Stage 4 - Ronse > Ronse The crucial cobbled stage around Ronse is about to begin and with several kilometres of cobbles plus some notable crosswinds around 45km/h, it's definitely a tough day for the peloton. A partly hilly parcours will add some spice.
Breen/Van der Haar will surely like the look of the profile, but Kluge is the best placed cobbler in the GC, who can also handle climbs in a solid fashion. With some other cobblers like Ferreira, Zhupa and Drucker losing several minutes yesterday, it's probably the former riders, who will enter the stage with some high ambitiouns and the goal to take over the GC lead from yesterday's stage winner Pibernik.
As the days before, the break of the day is built early into the stage:
Vangenechten as the best cobbler in the group, but for those riders it's probably about the KoM fight on first hand. Centrone takes the first sprint, Cominelli the second. Centrone the third, Cominelli the fourth sprint. Centrone strikes back at the fifth sprint and Vangenechten takes the sixth:
Provisional KoM halfway through the stage Centrone 22, Vangenechten 18, Dahlberg 15
The breakaway group leads by 4'42" at halftime with 80km to go. A few teams like Ceverceria and Swisslion lead the chase now and they look in control as they have already entered the circuit, that will be ridden a few times until the finish.
There's a first big split in the pack, where just 81 riders remain in the main group. First notable names being dropped:
Dzervus (GC 8th) Reijnen (10th) Kreuziger (14th)
Meyer (12th) with some tough luck a few kilometres later, as he punctures and needs some support to be brought back into the main group. That certainly will cost some energy.
33km to go now and with the pace in the bunch going up, the lead of the escaping group is down to just a minute now. Only Vangenechten, Centrone and Cominelli remain in this group, the other early escapees have been caught in the meantime.
The peloton has gone into further pieces with now just 27 riders in the main group, that is led by Ferreira at this point:
Ferreira Zhupa, Pibernik, Thymides Kluge, Hoelgaard, Salas Drucker, Ben Nasser, Colon Modolo Favilli, Verbist Ngandamba, Jacobs, Minoungou Wallays Van der Haar, Kreder, Breen Serry Kulppi Schurter Van Poppel Breschel Haas Videika
Breen surprisingly at the back of the group, but it's still some way to go..
A next group with 37 riders is already 1'30" in arrears and with still more than 30km to go, that ain't looking good for some GC contenders:
Kruopis Kireva Siskevicius Meyer
Final mountain sprint, 28km before the finish. Centrone takes this sprint just before the last escapees are caught by the first main group:
23km to go and the new main group kept for high pace with the big cobblers now taking over the control of the race. And the first big moves happen now, with a few riders breaking clear from the group quickly:
Kluge and Ferreira open up a gap!
Jacobs, Drucker, Kulppi and a strong Ben Nasser are 18 seconds behind, Breschel as another rider trying to go clear from group Breen/Van der Haar/Pibernik!
With now 16km to go for the new leading group, the situation behind them becomes more and more clear:
at 0.24 Kulppi Jacobs Drucker Ben Nasser
at 0.49 Van der Haar Breen Centrone Favilli
at 1.14 Breschel
at 1.32 Modolo
The next group with Hoelgaard and Van Poppel is further 15 seconds behind..
..a group with Pibernik further 19 seconds! Zhupa apparently supporting his captain today, since he probably lost all his GC ambitiouns yesterday.
13.5km to go, one final hill prior to the uphill finish and Kluge goes clear from Ferreira! The duo had a 35 seconds gap on group Ben Nasser and now Kluge goes for another strong looking acceleration!
9.5km to go for Kluge, who established a 35 seconds gap on Ferreira quickly!
Breen goes clear from the chasing group, as soon as his teammates VdH/Centrone/Favilli managed to bridge across group Ben Nasser! This move by Breen is looking good and of course he's fighting to gain valuable time on a very strong Ben Nasser today.
Breen catches up to Ferreira about 5km before the finish, but Kluge is growing his lead to 52 seconds! The new chasing duo probably won't work together, but they are trying to limit the loss against a phenomenal Kluge now..
Group Ben Nasser/Van der Haar couldn't counter Breen's move (of course Delvaux won't do anything to help Drucker/Ben Nasser here) and they are already more than a minute behind the first chasing duo..
Further 1'36" behind there's a group with Pibernik/Zhupa, Modolo, Hoelgaard..
Serry is apart of a group with already 6 minutes disadvantage on Kluge.. Meyer further 1'22" behind!
Kluge keeps dominating the CT cobbles and he adds another impressive victory to his palmares. Ferreira could not match his final attack and the German kept pacing towards a crucial victory. How much time will he gain on Ben Nasser today? The GC lead looks secured for at least today.
+ 54" for Ferreira and Breen
Strong ride from both and definitely an important result for Breen, who's still in GC contention. He didn't look good earlier on, but came back in style. Also thanks to some outstanding team work from his three premium helpers.
+ 2'40" for Drucker and Ben Nasser
What a ride from Ben Nasser, who finishes this cobbles stage as 5th on the day. Losing quite some minutes on Kluge, but with still one hilly stage to come, he may still have a shot at the GC win here..
+ 2'48" for Jacobs, Kulppi and Favilli
+ 3'03" for Centrone and Van der Haar
Awesome performance by Cetrone, who does not only take the lead in the KoM rankings, but also add a strong stage result and some great support for his captain(s)..
+ 4'29" for GC leader Pibernik, who finishes the stage at the back of the next chasing group with the same time as Modolo and Hoelgaard! A huge effort and definitely not a bad result eventually. The GC lead is gone, but he remains in a good position for a great GC result, it seems.
Other puncheurs like Serry (7.36) and Meyer (8.10) lost quite some more time today. Tough luck for Meyer with this puncture though.
Kluge moves up to 1st in the GC, now leading ahead of Breen (+ 1.23) and Ben Nasser (3.13)! Will this be enough to hold off Ben Nasser in tomorrow's key hill stage?
Favilli (3.14) and Van der Haar (3.35) make it a huge provisional GC for Delvaux. Ferreira (4.23) with a great day to move up into the Top-10. Pibernik (4.24) still in podium contention (at least), just like Modolo (4.30). Van Poppel and Wallays completing the Top-10 ahead of Hoelgaard (5.03), who may also hope to attack the GC podium tomorrow.
