It’s a nice February day in Portugal, no wind, sunny with some clouds, everything is set up nicely for the riders to give it their best. Let’s get straight to the action. Also, apologies for the low graphic settings, my computer decided to overheat on even mid settings.
The flag is still waving in the commissioner’s hand when Van Den Bossche attacks. Lunder follows quickly.
Batmunkh and Peruvian champion Ruiz jump across, Bakke Christophersen, Ryuki and Kireva attack as well.
Kireva can’t keep up and is stuck between the peloton and this group of nine, which is comprised of the six other riders mentioned before, as well as Bertilsson, Silva and Kuypers.
Kireva ends up in the breakaway after a couple of kilometers, but the group doesn’t get away easily. Strava, Sony – Force India and DuckDuckGo – Everesting set a high pace at the head of the peloton, not wanting a group as big as that get too much of an advantage.
The high pace stretches the peloton thin and has already claimed one victim: Marchewka has fallen behind 15 kilometers into the race, it’s going to be a long day for him.
The leaders enter the Lugar do Meio for the first time with a lead of 1’20 over the peloton. We actually have a couple of very solid riders in here, Batmunkh being the strongest cobblestone rider, but Kuypers possesses a very good combination of both cobble and hill skills. If this groups survives long enough, both might have a decent shot at a good result. Van Den Bossche and Kireva also shouldn’t be underestimated.
So much for Batmunkh’s chances of a good result: Near the summit, he is the first breakaway rider to be distanced! His poor climbing does him in. Lunder also can’t keep up, while Ruiz and Bertilsson are struggling to hang on.
But they do hang on. At the bottom of the first descent, this group – led through said descent entirely by Kuypers – has 40 seconds on Lunder, a minute on Batmunkh and a whole 3’20 on the peloton. The pace there has slowed down enough to even let Marchewka return.
Halfway to the second lap up the Lugar do Meio, Batmunkh and Lunder have made it back, but you can see it’s taken a lot out of them. The gap to the peloton is up to 4’30.
Once again, the Crabbe – CC Chevigny duo of Van Den Bossche and Kireva leads the group over the summit, after Ryuki had done some work early on the climb. Batmunkh has lost contact again, whereas the gap to the pack has remained at around 4’30 for a while now, as again Sony and DuckDuckGo take turns in the lead to control it.
We can fast forward a bit, as not much of note has been happening. Batmunkh was not able to make it to the front again this time, he’s back in the peloton. Marchewka is distanced again, but now so are his teammate Raugala and, more significantly, Pernsteiner, both after punctures.
A puncture also happens to breakaway rider Silva! He unfortunately isn’t able to make it back, the group is riding too fast, trying to keep the pack at bay, which is now only three minutes further down the road.
A few kilometers later, as the peloton climbs the Lugar de Meio for the fourth time, more and more riders are in trouble. Among them are Schlechter and Taubel, JEWA TIROL’s two leaders. All their hope is now on Livyns. At the front, Bertilsson was distanced by his breakaway companions.
Sony really has taken charge of the peloton with Tratnik leading them over the summit, Benoot already in second position right behind him. Pidcock, David and Gaday follow closely, and then in around 10th position, interestingly, sits Higuita. Debesay, Meurisse and Turgis as well as Jacobs are the next bigger names following.
Nearing the penultimate ascent, the peloton is down to just 50 riders. Dyrnes is the latest notable rider to fall behind and with Bertilsson dropping just ahead of him, Breen is on his own. Other riders who are the last remaining of their team are Livyns and Trentin, while the only team without a rider left in the peloton is Gjensidige (although Lunder is still in the breakaway). The gap to the breakaway is down to 1’50, still 52 kilometers to go.
Remember how Meurisse won last year with a long range attack from around 40 kilometers out? Remember how Schmid is such a similar rider to the Belgian? Well wouldn’t you know it, the Jura GIANTS leader has attacked! He makes his way past Van Den Bossche towards the remaining six breakaway riders.
Pidcock doesn’t want to let him get away alone and he attacks, too! Delco counters, while Gaday and Ulloa have come to the front of the pack.
