We made it to Köln after all! Welcome to the Rund um Koln, 200 kilometers of racing today around some undulating German landscape, with a slightly uphill finish. Will the pure sprinters survive, will the punchy sprinters thrive or the puncheurs surprise?

Bookmakers are a bit confused as to who they call favorite. At three starts they have pure puncheur ( Hagen), a punchy sprinter but not the strongest ( Houle) and an all-rounder ( Wisniowski).



There are some early attempts of a breakaway, but the teams of Iberia, Puma and RBC don't allow anything to pass no matter the composition. The speedy start causes Bouhanni, one of the flatter sprinters, to drop immediately.



Eventually one rider would be allowed to go: Walsleben. The German leads by more than a minute at the moment. The peloton decided to slow down, allowing Bouhanni to catch up again.



It would become a solo attempt. As soon as he was gone, no other rider even tried to attack. At 100 kilometers he has a maximum margin of 5'30.



The first hilly zone is behind us and all riders are still in the peloton (except Walsleben of course). Teams putting a rider at the front are: Team Puma - SAP, Iberia - Team Degenkolb, RBC Pro Cycling, EA Vesuvio and Air France - KLM.



Fourty kilometer to go and all the hills, except the arrival are behind us. Walsleben's lead is reduced to 2'40. Isostar - Slovenija and cycleYorkshire join in on the chase.



Hey, another attack! Bar goes in the German forests, weird move since he's a decent sprinter with a decent punch. Yet the team also has Coquard and Koretzky.



The teams behind are not happy with this move. Iberia and Puma chase viciously after the Frenchman and catch him at 30 kilometer from the line. Ten seconds later and Bar goes again. He doesn't like to give up, does he?



He would be caught again within a kilometer, but then attacks for the third time. Then Bar is caught for the third and hopefully final time as we enter the streets of Köln. Walsleben is now also close to being caught, only 45 seconds remaining.



Another attack, this time Andersen and not Bar. He also wouldn't get much room by the peloton. Six riders could no longer follow the pace, of which Edet is the biggest name.



Andersen's attempt would be a warm-up for Wisniowski, who has a lot more chance to succeed than his two predecessors. Iberia and Puma once again the teams which have to do the chasing. Seventeen kilometer to go, Walsleben still surviving at the front.



Wisniowski catches and drops Walsleben, who has no energy to follow. 13 kilometer to go, the Pole has a gap of 35 seconds.



Walsleben would be caught by the peloton, currently led by EA Vesuvio and Team Tinkoff. Wisniowski still with a small lead. Not five but eleven kilometer to go, as one lap is still remaining.



The weather was good today, but now we hit a small shower. Wisniowski still leading with seven kilometer to go, though the margin is getting smaller and smaller.



A group of riders dropping off at the back, and will definitely not participate in the sprint today: Cavendish, Kennaugh, Reimer and Bilbao.



Wisniowski fought for dear life but his adventure ends at 3.5 kilometer to go. Tinkoff leads the peloton, is Porsev feeling good today that he makes his team work?



The Russians quickly disappear, and the Iberia train takes charge: Brockhoff - Merino Criado - Degenkolb. The other contenders literally line up behind them: Van der Lijke, Mohs, Hagen, Demare, Kreder, Goss, Kristoff, Houle, Theuns, Coquard.

Meiji attempting to form a rival train with Cheung, Kuroeda and Zhao, without a real sprinter behind them.

Kump and Swift are slightly behind but making their way forward. Other sprinters/puncheurs are out of contention. No sign of a Tinkoff sprinter despite all the hard work bringing Wisniowski back.



Here we go, the uphill sprint. The train is pretty much as is except Brockhoff is done, leaving Merino Criado to lead out Degenkolb. Meiji's train got nowhere close to the front. Kump and Swift joining on the back of Coquard, with Wisniowski trying to hold on.



Merino Criado releasing Degenkolb with 700 meters to go, Van der Lijke on his wheel. The back of the queue had already started their sprints before, with Theuns and Kristoff emerging as early leaders. Kreder and Houle are blocked in behind them, then Kump and Goss side-by-side and finally Coquard and Swift, struggling to get speed on the ascent.



