Welcome to the coverage of the 2018 Colombian Venteaux.We've already seen the most brutal mountain stage race of the season, the Tour d'Andorra, which Suaza won ahead of Panayotov and Pinot. Now, it's time for the only C2HC mountain classic. Will the result be the same?
The bookies certainly don't seem to think so. They only place Suaza in 7th. Pinot, König, Pomoshnikov and Kiserlovski are their favourites for this 137-kilometer single-mountain race. But only time will tell to see who is right.
The riders are craving to start this race and give their manager and smile on their face. So let's not wait any further and get this race started!
The first attack of the day is led by Haavardsholm. Eight riders try to follow:
Mollema Blums Hindley Schinnagel Olei Salas Paajanen
And most interestingly, last year's second place Rujano!
They quickly get caught however, four of them and a new rider try again:
Hindley Schinnagel Olei Salas
and Helme.
Andorra however didn't like this break, and we how have three new names!
Daspuntsag Kokorevas Cahyadi
They had two minutes already, but three more riders attempt to join them in the nick of time:
Mollema Othman Reza
Once again though, they quickly get reeled in. This time, it was mainly Valio chasing. Looks like they didn't want ENI-MOL to have a guy in the break to help out their leader later on.
We're already halfway the race... Will we even get a proper break?!
Yess! Finally! With only 60 kilometers to go, five riders are now three minutes ahead:
Sonnery Taborre Mestric Ahmad Zamri
and Aasvold.
The favourites' teams all send a rider to the front of the peloton to help with the chase. And it's working, as just before the final climb, the gap is only 1,5 minute.
Also, it started raining... Aren't we safe of rain anywhere then?
The break gets caught, and we've reached the foot of the final climb. Andorra is leading and will likely try to help Kiserlovski diesel through the first part.
Remember: It's a 32-kilometer climb, but the middle is flat. What are we going to see on the first part then? Outsiders attacking perhaps?
Not much is happening for now at least, so it's time to look at the favourites' positioning. Most of them are placed in the top 10 of the peloton, ready for any potential attacks. Costagli, Campero, Medvedev and especially Diaz are furhter behind, but as long as nothing happens, it could be smart tactics.
And as it started snowing, we've reached the end of the first part of the climb without any attacks. Andorra ( Uwizeyimana) is still leading a 57-man peloton.
Time for some quiet minutes then... Never mind! Suaza attacks on the relative flat!!! And many riders seen to be caught off-guard!
Kiserlovski isn't though, and benefits from his team controlling the pack. Panayotov and König react as well, but have some ground to make up.
The first four seem to want to continue together. ENI-MOL immediately reacts by sending Pereyra and Stancu to the front of the pack for their leader, Pomoshnikov.
All other favourites seem to be quiet.
And rightfully so. The four riders get caught just before the start of the final part of the climb. We'll see if this weird attack cost them any crucial energy!
As we start that final climb,with 9 kilometers to go, Andorra immediately goes back into diesel mode. Rujano now leads the pack.
Rujano seems to be getting tired though and drops some pace. It's going too quiet for Suaza, who attacks with König in his wheel!
Warbasse however takes over from Rujano and catches them quite easily.
If Kiserlovski manages to win them, they've had some Sky level teamwork!
'Five kilometers to go now. And Suaza and König try again! Warbasse gets to the front of the peloton again, but this attacks seems to be more powerful. Can he get them back once again?
It isn't going too easily. But we can see that this attack has broken the pack apart. First of all, Suaza gets an 8-second gap over König and leaves him chasing! But behind him, only eight riders are left in the main group, 14 seconcs behind:
Elissonde Medvedev Warbasse Kiserlovski Panayotov Pinot Pomoshnikov and Stancu.
Ratiy and Anacona are close behind and are looking to slowly get back to this group.
The riders are slowly dropping from the 8-man group! They dropped in this order:
Panayotov Panayotov
and Pinot. The latter is a bit of a shock. He'll have to regain some energy if he wants to make it to the top 5.
They are 34 seconds behind König and Suaza, who got back together.
Warbasse and Pomoshnikov are the next to drop from the group. This calls for an overview, with 2,4 kilometers left...
With 1,5 kilometers to go, we can see that the gap between Suaza and König, and Medvedev, Elissonde and Kiserlovski is closing to 26 seconds! Will they get back in time, or will the first two riders battle for victory?
It looks like this one will be between Suaza and König, as under the red kite, only Medvedev has the strength to get close to them! The gap is 16 seconds right now. Elissonde and Kiserlovski seem to have to settle with a battle for fifth.
400 metres and the sprint is on! Medvedev seems to have blown all his energy on chasing the leaders. König is now trying to pass Suaza on the left! Will he have to energy to go behind Suaza?
Nope! Jaime Suaza is the winner of the 2018 edition of the Colombian Venteaux! We alredy knew he was the strongest pure climber in the CT peloton, and proved it again today. Congratulations!
König ends up in second, in front of Medvedev. Good for König, but extremely good for Medvedev. Well done!
Kiserlovski finishes fourth, behind a surprising Elissonde. Not the result his teammates had hoped for.
Best of the rest is Pomoshnikov, over two minutes behind Suaza. Decent result by him, just not good enough to enter the top 5.
Warbasse makes up for Kiserlovski's disappointing final metres and finishes 7th. In front of Ratiy, who came back very strong on the last kilometer, and Rodrigues. Good day for Oberfranken, too!
Ahmad Zamri (!!!) completes the top 10. Pinot falls outside and finishes 11th. He won't like this, Sauber should be estatic!
Panayotov and Diaz (Oberfanken once again!) finish 12th and 13th.
We have to wait a long time them to see some of the disappointments of the day finishing. Briceno did more than fine with 14th, Pereyra, Potocki Stancu and espcially Anacona who finished behind them should've had more in the tank. Izagirre finishes 19th, Campero another big disappointment at 20th. Bummer for them!
And in the peloton, someone is doing a ride of shame: Costagli, finishing 29th.... He didn't even look lazy, he just couldn't perform any better today!
And that's it for the Colombian Venteaux! We saw that being agressive can work and saw Suaza, König and Medvedev get rewarded for this. See you again next year!
Colombian Venteaux
