Welcome to Brew City! We're in Milwaukee for the start of today's 10th stage of the 2022 Tour of America - the last one of a 10-day long "prologue" before the GC race really starts tomorrow!
Milwaukee is Wisconsin's most populated city (more than half a million people live here), and is located on the west shore of Lake Michigan, about 150km north of Chicago. Under heavy influence from German immigrants, the city became a paradise for breweries, which got the place one of its nicknames. And an MLB team called Brewers.
Besides breweries, you'll also find some two-wheeled vehicles, as Harley-Davidson have their HQ here, as well as the only Harley-Davidson museum in the world. If you're into buildings, you migth be attracted by Pabst Mansion, once considered the jewel of Milwaukee's "Grand Avenue". If you prefer sports, we've already talked about the Brewers, but there are also the Bucks (NBA), the Admirals (AHL) or the Bavarians (UPSL).
And if you rather prefer parties, well, that's the perfect place to be - with another nickname being "City of Festivals". The Summerfest is one of the largest music festivals in the world, but if you rather prefer community festivals, you can go to the French, Greek, Italian, German, African, Arab and so on Fests. My favorite would surely be the Trainfest, though, America's largest operating model railroad show.
But today, most interest will hopefully go to cyclists - the participants of the Tour of America. They have the final flat stage before S18 on today's menu - and for some sprinters without climbing skills it might even be the last chance to shine in this race!
For now, though, it's still easy terrain - and the organizers once again had to be pretty creative to identify a road bump where they could award KoM points. The found one roughly about mid-stage, but first we'll have an early intermediate sprint - in Waukesha, after just 21 kilometers! An early opportunity for the sprinters?
After 87km, we'll reach said road bump - aka KoM sprint - named Walworth Road. Only 4km later, the second intermediate sprint will be taken in Fontana-on-Geneva Lake; yep, there's indeed a Geneva Lake in Wisconsin, just a bit south of Lake Como. Creative immigrants everywhere.
From Fontana, another 75km of mostly flat roads lead the riders further south-west, to Rockford, Illinois. Initially named Midway - because Rock River, flowing through the city, is about midway between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River - got its current name in 1837 to highlight a rocky river ford across the Rock River. Simple, isn't it?
One of its nicknames, "Forest City", makes us think of a lot of green - but let's not forget that we're in the Rust Belt, which saw heavy industrialization in the 19th and 20th century. Another nickname, "Reaper City", goes back to the Manny Reaper that was invented and produced here. Along with the production of agricultural machines, Swedish furniture cooperatives established the city as a manufacturing base.
Deindustrialization later hit the city as hard as many other Rust Belt cities. Still, Fiat Chrysler nowadays is the largest employer in Rockford - ahead of Public School and several Health Services. Aerospace industry has also become an important part of the local economy.
Culturally speaking, you may want to go to the Coronado Theatre - or to one of the numerous outdoor venues. Rock Cut State Park, Japanese Gardens, Botanic Garden or the park district are places to go - you'll even find a zip-line attraction. Or the Aldeen Golf Club, if you want to combine walking around with some sports.
Today's main sport, however, is cycling - and the fast men will want to make sure they can seize this final opportunity ahead of the torture that awaits them in the next couple of days. And yeah, nothing really new today - although Aniolkowski, a notorious non-participant, gets even two stars today! Three are - as always - reserved for Eislers, Van Asbroeck and notorious underperformer Haller, while Coutinho and Bennett again get two. Boudat went down from two to one, alongside Boivin, Nizzolo and Lutsyshyn. Krieger lost his spot despite winning yesterday - we'll see...
Before joining the riders for the final couple of kilometers, let's see what has already happened today!
What happened so far
For once, the sky was a bit more covered than usual as the riders lined up for the start. No rain yet, though, and no wind - all was set for another nice day of racing!
It didn't take much time for Richardson, Van Aert and Cruz to launch the first attack of the day!
And I can tell you that many, many attempts followed. Names? Here we go: Horvat, Papanov, Croes, Culey, Kaloniatis, Healy, Rossi - several of them multiple times.
But it looked like the sprinter teams wanted to fight at least for 4th and 5th - or even catch the frontrunners and get full points at the first intermediate sprint!
It didn't work out for full points, as the front trio made it to the line, with Van Aert crossing it first.
Behind, Coutinho and Nizzolo actually followed another attack by Culey, and so they easily took the remaining points:
Sprint - Waukesha
1.
Van Aert
10 (26)
-6"
2.
Cruz
6 (8)
-4"
3.
Richardson
4 (12)
-4"
4.
Coutinho
2 (83)
5.
Nizzolo
1 (46)
Coutinho and Nizzolo dropped back to the peloton after the sprint, but Culey actually continued his move - and was allowed to go for the time being.