Merino Criado continues to lead at 400 meters, Degenkolb and Van der Lijke don't have the speed to get past. Theuns still leading the sprint at the back, making rapid inroads. Mohs positioning himself behind Van der Lijke, with Hagen and Demare waiting for their moment.



By orders, Merino Criado slows down and allows Degenkolb to pass. Van der Lijke under threat by Mohs, Demare coming strong on the left side of the road. Kump all the way against the barriers trying to pass Theuns. Houle switching to the inside, Hagen also coming through the middle.



150 meters. Degenkolb with only a slim lead over Van der Lijke. Demare has the highest speed but running out of time to pass them. Kump got pushed into the barriers, killing his momentum. Kreder avoiding the incident and now battling with Mohs, Hagen and Houle for fourth.



John Degenkolb wins in Koln! A tough uphill sprint but he survives. Nick van der Lijke came close but has to settle for seconds place. Arnaud Demare takes the final spot on the podium, but could've won if the race was 100 meters longer.



Mohs with a strong performance to finish fourth ahead of Houle. Hagen the puncheur finishing sixth in a bunch sprint. Kreder, Theuns, Goss and Swift complete the top ten. Kump and Coquard with disappointing results, eleventh and twelfth. Kristoff finishing last of the front-runners in thirteenth.



Merino Criado with a wonderful lead-out, taking fourteenth himself ahead of Kuroeda and Itami, who could've had a train except he didn't board. Franczak seventeenth for Netia, where Vantomme was nowhere in the final kilometers. Silvestre, Bernas and Speirs complete the top twenty.

Other sprinters who might have had a chance finishing further behind, surely some disappointments there though they might have underestimated the uphill finish.

