Stage 8, the final chapter of the Balkans International, runs 226 km from Berat in South Central Albania, into Greece, where it ends on the 6km climb to Ligkiades. 15 riders within 1’34 on the GC and all the other competitions are also in play. The KOM certainly up for grabs with 3 Cat 4s, 2 Cat 3s, a Cat 2 and a Cat 1. Plus the finish has Cat 4 points.
The stage favorites will look familiar, so far De Bie and Hagen haven’t lived up to there billing, maybe today is their day.
The KOM leader is alert and as soon as the attacks start he is with them. He follows Gebrezgabihier and Egger. First break attempt by Puma
The first KOM, a Cat 4, comes just 6k in and Errazkin wins it, but he was already showing weakness. Hopefully has enough left.
So far only one other attack, by Zoidl, was quickly shut down by the peleton which is at 1’33. Tinkoff’s young star Vlasov trying to control things while his teammate, Kolesnikov, 2nd in the KOM, works his way to the front.
Bevin launches the next attack, behind him, making their way through the motorcycle traffic, are Velits, Kolesnikov, Zoidl and Hagen. The Norwegian has decided to turn into a stage hunter later in his career.
And that those 8 will be the break of the day. Closest on the GC is Hagen at 8’52. They have 3’12 over the peloton with 205k to ride. The next Cat 4 is in 6.6 km.
Kolesnikov takes it ahead of his rival.
Errazkin 78 – 56 Kolesnikov
But at the next cat 4 the Spaniard gets first.
Errazkin 83 – 59 Kolesnikov
Next Is a Cat 1, Kolesnikov needs to hope he can use his climbing ability to score a bigger win there.
With 186km to ride the break starts the Cat 1. It is 11.1 km at 5.2%. Their lead is 7’15. The Yellow Jersey would be happy to see the break take the bonus seconds.
1.5 km to the top and Kolesnikov attacks. His rival right on his wheel, the Russian will be pleased to see other riders staying in the contest for the points.
But they can also take points from him and with 300 meters to go Gebrezgabihier takes the lead. The Eritrean started the day 6th in the KOM.
He takes first and Kolesnikov only gains 2 points.
Kolesnikov’s path to the KOM is looking pretty frail at this point. Still 27 points on the course but he needs to get rid of Errazkin and make it to the end himself.
It takes all of the descent and some flat for the breakaway to reform one group. They do so with 168k to go and a lead of 8’17. Now there is about 60k of flat, this is where the peloton can gain ground.
About half way across the valley, 138k to go, the peloton passes the sprint point, the lead down to 4’40. Swisslion, Farfetch, Gazelle and Popo4ever working. Their riders all off the podium, they want a hard race.
The breakaway reaches the bottom of the Cat 2 with a 3’25 lead. The climb marks the beginning of the end – a jagged 103 km to go from here.
The Cat 2 is 7km at 5.6%.
2km to the top and Errazkin is at the back. Gebrezgabihier has already been dropped.
1 km to go, Errazkin has moved up but Kolesnikov piles on the pressure.
Kolesnikov takes first but the Desigual man has fought his way into the second position.
Errazkin 101 – 81 Kolesnikov
Errazkin will be he King of the Mountains and Desigual has a reward for their breakaway efforts.
As Popo4ever lead over the KOM the peloton trails the 7 leaders by 5’05. Padun feeling good today. Gebrezgabihier 1’21 behind his former companions.
84km to go. Gazelle and Popo4ever have reduced the lead to 2’21. Breakaway not going that hard as they seem to be letting Egger do most of the work. Now they are starting the next climb, a Cat 3, and the two KOM gladiators are making their way to the front.
Gebrezgabihier is still in between but will be back in the peloton soon. The peloton is 154 riders strong, nobody important has been dropped.
Kolesnikov takes the points but Errazkin again takes second. The peloton can be seen in the background, they are just 50 seconds behind as Gazelle are again showing their strength.
Errazkin 105 – 87 Kolesnikov
Over the top 33 riders are dropped from the peloton, most notably Gastauer, 93 riders remain.
4km to the final cat 3, 75k to the finish, and Errazkin is gapped. His job is done.
1km later all the effort takes its toll and Kolesnikov is also dropped.
At the top the last KOM (Other than the finish) the 4 leaders are Bevin Velits, Zoidl, and Hagen. They ignore the KOM, they are only interested in the stage win. The peloton is at 2’35. Kolesnikov is in the picture just 39 seconds behind. Errazkin and Egger don’t look like they will rejoin. The peleton is down to 81, Waeytens. 24th on GC, has been dropped.
Over the top of the climb 30 more riders are dropped, including Sergis, who won this stage last year. Guerreiro has been helping with the chase for FarFetch.
50km to go for the 4 breakaway riders. They have 1’56.
