Ladies and Gentlemen - the Day of Truth has come in this year's Volta a Portugal. Today's stage will be an attrition war. The riders already have 9 hard stages in their legs - and today sees moreover the longest non-flat stage. One HC climb and two category 1 KoM sprints - only the strongest will survive up front.
And to make things even worse - all of the said obstacles are in the second half of the stage. But - as always - let's first begin with the start.
Today's start line is in Lousã, a city with about 20,000 inhabitants. Many Roman traces have been found, even some cobblestones, which the riders won't ride on, though. They won't have the time for sightseeing, either, although the Castelo de Arouce is definitely worth a trip.
Instead, the gladiators will head directly into the wind - they will be facing headwinds of about 25km/h for most of the day, making the stage even harder. The 3rd category KoM sprint in Albergaria after just 7.2km will likely lead to a nervous start, as all the KoM jersey contenders will surely try to be in the breakaway today.
After another one of these uncategorized hills, the riders will reach the first out of only two intermediate sprints, taken in Arganil with about 30km of warm-up already in the legs.
We'll then have the rather unusual situation of a KoM sprint - 4th category this time - with just about a third of the hill's total climbing distance alread done, in Mouronho. 36km will be done by then.
The riders then continue to ride through hilly terrain, as they're surely used to by now, until they reach Seia, with the final intermediate sprint of this race. 82.6km will be behind them, 89.1 ahead.
Guess what makes the stage even nastier? The finish line is right on the top of the Torre mountain - but it would have been too easy if the riders "just" had to do it once. More than 60 kilometers will still be left - and before they climb up this one again, we'll first have another 1st category mountain in the Parque Natural da Serra da Estrela.
Only 25km will be left from there - which already tells you that the riders won't have to re-do the whole Torre climb again. That's why we'll "only" have another 1st category KoM sprint at the finish line, but whoever arrives on top first after such a grueling stage will definitely merit a title like "King of Torre"!
So today's stage ends at 1,993 meters above sea level, on the Top of (mainland) Portugal - and which rider is going to wave from the top of the podium tonight? When it comes down to stage winners, the bookies see Monsalve above the rest, with his great mountain skills and very high resistance and stamina making him today's number one favorite. However, he's already had a bad day - can he gain back enough time today?
The Venezuelan is closely followed by race leader Meintjes and Schelling, though, who almost match him on the long climbs and have got a great physical condition as well. However, it remains an open question how fresh the latter's legs are going to be, as he seems to recover a bit worse than the two others.
Recovery's something that shouldn't be an issue for Bennett or Carapaz. And while the former needs to gain some time today, given that he cannot rely on his ITT skills to do so, the latter certainly wants to move up from his mediocre GC position.
Surprisingly, the bookies place Brenes on the same level as the two previous riders, although he's a bit weaker on the climbs. But his resistance, which is only matched by Monsalve and slightly excelled by ITT specialist Yatsevich, could be the key for a great stage result. He won't be a factor in the GC, though.
Preidler can't be happy with his race so far, and will seek to improve today. His rather low stamina probably places him a bit lower on this list, but he could definitely match Carapaz. And if he wants a decent GC result, he'd rather do a great job today, as he'll probably be among the tailenders tomorrow.
Bongiorno and Kirsch have quite similar skillsets, with the first having a slightly better physical condition, but the latter having a great GC position to defend.
Carthy completes this list - which just shows how strong Monsalve's support is! It's doubtful that the Brit could really get a good result himself, but if he helps his leader destroy the rest of the pack, that would be a huge success, too.
5 out of the current GC Top 6 are present on the favorites list - Bobridge is missing here for obvious reasons. He'll try to hold on as long as possible and maybe gain back some time tomorrow, but he'll definitely not keep the 2nd place today. But many others who aren't estimated to be among today's Top 10 by the bookies could pull off great results: Ji - who might be lacking some resistance, though -, Konig, Talansky, or the two U25 rivals Padun and Oomen.
Let's see what this stage brings us - the race is on!
The riders are getting ready - let's see how many of them will actually finish the stage within the time limit!
There aren't any attacks right from the line - but with 4km to the top of the first hill, Zielinski decides that it's time to go. He was dropped early from the breakaway yesterday, so he surely wants to do better today.
