I hope you all slept well - some riders and team managers surely didn't after yesterday's stage - and I'd like to welcome you to the third stage of this year's Volta a Portugal!
We have a flat rated stage again - we saw 24h ago what that can mean. However, today's finale looks much less prone to chaos, given that the last 10 kilometers are basically flat.
But let's follow the natural order of the stage, beginning with the start venue. We have left the agglomeration of Lisbon and are in Reguengos de Monsaraz, near the Spanish border, close to the Alqueva barrier lake. This city only has about 10,000 inhabitants, but a very long history, witnessed by several menhirs found in the surroundings. Today, it's mainly known for excellent wines.
The riders then have almost 90 kilometers to warm up their legs, until we'll have the first out of three intermediate sprint, in Monforte. The second sprint then is taken after the mid-stage mark, with slightly less than 100km to go, in Portalegre, which is halfway up today's only category 3 climb to Monte Paleiros, which lies in the Natural Park of Serra de São Mamede.
We'll then continue our ride to the North - the whole stage leads northwards - where we have one of two category 4 hills, to Serra de São Miguel, after 177km, followed by a fast downhill and the last intermediate srpint in Vila Velha de Ródão.
And finally, there's this quite long (more than 10km) but not really steep climb to Retaxo Cebolais de Cima, culminating under the 10km arc.
There's not really a downhill after that, but 10 flat kilometers to Castelo Branco - White Castle - our arrival location. About 35,000 people are living here. The main monument to see is of course the white castle, from which the city got its name. It had probably been built by the Romans, and conquered by the Portuguese in 1165.
That's all you need to know about today's course, now let's quickly talk about the favorites. The bookies gave us almost exactly the same list as yesterday, with Bakelants, Van der Lijke and yellow jersey Houle on top, followed by Skujins, Koretzky and Reimer. One star again for Bobridge, Modolo and Cerny. The only change they made is on the last position, where they name Calmejane instead of Oss today.
Of those ten riders, only Houle and Van der Lijke performed to the expectations, being 1st and 2nd yesterday. Let's see how that changes today!
Here we are, the riders are getting ready for the longest stage of the race. Will anyone dare to attack early, given that more than 200 kilometers are on the menu?
Stupid question, of course there are early attackers! Vichot, Gebrezgabihier and Smirnovs are the first ones trying to break away.
Mancuso, Bayly and Gibbons are trying to catch them.
And it seems as if attacks today are always by groups of three, so here is the next trio: Predatsch, Caruso and Stoltz.
But Vlasov, Venter, Min and de Kleijn aren't happy about these 9 people being ahed, and they're trying to chase them down right away.
Nardin and Moscon are helping with the pursuit, too, and after having reeled in Predatsch already some kilometers before, they're catching Gebrezgabihier, Caruso, Mancuso, Smirnovs and Vichot right now.
This means that only Stoltz, Gibbons and Bayly remain up front, but with just a 15" gap.
However, that gap gets bigger and bigger, and before they're completely out of reach, Lecourt De Billot and Smirnovs try to bridge the gap! They're already half a minute ahead of the pack, and one minute behind the leaders.
The bunch seems to be OK with this 5-men breakaway. Many teams are taking turns right now, but no-one is really pushing hard.
And so, once the chasing duo reaches the leaders, we have our breakaway of the day at full strength.
Stoltz is surely one man to watch; you just can't kill him, as he's by far the best flat rider, the most aggressive one, too, and he's got the best stamina and recovery of the group.
The only chance to get rid of him would probably be the hills - but the best puncheur in the group is his teammate Smirnovs. Bayly isn't much worse, though, and should certainly be observed carefully.
Gibbons is the best sprinter, but he must hope to survive the hills. Lecourt De Billot will probably be the one needing a surprise attack today, as he isn't the best puncheur and he doesn't really have a good sprint top speed, either.
But it's still a long way to go - 180km from that point. 3'15" is the current gap to the pack.
By now, we see the exact same three teams as yesterday taking turns: Berg with Vilela, EA Vesuvio with Smit, and Sauber with Hibatullah.
The gap is up to 4'40" with 150km remaining.
Nothing happens until the first intermediate sprint, which Bayly takes with ease:
Smirnovs, the 2nd best sprinter, wasn't interested at all and let the four others sprint. But he'll surely come back again soon.
The peloton crosses the line 4'12" later.
Well, actually, no. Smirnovs doesn't re-join the others - he isn't even trying! Maybe he just did a whole bunch of work for Stoltz and is completely empty now - I haven't observed the group that closely.
