Thanks a lot for your support Ripley. I had never though of creating a thread with statistics but actually that might be a good idea. I don't think anyone would be bothered by another post on the story given that not much is happening in the 2009 forum. I will need to give some though to structuring the thread so don't expect anything immediate.
Chris Froome has been one of the positive surprises of the season so far. The 29 year old British rider seemed to have faded to a secondary role in the World Tour but he has come back to the spotlight this season. His most remarkable achievement of the season has been his 5th final position in the Tour de France, given that he had never had any remarkable result in a Grand Tour before. Additionally, he has also managed to get top 10 results in Liege - Bastogne - Liege, Tour de Suisse, Pais Vasco, Fleche Wallonne and the National ITT Champs.
Froome was a rider that made an instant impact when he joined the World Tour but he did it in quite curious circumstances. The British was selected for the World Championships soon and he got a 4th place in 2010 and a bronze medal in 2011 in Copenhagen. Those had been strange Championships, given that a break managed to get to the finish in both. Froome was lucky enough to be present both times.
The bronze medal in the Worlds was the result that gave him the confidence to play a major role in the HTC - Highroad team. The next season he got his only 2 wins as a professional cyclist so far: a stage and the overall classification of the Tour de Suisse. Froome had been really inspired in the final time trial of the Swiss round and managed to jump to the lead of the race in the last day. However, when he was granted the leading role for the team the following year, he did not live up to the expectations for the leader of the 5th team in the World Tour.
After that miserable season he went back home to sign for Team Sky. It has taken him a while to be settled at home but last year he already managed to get a podium in the Dauphine and this year he has been consistently producing good results. The only thing that Froome is missing is starting to win again. A win as big as the Tour de Suisse might be a bit off his capabilities right now but he is starting to be considered as a favorite for many races during the season.
The fourth stage in the Eneco Tour will also be completely flat. However, the wind will be a major factor today. It is normally the only way to make the race interesting in this part of the World, so we'll see if a mass sprint can be avoided. The final part of the stage will be a 25 kilometer long circuit in the surroundings of Vlijmen.
Only 3 riders were allowed to form the break of the day as the teams of the sprinters completely controlled the pace today. They were Nick Nuyens (Garmin), Simon Geschke (Giant) and John Degenkolb (Lotto). With around 90 kilometers to go they had already built a gap of 6 minutes over the main bunch. The stage was rather quiet in the main bunch but Euskaltel, Astana and Belkin were not letting the pace drop too much in order to have the break within chasing range.
The second intermediate sprint was placed in Drunen, 47 kilometers to the finish line. As only 3 riders were ahead there were many points for the sprinters so many joined the sprint. The first to cross the line was Kenny van Hummel, ahead of Alexander Kristoff and Andre Greipel. The break still had 1' 45'' on them but the peloton seemed to be starting to break into pieces due to the increased pace in the bunch and the strong wind in the latter part of the stage.
Simon Geschke tried a final move to make it solo to the finish but he only had 20 seconds over the main bunch with 11 kilometers to go. Xavi Tondo and Rinaldo Nocentini had also tried a late attack but were unsuccessful. The peloton had been finally broken due to the wind and only 43 riders were chasing. Worse than that, the back peloton seemed to give up and was losing 8 minutes. Several important riders, including Cadel Evans, Tejay van Garderen, Philippe Gilbert, Andrew Talansky and Rui Costa, were caught in the back foot and were not really bothered to put their teams to work.
Several sprint trains were already in position with 3 kilometers to go, once Simon Geschke had been caught. Trek was leading the way with Giacomo Nizzolo ahead of Andre Greipel, while Marcel Kittel had his wheel. Euskaltel had Lloyd Mondory, as usual, leading Alexander Kristoff. The leader of the points' competition, Ben Swift, was riding behind Kristoff. In Belkin it was Alessandro Petacchi ahead of Elia Viviani, while other sprinters like Yauheni Hutarovich, Matthew Goss and Mark Cavendish were also well positioned.
