The situation in road racing changed as unpredictably as the weather in midsummer.
Just like a professional rider's form on the day, it could not be fully and specifically analyzed through science and reason alone.
The riding characteristics of road racers could perhaps be summarized through big data and their historical performances.
Take Ben O'Connor, for example. Every team actually knew his riding profile.
He was a decent climber with above-average all-around ability.
But steep climbs and explosive sprinting were relatively weaker areas for him.
Yet even though every team knew his characteristics, none could have predicted in advance that his form today would be this astonishingly good.
Not only had he attacked directly around the 120-kilometer mark, with 65 kilometers still remaining to the finish,
but with 27.5 kilometers left in the race, he had even dropped his only rival and gone solo.
After receiving Aldag's instructions, Lipowitz launched a frenzied chase.
But no matter how gritted his teeth and persevered, he could never catch O'Connor, who had broken away ahead.
Instead, his time gap was stretched wider and wider in the final phase.
When the peloton reached the final Category 3 climb of Stage 6, Alto de las Abekjas, they were still nearly five and a half minutes behind the solo leader, O'Connor.
This was undoubtedly a very dangerous signal.
After all, the final climb was relatively easy.
Although it was 8.9 kilometers long, its average gradient was only 3.9%, and the steepest kilometer reached just 5.9%.
It could be said that with O'Connor already on the climb, going full gas and desperately riding toward the finish, such a massive time advantage meant that even if the peloton attacked immediately, they would basically have no chance of catching him.
His stage victory today was already completely secure.
"**O'Connor,