Dear spectators, welcome to today's decisive stage of the 2019 Barbados Cycling Festival! Will the local team Podium Ambition wake up again and take the home win? Can Peter Kennaugh defend the GC lead? Will another sprinter ride to glory? Or will we even get a surprise win?
Including the two intermediate sprints - after 59.1km and 120.7km - 31 bonus seconds are on offer today, meaning every rider up to 13th position ( Kireva) could still win this tour - if this last stage ends in a bunch sprint, as expected.
Two 3rd category hills surround the intermediate sprints; the top of the first one will be reached just 6.9km after takeoff, whereas the last points will be awarded after 145.5km, with 40km left to the finish line. Kireva is in a great position for winning this jersey, and he only has 3 opponents within the 12 points that are at stake. Can he win the first KoM sprint and seal his win right after the start?
The race for the green jersey is very open, too - with 37 points still available, anyone having at least 7 points could win it. And in the team standings, 23 teams still have the same time - it seems quite likely though that one of the Top 4 teams will take that one.
Maybe the bookies can provide us with answers on some of these questions? Given their stage favorites list, Kennaugh may have a hard time defending the jersey, as Degenkolb, Swift, Coquard, Ahlstrand, Grosu and Ewan are ranked ahead of him. Vanderbiest, Groenewegen and Guerao get the same odds as our current GC leader - let's find out if he can upset them all once again!
But of course, some riders will be seeking a real upset, trying to avoid a bunch sprint. Right after the start, we see Maccagli, Asgreen and Dumoulin attaking, pursued by Pelikan and Politt. None of them has got any KoM points yet, which should be a rather pleasant situation for Kireva.
The leading trio isn't caught until the top, and so Asgreen takes 6 points, getting him to 5th in the virtual KoM standings:
1. Asgreen - 6
2. Dumoulin - 4
3. Maccagli - 2
Behind, we have a group of 7 chasers: Pelikan, Girdlestone, Politt, Nonaka, Rosas, Cheung and Barbero. They're 20" ahead of the bunch, and 20" behind the leaders.
With this result of the first KoM sprint, Kireva will definitely keep the first place - all Koishi could do now is matching his 20 points, but he can't be overtaken anymore.
However, not much later, everything is again back together, with Mosca and Barbero reeling in the leaders. Who's next to try something?
It's Vermeltfoort and Barbero, with Rosas struggling to keep up!
Little later, Leung and Gesbert try to escape as well, but to no avail, as Sauber, chasing with 5 riders, catches them soon after.
Barbero then wins the first intermediate sprint:
1. Barbero
2. Vermeltfoort
3. Rosas
The peloton is 1'30 down. However, the three escapees already look very tired, and they're not even riding together anymore, as small gaps separate them.
Just as the peloton is about to catch them, Mundle powers away from the pack and overtakes all of the escapees. Will he at least wait for them, or does he want to make it a 120km solo ride?
As expected, Sauber has stopped chasing now and it's the sprinters' domestiques taking over: Gjolberg, Alaphilippe, Ioannidis, Walsleben, Kopfauf, Seigle, Barthe, Jung, Kalf and Ludvigsson.
The breakaway riders finally did the only reasonable thing: waiting for each other. And so with roughly half of the race already done, we finally have our Breakaway of the Day:
Barbero and Rosas are the best sprinters, with the former being better on the flat and having better stamina. Mundle is the strongest on the flat, and the best fighter among them, whereas Vermeltfoort has the best acceleration.
Let's see if they can stay clear of the pack for the remaining 95km - the gap is just 2 minutes, though!
It's a close call for this second intermediate sprint, but Barbero wins it again:
1. Barbero
2. Rosas
3. Vermeltfoort
The peloton crosses the line 2'04 later. We can again see Zabel's crew lined up, but this time they are where they belong. Let's cross the fingers he won't have the same bad luck as yesterday!
65 kilometers remaining until we know this year's winner!
Mundle then is the strongest at the last KoM sprint:
1. Mundle - 6
2. Barbero - 4
3. Vermeltfoort - 2
Kireva wasn't challenged today and easily wins this jersey.
The pack is only 1 minute down now, as we seem to be set for a final "sprint royale"!
