Penultimate day of the 2nd week and we start with the GC deciding phase having the first real mountain stage today. 3 tough climbs of which the final is the longest but only the 2nd part being rather steep.
The Colle Del Lys with 12,7km and 7,3%, Pian Del Lupo with 9,4km on 9,5% and the final LAgo Serru with 20,2km and 6,3%, which doesn`t really show the toughness of the final 5km, which are again around 10% and above getting steeper with every kilometer until the top.
Gesink is in the GC lead but today is his first big test against Spilak +3 and Herklotz +15. Both very close and stronger than the Dutch.
Schleck +1'51 and Alarcon +4'23 really need to show something if they want to have a shot on the win or podium at least as their gap is already there.
Then lots of interesting fights between all the other top10-15 riders, which are very close and small gaps might be vital in the end.
We haven`t had this a lot in the past couple seasons but 20 riders in total jump into the breakaway. Many surely aim the stage win here and as Kolesnikov has shown yesterday, it`s quite possible.
Several others though will be relay stations for their leaders later on that final 1-2 mountains.
In especially EA Vesuvio really proving to have some interest here with 3 of their strongest climbers! Goos, Godoy, Uwizeyimana Kruijswijk (GC 13.), Geoghegan Hart Vosekalns, Egger Novikov, Mamykin Lastra, Vink Dekker Aru Raileanu Dall'Oste (former KoM winner) Roe Serrano Van Niekerk (KoM Leader) Blums Turgis
Herklotz, Gesink, Spilak, the big three decide to need all their helpers with them and also Henao Montoya, Quintana, Konig, Hirt go without a relay station.
Teams with more than 1 rider obviously going smart saving energy of the stronger ones only letting the others work while some of the best climbers in that group such as Aru or Dekker need to work themselves already early on.
Advantage Goos, Godoy, Vosekalns, Novikov, Kruijswijk. Last being quite a danger as well as 13th in the GC with chances to improve quite a bit here.
Going up the first mountain, the better climbers not having paced too much, so we actually see Van Niekerk being able to grab some points as he comes over the line in 2nd.
Only Railleanu ahead with Aru and Dekker following also attacking here.
Behind Serrano, Roe and Vosekalns for smaller points.
This sees the Festina rider up to 35 points now being sole leader in that ranking. Raileanu in 5th up to 16 points and none of the others having more than 10 by now.
Spilak at 12 and Gesink at 10 though a danger in the long term as well.
Behind we see a lot of Moser work by Turek and Schönberger as also Restrepo for T-Mobile and Tarvis for Isostar. Dunne for Puma, Krizek for Generali and Edet for Air France occasionally as well.
Surely some of those later top10 are afraid of Kruijswijk and some others such as Goos or Dekker, who sit just 10-15 spots behind them.
Going up the much steeper Pian del Lupo, the break slowly splits into pieces.
10 riders in group 1:
Goos, Kruijswijk, Dekker, Aru, Novikov, Raileanu, Vosekalns, Serrano, Roe, Lastras.
Then KoM leader Van Niekerk starting to struggle and so is Dall'Oste with him.
Most surprising being dropped (into the peloton already) is Godoy! He didn`t work in the break but maybe was asked to slow down to support Schleck?
Novikov takes the big points ahead of Goos.
Vosekalns, Aru, Dekker next. Roe and Kruijswijk with small points.
This means Aru moves up to 4th now having 18pts, Novikov 16, Dekker 14 and Goos 12. All inside the KoM top10 chasing Van Niekerk at 35, who hasn`t scored any here.
Due to those KoM attacks and the high pace in general, the strength of the break riders slowly identifies.
For the GC riders it might be good to see Kruijswijk not being as strong as the others while Goos/Novikov looking best ahead of the following 3 78 climbers. Also visible now that those first two had team mates with them and only started to work on that 2nd climb.
3'20 for the peloton, which is not much to be honest, still a decent chance for Tinkoff to make it 2 in a row or a first stage win for EA Vesuvio?
