Kudus took over the GC lead for the second time after a great performance and maybe a little bit of a blunder by Lecuisinier. 36 seconds aren’t a lot and although it’s going to be tough to shake a rival with the 30 kilometers downhill to end the stage, given how hard the mountains before that are, nothing is impossible.
Madrazo’s third place is pretty secure, but there are just 48 seconds seperating Oomen, Wellens, Dombrowski and Haig, and also just over a minute between Shikai in 8th place and Galta in 14th. Zimmermann, the biggest surprise of the race, will likely not be able to climb any higher (his white jersey should be fairly secure though, with over 7 minutes on Aular), and Pluchkin, who’s 16th at + 8'19, has to hope for someone ahead of him to really bottom out.
Finally, there’s also the mountain classification, which is still entirely up for grabs, as 74 points are available, compared to Zimmermann’s 36.
The starting line is still visible when the first attacks start, and it’s some big names trying their luck. Denifl, Aular and Uran, three very capable climbers who have so far been rather disappointing.
Tatarinov chases, he was already close to the polkadots jersey on stage 2 and wants another shot. Then, the next big name climber is on his way: Berhane goes, followed by Laas.
This stage is very attractive to attackers, not just for the mountain points. Both previous editions saw breakaway riders win this one. Seibeb wants in, as do Garby, Topchanyuk, Harper and Mayer.
Then it’s Valls, Tolhoek, the third Popo4Ever rider Dzhus, Hamilton and Helme. The peloton remains relaxed so far.
But for how long, if the attacks keep coming like this? Jones, Reguigui, Koshevoy, Slagter, Gayral and Shirota make a move. That’s 22 riders attacking - not unprecedented, given the 25 men breakaway yesterday.
Then, the question is if 26 are okay as well? Zwiehoff, Girdlestone, Campbell and another big name climber, Henao Montoya, break away. The very first attackers are only 1’15 away, so it’s still very possible to quickly reach them - but not just for these guys, also for the peloton, if they want to.
It doesn’t look like it, Festina and Moser settle in at the front and the gap slowly increases to 2 minutes. But then it turns out that we’re still not done with attacks: Bayly triggers Marquez, Grmay, Majka and Bartl to follow him.
Another 16(!!!) riders try to follow, too. Let’s wait a bit until we see if everything settles down to see what we end up with.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything like this: 47 riders form the E1 group, almost 5 minutes ahead of the peloton, and 1’30 ahead of another 12 riders in E2. That’s 31% of the peloton out in front. You will forgive me for not listing every single rider, but let me give you a few facts. The teams that have the most riders combine in both groups are:
Project: Africa
6
Popo4Ever
5
Binance
5
Huski
4
Amaysim
4
Sauber
4
Podium Ambition
4
A few more teams have 3 or 2 riders. Not present are the teams of the Top 5: Moser, Festina, Gazelle, Lierse and Tryg. The best GC riders are:
18.
Tatarinov
+ 9’58
19.
Denifl
+ 10’34
20.
Berhane
+ 11’27
21.
Uran
+ 11’52
22.
Garby
+ 12’03
23.
Henao Montoya
+ 12’17
Bizkarra (30, he is still in that second group though), Seibeb (28) and Shirota (26) are the riders with the most mountain points.
Shirota is the first to attack for the 10 points available at the first categorized climb, the only Cat 2 one of the day.
The percentages in the final kilometer reached up to 12% and Shirota went just a little too early. Tatarinov, who started the day with 18 points, pips him at the line. 6, 4 and 2 points to Vasyliv, Denifl and Garby.
That acceleration already has some impact as a group of 23 splits off the back. The 12 last attackers still haven’t caught up either. It’s just a short descent until the next climb.
And there was some seperation at the front end as well: Seven riders - the five first over the summit plus Helme and Aular - head into the first Cat 1 climb with 50 seconds over the rest where the group of 23 has made it back. The peloton gives them 6 minutes at the moment.
The 7 are caught again and the 12 finally catch up so we’re now up to the full 59. The climb is 9 kilometers long at an average slope of 7,4%. We’ll see if we’re still at 59 at the summit.
Indeed, the first riders drop halfway up the ascent and it’s not a big surprise that flat specialists Podium Ambition are the first to lose two of their four riders. We won’t keep track of every single rider dropping, instead we’ll take a closer look at who remains as the group gets smaller.
Koshevoy led the group for a long time, but closer to the summit, Zwift takes over with Jones and Intxausti ahead of a P:A trio around Denifl - Seibeb is a bit further behind though.
