The second consecutive mountain top finish awaits us and the riders today. Kudus leads after a terrific ride yesterday, he and Lecuisinier seperated themselves from the rest, but there’s still so much climbing left to do.
The first attacker of the day is Antunes, who is soon joined by Ulloa, Kron, Feng (in his third breakaway appearance) and Gladysh. Another trio consisting of Akhmaevi, Affonso and Dina then starts chasing.
That trio, joined by Lane and Bizkarra, catches up to the front five to form the first group, but attacks keep flying behind them, currently led by Hirschi and Ho.
Those two, alongside Zimmermann, Poljanski and Teklehaimanot, also make their way to the front, forming a group of 15, currently almost two minutes ahead of the peloton.
After a prolongued chase, another six riders reach the front just as they begin the first climb of the day: Dyrnes, Koshevoy, Mager, Laengen, Harper and Shirota. The peloton lets them go, but keeps them close, the gap is still just over two minutes.
Shirota is the man with the most mountain points so far, having collected 12 yesterday. He takes the climb head-on! Other riders with points include Lane with 10, who’s coming to the front on the right side of the road, as well as Feng and Dyrnes with 6 each and Akhmaevi with 2. All three of them are a bit further behind right now. 1,5km to the top.
With a great display of strenth, Shirota stays ahead of everyone else and takes his total points tally to 18. Kudus leads the classification with 20, but he has another 20 potentially to grab at the finish. There are still 32 points available on the three climbs until then. Dina and Hirschi take 4 and 2 here, respectively.
A group of six wasn’t able to hold on with the others atop the climb. They are Mager, Akhmaevi, Ulloa, Feng, Teklehaimanot and Gladysh. Certainly a few surprises here, but in these large groups, positioning can be more important than ability. They trail the leaders by a minute, but lead the peloton by a significant seven minutes! The pack apparently fell half asleep up that climb.
The sextet has gotten a bit closer but still hasn’t made the catch at the intermediate sprint. The leaders work well together and don’t contend the points and seconds, 6 of which go to Ho, 4 to Laengen, 2 to Shirota.
The 21 riders are reunited just ahead of the second climb of the day. Close to the summit, it’s Dina who attacks first, Shirota attentive in fourth position.
Dina went too early, but held on to third place to collect 6 points. Shirota can’t capitalize, he only takes 2 points behind Antunes and is at 20 now. Bizkarra wins the sprint, Lane in second place boosts his total to 18 points. He’s in contention now as well, but both he and Shirota need to score significant points over the next two climbs.
Meanwhile, the peloton has reduced the gap to around 6 minutes, in large part due to Festina. Moser doesn’t take any responsibility so far, despite having the yellow jersey.
Closing in on the third climb of the day, another category 3 one, Shirota attacks and catches everyone by surprise! He gets a few meters between himself and the others. Lane waits for the moment, but he’s up there.
Shirota is rewarded with another 6 points, he’s now at 26 total. Dina is second, now at 14, Bizkarra adds 2 to his previous 10. Lane goes empty-handed.
Over the following kilometers, the peloton really picks up the pace. At the second intermediate sprint ( Harper - Bizkarra - Dina), the gap is down to 4’20.
The penultimate climb is 10 kilometers long with an average slope of 6,6%. Not easy, but the pace isn’t that high. All the more surprising that Shirota is the first with serious problems to keep up. He’s done a lot today, but nonetheless, this is disappointing. His polkadots dreams take a big hit.
He somewhat recovers, managing to pass the dropping Akhmaevi, Gladysh and now Ulloa, but he’s still in trouble - as is Lane, another KoM hopeful, now riding alongside Shirota at the very back of the group.
More riders drop, specifically Ho, Kron and Harper. And now, Bizkarra attacks!
At the very last second, both Poljanski and Dina pass Bizkarra, who would have had a decent shot at the polkadots otherwise. As it stands now, both Shirota and Dina have 26 points, with Bizkarra at 22. Kudus would need a Top 5 finish to remain atop that classification, Lecuisinier could top them with a first or second place on the day.
On the following descent, a group of seven comes together at the front. In addition to the three mentioned above, we have Dyrnes, Koshevoy, Zimmermann and Antunes. They have 44 seconds on Affonso and Hirschi, who are their closest chasers.
The peloton is down to 69 riders, the only Top 30 rider missing is Vasyliv. Gazelle has established a significant presence at the front of the group, Madrazo could have something planned today. But the leaders are still more than 4 minutes ahead.
With 8 kilometers to go, the gap is still at 4 minutes. The stage win feels within reach now and Zimmermann wants it! He attacks, Poljanski counters. The other five stay put for now. There’s no one threatening the GC in here, but it’s worth noting that Zimmermann is 6th in the young riders classification, some 5 minutes behind Aular. Only around a minute is left from that advantage.
As if inspired by the attack up front, we have some movement in the peloton! Haig accelerates, Madrazo is immediately in his wheel, as are Dombrowski, Kudus, Galta, Pomoshnikov and Pluchkin. Lecuisinier remains behind for now, a risky bet.
Kudus quickly takes over, sensing an opportunity to gain time on his main rival. Oomen and Shikai attack from the peloton, Rochas tries to control things for Lecuisinier.
Oomen and Shikai reach the back of the group just as Madrazo launches the next attack! In the peloton, domestique time is over: Wellens, Eastman, Uran and yes, Lecuisinier, have taken to the front.
