Today the riders reach the end of the race but first they have to survive the toughest stage. 226km from Berat to Ioannina concluding with the race’s signature climb to Ligkiades. In between 3 Cat 4s, 2 Cat 3s, a Cat 2 and a Cat 1. And that doesn’t include the last three climbs of the race which are all pretty tough but the only KOM points on those are at the finish which awards Cat 3 points.
Lopez tops the favorites for the stage and is also the favorite to take the GC. But his lead is just 22 second over Gidich, who also features on the favorites list. That deficit can be covered very easily on the closing climb and which is where the stage is usually decided.
The first Cat 4 comes just 4.4k into the race. KOM leader Hermans is attentive and goes for it but settles for 1 point as he is beaten by the two stronger climbers with him, Monsalve and Lavery.
20k gone the three mentioned before have been joined by De Bie, Tanovitchii, Debesay, Laengen, Lasinis. Good news for Hermans as none of the guys in this group have any mountain points. But more riders trying to come across. De Bie seems to have read the Hagen play book which calls for last stage heroics.
1k to the top of the 2nd Cat 4. Laengen dropped from the lead group. Hermans will want to score here as the group of 5 at 33 seconds includes Denz (2nd in KOM, 9 points behind and Van Niekerk (10th in KOM, 40 points behind), as well as Goh, Tatarinov, and Affonso. Giannoutsos trying to come across behind that group. The peloton 1’53 down.
De Bie takes maximum points, none for Hemans. De Bie not too big to help look after his teammate’s KOM interest. Will be interesting to see how the Aegon duo ride if Denz makes it across. Right now that group is still 31 seconds down.
A few k later the Denz group makes it across.
Not such good teammating at the third of the early Cat 4s as De Bie goes over first and Denz has to settle for third. He is back to 8 points behind Hermans. The Cat 1 climb is and soon that will be the big one. Giannoutsos and Laengen are 1 minute down and the peloton 3’56.
8k to the top of the Cat 1 climb and 183k to go in the stage. This 1 climb totals 11.1k at 5.2%. The two chasers have not been able to catch the front 12 yet, deficit now is 1’29. Peloton just over 5 minutes down.
1k to the top, Monsalve opens up the competition for the points. Lavery behind him. Denz chose a bad moment to go back to the car and is badly positioned.
Great riding by Hermans and he takes first and 16 points. Denz gets just 4 dropping him 20 points behind. There are still 22 points on the course (plus 6 at the finish) so it isn’t over yet but perhaps that clarifies what Aegon’s priorities will be on the day. Debesay is dropped on the climb.
149k to go for the peloton. cycleYorkshire (Atkins), Xero (Young), Volcanica (Kump), EA (Van der Lijke) and MOL (Walscheid) are the teams working. The lead had gone out over 6 minutes but is now down to 4’41. The wind is pretty strong which will complicate the chase. The best placed on GC in the break is Tatarinov at 4’47 with both De Bie and Van Niekerk at just over 5 minutes. Debesay was able to rejoin the front but Giannoutsos and Laengen are stuck in between and it isn’t looking good for them.
The break is on the Cat 2 (7.0k at 5.6%), the first of the three remaining categorized climbs which all come fairly quickly now. They have 104k to go in the stage and a lead of 3’47. Strava has also been contributing to the chase. The two in between have been caught by the peloton.
1.5k from the top Monsalve again starts the action. Looks like Denz is focused on protecting De Bie.
Hermans has the best kick at the top and takes maximum points. He will be the Balkans International King of the Mountains for this year. The riders who weren’t contesting the KOM, including the Aegon duo, were distanced a little. Lead over the peloton is back to 4’39.
Over the top the break comes back together except for Lasinis who looks spent.
85k to go for the peloton. Carthy must be feeling good because cycleYorkshire are all over the front and have been going really hard. They have the lead down to 2’07 and the peloton split in two, with 64 riders in the front group. Bad news for Gidich as Sosa (14th on GC) is one of the riders missing. The others from the top 20 missing are Chaves (17th) and Ssabagwanya (19th).
At the next climb a Cat 3, De Bie takes first. Peloton just 1’36 behind with the front group down to 55 riders. 80k to ride.
1k to top of the final categorized climb. The break is down to 6, Goh, De Bie, Affonso, Tatarinov, Monsalve and Van Niekerk. Peloton has eased off and is 2’37 down and back to 75 riders. All 3 riders from the top 20 who were missing have made it back across.
De Bie attacks and takes the points at the top he is up to 6th in the KOM. Tatarinov and Van Niekerk struggling.
50k for the front 4, they have almost 2 minutes over Tatarinov who is the next rider on the road, so it doesn’t look like any others will be getting back on. The lead over the peloton is back to 3’50 as the peloton hesitates. From here it is mostly flat or downhill except for a few bumps until the riders reach the two finishing climbs.
35k to go for the peloton. Efforts from cycleYorkshire, Volanica, Xero and Strava have cut back the lead to 2’28. But Quintana and Areruya are sitting 3rd and 4th wheel, so not many domestiques left.
