Even though Lecuisinier was publicly humiliated by Prado at the finish line yesterday, the new red jersey still did an amazing job in the GC after Tenorio almost broke down entirely. The gap between the two (and even Kritskiy and Gesink in third and fourth) is still doable though, and as there is still a 40 km TT on the menu tomorrow, it wouldn’t harm the Frenchman to gain some extra time today, in which is quite the mountain stage again. The other mountain stages to come are not that hard anymore and will all finish downhill, so today’s stage should be even more important than it already was!
Right after the start a group of 34 riders breaks free, including a lot of interesting names. We have: cycleYorkshire – Crnevic, Isostar – Kozhatayev (24th, 4th KoM) and Novak (19th, KoM-leader), Volvo – Jensen, Vesuvio – Kirsch (21st) and Godoy (16th and leader U25), Evonik – Sergis (9th KoM), Mas and Vosekalns, Puma – Arndt (20th), Aker – Amezawa (5th U25), King Power – Smith (23rd), eBuddy – Rodriguez and Brambilla (14th), Indosat – Arifin, Gazelle – Kruiswijk (35th) and Sosnitskiy (37th), Air France – Salinas (42nd), ISA – Campero and Koshevoy, Bennelong – Power and Lane (47th), Grieg – Nesset (18th) and Gillett (46th) , Aegon – Velits (34th) and Carboni, UBS – Reichenbach (41th), Badilatti and Schir, Generali: Bouchard (22nd), Sequera (33rd) and Rodrigues, Rakuten – Shirota and Moser – Cink
The leaders soon reach the summit of the Alto de Aristebano (3rd cat.). Novak does a good job and takes the six KoM-points ahead of Jensen and Crncevic. Peloton already at 5’ after less than 15 km.
No points for the KoM-leader on the Alto de Tineo (3rd cat.). Salinas wins the sprint against Arndt and Smith. They are all still 60-ish points behind the KoM-leader though. Peloton at 5’ with 140 km to go. Festina doing the work, but Desigual actually sending a rider to the head of the peloton as well.
A bit less than 100 km to go as the leaders reach the top of the third categorized mountain of third category of the day, the alto de Cabruñana. Shirota takes six points ahead of Novak and Smith. Seven riders had to let go of the first group and are now only 1’30” ahead of the peloton. Those are Mas, Gillett, Rodriguez, Kruijswijk, Carboni, Koshevoy and Reichenbach.
The Alto de Tenebredo (2nd cat.) is short, but steep. Smith proves to be the strongest and takes six KoM-points ahead of Shirota and Salinas. Four riders seem to be in trouble here: Lane, Sergis, Badilatti and surprisingly enough Kirsch as well. With a bit more than 60 km to go we are nearing the finale, as Festina is still setting the pace in the peloton at 5’30” now. Gazelle also sent some riders to the head of the peloton for a couple of km, but they are now back at their former place in the peloton.
43 km to the finish line as the finale begins and flat roads are a thing of the past. The 23 leaders start their ascent of the Alto de Cordal (3rd cat.). The group Kirsch is 1’20” behind. The peloton, with Gazelle setting the pace again, follows at 5’. Some riders have been dropped, but there are still 139 men in the peloton.
Festina takes over the reins quickly though, as Budyak reduces the peloton to 66 riders already! The most important names to be dropped are Valls (27th), Kennaugh (25th), Masnada (48th), Rosch (32nd), Kruijswijk (35th), Smit (36th) and Reichenbach (40th).
Brambilla takes the six KoM-points on the top ahead of Smith and Nesset. Five more riders are in difficulty in this first group: Sequera, Bouchard, KoM-leader Novak, Kozhatayev and Arifin. The peloton now with less than fifty riders at 3’45” but no extra top-40 names have been dropped so far.
As the leaders start their ascent of the Alto de la Cobertoria (1st cat., 9.7 km at 8.7%), Sequera, Bouchard and Novak make it back up front. The peloton now reducing their pace as well, which gives Kennaugh the opportunity to make it back there as well. 28 km to the finish line, two heavy mountains to conquer!
Still 5 km to climb on the Alto de la Cobertoria, but the steepness makes many riders drop up front and in the peloton! There are only 17 leaders left, as Shirota, Jensen, Crncevic and Novak now really have to let go, while Kozhatayev has already been dropped in the peloton as well. The peloton is now led by yesterday’s stage winner Prado, consists out of 26 riders and is 4’15” behind the head of the race. Kennaugh is dropped again there, but more importantly, so is luxe domestique Bongiorno (30th)!
Only 2 km left to climb for the leaders, which are the “easiest” of the climb. There are only 11 leaders left, as more riders have been dropped: Cink, Bouchard, Schir, Campero, Rodrigues and Sequera. In the peloton, Valls has made a surprise comeback.
The leaders reach the top of the Alto de la Cobertoria, with Arndt winning the KoM-sprint ahead of Smith and Godoy. Nesset is the only other rider who seems to be capable of following those three in the descent to our final (HC) climb of the day!
In the peloton, the pace reduces heavily in those last kilometres of the climb. Masnada and Bongiorno make it back to the peloton of now thirty riders, those two could be very important for their leaders on the last climb of the day!
7 km to the finish line as the four leaders, including Nesset, start their last ascent of the day. And what an ascent it is! The Ermita de Alba is a monstrosity and could lead to some big differences between the GC riders!
45” behind the four leaders we find five more riders still hoping to come back and win the stage: Brambilla, Velits, Sosnitskiy, Vosekalns and Salinas.
His attack(s) yesterday might not have worked out the way he wished they did, but today is another day! Godoy attacks and Nesset is the only one to follow him with 6.5 km to go!
