Damn, what a beast of a stage for the youngsters today! 144 km with a lot of climbing! The riders will have to conquer the Col de la Madeleine (HC), Col de la Croix de Fer (HC), Col du Mollard (only second category, easy) and the final climb la Toussuire – Les Sybelles (first category).
A break of seven immediately gets some space, and there are some very interesting riders here! The names are Hirschi (20th at two minutes), Fung (43rd at 3’20”), Rikunov (28th at 2’20”), Kiriakidis (22nd at two minutes), Dewulf, Champoussin, Guglielmi.
Champoussin wins the intermediate sprint at the foot of the Madeleine without having to do anything. Van Poucke, Moniquet, KoM-leader Carr and once again Primozic are 25” behind them, the peloton an additional minute.
The four chasers can’t bridge those twenty seconds! The seven leaders start the Col de la Madeleine with 1’20” ahead of the peloton, led by World Cycling Centre!
After 10 km of climbing, the leaders reach a small intermezzo before starting the second part of the col de Madeleine, which is 26 km in total with an average gradient of 6.1%. World Cycling Centre doesn’t have the best climbers, and they stopped trying to close the gap. Time difference now four minutes, with the teams working in the peloton being Carlsberg, Xero, Tinkoff, Zalgiris and Polar.
Champoussin seems to have the KoM-jersey as his goal! He attacks with 2.5 km and holds his ground rather easily. Rikunov, Hirschi and Fung cross the top just behind him, while the Festina riders already lose 1’15”! A long descent coming now, that could save them. Dewulf an additional 40” behind.
The helicopter gives us a nice shot of the peloton reaching the top of the Madeleine, Kipkemboi and the others at 4’45” of the leaders with 100 km to the finish line!
After a descent of 20 km, there are four leaders. It wasn’t easy for Fung to follow the three others, who are better descenders, but he managed to hold on. The Festina duo is 1’30” behind, the peloton 4’50”. 40+ riders have been dropped in the peloton already, but nobody important enough to mention.
In the background, you can see the four leaders starting their ascent of the Col de la Croix de Fer, 23.3 km at 6.9%! Guglielmi is trying to bring teammate Kiriakidis closer, and it is working, as the difference has decreased by 25”!
Good job by the Frenchman, as he succeeds in his mission! As soon as they come back the pace drops drastically though, the peloton now 3’45” behind as Tinkoff is using several riders there.
No Belgians in the leading group, but that doesn’t stop this guy to show his flag and interesting vestimentary choice! Guglielmi has led the leaders for several km, which saw the peloton come back quickly to one minute. Hirschi takes over now, as the gap is growing again with 16 km to climb.
Guglielmi with one last push, before he gets dropped with ten km to climb. He managed to increase the gap over the peloton to 2’05”. He did what he had to do, manager SotD will be happy. Only 65 riders left in the peloton, no big names going overboard yet.
Hirschi dropped with 5 km to climb on the Col de la Croix de Fer, as the other four leaders are about to go over the steepest parts of this monstrosity of a climb! The peloton at 2’10” of the leaders and now reduced to 37 riders, with Lasinis and Evans the best climbers not able to follow the pace! Xero and Tinkoff setting the pace!
3 km to go as just after gradients going up to 13% we see Rikunov and Champoussin getting dropped by Fung and Kiriakidis! Hirschi is 1’40” behind the race lead already, a peloton of thirty riders now 2’15” behind the two leaders! Hibatullah, Valter, Geniets and Tejada dropped there!
Fung tries to distance the Festina rider with 2 km to climb, but Kiriakidis fights back and overtakes him with 1.5 km to climb!
And he wins the KoM-sprint with 25” over the McCormick rider! The following duo is already 2’30” behind, and Hirschi at 3’30”! 56 km to go, solo of the year incoming?
Vanhoucke and Almeida lead the peloton over the top at four minutes of the leader. They lost some time, which is normal after the attacks at the head of the race. Three more riders are dropped here, including McNulty.
No crazy solo for the Festina rider, as he allows Fung to comes back. 42 km to the finish line, as they start de Col du Mollard, 5.9 km at 6.7%. Rikunov and Champoussin are coming closer again as well, they are one minute behind the race lead. Hirschi at two minutes of the race lead, and a peloton of 26 at 2’40”. Lopez was the last Bralirwa rider in the peloton, but got dropped in the descent.
The leading duo is halfway the climb now, as Rikunov and Champoussin are 55” behind, and the peloton at 2’10”. Hirschi got swallowed by the peloton already, to be spit out again in no time.
Fung tries to distance Kiriakidis, but the latter is too strong and distances the McCormick rider again to win the KoM-sprint! 36 km to go, will he go solo, or wait again? Champoussin over the top in third two minutes later, while the peloton is 2’30” behind the race leader at the top.
Sivakov is a strong descender and puts the pressure on by attacking downhill! Alarm bells going off, other GC favourites trying to win places and close the gap with 32 km to go!
Almeida does what he has to do for leader Bernal, the favourites back together with 25 km to go! 6 km to climb as the race situation is as follows: Kiriakidis - Fung (30”) - Champoussin (1’50”) – peloton of 22 (2’30”). Also interesting to know is Champoussin and Kiriakidis currently both have 36 KoM-points, while Fung has 32.
