Welcome to Sri Lanka for the second edition of the Colombo Classic. The route is quite simple, with bumpy terrain during 150 kms, before the only climb of the day, then a kinda false flat after the summit before descending to the finish line in Colombo. The favourites are the numerous puncheurs present here, and with a high quality field, maybe we have a rather big group sprinting for the win

From the very first km, three riders would launch an attack to go in the breakaway

Restrepo
Thwaites
Eliad



Absolutely nothing happened from that point to the bottom of the only climb of the day, which has 10 kms at 4%, though it peaks at 16%. The breakaway reached a max of 6 minutes of advantage during the race, but with 21 kms to go, and already starting the climb, they only held a 30-second gap, with the bunch being led by Meiji, Puma and Air France



Weird moments in the bunch as everyone stopped for 1 km, until Kratochvila got to the front of the group.

Meanwhile, Restrepo dropped Thwaites and Eliad in the front, hoping to stay ahead for longer



Kratochvila rhythm was insane, and just a couple of kms into the climb, only 13 riders were able to follow the Czech

Hagen
Spilak
Ponzi
Bakelants
Gastauer
De Bie
Kinoshita
Ginanni
Claeys
Kelderman
Mohoric
Mager
Barbero

Behind the group, Bellis was trying to bridge the gap, while some puncheurs might be blocked by worse riders and can’t join that group



That’s an attack of Hagen! Ponzi, Bakelants and Gastauer quickly follow the Norwegian, who won the inagural edition in 2017



Kelderman has struggled to follow that attack, but it doesn’t matter, as Gastauer provoked a split on the group, leaving Hagen, Ponzi and Bakelants a few seconds ahead. Spilak has two team-mates in this group, so he must put them to work in order to avoid those riders to go away



Hagen is still working alone in the front, as neither Ponzi or Bakelants, who looks to be struggling, are helping him. Same thing happening with Gastauer in the chasing group, despite Isostar having 3 riders there

The breakaway riders and Barbero were dropped of the chasing group, a group where Kelderman wasn’t able to reach.



The leading trio seems to be out of reach for the 10 riders that are chasing them, as Kelderman and Barbero were able to comeback to that group. Bellis is a few metres behind, fighting to get in this group, while even more behind, Anuar Aziz and Koretzky have broke free from the bunch



In the final part of the climb, finally Ponzi and Bakelants are collaborating with Hagen. Anyway all of them know that they have to drop Ponzi here, or he’ll win it in the sprint. The gap to the chasing group is already 40 seconds



Bakelants has opened a little gap in that 16% slope! Hagen reacted late to his acceleration, and Ponzi is leaving the Norwegian to close the gap



Same thing happening in the chasing group, as Ginanni attacks and has no response from the rest of the group!



They reach the top of the climb with 10 kms to go, and the trio is back together. Ginanni is just 25 seconds behind, and the rest of the chasing group, led by De Bie is 15 seconds further behind



Can Mohoric use his supreme descending skills to bring back all the attackers in the 8 kms left in the race? That’s the hope of Spilak



Bakelants still leads the first group with 5 kms to go, while Hagen and Ponzi sit confortably on his wheel. Ginanni’s been caught by Mohoric, but it looks like the Slovenian will run out of road to catch the leading trio



Mohoric is doing it! 3 kms to go, and as the leading trio start to slow down with the sprint being so close, the two groups are going to be together for the sprint



And here we are, just 2 kms to go, and 12 riders will sprint for the win here in Colombo!

Hagen
Ponzi, Barbero
Bakelants
Mohoric, Spilak
De Bie
Ginanni
Kinoshita
Kelderman
Gastauer
Claeys



Hagen leads the group into the final km, with Bakelants, Ponzi, Mohoric, Spilak, De Bie, Ginanni, Kinoshita, Kelderman, Gastauer, Claeys and Barbero being the order of the group ahead of the sprint



400 metres to go and Bakelants is trying to leave Hagen’s slipstream! That the final km is on a 4% downhill clearly benefits those in the front before the sprint, and Ponzi might not have the chance to overtake these riders



With 200 metres left, it’s between Hagen and Bakelants. The Belgian is coming faster, but the Norwegian still has a bit of advantage. Ponzi looks a safe third, while Spilak and Mohoric are struggling to keep riders like De Bie, Ginanni or Kinoshita behind



Edvald Boasson Hagen holds the late kick of Jan Bakelants to win the Colombo Classic for the second year in-a-row!