As he joined the leaders, we actually already had our breakaway of the day. There were tons of attacks in the pack - Rossi, Hvideberg, Croes, Biermans, Tusveld, De Tier, Fenn, Kaloniatis, Lunder, Nolf and so on - but the trio infernale shut them all down. Yeah, once again Van Tricht, Xandri and Mosca didn't make a lot of friends.
Depending on the waves of attacks, the escapees' advantage hovered between about 2'30" and less than a minute, but eventually stabilized around those 2'30".
While there are no particularly good sprinters in this group, all of them are decent on the flat, with Culey being a real beast. So the pack would probably be better off not giving them too much leeway...
The only KoM climb of the day at least was 700m long, and for once had above 5% average slope. Van Aert again was the first to cross the line.
KoM - Walworth Road (4th)
1.
Van Aert
5 (5)
2.
Culey
3 (3)
3.
Cruz
1 (1)
Once again, none of the escapees had collected any KoM points before the stage, meaning another day without even the least change in the KoM Top 10. At least we're guaranteed to have some movement tomorrow!
By the time the peloton arrived on top of the hill, their deficit had reached its maximum extent so far with 3 minutes. The breakaway is already about to reach the second intermediate sprint in Fontana-on-Geneva Lake, so let's join them with our live coverage!
LIVE +++ LIVE +++ LIVE
No sprint among the escapees once again; they're rather preserving their energy for some more cat-and-mouse games. Cruz gets to pick up maximum points this time, with the top sprinters in the pack preparing to fight for the last point!
Coutinho once again was fastest from the peloton, getting this one point. Almost a dozen sprinters were competing for it, by the way...
Sprint - Fontana-on-Geneva Lake
1.
Cruz
10 (18)
-6"
2.
Richardson
6 (18)
-4"
3.
Van Aert
4 (30)
-2"
4.
Culey
2 (2)
5.
Coutinho
1 (84)
The group of 11 sprinters actually has a 30" advantage over the bunch, which trails the breakaway by 3'04".
50km to go. After the first hour frenzy, they're riding at a much more leisurely pace now - and that holds for both groups. The escapees are 2'18" ahead.
The usual suspects are working in the peloton. Haller once again is the first sprinter on the road, but at least for once not the first rider of his team. Maybe they'll finally work for their sprinter today?
Oh well, forget what I just said - it didn't age well. The pace is again incredibly high, and Haller is in the last third of the pack, protecting Moazemi...
With 20km to go, the breakaway is only one minute ahead - but remember that we had a similar situation yesterday, and that we have much more firepower on the flat in today's leading group!
The sprinter teams probably know that they won't catch the escapees with just the three usual hard workers, and so the likes of Campenaerts, Donovan, Magnusson or Gallopin have joined the chase. We can also spot Balmer, Katrasnik, Groselj, Stoltz and Velasco taking turns.
Then we already have most sprinters, as they seem to be afraid of splits - not due to wind, as it's still pretty weak, but due to some riders potentially tiring and leaving gaps after almost a full day of high-speed riding!
That went quickly! Even before the 10km mark, it's game over for Cruz! So instead of holding on longer with all those good rouleurs, the break seems to be caught earlier than ususal!
It's KoM leader Magnusson setting a frantic pace - with Coutinho already in second wheel, though!
Van Aert is the only and lonely escapee left with 10km to go! Campenaerts is now pulling in the pack as they catch Culey and Richardson.
3km later, it's over and out for Van Aert.
Most top sprinters are getting in position, except for you-know-who. However, we can't recognize any kind of organization yet - still a couple of kilometers left to get the trains up and running, though!
5km left, as Magnusson still is the only rider doing some kind of leadout - although it's still a bit early for Coutinho to already be in 3rd wheel.
And by the way, the Kraftwerk rider in the first 20 positions is Nerz. Yep.
With just 3km to go, it's still the same picture up front - Magnusson pulling directly ahead of Coutinho! Apparently, the pace was so high that no trains had any chance of taking shape - or Van Asbroeck has willingly chosen to do some wheelsurfing for once!
Behind Coutinho, we directly have Eislers, then Nizzolo, Boivin, Boudat, Stash, Van Asbroeck, Mareczko, Nerz, Itami, Lutsyshyn, Feiereisen, Novardianto, Berger, Bennett, Krieger, Zariff and finally Moschetti - only in about 50th position, though, as lots of helpers and GC captains are still in the first third of the pack as well.
Still no notable evolutions with 2km to go - except that Magnusson now has a slight gap over Coutinho, with Eislers not directly following the Portuguese's wheel anymore, either. This sprint preparation is really looking completely unorganized for once!
The pace has slightly dropped over the last kilometer, and Nizzolo is the first to lose patience and launch his sprint! Gallopin has now come to the front as well - but hasn't managed yet to go ahead of Coutinho, so that's some failed tactics I guess.
And Van Asbroeck doesn't get his usual leadout, either, as it's now Eenkhoorn in front of him!
