Vuelta a Espana 2020 08 Logrono - Alto de Moncalvillo 165 km M

[Music] just show you bit of belief bit of tenacity taking a chance just when you can find it so opportunism it all came together for Michael Woods stage seven was his how will he get on on stage eight and indeed how will anybody stop him well carapaz is out to stop everybody at the moment well it was a very very uh uh quick and difficult stage out there he says well it's all about control our uh team did a great job in that regard well it's about strategy it's about timing just getting everything where it needs to be [Music] a man who said they'll try anything today as always is very important it is it leads by 18 seconds Down Mountain 20 drift Ro GL at 30 what about today then stage eight Monti Cav just check this out looks like they've overcooked a bit of spaghetti and dropped it on the floor uh we're not that that far our finish from the start today so We're looping about all over the place and all over the place have been some of the challenges in this race could it be the same today going to draw a break away will they succeed don't know that final climb is so tough It's the real announcement of the solo endings to the superstars yeah teams May well be shredded today and see how they go this is the uh the roll out a little bit earlier on today excuse me new man in the polka dots after doing so much work yesterday G mown all credit to him RIT staying in the green Richard carass in the leader red jersey and enrik mass wearing that Young Riders Jersey for M [Applause] Star well after yesterday um nothing can be taken for granted uh and also any predictions about the demise of Alejandra valdi have to be kind of shelved um he looked ever green yesterday and in fact if he got his if he picked his battles correctly it may well have been that he'd have Come Away with a victory Omar Frey likewise was too busy looking at Val and that allowed uh me Woods to Skittle off which he did beautifully as for today we got a wide open plane as you can see and a mountain to play with as always in this part of the world they stuck a a crucifix up at the top gives you a good aiming point on a day such as this so We're looping jinking and Diving all over the countryside and then finally we'll have a test where we're likely to see the big players Jing out amongst themselves um there's no chance really of a massive group coming to the end because it's such a difficult incline when we get there well here we are uh finally our mayor gets Lono nice little uh underbelly for his watch his wrist watch when he takes it off on his desk he says so what about today a long one and a tough one but only at the end about to draw out a breakaway well guess what that's precisely what we had at the beginning a c of couple of whoops as you've heard at today's stage has a Sprint that announces our first climb but the pelan are about to start climbing pretty soon actually we're about 68 kilm into the day it's a short day of 164 in total so my math has just about worked it out um but as you can see we've got a a decent Breakaway not least because Remy cavan is up the road again think he might be going for overall combativity award ruy Costa Portuguese Champion you can see him with his flag Splat across his back is also here for UI team Emirates Rob Stannard has made it with the lime green shoulders of mitchelton Scott another great Stager in moments like this Stander wolf hard man for lotto he's also up the roads we have Benjamin Dibble who's also made it known as the officer we'll see how he goes today the Australian from NT uh we have Julian Simon who I quietly backed a couple of days ago at uh about 400 to1 to be honest so I picked the wrong day he's up the road as well and angle madrazo has also made it up here again uh principal for Burgos BH so surprise there just look at this absolutely glorious Patchwork looks like um one of those old quilts that your granny would have stitched together and then thrown across sha Kelly in his um in his bed bless him uh a day of Glorious sunshine and very little wind uh 19 Celsius in The Valleys that'll do um it is a light breeze it's coming from various directions today the wind can't decide what to do and it's but it is mainly from the West well yesterday it was moar that put the wind up everybody and not least Richard carapaz um it took his time well in fact he didn't bridge over to valver we were all kind of asking ourselves questions as to why that fire wasn't put out cuz valver did make inroads got himself into Ninth Place overall but it could have been a lot more damaging than that quite frankly but I don't know where there's a will there's a [Applause] way by the way today today is to follow the road up towards the sky uh there are a few missing however Kenny Alis remember that gritty day a couple of days ago with horrible weather and muddy roads well dirty roads dirty water all over the place um yeah bit of ingestion and he has got himself um unfortunately a Dicky tummy so Kenny Ellison has left the race also out is Jay McCarthy after what looked like a plane crash didn't it at speed there was bike debris all over the place it took him a long time to uh ease onto the stretcher and be carried away but no serious injuries and that well partially I think it's probably a miracle quite frankly um right now you are looking at a a team in their pump just look beyond the grenadiers and you'll see EF education who after their win yesterday just loving life and with Hugh karthy beautifully placed and many saying he's the only man who can really Stick it to rogich and caraz well we'll have to wait and see meanwhile time to check out social media and see what everyone else has been saying about the peltin [Music] want [Music] this one says my mate Richard carass today you started in red tomorrow well you won't have to look for it there you go so uh you may have seen on there that mat mosetti quickman from Trea fro you won't be seeing his legs in operation in the next couple of days tomorrow and the day after Thursday Friday we have sprinters days before the absolute nightmare of this race begins and we uh well I say begins we got it at the end of today and we had a rude start to it didn't we uh farona awaits on Saturday stage and the angry the angry L speak to Kenny s about that but yeah the Ang leroo is what I'm trying to say on Sunday oh goodness me Sean um I'm a bit I'm a bit deob happy because I'm just so pleased to see some blue sky quite frankly a happy day will it be a happy day for the Breakaway today what you think well it's looking good at the moment uh we can see this Breakaway you know 440 plus and uh yes um you know 92 km to go I suppose uh the way this race has been you have to wait and see and I think that's what the um breakway men are thinking here just keep on working at it together keep you know keep relaying each other keep sharing the pace setting here the workload on the front end of the race and get a bit further into it and when we get to this uh uh this climb which is coming up now uh the Puerto de rasa which uh you know tops out at 50 km to go um that will be the point I think they will see what uh the situation what way is looking for the Breakaway because if if a team start pushing on here on this time it is a one of just under 10 kilm you could still be your pullback disadvantage but until that point then we'll see what the tactics what the plan is in the other teams they're actually as we approach the halfway mark they're going to start climbing in fact we already are if you look deep down the road here you'll see that it's just starting to tilt up you'll see that um the curtains of the theater if you like uh the drapes hiding the horror um are uh all around us we're on this flat open plane and as a result you saw the looping course that we're dealing with we're kind of uh visiting the climbs and the last one today is an absolute brute um the final 7 1/2 kilm something to behold it never really dips below 7 and it often flies around well the teens and 15 being your Max and it's a little bit steeper than that on occasion it does buck and twist towards the end about uh 1500 M from 3ks to go there is seven hairpins to deal with before you finally reach the line so tough it is that we think it'll be the principal Riders on their own by the end it certainly will be for Primus rogich um possibly he will still have sep cus with him but he won't have Tom dealan who has stepped off the bike now he's he's looked not in great shape since the beginning of this race and to be honest um other questions we' we've kind of asked about him tired he's fatigued and that's a difficult thing for an athlete to admit there's nothing wrong with me I'm just empty Sean and he declared it Tom de and often it's best to do that than just um be part of a a strategy that's not going to work well he talked about that in the earlier part of this felt that when he lost time on the earlier days he said he was you know feeling uh the fatique and you know wasn't recovering well and uh reading today the team said that you know every day he seemed to have more fatigue as this race was going on so the decision the best decision was to take him out not an easy one of course with the race for yumbo visma you know if um if he was riding well he would be a very important part H for Rish to you know challenge to win this race out right but you know the uh the way he was feeling know big big fatigue setting in and uh not able to contribute anything we see like he's losing time every day it was a bit difficult and the moment you know last night he was 42 minutes and 25 down you know that tells how much he been suffering the last days but yeah disappointing for the team I suppose but there's nothing he can do there's no Miracle um and uh you ask yourself yeah why is that what the case but Tom Jan I suppose you know he was he missed out you know a lot of 2019 uh certainly the second half after that back crash he had in the jro then this year in the earlier part in the spring he had um an nness and he didn't raise in the ear par so all of that can take his toll we did see in the to he was good but you know you can go good for a number of weeks but to hold your shape when you having that Foundation is difficult I think it's a wise decision uh you don't want to be forcing a rider on when you can break him basically Tom's gone well one team remains at uh well cocka hoop I think it's fair to say just uh looking at of course ear Pro cycling what an amazing tour they've had what a great Prospect we've got with hu karthy and the way that the grand Tours have revealed themselves Shan um one thing that is a constant are surprises and pleasant ones at that and uh with this race it looks like it's hu karthy well uh yeah we did see in the earlier days you know the he was in excellent shape and he's continued on in that in that way and now we can see you know the team are around him and we can see a number of ryers there very much in the to the pelone looking after him in this race we also see yesterday when um uh the his teammate um Michael Woods won the stage he was asked the question uh you know about what's the uh plan for the rest of the race and he said well looking after hukari is one of them but he might get another day where he gets a bit of freedom but we can see there there's certainly quite a number of the rers having to look after who C and who rightly so because the position is's in in the overall standings you need to look after him keep him out of the wind as much as possible and just conserve as much energy as possible in those uh stages where you have this flat section before we get to this first mountain and see what he can do on the final climb today see what's happening as was with the other GC men as well if there's a big battle he has to be there he has to be and I think he will be it's just it's a wonderful thing to say they lost delie Martinez and um it's almost like you cut the head off Hydra and another head or two heads grow um suddenly they've got options Shan and we've seen this so often this year that where the predictable starts to to to fade and alter look at Gant Thomas exit in the jir Italia all of a sudden the the PowerHouse that you have behind you to back such a star produces another one it's magnificent yes well uh it's been the case U you know uh in the past where you know the maybe the man you're expecting to do for the overall um he doesn't you know live up to it and we see with uh you know Danny Martinez he had the crash of course in the earlier St in the in stage one actually uh and he seemed to suffer all the time after that but um I don't think it would have changed a lot in huti's position because they probably would have played you know board cars huar he would have known he was in great condition and they would have you know give him free hands just to go for the overall I don't know whether the fact that um they didn't get the words weren't that came out of Michael Wood's mouth yep we're all solidly behind Hugh karthy um I just wonder whether there's still a bit of settling to be done there as as far as pecking order is concerned just uh while you've been away we've been pondering the riches that have befallen us um once the uh the head has been cut off Hydra as it were um and two more heads start to grow and uh it seems that once a team frankly just finds itself without its leader look what happened to indas grenadiers in the Ziro once uh Gant Thomas took a tumble unfortunate for him but great of course for ta gagen Hart uh same thing is it going to happen in this race with ef Pro cycling and Danny Martin is taking a tumble in appalling conditions at the beginning of this race and then all of a sudden uh they've had to recalibrate now the Alternatives were Michael Woods and hu karthy hu karthy a lot better positioned than Michael Woods yesterday Michael Woods was asked who they're going to be backing uh will they all fall behind Hugh karthy and they said yeah of course but you know um opportunities may present themselves so Michael Woods hasn't given his full backing I wouldn't have said at least for the time being that said you don't want to hedge your bets and you don't want to give too much away so it may well be and the way they're writing today they certainly are slotted in behind Hugh karthy in as graders they find themselves in the red jersey rightly so with uh Richard carapaz but um yeah they've they've certainly got some question marks over them uh golas by the way is one of those who has uh not started today so they are a man down all of course I have to ask you about Toman not starting uh many of the newspapers are reporting it was his decision can you explain it a little bit yeah I think it was a decision with the the coaches and the trainers and Tom together and uh we tried to convince him first after uh the first difficult days to to stay here and to help the team but uh after one week we have the conclusion that he didn't improve anymore and was really suffering yesterday and then you have to make a decision how hard it is even uh with Pros we need every every help but uh uh had to destroy Tom is also not a good decision it seems strange from the outside because even though Tom is obviously not feeling good and he told us to say that even if he could just do one day or even one half a stage just getting bottles or just helping on the flat it would still be useful for the overall of course and he did so now for seven days uh he did a really really good pull when uh Primus lost the contact uh you saw earlier in the Descent there was uh course of uh of course um Tom would did a really good pull uh to bring him back into the first group and uh maybe there Prim much could have lost the the welta so that was really good for him but after that we saw that he was not having the good uh yeah the good uh um recovering from all this hard racing and uh yeah we saw now he was suffering too much there we are it was um it was a a question I think of um understanding the the level of the fatigue of Tom dealan and he said there Sean quite rightly the last thing you want to do is break somebody like Tom Duman he's going to be useful in the future well the problem is when your fatigue sets in big time and we did hear from you know the director of sport e France mass and there um you know a very r that back in the time as well in the 80s um when that uh hits you um you know you have to start looking back what is the reason and I suppose what I mentioned a bit earlier Doolan where he's coming from I think when you haven't got racing consistently for you know the best part of um year um when you've been out of competition that can have an effect on you you can train get ready as Tom dealan you know know uh had done this year before the Tour of France when we knew we had the rescheduled uh race program all the Royals start to prepare and he rode well in the Tour of France he finished what was seventh overall I think in the Tour of France so that tells the way he was riding in the tour and also working for Primus Rog a lot uh but you know FTI can hit you then you get a couple of good weeks where you're in top shape you might get you know a month a month and a half and then it's start to leave you and I think that is I reckon the problem for Tom dealan just not having the a big enough Foundation to hold your farm for for many months and uh when that hits you well then you just get more and more fatigued and there's nothing you can do for the team really because you're just getting weaker and you know more faat e every day so the best decision is to you know take him out and rest them up and you know now it's uh it's going to be the end of season for him he's going to be thinking about just getting ready for next season best way quite frankly um we're climbing and we're going to be doing quite a bit of it today some uh lovely places as you can see along the way Sant St Mary of the redond work it out um well couple of spectacular pics I'd love to tell you more about it to be honest but um it's bound to be in my booklet but it's so vast today I finally found it I beg you pardon um yes apparently it's the uh heart of lano's old city um embedded between the streets of the Portales and the calabas means nothing to me they've got I could tell you they've got pink recycling bins um that's about it unless you want me to tell you about the 17th century in the western facade but just don't think you do meanwhile um no mask dropped for this man Val Verde ever green sha um his name means Green Valley but Goodness Me when on Earth is he going to show some some cracks uh 40 years of age and and and frankly just looking magnificent yesterday and I think with a little bit more of a um a less gung-ho approach um in in other words not trying to kill off too many riders who happen to be with you notably Stephan dulf who's uh up the road today and Dorian gon if he' used them a little bit more wisely and hadn't spent his time worrying about Omar he could have won yesterday well I think he gave it a good run because uh he was the one was being marked a lot and uh because he was in the general classification uh it's always a problem for that Rider you know there was Riders did not want to ride with him and we see that very early in the race uh with a very big Breakaway of course it was you know very unorganized from a long long ways out and in the in the end you know he managed to get into the um to that leading group we did see Michael Woods when he attacked on the uh that the port of the hura second time up Val look very impressive as the you know the other ones in that Breakaway uh did as well so it was you know the strongest man in the end found theel in the front but there was a bit of a rivalry between Omar F and Val because we could see that they were chasing each other a lot in the final but what a final it was like it was fulltime attacking each other coming back another waya they going and and uh you know