Stage 4 of the Tour of Norway is 193 km tackling 4 cat 3 rated climbs plus a 6.5 km climb to the finish, socred as Cat 2. The climbs are moderate in length and will tax a riders ability to withstand longer hills and sharper accelerations. There is one sprint point. The GC top ten is dominated by the time triallists with the all-rounders and puncheurs further back. The table below shows the top 10 on GC plus other riders of interest. Perhaps we will see one of the puncheurs further back try to go in the break.
1
Zmorka
35'00
2
Vorobev
+ 6
3
Sergent
+ 10
4
Goldstein
+ 23
5
Howson
+ 24
6
Boaro
+ 27
7
Turek
+ 28
8
Christian
+ 29
9
Hepburn
+ 35
10
Fraile
+ 38
14
Oliveira
+ 51
18
Sepulveda
+ 1'02
27
Izagirre
+ 1'17
32
Bazhkou
s.t.
37
Kangert
+ 1'32
43
Bibby
+ 1'45
49
Rosskopf
+ 2'06
66
Bakelants
+ 2'58
67
Jensen
+ 3'02
71
Sagan
+ 3'14
87
Vakoc
s.t.
96
Ponzi
+ 3'54
104
Boswell
+ 4'08
117
Claeys
+ 4'30
133
Gautier
+ 5'11
137
Ulissi
+ 5'22
160
McCarthy
+ 6'30
The press favorites for the stage are the puncheurs we would expect.
Two km ridden and we get the first 4 attackers: Ariesen, KOM leader Pichon, Seibeb and Brozyna.
Soon after a second group of 4 go clear: Krigbaum, Jung, Grippo and Blikra
And 3 more riders try to join the back of that group: Areruya, Roosen and Sinkeldam
There isn’t much of a fight over it in the peloton and those 11 are allowed to go clear. With 179 km to go they have formed one group and have built a 3’03 lead over the peloton.
Taking a look at the breakaway group: 3 teams have 2 rider Campari, eBuddy and Kulczzyk. Pichon is clearly looking for KOM points but is also the strongest puncheur in the group. Krigbaum at +2’51 is closest on GC but is one of the weakest climbers in the break. Blikra is next closest on GC at +3’49. He is a strong all-rounder and will have his home fans cheering him on. Seibeb and Areruya also bring strong allround skills.
The riders in the peloton and the break mosey along for the next 20 km and with 157 km to go the peloton have reached the bottom of the first climb 5:25 behind the breakaway. The yellow jersey sitting well back in the group.
Up front with 1 km to go to the KOM sprint Seibeb attacks the break.
With 0.3 km to the top Seibeb has a small lead with Pichon, Blikra and Grippo next.
Seibeb just holds on at the line, points are:
1. Seibeb (+6 = 6)
2. Pichon (+4 = 14)
3. Blikra (+2 = 2)
With 150 km to go the break’s lead has ballooned to 6:47. So far the race doesn’t seem to be hard enough for the puncheurs to make up big time in the GC.
At the intermediate sprint some of the riders are interested and Krigbaum takes it ahead of Pichon and Blikra. Right now Krigbaum has the virtual yellow by a wide margin.
With 112 km to go the peloton crosses the start/finish line. They are about to go down the climb they will climb up to get to the finish. Thanks mainly to some big turns on the flat from Viviani the gap is down to 4:55, Gazelle and Valio - Viking Genetics are also working.
After that descent the riders tackle the longest climb of the day. The breakaway is 0.7 km from the top when Pichon attacks.
With 0.3 km to go Pichon has Ariesen, Seibeb and Brozyna closest to him.
Seibeb is now second in the overall KOM but 12 points behind Pichon. 4:06 behind the pack passes the KOM sprint. Gazelle, Moser – Sygic and Team UBS all working.
The breakaway reaches the 3rd category 3 climb and with 1 km to go Brozyna starts the action. Pichon much further back this time, maybe resting given his strong lead in the KOM competition or maybe he is beginning to struggle.
With 0.3 km to the top Areruya counters. Ariesen, Seibeb and Blikra are all well placed.
Areruya wins the sprint. Order is:
1. Areruya (+6 = 6)
2. Seibeb (+4 = 12)
3. Blikra (+2 = 4)
After starting the climb hard the peloton eases off and by the top of the climb the lead is now 4:28. There are 64 km to go and 139 riders still in the pack, including the yellow jersey. A few of the TT guys in the top 20 have been dropped.
With 50km to the pack has cut the lead back to 3:08. Working on the front are: Blums Helme De Gendt Brockhoff Fejes Senyenov Viviani Barthe
The team of the Yellow Jersey have been totally absent from the chase as have Ponzi’s Fablok team. As the peloton chases harder Blikra pushes the break towards the final KOM sprint – they have 4km to the top.
With 1.4 km’s to the top Seibeb kicks off the mountain sprint. Pichon again at the back.
With 0.4 km to go Areruya take the lead, Pichon has made strong progress.
At the top Areruya takes it over Pichon.
1. Areruya (+6 = 12)
2. Pichon (+4 = 24)
3. Seibeb (+2 = 14)
And Krigbaum has been distanced.
As the pack crosses the KOM sprint the lead has expanded again to 3:23 with 35km to go, the break may have a chance. Paajanen leads with Gautier sitting second wheel, there are 96 riders in the chasing peloton.
Claeys has been dropped on the climb as has second on the GC Vorobev.
