We’re back for the third stage of the Vuelta a Colombia, and just like yesterday the riders will have to conquer an HC mountain at the end of the race, with the finish line being at the top of that mountain. Taaramäe took the lead yesterday, but didn’t manage to shake off most of the other GC riders. There were some losers however, as Pantano Gomez, Denifl, Hirt and Monsalve all lost valuable time.
A breakaway of sixteen riders is formed quickly! The riders hoping for stage and/or KoM success today are McKenna, Girdlestone (8th U25 at almost 7’ from teammate Godoy), Ahmad Zamri, Hacecky, Dowsett, Christian (11th KoM), Serry, Badilatti, Koch (2nd KoM, 2 points behind Taaramäe and 19th GC, 1’30” behind the same rider), Higuita, Egger, Dieteren, Cataford, Cuming, Edet and Villella.
The six points on the Alto Portomarin (3rd cat.) go to Hacecky. Four points for Girdlestone and two for Ahmad Zamri, so nothing left for Koch. The peloton is 3’30” behind with 110 km, four teams are doing the work there: Bakkafrost for Monsalve who seems to be feeling better than yesterday, ISA – Hexacta for Berhane, Popo4Ever for Pluchkin and Aker – MOT for yellow jersey Taaramäe.
No sprint at the first intermediate, Higuita grabs the points ahead of Cataford and Badilatti. The peloton has closed the gap to 2’30” with still almost 100 km to go.
The riders are going fast, as the peloton is actively chasing the breakaway! Serry takes the ten KoM-points on the Alto Vilaesteva (2nd cat.). The remaining points go to McKenna, Higuita, Koch (now the virtual KoM-leader) and Cataford.
A peloton of only 107 riders, led by Aker – MOT and eBuddy now 2’ behind on the leaders with 75 km to go. Most of the dropped riders are sprinters, but there’s no excuse for Rosch, Vinhas, Panayotov and Nakane to be gone so quickly. Edet and Dowsett were in the breakaway but get caught by the peloton moments later.
On the Alto de O Lago (3rd cat.) the peloton still comes closer to the breakaway, and two more interesting names get dropped; Diaz (24th GC at 2’30”) and Uwizeyimana.
Helme, in the breakaway yesterday and third in the U25 classification also gets dropped with 4 km to climb on the Alto de o Lago.
Koch now taking the six points ahead of Cataford and Badilatti. Villella gets dropped at the front, peloton of 70 riders at 2’ with 60 km to go. Martin, in the breakaway yesterday, 3rd in the KoM and 27th GC, has now been dropped there.
With 40 km to go and the peloton only 1’ behind, the leaders don’t sprint at the second intermediate. Points are awarded to McKenna, Cuming and Koch. Two obstacles left now: a mountain of first category, and an HC one.
We’re back to a peloton of 69 riders, as Ji brings it all together with 7 km left to climb on the Alto Folgueiras de Aigas (1st cat.).
The pace has now slowed, allowing some riders to come back and also allowing Koch to maybe grab an extra 10 KoM-points at the top in 3 km.
As expected the German attacks and goes for the extra points! He can only get a hold of eight points though, as Tatarinov, who was in the breakaway yesterday, wins the KoM-sprint. The rest of the points go to domestiques Shirota, Reichenbach and Serry, another name of today’s breakaway.
After their descent of the previous mountain, the riders immediately get onto the final climb of the day. The Puerto Ancares is 16.5 km long and has an average gradient of 6.7%. The first half of the mountain is doable, which makes the second half only harder. Can yellow jersey Taaramäe make it two for two?
10 km left to climb and we still see Aru leading the 62-headed peloton for Dombrowski. Best placed GC riders who have been dropped so far are Salinas (18th) and Mager (34th).
The mountain slowly gets steeper and at 8.5 km from the finish it’s Venezuelan champion Alarcon who’s first to attack! Will he now lay the foundation for his second GC victory here, after he was victorious in 2014?
Impressive work by Shirota, who doesn’t let go of Alarcon! The Japanese rider proving his worth for leader Quintana with 7 km to go.
Roglic now trying to make a decisive move with 5.5 km to go! He’s followed by Alarcon, Arndt and Uran, but domestique Tatarinov doing a good job for his leader, Nerz. The biggest victim of this is attack seems to be Pantano Gomez (17th), the rider from GCN is dropped by the peloton of 43 riders!
Dombrowski now attacking while entering the last 5 km! The riders who just attacked trying to get a hold of his wheel, with yellow jersey Taaramäe around the 10th position!
The devil himself cheering for the American now, with only Roglic being able to follow him! 4.5 km to go and this is starting to look good! Only 20 riders left in the group behind him with Ji, Anacona, Koch and Vasyliv being dropped!
As Pluchkin and Taaramäe are trying to come closer, Roglic is dropped with 3.5 km left to climb! Some good news for Bakkafrost though, as Monsalve seems to be doing a lot better than yesterday!
The chasing group is being thinned out because of those two! Nesset (20th), Schleck (13th), Mamykin (8th), Berhane (6th) and Godoy (26th) now letting go of the 13 chasers in front of them with still 3 km to go!
Godoy is trying to bring Schleck back though, but now we see Amador in difficulties! Winning the Colombian GC for a third time will be very hard if he doesn’t find his rhythm again soon!
It’s not over yet! 2.5 km to go and three chasers come back 10 seconds to make it a gap of only 20 seconds now! Behind Dombrowski we see Pluchkin, Taaramäe and Monsalve trying to catch him!
Only one rider from the dropped ‘group-Schleck’ has come back to the group in front of him, and it is Mamykin! Nerz has made the same move, but the other way around, and is now chasing the third group in the race!
As Dombrowski enters the last 2 km, Pluchkin and Taaramäe are really close now! Monsalve had to let them go!
The Moldovan now trying his luck with 1.5 km to go! Monsalve still in fourth positon!
The Venezuelan now close to being caught again by the first six chasers though: Wellens, Alarcon, Quintana, Arndt, Uran and Denifl! Three other riders have just been dropped by those six, those are Mamykin, Hirt and Roglic! Behind them are the other riders who had been mentioned as dropped already, with Nerz leading them.
Back to the front of race now! Pluchkin couldn’t create a gap, the three leaders enter the last km with already over a minute on the other riders! Can Taaramäe win it for the second day in a row in a sprint with three?!
Oh, Pluchkin gets dropped with 500 m left! First two places will go to the same riders as yesterday, but it remains to be seen in what order exactly! Denifl now being dropped by the first chasing group!
The two leaders can see the finish line but are too tired to really sprint for it! Taaramäe still leading while entering the last 200 metres of the climb!
Just like yesterday the Estonian beats the American and thus extends his lead in the GC! Pluchkin finishing third a bit later!
It’s Wellens who’s just a bit faster than Alarcon and takes the fourth place, almost 1’30” later than the winner of today’s race, Taaramäe.
Ten seconds later Arndt grabs a hold of the sixth place, which is once again a very decent performance by the German. Behind him we see Quintana, Monsalve and Uran coming in.
Mamykin passes Denifl in the last metres of the climb and thus gets another solid top-10 position at 2’20”. Later we notice the arrival Hirt, Roglic and the others who have been dropped earlier.