Michael Woods just took the advantage in the end he attacked at the right time you need just you know a little bit of look hesitation the other Riders you get a gap and then you're gone and that's what Woods got yesterday but you have got the legs as well to be able to do that but valde definitely really looking good here we talked about valber in the earlier uh part when we restarted our uh season you know he wasn't wasn't looking good and in the earlier part of this year as well before we had the lockdown and all races were cancelled he wasn't performing as well uh so it seems like now he's you know got better and I think he needs a lot more racing and that is often the case when you get older in your career you need a bit more racing a bit more maybe training altitudes and all of that um More Than The Young Riders do need to get into your top shape with belber and all the mob star guys they look impressive in this race uh in the four week of racing it's beautiful round here Sean we're we're kind of in wine country are we near uh is it sort of rioka country is it um is it wine in a basket uh well uh yeah it's certainly Roka country and uh yeah the all the Stag is in the Roka region today and uh yeah I was just mentioned there earlier to you you're the you're the cony sewer so uh you you uh you pretty much gave a thumbs up there that is yeah RI is a good wine so if you do that it has to thank you Sean well uh does that mean you're buying tonight yes what what a lovely man clearly in a good mood let's catch him while we can um yeah yonis Zira when he won his stage he became the H hundredth Rider to have won a stage in all three grand Tours um poor old Omar freier while we stayed with yesterday with this Gap hovering around 5 minutes and five um Omar missed out on being number 101 uh maybe that inauspicious number um of course if you're a 1984 fan um yeah it I don't know did Freer blow it certainly his reaction at the line yesterday appeared to suggest that he thought he had no I don't think uh he uh blew it yesterday just that uh you know circumstances in a breakway they're all trying to win there and you know just uh mocking each other and rers attacking there's somebody going to chase down and then that comes back in another one go and we had that you know for so much of the final yesterday after getting over the final time and that 19 plus Kil to run to the finish and it's uh It's just sometimes they look at the the look at the draw when you're in a break with like that um yeah I think Omar F he did a great job yesterday Bush yeah valde and himself I think were what they were marking each other a bit they knew that it came to a Sprint they felt that they were the strongest ones and I I think both you know both felt that they could have come down to a Sprint that they could have won the stage yesterday and you just you know get arm and do what you can there and you're hoping that you will make the Right Moves and when you finished second of course for Omar f um it was a disappointing because it's always disappointed to get into the Breakaway get so close finish second yeah it's not the place you want to be at all just looking at uh this group and in exchanging nicely um Remy Cav here um he's a man with a great turn of pace and he's a decent time trialist as well um stage winner of course in the past but it's a tall ask for him to get through today then again he won up Morgan Hill didn't he in uh in California very different uh scenario today however I think it's just too brutal for this Breakaway but we'll see kin this is your first grand tour for seven years how is it different from your last Welter back in 2013 yeah it's it's a lot faster you know and and obviously doing it with this team with uh the objectives we have it's uh you know you got to I've been concentrating my role obviously is keeping as many guys fresh for as long as possible and and that means not missing anything with the wind with Corners with climbs you know in the stage so I've um yeah I I think I get to the end of the stage and to be honest my brain's a lot more tied than my legs so um yeah it's a different role for me but I'm I'm really loving it I mean you know I got to pinch myself every day the fact I'm even here it's it's incredible that's really interesting actually that you say it's mentally really demanding because like you say Your Role I guess would be before the big climbs happen especially on a day like today yeah I don't even look at the final climb to be honest when in the re you know in the in the meeting I I switch off at that point i' sort of got my point to get to and um you know and and honestly to to do that job properly you have to empty the tank to that point and every team has a guy like that or two guys like that so the sport is such a high level I mean I just have to look back at old Power files you know and you might be doing similar stuff to now and you're in the groupo you know I mean the the front of the race probably doesn't change so much with the with the top guys but you know there's just so many so many guys that are so much better there's so much more depth from you know four down to you know 140 you know we're all clumped together much closer and um it just makes the race all day much more intensive it's it's awesome it's really cool to see and what's the view from the inos team bust this morning that I Hadad of what is a really really key stage for the GC and for Richard yeah I mean it's obviously a great stage for Richard we had a good day yesterday uh you know they're all attacking which is fine we just kept them under control I mean make sure that they don't we don't waste any more energy than the guys in front which you know at the end of the day nothing really changed much okay you had Valverde come back a little but he obviously spent a lot of energy to do that on a on a flat day so we always thought today could be actually quite a decisive stage it's a climb that suits Richard really really well so yesterday was about getting through that as best we could which we've done now it' be about getting him to the bottom and at the end of the day he's he's the one that that finishes it off you know that's sort of out of our control but um you know protect him as best we can keep him as confident as we can and uh yeah we're really looking forward to today it's lovely to talk to you Cameron good luck today thank you thanks very much pleasure thank you man was what a nice open book and uh uh Ashley House asking the questions there as uh as good and uh incisive questioning as ever but great to get the response from Cameron verth uh interesting Sean uh and nice to hear that um you you don't often get that kind of uh indepth analysis or indeed honesty from Riders but Cameron ver just saying there's more than one Finish Line to every stage and his usually comes early yes well we can see him here in our picture he's been on the front of uh the pelaton for the inos grenadiers guys in the earlier part and riding excellently in this race he's being know um a real powerhouse and a real valuable Rider to the team um he's a that that you know was uh professional in the in the top ranks a number of years ago then went away to do triin and only came back this year let's not forget you only signed uh for the inos team in the be in the beginning of the year uh but what a race he's having because the way he's riding here um it's uh he's in excellent shape and seems to be enjoyed we see there you know he was smiling really seem to be happy doesn't look fatigued at all considering what he's been doing uh in this race so far yeah um I I think I'm right I I'll double check in a moment um in saying that I think he's out of contract at the end of this year so um he's one of those riders that you just hope gets picked up and um and why not there's um there there's a lot of good guys out there let's let's put it that way and Cameron worth is certainly one of those yeah um we understand that this is his last year he's 37 years of age but the Way's been riding here very useful part of what is a very effective fighting team they like to call themselves just the grenadiers these days um which is um if you go and have a look at uh uh try and find that vehicle it's an allterrain vehicle um very much hking back to the uh the now um changed and altered uh Land Rover uh Defender so the old sort of farmers vehicle if you will U they've decided to uh soup it up a bit but it's it's very much still looks very utilitarian um which suggests a lack of flare but greenish graders have got got plenty of that and Richard carapaz today well you heard it from K worth as well their job is to get him into a decent position then let him finish the job off and it could be Shan that we have the great names once again coming to the four and it's the sort of terrain where Richard carass could really Thrive today better him I think than Primos RIT although they will be of course as always reasonably close together by the end yes well I think this time today is H certainly a one for the GC contenders we're going to see a battle here who is going to be the strongest uh because uh you know this is a very steep gradient in the end but it will be guaranteed a battle between the GC men can't wait Chris f um every single day he seems to be doing more and more and and and I think proving more and more to himself sha he he's a man who constantly asks questions of himself he sets a very high Benchmark his expectation levels of himself are extraordinarily high and he's really putting in the work isn't he yes he is and uh he's you know showing himself more and more in the front of the pedon we see him yesterday doing a lot and doing it early in the race um you know for the inos grenadiers team uh unfortunately you know they lost Mikel golash who was doing a lot of work with uh Cameron WARF in the uh in the last days as well well uh they also lost another ryer in the uh in the earlier part of the race uh uh Brandon Rivera the Colombian uh so they're down two men and that's uh not a great place to be because you need you need as you know you need all men around a man who was going for the GC and on a stage like this as it was yesterday in the earlier part of the stage you need a number of riders to control the break away and then you know keep as much men uh for the final as possible we did see yesterday you know um Richard carapaz he was only with one ryer uh Andre Amador in the final and uh you know that's not uh that's not the place they want to be they want to have more royles able to go into the final with the man in the race leaders jersey and losing two riders that doesn't help the situation makes it a bit more difficult for them well let's see um certainly depleted resources but I think as Chris f seems to um get ever stronger which is fantastic to see um the turn's done at the moment has gone on for quite a few kilometers and as you've seen We Are Climbing we're on a little sub Peak at the moment uh once we roll over the top of it little descent and then we'll start again climbing to the Sprint which announces the foot of our climb today by the way uh it's the Sprint Place 300 M before the uh The Climb actually begins uh that's the uh p rasa it's not the most difficult of climbs 9.8 km 5.3% has a few ramps within it getting up to uh uh around about eight occasionally nine uh percent U particularly right towards the end once you get over the top of it there's almost a rush a very very long descent and I'm talking 40 km um with very little upkick at all so about 40 km in total which will bring us to about 24 km to go two little lumps three in fact and then our final test which is going to be a big exam to pass very fuel make it welcome back everybody uh 75.5 km we are from home if you'd like to watch your racing uninterrupted by advertising then you can head either to the Eurosport app or the gcn app where you can find the race pass which will give you access to an awful lot of racing um almost a disgraceful amount which we're very proud of both men's and women's racing of course we're drawing to the close of what's been a compressed season but uh managed to get in so much of the good stuff there's no such thing as bad stuff when cycling is concerned as well as cycling cross uh and uh women cycling we've as we have mentioned uh you get all different kinds of uh levels and we're just loving it there is a a track season of course uh a limited one just about to happen uh we've got the European championships for you and but we do not unfortunately have any Six-Day racing this year because that Stadium bound and uh they rely on uh ticket sales to pay the bills as it were European championships not so as it's sponsored by uh of course run by the European cycling Union but um we have hopefully your good company for that um Begins the the elite racing begins one day after the Welter finishes so Nar a bounce uh in fact I think on the Monday we've got um highlights of this great race and then of course we will be uh in the VRA without a crowd uh to sort out who is going to be wearing the European jerseys um if cycling and track cycling particular does indeed restart uh let's hope that that is the case all talks of second waves at the moment and I kind of feel privileged we are aren't we Sean to have had so much cycling in what's been a very difficult period for many many people in many many sports yes well I think we've done real well and uh you know some of the races we've had over the uh the past since the beginning of um August when the uh the new reschedule program of races started off for this year you those some races the Tour of France we we were very concerned you know going into the Tour of France and force rest in the to we had a you know and quite a number of riders you know uh positive for covid-19 and uh we were uh shaking I think there was a lot of the organization of the tour as well very concerned but uh yeah they you know they they got through well got all the way to uh Paris with the tour and had an excellent tour and then went to the J of course same situation you know uh pre-race first rest day you know there was always a number of uh Reuters and Personnel uh coming up positive for the virus and uh again it was getting uh uh a little bit uh you know scary for a lot of the people on the race more so the organizers they wanted to get to Milan and in the wela we see there uh on Monday when they had the tests you know there were 684 people tested Riders team Personnel people in the organization and everybody was negative so that is a good thing uh for the wel it looks better than the other two big tools that we've had already fingers crossed that it goes on like this when we gets all the way to Madrid it's looking very good now and you know we need it um our viewers you know uh need it because they have been starred from cycling all summer and the Riders and the teams and the teams more so because we talked about that team sponsorship is you know becoming a problem we talked about that dur during the lockdown when we had no racing you know they were cutting wages a lot of the teams uh it was was uh it was getting very difficult but I think what we've had now in the last number of months the racing is will settle the ship for team sponsorship quite a lot hopefully for all and uh yeah get this season over with this weth goes all the way and looking forward to next year and hopefully for better things yeah can't wait be nice to settle down would it uh but then again the racing we've had here as uh we've been blessed let's put it that way uh feeling blessed I'm sure Big Woods After yest today Michael so already been a brilliant season in terms of grand Tours for Education First you've had victories now in all three what could make this season even better ah well yeah it's been a really nice season for us I've never been on the team where we've won stages at all three grand Tours uh so it's nice just feeling that uh level of uh momentum but uh I think the icing on the cake would be a great GC performance and we've got a guy who's in contention right now with hu karthy uh so I'm excited to be riding for him for the next two weeks a great GC performance by the time we get to Madrid for me I mean you can almost already Define it as that uh I think H's already surpassed a lot of expectations being in second so uh everything else after that is just gravy I think uh yeah I mean if he holds this or even moves up that' be just something that's incredible he seems to be like super relaxed as well the way he's running even when he talks to us he's like a different person from that we've seen before do you think that's helping him on the road too I think it's easy to forget how young H is uh uh sometimes he acts like the old man but uh he's uh he's young and he's uh just gaining experience every year and I think the performances that he's having now on the bike a reflection of that age that experience he's now 5 years six years of pro and uh I think we're just starting to see the the beginnings of uh Hugh karthy you've had your stage Victory now I guess from now on it's all about protecting Hugh or you guys still going to try to get stage victories as well as doing that I mean I think it's going to be a balance of that I think the big Focus has to be on Hugh now but um who knows what's going to happen down the road maybe there are some opportunities until then though we're going to just make sure that he's protected H karthy came on the radar in 2014 that was a long time ago he's only 26 at the moment so you do the maths um quite remarkable he's with rafaa J JT and KY oral said thank you very much and signed him up and we followed him right from that time to be honest uh and it's it's a joy to watch him just come through he didn't only take a stage on that race in career he won it uh the whole thing and it was um it was a remarkable race with some pretty good Riders as well who are along and not just riding for fun so yeah he put a lot of big names to the sword when he was there and um all of a sudden got himself on the radar and right now uh the radar is uh it belongs to to everybody else because H karthy is weapons grade I think it's fair to say in terms of his challenge here is he Shan the only one who is going to stop RIT or carapaz juking it out for the title it kind of seems that way well for the moment uh it looks like he's going to be there uh in the battle for the title here uh but uh again there's a lot of terrain to come and difficult terrain uh but he certainly oh looking good and uh you know we look at Hugh Cy in the welta he has had some you real strong performances last year he crashed out early um on stage six it was so we did not get a chance to see him or he did not get a chance to show himself and you know we remember that crash uh there was uh I think was the same one as raban came down in but uh it wasn't the early part of the race as well and now you know he's more uh experien he's got more uh supp stamina as well over the past number of years riding a number of Tours because some Riders they need that they need a number of years just to build up stamina to be able to do a three-week ra race and to be there in the final week and uh you know that can be the case for huat this year that in the final week he's not going to you know weaken at all and if he can continue on in the way he's Runing at the moment in the final week well then you know he's guaranteed to have a very good place what that will be yeah it's difficult to know because at the moment you there's a lot of Royers Dan Martin as well he's looking in excellent shape will he be able to you know cause a lot of problems uh you know Primus Rog Henri and mass you know we have Marx Solair who is very much up there Gro shner there's a lot of riders here could be the surprise when we go into the final week what about our Breakaway um no disrespect to them at all but we very much feel that it's going to be uh the the main contenders that do wind