In fact, Ulloa simply goes after them with a quick acceleration, followed in turn by Riesebeek! Debesay and Benoot now take over behind them, while Schmid has made his way to the front of the race (that’s his teammate Bakke Christophersen being overtaken by Pidcock and Delco there).
At the summit, Schmid has shed all former breakaway riders except for Kireva. Pidcock, Riesebeek and Delco, alongside Ruiz, are some 25 second behind him, with another 40 seconds on Ulloa. The Mexican is himself around 25 seconds ahead of the peloton, which has now split!
Well, maybe not split as much as shrunk. In this group behind the main one are the likes of Lampaert, Trentin and Breen, as well as Lopez. With around 40 riders still ahead of them on the road, they likely have to say goodbye to any high scoring finish.
Kozhatayev sets a brutal pace and reduces the peloton further, with Chatarunga and Owen the most prominent recent victims. The group is down to just 21 riders! In addition to the Kazakh, and roughly in order, they are:
Girmay
Jorgenson
Debesay
Ryuki
Gaday
Benoot
Marzuki
David
Schoonbroodt
Higuita
Morin
Jacobs
Livyns
Turgis
Meurisse
Van Zyl
Bablidze
Schäppi
De Vos
Tediashvili
Meanwhile, Pidcock makes use of his excellent descending and catches up to the front. 20 seconds to Riesebeek and Delco, 1’05 to Ruiz and Ulloa, 1’30 to the peloton, where De Vos has just suffered a puncture and has fallen behind.
This is somewhat unexpected: With the gap to the leaders not coming down fast enough, Debesay simply attacks! Gaday tries to follow, neither of them have any domestiques left and don’t seem to trust Sony or any of the other teams with multiple riders to get it done.
The two soon catch up to Ulloa and Ruiz, but it’s no use: Girmay pulls one big shift at the front of the pack and brings all four back with ease. The five leaders have united up front and now have a lead of 1’25. Meanwhile, Ryuki and Bablidze have been dropped from the group, leaving Hilcona with just Morin.
We’re still some 10 to 15 kilometers away from the final climb of the day, but neither Riesebeek nor Kireva will make it there at the front. They can’t keep up and will drop to the peloton, whose deficit has remained steady over the past couple of kilometers. Terrific display from Kireva in particular, he will try to hang on now to get any sort of good result, as he’s his team’s last best chance for that.
A short while later, Delco is done, too. It’s the Pidcock and Schmid show now, and as they extend their lead second by second, we can see Benoot attacking in the distance! His domestiques have done what they could, now it’s his turn. Gaday and Jacobs are in hot pursuit!
Benoot seems to have terrific legs, he breezes past everyone bar the two leaders with ease and has brought a minute between himself and the peloton in no time. Gaday is close behind, while Jacobs seems to have problems keeping up.
Interestingly, it’s then not Girmay (who sits near the back of the peloton) but Jorgensen who attacks for Zwift! David, Debesay and Meurisse lead the chase, but not with a whole lot of fervor.
You can see the whole picture with 20 kilometers to go here. It’s still Pidcock and Schmid in the lead, then Benoot, then Gaday and Delco.
Debesay is now setting a higher pace and that leads to some casualties: Ruiz, Girmay, Schäppi and Morin are dropped from the pack, while Tediashvili, Higuita and Kozhatayev try their best to hold on.
But they don’t manage to do so, reducing the peloton to just 8 riders – can you even call that a peloton anymore? Debesay has attacked and is about to catch Jacobs, Kireva and Riesebeek, while Schoonbroodt and Marzuki try to bring everything back for David. Meurisse, Turgis, Van Zyl, Ulloa and, perhaps the biggest positive surprise of the day so far, Livyns, are the other riders in the group.
Benoot has caught the leading duo and immediately goes into the wind to push them forward. They have 55 seconds on Gaday, Delco and now Jorgenson, who in turn have 20 seconds to the Debesay group.
The attacks keep on coming. Jorgenson now wants to make the jump to the front alone! Meanwhile, Schoonbroodt has caught the quartett around Debesay, which means we’re back to 13 riders there as, notably, Higuita has found his way back to the other favorites.
