Here we are with the opening stage of the Tour of Northern Europe. As said in the preview it`s more or less avoiding time loss on all terrains and gaining on the riders speciality.
So today we start with a hilly stage with the favourites Pozzato, World Champion Van Garderen and Efimkin.
Most interesting next to the stage decision might be how much time the race favourites without great hill skills will lose today. Most notable names surely last years winner Cancellara, Boonen, Bewley and the Spyker duo last years runner-up Devolder and former winner Gusev.
Einsle with the first attack of the day after one lap. Normally Vesuvio belongs to the best teams in the peloton. Here they have a comparable weak squad, so a good chance for the helpers to ride on their own.
He is joined by 4 more riders. Einsle Mancuso Joseph Orozco Fouquet
A bit behind 3 more riders try to bridge. Echarri Duran Aulas
First KoM is won by Einsle ahead of Mancuso and Fouquet. Same for the 2nd KoM. Einsle seems to have a great day.
But with 3 more to come we can expect a good fight for the remaining points.
2-3 teams do the pace behind. First you can clearly see the jersey by Pendleton for team leader and Amstel winner Gilbert. So clearly he must be named as one of todays favourites as well.
Next the wild card team T.CS Bank with Russian superstar Ignatiev.
Also Festina for Pozzato is helping with 1 rider.
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With 104km left we have 10 riders in front with Aulas still 1'20 behind.
The peloton is another 6min behind.
Next to the earlier mentioned Vangheel, Portal and Barrio joined the former break.
Now we already see the problem of this parcours. Due to the very short length but high difficulty many riders get lapped. So in the fight for the 3rd KoM sprint we already lack in a good overview.
Mancuso, Barrio, Einsle in this order take the points.
Tinkoff is doing most work now. They have a very strong squad here around Ignatiev, so they surely expect good results. With Kolobnev a very good puncheur is leading the peloton over the hills and surely this will bring many riders into big trouble to make early race deciding splits.
With 90km Steurs and Downing help the Russian team. This means a lot of horse power now as Festina sends their co-leader to the front. All-In for Pozzato obviously.
This immediately leads to splits and just 83 riders are left in the peloton. All favourites have been able to stay in the first group and mainly the helpers and pure time trialists like Kittel, Ford or Lang have been dropped. Maybe already saving energy for the time trial?
The acceleration also caused the first abandon. Sarmiento doesn`t feel good and gives up.
4/5 KoM and it`s Barrio beating Einsle in the sprint. Mancuso in 3rd also stays in contact to the best.
And another abandon. Again the high pace seems to really crack some riders. This time it`s a far bigger name. Top sprinter Guerao stops his race and is joining the team car. His manager can`t be happy as the sprint stages haven`t even started yet.
Here we see the interesting part of the Tour of Northern Europe. Cobblers, who might have hoped for a high finish here lose contact on the hilly stages. In this case it`s luckily only Pendleton`s co-leader Thomas who is falling back with another team mate. Not the best requirements for Gilbert, who is losing one rider after the other now.
And the third abandon of the day. Rasmussen gives up.
53km left and time for a late attack. Pavarin, the teams best puncheur here attacks as he knows that he won`t have a great chance when he waits until the big favourites make their move.
He is allowed to go and 20km later he is joining the breakaway. Strong performance by the Italian.
He immediately goes to the front of the group and also takes the last KoM of the day ahead of Portal and Einsle. So the initiator of todays group will wear the KoM jersey tomorrow.
Next attack with 29km to go and it`s Van Garderen`s team mate Summerhill, who is surely also a possible top15 candidate. The American is a nice allrounder, just lacks some time trial skills, which will force him to ride aggressive. Behind him the peloton is down to 50 but the big favourites are still there.
The actual situation like this:
Pavarin
1'39
Summerhill
35
Peloton (49)
Einsle
Duran
Mancuso
Vangheel
Portal
Fouquet
Barrio
Echarri
No chance for Summerhill. Tinkoff is still there doing an incredible pace and it`s still Kolobnev doing the main work here. Many PT teams surely would have wished for a weaker wild card team.
