Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to day number seven of the Volta a Portugal. After a rather easy profile yesterday, we'll have one of the more grueling stages today. It's not the length, but the cumulative elevation gain that will make the stage hard. We have one KoM sprint of each category (except HC), but at least 2 or 3 more hills would be worth one.
But let's tackle them one after the other, just as the riders in a few moments. They're lining up behind in the start right now, and today's start line is in Braga, about 50km south-east of yesterday's arrival location. Braga has around 200,000 inhabitants. There's no historical evidence of when the first humans settled here, but it's known that the Romans founded a town named Bracara Augusta in this place. As many other cities, it was later conquered by the Arabs, then reconquered by the Portuguese. Its most important monuments may be the Sé Velha cathedral or the Fonto do Ídolo source.
We're again off to a fast start, with a first short downhill, followed by a short flat-ish section - there won't be many of them today!
After a first uncategorized climb and the following descent, the riders will actually come back to Braga and start the ascent to the 3rd category climb to Bom Jesus, a place of pilgrimage nearby. The summit will be reached after about 40km.
The first intermediate sprint will then take place in Póvoa de Lanhoso, after 60km, followed by a long but not too steep uncategorized climb.
The second intermediate sprint in Celorico de Basto is just at the foot of today's main obstacle: the 1st category climb to Viso. It's a steep climb, with a short descent 2/3 up, just before reaching the hardest slopes. From the summit, just 50 kilometers - including two more KoM sprints - are left.
But first, we'll have the third and final intermediate sprint, taken on the finish line in Fafe. The riders will then leave the city again for a 30km extra lap.
There, they'll first tackle the 2nd category climb up to Salto da Pedra Sentada, the final kilometers of which are on gravel roads. The steep inclines towards the summit may be an incentive for some medium-range attacks.
From there, another 20km to the finish line - more than half of which downhill, though. But with just four kilometers remaining, there's the last KoM sprint, which might mess the whole race up again. After that, 2km of descent, and 2km of inclined home stretch - that's a tough program!
Fafe, our arrival location, will therefore see both an intermediate and the final sprint. About 15,000 people live here, and there are several museums to visit.
But hey, who wants to spend his day in a museum when it's the Volta a Portugal coming to town, and furthermore it's a beautiful day? Well, the wind, currently blowing at 29km/h, hasn't left us and will make for a very fast last 4 kilometers. As the stage has kind of a weird layout, the wind's influence will vary a lot during the stage. But I guess the climbs are going to hurt the riders more.
When talking about riders: Let's look at the favorites. The last kilometers are clearly made for puncheurs - but will they still have the legs after all the previous climbing? The bookies think so, as they award three stars to our standard favorites: Skujins, Bakelants, Bobridge. McCarthy, Koretzky and Anuar Aziz might be able to finally get a good result, according to them. They see Prevar, Buchmann, Vogt and Betancourt in the mix, too. I've got some doubts about some of these names...
But only the race will tell us, so let's get it started!
Here we go! After nothing happened on the short descent, Joao Rodrigues and Stuyven attack as soon as they reach the flat. Let's see who else wants to try today...
Of course, Gebrezgabihier! He seems to have a subscription on breakaways in this race - and he's only 4 points behind Caruso in the KoM standings. With 37 points on offer today, the Italian should better react soon...
But for the moment, it's just Eg and Chernetskiy joining the Eritrean.
I guess the riders are going to try to make this the biggest breakaway of the race so far. This time, we even have two Europcar riders - but still no Caruso:
In the group of 6 are Calmejane, Vilela, Hugentobler, Gillett and the Bennelong duo Lane and Bayly.
The are pursued by Frankiny and Honkisz, who did a great job in saving the KoM jersey for his teammate yesterday and may have a shot at taking it over himself today!
But it ain't over yet, as Vlasov, Henao and Laas try to get free, too!
OK, we'll soon have half the peloton ahead of the peloton... Ramos Ticona, Destribois and Roman are next. That makes 19 for the moment, so there's still some potential...
Indeed, Gesbert tries, too!