Kiriakidis now starting what might be the climb of his career! 18.4 km at 6%, with the time difference over the others being the same so far! Almeida pulling in the peloton, at 2’40”! The other names in the peloton are Conci, Inkelaar, Girdlestone, Sivakov, Bernal, Higuita, Habtemichael, Foss, Van Niekerk, Giannoutsos, yellow jersey Storer, Sosa, Pogacar, Zimmermann, Eenkhoorn, Mäder, Stork, Revard, Mano, Pronskiy, Johanson and Hoehn.
The first four km are amongst the hardest, and with 14 km to climb Fung is now only ten seconds behind Kiriakidis! Champoussin one minute behind the race lead, and the peloton at two minutes! They actually came back to 1’15”, but Almeida stopped working, and the time difference is growing again! Nobody has been dropped there so far.
Fung comes back together with Kiriakidis as there are 12.5 km to go, but the Greek still has enough energy to immediately attack and get a thirty second gap over the course of the next km! 11.5 km to go! Peloton already at 2’40”!
Final ten km for Kiriakidis! His gap over Fung is one minute already, while the peloton is at almost four minutes, with Rikunov even coming back there! Nobody working is perfect for the Greek of course!
Still a tired Almeida at the head of the peloton, time difference four minutes with 8.3 km to climb for the leader, whereas in the peloton Misbah also comes back!
Attack in the peloton! Higuita accelerates, and Foss tries to follow! The Carlsberg rider immediately sitting down however!
Everybody else in the peloton still looking at each other! 5 Km to go for Kiriakidis! He has one minute over Fung, 3’05” over Champoussin and Higuita, and 4’10” over the peloton, led by yellow jersey Storer!
4.3 km to go for the leader as Higuita quickly coming closer, now two minutes behind him! Reaction by teammate Giannoutsos under the banner of the final five km, reaction by Inkelaar! Champoussin getting overrun by everyone now, while Girdlestone drops in the peloton!
It’s getting hard for Kiriakidis, slowly breaking down! 3.5 km to climb as Fung is at 1’10”, Higuita at 1’30”, Giannoutsos and Inkelaar at 2’05”, and the peloton, led by Bernal, at 3’10”! Almeida and Misbah dropped in the peloton!
3 km to the finish line as Higuita flies by Fung and is at less than a minute of leader Kiriakidis! Festina still having a good shot at winning the stage however, as Giannoutsos is coming closer to the Xero rider, and has also been able to drop Inkelaar! Bernal and the rest of the peloton still 2’50” behind the race lead!
Foss with an attack in the peloton! He doesn’t get away, but some riders are dropped! The dropped riders are Rikunov, the three McCormick riders, Johanson and Stork!
Last two km for leader Kiriakidis! Higuita twenty seconds behind now, while Inkelaar has caught Giannoutsos again and follows at an additional twenty seconds! The peloton at 1’40” of the race lead, with Fung just ahead of him!
Zimmermann and Pronskiy are getting dropped in the group of favourites (should have started using that earlier instead of peloton, my bad), and Pogacar seems to be having some trouble as well next to yellow jersey Storer!
Festina here, Festina there, Festina everywhere! Van Niekerk attacks now, he has 1’25” to make up in the final 1.5 km, as his teammate Kiriakidis is caught by Higuita at the head of the race!
And the Colombian accelerates again, dropping Kiriakidis under the flamme rouge! Inkelaar and Giannoutsos twenty seconds behind, Van Niekerk at one minute!
Van Niekerk still at a minute under the flamme rouge! Fung, Sosa and Storer seem to be getting dropped in the group of favourites!
500 meters to go for Higuita, but the Festina riders seem to be gaining ground on him! Inkelaar seems to have a hard time accelerating! Van Niekerk at fifty seconds, the other at 1’05”!
Inkelaar is dropped by the Festina riders, as Kiriakidis launches the sprint for his teammate Giannoutsos with his final efforts! Higuita has a ten second lead with 300 meters to go, and Sosa and Storer are mentioned back in the group of favourites!
It’s actually Pogacar who is losing places in the final 500 meters! Is this goodbye to a possible GC win?!
Back to the front as we just manage to catch Higuita winning the race and very probably taking yellow! Giannoutsos and Kiriakidis after an incredible stage are the others on the podium!
Number four of today’s stage is another Festina rider, as Van Niekerk beats Inkelaar in a sprint at 35” of the winner! Conci and Habtemichael finish in the same time!
52” after winner Higuita, Foss crosses the finish line in eighth. Others in this group are Sivakov (9th), Bernal (10th), Mäder (11th), Storer (12th) and Eenkhoorn (13th). Sosa comes in fourteenth a couple of seconds later.
Zimmermann even wins the sprint for 15th against Pogacar, who got hit by the hammer very hard. They cross the line at 1’30” of the winner, and should be the only other ones still being able to play a role in the GC after today’s stage. Fung then finishes seventeenth, also an impressive stage by him in the end.
