, as Blythe becomes a real threat for his GC lead now! Vanbilsen right behind him, but apparently not able to attack Baugnies today..
26 seconds behind group Baugnies, a next group with 5 riders:
Rowe (11th GC) Albert (17th) Zepuntke (12th) Theuns (21st) Bush
A next group with 6 riders is additional 21 seconds in arrears:
Saber (4th GC) Debesay Van Asbroeck Nepomnyachsniy Joseph Verbist
The first chasing group enters the finishing stretch with Blythe still holding on to his 25-30 seconds advantage:
Vanbilsen trying to go clear, but Baugnies is right there! David trying to follow.. Breen, Thomas and Vanspeybrouck struggling now!
Blythe wins this stage in Chester and that's certainly a great feeling after such a tough day with crosswinds, cobbles and dirt all over the place.. you may say "finally a big win" for the local hero, who definitely went to gain some time on Baugnies that way..
The GC leader as the strongest in the chasing group though, as the pushes towards the finish line to go past Vanbilsen!
David clearly behind and the other three riders can't counter on those moves anyway..
+ 22" for Baugnies as 2nd and Vanbilsen as 3rd
That's been a fast finish of the GC's Top-2 and Baugnies did enough to secure the GC win!
+ 40" David, who did much better than on the first day here..
+ 55" Vanspeybrouck, Thomas, Breen
Another great result for Breen today! Vanspeybrouck tried to attack, but has to settle for a 5th place on the stage. Not too bad, but he could not repeat his De Panne GC victory..
+ 1'22" for Rowe as 8th, easily sprinting away from his group
+ 1'33" Bush - also going clear with his final acceleration
+ 1'51" Theuns, Van Asbroeck, Zepuntke, Albert
Zepuntke finishing 12th on the stage and he now has to wait for Per's result..
+ 2'20" for Saber and Pedersen/Nepomnyachsniy
+ 2'36" for a group with Debesay, Langeveld, Vermote and a few more
+ 3'09" for Burghardt
+ 3'22" for a group with Per
+ 5'50" for Feng, who really suffered from this course today and who will definitely drop a few places in the GC..
+ 9'14" for Russo as 74th eventually
The riders stumble across the finish line then and at the end of the day, 19 riders did not make the time limit. And that's tough news for one of the classification leaders:
Uchima DNF the stage! After being dropped from the early break, he totally broke down to not make the time limit eventually - alongside four of his teammates. The virtual KoM leader did not finish the race, a tough one for Meiji.
A great one for Baugnies though, as he is the first winner of the Cheshire Cycling Tour! Thanks to a crucial stage win on the opening day and a good effort in this final stage, he's a well deserved winner and adds another stellar performance to his already strong season.
Vanbilsen a strong 2nd in the GC then. His brave ride in the opening stage did not end with a victory, but he delivered in both key stages to secure himself a fantastic podium in this tough stage race.
Just like Blythe, who moved up from 7th to 3rd thanks to his great performance today! It's a season with ups and downs for the Brit, who certainly enjoyed this race on home soil then.
Breen and Vanspeybrouck complete the Top-5. A fantastic result for Breen and his team, obviously. A stellar ride on the opening day and another great fight to hang on with the best today. Vanspeybrouck with a somewhat solid result, but he surely had hoped for at least the GC podium prior to this race..
Saber a good 6th ahead of Langeveld, Rowe, Per and Zepuntke! Quite a huge team result for both Kulczyk and Philips, as Per indeed managed to hold off Zepuntke by 16 seconds eventually. Not the best race for the Minions, which at least have four riders inside the GC's Top-21 though.
Albert 11th ahead of Vermote, Debesay, Burghardt and Feng dropped to 15th today. Still a notable GC result for him, while his teammate Russo dropped to 26th (a pretty good result nevertheless). Grashev, Theuns, David, Marcos and Bush round up the Top-20. Despite a good ride today, David (and also Theuns) can't be happy with such a result. The same goes for Van Asbroeck (22nd), who apparently worked for Vanbilsen only. Which went pretty well, obviously, but his non-show in the sprint stages must have been disappointing. Van Keirsbulck (28th) as one of the most disappointing performers amongst the punchy cobblers - unfortunately, it hasn't been his first low key performance this season.
Rowe takes the points classification (64pts) thanks to his good effort today! By gaining eight points, he went past Saber (61pts) and Baugnies (48pts) moved up to 3rd ahead of Vantomme.
GarcÃa Cortina with a rather surprising KoM victory then. With Uchima outside the time limit (despite being in the break of the day), that's quite unexpected news for him. Russo and Marzuki on 2nd and 3rd..
Per with quite a huge U25 victory, as already mentioned..
Minions with the team's classification and some kind of redemption for Zepuntke's quiet GC result..