Meanwhile, Zimmermann and Poljanski are cruising at the front. They quickly gained one and a half minutes on their former companions and still have 3’20 on the Kudus group as they pass the 5km banner. But those 5 kilometers are very steep …
Lecuisinier personally leads the chase now. As mentioned, Wellens, Uran and Eastman are with him, but Quintana, Berhane and Spilak also hang on. Then, there’s a gap to the rest, most notable 12th overall Preidler and 15th overall and current white jersey Aular, but that jersey is in serious danger right now.
It looked almost effortless: Lecuisinier quickly reconnected his group with the previous attackers - who left more energy on the road in that maneuvre? We have a group of 19 here now, which includes former breakaway riders Hirschi and Affonso, and also Arndt, who has just made the jump. But the others aren’t too far off either.
It looks increasingly possible that the winner might come from the breakaway and Zimmermann gets an extra boost of motivation, leaving Poljanski behind. This could be a big moment in the young career of the German.
Things keep happening! Lecuisinier wants to make sure everyone understood that he’s on top of things today and he attacks! Dombrowski is there, as are Kudus and Madrazo.
Lecuisinier uses the chaos that briefly breaks out when they pass a larger group of former breakaway riders and gets a gap! Kudus needs to fight now!
At the other end of the group, we see that Berhane and Uran are in trouble and lose contact. Preidler and Denifl meanwhile try to make up some positions. Henao Montoya is around 40 seconds further behind in a group that also includes yesterday’s surprise Tatarinov, who’s holding on admirably. Aular is another minute behind!
At the front, it looks like Zimmermann has gotten the better of Poljanski. Bizkarra has attacked behind in an effort to take third place, but Lecuisinier is already visible around the next corner.
The Frenchman moves past all of the other remaining escapees. Kudus leads the chasing group, but they’re already some 40 seconds behind Lecuisinier, who has also reduced the gap to Zimmermann to under 2 minutes!
Under the pressure of Kudus’ high pace, a few riders have to relent. Eastman, Arndt, Quintana and Pluchkin fall behind alongside Dyrnes and Laengen. Ahead of them, Wellens, who was so strong yesterday, is struggling as well.
Lecuisinier continues to move at a brutal pace. He passes Bizkarra, and now Poljanski and Zimmermann aren’t far off either! 2,5 kilometers to go for the leader.
Kudus and co have a harder time navigating through the escapees, losing a few seconds here and there. They trail Lecuisinier by over a minute now, and they’re slowly running out of road to catch up!
Zimmermann’s dream is over with the flamme rouge in sight. Still, a very impressive ride that might be rewarded with the white jersey - Aular is a good six minutes behind him at the moment.
Madrazo takes over in the final 2 kilometers, but they’re looking at a devestating time loss towards the Festina captain. Lecuisinier is 1’50 ahead of them.
Third overall Pomoshnikov struggles now. He was punching well above his weight yesterday and left some elite riders behind him again today, but it won’t be enough for another podium finish. Dyrnes, Antunes and Dina surround him.
Galta is the next big name to drop, Shirota and Koshevoy ahead of him, while their former breakaway colleagues Bizkarra and Poljanski are caught by the rest of the favorites.
I’m dumb and actually missed the pic of Lecuisinier crossing the line, really sorry about that! You’ll get a podium pic instead.
Credit where credit is due, part one: Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier makes yesterday’s performance look like a slip-up and makes good on his role as the top favorite of this race. A dominant victory!
Credit where credit is due, part two: Zimmermann fends off the late charge of the other favorites and celebrates a fantastic second place. Almost a huge win, but finishing second in this way is certainly nothing to sneeze at!
Madrazo is the strongest of those other favorites, he gets a few bonus seconds but is measured with the same time as Shikai and Kudus, who finish fourth and fifth, respectively. The South African has to give up yellow after just one day, but they made up quite a bit of time over the final 2 kilometers and ended up just 54 seconds behind Lecuisinier.
24 seconds later, Haig then leads the next group over the line, ahead of Poljanski, Dombrowski - who again couldn’t quite live up to his potential today -, and Lane. Spilak finishes 10th, a much improved performance compared to yesterday, then Oomen and Bizkarra.
Another breakaway rider, Koshevoy, finishes 13th, 10 seconds ahead of a group including Dina, Galta, Shirota, Preidler and Pomoshnikov. They finish 2’21 behind Lecuisinier.
Quintana will be disappointed with this 19th place (though a bit distorted by the breakaway riders), as will Wellens right behind him, especially after their strong showings yesterday. It’s a 3 minute gap for him, 2’43 for Quintana. Dyrnes, Denifl, Arndt, Antunes and a once again underwhelming Pluchkin complete the Top 25, Eastman also finishes with this group.
Uran and Berhane, who were 8th and 14th before today, won’t be able to hold on to these places. They finish roughly another minute later.
Aular has a terrible day, losing almost seven minutes to Zimmermann, and the white jersey in the process. But he still has time to get it back in the next three days.
Lecuisinier reasserts his dominance, he’s now almost a minute ahead of Kudus in the GC, while taking over the lead in both the mountain and points classification as well. Madrazo has brought a 32 second gap between himself in third and Haig and Oomen in fourth and fifth place, Dombrowski and Pomoshnikov are another 27 seconds behind as the only riders who realistically have a shot at the podium still.
The other big winner of today is obviously Zimmermann, who not only moves into the lead in the young riders classification, but also into the Top 25 overall. Still, Aular is only 2 minutes behind him, that won’t be easy to defend.
We won’t tackle that question tomorrow though, since the peloton returns to flat terrain for the second and last time of the race. Another spotlight on the sprinters before we resume the fight for the GC. See you then!
Vuelta a Colombia 