Make that 16: Jorgenson’s attack was not fruitful, instead that trio is brought back by Meurisse – Lampre seems to be all in for Turgis, a reasonable choice as we head into the final big climb of the day. The three leaders, however, are now 1’30 ahead – that seems like a tough gap to close.
The gap is only increasing, which prompts another attack by Jorgenson! Meurisse, Turgis, Gaday and Debesay can follow, but behind them, the group explodes!
At the front, Benoot makes his move just before the 10km banner, he leaves Pidcock and Schmid behind! Jorgenson and Turgis are the primary chasers, some 50 seconds behind that duo.
Higuita has picked up chasing duties one group further down the road. Only David, Van Zyl, Riesebeek and Delco stay with him as they try to catch Debesay, Meurisse and Gaday.
Jorgenson has a terrific day, he catches Pidcock and Schmid a kilometer or two before the summit. Benoot is already almost a minute ahead.
Jorgenson immediately moves into second place. Behind them, Gaday implodes, who not only loses touch with Debesay and Meurisse (who’ve caught up with Turgis), but is also struggling to keep up with Higuita, David and Van Zyl.
One quick look at the mess further down the road: Delco and Riesebeek are currently 12th and 13th, now ahead of a group that includes among others Jacobs and Ulloa. The other members of the former group of 21 (as listed a while ago) are spread out behind them, with Owen and Chatarunga among the names fighting for lower Top 20, or at least Top 25 ranks.
Back to the front, though: Benoot might be gone, but Jorgenson certainly wants that second place. He knows he’s a much worse descender than either Pidcock or Schmid, so he tries to leave them behind on the final uphill meters.
On those final uphill meters, Higuita and Van Zyl have caught up with Debesay, Meurisse and Turgis.
Gaday and David have fallen just a little behind their rivals, but they’re in reach to return on the downhill. At around 1’45 behind Pidcock and Schmid, these guys will likely fight for 5th through 11th place.
5 kilometers to go and Jorgenson does his very best, but Pidcock is slowly closing in on him. It’s going to be very close!
Not at the level of Pidcock, but Debesay is still a very solid downhill rider and he tries to make use of that to distance his rivals. On the other end, lightweight Higuita is struggling to keep up.
Benoot still has the energy to sprint inside the final kilometer, eventhough he knows he has the win in his pocket. Jorgenson, meanwhile, has kept just under 20 seconds on his chasers – that should be enough.
First things first, though: Congratulations to Thijs Benoot, your clear and deserved 2023 winner of Viana do Castelo!
In the pursuit, Pidcock has taken another five seconds off of Jorgenson’s lead. Just 600m to go for the American, can he save his second place?
He can! What a massive result for Zwift Pro Cycling! Pidcock is third, Schmid fourth – the puncheurs and allrounders triumph over the pure cobblers today.
Debesay fights to keep his advantage and at least finish 5th. Van Zyl makes it hard for him, though.
The sprint is on and Meurisse emerges as the fastest of the chasers. He won last year, can he break the Top 5 today?
Pic missing, apologies
No! Debesay’s strong downhill brings him 5th place.
Meurisse is 6th, then Gaday wins a photo finish over David to gain 7th place. Van Zyl with a very strong performances secures 9th on a nice day for Xero, who get two guys in the Top 10 just like Lampre with Turgis in 10th. Los Pollos Hermanos’ strategy to bring Higuita kinda, somewhat, pays off as he is indeed competitive, but it’s only enough for 11th.
Delco outsprints Riesebeek to take 12th place, a great day for the Swiss and his Hilcona Racing Team, while Lampre adds a third rider to the Top 15.
Marzuki leads the next group over the line, Ulloa finishes 15th ahead of another surprise rider, Livyns. Jacobs might be a little disappointed with his 17th place but he simply wasn’t climbing well enough, in contrast to Kozhatayev, who not only did great domestique work but finishes it off with a Top 20 result. So does Kireva, the best breakaway rider, saving CC Crabbe – Chevigny’s day, at least a little bit. Schoonbroodt rounds out the Top 20 a few seconds later.
Viana do Castelo 