Lloyd Mondory keeps delivering a strong lead out for Alexander Kristoff in every stage and today was no different. The Euskaltel riders were slightly ahead of Andre Greipel, who had already started his sprint as Giacomo Nizzolo had been leading him for a long time and was starting to fade. Trek was probably pushing a bit too much in this final part of the stage. On the other side of the road one could not discard Kenny van Hummel, as Belkin was holding on to the front positions as well.
Andre Greipel and Ben Swift had moved ahead of Alexander Kristoff with 500 meters to go. The German and the British looked set to fight for the stage win among them as the rest of the sprinters seemed to be fading away a little bit compared with them. Matthew Goss was trying to close the gap, while Mark Cavendish was the best of the rest at that point. It was surprising that Marcel Kittel was not even pictured among the top 8.
Andre Greipel wins in Vlijmen! The German beat Ben Swift clearly in the last meters of the stage to take his 5th win of the season and his first in the Eneco Tour. It was a show of power by Greipel, given that he had started the final sprint from quite far out. The third place in the stage went to Matthew Goss, while Mark Cavendish and Yauheni Hutarovich closed the top 5. The performance of Alexander Kristoff and Marcel Kittel was quite disappointing today.
The other disappointment of the day was that a huge group of riders crossed the finish line 19 minutes behind, including many of the pre race favorites. The Eneco Tour might not be classified as World Tour this year but it did not deserve such a disrespectful attitude from the riders. Only 25 riders seem to be within shot of winning the GC and most of them are sprinters, which leaves Cameron Meyer with a great chance of taking the win.
mpardo wrote:
Thanks a lot for your support Ripley. I had never though of creating a thread with statistics but actually that might be a good idea. I don't think anyone would be bothered by another post on the story given that not much is happening in the 2009 forum. I will need to give some though to structuring the thread so don't expect anything immediate.
Excellent! And another great feature, too, I just love those. By now you've really created this incredible virtual alternative reality and I think it totally deserves a better overview. A whole wiki even, though obviously that's asking for a bit too much.
sutty68 wrote:
German sprinting is alive and kicking
and Froome needs to get more wins added to his palmares
Kittel and Greipel are the best in pure sprints right now. They should really take many more wins in the following years.
Ripley wrote:
mpardo wrote:
Thanks a lot for your support Ripley. I had never though of creating a thread with statistics but actually that might be a good idea. I don't think anyone would be bothered by another post on the story given that not much is happening in the 2009 forum. I will need to give some though to structuring the thread so don't expect anything immediate.
Excellent! And another great feature, too, I just love those. By now you've really created this incredible virtual alternative reality and I think it totally deserves a better overview. A whole wiki even, though obviously that's asking for a bit too much.
A wiki! Erm... My wife does not think it is a good idea
In theory the first stages of the Eneco Tour were rather easy and many riders would still be in contention for the GC. However, only a few of them are still within a shot of grabbing the final leader's jersey. Today will be the first test for those willing to win the race but anything other than Cameron Meyer taking the lead should be considered quite a surprise. The Australian is the only top time trialist around the top of the GC.
Marco Pinotti (Quickstep) was the first of the favorites to win the stage to start today. The Italian was in a really low position in the GC ahead of the race (109th). The Italian did not seem really interested in fighting for the stage but still took the 3rd provisional position, 12 seconds behind the leader at that stage, Jean-Christophe Peraud. Peraud had been really quick in the stage, he seems to take speed from his French National Champion jersey.
David Millar (Vacansoleil) was also a favorite to take the stage win in Sittard-Geleen. The British was also very far down the GC but was committed to achieve a good result today and took the lead from Jean-Christophe Peraud. Millar was 7 seconds faster than the French, quite a good difference considering that the stage was only 13 kilometers long. With that performance he will be close to the top at the end of the day.
