Hello and welcome to the decisive stage of the 2019 Tirreno - Adriatico! Today's stage is the longest of the whole race - let's see who's got enough breath until the end!
Today's stage will start in Camaiore, where we already saw the prologue, meaning we've again travelled back to the Ligurian sea. The first 110km lead southwards and are flat, with the first intermediate sprint after 107.7km in Casino di Terra.
After this 2.5-hour-warmup, the "real" race starts with a 15km climb up to Serrazzano, a 3rd category KoM, after 134.2km.
The riders then arrive at the finish line in Pomarance after 155km. But that would be too easy, so they'll have to ride another 80km. Just before the finish line, the second intermediate sprint is taken.
The up and down then continues, with the 2nd category climb to Volterra being the next major obstacle. The KoM sprint is taken after 176.7km, meaning we'll have roughly 50km to go.
Next is another 3rd category hill after 206.4km, in Montecatini - Val di Cecina. The riders will definitely start to feel their legs by now - but the final climb is yet to come!
However, given the length of the race, the organisers have chosen a rather easy final climb. It's about 8.5km long, but there's just one short section with a rather steep slope. Will it be enough to create significant time differences?
Spilak, today's top favorite, definitely needs a gap to take over the GC lead. Taaramäe and Gesink get three stars as well, with Herklotz, Dombrowski and Morton being awarded two. Last on the list are Lecuisinier, Wellens, Guldhammer and Yates. We're missing some stronger puncheurs, as Betancourt, Lopez, Boily or Preidler. Apparently, the bookies value climbing and stamina more than pure punch - let's see if they are right!
As it could be expected, Serrano and Uwizeyimana, currently shared 4th place in the KoM standings, are among the first attackers. They are accompanied by Bostner.
Betancourt seems to be offended by not having been mentioned among the stage favorites. Ndayisenga and Godoy complete this second trio, that has almost caught the first one.
But Grieg, Tinkoff and Indosat aren't happy about not having made it into the breakaway, and they're chasing hard!
There are 30" between the first and second breakaway trio, and then again 30" to the pack.
The peloton finally catches the second group - but wait, we actually have a new second group! Some teams chased so hard that there's now a gap to the peloton!
In this group, we still have Betancourt, Ndayisenga and Godoy. The new escapees are Robov, Laengen, Herrada, Foliforov, Konig, Kirsch, Vassdal, Shapira, Luchshenko and Heymes - 13 riders in total.
The leading trio is 40" ahead, the peloton 40" behind.
As all the previously chasing teams now have at least one rider in the breakaway, the pace drops in the peloton, and we soon have the 16 men Breakaway of the Day. Let's sort this out by teams: Uwizeyimana, Godoy, Heymes, Kirsch Ndayisenga, Herrada, Serrano Shapira, Bostner Konig, Luchshenko Laengen, Vassdal Betancourt Robov Foliforov
When considering only the hill stats, Betancourt should be the strongest in this group, whereas Konig, Ndayisenga and Kirsch should have the best mountain/hill package. And if stamina comes into play, Foliforov should be considered as well.
The peloton is already 2'48 back, with a clearly increasing trend.
Nothing happens within the next 70 kilometers, except for the gap increasing to 5'20 by the first intermediate sprint, won by Luchshenko:
1. Luchshenko
2. Robov
3. Foliforov
Now, let the race begin! The first hill will be attacked shortly.
Gesink seems to have a good day, as Generali is powering up that first hill! T-Mobile and Bennelong very present, too.
As the breakaway reaches the end of the flat part of this first climb, they can see the tougher last kilometer up to the KoM sprint. Let's just have a look at the current KoM points of the BotD members:
Uwizeyimana and Serrano both have 24 points, i.e. they are 12 points behind Herklotz. Robov has 20, Ndayisenga 19 and Shapira 18 points. With 28 points on offer today, all of them have good chances for taking the jersey, whereas Godoy's chances are only minor (12 points).
It's Robov taking the first 6 points:
1. Robov - 6
2. Shapira - 4
3. Uwizeyimana - 2
Uwizeyimana and Robov now share the 3rd place, having 26 points each.
