The Aramco boys did what they had to yesterday and put their leader Mas in a great position to possibly win the GC. Today is the first chance for his competitors to regain some time on him in an interesting 200+ km mountain stage.
A break of 31 (!) riders are allowed some freedom. Kochetkov is definitely not the best climber here, but the others wait too long to start their sprint, so the Hyundai rider wins 16 KoM-points on the Alt de Coubet of first category. Other riders scoring decent points are Lovik, Hacecky, Bevin and Henao. Other decent climbers in this group are Aasvold, Lavery, Shapira, Martin, McNulty, Pavlic, Revard, Azman, Ji, Medvedev and Palini. Both Strava and McCormick with five riders in the break, some other teams with three or four riders. This is definitely not a mission impossible. The peloton, led by Volcanica, HelloFresh, yellow jersey team Aramco and Glanbia are 5’30 behind with 180 km to the finish line. Chaves and Gaspar already on domestique duties.
6.5 km left to climb on the Collada de Toses. It’s percentage means nothing (3,2%), but its length is (32.5km) is what makes this mountain a climb of first category as well. Mostly the teams with some domestiques to spare that are doing the work in the breakaway, whereas the peloton is now 4’30” behind.
Chaiyasombat and Hecht add some points to their KoM-tally at the top, but Henao does take the sixteen points ahead of them. 130 km to the finish. Peloton at 3’45”, thanks to some great work by Tikhonin. Long descent now, before the riders head onto the two mountains hors catégorie!
Interesting! Five leaders who were at the back of the large breakaway see a gap forming between them and the 26 others ahead of them. It started raining, so the communication must be out, as none of the domestiques come back to help their leaders! Shapira, Martin, McNulty, Ji and Medvedev now wasting some unnecessary energy!
And we’re on the Port del Canto (HC)! 23 km at 4.7%, but the five first km are definitely not easy with most of the parts above ten percent. The peloton only 2’ behind with 18.5 km to climb.
Strava, Tafjord and McCormick keep the tempo high enough in the leading group, as rider after rider gets dropped and a breakaway of 18 remaining riders is 2’15” ahead of a peloton of less than fifty riders! The most important names dropped in the breakaway are Medvedev and Martin, while in the peloton the biggest names dropping so far are Schleck and Krasnoperov.
Henao and Hacecky decide the time to attack has come! They instantly get a 40” lead over the rest of the breakaway riders, where Strava and McCormick are trying to reel them back in! Five km to climb and the gap of these two over the peloton is 1’45”! The peloton existing out of only 20-ish riders now, as Amador himself is setting the pace there, already dropping Ratiy!
Hacecky drops Henao on his way to the top! 39 km left for the Mikeller rider, can he actually do it?!
Two minutes later Bevin, Hecht and Gillett take most of the remaining points. Amador and the rest of the favourites a little bit behind this breakaway group still, but it’s important to notice that Chaves, Herrada, Salinas, Gaspar and Brandt have been dropped. Yellow jersey Paez still at the back of the Amador group.
The two leaders are back together as they start their climb of the Port-Ainé, also hors catégorie! In the valley, the domestiques of Strava and McCormick worked very hard, reducing the difference to 50”! The group of favourites an additional 50” behind. 14.5 km to the finish line!
The two at the front seem to be running out of energy, as Lovik makes the jump towards them in a matter of seconds! The other 14 breakaway riders only 20” behind though, as the group of favourites is also coming closer! 13 km to climb and this section of 16+% is definitely not the easiest!
The group of favourites joins the fourteen breakaway riders before they manage to reel the leading trio back in. Brenes comes to the front, and everybody expects it will be to do some work for leader Amador. That’s not the case though, as Brenes attacks! He tries to bridge the gap towards the leading trio with 11.5 km to climb!
Was Hacecky playing games?! He feels the Volcanica rider coming closer and attacks again, is the stage win still possible for Mikeller?! Less than 10 km to go now! In the distance we can see Brenes getting caught again by Battaglin and the rest of the peloton.
The Pas Normal rider building a gap of 30+ seconds over Henao, but here come the big guns! Mas follows an attack of Iino to make sure the yellow jersey stays inside the Aramco DP camp, while Amador is with them as well!
Never mind, Amador is not with them! The Costa Rican can’t match the acceleration of the other two and has to make up fifteen seconds with 6.5 km to the finish line! The peloton, led by Strava, at an additional 30”!
The Volcanica rider makes it back to the front of the race with 5.7 km to go, but Mas immediately accelerates again, with nobody able to follow him! The Aramco rider now has 5 km to the finish line and 25” over his three chasers, where Hacecky is close to getting dropped. The other favourites now at 1’10” of the race lead, Barta in trouble there!
3.5 km left as Mas’ gap over Amador and Iino is still exactly 25”! Three men left the rest of the peloton behind and are at exactly 1’ of the race lead: Kozhatayev, Potocki and Roson!
Victory is coming closer for Aramco, but they are not there yet! Still 25” on his first chasers, who have just gained a man! Potocki joined Amador and Iino with an amazing acceleration, can he perform that trick one more time to join the lead of the race?! The group of favourites now being split in several pieces, most recent victims dropping include Martin, Borisavljevic, Schultz, yellow jersey Paez and Brenes.
Final km for Mas, but he’s having trouble! The three chasers now at 15”!
Half a km left and gap now 10”! Good news for the Aramco rider is that it’s slightly descending towards the finish line now!
200 meters left, can he hold on?!
Yes! Close, but definitely a deserved victory for Mas! Iino (2nd) and Amador (3rd) complete the podium ahead of Potocki (4th).
Kozhatayev finishing fifth at 35”, whereas Roson in sixth comes in at an additional 20”.
At 1’20” of the first four, Hacecky comes in seventh ahead of Azman. The other riders crossing the line just behind them are Gillett, Pavlic, Lavery, Diaz, De Vos, Moschella, Shapira, Kuss and Hecht. Other riders lose at least another minute.
