It is time for the queen stage here in East Java. Well, here on the island of Lombok, a short flight from East Java. We start where we left off yesterday, in the biggest metropolitan area: Mataram. The riders will first circle north into the foothills closest to the city, where they will encounter the Category 3 climb to Bukit Bengkuang (6.1km @ 4.8%) before returning to Mataram. After two runs of this circuit, they'll make their way west before tackling the pass through Bukit Kondo (15km @ 8.0%), which lies on the eastern slopes of Mt Rinjani. For the finale, the riders will switch back south for an uphill finish towards the Mt Rinjani viewpoint (3.5km @ 8.9%).
There was a lot of interest in the mornings breakaway, and things were only settled once the peloton hit the first slopes of the day. There, Kristaps BUDENIEKS showed he has good legs today by taking the maximum points. They aren't likely to mean anything unless they can hold off the favourites in the closing two climbs but still, a good showing, especially as he repeated the feat at all of the intermediate competitions. Looking at the rest of the breakaway, there are several decent names in there. Viktor FILUTAS is a similar mould of punchy climber, whilst Kevin RIVERA has more of a diesel engine. Andreas VANGSTAD, by contrast, is a true baroudeur and will need to preserve more energy through the long valleys. Kwanele JELE is the youngest, and likely weakest, of the group. Mountain leader Alex WOHLER made a real effort to join this quintent, but his kilometres of suffering ended up being for nought. Cedevita (for Tadej POGACAR) and Aker - MOT (for Dylan GROENEWEGEN's GC lead?) marked their progress throughout and had very little trouble reeling them back in so, as we tune in at the foot of the Bukit Kondo climb, the gap is already under a minute.
There is something very fun about seeing sprinters struggling to set a heavy tempo up steep slopes. Nihal SILVA and Stepan KURIANOV have evidently been asked to step out of their comfort zone, as they wrap up the breakaway within a kilometre of the climb. Pierre-Henri LECUISINIER is already threatening sat in 4th wheel, with both Joseph DOMBROWSKI and Kyeng Ho MIN attentive to his every movement. The rest of LECUISINIER's domestiques — that is, those who can actually climb — are just slightly too far from the front to offer any immediate assistance. In fact, the only leaders anywhere close to the front with any protection are Daan OLIVIER and Rafael REIS, although I'm not sure how long Saya KUROEDA and Andrea AQUILANI will last.
With the flat specialists rapidly fading as the gradient increases, it is Gazelle's turn to take over the front. Alexandre BALMER and Luigi GIULIETTI pull through, with Bartosz WARCHOL moving into position to protect Joseph DOMBROWKSKI. Now Mark PADUN is the best placed competitor, although LECUISINIER is also close by. Jonas GREGAARD and Tadej POGACAR are also moving towards the front, although it is as of yet uncertain whether the former is riding for himself or Alex ARANBURU.
Although the Gazelle domestiques don't set an unappreciable pace, things only really start to stretch out once Sepp KUSS makes his way to the front. His tempo is enough to make it difficult for riders to make forward progress through the group and the only appreciable protection is what Zouzou ANDRIAFENOMANANIAINA is providing PADUN; although I'm not sure how much of a difference it makes when we aren't even hitting 20km/h. Ah! I did wonder what the plan was once KUSS emptied the tank; there aren't exactly a huge number of McCormick domestiques waiting in the wings to take over from him. Adam YATES is on the attack! His teammate has given him a great springboard; with very little effort at all he pulls out a gap of 20". PADUN evidently thinks he can compete for the win here, he wasn't able to follow YATES's move and is now refusing to give the favourites a free ride. Instead it falls to Jonel CARCUEVA, the closest domestique to the front, to pull through.
