After a rather quiet display on yesterday's climb we are expecting big things from the queen stage in Táchira. The depart is from San Rafael de El Piñal, a small agricultural centre. The ride will take us north through the depression to the state's capital: San Cristobal. The strategic location has made it a vital commerce hub for more than a century. The riders would do well to drink in all the architectural sights with have emerged from that fact, as it also marks the beginning of their first of four ascents up the Alto de Palo Grande. We'll take a closer look at each of those climbs when the time comes, in the meantime lets look at what has occurred prior to the cameras coming on.
There was a quadrilateral dialogue between Crabbe-CC Chevigny, Ekoi - Le Creuset, Sauber Petronas and Podium Ambition when it came to controlling the pace in the peloton. The strongest rider to make it into the breakaway was Gavin Mannion (+ 6'47), the American looking to salvage what has so far been an absolute disaster of a race. His biggest competition comes in the form of the Würth MODYF duo: Sakari Lehtinen (+ 4'33) and Mathieu La Lavandier (+ 8'22). Fighting to maintain his grip on the polkadots despite the 40 points on offer, Adam Phelan (22 pts) had also made his way across. Joining them were Connor McCutcheon, Marildo Yzeiraj, Bryan Fernando Mendoza, Alessio Martinelli, Michael Gogl and Edoardo Zambanini. Their advantage over the peloton is 2'22" as they come through San Cristobal.
The peloton has already begun to disintegrate. The race organisers might not have thought the parcour coming into the city deserved categorisation but that hasn't made it any less difficult. The riders have been rent into three groups. The Simba Cement - Tanga Fresh directeur sportif must be apoplectic; nearly the entire team is stuck right at the rear, including Timofey Kritskiy (+ 1'31), Andrea Manfredi (+ 3'16) and Daniel Alexander Jaramillo (+ 4'13). The only leader in the middle group is Tsgabu Gebremaryam Grmay (+ 2'42). Jacob Kelly can smell blood in the water and is hounding away at his pedals at the front of the peloton.
A moment of disorganisation as the peloton begins to climb is enough for Grmay's group to make it back. The Simba Cement lads aren't quite as fortunate. A heavy tempo sets in which means that there is a hard day in store for them if they want to hold on to any GC hopes. Just how much work is happening relatively early on in the stage is being revealed by the breakaway. One after another Martinelli, Phelan and Gogl find themselves unable to keep with it. The Australian's claim to be King of the Mountains will suffer a blow today. Then, the first attack! Mannion is looking to stamp his authority on this race; only Lehtinen, La Lavandier and, surprisingly, McCutcheon are able to stay with him.
The first time the riders make their way up the Alto de Palo Grande, they shall do so along its southern flank. They will repeat part of this climb on their fourth and final ascent, albeit cutting out the opening half. For now, they are looking at 21.9 kilometres @ 3.4%; not much space for attacks then.
Mere moments from the summit of the first climb Remy Rochas (+ 5'25) slips away from the peloton. William Chiarello is well placed to respond but needn't be too concerned by this move. He stays sat down and allows Panagiotis Karatsivis to do the work. Up ahead, the breakaway contests the first mountain checkpoint. Mannion takes the maximum points ahead of McCutcheon and La Lavandier.
Down into the village of Lobatera and then back up the northern flank of the Alto de Palo Grande - a circuit the riders will repeat once before returning to San Cristobal. This time it is a much shorter climb, just 7.4km @ 5.7%. The four leaders have managed to maintain a gap of 2'32" to the peloton. Rochas continues to hold a small advantage over the group and has begun to collect those who have fallen back from the front. Further back, Kritsky can see the rear of the peloton mere moments ahead of him, but the official timegap reads as over a minute.
At the mountain sprint it is McCutcheon who manages to pip Mannion at the line. Further back Fabio Aru (+ 3'25) bridges across to where Gogl is desperately holding on to the wheel of Rochas. That forces the big guns to the fore as Natnael Berhane (+1'52) takes over pacing in the pack. One man who isn't happy about these developments is Remy Rochas, who escapes from his newly arrived competitor in order to set out in search of the leaders.
Yesterday's brightest star, Aurelien Paret-Peintre (+1'14), momentarily looks as though he'll light the race up today as well. His superior descending brings him level with Aru. Ajay Pandit Chhetri (+ 18'16) is there to close the move down however, and things come back together.
Paret-Peintre isn't the only rider in need of redemption. Berhane's pacing earlier on was meant to facilitate this attack! Inigo Elosegui (+1'03) is the only one able to follow the move, which even sweeps up Rochas. Sindre Skjostad Lunke (+ 33) is unable to close the trio down so Mingrun Chen is forced to come through.
The fight is continuing in the breakaway as well. As the gap ticks down to less than a minute La Lavandier feels that it is time to try and escape his companions. Unfortunately the only person he manages to dislodge is his teammate. Mannion doesn't seem as though he is struggling and McCutcheon has been surprisingly strong today.
His acceleration is enough to secure La Lavandier the maximum points at the penultimate summit. They are wrapped up by the favourites group, which has come back together. The only big names not present are those from Simba Cement - Tanga Fresh. Speaking of them, Kritsky has been abandoned as a lost cause and is now hemorrhaging time. Instead it Jaramillo and Manfredi now sit 2'14" down on the lead.
Third time is the charm, or at least that is what Berhane must be hoping as he makes yet another move. This time it is Paret-Peintre who goes with him. Everyone else is content to let Chen successfully reel them back in.
Brendan Canty (+ 1'00) comes through to lead the group, presumably for Ben O'Connor (+ 1'18). His pace is enough to dislodge two out of three breakaway riders, leaving Mannion as the last vestige, but not enough to satiate Berhane, who launches another attack! He needs to make one of these moves stick before he burns all of his matches.
Having finally run out of domestiques, Piter Campero (+ 1'33) takes it upon himself to chase after Berhane. He is joined by Canty and Paret-Peintre. Their combined might is not enough to bring back the Eritrean, who has the slimmest of margins as they go over the summit. Chen, Mannion and Aru are all found out by the increased pace.
The chase is disorganised and has no chance of catching Berhane. He is a man on a mission, navigating the descent's curves like a salmon diving through rapids. In the end it isn't even close. He takes the win by 47 seconds and restores himself to GC contention. Paret-Peintre dominates the select sprint to take second with Lunke rounding out the podium. Kritskiy ends up losing more than 7 minutes.
