Good morning everyone and welcome in the Netherlands for the Ronde van het Ijsselmeer. And as expected, there's quite a bit of wind today., around 64 km/h near the start. Only time will tell how it will affect the final outcome of this new classic.

Interestingly, the bookies favor sprinters with a good flat stat over expert favourite Degenkolb. A sign of what's to come?



Immediately, an attack. It's hard to see how they will stay ahead with so many teams wanting a sprint, but for some teams, it's probably their only shot.

Three riders already half a minute ahead, looks like the break of the day has already been formed:

Lecourt De Billot
De Haes
O'Brien



Onto the first dyke however, Le Court
makes a jump and reaches the first three with ease.



The peloton lets them go, with Burghardt up front, despite Podium Ambition's presence in the breakway. Looks like he's mainly trying to slow down the peloton, and he's achieving just that: Three minutes for the leaders after 20 kilometres already.



And there we go, 170 kilometres to go and the first break within the pack. Of the sprinters, only Guardini and Te Brake seem to have been surprised, as they are not in the main group!



It proved to be a false alarm, everyone is back in the peloton. Though the leaders only have two minutes left now. 150 kilometres to go.



A lot of silence then, mainly caused by a lot less wind (40kph average now). Though with 30 kilometres to go, Carrefour is giving it one final go!


And there's some effect! Once again, Guardini and Te Brake get dropped from the main group. Not a disaster for their teams though, as both have better sprinters left in the pack.



Carrefour drops the pace, and no other team seems to want to take over. Instead, there's an attack by Stewart and Vanmarcke, who are closing in on the breakaway riders quite fast!



But they get swallowed up quite quickly, mainly due to the work of Netia. Interesting, because despite having a good sprinter, they don't have a favourite in this race.

The rapid pace also means the breakaway gets caught. Le Court is the last of them to survive. 15 kilometres to go.



Meanwhile the pace is making a lot of riders drop from the peloton, which has only 53 riders left. And the team who certainly doesn't want to hear this news is Carrefour, as Vanderbiest has been dropped! Surprising, since they were actually the team that started the crosswinds only 20 kilometres ago.



And it doesn't look like we're going to see a mass sprint, because with only 12 kilometres to go, 15 riders get a gap over the rest of the peloton! The names are:

Van der Sande
Sakala
Vanbilsen
Ford
Holloway
Bernas
Rowe
Kuznetsov
Reckweg
Van Asbroeck
Saber
Langeveld
Lander
Chawchiangkwang
and Degenkolb.

And with over a minute already, it looks like the odds for them to stay ahead of the pack are in their favor. Some teams won't be happy about this!



Attack by Holloway?! What a crazy move from the sprinter, but it might have been a good one, as he has 32 seconds over the other 14 riders quite quickly.



Rowe tries to attack a little bit later, and almost reaches Holloway with around 5 kilometres to go!



Actually the entire main group has fallen apart. Three riders now have a small gap on them. After that comes a quite complete peloton, even Vanderbiest has returned there. So for clearance, here's the situation:



Rowe is having huge trouble trying to catch Holloway. Only 8 seconds, but he seems to be struggling heavily. He got so close, but look at the gap they have made already... Looks like the winner will be decided between them!



A bit further behind, Ewan, and Vanderbiest try to cross the gap to what once was the 15-man leader group. Behind them is what can be called the peloton, with riders like Mohs and Vantomme, who clearly don't feel like fighting for more than a 15-20th position.



Meanwhile at the front though, there's no more question left: Dan Holloway wins a stormy first edition of the Ronde van het Ijsselmeer! The American rider proved he's no wussy and decided to make the best use of his ability to ride over the flat. And what better place to do that than in the Netherlands.



Luke Rowe finishes second, a result he should be happy with. Though I wonder what would've happened if he managed to close the 8-second gap in the final kilometres.



Two (!) minutes behind them, no one manged to escape from the group eventually. Vanbilsen is in front under the banner, though they're all completely tired. I doubt anyone is even still able to sprint!


Well, they didn't sprint, but on pure strength Degenkolb actually manages to not suffer that much damage from the way the race went and finished third. Vanbilsen got fourth in front of Lander. The top 10 is completed by Reckweg, Saber, Van Asbroeck, Van der Sande and Sakala – lots of amateur points being scored here for Signal Iduna!