But apparently, 19 is OK, 20 is too much. Predatsch gets him back.
Betancourt, Gallopin and Bardet want to verify if it's really a number thing, or if it's rather a personal thing between Predatsch and Gesbert.
We won't find out, but this time it's Ackermann who vetos their attempt.
Other potential attackers seem to be discouraged by this, and so the race calms down an the gap quickly reaches 3 minutes.
Let's try to sort out the situation ahead, as it got a bit messy with all these attacks. Here are todays BotD members:
Rodrigues
Vilela
Destribois
Henao
Honkisz
Calmejane
Roman
Frankiny
Eg
Gillett
Chernetskiy
Vlasov
Bayly
Lane
Gebrezgabihier
Stuyven
Hugentobler
Ramos Ticona
Laas
If the stage really favors the pure puncheurs, as the bookies are thinking, Chernetskiy and Gebrezgabihier would stand above the rest. However, the latter might be a bit tired from all his breakaway attempts lately... And let's not forget Chernetskiy's incredible stamina, which should really be helpful on such a stage.
Calmejane - easily the group's strongest sprinter -, Hugentobler and Stuyven are the next ranked puncheurs, but the latter might really struggle on the longer climbs.
The exact opposite should be true for Henao, who's among the best climbers of this group. His hill capabilities are matched by Lane, Laas and Honkisz, whereas Destribois is just slightly weaker and matches his mountain skills.
So does Frankiny, who comes in the next group of puncheurs, along with Bayly and Ramos Ticona. Roman goes after, but is again a strong climber. Vilela, Gillett, Eg, Rodrigues and Vlasov might lack some punch up the home stretch.
But all in all, the race should be wide open - if the breakaway makes it. Furthermore, lots of teams could use some team strategy - let's see how it all works out!
Some more words about the KoM fight: As we already said, 37 KoM points can be won today, meaning Europcar is playing a dangerous game here by not sending Caruso up front. With this amount of points available, any of these riders could take the jersey. But let's just look at those who already have some points:
Gebrezgabihier
18
Stuyven
18
Honkisz
14
Roman
10
Bayly
7
This means that if Gebrezgabihier or Stuyven win even just the first KoM sprint, they take over the virtual lead.
Honkisz will certainly try to avoid this scenario. He currently sets the pace and tries to control everything.
But with 1.5km to the top, Gebrezgabihier clearly shows that he has the intention of taking the missing points as early as possible. But long-range sprints have rarely worked out so far...
It does this time, though. Gebrezgabihier takes full points on top of the first climb, meaning we have a new virtual leader in the KoM standings.
No-one was able to keep up with the Eritrean on this climb, and he literally tears apart the breakaway. However, knowing that it's still a long way to go, everything would come back together soon.
The pack is led across the line by De Souza, about 5'30" after the breakaway. Other riders taking turns are Ackermann, Lecourt De Billot, Harrison and Stoltz.
There's no fight for points at the intermediate sprint, a few kilometers later. Vlasov is leading the group as they cruise across the line.
1. Vlasov - 6
2. Bayly - 4
3. Laas - 2
The pack has clearly put the foot on the accelerator, as they've already come more than 2 minutes closer. 3'15" is their current deficit.
The pack hasn't come closer in the meantime, but they can see the breakaway ahead. And you'll admit that Portugal is a beautiful country, don't you?
By the way, it's now German workforce leading the peloton, with Schachmann and Predatsch.
As soon as the slopes are a bit steeper, the peloton quickly gets closer to the escapees. Just 2 minutes remaining, and we haven't even reached the half-way mark!
By the way, this may well be one of today's longer climbs - there's no KoM sprint at the summit.
Gillett is leading the group, which is still at full strenght on top of the said hill. But they should hurry up a bit on the descent, as the gap has fallen below 2 minutes now.
And when Dzamastagic and Stoltz are leading a peloton, they're definitely not joking!
But the breakaway nevertheless extends the lead by 30" on this part, and they reach the second intermediate sprint 2'19" ahead of the pack. Vilela takes the points here, which once again are uncontested.