Laengen did much better yesterday, finishing 4th - but he seemingly wants to improve on that, too. With him are Brenes - one of the bookies' stage favorites -, Aidan Van Niekerk and De Marchi, who contributed a lot to Gallopin's stage win yesterday.
Today is the last chance for baroudeurs to get a notable result, so of course there are more attacks:
Preidler - another stage favorite, who has already lost quite a lot of time previously. Sepulveda Vilela Destribois, who has definitly shown the home team's colors these last days, and who has a good shot at the KoM jersey, too Augustyn Lane, another KoM contender
The next duo is led by Preidler's key domestique Buchmann, who was joined by Nitu. Henao was already part of yesterday's successful breakaway, finishing 9th, and tries to catch up with them.
Jaramillo - 2nd in the KoM standings and wearing the jersey in Chernetskiy's stead - and Foliforov are trying to join the fun, too.
And with this trio of attackers, we've once more reached the "magical" mark of 19 breakaway riders. Canty, former KoM leader Gebrezgabihier and Roman are getting clear of the bunch, too.
We finally have a new record, as another wave of attacks sets the counter to 24.
Areruya, Power, Bardet - yesterday's 10th -, Vuillermoz and Eg further enhance a really powerful - and now even Power-ful - group.
As we reach the first KoM sprint, all these breakaway riders are still scattered all over the climb - let's see if all of them can eventually make it to the front.
At the very front is Laengen, who gets his first 6 KoM points of the race.
This is actually true for all of these three. De Marchi and Van Niekerk complete this group of 5, closely followed by Preidler, Augustyn, Sepulveda, Destribois and Lane. All others are between 30" and 1'30" back.
There hasn't been a reaction in the pack so far - nor any further attacks. Fominykh leads them over the summit 3'35" behind the front group.
After some more kilometers, all the escapees have finally joined the leaders. Let's just try to get an overview:
Canty
Power
Lane
Jaramillo
Augustyn
Roman
Destribois
Vilela
Vuillermoz
Van Niekerk
Laengen
Eg
Henao
Zielinski
Preidler
Buchmann
De Marchi
Gebrezgabihier
Brenes
Sepulveda
Bardet
Nitu
Foliforov
Areruya
It might be too much to discuss everyone's strengths and weaknesses. Preidler and Brenes, who both are among the bookies' Top 10, are the strongest climbers, with Jaramillo and Bardet next on the list. Most have really similar climbing skills, though, with Van Niekerk, Gebrezgabihier and Zielinski somewhat weaker.
In terms of GC, Augustyn is the group's best rider, currently in 19th place, with Preidler not far away in 21st position. Roman is 5th in the U25 standings and might be attacking the podium.
It's worth noting too that the two teams leading the team standings, Bennelong and Isostar, both have 3 riders in this group, therefore both aiming at winning this title.
And finally, let's talk about the KoM points:
Jaramillo
28
Gebrezgabihier
24
Destribois
22
Lane
19
Roman
16
Henao
8
Vilela
6
Plus those three who gained some points at the first KoM sprint today. Chernetskiy with his 38 points is definitely far from being safe, with still 57 points on offer.
In the meantime, Biermans has upped the pace a bit in the pack, and the gap is down right below the 3 minutes mark. Hänninen, Fenn and Fominykh are taking turns, too. Lander and Van der Lijke jump in from time to time as well.
Unlike the KoM points, the sprint points are once again not contested at all. Nitu just happens to cross the line first.
1. Nitu - 6
2. Zielinski - 4
3. Van Niekerk - 2
The pack continues to gain back a few seconds. 2'19" remaining, but more than 140km still to go.
This actually looks like an intermediate sprint - but it's a category 4 KoM sprint. Destribois edges out Sepulveda for the maximum here.
Destribois moves up to 3rd with these points - but the first 4 riders mentioned above could take over the virtual jersey on the next climb.
The peloton seems to be happy with a gap around 2'30", as it has stabilized in this region by now.
On the last few flat kilometers of the day - 15km to go until the last intermediate sprint - it's still the same teams chasing. Kanerva and Van Aert are currently up front in the bunch.