this one in have already started on the approach down to 4 minutes and 9 was uh heading out to 4 minutes and 40 not that long ago so the first climb has uh has had a a little impact the first little non-categorized climb I should say and we'll see how long they last because by the time we get to the peak of our first ceriz test we'll be 50 km from home so in 19k time we'll be there over the top of that there is a very long descent which brings you uh to a couple of lumps again non-categorized but will be a Qui a test before we take on our big climb today and the big test itself a lot of questions will be asked and we'll have a few more answers as to how uh this race is set sorting itself out I think the weekend is really The Crucible of this race um we have of course course the angu on Sunday uh the farona as well in advance of that with a scary series of tests three category ones for indeed uh on Saturday and other categorized climbs as well um and then of course we have the special clim the angoo itself at uh which will take us to a very well-deserved rest day as they come back out of that it'll be a time trial where any time lost to carapaz may be regained by Primos rogl when it comes to the TT depend dep on how well he climbs in the mountains and with the loss of Tom zuman kind of makes you wonder um how much Firepower is going to be missing from Team yumbo visma uh a team as well as we were talking earlier who uh about different races and different levels of covid uh positivity in a in a negative sense testing positive for that yo visma withdrew from uh the zero and um Maro Veni the organizer of the race is still pretty cut cut up about it to be honest um and uh it's talking about taking action unspecified so far against yo visma and EF Pro cycling um is he going to calm down Sean or is are we going to get something messy in the courts what do you reckon uh well with Mor of Ven is difficult to know he certain there's the voice of experience gone he he certainly uh he not a one that will back off too quickly um I don't know what um on what grounds uh he can you know uh uh take the team um that's the teams he's talking about to uh take him into the courts I'm not sure on the regulations but he's certainly you know talking a lot about it and he did talk about you know the day the ryerss did not want to start on the uh the long long stage before the uh time trial you know he said yeah let's get to Milan and somebody will have to pay somebody will have to pay whether he continue on that but yeah he's talking there yesterday he was talking it up you know he was in contact with UCI he want those teams to get some sort of a punishment for their actions during this year's jro well um you know if you do question veny um you can get punished um Sean Kelly and I uh were trapped behind a door in a winding house trying to get off a mountain it's absolutely packed the glass was billowing with so many Jos inside and of course we were at a side door thinking we were very clever with ourselves as uh K oral decided that they're going to re-engage here and try and get something out of the day in terms of a man in the break KET has been a busy man but um we shall see whether um this will lead to much lastra also likewise has been up the road on a a couple of occasions and uh right now you're looking head to SC and uh uh and garia so presumably teeing it up for their two principles a little bit later on uh yes um and we found ourselves standing right next door to maraven who made his way through the pack of journalists there must have been 300 of us uh and another 200 inside the winding house to try and get on the lifts to take us off the mountain and there was a very um how can I put this a forthright security lady who um she was she was enormous uh she could have been a bouncer and quite frankly it's what you need that level of security we were terrified anyway venie turned up and uh and said to Sean so how's it going and Sean said well this is a bit of a mess big and then he got the Veni look and Veni said you don't like it you can always leave and then the door opened magically cuz he'd been on the radio he went in and we said oh are we coming to no and the doors climbed shut and we were left outside in the cold that was your fault Sean well we had been standing outside in the coold now Caron for a good part of an hour maybe an hour and a quarter and uh yeah I think Rob hatch was also there with on that occasion and uh yeah it's something we uh we we talk about quite a lot and we have a a lot of laugh laughs about it uh now but on the day you know it wasn't a nice situation and I was uh the Riders we could see the riders that were coming in it was a Mountaintop finish Riders were coming in in group at uh you know cold at the top and they were trying to get down as well with their bikes and they had to fight their way through uh lot of Spectators who were and a you know a huge big queue outside that door so that was my um my wordss to veny that you know for the Riders it wasn't fair and for us guys as well I said we've got to work as well so I thought we might get inside that big steel door but not at all no no the Amazonian security guard um was having none of it and Ne nether was bar Veni yeah he got fine anyway uh yes yo visma of course withdrew from the jro and he if procycling wrote a letter uh calling for the organizers um to stop the race because of the covid positive tests uh thankfully the race did of course reach a conclusion one we're very happy with with to Gart um but ven's not happy at all and he's still um he's still venting the venting venue we'll see how he goes uh but I don't think it's going to get to uh to the courts I hope not anyway you know we need we need to move on we had a great race he he had a great race so let's just uh let's just put that one to bed shall we just get on with enjoying ourselves what man is enjoying himself from M Star stage winner Mark Solair there he [Applause] is it seems that M Star is riding in a different way on this Welter would you say that's true yeah we're uh we're feeling we're feeling better we're we're very motivated we're eag to eager to do well and maybe we're uh riding a little more aggressively than in the previous races until now she says with three riders in the top 10 uh could you use this position of strength for today I think he gives an advantage he says because a big breakway like yesterday maybe aleandro myself could be there enri m could be with the favorites in a good place to win time of the GC W your Riders who is you think is looking weak who is looking dangerous amongst your Rivals weakness nobody says everyone's dangerous but more especially Richard car and R we can't forget either about H karthy and Dan Martin well yeah we mentioned Dan stage winner of course and really refound his Mojo it wasn't that we were missing him off the list because of course um we have enri mass as well and anything can happen but I think the eye is really still drawn to rogich and carapaz and what they do and who stops them it could be any of those Sean and that's what makes this rate so great yes well you would look as uh know PR Rog at the time trial for the men that are ahead of him but Richard carapaz you know he can put up uh quite a good time trial but uh the time trial is a long ways away we have so much difficult stages to get over before we get to that things could change a lot and uh you know you have to just keep on going down the overall standings classification and you know when you go down to fif fifth place enrik Mass he's a very good time trialist and can produce a good time trial at the end of a a big T he's done it in the past so I think yeah the race is still wide wide open here and you know Mark Solair as well he's at 142 he's the Royal that will attack we see him on Sunday stage he started attacking out of the main Pelon so this race it's all to fight for here at the moment uh caraz on the uh on the top of the lead of balls but there's a lot of riders thinking depending on how they're feeling they're thinking about yes I can win this race I can get a place in the podium so there's yeah so as many more days of great racing to racing to come and this fight to win the uh the race outright in Madrid tell you something Sean the uh the two Riders from kyal making a very good fist of this um they've already found a minute on the pelan thereabouts or 50 seconds as it is at the moment but you know we'll give him the extra 10 just as a Bobby bonus HED C who tried to get the break yesterday in fact he was in the first uh first real role of the dice didn't make it in the end it was ler that went up the road but uh he's got Garcia with him and it goes to show Sean if you are determined it doesn't matter what your level you can potentially make some inroads here they're doing a very good job yes they're going well but uh it's still a big gap to come down here true enough back to our Breakaway uh ruy Costa is here along with Remy cavan we mentioned before and uh Rob stanard um I'm always shocked at Rob stanard I don't know because we've we've got other stanards but I'm always shocked at just how young he is 22 years of age because he's been around for a while um picy lombardia is not the the small lombardia for the juniors it is no easy race to uh to master and he got the mastering of that very powerful Rider uh Stephan deol sorry Stan Devol I beg your pardon I'm always call him Steph for some reason sorry Stan um yeah old Stanley he won the paru B SP again another youngster at 22 years of age who's who's out there and we've spoken about dulf on a number of occasions in glowing terms and he's in the break today I think he was in the up there yesterday uh Benjamin Dibble um is uh again somebody who I think last year just check yeah you won the Tour of lanow Shan so um thanks to Pro cycling stats for that uh yeah um and that's no easy task either with the uh the Genting Hills and and the rest of it uh Julian Simone we know about uh 35 years of age bit of a veteran but still turning in some great performances one finished there last year and you know somebody who can turn it in on a good day he's got a very good kick on him and don't forget he got a top 10 on stage five here the day that Tim V's one uh with a breakaway they finished in uh in eighth place amongst the pack who came home in the wake of the leading Three G maram losing out to Tim Bell that day you might remember uh so yeah another strong Rider as well it is a strong break we've got Migel madzo as well um a man who wears his spectacles with pride has to have specially made uh um uh cycling specs as well which account for the uh the lenses um but we remind you as well that madzo last year won the haval lamra uh stage and if you look at the profile of the haval lamra big kick in the pants at the end of a flattish day with h couple of lumpy tests beforehand um deja vu all over again for madrat o Sean in his dreams can he make him happen well I think when you look at the Breakaway uh he has to be very much up there with a chance to go for the uh stage Hors today and uh you know looking at the moment uh five minutes in Advantage for the breakway back to the main pedor which are two uh men from kaharo in here uh you know doing a doing a very strong ride but they're going to you know put in a lot of effort here and uh when you do that yeah you uh you're going to have difficulty in the end if they do ever make it across because they still have over 3 and A2 minutes to make up here but I think yes man Angel manaso he he's right in this race different to what he did last year he was in the brakes you know very very much in the earier days last year going for the mountain classification points but then PID dearly uh further into the race fatigue really hit him and he was really struggling as the race went on so we've seen him you know yesterday we've seen him more in the more recent days looks like he's getting he's settled into the race now so I would say he could be a one that could stage take the stage today but yeah there's Ruby KOST as well who was capable of putting up you know a great final he's capable of doing that and there's a number of you know other ones you know Robert stanard he could be the one who could also take on us here and for the moment uh it's looking good that they could go and um you know fight out for the victory this uh evening yeah it won't diminish the battle that we've got amongst the GC men because um the Breakaway itself is um it's an acceptable one in more ways than one I think you might say for the pelan because uh the best place man in there is R Coster at 23 minutes so they can give him five uh without too much worrt everyone else um much further down in fact three of four of the number are more than an hour down so uh you get the kind of view that we have so it's a strong Breakaway and that's why Garcia and SC want to bridge to it Sean they're prepared to um burn their energies to get over because there's a great chance that this may make it all the way and someone like uh um uh Gara um can do it head to SC as well no slouch himself very accomplished done a lot of work in um uh in the Welter in the past had some very very strong finishes so yeah um the uh I'm talking sort of approaching top 10 on on stages or 20s I should say but nonetheless uh capable I think it's he working for Garcia at the moment but let's see these guys are going to work for themselves in the end as it is they work as a a good time traling unit with 60 km to go which means that um the intermediate Sprint has more or less been dealt with and we're going to head onwards and upwards to the PUO de Raza uh almost my favorite music um musical form um with um some tested little ramp Sha but the crucial part of this is when you get to the top there's an enormous descent I mean it's over 40 km that will take us to the foot of our our final test well we'll hear more from Shan for those of you who are on digital some of you are just about to take your leave uh for some uh promotion if you don't want that then of course there is the gcn app and the race pass sha a crucial pivotal point of the day as far as the Breakaway concerned because they've got a very long uh descent once they've dealt with this uh this peak which we they are now upon yes well we can see there that the uh the breakway just just went on to the clim there some moments ago and uh yeah they P the uh it's um you know it's a clim that's not too difficult and uh with the race situation the Breakaway they're going to try and ride this one at you know good pace and hopefully that all the men in the front are good enough just to stay together get over this one then get onto the long descent as you said and get onto the final time of the day uh our two men from Karu you know they're going to have a hard ride here just to get The Climb which they be coming to pretty shortly but then when you hit the climb after pushing on here have as they have been doing you know will they be able to continue eating into this uh advantage to the Breakaway out front we'll see that pretty quickly on the first kilometers on this uh on this climb and yeah it's uh it's looking good for the break where as I said now at this point unless we see something happening in the Pelon where a team really takes it up and drives it on at a a super fast pace it should be okay for the breakway because we top out on this climb 50 kilomet to go uh you know a long a long a lot of are descending so that will help the breakway as well but uh yeah you always have to wait to see what will happen in the pelone on this first time of the day well these two are uh making Headway this is excellent work by them Shan um they've uh they're coming up to 2 minutes of an advantage over the pelan with carass so it shows what a bit of fortitude can uh can bring you it may well their reward of course will be some very tired legs when they get to this Category 2 but they've got that long descent as we were saying to refound uh refind some of their strength just passing by the intermediate Sprint that's of no consequence to us today um because Primos rogl very much installed within that points categorization I'm sure that R Costa got up for some of those points but on 29 Points it really is uh uh too much to ask ha scis has done his job for Garcia and has released him it was uh teing on his behalf but just went pop sha almost heard that down the valley yes well we see there he just gives everything and then on the climb immediately just pulls over job done and yeah it's uh it's going to be a one for Garcia here you know to close this 3 minute plus uh of a gap here this is going to take an enormous effort and up front you know they're just going to continue on as they have been doing and get onto The Descent and it's going to be difficult for him to pull anything back on The Descent because you know the uh the breakway is going to go down as fast as he will so yeah it's going to be a big ass for to get across to the break welcome back everybody who has have been away a reminder that you can keep in touch with the coverage uninterrupted if you go to the Eurosport app or indeed uh the gcn um uh app as well and you will find gcn player you will find uh the race app uh the race pass within that so uh go and enjoy yourself why don't you cycling is your thing and presume it is if you're with us at the moment hater SC has just done a job for Ian garia who uh uh Johan garia I beg you pardon who has just pushed on into that gap on his own on the climb it's a category 2 test once we get to the top of of the POA and then an Unholy Descent of um some 40 kilm so no not quite that much actually 35 something like that but a long old descent um maybe he'll have a chance to uh at least rest his legs but the inroads that garia has made on um the riders in front of him who are our Breakaway today I'm afraid uh it may well be that that Gap it's just under the 3 minute Mark at the moment so he's giving it a very good go and it shows you what you can do if you have a great deal of belief and he's left behind some quality Riders well we start coming up to start to Skirmish Sean and uh whenever this happens everyone starts wondering what the battle plan is because it's been a bit ad hoc the way that they have approached with aggression this race but it's been very effective yes well there seems to be a little bit of a discussion there between the uh the M Star Riders and the in grenadiers there camon Warf it looks like that yeah there was some sort of discussion just getting onto the climb and now we see the two men from the mob star starting to push on and this is what I mentioned a bit earlyer you have to wait the final time see what the uh main Pelon will do it looks like mov moar again want to up the pace here and really put the pressure on as they have been doing on many occasions in this race you don't look do that unless you're very hungry and very capable and quite frankly I think they're both after what's been a a relatively uh poor season by their own standards so some of the gaps have been huge in terms of uh their winds and Val could have had one yesterday I think if he'd just rode slightly differently but nonetheless they're going for it again and you saw The Young Riders Jersey leader the WW of that competition um the leader of that competition enrik Mass just tucked in I think he fancies it today and I fancy he'll go very well indeed these are the wide open planes that characterize this particular climb um the the land just teeing up as you can see rather gently it's probably a big test for someone like me but um I think most of the pelan at the moment remaining largely intact a peleton that is we remind you without poor old Tom Duman who stepped off the bike and Kenny ERS who stepped into the L he's got tummy upset I'm afraid probably partially due to uh the um uh desperate road conditions we have hand very wet weather and the pickup we're warning that there could be some