If yesterday morning you would have said Lawless was going to win the GP Cyclistes, you would have been declared crazy. Not just any kind of crazy, but the kind where you start thinking K-pop is actually good. Nevertheless, the young rider from Podium Ambition managed to succeed in his Canadian coup d’état, and will now defend his yellow jersey over 205 km in and around Montréal. With about a minute over the real favourites it won’t be a sinecure to win the GC, but the underdog definitely has the support of the local crowd!
The parcours is less hilly than yesterday. There are two climbs right after each other, which the riders have to do seven times today. Thurau hopes the breakaway stays ahead again, and is the first to attack today. Five riders follow him: Dieteren, Hughes, Scheit, Goh and Krizek. They have a lead of 1’ over the peloton on the first ascent of the day.
Still 180 km to go as Schomber has to let the peloton go. Oops, he did it again.
Repsol – Netflix makes sure the gap to the leaders doesn’t get too big. They don’t have anyone for the GC anymore, so we suppose they are trying to have someone in the break as well. They shouldn’t wait too long anymore, as the break is now 1’30” ahead.
Rodriguez must have heard the reporter’s wise words, as he attacks! Landa, Fiorelli and Piccoli join the Repsol rider, as they try to make it ten at the head of the race.
On the second ascent of the second climb of the day, the group of four joins forces with the leading group of six. The peloton takes the foot off the gas, which immediately sees the gap increase to 4’30”. Ten leaders is a nice amount of riders to maybe let the breakaway take the win once again. Krizek and Fiorelli are the best placed in the GC at 3’50” of yellow jersey Lawless, and around 2’50” of the GC favourites. Just as yesterday, we have two couples at the head of the race, this time belonging to Campari Asahi and Nordstrom – CA Technologies.
Fast forward a bit as there are 100 km to go and we are around halfway the race. The leaders have had a gap of 4’15”-4’30” for a while now; as four teams are controlling the race in the peloton: Team Popo4Ever, Swisslion, Mapei and Aramco DP.
Swisslion quickly turns the pace up a notch, as the two Serbians Rajovic and Antonijevic reduce the time difference to 3’ with 90 km to go. Leader Beltran feeling good? Because of their efforts, we see the first real splits in the peloton. Yellow jersey Lawless and green jersey Hindley holding on easily for the moment, but just like yesterday Benoot is mentioned struggling at the back! What’s wrong with the Belgian Fablok rider?!
Good stage for Lierse yesterday with a fifth and sixth for Covi and Verhelst, but they are in trouble now! De Plus is trying to bring them and the rest of the second peloton back, which won’t do himself any good in the GC at the end. Let’s hope for Lierse that this is indeed the right choice.
72.5 km to the finish line and Antonijevic and Ostergaard lead the peloton over the fifth ascent out of seven of the first climb of the pair of hills. The peloton back to 160 riders at the moment, with every important name except for Benoot here. The gap to the ten leaders currently at 2’45”.
Aramco DP now also using domestiques in the peloton, together with the ascents and small roads this leads to a lot of splits after the fifth ascent of the second hill! The first peloton of 29 riders 2’40” behind the ten leaders with 60 km to go!
Normally those small gaps get closed instantly, but the time difference between the first and second peloton has quickly grown to a minute! De Plus caught in the second group and trying to bring his “leaders” back again, but nobody in the group is really able to follow the Belgian rider! What a frustrating day it must be for him! So what leaders are actually in the first peloton? The most important names there are Claeys, Waeytens, Paulinho, Borges, Urcelay, Turgis, Bilbao, Yates, Prevar, Hindley, Ulissi, Beltran, Buchmann and yellow jersey Lawless.
50 km to go and the first peloton remains more than a minute ahead of the other chasing groups! De Plus can’t hold on, so now Kraftwerk takes the lead. Strange, as they have both Bilbao and Klemme in the first peloton. They are getting some help from Siskevicius and Chaves, but the fact that those leaders have to do the work themselves already isn’t very positive for them.
44 km to go for the ten leaders meanwhile, as they are already on their penultimate ascent of the pair of hills! They still lead by 2’40”, so there is definitely a chance of winning the stage and maybe even the GC with the low amount of domestiques left in the chase! The time difference still at 2’45”, which is of course one minute too few if they want to overtake Lawless.
We see the first peloton has now grown back to 51 riders at the foot of the first hill. The most important names to have made it back are Min, Dyrnes, Carpenter, Siskevicius, Chaves, Guldhammer, Errazkin and most surpisingly Benoot! Not one Lierse rider though.
A strong Portela reduces the first peloton to 42 riders again, as Min and Dyrnes are immediately dropped again. 38 km to go for the leaders, as the first peloton is still 2’45” behind and will now go up the second hill for the penultimate time today!
In the first peloton, ten riders don’t survive that climb! The most important name who doesn’t is Benoot, who pays the efforts for his surprising comeback. Carpenter also dropped. 32 km to the finish line for the ten leaders, as the chasing group of 32 riders is 2’40” behind them!
29.5 km to go for the ten leaders as they pass the finish line for the penultimate time! The first peloton now at 2’55”, but another five riders had to let go in the descent. Three of those were Kraftwerk domestiques, the other two Houle and Errazkin! No need to worry for manager DaveTwoBob though, as Bilbao still has Klemme and Moazemi with him, while Desigual also still has Svab around Yates. Xero has no riders in the front group anymore, but Schomber only being 21’30” behind the race lead will be considered a win anyway.
Mapei making clear Buchmann is the leader today, as Guldhammer now tries to reduce the gap to the ten leaders, which is still at 2’50” with 21.5 km to go!
