It's been two years since the streets of Rio had to wait for it, but after the real-life Olympics, it's finally going to see the wheels of professional cyclists again!
In case you missed the preview, today we are in for 173 kilometers of CT racing in which we will pass the famous hill of the 2016 Rio Olympics four times. A mix of puncheur and sprinting abilities is likely needed to take this one home.
Gautier, Ben Nasser and Meyer are the big weights in the CT when it comes to the hills and thus they are the main favourites today.
Stereotypical weather conditions in Rio right now, as the riders are off!
Immediately an attack by three riders: Kenyeres, Poljanec and Ballesteros.
As they reached two minutes already, Dina and Jurado tried to close the gap but barely passed the front of the pack.
Min leads the peloton and will try to keep the breakaway's lead controllable. Siskevicius must be feeling confident today!
How many climbs will they last? The answer is 3 and a little bit. As mainly thanks to Valio and Campari's work, their 6-minute gap disappeared almost faster than the speed of light. Poljanec and Kenyeres were the last to wave the white flag at the start of the final climb.
Time for some fireworks, hopefully!
Here we gooo! It's Gautier, Meyer and Siskevicius, while Poljanec is derping around on the inside corner!
Ben Nasser'doesn't seem to want to follow and seems to have asked Matsumoto to follow, a bold move for sure. There's no way he couldnt've followed for at least a bit.
Meanwhile, with around 1,5 kilometers on the climb left, Gautier gets dropped and Meyer and Siskevicius continue together!
Leaders duo – '15 – Gautier – '41 – Peloton.
And finally, Ben Nasser goes off. Surely he won't be able to reach the first two before the top?
He does reach Gautier but not the first two. And look at the gap! A full minute while Gautier and Ben Nasser are in serious danger of a GCN-led peloton. They only have 35 seconds on them!
7 kilometers to go. Siskevicius and Meyer still have a minute and should be able to fight for victory. Teklit has joined Gautier and Ben Nasser with an insane downhill but they can feel the breath of a 33-rider peloton.
3 kilometers to go, and there are only 25 riders in the peloton. Though the big names are there.
Siskevicius and Meyer are playing poker though. They don't seem to be racing much while the peloton is doing everything to chase them. Only 35 seconds left, will we see some drama here?
Bugge is chasing like his life depends on it while the leaders are chilling on the far left side of the road, and yes it indeed looks like they will get caught under the red kite!
Bugge indeed closes the gap, even though Siskevicius and Meyer are still in pole position. But holy, this guy... Isn't out of breath yet and even tries to go for the win!
Behind him, some others will try to take the inside corner: Kadri, Ben Nasser and Paajanen seem to have a shot at winning too, while Teklit, Gautier and Lopez are still in for a good position, too.
600 meters, Bugge has slowed down a little (understandable) and it seems like Meyer and Siskevicius benefit from their rest in the final kilometers and will fight it out for victory after all! It's Meyer who has the best papers though, but there's still a long way to go...
200 meters and Meyer is looking to win, though the most interesting part is that a wild Omarsson appeared and is absoloutely skyrocketing himself to a good position for Valio!
We'll have to wait and see who takes the bronze medal though, as first we have'to celebrate Travis Meyer's victory in the Rio Vista Chinesa. A strong ride from him and Siskevicius, in which he showed to be in the strongest finisher. Meyer was an expensive rider for Eddie Stobart, but is more and more showing he was worth it.
Bugge held on for third, while Omarsson is doing Iceland proud with his fourth place. Lopez also ended up in a very promising fifth place. Aasvold also surprised with sixth.
Teklit almost got beaten by Pomoshnikov but still finished 8th, in front of Howes and Paajanen.
After that it's finally time for the big names: Kadri, Ben Nasser and Gautier fell outside of the top 10...
Hategeka (22nd), Serry (24th) and Vichot (25tth) did even worse and even lost contact to the main group on the flat. Serry and Vichot had teammates near the top, but for Hategeka this result is unforgivable.
And that's all for today. A very interesting race with a deserved winner – though it became awkwardly close near the end. See you at the closing ceremony!
Rio Vista Chinesa
