Kumpie as the top favourite, let’s see if he can live up to it in his home race.
A breakaway of ten is quickly formed: Lovik, Johannessen, Hahessy, Rojas, Jacobsen, Shevchenko, Jurado, Januskevicius, Gough and Thijssen. In the peloton, the teams working are Trans, HelloFresh, Gjensidige, Strava and Crabbe.
47 km to the finish line as seven leaders reach the top of the big climb for the fourth and last time. The escapees that couldn’t follow the pace were Gough, Rojas and Shevchenko, although the Ukrainian is still quite close and might make it back. The peloton never let the breakaway get a lot of space and is currently 1’30” behind. 15-ish weaker climbers have been dropped in the peloton as well.
Strava, Crabbe and HelloFresh wouldn’t mind a sprint and keep coming closer to the seven leaders. Exactly 30 km to the finish line, exactly 30” between the leaders and the peloton. Most of the work in the past 15 km done by the men in orange.
Strava closes the gap in no time then, and their massive pace on the hills sees splits appear in the peloton! This seems to be to the liking of Gjensidige, as domestique Skjerping has been given the instruction to go hard as well now! 24 km to go!
And it seems like Trans likes the idea as well, with Korosec ensuring a split in the peloton of 48! The leaders that are currently present in the leading group of 25 are Kump, Calmejane, Eiking, Tsatevich, Felline, Lavery, Chaves, Barbero, McEvoy, Boswell, Paez, Kiskonen and Pushpakumara!
Ten km left and two hills to go as Seigle is bringing leader Boswell to the front! They are currently lapping some riders though, let’s hope no incidents occur!
It was to be expected to see Boswell attack! He’s the first to reach the top of the penultimate hill, and has four riders in his wheel! These are McEvoy, Eiking, Kump and Tsatevich!
Calmejane, Paez and Felline make it eight leaders with 7.5 km to go! The rest of the favourites, with Chaves as ninth currently, right behind them as well!
An Eiking attack in the descent to the finish line doesn’t change a lot. Still eight leaders, with Chaves and the other favourites at 15”, in the middle of the lapped rider group!
We’re back to 23 leaders, as favourite Kump attacks before the final hill of the day, with 4 km to go! Other favourite Tsatevich trying to close the gap!
The Crabbe rider unable to close the gap! Home rider Kump close to the top of the final climb, as he has a ten second lead over the other favourites! Reaction by Eiking now!
The Gjensidige rider closes the gap and brings several others with him! He keeps accelerating in the downhill, as he knows he shouldn’t win a sprint against these guys! The riders behind him with 2.3 km left are Kump, McEvoy, Tsatevich, Felline, Calmejane, Weiss, Paez and Boswell!
1.5 km to go and the Gjensidige rider couldn’t get away, which is not a surprise. A lot of strong sprinters within the first group of nine riders, who will follow up Wilco Kelderman and win the GP Izola?
Home rider Kump with an early sprint! Too early? It could be a Slovenian rider versus a Slovenian team for the win, as McEvoy is hoping for his Catalunya legs to win the race!
Half a km left as the Trans rider has come closer, but Kump still leads! Eiking still in contention as well, we might have underestimated him! Tsatevich in fourth and Felline in fifth can also still win this one!
The Norwegian starts fading a bit, as Kump still has a bike length lead over McEvoy! What a dream finale for the local fans! 200 meters to go, and the winner is…
Kump! The home rider proudly showing the home flag as he beats McEvoy after a strong sprint!
Tsatevich with a podium finish ahead of Felline (4th) and Eiking (5th).
Weiss with a sixth place for Tafjord ahead of next Trans rider Calmejane in seventh. Paez then eighth ahead of Boswell in ninth, while a bit further it’s Lavery winning the sprint for the tenth place.