While the five chasers (group Brambilla) are already more than a minute behind, the chasing duo of Arndt and Smith don’t let the gap get too big, with 5 km to the finish line!
Not an ideal situation for Formolo, Kirsch and Anacona! They have to close a gap just before the start of their ascent, and therefore spill some unnecessary energy!
4 km left to climb as we’re back to four leaders! The group Brambilla at 1’10”, while the peloton is 8’ behind. Former breakaway rider Badilatti the one now setting the pace in the peloton, which explains a lot.
Tvetcov has been overperforming heavily in this Vuelta, but he’s still feeling good it seems! The Latvian opens the debates in the group of favourites and attacks, while Hirt and Haig follow him! Behind them it’s also very interesting to see though, as Tenorio seems to have recovered and attacks in search of the red jersey! He doesn’t have to search hard though, as that red jersey is immediately on his wheel!
Those five riders get a gap over the rest of the peloton with 4.5 km to the finish line! Schelling might be in trouble here, as he’s the last rider in the peloton!
Back to the head of the race where Nesset is now probably out of contention for the stage win, as he has the let the three others go! The group Brambilla still at 1’10” of the head of the race with 2.5 km to the finish line, the only one to be dropped from that group is Velits.
From the five attackers in the group of favourites earlier, only Hirt and Haig remain with 3.8 km to go for them! Tvetcov is back in the peloton, and so are red jersey Lecuisinier and Tenorio, as the red jersey seems to be happy with just following his biggest rival today. Prado (29th) and Bongiorno (30th) the biggest victims of the attack so far.
He doesn’t even need to accelarate, but Smith gets a gap over Arndt and Godoy at 2.2 km to the finish line! This would be a great result for King Power, after Reis broke down yesterday! The group Brambilla coming 10” closer to the head of the race though!
Wow! Only 200 metres further and on the steep slopes Smith increases his lead to 45”! Brambilla and Sosnitskiy now close to catching Arndt and Godoy!
3.2 km left to climb for Hirt and Haig as they are reeling some breakaway riders back in. They lead by 1’30” over the peloton, where everybody seems to be looking at one another. Smith is still 5’ ahead of them though.
Only 1.5 km to go for Smith as he now leads by more than a minute! The four behind them are now together, but it seems like they will be battling for second!
The peloton has 3 km to go as red jersey Lecuisinier uppens the pace! Tenorio and Kritskiy are right behind him, no GC riders have been dropped so far.
Surely this can’t go wrong for Smith anymore, as he leads by 1’30” entering the last km, which is not as hard as the previous ones!
As Hirt passes another two riders from the breakaway, Haig is having a hard time following him! Not unimportant, as this is the battle for fifth and sixth in the GC! The Czech is 1’30” behind Haig there, but the rider from Bennelong is a superior time-trialist.
Aha, red jersey Lecuisinier now looking to gain some extra time with 2.5 km to go! He has a small gap over Tenorio, but so far he seems to be able to follow the Frenchman! Kritskiy then in third position while Gesink is in fourth, trying to save his place in the GC! He does have a lot of time over Hirt and Haig though, so that fourth place should be safe as long as he doesn’t break down entirely.
The group of favourites, or at least what’s left of it, is now split in two pieces! The most important riders caught behind are Formolo, Schelling and Kirsch!
Hirt has entered the last 2 km, behind him we see that Lecuisinier, Tenorio and Kritskiy have joined forces with Haig, while Gesink is between them and the group of favourites. Schelling is still holding on okay, but Formolo and Kirsch are on the verge of breaking down it seems!
Before the GC riders show what they can do in the final 2 km, it’s time to congratulate King Power, as Smith wins the stage and gains a lot of places in the KoM-classification today!
Lecuisinier at it again! He leaves the numbers two and three in the GC behind and is close to joining Hirt with 1.5 km to go! Haig can’t follow Tenorio and Kritskiy anymore, but that’s no surprise!
45” behind Tenorio and Kritskiy is Gesink! He leads the other favourites by 30”, and it has to be said that Helme and Masnada are doing a great job by still holding on in there, while Formolo and Kirsch are now officially dropped!
1’15” after stage winner Smith the top-5 is completed. Arndt sprints to a second place ahead of Brambilla, who does a great job in the GC. White jersey Godoy finishes fourth ahead of Sosnitskiy.
Red jersey Lecuisinier is already in the last km as he flies by Hirt and catches some riders from the breakaway. Tenorio and Kritskiy now 45” behind the red jersey!
Behind Gesink, the group of favourites is being cut in several pieces! The first three riders there are Galta, Faglum Karlsson and Shikai!
As Nesset finishes sixth, Hirt gets caught by Tenorio and Kritskiy. The Russian now doing some very hard work and closing in on red jersey Lecuisinier quickly, while Tenorio manages to stay in his wheel!
Vosekalns and Salinas in 7th and 8th, but everybody now looking at the favourites and how big the time differences are of course, Lecuisinier sprinting in the background!
Here he is, 3’45” after stage winner Smith in ninth place!
And he gains another 30” on his rivals, where Tenorio beats Kritskiy and some riders from the early break for tenth place! Hirt a bit behind them.
An additional 2’15” later, Gesink and Haig cross the line.
A few seconds later, Galta, Faglum Karlsson and Shikai finish at almost six minutes from stage winner Smith.
Another minute later four more riders come in: Tvetcov, Anacona, Reis and Valls. Warchol leads the other GC riders over the finish line a bit later, where Formolo and Schelling seem to be the biggest victims of today’s stage.
Well, there are some guys who lose even more time though. Kozhatayev (24th) at more than 45 minutes, with Reichenbach (41th), Kruijswijk (35th) and Gillett at one hour or more! KoM-leader Novak (19th) remains in the KoM-lead, but also loses 25 minutes!
