It’s the first big test for the climbers today, the first indication we’ll get of where everyone stacks up and who will contest for the GC win. Lecuisinier is the big favorite, but Kudus, Madrazo and Dombrowski, among others, should be proficient challengers.
There’s also the KoM jersey up for grabs. The two intermediate KoM sprints combine for a maximum of 26 points, compared to the 6 we had yesterday and the 20 at the finish. So a breakaway rider could well wear the jersey at the end of today. Kanepejs moves first, followed by Chokri.
Next are Salcone, another ISA rider in Vincent, and Walsleben. He’s one of the worst climbers in the peloton - maybe he wants to get a head start to conquer the final climb.
The grind continues. Dyrnes has already caught up with the previous trio, then it’s current KoM leader and third ISA rider Feng, Lane, Mager, Thiery and Bayly.
Are we done yet? No, we aren’t. Wohrer leads Egger Croes, Tatarinov, Juodvalkis and Dima in the next wave. Surely at some point that’s too many riders for the peloton?
Indeed, all of those guys were caught again, but that doesn’t stop Pruus from going for it, again followed by quite a crowd. Up front, a group of nine has formed, just a few seconds behind Kanepejs and Chokri.
Pruus tows Tatarinov, Van Poucke, Seibeb, Shirota and Schinnagel to the front, making it a group of 17, but possibly dooming the whole thing in the process, as the peloton continues to chase hard.
Actually, the breakaway manages to establish a lead of around 2 minutes, but attacks continue in the peloton, always quickly followed by a surge in pace, which doesn’t allow the gap to grow further at the moment. All these attacks are neutralized quickly, but this one in particular stands out as it’s led by Slagter, one of the better climbers.
Finally, things calm down and everyone is now riding along at a mild pace. On the first uncategorized climb of the day, 5,6 kilometers at an average of 5,4%, the group has 3 minutes on the pack. As a reminder, the riders are, very roughly in order of their climbing skills:
Seibeb
Mager
Shirota
Lane
Tatarinov
Bayly
Dyrnes
Schinnagel
Pruus
Vincent
Salcone
Van Poucke
Thiery
Feng
Kanepejs
Chokri
Walsleben
The intermediate sprint has less value today than it did yesterday, as bonus seconds here likely won’t impact the GC rankings at all. It is therefore only mildly contested, with Pruus beating Dyrnes and Seibeb.
There are decent enough climbers in the group that the peloton wants to keep them on a tight leash. Many teams contribute and the gap hovers around two and a half minutes at this point.
Seibeb has led the breakaway for almost the entire climb, but at a pace that didn’t give trouble to anyone. But with around 2 kilometers to go, he goes on the attack! Kanepejs and Pruus were closest and try to hang on, Van Poucke and Thiery leads the chase.
At the 1km banner, Seibeb has to relent, but Kanepejs surprisingly still has some juice left. Further behind, Dyrnes managed to hang on to the Jura duo, then there’s a small gap to the rest, led by Lane and Feng.
Kanepejs overdid it, the other two are back in front, Dyrnes is chasing!
But he is too late. Seibeb is the strongest after all, relegating Pruus and Dyrnes to second and third.
Tatarinov takes the final 2 points behind Kanepejs. Remarkably, the rest of the group stayed together, although Chokri and Walsleben have to dig really deep at the back.
After all the accelerations, the gap temporarily shot up to over four minutes, but now the peloton is really picking up the pace - at the worst possible time for Egger, who suffered a puncture and would not make it back to the pack.
At the second intermediate sprint, Pruus once again beats Dyrnes, this time ahead of Kanepejs. The gap to the peloton is already down to just over two minutes.
The peloton starts to shed some riders already on this flat part. A group around Guardini and yellow jersey Hodeg is dropped, further behind is a 30 men group including a few decent climbers such as the Minions Marquez and Poljanski.
Immediately upon hitting the first few slopes of the Cat1 climb going 7,3km at 6,8%, Chokri can’t hang on to his breakaway companions anymore. More riders surely will follow.
