The division's premium puncheurs and climbers are ready to go. Will van der Hugenhaben deliver on a course, that should suit him? And how will Xero do in front of their home crowd?

Pretty challenging conditions with crosswinds changing from zero to sixty. It's all made up for a big race today.



The break of the day is quickly formed, as four riders are allowed to establish a bigger gap early into the race:

Kaislavuo
Flaksis
Takenouchi
Frankiny

The group builds a lead up to 8 minutes until the peloton starts to chase halfway through the race.

van der Poel is involved in a crash and has to abandon the race, while the whole pack is alltogether after the first few climbs here.



Azteca, In-n-Out as the most active teams in the chase and now that we make a huge jump into the final 18km of the race, it's a few other teams joining the work.

Schoonbroodt leading the bunch for Reddit and also WCC and Xero are showing their colors quite prominent now.

The breakaway went into pieces on the most challenging climbs just a few moments before, we only have Takenouchi and Frankiny left in the lead, holding on to a 55" gap at this point.



12km remaining and we're on the penultimate climb: Frankiny gives it a last attempt to stay clear from the nearing peloton (146 riders), but the gap is melting down to 20 seconds now!

We notice some action at the front off the pack now, let's have a look at this..



Roux and Marentes launch an attack 12km before finish! WCC still strong in numbers to control the thing, with also In-n-Out immediately trying to shut down this dangerous move from Roux!



And it's an short-lived attempt from Roux, as Marentes and the other teams pulled him back quickly. Frankiny taking advantage of the situation and growing his gap back to half a minute, while Takenouchi has been swallowed, losing ground quickly.

But the action is still on, with Bennett now initiating another attack for Xero, 9km to go!

Vichot, Rodriguez Galindo and again a strong looking Marentes react. There's a tiny gap on the pack, but they've reached the hilltop already..

..and again: no luck for Xero, as the main group is back together just a few moments later. Rodriguez Galino leads the pack down the final descent with about 5km to go and also Frankiny has finally been caught now. The race settles down for a few minutes..



..but here we go again:

Boily, Monfort and Roux attack with 2.7km left!

Marentes and Chaves also accelerating, just like a few other favorites like Bennett again. Those will certainly be decisive moves now!



2km to go and Boily still ahead of Monfort and Roux.

Bennett
Wyss
van der Hugenhaben
Bratashcuk

right behind Roux, while Chaves/Marentes struggle to follow! Behind those seven there's a fight about the perfect position for the final sprint, but Boily's group surely looks promising now!



And there's some notable gaps now with just 1.2km to go!

Boily
Monfort
Roux
Bennett

+ 0.15 a group with 8 riders

Marentes
van der Hugenhaben
Hollenstein
Wyss
Pellaud
Vichot
Bratashcuk
Chaves

+ 0.26 a group with 63 riders

including favorites like Grippo, Gilbert or Khripta!

Marentes obviously in great shape and Azteca lets him attack while Chaves is at the back of the first chasing group. Van der Hugenhaben now also attacking to bridge the gap to group Boily/Roux!



Final corner and Boily kicked off the sprint from the leading position, with still the same order behind him!

Van der Hugenhaben as the only one in the second group managing to get away, but he's not yet caught up to Boily's group. Marentes couldn't follow, but he's still at the front of group Chaves/Pellaud..



Let's have a look back to this group: Marentes vs Hollenstein/Vichot, but there's also a strong going Wyss trying to hang on. Chaves seems to struggle, but at least there's a clear gap to the next bigger group..



Back to the front, where we will see a thrilling sprint for line honours:

Boily probably won't take it, as the other three are closing up now! Bennett as the fastest, now going past Roux on the right side of the road!

Van der Hugenhaben has almost caught up, but this may be too late for the victory..



..indeed, as Bennett had the perfect finish to beat his opponents by more than a bike length eventually! Xero with a special victory (they couldn't have imagined a better scenario for today's race, could they?) and the home crowd goes crazy with one of their country's best cyclists taking a prestigious victory. Simply fantastic race for Bennett and his team.

