A 240 km long circuit with a hard uphill finish is what awaits the protour peloton here in Liechtenstein.
World stars Phinney and Herklotz are here for an epic batle which might allow an outsider a shot at victory. We shall see that in a few hours.
The bookies also place Kudus as a podium contender.
With 7 km ridden, we’re at the top of the mountain which will see the peloton pass a few times, and we seem to have a break:
Morin, Sulimov, Van Gestel, Videika and Pszczolarski have a small gap on Menten and Roosen.
The peloton is 2 minutes behind the leaders.
The mountain has to be climbed 12 more times, before the finish.
Controlling in the pack we have Isostar, Aegon, MOL, Puma, ISA and Moser.
Atkins and Goldstein are dropped before we pass the 2nd summit.
198 kilometers to go as we passed on the mountain for the first time. The gap is up to 5’30.
Verona, Schädlich, Kwok and Fiedler are dropped. The race will be long for them too.
The breakaway riders pass the top the 5th time with a 5 minutes lead. Pszczolarski has been dropped, and we’re not sure he’ll be able to join back in the descent.
The pack is now 155 men strong, as more and more riders are dropped at each climb.
150 km to go. Pszczolarski made it back in the break, only to be dropped a gain as soon as the road went up. This time, he will not come back.
Halfway to the race, the 6 leaders have a 4’16 lead on the 145 men peloton.
On this photo, you can see the breakaway and, some kilometers downhill, the favorites.
The peloton is down to 139 men and the gap to 3’40 on the next climb.
Roosen is dropped from the breakaway with 110 km to go. There are even splits in the descent, but Videika and Menten eventually manage to make it back. That will have been tiring, though.
Isostar loses its domestiques quickly now. On the photo we have Bolivar (who worked had at the head of the peloton) and Sweeny with Hennessy and Abreu.
Videika and Menten are dropped for goot, it seems, but the 3 remaining breakaway riders do not seem in a fine state either. There are 113 riders in the pack with 87 km to go.
With 78 km to go, the gap has been reduced to 25 seconds. The breakaway will soon be brought back.
It is finished before the summit. Right after, a 15 men group is dropped, with some strong domestiques like Denz, Novikov or Evans.
In the pack, Olivier is near the front.
We missed it, but Burmann managed to get a small gap, which is increasing fast. With 63 km to go, he’s got a 50’’ lead.
3 km later, Lopez attacks! He has Phinney and Latour in his wheel. Inkelaar is pursuing in the pack.
The three are brought back, but they stay the front. Lopez, at least, had in mind to try his luck one more time! Phinney let him go and the Evonik rider has a 40’’ gap. Burmann is 35’’ more ahead of him.
Theses moves of the favorites cause holes in the peloton. Olivier and Higuita are the first victims of this gaps. They are in a 16 men group 17’’ behind.
There are 31 men in the pack. Lopez is alone now.
Carthy also has been caught in a split. He’s in an 11 riders group with Keizer, Williams and Olivier. Williams is working to bring them back.
In the favorites group, Phinney and Herklotz are in Inkelaar’s wheel. Lopez has been taken. There are 48 km to go.
This time, Latour is the one attacking, but everybody’s attentive.
Nevermind: there are, in fact, new splits. We’ll come to you as soon as the situation is clearer.
Aaaaaand we’re back. Leading the race, we have your usual suspects: Herklotz and Phinney! They just dropped Lopez who is 9’’ behind them.
15’’ behind Lopez, we have a group on which I would have love to give you information, but I’ve lost my notes. What an interesting wait that was! Pinot, Formolo, Preidler and Carthy seem to be out of contention.
Penultimate climb and the two leaders still have a 10’’ gap on a group with Kudus, Lopez, Eastman, Yates and Latour.
Schelling looks like he’s spent, 43 seconds after this group. Wellens is 20’’ more back, with an unidentified rider.
Herklotz launches another attack! Phinney follows, and they can increase their gap by 5 more seconds. Eastman and Kudus are dropped from the chasing group.
Latour leaves his partners and manages to join the two leaders. No! More than that! He can gap them with 24 km to go!
Kudus also managed to find a new strength, and he went flying to catch Herklotz and Phinney.
The others are quite scattered in the slopes: Eastman is 28’’ behind the three chasers. Yates 16 seconds further back, and Lopez has lost 12 more seconds.
As we reach the top of the mountain, with 21,1 km to go, the 4 leaders are together.
Eastman is not the best descender and he loses more time on them : he’s 34’’ behind them in the plain.
10 km to go. And the situation looks like this:
Race leaders: Phinney, Herklotz, Kudus, Latour
Eastman +0’42
Yates +1’16
Lopez +1’33
Schelling +2’36
Wellens +2’53.
It’s all climbing now.
Herklotz immediately attacks and Kudus can’t follow. The German can even get a gap on the other two! He has 17’’ on Phinney and Latour and 1’ on Kudus.
8 km to go.
The head trio is back together 2 km later, but Kudus still has a 1’ gap.
With half the climb done, Kudus is once again coming back very fast. He might catch up on the trio!
And he does just that! What strength he has!
2,5 km to go. The 4 leaders have a 51’’ lead on Eastman, 1’46 on Yates, 2’20 on Lopez. Wellens and Schelling are together 3’23 behind.
The leaders seem spent and nobody really wants to take the lead. To be fair with them, the slopes are brutal, over 18%!
Red kite! Eastman is 1’ further, so the race should be played between this 4.
600 m. Nobody accelerate yet.
400m. Herklotz launches the first attack, and who else to answer to him that Phinney?
And the Isostar rider easily takes the lead with 200 m to go. This 200 m are nit lass brutal than the previous ones…
100 m. Would Herklotz be able to take the win with a last push?
He doesn’t. Incredible show of power by Phinney, who even took the time to celebrate. Herklotz is 2nd.
Latour and Kudus were impressing! It’s the former who takes the last place on the podium.
In the back, Wellens and Schelling been joined by Olivier and Tenorio. Those two managed a huge comeback!
Eastman takes a well deserved top 5 ahead of Yates.
Lopez resists to take the 7th place.
The Aegon duo follows, with Wellens crossing ahead of Olivier. Schelling beats Tenorio for the top 10.
Pinot managed to find a last burst of energy to take 13th after Cort Nielsen. Inkelaar and Garby close down the top 15.
Well, there are still many riders on the road of Liechtenstein, but that is all for us. Many won’t probably finish in time.
I hope you had a good moment with us, and will welcome you next time.