Tejay van Garderen (Trek) has been outstanding in the time trials this season, especially in the Tour de France where he won the two time trials. However, even if he was quickest in the intermediate step ahead of Fabian Cancellara, he narrowly missed on David Millar's time at the finish line. Van Garderen took the second place, only 2 seconds behind. It is a shame that riders like Tejay decided to give up on the GC yesterday in the stage finishing in Vlijmen.
Andrew Talansky (HTC) has always been close to the top in the time trials he has ridden this season. Today was no different but he could only take the 4th provisional position, 10 seconds behind David Millar. The American is surely still lamenting his tough luck of crashing in the Champs Elysees and losing the 4th place in the Tour de France.
The favorite for the win today was Cameron Meyer (Quickstep). This time trial was perfect for him, given that there were almost no hills in the route and he could deploy all of his power in the bike. Unlike other time trials this season his performance was really good and he got the first position when he crossed the finish line, 15 seconds ahead of David Millar. It was a massive difference of more than 1 second per kilometer. If there is not a major surprise Meyer is going to take his first win of the season and so is doing Quickstep.
Kenny van Hummel (Belkin) was 5th ahead of the time trial. The Dutch sprinter is riding home and will surely try to get a better result today than in a normal time trial. When he crossed the finish line he got the 40th position, 45 seconds behind Cameron Meyer. It was not a great result but maybe enough to retain a spot in the top 10 of the GC. Nevertheless, tomorrow's stage will probably be too hard for him to stay with the best.
Elia Viviani (Cannondale) was more or less in the same position of Van Hummel and he actually stopped the clock in the same second as him. This means that both of them will still be with the same time in the GC. Viviani has been quite good this season so far, especially as he won a stage in the Tour de France and wore the yellow jersey for a few days.
Andre Greipel (Trek) will probably be focusing on the point's jersey rather than the GC from today. The German lost 59 seconds to Cameron Meyer and is expected to lose much more time tomorrow in the stage finishing in La Redoute. Nevertheless, the German will finish the Eneco Tour with a good taste from his win in Vlijmen, which took his tally to 5 stage wins this season.
The result of Ben Swift's (Sky) time trial was almost the same as Andre Greipel's. The British finished 1 minute behind Cameron Meyer. The British also took 1 stage in the Eneco Tour so far and is in a perfect position to take the points' jersey as well. Swift's year will almost be over for the season, given that he will only take part in Vattenfall, Plouay and the World Championships, so he will give all he has in this Eneco Tour.
Marcel Kittel (Astana) started as leader of the race but could not hold on to the lead as he did last year after the time trial. The German was again quite good in today's time trial but ended up losing 17 seconds to Cameron Meyer and taking the 5th final position in the stage. Nevertheless, Kittel could well still battle for the podium in the race given the huge differences to some of the best riders in the race.
The GC is quite interesting ahead of the mini Liege and the mini Ronde that will put an end to the Eneco Tour. Cameron Meyer is in a perfect position to win the race given that he should be much better than most of his chasers in tomorrow's stage finishing in La Redoute. The best riders in the hills among his chasers should be Michael Matthews and Lloyd Mondory.
The penultimate stage in the Eneco Tour is a mini Liege - Bastogne - Liege that finishes halfway through the climb to La Redoute. The top 10 of the race is plagued of sprinters that will have trouble in today's stage but many of the stronger riders are too far behind in the GC for them to be a threat. The likes of Michael Matthews and Lloyd Mondory are the riders that should put Cameron Meyer in trouble. The only point that makes the stage a bit easier is the length, as the stage is only 150 kilometers long.
The break of the day was formed quite fast in the starting circuit around Maastricht. Only four riders were ahead: Levi Leipheimer (HTC), Francesco Gavazzi (Cannondale), Przemyslaw Niemiec (Movistar) and Stefan van Dijk (Giant). They reached the first of the hills today, the Cote de Foret, with a gap of 6' 45'' on the main bunch. Quickstep, Tinkoff and Trek were setting the pace in the bunch but there should be many teams willing to fight for the stage today.