In the peloton, Aker has now joined the chase, as Scully leads the pack over the first hill, 5'21 after the leaders.
The breakaway now reaches the second intermediate sprint, with the finish line in sight. Serrano wins this "sprint".
1. Serrano
2. Vassdal
3. Heymes
The pack has clearly come closer, 3'55 remaining.
The sky is getting darker and darker, and the peloton, powered by Generali and Aker, is getting closer and closer. 3'24 is the gap at the foot of the only 2nd category hill. Gesink and Taaramäe really have to deliver today, given the huge effort of their teams. Will we already see an attack on this next climb?
Well, that didn't work out as planned for the KoM aspirants, as Foliforov takes the 10 points! The riders reach this point under pouring rain.
1. Foliforov - 10
2. Shapira - 8
3. Robov - 6
4. Ndayisenga - 4
5. Godoy - 2
Robov is now sole third in the KoM standings, with 32 points, while Shapira jumps up to 4th. Both could still take the jersey today, just as Uwizeyimana - who doesn't seem to have the legs, though.
Vassdal is the first BotD member to lose contact, and by the time he reaches the top of the climb, the peloton has almost caught him.
The pack is still 3'16 back, but with 50km remaining, they still have plenty of time to gain this time back.
It's still the same picture back in the pack - Generali and Aker are putting a lot of effort in the chase - but will it pay out? There's still a 3-minute deficit left.
On the next 3rd category climb, Uwizeyimana and Luchshenko are next to be left behind. They're already 52" behind their former companions, but still 1'48 ahead of the peloton.
And it's again Foliforov getting the most points! Too bad he was already out of contention by the start of this stage.
1. Foliforov - 6
2. Shapira - 4
3. Ndayisenga - 2
Now Shapira has taken the 3rd place from Robov, and Ndayisenga is now 5th.
The pack is still 2'32 behind, and there are only 20km remaining! Given the collective power of the breakaway, this will be a very, very hard piece of work!
Foliforov actually had much more speed over the top than all the others, so that he even got a gap! He's now 37" ahead of the 12 remaining breakaway riders.
The peloton has even lost some more seconds on the downhill, they're now 2'44 behind the Russian! Luchshenko and Uwizeyimana have already been caught.
10 kilometers to go for Foliforov, and he still has this 40" gap before the road will lead upwards for the last time today! Remember, the riders already have already covered 215km!
The pack's deficit is still 2'48, and it seems more and more improbable that they will be actually fighting for the stage win - which should be rather good news for Herklotz, as no stage win would mean no bonus seconds for his opponents!
Now it's Konig, who was almost invisible all day long, who has attacked from the group! He's already closed the gap and immediately leaves behind Foliforov! 6.5km to go.
In the peloton, it's now Dees doing the work, ahead of Majka. Brus is still there for Aker, but the two teams who worked a lot are almost gone now. And whereas Taaramäe has a good position today, Gesink is quite far behind - he'd better go to the front fast, if he doesn't want his teammates to get really angry at him!
But maybe he's already given up anyway, as the gap to Konig is still more than 2 minutes!
By the way, on the left side we can see Godoy, who has just been caught.
As he passes the 5km arc, Konig is now clearly ahead of Foliforov. Here are the current time gaps:
We finally have a little bit of action in the peloton, as Preidler accelerates with Guldhammer on his wheel. Next are Majka, Taaramäe, Kruijswijk, Lopez, Spilak, Brambilla, Denifl, Yates and Morton.
Konig already attacks the last two kilometers - after a flat part, there are again some steep slopes ahead of him!
Foliforov is already quite far back, as the remaining breakaway riders are quickly closing in on him!
Robov and Kirsch are the next to be distanced - really disappointing for EA Vesuvio to have four riders in the (probably winning) breakaway, but none in the decisive stage of the race. It's just the other way around for Repsol, as they still have all three riders in the pursuit!
The peloton is now 2'23 behind - it seems as if they have definitely given up!
Last kilometer for Konig, who's still looking great! Foliforov is now just a few meters ahead of the chasers - but it really seems as if they'll just be fighting for 2nd!
