So the Balkans International reaches its conclusion with a 226km run from Berat to Ioannina in Greece. Before the race it seemed likely that the GC could come down to this stage and quite possibly the final 6km climb to Ligkiades. And sitting at the start line that seems to be the case. Race favorite Hagen brought a relatively weak team and in Stage 1 they let Calmejane, Waeytens and Denz build up a 2 minute lead in a breakaway win. Those riders remain 1st, 2nd and 9th on GC. Today we will see if that was a well-judged strategy or a fatal mistake.
It is certainly within reach for Hagen as he trails Calmejane by 39 seconds and Waeytens by just 11. Overall there are 14 riders within 3 minutes of the lead including climbers like Beltran, Konrad, Guldhammer and Arndt. This could be a stage where ability on long climbs comes into play. The 14 we will focus on for the GC are:
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Lilian Calmejane
Team Europcar
33h48'46
2
Zico Waeytens
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
+ 28
3
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Air France - KLM
+ 39
4
Peter Sagan
Moser - Sygic
+ 1'23
5
Eduard Alexander Beltran
Swisslion Cycling Team
+ 1'36
6
Matej Mohoric
Isostar - LimeBike
+ 1'41
7
Patrick Konrad
Gazelle
+ 1'51
8
Tomohiro Kinoshita
Rakuten Pro Cycling
+ 1'52
9
Nico Denz
Kraftwerk Man Machine
+ 1'53
10
Wilco Kelderman
Philips
+ 2'00
11
Alexey Lutsenko
SPAR - Siam Cement
+ 2'03
12
Rasmus Guldhammer
T-Mobile
+ 2'24
13
Nikias Arndt
Team Puma - SAP
+ 2'31
14
Tejay Van Garderen
T-Mobile
+ 2'50
15th placed Schreurs, the 4th rider in that day 1 breakaway, is much further back at 4’16.
The race includes 7 categorized climbs including a Cat 1 and a Cat 2. In addition, there are 3 significant uncategorized claims, after the last categorized climb, including the climb to the finish (which has Cat 4 points). Being in the breakaway will be pivotal to winning the KOM jersey. In addition to the KOM and Yellow being in play, Mohoric has just a 12 second lead over Denz in the young rider competition. With 3rd placed Padun over 6 minutes behind it should be decided between those 2.
Hagen has a clear lead in the points competition so as long as he doesn’t drop significant points to 2nd and 3rd places ( Calmejane and Beltran) he should win that jersey.
To put all that more simply, the whole race hangs in the balance. The press stage favorites show up as:
The first climb is very soon after the start so with 2km gone and 3km to the Cat 4 KOM point we have the first attacks.
Spar ( Azman) and Isostar ( Katrasnik) have typically been staying in the peloton and chasing so interesting to see them attacking here. Behind them are Latour and Le Gac. Both have been in the breaks before.
At the top of the climb they have been joined by a second Spar rider, Gidich. Azman takes the points ahead of Le Gac and Latour.
About a minute behind 5 more riders are trying to bridge across to these 5 including top puncheur Flügel who starts the day in 29th. Kulczyk is again chasing the break, we will see if that helps them this time.
5 more riders go off the front including Pozzo for Kulczyk but the Yellow Jersey’s team isn’t happy with this latest group and Matthews is chasing. All 15 riders are still within 2 minutes of the peloton.
But the peloton gives up and the lead is out to over 3 minutes with 20k ridden. They also let another 5 riders go off the front in two groups. One of them is Barbin. We have missed him the last couple of stages. He is the last rider pictured, the first 18 riders are almost together with 2 more 1’06 behind.
With 200km to go let’s take stock of the breakaway. While the last big break was dominated by a few teams this time we have 14 different teams with 4 having 2 riders. Spar, Rakuten and Isostar who have all contributed to the chasing on other stages are in the break. The full list:
van der Hugenhaben Klemme Hofland Flügel Le Gac Goh Moschella Vichot Sergis Latour Lavery Katrasnik Pozzo Barbin Novak Shirota Azman Gidich
Sergis and Flügel are the best placed on GC at 8’43. Le Gac is the best placed for the KOM, 18 points behind after he scored 3 on the first climb.
This group has 4 minutes on the peloton. Gradek and Jang are 1’35 behind, not clear if they will make it across.
At the top of the KOM Klemme, riding to protect Duchesne KOM lead, battles it out with and Le Gac.
And Klemme, wins it, but Le Gac takes 3 points and is now 15 points down.
At the next KOM, which is just 6km later, Kraftwerk does Carrefour a favor as Flügel starts the attacks.
Flügel, Sergis and Novak take the points. Before this stage the 3 had 1 KOM point combined, Phillips must be frustrated.