Rosas is the first rider of the breakaway to be reeled in, with 30 kilometers to go. The others are just 52" ahead, though.
And today, we finally see Festina and Podium Ambition doing some work again, supported by Campari. This picture should raise the hopes of the local fans!
As the leaders cross the finish line for the first time - with two 13km laps remaining - the pack's deficit is down to just 36", meaning the sprint preparations should start quite early today!
20km left, and Vermeltfoort desperately tries one last time to stay clear of the bunch - well, not for long. So the sprinter teams now really have plenty of time to get their trains rolling!
One lap to go, as we again have the well-known teams up front: Aker, Iberia and Volvo. The Podium Ambition jerseys are gone, and Coquard only has one helper left. Strange tactics... But still 13km to go, so let's just wait and see!
With 5km to go, the crowd is cheering much louder again, as they see "their" train with Alaphilippe, Nelson and Ewan well set up!
The pack is led by Stenersen, Nych, Halvorsen and Oss. While there's a "tail of sprinters" behind Ewan ( Zabel, Groenewegen, Cavendish, Boeckmans, Guardini), some other trains are taking shape: Ioannidis - Coquard Gjolberg - Dakteris - Swift King - Merino Criado - Degenkolb Markus - Roelandts - Ahlstrand Kwok - Kennaugh Boonratanathanakorn - Guerao
Kennaugh is quite far behind - he'll need to move ahead soon, else it might be too late!
Avelino and Grosu are with him, both of them without any teammates left. Kireva is in the mix, too.
Vantomme, Kip, Vanderbiest, Itami, Salleh, Appollonio and Nizzolo are likely too far behind once more!
3 kilometers left, as we've got the Podium Ambition, Iberia and Volvo trains almost side by side!
Most sprinters have chosen Ewan's wheel, Boeckmans is behind Swift. Coquard and Guerao both have one leadout left.
What's really impressive is the presence of 7 Aker riders in the first 25 positions - can Swift finally get something out of this great team work?
1,500 meters to the line, and it's getting incredibly loud here, as Alaphilippe has taken the lead! However, Degenkolb, Ahlstrand and Swift have at least one leadout left, too. Zabel is the best positioned sprinter without a teammate left. Coquard has now taken Swift's wheel. Kennaugh is still quite far back and absolutely has to hurry up now!
We're on the final 1,000 meters of this tour, as Nelson launches the sprint for Ewan! Let's take a closer look at the current positions:
Nelson
Ewan
Roelandts
Merino Criado
Scully
Zabel
Degenkolb
Ahlstrand
Swift
Cavendish
Dakteris
Guardini
Markus
Avelino
Coquard
Grosu
Alaphilippe
Groenewegen
King
Boeckmans
Boonratanathanakorn
Kireva
Pruus
Ioannidis
Martin
Jans
Kennaugh
Haddi
Guerao
Vantomme
Stauff
Mosca
Koishi
Madouas
Silvestre
Gough
That's really not looking good for our GC leader!
Nelson is done with his work with 700m to go, and Ewan is about to pass him! The same holds for the other leadouts, but Ahlstrand is using Swift as his final leadout now! Degenkolb and Zabel are bout level, followed by Cavendish, Guardini and Avelino! Except for Zabel, all of these could still get the GC win, which makes it a really tense race!
500 meters to the line, and we have five riders fighting for line honors - and the GC win! Ewan, Zabel and Swift are slightly ahead of Degenkolb and Ahlstrand - what a great finale!
Cavendish is going fast, too, but might struggle to make his way through. Guardini and Avelino will have to speed up quickly now!
300m to go, and the crowd feels that a fading Ewan now needs their cheers more than ever! Ahlstrand, Swift, Degenkolb and Zabel are slightly ahead now, while Cavendish seems to be waiting for a gap to open!
Coquard and Grosu are closing in on Guardini and Avelino, but it might be too late!
Ahlstrand now is the leader with 200 meters left, as he's got a slight edge over Degenkolb! Swift and Zabel are some inches further behind, whereas Ewan's dreams of a second stage win seem to be fading away! Cavendish now tries to find his way to the front between Ahlstrand and Degenkolb - let's just hope all of them will stay on their bikes!
