Eternity RPC Board
05-24-2019, 08:44 PM
Stage 13 - Charlineroux-Saint Rémy | Flat stage - 226 km
The peloton had some calm the following two days. First, with one rest day, and the second day with the stage 13th, with ended without incidents in a mass sprint. Nylander sprinter Chester Stenbeck (Anzcell Cycling) defeated Varchar Mellent (Yetech-Druzhberg) and Sequoian Martin de Gasparette (Le Cycle Super) in a close sprint.
Although Mellent could not win the stage for merely a few centrimetres, he was able to take the point classification jersey for first time this Tour de Valland. There were not important changes in the general classification.
Stage 14 - Ville de la Côme-Courtemanche | Mountain stage - 191 km
High mountain returned the next day. An early breakaway was formed, in which two Ceribians, Irakli Kapanadze (Batavelo) and Shalva Jughasvili (Magram), were the last survivors. Meanwhile, back in the main group, Eden Weatherhead left behind his main rivals, only the young Roman Herzogenrath (Télecon) being the only one able to follow him.
The stage was for Jughasvili, while Herzogenrath came thirty seconds later, who was able to leave Weatherhead behind in the last kilometre although by merely eight seconds. The main group, reduced to eight riders, including the leader, Almas Cingur, and other favourites, lost more than one minute.
As consequence, Gucevicius saw reduced his lead to 50 seconds over Herzogenrath, who also consolidated his lead in the mountain classification, and Mandavaninian Max Rémy, who completed the podium at 53 seconds. Meanwhile, Weatherhead reduced his distance with Gucevicius to one minute and fifty two seconds, with still two mountain stages to arrive.
Stage 15 - Sauveterre-Brisbois | Flat stage - 159km
Before the expected and decisive two last days of high mountain, the peloton arrived to Brisbois. The stage was calm and did not bring further changes in the general classification. The stage, decided in a mass sprint, brought some joy to the local fans, as sprinter Antoine Duchesnay (NDM Cycling) was the first Vallish rider to win a stage in the Tour de Valland, in which local riders were having a rather anecdotical and disappointing results. It was the first Tour de Valland stage for Duchesnay, who defeated Adwestene champion Kiel Albert Fyfe (Dido-GDC) and Mordvanian Rein Warma (Iskra Team).
Stage 16 - Brisbois-La Fontaine | Mountain stage - 197 km
The longest mountain stage this 1595 Tour de Valland was expected to bring action and changes in the general classification, although the next stage was generally considered more demanding and decisive. Certainly, the stage did not disappoint the fans, although it became chaotic for both the riders and the viewers.
An early breakaway of about twenty riders was formed, which included Shalva Jughasvili -once again in a successful breakaway-, and other riders such as Goldecian Inderjeet Sessions (KyrzAir), Mordvanian Zeljko Bratansek (Mordvelo), Batavian Jaap Frisch (BataVelo), Nerysian Godomar Guur (MTS-Biassoni) as well as his veteran but inconsistent Nentsian teammate, Ryhor Martsinkyevich, between others. Behind, KyrzAir and Télecon impose a high pace in the main groups, that many riders struggle to follow.
The breakaway was reduce to five riders in the final climb -the mentioned Frisch, Jughasvili, Bratansek, and Sessions, as well as Svarnan climber Rahul Bhattacharya-, which was reduced to four in the final kilometres, as Sessions was not able to follow the pace of his companions of breakaway. Bratansek proved to be faster than his rivals in the final metres, to win his second stage in the Tour de Valland, following other high mountain stage the Mordvanian climber won in 1594. Bhattacharya was second, the best individual result for Baagh Cycling Team in their first Tour de Valland, while Frisch was third and Jughasvili was fourth.
In the main group, only the Mandavinian Max Rémy was surprisingly able to follow a last attack by Kyrzbekistani climber Almas Cingur (KyrzAir). It was not a good day for Gucevicius, as the Mordvanian rider lost three minutes to Cingur and Rémy, while other favourites had an even worse day, such as Roman Herzogenrath (Télecon Team), who lost almost five minutes.
The chaotic stage gave the red jersey to the young Mandivinian all-round, who nobody expected to do so well that far in the Tour. He had one minute and one second ahead of Shalva Jughasvili, that after making in the breakaway in the last three mountain stages was able to directly jump into the podium. Gucevicius fell to the third place, but almost two minutes behind Rémy, while Cingur was now fourth at two minutes and twenty-eight seconds. Meanwhile Weatherhead was fifth at three minutes and forty-three seconds, while Herzogenrath fell to the sixth place while keeping the mountain classification jersey.