124km to go: Serghei Tvetcov, the sole Romanian here, appears to have abandoned. Not sure what was up there, but his race is run. I think there’ll be more of those as we go.
125km to go: Another lap down for the breakaway group – five to go! Surely they can’t keep this up? But if even one or two of them do, then that could be a spanner in the works for the favourites.
126km to go: Sensing some concerted movement amid the peloton now. The Yateses and Dumoulin, among others, have hung back for the most part but the big hitters are starting to drift forwards. It needs to begin happening.
127km to go: The German Maximilian Schachmann has a bit of an issue, coming off for a bit in a pretty crowded area, but makes an adjustment or two – much like Dumoulin earlier – and seems back on track.
130km to go: On the other hand, the peloton may just have judged this perfectly. Why expend even a drop more energy than you need to? Just seeing some pretty cool footage from Tom Wirtgren’s camera, presumably attached to the back of his bike, right in the middle of the pack.
It’s quite the day of sport. If you like four wheels as well as two then you can join Will Unwin for the Russian Grand Prix:
138km to go: As Kieran ponders, could the peloton have misjudged this? Probably not, but a grandstand finish is set up now whatever happens. Drama beckons.
This is starting to look a little dicey for the peloton. The gap from the breakaway is coming down but not fast enough. My money would still be on a catch but they’ll need to get moving. The lead group’s size gives it an advantage – if it was just a few riders the peloton would be confident they won’t make it to the end, but with 11 of them – anything could happen. If the winner comes from the breakaway it would be a huge shock, and show a serious collective error of judgment from the big-name riders and their teams in the peloton.
143km to go: They’re climbing again now, it’s a gentle-looking gradient but it goes steadily for about 8km. Somebody is tightrope-walking beneath a bridge across a river; good job it’s a still day.
144km to go: That leading group in full is: Robert Britton, Tobias Ludvigsson, Kasper Asgreen, Ryan Mullen, Daniil Fominykh, Vegard Laengen, Conor Dunne, Karel Hnik, Jacques Janse Van Rensburg, Ilia Koshevoy, Laurent Didier.
The gap is about 16 minutes, 45 seconds. So it’s reduced, but at this stage that is quite a lot. How and when will it be decisively whittled down?
158km to go: Just nipping out for a snack before things get really exciting – bear with me for 15 minutes – and get your mid-race thoughts over to me in the meantime!
There’s a strong possibility that the 2018 rainbow jersey will be determined on the final climb, the Höttinger Höll. With sections featuring a gradient of 28% – twenty eight per cent! – it really will be the highway to hell. Only the very best climbers in the peloton will be a chance: Spain’s Alejandro Valverde, the Yates brothers for Great Britain, Julian Alaphilippe or his French compatriots, Dutchman Tom Dumoulin. After the opening Gnadenwald climb and seven laps of the tough Olympic circuit, there won’t be much left in anyone’s legs. It promises to be an exhilarating finale.
164km to go: Lots of excitement now as the leaders pass a narrow stretch where the crowds are far, far thicker than an hour ago. They can bed in for the day – this is the second of seven laps. There are flags everywhere and a real carnival atmosphere.
166km to go: Now Norway’s Vegard Laengen goes out in front. Remember, it doesn’t really mean a lot yet. But it’s a strong early performance from those 11 leaders, who have given the peloton something to think about on this most enervating of courses, of which around 58km is spent ascending.
167km to go: Now we see the Britons edge towards the front of the peloton for the first time – there are the Yates brothers, who we’ll surely be writing more words about later on! There’s still an 11 kilometre gap to make up between the two groups. Tobias Ludvigsson, of Sweden, is the man leading at the moment.
If you like some football to go with your cycling, Daniel Taylor’s weekly column is up and worth a read as ever:
173km to go: Now that leading group have gone back through the centre of Innsbruck – that’s the first lap over.
175km to go: That gap between leaders and peloton is down to 17 and a half minutes now.
I have spent some time with the Australian camp this week. Since losing star climber Richie Porte to illness after the Vuelta a España, the Aussies have been discounted as possible challengers by most observers. But inspired by the world time trial triumph of Rohan Dennis earlier this week, and Amanda Spratt’s silver in the women’s road race yesterday, the Brad McGee-coached team have a few wildcards up their sleeve. Simon Clarke won stage 5 of the Vuelta while young gun Jack Haig helped Simon Yates to the red jersey in Spain and is in ominous form himself. It is unlikely the Australians will be involved at the business end, but never say never.
184km to go: And there’s a clear step up in intensity from the peloton here, who have just started to eat away into that lead despite beginning their climb. They obviously don’t want the leaders to get any further ahead at this point in proceedings.
186km to go: Now the peloton start their climb – the leaders are firmly on their way down now. Still some time before we will get much idea of who the real contenders are here.
191km to go: The breakaway are nearly 19 minutes ahead now and the peloton probably won’t let that go on much longer. The guys up front aren’t really specialist climbers so the imminent gradients will narrow that gap pretty sharpish. But it’s bright and hot out there so who’d want to give themselves … pardon the pun … a mountain to climb?
193km to go: Just caught a glimpse of Alaphilippe, who’s still back in the chasing pack of course. Is there any chance that one of those leaders might stay the course? If it seems like we’re slowing up a bit, it’s because there’s currently a bit of a climb.
