The cameras come on with just under 70 kilometres remaining in this race. There is quite a large breakaway from the morning's attacks, 13 riders about 3 minutes ahead of the peloton. That group is being lead by Hilcona (EIKING), Cervelo (MOSCON), and Ethiopian Airlines (BYSTROM).
The escapees are Noppachai KLAHAN, Valentin STOENCHEV, Luis Esteban MURILLO, Nika SITCHINAVA, Nick REDDISH, Gil GELDERS, Bert VAN LERBERGHE, Reuben THOMPSON, Mark CHRISTIAN, Aurelien DE COMARMOND, Yuan Tan PENG, and Beka NAREKLISHVILI, Viacheslav IVANOV. There are a handful of decent baroudeurs in there so the favourites' teams will need to watch out.
With Patrick BEVIN and Antoine AEBI pushing the pace over the third-to-last duo of climbs (between 60 - 40 kilometres remaining) splits are beginning to appear in the peloton. None of the big guns have been caught out so far, but there will be a number of directeur sportifs screaming for the gaps to be closed. All four of Matevz GOVEKAR, Momchil ROBOV, Costa SEIBEB and Juan Pedro LOPEZ are in serious danger here... but everybody comes back together in the subsequent valley.
At least until Dobrin LILOVSKI decides he has seen enough and goes on the attack! Zico WAEYTENS and Emmanuel MORIN are on hand to mark this move for their respective leaders so it quickly fizzles out. The breakaway, now down to 9 riders, is still two minutes up the road.
Not that that situation lasted long. With the escapees coming into sight thanks to the efforts of David BOILY, Xavier QUEVEDO seizes the opportunity to attack. We are on the latter part of the penultimate duo of climbs and the slopes are reaching 15%. The first to react is Kristoffer SKJERPING, he has his countryman Odd Christian EIKING on his wheel with WAEYTENS and MORIN also attentive.
As the climb levels out QUEVEDO has succeeded in bridging across to the breakaway. The Norwegian duo are stuck in between until Christian RODRIGUEZ drags WAEYTENS, MORIN and Cristian RAILEANU across to them. It takes a moment but Gianni MOSCON does close the move down, evidently not trusting his teammate to take on so powerful a group.
We are really in the thick of it now! Sarawut SIRIRONNACHAI tries to surprise everybody as we reach the summit and only Xianjing LYU was awake to the danger. The Thai rider clearly overestimated himself as he has to sit up before he manages to get clear.
Someone with a much firmer grasp on their potential is Jan Drago PETELIN, who comes shooting past in an amazing counter-attack. That RAILEANU is doing is best to become attached to his wheel suggests it could be some kind of leadout?
Clement KORETZKY was the most eager to join in on this jaunt but he can't keep up and instead becomes the lead chaser. At least until VAN LERBERGHE, having recovered from his long day in the break, comes through to shut things down again.
There ain't no rest for the wicked today, as no sooner did I think things had settled down then Christian MAGER comes flying out of the pack. He has EIKING worried and the favourite is isolated. MORIN has fallen back into the pack and Simon CARR, his only teammate near the front, has been boxed in on the far side. The end result is that EIKING keeps things from falling apart, but he has burnt at least one match in doing so.
For a race that is supposed to be about the puncheurs, these guys sure do like attacking on the flat. GOVEKAR started the season well with a Top 10 in Gisborne, he had a moment of terror earlier today when it looked like he might lose out from a split, now he is on the attack. It is a pretty solid one as well.
The only domestique near the front is MAGER, who is in no condition to respond. Nor is EIKING eager to get himself involved again; he simply looks around at his compatriots, waiting for one of them to respond. Eventually it is Reuben GUERREIRO who comes through and then WAEYTENS, but neither can bring GOVEKAR back.
One man who isn't happy with their failure is RODRIGUEZ. He does not want to wait around as his chance at a surprise victory goes riding off into the sunset so he sets off to bridge across. This spurs Bachirou NIKIEMA, Andrii BRATASHCUK and KORETZKY into action. They sense blood in the water. Fortunately WAEYTENS is on hand to mark them as they reel GOVEKAR back in. For a moment it seemed as though the elastic in the peloton (which remains 76 strong) would break but there wasn't sufficient time for that danger to manifest before the pace slowed.
