Hello and welcome to the last one of six consecutive hilly-rated stages here in Portugal! It's the final chance for the top puncheurs to pull off a stage win this year - something we haven't seen yet!
But we'll talk more about this later. We'll first lose two or three words about today's start location, Gondomar. This town of about 25,000 inhabitants is located in the east of Porto's metropolitan area and is named after Visigoth King Gundemar. But the Visigoths were by far not the first ones to be settled here, as even prehistoric traces were found. The Romans were mining gold here, and even though the surrounding mines have been abandoned 200 years ago already, the goldsmiths and jewelers still are an important factor of the local economy.
From the line, the route will lead South-East - and the riders will already face heavy crosswinds, with up to 25km/h blowing in South-West direction. We'll then already have the first intermediate sprint in Foz do Sousa, after just 8.5km - given how close the points standings are, some teams may want to control the pack until then and get some points.
Next on the menu are three hills - none of them including a KoM sprint, with the route leading westwards. Crosswinds included, of course. And after 40km, we'll have the next intermediate sprint in Castelo de Paiva, just on the downhill after the last of these hills.
Then comes the first of two 3rd category climbs, starting immediately after said downhill. The summit is after 51.5km, with just a bit more than a third of the race done.
After a very slight downhill, another short hill, a flat part and another downhill, the riders will tackle today's main obstacle: The 2nd category climb to Gamarão de Cima. The steepest slopes are found inside the first kilometers of the ascent - let's see if some teams will be using these to shake off the weaker climbers on this rather long hill. Once the riders reach the KoM sprint, only 70km are remaining - half of the stage will already be done. Moreover, the riders will benefit from quite strong tailwinds from the summit pretty much until they reach the finish line for the first time.
The trilogy of KoM sprints then concludes with another 3rd category climb, up to Chão de Ave. From there, about 50 bumpy kilometers are yet to go.
When they reach the end of the downhill from this last KoM sprint, they can start looking for the perfect place for an attack, as they'll do the same route until the finish line once again.
The finish line will be crossed for the first time with about 30km to go, and the extra lap will take the riders to the final intermediate sprint in Nogueira do Cravo - taken once more on an uphill section, and corresponding precisely with the 20km banner.
Today's arrival venue - where about 12,000 people live nowadays - was a crossing point of two important Roman roads. The most important monument probably is the historic city core, which is under monument protection in its entirety.
What the people want to see today is no monuments, though, but the riders! And you probably already guess the bookies' favorites: Yes, of course, we again have Skujins, Bakelants and Bobridge on top of the list. Next are three riders who have already done quite a lot of domestique work: McCarthy, Koretzky and Vogt. Anuar Aziz, Buchmann, Prevar and Zaini finish off the list.
You might remember that we already had similar stage finales - a short ascending home stretch - twice in this race. Both times, Koretzky was the strongest man from the pack - but both times the stage went to the breakaway. It's really the puncheurs' last chance for a stage win - will they finally take it?
Let's see right away!
For once, we don't get any action on the first few kilometers - but just with 1km to the intermediate sprint, it's Frankiny and Betancourt attacking! Both definitely aren't after the green jersey, so it's a real breakaway attempt.
But the points are distributed anyway:
1. Frankiny - 6
2. Betancourt - 4
3. Mancuso - 2 (who just happens to lead the pack across the line)
Of course, it isn't over yet: Chernetskiy won two days ago on a similar profile - and will probably try to get that KoM jersey. The latter might be true for Lane and Destribois, too, as they aren't too far off either.
As there's still no reaction from the peloton, the next trio tries to break free: Laengen, De Marchi and Jaramillo.
But now, Hugentobler doesn't seem to be happy with the breakaway, and he's pushing hard. With Wahyudi just two spots behind him, it seems rather clear what their intention is...
And it indeed happens, although Wahyudi almost missed Ilnur Zakarin's move here! But he reacted just in time and takes Henao and Dall'Oste with him.
The pack still shows no sign of inquietude, even though we already have 12 escapees ahead. 7 to go to the record.
Gallopin and Paulus help getting closer to that mark, riding away on the next hump.
And with Zielinski, Koshevoy, Bardet, Vilela and previous chaser Hugentobler getting clear, too, we now have 19 breakaway riders up front. One more to set a new record!
No-one else is trying, though. So after the last five men have finally caught up with the leaders, we now have our 19-man breakaway of the day complete. Let's get an overview:
Betancourt
Zakarin
Koshevoy
Gallopin
De Marchi
Destribois
Vilela
Jaramillo
Frankiny
Hugentobler
Wahyudi
Henao
Zielinski
Lane
Paulus
Laengen
Dall'Oste
Bardet
Chernetskiy
Out of these, the top puncheurs are certainly Betancourt and Chernetskiy. Paulus, Zakarin and Hugentobler are next, with the latter being the worst climber in the group.
