Good morning from Zurich, where riders line up for the last race of their season. On this sunny October day with only a few clouds in the sky above, they have one more chance at glory in this unpredictable hilly classic. Let’s see who comes out on top!
Matsangos is the first attacker of the day, an unusual sight given that Jura GIANTS have one of the main favorites in Moscon. Could well be a smart move to absolve them of having to work in the peloton, though. Following him are Piaskowy, Lampaert and Parashchak.
Kristoff, perhaps on the last race day of his storied career, doesn’t want to go quietly and counterattacks, as do Curley, Debusschere and Gonzalez. They quickly catch up on the first short climb of the day.
A few more riders want in. Evangelos uses the slipstream of the camera bike, Martino in turn follows his wheel closely. Johansson is a bit late but attacks anyway.
That’s still not all: A further four riders go for it on the following downhill. Hocevar leads the way for Moreno Hernandez, Quicibal and Christapopoulos, who makes it two Popo4Ever and no less than three Greek riders in front of the peloton right now.
The former 11 riders quickly unite, the latter 4 take a bit longer to catch up, but heading into the second climb of the day, all 15 get together. They already have 3 minutes on the peloton, so no contest from any other teams at this point.
Many young riders are in here and few great puncheurs, but Piaskowy stands out as the most well-rounded rider, while Moreno Hernandez is the best climber of the group. In addition to Popo4Ever, both Colombini and Oktal Pharma have two men in here.
Fast forward a good 140 kilometers because really nothing of note happened in the meantime. Now though, we see the first victims of a continuously high pace and all of the ups and downs. Not entirely surprisingly, Kristoff is the first to drop from the breakaway. Parashchak and Martino and Debusschere are also in trouble.
Kristoff quickly gets caught, the peloton is still led by mostly the same teams. The gap to the breakaway is already down to under 2 minutes.
97 riders remain in the peloton with some 60 kilometers to go. In this second group, there are some high profile names including Budyak, Juul-Jensen and Sakalou, as well as Evenepoel and Siriwardena, Haas and much of the Podium Ambition team, though crucially Le Court remains ahead.
Into the longest climb of the day, the breakaway continues to crumble. Parashchak and Debusschere had already been swallowed by the peloton, now Quicibal and Lampaert drop (though his teammate Martino recovered and is still ahead).
In fact, Martino is one of just two riders who can follow Piaskowy, the other being Moreno Hernandez. Those three distance everyone else by over half a minute as they reach the summit, but the peloton is still only 1’30 behind them.
Following the climb, the peloton has shrunk to just 58 riders, mostly thanks to the work of Le Creuset. Red Bull Zalgiris are the only team without a rider in here except for Oktal Pharma, but those still have Piaskowy ahead, of course. Budyak has not managed to return, but Gladysh carries the flag of Popo4Ever.
Gladysh would soon be dropped though, as more and more riders can’t keep up. Interestingly, Moscon rides near the very end of the group, instead it’s Masnada who’s closer to the front and well protected by Schmid and Basso. We’ll see how Jura play this. Meanwhile, only the leading trio remains from the breakaway, now 1’15 ahead with 30 kilometers still to go.
Quevedo sets a brutal pace at the front of the peloton, indicating that Serrano is Caja Rural’s man for the day and also reducing the peloton to just 27 riders. Among those distanced are McKenna, Vliegen and Kanepejs. Bonduelle still has three riders ahead though, Colombini one ( Olei) and another in the breakaway, while Glanbia’s hopes for a good result seem to be over.
Vendrame and Rota are losing ground, too, thinning the Bianchi squad, but Zordan still has Luchshenko with him.
Even further behind are Vogt and Christapopoulos, the best-placed riders for Pas Normal Studios and Popo4Ever, respectively. Certainly a disappointing race for both teams. Strava, whose best rider Bernas is another couple of groups down the road, will not score any points today either, but that was more expected.
Two short hills left in the remaining 23 kilometers as Martino is caught. Moreno Hernandez and Piaskowy are still 45 seconds ahead.
But the duo can’t hold out much longer either. The moment they’re back in the peloton, Serrano attacks on the other side of the road and Boswell counters! Moscon has found his way to the front following Basso, while Teuns and Edmondson are close by, too.
Edmondson briefly tried to follow the attacks but had to relent. The other two don’t seem to get far either, though, as Thiery keeps them on a short leash.
Boswell and Serrano hold a small gap and only 15 riders remain in the first chasing group. Some surprises in here for sure, including Russo and Wackermann, who could be very dangerous if they hang on to sprint for the win, as well as Luchshenko being the only remaining Bianchi rider.
Le Court, McKenna and Lietaer are the team leaders following most closey, around half a minute behind these 15.
In between the final two hills, Serrano attacks again. He knows that this small of a gap won’t be enough to carry him over the final flat stretch, but he also leaves Boswell behind and takes those kilometers on alone.
Scratch that: Boswell makes his way back to the Spaniard as they pass a group of lapped riders. Behind those, Schmid has attacked in an effort to close the gap for his leaders … or is he going rogue? Either way, he has Hoelgaard in his wheel and a small gap to the chasing group now led by Luchshenko – a massive performance from the Kazakh, but he has to be careful not to overextend himself.
Schmid’s attack does the trick and the leading duo is brought back. In the process, the main group splits in half and only 10 riders remain at the front of the race. In addition to those mentioned, they are Teuns, Masnada, Wackermann, Weiss and Meyer.