Ponzi has to settle for the third pace, after clearly being fooled by the final km being in descent, not giving him the chance to use his better sprint



Spilak gets a great fourth place, ahead of De Bie. Kinoshita is sixth, ahead of Ginanni and the amazing Barbero! Kelderman and Gastauer complete the Top10, with Claeys and Mohoric just outside of it



Almost two minutes behind, Bellis outsprints Koretky, Anuar Aziz and Kratochvila to get 13th place



Borges, Caruso, Bilbao and Chernetskii round up the Top20, with Brataschuk, Senechal and Zingle behind them



Two years this race has been held, two years Edvald Boasson Hagen has won it

1	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Air France - KLM	4h17'20
2	Jan Bakelants	Grieg - Eftel	s.t.
3	Simone Ponzi	Hugo Boss	s.t.
4	Simon Spilak	Isostar - Slovenija	s.t.
5	Sean De Bie	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
6	Tomohiro Kinoshita	Meiji - JR East	s.t.
7	Francesco Ginanni	Gazelle	s.t.
8	Carlos Barbero	Hugo Boss	s.t.
9	Wilco Kelderman	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
10	Ben Gastauer	EA Vesuvio	s.t.
11	Dimitri Claeys	Porto - Prio	s.t.
12	Matej Mohoric	Isostar - Slovenija	s.t.
13	Jonathan Bellis	cycleYorkshire	+ 1'46
14	Clement Koretzky	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
15	Mohamed Shawal Anuar Aziz	Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	s.t.
16	Jakub Kratochvila	Isostar - Slovenija	s.t.
17	Bruno Borges	Porto - Prio	+ 2'40
18	Damiano Caruso	Euskaltel - Elior	s.t.
19	Pello Bilbao	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
20	Sergey Chernetskiy	Team Tinkoff	s.t.
21	Florian Senechal	Team Tinkoff	s.t.
22	Andrii Bratashcuk	Isostar - Slovenija	s.t.
23	Romain Zingle	Euskaltel - Elior	s.t.
24	Roy Jans	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
25	Fabio Felline	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
26	Kristian Dyrnes	Netia - Vonin	s.t.
27	Jan Tratnik	Gazelle	s.t.
28	Jonathan McEvoy	Berg Cycles	s.t.
29	Maximillian Schachmann	Berg Cycles	s.t.
30	Blaz Furdi	Gazelle	s.t.
31	Dietmar Mehr-Wenige	Kraftwerk Man Machine	s.t.
32	Christian Mager	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
33	Charalampas Kastrantas	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
34	Marko Kump	Isostar - Slovenija	s.t.
35	Hermann Pernsteiner	Isostar - Slovenija	s.t.
36	Ion Izagirre	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
37	Davide Formolo	Gazelle	s.t.
38	Andrea Palini	Carrefour - ESPN	s.t.
39	Martin Reimer	EA Vesuvio	s.t.
40	Ilnur Zakarin	Team Tinkoff	s.t.
41	Nikias Arndt	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
42	Arvin Moazemi	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
43	Pascal Ackermann	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
44	Robin van der Hugenhaben	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
45	Tony Gallopin	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
46	Ben Hermans	Generali - EDF	s.t.
47	Philip Lavery	Generali - EDF	s.t.
48	Pedro Miguel Paulinho	Berg Cycles	s.t.
49	Patrick Konrad	Gazelle	s.t.
50	Mario Vogt	Berg Cycles	s.t.
51	Marcel Wyss	Isostar - Slovenija	s.t.
52	Jetse Bol	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
53	Roman Senyenov	Gazelle	s.t.
54	Pawel Poljanski	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
55	Sven Fritsch	EA Vesuvio	s.t.
