The Race:
The stage started with attacks all over the place, luckyboy and jensattacks obviously attempted to get in the break off the day, but time after time the peloton seemed unwilling to let the break go away. No one could get away, the pace was high and despite strong groups forming still no breakaway had formed at the start of the col du guess la break. In the peloton the stress was clear on the faces of the favourites, today’s finish obviously providing the first real test of the race; maybe the tour of CN wasn’t to be won today, but the race could certainly be lost. Ryo was seen insulting fellow members of the peloton, an obvious stress relief for the Dutchman-turn-Colombian.
Meanwhile tension was clearly at a high in the team boomerang ranks, Craig somehow managing to still be with the peloton was seen collecting bottles for his team-mates before he cracked, however he was one water bottle short, and simply ignored co-leader ACF. ACF was fuming attempting to push Craig, but before things got out of hand, dlwssonic – rumoured to be joining the possible ACF mafia team next year- quickly gave ACF his last water bottle, he then feed the little angry aussie grapes and rubbed his back before saying farewell to the peloton for the day.
Meanwhile, the peloton was passing the half way mark of the first climb, finally three riders had gotten away; Jobiwan-who had been struggling with terrible luck thus far- was involved, along with two legends of the peloton zoncolan and Angriliu. The three quickly got a big lead on the peloton and approached the summit of the col du guess la break. However just a few hundred metres before they hit the top, Jobiwan had a mechanical problem, the mechanic quickly jumped out of the vehicle but it was a poor wheel change and by the time jobiwan had gotten back on his bike the front two were already charging down the mountain. Of course once he hit the descent Jobiwan was flying and taking massive risks, in fact the risks were a little too great and on multiple occasions he overcooked the difficult sharp turns which only disrupted his rapid chase of the front two riders.
As he finally hit the flats and approached the final climb, Jobiwan was giving it everything he had; he had the front two in his sights and was closing rapidly when a television car attempted to pass him but accidently knocked the leader of schleck-lovers pro cycling team which caused him to lose control and fall of the bike. Luckily jobiwan appeared uninjured and jumped back on his bike unscratched, but his momentum was destroyed and the look of disappointment was spread across his face as he soft pedalled and waited for the behind peloton to gobble him up.
Finally the front two had hit the alto de cycling bets, with a healthy 6 minute lead over the peloton. Angriliu and Zoncolan both considered the ‘hard’ men of the CN peloton, both able to destroy themselves for their team leaders, and distributing the pain to their rival teams; picking a winner from the two was going to be difficult, the Italian monster taking on the Spanish beast.
Behind the peloton, with the group of favourites had also started climbing the alto de cycling bets, which starts off easier and gradually gets harder as it approaches the summit.
Hitch’s thread-creation-team was on the front of the peloton and setting a high pace, the undisputed leader however was seen shaking his head in disappointed at teammate descendeder –clearly unaware of the significance of this first battle- who was dropping behind without contributing to the high pace, he of course shrugged it off and dropped off the back with a smile on his face.
The favourites were all fighting for position as the climb started to approach the steeper stuff, when from the left the first attack happened; FERMINAL GOES! Co-leader of team-boomerang flies off the front at the exact time ACF appears to be struggling near the back, on his wheel PARULLO, under-fire team mate of libertine and RYO the thug of the peloton both right there behind the ambitious Australian. (8.3km to go – gap to break-away-5.13).
Behind in the massively reduced peloton Hitch decides not to respond to the attack as he keeps looking behind his shoulders, his eyes fixated only on hrotha. Unsurprisingly Jobiwan finally falls from the back of the peloton, while ACF takes the lead of the peloton and controversially starts leading the chase of the front three, including teammate ferminal. Ferminal who loves this climb, and takes residence near the summit (throughout the season reportedly seen on a joy ride with race organiser TLR and sasquatch) along with parullo and ryo have taking a healthy gap over the peloton and appear to be working very well together (situation: breakaway // Ferminal, Parullo, Ryo + 3.47 // Peloton + 4.21 // Jobiwan + 4.48). Back in the pack DT attacks, El pickle is stuck to him like glue!! This time Hrotha responds also, hitch is there too.. an unsuccessful attempt by the Dutchman which quickly leads to a lull and a regroup of the peloton, however the damage has been done; Scott-so-call appears to be fighting his bike as he rocks side to side- clearly just wanting this climb over so he can get to his porno stash and keg - likewise purple jersey holder AK-zaaf has blown up, along with other big names such as brodeal, zamasailo, sublimit, will, ingsve... who are all losing massive ground. The peloton has been reduced to only a handful of riders.
At the front zoncolan and angriliu are hitting the steepest parts of the climb, zoncolan quickly takes to the front and sets an extremely high pace… Angriliu is cracking!! He can’t hold the pace of zoncolan!! (3.4km to go - situation: zoncolan// angriliu +07 // Ferminal gr. +1.58 // peloton + 2.35)
Ryo now attacks his group! But ferminal responds easy… and parullo has been gapped! But it doesn’t look like he has cracked on the very steep slopes approaching the top, he is slowly grinding his way back to the front two. Behind the peloton is now being led by diesel mellowvelo, he is setting an insane pace and it appears that acf is hanging on by a thread. Hrotha now attacks, inspired by a group of Spanish riders on the side of the road, thehitch quickly responds, along with the youngest, krebs, damiano michevelle, havetts, durista, boomcie and thoughtforfood. The group behind has been decimated. The gradient is relentless, and the riders are clearly struggling... theyoungest goes to the front and sets the pace as the favourites hit a 14% section.; krebs is struggling he can’t hang on and has blown!! Durista too seems to be struggling and quickly joins krebs. Behind acf, el pickle and DT appear to be limiting their losses, but don’t appear to be communicating well. (1.6km to go Situation: zoncolan // angriliu +40 // ferminal, ryo + 55 // parullo +1.02 // hrotha, hitch, theyoungest, havetts, damiano michevelle, boomcie, TFF + 1.48 // krebs,durista +2.02 // acf,dt,elpickle +2.11).
Up front Zoncolan is still hanging onto the lead has gone under the final km, unfortunately for him it is the most difficult km of this gruelling climb, fortunately for zoncolan he is very capable of putting himself through pain… behind ferminal has upped the pace.. and ryo has cracked, he is really struggling and has been caught and passed by parullo as the young Portuguese rider passes the final km kite.
Further behind hrotha has been given a waterbottle from angriliu, he is now in a world of pain, but hrotha is upping the pace again… this is it, the big pull, he is trying to make the difference here… and TFF, Boomcie and havetts can’t hold on. The hitch appears to be really struggling but won’t give up, while the youngest also seems to be struggling.
Up front ferminal has zoncolan in his sights on zoncolan as they hit the steepest section of the climb (16%), the Australian is rapidly closing, but the hard man from Italy grits his teeth and pushes on, he is closing in on the finish line… and he does it, an epic victory for the Italian. Behind ferminal has taken second, but incredibly parullo managed to get on the Australians wheel in the final metres and will be the new leader of the race! Amazing effort in the last km by Parullo.
Further behind ryo is really struggling and has been caught on the line by the theyoungest, hrotha, damiano michevelle and hitch who all roll in together. The first real selection has happened today, as the next group of TFF, boomcie and havetts roll in together. Just behind this group. DT leads, ACF, mellowvelo, krebs and of course el pickle, who have managed to limit their losses.
WAY WAY WAY behind, libertine has rolled in behind the time limit, fortunately a great number of riders have joined him (mainly his teammates) and thus unlikely they will be eliminated from the race.