That's already the end of his breakaway attempty, as he's reeled in after exactly 100km. This means that 110km are remaining, and we're slowly getting into the more interesting part.
The gap has been reduced to 3'32" in the meantime.
That's the profile of today's first categorized hill. There's actually an intermediate sprint after the first steep section, just before the flat intermediate part. These almost 7 flat kilometers lower the average slope to 3%, but some parts are clearly much steeper.
Don't be mistaken, that's not a KoM sprint, but it's the 2nd intermediate sprint. Again, it's Bayly taking it ahead of Stoltz:
Thanks to his 3rd place in the prologue, Stoltz actually is just two points behind the green jersey by now!
With the front duo riding so hard up this first part of the climb, the peloton's deficit rises again to 4'16".
Bayly absolutely wanted to win the KoM sprint, too - but he launched way too early and is easily overtaken by Stoltz and Lecourt De Billot. None of them previously had any KoM points, though.
The pack loses some additional seconds, being 4'25" behind when reaching the top. About 80km to go.
Salleh must have had very good arguments to convince his teammates to ride for him again, after yesterday's fiasco. Hibatullah, Muhlberger and Mano are working for him, while Fritsch does the same for Van der Lijke. Coutinho has sent Fernandes, Vilela and Brandao to the front.
Within just a little more than five kilometers, the gap was reduced by a whole minute!
This time it was Stoltz launching an early attack to win the 2nd KoM sprint - and he miserably failed. Bayly takes it with ease, while the judges had to look very closely to determine 2nd place:
With this result, Bayly still has the possibility to tie Pszczolarski's 12 points, but he'd need to gain a minute on him, too, to take over the jersey.
But given that the pack is already less than 2 minutes back, he'll even have a hard time winning the last KoM sprint.
After a fast downhill, Bayly makes it 3/3 intermediate sprints:
3 intermediate sprints, 3 identical results. This still means that Stoltz is now the virtual points leader, 3 points ahead of Dennis and Houle. But he'd need plenty of luck to really take the jersey at the finish line - the peloton is just 1'37" behind, and there's still a climb and a total of 27km to go.
It's really inexplicable why Ackermann has missed a split again! He's a good puncheur - yet he's always on the wrong side! Maybe his team just decided to fully focus on Bongiorno?
And it won't be easy getting back into the pack, given that the next climb starts directly after the downhill.
By the way, Chavanne, Cullaigh, Bokeloh, Favilli and Kalaba are with him.
Berg is pushing really hard now, and the peloton is very stretched out. Will we get some gaps just like yesterday?
At least the profile of today's last climb is way less frightening than the one we had yesterday. The steepest ramps are on the first 3 kilometers, then the hill flattens out. So if the riders are careful, we shouldn't get the same mess as yesterday.
The breakaway is still 1'21" ahead - let's see if they can make it over the top ahead!
Lecourt De Billot knows he'd have a hard time in a duel against any of his companions, so he plays his trump card and tries an early attack!
To no avail, however, as the others get him back easily.
In the pack, it's now De Plus pushing, Pelucchi must have good legs!
And do you remember Smirnovs, who initially was part of the BotD? Well, he's trailing the peloton by more than 4 minutes already - he must really be completely empty! Ackermann et al. have made it back, meanwhile.
It had to be expected; after his final push, Lecourt De Billot had nothing left and is swallowed by the pack. Still 7km to go until the top.
Bayly shares his fate only little later, which is kind of a surprise, as he was the best puncheur left up front. But his many sprints may just have been too much.
And with 4km to the top, Gibbons and Stoltz are reeled in, too. No breakaway win today - and given that Salleh's still close to the front, even the pure sprinters seem to have a great chance today!
As we mentioned in the stage preview, the KoM is really taken just below the 10km arc. There's no sprint for the points, Kneisky is just the first to roll across the line:
1. Kneisky - 5
2. Vogt - 3
3. Coutinho - 1
No change on top of the KoM standings today, Pszczolarski will keep the jersey if he doesn't lose about 4 minutes to Stuyven on these last kilometers.
Coutinho, even getting a KoM point here, desperately wants the win today it seems - but isn't he positioned a bit too far ahead? Harrison is just behind him, though, and we can see Te Brake, Pons, Meyer, Van der Lijke, Salleh, Houle, Vanoverschelde, Bertilsson, Modolo, Lander, Pelucchi... anyone missing?
Yeah, of course, Ackermann hasn't found his way to the front yet, but at least, he's still in the peloton.
5 kilometers remaining, as the sprinter teams are slowly setting up their trains - if it can be called like this. The helpers seem to be tired after such a long and relatively hard stage.