Among the best climbers are Dall'Oste and Henao, but Lane and Wahyudi have got decent mountain skills, too. Next in the puncheur order are Jaramillo and Destribois.
Bardet is the best climber, tied with Jaramillo, but a bit less punchy, just like Frankiny. Zielinski and Gallopin match their punch on the hills, but are worse climbers - on the other hand, they're the group's best sprinters.
De Marchi, Laengen, Koshevoy and Vilela are the least punchy riders, let's see what they can do.
And for the sake of completeness, let's just have a look at the riders' current KoM points; given that there are 22 on offer, many of them could actually take over the jersey. 24 points are the current mark to beat. And yes, indeed, Gebrezgabihier isn't present today - quite a surprise!
Chernetskiy
20
Jaramillo
18
Lane
17
Destribois
16
Wahyudi
12
Gallopin
9
Henao
8
Vilela
6
Nothing worth reporting happens until the next intermediate sprint, where Frankiny is again the first to cross the line.
1. Frankiny - 6
2. Paulus - 4
3. Zielinski - 2
The peloton is 3'38" back by now, with Mancuso, Schachmann, Habtom, Spengler, De Souza, Ackermann, Van der Lijke, Lander and Stoltz taking turns. But they're definitely not insisting yet - and the hardest third of the stage is yet to come!
Here we go, the front group is already within one kilometer of the first KoM sprint! Paulus will try everything to secure his teammate's jersey, but if Chernetskiy is first on top of that climb, the jersey is gone for now. Lane in 3rd and Jaramillo are the next competitors and are surely looking to up their score, too.
With a manoeuvre definitely on the edges of legality, Chernetskiy outsprints Paulus and takes full points - and the virtual KoM jersey - on this climb.
1. Chernetskiy - 6 (26)
2. Paulus - 4 (4)
3. Lane - 2 (19)
It was clear from the beginning that there would be a great risk of losing that jersey with Gebrezgabihier not being in the breakaway for once - and it's already happened on the first KoM sprint.
In the meantime, De Marchi wasn't able to keep up - he's done most of the work up front so far - and is already 2'06" back. Which is just a minute ahead of the pack, but that surely won't last for long, too.
The said pack has upped the pace a bit - just be careful to not fall off the hillside!
And some of the GC contenders may have learnt something from Monsalve's fiasco yesterday, as they're already very close to the front.
Yeah, it's windy today, and it shows. Perfect echelon by the breakaway - just a bit unfortunate for those lined up behind that the road isn't large enough for all of them.
And it's a sign of high speed - which is definitely necessary now, as the peloton has reduced the gap to just under two minutes already!
Yeah, I know I should focus on the race, but I just can't ignore impressive landscapes - and I definitely love this shot.
The breakaway is about to reach the foot of today's hardest climb, whereas the pack has still a good portion of the descent ahead.
The gap has again increased by 30", and is now 2'28".
And here's the profile of this climb. As said in the stage preview, the hardest slopes are right at the start. But even though the hill isn't really steep on the second half, we still have an average slope of 7.1%. Let's see who still has the legs to keep up on the 9th consecutive day of racing!
Well, Schachmann definitely does! He has reduced the pack's deficit by 40" in no time, meaning the breakaway only has 1'42" of advantage left. It should still be enough to reach the summit ahead of the peloton, shouldn't it?
Chernetskiy takes over in the front group and immediately does some damage, as Zakarin, Hugentobler, Koshevoy, Zielinski and Vilela can't keep up any longer!
And this pretty much makes ISA - Hexacta's team strategy obsolete, as Betancourt is the only one out of three riders left ahead. Destribois, Wahyudi and Henao lose their sole teammate, too.
1.3km to go to the top, where Chernetskiy is hoping to considerably extend his lead!
Well, he actually does - but we now have a new 2nd place in the KoM standings:
Instead of 2, Chernetskiy is now 4 points ahead of his closest rival - but this one's still in the group and could even take the jersey on the last categorized hill!
Le Roux is now leading the peloton, which has already reeled in Vilela and is about to do the same with Koshevoy. Zakarin, Hugentobler and Zielinski still have a considerable gap, but are about a minute behind the leaders.