Let's try to get a better overview of a pretty messy situation:
Nizzolo
Coutinho
Boivin
Gallopin
Eenkhoorn
Eislers
Van Asbroeck
Mareczko
Magnusson
Itami
Feiereisen
Tusveld
Stash
Boudat
Alexander
Lutsyshyn
Novardianto
Eriksson
Nerz
Berger is still pretty close to the Top 20 as well, but all other sprinters are clearly further down!
Nizzolo is doing a good job so far, as Coutinho is just a few inches ahead right now - but currently it's Boivin who's looking strongest!
Itami and Eislers in the next row are moving ast as well, just like Mareczko and Van Asbroeck right behind!
For the likes of Feiereisen, Stash, Lutsyshyn and Boudat it will already be a challenge to get past some leadout riders - while pretty much none of the fast sprinters is using the other, less crowded side of the orad!
200m later, it's still the same three riders leading - but they're even closer together now! Eislers is still benefitting from Coutinho's slipstream, while Itami has been in the wind for quite a while already.
Van Asbroeck and Mareczko haven't closed in a lot, but we still have half a kilometer to go!
300m to the line, and Coutinho still has a narrow lead over Boivin and Nizzolo! Eislers and Itami are now about to overtake those three, though!
Van Asbroeck might struggle to find some space, but is still moving fast, just like Mareczko. Boudat and Feiereisen are finally past the leadouts and are closing in, followed by Lutsyshyn and Stash.
Coutinho is still leading, can he even hold on? Boivin and Eislers are now pretty much neck-and-neck, with Nizzolo slightly behind. Itami doesn't seem to have enough steam left to overtake, though!
That might have been an early call again, as the Japanese now is at least in contention for a podium with 100m to go! Up front it's between Coutinho and Eislers, with the latter having a slight speed advantage!
50m to the line, as Eislers is almost on par with Coutinho! Boivin looks to hold onto a great 3rd place, with Nizzolo however not out of the race, either! Itami seems to have lost some momentum again, while Van Asbroeck is still trying to find some space to squeeze through!
And the winner is... We don't know! The officials will first have to check the timings and images they have - we only know that it's either Eislers or Coutinho.
3rd place, however, is pretty clear - it's Guillaume Boivin who delivered a great sprint today to get that final podium spot! Giacomo Nizzolo was the first one to launch, and so 4th place clearly is nothing to scoff at as well!
Kenji Itami has to settle for 5th, while Tom Van Asbroeck can't get any better than 6th. Which is worth 14 sprint points - so the decision on today's winner will also decide on tomorrow's green jersey wearer!
Jakub Mareczko then finishes 7th, ahead of Thomas Boudat, Roman Lutsyshyn and Kevin Feiereisen. We then have some surprising names in the remaining Top 20, with several sprinters missing out even on the Top 30. We said it, the preparation was messy, and the result confirms this.
Lionel Coutinho couldn't care less about other sprinters' positioning issues, as he wins his second stage in three days! Taking the 3rd podium in as many stages was already a given as he crossed the finish line - and the judges concluded that he did so a tad quicker than Ingus Eislers!
Guillaume Boivin took 3rd place, as said before, and he'll surely be happy with that result!
Probably for the last time, Arvin Moazemi managed to defend his yellow jersey today! And we do indeed have a change on the current podium; while Lucas Eriksson still sits in 2nd place, 11" back, Ingus Eislers has now moved up to 3rd, trailing by 20"!
However, the 2nd place finish wasn't enough for Ingus Eislers to take back the green jersey, which therefore remains on Tom Van Asbroeck's shoulders! His 8 points margin is very slim, however - and 160 points in total don't exclude that a GC rider might come close or even overtake him in the next couple of days!
Lionel Coutinho is now up to 3rd place, 26 points down.
However, it has to be said that many of the sprinters making up the current Top 10 - including points leader Van Asbroeck - are in the bottom 10 in terms of climbing and are far from granted to stay in the race until the end!
Once again, no changes in the KoM standings, with Kim Magnusson still having a commanding 30 points lead over Matic Groselj. Michael Antonelli and Hayden McCormick are 31 points down.
With 36 points on offer tomorrow, the Swede's 39 points make sure that only a rider having scored some points so far can endanger his jersey tomorrow - although it's pretty likely that we'll see him on the podium again!
As with the GC, we'll very likely see a major shakeup in the young rider standings tomorrow. It's not too unlikely to still see Pascal Eenkhoorn leading, though, as he might even extend his current 6 seconds lead. Thymen Arensman is 2nd, Thomas Revard 3rd - but some strong climbers are luring behind...
Not having the strongest climbing lineup, Cedevita will have to hope for some breakaways or great depth results to hold onto their team standings lead. However, Kraftwerk Man Machine surely have several options to close that 11" gap. Assa Abloy currently are 19" down.
And those were the first 10 stages - the prologue to the actual GC race, which starts tomorrow! Hopefully you'll join us then to watch the riders crest Mount Revelstoke - see you!
Tour of America 