Indeed, first it’s Walsleben, then Thiery who let go, and then a group of five including Feng, Mager, Kanepejs, Salcone and Pruus.
With the Aker rider gone, only Seibeb and Dyrnes are left in contention for the KoM title, as they’re the only ones in position to beat the eventual stage winner. They’re lingering at the back of the now nine-men leading group.
Soon after though, Dyrnes can’t keep up anymore, he drops alongside Vincent. Seibeb needs to cross at least in second at the top.
He’s in fourth position when Tatarinov attacks! Bayly is dropped by the move, but we can also already see the peloton, just over a minute behind.
Shirota now takes over and Seibeb can’t follow! Neither can Lane or Van Poucke.
Lane actually still has some gas left and moves past Schinnagel, but Tatarinov takes maximum points, leaving him with 18. That’s second place in the KoM guaranteed, but he would need to finish in the Top 9 today to beat the stage winner’s 20.
Meanwhile, we have some surprising movement in the peloton! Uran attacks within the final kilometer of the climb, Oomen follows as do heavyweights Lecuisinier and Kudus!
Uran can’t keep up the pace, but Oomen, Lecuisinier and Kudus cross the summit (alongside Bayly) with a small gap to a trio around the Colombian, Dombrowski and Madrazo. Majka either didn’t realize his leader got away, or he sneakily tries to destroy the rhythm of the chase at the front of the peloton.
At the foot of the final climb, which goes on for 12,8 kilometers at an excruciating 9,7%, Uran, Madrazo and Dombrowski have basically caught up to the Lecuisinier group. All of them are almost 2 minutes behind the three leaders (still Tatarinov, Shirota and Lane).
Meanwhile, a strung-out group of 23 currently led by Wellens and Berhane and including most of the other GC favorites, is some 40 seconds behind the attackers. The biggest names missing are Aular, Lunke, Slagter, Rodrigues and Karnulin, but all of them still have their leaders in front.
Lecuisinier and company catch up to the escapees around Seibeb, who had still been lingering between them and the leaders. But only Oomen is right there with the Frenchman, the other contenders have to be careful not to be caught behind the former breakaway riders. 35 seconds currently to the Masnada-led chasers, we’ll take stock of who’s in there shortly.
But first, we have to turn our attention to the front, where Tatarinov attacks! Maybe he thinks he’s got a shot at that Top 9 finish, or he just wants to get the most aggressive rider price. No immediate reaction from Shirota or Lane.
Right behind them, Lecuisinier attacks! Still more than 11 kilometers to go, he must feel supremely confident! Oomen has a small gap to Kudus, Madrazo, Dombrowski and the others.
Lecuisinier catches Shirota and Lane with ease, Tatarinov is still 35 seconds ahead. Oomen is back with the other chasers.
As promised, a quick look at the bigger chasing group. Ignoring former breakaway riders, it includes from front to back:
Wellens
Eastman
Galta
Pomoshnikov
Quintana
Haig
Shikai
Pluchkin
Spilak
Berhane
Henao Montoya
Arndt
Stancu
Preidler
Bongiorno
Majka
Garby
Denifl
Brozyna
Masnada
A small group around Lunke and Aular is around a minute behind them.
Back to the front, where Lecuisinier reaches Tatarinov under the 10km banner. They have 55 seconds to the first chasing group, who in turn have 55 seconds on the bigger group.
The chasing group is really not working well together, no one wants to take responsibility. Quintana and Pomoshnikov have almost brought them back. At the back of the group, Masnada, Brozyna and Schinnagel lose touch.
Tatarinov is caught by the now indeed reunited chasing group with 8,5 kilometers to go after a strong ride. He will wear the KoM jersey tomorrow in today’s stage winner’s stead, which is shaping up to be Lecuisinier. He’s 1’20 ahead. The perspective may lead you to believe that a chunk of riders are very close to this main group, but there are gaps and more and more riders are struggling.
Among them, shockingly, is Pluchkin! He’s not looking well at all, and neither are Garby, Majka, Denifl and Spilak just ahead of him.