Here's the current situation:
Head of the race: Betancourt, Chernetskiy, Paulus, Henao, Dall'Oste, Gallopin, Lane, Wahyudi, Jaramillo, Frankiny, Bardet, Laengen, Destribois
+ 56" Zakarin, Hugentobler
+ 1'12" Zielinski
+ 2'00" Koshevoy
+ 2'22"
Peloton
Whereas we had Monsalve far back in the pack yesterday, Bobridge does the same today, surrounded by most of his teammates. He doesn't seem to have a good day, but still makes it over the top with the peloton. Pretty much all other GC contenders are in the first 30 positions.
Chão de Ave is our last KoM sprint of the day - and it's an easy one. Just a bit more than 5% average slope on 5km shouldn't be too much of a game breaker for most riders.
With these twisty roads, we can actually see the distances between the groups pretty well. The front group is 1'20" ahead of the trio Zielinski, Hugentobler and Zakarin, with the peloton being another minute behind. Not much has changed since the last summit.
Again, it's Chernetskiy making the first move - given that it's a much flatter sprint this time, it could actually work out. But there are still 1.3km to go.
Indeed, this time he's able to salvage a few inches on Destribois, extending his KoM lead to 10 points:
The group stays together, proving that the climb really wasn't that hard.
Group Zielinski passes 1'32" later, the peloton is still 2'05" back. 50km to go.
But the peloton speeds up a lot on the downhill, so Hugentobler plays his last card and leaves Zakarin and Zielinski behind. He's still a minute behind the leaders, though, and the pack trails him by just 40".
The breakaway reaches the final kilometer - but with a 30km lap to go. But they can already have a look at where would be the best place for the final push.
The home stretch is constantly inclined about 5.5%, so you'll really need some good legs to win this one!
The gap is down to 1'36", with the peloton, led by Dzamastagic, having already caught Zielinski and Zakarin. Hugentobler is just 20" ahead.
And here the pack is on the final kilometer, ending Hugentobler's breakaway adventure. But the rest of the breakaway isn't too far away, either. With 125 riders left in the pack, there should definitely be enough workforce to catch them.
All GC contenders are still in the peloton - which cannot be said about the stage favorites, though. Vogt is already far behind, once again...
He already succeeded with this strategy two days ago - so why not today? Chernetskiy tries to go clear with 26km left, but Gallopin and Paulus are attentive and take his wheel.
The gap to the peloton is down to 1'23".
But we have a weird situation in the pack. There may well be 120 riders in it, but it's Bakelants who has to lead the chase! I don't know if the helpers are all empty, or if they actually don't care about the stage win.
The gap has been hovering around 90" for several kilometers - they should better hurry up and collaborate now!
Chernetskiy stopped his move as he couldn't go clear all alone, but now it's Paulus trying to distance his companions!
Back in the peloton, Brenes, Omarsson and Reimer are now pushing, but the gap is still 1'25" with 21km to go - a good part of which downhill!
But Paulus' attack was just enough to win the final intermediate sprint with 20km to go. Gallopin and Chernetskiy catch up right after.
1. Paulus - 6
2. Gallopin - 4
3. Chernetskiy - 2
The remaining breakaway riders are 30" down, the peoloton 1'21".
1'21" may sound like a lot, but actually they have all escapees well in sight. All stage contenders are slowly positioning themselves - now including Bobridge, who's followed by Monsalve and race leader Meintjes.
The speed is really high both in the front group - where the breakaway riders have reunited - and in the peloton. Frankiny had to let go and is about to be reeled in. 12 riders left up front, with 18 kilometers to go. They're about to reach the top of the last really nasty hill.
Interestingly, we can spot Van der Lijke and Houle near the front - may this stage even be a good chance for them?
Over the said hilltop, it's Destribois who tries his luck. He already tried such a move in stage number 7, but this time it's much closer to the finish line, with just 16km to go! Jaramillo is trying to follow, whereas the pack is already close to the hilltop as well!
Officially, the gap is down to 47" - and there still are two minor bumps to come, but these ones may really hurt at this stage of the race!
And we have yet two other stage favorites who have to fold - Anuar Aziz in this group and Zaini, one group further behind. The bookies definitely don't seem to watch the races...
But this hill has actually done even more damage, as Bobridge is caught behind a split! With him are Preidler, Carapaz and De Plus, but the Aussie is definitely the biggest name in this group!
There's another group including Oomen, Ji, Tvetcov, Prevar, Chiarello, McCarthy and Schelling in between group Bobridge and the actual peloton, containing all other Top 10 riders and stage favorites!
This split definitely is good news for the breakaway, though! As there are pretty much no helpers left in the "peloton", no-one takes the responsibility to lead the chase, and the gap grows back to 1'05" to Destribois, who is 19" ahead of his breakaway companions!
