The first edition of the Sakartvelo Trophy is about to begin, we have perfect weather conditions and a challenging 215km parcours around Tiblisi ahead. Top favorites should be premium climbers such as Pantano Gomez, Anacona, Campero, Elissonde and Warbasse. Campero with the best downhill skills and probably hoping for it to become a factor today.
Other promising contenders could be CT legend Rodrigues or Stancu. A few more possible dark horses, such as Koshevoy, who's the best on downhills here.
It took them quite a while to go clear, but eventually it's three riders forming the break of the day with already 50km into the race:
Mancuso Goldstein Sagan
Earlier on, it was Müller going for a solo breakaway attempt, but once a few more riders tried to join him, he got swallowed by the peloton after the first climb of the day. Other attacking riders were Tewelde, Y Martinez, Zhupa and Reddish.
O'Brien attacked the peloton on the second climb of the day, bridging across the early break quickly. With now 132km to go (and the peloton more than three minutes in arrears), the veteran climber joins the leading group, where Goldstein already can't follow on those short climbs now!
O'Brien easily the best climber in this escaping group. May become an interesting move for his amateur team Mitchelton..
Of course there's still the peloton though and several teams share the work in the chase, that has been launched halfway through the race:
Bogota, Swisslion, BNZ, Oberfranken and also Philips as those teams leading the pursuit. On today's longest climb (the Gombori Pass, 18km in total, 5% average slopes) the pack is 2'50" behind the leading group, where only Sagan managed to hang on with O'Brien in the meantime!
The peloton almost narrowed the gap to O'Brien with 24km to go and only the final climb to come (8km in total, 9% average slopes). Sagan has been dropped now and the first big moves have been launched from outside the pack, joining O'Brien with a small advantage over the main group and 22km remaining:
Rodrigues Stancu Pantano Gómez Campero Mai (who worked well for Pantano so far)
Will this already be the crucial attacks?
Well, it looks good for those guys at least: 20km to the finish, still a couple of kilometres to the mountaintop, and the new leading group is already a minute ahead of the peloton (59 riders)!
Rodrigues Stancu Pantano Gómez Campero open up a small gap..
Mai can't follow anymore..
O'Brien is done after his earlier efforts!
O'Brien loses ground quickly and as he's already 1'17" behind the leading group, he's getting company from some more riders, who broke clear from the peloton:
Elissonde Affonso Anacona
Mai is still half a minute ahead and Elissonde/Anacona definitely need to put up a huge performance to not miss out on a podium chance:
17km to go and the leading group has already entered the tricky downhill to the finish in Tiblisi:
Rodrigues goes clear from the group!
Pantano Gómez Stancu about 16 seconds in arrears..
Campero already struggled a few minutes before and he's further 13 seconds behind!
Mai additional 35 seconds behind Campero:
Elissonde attempting to finally join Mai and he droped Anacona/Affonso in the meantime!
Eliod and Baltazar could join his former group, that is a few seconds ahead of the peloton..
Just 8.5km to go and Rodrigues still leading solo by 36 seconds ahead of the chasing group:
Stancu, Pantano Gómez and Campero made his way back to the duo!
Elissonde easily went past Mai and he's now just 25 seconds behind the first chasing group, trying to join them prior to the velodrome.
Mai now a minute behind Elissonde, but still a few seconds ahead of the first bigger group of Top-10 contenders:
Baltazar pacing down the descent, Koshevoy, Briceno, Warbasse, Anacona, Hoem, Brandt and Poels as other names in the front of the group. 18 riders form this group, that is already more than two minutes behind the solo leader.
The leading groups have entered the velodrome and with less than 3km to go, it's still the same picture at the front of the race:
Rodrigues maintains a 42 seconds gap on the chasing trio!
Elissonde keeps fighting, but he's still 20 seconds behind Stancu, Pantano and Campero..
Mai has been caught by the bigger group, that is a further minute in arrears..
No chance for the chasing group to catch Rodrigues, who celebrates his victory quite early here! The living CT legend adds another prestigious victory to his palmares, taking the first edition of the Sakartvelo Trophy thanks to an acceleration right at the top of the final climb of the day. The chasing trio did not work well together and so Rodrigues managed to maintain the gap, that he established before he entered the downhill sector. Well done.
The sprint for the final two podium spots is on now: Stancu in the prime position, with Pantano Gómez trying to go past him! Campero at Stancu's wheel, not in the best position it seems..
Stancu holds on to his advantage and he comfortably takes a strong 2nd place half a minute behind today's winner!
Pantano Gómez lungs in for 3rd in a tight sprint against Campero, who couldn't benefit from Stancu's slipstream in this final sprint. A pleasant result for all of those four riders, even though Pantano Gómez might have hoped for something better.
Half a minute later, Elissonde soloes his way to a solid 5th place. He fought hard to join the chasing group, but couldn't close the gap eventually. He won't be happy to have missed out on the first crucial attacks though. Once he broke clear from the bunch, he certainly looked strong.
Koshevoy outsprints a strong Eliad to take a nice 6th place eventually. The duo easily were the strongest in the main group's bunch sprint.
Kebede crossing the line as 8th, Anacona and Brandt complete the Top-10 then.
Lopez, Briceno, a disappointing Warbasse (13th), Baltazar and Pokidov round up the Top-15 of the day. Mai eventually has to settle for a 20th place ahead of Poels. Hoem goes 23rd, O'Brien a still solid 24th after his breakaway efforts.