tummy upsets and that's precisely what we've got with k with gastroenteritis which is a very nasty thing I've had it myself meanwhile Garcia still going and still finding time but each of the seconds that he gains take a bit more time for him to achieve them I'm afraid it's a it's a very tough task to do it on your own sha and he is Lonesome now yes well it is going to be a difficult one here you know he still that 247 and uh yeah I'm not sure that if this tactic from the karal team is the best one we can see orando Garcia Susa uh he's on his own now but he has a huge gap to close down here and the breakway up front you know they continue on uh to work well together uh get over this climb and then get onto The Descent and uh you know he's not going to close this gap on the climb if it was a minute minute and a half you'd say okay that's doable if you if you can really put in a big effort on this uh uh on this Force climb of the day get across but now he's not going to make it here uh on the climb he's going to be in the on The Descent on his own then he's going to be on that flat section because there is a little bit of flash rela 20K 25k maybe uh he's going to be there pretty much on his own if he continues on with his effort i' not be surprised if he decides when he feels that he's not going to be able to bridge it across he might just uh decide to stop his effort here and just wait up for the peleton well the Pelon itself has had a change of mood as you can see they've um they've eaten in about uh just over half a minute as it stands on the Breakaway an accomplished Breakaway uh a good fighting force but I just don't think with uh the test that we've got at the end of today that they're going to have what it takes to hold at Bay what looks to be a reinvigorated Chase mainly because of of course you can see M Star coming to the four um a few of you have written in on Twitter we remind you that um you can spare us your thoughts at on Twitter Carlton Kirby just my name lowercase c a r l t o n k i r b y Shan Kelly CC uh you can also drop us your thoughts or um even at Eurosport oruk why you fill your boots let us know your thoughts I think you can do at gcn tweet as well if you want to spread the love or indeed the pmic you decide uh we are loving the way that this race is revealing itself and the questions that we are asking ourselves this whip hand camera is all very good but um when you find yourself down towards the gearbox of a a three-wheeler moped um it whines a bit as you've just heard um talk about wine let's talk about wind uh we'll talk about wine in a minute thanks to James blackshaw who says l grono L grono uh is the capital of the ri where we started today and various um bodegas well worth a visit he's absolutely right if ever you see a um a sign just saying Veno um or the like um usually handwritten on a bit of card um just go along and seek out the Thinker uh or indeed uh uh the uh Bodega uh where they are selling the stuff and you'll just find something exceptional here we are here's the man that tried to help Gia to make the break head or s or Bri to the break SC um found out uh on the opening slopes of this Category 2 test which just comes after the middle of today's course total distance today not a punishing distance on paper 164 kilometers in total but it's all really about the last 8.2 8.3 kilm of the day which is that desperate climb that really will Define the day can't wait to cilio um is where we're heading meanwhile 8% this is no easy beans either Sean no it's not we can see here everybody is you know working uh quite strong to stay in contact here but uh yeah they're uh they're doing it uh correctly here just keep on you know working the pace here try and uh you know share the pace setting on the front and uh get over this time with this adventure they've got four minutes now um if they can hold on to that well then get get this mountain over with and get onto The Descent and see what the reaction see what the pelaton is doing and then we'll be mware know that moar are pushing on so this is going to be a concern M Star pushing on it seems to be almost uh the defining uh phrase of the race they do lead the team competition but they want so much more than that they want the whole thing as well as The Young Riders uh uh title which they lead at the moment they'd like to turn white to Red maybe own them both um it's a team that has been long um at the Forefront of thinking as far as Spanish cycling is concerned when the other Spanish teams such as usar till uh took a bow um apparently on their way back but albeit more modestly it's um it's been brutal the economic crisis of 2008 Spain really took a hit from that and you talk to Spanish people who said they never really got over it and now of course as soon as you're up and uh off your knees Co comes along and spoils the party yet again uh going to be more tough times economically Sean and a lot of teams are under stress aren't they um we just hope that uh uh days change and um you know we get ourselves a vaccine and we can just get on with playing what we love doing yes well uh we did see that during the um time when the uh race program was all suspended for a number of months and you know we did not know when the season would kick off and uh there was a lot of talk you know from teams and that they were cutting the salaries of ruers other teams were okay to continue on and uh it's understandable because you know the team sponsors they want the exposure that's where they put the money in and this year wasn't looking good at all but we've had a good run now in the last number of months so hopefully that uh most of the teams hopefully all of them will be uh Happy enough to put in the budget that is needed keep them on the road for next year but you know this is going to affect uh sponsorship within cycling as it is in you know many other sports um you know to get sponsors to come on board now and there is a number of teams you know on the lookout for sponsorship in the top ranking the world two level uh but uh yeah this uh this past couple of months with the program of race has been really changed about uh it's not going to make it easy to get new sponsors and to hold on to some of the kind the the ones are already in and let's remind ourselves Sean with uh with with Ryder's careers being extended in the likes of alde doing great stuff and showing that the clock certainly hasn't stopped on his career uh Dan Martin as well refining his form Chris FR riding back in in this race and looking good um that means that there are fewer spaces for the youngsters who are coming through and with the way that their training schedules and nutrition and the like uh has uh and the equipment that they have at their disposal um we see young riders coming to the for always seeing some great young names uh at the very highest level but for those who would normally expect to be on a cycling roster um there's plenty of riders unfortunately who are chasing ever fewer contracts and places that are out there because Riders careers added to the economic wow um start early and finish late which means there's a a lot of riders to choose from out there yes well there is a lot of riders that haven't got a contract for next year and uh you know there is going to be um problems for rers with you know with teams pulling out a sponsorship as well we know CCC is not continuing on sponsorship after this year they did not uh manage to find a new sponsor Jim Movic was you know um he was confident in the earlier part when it was announced but uh seems to be that you know they're not able to find anything and of course there's a lot of those Riders you know moved on to other teams uh and I think teams you know the number of Riders on the roster that they will have they might you know keep it to the minimum where if things are really good you take you know maybe two or three extra Royals in a team in case you have a lot of um riders with crashes sickness all of that and you're well covered so I think there'll be a lot of the teams you know just trying to work with the minimum of riders to just cut back on budgers because of the environment we're in so it's sort yourself out time today this is the first climb that has been categorized and um you can see as well that uh they're not giving garia much of a chance at the moment in fact uh the gap between Gia and the petan of favorites which is starting to thin down modestly you're seeing a few Riders just off the back but um nothing serious just for the time being that'll change very much so as we get towards the end but teams are getting into color order they're starting to think about protecting their Riders some have ad doted throughout this group notably hu karthy men have uh have actually spent some energy just keeping up at the moment the pace is being dictated by mistar they seem to be in their pomp at the moment Sean they're having fun yes well we can see the men here from moar the big rollers we can see you know Verona riding there we can see Nelson Ola we can see uh Aras I think he's up there and know all of those guys um are VC you know those are the ones that going to use up on this clim and you know they are uh riding here with intent you can see the way you know the pel is starting to stretch out forther back and a lot of riders losing contact and you know I think a lot of the riders in the main P are hoping okay leing your grenadiers just set this pace here and we get onto this first climb and we get over pretty much in the poner if not a little bit off and get back on The Descent but now it doesn't look like all the Riders are going to be able to stay in the pelone and get onto the final climb of the day so this makes this makes it difficult for a lot of r Riders the Riders here in the breakway they know what's happening behind the riders in the Pelon that have got to ride here and the Riders are getting drop so again it's turning out to be one another stage in this Welter which is going to be a difficult one and it seems to be every day you know we have uh a difficult stage yesterday again it was a real killer a stage it was racing all day and today it's going to be another one do you think Sean that um there are any cracks in the armor of Primos rogl being displayed and um how serious do you think uh it is that Tom de Mulan has not been at his best it's bound to have added pressure to those amongst the team and we've seen rogl exposed uh without support on a number of occasions I kind of feel that he needs a a bit of extra today he's got SE cus with him of course who's mightily accomplished and uh plenty of others to choose from on it's a spectacular roster but I fear for rogich today and I kind of think that mass and carapaz may well have some fun hu karthy as well has shown himself to be uh exceptional on some of the bigger ramps and we've got one of those where he'll be able to set his usual Tempo today um but I fear for for rogl that today he may well lose time but then again we've said that in the past like on losma machucos in the in the past will he be threatened today he'll certainly be but what will his response be do you think I'm asking for predictions really well I think uh Primus rogich um I think he will be okay today um we see him on Sunday losing the time on that final Mountain but there were circumstances uh for that because we know about you know getting his rain courau on and lost a bit of time and then on The Descent there were splits in that pedor and in the final time you know he had to get back into the front of the race and uh that's you know that takes a lot of energy and the and the conditions was in as well because everybody was really suffering because of the wte cold conditions they were in for a big part of the day so uh I think rogich will be back to his best today but yeah you just never know he's had you know a long run where he's in top shape because when the season started in the beginning of August he was really in excellent shape in the first races we did see him in dolphan a he was super then of course in the T of France how long can that go on for that is a question is on uh on a lot of people's lips can he keep it going will he be competitive right through this race we will see I think some of that uh uh some of those questions being answered today you know one thing that uh we we we often describe Hugh karthy as a bit of a diesel but he's shown some real aggression and the ability to change pace and really take advantage and and push on and and GAP the likes of carass on during this race um he is perhaps a bit more explosive than we've given him credit for in the past and I'm just wondering whether today he can find a gap and then hold it by defaulting to um his his known capabilities busy speculating as to how today will pan out we'll have the answers of course a little bit later on but 52 km from home uh we're going to come up and over the top of this test the uh it it Peaks out um in about 1700 M time for our Breakaway who from them will fancy the mountains points is the uh is the question don't forget the gon martal took over the mountains classification lead Yesterday by a margin of three points ahead of sepkus and here's a wind which may well have um a bit of a say today once we've dealt with this Climb by the way and we've headed uh uh towards the wind as you're quite simply seeing right now looks like the sports boys have made a trip um yeah we'll be heading down uh towards uh towards the West which is well blowing a Westerly for the time being it's swirling about if you look on windfinder it's hard to Define today they'll suddenly hand head northwards which will be a u uh a Westerly and then we'll loop back around ourselves to mavilo at the very end so uh go figure as far as our Breakaway is concerned I'm just seeing who is the best place within it who is in the break it's R Costa he only got four points um so so there's your answer actually Rob power is also in there on four as well so there's not going to be no change on this Category 2 test when they get to the top 3 minutes and three is the gap and that says Shan that our Breakaway man looks like he's just about to be wound in here um good effort but at what cost um it seems that that was just a leg burner for no real design yes well I was always doubtful when we see the two of them taking off out the front of the pelaton and you know the pelaton were just being uh pulled Along by the uh uh IND grenadiers Riders and uh they took off as you know a real fast race but they had the the gapy had to close down against you know a big Breakaway of riders which are working well together it was always going to be uh I think an impossible one really and we're seeing there you know he just um wasn't going nowhere really when he got onto the climb and now he's been pulled back so quickly but I think it's so team director sport a bit of you know in uh desperate try to get something out of this stage and I think it's a bit of punishment for the Riders because of missing the Breakaway I think so um the sport te are given to doing that I noticed that they didn't burn um amasa or lra um so it was clearly quite selective as to who he was going to punish um some some whipping boys Shan were chosen yes well I think you know some of the riders that probably uh picked out this morning at the team meeting to go into the Breakaway trying you know being the move of the day and yeah not making it and then yeah they they do make him suffer a bit but I think it's yeah it's the wrong tactic if you miss the breakway uh you uh when it gets to a certain uh point you know three and a half 4 minutes well then you just say well you know we missed it today guys you know it shouldn't be the case we have to wait for another day but on the following days we have to be there and yeah burn your energy for No Gain there's no point exactly I I I I always wonder about it there's there's better way to punish guys than starting to fry them up especially ahead of uh what is you know a difficult race in any account tomorrow Kyo will be in the break because it's a sprinter day and that's what they do an Invitational team as I'm sure you know edrick Mass just tucked in as uh part of this group couple of other names that you need to conjure with today like Walt PS see how he goes um Dan Martin as well of course and Alexander flof change in complexion completely today uh 2 minutes and 47 all of a sudden on this climb uh the break starting to look um a little bit shaky um so who's going to be found Behind the Green green door at the end of the day uh is anybody's anybody's guess tenuous Ling there uh they roll up and over the top and it's cavan who started off this entire move and has been the main engine room of it I think from this angle hard to see uh who rolls over the top it was so um long descent to be had right now if you're good at this sort of thing you can put some power in the legs if you're not then uh it can be a little bit tense aair at least it's dry they're over the top they're heading down and this is a long descent um it will take us to about the 140 km completed Mark so uh we're talking 25ks of descending it's taking me a while to work that out mathematically but I got there in the end um so uh quite a focus descent sort of flattening out but it will be downhill which will allow them to have some Pace as it will take uh to about the 140 uh to go completed Mark about 23 km from home place called uh isana and that's where we'll have a couple of little bumpless which I think will be taken as a Sprint almost before we introduce ourselves to the final climb today um we've been talking about it all day Sean but it is starting to get a little bit scary um let's just uh deal with that final test momentarily um some really horrible rounds s and there's a section that goes on for nearly a kilometer within that climb of 15% that's no laughing matter no it's not uh this is going to be a real difficult climb and uh the way the race is looking at the moment uh 224 for the break away unless they you know knock off their effort back in the main pelor but they doubted very much now uh it looks like Mo St want to continue on uh and uh the breakway our seven men here on the descend it's um it's not going to be easy for them because if they have five or six minutes Pelon just being controlled by team of race leader uh then they could make The Descent with a bit more Comfort but here you have to push on now and see what is going to happen but yeah is under two and A2 minutes as we can see you know Amador is going to the front here to continue on this uh this pace setting but yeah when you look at the situation out front why do you have to ride OB star there's nobody in the general classification of any danger so just wait for the final climb and if you want to do something uh with your team in the GC take it up you know 25 30 km from the final climb just drive it onto the climb full on Pace and then you know on the time itself keep a very very high pace for as long as possible and that's where you put rers under difficulty but uh moar want to hit it from far out and maybe that's for Val valde maybe he likes just this hard stage over a long distance and that will wear out the other RS so there must be a tactic here but we can see Inus now want to push on as well and uh they can we can see they're losing some of the reers there Cameron warer starting to have difficulty just to stay in the wheels in the main pet on it's interesting as the alarm Bells go off Sean to see those who don't really have that much support around them who are moving into position well Po's one of those the Dutchman of course who had a a really bad 2019 and uh top of 2020 but uh suddenly uh it seems to have uh sprung to life and um he also just wrestling with the bike to get himself into position center of the road uh amongst this frsh group you see the green jersey on the back of Primus rogich we remind you he he leads uh the points classification