67 KoM-points for offer today, as well as a possibility to gain time on competitors. Nerz has a comfortable two minute lead over everyone else, but one bad day and everything could be back on the table.
A breakaway of 27 starts the Las Morenas climb (2nd cat.). Interesting to see a Sauber and GCN rider here, changing their tactics from the previous mountain stages. The names up front areeeeeee: Hacecky (12th KoM), Moschella, Nieuwenhuis, Main, Gillett, Sterobo, Novikov, Rachid, Pantano Gomez (25th GC), Januskevicius, McNulty (5th U25), Liphongyu, Landa, Heymes, Diaz (22nd GC), Kuss (18th GC), Haas, Penko, Pidcock (4th U25), Grmay (14th GC, 4th KoM), Roe (28th GC, 6th KoM), Hoem (23rd GC, 10th KoM), Herrera (9th KoM), Brandt (17th GC, 7th KoM), Hiratsuka, Croes (5th KoM) and Ji. The Tour of America is taking its toll on some riders though, as Brandt (17th GC, 7th KoM) and ‘breakaway domestiques’ Haas and Januskevicius, already go overboard with 3 km to climb.
More decent climbers losing touch, as a fresh Pantano Gomez wins the KoM-sprint ahead of Hacecky and Grmay. The P:A rider now 13 points behind KoM-leader Chaiyasombat, equalling the points of Zordan.
We start the following climb of second category, Villa Victoria (5km at 8%) with nineteen riders. At the top they won’t have too long to recover, as the first cat climb of Meta de la Montaña will start after only a one km descent. The other riders to be dropped in the breakaway are Novikov, Croes, Penko, Nieuwenhuis and Landa. The peloton seven minutes behind.
He had to fight for it, but he convincingly holds of the first attacker Herrera and latecomers such as Hiratsuka. Grmay wins the KoM-sprint and is now only two points behind Chaiyasombat!
After a very short descent, eleven riders (including three P:A riders) start their ascent of the 1st cat. climb, 8 km at 9.5%! The riders up front are Grmay, Pidcock, Main, Hiratsuka, Kuss, Hacecky, Diaz, Hoem, Liphongyu, Ji and Pantano Gomez. At 15”, Herrera seems to be losing touch. The peloton currently at 12’30, yellow jersey team Kraftwerk not receiving a lot of aid currently!
What a hard climb! Liphongyu and Main dropped with still 5 km to the top! In the peloton, Lierse’s Verwilst does a massive turn to reduce the gap to the leaders to 8’30, as there are 137 km to the finish line. This is also the final climb by the way, so the favourites can obtain some parcours knowledge now. Although the knowledge to me seems simple: try to keep going and don't fall over.
Pidcock is done for with 1.5 km to climb, no more domestiques remaining in the leading group of eight!
Grmay makes it very clear that he is going for that polka-dot jersey and wins this KoM-sprint as well! Only riders able to follow for now are Hoem, Diaz, Kuss and Hiratsuka! A peloton of around 50 riders crosses the top at 8’45”.
The descent seems some of the earlier dropped names coming back to the leading group, as we’re back to eleven up front. Hoem takes five points on the fourth cat. climb/disturbance in the middle of the descent, as the peloton has also come closer to 6’45”.
96 km to the finish line as 13 riders at the head of the race start the 1st cat. La Lima climb of 11.3 km, with the second half clearly being the hardest. A peloton of 53 riders is now 5’10” behind. A quick overview of the names up front: Moschella, Hacecky, Ji, Hoem, Kuss, Pantano Gomez, Sterobo, Roe, Grmay, Pidcock, Rachid, Hiratsuka, Diaz. All top-50 GC riders still in the peloton or ahead of it.
7 km to climb for the thirteen leaders as Eurosport and Indosat domestiques already closed the gap to 3’! Yellow jersey Nerz spotted at the back of the peloton of 44, is he not feeling well?
Kuss wants to win the KoM-sprint and attacks, but has to be content with fourth. Diaz wins it ahead of Hoem and Grmay. The Ethiopian increasing his KoM-lead, with the Tryg rider now fifth. The peloton loses some time again, the gap is 6’ with 77.5 km and two climbs to go!
Warbasse tries to save his disappointing ToA with an attack in the peloton in the descent. This doesn’t seem like the right time to do that.
50 km left as the riders are ready to tackle the 2nd cat. climb of Las Morenas for the second time of the day. No more Hiratsuka or Roe in the leading group for now. Warbasse currently at 3’30” in the company of Brandt, with the peloton at an additional 45”.
