Eternity RPC Board
01-01-2020, 02:40 PM
Stage 13 | Mountain stage - 111 km
Irakli Maisuradze proved that he was willing to fight for the red jersey. He did not only remain in the main group in the last kilometres, which was reduced to nine riders, but he -following an attack by Yamaguchi Shoyo (MTS-Biassoni), he won the stage, followed by Shoyo himself and Kyrzbekistani climber Damir Zagipur (KyrzAir).
Maisuradze increased his lead to forty-three seconds over his countryman Malkhaz Lomidze (Bagdati), while Saratovian Péťa Vacek (Soyuz-Kuprin) and Roman Herzogenrath (Télecon) were third and fourth, respectively, one minute and eight seconds behind Maisuradze. Pharnavaz Undiladze (Bagdati) lost more than one minute and half to Maisuradze, probably paying the efforst of the two previous days as well as the Tour of West Brigidna, which he had won barely two months ago.
Stage 14 | Mountain stage - 185 km
The next stage, however, Roman Herzogenrath (Télecon) showed his candidacy to the title in Lauren. He was the most active rider in the last climb, and his attacks could be followed by two other riders, Kazemuran Yamaguchi Shoyo (MTS-Biassoni), and Lomarran Tomasso Zavala (Velomax), leaving behind the rest of riders of the main group (a fourth rider would join them in the last metres, Kyrzbekistani Anvar Anvar Lenarur, the last survivor of the day breakaway).
Tomasso Zavala would easily won the stage, after leaving behind the other riders, after a final attack in the last two kms. A second group with included Malkhaz Lomidze and Pharnavaz Undiladze (Bagdati), Damir Zagipur (KyrzAir), and Claude Bécaud (Vançotte) arrived thirty seconds after.
Maisuradze lost his options that day, after losing more than three minutes and falling directly to the eighth place in the general classification. Another Ceribian, Malkhaz Lomidze, took the red jersey. Herzogenrath was second at only fourteen seconds, with Undiladze third at one minute and three seconds. Vacek fell from the provisional podium, fourth at one minute and seventeen seconds, while the winner of the stage, Tomasso Zavala, climbed to the fifth place at one minute and forty-seconds behind Lomidze.
Stage 15 | Flat stage - 177 km
After the final rest day, and before the final three mountain stages that would decide the 1602 winner, the peloton had a rather calm day on the fifteenth stage.
As expected, the stage was decided in a mass sprint, in which Mordvanian Rein Warma (Iskra) surprised the favourites to win the stage, defeating Galeaen Melker Rausing (Yetech-Druzhberg) and Christophe Villiers (Anzcell) in the final metres.
Stage 16 | Hilly stage - 200 km
The sixteenth stage was supposed to be a transition stage before the comeback of the high mountain. However, in the descend of a minor hill, more than sixty kilometres before the finish, a large group of riders found themselves behind the main group, including leader Lomidze and Roman Herzogenrath. Bagdati team found itself in a complicated situation, with Undiladze in the leading group while their leader was losing time and time. Some teams, mostly Velomax, Soyuz-Kuprin, and KyrzAir worked hard to increase the distance as much as they could. This attitude would cause a tense situation when the stage ended.
Télecon team found the cooperation of Vançotte team, and they helped to reduce the gap to merely one minute at the end of the stage. As a consequence, Lomidze retain the red jersey by merely three seconds over his teammate Undiladze, feeding the debate about who should be leading the team in the final mountain stages. Vacek was third at seventeen seconds now, while Zavala was fourth at forty-seconds. Roman Herzogenrath fell to the sixth place, at one minute and fourteen seconds.
Mordvanian Miroslav Gradishar (Iskra) defeated Sequoian Dieudonné Saint-Blanc (NDM) to win his second stage this Tour de Valland.