Have one last look at the list of favourites, as the riders are about to start the Clasico San Cristobal! Who will be victorious in 181 km? That’s the question we all want answered, so let’s find out!
Sleen is the first to attack, PCT riders Siric and Ovsyannikov decide to follow him! Will we only see three breakaway riders today, or are others planning on joining them?
Taubel, Duyvesteyn, Lobato del Valle, Lopez and Wilson now in the attack, but Manfredi doesn’t allow them to break free.
Hoehn, Gregaard and Muhindo are the next to try and reach our leading group, this time Boem is the party pooper.
Munyaneza with the next attack on the first hill of the day and several trying to follow him. In the end only Wilson manages to do so, and a bit later the two make it five at the front. This seems to be our break of the day, as the peloton immediately gives them 2’30”.
We are nearing the halfway point as there are 100 km to go. From now on the race will only get harder, with longer and more frequent hills on the menu. So far, five teams have been doing the work in the peloton. The names we have seen working for their leaders include Schelling, Manfredi, Erdenesuren, Boem and Van Poucke. The maximum gap was 5’30”, but it has already been reduced to 4’30”.
67 km to the finish line as our five gladiators are on steep percentages up to 15.3%. The peloton 2’30” behind. Noia the first name to be dropped in the peloton.
The sharp descent causes the first real splits of the day to appear! A group of 23 followed by thirteen other riders are a bit ahead of the rest of the peloton! The first group mainly exists out of the teams who were doing the work, but it is a bit too early to say this is definit! Let’s wait until the descent has ended to look what havoc has really been caused!
The two groups ahead of the rest of the peloton have formed a “first peloton” of 36 names with 59 km to go. Krizek and Khederi now having to waste their chances at a possible decent result already as they are leading the chase on that group. The most important names in the first peloton are Edmondson, Eiking, Kelderman, Quevedo, Zaini, Besada, Juul-Jensen, Barbin, Schultz, Moscon, Felline, Smirnovs, Caruso, Hoelgaard, Roux and Bardet!
55 km to go and that first peloton already 1’30” ahead of the followers! Ndayisenga, Ssabagwanya, Seibeb and Gilanipoor now trying to come closer again, but not a good sign that the leaders have to do the work already! Behind them we see Mehr-Wenige, Flügel and Watson, but they already have their leader in the first peloton, so it’s unlikely to see them do any work!
48.5 km to go now, as the first peloton has lost some domestiques and is 1’30” behind the race lead. We now see a second peloton taking form as well, with other names that haven’t been mentioned trailing and missed the right boat. Those include Giogieri, Eyob, Frankiny, Ranaweera and Zordan. The group of 22 is now 1’10” behind the first peloton, so did they come a bit closer. Still some duos and trios in here, so they could actually make it back!
Have a look at that! Storer leads the first peloton uphill with 40 km left, but they lose 30” to the five leaders, who are now 2’ in front. The biggest part of the peloton joins that second peloton again, while those on their turn now come very close to joining the first peloton again and giving us one big happy peloton. Seibeb now closing that final gap!
Long time no see for our leading group. With 35 km to the finish line Siric notices the peloton of +- 90 riders coming closer quickly and decides to attack! He attacks at the foot of the largest hill out of four left on today’s menu. In fact, every hill they now conquer will be shorter than their previous one.
Siric isn’t exactly the world’s best climber and gets caught by the other leaders rather quickly. Centovalli’s Mäder brings the peloton at only 30” with 33.5 km to go.
The break then gets reeled back in by the peloton one km later. Wilson was the last survivor, as Lienhard takes the lead now. Moscon already in second position. Peloton getting decimated again, so far 60-ish riders hold on.
Thiery and Basso now guide leader Moscon and what is left of the peloton over the top of that mountain. Three hills to go, but this descent is definitely dangerous for creating gaps again. It is actually the same descent where one round ago that first peloton got away from the others. If you look in the background, you can already imagine the same scenario taking place, so good thinking by Centovalli to put their guys up front here!
Now, that was cheeky! Mehr-Wenige saw both Flügel and Eiking ahead and decided to simply let the first 21 riders go! Frankiny and Seibeb amongst those who have to close the gap with 27 km to go!