The speed actually drops so much that first group Schelling and later group Bobridge can catch up with the peloton again.
There's no 10km arc today, as it would have to be mounted precisely on that bridge - but it's still a fact that Destribois only has 10,000m left! And it's looking pretty good, with the 11 remaining escapees still 20" behind him, and the peloton more than 90" down!
But the Laotian champion couldn't pull it through, and he's caught by Bardet with 7km left.
With the peloton still being 1'17" behind, it seems quite likely now that they will give away one more stage to the breakaway!
Well, that was quite an obvious move - the worst sprinters of the breakaway, Dall'Oste and Wahyudi, attack right at the 5km mark!
The pack is one minute behind - they'd really have to hammer up the last bump and the home stretch to still have a chance of succeeding!
But this doesn't really look like a hard chase, to be honest. Bakelants is at the front because no-one else wants to be there, but this definitely isn't a fast pace. Maybe the race has just been too long for the helpers still being able to work hard?
Now it's Buchmann pulling a little bit, but it definitely seems as if the pack has already given up on the stage win!
Further ahead, we can see that Wahyudi has been caught right away, but Dall'Oste has a small gap, with just 3km to go!
Dall'Oste is still leading as he reaches the red kite! Laengen is trying to bring him back. We have the following order of riders in this group now:
Laengen Lane Chernetskiy Gallopin Destribois Paulus Wahyudi Bardet Jaramillo Betancourt Henao
With Zielinski gone, Gallopin now clearly is the best sprinter in this group - can he capitalize on his top speed? Or will the stronger puncheurs use the incline to their advantage?
Or will the peloton still come back? It does seem very unlikely, as they're still a minute back - but one kilometer with more than 5% incline can get really, really long!
But well, the gap really looks huge. So the pack has to hope for the escapees to play tactical games up front, else they'll just be sprinting for 13th place.
Final 1,000 meters for the other 11 breakaway riders, too, as Dall'Oste is clearly starting to fade!
Chernetskiy is now in control, and Gallopin seems to have chosen his wheel very wisely!
Chernetskiy really doesn't like to play games, he just pushes with all he's got left! Dall'Oste is cooked and has already fallen behind the Russian.
Gallopin and Paulus are following the leader, with awful sprinter Wahyudi coming next. Laengen, Bardet, Destribois, Henao, Betancourt, Lane and Jaramillo will need a huge final rush to have a say in the stage win battle!
The peloton is about to reach the red kite, too, but is still a minute back!
Gallopin has now left Chernetskiy's slipstream and is about to overtake him! Paulus is in the Frenchman's wheel, with Wahyudi still following as well! 500 meters to go!
Skujins, Buchmann and Sepulveda are leaving the pack as they head onto the final 1,000 meters, too! But it seems as if all they can hope for is catching the most tired of the breakaway riders - or could they still go for more?
All GC contenders are in this group of 68 riders, so if any, we should just have minor time gaps today.
It's still Chernetskiy vs Gallopin at the front, with Paulus lurking right behind! Destribois is now coming strong and is already level with Laengen. Betancourt seems to have something left, too, while Dall'Oste is falling further and further behind.
300 meters to the line, and no rider from the peloton is in sight!
We have a new leader, as Gallopin now has a really slight edge over Chernetskiy! Paulus is trying to squeeze through the two front runners. Wahyudi is still going surprisingly strong, holding on to 4th - but he probably has to hope for someone fading to get a stage podium.
We're on the final 100 meters, and Chernetskiy hasn't given up yet! He's really challenging Gallopin - and if Paulus wants to have a chance, he should make his move very, very soon!
Behind, Destribois is now almost level with Wahyudi, and Betancourt is going fast, too. They just had an awful position when entering the final 1,000 meters, which might cost them a possible stage win!
Dall'Oste has now fallen behind the group and is even at risk of being outsprinted by the first riders of the peloton - who will definitely not fight for the win any more, though!
It's Skujins, Van der Lijke, Houle, Koretzky and Buchmann leading the pack right now.
And he's done it! Tony Gallopin wins the 9th stage of the Volta a Portugal, mastering the sprint of the breakaway group!
Behind him, Chernetskiy is fading while Paulus is still going strong - it's going to be a close call for 2nd!
Further back, we have now four riders fighting for 4th, with Wahyudi, Laengen, Destribois and Betancourt!
That was really close! But on the line, Daniel Paulus is a few edges ahead of Sergey Chernetskiy! The latter misses out on his second stage win, but at least gets the KoM jersey as a consolation - and he actually takes over the points jersey with today's 3rd place as well!