Richard carass um never too far from the front and in his grenadiers have uh taken over the pacing and look at the Gap it's absolutely tumbling 2 minutes and 28 I think we will have our uh the confirmation of that climb by the way Cav jul Simo and Stannard and that's how it stands overall no change at the top so gon Mar still leads that competition lots of points up for grabs at the end today and if seus can hang with pretty much Rit he might well pick up some mountains points at the very end and why would he not um still know if climb I'll just wipe the screen uh but we will get one on Sunday when we head to the anglu of course these guys um playing with a dry Road it looks a bit patchy as you can see um that's I don't think damp it's just a question of um the the fact that um uh the uh the road surface has been laid and repaired but looks pretty uh decent not too heavy nice uh decent grip levels without being um grally you know the sort of thing I mean heavy roads not nice as uh they head round and take take on turn after turn and everyone needs to stay safe and don't get trapped on the inside no dive bombing please thank you so they're coming in sort of three and four wide and then they're exiting this two wide at best uh reconfiguring themselves bit of hurry up hurry up from this areial shot for EF Pro cycling don't want to miss out on any moves and it is starting to stretch just a little bit some gaps opening up and guess what Sean M star with the whip hand again yes well they're continuing on here and uh you know we did see a number of r trying to come to the front to uh control for the sand but more we start back in the uh on the front of Affairs and we see y um roas Jose roas pushing on here and another R just taking over there we can see the way they stretching out the pedon here just one line of right as that tells it's rapid fast and uh moar it just wasn't on the time to you know get the position keep a good uh keep a good place with their leader or with their two leader as I suppose valde and mass they want to continue and they are continuing and it's going on and in the meantime the Breakaway you know 227 at the moment the Breakaway must be saying oh no it's uh it's more we s guys again uh I'll not say the rest no don't um that's the thing that uh that is wrapped up and described as an oath Sean uh but couldn't be further away from that uh so yeah this descent it does FL out but uh it it is largely descending for the next 20 odd kilometers in fact they've dealt with the last um sort four or five in very very short order we've had a few whoops and and and wallows today um uh from an enthusiastic cameraman I think and maybe it's the camera bike just happy to get down and through some of these curves um when the roads are closed and you and you have the gift of a let's say a sportif where they where they've closed the roads as well you really start to appreciate the sheer freedom of being able to use as much of the surface as you like Sean it's a wonderful thing the sense of freedom is spectacular yes well when you're going down in those races you have a motorbike out in front of you uh and that gives you a lot of confidence uh in sport EES uh you know I have been in sport EES where it's called closed roads but yeah I'm always a little bit scared you know going around corners at the wrong side of the road they always try and keep to the right side of the white line because when you haven't got the motorbikes in front of you you never know where a car can come out of um but in the big Ts of course you have you know you have the re you have the lead car first of all then you have motorbikes out in front of you uh it just gives you that extra conference to you know go go around the corners cut the corners try and get straight through with the most and the biggest speed possible yes there's not much thinking time if you suddenly see a car that's around a hairpin that's coming your way with um uh somebody bumbling off to get some milk um yeah um just asked John Dean C to be honest uh but uh but anyway yeah on um on uh uh sportifs it's supposed to be closed roads but as Sean says the security is not quite as high uh so yeah um he doubles down on the insurance by just staying on the correct side of the road didn't do poor old JN much good did it he was on the right side of the road the correct side I should say uh 42 uh he's got himself uh 40 Just sh 42 km of the day remaining 2 minutes and 20 um they're done for Shan they are just absolutely done for there's um people uh teams have got themselves a taste you what you know what that's like Sean they've got the taste and as soon as you got the taste you want to help yourself they're greedy for more and movie star really in spectacular mode at the moment they've got a big hope as well with enrik mass for this race yes but um I don't think you make friends in the pelat when you do it like this uh you know the Breakaway out front uh it's happened already um you know there's other teams who have done it in this race and you know the there's a time when you know you can get the payback and uh when you need friends in the pelor sometimes they're not going to be there you know if you look at situation of the race the Breakaway front of Seven men we did see we talked about Rya Costa you know a long ways down the general classification so no danger whatsoever just leave the race tick along and then due on the final time but of course you know teams they know the Riders well and M Star know valde he probably likes to make the race difficult from a long ways out maybe mass does as well that's the way he performs best and if that's the if that's the case well then you have to do it but still you know the writers are going to be saying to them tomorrow morning at the uh at the sign on area although now you're not going to be in contact with much rers as it was in the past because you you know you always talk with riders about the previous days racing and they would be giving out about what teams are doing and teams being maybe a bit too greedy but uh Mobis are certainly are you know going to just go all the way here and make this uh make this break away uh you know not have the opportunity to uh go to go for the stage honors and it's going to be more of a battle once again because now stage is up for grabs normally from somebody the main pelaton well you say they're not making too many friends I I don't think they're bothered sha quite frankly M Star they in their mind they own this race and it's almost like they lend the titles to other people when it doesn't go their way and they've had a bit of a draft a drought haven't they have uh in terms of results um that was really helped by Mark cair's Victory um but it almost seems like um not exactly a sticky play that's a bit unkind to diminish his fantastic results um but it's been a fallow period for them and they don't like it well trying to tell other teams that they own the race Caron and the guys in the Breakaway if you look at you know Ru kosa he's going to be uh he's a rider that's been around a long time so he's going to be giving out this evening about the M Star guys you know some of the other riders madraso for example the guys who really were think well I could win this stage here a Mountaintop finish Remy Cavo I don't think he would be able to match some of the Riders is in the in the Breakaway but still when you ride like this with seven riders for a long time during the stage sometimes we see results that we're not forecasting we don't we don't talk this R up at all so all the guys in the Breakaway are going to be hugely disappointed now that you know this Breakaway didn't go all the way to the Finish but at the end of the day there is no rule of course M Star can attack and they can you know uh push on in the pace in the pedon at any time you like pretty much when it's you know within the rules okay going through a fee station you don't attack when it when to riding along at an easier Pace if there's a crash 100 kilometers from the finish a number of riders go down and the race have been going along at a pretty easy Pace you don't you know put a number of riders and drive it on there those things you're you know you're not allowed to do and it doesn't go down well but sometimes doing this as well some of the RO will remember this for later in the race and you know if there's a situation where they can make him pay a little bit it can come back to haunt them it can um it's interesting isn't it what you say about uh uh those Gentlemen's Agreement we've SE we've seen um aggression being shown at Moments Like That by M Star notably in the total France as well AA do you remember when Omar freier pushed on and uh um in the rain and Rit came up and just said look why don't you just quiet and down just a little bit uh it didn't do himself any favors that day Omar freier I think there was a a few people that that at that moment started to think a little bit less of him quite frankly um but um Migel anger Lopez was the man who who who suffered that day um yeah you you you've sometimes you've got to behave yourself because your reputation to be honest can be dented on occasion I'm not saying there's anything wrong with what M Star are doing at the moment by the way because I I am loving it just telling you that uh for free but yeah it's like plunging a hot uh in um a blacksmith's Forge plunging a hot piece of metal into the cold water and suddenly it fizzes and spits and Sparks to life and that's what they give us and look at this the gaps are opening up and it makes for fantastic racing and that's what we've got right now sha they are punishing everybody at the moment if Pro cycling have missed out they're putting a fire out yes well we can see there's a number of teams missed out we can see there with the Inus grenadiers we can see Chris F he's just in a group behind here trying to get back in Cameron War four so and uh you know the those Riders they need him in the front of the Pelon Richard carapaz me needs as many riders as possible but going back to mob star remember last year in the W when there was a crash and Primus rogl was uh in that crash uh there was a lot of riders went down I think Tony Martin was one of the first Riders to fall and M uh when we came out of that Village they pushed on they up the pace big time and I said at that moment I said that wasn't the right thing to do because they hadn't been riding beforehand okay if you're riding beforehand with a team and you're pushing on for some reason then there's a crash you just continue on but you do not take it up when you're a long ways out from the finish and you know it doesn't go down well with a lot of the other teams and the DS's I remember the day well and I remember the sort of objections but they were half-hearted um as they were being ch ized they knew 37.7 km we're not uh we're not begrudging them today though Sean this is fantastic um they're killing off a breakaway 95 seconds only and they're killing off a challenge of quite a few Riders a lot of Dan Martin's teammates are being found wanted at the moment yes well we can see they're killing off uh a lot of riders here a big a big group of riders you know trying to get back in here we see as I said the inos guys there a number of them back there and uh it looks like this split came on the descend because uh over the top you could see that cam Warf seems to be pretty much on the tail end of the pelone maybe a split just before the top because everybody was clinging on for Life further down the pelaton but now we can see the pelaton is split into a number of groups and in the meantime M we St still drive it on here and the breake away 126 still that 36 plus kilm to go this is going to be a rapid final and we've had a rapid Pace again today and this race it's proven to be a real difficult one I think Riders are thinking well this is the last race of the year for us uh for us all pretty much you know they're going out there and they're just giving it everything they're not they're not thinking about you know races to come normally in the vaa you have a lot of races you know still to come to come after the uh the vter on the normal days in previous years so you're probably thinking about you know the those races but here you know they're not they're not thinking about that at all and it's just full full gas gas racing loving it just under 36 km to go um you can see the fires that are being set all over this mountain by mistar and uh some uh some main players are just struggling to get back in at the moment they they'll get there but it's how much energy they're burning in the effort to do precisely that that minute and 20 second by second it's falling the Gap that is to the break from those behind bit of double camera work here they're really going for the uh for the art shots are they not oh dear a bit close as well boys come on um I did notice one of the camera bikes there luckily my mic was off because I was busy swearing as he as he baged um the inside line and uh nearly took down madzo I noticed um so more than a sharp intake of breath um but uh but but there you go R Costa just tightening his uh issues a suggestion that he may well try and be Last Man Standing today in a short while we'll be rejoining our wider Eurosport family it's good to have you in the uh in the secret gang that is uninterrupted along with us for the fun and fun we're having today this is absolutely brilliant so uh past the milk factory must be a milk factory could be anything could be an aggregate Factory slightly harder than milk welcome back everybody minute and 12 um is the gap so it's well and TR to being killed off and so um mavilo is where we are heading and we're going to be there in pretty short order to be honest especially with the what is this panac Clara um well I don't know what p who panac Clara is Pac Clara is it Basque it must be um with the accents of go go here uh but aquam mineral so um I thought it was milk but it turns out to be water oh dear it it had a it had a look of a liquid Factory I was give me that meanwhile helping themselves these boys Val ver just uh uh being wheel guarded at the moment by enrik mass now they've got something of a andum I guess m star uh Valverde who is you know regarded as the patriarch of the team has moved up into Ninth Place Mass himself of course is a minute and seven valde and running in fifth place Val sitting a couple of minutes down uh 2 minutes and three to be precise gr Harner has stayed safe he's uh he's where he needs to be that's aaman who'll be doing some work tomorrow um and he seems to sustain climbs rather well he looks fresh as a daisy at the moment he won't do at the end of uh The Climb that's still to come but two fast days coming up by the way stages 9 and 10 which will bring us to the weekend which are very busy um almost scary actually with the amount of climbing that we're going to be doing uh the altitude gain on those days is ey watering um you can shed it here as well for the Breakaway because they're not going to make it minute and three um still due to the PACE that we're going at at the moment still on this sort of gentle uh descent which is being accented by the drive of the Riders uh speeds that are being matched I think we're in the mid to late 60s at the moment uh really belting along when you look at a rider there we are pelan uh well in in the 50s but nonetheless you you you get it it's been a fast day again and a lot of the speed has been called for and actioned by mistar and that's caused some stress within the pelan some gaps have opened up and and um while we give them chance to reconfigure um we're um the vuga is where we are right now um as far as I can gather those are um old uh um not just formations but actually caves never been something I've been keen on potholing but there's plenty of that around here I'm always certain that there's going to be a shower and I'm going to get well stuck simple as that Limestone wall 3 km south of Viera um well a bitable wall we've got coming up Shan um I'm very much looking forward to it have been all day and we're nearly there it's going to hurt Sean and everyone knows it yes well it's certainly going to hurt you know the way the racing is going on now um M we start putting you know um a lot of riders in difficulty and putting the pressure on everybody here uh and more so the Breakaway just killing off that and we're going to go into this final and it's going to be a you know a big big battle when you have a Mountaintop finish if the breakaways way up the road and the stage Hors is gone you can still have a big fight but when the stage Hors is still here to fight for and the GC men are you know going to uh really put each other Under Pressure you you would expect because it's you know setting up for that here it's going to be um a real a a real battle here between the big guns and you know this this this mountain top finish is a high altitude one it's almost 1500 M um it's a new one of course uh it's the first time are going up in the WTA uh it's been uh it's been time before uh many years ago in the VTA Roka back in 94 um so you know it's um it's a race that uh it's a mountain that they we've raced up before but the guys here unless they have had the opportunity to go out and wreck here uh it might be a time that they do not know a lot of the Riders but it's definitely a a a real leg breaker and it goes all the way to the Finish you know there's little bits of U sections where it does ease off a bit but you know the final number of kilometers that's where it's most difficult and it is going to be a one I think we're going to see you know gaps here between the GC men and some guys losing some time I agree um have a Gooden who is the um uh race director here uh the designer if you like he he often looks for for climbs that that uh you know surprise everybody and then suddenly become very much installed as part of the Welter going forward Alto Master La Costa you may remember Sean Los machucos as well and uh this one to have it included in this race the the one we're uh going to deal with today um I think it's going to be one of those that we may well see again the monio let's see how it pans out shall we because at the moment mov star they want more than a chunk of this they want to own it now look at inos with the red jersey of course of Cara pass just behind you have um it looks like Omar fre who's standing guard at the moment for asona he's angry after yesterday would like to uh do something don't be surprised if he has a Skittle in a short while and in a short while you've got a chance actually because uh with 23 km to go we'll be going through a place called in inana and that announces two bumps uh two um Peaks that aren't part of the climb so we if you look at it side on uh from the profile it looks like a uh a large M um sort of a glowing sign that you might find a burger underneath uh but you get the idea that's what the map does uh that's what the uh the profile does so we're going to we we have a couple of little peets before uh spelling the letter M before we take on our big test today and I might test it is with um really undiminished incline starting at R 9% and just getting harder and harder and harder we're talking uh 12 15 maybe even nudging 18% on some of the ramps and twists and turns not a pleasant thing to have to do or or to deal with and U unless you're good at that sort of thing in which case it's an absolute pleasure to put your uh your Rivals to the sword and that looks like a situp for Angel madrat so just couldn't keep up the pace and it looks like a full on Hope and it looks like he is not driving on any further uh with The Gap now 45 seconds it looks like madzo from Bergos May well be one of the first to be caught some brave souls just hiding from the wind and uh indeed they've been busy with the stones uh there we are and uh busy with the picnic by the looks of things always good to be on the Le side of the Hill remember climbing up what something like this Mount Castleton um and uh my uh my teacher had a quick look over the top and blew out both of his um uh both of his contact lenses and so our school trip was spent about the next two hours looking for them it wasn't very exciting uh but anyway we found one of them there you go it's Mr hook the metal work teacher actually the Tak us up there yes um uh 27. 