1. Vilela - 6
2. Vlasov - 4
3. Honkisz - 2
Almost directly after the sprint, the front group will tackle the hardest climb of the day. The average slope is "just" 6.7%, but you see this descending part 2/3 up the climb, which distorts these numbers. We will definitely see some riders in difficulty on this one!
And here we go, the climb is on! 16 points are awaiting the first man on top, which should definitely be enough motivation for some of our escapees!
The peloton already breaks into pieces on the first kilometers of the climb! Last in the race is currently Putti, but that's due to an unfortunate puncture just ahead of the intermediate sprint. He's actually catching up with the pack's weakest climbers here.
On the other end of the pack, it's Koshevoy setting a horrendous pace! The gap is still at 2'16", though, meaning the front group is moving fast, too.
Laas attacks just on the downhill section of the climb, but he still has to do the 2 hardest kilometers of the climb!
Hugentobler is the first man to respond, while some others are struggling at the end of the group.
Now, that's a strong showing of team Berg! All three riders catch up with Laas, just as they pass the 1km mark.
But of these 3 riders, only Destribois can actually draw through, whereas Laas still holds on to 2nd, and Lane has caught up with Vilela and Rodrigues.
Lane almost catches a completely empty Laas, but the Estonian champion takes 2nd place on this climb.
The pack still consists of 70 riders on top of this climb, but many riders have lost contact. These include - as expected - pure puncheurs, such as Zaini or Anuar Aziz, who even was on the bookies' list for this stage.
It's now Vosekalns setting a high pace in the peloton, which sees breakaway riders scattered all over the place ahead.
The only rider they can't see is Destribois, who just continued his attack and is 1'24" ahead of a larger group. Gebrezgabihier, Hugentobler, Stuyven, Ramos Ticona and Gillett are between this group and the pack, which has a 3 minute deficit on Destribois.
Oh no! After the green jersey was hit by a puncture yesterday, it's now the yellow one! Monsalve is waiting for his team car, hopefully he'll be able to catch up again!
But catching up won't be easy, given that Vosekalns is setting a really high pace up front! The first three escapees are caught right now, and for Hugentobler (hidden by the motorbike) and Gebrezgabihier it's probably soon going to be over, too.
Unlike Houle, Monsalve at least gets help from his teammates McCarthy, Carthy, Ssabagwanya and Bettiol almost instantly. Luckily, it all happened on the descent, and the peloton isn't out of sight yet.
Meanwhile, Destribois has finally cracked up front and is caught by the chasers, as they reach the flame rouge for the first time. Next time, the riders fortunately won't have to do this turn, but the uphill slope will be 1km longer instead.
For the 3rd time in as many intermediate sprint, there's no fight for the points.
1. Bayly - 6
2. Vlasov - 4
3. Eg - 2
They now tackle the extra lap, which starts by the category 2 climb to Salto da Pedra Sentada. The advantage on the peloton is down to 1'10"
Monsalve's still a few seconds behind, but it seems as if he could indeed make it back!
Here's the profile of said climb. It isn't a really hard one, except for the final 1,500m maybe. We'll have 18km left from the summit - let's see if any of the stage win contenders dares an early attack!
Whew, here he is! Monsalve has made his way around several left behind riders, and has finally reached the end of the pack! Now, he'll try to make his way up front as fast as possible - luckily, the harder slopes will come only later.
Meanwhile, the gap to the breakaway is down to 56", with exactly 25km to go.
Bakelants seems to be afraid the pack won't reel in the escapees, so he takes some turns on his own. Skujins, Meintjes, Preidler, Koretzky, Bennett and Talansky are in the surroundings, too.
The breakaway riders are entering some steeper slopes, and there soon are just 6 riders left up front: Chernetskiy, Henao, Roman, Laas, Destribois and Eg.
Frankiny just has to let go, whereas Vilela, Lane, Calmejane and Honkisz are already further behind. Bayly, Rodrigues and Vlasov are about to be caught by Koretzky - who again seems to be working for Bongiorno today, despite being one of the stage favorites!
