The 3rd and maybe crucial stage leads us to Belgium - La Gileppe. Without any question, the toughest stage in this race, with 188km and several steep climbs.
Nicolas Roche showed some nice form in yesterday's flat but tricky stage, finishing 4th in the bunch sprint. Top-favorite Aleksandar Flügel also sprinted for a Top-10 and looks in shape, too. Other puncheurs like Dowsett, Kolobnev or Levarlet are rated as stage-favorites as well. All of them will hope for this day being quite selective enough to drop race-leader Guarnieri!
The first succesful break-attempt happens with 169km to go. 4 riders, who all had a try already earlier in the stage:
Hopman Tendero Soto Pereira (4 pts in KoM) Jang
With 5 KoM-sprints (3rd category) today, there's a nice (and last) chance to grab the Polka Dot. Current leaders Vanbilsen (16 pts) and Pronk (16) did not make the break (yet). Just like for yesterday's stage, we will sum up the results for both KoM- and Points-sprints first:
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
Soto Pereira
4
4
6
6
24
Vanbilsen
16
Tendero
2
6
4
4
16
Jang
6
2
2
2
12
Hopman
0
0
0
0
0
So the first four sprints were taken out by the early breakaway group, with Soto Pereira being dominating this time. His 24 points in total will make him win the Polka Dot of the ZLM Tour, as there's only one sprint remaining in the whole tour!
#1
#2
Hopman
4
6
10
Tendero
6
4
10
Jang
2
2
Soto Pereira
2
2
Less crucial for the points classification, but still worth a mention, as bonus seconds can always be a factor in a maybe less selective race: both Hopman and Tendero shared 10 points in today's two Intermediates. As you may notice in the last screen, the peloton is already within sight as the escapees enter the final 50km of the day!
And so let's get back to the "real" action: 46km remaining, the early break is still in the lead with the gap being cut down to 1'00" though.
4 riders attacked the bunch, which is already splitted into several groups. All of the favorites (and also race-leader Guarnieri) are still in the 58-men-peloton:
Reimer Konte Busche attacked first, being joined by De Maar a few moments later!
Reimer also took out today's last KoM-sprint ahead of Busche and De Maar. Their first points in this race, so no change in this rankings.
The 4 late attackers easily dropped the early escapees and created a minute-gap quickly. The chasing bunch never looked in trouble though, as there's still plenty of time to close up.
Anyway, 15km before finish, the first top-favorites try to make their move, led by Dowsett, Hermans and VolksWagen-Duo Kessler/Flügel!
12.5km to go: No success for group Dowsett by now, as they are brought back by the now 31-men-bunch a few kms later! Chérel leads this group of favorites ( Guarnieri is still hanging on) into the final 10km, facing a 40"-gap on the leading group De Maar/Konte/Reimer/Busche!
And the chase is succesful! The late escaping group couldn't hold on to their lead and they were caught around 5km before finish!
34 riders now enter the final 5km with only the finish-climb remaining. Let's have a look at who's still in the mix:
Guarnieri, Bosisio, Krizek Roche, King, Iannetti Flügel, Kessler, Preidler Kolobnev, Rovny, Rybakov Dowsett, Teklit (Konte dropped quickly after being caught) Hermans Levarlet, Chérel, El Fares Baugnies, Armee, Serry, Vanbilsen, Boswell, De Maar Gavazzi Kadri, Reimer Choi Iglisnki, Passeron Barredo (also Busche dropped)
So is anyone going to drop Guarnieri today? Kessler at least tries now, attacking the pack on the last descending sector! He finished 2nd in this tour's last edition and looks motivated to repeat this success.
The German is joined by 4 more riders, who managed to create a 16"-gap on the bunch with now only the finish-climb ahead:
Kessler Levarlet, Chérel Baugnies Hermans
A rather surprising mix here, as none of the very top-favorites (except of Levarlet) made their move here!
Here they go, finally: Dowsett now tries to narrow the gap, with Bosisio/Krizek trying to control the race for their captain Guarnieri!
Also Flügel shows himself at the front now, but the gap looks quite comfortable, doesn't it?!
At least for Levarlet, who drops the others easily. With 400 meters to go, he leads solo by 10"!
A few meters behind, the sprinting bunch closes up to group Kessler/Hermans/Baugnies..
..with Dowsett, Roche and also Flügel moving forward! Anyway, Levarlet kicked quite strong.. any chance to close the gap?
Roche now moves onto 2nd position, with Flügel and Kolobnev at his wheel! Dowsett struggles to keep his speed, still overtaking Hermans/Baugnies easily.
And yes, it's enough for Levarlet! He celebrated quite early, maybe throwing away a possible gap. Still a nice win!
Roche came close to finish 2nd within the same time, ahead of Flügel and Kolobnev. Dowsett completes the Top-5 ahead of Hermans, Rovny and a strong fighting Kessler.
No gaps here though.. so where did race-leader Guarnieri end up?
Well, that's bad luck for the Italian: Guarnieri suffered on final meters and there's a 44"-gap behind 26th Barredo! So Guarnieri tried all, but without success.
Levarlet takes the race-lead, ahead of Roche and Gavazzi, who seems to be the last remaining contender, as he could do well in tomorrow's flat. But also Guarnieri (+ 0.32) could at least jump into Top-5 with a win there.