Welcome to Costa Rica for the season opener of the CT! It’s a hilly classic parcours with an uphill finish, so it’s no surprise the best puncheurs of the division are the favourites for today.
It’s raining today, but that didn’t hinder the riders to fight hard for being part of the break of the day. It took the entire first climb, but in the end a group of 14 got away from the peloton. Those 14 are:
Koide and Todome Mannion and Meehan Bagnara Brown Delgado Gonzales Hansen Miholjevic Nunes Segaert Teutenberg Vainio Vera Hernandez
With 100 km to go the gap is at 3’19 after maxing at around 5’30. It’s not much happening right now.
With 59 km to go we probably enter the phase in the race when the first long-range attacks could start. There are still 6 climbs of varying lengths to come. Todome was dropped from the break earlier, the remaining 13 leaders still have a gap of 2 minutes.
The climbing takes its toll and the break is caught with 46 km to go. The peloton is also down to 99 riders (including the former break).
And shortly afterwards we have the first dangerous attack! The favourites Turgis and Carr are on the move, and the French has Serrano with him to do much of the work. 25’’ behind is the peloton which is down to 38 riders. Lazkano is the biggest name missing.
Serrano wasn’t able to work for long, so 10 km later we’re down to 2 leaders. The chasing group is suffering too and is down to 23 riders while the gap hasn’t changed much. Hoelgaard, Kanepejs and Gall are amongst those dropped.
With 29 km (and 4 climbs) to go the attackers are caught. 25 riders are at the front now.
The next two climbs shuffled the peloton a bit (f.e. Gall made it back), but with 15 km to go there are still 25 riders in front. The first chasers are nearly 1’30 behind, so it’s pretty safe to say today’s winner is in the first group.
7 km to go and the leaders arrive at the penultimate climb. The picture is essentially the same as before.
Masnada is the first to attack. With him are Moscon, Sagan, Watson, Vendrame and Carr.
Meanwhile Lafay, Dieteren and Holmes are dropped from the chasers.
Over the top of the hill and in the short descent 8 more riders bridge across to the leaders. Those seven are Paez, Stocek, Rojas, Vincent, Lagane, Gladysh, Turgis and Dyrnes. In return Watson has been dropped, so 13 riders enter the final 2.2 km in the lead.
Moscon puts in a horrendous pace. He dropped Dyrnes, Gladysh, Carr, Vendrame and Rojas this way, but his main competitors are still there.
Stocek, Turgis and Vincent are the next victims of the pace. Lagane also looks cooked. There are 700 m to go.
The Mauritian is dropped with 400 m to go, while Moscon is still powering at the front. Is someone still able to launch a sprint?
Sagan was, but in the end it’s Masnada who takes the win! The Slovakian veteran comes in 2nd, Moscon has to be content with 3rd.
Paez in 4th makes for a great debut for his team. Behind him Lagane and Vincent finish in 5th and 6th. Turgis is 7th.
Stocek, Velasco and Dyrnes complete the top 10.
Congratulations to Masnada, who is not only rewarded for making the decisive attack but also shows why his team is one of the division’s top favourites this season!
[C2] Clasico San Jose 
