After a bit of a lull in the GC action yesterday, in what has otherwise been a jam packed race, we reach the penultimate stage, which is also the second stage that should suit the punchers. Last year, it was on this stage that Lars Boom attacked then leader Sam Bewley, and got himself a big enough advantage to turn the GC in his favour. Bewley once again leads the standings coming into this stage, but he has both Kruijswijk and Wisniowski breathing down his neck. The latter duo are not particularly stronger than the Kiwi on the hills, but the problem for the incumbent lies in the fact that the five riders behind the podium places in the GC, are all better punchers than him! Someone like a Kwiatkowski, who currently lies in 13th and 5 minutes behind in the GC, cannot be counted out either.
Favourites
Name
HIL
ACC
Claeys
83
73
Kelderman
82
72
Gastauer
82
76
Koretzky
80
79
Vogt
80
63
Kwiatkowski
79
75
Watson
78
72
Paulinho
78
75
Jensen
78
76
Dyrnes
78
77
Chernetskiy
78
71
Landa
78
69
A lovely day sees seven riders go clear early with the pack not keen to start chasing early.
The break of the day are: Bovenhuis Veyhe (KOM 2nd) Barbio Herrada Van der Velde Gebremedhin Sulimov
Van der Velde is the highest placed in the GC at just under 9 minutes and is a capable puncher. Maybe the peloton need to look out for him.
Sulimov wins the first KOM sprint, followed by Veyhe, Gebremedhin, Van der Velde and Barbio.
Veyhe is the new leader of the KOM classification. 15 riders have already been dropped from the peloton.
Herrada wins the frst intermedaite sprint. Gebremedhin and Barbio follow him through.
Cavagna, 49th in the GC, attacks from the pack and catches the break.
Cavagna keeps going to win the next KOM sprint ahead of Veyhe and Bovenhuis.
32 more riders are dropped, making it a total of 47 riders in A1. Havik, at 58th, is highest placed GC rider in this group.
The dropped riders would eventually make it back.
Cavagna wins the third KOM sprint as well. Veyhe makes it a hat-trick of second places. Herrada, Van der Velde and Sulimov pick up the remaining points.
Moser and Gazelle are at the front with 90 kilometers to go.
29 riders are dropped.
Cavagna keeps winning KOM sprints. Veyhe keeps coming 2nd. Sulimov, Van der Velde and Herrada are the others to get points.
Marycz pulls Bewley away from the pack without response.
49 riders are dropped including Altur, Young (GC 28th) and Schar (GC 36th).
Bewley drops Marycz and chases down the break.
Teunissen (GC 48th) is dropped.
The peloton are down to 88 riders and trail the break by 1'9".
The list of dropped riders keep increasing; Boros (17th), Kasperkiewicz (47th), Dzamastagic (51st) the latest.
Potts, 4th in the GC, cannot keep up. His high spot in the standings is slipping away!
And they keep sliding out the back as Daniel (38th), Bol (30th), De Gendt (51st) and Boeckmans (34th) become the latest.
Sulimov attacks just as the break is caught. He builds up a 22 second lead with 39 kilometers to go.
Polnicky (22nd), Marycz (35th) and Lietaer (44th) are now dropped, among others.
Sulimov is increasing his lead as he wins the second intermediate sprint. Reimer and Barbio pick up points from the pack.
Dunne attacks, followed by Gallopin, Kwiatkowski and Koretzky.
The latter duo are caught while the former dup chase Sulimov.
Sulimov, Gallopin, Dunne is the order through the fifth KOM point.
Sulimov holds a lead of 21" over the chasing duo with the pack a further 2 minutes behind! This is beginning to get worrying for Bewley, as Gallopin is around 6 minutes down.
15 km left. The peloton slows down and has basically given up on the chase. If Bewley is to save his lead, he and his team need to do it themselves.
Up ahead, and 3 km later, Gallopin piles on the pressure, attacking and distancing the others in his group. His lead stands at 2'34".
The chasing duo are not, errr... chasing!
Kwiatkowski attacks with 6 km remaining, and Chernetskiy looks to tag along. The latter has lost his KOM jersey on the day to Veyhe, but could yet be looking at a good stage result.
Gallopin wins the final KOM sprint. Dunner and Sulimov would pass through next, while Kwiatkowski and Koretzky would take the remaining points. Koretzky too, had attacked.
Gallopin is now a podium contender with the lead he's built up.
Dunne drops Sulimov en-route to the summit.
Koretzky attacks past Chernetskiy.
Bewley has no support remaining as it is Hofland who's now bringing the gap down to the attackers for Kruijswijk. Will the Top 2 in the GC join hands and save their positions or will Kruijswijk take his chance to go for the win?
Hofland creates a gap to the pack, bringing Kruijswijk along, while Bewley hangs on for dear life and his GC spot.
1 kilometer to go for Gallopin now. While he has a comfortable lead to those behind, it is not currently enough to challenge for the podium.
Kwiatkowski drops Sulimov with Koretzky closing.
Chernetskiy is caught by the Bewley group as they reach the final KOM summit. Gerts has attacked from the pack behind them.
Gallopin wins stage 7 in an attack reminiscent of his teammate Boom's last season. Perhaps not the same outcome, but we can say so for sure in a few minutes.
Kwiatkowski catches Dunne with 700 meters remaining.
Gerts catches up to the Bewley group.
The peloton has 54 riders...
...with Stallaert (11th) and Harrison (55th) among the latest to be dropped.
Kwiatkowski claims 2nd on the line, and he is another rider who is looking at a rise in the GC. Dunne has to be content with 3rd. They are a minute behind Gallopin.
A further 30 seconds behind, Koretzky finishes 4th, to follow up his win on the other hill stage in this race. Sulimov completes the Top 5, nearly 2 minutes behind Gallopin.
400 meters to go for Bewley, who didn't allow Kruijswijk to get away.
Bewley claims 6th place with Gerts in 7th and the Gazelle duo of Hofland and Kruijswijk finishing next. They lose a little over two and a half minutes to Gallopin.
Summerhill gets in a late attack to claim 10th place. 31 riders finish together in the peloton.
Trentin, Kristoff and Tsatevich finish in a group of 22 riders dropped in the final slopes.
Stallaert loses 5 minutes on this stage.
Today's winner - Tony Galloppin
The big gainers today were Gallopin and Kwiatkowski who rise to 7th and 8th in the GC respectively. Wisniowski loses some time to the top 2 but holds on to his podium place. The big losers on the day are Potts and Stallaert, with the former losing over seven minutes to drop out of the Top 10 in the GC.
Bewley retains the Points jersey with Gallopin climbing to 4th and Koretzky to 3rd. Veyhe is the new leader of the KOM standings and with not enough to play for in tomorrow's final stage, confirms the win. van der Poel and Gazelle continue to lead the U25 and Teams standings respectively.
