Fernando Gaviria took his second win of the week, the stage wasn't easy and in the final climb there were serious moves, it was Dani Martinez himself who attacked but Enric Mas controlled the situation with the GC contenders widely present in the front group, there was a small group in front for a few kilometers but with the lack of collaboration slowly they were all brought back and leading up to the final sprintm which was a quite fast one with multiple teams with several riders in the final meters, but there was no messing with Gaviria who sprinted his way and was clearly the fastest rider, with Ackermann not able to get out of his wheel and Matteo Trentin once again rounding up the podium.
Positive: Deceuninck managed to keep things under control and Mas seems very safe to take home the title. Gaviria really up to speed, his sprint was impressive and got some flashbacks of his Deceuninck days.
Negative: Mareczko and McLay didn't resist the climbs and missed an opportunity.
The Route
And the final stage, it's somewhat similar but shorter, the possibilities of having something happen are still real, but if no gaps were made the previous day I doubt much will be played in this day, with only the intermediate sprint a possibility in motivating them to do so. Otherwise, it should be another showdown for the fast men, the final one of the year!
It's a technical finale, there will be several turns leading into the finale and the positioning in that final turn will be crucial for the outcome of the stage.
The Weather
Nice one to wrap off the season, as the week has been it's exactly the same weather, there's no real variation here is there?
The Favourites
Today was the confirmation of the scenario I imagined, even with a very attacked climb everything came back together eventually with most sprinters in the mix. Tomorrow even if the same scenario happens it looked as if Mas had complete control of the situation so I doubt anyone can make real damage.
With that said the favourites are the sprinters again and, as it's the last preview of the season, I'll keep it short!
Fernando Gaviria was clearly the fastest sprinter today, tomorrow's finish is proper technical and I believe Ackermann has a better leadout (despite being very matched), but Gaviria should have the team to be in his wheel, the final straight is around 250 meters long which means it will be a long sprint since there's no slowing down in such distance, and long-distance sprints are where Gaviria is at his best, so he will take his third! Ackermann will finish second and Phil Bauhaus will finish third.
In the next spots I would expect Jakub Mareczko, still think he has the legs to be in the fight for the win but things haven't came together yet, but at this point only a win could really save his race but that's very unlikely, and would have Matteo Trentin for fifth.
I would see Timothy Dupont, Max Kanter, Davide Martinelli, Davide Ballerini and Chris Lawless wrap up the Top10. By that order specific, wanna have fun in this last one of the year!
Prediction Time
⭐ Mareczko, Dupont, Ballerini
Fernando the man! Why, read above ;)
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