56	Arnold Jeannesson	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
57	Rafael Silva	Generali - EDF	s.t.
58	Andrea Zordan	Gazelle	s.t.
59	Tom David	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
60	Daniel Paulus	Kraftwerk Man Machine	s.t.
61	Eliot Lietaer	Air France - KLM	s.t.
62	Luca Wackermann	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
63	Luis Afonso	Porto - Prio	s.t.
64	Kouhei Uchima	Meiji - JR East	s.t.
65	Matteo Rabottini	Netia - Vonin	s.t.
66	Alexis Gougeard	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
67	Pierre Latour	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
68	Christopher De Souza	Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	s.t.
69	Maciej Paterski	EA Vesuvio	s.t.
70	Miguel Minguez Ayala	Hugo Boss	s.t.
71	Domenic Weinstein	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
72	Mikel Landa	Hugo Boss	s.t.
73	Nurbolat Kulimbetov	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
74	Alexandre Shushemoin	Kraftwerk Man Machine	s.t.
75	Nur Amirul Marzuki	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
76	Daniel Eliad	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
77	Björn Thurau	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
78	Gyung Gu Jang	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
79	Olivier Le Gac	Euskaltel - Elior	s.t.
80	Florian Scheit	Kraftwerk Man Machine	+ 4'59
81	Clement Chevrier	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
82	Anatoliy Sosnitskiy	Gazelle	s.t.
83	Chiaffredo Grippo	Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	s.t.
84	Bartosz Warchol	Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	s.t.
85	Michael Vink	Grieg - Eftel	s.t.
86	Jakub Skala	Air France - KLM	s.t.
87	Marc-Antoine Soucy	RBC Pro Cycling	s.t.
88	Ricardo Vilela	Berg Cycles	s.t.
89	Mathieu van der Poel	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
90	Sarawut Sirironnachai	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
91	Dmitry Trakhov	Team Tinkoff	s.t.
92	Cyrile Thiery	Generali - EDF	s.t.
93	Danny Summerhill	RBC Pro Cycling	s.t.
94	Adam Stachowiak	Netia - Vonin	s.t.
95	Jóni Brandao	Berg Cycles	s.t.
96	Alexander Sulimov	Team Tinkoff	s.t.
97	Gaëtan Bille	Generali - EDF	s.t.
98	Muhamad Zawawi Azman	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
99	Jack Burke	RBC Pro Cycling	s.t.
100	Tormod Jacobsen	Berg Cycles	s.t.
101	Rudy Molard	Generali - EDF	s.t.
102	Behnam Khalilikhosroshani	Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	s.t.
103	Magno Nazaret	Euskaltel - Elior	s.t.
104	Yamato Shirota	Meiji - JR East	s.t.
105	Jhonatan Restrepo	Carrefour - ESPN	s.t.
106	Marcio Portela	Berg Cycles	s.t.
107	Abdelkader Belmokhtar	Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	s.t.
108	Nico Denz	Kraftwerk Man Machine	s.t.
109	Romain Le Roux	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
110	William Ford	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
111	Pit Schlechter	EA Vesuvio	s.t.
112	Jan Oelerich	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
113	Yusuke Hatanaka	Meiji - JR East	s.t.
114	Nicolae Tanovitchii	Generali - EDF	s.t.
115	Ran Margaliot	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
116	Rhys Gillett	Grieg - Eftel	s.t.
117	Dadi Suryadi	Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	s.t.
118	Alexander Foliforov	Team Tinkoff	s.t.
119	Hugo Hofstetter	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