Boily managed to lung in for a strong 2nd place ahead of Monfort and Roux! A tight decision. They will probably happy with those results, even though it's always tough to miss out on a win so close. Roux completing the perfect result for Xero. He's clearly been one of today's most aggressive favorites, just like Bennett.

van der Hugenhaben came close, but has to settle for a solid 5th place. He clearly missed that decisive on first hand, but did well to fight his way back eventually.



A super strong Marentes recovered well to easily drop Hollenstein and Vichot, as they finish 25 seconds behind Bennett.

Wyss and Pellaud complete the Top-10 ahead of Bratashcuk and Chaves. The latter did not really look to good on this final climb (at least once the decisive split occured), but Azteca will be happy enough for Marentes to make a Top-6 result anyway..



Hugentobler easily wins the sprint of the next bigger group, where Gilbert and Taborre round up the Top-15 ahead of Grippo.



Probably one of George Bennett's most special victories in his career: celebrating in front of your home crowd. The team definitely played it smart and extraordinary strong today.

Final Results/

1	George Bennett	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	5h33'03
2	David Boily	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
3	Maxime Monfort	Team Reddit	s.t.
4	Anthony Roux	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
5	Robin van der Hugenhaben	In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	s.t.
6	Wilson Marentes	Azteca-NBCSN	+ 25
7	Reto Hollenstein	Kulczyk - DMTEX	s.t.
8	Arthur Vichot	Kulczyk - DMTEX	s.t.
9	Marcel Wyss	Philips - Continental	s.t.
10	Simon Pellaud	Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack	s.t.
11	Andrii Bratashcuk	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
12	Johan Esteban Chaves	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
13	Gregory Hugentobler	Sauber Petronas Racing	+ 57
14	Philippe Gilbert	Repsol - Honda	+ 1'06
15	Fabio Taborre	Statoil Pro Cycling	s.t.
16	Chiaffredo Grippo	Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo	s.t.
17	Julien Simon	Team Reddit	s.t.
18	Ryan Anderson	Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack	s.t.
19	Alexander Rybakov	Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack	s.t.
20	Laurens De Vreese	Proximus Continental Team	s.t.
21	Mauro Finetto	Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes	s.t.
22	Stefano Agostini	Repsol - Honda	s.t.
23	Mauro Santambrogio	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
24	Michael Rodriguez Galindo	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
25	Gabriel Juarez	SanCor	s.t.
26	Muhamad Adiq Othman	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
27	Phillip Gaimon	Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack	s.t.
28	Danny Osorio	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
29	Michael Cuming	Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes	s.t.
30	Andriy Khripta	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
31	Simon Geschke	L�bauer Stadtwerke - Etixx	s.t.
32	Bob Schoonbroodt	Team Reddit	s.t.
33	Tom Diggle	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
34	Romain Bardet	Philips - Continental	s.t.
35	Gracjan Lejman	The Balkan Cycling Project	s.t.
36	Damiano Cunego	Repsol - Honda	s.t.
37	Tarik Chaoufi	Garmin - BikeNZ Cycling	s.t.
38	Eliot Lietaer	Proximus Continental Team	s.t.
39	Damian Shaw	Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes	s.t.
40	Alessandro De Marchi	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
41	Pedro Sequera	Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo	+ 1'58
42	Mark Dowling	Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes	s.t.
43	Eduin Becerra	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
44	Jaime Roson	Repsol - Honda	s.t.
45	Alex Ariya Destribois	The Balkan Cycling Project	s.t.
46	Johan Le Bon	In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	s.t.
47	Dario Cataldo	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