5 kilometers from home uh fif 42 km you the wind may be benign Sha but clearly people are hiding from it up on the Peaks there and we're heading for the Peaks ourselves I wonder if it could become a factor we're on the Le side of the hill at the moment well I think um the roads were on today there's quite a l of shelter as we can see here at this section you know trees at both sides but it was blowing on the uh the mountain uh uh counting uh we went over we could see there was quite a strong wind but in the valley a lot of the time you know you can have the shelter but on the climate itself you could get sections where it's um open a little bit I'm not too sure of this clim because of being a new one it's just some open sections on it um and if there is you know we could see it causing problems but the gradient of this final climb up here I think that is going to be the most uh uh testing part because it is getting more difficult as we go up and you know we can see that there uh moar again they have just blown this race apart they've blown the Pelon and you know a lot of riders we see there that have lost contact on the climb but also on The Descent because of the pace they were setting there and uh it's going to go you know all the way now to the bottom of the climb and it been interesting one how much more can moar do when we get onto the final climb will they have the Manel to continue on we did see it on Sunday stage where they R you know so so much uh before the climb but they were also you very active on the climb itself and being able to continue on but uh this is uh this is a super fast and a super difficult run into the final time of the day it is um well Paul's just lingering at the back of this group at the moment trading some thoughts with jash suin from Team sunweb uh V Poes the Dutchman in the papaya and lipstick and black of Bahrain McLaren um oh looks like like the salts are just starting to join the fun here as well uh 255 km 42 seconds to the Breakaway now and it's just about done that's minerals for you plenty of them on display I guess that's where in the caves you'll get your Stallard tights and Stallard mites you know the difference tights hang down meanwhile 43 that's how we were told to remember it there you go and the vultures Shan are starting to be seen for the first time and they really are yes well we can see there and uh let's hope that um the Riders get through safe here because there's a lot of riders you know forther back they're all suffering here because of this uh real killer of a pace being set by the immobile SB and uh we can see the weather break uh it just um the advantage you know coming down so quickly uh but they're still continuing on to work well together considering they've only just under 45 seconds here um but yeah it's uh it's another day another kill of a day in this we and as I said yesterday when a race starts out you know that is very aggressive race and sometimes it continues on and this race you know right from the four stage it's been every day pretty much real difficult racing and fast racing and yeah uh it's another day where the Breakaway is going to be major disappointed that not allowed I think when we got to that you know 100 km to go 80 km to go it was looking good for the breakway but I did say you know will there have a team that will take it up from a long ways out and we know we have that now it's M Star again who have just you know uh L L up this race and uh unfortunately for the breakway it's not going to be the opportunity to get a victory yep I'm afraid so the vultur almost asking as a a metaphor for the break which is about to be killed off and madzo is indeed back in the pack first to be taken get yourself ready um just what will the DS's be so I mean I guess they've said their peace haven't they um what advice can you offer up at a moment such as this apart from stay flexible and stay strong and uh depending on what strategy other teams are imposing on you at the moment it's the will of mov star that everyone's bending to Sean yes well B St guys are you know still contining on to ride on the front here keep the pace real high and in the meantime we can see Inus grenadiers we can see yumbo visma um we can see the teams that you know need to uh be careful now as we get onto the final clim position Your Leader you know very much in the top 10 or 15 Riders that's the call they will be getting from the DS's um we can see there with the uh inos grenadiers you know they have still a number of rers carapaz is still there Sosa is there we can see D Dylan vanal is also there so they have a number of men here uh but uh know ybo Vima again they have had an easy day uh they haven't having to ride on the front at all and you know the uh the Riders they have got George Bennett and SE cus you know they will be uh very much up here in the final shake up what will they do now will they try and make the race difficult or will they you know be allowed to play their own cards a bit more with a stage Victory up for roners this is going to change the tactic a bit for some of the teams who are fighting for the for their places in the GC I think so well cavan's done such a lot of work in the breaks um you know he's had his he's had his rewards in the past it's not going to be today though Sean and you kind of feel sorry for the uh the Breakaway on days such as this um it it almost wouldn't have hurt to have a GC battle in uh uh behind them um I don't know what this vulture has just dropped upon at the moment moment uh is the cameraman hunting for a squirrel underneath all that uh plumage potentially oh dear um they're finding art shots for us Sean they're unnecessary might be over the next couple of days with sprinters days but frankly the racing is absolutely olling I want to keep the pictures on the Riders don't you yes well um I think uh there's a lot Happening Here the certainly lot happen to Wi the race as we can see Nelson oliv for the Portuguese R for M Star you know still setting a a real strong Pace here and uh yeah in the meantime the vultur are hanging about here waiting to find a lone rer yeah and uh I thought madzo he was lucky to get back into the pack cuz I think he could have been picked off and carried skywards by one of those impressive creatures of a yeah yeah probably it could have helped him get to the top well trained of course uh 20 20.9 kilm from home and 45 seconds is the gap um allowing ourselves a bit of breating space because there's actually a lot of time still to be had here uh because the last climb is so steep buy back you rejoin us as we're speculating on the usefulness of the buches here today big turn uh right now to use another bird um yes all the way around and they will head to The High Ground right let's describe this climb for you shall we because um they're not on it by the way this is one of those lumps I was telling you about there's two of them and they're quite stiff tests as well you know six 7% um so it's rough terrain and M Star clearly have a detailed idea of just how tough the day is and so they're imposing themselves early Sean knowing that these two little climbs are actually something significant and it has a cost to everybody not least the Breakaway who now have a 41c advantage moar have shown they've known the terrain on a couple of occasions I think today they're doing it again well whether they know the terrain um that I don't know but they're certainly know making the race uh really difficult for everybody killing off the break and killing off a lot of RS in the main pelaton you know we see splits there on The Descent and um a lot of riders you know which you would expect to be in here made that descent at a few as a you know a super rapid pace and there were splits in the Pelon and the way they were you know driving around at such a high rate they weren't able to get back in there and uh now we're coming into you know this final 20 km and still M Star H setting this super fast pace on the front of the pelaton and they're going to go all the way and onto the final line that is their plan of action and they're executing it real well at the moment uh how will how will they be in the final clim will they lose some of their men they have on the front here that big roll erors are a lot of work here and uh yeah will it be maybe a case then that they will be a little bit of looking at each other and waiting on the final climb but for the Breakaway you know that's 33 seconds they're not going to get onto the final climb with any advantage really I think they will be maybe pulled in before we see get onto the final clim of the day y I think it's going to happen on these lumps before we even get to our finale just heading over some of the uh uh fruit grows and and uh indeed uh Vineyards at the moment um plums in this part of the world as well as grapes there we are meanwhile 29 seconds they're done for um wide open areas um no fruit being blown off uh today by The Wind by the looks of things it's still remaining uh reasonably modest around 8 or 10 kilm per hour it might have a wearing effect depending on how exposed we get a little bit later on but this looks uh like we're in exactly that kind of scenario not too bad General classification carass leads hu karthy by 18 seconds Dan Martin by 20 rogl is there 30 seconds in a rear anytime he loses in The High Ground there'll be plenty of that uh the weekend then uh he needs to make that back up on the time trial on Tuesday after the second rest day uh for teams who want to stop rogich and uh karthy and Martin and anybody there is Dan Martin by the way still functioning brilliantly got a stage win sha the tears came both for he and was great to see yes well great to see that he got his stage Victory after such a difficult run of know bad luck a number of crashes and now he's in uh an excellent place in the overall standings and this is a stage now where Dan Martin we know will be uh uh looking forward to if he have got the good legs because this sort of Run final number of kilometers you know the gradient kicks up all the time and Dan Martin a super climber a lightweight guy uh he should be uh uh uh really uh impressive and you know he is a r that if he's feeling good he's not afraid to attack but the problem he's got now in the overall standings he's very close so I'd be surprised if he's left you know any uh any little bit of leeway or you know sitting at 20 seconds but again you know we we could see some of the GC men really suffer in the final here and uh this will be an opportunity possibly for Dan Martin to uh you know move up further take some time back in the overall standings what has been interesting as we just dwell on amongst other things as we dwell on enic mass is how yumba visma have ridden far more Cally today Sean they've not been engaged in the chase for the break they've not really shown themselves to those out front they've been tucked in and enjoying um the ride that's been provided by Inus grenadiers and now M Star they're in uh full lined out yellow and black order here albeit with the green of RIT embedded within them he leads the points classification we remind you but without Tom Duman I'm I'm just wondering how much that knocked them back today and made them become a little bit more cautious as hollenstein just uh guides Dan Martin up to the pointy end have they been cautious today uh yumbo visma and is that um giving due respect to their um diminished capabilities because of the exit of Tom Duman this morning no I don't think it's um the position that they've l Tom de Milan in this race we see yesterday as well you know they were in the Breakaway but um you know it was the uh the way the race was written yesterday and the writers that were were getting into the Breakaway there was some Danger Man in The GC notably know uh valde and uh when you have that happening well then you put uh you put your men into the Breakaway as well and when you're not having to control the race that is a total different scenario for yumbo visma and uh they can afford to do do that as they did yesterday putting two men up there and today you know staying quiet that's what you've got to do here wait for the final keep us you know keep your men fresh and I think yumbo Vima in a real good position in this race in the uh past days not having the race leaders JY having to right on the front of control in a very difficult race because this is a real a real killer of a race for the team with the red jersey to control just moving up on the barriers on the left hand side of the road are Bor hansra getting up Felix Garten into a good position it's almost the um the unmentioned I think he is uh running in sixth place behind uh uh en Mass but yeah he's in a good good uh good shape actually the Bor man a minute and a 30 down ahead of Marx cair a stage winner early in this race Dom minute and 42 and estan Chavez sits in eighth place just in front of Val 2 minutes and two down but very bad luck for Chavez with a technical um that came in exactly the wrong time on the day that Dan Martin won on our third stage so um I guess not too bad for Chavez he'll be expected to produce something this weekend it might even be today and he's one of those who um you um you discount at your peril I'm sure they won't be giving him too much rain but it might be with that 2in deficit that he has a chance just to uh roll off and maybe just find a little bit of that time and you can see the men with the acid green uh shoulders just uh intermingled with the pink of EF Pro cycling as hu karthy makes himself a move he almost looks like he's Mir catting doesn't he Hugh cuz he's so tall has a a big frame bike as well a lot of tall Riders often take a a smaller frame than um uh than you or I would actually take but um if you happen to be tall uh just for comp act and lightweight reasons but yeah he uh he generally tends to go for a larger frame so you can see pick him out very very easily a large frame was what Chavez was offered on The Dan Martin winning day sha and uh it looked very uncomfortable so he ended up making two bike changes at a very crucial time which accounted for his deficit yes well he was uh you know real bad look on uh on a a vital stage in the very final uh when the race was you know fullon racing having to change uh his boy got his teammates bike for then had to get a a bike from the car because the bike he got was a bit too big for him and was too far from the finish and you know lost a lot of time and uh you know now stands at 2 minutes but yeah in this final here that is something that might work in favor of estan Chavez being two minutes down if he've got the legs to attack two three kilometers out and he could you know go for the stage Victory but also take some time back in the GC standings so yeah he's a bit he's bit more free in the position he is's in at the moment in the overall but has he got the legs to do that certainly it's a mountain that should suit him because the grave is you know real steep at the finish the final number of kilometers for a r you know a lightweight small guy climber it's a perfect terrain um somebody who did well on that day actually was Alexander blof uh stage three he suddenly came good um in cold and miserable conditions uh today much better conditions but blastoff is in a good place uh I'm just looking and that's part of the reason why Oman fre is just buying the right to fight he's been uh he's been busy doing some pacing here and clearly thinks that vaso's got what it takes today uh there is um a good deal of sandstone there looks almost uh baked terracotta in the sunshine it looks um very much crumbling if you need some gravel for your um fish pond um don't bring your flat bed here go to your garden center uh minute sorry 14 kilometers and 14 seconds Breakaway is done um just thinking of a few others that might have her cards to play today um I think that vof might also be given a little bit of uh little bit of leeway out there and many were talking about him as uh as being uh potential for a Podium at least and maybe some real glory but he had a desperate start sits down just outside the top 20 at 6 minutes and 3 before so he's somebody with Talent who could get Freedom anyway we speculate Sean um let us dwell as we're on this little lump that I was telling you about that if you take it um if you uh attack it which is what M Star are doing it starts to get very selective and that group is now down to by my Reckoning about 50 Riders chasing onto a breakaway who still have a margin of 15 The Climb that we're going to deal with it's the last 8 kilm so we'll be there in five so let's uh let's just uh uh hook into it shall we um first kilometer of the climb so down to about 7.2 k out uh 6% then suddenly the next kilometer is 9% little bit of a 500 met easement down to 7 back up to 9 10 for 500 M then back down to 9 before it then slams you uh with about 3 and 1/2 K to go 12 1/2 15% 17 the ramps within it easing to 9 if you can call it that back up to 11 easing to seven then 12 before you get the last 500 M that is an absolute killer Sean from three and a half out to uh 500 M so 3ks of absolute Terror and it's not easy even on the approaches to those very very step inclines it's 8 km of hell and we're nearly there yes well it is a it's going to be a real um testing clim and uh you know if you're a little bit off your best here and they really uh start to race aggressively between the big leaders now on this final mountain and then you could find yourself losing time here and uh you know the change of gradient uh that is going to make it difficult and the the final run to the line you know talking about 8% and then it goes down to 6% but at that point the race is going to be so full on yeah it's not going to you know give you any rest by at all and uh yeah this is going to be a hectic final here and it's you know it's been set up by the Mobi star riders for quite a long time now and we're getting just to the uh uh to the earlier slopes of this final time of the day sometimes when you ride like uh this so hard that the team is doing the work that they're not able to continue they will you know uh the Riders will peel off very quickly in the earlier slopes and you know then will they commit the other Riders to take it on very early on the time and we could see a little bit of a looking around nobody wanting to take it up early and they could see a bit of C before the storm but still it is going to be a clim where we will see a battle if not in the earlier pass guaranteed at the top in the final number of kilometers about 8.3 is where this climb will begin 8.3 km from home so we're nearly there you can kind of tell these uh little ramp plets that lead up to it Sean they're cruel steps aren't they well yeah cruel for some maybe not so cruel for others if you're really in good shape here and you're sitting you know behind the team of uh Mob star and you have a number of teammates around you like we see Prim much Rog glit here yumbo visma uh and you're on a good day and you have got the good legs well then you know you're happy and you're confident that you can do something but you're if you're a man who's in the GC standings maybe in the top 10 or 15 Riders you want to hold in there and you're hanging a bit here uh in this group yeah down towards the rear then it's not a good place to be at all because uh you know it's just going to get more and more difficult as you go further into the end of the stage beautiful Fields here um just every single inch of them it looks uh um remains touched by