The second intermediate sprint was placed in the first passage through La Redoute. From that point the riders would have to race 2 laps around the circuit on the surroundings of Aywaille. With 59 kilometers to go the gap to the break was 5' 45'', which might be not enough for the riders at the front. The only rider interested in the points on the bunch was Matthew Goss but he seems too far in the classification to make an impact. Quickstep was setting the pace in the bunch with Theo Bos, Filippo Pozzato and Janez Brajkovic at the front.
The main bunch had started to lose riders before the first climb to Chambralles (45 kilometers to go). Some of them were important, like Dries Devenyns, Tony Gallopin and Peter Sagan. Both Devenyns and Gallopin are known to have been quite injured in the crash in stage 2 and still suffering from it, which explains BMC's total disappearance from the race. Meanwhile, Frank Schleck and Marco Pinotti started to collaborate at the front of the pack and the gap had gone down to 4' 30''.
The break was losing ground bit by bit and by the time they climbed La Redoute again the gap was 3' 45''. However, with only 29 kilometers remaining the rate of decrease is way too slow for the peloton to catch them before the end of the lap. The break would be harmless if Francesco Gavazzi wasn't a bit more than 3 minutes behind in the GC. Many riders should be interested in catching them back. This might be what is making Luca Paolini and Lloyd Mondory chase in the main group.
Przemyslaw Niemiec and Levi Leipheimer attacked from the break and they opened a gap of 15 seconds on the other 2 riders of the break with 14 kilometers to go. It seems that they will have the stage for them as the peloton is chasing more than 2 minutes behind. The first movements started in the main bunch as Rinaldo Nocentini attacked and is riding 20 seconds ahead of the bunch. None of the riders in the GC seemed strong enough to attack Cameron Meyer and it was too late already for the riders that might fight for the stage only.
Levi Leipheimer left Przemyslaw Niemiec behind and went on a solo bid for the win in the last hill of the day, the Cote de Niaster. The American is one of the riders that crashed on the second stage and was still wearing bandages. Quickstep was controlling completely the race and Cameron Meyer decided to join a group of attackers that was also joined by Bjorn Leukemans. They had a gap of 25 seconds over the bunch but the understanding among the members of that group was not ideal. It was clear by this time that the stage was in the break.
Cameron Meyer's group was brought back by the bunch and Michael Matthews tried a final attack that was quickly aborted by Quickstep as Enrico Gasparotto was very attentive to any movement. Andre Greipel and Ben Swift were trying to collaborate with the Australian by it seemed like they had had enough with holding on in the group of the leader today. It feels like Quickstep should have increased the pace a bit earlier to try to put more ground between these riders and Cameron Meyer in the GC.
Levi Leipheimer reaches the last kilometer with a small gap of 8 seconds over the rest of the break of the day. However, the last kilometer is the start of the climb to La Redoute so the gap is not final by any means. The main bunch is still 2' 15'' behind, which gives an idea of their pace in the last kilometers of the stage. Francesco Gavazzi is going to take over the lead in the young riders' classification and will jump up in the GC.
Francesco Gavazzi wins in Aywaille! The Italian takes the first win of his career in La Redoute. It is a perfect way to start the count of a rider that excels in the hills. Levi Leipheimer had used too much energy in his attempts to arrive solo to the finish line and was eventually overtaken by his fellow riders in the break. The second place in the stage was for Przemyslaw Niemiec and Stefan van Dijk was third.
Hubert Dupont tried a late attack in the last kilometer but could not hold on ahead of the bunch and Johan Vansummeren took the fifth place in the stage. In truth the stage was quite disappointing. The riders that had to attack Cameron Meyer for the lead of the race were happy to hold on to his group and the Australian was not ambitious enough to try to extend his lead. This will leave the GC very tight ahead of tomorrow's last stage.
