The third of three mountain stages is on the menue today, but it’s markedly different from the first two. While it does feature a very long and difficult climb up the Großglockner, that summit comes at just over halfway through the stage, with still 65 kilometers of downhill and flat to go after the category 2 mountain pass.
The final ramp to the finish features slopes of up to 8,6% but it’s only 2 kilometers long, so it remains to be seen if we see any GC impacts there. Until then, this looks like the perfect stage for a breakaway and the mountain jersey will likely find its ultimate holder today, too.
Unsurprisingly, there’s a lot of interest in getting to the breakaway. The first wave features very few climbers, though: It’s Lipowitz and Gough, then Balmer, Durbridge, Lindau, Maesen and Daniel. While Lipowitz and Balmer have potential to be one, only Maesen can climb to be a serious climber at the moment.
With Riesebeek, La Lavandier, Hoem and Bratashcuk, among others, more climbing quality is on the way.
More riders are trying to get away, including previous escapees Thiery and Gesink, but the peloton doesn’t want too many guys up ahead.
More and more riders attack, including stage 2 winner Manfredi. We’re closing in on the start of the first cat 2 climb and still the situation isn’t clear.
Everything does calm down once we’re on the climb, though. We end up with a group of 24 - suitably many for a stage that looks taylor-made for a breakaway. Roughly ordered by climbing skills, the participants are:
Manfredi
Hibatullah
Hoem
Gesink
Maesen
La Lavandier
Bratashcuk
Thiery
Riesebeek
Lindau
Januskevicius
Balmer
Lipowitz
Van Wilder
Wright
Daniel
Schachmann
Vermaerke
Pluto
Gough
Ghyselinck
Durbridge
Wohler
Kittel
The group takes it relatively easy and even the weak climbers can keep up. With some 1,4 kilometers to the summit, Manfredi makes a move. With 20 mountain points already in his pocket, he’s the favorite to take that jersey home. Other riders with points include Thiery (12), Gesink (10), Lindau (8) and Balmer (6).
Manfredi doesn’t have the timing down and ends up with just 2 points. But none of the other mentioned riders collect any. Instead, 10 - 8 - 6 - 4 points go to Schachmann, Van Wilder, Wright and, of all people, Durbridge. The gap to the peloton sits at 5’30, as expected it’s growing pretty quickly.
Both Manfredi and Lindau could make some big strides in the points classification today, too. But they seem to have forgotten that, or chosen to save all their energy for the finish line, where there are of course more points available than the 6 at this intermediate sprint.
Kittel had already been struggling on the first climb and he’s the first to fall behind on the Großglockner, too. Meanwhile, with the advance on the peloton at 9’15, Manfredi actually moves into the virtual yellow jersey. He started the day at + 9’04 and you’d think that would make the peloton do at least something here. They do have time still, of course, and plenty of it. Gesink at + 10’11 is the next best rider in the GC and Lindau and Thiery are both within 15 minutes of Oomen as well.
3 kilometers to go on the climb and Maesen sets a decently high pace at the head of the breakaway. High enough to shed Gough and Ghyselinck, and others just ahead of them have to fight hard as well. Despite this, the peloton has woken up and the gap has gone down to 8’40.
Maesen attacks and the group falls apart. Manfredi is in a great position this time.
Maesen gets a gap because Hibatullah couldn’t hold his wheel. Manfredi accelerates to catch up, only seven riders remain in this group.
Manfredi comes to late and then even gets beaten by Thiery. Still, he now has 32 mountain points, compared to Thiery’s 26. Oomen, Maesen and Gesink are all on 20, but only 10 more are available today - in just 6 kilometers from here.
It worked before, so why not try again - Maesen attacks first towards said mountain sprint. Thiery and Manfredi, the main competitors, are next. Hibatullah, Gesink, Riesebeek, Bratashcuk, Schachmann and Lindau can (mostly) keep up, Hoem, Januskevicius and Van Wilder are in pursuit.
