It’s the day of the last mountains in this race and it’s the last chance for the climbers to get something out of this tour. Evans looks to have the overall wrapped up, but the fight for 2nd between Gadret and Fothen is going to be very interesting. The Frenchman will need to gain time on Fothen today though, as he will most likely lose time on the time trial. Also we have riders like Dekker, Brajkovic, Popovych and Karpets who, if they take a solo win today could put themselves in a position to get on the final podium. But they need to come up with something special, and the final climb isn’t very steep until the last few kilometres.
The TV break today consisted of Hutchings, Da Dalto, Devenyns, Montaña, Schreck, Veikkanen, Lang, Arekejev, Da Dalto, Zaugg and Kozontchouk.
Meanwhile we have the WikiPedia boys at the front again. Here we have Ben Hermans, who has been a force to reckon with for Evans succes in this tour.
The break stayed together until the 2nd categorized climb on the stage. A gruesome 26-kilometres climb. The first to let go are Veikkanen, Lang and Schreck.
Then New Zealand’s RR Champion, Hutching goes off the back of the break.
A few hundred metres later and it’s over for Da Dalto aswell.
France Television’s Arekejev can’t keep up either.
WikiPedia and La Gazetta are keeping the break on a leash as they’re trying to set things up for Evans and Rogers.
Montaña has left Kozontchouk, Zaugg and Devenyns on the final part of the climb as he crosses the summit about 40 seconds ahead of the three riders. He has 10’43 on the pack with just over 100 kilometres to go.
Unfortuneately for Montaña he’s a rubbish descender as the three chasers quickly catches him again, so we now have a four man front group. Back in the pack, Credit Lyonnais and Magenta have joined in in the chase of the leaders. The pack is down to just 47 riders now.
Going over the next climb, Linus Gerdemann hits the front to try and shake up the favourites’ group.
It works as we over the top have a group of just 12 riders from the pack going clear. Almost all the favourites are in there, but Iglinskiy, Perez Fernandez and Casar are missing out.
Hitting the base of the penultimate climb and the break’s advantage is not cut to just 4 minutes, while the race has come a bit more together back in the favourites’ group.
But strange things are happening in the pack as no-one wants to take the initiative and relay.
Markus Fothen takes advantage of the standstill as he quite simply just rides off the front of the pack. He has about 30 seconds over the top of the climb, with 15 riders chasing him. In this group we have all of the favourites plus a few domestiques. And quite impressively we have two riders from the wildcard team, Molteni.
They’re trying to catch Fothen who is now trying to close down the early break.
The 4-man break still leads Fothen by over a minute as they enter the base of the final climb with about 30 kilometres still to go.
Fothen only has 20 seconds on the pack and he is reeled in quickly afterwards. A few kilometres later it’s all over for the early break aswell, as we now have a front group of 24 riders, from which today’s stage winner no doubt will come from. With only a few domestiques left in the group riders like Karpets, Popovych, Dekker and Brajkovic are at the front relaying, while Evans is staying out of the wind at the back of the group.
With 11 kilometres to go Thomas Dekker decides it’s time to go. Brajkovic and Popovych counter.
They don’t get a gap though, nor does Fothen who puts in an effort a bit later. Apparently the lack of relaying earlier has forced the leaders to sit too much in the wind, and it’s costing them now. Now Evans go! Does he have enough in the tank to pull clear. Yes! He’s got a gap!
The unmistakable importance of a great team has just been emphasized very clearly. Evans has had a lot of riders around him all day and apparently he is the only one who has the required strenght to break clear. This is the product of a strong team effort we’re seeing right here. The Australian enters the final and very steep couple of kilometres with around 40 seconds on the other favourites. Will he take his 3rd stage win?
He does it again! What an amazing tour this has been for Evans. Surely he has forgotten all about the Tour de France right now.
Fothen leads in the rest of the favourites where a few time gaps occured due to the tough finish.
Surely Evans has this victory wrapped up now and tomorrow’s time trial won’t stand in the way of him and victory. He might even win it with the kind of form he is showing right now.
