Bobo to Boroma, 123.4 kilometer. The first 100 kilometer are asphalted, but then the cobblestones hit. Last year 24 riders finished outside the time limit on the exact same stage, but the government promised they improved the road condition. On one hand, it is nice to know the riders can reach the finish with their limbs attached, but on the other hand it kinda ruins the charm of the race. Hopefully they did it right by making it manageable but still difficult. We'll find out soon enough!
Five riders attack immediately: Battistella Maccagli Gaudin Menicucci Munoz
Five more follow: McCarthy Vila Taubel Mostov Boem
Taubel's attempt is a bit weird as he finished on the podium overall last year and is one of the favorites again this year.
The start line is still visible as we go in a straight line, but we have another seven who set sail: Jacobs Manamalage Resell Bablidze El Sabbahi Knox Downey
Another proficient cobbler in Manamalage joining the breakaway.
Half the peloton seems to want to go into the breakaway. 100 kilometer to go and the first five attackers lead by 25 seconds over the merged second and third attacks, with another wave following close behind: Delgerbayar Lavery De Vreese Pavlic Basso Veber Van der Ploeg Hirschi Primozic Gunnlaugsson Chokri Ford Schoonbroodt Sinkeldam
The peloton at 1'30 from the front group, with the teams without riders in the break (if there are any) leading.
Italian Battistella wins sprint ahead of San Marineses Maccagli and Menicucci. They lead by 45 seconds over the 26 chasers as another merger took place, with the peloton 40 seconds behind them.
Group two is caught by the few teams who did not have a rider in them: Eddie Stobart, Gjensidige, Los Pollos, Project: Africa and Tryg. Basso is the only rider who managed to jump to the five leaders.
The six leaders are caught not much later, but rest assured, another attempt is underway. Gunnlaugsson immediately attacks again, followed by Basso. Bissegger and McCarthy also tried but failed in their attempt.
The leading duo just makes it to the final intermediate sprint, while the Icelander beats the Italian. Ulloa takes third place because he is the one pulling hardest to get them back, in which he would succeed a few kilometer later.
After that, the attacks stopped as it was clear no such move would succeed. Tryg and Los Pollos control the pace until the cobblestone sector.
Here we go. 22 kilometer to go, of which 20 are cobbled. The organizers indeed did something about the sector, as it looks less worse than last year. It's still not something I want to ride over though, so the cobblestone riders have come to the right race.
The first split breaks the peloton in two a few kilometers in. The most surprising name behind is Taillefour, he should be considered a stage favorite but doesn't appear to have his day. Other riders who should have been in the front group are Tsatevich, Basso, Weber, Abraha, Rathe and Kluge.
The cobblestone avoiders are not losing ten minutes per kilometer like last year, everyone might make it to the finish line inside the time limit.
Van Avermaet and Paprstka on one side of the road, where there is plenty of space. In the other gutter, Baugnies leads with Nolf, Sinkeldam, Maes, Van Lerberghe, Skala, Taubel and Naesen. Manamalage and Thomas amongst the riders spread over the middle of the road.
Tsatevich's day goes from bad to worse as he suffers a puncture as well, ruining any chance of getting back to the front. Hoehn, Bogdanovics and Von Hoff were other riders who required a wheel change. The gaps are not extreme at this point, Tesfom only seven minutes behind the leaders as last rider in the race.
Another important name who drew the short straw: Van Lerberghe. He was at the front but a stone in his wheel means he loses valuable time. The cobblestones are better than last year but there is still plenty of sharp edges to puncture a tire over.
Ten kilometer to go, and the following 31 riders are considered to be the front group: Baugnies, Coronel Nolf, Skala, Sanikwathi Taubel, Page Van Avermaet, Oelerich, Sbaragli, Kuznetsov Maes, Kalf Manamalage, Schwarzmann Sinkeldam, De Vreese, Resell Thomas Naesen, Okbamariam, Schoonbroodt Lhotellerie, Minoungou Paprstka, Bovenhuis, Boev Schlechter, Lobato del Valle Erdenesuren Te Brake
Surprising to see a few sprinters being able to keep up so far. Seven kilometer more and they are favorites for the stage.
Maes and Baugnies lead with five kilometer to go. No attacks, just riders who lose contact at the back: Boev Te Brake Coronel De Vreese Erdenesuren Kalf Lhotellerie Lobato del Valle Page Resell Sanikwathi Schwarzmann
and most surprisingly, former winner Thomas.
The cobbles are done, three kilometer to the finish line with a lead pack of fourteen riders. Immediately though, Maes attacks. The battle for the win takes place on asphalt, not on cobblestones. Bovenhuis, Kuztensov, Paprstka and Schoonbroodt fell off right at the end.
The thirteen remaining simply have no answer, the Belgian quickly leads by 40 seconds. Last year's runner-up by one seconds looks on his way to take a yellow jersey after all. The thirteen chasers are: Baugnies Nolf, Skala Taubel Van Avermaet, Oelerich, Sbaragli Maes Manamalage Sinkeldam Naesen, Okbamariam Minoungou Schlechter
Maes enters the final kilometer with a lead of one minute, this can't go wrong. No one seems to want to lead the chasing group.
Behind the chasing group, some riders do their utmost to get back. Van Lerberghe lost two minutes due to a puncture but is now within thirty seconds, together with Kvist and Rathe.
Nikolas Maes holds off celebrating until the finish, knowing first-hand every second counts. It might not fully replace the feeling of missing out on the win last year, but at least it's some redemption!
Naesen sprints to second place, as he was expected to given he's the best sprinter amongst the cobblestone specialists. They reduced the deficit a tiny bit in the final kilometer, with the end verdict of 40 seconds, 47 including bonus seconds. He also takes a nice eighteen bonus seconds which gives him some buffer to those with him in the group.
Van Avermaet completes the Belgian podium ahead of Skala and Minoungou. The top ten and bonus seconds are completed by Sbaragli, Sinkeldam, Baugnies, Nolf and Okbamariam. Schlechter, Taubel, Manamalage and Oelerich will start the next stage with a 1'05 deficit.
Van Lerberghe just failed to make the catch, and was passed in the sprint by teammate Paprstka, with Bovenhuis finishing behind him. The group mostly contains riders who lost contact on the cobblestones but were not that far away at the end of it. This and the next group also contains recovery riders such as Abraha, Kluge and Weber. However, while there were clearly gaps between the groups, the jury decides not to award any time gaps here, including from this group to the one behind. 28 riders receive the same time, but which team manager slipped a bit of cash into the pockets of the jury members? Tune in to CSI: Ouagadougou to find out!
Thomas though is one of the riders who really had no energy left. He is in the next group at three minutes, together with puncture-victim Tsatevich and Lhotellerie. The biggest loser is Taillefour, who finishes another group down at five minutes.
The only rider eligible for the youth classification in the last picture was Simon Kalf, so he takes white. The next closest rider is Resell, the only eligible rider in the second group. In the teams classification, Bralirwa, Carrefour, Philips and Strava had three or more riders in the group, with the last one taking the lead on the tiebreaker.
Manfred and Tesfom are the last two riders to reach the finish line. They lost 21 minutes to the winner, which is half of the time limit. Everyone finished the race, who would have thought that? The final stage probably won't end that way but at least we could be looking at more than thirty finishers this time. Tomorrow is a stage over "normal" roads, giving the riders a day to take it easier.
