After flying almost 13.000 kilometers southwest the TdM convoy landed at the James Ross Island in Antarctica last night. The cold weather was in stark contrast to the hotter temperature in Egypt, but overall, the scenery is pretty much the same.
Even though the hills were less than what is to come, the GC guys didn’t miss an opportunity to battle it out. Once again, the 18.30 slot was by far the fastest slot, including 9 out of the 10 best-placed riders in the GC, only missing out on Blair Drader who did time slot 3. Once again though, as we have seen before in the TdM it wasn’t the GC guys that left with the honor of the stage win. That was a fiercely battled contest between two relative newcomers to the platform, Manuel Palmar and Maxime Saonit, where the latter did get away with the victory averaging an impressive 5.14 w/kg for an hour. Former amateur world champion Igor Kopse concluded the podium 1 minute and 30 seconds down from the winner.
The second hill was always going to be a decisive factor, the question was whether it would be able to split the favorites. A big group made it to the 13 km mark where the first rise was able to split the field into several smaller groups and a front group of around forty people made it to the big climb of the day. Steve Taylor was caught behind the front group but showed amazing strength on the hill, climbing his way to the front of the race.
The second the front group hit the climb, the field was stretched out, and soon small gaps appeared. Most noticeable was number 2 overall in GC, John Sammut, struggling to hang on, sitting several positions down on fellow podium contenders Melville and Krajewski. He did contain the loss to only half a minute to Krajewski and one minute to Melville. Overall GC does, however, seem far away after tonight for Sammut.
Minor moves within the top ten, noticeably Blair Drader dropping yet another place, probably due to the fast pace of the slot where the remaining GC guys were. Joris Schepers of Racio Racing dream of a top 10 overall result suffered a setback. He was caught in a group behind the leaders and dropped two minutes to current number 10 Paul Newton, meaning he is now almost three minutes outside of the top 10. Racio Racing already having one stage victory with Alex Pleger, will be looking for their second win in the TTT where they are the biggest favorites by far. A win there might help Schepers get some of the lost time back – but in the end, like most things, it will be decided on the Galibier.
One thing that for sure will not be decided on the Galibier is the sprint competition. With only 400 points to go, it is rather limited who is still in contention, John Sammut cruising towards victory, showing strong form in both the hilly and flat terrain. Fellow Pocomotion rider and yours truly, takes second place, while 4th place in the overall GC Kenneth Vansina takes 3rd. It is all down to the TTT, where it is clear that team Pocomotion has both John Sammuts overall 2nd place in GC, together with the overall 1st and 2nd place in the sprint competition to ride for.
In the mountain’s competition, Steve Taylor grabbed some important points and is now only 34 points behind Melville, who is leading both the GC and the KOM. No more hilly stages, only one last huge climb on Sunday, where Melville could take a tremendous double victory.
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