While the first 9 of the break came together again on the descent with only Van Niekerk, Lastra and Dall'Oste still in between, the peloton got reduced to 43 riders where Moser (Cink, Vysna) still doing the main work supported by Generali (Dees) and Air France (Rosch).
Isostar with Augustyn and Jaramillo also up there at times but in general many important team mates are dropped such as Teuns, Dennis, Furdi, Kolar or Godoy. Last really having a weird day here, first in the break, than early on losing contact there just to be of not much support neither in the peloton then.
In fact this means that Andy Schleck is isolated in that 43 rider peloton only having Goos further ahead the road.
Also Henao Montoya and Yates looking isolated. All the others having at least 1, some even 2 team mates left. 2 seems to be with Isostar, Generali, Puma, Grieg only though.
Vasyliv working for Herklotz now at the front and also Latour is slowly moving forwards replacing Dees, who looks exhausted.
And also Jaramillo/Augustyn still up there.
First in the peloton right now Herklotz/Spilak and Olivier but in general they are all there.
Vosekalns on GT form again?
The Evonik leader attacks with 17km to go. 7% right now and one of the steeper parts of the first section.
Goos and Dekker though quickly reel him in again. But it was a first attempt.
14km to go for the peloton and the gap is down to 2'11.
Puma with both Vasyliv and Arndt working now, which reduces the peloton to 32 riders.
Some important helpers are dropped including Jaramillo for Isostar, actually the strongest support for Spilak, but Augustyn still there.
Also Dees for Generali and Cataldo as last Festina support and Kangert for Gazelle being dropped.
For a moment Puma slowed down a bit and instead Aegon with Zardini and Bennelong with Smith came to the front. But it was actually just a sign of attacks to start.
Exactly with 10km to go the first from the favourite group to attack is the one, who needs it the most: Alarcon.
Quickly Vasyliv and Arndt are taking over again immediately trying to avoid a time gap to happen.
More riders drope now such as Augustyn, Zardini and basically most support riders that have worked earlier from Moser/Air France/Generali.
Alarcon indeed did not get a gap but the high pace remained. One one of the steepest sections at the start of the 2nd section Herklotz goes and starts the big GC fight.
Behind him Formolo and Bongiorno, who must be strong being the first to react. Some home bonus?
But in fact most react and in the line behind we also see Alarcon, Olivier, Spilak, Konig, Schleck and Henao Montoya a tiny bit later.
So Hirt, Haig, Quintana, Yates, Oomen not with them, which sees Dion Smith as one of the last support riders chasing. Not for very long though as he struggles already.
The even bigger name missing is Gesink though. The GC leader couldn`t or didn`t want to follow.
Seeing him behind Hirt now though could mean, it`s not his day indeed.
Meanwhile Henao Montoya also dropped from the attacking group. Having a pink shirt seems to be a bad omen today.
Let`s have a proper look.
The break totally gone basically after those attacks.
Goos as last man standing just 17s ahead of a mixed group around Spilak/Herklotz/Bongiorno/Formolo and remains of the break.
34s it says but it looks much less for the first chasing group around Schleck and Alarcon, where only Olivier and Konig were able to stay.
For the top10 fight this means a big moment right now for the Italians being in pole position with Olivier/Konig being the first challengers.
With Henao still in between the next couple riders right now seem to lose the contest for today.
Gesink, Quintana, Hirt, Haig, Oomen.
The missing name in that 13 rider group P is actually Novikov making it 2 Tinkoff riders in that one!
3km to go on 15% right now.
Game over for Goos as Herklotz is passing him!
Spilak just a bit behind but with a gap! With him now Alarcon, Schleck, Bongiorno, Formolo, Konig as also break riders Dekker/Kruisjwijk, who are potential relay stations but in fact it might have been 10km too late to be of proper use really anymore.
Group Gesink/Henao/Quintana/Hirt/Yates/Haig being 30s behind while Oomen and Novikov got dropped.