But the main reason for showing this is because it's just a beautiful view on the mountains. And on the esacpees up front, who still keep their gap of slightly more than 2 minutes. That's nothing however, considering what's yet to come in a few moments...
And now we're done with the flat stuff for today. De Marchi takes the final intermediate sprint of the race, and they'll be attacking the climb up to Torre in an instant.
1. De Marchi - 6
2. Vilela - 4
3. Eg - 2
The pack has come closer and closer, being just 1'39" behind by now, and you can spot them on the downhill right behind.
Here's the profile of this brutal climb. 27km long. The last 7-8km aren't too steep any more, but it's going to be hard enough anyway.
This time, there will be a short descent after a first steep section. The end of this descent will correspond with the end of the descent from the Parque Natural da Serra da Estrela climb, so from there on the riders will have to do the climb twice - including the hardest ramps soon after.
As soon as the peloton enters the climb, the first riders fall apart. It's the well known ones - including tomorrow's favorite Yatsevich and other good time trialists like Predatsch or Vassdal. Fingers crossed that they can make the time limit!
Not much happened so far, both groups aren't setting the highest pace yet. The peloton keeps the escapees at about 90" of distance. Omarsson, Moscon, Cerny and Blums are setting the pace - decent climbers, but by far not the key domestiques yet.
Puncheurs like Bobridge and Skujins, who wisely positioned themselves near the very front at the beginning of the climb, are losing positions in the pack, but aren't near the end yet.
Now the riders are on the section they'll have to do twice. You can see the other descent, from Parque Natural da Serra da Estrela, with the 20km arc higher up on the mountain. Roman is upping the pace a bit at the front of the breakaway.
The pack is about to finish the intermediate descent as well, and only trails by 1'05" now.
Behind, it's really not looking good for Yatsevich and Boudat. They're already 10 minutes back, and there are still more than 80km to go for them...
Just to give you some impressions of how steep this part of the climb really is. All 24 riders are still in the breakaway, with the KoM jersey Jaramillo at the very end currently.
Meanwhile, the peloton is already down to 80 riders, with all GC contenders still in it - including the strongest puncheurs.
If it wasn't that steep, I'd really like to go for a ride here in this beautiful region. But even the pros are suffering - and Gebrezgabihier is the first escapee who can't keep up any more. He's already a minute down, and has about 30" on the peloton.
The war of attrition has definitely started. Van Niekerk, Vilela and Roman are done and will soon be swallowed by the pack - and probably left behind right away.
Only 65 riders remain in the peloton - not many helpers left to reel in that 20-man breakaway, I'd dare to say... With Dall'Oste, Schir and Lehtinen it's now another category of climbers setting the pace, which explains why only so few are still able to follow. But to get rid of Bobridge, Skujins et al., that's surely the best strategy.
But the breakaway goes down in numbers as well. Buchmann, Zielinski and De Marchi are the next riders who can't follow. Remember, they're only doing the first out of three big climbs today!
The remaining escapees have clearly accelerated, as the gap to the pack has jumped up to more than 3 minutes within the last kilometers!
After the 4th in the virtual KoM standings, it's now the 3rd who has to let go with Destribois. Chernetskiy's hopes of retaining the jersey will surely be rising - but it's still a long way to go, and the 2nd, Jaramillo, is still ahead.
Oh, er... WAS ahead, actually! That's really disappointing for him and his team, as only Augustyn is left up front, but still 3 Bennelong riders.
Which means that out of all riders who had more than 10 KoM points pre-stage, only Lane is left up front, and he's still 19 points behind Chernetskiy.
The latter is still in the pack, but with more than 3 minutes behind will certainly not score on top of this HC climb.
Only Henao and Sepulveda are really fighting for maximum points here, so Lane probably won't take over the jersey for now. Vuillermoz is leading the chasers, but the front duo goes much harder.
Sepulveda outsprints Henao and is the winner on the only HC climb of this race - and makes a big jump in the standings, of course:
The pack took it relatively easy on the final slopes, being now 4 minutes down - and down to 49 riders nonetheless! All GC Top 20 riders except Augustyn, who's up front, and Koretzky, who's just lost contact, are still here, though - meaning most have just one or two helpers left!
