Four stages into Le Tour de France and we already are talking margins of minutes between GC contenders - we haven't even visited a climb above Cat.2 yet or any of the five mountain ranges of France. Or even France itself! But Czechia has been given the chance to put on a show, with a 5-stage Grand Depart if you will, and damn, they have delivered some entertainment!
Back to Prague for today's start before heading out for a circuit around Rakovnik in the heart of Bohemia. A third day in the hills, and I bet for many riders their bodies are… aching all the time. A flat-to-undulating finish I'm lead to believe. Many uncategorised climbs on our circuit today, and five Cat.3 climbs which should make for a good KoM fight, and the profile for a tough day of racing. Over 3000m of vertical gain throughout the day is no small task!
Yesterday we saw Flügel take a wonderful solo stage win whilst Roche made it a 1-2 for the wildcards! In the GC fight Slagter, Taaramäe, Spilak and Gesink fared the best. Today, any result seems possible - a reduced bunch finish, a late attack by puncheurs, a GC battle or even our first successful breakaway! Who will write the final verse in our Bohemian Rhapsody?
With so many KoM points on offer, and this being the Tour de France after all, a prolonged breakaway fight was inevitable. These were the failed attempts:
#1: Vassdal, Newton, Bru, Leung, Fejes, Stepniak, Hivert, Vermeltfoort
#2: Fraile, Vliegen, De Gendt, Dumoulin
#3: Le Roux, Vermeltfoort, Naud, Polnicky, Dumoulin
Vermeltfoort took out the opening KoM sprint ahead of Boroš (who is now in the provisional lead there as part of attempt #4, which also included Naud, Bru, Shapira and Le Roux behind.
In the end Bru (from #4) was joined by Polnicky, Le Roux and Braico for a four-man break. Just the former (on 2 from today) and Le Roux (3rd with 16pts) with KoM points in the bank at the moment. 24 points on offer today and so anybody here could be our new KoM leader!
Le Roux pips Bru (who lead out) and Polnicky (first to overtake) at the second KoM and is now just a point behind Boros!
A slightly closer contest at the third sprint, and a switched order, but Le Roux will be wearing the KoM jersey on the podium today!
Berg and Isostar, a lot like yesterday, keep control of the peloton and the gap around 2'30 for most of the stage!
I see a little silhouetto of a man! An attack here in the peloton and it's Tony Gallopin for Aegon - Lavazza with Wesley Kreder of Kraftwerk. Also another Aegon rider following and an RBC one too! Interesting move from the Kraftwerk man who's a very suited rider to a bunch sprint today! 46km to go.
It's Zardini and Benoot (2nd in the best young rider competition) who are also in this move.
26km to go and on the penultimate KoM as the chasers are still in no man's land, meanwhile Kratochvila continues the Isostar tactic of making these opening week stages super hard, with Spilak in tow, which lures Taaramae to third wheel also!
Bru soloes ahead and takes the KoM ahead of Le Roux and Polnicky, whilst the four attackers from the peloton have caught up. A gap of 1'06 for this group, which soon catches up to Bru.
Same dog, same trick! None other than Flügel who attacks the peloton on the penultimate climb. Does anybody remember how that worked out for him last time?
With Kreder up ahead this could be a winning tactic once again. 17km to go. Meanwhile Bru, Kreder, Benoot and Zardini have dropped the other four (including Braico who's just next to Flugel there).
Flugel is actually caught along with the other breakaway stragglers, meanwhile Vinhas has been dropped and the leaders have 1'47 with 14km to go!
He’s easy come, and now easy go! Flugel's mama apparently never told him not to play with his food before he ate it because as soon as he waits for the group he attacks it with 10km to go and on the final climb! I’m sure he didn’t mean to make her cry. A large gap to close to the leaders though, which has extended to 1'56!
A Fablok rider ( Froome) and Slagter follow the German. I say deja, you say...
Slagter failed to get away though, and more importantly Froome has dropped him. Flugel struggling, and this certainly isn't going how it did yesterday!
But the German isn't done and neither is Slagter, who attacks again and Spilak is following! Taaramae responding behind with Gesink, Lecuisinier, Barguil, Sicard and more trying to follow! A sneaky move from the Slovenian, his manager wants yellow before Stage 7's TTT and this could be his chance to get it!
7.2km to go from here and over the top the leaders have 1'01 over Froome, 12 more seconds to Flügel and another 43 to Spilak and Slagter! Kreder not doing any work of course, Zardini and Bru will need to throw themselves into this attack as much as the white-chasing Benoot is!
Only Taaramae and Gesink get away from the peloton, the Estonian has caught the duo but the yellow jersey hasn't quite got on yet and they aren't waiting for him! Gesink in trouble on the terrain he was meant to be taking time!