If yesterday was a mini Liege, the last stage of the Eneco Tour is a mini Ronde van Vlaanderen. The stage will take the riders from Tienen to the Muur van Geraardsbergen, where the race will finish. The Muur and the Bosberg will be climbed twice, with the stage finishing halfway through the third climb. The stage is not overly difficult but it might be enough for some riders like Tom Boonen to try to put Cameron Meyer in trouble.
6 riders formed the break of the day at the first climb to the Muur van Geraardsbergen, including Sonny Colbrelli (Lampre), Gerald Ciolek (Giant), Maarten Tjallingii (Ag2r), Samuel Sanchez (Discovery) and Maxim Iglinskiy (Tinkoff). With 90 kilometers remaining they had built quite a big gap of 8 minutes over the main bunch. Quickstep was not worried at all about the break and the Belgian team was letting the break go away. They seemed to be worried only of defending Cameron Meyer's lead.
The longest cobbled section of the stage was the Akrenstraat, around 72 kilometers from the finish line. Quickstep was setting the pace in the main bunch with Theo Bos and Filippo Pozzato at the front. Even though they were not pushing hard in the cobbles the peloton was beginning to get quite stretched and the difference to the break was slightly reduced to 7' 30''. Cameron Meyer could not have a better protection than Johan Vansummeren, who was taking care of the Australian.
The weather had taken a turn for the worse as the peloton headed for the intermediate sprint in the Tenbosse. Mark Cavendish was the quickest in the main bunch ahead of Stefan van Dijk and Matthew Goss. However, with the gap to the break increasing to 7' 45'' it looked like the men in the bunch would not take many points and the points' jersey would go to Ben Swift in the end.
The second passage through the finish line was only 25 kilometers from the finish of the stage. The gap of the break had increased over the 10 minutes mark at that point. It seemed like the riders in the main bunch were discouraged by the hard rain and Quickstep was happy to let the riders at the front fight for the win. Maarten Tjallingii should be the best rider in the cobbles but Maxim Iglinskiy should not be bad either. Meanwhile, the approach to the Muur and the pace in the bunch were enough for Ben Swift to try the first attack in the bunch.
Ben Swift's attack was the start for a few more attempts, predominantly from Gregory Rast and Tom Boonen. The duo tried to attack in the Muur but were caught back before going ahead again at the Bosberg. The two of them are around 40 seconds behind in the GC so Quickstep was quick to take the lead of the bunch as soon as they attacked. With Johan Vansummeren and Luca Paolini to work it is difficult to leave Cameron Meyer behind. Meanwhile, Maarten Tjallingii and Samuel Sanchez attacked in the front group and opened a gap of 20 seconds over the rest of the break.
Samuel Sanchez and Maarten Tjallingii were caught back by the rest of the early break and with the gap they had at the front they started to play cat and mouse with around 6 kilometers to go. The last cobbled hill but all but ignored by them and they headed to the downhill towards the start of the Muur for the third time. It was difficult to guess who would be faster in the cobbled, slightly uphill sprint that closed the stage.
Sonny Colbrelli was leading the final rush with a bit less than 1 kilometer to go, ahead of Gerald Ciolek, Maxim Iglinskiy and Heinrich Haussler. If this had been a normal sprint the money would be on Gerald Ciolek to take the stage but the German does not like the cobbles that much. In any case it seemed like the outcome was going to be very close.
Sonny Colbrelli wins in Geraardsbergen! The Italian was the strongest in the final kilometer and gives Lampre the third win in the season. It is the first win in his career for Colbrelli, the 21 year old started racing in the World Tour this season and had been unlucky so far in the many breaks he had participated in. The second place was for Simon Geschke, who will give Giant the lead in the Pro Conti rankings. Maxim Iglinskiy, Heinrich Haussler and Maarten Tjallingii completed the top 5.
