The final part of today's stage was run off in heavy rain, so heavy in fact that with mere minutes before the riders were expected to arrive, the road was flooded near the finish line. The course was set up so as to tempt riders into making a long breakaway attempt, but with so many rides so close on GC there would be riders who would bide their time and would only attack late on in the race, on the final climb.
Lutsenko and Woods took the bait and went for a long one, breaking out of a larger group of escapees as the GC group bore down upon them. Woods punctured and fell back as the main GC group accelerated on the final climb. Quintana attacked with 11km to go, but was caught and passed. After a flurry of counterattacks Buchmann and Fuglsang broke free; trying to chase back, the GC group behind started shelling riders out the back. With about a mile to go Poels made his bid and no-one could stay with him; Poels caught and passed both Buchmann and Fuglsang with just a few hundred metres to go and neither could respond to the pace of Poels who took a well deserved stage win.
Finishing between ten and sixteen seconds back were Yates, Dan Martin, Bardet, Pinot and Van Garderen. This means that Fuglsang takes the yellow jersey and there are now only six riders within 33" of him, being Yates, Van Garderen, Buchmann, Poels, Teuns, Pinot. Everyone else is at least 1'-12" off the race lead, including Lutsenko (1-12"), Kruijswijk, Dan Martin, Quintana, Porte, Bardet (1-38") which doesn't make it impossible for them to win the race, just very difficult. Barring miracles you would have to rate the chances of others -who are all at least 2-24" off the lead- as being slim to none.
Tomorrow's final stage is even shorter (113.5km) and again finishes with a climb to Champery. A well timed late attack could propel any of the leading seven riders to victory, and until the final kilometres it may suit those seven teams to hold the race together and to chase down any longer range attacks. Whether they will succeed is quite another matter however.
Today's late attack from Poels was straight out of the Froome playbook, and none of the other GC hopefuls could live with that pace; if he can do the same thing tomorrow it will earn him a podium place at least, maybe the race victory. There'll be no more hiding, nothing left on the table tomorrow.
cheers
2019 Criterium du Dauphine; spoilers if you've not seen the day before's coverage.
Re: 2019 Criterium du Dauphine; spoilers if you've not seen the day before's coverage.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Re: 2019 Criterium du Dauphine; spoilers if you've not seen the day before's coverage.
I guess for most riders 'GC success' might be judged as improving their GC position today and 'failure' might be the other thing. Well by that definition 'success' was almost guaranteed for most of the GC hopefuls because of illness; Woods didn't start, and both Yates and Kruijswijk started but didn't finish. Yates had a bad stomach and a slight fever.
In the event the attacks from the main GC hopefuls didn't really materialise; a breakaway went containing Alaphilippe, which enabled him to win the polkadot jersey, but the Astana team protected Fuglsang well. Ineos had a plan which was to send Dylan Van Baarle up the road, so that perhaps Poels could join him. Up the penultimate climb Ineos rode a hard tempo but that didn't leave Fulgsang exposed in any way, so the net result was that there were no GC rider attacks of any consequence, unless you count Barguil's late attack which gained him a few seconds. Arguably the final climb wasn't tough enough to really make a difference in the GC riders, but that didn't stop the ones that were suffering, like Ritchie Porte, drifting out the back and struggling to stay in contact. Van Baarle outsprinted Jack Haig for the stage win which means that Ineos have come away with some success despite Froome's prang; such is the quality of their squad, once released from their domestique duties, pretty much any of that team are potential stage winners.
So, relief for Fuglsang, a well deserved victory with less of a struggle today than he might have expected, but for the other GC hopefuls it could be argued that the race ended with a whimper not a bang.
Normally the CdD uses some stages that replicate the TdF exactly, but this time they didn't. Maybe the fact that really big climbs were not included in this edition of the CdD is just as well, bearing in mind the unseasonable weather, but it could be argued that overall it was to the detriment of the racing. No-one really dominated the race; of the TdF hopefuls there are a few who show signs of good (but not exceptional) form and rather more who don't look at full strength, notably Quintana and Porte. Yates one can't be sure of; his illness may be fleeting and hiding form that is good otherwise. Gary Imlach described the race as 'the least gripping edition in recent years' which is a bit harsh but he has a point.
The Tour de Suisse may offer some further clues ahead of the TdF but it could be the most open race for years. Roll on july 6th...
cheers
In the event the attacks from the main GC hopefuls didn't really materialise; a breakaway went containing Alaphilippe, which enabled him to win the polkadot jersey, but the Astana team protected Fuglsang well. Ineos had a plan which was to send Dylan Van Baarle up the road, so that perhaps Poels could join him. Up the penultimate climb Ineos rode a hard tempo but that didn't leave Fulgsang exposed in any way, so the net result was that there were no GC rider attacks of any consequence, unless you count Barguil's late attack which gained him a few seconds. Arguably the final climb wasn't tough enough to really make a difference in the GC riders, but that didn't stop the ones that were suffering, like Ritchie Porte, drifting out the back and struggling to stay in contact. Van Baarle outsprinted Jack Haig for the stage win which means that Ineos have come away with some success despite Froome's prang; such is the quality of their squad, once released from their domestique duties, pretty much any of that team are potential stage winners.
So, relief for Fuglsang, a well deserved victory with less of a struggle today than he might have expected, but for the other GC hopefuls it could be argued that the race ended with a whimper not a bang.
Normally the CdD uses some stages that replicate the TdF exactly, but this time they didn't. Maybe the fact that really big climbs were not included in this edition of the CdD is just as well, bearing in mind the unseasonable weather, but it could be argued that overall it was to the detriment of the racing. No-one really dominated the race; of the TdF hopefuls there are a few who show signs of good (but not exceptional) form and rather more who don't look at full strength, notably Quintana and Porte. Yates one can't be sure of; his illness may be fleeting and hiding form that is good otherwise. Gary Imlach described the race as 'the least gripping edition in recent years' which is a bit harsh but he has a point.
The Tour de Suisse may offer some further clues ahead of the TdF but it could be the most open race for years. Roll on july 6th...
cheers
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2019 Criterium du Dauphine spoilers if youve not seen the day befores coverage
sounds like you had a good day need to get some stuff like this booked while its still lovely a muddy out