With just 100m remaining, Ahlstrand is still ahead of Degenkolb! Swift has now left behind Zabel, whereas Ewan might need to fight hard to save at least 5th against Cavendish!
Guardini and Avelino are still 7th and 8th, with Coquard and Grosu on the final Top 10 spots. Boeckmans and Groenewegen have definitely accelerated too late to get a good result here - and Kennaugh has definitely given up! What a shame after his great ride yesterday!
It's the last 50 meters of this tour, and Ahlstrand's lead is still really tiny! Both Degenkolb and Swift still seem to be in contention for the win, whereas Zabel now has to fight for 4th against Cavendish who definitely is on fire!
Okay, that's close. Really, really, really close! Ahlstrand or Degenkolb has won the stage - and the GC - that's for sure. But which one? The judges haven't decided yet.
What's sure is that Ben Swift takes 3rd - a good result, but after the bad results on the first two stages, it just isn't enough to get a great overall result out of this race.
Behind him, Zabel seems set for 4th - but let's not claim this one yet, as Cavendish is much faster on the final meters!
Indeed, Rick Zabel saves some inches against Mark Cavendish to take 4th, whereas a hugely disappointed Caleb Ewan has to settle for 6th. It looked so good, and his team did a perfect job - he just wasn't fast enough this time. The crowd is all silent now...
Andrea Guardini and Oscar Avelino then take the next spots, followed by Eduard Grosu edging out Bryan Coquard for 9th. A really disappointing day for these two.
Even more disappointing for Dylan Groenewegen, who came here with really high hopes - and the best he got was a 7th place on stage 2.
Kris Boeckmans, on the other hand, is surely disappointed of the last two days. After a great start - wearing the yellow jersey after stage 2 - he didn't have enough punch left on the final stages.
But well, the most disappointed man today must be Peter Kennaugh, who was unable to get a good position for the final sprint and finally lost the leader jersey without even being able to really fight for it. He comes in 16th, but let's look at some other places as well:
13. Scully
14. Merino Criado
15. Nelson
16. Kennaugh
17. Dakteris
18. Markus
19. King
20. Guerao
Aker and Iberia both get three riders in the Top 20 - another proof of their great work! Volvo almost did it as well, with their third man being on P21, meaning the three riders on the podium definitely had the strongest teams today!
But - have the judges finally been able to determine today's winner? It seems so, as we can hear the victory ceremony's jingle - let's just head over!
And the winner is - Jonas Ahlstrand! He crossed the line some fractions of an inch ahead of John Degenkolb! These two take the first two spots of the stage, in the GC (ahead of dethroned leader Peter Kennaugh) and in the points standings (with Andrea Guardini and Mark Cavendish being tied for 3rd place).
Even though Ahlstrand didn't get a Top 10 in all stages (only Guardini and former champion Cavendish did), the B world champion definitely is a worthy winner of this race! And he proves once more that the PCT teams are not easy to beat for the PT representatives - two PCT riders on the podium and five in the Top 10 are a great result for the second division!
After Ahlstrand's three appearances on the podium, let's go on...
... to Albert Kireva, who wins the KoM jersey thanks to his great performance on stage 2! He wasn't actually challenged today, so he had some forces left to compete for a good stage result - he finished 25th.
Kireva wins the KoM standings ahead of Yuma Koishi and Dennis Van Winden, who both won all their points on stage 2 as well.
Caleb Ewan wins the white jersey, as expected. However, after his great win on stage one, he only got one more Top 10 result with today's 6th place.
However, this is still enough to win the U25 standings 30" ahead of Valentin Madouas and 31" on Yudai Arashiro.
Finally, Aker - MOT defend their lead in the team standings on this final stage, even extending it by 2 ranking points. They dominate this ranking together with Iberia - Team Degenkolb, who are just 10 ranking points back. 3rd are Festina - OAKA, 83 points down.
And that's it from the 2019 edition of the Barbados Cycling Festival. The tour saw a great start for the local team, with Ewan's win on the first stage. Although the Australian and his team didn't get another great result in the following days, we saw very tense sprints, with finally four different winners in four days. And we have two PCT sprinters on top of the standings - will the PT teams take their revenge in the next PTHC races? Stay tuned for some more great racing this year!
Barbados Cycling Festival 