CARCUEVA is unable or unwilling to keep YATES in check, so LECUISINIER commands Eriks Toms GAVARS to the front. That is enough to halt the Briton's progress at about 45", but not enough to satisfy Daan OLIVIER. He launches an attack with PADUN on his wheel. That is enough to prompt Miguel Angel LOPEZ to appear at the front of the race for the first time. Evonik - ELKO are evidently looking to control the racing today. Nobody can compete with MAL when it comes to punch: the attack fizzles out and the acceleration is even enough to bring YATES back into the fold. There are about 2½ kilometres to the top of this first climb.
With his earlier efforts having come to nothing, KUSS is once more the pacesetter. His legs are evidently paying for his earlier expenditure and the slower pace allows the front group to swell to 55 riders as we pass through the summit of the day's main climb. The most notable name missing is Clement CHAMPOUSSIN, whose Rabobank squad has the disputable honour of joining Manada Coyote and JEWA TIROL as the only teams without a presence near the front. With everybody exhausted just trying to stay in contention, there is no contestation for the KOM points, which turns the classification into something of a lame duck. Sepp KUSS rolls through to take the maximum 20 points and — unless Francesco BONGIORNO surprises everyone to win the stage — almost certainly the polkadots jersey. At least we can say it is a just reward for his hard work.
So, it comes down to this. As has been the case for several years now, the stage and the race are effectively decided in a short uphill sprint to the Mt Rinjani viewpoint. Daan OLIVIER is the first on to kick us off, streaming past the domestiques that brought the group through the short valley. Tim WELLENS is probably his closest competitor, still leaning on the protection of Ide SCHELLING in the middle of the road. Pierre LATOUR is making his way up the far side with DOMBROWSKI in his wheel tracks. POGACAR and MAL are probably the next best placed; although LECUISINIER, YATES and Rafael REIS are all in contention as well.
WELLENS and POGACAR want to lean on the efforts of their domestiques, but neither SCHELLING nor Robert POWER are quite capable of matching the legs of OLIVIER. The Dutchman is riding away at the front and I'm not sure how much being in the wind matters on gradients of more than 10%. The order behind is much the same, nobody unexpected has cracked yet. That's KUSS in the corner of the screen, still going strong somehow.
It was a brave effort from OLIVIER, and his race certainly isn't over yet, but his head has dropped as we pass under the red banner. It is really rather difficult for anybody to make much progress on these heavy slopes, but some are still capable of it nonetheless. WARCHOL is giving everything to come from a wee way back to try and bring DOMBROWSKI to the front; he is being squeezed to the barriers on the far side by LATOUR. MAL is showing everybody just why they call him superman, dragging back OLIVIER and bringing LECUISINIER with him. POGACAR and WELLENS have lost their domestiques, but the only favourite to be progressing backwards is REIS, who just can't quite match the pace at the front.
The slopes do level off just a smidge in this final kilometre. That's enough for MAL who decides it is go time and rockets away from the competition! I thought, you though, probably even his manager thought, that he was working for LECUISINIER; but maybe the superstar puncheur senses an opportunity to prove that Silvio HERKLOTZ isn't the only one capable of winning in stage races. OLIVIER can't lift his pace, but all three of LECUISINIER, POGACAR and LATOUR are trying to respond. DOMBROWSKI, WELLENS and PADUN are their nearest competitors.
Are we looking at an Evonik - ELKO 1-2? Not only is LECUISINIER alone capable of matching MAL, he seems keen to prove just who is the team's top dog. He is rapidly making up ground on his teammate. LATOUR and POGACAR weren't able to stick with their initial accelerations. That has opened the door for DOMBROWSKI to start moving through them, with YATES also progressing a bit further back. A gap is beginning to open up behind this group of leaders.
LECUISINIER wins, MAL is second. What an excellent selection choice from the manager, doubling this duo up. DOMBROWSKI does well to secure third, although he might have been capable of more had he been better positioned. POGACAR had just enough to edge out LATOUR, whilst OLIVIER rode a very brave but ultimately futile race. YATES was just too far back at the bottom of that final climb, quite possibly a product of his earlier efforts, but recovers well to 7th. PADUN and WELLENS round out the lead group with Takeaki AMEZAWA finishing as best of the rest a short distance back.