Now that's weird! Koretzky seemingly just was too fast for the peloton, and now he's clear! Under the 20km banner, he's with Lane and Calmejane, who seem to be collaborating!
Bakelants, who is about to catch Vilela, is a few meters ahead of the peloton, too! Finally, we get some action!
As we said in the preview, the last 1,500 meters of this climb are on gravel roads, and that's precisely where the riders are now. Only Henao, Chernetskiy and Roman are remaining up front. Eg and Laas have to let go, whereas Destribois was already paying for his solo effort some kilometers ago.
Chernetskiy is simply destroying his final breakaway companions on this gravel! He easily wins the KoM sprint; let's see if he continues solo or if he waits for the others.
Lane, who was left behind earlier on the hill, made a strong comeback and was able to keep up with Koretzky and even outsprint him on the top!
Here's the current situation:
Head of the Race Chernetskiy
+ 35" Henao
+ 49" Roman
+ 1'14" Koretzky, Lane
+ 1'38" Eg
+ 1'56" Laas
+ 2'40"
Peloton
The pack actually was really slow up this climb - which explains why Koretzky was already able to gain almost 90"! He's 2'19" behind - could he even attack Monsalve's yellow jersey today?
By the way, Bakelants has decided to not continue his move, and is safe in the peloton - or rather its remainders.
18km to go.
On the downhill, Lane and Koretzky were able to catch up with Roman and Henao. They're just 26" behind Chernetskiy with 5 kilometers to go - what a huge chance for Koretzky to get the stage win against 4 exhausted breakaway riders!
However, the peloton is just 1 minute down, and we're about to tackle the last categorized climb of the day!
When speaking of the peloton: Most Top 20 riders are still in it, but we're missing Dennis, Prevar, Ilnur Zakarin and Jaramillo.
It's a short and not too steep climb, but after a long day in the saddle, with a lot of climbing already behind, even that will certainly hurt!
Chernetskiy makes it to the top solo, taking 5 more points - he's well in the mix for the jersey now!
Behind, Koretzky either doesn't want, or just isn't able to attack, and Lane leaves him behind! To be fair, Koretzky has been doing some work in the pack today, but he should still have more left in the tank than the escapees!
The trio Koretzky, Henao and Roman is actually caught by the peloton just over the summit! With just 4 kilometers to go, Chernetskiy still has a 41" gap - but the final two kilometers will be uphill! Lane is 17" ahead of the pack. A thrilling finale is awaiting us!
And the two leading riders have already left behind the short descent and are on the final 2,000 meters! Lane is really going strong and seems to be able to catch up with Chernetskiy!
The pack is just a few seconds behind and should still have all chances to get this stage win!
But Lane's tank is completely empty, and so Chernetskiy is all alone under the red kite! Koretzky is again leading the pack now, but it doesn't look too bad for our Russian race leader!
500m to go for Chernetskiy! The home stretch isn't too steep, just about 3% - it could actually work out for him!
Koretzky is still leading the peloton, and with Skujins and Bakelants it's two of the main stage favorites right behind him!
Buchmann, Padun, Pruus and Meintjes are in the next row, followed by
Tvetcov, Chiarello, Talansky, Bobridge, Carapaz, Guerreiro and Oomen.
Monsalve seems to be too tired to fight for the stage win after his exhausting chase, but at least he won't lose any time today.
Just 300m remaining, and now it's really looking better and better for Chernetskiy! Koretzky and Skujins are rushing around the corner behind him, but they've got a long way to go...
They're now closing in quickly, but Chernetskiy has just about 150m left. That should actually be enough of a gap, shouldn't it?
It is! Sergey Chernetskiy wins the 7th stage of the Volta a Portugal after an impressive 20km solo ride! He's completely exhausted, but what a great day that is for him!
Koretzky is now clear of Skujins and should be able to take 2nd. There's still the question if he should have pushed harder to reel in Chernetskiy - or if he just didn't have more than this in him. We'll never know.
Skujins is easily holding on to 3rd, even though he couldn't hold Koretzky's wheel.