Johan Vansummeren was the strongest in the main bunch ahead of Michael Matthews and Yoann Offredo. Many riders tried to compromise Cameron Meyer's position at the front of the GC but none were strong enough to stay ahead of Quickstep in the road. The Belgian team partially compensates their lack of wins in the season with Meyer's win in the time trial and in the GC. Nevertheless, a team like Quickstep should be close to 10 wins than to 2.
All in all, the Eneco Tour was slightly disappointing. The crash in the second stage and the wind in the fourth conditioned the last stages too much and many riders disappeared from the race when they were outside of the fight for the GC. Marcel Kittel was again very good in the Eneco Tour but could not repeat his win. Alexander Kristoff is another rider that seems to be progressing considerably and in many different scenarios.
It has been 2 years since the last edition of the Vattenfall Cyclassics but some of the faces in the podium are the same that will probably ride for the win today, most notably Marcel Kittel and Ben Swift. The German race is the one that suits the sprinters the most, together with the Milano - Sanremo. In this case, there is not even a Poggio to spice things up a little bit. The only climb of the race is the Waseberg, which will be climbed 4 times. However, it seems unlikely that the final sprint will be prevented.
The race had a surprising winner in the first edition in Beñat Intxausti but Tyler Farrar and Ben Swift won the subsequent editions, which had more logical results. The American is the rider with the best record in the Vattenfall Cyclassics, with a win and a second place in the three editions of the race.
Favorites:
- Marcel Kittel (Astana Pro Team): Marcel Kittel has to be the top favorite to take the classic that fits the sprinters better, given his recent form. The German seemed to take a while to settle in the Astana team but he is already close to the top of the wins classification on the year with 5. He was 2nd in the Eneco Tour and, although he could not repeat the win from 2014, showed great fitness after coming from the Tour de France.
- Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel - Euskadi): Alexander Kristoff is one of the surprises of the season. The Euskaltel rider had tough competition for the sprints in the Spanish team but he has had the best performance among them this season. He was partially by the decision from Lloyd Mondory to focus on the cobbles season. However, the Norwegian also proved that he can time trial with the best in the prologues and short time trials and that gave him the 3rd final place in the Eneco Tour.
- Andre Greipel (Trek Factory Racing): Andre Greipel comes with the winning legs as he was the rider who took the win in the last sprint of the Eneco Tour, in the stage finishing in Vlijmen. The German also accumulates 5 wins this year, including the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France. He will be riding at home but the only threat for him is the climb to the Waseberg as he is slightly worse over the hills than some of the other sprinters.
- Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing): The fourth rider with a chance is, surprisingly, Andre Greipel's teammate Giacomo Nizzolo. The Italian has been leading Greipel for the whole season and in principle he will do it again in Hamburg. However, Trek has the opportunity to have a backup plan in case something happens to Greipel. Even though he was overshadowed by Greipel, Nizzolo's season has been actually quite good and he took a win in the Volta a Catalunya.
Other important riders that might have a chance to win the classics are mostly sprinters, including: Chris Sutton (Vacansoleil - DMC), Jose Joaquin Rojas (HTC - Highroad), Yauheni Hutarovich (Lampre - Merida), Kenny van Hummel (Belkin Pro Cycling), Elia Viviani (Cannondale) and Simone Ponzi (Team Katusha).
Germany receives the World Tour teams for the only race in the country, the Vattenfall Cyclassics. The race is mostly flat, which favors the local Andre Greipel and Marcel Kittel. The only difficulty of the race is the Waseberg, which will be climbed 4 times, 3 of them almost consecutively in the last 50 kilometers of the race. From the last climb the road is completely flat, which means that a mass sprint is more than likely.