But it’s once again Tatarinov who has the best timing and takes 16 points. He’s leading the virtual mountain classification now with 44 points ( Zimmermann has 36, Shirota and Bizkarra still are the best in this group with 34 and 30 respectively).
Slagter, Aular, Topchanyuk, Denifl, Berhane and Grmay take further points.
Both Bizkarra (in the group of 4 a little ahead) and Shirota are behind the main breakaway already though, so it seems unlikely that they add many more points today. Some surprising names are with them, including Garby with his teammate and Bongiorno here. There is a long stretch of flat after this descent, so we might see everything come together again, but it is an indication who might not have the legs today.
Interestingly, Amaysim does some work in the peloton despite having a few riders in the breakaway - none of them are among the favorites there though. The peloton keeps up a decent pace, the gap to the leading breakaway is at just over 5 minutes at the moment.
The two groups we saw at the back of the breakaway actually did not make it back to the group in time for the longest climb of the day (13,4 km at 6,8%). 44 riders remain, their gap to the peloton did not change significantly on that flat stretch.
Once again, Koshevoy does a lot of work. ISA seems to be betting on a good day from Berhane, who is being protected by Parra Bustamente on the left. The Eritrean certainly would be among the favorites on the final climb.
Lierse and Tryg join Festina and Moser in controlling the pace in the pack. The gap drops under 5 minutes for the first time in a while.
At the front, Ivanov suffers a puncture. Minions still have Marquez and Uran in the break, but this is still an unfortunate way to fall behind.
We’re down to 32 riders at the front when Uran attacks with 2 kilometers to go to the summit. Teams without a rider in the group now include Podium Ambition, Red Bull, Carrefour, Voyagin and Aker.
Uran gets away with ease and without an initial reaction, then Masnada attacks to catch up. We’re still 80 kilometers from the finish, mind you.
Popo4Ever still has 4 riders in the group and Topchanyuk catches Masnada pretty quickly. At the back of the group, the final Los Pollos Hermanos rider, Affonso, falls behind.
Uran crosses the summit with around 30 seconds to the main breakaway, from which Tatarinov attacks for the mountain points, but he is overtaken by Slagter and Aular, inarguably two better climbers. Still, he adds another 8 points to his tally, making it increasingly unlikely that anyone could prevent him from donning the polkadots on the podium today.
Seibeb adds 2 points behind Brozyna and Berhane, who generated a bit of a gap to the rest joining Tatarinov.
The peloton is down to 37 riders, the gap to the leaders still hovering around 5 minutes. Notably though, Rochas and Osorio are the only domestiques left for Lecuisinier and Kudus, and the two helpers aren’t looking all that fresh on the right side of the road. Senni is on chasing duties while Poljanski, presumably, tries to disturb the rhythm. Dombrowski, who’s been doing a lot of work all week, is already in third position. The Top 17 in the GC are all still here.
At the intermediate sprint, Uran and everyone else is caught again. Tatarinov takes six bonus seconds that might actually end up mattering ( Hamilton and Vasyliv 2nd and 3rd). Remember, the Russian is the best placed in the group, 18th at + 9’58. The gap to the peloton is at 4’47, which would put him (as well as Denifl) in the Top 10. We would expect the gap to continue to go down, but as we’ve seen, there aren’t too many domestiques left behind. 24 riders are in the breakaway right now, so let’s actually give you an overview of who’s left, in order of their GC rank:
Tatarinov
Denifl
Berhane
Uran
Henao Montoya
Seibeb
Dzhus
Aular
Topchanyuk
Slagter
Brozyna
Andriafenomananiaina
Masnada
Bartl
Parra Bustamente
Campero
Brambilla
Rodrigues
Jones
Grmay
Reguigui
Hamilton
Nitu
Vasyliv
This climb is very steep, 8,3% with occasional parts of over 10%. Too much first for Reguigui and then all of Denifl, Grmay and Seibeb fall behind! Brutal stretch for Project:Africa.
Brozyna set a high pace and now Brambilla attacks, which is the last straw for Tatarinov. His biggest thread is Slagter, who could beat him if he’s first over both remaining summits. Dzhus falls behind with him.
Aular does seem to be in good shape though, he reaches Brambilla together with Vasyliv and Uran. Berhane is at the front of a rapidly dissolving chasing group.
Attacks continue and Uran and Vasyliv might have done too much! They can’t keep up, instead it’s now Berhane, Slagter and a surprisingly strong Hamilton who are with Brambilla and Aular. Masnada and Topchanyuk are next on the road, trying to catch up.