human hand but uh beautiful nonetheless um agriculture can be enthralling all down to hard work and an awful lot has been put in today by mov star and uh I just hope that for their sakes they get their just reward I think it's going to be for enrik Mass to do something special unless valve is getting greedy R Costa just wound in as the Breakaway go for Last Man Standing status it looks like Benjamin Dibble is the man who's uh set off um to achieve that and we'll wait and see who indeed are the Last Stand of off I think he's uh is going to give it a good old role as well so there is the Portuguese Champion just on the left hand side of your screen um quite a difficult man to be in a break with um he's uh I've heard that um quite unpopular but uh I've always found him perfectly Pleasant uh there we are Devol and Dibble is that go for it I think he pronounces it Dibble as in Top Cat might be dball but I imagine being an Aussie it's just Dibble it's dble mate um must asking uh 10.4 km uh from home first time i' ever had a top cat reference well my favorite cat was called Benny but anyway uh back downstairs uh from this View and they're ejecting all the bottles here with only 10.2 km to go um I wonder about the sense of that don't give away all your resources uh they just wind in Rob stanard who's done a good job out front the 22y old there he is and his team will be working for Esten Chavez uh I'm looking forward to seeing how Chavez goes today emotional if if he nabs a win and gets himself back into a challenging position 10ks to go we're nearly out the climb yes I know we're climbing but it's not categorized just yet stay in your box just for now and then um the the attack dogs can be released any moment and they will be oh gosh um i i d ask you who's your pick Sean but I'm going to do anyway cuz it's such an open book isn't it yes well it's uh it's definitely a very open book here and uh yeah finding a difficult time maybe we'll say um Seb Kus might be the one who will be allowed you know to have a go here he's certainly on super form in the past and um unless the team of Primus Rog yumbo visma have a tactic here where they want to drive it on of of course Seb cus will be put into that Duty and you know just set that infernal Pace with uh um with the other man George Bennett here but if uh if they play the cars uh number of riders within that team then then he could be a one uh could take the stage oners at the end so Jose har and Victor Lefay though was busy yesterday but for for cofidis but yeah it's going to be the it's going to be the Principal actors I think that come to the four the sun picking out between the clouds almost spotlit some rather beautiful jardinage I'll be waving to the helicopter in a moment but um maybe it's the chopper Pilot's home there's 9.1 km to go could we please get back to the racing nice Bell Tower but but you know what I mean yes uh terracotta piping Tower um flying Butch say uh rinia um miniature Cyprus trees thank you uh here we are I knew i' I knew I'd put the arm up there back um there's still a long way to go Sean um because of the incline we're dealing with this story far often told yes well it's uh it's all to be played for here at the moment as we can see they come uh just under 9 km to go you know we're going to have about a 25 plus minute or about that uh to get to the top of this climb who will be the strongest and uh yeah a new climb for a lot of the Riders as I mentioned ear in our program um uh it's one of the ones that you know Welter they go out and they find these new climes um it was in the voka back in '94 and your Maria yimz one from Alex Zola and so uh yeah it's a it's a clim just wondering the S back then it hasn't been resuer that pretty quickly it looks to be pretty okay suffers for the moment that's also very important as we see the Pelon just go on to the uh uh the beginning slopes of this final climb the monchavo mono Cavo yeah um there it is keep going you you get there in the end I think you've done it I think you've nailed it 15% at the Midway section that's the halfway of hurt uh the rest of it gets more and more difficult they have relay it once they uh once they knew that they were going to be on the Telly um no center lines here and thankfully it is dry because otherwise it could have be absolutely lethal um I think Hugh harthy is going to have a great day today there you go I've said it um it his kind of diesel climb I'm just going to love watching him uh regardless of uh of uh everybody else I just want to see H go well uh but but then again um Dan Martin likewise Chavez is a another story with a great uh with a great back uh backstory to it as well uh looking down there's so many hopefuls here there's rit in the green jersey the red jersey of carass with two of uh his team just in front of him there's mass in the white jersey as well all the big names are here Sean should we should we have a dig well they're certainly all here and they're are waiting and who's got the best legs now as we start to hit this uh more of a Ste steeper section here uh will there be somebody know strike out early difficult to see because this has been a real Energy sapping race here today and I think unless M Star can keep it going well then you know who what team will take it up here is is is there a team that feel confident that when m s finish to take it on and if they do that you know 6 kilm out well then this is going to be a real killer of a clim at the end of a very difficult day RIT looks absolutely capable um looks like he's not even mouth breathing at the moment his team around him sep cus looks equally as relaxed uh you can see that bang straight into this and it's 9% and that's nowhere near our maximum uh can you imagine when you start to get up towards double that for goodness sake how cruel is the design of today uh they're weaving all over the place that's DAV former just starting to fade others as well just getting found out Devol who was part of the Breakaway just ebbing as M Star flow look behind them as well caratz is there but look now all of a sudden just grasping the nettle and coming up and getting into that uh at that coveted position uh the green jersey of rogl with two of his teammates around him three in fact and here's Q karthy just leading his own men up here uh so in terms of support he's doing it for himself I must look in the mirror at the moment and think um yeah we've got it uh here we are 17 km per hour that's that's actually quite a pace as you come up on an incline such as this it's uh taking a toll on some very very good Riders as they've done their turn 7 kilm to go and so we are uh going to ease back down to 7% but only for 500 M before Wham will'll be straight back into the 9es the 10 and then further up this mountain 15 18s let's get on with it shall we and no Pace about it but you'd expect that honestly this is a day where uh you could almost roll back down the mountain if you stopped Chavez looks very good nice and fresh as well uh tucked in with carass who gets rid of the spectacles dappled Light low frequency light in the Autumn as we have so Illuminating but as you come round uh the corner um almost good to have just a straight view a straight up view of it as we start to chug just a little bit Lis Angel mate pedling squares here for cofidis as you can see a little bit more fluid from Bruno Amaral of group armor Francis in their BL blou meanwhile Val Verde not working for himself today but I think working over the field on behalf of enrik mass but you know what if by default he gets a good finish himself then so be it Solair in here as well and you can see van Bal still working hard meanwhile that's on behalf of uh of car pass of course um looking back within this group there is rit in the green jersey and he almost on uh now guiding up his two teammates he may well call on them a bit later but doesn't want to miss out just in case anyone pushes on and that's what valve is doing this is fantastic well he turned back the clock yesterday he's turning the wheel right now and uh it's almost a torture wheel isn't it everybody else is on the rack and he's the man in charge of the big turning Circle huari knows the danger and goes over towards the barriers and just starts to set himself at Tempo running out of of allies here as Dylan vanal again suddenly brings himself up towards the four but Val Verde setting an infernal pace and the question is who's got the capabilities of matching it and after uh saving their resources all day yumbo vishma are the ones that are set off on the Chase and likewise on behalf of carop pass am Amador does a great turn yet again but Hugh karthy tucked in Chavez also there it's thinning out to the great Shan yes we can see there Val just puts in a an acceleration pulls away there but Robert ring from yumo Vima taking it on there and you know not panic at all just keep a strong Pace we did see Amador there he was looking when Val went wasn't concerned at all about chasing him or maybe just didn't feel that he was able to do it but you know at this point plus 6 km out 6.5 when Val went into the attack it's not surprising that there was no reaction at all from any the favorites here leave your teammates D and uh just play the waiting game there's still lots of time here to uh know really do something as we can see guessing Contin on to set this very fast pace sensible riding from Dan Martin he's he's just tucked in on the back wheel of Primos rogl is going to have to do something today even if it's only stamping out fires but um that's so that's a very very good wheel to follow yon Ziri stage winner leading this little Trio here with Gorka his brother and mahawi could is tucked in on the back um they will be looking for a decent finish but at the moment the gaps are starting to look pretty decent as well as he pulls off and there is uh pulls on and there is Hugh karthy as well got to ACC company it looks like Michael Wood stage winner from yesterday can't quite see but fabulous there is Dan Martin a little bit faded I hope you've got a better view of this than I have at the moment slightly pixelated which isn't helping but nonetheless Dan Martin a little bit further back there is rogl with sepkus acting as a wheel guard for the time being I'm wondering if all this setup work that's been done by Mo star just what Enric Mass can actually do with it Sean what do you think well it's going to be an interesting one Val wanted keep this pace real high and uh you know he tried to just uh uh you know push on a bit but he was covered pretty quickly by you know the ybo VIS man yesing but we can see there you know the a gor he's in 14 position only 319 down like he wants to stay there but he's starting to lose contact already and we're still 5.5 to the finish here so that tells like this pace this race today is taking his tll on a lot of uh real good Riders who are in good form because to be in the position of 14th overall at this point in the race you have to be in very good condition but this race has proven to be a real killer for some Riders well uh rogl has got the man on the front and he's got three with him as well so if uh the absence or the exit of Tom dealan due to fatigue um has had an impact they have done rather well this is Hof who's done a big turn in the in the Foothills interesting as well to see shaizar um of ag2 Al in still in a very good position likewise Felix gr Gartner from borans um as shaan just takes himself uh a a late gel here you never know uh when your uh resources May well be depleted uh there is Val just bouncing into position hu karthy still looking fresh drifting over to the side of the road asking for a little bit of help here uh but Hugh looks terrific today Sean yes well he's looking good for the moment and we can see the St to push on is that wood starting to push on but an interesting one we see Max there on the very rear of this group from the M Star team who is you know seven position so again we're seeing Riders who are very much up in the general but it's EF Pro cycling who are want to push on here as we see Robert hessing his day is done yep super work by Hess um still riding on up ahead of him is hofste Hess dug a little bit deeper and uh and there he is done thank you very much task complete meanwhile check this out Sean Hugh karthy now has demanded the pace yes well uh this an interesting one that tells that hukari must be very confident you know still 4.8 to go here and we're seeing you know Riders just getting blown out the rear door we see katano from dcone quickstep there who is also very much up on the general classification you know three just 345 down you know it is uh it is hitting the Riders early because at this point just under 5 kilm to go I think we will see some of the more uh big GC contenders having difficulty in the end we see a ninos Rider here SOA also having difficulty and that tells you know how difficult it is because this guy he's a super climber he's a he's a rer here should be saying with caraz to the very end of this stage yes he should be um he uh he's almost a a default GC Choice actually Ian Sosa but not riding like that and hu karthy has another look look at carats almost that uh uh uh knife between his teeth kind of look is cus here as well uh just coming up alongside his uh team leader the man in the green jersey Primos rogl who's sustaining it very well at the moment uh bouncing alongside him the uh the red jersey of the leader uh the leader Jersey on the back of Richard carass something that Primus rogl would like back at any time uh Dan Martin still within that group no longer there is David Diller Cruz as you can see and this is niiko Schulz who was working for shave grossart is that grossart that's just disengaged from that group ever slly just hanging off the back of it at the moment I think that may be one of his teammates I'm hoping so for his sake uh we need to just get up a little bit further some of you with uh uh a digital rendition might have a better view on that looking back through this group right now um for me uh clemon Sha of AG TOA Mel is having a fantastic ride uh just in front of him it looks like it was gross Harner bike there um still struggling to see I think it was so uh the first of those who have ridden so brilliantly in this race just some cracks starting to open up uh carapaz still rolling and here is gr harness sha he is struggling if he's struggling now with 4.1 to go just wait when we hit the 15s it's going to get worse yes well we've seen a lot of riders who you be expect to be able to cling on in this group uh for a bit further up this time losing contact here G shner you know he's also very much up in the general classification only 130 down in the overall standings we can see Val as well there I think it was getting into difficulty so yeah this is It's a real killer of a stage as we go through this four kilomet ago Riders you know starting to lose contact at this ear we can see n there also in difficulty guom Maran losing contact is that so just up in front there from moar so yeah it's uh it's proving a a very select group up in front at the moment and uh yeah super climbers that you would expect here to be even challenging for the stage oners G there from group I'm fdj this is really uh tinning down quickly Dan Martin is here he's got shabos who's really grimacing on his back wheel um we looking at mass as well enri Mass just next to Seb cus who's bouncing nicely in the yellow and black uh but at the moment Hugh karthy looks absolutely spectacular camera just struggling to uh to focus on these these guys such as the pace that they're generating uh need to invest in some autofocus for goodness Sak 17 seconds back to the uh uh polka dot Jersey group so the polka dot Jersey of course being with G Matan that doesn't bode well Hugh karthy uh just about to take the Reigns and at that moment we'll see whether he can uh guide his uh his little trotting cabage right to the top let's see 3.6 k me to go and this is where it really starts to hurt Hugh kar's picked it up he's got company it's got to be C shley who has uh been capable of going with him there's caras uh it is it's sepkus with him so Hugh karthy into the sunshine fantastic he's chosen the right lenses here some of those who've gone for none like enrik Mass must be blinded by this not just the sunshine but the performance of Hugh karthy seus staying on his wheel which is giving a little bit of rest bite to Primos rogich he doesn't have to chase on uh in a re but Hugh karthy is reaching out for this Shan and that's fantastic that's got to be 10 bike length and more yes well he is and but he's hitting out early and uh it all depend now what caras have here as he's setting the pace and the other Riders fall we can see World p is here and Dan Martin of course Dan Martin goes for it and ask the question who's got the answer it's vlasoff that's going to fold over and uh and try and close that Gap as well so 321 vlasov he's got on as well as uh as uh Dan Martin will look through and and have a look at this here motorcycle just screening them at the moment for The Gap oh and it's all getting to be very difficult and shab's just uh at the moment starting to struggle on these inclines of 15% that we hit around about this margin it's a nightmare sometimes from which I'm sure he would like to wake up but at the moment the man who's dreaming is out front and maybe of Glory it's Hugh karthy that pushes on with seus who ain't going to come round for for for anybody there's Dan Martin with vlasov just on his back wheel who suddenly reinvigorated that's the red jersey of carats uh all the Jersey well three of them are there with of course the points Jersey on the back of RIT the green jersey and the white jersey of ENC Mass also engaged in the game and what a game it is oh 3.1 kilm to go for uh uh for Chavez the bikes just making a new to themselves and others starting to well Po's big man who can drive into Corners races clever and finally just racing well which is great to see and a Wonder to be able to say Dan Martin's been tagged and Hugh karthy can he go again he's still got cuss with cus with him there'll be bonus seconds up for grabs at the line and cus May well provide Pro to be the heartbreaker here because kar's going to be forced to do all the work himself which will allow a fresher cus uh to come through and do some damage a little bit later on uh Michael Woods who's done some great work on behalf of Ky did some great work on behalf of himself yesterday just found at the back here meanwhile others struggling just a little bit George Bennett found as part of this uh group as well and here is Hu karthy uh pushing on uh inexorably 2.8 km to go Shan but still a long way with these kind of inclines and look at the damage yes well this is going to be a long one and uh you know it's it's going to go on forever as we can see you know it's still caraz riding on the front here the danger one is now for caras rogich he has a man up front seus so if he makes the move across that could be a danger one for the red jersey we talk about burning resources and uh at moments like this uh really it's it's enrik Mass whose team did much of the chasing work and of course inos grenadiers who now have an isolated Richard carass we knew that this would be the case uh but the abundance of riches with IM yumo visma even without Tom on some of the opening slopes out of this race due to fatigue and Hugh karthy weaves over to the side of the road and SE cus strikes out he wants to stay in this position allowing RIT to B his time and karthy goes back to the group and sepkus has headed off and it's caras that goes and of course rogich goes with him so this is that fantastic moment where you've got a teammate up front you can issue the old one two you're going to force Richard car has to come through and he does so and he sails by R the fresher off them he's going to be on his back wheel and then where how will that one Juke it out