Jura did a great job yesterday in the time trial, winning quite a lot of time on basically everyone. Three of the favourites today according to the race organisation are Jura boys, so let’s see whether one or two sacrifices himself, or they try to reach the line with multiple riders staying ahead in GC. Alarcon the favourite with his mountain capacities, when looking at the profile that includes an HC climb.
We start the race with the Alto de Coubet (1st cat.). 12.6 km at an average of 5.6%. Many names try to be in the break of the day. First eight riders in the race are Wohrer (Staffbase), Kelly (Podium) Sakalou (Oktal), Yudha (Indosat), Lopez (Volcanica), Lindau (Tafjord), KoM-leader Le Roux and Zordan (both Bianchi). A bit behind are Kanepejs, Touze, Bonnin (all Bonduelle), Gilanipoor (Colombini), Blikra (Tafjord), Plapp (Staffbase), Croes (Podium) and Petilli (Bianchi). Also trying to close the gap are Laizer (Colombini), Thill (Binance), Fortunato (Bianchi), Novak (Indosat), Ivanov (Oktal), Molard (Bonduelle), Miller (BNZ), Gall (Indosat), Le Court (Podium), Hindley (Staffbase) and Arifin (Indosat). All of those names, except for Laizer, come together with 4.4 km to climb, which means we currently have a leading group of 26.
And Le Court is back in the virtual polka-dots, winning the KoM-sprint ahead of Fortunato, Thill and Le Roux! At the back of the leading group, Lopez, who was the first attacker of the day, is already in trouble. So are Kelly and Plapp. The peloton, led by most of the teams not in the break, is around six minutes behind at the top, as there are 180 km to the finish line.
Maybe not the hardest climb of the day, but definitely the longest. The 25 leaders start their ascent of the 32 km long 1st category Collada de Toses, with an advantage of five minutes over the peloton.
Gilanipoor got some room in the final km and decided to go for the KoM-points, only to be beaten by PCT rider Thill. Le Roux in third and the Podium Ambition riders not scoring big this time, means the KoM-classification now looks like this: Thill 42, Le Roux 40, Le Court 38, Croes 30. An almost entire peloton crosses the top at 3’30” with 228 km left. Almost 70 km of downhill now, before we head onto the first out of two HC climbs of the day.
61 km to the finish line as the 25 leaders reach the foot of the Port del Canto. 23 km long at 5%, but the first 5 km immediately well over 10 percent, so that’s where the difference can be made. Peloton 1’50” behind, so Thill still wearing the virtual yellow jersey.
Parts of up to almost 20% now. Thill and Le Roux are currently first and second in the KoM, but are situated near the back of the leading group, can they survive? The peloton losing some time again here.
15 km to climb as nine riders have been thrown overboard in the leading group, including Le Court, Croes and Thill! Le Roux still with the sixteen up front, but also at the back of that group. Still several teams working together in the peloton of 103, that is now at 3’15” of the sixteen leaders.
7.5 km to the top of the Port del Canto and Le Roux looks done for as well, might not be the smartest move by Bianchi to send Zordan, Fortunato and Petilli all back to help him!
Movement in the peloton! Alarcon needs to make up more than three minutes and doesn’t want to wait until the final climb! He attacks with 46 km to go! At the same time Hoem is dropped in the peloton of 58, which is not very good for a rider of his skillset.
The Venezuelan is making up time very quickly! In no time he is 1’30” ahead of the peloton and only 55” behind the eleven remaining leaders. Jura seemed to believe Matte would help them, but the McCormick rider is obviously not the same level as Alarcon. Stüssi is getting nervous and attack himself! Scenes on the Port del Canto!
Also accelerations at the head of the race now! Novak is the first to attack and sees himself rewarded with 20 KoM-points at the top of the Port del Canto, with Ivanov and Blikra in his wheel. Miller crosses the top at 25” and Hindley at an additional 10”, just ahead of Gilanipoor.
At 1’15” we find Wohrer, Plapp, Bonnin and Alarcon.
And only 40” later is a peloton/group of favourites of 26, led by De Vos. Stüssi at the back of this group, has he overestimated himself?!
Both Stüssi and Mäder unable to follow the HelloFresh domestiques downhill! Looks like it was indeed the sacrifice all-for-one strategy at Jura, with Masnada being the only Swiss left in the first group!
We are nearing the end of the descent and start of the final climb, as there are 20 km to go for our six leaders. They are Novak, Ivanov, Blikra, Miller, Hindley and Gilanipoor. At 52 seconds are Wohrer, Plapp, Bonnin and Alarcon, and at only an additional 25” is the peloton of 27, where Stüssi is now back right next to Masnada!
At the start of the HC Poirt-Ain climb, De Vos makes sure Alarcon and his companions are caught. Superb work by the Canadian. Alarcon made the race very interesting, but it looks like he won’t be winning. The six leaders have a 45” gap with 14 km to climb. The strongest climbers missing in the peloton of 27 are Ratiy, Ablenado, Revard, Mäder, Brandt, Simon and Pernsteiner.
At 40”, Warbasse is relatively close in GC and definitely a dangerous rider. He attacks with 11 km to go, and Stüssi tries to keep up with him, very probably working for Masnada!
But the Swiss rider is quickly out of energy, causing Wirtgen to take over. Warbasse is 30” behind the six leaders with 10 km to climb and 15” ahead of the other favourites!
Binance has a strong team here, as Ikibe catches the McCormick rider with 9.3 km to climb! At the back of the group of favourites, Schultz and Mannion are dropped.
HelloFresh very present today as well. A move by Potocki ensures the attackers are caught with 7.5 km to go! Not counting the attackers, we have 13 riders left up front! They are Kozhatayev, Potocki, Warbasse, Schlegel, Iturria, Masnada, Pedrero, Alarcon, Hindley, Vasyliv, Antunes, Talansky, Petrovski and Fortunato.
No attacks for now, but a steady pace by mostly Warbasse. With 5 km left, Talansky and Pedrero are breaking.
Antunes makes his move at 4 km of the finish line! Potocki and Schlegel react!
The Binance rider must be feeling amazing! 3 Km left as he has 15” over Potocki and Schlegel and an additional 15” over Kozhatayev, Warbasse, Iturria, Petrovski, Alarcon, Novak and Masnada! What looked like a fairytale for Jura yesterday is slowly starting to look like a nightmare!
Masnada looked to be on the verge of being dropped, but a flatter section keeps him in the game for now! Differences more or less the same with 2 km to go, as the road starts rising more again!
Final km for Antunes, as the duo behind him comes two seconds closers! Can he hold this and possibly take the GC lead?!
500 metres to go! Schlegel makes his move!
But nobody is getting past this man anymore! A surprisingly strong Antunes wins stage four in Catalunya!
At ten seconds, it’s Kozhatayev sprinting to second ahead of Novak in third, who was part of today’s breakaway and amazes us with a strong third place in the end! Petrovski (4th), Potocki (5th), Schlegel (6th), Iturria (7th) and Warbasse (8th) also score UCI-points, with Alarcon (9th) and Masnada (10th) also in the top-10. Jura saves yellow today, but this will definitely taste bittersweet.