Frankiny sacrificing his own chances for Ranaweera as he is the only one chasing the first 21, making sure the gap doesn’t get too big! 24.5 km to go and the strongest riders in this first group should be Bardet, Edmondson, Eiking, Moscon, Kelderman, Fabbro, Venter, Juul-Jensen, Barbin, Quevedo, Besada, Felline, Caruso and Hoelgaard!
Frankiny has left the head of the chasing group, leaving the work to teammate Ranaweera and Seibeb! Schultz taking up domestique duties in the leading group, with only two hills and 22.5 km to go!
The second group starts losing time, which is the sign for Juul-Jensen to attack! Besada couldn’t keep his wheel, so the Dane now has a small gap over the first peloton where Moscon is in the lead! 21.5 km to the finish line!
But there is Bardet! Strong work by the Frenchie for leader Kelderman, as he quickly catches Juul-Jensen! The leading group now splitting into several pieces, with Fabbro and Venter among those dropped!
Bardet really pressing that gas pedal now, as at the top of the hill and with only 20 km to the finish line only eleven others are able to follow him! The other names to fight for glory in the finale of this year’s San Cristobal are Schultz, Edmondson, Eiking, Flügel, Moscon, Kelderman, Juul-Jensen, Barbin, Felline, Thiery and Hoelgaard!
16 km to go as the twelve leaders are descending towards the penultimate hill of the day. Only one guy still close to them, which is Caruso. Nevertheless, it would be very surprising if he managed to come back and win.
Well, he does manage to make it back though! 12.5 km to go and still a bit of downhill action to go. First rider behind the leading group of thirteen is Lienhard at one minute.
The three domestiques, Schultz, Bardet and Thiery, now lead the first group into the last 10 km. Time for the penultimate hill of the day, will anyone attack, or will it all be decided on the uphill finish?
And it’s on! Eiking attacks with 7.2 km to go, Kelderman is the first to react and then there’s a small gap behind him! Not the first time this season we’ve seen this scenario! Edmondson in third, he looks like he might be able to close the gap!
Edmondson is able to close the gap towards the other two when they reach the top of the hill, and he’s not the only one! Barbin and Hoelgaard are a bit behind, while at an extra few meters we find Moscon, Juul-Jensen and Felline! 6.5 km to go!
I might have spoken too soon! 5.5 km left as there is still a small gap between Kelderman and Edmondson, while Moscon is now losing more ground as well!
It’s not looking very bright for Moscon, Juul-Jensen and Felline! While the five leaders have come together, this trio is still 10” to 15” behind with 4 km to the finish line!
Into the last 3 km now, and the five leaders still 15” ahead of the group Moscon! Kelderman dropped back to fifth in the leading group, is he feeling bad or just controlling?!
Eiking had been leading the group since his attack 5 km ago, but he starts feeling it in his legs now! Together with Barbin he seems to be letting go of the other three leaders, where Edmondson takes the lead ahead of Kelderman and Hoelgaard! The group Moscon hasn’t given up yet! Final 2 km of the day!
Kelderman goes over Edmondson with 1.7 km to the finish line! Hoelgaard following him with ease it seems, while Barbin comes closer again and Moscon is getting dropped!
1.5 km to go and the first four are still together! Juul-Jensen and Felline now going past Eiking!
Kelderman’s efforts sees Edmondson dropped, while Barbin suffers the same fate under the flamme rouge! Hoelgaard not giving an inch though! Juul-Jensen going strong, the Dane could definitely still aim for the podium!
700 meters left as Kelderman and Hoelgaard still together! Is the Tryg rider playing with the Dutchman and waiting for his final push, or is he simply too empty to overtake the Philips leader?!
It seems to be the first thing! Hoelgaard still next to Kelderman with 400 meters to go!
The Norwegian in the lead with only 300 meters left, Kelderman not giving up yet!
Still the Norwegian slightly ahead of the Dutchman! Last 200 meters!
And he holds on! ! Hoelgaard wins the Clasico San Cristobal 2020! Kelderman second!
With a strong push on the final hill Juul-Jensen grabs bronze ahead of Edmondson (4th) and Barbin (5th). Felline (6th), Moscon (7th) and Eiking (8th) come in just behind them.
A sprint between domestiques for the other top-10 spots then. Thiery (9th) and Flügel (10th) manage to do so, Schultz (11th) and Bardet (12th) are right behind them, before the rest of the peloton comes in.