4th place then goes to Vegard Stake Laengen - his 2nd Top 5 stage result after the prologue. Alex Ariya Destribois takes 5th, and Carlos Betancourt edges out an empty Nandra Eko Wahyudi for 6th.
Patrick Lane comes next, outsprinting Sebastian Henao for 8th. Romain Bardet rounds out today's Top 10, which Daniel Alexander Jaramillo misses out on by a few inches.
Daniele Dall'Oste finally makes it right ahead of the pack, but is given a 38" gap on his companions.
Nick Van der Lijke finally wins a sprint - unfortunately for him, it's just worth a 13th place. The pack crosses the line 43" behind today's winner, which doesn't have a notable impact on the GC.
Let's look at the rest of the Top 20:
14.
Clement Koretzky
15.
Jan Bakelants
16.
Martin Reimer
17.
Hugo Houle
18.
Toms Skujins
19.
Andrew Talansky
20.
George Bennett
That would have been a great finish, with a mix of punchy sprinters, puncheurs, and climbers - but the pack decided to give away one more stage. This means that none of the top puncheurs has finally won a stage here - I know some team managers who won't be happy with their team's attitude.
But as we said during the stage, it may very well be possible that many of the helpers just are more or less empty after now 9 hard stages of racing. Let's see if any team is still able to control tomorrow's stage - I tend to doubt it!
But for the moment, let tomorrow be tomorrow, and let's celebrate today's winners!
First and foremost, let's cheer Tony Gallopin, today's stage winner! He was very attentive to defeat Chernetskiy's and Paulus' late attacks, and then just got himself into a perfect position for the final sprint. It was without too much difficulty that he won the sprint against Daniel Paulus and Sergey Chernetskiy - congratulations!
GC wise, today's stage was almost completely uneventful, without a single second changed in the first 17 positions. This means that Louis Meintjes keeps his 23" advantage on Jack Bobridge - who is very likely to struggle even more tomorrow than he did today, and 36" on George Bennett, who will be much more dangerous.
With his second successful breakaway attempt, Sergey Chernetskiy made it into the Top 20, together with Richard Antonio Carapaz, while Preidler and De Plus went the other way round.
All in all, we still have 10 riders within 1'19", hopefully making for a brutal fight tomorrow!
As we already mentioned, Sergey Chernetskiy takes over the green jersey today, thanks to his second stage Top 3 and several intermediate sprint points from the last three stages! He just leads 5 points ahead of Yonathan Monsalve, though, which is pretty likely to change tomorrow. Jack Bobridge and Toms Skujins weren't able to capitalize on today's stage to take over the jersey, but at least the former might have a shot on the final ITT if Monsalve doesn't gain too many points tomorrow.
Meintjes might be another name to retain, as he's just 5 points behind Monsalve and could well gain some more tomorrow, too. But let's not rule out the breakaway riders, either - the race should still be relatively wide open!
This holds for the KoM jersey, too. Sergey Chernetskiy takes this one as well, but his current total of 38 points doesn't look really comfortable given that there are 63 points at stake tomorrow!
Daniel Alexander Jaramillo has passed Amanuel Gebrezgabihier, too; they have 28 and 24 points respectively, but surely won't give up yet. Especially Jaramillo should have high hopes, given that he's by far the best climber out of this trio.
But with the said 63 points on offer, any strong climber could still win this jersey - stay tuned for more action!
More action should definitely be a keyword for Mark Padun tomorrow, as he knows his 20" lead on Sam Oomen won't be sufficient going into the final ITT. This duel will surely continue tomorrow, and it's 99% sure these two riders will be 1st and 2nd in the end, too.
Let's see if anyone can challenge Laurens De Plus for 3rd place - with some more time lost today, his gap is down to 2'02" on 4th.
And finally, we applaud the same team for the 3rd day in a row - but Bennelong - Mitchelton have lost some time to Isostar - LimeBike today and lead by just 50" going into tomorrow's grueling mountain stage. On 3rd place, we still have Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam, now trailing by 2'51".
That's it from yet another stage won by the breakaway, which makes it 3 out of 8, leaving out the prologue where it's hard to do a breakaway attempt.
Although we have a new leader in two standings, not much happened today GC wise. But of course, we're all waiting for tomorrow - we've all been waiting for it since the start, am I wrong? We expect the GC - and maybe some other standings - to be shaken up, we expect a huge battle among the climbers - let's see what tomorrow brings!
Edited by Fabianski on 30-06-2020 22:41
Volta a Portugal 