Yes, they were up there a few minutes ago. On the downhill, we see some breakaway riders desperately trying to make their way back - and a peloton obviously taking more risks than the front group, as they're closing in again.
Nitu, who arrived at the summit a bit more than a minute back, has caught up with the leaders again, proving that the speed can't be that high right now.
So we now have a group of just 15 riders left:
Canty
Power
Lane
Laengen
Eg
Preidler
Brenes
Foliforov
Bardet
Henao
Nitu
Augustyn
Vuillermoz
Sepulveda
Areruya
De Marchi, Zielinski, Destribois and Jaramillo are just a few seconds ahead of the pack now - a pack which has reduced its gap to the breakaway by a minute already on this downhill. Hasta and Gesbert are pulling right now.
The breakaway is approaching the end of the downhill - and therefore the start of the next climb. It has an average incline of less than 5% - but it's more than 15 kilometers long! Let's see if someone else is feeling some tired legs by now...
And here we go! While the front group is already 1,500 meters further up the road, the pack just catches the foursome De Marchi, Zielinski, Destribois and Jaramillo ahead of the left turn that marks the start of the climb. Dall'Oste, Rodrigues, Hasta and Gesbert are setting the pace.
The gap is still 3'20" - but given the length of this climb, it's far from sure that the breakaway will arrive on top ahead of the peloton's remainders.
Preidler seems to have some fans up here. He's still in the breakaway and should have good chances for a great stage result - and a jump in the GC, too.
It's Power leading the group, with 10km of the climb yet to do. But they can see the peloton quickly approaching - only 2'28" behind, meaning another minute has just gone. Kastrantas and Lehtinen are helping with the chase now.
There are still 5km of climbing to do, and the breakaway is now well within the peloton's sight. In numbers: 1'33". Dall'Oste and Kastrantas are powering up the mountain. And Bakelants seems to have a great day, too, as he's still in 7th position! His puncheur rivals are rather at the end of the group in the meantime...
With the pack reducing the gap to just a minute, Preidler decides it's time to speed up. With 3.5km still to climb, he takes over and tries to sprint away. To no avail, though.
But he still shaked off some more companions: Eg, Lane and Canty. Which means that no breakaway rider has a teammate left anymore - 12 riders, 12 teams.
With just a kilometer left, Henao tries to launch his winning move - at least for this KoM sprint. Areruya is the first to respond, let's see if he can counter this strong move.
Meanwhile, Augustyn had to let go, too - and Lane has recovered a bit and has already left the South African behind.
Areruya has indeed caught up with Henao - but too late. The Colombian takes full points:
Which means that Henao and Chernetskiy are now ex-aequo leaders! The last climb will have to decide - or the GC position, if none of them gets any more points.
Sepulveda moves up to 3rd with these points and could still have a chance of taking the lead, too. All others who are within 16 points of the lead - the number of points on offer at the finish line - have been dropped from the breakaway and/or from the pack, so it's going to be one of these three taking the jersey! Chernetskiy is still in the peloton, by the way.
Lehtinen is still pulling the peloton uphill, and they're about to reel in Eg and Canty. Augustyn and Lane are further up the road, and especially the latter may hope to re-join the leading group on the short downhill.
The gap has again increased a bit and is now 2'12".
20km to go for the breakaway - only 3 of them downhill, the remaining route being the second climb up to Torre!
Preidler seemingly had some problems keeping up towards the summit and is trying to close the gap on the downhill - which shouldn't be an issue, given his great skills on negative slopes.
You already know this profile, but let's still look at it again. For the breakaway, it's unlikely anyone still has the energy for a long range attack. In the peloton, however, the riders who need to gain a lot of time should definitely try something right at the start of the climb, as this is where the steepest ramps are.
Especially if they want to finally get rid of Bobridge and his great ITT skills, they need to make the race as hard as possible now. The last 7-8km are probably too "easy" to gain a decent amount of time.
Preidler indeed has made it just in time for the start of the climb - the final climb of the 2019 Volta a Portugal, and therefore probably the decisive one! It should separate the strong men from the men - the boys are already gone for a long time. Let's get the final action started!