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	John Degenkolb	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	4h50'00
2	Nick Van der Lijke	EA Vesuvio	s.t.
3	Arnaud Demare	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
4	Erik Mohs	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
5	Hugo Houle	RBC Pro Cycling	s.t.
6	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Air France - KLM	s.t.
7	Wesley Kreder	Kraftwerk Man Machine	s.t.
8	Edward Theuns	Generali - EDF	s.t.
9	Matthew Goss	Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	s.t.
10	Ben Swift	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
11	Marko Kump	Isostar - Slovenija	s.t.
12	Bryan Coquard	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
13	Alexander Kristoff	Hugo Boss	s.t.
14	Pedro Merino Criado	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
15	Saya Kuroeda	Meiji - JR East	s.t.
16	Kenji Itami	Meiji - JR East	s.t.
17	Pawel Franczak	Netia - Vonin	s.t.
18	Fabio Silvestre	Berg Cycles	s.t.
19	Pawel Bernas	Netia - Vonin	s.t.
20	Isaac Speirs	Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	s.t.
21	Anton Vorobev	Team Tinkoff	s.t.
22	Jingbiao Zhao	Meiji - JR East	s.t.
23	Morgan Kneisky	EA Vesuvio	s.t.
24	Lasse Norman Hansen	Netia - Vonin	s.t.
25	Alexander Porsev	Team Tinkoff	s.t.
26	Awet Gebremedhin	Berg Cycles	s.t.
27	Óscar Guerao	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
28	Kris Boeckmans	Grieg - Eftel	s.t.
29	Nikolas Maes	Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	s.t.
30	Cheng Ji	Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	s.t.
31	Genki Yamamoto	Meiji - JR East	s.t.
32	Morten Reckweg	Netia - Vonin	s.t.
33	William Ford	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
34	Danny Summerhill	RBC Pro Cycling	s.t.
35	Pit Schlechter	EA Vesuvio	s.t.
36	Soren Kragh Andersen	Grieg - Eftel	s.t.
37	Yudai Arashiro	Meiji - JR East	s.t.
38	Björn Thurau	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
39	King Lok Cheung	Meiji - JR East	s.t.
40	Jocelyn Bar	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
41	Jetse Bol	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
42	Jimmy Pranata	Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	s.t.
43	Alexander Sulimov	Team Tinkoff	s.t.
44	Marc Potts	Gazelle	s.t.
45	Sarawut Sirironnachai	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
46	Lukasz Wisniowski	Grieg - Eftel	s.t.
47	Louis Vervaeke	Gazelle	s.t.
48	Artem Samolenkov	Team Tinkoff	s.t.
49	Marc-Antoine Soucy	RBC Pro Cycling	s.t.
50	Jan Brockhoff	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
51	Ian Richardson	Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	s.t.
52	Sergey Chernetskiy	Team Tinkoff	s.t.
53	Florian Senechal	Team Tinkoff	s.t.
54	Andreas Stauff	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
55	Kristian Sobota	Netia - Vonin	s.t.
56	Adrian Malori	Team Tinkoff	s.t.
57	Eric Young	RBC Pro Cycling	s.t.
58	Iliyan Kolev	Netia - Vonin	s.t.
59	Mike Teunissen	Gazelle	s.t.
60	Tesfom Okbamariam	Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	s.t.
61	Ivano Lo Cicero	Carrefour - ESPN	s.t.
62	Tomohiro Hayakawa	Meiji - JR East	s.t.
63	Roman Senyenov	Gazelle	s.t.
64	Luca Wackermann	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
65	Ivan Rovny	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
66	Roman Lutsyshyn	Air France - KLM	s.t.
67	Scott Thwaites	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
68	Andrea Guardini	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
69	Johan Lindgren	Grieg - Eftel	s.t.
70	Amund Grondahl Jansen	Grieg - Eftel	s.t.
71	Adam Blythe	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
72	Jiankun Liu	Meiji - JR East	s.t.
73	Nils Politt	Kraftwerk Man Machine	s.t.
74	Clement Koretzky	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
75	Bruno Borges	Porto - Prio	s.t.
76	Juan Jose Lobato del Valle	Euskaltel - Elior	s.t.
77	Gaëtan Bille	Generali - EDF	s.t.
78	Andrea Zordan	Gazelle	s.t.
79	Maxime Vantomme	Netia - Vonin	s.t.
80	Manuele Boaro	Gazelle	s.t.
81	Jan Oelerich	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
82	Fabio Felline	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
83	Nacer Bouhanni	Euskaltel - Elior	s.t.
84	Yu Takenouchi	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
85	Tim Declerq	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
86	Carlos Barbero	Hugo Boss	s.t.
87	Ricardo Vilela	Berg Cycles	s.t.
88	Damien Gaudin	Carrefour - ESPN	s.t.
89	Javier Aramendía	Hugo Boss	s.t.
90	Mathieu van der Poel	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
91	Moreno Moser	Euskaltel - Elior	s.t.
92	Moreno Hofland	Gazelle	s.t.
93	Alexandr Nepomnyachsniy	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
94	Jóni Brandao	Berg Cycles	s.t.
95	Maxime Daniel	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