Aular is very strong, but Slagter is even stronger! He crosses the summit first, which is bad news for Tatarinov. Berhane, Brambilla and Hamilton follow, each with a small gap.
The pace in the peloton is stalling a bit with Storer and former escapee Majka currently leading. The gap is back up to just over 6 minutes, which now puts Zimmermann’s white jersey in danger! His gap to Aular stood at 7’06 before today.
Slagter’s terrific downhill skills left him and Aular with a 50 second lead at the end of the descent, but Brambilla put in a massive effort on the flat to bring himself and Berhane to the front. We’ll see how much energy that cost him. Hamilton is 27 seconds behind them at the foot of the climb, a group of 18 follows at another minute and change. Reguigui is the only one of the original 24 we looked at who’s not either in there or ahead. The peloton is at 6’35 from the leading quartet.
Hamilton is caught by the big group led by Bartl and Grmay, Tatarinov has apparently recovered as well. They trail the leaders by 1’15.
Some of the previous breakaway riders prove to be a boon for the peloton: Affonso and Hirschi lead the way for Spilak and Pomoshnikov, two riders at the back of the Top 10 whose places are in real danger, primarily from Tatarinov and Berhane at the moment, who are around four, and five and a half minutes behind both, respectively. On the first slopes of the climb, they immediately bring the gap down to under 5 minutes, but they need to keep that up if they want to be sure.
Hamilton was punching above his weight on the previous climb and is paying for that now. He falls behind.
And so does Brambilla up front. He did a lot of work, as mentioned earlier, but he’s also simply the worst climber of the quartet, so this is not unexpected. Slagter, Aular and Berhane have 1’20 on the rest of the breakaway and 4’40 on the peloton with 5km left on the climb. The pack won’t catch them, but to survive the 30 kilometers to the finish, they should probably put some more time on the group in between.
Closer to the finish, Aular attacks! Slagter counters, but Berhane stays in the saddle!
Campero, trying to improve an already promising day for Sauber, attacks from the group, but can’t keep up the acceleration for long. Vasyliv and Uran use him as a springboard, and Tatarinov tries to follow as well! If he’s in the first six over the climb, he doesn’t have to worry about Slagter winning the sprint up ahead!
Slagter and Aular ride towards the summit with a gap of 1’20 to Berhane, who’s about to be caught by the attackers. They look exhausted, but try to keep up a good pace.
None of the attackers from the group could get away on their own, but a few riders were forced off the back. First Dzhus, then this group including Grmay, Bartl, Rodrigues, Denifl, Nitu and Andriafenomananiaina. Topchanyuk and Seibeb remain for the teams that were for long stretches the most prominent in the breakaway.
As Berhane is caught by Uran, it’s Jones and Masnada who can’t keep up anymore.
At the summit, Slagter leaves Aular behind! Remember, the Dutch is a terrific downhill rider, so this could be the decisive move for the stage win! Also, Tatarinov now needs some points to end up in the polkadots! Aular moves into third in the mountain classification.
And he tries! Uran was able to get a small gap, but behind him, Tatarinov attacks alongside Brozyna.
Brozyna is strong, he quickly catches and moves past Uran. Tatarinov is struggling hard, but so does everyone else - at most one rider may pass him.
But no one does and Tatarinov wins the mountain classification! A big effort after being dropped earlier. As you can see, all of the previously dropped riders excluding Dzhus have made their way back. Slagter meanwhile is over 2 minutes gone now, it’s going to be tough to catch him!
The peloton has struggled a bit on the climb, they cross the summit 6 minutes behind Slagter and Aular, who trails the Sauber rider by 20 seconds. The group that includes Tatarinov, Denifl and Berhane is just around 3 minutes ahead though, so those three are only looking at limited gains in the GC at the moment (the former two move to 15th and 16th, provisionally). With no attacks by any of the contenders, the GC will likely remain as it stood before today - only Zimmermann still has to worry for his white jersey.
On the way to and over the final small climb, the main breakaway has almost come to a standstill. The gap to Slagter shot up to three and a half minutes in no time - it’s going to be a duel between him and Aular for the stage win for sure now, but it is a bit surprising that the likes of Tatarinov, Denifl and Berhane aren’t doing more to ensure their gains on the contenders - but the Top 15 are still in range.
This is the situation (minus Slagter in the lead) heading into the final 25 kilometers. Uran is on pace to overtake fellow breakaway rider Berhane to re-enter the Top 20 at the moment.
Uran is caught a few kilometers later though, and Brozyna is about to as well.
