Van Niekerk failed to gain (a lot) of time in the first puncheur stage, whereas Storer took a great win and almost overtook yellow from his own teammate. If the South African wants yellow, he’ll need to win today, whereas the Australian “only” needs a podium place if Eenkhoorn is not distanced.
Primozic is the first to attack, that would be his third break in five stages in line already! The Trans rider second in the KoM ranking with five points. The three riders joining him are Gonzales, Brunel and Verwilst, who is third in the KoM with six points. KoM-leader Storer has eleven points, and there will be four KoM’s today, not including the uphill finish. Moniquet tries to counterattack, while Bralirwa – Stevens Bikes is organizing and clearly want someone in the break as well.
Otruba and Carr (2nd KoM, 10 points) join the leading group shortly after. Groves and Champoussin try to do the same.
Groves and Champoussin also join the break, giving us eight leaders. Verwilst is thirteenth in the GC at 15” of yellow, the others are two minutes or more behind. While there are 19km to go for the first KoM of fourth category, Pogacar suffers a puncture in the peloton. He gets back quickly though.
Primozic still feeling good, as he wins the first KoM-sprint ahead of Otruba and Verwilst! Next KoM of fourth category in 7 km already.
Carr starts that sprint in first position and wins it ahead of the two Minions! He now leads the virtual KoM! 140 km to go as the peloton is 4’ behind.
100 km to the finish line as we’re already on the third KoM out of four. Primozic wins it again this time, ahead of Gonzales and Carr. The Bralirwa rider has sixteen points, one more than the Slovenian.
While Brunel is dropped in the leading group, the peloton crosses the top exactly three minutes later. The teams at the front of the peloton are Festina – OAKA, Zalgiris, Tinkoff, Polar, Swisslion, Xero and Carlsberg.
The only intermediate sprint of the day is in Erezée, 73 km to the finish line. Groves takes six points and six seconds, while Verwilst grabs four seconds. The Lierse rider now into sixth in the virtual GC, at eleven seconds of the yellow jersey.
The last KoM of the day, excluding the finish, is the Côte de Barvaux (4th category). Will Carr or Primozic take the jersey home tonight?
Unless Primozic wins the stage (again), Carr will be wearing pink tomorrow! Otruba wins the sprint ahead of the Bralirwa rider and Champoussin, after the Trans rider was too confident and started the sprint in first position with 1 km to climb. 54 km to the finish line as the peloton is 2’30” behind.
The constant up and down is shattering the peloton into several pieces! At the moment, with 50 km to go, there are three groups. Valter, Kiriakidis and Rikunov are in group 3, while Zimmermann, Foss, Inkelaar and Mäder are in the second group!
Primozic feels the peloton getting closer, they’re at 1’15” with 36 km to go. He attacks, but this seems to be a very desperate attempt. The first peloton has grown to seventy riders, the most important names missing in that group are Almeida, Valter, Kiriakidis and Rikunov.
25 km to the finish line as Primozic is caught and an Otruba attack also didn’t lead anywhere. The seven leaders are almost at the top of the last hill of the day, not including the uphill finish. The situation behind is still the same, with a peloton of 67 riders at 50 seconds.
It’s Champoussin’s turn to attack entering the final 20 km! Otruba gives up and drops back to the peloton, which is 40” behind the French Minion.
The final hill has caused some small gaps, and GC favourite Bernal takes the matter into his own hands as he uppens the pace in the first peloton of 18 riders! The most important names that are in this group are Honore, Ovsyannikov, Storer, Sosa, Van Niekerk, Geniets, Higuita, Conci, Habtemichael, Sivakov, Eenkhoorn and Stannard!
Bernal catches all breakaway riders at the 15 km mark! This group of 24 has a 35” gap over a second peloton, led by Hirschi! Inkelaar might not be in the first peloton, the two other Philips riders are, so Welten is now trying to keep this group ahead of the second group, where we see Pogacar, Zimmermann, Foss and Mäder!
Crisis averted for some managers, as the Swiss rider from Team Swiss sacrifices his own stage chances to bring back his GC leader! Nice work! 13 km left!
Kron leads the peloton with 9 km to go, but the pace is not very high! Almeida also comes back, and brings almost fifty others with him!
5 km to go! In the distance you can see the finish already. A peloton of 54 riders now, with Rikunov the biggest name in the second group. The riders are close to starting the Côte de Seraing.
3.4 km to go as we are at the foot of the hill! An average gradient of almost 5% awaits the riders, with the steepest part in the first km. Almeida takes the lead with Larsen in his wheel, Bernal advances on the right.
Yellow jersey Eenkhoorn not positioned perfectly as teammate Storer goes early with 2.5 km to go! Geniets, Sosa and Van Niekerk the first riders in the Australian’s wheel!
The first four riders still the same, but the South African advancing into second place with 2 km to go! Higuita, Stannard and Pogacar the first riders behind those four, while Bernal and Conci are on the left side of the road!
Final 1.5 km as Storer sits down but is still in the lead! Stannard drops back, leaving six leaders, with behind them Bernal and Conci trying to close the gap!
Sivakov into ninth as his teammate Geniets take the lead under the flamme rouge! Yellow jersey Eenkhoorn in trouble, and so is his teammate Inkelaar!
Van Niekerk starts his sprint with 500 meters to go! Storer finding a second breath and accelerating as well! If the Australian finishes second, he takes yellow even if the South African wins!
Storer in the lead in the final 300 meters! Could it be?! Conci now with a massive acceleration coming from behind, he is only 10” behind in the GC as well!
Conci flying! Storer still in the lead with only 200 meters left though! Mäder is the first rider behind the eight leaders, he’s trying to close the gap!
Storer is not giving up, and still leads in the final 100 meters! Conci not going so fast anymore, but could Pogacar actually overtake the others on the left?!
Nobody overtaking Storer anymore, as the Australian is invincible in this Tour! Third stage win for Philips in six stages, and fifth yellow jersey in a row! Their GC leaders will lose time, but we suppose there will still be some champagne popping tonight! Conci (2nd) and Van Niekerk (3rd) grab a hold of the other podium spots, while places 4 to 8 go to Geniets (4th), Pogacar (5th), Sosa (6th), Higuita (7th) and Bernal (8th).
Mäder finishes ninth ahead of Stannard a bit later, and loses 14”.
Other GC riders losing time are Zimmermann (21”), Sivakov and Eenkhoorn (41”), Habtemichael and Foss (1’13”) and then Inkelaar and Almeida both 1’50”, and some others even more. The Tour de l’Avenir is done with easier stages, as shown today. The last three stages will be even harder, starting tomorrow with the first mountain stage!