48	Mika�l Ch�rel	Eddie Stobart	s.t.
49	Sondre SOrtveit	Statoil Pro Cycling	s.t.
50	Cristian Rodr�guez	Repsol - Honda	s.t.
51	Alberigo Passalacqua	Andorra Cycling Project	s.t.
52	Kilian Frankiny	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
53	Mathieu La Lavandier	The Balkan Cycling Project	+ 2'48
54	Nino Schurter	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
55	Steven Lampier	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
56	Bart De Clercq	L�bauer Stadtwerke - Etixx	s.t.
57	Odd Christian Eiking	Statoil Pro Cycling	s.t.
58	Tom Leezer	Philips - Continental	s.t.
59	Ariel Sivori	SanCor	s.t.
60	Robbie Squire	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
61	Sander Armee	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
62	Michael Torckler	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
63	Jelle Wallays	Proximus Continental Team	s.t.
64	Ilia Koshevoy	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
65	Grega Bole	VMP - Argon 18	s.t.
66	Serghei Tvetcov	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
67	Jay Thomson	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
68	Daniel Juarez	SanCor	s.t.
69	Gatis Smukulis	Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack	s.t.
70	Ben Curfs	Proximus Continental Team	s.t.
71	Erdenebayar Daspuntsag	Garmin - BikeNZ Cycling	s.t.
72	Walter Trillini	SanCor	s.t.
73	Jasper Ockeloen	Proximus Continental Team	s.t.
74	Varsham Darbinyan	Team Reddit	s.t.
75	Ole Haavardsholm	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
76	Jesse Kaislavuo	Team Reddit	s.t.
77	Gabor Kasa	The Balkan Cycling Project	s.t.
78	Rob Ruijgh	Philips - Continental	s.t.
79	Marius Petrache	VMP - Argon 18	s.t.
80	Aidis Kruopis	In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	s.t.
81	Sergio Godoy	SanCor	s.t.
82	Mohammad Saufi Mat Senan	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
83	Tao Geoghegan Hart	Kulczyk - DMTEX	s.t.
84	Richard Handley	Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes	+ 4'48
85	Enzo Moyano	SanCor	s.t.
86	Nandra Eko Wahyudi	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
87	Luca Forcellini	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
88	Domenico Pozzovivo	Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes	s.t.
89	Frederik Backaert	Proximus Continental Team	s.t.
90	asmund Romstad LOvik	Statoil Pro Cycling	s.t.
91	Micka�l Delage	Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes	s.t.
92	Nazir Jaser	Andorra Cycling Project	s.t.
93	David Per	Philips - Continental	s.t.
94	William Ford	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
95	Roniel Campos	Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo	s.t.
96	Andreas Landa	Statoil Pro Cycling	s.t.
97	Albert Timmer	Philips - Continental	s.t.
98	Nic Hamilton	Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack	s.t.
99	Marvain Tognama Kossouhorou	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
100	Anders Ekh Dahlberg	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
101	Jimmi Briceno	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
102	Ricardo Mestre	In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	s.t.
103	Geremie Nzeke	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
104	Richard Ochoa Quintero	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
105	Jaoa Costa	Philips - Continental	s.t.
106	Enrico Battaglin	Philips - Continental	s.t.
107	Stefano Pirazzi	Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo	s.t.
108	Clovis Kamzong	Garmin - BikeNZ Cycling	+ 6'30
109	Brent Bookwalter	Statoil Pro Cycling	s.t.
110	Rob Partridge	Eddie Stobart	s.t.
111	Georgi Petrov Georgiev	VMP - Argon 18	s.t.
112	Tormod Jacobsen	Statoil Pro Cycling	s.t.
113	Asela Sisira	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
114	Ignacio Jesus Prado	Repsol - Honda	s.t.
115	Tom Davison	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
116	Kamil Gradek	Kulczyk - DMTEX	s.t.
117	Maxime Bouet	In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	s.t.