The peloton continues to struggle to make any headway. Frankiny is at the front, then Lecuisinier and Kudus already. The gap to the front has grown to 7 minutes - Zimmermann is the one who has the most at stake right now, but Madouas is his only helper and he just manages to hang on to the back of the group. Consequently, Aular is also looking at significant GC gains, possibly even at the Top 15.
At the front, Slagter passes the 10 kilometer banner. He hasn’t been able to fully shake Aular, but the gap, that was once down to as little as 12 seconds, has now grown to 25. Neither is a particularly good rouleur, it comes down to who has the most left in the tank.
Nothing spectacular is happening, and at the same time, there’s an very close long-distance battle happening. Zimmermann had 7 minutes and 6 seconds on Aular, with at least 12 bonus seconds, that goes down to 6’54. The gap, with 6 kilometers to go for the leaders and 13 for the peloton, is … 6’31. If Zimmermann makes it, he should buy Frankiny at least a few beers, or some flowers. The Swiss is still leading the chase.
Five kilometers left for the leaders and Aular now trails Slagter by 28 seconds. It doesn’t look like he’s going to catch him.
And indeed, Tom Jelte Slagter arrives alone at the finish line! Too tired to celebrate, it was a phenomenal effort that almost had him winning the polkadots as well. A great result for Sauber.
Aular sprints to the line, knowing he needs every possible second to gain white. The clock stops at + 26.
After a brief period where Manfredi led, Frankiny is back to work. The projected gap to Aular is currently at 6’21, so Zimmermann can feel somewhat secure. However, the big breakaway group has picked up the pace and extended its lead on the peloton to around 4 minutes. With how close gaps are in the Top 15, we could see some changes in that range with breakaway riders moving up.
But back to the front, where we still have a third place to sprint for! Brambilla leads the way ahead of Nitu and Bartl. There’s no good sprinter in this group of 19, among those close to the front Bartl and Jones in fifth position might be the quickest.
Those two are in the lead inside the final kilometer, Uran and Campero are in their slipstream ahead of Brozyna and Tatarinov.
Bartl has a bike length on his rivals, on the left side his teammates Rodrigues and Henao Montoya come with considerable speed.
Bartl takes third place, a really good result for him. Then it’s a photo finish between Campero and Young with the better end for the Sauber rider, who makes it two in the Top 4 for his team. Rodrigues takes 6th place, Brozyna and Uran finish next ahead of Tatarinov and Brambilla, who round out the Top 10. The time starts ticking for Tatarinov, Denifl, Berhane and Uran who look set to gain a few places, and even Henao Montoya could move up two or three spots.
Recognition for Dzhus, who manages to stay ahead of the peloton, the 4th Popo4Ever rider in the Top 25.
Hamilton is swept up by the peloton close to the line, his teammate Bayly wins the sprint. The gap to Aular has been kept steady, so Zimmermann can breath easy with regards to his white jersey, but the main breakaway group was pretty fast over the last dozen or so kilometers.
That translates to a spectacular 9th overall for Tatarinov, who squeezes past Spilak by 3 small seconds and kicks Pomoshnikov out of the Top 10. A career-defining performance for the 30 year old Kraftwerk rider.
Denifl jumps from 19 to 15 ahead of Galta, Berhane to 17, Zimmermann remains in the Top 20 at 18, also a stunning performance overall. Uran comes in 19th and Slagter jumps all the way to 20th from 32nd! The big losers of today are Pluchkin, a horrific race for him, and Arndt, who drop from 16 and 17 down to 22nd and 23rd behind Henao Montoya.
Just like yesterday, Quispe finishes last, but again he makes it within the time limit, although much closer than yesterday. A very commendable effort by one of the worst climbers in the MGUCI circuit.
While the top of the GC remained unchanged, breakaway riders mixed up the backend of the Top 20, or, in case of Tatarinov, even the Top 10.
Looking back, the Top 7 are about who we would have expected them to be, with Oomen and GC winner Kudus perhaps stronger than anticipated and Lecuisinier as well as Dombrowski slightly underperforming. Quintana is another of the highly-touted riders to underwhelm a bit, unfortunately not for the first time this year - but not quite as much as Pluchkin, who shockingly did not even make the Top 20.
But let’s not end on the down note, and instead again commend some of the breakout performances, including of course Tatarinov and Zimmermann, but also stage winners Lunke and Slagter, as well as two time stage winner Hodeg, who does indeed end up winning the points classification - congrats to all of them!
Full Results follow later tonight in a second post to this when it's less likely people will be spoilered by a slowly loading post #1 when opening post#2 - character limit is reachedEdited by cunego59 on 23-12-2021 10:01
Vuelta a Colombia 