96	Juan Abenhamar Gallego Martin	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
97	Lluis Mas	Porto - Prio	s.t.
98	Sabelo Mngometulu	Control Team	s.t.
99	Pascal Ackermann	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
100	Leonardo Basso	RBC Pro Cycling	s.t.
101	Jacques Janse van Rensburg	Gazelle	s.t.
102	Ruben Guerreiro	Berg Cycles	s.t.
103	Viktor Manakov	Team Tinkoff	s.t.
104	Maximillian Schachmann	Berg Cycles	s.t.
105	Rémi Cavagna	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
106	Chequan Richardson	Hugo Boss	s.t.
107	Christian Egidio	Porto - Prio	s.t.
108	Marcel Kittel	EA Vesuvio	s.t.
109	Ian Stannard	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
110	Luis Afonso	Porto - Prio	s.t.
111	Janvier Hadi	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
112	Husain Al Basri	Control Team	s.t.
113	Michael Vingerling	Euskaltel - Elior	s.t.
114	Alexandr Kulikovskiy	Generali - EDF	s.t.
115	Szymon Rekita	Netia - Vonin	s.t.
116	Ruben Fernandez	Euskaltel - Elior	s.t.
117	Pim Ligthart	Hugo Boss	s.t.
118	Enric Mas	Euskaltel - Elior	s.t.
119	Guy Sagiv	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
120	Tormod Jacobsen	Berg Cycles	s.t.
121	Hugo Nunes	Porto - Prio	s.t.
122	Jose Fernandes	Berg Cycles	s.t.
123	Aleksa Crncevic	Carrefour - ESPN	s.t.
124	Mario Gonzalez Salas	Hugo Boss	s.t.
125	Christophe Laporte	RBC Pro Cycling	+ 3'30
126	Andre Looij	Porto - Prio	s.t.
127	Maciej Paterski	EA Vesuvio	s.t.
128	Salah Eddine Mraouni	EA Vesuvio	s.t.
129	Stylianos Farantakis	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
130	Peeter Tarvis	EA Vesuvio	s.t.
131	Simon Clarke	Air France - KLM	s.t.
132	George Atkins	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
133	Martin Reimer	EA Vesuvio	s.t.
134	Patrick Naud	RBC Pro Cycling	s.t.
135	Peter Kennaugh	Air France - KLM	s.t.
136	Andrei Nechita	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
137	Marco Canola	Generali - EDF	s.t.
138	Stelly Robert	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
139	Quinten Hermans	Generali - EDF	s.t.
140	Marcel Wyss	Isostar - Slovenija	s.t.
141	Max Walsleben	Kraftwerk Man Machine	s.t.
142	Daniel Schorn	Carrefour - ESPN	s.t.
143	Westley Gough	Kraftwerk Man Machine	s.t.
144	Pello Bilbao	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
145	Baptiste Planckaert	Generali - EDF	s.t.
146	Salvatore Puccio	Air France - KLM	s.t.
147	Yoeri Havik	Hugo Boss	s.t.
148	Jo Kogstad Ringheim	Grieg - Eftel	s.t.
149	Kristian Sbaragli	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
150	Michael Kurth	Kraftwerk Man Machine	s.t.
151	Jon Aberasturi	Hugo Boss	s.t.
152	Jos Van Emden	Grieg - Eftel	s.t.
153	Noam Cohen	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
154	Truls Engen Korsaeth	Grieg - Eftel	s.t.
155	Jérome Giaux	Carrefour - ESPN	s.t.
156	Hsuan Ping Hsu	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
157	Willi Willwohl	Kraftwerk Man Machine	s.t.
158	Geert Van der Sanden	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.
159	Ziga Groselj	Isostar - Slovenija	s.t.
160	Georgos Tzortzakis	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
161	Kamil Zielinski	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
162	Walter Trillini	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
163	Samuel Ssabagwanya	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
164	Kevin Feiereisen	Carrefour - ESPN	s.t.
165	Nur Amirul Marzuki	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
166	Mark Cavendish	Kraftwerk Man Machine	s.t.
167	Norman Vahtra	Generali - EDF	s.t.
168	Roman Maikin	Kraftwerk Man Machine	s.t.
169	Bambang Suryadi	SPAR - Shimano - SCG	s.t.
170	Sascha Weber	Festina - Dexia	s.t.
171	Benjamin Thomas	Generali - EDF	s.t.
172	Dadley Corwin	RBC Pro Cycling	s.t.
173	Rok Korosec	Isostar - Slovenija	s.t.
174	Abdelkader Belmokhtar	Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ	s.t.
175	Xhuliano Kamberaj	Isostar - Slovenija	s.t.
176	Davide Martinelli	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
177	Grzegorz Stepniak	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
178	Jhonatan Restrepo	Carrefour - ESPN	s.t.
179	Daniel Eliad	Fablok - Bank BGZ	s.t.
180	Nikolaos Ioannidis	Carrefour - ESPN	s.t.
181	Dusan Kalaba	Isostar - Slovenija	s.t.
182	Nathan Van Hooydonck	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
183	Phil Bauhaus	Aegon - Lavazza	s.t.
184	Léo Vincent	Euskaltel - Elior	s.t.
185	Fabio Jakobsen	Euskaltel - Elior	s.t.
186	Reda Aadel	Porto - Prio	s.t.
187	Dragan Jasovic	Control Team	s.t.
188	Paul Junior Maroga	Porto - Prio	s.t.
189	Michael Woods	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
190	Guillaume Martin	Air France - KLM	+ 7'49
191	Martin Laas	Isostar - Slovenija	s.t.
192	Josip Rumac	Isostar - Slovenija	s.t.
193	Nicolas Edet	Air France - KLM	s.t.
194	Steven Tronet	Air France - KLM	s.t.
195	Marc Soler	Iberia - Team Degenkolb	s.t.