The next attack is two-pronged. The very promising Carlos RODRIGUEZ comes splashing through the puddles alongside Quinten HERMANS, who has already taken one surprise win this season. Kobe GOOSSENS is also looking to get in on the action. Their soiree is a very brief one but it brings with it big action at the back.
Their task will be made all the more difficult by the fact that the attacks are still coming thick and fast. This time it is Gonzalo SERRANO leading the charge with RAILEANU again involved. Anatoliy BUDYAK is who keeps things together this time, with everybody else strung out behind him as he closes the gap.
Now GUERREIRO goes, and I think that EIKING has given up! He is sitting at the back of the second group, chatting away with CARR. There is no effort to organise a chase. My, oh my. Was it just a moment of pure misfortune or did he realise he doesn't have the legs for it?
Fortunately they have MORIN fighting at the front, following SERRANO across to GUERREIRO's wheel. LYU, RAILEANU, Sven Erik BYSTROM and BUDYAK are all able to stick with the move but ROBOV simply can not keep up. A gap is beginning to form.
There are five Euskotren - Pays Basque riders still at the front, so we should not be too surprised that one of them eventually steps up to the plate. The attackers have begun to cooperate, with LYU taking over from GUERREIRO so Victor LAFAY has his work cut out for him. He does manage to gather everything back up as we summit the penultimate climb, but it comes at the cost of RODRIGUEZ. There are less than five kilometres remaining.
We have reached the base of the final climb. There are 24 riders still in the leading group. They now face 2.4km @ 6.3%, there isn't much variation in the slope so this will be about pure power. HERMANS is leading out LYU at the front. BYSTROM and WAEYTENS are to his right, MORIN to his left. MOSCON and GUERREIRO are stuck deeper in the pack.
BYSTROM does not want to wait! He goes as soon as he sees HERMANS begin to pull off to the right. LYU latches straight on to his wheel, followed by MORIN and SERRANO.
The aforementioned are joined by SIRIRONNACHAI and RAILEANU in managing to secure a small gap. MOSCON is momentarily held up by WAEYTENS, who looks done, before he carries on his attempt to bridge across. Most everyone else also wants to go stick with this move and are participating in the pursuit.
BYSTROM is still going strong as they go under the red flag. LYU wants to find space between him and the barriers with RAILEANU following along, having managed to make his way up to that wheel. MORIN has dropped back some, while MOSCON is making good progress. It is absolute chaos behind.
A burst of speed is enough to draw LYU up alongside BYSTROM, but he is going to have to dig deep within himself if he is going to find the energy to take the lead. That, or one of them will crack before the line. If they do, they will be in massive danger from RAILEANU, who is now looking to split the pair. MOSCON is continuing his impressive charge from a ways back; he is in the process of passing SERRANO, who looks set to round out the Top 5 as it stands.
There is everything to play for as we hit the final bend in the road. Less than 500 metres in it and RAILEANU is now level with the leading pair. LYU has the inside line but marginally less momentum whereas BYSTROM is starting to look cooked. He is still exerting himself to the maximum, but his legs must be flooded with lactic acid by this point. MOSCON looks ready to pounce as well, barely a bikelength back.
Nobody cracks. Cristian RAILEANU simply had more to give than anybody else on the course today. He takes a massive victory. He was active in the critical moments, searching for a decisive move, but was wise enough to keep enough in the tank to tackle the final climb with style and grace. Many commiserations to Xianjing LYU, who very nearly timed his own move to perfection.
Sven Erik BYSTROM did enough to hold off the charging Gianni MOSCON, the latter of whom will have to be disappointed to not have come away with more given just how rapid that last ascent was. Gonzalo SERRANO rounds out the Top 5.
The next four managed to keep up with our winners but were simply incapable of overcoming them. Reuben GUERREIRO's bravery goes unrewarded and Victor LAFAY will be disappointed to not have made the most of his team's numbers advantage. They are 6th and 7th.
Then it is Sarawut SIRIRONNACHAI just edging out Emmanuel MORIN. I would not want to be on the Hilcona Racing team bus this evening; EIKING probably ought to have realised he was on an off-day earlier on, rather than letting his teammates start working for him. There is a small gap, then Eduard Alexander BELTRAN closes out the Top 10.