The gap to Herklotz is now closed by Spilak with 2,5km to go. And he pulled Schleck, Formolo and Bongiorno with him. What a strong move by those 2 and it`s Goos now being of short support as well for his leader.
This also means that Alarcon, Olivier and Konig couldn`t follow this latest acceleration and meanwhile actually GC leader Gesink is up to them alongside Yates with the others also closing such as Quintana, Hirt, Haig,
Henao Montoya the first with a gap of 20s behind them.
1,5km left and on those 11% parts the top2 show their climbing skills. Spilak and Herklotz seem to make it a two rider duel for the GC.
They gapped the others and now have a 21s gap to Schleck and still Formolo. Pretty impressive!
Behind them already Gesink, who has found his rythm now alongside Bongiorno, who is on a great ride as well but couldn`t follow the others.
The gap to the next though is not big yet and in fact the first 14 riders are all within 52s only with Henao Montoya/Oomen being 1'30 behind and former break riders Dekker/Kruisjwijk at 2min.
And while Oomen is riding a very steady pace slowly moving back to the front the T-Mobile leader really struggles. It surely wasn`t his best idea to follow that Herklotz attack earlier as he spent his last energy there and probably should have remained in the Gesink group at that time.
A bit ahead you can also see the struggling riders of the top10 contesters. And surprisingly it`s Alarcon, the actual top climber of that group. Konig and Haig the other two in the later positions.
Since finding his legs Gesink shows a really solid ride and slowly passing group for group. He is almost up to Formolo now, who has a bit of problems to follow Schleck.
But the gap to the top 2 isn`t that big neither and still 1.5km to go for the GC leader.
Those two not showing and kind of weakness to each other. Both ride side by side on the last 700m, which again are very steep.
Behind some danger is coming though as Gesink indeed has passed not only Formolo but also Andy Schleck! Can he defend the lead even?
Just 100m later and Herklotz in fact was struggling. Or Spilak was simply stronger as we see a small gap in between them.
Further behind Yates also has his steady pace now and after leaving group Alarcon he is up to Formolo and not far behind Gesink/Schleck neither.
Big news for Lierse as well as Oomen made contact to the group ahead! Nice ride for him.
Spilak continued to ride his own pace and takes the stage win! Surely will be enough to take the GC lead as well seeing the gap to Gesink behind, which definitely increased on those final 700m, which were some of the hardest.
Herklotz even losing 31s in the end as this last kilometer really showed, who was able to remain the pace and who started to struggle.
Gesink comes in 3rd taking some bonus seconds but after a great climb, he also struggled a lot late, which results in a loss of 1'22!
12s later Schleck with Yates another 17s at 1'51 in total and Formolo at 2'09! Still a very good ride for those last two having gained a lot on direct rivals.
Hirt with a late punch gained as well a bit coming in at 2'45 with Quintana, Bongiorno, Olivier and Alarcon at 3'03. Bad luck for Festina, that their rider couldn`t remain in the first couple of groups but still a strong ride.
Haig and Konig at 3'16 lose a little bit more while Oomen and Goos finish at 3'28.
Henao Montoya the big loser today at 4'10 which makes it hard for him to attack the top5 any longer.
Nesset, Novikov as their team`s leaders at 5'11 with chances for a top15-20 GC while also Dekker and Kruisjwijk remain in decent GC spots after their long break.
Some sprinters were lucky to remain in the race such as Serebriakov, Stauff or Bertilsson being all more than 65min behind the winner.
Some others didn`t have much luck and in total 11 riders were over the time limit!
Biggest name surely Scully as part of the Aker sprint train! But also Gazelle lost an important rider in Geoghegan Hart, which comes kind of surprising as he is a decent climber and in fact was in todays break even! But after 13 days of working on almost every day, he simply no longer had the energy needed.
Lierse, Grieg and Podium Ambition with 2 riders out surely not ideal neither. The full list at the bottom of the results.