Clement Koretzky indeed takes 2nd, whereas Skujins has completely cracked and is only in 7th position right now! Tvetcov, on the other hand, is going really strong and seems to be set for 3rd! Fighting for 4th are Chiarello, Padun and Guerreiro. Even Monsalve has found a bit of energy to fight for a stage Top 10.
Serghei Tvetcov indeed completes today's podium, a strong sprint by the Romanian champion!
William Chiarello takes 4th for the home team, whereas Mark Padun edges out Ruben Guerreiro. Jack Bobridge is 7th - which is actually the best result of today's Top 3 favorites! But that was probably too much climbing for him today.
Andrew Talansky is 8th, Sam Oomen 9th and Louis Meintjes completes the Top 10, which unlucky fellow of the day Yonathan Monsalve just misses out on.
The peloton actually loses 13" on Chernetskiy - which isn't a big deal, given that he was 3 minutes back.
Let's see who else was in this group:
12.
Toms Skujins
20.
Alex Kirsch
13.
Richard Antonio Carapaz
21.
Cameron Bayly
14.
Lilian Calmejane
22.
Jianhua Ji
15.
Eduardo Sepulveda
23.
George Bennett
16.
John-Lee Augustyn
24.
Jan Bakelants
17.
Patrick Schelling
25.
Kilian Frankiny
18.
Peter Pruus
26.
Emanuel Buchmann
19.
Francesco Bongiorno
There's one name of the pre-stage Top 10 missing - Konig was completely empty and ends up losing 46". Tvetcov enters the Top 10 in his stead.
Today was only the second stage that went to the breakaway - and it took an extremely strong performance by Chernetskiy to fend off the pack! That's definitely worth some applause, so let's turn to the victory ceremony!
Here he is, today's stage winner Sergey Chernetskiy! He left behind his last breakaway companions on the last long climb and just held on, even against a raging pack - hats off!
Clement Koretzky attacked on the same climb, but didn't manage to close the gap to Chernetskiy and finally got reeled in by the peloton. However, he probably did well not spending everything he had on the chase, as he mastered the peloton's sprint for 2nd!
3rd place goes to Serghei Tvetcov, who proved that he's a good sprinter. As a bonus, he takes over the 10th position in the GC from Konig.
And that was the only change in the GC Top 10, as the other names and even the gaps remain the same. Yonathan Monsalve still leads with 23" on Alex Kirsch and 41" on Jack Bobridge. Farfetch Pro Cycling did a great job to bring their leader back in the peloton after his puncture!
They get even more out of this stage than "just" keeping yellow; with his 11th place, Yonathan Monsalve finally outscores Hugo Houle in the point standings and he takes the green jersey as well! Damiano Caruso remains 3rd.
The same Damiano Caruso will probably regret not having tried to get into today's breakaway, as he loses his KoM jersey to Amanuel Gebrezgabihier! The 6 points he took on the first climb were enough - he didn't add any more.
The same holds for Jasper Stuyven, who is in 3rd position. But this means that there were several riders gaining a lot of points today, and so the standings are extremely tense! For example, Laas in 12th place "just" needs to be first on a category 2 climb to get the jersey - so there definitely are going to be more fights!
There were no changes on the provisional U25 podium: Mark Padun still leads 3 seconds ahead of Sam Oomen. However, Laurens De Plus was in the 2nd group and now is 51" back - still almost three minutes ahead of his closest rival, though.
And as you probably all expected - we have a new leader in the team standings! Bennelong - Mitchelton are finally on top, after they missed out on this on the first stage just due to cumulated stage ranks.
They were the 2nd best team today, and are now leading 51" ahead of today's winner Isostar - LimeBike. Both teams definitely benefited from the two breakaway riders they had.
And unlike it was until now, we had some significant gaps today. Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam drop from 1st to 3rd today, and they're almost 2 minutes behind now. With a huge mountain stage yet to come, this still doesn't mean a lot, though.
7 stages are done, 4 more to come - the tension's rising! Tomorrow's stage will contain less climbing than today, but a much longer final hill - let's see whom we'll see on top then!
Edited by Fabianski on 30-06-2020 22:32
Volta a Portugal 