Kneisky is leading the peloton, just ahead of Van der Lijke. Mahdar leads out Modolo, but Henao is coming to the front, too. Vanoverschelde has got Pons with him, then we have De Plus for Pelucchi, Lienhard for Te Brake, Andersen for Bertilsson and Kennett for Houle. Coutinho is already on his own, as are Salleh, Harrison or Meyer.
And as improbable as it sounds, but Ackermann - is behind the peloton again...
On the next two kilometers, the speed gets incredibly slow, as all the sprint helpers seem to have nothing left. So the sprinters are already up front:
Coutinho
Salleh
Te Brake
Harrison
Meyer
Lander
De Plus
Mahdar
Pons
Andersen
Modolo
Vanoverschelde
Bertilsson
Houle
Henao
Kneisky
Cerny
Caruso
Pelucchi
Oss
Lienhard
Oomen
Kreder
The main man missing up here is Van der Lijke. He's about 20 positions further behind, but at least still has Godoy and Reimer ahead of him.
Two kilometers remaining, and the last available helpers have launched the final sprint! Pons is however sprinting away from Vanoverschelde which surely isn't optimal. Let's again look at the positions:
Pons
De Plus
Andersen
Pelucchi
Bertilsson
Godoy
Vanoverschelde
Te Brake
Lander
Reimer
Meyer
Salleh
Houle
Harrison
Coutinho
Kreder
The Europcar train doesn't seem to react right now - maybe they should, or it could be too late!
And we see as well that the EA Vesuvio train was broken behind Reimer - Van der Lijke is far behind and will have a hard time catching up!
Pons is done with his huge leadout - hopefully he doesn't block Bertilsson's path!
Vanoverschelde has launched his sprint with a great kick, which gives him a gap of about 3 bike lengths under the red kite! Behind, they rather seem to be waiting for the moment - but beware, 1,000 meters aren't that much!
It's looking better and better for Vanoverschelde, as the gap just keeps increasing!
However, the others have launched their sprint as well - that's how it looks like behind the clear leader:
Salleh
Bertilsson
Harrison
Pelucchi
Te Brake
Coutinho
Pons
Kreder
Meyer
De Plus
Lander
Andersen
Houle
Reimer
Salleh now shows what he's capable of - can he bring that one home for Sauber? Well, first they need to catch up with Vanoverschelde - a hard task I guess! 700m to go for the leading rider!
Houle again has a slow start - which didn't keep him from winning yesterday. Given that Van der Lijke is far back and won't win today, he'll definitely keep his yellow jersey!
Meanwhile, Modolo, Oss, Van der Lijke have resigned - they just messed up with their timing and positioning today. The gap is definitely too big now - and if we remember our timekeepers from yesterday, it's even likely that there's going to be a time gap if they don't speed up soon!
Within just 200 meters, the others have made good a lot of ground against Vanoverschelde, who still has the lead, but he's clearly struggling! He just has to hope that the others will eventually fade, too!
The others are still led by a strong Salleh, but Harrison and Coutinho try to pass him on both sides. Pelucchi, Bertilsson, Te Brake and Kreder are pretty much on one line, followed by Meyer. Lander and Houle don't seem to be in contention any more!
And Reimer? Well, he actually seems to be so confused about having lost his sprinter that he doesn't really know what to do. Go for it, boy, that's all you can do now!
Uh-oh, with 400 meters to go, Vanoverschelde has almost lost his lead to Salleh. However, Coutinho and Harrison are about to overtake the latter, with Kreder, Pelucchi and Te Brake still having good chances, too! Bertilsson, Meyer, Lander and Houle don't seem to be strong enough.
Modolo has finally decided to still launch his sprint - but it's a hopeless endeavor. The gap has grown huge by now.
So let's focus on the fight for the stage win again! Vanoverschelde's early attack clearly didn't work out, as he's now been overtaken by Salleh, Harrison and Coutinho and will probably lose more spots.
These three riders look the strongest, but Kreder, Pelucchi and even Te Brake aren't far away, either! Houle has finally found his speed and has already left behind Bertilsson, as has Lander. But it's probably too late now, with only 300 meters left.
Wow, listen at that crowd going crazy, as Coutinho has taken the lead now! His margin on Harrison and Kreder is tiny, though, and Pelucchi and Te Brake aren't far off, either. Salleh though seems to share Vanoverschelde's fate after an early launch, he's got no more power left in his legs.
Only 200 meters ahead!
Coutinho gives it all he's got left, but Harrison is getting closer and closer! Pelucchi, Te Brake, Kreder - hard to say who's currently on third place - but all of them still have great chances of winning this one, too!
