Today’s the first out of two flat stages, sprinters time! There are a few KOM sprints, but not as many as Leukemans took yesterday. But there are loads of bonification seconds up for grabs, so his leading position could be attacked… With 205km it’s a long stage, and on top of that, there’s rain and it’s cold again. It’s a day for the tough men!
Considering the weather, there are no attacks until the first KOM sprint, won by Wallays, in front of Wellens and Petrie-Armstrong. None continue their attack though.
But a little later, with 25km covered, Ponzi goes. Oliphant and Swift-Metcalfe follow.
On the next hill though, Ponzi is way too strong for the other two as he easily attacks away for the points. But he waits afterwards. And that may be better, with still a long way to go.
It doesnt take long for the wind to come into play though, as Swift is now dropped, while Oliphant only just manages to get back to Ponzi(behind camera motor on this screen).
As Ponzi takes the intermediate sprint, Swift is now ’30 behind, with the pack another 5’30 back. This situation continues for a while as with 110km to go, swift is still in sigth, while the pack now is 11’00 behind.
As Fenn has a puncture at a very bad moment, the wind is causing splits in the pack. Van Avermeat, Vermeltfoort and Montenegro have a small gap.
Behind them a bigger groupe broke loose as well. Meanwhile, Ponzi dropped Oliphant.
Most of these are caugth again though, except for Jamieson and Mohs, who manage to cross the gap after a while. Here’s the race situation:
The wind keeps streching the pack, but everyime there’s a corners, causing the wind direction to turn and everybody get’s together again.
The van Avermeat groupe is still in front though, as with 60k left, Ponzi leads by ’40 over Oliphant, 2’20 to Swift-Metcalfe, 10’50 to this groupe and 13’20 to the pack! Considering Ponzi is only 7’26 behind in the GC, it’s looking good for him!
Still, the pack doesn’t seem to worried, as they are still not up to speed.
While in the van Avermeat groupe the two NOS guys dropped the other three, Wellens rode away from het pack as well; NOS is on fire! Ponzi meanwhile just keeps going taking more KOM points while doing so.
So, more splits again due to the wind. This is turning into a very hard race with constantly gaps occuring everywhere. Most gaps are closed, but some aren’t. Rider just need to be in the right groupe when the moment comes!
Here's an overview of the situation with 30km left.
As you can see, although the NOS guys have a gap, it’s not much. Wellens can be seen on the right coming across.
But further behind, it’s not looking good for #2 in GC, as Luke Rowe(in the green jersey) is dropped from the pack.
Now even race leader Leukemans is involved in play as he takes a relay trying to defend his jersey, but causing more splits doing so.
Now, change of situation, as most riders are caugth. The pack remains small though with rider dropping off the back. Just over 10km left, and except the 3 riders from the early break, only van Avermeat is left from the attackers from the pack, just being overtaken by Casper.
As the pack starts the preparation for a sprint, despite still 5 rider being in front, Tennant rides off with Kennaugh and Bongiorno.
Behind them, more riders return in the pack, as new trains launch. It’s Gatto and Eisel who’ve both got a leadout. You can see how close Tennant & co. still are, as are v. Avermeat, Casper and Swift-Metcalfe. (all seen on this pic)
But Ponzi remains out of reach, and finishes off an amazing job; almost 175 solo kilometers in 4 degrees celsius and rain.
Oliphant is second, 2’49 behind Ponzi.
Casper just passed Swift-Metcalfe to take 3rd, 4’32 behind the winner.
As the sprint from the pack is on, you can see most gaps are being closed. Good for some, bad for others.
Swift-Metcalfe stays ahead of the pack as he takes 4th at 4’57.
Van Avermeat leads home the rest, not having a gap, despite being in the attack for a very long time. He had hoped for better, but that’s life.
Another one and a half minute later come in the big losers of the day. This groupe contains 7 riders out of the GC top 15: #6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14 and 15
The amount of riders still having a chance for overall victory in the final TT is now down to 6, although todays stage proved anything could happen in tomorrows flat stage…