Once the leftovers of the breakway have finished, including Ewan (15th) and Vanderbiest (16th), the peloton actually still fancies a sprint, though it's only for some depth points: Fablok wins it easily, getting 18th, 19th and 20th. But all it means is that they had a lot of energy left to attack earlier on... Bad gamble to stay in the pack for them, that's for sure.



And that's it for today's coverage! Holloway found himself the perfect race to show that he can not only sprint, but attack, too. And only a few MG legends can say the same. Well done!

1	Dan Holloway	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	4h56'59
2	Luke Rowe	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	+ 20
3	John Degenkolb	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	+ 1'49
4	Kenneth Vanbilsen	Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	s.t.
5	Sebastian Lander	Ayubowan!	s.t.
6	Morten Reckweg	Netia - Vonin	s.t.
7	Lahcen Saber	Philips - Continental	s.t.
8	Tom Van Asbroeck	Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	s.t.
9	Tosh Van der Sande	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
10	Yanjanani Sakala	Signal Iduna	s.t.
11	Vyacheslav Kuznetsov	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	s.t.
12	Pawel Bernas	Netia - Vonin	s.t.
13	Sebastian Langeveld	Kulczyk - DMTEX	+ 2'01
14	William Ford	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
15	Caleb Ewan	Podium Ambition	+ 2'27
16	Romain Vanderbiest	Carrefour - ESPN	+ 2'57
17	Peerapol Chawchiangkuang	Diesel Development Team	+ 3'01
18	Erik Mohs	Fablok - Bank BGZ	+ 3'05
19	Andrea Guardini	Fablok - Bank BGZ	+ 3'08
20	Grzegorz Stepniak	Fablok - Bank BGZ	+ 3'19
21	Marco Haller	Kraftwerk Man Machine	s.t.
22	Andreas Stauff	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
23	Maxime Vantomme	Netia - Vonin	s.t.
24	Marco Brus	Bianchi Racing p/b eBuddy	+ 3'29
25	Remco Te Brake	Philips - Continental	s.t.
26	Mekseb Debesay	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
27	Adam Blythe	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
28	Sep Vanmarcke	Repsol - Netflix	s.t.
29	Gianni Meersman	Signal Iduna	s.t.
30	Daniel Schorn	Carrefour - ESPN	s.t.
31	Scott Thwaites	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
32	Thomas Stewart	RBC Spidertech	s.t.
33	Marvin Orlando Angarita	Banco de Bogota	s.t.
34	Marcel Barth	Kulczyk - DMTEX	s.t.
35	Maral-Erdene Batmunkh	Becherovka - Petrof	s.t.
36	Jani Tewelde	Eritel - RwandAir	s.t.
37	Ian Stannard	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
38	Tom Leezer	Bianchi Racing p/b eBuddy	s.t.
39	Anthony Lavoine	Kulczyk - DMTEX	+ 3'47
40	Damion Drapac	Minions	s.t.
41	Patrick Bercz	Carrefour - ESPN	s.t.
42	Julian David Arredondo	Banco de Bogota	s.t.
43	Ben King	Banco de Bogota	s.t.
44	Sam Bennett	Kulczyk - DMTEX	s.t.
45	Geert Van der Sanden	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
46	Csaba Palyi	Banco de Bogota	+ 3'56
47	Laureano Rosas	Minions	s.t.
48	Adrian Richeze	Banco de Bogota	s.t.
49	Michael Kurth	Kraftwerk Man Machine	s.t.
50	Jelle Wallays	Banco de Bogota	s.t.
51	Mirac Kal	Signal Iduna	s.t.
52	Sameera Chatarunga	Ayubowan!	s.t.
53	Roy Jans	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
54	Anthony Turgis	Ayubowan!	s.t.
55	Mamyr Stash	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	s.t.
56	Samuel Coronel	Becherovka - Petrof	s.t.