Meanwhile, Meyer and Houle are closing in fast - but with just 100m left, they're just too late.
Oh no, what a drama! Coutinho is empty, and now it's Te Brake who has sprinted past everyone else! Harrison still has his chances, too, but the others are probably too far away with just a few meters to the line!
Houle clearly shows what he's got in him, and he'll curse his late start!
And Remco Te Brake makes it! He perfectly timed his final push and takes the win here in Castelo Branco - congratulations to him and his team!
But who will be second? Harrison? Coutinho? Kreder? Pelucchi? Or even Houle, after a fantastic comeback?
It is Hugo Houle! What an unbelievable final few meters he had here, getting by far the best out of his really bad positioning! Not only does he keep his jersey, but he even extends his lead, edging out Sam Harrison on the line. After his 4th place yesterday, it's still an improvement for the Brit.
4th place goes to Lionel Coutinho, which is a huge disappointment for him, after having been in the lead for a moment. It was probably his last chance to get a win on home soil this year - but he's still got quite some seasons ahead, maybe next year?
Michel Kreder gets the 5th place, just like yesterday. Not bad, but he surely hoped for more, too.
Matteo Pelucchi faded a whole lot on the last few meters, and is even outsprinted by Sebastian Lander for 6th. 8th place goes to Cameron Meyer, and Mohamed Harrif Salleh secures 9th. Not quite the reward that Sauber was hoping for after another day of huge effort.
Martin Reimer secures the final Top 10 spot, whereas Kobe Vanoverschelde even misses that after it looked great for so long!
There are 5 more riders in this group:
12. Christian Bertilsson
13. Soren Kragh Andersen
14. Gaetan Pons
15. Caio Godoy
16. Laurens De Plus
Sascha Modolo has actually come quite near to the other sprinters, while leaving all others far behind. All he gets is 17th - but what about the time gaps?
Nick Van der Lijke has decided to sprint a little bit, too, getting 18th. Dylan Kennett and Tony Gallopin complete today's Top 20.
And the timekeepers were actually very kind to Modolo, awarding him the same time as the winners - whereas the peloton loses another 45" today!
This means that Houle still has a rather small margin on Harrison - 26 seconds - but Carapaz, the best GC contender, is already 1'27" down. This may actually be worth some more days in the yellow jersey for the Canadian - let's see!
While Philips are of course happy about Te Brake's win, they'll certainly not be glad about Bardet losing more than 2 minutes today! We couldn't see how this happened, but well, it did happen.
By the way, Ackermann finally finished inside the peloton (far back, but inside), whereas Smirnovs went on to lose 24'50"!
But let's rather talk about the winners now, and let's cheer on them!
Here's Remco Te Brake, who might not have been the fastest today - that was probably runner-up Hugo Houle - but definitely the smartest! Congratulations!
Houle on his part had finally a successful day coming in 2nd, as he extended his GC lead on Sam Harrison, who completes today's stage podium.
As we said before, Hugo Houle not just easily defended his yellow jersey, he even added some more seconds to it. Sam Harrison is now 2nd, after 4th and 3rd places on the last two stages.
Gaetan Pons might be a surprise on the 3rd place, as he didn't win any bonus seconds, and he lost 13" yesterday - but thanks to a solid prologue, it's still enough to keep Kreder 3 seconds behind.
Of course, Hugo Houle also takes the green jersey now, ahead of Sam Harrison and Lionel Coutinho, who share the 2nd place.
As we already said before, Wojciech Pszczolarski keeps the KoM jersey. He leads the standings together with Jasper Stuyven. Cameron Bayly is now 3rd.
The leader jersey in the U25 standings hasn't changed shoulders, Sam Oomen will be wearing it tomorrow again. However, it's now a 1-2 for Lierse, as Laurens De Plus has moved to 2nd, being in the 1st group today. Joseph Areruya drops one place to 3rd.
Finally, we again have a new leader in the team standings! EA Vesuvio, even though they didn't really get a good individual result today, step up from 3rd to 1st. ENI - MOL go up from 4th to 2nd, whereas Delvaux drop from 1st to 3rd. But the gaps are still small, everything can happen on the hilly next stages!
Finally, we had a much calmer day than yesterday, with the GT contenders only losing time on today's best sprinters. This certainly is beneficial to Houle, who's a rather good puncheur and may have the chance to keep the yellow jersey at least tomorrow. We'll have a rather easy finale, with an inclined home stretch - tune in to see who masters this one!
Volta a Portugal 
