Having already been beaten out at the first time of asking, none of the sprinters' teams were too keen on letting the breakaway snatch another stage from them. Despite multiple attempts, no repeat offenders were allowed to escape. The rather rigid demands of the peloton meant it took a good while before a group was allowed to escape. They made their way through Cochrane, where Igor ARRIETA won the Cat 3 climb of Mt St Francis, before turning north in the outer skirts of Calgary in order to follow Highway 766 to Olds. Frederik FRISON, Antoine DUCHESNE and Albin STALBERG have been doing the majority of the work in the pack.
As our cameras come on, it is Victor CAMPENAERTS who is on the front, with both Ethiopian and Spark also present with numbers at the front. You can tell how hard they're pushing the pace by just how stretched out the field is becoming. In the distance, hovering at just over 2 minutes ahead, you can see the breakaway — or the bright red support car at least. There are 40 kilometres left to ride.
The chasers are going to have to up their game if they want to contest this one. Jake MARRYATT, Sam WELSFORD, Nico HEINRICH, Mikiel HABTOM and Beka NAREKLISHVILI have joined the aforementioned trio at the front. They might have the advantage of numbers, but their are some dangerous names present in the breakaway. Beka's brother Giorgi NAREKLISHVILI is a notable rouleur and Jonas Iversby HVIDEBERG is a powerful flandrien. One shouldn't sniff at veteran baroudeur Darren YOUNG either, nor discount neo-pro ARRIETA. The time gap is only just beginning to drop below the two minutes mark as we cross through 30 kilometres remaining.
Under the 10 kilometre banner, and there is all to play for. The officials are saying that the gap is 34" and there are three Würth MODYF domestiques motoring away at the front. The breakaway is still cooperating well for now. We're also beginning to see the first inklings of sprint trains. Willi WILLWOHL has STALBERG and HEINRICH in front of him; he'll be concerned about the number of matches they've already burned chasing the escapees. WELSFORD has also spent time on the front and, worryingly for Cameron SCOTT, he is both the first and the final man in his team's train. Matteo JORGENSON and Richard CARAPAZ are also well-placed just in case things go off the rails.
They just keep rolling on through. The weakness of the peloton was exposed yesterday, these guys made their escape knowing that taking the win was a realistic possibility, and now the finish is just 6000 metres away. One of them is going to be disappointed though: Igor ARRIETA benefited from his peers laser focus on the stage win when he took KOM points earlier on, but he is suffering for it now as he can't stick with pace. You can see the disappointment in him! Head down, his rate is dropping, he is kaput. Things in the pack are starting to get messy. WILLWOHL has disappeared from the front, his supply of domestiques drying up. SCOTT, on the other hand, is still present, and now MARRYATT and Jordan SCHLECK have taken charge of the chase.
The big guns are finally being committed to the chase — Felix ENGLISH has made his way to the front with 3200 metres left. I'm worried though; is it a case of too little, too late? Ryan GIBBONS and Mikiel HABTOM look like they've got into a bit of a mix-up. The South African struggled yesterday, even ignoring the breakaway's success, and now he's somehow managed to end up in front of his leadout man. WELSFORD continues to do an excellent job for SCOTT, getting as much of a suck off ENGLISH as is possible. Alex FRAME and Guangtong MA are formed up immediately behind.
They left it extremely late, but in the end the peloton have managed to overcome the escapees today. Perfect timing or a lucky break? WELSFORD is keen to get going and, despite having already done a tremendous amount of work, is now launching prior to the 2 kilometre mark. The Ethiopia train is still cohesive, with FRAME attaching himself to its tail. Meanwhile, Lahcen SABER is trying to come round MA to find SCOTT's wheel. He has Simone CONSONNI and WILLWOHL for company.
Who would've thunk it? WELSFORD doesn't have the resistance to make it all the way into the finale. Mikiel HABTOM, having got in front of GIBBONS, goes hurtling past and SCOTT, wisely recognising that 1.4 kilometres is just a touch to far to sprint, immediately looks to switch on to his competitors wheel. MA, SABER, CONSONNI, and WILLWOHL have somehow managed to end up in a line abreast behind the two trains.
SCOTT might believe it is too far out, but GIBBONS evidently doesn't! HABTOM's pulled off to the side and he's right out of the saddle! With SCOTT having gotten caught up behind his leadout, this acceleration is enough to net GIBBONS a nice gap to his nearest competitor. He'll need to stay on his feet all the way into the end though, and that is going to be a tough ask.
Everybody who was concerned that GIBBONS had bitten off more than he could chew deserves a cookie. We're still 600 metres from the line and he's already being surpassed by SCOTT. Now all eyes will turn to Spark's man: can he find the grit to make it all the way in? He has a nice gap to work with, but we've just seen how rapidly the situation can deteriorate. WILLWOHL is the best placed of the others, having already eked out a length on his competitors. Adel BARBARI has swung out on to the left after an impressive acceleration, whilst Manuel STOCKER is making steady progress on the right.
They're dropping like flies. Anything could happen at this point. GIBBONS is rapidly fading backwards, he might not even survive for a Top 10. SCOTT and WILLWOHL have also cracked, whilst SABER and MA are paying for their efforts to make up ground. FRAME and STOCKER have moved into the lead, but who knows if they will make it to the end at this rate.
Well, they both stuck it out to the line, but neither took the win. Adel BARBARI propels himself to the stage win and the points' lead with a bikethrow at the line. FRAME has to settle while STOCKER falls to third. CONSONNI in fourth isn't that bizarre, but Nick REDDISH and Darijus DZERVUS in 5th and 6th is something of a shock. SCOTT and WILLWOHL scrape into the Top 10, while GIBBONS disappoints in 11th. The favourites really suffering from a lack of sufficient support here.
