Skip school, call in sick, it’s time for queen stage in this year’s Deutschland Tour. Cadel Evans is looking to redeem himself after a horrible Tour de France, but John Gadret will not let him out of his sight as we hit the horrendous slopes of the infamous Rettenbachferner. Markus Fothen and a big bunch of riders including the likes of Thomas Dekker, Janez Brajkovic, Jaroslav Popovych and Vladimir Karpets, may very well have lost this Tour on the team time trial, but they will do anything to be the first man to cross the line at the top of the Rettenbachferner.
An interesting scenario occured in the opening phase of the day as the Top 2 of the KoM competition, Joly and Visconti both tried to get in the break. Visconti was the first to make his move, but Joly jumped right on his wheel, and as the dust settled, only Joly had made the cut. Despite Visconti trying about 4 times to break clear. Already trailing Joly his chances are dissapearing up the road. Besides Joly, the break consisted of Devenyns, Peña, Baugnies, Hunter, Kolobnev, Phinney, Zaugg, Montaña and Le Mevel.
Hunter and Baugnies soon had to let go though, meaning we would have a front group of 8 riders with some strong names in it. Guys like Montaña, Peña, Joly and Phinney could do something today if the pack gets careless. With 75 kilometres to go the break had almost 10 minutes, so a small hope has certainly presented itself for the riders in the break. It was about this time WikiPedia hit the front with assistance from Magenta and Credit Lyonnais. A clear signal that Evans, Fothen and Gadret respectively are ready.
The pack didn’t gain a whole lot on the break and the hope must be growing by the minute up front as they still have 8 minutes with 50 kilometres to go. With 20 kilometres to go as the front eight hit the small lump just before Rettenbachferner they still have more than 6 minutes on the pack. Has WikiPedia miscalculated the chase?
This small climb is nothing but a first course compared to Rettenbachferner.
The small hill did have an impact on the break as it split up with 4 riders going clear. Surprisingly the strongest climber in group, Nintendo – Honda’s Montaña was absent. The four riders were Phinney, Devenyns, Peña and Kolobnev. These four riders would hit the Rettenbachferner with an advantage of almost 5 minutes on the pack.
2-million dollar baby, Taylor Phinney, leads the break up this dreadful climb.
Almost immediately after the pack hit the 12-kilometres at a 10,6% gradient climb, Fothen started the fireworks as he attacks with 11,4 kilometres still to go. An early move but the German needs yo gain time on Evans if he wants to take back to back wins here.
Meanwhile up front it’s Taylor Phinney who has left all of his breakaway companions in his wake trying to take a sensational win. He is really showing glimpses of his great future.
Unfortuneately for the young American the favourites are right behind him. But what is the situation? Fothen, Evans and Gadret are Phinney’s nearest chasers, while Thomas Dekker is playing catch up behind them. Behind Dekker a lot of riders are trying to break clear, but in vain so far.
Fothen leading the Top 2, Evans and Gadret, up the steep gradients.
A few hundred metres later and it’s all over for Phinney though as the Evans Group catch and drop him. Dekker isn’t far back though, he is really putting in everything to catch up.
Behind Dekker, about 1’30 down the road, Perez Fernandez has pulled out a very slim lead over the pack with all the remaining favourites. He is quickly reeled in by his team-mate Agudelo though. Strange move.
Going through the tunnel and Dekker is still trying to catch the three leaders. An inspiring effort from the Dutchman, as he is really looking to make a dissapointing season a whole lot better.
With 3,9 kilometres to go this happens.
Gadret can’t follow the pace of Evans anymore and he blows up completely, as Dekker also moves right past him. He is still ahead of the Favourites’ Group, so a podium isn’t impossible for the Frenchman.
So it’s Evans and Fothen up front. They have about 40 seconds on Dekker, who has a further 35 seconds on Gadret, who has about 1’30 on the Favourites’ Group, where no one has managed to break clear yet.
There could be agreement between Evans and Fothen. As Evans has already has won a stage and he is heading comfortable towards the overall win, maybe he will let Fothen take the win today. Let’s see.
Evans has a small advantage as they go under the flame rouge, and he leads out the sprint. The Aussie won’t give away anything here.
And he takes it! Great win by Evans, who is heading safely towards the overall win of the Deutschland Tour!
Dekker comes in 3rd as he will move considerably in the GC.
A strong fight by Dekker earns him 3rd on the stage, 42 seconds after Evans.
Gadret holds off the other favourites as he will stay in 2nd place in the GC.
Popovych takes 5th as he and Brajkovic managed to break clear at the end of the stage. Karpets takes 7th as he couldn’t quite keep up in the final metres.
This is it from Germany today. We had an epic stage today with Evans coming out on top. He looks a secure winner aswell, but the rest of the podium places aren’t settled at all yet. Tune in tomorrow to find out more.