57	Michail Kortsidakis	Signal Iduna	s.t.
58	Jakub Mareczko	Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	s.t.
59	Niccolo Bonifazio	Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	s.t.
60	Gihan Pushpakumara	Ayubowan!	s.t.
61	Kevin Fouquet	Kulczyk - DMTEX	s.t.
62	Bert-Jan Lindeman	Minions	s.t.
63	Jamalidin Novardianto	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
64	Thiago Duarte Nardin	Diesel Development Team	s.t.
65	Juan Abenhamar Gallego Martin	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
66	Stijn Joseph	Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	s.t.
67	Juraj Sagan	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
68	Nicolay Cherkasov	Netia - Vonin	s.t.
69	Kamil Malecki	Netia - Vonin	s.t.
70	Carl Ngamoki-Cameron	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	+ 4'15
71	Andrew Fenn	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
72	Noam Cohen	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
73	Wojciech Pszczolarski	Signal Iduna	s.t.
74	Kamil Gradek	Kulczyk - DMTEX	s.t.
75	Andrei Nechita	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
76	Gediminas Bagdonas	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	+ 4'25
77	Alan Banaszek	Carrefour - ESPN	s.t.
78	Jakob Rathe	RBC Spidertech	s.t.
79	Martyn Irvine	Kraftwerk Man Machine	s.t.
80	Louis Verhelst	Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	s.t.
81	Marcus Burghardt	Podium Ambition	s.t.
82	Callum Scotson	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
83	Kim Le Court	Podium Ambition	s.t.
84	Felix Grossschartner	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	s.t.
85	Fabien Taillefour	Repsol - Netflix	s.t.
86	Mark O'Brien	Mitchelton - Cobra9	+ 4'36
87	Florian Bissinger	Signal Iduna	s.t.
88	Varsham Darbinyan	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	s.t.
89	George Atkins	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
90	Wout Poels	Philips - Continental	s.t.
91	Olivier Lecourt De Billot	Eritel - RwandAir	s.t.
92	Kenny De Haes	Minions	s.t.
93	Max Walsleben	Kraftwerk Man Machine	s.t.
94	Meiyin Wang	Diesel Development Team	s.t.
95	Marvain Tognama Kossouhorou	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
96	Julius van den Berg	Ayubowan!	s.t.
97	Gabriel Cullaigh	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
98	Max Losch	Banco de Bogota	+ 4'55
99	Tadej Logar	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	+ 4'59
100	Yoann Bagot	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	s.t.
101	Jhonatan Restrepo	Carrefour - ESPN	+ 5'06
102	Scott Ambrose	Signal Iduna	+ 5'10
103	Logan Owen	Podium Ambition	s.t.
104	Milan Menten	Netia - Vonin	s.t.
105	Philip Lindau	Team B&O	s.t.
106	Pierre Paolo Penasa	Kulczyk - DMTEX	s.t.
107	Michal Paluta	Kulczyk - DMTEX	+ 5'53
108	Jenthe Biermans	Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	s.t.
109	Christopher Lawless	Podium Ambition	s.t.
110	Joosten Vaidem	Signal Iduna	s.t.
111	Jesse Kaislavuo	RBC Spidertech	s.t.
112	Stefano Agostini	Repsol - Netflix	s.t.
113	Nils Schomber	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
114	Alberto Bettiol	Ayubowan!	s.t.
115	Thanawut Sanikwathi	Carrefour - ESPN	s.t.
116	Richie Porte	Mitchelton - Cobra9	s.t.
117	Tushantha Rajapakshage	Ayubowan!	s.t.
118	Piet Allegaert	Philips - Continental	s.t.
119	Nikolaos Ioannidis	Carrefour - ESPN	s.t.