But there are still plenty of points on the course and the breakaway is about to start the biggest climb of the day. It is 11.1 km at 5.2% to Maja Cuka E Sotirit. There are 16 points available at the top. With 186 km to go the peloton is 7’34 back. The two riders in between are approximately halfway between the break and the peloton. Doesn’t look like they will make it.
5km to go to the summit, a number of riders are sitting on the back of the break including both Spar riders. The lead is 7’20.
With 1.6k to the top Sergis attacks and 7 riders break clear. The others aren’t dropped as much as uninterested.
With 1km to the top Hofland tries to drag the rest of the break back to the 7 attackers who are still led by Sergis. Surprisingly Azman has lost significant ground.
With 200 meters to go Klemme and Goh launch counter attacks.
And those two take the top 2 spots
Le Gac settles for 7th and just 2 points. There are 22 points available on the next 3 climbs Le Gac needs 14 of them to lead the KOM.
Over the climb 11 riders are together in the break. One group of 6 riders is about 40 seconds back including both Generali rider, both Devaux riders, Katrasnik and Pozzo Azman is significantly further behind, he has lost almost 2 minutes. The peloton is 7’26 back. That has gone out to 8’35 by the time the peleton reaches the top of the climb.
With the descent and subsequent valley ride we have about 70km of straightforward riding before the next Cat 2 climb. It takes about 20k for the 6 riders rejoin the front of the race. At 4’38 back Azman looks done for the day. The lead over the peloton is 8’09.
In the flat the peloton begins to ride. Lierse, Puma, Pop4ever and Bennelong are the ones working. Air France continues to keep their powder dry.
By the time the break reaches the sprint point with 138 km to go the lead is down to 5’39.
With 104km to go the break reach the base of the Cat 2 climb to Vasiliko, it is 7k at 5.6% with the hardest stretch near the bottom. The lead is down to 3’34 as those same 4 chasing teams committed more riders. There is not much more flat left from here on in.
4km to go and 5 riders have been dropped. They are Moschella, Latour, Katrasnik, Pozzo and most significantly Le Gac.
It looks like Katrasnik is spent and gapped the others. Le Gac is being left to do the work to close the gap they are 49 seconds adrift.
On the hill the peloton has relented and the lead is back to 5 minutes. Up front the attacks have started with 1.5 km to climb. Lavery has dropped back to help Latour, it isn’t looking good for Le Gac he is 1’05 behind.
With the KOM banner insight Gidich makes a decisive attack.
At the top of the climb Gidich takes the 10 points ahead of Sergis and Goh. Le Gac’s will get 0, his KOM hopes are over unless he finishes in the top 3 on the stage.
Lavery leads the 6 dropped riders over 2’14 down. Latour should have closed the gap when he had a chance.
When the peloton crosses the top they are 5’32 behind. The Latour group is still 1’57 behind the front of the race.
About 15km’s later the peleton have closed that to 3’46 with the same teams working. Lavery has done all he can for Latour and has been dropped. The gap to the front group is down to 59 seconds but Latour is doing the work himself with a little help from Katrasnik and Le Gac. The other 2 have teammates ahead.
With 80km to ride and 1.5 km to the top of the Cat 3 Monodendri Latour gets back to the front but almost immediately at the front of the group Klemme attacks.
Klemme’s attack has drawn out Gidich and Shirota. They have 19 seconds.
The peloton is 2’24 back but aren’t easing as much on this climb. The 3 attackers take the mountain points and then wait for the rest. Although it looks like Vichot and Katrasnik have been dropped for good and Moschella, Pozzo and Le Gac have a smaller gap to close.
Nice work by Klemme as he definitively assures Duchesne will be the King of the Mountains. The peloton with 118 riders crosses the KOM point 2’56 behind. Nobody significant has been dropped.
The break have started the climb to the last categorized climb on the course. None of the dropped riders have made it back and it doesn’t look good for them so we are down to 11 riders left in the break from 11 different teams.
With 1km to the top Sergis attacks. Shirota and Barbin have been dropped.
As Sergis leads them over the top the break is disintegrating.
The peloton is 3’48 behind, 1 km from the top of the climb. Lierse is leading and the Yellow and Green jerseys are both showing strongly.
With 60km to ride the break has reformed with 9 riders. All the rest are back in the peloton. The lead is 2’56. The peloton is down to 47 riders from damage on the last climb and among those dropped are 15th placed Schreurs and 17th placed Skujins. Neither the Yellow or Green jersey’s have any teammates left and there are not a lot of fresh domestiques. The break could still win this.
The 9 surviving riders in the break are: van der Hugenhaben Klemme Hofland Flügel Goh Sergis Latour Novak Gidich
As we start the next cilmb Novak and van der Hugenhaben are immediately distanced.