And the peloton? Well, they're about to catch Kirsch, but they are more than one kilometer behind Konig!
Leopold Konig takes the sixth stage of the 2019 Tirreno - Adriatico! He rode a very smart race, saving a lot of energy by letting Luchshenko do most of the hard work! Finally, he was clearly the strongest out of a strong BotD - this at least somehow saves a rather bad race for Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ!
Betancourt leads the chasing group on the final meters, ahead of the Repsol trio Serrano - Ndayisenga - Herrada. Then we have Foliforov, who has been caught and who's looking tired. Bostner, Laengen and Shapira at the group's tail end. Robov has been left behind as well.
Betancourt still is in front, still ahead of Serrano, Ndayisenga and Herrada. Bostner, Foliforov, Shapira and Laengen follow.
Meanwhile, Formolo leads out the sprint for Kruijswijk on the last kilometer. The peloton isn't travelling at high speed any more, given that the best spots are already taken.
Nevertheless, the race has been too fast (or too long?) for Wellens, who really is in danger of losing his 8th GC place!
Carlos Betancourt indeed gets this second place, he was clearly faster than Valens Ndayisenga in 3rd. Jaka Bostner, Rafael Serrano and Jesus Herrada are next. 3 Repsol - Netflix riders in the Top 6 - it's not too hard to see which one was the best team today!
Vegard Stake Laengen, Idan Shapira and Alexander Foliforov are the other breakaway riders staying clear of the bunch, which will soon be sprinting for 10th place!
It's Jan Hirt outsprinting Spilak and Herklotz who completes the Top 10! 25 riders are in this group, let's just have a look at places 13 to 20:
13. Taaramäe
14. Lecuisinier
15. Kruijswijk
16. Dombrowski
17. Lopez
18. Guldhammer
19. Robov
20. Yates
As already mentioned, Wellens was unable to keep up, and hence lost his GC Top 10. Otherwise, there are no noteworthy results, as the GC favorites once more rode very passively. Of course, this was great news for the BotD today, but there never was actual suspense GC wise.
One man won't be bothered at all by this fact - and we'll again see him plenty of times in a few seconds!
Let's just first have a look at what the huge work of Generali and Aker was finally worth: Taaramäe took absolutely no risk and finished 13th. But Gesink getting only 22nd is definitely a bummer for his team - they may think twice before working so hard in the future...
But now, let's congratulate again Leopold Konig on his great stage win! He dominated his breakaway companions on that final hill - up to his managers to decide if that makes up for an otherwise really disappointing race. At least they'll surely be celebrating today!
Silvio Herklotz then again makes a lot of appearances - one for each jersey he preserves. And he keeps them all. But let's still look at it in some more detail:
In the GC, everything should be clear, as we just have another flat stage tomorrow. Yes, there can be gaps in flat stages, so he'll need to be attentive nonetheless. But it seems very probable that he'll win this Tirreno - Adriatico ahead of Spilak and Dombrowski.
For the points jersey, he'll have to hope that Coquard won't win or come in 2nd - or he would have to win some points on his own. Spilak is tied with the Frenchman, but it's highly unlikely that the Slovenian could win tomorrow.
In the KoM standings, only 6 points are on offer tomorrow, meaning that only Spilak, Shapira or Robov could pass him. As the only classified hill already comes a few kilometers after the start, we'll hopefully see a good fight for that one.
To lose the U25 jersey, he'd have to give up the race, as he's more than 9 minutes ahead of Lopez. Ndayisenga almost passed the Colombian, but will probably have to settle for 3rd - which is still a great result!
Finally, Bennelong - Mitchelton keep the lead in the team standings by just 56". After their great day yesterday, the lost a lot of time today. Gazelle and Aegon - Lavazza got the same time today, so they keep their 2nd and 3rd places.
And that's it for today! We had hoped for much more action, but well, it's the riders who make the race, not us. At least it was a great day for the breakaway - which is much less probable to happen tomorrow, when the sprinters will aim at the stage win!
Tirreno - Adriatico 
