Multiple teams have it all to race for towards the end of this season. These coming 232kms can make or break the season for plenty of the teams in the battle for top 5 spots and a promotion to the PCT! Let’s get the racing underway!
Stela – Vita is one of the teams that are already locked in for promotion after a great season with Balkan leadership. One of those riders are Yzeiraj who has been an everattacking presence this year gets the festivities underway as he launches the first attack with Huby, Alleno and Tiberi in tow.
More riders join in on the attacks as Kawasaki, Syritsa, Heinrich and Tracz make the next wave. Currently the break has created a real gap.
Enggaard, Nitu and Rodriguez join the read aforementioned riders in the break as they have 3 minutes as there’s 215kms to the finish line.
The race has been quiet for almost 200kms but as the break has almost been reeled back in we see an interesting move develop as Strava launches as double move with Sirironnachai and Roglic with 48kms to go. Bold move by Strava to use two of their options but the move is followed by Villella, Mayer and Vogt.
The move ultimately proves unfruitful and the break still has over a 1 minute to work with.
The following 4kms have a stalemate but Doubey breaks it and tries to steer clear of the breakawaystragglers that are getting reeled in. This move is followed by Eiking and Barbin.
While that move doesn’t move anything for the French team Lafay is the next rider to attempt his luck as he stretches the front of the peloton thin but no gaps are getting created right now.
Next rider to push through is Eriksson who has a ton of riders in his wheel. The pack has been reduced to 49 riders as a consequence of the constant attacks.
As the riders approach a descent with 36kms to go a favourite group of 6 riders creates an inconsequential gap but it might be a good indicator of who we need to keep an eye out for going forward. Lagane, Jensen, Zordan, Duchesne, Paret-Peintre and Eiking makes up the group. Out front the only remaining breakaway rider is Nitu who currently has a 25 second gap to 6 man group.
The Romanian is swept up by the pack that has been reduced to 10 riders due to a move from Eiking.
With 32kms to the finish line Jensen counters the attack from the Norwegian as he creates a small gap to the other 8 riders.
There’s one major issue that might prevent this group of riders from deciding the race between themselves and that’s the fact that Bordeaux has no riders in in! Together with Tafjord they’re trying hard to close the 44 second gap to the group.
The group chasing Jensen consists of: Lienhard, Hindley, Eiking, Paret-Peintre, Zordan, Edmondson and Lagane.
As the Dane’s gap has been stable around the 20” mark for a while Paret-Peintre decides that it’s time to turn up the pace and launches an attack with 22kms to the finish line.
The technical part of the circuit in the city makes it difficult for the attack to eat into the Dane’s advantage and we could be seeing a magnificent solo effort from the Dane as he still has 20 seconds with 19kms to the finish line.
Traffic on the course! As a bunch of weaker riders are getting gapped by a lap Jensen’s audacious effort has come to an end. The Dane ran out of energy on the final climb of the circuit and easily swept up by the chase group who has increased their gap to the pack to around a 1 minute! This is looking spicy for Lagane who should be the strongest sprinter in the group!
But the tricky city part of the circuit brings the pace to a complete halt as the 8 riders are swept up by the Bordeaux and Tafjor-led pack. This means that we’re looking at 23 riders that all can make a huge effort to win the final race of the season!
Dyrnes wastes no time as the catch is made, he instantly makes a move with 6.2kms to go, that is followed by Wackermann and Barbin.
They struggle to find a gap but Wackermann launches a counter attack that creates a small gap under the 5km mark.
As the Italian reaches thee 3km mark the gap has increased to a massive 17 seconds, but with visual contact nothing’s over yet!
He keeps increasing his gap as the finish line draws closer and closer, it seems like the pack has come to a complete halt as they are setting up to not lose the podium spots!
The pack launches a sprint but it’s too late! Wackermann has made out like a thief in the night, what a heist planned by Bordeaux!
And there’s the confirmation, he’s so drained that he cannot celebrate, but what a way to close out the season!
All eyes are now drawn to pursuers as Paret-Peintre is leading the sprint for second ahead of Morin and Eiking. That is also going to be the order that they finish in as Lagane snatches away the 5th place spot. What a race!