With 50km to go the break has 3’09, Bobridge closed the gap a little but then ran out of gas. There is a descent followed by a long gradual downhill then with 22km to go the climb to Mazia, 7k of downhill and then the final climb.
The 7 surviving riders from the break start the climb to Mazia with a lead of 2’06, whether one of them wins will depend on how aggressive the leaders are. The climb is 7.3k at 5.3%.
3km to the top and Latour attacks. Only Goh and Sergis respond.
Behind Arndt is driving on the front of the peloton. He relents after a little while and Oomen takes over the gap is out to 2’17. The front 3 have 43 seconds on their former companions. It is raining for the first time all race.
15k to go in the race, 2k in the climb and Gidich has almost bridged up to the front 3.
Just as he gets there Sergis attacks. As they reach the top his lead is 17 seconds over the other 3. He has 1’28 over the remainder of the break and 3’18 over the peloton. The peloton is down to 36 riders but the top 14 are all still there.
At the top of the same climb Beltran starts an attack he is joined by Guldhammer and Arndt. 9 seconds behind them is a group with Lutsenko, Mohoric, Oomen, Padun and Chamorro. They have 20 seconds on the peloton. Gazelle is trying to close them down for Konrad.
Up front the 3 chasers have caught Sergis. They have 2’37 on the Beltran group. The remaining riders from the break - Klemme, Hofland, and Flügel are 1’21 behind. The leaders start the final climb, it is 5.6km at 6.7% with the steepest sections at the top.
The the attacking group has merged into one group of 8, the Yellow Jersey group is 21 seconds behind. One of the riders chasing in the peloton is Barbin who definitely deserves the most aggressive rider award for the race.
5km to go and Sergis attacks, Latour goes with him.
They quickly open up a 30 second gap. Sergis is trying to drop Latour but he can’t do it. As the peloton reaches the final climb the attack has been neutralized.
With 3.7 km to go the front two have a 52 second lead. The peloton has called a temporary truce and their lead over the peloton is back up to 3’19.
With just under 4k to go Guldhammer attacks. The climbers appear stronger at this point.
Up front Goh and Gidich have clawed their way almos back up to the other two. They have 2.7k to ride.
Arndt, Padun, Beltran, Smith and Kelderman try and follow Guldhammer. the Yellow jersey and the other top 14 are all still right there as well.
Padun loses the wheel and Arndt and Guldhammer get a gap. The 3 riders ahead are the dropped riders from the break not the leaders they are still 2’23 ahead.
Kelderman, Beltran and Calmejane close down Arndt and Guldhammer but can riders behind them hold the wheels?
Up front the 4 leaders are pacing up the mountain together. The latest attacks have reduced the lead to 1’31 but they only have 1.4 km to go.
As the green jersey of Hagen burst to the front, they have all the remaining breakaway riders in their sites. The break might not survive.
Under the 1k banner, everyone is on his limit, the top 14 are still all together.
From the helicopter you can see the finish, the last 4 escapees and the peloton. The front 4 have started to sprint, they might make it. On paper Latour is the best sprinter of the 4. Arndt is leading the chasing group. The White Jersey and Waeytens are right at the back of the group (out of the picture) and a gap may be forming.
Goh immediately cracks but it looks like the other 3 will be sprinting for the stage win.
A few meters to go, Gidich has cracked, Sergis has the lead but Latour is moving faster.
But he can’t catch him, Kaspars Sergis wins it for Evonik. Latour second, maybe that needless chase cost him the few meters he needed. Gidich takes third.
Arndt and Guldhammer take 4th and 5th. Goh has to settle for 6th.
Oomen takes 7th, Beltran 8th and the Yellow Jersey 9th. He won’t lose the jersey today - Lilian Calmejane will be the surprise winner of the 2019 Balkans International. Van Garderen rounds out the top 10
Hagen has to settle for 14th. The time loss on Stage 1 does come back to haunt him.
The 3 riders surviving from the break ended up with a 21 second gap and all the bonus seconds. While the chasers were very close together there were 2 gaps: 12 seconds between 7th and 8th and 20 seconds between 23rd and 24th. The first gap gave Arndt and Guldhammer a little edge but didn’t change any GC positions. But among the riders losing the extra 20 seconds in 24th and 26th were Mohoric and Waeytens. For Waetyens this means he slips from 2nd to 3rd on the GC. For Mohoric he drops from 6th all they way to 10th and since Denz finished in 11th, with most of the front group, he take 20 seconds on Mohoric and wins the White Jersey.
As noted earlier Duchesne retains the KOM jersey, Hagen does enough to keep the points and T-Mobile extends their leader in the team competition. So while all the jerseys hung in the balance only the White changes hands.
Balkans International 
