Hmm, no bonification seconds?

Nice try from old man Rebellin

Again not a sign of activity by Alinejad, bit disappointing

No export of the result?

Great Report, really exciting for me, and it's nice to see Boekmans taking the yellow jersey.

But how does he not win! I predicted this...

btw, can you tell me if Vaconsoleil is chasing, if so who is, and who is doing the leadout? (because all I know is Paolini).

Disppointing stage in Langkawi, I'm just hoping that the breakaway won't win all of the remaining stages.

Taking that stage totally makes up for Poorseyedi not making the Top10!
Now go on like this, guys!


I wonder if I should criticise my guys some more, so they will actually do what they're supposed to.


Now about Algarve. A quiet stage for us, I saw Alinejad lining up for the sprint, but he didn't even show up in the Top15, so he must have messed up.
Still, we're aiming for the GC win with Po-ding, so everything's fine for the moment.
By the way, it would be nice to have the stage' profile at the beginning of a report in tage races - especially when the preview was some time ago.

At least Arndt is somewhat getting some Top 10s.

Costa again sprints to a top ten and some nice bonus seconds.
Carlo should take a look at How easy that is

Really pleased to see Cardoso sprinting to a third place in Algarve. Really good wheel to pick out there.

Bonus seconds obviously need to be added somehow?

Pretty much set in for breakaways from here on in - down in Langkawi. Suits me down to the ground though having GC 3rd means that chances of my guys going for breaks is virtually zero.

Welcome to Gent for the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2014. The Belgian commentator next to me says the cycling season has now really begun, but of course the rest of the world knows better. Anyway, the race itself has started now.

Two people see the start of the race as their sign to attack. Voigt (COL) and Charneux (COF) are the first two attackers of the day.


The pack initially is reluctant to give much space, especially with many attacks behind the leading duo. Eventually a break of 4 riders manages to become the break of the day. The two early attackers are accompagnied by Van Emden (BEL) and Van Asbroeck (TSV).


The riders slowly ride along over the Haaghoek, no splits, crashes or notable material failures so far. With 125km to go the lead is at 5m37. IAM, Cannondale and Katusha are the teams making the pace in the pack.

With just under 100km to go we have something happening finally. The break's lead, which has been 6 minutes, is back to where it was 25km earlier, and Scheirlinckx (WGG) attacks. Nobody in the pack seems to worry about this, and keeps its pace stable.


He soon gets chased by another attacker from the pack. Le Bon (FDJ) attacks as well.


After the second Haaghoek we have had more attacks, from Bozic (AST) and Vantomme (CRE). Bozic has managed to catch up with the two ahead of him, Vantomme hasn't yet. The three original escapees have 3 minutes to the second group, and surprisingly 6 minutes to the pack. Vantomme is still cruising somewhere in between. In the pack itself Petit's (COF) puncture is the most notable event, although he hasn't been dropped.


With 70km to go the chasing group and the leading group merge, and Vantomme is getting closer as well. The pack is now only 3 minutes and 40 seconds behind the leaders though, and under Cannondale's regime this is becoming less and less.


At the Taaienberg the pack can see the 8 (Vantomme caught up) leaders. However, there's still 60 kilometers left to ride and a lead of two minutes for the leading group.


While the first relatively big group is dropped at the rear of the pack, a new attack takes place in the front of the peloton, just after the summit. Kristoff is the rider who attacks, and this is a real dangerous rider for today.


3 riders try to bridge the gap to him. Stybar, Vanmarcke and Sagan. I don't think I need to say much more. It does begin to look like McDermott is now in a good situation, saving himself.


BMC/Van Avermaet decide to show up in front as well now. With the others being over a minute ahead already it might just be too late. Lotto and IAM try to help them out though.


With about 50km to go Kristoff and Stybar catch up with the leaders. Sagan and Vanmarcke are 50s behind them, the pack another 50 seconds.


With 48km to go Sagan and Vanmarcke also catch up, with the pack now only 1m30 behind.


The pack is closing the gap quickly though. Just 3km later the gap is down to a minute due to Larsson's pace.


At the Molenberg several splits take place. The break loses Stybar most notably, while the pack gets rid of Haussler, Boom, Verboven and many others. The first pack is now just 35 seconds behind the leaders. In the rear the second pack rejoins soon.