By the way, the peloton takes it easier on this downhill, as the gap is 2'50" now. Lane is still in between and probably won't make it to the front again.
Let's just take a final look at our 50-man peloton, before it will break into pieces. Even Bobridge and Skujins seem to start feeling the fatigue, as they're quite close to the rear now.
And here's the first move! Bardet attacks, Nitu takes his wheel but soon has to abandon. No immediate reaction from the others - well, they still have 15km to do so. A constant pace sometimes can do wonders, too.
Monsalve's key domestique Carthy has finally clocked in and pushes really hard now. Lane is reeled in as a consequence, and the gap to the leaders has gone down to one minute in no time! Bardet is a further 30" ahead. 12.5km to go, and all GC contenders are still there - plus KoM and Points leader Chernetskiy.
Now it's Laengen accelerating, and he quickly reels in a tired Bardet, who doesn't even try to take the Norwegian's wheel.
Sepulveda and - surprisingly - Preidler are done and are just caught by Carthy.
At the same time, Bobridge finally has to let go! With still 12km of climbing left, that's quite early and could cost him a lot of time!
Chernetskiy is even one group further behind and has to hope Henao will finally crack, as the Colombian is his last rival for the KoM jersey. GC-wise, the Russian should easily keep him at bay, with a 9 minute difference pre-stage.
Skujins, 7th in the GC, is finally cooked as well. He's even just a few seconds ahead of Bobridge, but both may drop far away from the Top 10 today.
Laengen is doing a huge job, extending his lead almost meter by meter! He's now 32" ahead, and Henao, who's leading the chase, is looking quite tired, just as everyone else.
Nitu is the next one who couldn't keep up, so there are just seven men left chasing Laengen: Brenes, Foliforov, Bardet, Henao, Power, Vuillermoz and Areruya.
The pack is still a minute behind the chasers, and therefore 90" behind Laengen.
And we finally have an attack from the pack - a long awaited one: Padun tries to extend his lead in the U25 standings and attacks on the short flat part ahead of the last really steep slopes.
He catches up with the remainders of the breakaway in no time and is already about to leave them behind.
Next target: Laengen, who is having a fantastic ride and is already 1'24" ahead! The pack is 55" further back, and 7.5km - most of them rather easy, are left.
It seems as if Brenes had waited for someone to join the group from behind, as he has got enough left in the tank to take Padun's wheel. Half a minute of Laengen's lead is already gone, with the pack not really reacting yet. Padun currently even has got the virtual yellow jersey!
Here's the situation:
Head of the race: Laengen
+ 1'01" Padun, Brenes
+ 1'22" Bardet, Henao
+ 1'51" Foliforov, Power, Vuillermoz, Areruya
+ 2'24"
Peloton, including Monsalve, Meintjes, Schelling, Carapaz, Bennett, Preidler, Bongiorno, Carthy, Kirsch, Konig, Ji, Talansky, Bakelants and some others - a total of 23 riders.
And now we have Monsalve's first attack! But Meintjes immediately takes his wheel.
But Areruya, who was just caught by Monsalve and Meintjes, gives all he's got left and brings Bennett and the rest of the pack back.
Further up the road, we see Brenes who finally cracked and couldn't keep Padun's wheel. The latter is just 31" behind Laengen now - and still 1'04" ahead of the pack, which would just not be enough for the GC lead anymore.
With just a little more than 5km remaining, Bakelants cracks as well, being the last puncheur standing. But given the long flat part, he should by far not lose as much time as Skujins and Bobridge, who are about 3 minutes down the road.
Only five kilometers to go, and Laengen is still leading the race! However, Padun's gap is down to a few seconds now.
And here we have the new front duo! Padun has got a huge chance to take the stage win here, given that Laengen must be really tired by now. And with a 1'05" gap on the peloton, he still might take the yellow jersey with some bonus seconds!
But Monsalve isn't done yet and attacks again. But as last time, Meintjes is very attentive and immediately jumps to his wheel. Areruya tries to close the gap again, but this time he's just empty.
So the other team leaders have to finally do some work now. None of them even tried to attack before, and now they have to react. That's a strategy, but maybe not the winning one.