You’re definitely awake now and definitely a couple of coffees down – so get those emails and tweets in!
194km to go: The leaders are passing a big crowd at the moment along one wooded stretch – horns, bells, flags, whoops, cheers. Nice to see a bit of that as it’s been fairly sparse so far. There’s a man wearing a strange furry hat with horns. The lead is still going up, it’s nearly 17 minutes now – the peloton are giving themselves a bit to do!
196km to go: Several of the peloton riders are having a “natural break”, apparently, which I presume involves relieving the bladder. Might as well get that out of the way now!
Do you like golf? Doesn’t really matter if you do not: the Ryder Cup is just pure sport at its best and we’re in for quite a day today. You can follow that with Scott Murray:
198km to go: For whatever it’s worth, the lead group are now a full quarter of an hour ahead of the peloton, although the latter’s pace has upped a little bit and it’s stretching out a tad. Still not a great deal happening at the moment though, don’t you worry. Like any lazy Sunday, we’re waking up slowly.
204km to go: There are two Irishmen in the breakaway group – Ryan Mullen and Conor Dunne. It’s 11-strong, remember.
208km to go: The pack are now heading past Matzen Castle, a 13th century structure, It looks impressive. Shall we all go on holiday?
Should have posted this at the top of the show, but if you’re joining now, here’s a nice overview of the course:
212km to go: Goodness, those mountains look beautiful. I used to go on holiday around this region when I was a kid – staying near Kitzbuhel. Some of the walking is top-class. Nobody is walking here though and especially not in the leading group, who are closing in on a 13-minute lead. Most of the British team are around the back of the peloton at the moment.
215km to go: There’s a bit of a debate among the commentary team about the sheer length of this race. We do get this – let’s be honest – pretty boring bit at the start that stretches it out and does nothing for the spectacle. But then again does it make the dramatic bits more rewarding? What do you think?
217km to go: The breakaway pack are now 10 and a half minutes ahead …
218km to go: The peloton are gliding along past a field of, at my count, 16 cows. Some of them are wearing what look like UCI t-shirts! They’re lolling lugubriously as the riders go past.
220km to go: Can Vincenzo Nibali make waves here? He didn’t have a good Tour de France, of course. But if he has a good day then you’d feel he is capable of anything. He’s going along nicely enough at the moment, but the big challenges are to come.
222km to go: Our lead pack are amid the first climb of any significance, and are now over eight minutes ahead.
In the meantime, if this is inspiring you to get out on two wheels then do I have a link for you – these are the top cycle rides in Britain!
Send your emails and tweets in by the way. I’d love to know how you think the next … oooh … six or seven hours might pan out, and why. It’s going to be epic!
226km to go: We can currently see Romain Bardet, one of a very strong French contingent. He might fancy his chances of a strong run. The leaders are now six minutes ahead; no dramas just yet but when it gets to the 10-minute mark then perhaps we start racing a little.
Guten morgen from Innsbruck. It is an absolutely delightful day in this scenic Austrian outpost. The sun is shining, the mountain air is filling me with life. Less enamoured with their current surrounds will be the riders, who have a very very very long day ahead. This is one of the toughest world championship courses in recent memory. It will be a huge surprise if any more than a handful of riders are left to contest the final Höttinger Höll climb – for everyone else, their hopes will be prematurely ended at some point on the tough Olympic circuit. It promises to be an epic day of racing – strap yourselves in.
231km to go: We have a breakaway group of about 11 riders, who are about four minutes ahead. They include Canadian, Kazakh, Swedish and Belarusian riders. The peloton aren’t really pelting it so far. Dumoulin is at the back of it and still not quite looking content.
233km to go: We do have a man out there on the ground, by the way – the excellent Kieran Pender has faithfully promised me an update or two as we go. He’s in there among crowds and the cowbells, the lucky boy!
235km to go: Does Tom Dumoulin have a problem? He’s just tinkered a little with his bike by the side of the road, but it looks like a simple brake rubbing issue. At this point in the race there’s plenty of time and scope to stop and make little tweaks.
237km to go: They’re not going to hit any significant climbs for an hour or two. It’s flat at the moment. We have a lead group at the moment and then another eight seconds or so behind. But little indication yet as to how things will pan out.
239km to go: OK, here we are then, we’re nearly 20km in. The first thing to say is that this course looks *beautiful*. It’s a wonderfully sunny, verdant day in central Europe and anyone who is there to watch is incredibly lucky.
Brutal, epic, tough, horrendous. Those are some of the words I’ve heard used about the course we’re about to experience – some say it’s four decades since a world championships has laid on anything this gruelling and one thing is for sure: whoever comes through the next few hours on top will have earned it, and then some!
So what are we to expect? Once they’re done with a 258.5km course that includes 4,670m of climbing, the Yates brothers should be there or thereabouts. Simon, fresh – or not – from his triumph at the Vuelta, is third favourite but it might take a superhuman effort to take the honours here. The bookies’ tip is Julian Alaphilippe, the Tour of Britain champion, and Alejandro Valverde second. But there shouldn’t be much in it and, in the words of BBC pundit Chris Boardman, the field “is going to be in absolute pieces” by the time we are all done here.
So let’s get on with it – the race began at 8.40am UK time, so they’re well underway already. Who can write themselves a place in history after what, on paper, is one of the trickiest races we have ever seen?
UCI