120	Lotto Petrus	Philips - Continental	+ 6'16
121	Pawel Franczak	Netia - Vonin	+ 6'32
122	Gorazd Per	Team B&O	s.t.
123	Roman Maikin	Kraftwerk Man Machine	s.t.
124	Willi Willwohl	Kraftwerk Man Machine	s.t.
125	Wan Yau Lau	Diesel Development Team	s.t.
126	Pedro Merino Criado	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
127	Nazir Jaser	Becherovka - Petrof	s.t.
128	Marcelo Felipe	Diesel Development Team	s.t.
129	Ricki Nelson	Podium Ambition	s.t.
130	Edwin Avila	Minions	s.t.
131	Marco Andre Acevedo	RBC Spidertech	s.t.
132	Kristian Sobota	Netia - Vonin	s.t.
133	Daryl Impey	Eritel - RwandAir	s.t.
134	Madushanka Perera	Ayubowan!	s.t.
135	Nico Schinker	Minions	s.t.
136	Alexander Krieger	Philips - Continental	s.t.
137	Shaquille Sinclair	Minions	s.t.
138	Maksym Vasilyev	Bianchi Racing p/b eBuddy	s.t.
139	Kim Marius Nielsen	Team B&O	s.t.
140	Emmanuel Killy	Diesel Development Team	s.t.
141	Sang Hong Park	Kraftwerk Man Machine	s.t.
142	Dmitriy Rive	Diesel Development Team	s.t.
143	Juan Sebastian Molano	Bianchi Racing p/b eBuddy	s.t.
144	Guangtong Ma	Mitchelton - Cobra9	s.t.
145	Jay Major	Minions	s.t.
146	Kyle Buckosky	RBC Spidertech	s.t.
147	Sang Hoon Park	Mitchelton - Cobra9	s.t.
148	Takero Terasaki	Kraftwerk Man Machine	s.t.
149	Alexander Kamp	Diesel Development Team	s.t.
150	Patryk Solinski	Team B&O	s.t.
151	Ryan Christensen	Repsol - Netflix	s.t.
152	Ludvig Bengtsson	Team B&O	s.t.
153	Andres Paez	Repsol - Netflix	s.t.
154	Jan Brockhoff	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
155	Zdenek Stybar	Becherovka - Petrof	s.t.
156	Benjamin Perry	RBC Spidertech	s.t.
157	Valerio Conti	Bianchi Racing p/b eBuddy	s.t.
158	Alfdan De Decker	Team B&O	s.t.
159	Leszek Plucinski	Banco de Bogota	s.t.
160	Chris Harper	Mitchelton - Cobra9	s.t.
161	Sean McKenna	Repsol - Netflix	s.t.
162	Anass Ait El Abdia	Eritel - RwandAir	s.t.
163	José Herrada	Bianchi Racing p/b eBuddy	s.t.
164	Patrick Müller	Philips - Continental	s.t.
165	Adrien Niyonshuti	Eritel - RwandAir	s.t.
166	Brenton Jones	Mitchelton - Cobra9	s.t.
167	Jaroslav Kulhavy	Becherovka - Petrof	s.t.
168	Miltiadis Giannoutsos	Repsol - Netflix	s.t.
169	Ha Jeon Jung	Philips - Continental	s.t.
170	Sjoerd Bax	Bianchi Racing p/b eBuddy	s.t.
171	Eddie Dunbar	Repsol - Netflix	s.t.
172	Ziga Rucigaj	Becherovka - Petrof	s.t.
173	Dmitriy Ignatiev	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
174	Jhonnatan De Leon	RBC Spidertech	s.t.
175	Sabelo Mngometulu	Control Team	s.t.
176	Jamal Hibatullah	Eritel - RwandAir	s.t.
177	Elias Abou Rachid	Becherovka - Petrof	s.t.
178	Frantisek Sisr	Becherovka - Petrof	s.t.
179	Yin Chih Wang	Mitchelton - Cobra9	s.t.
180	Kristian Vanderpool	Podium Ambition	s.t.
181	Mohammad Saufi Mat Senan	Mitchelton - Cobra9	s.t.
182	Martin Toft Madsen	Team B&O	s.t.
183	Mathieu La Lavandier	Team B&O	s.t.
184	Daniel Pearson	RBC Spidertech	s.t.
185	Similo Nyoni	Eritel - RwandAir	+ 7'24
186	Mwangi Samwel	Eritel - RwandAir	+ 7'27
187	Aleksa Crncevic	Carrefour - ESPN	s.t.
188	Damiano Cunego	Bianchi Racing p/b eBuddy	s.t.
189	Stan Dewulf	Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam	s.t.
190	Chu Thien Sinelobov	Novatek-Panarmenian.net	+ 9'02
191	Dragan Jasovic	Control Team	s.t.
192	Stelly Robert	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
193	Drew Morey	Podium Ambition	+ 10'34
194	Husain Al Basri	Control Team	s.t.