Russo leads a group of 6 in pursuit that also includes Robov, Pernsteiner, Thiery, Moscon and Edmondson.
But that group only holds for a few hundred meters, then Robov attacks and, rather shockingly, it’s Russo and Thiery who can follow and not the three riders behind them who were among the top favorites for the whole thing.
Into the final 10 kilometers, all of which are flat or even slightly downhill, Boswell attacks. Teuns and Luchshenko are the first to counter.
Weiss follows, then there’s a gap! But Schmid jumps to the front to bring them back.
And he does so successfully, leading his captain and the rest of the group towards the final 5 kilometers. The chasing trio around Robov is 35 seconds behind and the leaders would be well-advised to not let Russo catch back up.
And it doesn’t seem like they do. But there are still some very quick riders in this group, most notably Luchshenko, Weiss and Wackermann. They have to be considered the top favorites now, especially the latter given he hasn’t expended any additional energy in these final few kilometers. Last year’s runner-up Meyer also has to be considered.
Schmid is back at the front nearing the flamme rouge. Who’s going to show his cards first?
Masnada goes and Wackermann is right there with him! The others are still hesitating, but they have no time to lose!
It still takes a few hundred meters for them to finally get going and it’s very clear by that point that only two riders can win this. Wackermann leads, can Masnada counter?
Masnada was tactically flawless in the finale and got a great assist by Schmid, but he doesn’t quite have the required speed, missing the win on home soil and thus the perfect ending to a phenomenal season for Jura GIANTS.
Luchshenko and Weiss lead the group behind them.
Luchshenko keeps that lead closing in on the line, but Weiss and Meyer are very fast now!
Not fast enough though. Luchshenko joins Wackermann and Masnada on the podium, Weiss and Meyer, who outsprints Hoelgaard at the very last second, complete the Top 5.
Behind the Tryg rider, Serrano finishes 7th. He was the one who initiated the final selection with his bold attacks, but perhaps spent too much energy in the process to compete for a better result. Teuns and Boswell did so, too, but they also simply lack the speed compared to the other guys in this group and have to settle for 8th and 9th.
Schmid holds off the chasers after an exceptional domestique performance, which is additionally rewarded by a Top 10 finish. In that chasing trio, it’s surprisingly Thiery and not Russo who leads.
Russo even gets outsprinted by Robov in the end, but still a remarkable performance by the French to do as well on a hilly race as he did. Same for Thiery of course, another top domestique. They finish 11th through 13th.
Pernsteiner is the only one of the former lead group who can fend off what has become a large group of distanced riders. He finishes 14th. In contrast, Moscon is swept up just 200 meters before the line to end up 21st. A terrible result for him personally, but what a statement by Jura GIANTS to be able to compensate a bad day for their leader in the way they did.
It's Quevedo who leads this group over the line, making it two Caja Rural riders in the Top 15. Then Vermeersch and McKenna score a few points for their respective teams, before Molard and Laas add to Bonduelle’s very impressive depth.
Zordan is 20th, Vendrame and Rota make it four Bianchi riders in the Top 25, they finish just behind Lietaer (22nd) and Umerbekov (23rd). Le Court just misses out on points in 28th place.
But the biggest disappointment of the race has to be Edmondson, who comes in another 18 seconds behind the group to finish 31st, leaving BNZ-Superhero Racing scoreless, too. The same goes for Oktal Pharma - TotalTV, though not for lack of trying of Piaskowy, today’s best breakaway rider, who finishes 32nd.
Vliegen and San Marinese champion Olei in 33rd and 35th are the best riders for Colombini-Adler Aalterpaint and, alongside Hamilton, the last riders ahead of the next big group that includes the best riders of Team Popo4Ever, Pas Normal Studios - Mikkeler, Red Bull Zalgiris and Strava, namely Orlov (36th), Besada (45th), Räim (56th) and Bernas (59th). Not a great race for those, though somewhat expected for the latter two PCT teams, at least.
So, where does all of this leave us rankings-wise? (Please take all of these with a grain of salt in case I get something wrong - official rankings will come courtesy of Fabianski, of course!) Well, we don’t see any movement in the top half - not yet, anyway. Hoelgaard’s 7th place is not enough to bring Tryg past Colombini. In turn, McKenna’s 3 points mean Betancourt has to finish in the Top 5 at the Giro dell’Emilia later today to jump onto the podium.
Behind them, Robov and Pernsteiner do enough to secure BWT Hyundai’s 6th place and while Edmondson shockingly left BNZ-Superhero scoreless, Caja Rural fall an agonizing 3 points short of taking 7th despite Serrano’s and Quevedo’s good performances. A surprise result in Italy could still give them 7th, but that seems highly unlikely given their squad there.
Both of them, and Oktal Pharma in 9th, still have to look over their shoulder to Tafjord, though. Following Weiss’s 4th place, they remain in 10th for now but Boasson Hagen has the chance to lift them up with a good result in Italy. A 10th place there puts them level with Oktal Pharma, a Top 4 result would see them jump all the way up to 7th! Maybe not super likely, but something to keep an eye on (further points by Dyrnes would have to be taken into account, too).
The only ranking changes we see right now are in the bottom third. Thanks to Wackermann’s win, Bordeaux Metropole gain two places and move up to 15th, now ahead of Staffbase and Le Creuset, where Vermeersch and Lietaer have done just enough to prevent a further drop, despite Teuns’ and Thiery’s efforts.
And there we go, the 2022 CT season is over. Thanks everyone for following along and a fun and successful offseason to you all!
Zuri Metzgete 