The breakaway is just ahead of the peloton now. 18km and the peloton is down to 41 riders.
Now the big attack. Summerhill obviously was just a first test for Van Garderen as now the world champion goes. Only Efimkin is able to follow. So maybe the two strongest puncheurs here make their moves.
But don`t forget Einsle, who seems to have his best day and giving everything attacking out of the breakaway.
He still is 1'30 ahead of the peloton with 16km to go with the former breakaway, Van Garderen and Efimkin somewhere in between.
Meanwhile we see another big favourite for todays stage and the overall with an attack. Pozzato goes with 16,5km to go.
All these accelerations bring other riders into big trouble. We see several riders being at the very end of the peloton. One of them the big top favourite and last years winner Cancellara, who might have wished for a slower pace over the hills. Directly next to him Bewley and just 2-3 riders ahead the red jersey of Tom Boonen. These three will have hard last 15km to ride. They need to fight now if they want to keep their chance of the overall win.
Also the Bacardi duo Steegmans and Burghardt fall back. On the other side with so many top cobblers struggling we might see an epic race later in Roubaix this week.
Van Garderen, Pozzato and Efimkin are all back in the peloton but at least their acceleration worked by getting rid of some riders.
And obviously these 3 are the strongest today as they try it another time with 12km to go. Einsle still solo in front ahead of 4 riders (Mancuso, Pavarin, Barrio, Fouquet). 1min behind these 3, who have a 15s gap to the peloton still lead by Tinkoff.
Kolobnev still pacing let the peloton split yet another time and bringing back Pozzato and Efimkin, while Van Garderen was able to join the Pavarin group.
Just 18 riders left in the peloton. Next victims of the high pace is Gusev a bit surprisingly. At least his team mates Devolder and Schreurs are still in the first group.
Riders in the peloton still lead by the Super-Russians: Kolobnev, Kirjienka, Ignatiev, Kozontchuk Pozzato Posthuma, Florencio Efimkin Fedrigo Gilbert, Mertens Ballan Devolder, Schreurs Mehr-Wenige, Hoogerland Summerhill
Finally the breakaway is over. Einsle surely wins the award for the most aggressive rider today. Also Van Garderen and Pavarin are back in the peloton.
And with 5km to go the never stopping Van Garderen goes again. Pozzato immediately follows.
The Italian wants to win this stage and he comes over the climb as first together with Van Garderen, Efimkin and Gilbert, who finally made his move.
They have 35s gap to the peloton. And also good news for Boonen, Bewley and Gusev. They are just 49s behind the peloton and so still having chances while Cancellara surprisingly is a bit more behind.
After the last descent it`s Gilbert with a small gap to Efimkin and Pozzato. The peloton still a bit behind and yes, one is missing here. Tejay Van Garderen is the most unlucky guy ever being maybe the strongest today but then crashing with 3,5km to go...
He is still in the race but already behind the peloton.
Efimkin knows he is the weakest sprinter and attacks but Gilbert and Pozzato immediately follow. Just 1km left.
And it is the Belgium Champion, who obviously saved most energy for the sprint overtaking the Russian just ahead the line. Pozzato, who was expected to be the best in this group only finishes 3rd behind Efimkin. On the other hand all of them gained 37s to the peloton today.
Kolobnev still has enough energy to lead the peloton into the finish ahead of the Spyker duo Devolder and Schreurs.
A big point goes to Posthuma today, who might have brilliant chances to finish high now as he was maybe the weakest puncheur in this group and different to Boonen, Bewley and Cancellara he avoided a time loss to most of the favourites and has the time trial on his side.
Poor TJ. The World champion had no chance to win this race probably but this stage could or maybe even should be his. He comes in 2min behind Gilbert.
Boonen, Gusev and Bewley lost quite some time in the last 5km and so they are 2'29 behind Gilbert, while Cancellara loses another minute still ahead of Burghardt or Steegmans.
Also one more abandon to announce. Boonen`s cobble helper Sibilla is over the time limit today.