The Carlsberg rider now caught by the peloton, as our eleven leaders have 7 km to climb to the top. At one minute we see Liphonyu, Heymes and Roe, at an additional 2’30” is the peloton led by Indosat and Voyagin. Mat Senan (33rd) currently best placed rider dropped.
Peloton came to 2’45”, but solo domestique Arifin not having it easy, the gap back up to 3’15” with 4 km to climb for the eleven leaders. Brandt (17th GC) dropped!
Chhetri now working as well as teammate Liphongyu is caught. Gap to the ten leaders now 3’05” with 2 km to climb. Ten leaders, as Sterobo gets dropped up front. Other Carlsberg rider Warbasse already repenting what he just tried, as the number 16 is dropped as well from the peloton!
Kuss attacks with 1 km to climb to the top, KoM-leader Grmay is near the back of the group!
Diaz clearly the strongest on the last climb of the day that gives KoM-points. He moves into sixth in the KoM, whereas Hoem rises to fourth. Grmay now with a 27 points gap over Chaiyasombat. A group of 24 favourites cross the finish line 3’20” later. Amongst those dropped are Zordan (19th), Koch (26th) and Pogacar (24th).
After the descent, we now have 21 km to the finish line for the eight leaders. Moschella and Pidcock are done for, so back to only solos in the leading group. The group of 24 favourites following at 2’15”.
Anacona brings the favourites to 1’30” of the leaders inside the first climbing kilometres, as Warchol attacks with 2.5 km to the top of the climb! So far, everybody seems to follow the Polish national champion!
But now he has created a gap! Chamorro comes closest, but nobody able to follow him in the end! Will he reach the leading group soon, or is he overdoing himself?!
He does reach the leading group quickly, but an impressive display of strength from the domestique-less yellow jersey brings everything back together with 1 km to the top of the second cat. climb and 17 km to the finish line!
Number five Aru considers this the moment to strike, and immediately builds a 20” lead! Very short descent for him now, to then go onto the Meta de la Montaña (8km at 9.5%)! After reaching that top there is still a another small uphill sector, followed by a downhill section to the finish line as well. Who wants to work to catch back the Pas Normal rider?!
Missing picture
Aru starts the final climb, with Carapaz at 12” and former breakaway rider Hiratsuka guiding the other favourites at an additional 15”!
Ohlala Hiratsuka! The Duolingo rider catches the Ecuadorian from Eurosport in no time, Aru still 15” ahead of the other favourites with 13 km to the finish line!
Hiratsuka out of energy, which is understandable. Chamorro closes the gap, as we can see Warchol ready to launch again!
Five riders able to follow! Aru, yellow jersey Nerz, Carapaz, Min and Lunke! They immediately build a 45” gap with 11 km to go, as Chamorro and Novak try closing the gap now!
But they don’t get much closer for now! Lunke now with an attack on the steepest portions with 10 km to go, yellow jersey Nerz cracking!
9 km to the finish line, around half of it uphill! Yellow jersey Nerz had a 30” gap to close, number two Warchol back to dreaming about that yellow jersey! The German has reduced the gap to the leading four to 20” now, with the other favourites at an additional 1’05”!
8 km left, as Warchol and the three others increase the gap to 30” again, Nerz now trying to hold onto Carapaz! The following fourteen still at around 1’30” of the race lead!
5 km left, time differences still the same! Behind the first six riders, the strongest four seem to be Eg, Potocki, Ablenado and Azman.
And we still have four leaders at the top, 4.5 km left! Mostly downhill from here, at least literally, as one of them will be a very happy man soon!
Warchol leads the other three under the red kite, as we see the finish is slightly uphill. Who is going to take the stage win?!
Sprint now starting with 600 metres to go! In theory the Indosat rider is the best sprinter, but what does a theory mean after a hard race and when starting the sprint in front?!
300 metres to go, the other three all looking to overtake Warchol!
Aru in the lead with 100 metres to go, is he able to hold on?!
Yes, he does! Aru wins stage 17 ahead of Warchol, Lunke and Min!
At 35”, yellow jersey Nerz wins the sprint for fifth against Carapaz.
At an additional 50”, other MGUCI points are scored by Azman (7th) and Eg (8th), with Potocki and Ablenado in the top-10 as well. The other GC riders lose another 30”. Three riders finish outside of the time limit: Jimenez Retana, Insausti and Van Winden.
GC-wise Warchol comes closer to the yellow jersey, but is still 1’05” behind. Aru overtakes Potocki in third, with the latter dropping to fifth. Lunke is the new number four.
