We stay in the South for what should be the most important stage of the week. 9 cat. 3 climbs, one cat.2 and a cat. 1 finish in the Carpathian Morskie Oko. This 180 km long race should be decisive for the GC, so those guys should be the main contenders, but it also could go to the breakaway like yesterday.
80 KoM points can be earned today, so that will be another interesting battle to follow.
Organization does favor the more climbing punchers. The two race favorites, Beltran and Areruya will want to take the GC lead to Faglum Karlsson.
Aranburu and Min have to make up for yesterday’s failure and might be on the attack.
The perspective of a KoM jersey and of a stage win sure is attractive, and the ten first kilometers are full of attacks! The first cat.3 climb, Olszowka (5,5 km, 4%) is already there and we have multiples groups scattered on the road:
– Petrovski, Gebrezgabihier, Rubio
– Schmid, Le Gac, Lindau, Haavardsholm
– Poljanski, Schönberger, Seibeb, Bystrom
– Main
– A. Van Niekerk, De Vos, Setiawa
Many riders we already upfront yesterday, but no Rohendi, far back in the pack. The first groups are at the foot of the hill.
Schmid does have better legs than yesterday and he hauls an 11 riders group uphill, before being passed by Schönberger. Poljanski takes the two remaining points. Only the Red Bull rider already had points prior to the race (7th, 24 points).
The next climb is in 10 km.
With 160 km to go, we seem to have a clear situation:
– 12 riders lead the race, the best placed being Seibeb (30th, +3’25). Schmid is 4th young rider (+3’36) Schönberger is the one with the more KoM points.
– 3 riders are 1’30 behind (the last three from before)
– The peloton is 1’53 behind this group. Most of the teams not in the break have a rider working.
Next hill is Czarna Gora (cat. 3, 1,2 km, 8,4%). This time, Schmid takes the 6 points, closely marked by the duo.
20 km to go before the next KoM, with an intermediate sprint in the middle. The 12 leaders have a 4’30 lead on the peloton. Nobody sprints in Bialka Tatrnanska and Schmid is again the one taking the points.
Gliczarow Gorny begins (cat. 3, 7,7 km, 3,18%).
No real sprint until the end for this one, maybe due to its strange profile. Poljanski and Bystrom fight at the last moment. The Polish rider takes the 6 points. Seibeb takes the remaining points.
With 3 different winners, Rohendi’s jersey is safe for now.
132 km to go – 15,7 km before the next KoM sprint. The lead is 3’26 for the 15 leaders.
No change at the foot of Toporowa Gyrtila (5,4 km, 4,7%), and we will pass the 1000 meters mark for the first time. Lierse, Voyagin – Bird, Binance and Kraftwerk are the main teams working. Most of the sprinters are in front!
Poljanski doesn’t want to haul the break uphill and he attacks 1,2 km from the top. He’s got the two Indosat riders behind him.
He easily takes the 6 points. Behind, the likes of Schmid and Schönberger react too late, so Rubio and Setiawa take the remaining points.
There are 56 points more to take. Poljanski have 14, against the 46 of KoM leader Rohendi.
With 5 km to go to Polano (4,4 km, 4,5%), Poljanski is still alone, 40’’ ahead of the 14 chasers. The gap with the peloton is still 3’30.
Poljanski is caught under the impulsion of Schönberger.
1 km ftrom the top, a group of 4 detached from the break. Poljanski is leading Schönberger, Schmid and Rubio uphill. De Vos tries to take their wheel.
Big fight for the 6 points. They go to Schönberger.
Now it’s 7 km downhill ahead of the next climb. Still 103 km to go, the gap is down to 3’. Seems like the pack won’t let this one go to the break.
Przeleca Nad Lapszanka is the next hill (3,2 km at 5,%) The three Project: Africa riders are upfront as the break begins to climb it. But it’s once again Poljanski who goes first.
He easily fends off Seibeb. Behind, the others once again seem to late to the party. Schönberger takes the last points.
The Strava rider now has 20 points – 26 down to join Rohendi, 44 max in the race, 16 being on the finish line.
Meanwhile, there are the first splits in the pack. A first group with most of Red Bull riders is 1’ behind the pack. Grossschartner and Errazkin are part of this group.
Another group of 19 is another 30’’ behind, with Jura around points leader Stepniak. Meurisse and yesterday’s winner Hermans are there too.
The two last in the GC, Jabuka and Lutsyshyn, are one more minute behind.
Now the break will pass a 15 km flat section. Maybe the riders will be able to rest for a bit, though the pack is only 1’30 behind.
75 km to go. We’ll now do the first three climbs backward, before tackling the 2 last climbs who lead to the finish line.