20k to go. The front four have reached the climb to Mazia (7.3k at 5.3%), the first of the two finishing climbs. Goh immediately attacks. The peloton is 2’03 behind with Dall'Oste and Holmes doing the bulk of the work. Ssabagwanya is the only top 20 GC rider dropped.
After a brief turn from Stannard, Novak launches the first attack from the peloton about 1k into the climb to Mazia.
The others were all able to follow Goh but when Affonso counters it is the Duolingo rider who is dropped. Behind Areruya and Sicard have joined Novak but their gap is small with Poljanec and Blums chasing.
When Kwiatkowski attempts to bridge over to the initial attackers the other big guns decide to follow. Up front Goh has rejoined the other 3.
2k from the top De Bie attacks the break and gets a gap. Areruya is the only attacker to maintain a gap from the peloton but his advantage is just 10 seconds. The action has cut the lead of the break to about a minute and led to Chaves being dropped, but that isn’t a surprise as he had done a ton of work on the front.
As he reaches the top, De Bie is on his own and has opened up a minute on the three chasers. They have been joined by Areruya and Sicard, another 12 seconds behind them is a group with Lopez, Sagan, Beltran, and Kwiatkowski. They have another 16 seconds on a 20-rider group being led by Novak. The only additional top 20 GC rider dropped is Errazkin.
9k to ride. The two attacking GC favorite groups come together on the descent and Carthy is able to bridge over to make it an 11-rider group. Novak still leading the chase 15 seconds back. De Bie still has 55 seconds on the front group. Gidich (2nd on GC), who is the highest place rider not in the front GC group, still has two helpers with him in Sosa and Quita.
5k banner for De Bie his lead is 49 seconds. He is on the final climb which is 5.7k at 6.7%, pretty steady but the last k is the steepest. The chase groups have merged. Sagan leading the chase.
It looks like heartbreak for De Bie. 3.3k to ride his lead is down to 39 seconds and Sicard has attacked the peloton.
2.9k and De Bie is caught. Sicard and 5 others have a small gap. They are Areruya, Kwiatkowski, Sagan and Beltran. Lopez trying to close the gap.
2.2k, Lopez has made it across to the attackers while De Bie is quickly dropped their gap is 29 seconds. Gidich needs to react.
1.4k. Areruya (8th on GC), Sicard (7th), Beltran (3rd) and Sagan (6th) move clear of Lopez (1st) and Kwiatkowski (4th). Then 23 seconds back to a group being led by Boily (11th) and Arndt (10th) that also includes Gidich, Gesbert (20th), Carthy (12th), Novak (15th), and De Plus (9th). Valter, 5th on GC is the highest placed rider not in one of those groups.
1k banner, Areruya looks strongest. 12 seconds to Lopez and Kwiatkowski. 21 seconds to the Kraftwerk led chasers, a number of other riders including Valter are latched on to the back of that group, but he is barely hanging on.
600 meters. Lopez still trailing the leaders by 14 seconds, Beltran is the closest of these at 47 seconds so his GC position looks secure. Kwiatkowski has dropped back to the next group 12 seconds down. Valter dropped from that group officially now.
300 meters it looks like Sicard vs Areruya vs Sagan for the stage win. Beltran is back with Lopez 22 seconds down. Sagan could be taking over 2nd on the GC here.
100 meters, the picture much the same. 28 seconds behind Boily, Arndt and Gesbert have reached Lopez and Beltran.
After a quiet race, Areruya is strongest on stage 6. Sagan 2nd, Sicard pays back the work of his team with a podium place. These three all get the same time.
A great finish from Gesbert as he rockets past Lopez to take 4th, 20 seconds down. Lopez 5th then Boily 6th, both on 27 seconds. Not the greatest day for Lopez but with his closest GC competitors behind him on the stage he will the GC by 33 seconds. Arndt finishes 7th, 39 seconds down.
Beltran (+0’48) fades at the end and takes 8th ahead of De Plus (+0’54).
Kwiatkowski leads home the next group for 10th, he loses 1’15. Gidich loses 1’35 and finishes 13th.
Gidich is a big loser on the day as he slips from 2nd to 6th. Beltran does better than him but not good enough, he falls off the podium to 5th as Sagan moves up from 6th and Sicard from 7th to take the two GC podium spots. Strava and Moser will both be very glad of those points. Areruya’s stage win is enough to move him up to 4th on the GC. Kwiatkowski slips to 7th, disappointment for him.
Kraftwerk will be happy though as Arndt and Boily move up to 8th and 9th. Kraftwerk also take the teams competition by a big margin. Perhaps the biggest loser on the day is Valter who finishes the stage in 23rd 2’42 down. He falls from 5th to 12th on GC. Still, he wins the young rider competition and before race 12th would have seemed like a pretty good return.
Back-to-back winner and the first two-time winner of the Balkans International, Miguel Angel Lopez.
Balkans International 
