Two stages, nineteen different top ten finishers. Still, there are enough top riders who haven't achieved a top ten on either stage, and for them it is the final chance. We will see the conclusion of Ras Tailteann over this 175 kilometer stage. As flat as those before, the final kilometer will decide everything. Everyone but two riders is still within the 25 seconds which are awarded to the winner, so literally everyone but those two can win, assuming the breakaway is caught as always.
Three teams we haven't seen in a breakaway before send in a rider for today's effort: Taubel Rutsch Walscheid
An intermediate sprint is 35 kilometer away, so maybe the sprinter teams want to chase.
They are caught a good 20 kilometer before that sprint, just as Cote, Rathe and Oss also tried. They couldn't even get away one inch.
Six riders try, and receive 30 seconds with 13 kilometer to the sprint: Bissegger Van Avermaet Rathe Cruz Jerman Walscheid
There is no chase, the gap is three minutes as we cross the line. Walscheid wins the sprint ahead of Van Avermaet and Rathe. The next sprint is in 75 kilometer, and it doesn't look like the rain period will come to an end soon.
70 kilometer to go and the gap is just over two minutes. Teams doing their duty at the front of peloton are Gjensidige, Los Pollos, Bralirwa, Tryg and Carlsberg. Van Moer had a puncture but returned without problems.
Rathe ends up winning the second intermediate sprint and picks up three bonus seconds. Walscheid second and Cruz third. The lead is 2 minutes and 30 seconds, 60 kilometer to go with a final intermediate sprint halfway between here and the finish. If the peloton wants, they could catch the breakaway before that.
Five kilometer before the sprint the lead is still a minute. Cruz does not want to wait and attacks, no one else follows.
And that's how easily Cruz can win a sprint. It turns out he was the engine of the breakaway as his former mates have been caught by the peloton. Is any sprinter willing to take a punt on the remaining bonus seconds?
The answer is no, Oss and Frankovic receive them for free. This is good news for another rider who accidentally received bonus seconds: S. Mugisha, who is now assured of the youth classification if he finishes in the front group and no rival finishes in the top ten, the latter being very unlikely.
Pushpakumara thinks Cruz is lonely and wants to keep him company. Not that difficult to achieve as the gap was only 20 seconds at this point in the race.
Not five but still twenty kilometer to go, as we have a short local lap. The duo is caught but Rathe wants to give it another go, but he wouldn't last two kilometer.
10k, Agrotis just did a turn at the front and now it's over to the Andorra team with five riders, Awang as fifth. The twisty laps increase the danger of cracks, those high up in the GC are all near the front but the usual suspects of Reinhardt, Bennett, Keough and Mareczko haven't learned their lesson. At least it has finally stopped raining.
And eventually a split occurs which caught those riders behind. McCormick tries to mend it, but they only have six kilometer and the front is not going to slow down. Bennett will not have a chance to show himself in a sprint for his home crowd.
Abraha tows Salleh to the front, but yesterday should have learned them that leading early is not a smart move. Andorra is almost out of riders as only Kireva is left to lead out Awang. Behind them are Bouhanni, Pelucchi, Coutinho, Carsi and Krieger. Yellow and Green ( Kragh Andersen and Kip) alongside each other around 15th place with Cisse, Guillen, Habtom and Tewelde.
Mezgec passes everyone to relief Abraha as guidance for Salleh, but the Malaysian slows down and suddenly the Slovenian has a huge lead with 1500 meter to go. Kireva is also done so Awang now leading the sprinters train. Behind Krieger, a gap occurs where Kragh Andersen and Kip are caught behind. More gaps occurring further down the peloton, it will be surprising to see no gaps awarded today.
Team orders, Mezgec slows down to allow Salleh past. Where is everyone else? Awang still leads the pack but he's definitely not going full speed, neither are those around him. However, group Yellow-Green with the other sprinters is also not closing in either. Don't they realize this is the final lap?
Finally the sprint starts. Coutinho, Bouhanni, Carsi, Awang, Pelucchi and Krieger catch up to the empty Trans duo within 300 meters. Cisse and Habtom lead the sprint in group two with Kragh Andersen and Kip boxed in.
250m, looks to be between four riders. From top to bottom: Coutinho, Bouhanni, Carsi, Pelucchi. Krieger needs a late push, Salleh and Awang stopped sprinting.
The stage win goes to Mustafa Carsi! Coutinho takes second, Pelucchi third, Krieger fourth and Bouhanni fifth. Sixth place is still up for grabs, as Salleh and and Awang are close to being passed. Kragh Andersen now in the lead there with Guillen, Kip, Tewelde and Cisse.
Salleh holds on to sixth, Tewelde seventh and Kragh Andersen eighth, is that enough for the GC? Cisse and Habtom complete the top ten ahead of Merino Criado, Guillen, Fonseca, Kip and Martinelli. Awang falls all the way back to nineteenth.
Despite the gaps at one point, and this looking like quite the gap from fifth to sixth, once again no time differences are awarded except for a few riders at the back. After accounting for all the bonus seconds, we crown the winner of the 2020 Ras Tailteann:
Mustafa Carsi!
Despite a 32nd place on the opening stage, he bounced back with a fourth place on the second stage and the win today to come out on top. At seven seconds we have a tie between the most consistent rider in the race, Matteo Pelucchi with his fifth, eighth and third place, and stage two winner Asbjorn Kragh Andersen. Consistency is key, meaning the Italian becomes second and the Dane third in the GC. Krieger fourth at ten seconds, Coutinho fifth at eleven seconds and Kip sixth at twelve seconds, showing every bonus second counts and a single place could make the difference. Cisse and Bouhanni seventh and eighth, both at seventeen seconds, with Guillen ninth at nineteen seconds. The top ten is completed by Awang at 22 seconds.
Sprinters who just fell short of the top ten are Tewelde, Habtom, Salleh and Martinelli. Kuznetsov is the highest placed rider from a breakaway in fifteenth, followed by Walscheid. Fonseca with some fringe seconds on stage one to seventeenth, ahead of Cruz, Batmunkh and English.
Samuel Mugisha finishes twenty-second in the GC but wins the youth classification, which you might attribute to luck but being smart enough to be at the front at a sprint is something an experienced rider would do. He beats Sajnok, Groves and Weemaes by a second, but they all just fall outside the ranking points for GC top 25, which are taken by Schwarzmann, Stocker and Oss. Most of them benefitted from the lack of gaps on this and the previous stage, because they were often at the back of the peloton and did not expect to maintain their position.
The points classification logically looks similar to the general classification, and Mustafa Carsi wins here as well. There is no tie for second as Kragh Andersen took two points more than Pelucchi. Coutinho and Krieger swap for fourth, Cisse and Kip for sixth with Guillen overtaking Bouhanni for the final points. There was no mountains classification, but riders from the breakaway were rewarded with high positions in the general and/or youth classification. As all teams finish on the same time, the teams classification is decided by the lowest sum of the top three finishers on every stage. Centovalli - Fiat wins with a score of 155, ahead of Nordica - Enel with 163 and Aramco DP with 168.