Gjensidige now joined the chase, but yellow jersey’s team Assa Abloy is still very quiet. All the pack is back together, except for the two lasts, lost 4 minutes behind the peloton.
Schmid is strong enough to take the 6 points in the next climb. He has 22 now, and might be disappointed to not having been able to take some yesterday.
Bystrom and Schönberger are the one following.
60 km to go, and the gap is 1’10.
The pack exploded in the rear, though it’s still 160 men strong as Seibeb leads the break up the Olszowka. Lindau and Petrovski are following.
Main and De Vos are spent and should be taken by the pack, and 5 other riders have already been dropped. Only remain in the break: A. Van Niekerk, Seibeb, Schmid, Petrovski, Lindau, Bystrom;  Poljanski and Schönberger.
In the next and last cat. 3 climb, Petrovski takes the point ahead of Poljanski and Lindau.
With 37 km to go, there are 26 points still to take in this stage. Rohendi is still leading the virtual best climber classification with 46 points. Schönberger has 40, same as Bystrom. Petrovski has 34, Seibeb 24. Same number for Poljanski.
The gap is back up to 2 minutes. Kraftwerk and Carlsberg are chasing in a really stretched peloton.
No more contest in the 2nd intermediate sprint, taken by Petrovski, Seibeb and Bystrom.
A. Van Niekerk is dropped from the break, and the gap is under the minute with 25 km to go, as the leaders will begin the climb Glodowka (7,3 km, 5,5%). Binance is back upfront with Kraftwerk. The two teams are putting a hard pace now, with 103 men in the pack.
Seibeb attacks at the 5 km line. Poljanski is now dropped.
Schmid and Schönberger are dropped as Seibeb goes at it again. The others can follow, even though they can’t over come him. He takes the 10 points while De Plus leads a 34 men peloton to make the catch.
This last climb was hard for the pack. Stannard (14th GC, 2nd young) is dropped and in a group with Hirschin 2’16 from the pack. Rohendi (17th GC, 1st KoM) is 26’’ more behind, with Gaudu and Moscon.
De Plus is hauling Novak up, with Beltran and Areruya in his wheel, which doesn’t seem very smart, as neither Xero nor Cedevita has teammate in the leading group.
Storer attacks with 1,4 km to climb to the cat. 2 summit.
The favorites try to jump in his wheel, but he still has a 9’’ gap at the top. Now it’s 7 km mostly downhill, and then the final climb.
With 10 km to go, the leading group is 20 men strong. Jang and Korosec brought back Calmejane.
Amaysim is quite strong here, with Storer, McCarthy and Hamilton.
We’re now in the last climb. De Plus and Ludvigsson also made it back. The former immediately takes the lead. Seems like Lierse really believes in Novak’s chances!
5 km to go and Novak uses a flat section to attack!
Storer and Areruya could follow, and the trio has a 15’’ gap with 4 km to climb.
Paulinho brings everyone back (minus De Plus, Ludvigsson and Boily), but Areruya counters immediately. There are 3,5 km to go.
He and Novak can get a small gap.
Behind, a group of 6 including Beltran, Faglum Karlsson and Mas has been surprised and is 17’’ further down. 24’’ later, whe have the three Trans riders, with Azman, Paez and McCarthy.
2 km to go. Novak and Areruya were brought back, but Beltran’s dropped from the 2nd group. Hamilton and Storer seems to been in great difficulties.
Red kite! Areruya’s hauling a group of 6 in the 14% slopes. Novak’s dropped and Beltran is already 1’30 down.
600 m. The climbing is finished and now it’s flat until the end. Areruya and Paulinho launch their sprint!
And Areruya takes a 2nd victory in this race! Paulino is 2nd.
Prevar manages to beat Aranburu to close the podium.
Storer and Hamilton take 5 and 6. There shouldn’t be any gap given.
Mas arrives 23 seconds later, ahead of Eiking (8th), Chaves (9th) and Slagter (10th). Novak is 11th and his team might be disappointed by a poor strategy. Faglum Karlsson is 12th, 1’15 after the winner. He’ll lose his leader jersey today. Azman is 13, which his a good ride for him. Same for Paez who arrives with him. Beltran finishes 15th, 2 minutes after Areruya. He won’t be happy with this.
The day’s winner takes the GC ahead of the Amaysim duo and of Mas.
He also takes the points classification, thanks to his two victories.
With 6 riders in a minute, the GC fight is far from over.
Rohendi still has a 6 points lead in the mountain classification. He’ll have to fight to keep it tomorrow.
Storer has a 5’ lead on Hirschi in the young rider classification and should win it as long as he finishes the race.
With two riders on the podium, Amaysim are very comfortable on top of the team classification.