Kolesnikov was never able to rejoin so these 4 are the only ones left out front.
In the peloton Paulinho, 19th on GC, has been dropped and there are just 46 riders left. Gazelle is running out of workers, they have received help from Evonik but the chasing has been inconsistent. From here mostly downhill or flat, except for small bumps until the first of the 2 finishing climbs is reached with about 20km to go.
37km to go for the peloton. Back up to 62 riders including Paulinho. Sosnitskiy doing most of the work but he isn’t looking great and the lead is back out to 2’55.
With 20km to go the break reach the first of the two finishing climbs. The climb to Mazia is 7.3km at 5.3%, their lead is 2’34. Almost immediately Velits, and Zoidl attack.
Hagen lets Bevin set the pace and 2k from the top the Kiwi has dragged them back up to the front two. The peloton has lost all momentum and is at 3’48.
1k from the top and Velits attacks, this time Hagen sets the pace behind.
And over the top the Air France rider bridges across to the front, leaving the other two behind. From here 6k downhill and then the final climb.
In the peloton Lopez launches the first attack.
Moser try to hold him and Padun counters, but he prises open a small gap.
10k to go for the favorites group. Padun and Lopez have a 7 second gap. Amezawa is chasing for the Aker.
Up front the leaders have 21 seconds over the two chasers and 3’22 over Lopez.
The attacks in the peloton split the front group with only 24 riders ahead of the split. Ulissi is working to close the 17 second gap as 4th placed Teklit is in on the wrong side. Other top 25 riders missing out include Koretzky (16th), Zardini (18th), and Sepulveda (23rd). The very disinterested De Bie (17th), and Paulinho (19th) are in what looks like it is about to become a third group.
5k for the leaders. They have 33 seconds on the two chasers. They are on the final climb to Ligkiades which is 5.6k at 6.7%
Vasyliv closes down Lopez and the Teklit group rejoins. The De Bie group still 26 seconds behind. They trail the front of the race by 3’28 so it seems like the breakaway will take the bonus seconds.
3k to go, the two veterans have extended their lead to 54 seconds. The peloton can be seen below and is back to 60 riders. The gap is 3’24.
Evonik decides to ramp up the pace in the peloton as Tvetcov and Mas join Lopez on the front.
The Evonik group tear up the climb and with 2km to go Lopez is joined on the front by Sagan and Formolo. The Yellow Jersey a little further back. The group is within 46 seconds of the 2 chasers from the breakaway, 3rd place bonus seconds might be in play. The front two are another 1’05 ahead and have 1.4k to go.
Approaching the 1k banner, the chasers are caught and the leaders have 48 seconds. But after the charge up the mountain the GC guys are looking shaky. Still officially a 51-rider group but they are very spread out.
800 meters and a group of 7 is within 31 seconds of the lead and has 21 seconds on 8 chasers. The freshest looking are the 2 breakaway riders. The other 5 are Lopez, Sagan, Formolo, Kinoshita and Kwiatkowski.
The 8 rider group behind includes: Mohoric, Bakelants, Van Garderen, Padun, Yates, Beltran, Tvetcov and Boily. They have a 20 second gap over the 4th group on the road which includes Oomen, Arndt, and Teklit, they seem to the biggest losers in the top 15 at this point.
500 meters for the leaders, Velits must have nothing left as he needed to attack, there is no way he beats Hagen in a sprint. Arndt has dragged the 4th group back to the 3rd group.
300 meters and Hagen accelerates, the groups behind have all merged, the Yellow Jersey is in 3rd position on the road but it looks like the breakaway riders will take the stage.
Hagen may have been a disappointment in the GC but he has a stage win. Kwiatkowski looks like he has secured the GC.
Velits takes 2nd and Kwiatkowski finishes the GC with a strong 3rd. All the top 15 are currently in the same group with Teklit hanging on at the back, time differences could still materialize.
Formolo, Yates, Padun, Lopez, Kinoshita Sagan and Arndt complete the top 10. Sagan had a 12-point lead over Kwiatkowski and he loses 9 points, so he will win the points jersey.
The White Jersey, Oomen, crosses in 17th and Teklit in 19th. We will have to see what time gaps are awarded or if White will come down to placings.
A 17-second gap is awarded between Sagan and Arndt and 18 seconds before Oomen and another 10 seconds before Teklit.
Which means Padun wins White by 35 seconds.
Teklit is the big loser on the day dropping to 10th but it could have been a lot worse. Before the race his manager probably would have taken 10th and a stage win. Not many other big changes in the GC, Formolo the biggest gainer, as he moves up to 7th, some reward for his team’s work.
Aegon hang on to the team jersey, a very small consolation for De Bie’s failures. He finishes 17th, to go with his 20th last year and 17th in 2018.
Balkans International 
