The Tour of Ukraine kicks off with a crit-like stage in Lviv, where a circuit will be raced a couple of times to make for an 153km flat parcours in total.
A short and not too steep "climb" - more like a speedbump - close to the finishing stretch may be a factor, but the top-favorites should be sprint aces like Greipel, Docker, Van Avermaet or AMEX's duo Grillo/Kump.
Two riders went clear in the first lap, establishing a 1'30"-gap on the bunch quickly:
Naud and Bogataj
With a few more attacks back in the bunch and 3 riders now trying to bridge the gap, the escapees' lead is down to 1'10" with still 133km to go:
Fominykh, Khviyuzau and Kosic
It's a short-lived attempt, as all five escapees are brought back by a surprisingly high pacing peloton only 10km later.
Forminykh though ain't giving up and goes again! And he's allowed a bigger gap quickly. Will today's breakaway be a solo-attempt?
Yes! Forminykh goes for a (maybe) 100km solo-effort. He would therefore also take out the first Intermediate Sprint, obviously. The peloton, reaching the sprint only a minute later, still keeps up a rather high pace - at least prior to this sprint, where we do see AMEX, Lierse, Venchi and Privatbank setting up one-rider-trains for their sprinters:
Peeters, Grillo, Van Avermaet and Greipel seem to be the most willed to go for points and bonus seconds..
A sign of strength or just a wasted effort? Anyway, Grillo takes the 4 points ahead of Greipel:
Sprint #1
Forminykh
Grillo
Greipel
At least this should answer the question, for which sprinter AMEX will mostly work for in those two flat stages here.
Forminykh would also reach the second sprint solo, with the same sprinters going for the further points. This time, Greipel dominates this one:
Sprint #2
Forminykh
Greipel
Peeters
And it's also the point, where the bunch begins to chase harder: 23km before finish, teams like Lierse, Venchi and AMEX take control of the pace, narrowing the gap to 1'30"..
14km remaining (the gap's down to 28" in the meantime) and the tricky parcours through Lviv causes a late crash back in the peloton:
Silva hits the turf. Also Hasanovic has been dropped in the meantime, even though we didn't notice any crash or puncture. Both won't make it back to the bunch.
Where the pace is simply too brutal to fight their way back: Fominykh enters the final 13km with the peloton already within striking distance. This is going to end soon..
Yap, he's swallowed by the pack 10km before finish. At least he grabbed 12 bonus seconds that way. Still the same teams at the front: Lierse, Venchi, Privatbank and AMEX!
No more incidents until those teams start setting up four sprint-trains at the 4km-mark! The battle for positions begins and with four trains to chose from, this could be an interesting one!
2.7km remaining and we now may have a clear picture of where today's most promising contenders will be when the bunch sprint kicks off:
Kaisen
Kump
Polivoda
Dockx
Keough
Vaitkus
Vasilyev
Van Avermaet
Grillo
Greipel
Viola
Park
Ignatiev
Grosu
Peeters
Docker
Eisel
Pozdnyakov
Craven
Konovalovas
Frohlinger
Okrouhlicky
So with Ignatiev and also Craven a few metres behind, at least two serious GC-contenders to maybe join the mix.
1.5km to go and the sprint kicked off, as we're now on this speedbump just ahead of a last corner before to enter the finishing stretch.
Dockx still with a narrow lead on Keough, while there are some minor changes on the further positions now that the first leadouts move back.
Only 500metres later, the situation looks way more chaotic, as the main sprinters now make their moves:
Docks still in the lead with Van Avermaet a bit struggling to hang on, Park at his wheel.
Keough, Vaitkus, Ignatiev and Grillo on further positions. Greipel lost Vaitkus' wheel and Peeters looks a bit boxed in.
700 to go and Dockx made his work, now allowing Van Avermaet to leave his slipstream with a nice advantage on the following contenders:
Ignatiev, Keough/Grillo, Park, Vaitkus and Peeters!
Park though is done and loses all his speed quickly! Greipel seems to go for a late kick, with Ignatiev powering into third position!
Van Avermaet holds on to a small gap with the line approaching.. while Ignatiev now faces some tough competition in Grillo and Vaitkus! The battle for bonus seconds will be close, that's for sure! Also Greipel and Peeters moved forward with some good speed..
But it's too late to go for the stage, which is taken by Van Avermaet! Huge effort by his leadout Dockx, who definitely deserves some credit for this victory!
The fight for the runner-up will be thrilling: Ignatiev seems to struggle with Grillo already ahead and Vaitkus head-to-head!
And yes, the sprinters take the bonus seconds: Grillo with a nice 2nd ahead of Vaitkus! Still a first sign of strength by Ignatiev as 4th ahead of top-favorite Greipel, who lost his good position behind Vaitkus.
Peeters and two more AMEX-riders (Keough/Kump) finish ahead an impressive Dockx and a disappointing Docker, who maybe went for the wrong train (Lierse) here.
First GC-leader will be Van Avermaet, with just 4" on Grillo and 8" on solo-escapee Fominykh. Tomorrow's first of two consecutive hilly stages may already mix some things though.