Bennett, Konig, Chiarello, Schelling, Talansky and Bongiorno try to catch up with Monsalve and Meintjes - but they've already got a 30" gap!
From the Top 10 - besides the puncheurs - Kirsch and Tvetcov are missing in this group, they're 26" further back.
We almost forgot that Brenes was still between the leaders and the chasers. He'll try to keep up with Monsalve and Meintjes, but that should be a hard piece of work...
Padun and Laengen are still one minute ahead - with just 2 kilometers to go, this looks really great!
Meanwhile, group Bennett doesn't really get closer, either, so it could still be a good move for Monsalve - even though he doesn't seem to be able to shake off Meintjes.
It's the red kite for Padun and Laengen, who hasn't done any work since he was caught - understandibly.
But Meintjes and Monsalve have come really close now - only 37" of advantage left! And behind, group Bennett, who is just about to catch Brenes, is only 17" behind - we could actually have a wide open fight for the stage win!
Bongiorno has been dropped from group Bennett and is now half a minute behind, with the likes of Carapaz, Kirsch, Ji, Oomen or Tvetcov.
What a surprise! Laengen actually has got more left than Padun and just leaves the Ukranian behind! The U25 leader probably focused so much on extending his gap that he didn't keep in mind the fight for the stage win. Or is he just bluffing and will strike back in no time?
But both of them really should hurry up, as Meintjes is approaching really fast! 700m to go!
And Monsalve has cracked again! Meintjes just leaves him behind and is now chasing Padun, who definitely had to let go of Laengen!
Talansky, Bennett, Chiarello and Konig are trying to catch up with Monsalve, whereas Schelling and Brenes have been dropped as well.
Meanwhile, Tvetcov, Carapaz and Ji are closing in quickly on this duo.
There are just 300m left for Laengen - what a huge success that would be for him!
Padun is clearly fading, and Meintjes is going as strong as he did two days ago when he won the stage!
With 100m to the line, the Norwegian should be pretty safe now. It's less of a safe thing for Padun though - he'll have to fight hard to hold on to this 2nd place!
And the winner up here on the Torre mountain is Vegard Stake Laengen! He played it really smart, benefiting from Padun's work - and had enough left in the tank to sprint to the most prestigious stage win in this tour. Congratulations!
Behind, Meintjes and Padun are now on level terms - who's got that little bit more left in his legs to take 2nd?
Further down the road, we see Talansky, Chiarello, Bennett and Monsalve riding around the corner, whereas Konig is losing some ground.
Louis Meintjes takes that 2nd place, outsprinting a tired Mark Padun. They lose 21" and 24" respectively. It's a good stage for both of them, with Meintjes taking a huge step towards the overall win, and Padun likely increasing his margin to Oomen quite a bit - and surely making a jump in the GC, too.
Talansky seems to be the strongest from the second group and is leading ahead of Chiarello and Bennett, whereas Monsalve seems to have nothing left.
Konig just has a small gap to the Venezuelan and tries to leave behind Tvetcov, Carapaz and Ji.
Andrew Talansky outsprints the others for 4th, 40" behind the winner. William Chiarello has his best showing in this tour, taking 5th, 48" down.
George Bennett is next, getting the same time as the Brazilian, but Monsalve loses a few additional seconds (+ 55") to finish 7th of the stage. That's definitely not what he was targeting. Let's see how this alters his GC position.
Konig seems to be set for 8th, but beware of Tvetcov's final sprint!
Schelling, who doesn't have his best day, either, and former escapee Brenes follow behind Ji and Carapaz.
Serghei Tvetcov finally wins the sprint for 8th, with a fading Leopold Konig just securing 9th ahead of Richard Antonio Carapaz, who rounds off the Top 10. All of them are 1'01" behind Laengen.
Jianhua Ji loses 6" more and finishes 11th. And here are the riders completing today's Top 20:
12.
Patrick Schelling
+ 1'25"
13.
Gregory Brenes
+ 1'28"
14.
Alex Kirsch
+ 1'54"
15.
Francesco Bongiorno
+ 1'54"
16.
Hugh Carthy
+ 2'00"
17.
Sam Oomen
+ 2'00"
18.
Andris Vosekalns
+ 2'00"
19.