After the last KOM the road heads generally down hill until the foot of the final climb and under pressure from ISA-Hexacta and Team Degenkolb the pack splits. With 20km to go the front chase group is now 2:20 behind the break away with Krigbaum who was unable to rejoin the break, caught in between.
The second group, whose deficit is at 29 seconds, includes the Yellow Jersey Zmorka, third on the GC Sergent, as well as Kangert, Bazhkou, Jensen and Gautier. Gautier’s team has worked hard so far on the stage and now he has to try and close the gap himself. All the other major riders are in the front group, Fraile is the leading rider in the GC in the front of the split as the rest of the top TT riders are already dropped. Oliveira, only 13 seconds behind Fraile on the GC, is also in the front group.
Led by Gautier some of the second group make it back to the front including all the mentioned riders except Bazhkou. The Yellow Jersey has just managed to fight his way back on to the tail of the first chase group. There are 14 km to go and the break still has 2:41.
Meanwhile Seibeb has attacked the breakaway and forged clear.
With 11 km to go Zmorka’s time in yellow seems to be over. He can’t hold the chase group. Castroviejo is dropping back to help him but the pack is in full flight and there the tough finishing climb is still ahead.
Seibeb has been caught by the rest of the breakaway and the final 6.5 km climb looms in front of them.
The break has done well to hold off the chase, the gap is still 2:28 and it is all hands on deck. Leading the chase are: Feng Cosnefroy Nych Rosskopf Tsatevich Ulissi Zakarin Contreras
With the Yellow Jersey now 33 seconds behind the chasers and Krigbaum caught the virtual Yellow Jersey belongs to Sergent who is in first chasing group.
Not long after the start of the climb Blikra attacks and Pichon, Seibeb and Grippo follow.
With 5km to the finish Blikra has forced the front four 41 seconds clear of the other breakaway riders. The pack is 2:21 behind the front four, the Yellow Jersey at 3:30
With 3 km to Pichon attacks the front group. Behind the pack can see them in the distance, Sergent still looks comfortable.
2.5 km to go and Pichon has 28 seconds on the other 3 original attackers but behind them Areruya is dragging the rest of the break back up, now only another 32 seconds behind.
The chasing pack is 2:05 behind Pichon and beginning to split up. Vakoc is struggling and Sergent looks ok but he is well back in the group.
Ponzi attacks. He quickly builds a 10 second edge and Sagan looks to close him down. Further back Kangert, Sepulveda and Izagirre are all in trouble.
Under 2 km to go and up front Areruya has dropped the rest of the breakaway remnants and caught the 3 riders who originally attacked with Pichon. Around the bend ahead Pichon has 53 seconds on them.
One km to go for Pichon with the camera bike right behind him. Areruya is now chasing on his own and has cut the lead to 38 seconds.
Behind Ponzi finds himself behind caught up in the remnants of the break and Sagan and has dragged a group back to him.
The race situation is shown below. Although one of the 4 riders not listed in E4 (group Ponzi) is Fraile who now holds the virtual Yellow Jersey as Sergent has lost 52 seconds to him. The other 3 riders not listed are all from the break: Ariesen, Brozyna and Roosen . Desigual have kept their powder dry and Fraile has been well protected by Kozhatayev throughout the climb.
500 meters to go Pichon has 23 seconds on Areruya. They are the only two out front now. 64 seconds behind Pichon, Ponzi leads the 3rd group on the road. Kangert, Oliveira, Laengen and Izagirre have caught that group as have the other riders who were in Group F in the previous image but Sergent is now 1:16 back.
Pichon has 400 meters and Ponzi attacks again. He is 54 seconds behind Pichon.
Pichon has cracked, his lead over Areruya is down to 15 seconds with 300 meters to go. Ponzi is a 40 seconds behind him.
A further 13 seconds behind Blikra, Grippo, Seibeb, Fraile, Kozhatayev and Sagan lead the next group on the road.
100 meters to go and the Rwandan has almost caught Pichon. Ponzi still needs 24 seconds. Blikra, who has worked so hard today, finds the energy for one more push in front of his home fans.
50 meters to, Pichon must seeing red, he statrs to celebrate but Areruya is almost on top of him.
They are side by side but Areruya has hit the wall as well. Ponzi is still driving on the far side of the road.
And Areruya gets it by half a wheel. Ponzi will settle for third. All 3 riders have made their teams proud.
Fraile takes 4th and Yellow. Sagan 5th.
Sepulveda 6th (3rd on GC) Koren with a great ride for cycleYorkshire in 7th (5th on GC), Reichenbach 8th and Bakelants 9th. Norwegian hero Blikra holds on for 10th.
Altogether 15 riders finish on the same time as Fraile, including Oliveira who is second on GC and Laengen who is fourth on GC. But Izagirre can’t stay with them, he is the next rider home in 19th but a substantial 48 seconds behind Fraile. Time it will be tough to make up in the last stage.
After a heroic effort by a rider not known for his climbing Sergent struggles home 2’02 down on the winner. He will have to settle for 6th place on GC going into the last stage.
Zmorka also gave it all he had, he loses over 8 minutes all in the last 11 km.
Pichon has the consolation of holding the Mountain Jersey 10 points ahead of Areruya. Areruya adds the White Jersey to his stage win ahead of Cosnefroy. Van der Sande holds the Green Jersey and Generali takes the lead in the team competition
Tour of Norway
