The final stage! There are 12 riders within 24 seconds at the top of the general classification, who could all mathematically go away with the overall race victory. A stage win may not prove to be enough for all of them, but it will certainly put them in a strong place. Ewan and Reinhardt do have a good advantage for now, but all through the race, we've seen those at the top of GC not manage to do well to defend it. Will that change today?
Fl
Sp
Ac
GC
Time
Best Stage
Team
Ewan
75
83
81
1
0
1
Podium Ambition
Reinhardt
71
79
84
2
+ 1
2
Centovalli - Fiat
Kristoff
74
82
77
3
+ 6
1
Adastra N Hell Energy Cycling
Cavendish
71
81
78
4
+ 8
3
Kraftwerk Man Machine
Vesely
73
81
80
5
+ 11
5
Minions
Guardini
72
80
82
6
+ 11
1
Mapei
Manninen
74
81
80
7
+ 12
2
Valio - Viking Genetics
Guarnieri
75
81
80
8
+ 13
1
Bakkafrost
Itami
75
80
82
9
+ 13
2
GCN Racing
Saber
75
81
79
10
+ 14
3
Swisslion Cycling Team
Guerao
74
83
76
11
+ 19
4
DK - SVA Zalgiris
Lo Cicero
72
84
78
12
+ 24
3
MOL
As the stage starts, and the breakaway attempts begin, we also should consider the King of the Mountains competition. With 10 points on offer, all 18 scorers so far still have the ability to win it outright - the entire rest of peloton could win both, take 10 points, and share the triumph with Day 1 leader Munyaneza.
1
Didier Munyaneza
Bralirwa - Stevens Bikes
10
2
Alain Quispe
Los Pollos Hermanos
8
3
Jesse Kaislavuo
Valio - Viking Genetics
8
4
Jerome Baugnies
Los Pollos Hermanos
6
5
Brent Van Moer
Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team
6
6
Cees Bol
Fablok - Chocolate Jacques
5
7
Jenthe Biermans
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
5
8
Marc Machado
Andorra Cycling Project
5
9
Pieter Vanspeybrouck
Andorra Cycling Project
3
10
Beka Nareklishvili
DK - SVA Zalgiris
3
11
Gasper Katrasnik
Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team
3
12
Morten Hulgaard
Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team
3
13
Dries De Bondt
Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff
2
14
Andrei Nechita
Fablok - Chocolate Jacques
1
15
Roman Gladysh
Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff
1
16
Albert Kireva
Andorra Cycling Project
1
17
Isaac Bolivar
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
1
18
Ruben Acosta
Azteca - NBCSN
1
12 riders went clear in the first wave of attacks: Wallays Ulloa Alba Goldstein Verhelst Okbamariam Orlov Osorio Rumac Van Moer Tizza Hategeka
11 with no KoM points - just Van Moer amongst them with points already.
This is all brought back though, and as we reach the first KoM, no group has established itself. Just Venturini has got himself with a small lead.
Lierse have been trying to make the move, and currently 2nd of the peloton is Biermans, who has 5 KoM points already. He is amongst many riders still attacking and going for it.
Munyaneza is not, he is sat back, and the defense of his jersey will be down to others.
Venturini takes first, and it's close behind. Verwilst is the Lierse rider in second, and it looks like Bralirwa are defending the jersey with other riders, as Rutsch looked to be in 3rd. Controversially though, the race organisers actually award 3rd place to Biermans!
Climb
Total
Venturini
5
5
Verwilst
3
3
Biermans
1
6
All were caught soon after, but by the next intermediate sprint, it ended up being the same Top 2 as the KoM, just in a different order.
Seconds
Total
Verwilst
3
3
Venturini
2
2
Dahl-Olsen
1
1
A new set of attackers went clear afterwards, featuring a few riders with KoM points this time:
Wallays Aniolkowski Biermans Garrison Rumac Bol Covi Hayter Hulgaard Kireva Machado Okbamariam Tizza Ulloa Van Moer Venturini
This settled down to just a break of 7: Aniolkowski Biermans Garrison Okbamariam Rumac Ulloa Wallays
Biermans is the only KoM contender in here - now on 6 points. Win the KoM, win the jersey.