Thiery really seems to be the strongest here, he collects 10 but 6 for Manfredi is enough to get the polkadots for today.
The peloton did not survive the climb in one piece either. 51 riders are around a minute ahead of a chasing group. The top GC riders in that second group are Campero (14th), Carapaz (16th), Borisavljevic (19th), Lunke (20th) and Kritskiy (21st). Despite what looks like the result of high tempo, the yellow jersey group trails the leaders by 10’30 - consequently, the pace is quite high now, which makes it harder for anyone trying to catch up.
At the second intermediate sprint, 26 kilometers from the finish line, the 12 riders mentioned at the previous summit have reunited to form the lead group. They have a lead of 1’20 on a group of 4 including La Lavandier, Balmer, Daniel and Wright, but the gap to the peloton has shrunk to 8’20. Manfredi, who almost by accident also takes the provisional lead in the points classification here, would still be in the Top 5, but one would expect that gap to continue decreasing.
It’s only near the 20 kilometers banner that the split peloton finally reunites. The gap is down to under 7 minutes - Top 10 is now unlikely for Manfredi and Gesink, but the focus is probably on the stage win now regardless.
Look at this mad man! Retirement seems far away as Quintana attacks … on flat roads? No echelons here, Mister! Oomen went after him for a bit, now Seigle chases. 85 riders are currently in this group.
The race for the stage win is on now, too. Riesebeek and Gesink had already tried a move a few minutes ago, now Maesen makes an attempt. Nothing sticks yet, though. The four chasers have almost caught up and might have a say in the outcome after all.
Riders continue to take turns attacking and attacking but nothing sticks and heading into the final 2 kilometers, all 12 are still bunched together. Thiery is the best sprinter and looked strong all day, but he keeps quiet at the back of the group for now. The four chasers would not make it in the end. The gap to the peloton - where Quintana’s attack obviously went nowhere - has been steady at around 6’30 for a while now, we’ll have to see about any GC implications later.
Even if it doesn’t look super steep, the riders are climbing at 8,5% right now. Manfredi, Schachmann and Lindau lead the way.
But it’s not even a real sprint at the moment. Have the attacks on the flat been too costly? 600 meters left for anyone to make a move. Schachmann has lost a few positions, Hoem and Bratashcuk are in the second row now.
300 meters and the riders finally go out of the saddle. Manfredi is still in the lead, going for a second stage win.
Riesebeek comes to the front on the left, but he still has some ground to make up and not a lot of road left.
And he doesn’t get there! Manfredi has the strength to take the sprint head on and finish it! Lindau comes second, then Bratashcuk, Riesebeek and Hoem in the Top 5 - a great result for Tafjord.
Hibatullah finishes 6th centimeters ahead of Schachmann. Thiery was pretty quick in the end, but poor positioning verhindert more than 8th place.
Van Wilder, Januskevicius and Gesink complete the first group. The Dutch veteran is still a good climber, but is simply outmatched in any sort of sprint.
Balmer rode away from his three companions. He’s 13th, ahead of teammate La Lavandier, Daniel and Wright.
On the left, Vermaerke is swept up by the peloton inside the last 2 kilometers, all other breakaway rider having been caught before. Taaramäe, Cattaneo and Berhane are the GC riders closest to the front, but don’t expect any time gaps here.
Taaramäe gets a small prestige victory, outsprinting Haig and Pluchkin to take 17th place.
The peloton ultimately crossed the line 5’38 behind Manfredi, which means the Italian moves up to 11th in the GC, Gesink climbs to 20th. While the latter is a decent time trialist and could well hold that position, the former will likely drop a lot on the final stage.
Until then though, Manfredi can enjoy the lead in both the points classification (where Lindau is now second) and the mountain classification, 4 points ahead of Thiery, 12 ahead of Maesen. Those two are the only ones who can still take the jersey from him, with the last 16 mountain points available tomorrow. No changes in white or the teams classification today.
Int. Österreich Rundfahrt 