Many teams wanted to control the race and the break of the day only had 5 riders: Przemyslaw Niemiec (Movistar), Rinaldo Nocentini (Katusha), Warren Barguil (Garmin), Alexandr Kolobnev (Tinkoff) and Moreno Hofland (Belkin). Trek and Euskaltel are the teams working the most in the main bunch, probably working for Andre Greipel and Alexander Kristoff. Astana has not been very active in controlling the races lately, given that Marcel Kittel has proven to be skilful in winning without much preparation.
The first passage through the Waseberg was made 83 kilometers from the finish line. Juan Antonio Flecha, Ion Izagirre and Peter Kennaugh were leading the bunch and they were slowly closing down the gap of the break. They are not in a rush to bring them back but steadily cutting the lead. The bunch got quite stretched in the climb but there were no riders coming off from the back of the peloton.
Tom Boonen knew that he had no options in a final sprint and Sky wanted to make the rivals of Ben Swift work before the mass sprint. Therefore, the Belgian attacked before the second climb to the Waseberg, almost 50 kilometers from the finish line in Hamburg. At the third climb he had cut the gap to the break to only 45 seconds, while the main bunch was reacting to that attack and was only 1' 30'' behind. Many teams got alerted by Boonen's attack, like Lotto, Cannondale and Belkin, and began to collaborate at the front.
The four climbs to the Waseberg were history at the final passage through the finish line and all of the sprinters stayed with the peloton without problems. Przemyslaw Niemiec and Moreno Hofland attacked from the break but their gap was only 20 seconds at that point. Tom Boonen had been chased down in the last climb of the day but other sprinters like Ben Swift, Elia Viviani and Chris Sutton were trying to form a group ahead of the bunch. They would not have many chances of success with all the sprinters but a lot more on a smaller group.
With 3 kilometers remaining the break had already been reeled back in but the riders we mentioned, Elia Viviani, Ben Swift and Chris Sutton were slightly ahead of the main bunch. Their gap was only 15 seconds, so probably not enough to make it to the finish line if the bunch was organized. Lotto had gone to the front as they have two riders with options: Michael Matthews and Jurgen Roelandts. Other important sprinters like Andre Greipel, Mark Cavendish, Kenny van Hummel and Alexander Kristoff were also well positioned ahead of the sprint.
Trek was controlling the race with many riders at the front of the bunch but when it counted they were not there for their sprinter, Andre Greipel. The German started his sprint way too soon and with 1 kilometer to go he seemed like he was leading Mark Cavendish rather than sprinting for himself. Meanwhile, Lloyd Mondory was doing a perfect job of taking Alexander Kristoff to the final few meters of the stage. On the other side of the road other sprinters like Kenny van Hummel, Jose Joaquin Rojas and Tyler Farrar were also well positioned. Marcel Kittel was badly placed and trying to recover.
Tyler Farrar took the lead of the sprint with 500 meters to go. The American appears among the best sprinters only a few times a year lately but has always managed to get great results. At the same time Alexander Kristoff was emerging from Lloyd Mondory's tow, while Jose Joaquin Rojas and Kenny van Hummel were almost on par with them. It was very difficult to predict who the winner of the Vattenfall Cyclassics might be because even Marcel Kittel was still within shot of the win.
Alexander Kristoff wins in Hamburg! The Norwegian is again the strongest in the final meters of a stage and takes his 7th win this season. Few would have predicted such a strong performance from the Euskaltel rider before the start of the season but with two stages in the Tour de France and two in the Tour de Suisse, one in Romandie and Catalunya and the Vattenfall Cyclassics he might finish the year inside the top 15 of the World Tour classification.
The second place was for Marcel Kittel today. The German was probably the quickest in the sprint but a combination of bad positioning and lack of teammates to help him out in the last kilometers meant that he did not have the legs to overtake Kristoff. The third place went to a surprising Mark Cavendish, while the top 5 was completed by Tyler Farrar and Stefan van Dijk.
, but a good win for Kristoff to add to his palmares 