Can Okbamariam do the job for Bralirwa and stop him?
It doesn't look like it, but the bigger problem may be the strongest climber in the break - as Rumac is going for it!
Rumac is going to be the 3rd Fablok rider to win a KoM, unfortunately all three only score on the one occasion, so equal 7th in the classification for all of them. Biermans follows through for 2nd. This will give him 2nd in the compeition, but not the win!
Climb
Total
Rumac
5
5
Biermans
3
9
Aniolkowski
1
1
Celebration time for Munyaneza!
The peloton never far behind today, and the break are soon caught again.
We get another slow motion intermediate sprint then.
Seconds
Total
Martinez
3
3
Filutas
2
2
Alaphilippe
1
1
As it stands, two riders who've picked up 3 bonus seconds during the race will finish in the GC Top 20. With this, Martinez stands a very good chance to be one of them - having generally finished relatively high up, due to his involvement in MOL's leadouts.
Could we now see a 50km procession until the final sprint?
Not quite - a bunch of the same riders all give it another go.
A futile attempt, but at least some entertainment.
Now for the real entertainment, the sprint. It looks like Bakkafrost, Mapei and MOL are preparing leadout trains. The other sprinters are all well placed, for now...
The hammer drops, and the disappointment begins. Our Top 2 GC riders Ewan and Reinhardt are not getting involved today, amongst others.
MOL are chaotic as ever for Lo Cicero, with Martinez out front, Lovassy in between, and Lo Cicero trailing a little.
No worries of gaps between leadout and sprinter this time for Bakkafrost, as Perara guides Guarnieri.
Mapei perhaps slickest as only now does Favili end his turn, handing over to Zabel and Guardini.
Manninen follows Guardini, Guerao is also close. But this makes just 5 of the sprinters in the field, looking in a favourable position right now.
Vesely, Itami, Kristoff, Cavendish and Saber are the next five, trying to catch back up, or at least make the Top 10.
Mapei are able to go late. Zabel maybe wasnt expected to take a leadout role, but he has, and Guardini will have the shortest direct run to the line. Can he top and tail the race with victories?
Zabel is done, and he looks ahead to see the five riders vieing for Stage and GC glory: Guarnieri, Manninen, Guerao, Guardini and Lo Cicero.
Who is it going to be?
Lo Cicero is first to falter
Guerao has the lead with the line so close
Matti Manninen takes the victory! Stage and GC goes to Finland!
Guerao is 2nd. Guarnieri 3rd. Then Guardini and Lo Cicero.
Vesely is not 5th today, but 6th, while Itami is 7th - as Manninen starts to celebrate.
The Yellow jersey curses did strike Ewan, he will come 12th. The Green jersey also unhelpful for Reinhardt, in 11th. The Top 10 was completed by Saber, Cavendish and Kristoff.
At the end of it all, the only way to avoid the yellow jersey curse, is to only take it right at the end of the race!
It ends as an 11 second victory for Manninen over Guarnieri in 2nd, with Guardini 3rd. Ewan holds on for 4th. Reinhardt secures a Top 5 finish too, on the same time as Guerao, but with a better average finishing position.
Guerao, Vesely, Kristoff, Cavendish and Itami complete the Top 10. Saber 11th, Lo Cicero 12th, as the other two 'regular' sprinters of the race. The subsequent GC positions are swept up by a couple of leadout men, but mainly breakaway riders.
Predictably for a sprinter's race, GC win pairs with Points win. 68 for Manninen, over Guarnieri on 59. Reinhardt does hold on for 3rd here though, on 57, Ewan 4th on 56.
As noted earlier, Munyaneza wins the KoM on 10. Bierman moving to 2nd pushed Quispe and Kaislavuo down for a tie of third.
Hodeg wins the U25 jersey - a relative surprise that he prevented the breakaway rider from taking it, but no U25 rider was able to take any more than 3 seconds from the available intermediate sprints. Munyaneza finishes 2nd here, ahead of Bissegger, Katrasnik and Gladysh.
Podium Ambition win the Teams classification from Mapei and Bakkafrost.