( Stancu had been dropped just before this, alongside Bayly and Seibeb, if you’re keeping score.)
The real gap is opening further ahead though. Shikai, Berhane, Henao Montoya, Bongiorno and Arndt, alongside Shirota and Lane, lose contact to the riders ahead!
In that group, it seems like everyone is struggling - Dombrowski for instance is suspiciously far at the back. But one man has seperated himself, and that’s Kudus, who takes up the chase of Lecuisinier alone now.
Kudus is flying, quickly cutting the gap to Lecuisinier to just 45 seconds, and the Festina rider is swinging across his handlebar, not looking all that fresh.
Behind them, a group of four has got a slight edge on the rest: Pomoshnikov, who must have an incredible day, along with Haig, Oomen and Madrazo. Then, Quintana, Wellens, Uran and Preidler have a small gap to Dombrowski and Eastman.
Quintana reunites the two quartets with another big effort. They are a minute behind Kudus, who’s only 30 seconds behind Lecuisinier now.
Further down the road, the unravelling of Pluchkin continues, he can’t keep up with the group around Berhane, Shikai and Spilak, now riding next to Vasyliv. Aular, meanwhile has mounted quite the comeback, riding at the front of that group, on the left of Berhane.
With 4,5 kilometers to go, Kudus made the catch! What a performance, and he still looks fresher than Lecuisinier! 1’30 on the chasers, where the situation has remained steady.
Everyone’s super tired and it’s rather slow going, which allows Dombrowski, Eastman and Galta to make contact with the chasers again. It also prompts Pomoshnikov to attack! What did this guy have for breakfast this morning?! This is a section of 19%!
Galta is struggling again, but in a wild twist, Tatarinov has jumped from the group behind! He’s 14th on the road now, but he would need to make up 5 more places to get the polkadots! 4km to go for him.
Kudus and Lecuisinier still ride side by side with 3 kilometers to go. They have around a minute on Pomoshnikov, 1’40 on the group led by Madrazo and Quintana.
Madrazo is upping the pace now and it shows. Preidler, Dombrowski and Eastman are dropped.
Also dropped: Lecuisinier! Kudus now has a slight edge with 2 kilometers to go!
The final kilometer to the finish is completely flat, Kudus enters it with a mere 9 seconds on Lecuisinier! Will that be enough?
Yes! Merhawi Kudus wins stage 2 of the Vuelta a Colombia and takes yellow! Lecuisinier looked like he had this in the bag, but in the end, he has to settle for second.
With an absolutely bonkers performance, Pomoshnikov finishes third. 1’20 behind Kudus, but more importantly around 30 seconds ahead of the next group.
Quintana has the tiniest bit of energy left to lead said group over the line, finishing fourth in his home country ahead of Haig, Wellens, Oomen, Madrazo and the second Colombian, Uran. With the exception of maybe Madrazo, all of them can be pretty happy with their performance I think.
Dombrowski wins the sprint for 10th, but he’s one of the bigger disappointments today, losing more than 2 minutes to Kudus. Preidler with a good 11th place, 12th for Eastman, then Galta in 13th some 40 seconds later.
Tatarinov had a terrific day, he finishes 14th. Berhane is next, then Aular, Shikai and Henao Montoya.
Spilak will be disappointed with this 20th place, flanked by Bongiorno and Denifl. Garby, Majka and Arndt are also in this group, all at +3’37.
But the biggest disappointment of the day is Pluchkin, who finishes outside of the Top 25, eventually being outsprinted at the line by Vasyliv. A terrible day for him, maybe the first time he really felt his age.
Kudus with a big exclamation mark here today, gaining (including bonus seconds) 16 seconds on Lecuisinier. But while it’s tight between those two, they’ve gained a massive 2 minute advantage on their main rivals (all due respect to Pomoshnikov), which might have already locked up the first two places - though we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves.
Some notable names showed weakness today, but they still have three more mountain stages to make up for that. Meanwhile, Aular has already taken pretty firm control of the U25 classification, and he also contributes to his team MOL’s first place in the team classification.
Vuelta a Colombia 