120	Marc Soler	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
121	Aidan Van Niekerk	Grieg - Eftel	s.t.
122	Marco Canola	Generali - EDF	s.t.
123	Enric Mas	Euskaltel - Elior	s.t.
124	Peeter Tarvis	EA Vesuvio	s.t.
125	Johann van Zyl	RBC Pro Cycling	s.t.
126	Adrian Honkisz	Netia - Vonin	s.t.
127	Christian Egidio	Porto - Prio	s.t.
128	Takero Terasaki	Kraftwerk Man Machine	s.t.
129	Nicolas Edet	Air France - KLM	s.t.
130	Tiesj Benoot	RBC Pro Cycling	s.t.
131	Michael Olsson	Grieg - Eftel	s.t.
132	Jaka Bostner	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
133	Emanuel Piaskowy	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
134	Wolfgang Burmann	Hugo Boss	s.t.
135	Jimmy Pranata	Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	s.t.
136	Gennadiy Tatarinov	Kraftwerk Man Machine	s.t.
137	Armanto Archimandritis	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
138	Jingbiao Zhao	Meiji - JR East	s.t.
139	Martin Laas	Isostar - Slovenija	s.t.
140	Sho Hatsuyama	Meiji - JR East	s.t.
141	Fulgencio Bru	EA Vesuvio	s.t.
142	Evgeny Shalunov	Team Tinkoff	s.t.
143	Pablo Mudarra	Hugo Boss	s.t.
144	Nikolaos Ioannidis	Carrefour - ESPN	s.t.
145	Walter Trillini	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
146	Guillaume Martin	Air France - KLM	s.t.
147	Matteo Fabbro	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
148	Nawuti Liphongyu	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
149	Przemyslaw Kasperkiewicz	Netia - Vonin	s.t.
150	Amund Grondahl Jansen	Grieg - Eftel	s.t.
151	Giovanni Carboni	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
152	Jasper Bovenhuis	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
153	Stefan De Bod	Grieg - Eftel	s.t.
154	Scott Thwaites	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
155	Klever Cuasquer	Hugo Boss	s.t.
156	Bruno Silva	Porto - Prio	s.t.
157	Leonardo Basso	RBC Pro Cycling	s.t.
158	Salvatore Puccio	Air France - KLM	+ 6'39
159	Rudy Barbier	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
160	Jan Drago Petelin	Carrefour - ESPN	s.t.
161	Muhammad Suhaimi Ghani	EA Vesuvio	s.t.
162	Matvey Mamykin	Team Tinkoff	s.t.
163	Cristian Raileanu	Grieg - Eftel	+ 7'20
164	Abou Sanogo	Carrefour - ESPN	s.t.
165	Michael Woods	cycleYorkshire	+ 7'41
166	Stefan Petrovski	Porto - Prio	s.t.
167	Lluis Mas	Porto - Prio	s.t.
168	Yudai Arashiro	Meiji - JR East	s.t.
169	Thanawut Sanikwathi	Carrefour - ESPN	s.t.
170	Yu Takenouchi	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
171	Fabio Jakobsen	Euskaltel - Elior	s.t.
172	Jiankun Liu	Meiji - JR East	s.t.
173	Tao Geoghegan Hart	RBC Pro Cycling	s.t.
174	Simon Clarke	Air France - KLM	s.t.
175	Chequan Richardson	Hugo Boss	s.t.
176	Jaime Castrillo	Euskaltel - Elior	s.t.
177	Léo Vincent	Euskaltel - Elior	+ 8'42
178	Andrew Fenn	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
179	Dmitriy Ignatiev	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
180	Morten Reckweg	Netia - Vonin	+ 9'15
181	Aleksa Crncevic	Carrefour - ESPN	s.t.
182	Tim Kennaugh	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
183	Alan Banaszek	Carrefour - ESPN	+ 10'01
184	Dadley Corwin	RBC Pro Cycling	s.t.
185	Nils Politt	Kraftwerk Man Machine	s.t.
186	Iliyan Kolev	Netia - Vonin	s.t.
187	Roman Lutsyshyn	Air France - KLM	s.t.
188	Szymon Rekita	Netia - Vonin	+ 10'58
189	Reda Aadel	Porto - Prio	s.t.