At the head of the race, Hughes and Goh try to get away with 19 km to go, just before we start our last two ascents of the day! Thurau knows he should be one of the strongest in a sprint, and quickly gets on their wheel to bring everyone back!
On the first slopes of the first hill, Fiorelli is the first to be dropped in the leading group! He was the only one at 3’50” of the race lead together with Krizek, will the Zalgiris rider be able to take the yellow jersey?! The 27 riders in the first peloton have lost some speed now, as they trail the leading group by 3’30”!
Aha! Just before the top of the first hill, Goh attacks! Dieteren the only one following him with 14 km to go!
The duo has a 30” lead when the other seven leaders reaches the top of the hill together! 13.5 km and one more hill to go! The peloton has come a bit closer again, back to 3’15”.
On the top, the first peloton has already caught Fiorelli and is now 3’ behind the race lead! Buchmann has done most of the work, and a group of twelve actually seems to have a gap over the others! The names in this group, aside from the Mapei rider, are Beltran, Ulissi, Yates, Waeytens, Prevar, Moazemi, Bilbao, Brandao, Paulinho, Borges and Turgis! This means the breakaway riders from yesterday that were still there, including yellow jersey Lawless, are now in trouble! Top favourite Claeys also missing from the first group!
The leading duo now entering the final 10 km, and the gap to the seven chasers has shrunk five seconds, so it is 25” now! They are working together well behind them! The first group of favourites is then at 2’45” of the seven chasers, as Brandao had to let go of that group!
Lawless, Hindley and Urcelay now working together to keep a decent spot in the GC! They already trail the race lead by 3’50” and the group of favourites by 45”, so the yellow jersey will be hard! Krizek virtually in yellow now actually! Just behind those three we see Chaves, while Claeys is all by himself and seems to have given up hope to come back!
The reason for the group of favourites coming a bit closer to the race lead now is Beltran! The Colombian national champion takes the short descent into his own hands and thins out this group, as Moazemi, Borges and Turgis have to let the first eight riders go!
Meanwhile we’re back to nine leaders, as Goh and Dieteren get caught on the ultimate ascent of the day! The nine leaders now exactly 3’ ahead of the group of eight behind them, their pace on this final ascent will decide whether the yellow jersey goes to Krizek or one of them!
Beltran still in the lead in the group of favourites! He brought the time difference back to 2’45”, but Moazemi, Borges and Turgis managed to come back! The group Lawless at 3’45” of the race lead and 1’ of this group!
It really looks like we’ll get a sprint for the win now, as the nine leaders cross the final top of the day together!
Prevar uppens the pace in the group of favourites and gets a small gap over the others! Moazemi, Borges and Turgis are on the verge of being dropped again!
Buchmann the only one able to close the gap to the Ukrainian, as they’re only 1’20” behind the nine leaders at the top of the final hill! Very fast ascent by those two, as the six others ( Beltran, Waeytens, Paulinho, Ulissi, Yates and Bilbao) try to follow them! No need looking behind us anymore, as the group has lost another minute to the group of favourites again!
Goh knows he won’t win it in a sprint, so he attacks again with 5 km to go!
1’30” later, we see that the group of favourites is back to eight riders as Prevar and Buchmann have been caught again! Thanks to Beltran it is, after another fast descent of the Swisslion rider!
3 km left for Goh as the Duolingo rider is one curve ahead of his chasers! This translates to fifteen seconds, while the group of favourites is an additional 1’05” behind! We are looking at several riders “same timing” in the GC, so placing in that final sprint for tenth place will be very important!
It looks like Goh is running out of energy! While he enters the last 2 km, his lead has been decreased to ten seconds! In the background we see the group of favourites, where Beltran has been in the lead for over 6 km now! Borges and Turgis are 35” behind that group, if they could still come back the Frenchman from Farfetch could actually win the GC after winning the sprint in the group of favourites yesterday!
After a long turn by Rodriguez, Thurau now leads the eight chasers under the flamme rouge! They are exactly 8” behind Goh, who hasn’t given up hope yet!
It’s really game over for the Duolingo rider now, as Piccoli starts his sprint with 600 meters to go! Thurau and Landa in third and fourth!
Thurau takes the lead with 400 meters to go!
Krizek and Scheit now going the fastest, but they’re running out of road with 200 meters left!
But it’s a clear win for the German from Adastra! Piccoli (2nd), Krizek (3rd), Scheit (4th), Rodriguez (5th), Landa (6th), Hughes (7th), Dieteren (8th) and Goh (9th).
And now, the sprint for the GC win! 700 meters left as Prevar, Beltran and Yates are at the front!
Yates in the lead with 300 meters left, which is no surprise! Beltran still in second while Buchmann and Waeytens now try to overtake him!
Yates easily wins the sprint ahead of a strong Beltran, who is then followed by Buchmann, Prevar, Waeytens, Ulissi, Paulinho and Bilbao! Borges and Turgis come in 37” later.
What does this mean for the GC? The rider who was in the first of group favourites two days in a row and had the best positioning in the end is … Waeytens! The GC podium gets completed by Beltran (2nd) and Yates (3rd), while Paulinho (4th), Bilbao (5th), and Ulissi (6th) have the same time as the GC winner as well. Buchmann (7th) and Prevar (8th) pay the price for losing 17 seconds yesterday, while Turgis (9th) and Borges (10th) complete the top-10. Lawless (11th) falls just outside the top-10 but will still be happy with a stage win and a join points classification win with Thurau, as well as winning the white jersey! Solid team depth by Kraftwerk sees them winning the team’s classification ahead of breakaway team Nordstrom. Prerace favourites Di Maggio (129th) and Claeys (28th) will leave Canada disappointed.