Alexis Vuillermoz
+ 2'05"
20.
Joseph Areruya
+ 2'05"
Places 21 to 27 are then taken by breakaway members, too, and we have the best puncheur on P27 with Bakelants, losing 3'23". Skujins, 7th pre-stage, loses 5'41", whereas Bobridge, previously 2nd in the GC, is 6'02" back.
It takes more than an hour for the last riders to finish the race - and one of them just misses the cut by a few seconds: Boudat. This means that top ITT specialist Yatsevich is still in the race - but which will be his condition tomorrow?
Well, let's talk about tomorrow later, and let's now celebrate today's heros!
Congratulations once again to Vegard Stake Laengen! He narrowly missed out on a stage podium yesterday - but today he was simply the strongest, the only survivor from the breakaway. With a well-timed attack and a wise strategy, he was able to fend off Louis Meintjes in the end. The South African was once more the strongest man from the pack and extends his lead - well done!
Well done, that can be said as well of Mark Padun, who was the only one to have the guts to attack rather early from the pack - and it at least paid partially off. He finishes 3rd, moves up in the GC, and extends his lead in the U25 standings - great ride by him, too!
And here is our race leader, and probable winner of the Volta a Portugal - Louis Meintjes! Although Padun was wearing the virtual yellow jersey for some kilometers, Meintjes was never in real danger of losing it. He followed two attacks of his main rival Monsalve and just distanced him when he was done.
Currently 2nd is a rather unspectacular, but very consistent rider: George Bennett! The Kiwi never went attacking, but always finished near the top - which made him lose 1'15" so far.
And on 3rd place, we now have Mark Padun! With his gutsy move, he gains 6 positions to step on the provisional podium, losing 1'24". However, Monsalve is just 6" back and should still be the favorite for 2nd place - more on that later.
With today's 2nd place, Louis Meintjes is now leading the points standings, too, 6 points ahead of Yonathan Monsalve, and 10 ahead of Sergey Chernetskiy. But the most dangerous opponent might be Bobridge in 4th, 17 points behind - a great result tomorrow could do the trick for him.
Unfortunately, the race organizers somehow got their KoM points calculation wrong, awarding 1st category plus HC KoM points on the final climb. The MGUCI fixed the standings later by hand, which is why we unfortunately don't have a picture of the "true" King of the Mountains: Sergey Chernetskiy! That's why we just took the picture of him wearing the points jersey yesterday, to at least have somthing to show.
The Russian is now tied for first with Sebastian Henao, both totalling 38 points, but he's a bit more than 4 minutes ahead in the GC.
3rd place goes to today's winner Vegard Stake Laengen with 30 points. No more points are on offer, so this should be the final result already.
Although he looks tired and still a bit disappointed of not having been able to take the stage win, Mark Padun still made a huge step towards winning the white jersey. He is now 2'04" ahead of Sam Oomen. The Dutchman is the better time trialist, but 2 minutes sounds like too much to gain back - but let's see.
There was some movement behind the two superior U25 riders, though. De Plus lost more than 5 minutes on Padun, after having done a lot of work, and he was overtaken by Guerreiro, who is now 4th, and by Joseph Areruya who takes the last spot on the provisional podium. These three are within 43" of each other - but with none of them being a good TT rider, anything could happen. Areruya's chances of holding on to 3rd are quite high, though.
And last but not least, we have a leader change in the team standings! After Bennelong - Mitchelton played it really well with 3 riders in the breakaway, they weren't able to pull off a top stage result, and so Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ take the lead - by a mere 17", though! With the Australians having the far better ITT roster, it's hard to see them not taking back the lead tomorrow.
Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff move up to 3rd - more than 4 minutes down, but 2 minutes ahead of 4th, too. At least we'll have a real fight for first.
Well, that's it from a long, exhausting stage. Meintjes seems to be set for the win, whereas Monsalve, being a much better ITT rider than Padun and Bennett, should be the favorite for 2nd place. But who knows...
And then, there are Konig and Tvetcov, the Top 10's best time trialists, who are just 35" and 37" behind the provisional podium - so we seem to be set for a great fight for the spots behind Meintjes! Stay tuned, and see you tomorrow!
Volta a Portugal 