At the Paddestraat the break is caught, but yet again the pack splits. Haussler and Verboven are once again caught behind. Yet again the break is only temporary though.


The 'pack' heads up the Lange Munte, the penultimate cobble sector of today. Sagan takes charge, but so far he can't get away.


No major splits once again, and we head into the final 20km with the following 23 riders:
BEL: Boom, Van Keirsbulck, Vanmarcke
CAN: Sagan, Sabatini
AST: Degenkolb, Turgot, Bozic
GRS: Vansummeren, McDermott, Stybar
BMC: Schär, Oss, Van Avermaet, Phinney
KAT: Kristoff
IAM: Haussler
FDJ: Ladagnous, Offredo
CRE: Vantomme
EUS: Verboven
LTB: Greipel, Roelandts
Only Phinney seems to be in trouble of these men.


With 10km to go the group is sustained though. With 10km to go these riders are more than 1m30 ahead of the chasers, so it seems imminent the winner is among the 23 leaders. That said, we still have one cobbled sector to go. Sagan, Greipel and Kristoff should be the strongest sprinters here.


With 4km to go, at the very end of the final cobbled sector, Sagan attacks again! Many surprising faces, but can he be caught?


His gap is quite large with 2.3km to go, but behind him the chase is on.


Greipel goes! He sets off with 2.7km to go with a high pace. Is it enough to catch Sagan though?


With 2km to go it doesn't appear so. However, Sagan now seems to collapse, while Greipel doesn't.


Not only Greipel has unleashed. Degenkolb, Haussler and the others have set off as well.


Sagan leads with 1km to go, but Greipel has come significantly closer.


Verboven leads the rest as well, and it's all coming closer and closer.


With 500m to go Greipel has almost closed the gap, could he surprise here?


It doesn't look like it. He also has to slow down, and although he is getting closer it doesn't seem to be enough.


Victory goes to Sagan indeed! He hangs on to his lead and justifies his late attack.


In the sprint behind Verboven beats Degenkolb, Haussler, Ladagnous, Turgot and the others. Surprising is the absence of Belkin.

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Peter Sagan	Cannondale Pro Cycling	4h27'44
2	André Greipel	Lotto Belisol	s.t.
3	Rudy Verboven	Euskaltel - Euskadi	s.t.
4	John Degenkolb	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
5	Heinrich Haussler	IAM Cycling	s.t.
6	Matthieu Ladagnous	FDJ.fr	s.t.
7	Sébastien Turgot	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
8	Jürgen Roelandts	Lotto Belisol	s.t.
9	Greg Van Avermaet	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
10	Erik McDermott	Garmin - Sharp	s.t.
11	Borut Božic	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
12	Taylor Phinney	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
13	Alexander Kristoff	Katusha Team	s.t.
14	Daniel Oss	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
15	Maxime Vantomme	Crelan - Euphony	s.t.
16	Yohan Offredo	FDJ.fr	s.t.
17	Sep Vanmarcke	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
18	Lars Boom	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
19	Zdenek Stybar	Garmin - Sharp	s.t.
20	Fabio Sabatini	Cannondale Pro Cycling	s.t.
21	Guillaume Van Keirsbulck	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.

Interesting race, mostly because it wasn't a breakaway!!! Yay

Ladagnous and Offredo did what they were supposed to do and resulted in yet another strong Top10 finish for FDJ

Sagan won that the hard way but is probably justified with Greipel there. Great report also

Awesome victory for Peter. Great to see Sabatini there to help him in the end.

Meh. Another useless performance from us. No attacks once again. At least our strength in depth gave us something.

Great race, but shit result for Belkin, 17th, 18th and 21st. How? Just How?

Verboven

Great to see Charlie Charneux in the break for Cofidis but apart from that a puncture was the highlight for us

I'm already satisfied Greipel hung on, that second place is a big bonus

Really pleased with Bennett in Algarve there, signs that he seems to be up to the job of replacing Bennati.

This season has started well for us, two goals completed already and seemingly firing on most (if not all) cylinders, hoping that this form carries on into the rest of Part 1 and beyond.

Yay! Charlie was in the break.