vlasov now just picks up and leaves enrik Mass behind again we enri Mass gets found out today maybe too much work too soon and too long for M Star maybe this is great timing by Richard carass but he's got company and Hugh karthy hasn't finished yet at all he's bridging over to them so the three principles are there and the get about to be joined by Dan Martin as well who doesn't mind a ramp or two himself as you can see carat starting to grind with 2.3 km out just coming to the end of the 15% section uh down to 9.2 and then kicks back up to 11 and 12 before we get to the end big impact shown by the inclines here yes well the incline is really you know blown everything apart here we can see you know rers just scattered all over this section of Road here and carapaz yeah he feels confident because you at about two just inside the 2.5 to go he pushes off after Chasing uh you know for quite a while on the front of this group rogich you know on him here and uh we can see Riders just scattered all over this mountain here uh you know enri Mass having difficulty staying with the pace we can see Dan Martin just up in front there with h hary Vass off here and Seb Koso put in that attack but uh it's the man of the uh the leadership here who has put it up to everybody and it looks like that um I think uh rogich is just happy to stay in the wheel of the red jersey for the moment I think so I think uh if it was a fin like this I think that would go down as a victory for RIT on this kind of incline he's got to get through a weekend where he's going to get punished by those who can take on sheer Alpine style uh inclines uh possibly a little bit better than he but he's a master time trialist and of course a great allrounder which you have to be in the the grand Tours uh with all the credentials that he has but at the moment the the big question is being posed by Richard carapaz and he is staying with him how much of a free ride he's going to get he's not going to be tempted to come around him he's still got sebus albeit having just dropped back ever so slightly Dan Martin and Hugh karthy are wrestling the terrain together as a Duo and in fact it's become a trio right now Dan Martin's just dropped back but Hugh karthy has got himself back in here comes vlasov big threat to today they won't necessarily change down vlasoff because of the deficit that he has overall there he is in the Asar blue just up to the white and blue striped sash of Israel startup nation and Dan Martin Martin's got back on we have a quintet at the moment it's RIT that now is setting the pace flicks the elbow out as if to ask for a share of Duty from uh from Richard carapaz and he's not going to be offered a turn I don't think not when they come into this Bend and here comes Hugh karthy wide around the outside having another look and here goes vof now then they won't necessarily be tempted to change face this man and away he's gone Sean and I think this is a winning move for him so it's all going to be about the GC men there Hugh karthy kind of thought about it but thought better of it and this quartet the four principles all together that's what you want but how much time could vas off take back and is this a reinvigorating reinvigoration of his challenge Sean well this is for stage Victory first of all because he's over six minutes down the GC standing so he's going to be allowed a little bit of more leeway uh than the other Riders here in this leading group but we can see again caraz is continuing on to set the pace here but Rog glit he wanted to push on and of course when you look at the GC standings and Nick Mass I suppose when you think about the the time trial coming up which is a long way out uh you know and MC mass is a real good time trailer so carad probably think are getting all those this is an opportunity to take some time from the stronger Time trailers but in the meantime Blas off is just know riding away here but still 1.3 km to go is there somebody here in this uh fourman Chase group can put up a real strong final final 800 M 700 met they could still CL him back don't think it's going to happen Sean Suddenly It's it's easing ever so slightly down to 6.7% finishes at 5% but he's in the hoardings right now hasn't quite seen the flam Rouge vlasov is I think going to take today it's going to be a private battle between those in his wake well we said it would be a thinning down process which would uh Garner um some solo finishes by those who are gunning for the jersey and so it is and it's rogich that that pushes on in the green jersey there's bonus seconds up for grabs and every second counts and he wants some space here Hugh karthy just starting to uh chug just a little bit Dan Martin picks back up he may get some bonus seconds himself let's wait and see here comes rogl he's going to Scream by vof you're absolutely right Sean vof starting to fade and rogl showing some great character here just gets in his uh in his uh slipstream goes right by him and vlasoff is cooked uh very very short order up to the flam Rouge Here Comes Richard Cara pass it could be juking out for stage Victory and the bonus seconds and Dan Martin isn't done either Hugh karthy will pick himself up for a good finish but he's in the wake of these guys at the moment and a wake up call for everyone Primos rogl on potentially unfavored terrain for him well it's not all about time traling it's not all about the lumpy days it's about The High Ground as well and Primos rogl has really thrown down the gauntlet it's been picked up by Richard carpass it could be a two-up Sprint for the line and it certainly looks like that's the way it's going to be two great Riders here and vas off's not finished Dan Martin just ebbing slightly as they flow and he picks it up and goes again this is fantastic Richard carass and on his wheel is rogl and they almost come into each other and Rit goes again on the barriers oh punch and counter punch two prize Fighters at their very best what a race we've got and what a battle it is almost raging constantly for that Jersey and there's going to be some space here he's gone he's kicked on here can caras pick it up and make it a Sprint for the line oh well this is been one hell of a climb and it's not over just yet we're nearly there Riders all over this mountain but the two principles up front there're the only two have shared the leaders jersey at the moment it's on the back of Richard car RIT loves green but he'd like to turn it into red it may not happen today but he's going to get closer to retaking that what a fantastic day with two Riders at their very best given a stage to perform on and they have been in the spotlight Dan Martin and vlasov still wrestling for that Podium place on the day it looks like carapaz is going to be beaten here by Primos rogich apply named Primo amongst everybody here and it was a very select group that took on this test and he has stood up to it Sean he's been scrutinized he has made the day his own Richard kapasan here are the main players in this race let there be no doubt but there is so much of this tale still to be told but you have to say no more than shapo to the way they have ridden today and Primo rogl is going to hit the line first now watch that clock for The Gap 8 seconds was his finishing uh time there as it rolls on in fact they've gone and jammed it at the Finish Line just to spoil our fun we're Shan busy counting back as caratz comes to the line right now he'll take six bonus seconds D Martin going to finish in third place flov thought they' got this wrapped up just faded towards the flam Rouge as predicted by Sha and there is uh hu karthy as well with a fantastic performance you've got to say by VA poles is going to grind out a fantastic finish here as well karthy finishes now vote polls and then the rest gosh Mass coming over the crest of the Hill here he's going to be with sep cus by the end but what an amazing race Shan today what a fabulous stage and what a great winner well what uh heavyweight punches were were being thrown there on that final clim the final number of kilometers as we see Mass coming over here 57 seconds approximately down but yeah you know caras puts in an attack rogish puts in an attack the other get back and he attacks over the top what a battle there and you know they were just just what you know a magnificent fight between the big contenders and carapaz losing approximately 14 seconds I reckon in or about there and uh ry's taking you a couple of seconds bonification as well and we can see Dan Martin about 19 seconds down on rug but uh enri Mass 57 seconds roughly down there he's the one near losing big time and we can see here just coming over on ones and twos as we talked about in the earlier part the way this race have been going the you know the difficulty of the climb everybody scattered all this mountain in the last couple of kilometers gosh Shuan came over the line a few moments ago as you saw the Sean says Riders Ambitions just littered like wreckage down this mountain and the wrecking ball was swung by both carass and the days winner Primos rogl what a toe-to-toe fight we have had today G Matan King of the mountains comes across the line don't think he's going to get any mountains points on this category one if he does then it's just going to be minor points today set C might well retake the mountains Jersey um it's tight at the top of that competition by the way but really Our concern is what rogl has done today what he's done is he has just reminded everybody of his greatness Shan he is one heck of a talent and it's an absolute blessing to have him well he's out taken roughly in about 20 seconds back on the uh race leader caraz and that is a big chunk of time already uh on this mountain he had to do it and what a great response as well after the morning news that Tom dealan would not be riding and he he did a late celebration I think his arms went up after the line Shan that's a pro yes well you go all the way to the line and every second counts in this one and this battle for the race win fabulous RIT an advantage of 13 seconds factoring another four because of 10 six and four at the line Martin picking up four bonus seconds there uh but yes another four so in fact he he gains 17 seconds on rogl in the overall classification and don't get he started off uh on camera pass he started off 30 seconds down so uh by my rudimentary maths he'll be 13 seconds down uh but in second place overall honestly first time math teacher will be delighted car still a leader but the margin now to rogl down to 13 seconds Dan Martin in third play swapping spots with Hugh karthy who's 44 seconds down Mass stays fifth but nearly two minutes down gross Harner faded so did Chavez Val up to eighth ahead of Sol oh well apart from the man saying hello Mom uh there is rogl saying hello everybody and uh we are just in a of him yet again Shan yes well you know he did uh put in an unbelievable final here wasn't afraid to attack and when we see carapaz having to chase when Seb cus went away um with huari um of course caraz had to do the writing there then because huart is so close in the general classification and uh rogish was following it looked like he was happy to follow but then did start riding with him and of course you know I think amass is the one which he's concerned about he's a supertime trialist Rish probably have confidence against huart Dan Martin in the time trial and if you've got the legs you know on these sort of finishes well then you have to take advantage and that's was Primus Rish done today and uh he's taking a huge chunk of time back on the race leader and taking uh a big advantage on some of his main contenders here in the overall standings absolutely wonderful racing trust you enjoyed it we most certainly did we race on for uh two flattish stages over the next two days Shan before a weekend of Hell well I think uh there'll be a lot of riders looking forward to uh some flatter flatter stages but but again you know the flatter stages there's no guarantee that they will be easy in this race because the way it's going every day you know a big fight to get into the breakway if that continues you know in the next two flat stages it could take you know a long time before the breakway is allowed away so it could be another two real difficult days before we go into the following days in the big mountains again don't forget we've had we've had uh What uh seven days of climbing essentially well and a weekend of uh real Alpine tests two days of the flatter ground one perhaps more rolling than the other uh flat day tomorrow but um I I am certain it's going to be as exciting as as enthralling as it has been so far what a terrific day just uh wonderful racing Shan and uh again just flat out from the beginning there's no days of rest here it it feels like it's being raced as if its Last Chance Saloon and the way the calendar has organized itself or Fallen this uh this year because of all the protocols that we know about um it's made for a fascinating Welter and every day has had a message to be to be sent and uh some real drama no matter what the terrain well this race um in the earlier days and and the earlier part of the stages let's say to get into the Breakaway it seemed to be very aggressive there's no easy Breakaway being allowed and uh that's you know really uh makes the race difficult but today we had a good break of seven rids looked like they could go all the way but again a team taking it up M you know taking it up uh a long ways out and you know killing off the Breakaway made it a really difficult and we see the re we we see the answers to that the damage on the was done on the final Mountain thank goodness for Primos rogich and his like Shan and Richard car pass very much part of the story Dan Martin likewise Hugh karthy this is one heck of a race isn't it well what a battle we see on that final Mountain there you know when one Rider attacks the other Rider claws his way back catches him and attacks immediately that's what Richard cup has done there when he caught with rogl and then rogl did the same again so you at that point in the race you would expect him to watch each other you know play who's going to do the pulling on the front and then maybe get close to the finish and go for a Sprint to the line but not at all you know they were throwing big punches a number of kilometers out and of course we did see you know H Cy was the one who opened it up and uh really blew that leading group apart and from there on roughly 5 km out it was just a killer fullon racing all the way to the line loved it presume you did at home too oh what about um what polls Sean that was as gutti a performance as anyone on this mountain well he is coming good and uh you know we've seen him uh in this race some difficult finishes he's up there um you know a little bit off the uh uh the pace of the bigger Riders but that can be expected but seems to be getting better as this race go on and we know he had a very difficult to of France crashed in the earlier part I think he had you know broken ribs so on and uh looks like he's getting into good shape so he's a one you know we're going to see a lot in these more difficult stages of this Welter ening mask coming across the line uh there's shapan smiling with Redemption at the end of uh what's been a busy day Val ver well again a real animator of this race M Star I think uh really with the cattle prod it seems hurting everybody out there indeed doing for a few G mat stays in the pogot Jersey competition lead um no points for him today seus did he pick up any no he did not um so stays in that position carass level on points now with sepos moving up after picking up a handful of points today and Dan Martin in fourth place in that competition but no change in that particular Jersey well I really thought that Vaso was going to have the Ste today Shan but didn't quite work for him no well uh he had just you know real strong Riders behind him he put in a Super Attack and had a good Advantage but when you know the big guys hit it as rle did he came back to him so quickly here's your stage result rogich and with the bone assist means that he moves closer to the top today this uh caras finishing in second place the margin between the pair of them a modest one overall Dan Martin what a gutsy performance by him and he swaps places in the overall which you'll see in a moment I'm sure with Hugh karthy I'm hoping that we're going to hear have an interview with our day's winner the man who formerly LED this race but is getting closer to regaining control of it Sean by the looks of him yes well uh impressive today as you can see there are a lot of riders losing you a lot of time you uh it's been it's been a real kill of a stage m s they did a lot of work but they R suffered a lot not to Valverde and uh Enrique Mass who lost what 54 seconds a huge amount well we had ourselves a break away um some relatively flat terrain that brought us after the halfway point to either climbing or descending it seems and with 58 km to go as we drop in B Star had really started putting on the hurt matching them it seems almost pedal stroke for pedal stroke where Inus grenadiers looking after of course the leader Richard Cara pass by the time we got to our final test the ramps up ahead were looming very large and it did for the Breakaway last men standing from it Dibble from NT and dulf of course from lto sadal well Hugh karthy went for it rolled the dice with sep cus on his back wheel almost on a toe rope it did for Hugh eventually but staying in touch Dan Martin mass rogich and carop pass with 2 kilometers to go it was time to act sailing straight through on the attack went carass the leader of this race rogl stayed with him uh we were wondering who would have the capabilities to uh to match them Hugh karthy set off as well with 2.4 km to go vlasov was always in the frame as well until his hope faded likewise well he picked it back up this was the moment that Blas off set off with 1600 M remaining really thought he was going to make it but these crucial 500 meters did for him and it was the power of the chase that really put an end to the young Russians hopes final kilometer then karthy and Dan Martin locked horns together vlasov hanging out there and it was a target for rogl who just picked up the pace and went staying with him but uh at a distance was Richard carass in the leader's Jersey and rogich kicked again at the very last 700 met that really belonged to him and the Gap extended between the pair of them at the Finish Line rogl brought it in staring into the sunshine gosh the spotlight well and truly on him and then the count back began well there were 13 seconds separating them at this point added to it a bonus after after the bonuses were totted up 10 bonuses given of course to rogich six for carass so a margin of for making a 17sec gap meaning that his 30- second deficit overall was cut down to 13 seconds in the GC should we have a look at tomorrow well after the feast and for some a famine a bit of a pancake what we're expecting a map for you but hope and expectation often don't match but tomorrow it's a flattish stage 157.7mm in total agilar Theo is our destination and here we go this is what's on the cards tomorrow for the fast men have struggled through this race with a poity of Sprints in a race That was supposed to have plenty with the Netherlands being struck off the front of this race slim pickings for the fast guys tomorrow they've got their chance we'll be [Music] here we race on Stage Nine of L Welter and hope to have your company along for the ride some rest bite then not for long day of sprinting tomorrow slightly more rolling stage uh for Friday and then Saturday and Sunday we return to the very high ground in what many say is going to be the pivotal weekend of this year's race love Welter you got to love it we do trust you do too and we'll see you tomorrow for stage 10 as we roll on see you there bye-bye thank you this