118	Giovanni Visconti	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
119	Aleksa Crncevic	Garmin - BikeNZ Cycling	s.t.
120	Vincent J�r�me	Kulczyk - DMTEX	s.t.
121	Lucas Manuel Gaday	SanCor	s.t.
122	Carlos Baltazar	Andorra Cycling Project	s.t.
123	Matthew Lloyd	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
124	Maky Roman	Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo	s.t.
125	Eryk Laton	Kulczyk - DMTEX	s.t.
126	Yosukue Matsumoto	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
127	Bonaventure Uwizeyimana	Andorra Cycling Project	s.t.
128	F�lix Emilio Besada	Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo	s.t.
129	Jos� Rujano	Andorra Cycling Project	s.t.
130	Konrad Dabkowski	Kulczyk - DMTEX	s.t.
131	Connor McCutcheon	Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack	s.t.
132	Aidan Van Niekerk	Repsol - Honda	s.t.
133	Cl�ment Venturini	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
134	Emanuele Sella	Team Reddit	s.t.
135	Paul Van der Ploeg	Eddie Stobart	s.t.
136	Lars Petter Nordhaug	Statoil Pro Cycling	s.t.
137	Oleg Berdos	VMP - Argon 18	s.t.
138	Alexandre Aulas	In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	s.t.
139	Samuel Ssabagwanya	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
140	Sebastian Salas	Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack	+ 8'42
141	Blaise Sonnery	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
142	Robert Power	Repsol - Honda	s.t.
143	Marko Stankovic	The Balkan Cycling Project	s.t.
144	Hamish Schreurs	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
145	Andzs Flaksis	Andorra Cycling Project	s.t.
146	Yu Takenouchi	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
147	Abou Sanogo	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
148	Luc Turchi	Team Reddit	s.t.
149	Adam Semple	cycleYorkshire	+ 10'37
150	Xandro Meurisse	Proximus Continental Team	s.t.
151	Dusan Kalaba	The Balkan Cycling Project	s.t.
152	Nicholas Schultz	Garmin - BikeNZ Cycling	s.t.
153	Tiziano Dall'Antonia	Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo	s.t.
154	Ivan Centrone	L�bauer Stadtwerke - Etixx	s.t.
155	Jaime Suaza	Eddie Stobart	s.t.
156	William Maesen	Proximus Continental Team	s.t.
157	Ivan Garc�a Cortina	VMP - Argon 18	+ 12'41
158	Edoardo Girardi	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
159	Simone Petilli	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
160	Dmitri Medvedev	Eddie Stobart	s.t.
161	Aleksandar Roman	The Balkan Cycling Project	s.t.
162	Marildo Yzeiraj	VMP - Argon 18	s.t.
163	Dmitry Trakhov	Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo	s.t.
164	Niklas Eg	Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes	s.t.
165	Ben O'Connor	Garmin - BikeNZ Cycling	s.t.
166	Wolfgang Burmann	The Balkan Cycling Project	s.t.
167	Michal Schlegel	Andorra Cycling Project	s.t.
168	Shaun Lewis	Eddie Stobart	s.t.
169	Thanawut Sanikwathi	In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	s.t.
170	Jonas Koch	L�bauer Stadtwerke - Etixx	s.t.
171	Sayed Alawi	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
172	Jean-Fran�ois Camier	Team Reddit	s.t.
173	Matthew Brammeier	cycleYorkshire	+ 15'18
174	Lotto Petrus	Garmin - BikeNZ Cycling	s.t.
175	Lionel Biondo	SanCor	s.t.
176	Nikolay Mihaylov	VMP - Argon 18	s.t.
177	Dadley Corwin	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
178	Nicola Ruffoni	Eddie Stobart	s.t.
179	Owain Doull	Eddie Stobart	s.t.
180	Fraser Gough	Garmin - BikeNZ Cycling	s.t.
181	Max Losch	L�bauer Stadtwerke - Etixx	s.t.
182	Tom Schwarmes	L�bauer Stadtwerke - Etixx	s.t.
183	�scar Solis	Andorra Cycling Project	+ 16'57
184	Marco Zafferani	Sauber Petronas Racing	+ 18'49
185	Nako Georgiev	VMP - Argon 18	s.t.
186	Piotr Konwa	Kulczyk - DMTEX	s.t.
187	Stelly Robert	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
188	Thomas Boudat	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
189	Tiesj Benoot	L�bauer Stadtwerke - Etixx	+ 21'31
190	Michael Woods	cycleYorkshire	+ 22'37
DNF	Mathieu van der Poel	L�bauer Stadtwerke - Etixx