A great position for Kraftwerk as Froome and Flügel make the junction - a great effort from the German. The best sprinter or best puncheur, depending on how Kraftwerk do it, in the group just got a domestique with just 4km remaining and the downhill almost over!
You have to wonder how Kreder, Zardini and Benoot are doing after over 40km on the attack - and Bru, after being out all day!
Froome leading as we are onto the false flats of the finish and Kreder is ominously right in his wheel...
Gesink still not caught up and now looking tired for the first time all week as the trio ahead co-operate well here. Still 45 seconds up to the leaders and so it'll be between the 6 up ahead!
It must be said the man who stands the most to gain by Gesink's loss immediately is not Spilak, but Flügel! He needs 1'59 on the Dutchman with 47 seconds on Spilak to moved into yellow, and 12 or 20 bonus seconds will surely help!
Flugel takes the lead under the flamme rouge and actually gets a small gap to Froome. Kraftwerk really in the box seat here if Flugel pushes on with Kreder ready to pounce! Looks like Kraftwerk are playing this perfectly!
The wildcard teams really taking it to the Pro Tour on the biggest stage here as we see three PCT riders vying for the stage win! Flugel opens his sprint with a gap to Froome with 700m to go, whilst Kreder is just waiting for the Brit to shut the gap before pouncing! Zardini and Benoot don't seem to have the kick to try and come around yet but are well positioned, whilst early breakaway member Bru seems quite tired at the back!
Kreder actually going for it himself now on the inside lane and it could be a Kraftwerk 1-2 here! Flugel going strong but obviously not as quick as his sprinter teammate! Froome and the others just not having the pace of either Kraftwerk man!
Czechmate, Kraftwerk have this! Flugel has 300m to go and should have the gap to hold off his teammate, but it could get close! The Kraftwerk team car will be going nuts - and surely some team favourites will be revealed by their reactions to who wins...
Zardini, Benoot and Bru absolutely done - the other three just too fresh after that day. Great rides for all really - Zardini with a top 5 stage result probably, Benoot the same and maybe a white jersey coup (he needs 1'45 and has 1'59) and Bru with a stunning ride to hang on from the morning breakaway! Smart from both of them here really.
Flugel takes a fantastic second win in as many days with a smart tactical finish here in Rakovnik! An unbelievable day for Kraftwerk here, a 1-2 for any team at La Grande Boucle is just insane, nervermind a PCT wildcard!
Kreder with a great performance from a mid-stage attack the quickest in the final sprint but not enough to catch his teammate, but he'd be stoked with this result on any day and especially when behind your leader! Froome is a third - he won't be too pleased with it but it's a nice result all the same.
Zardini, Benoot (who could claim white and make an already good day even sweeter) and Bru are fourth through sixth - these guys are domestiques really and so a very good result for them! A mid-range attack like this working out is always great to see and hopefully encourages such behaviour more. They're not far ahead of
Spilak in seventh and we should probably see a s.t. finish for all of these four - Gesink doing a nice job to catch up and rounds out the top 10. Another great day from Slagter but a stalemate for the Big Three - capitals surely warranted at this point.
I say deja, you say...
Vakoc leads home a reduced bunch of 38, containing most GC contenders previously unmentioned except for Nerz, who suffers again today and will certainly hand over leadership of Puma to Bongiorno. Hopefully the German can regroup to support him, or go for breakaways himself - never nice to see someone out of form like this.
Gesink actually not given the same time as Spilak et al - who are 18 seconds down with Zardini, Benoot and Bru - and so concedes 39 seconds there, putting Spilak now just 33 seconds behind and the deficit half gone! Meanwhile Flugel jumps to third on GC, with Kreder 6th, Slagter 8th and Froome 10th!
He didn't dominate today but no doubt the Festina manager will be pleased with the efforts of Le Roux who took the polka dot jersey for the next day or two at least! If he doesn't lose it tomorrow he can take it into France, a great honour especially for a Frenchman!
Lecuisinier keeps white in the end, not a huge deal for him at this stage with Benoot not a major challenger but certainly nice to have still! A shame for Benoot who deserved more reward having animated the race today with this attempted coup.
And now, unfortunately, our Bohemian Rhapsody has come to an end. Another exciting day in the Czech Republic as we wave goodbye to this beautiful country ahead of tomorrow's German trek. Some memorable days for sure and I for one would be happy to see Le Tour return to Czechia in the future! Tomorrow is an apology to the sprinters and their first chance (unless you're Houle or Kreder who have had great finishes in the hills) since Stage 2 in an unorthodoxly unfriendly opening week to them.
Goodbye, everybody, we’ve got to go. Last one, I promise.
