sutty68 wrote:
Good result for Ednaldo at Dwars

E3 Harelbeke has become a final rehearsal prior to next week's Ronde van Vlaanderen. But some guys won't hesitate to add another race day to their programme and race Gent-Wevelgem if they were to achieve a position below expectations in the light version of Vlaanderens Mooiste.

Oien, Carbel, van Dorsselaer, Jesús Herrada and Turgis were the 5 escapees of the day. No experienced cobblers so the bunch should not have the slightest trouble to reel back in these five brave opportunists.

The first cobblestones came at the Holleweg, where the breakaway had about 7'30" to the peloton. Still more than 150 kilometers left to cover.

Aldo Lature tested his legs at the Taaienberg, but despite the fact that his short acceleration created a split, he wasn't too happy with how his legs reacted. Aldo got in a group with Geraint Thomas and Sénéchal.

Their pace was just a tad too high for Aldo, who could not follow them until the summit of the Kruisberg. Our Bolivian guy ended up in the E3.

Only Thomas, Sénéchal and former BOTD member Herrada remained from the group Aldo used to be in. But a chasing group was closing in.

Thomas tested the two at the Paterberg but he could not keep the first chasing group from coming back. Lature still struggled trying to follow.

Sénéchal dropped another little bomb at the Oude Kwaremont. Only 2 hills left and it was the right time to move. Two green Cannondale guys were the leading chasers: David Helling and his leader Niki Terpstra.

The merge occured and an elite group would fight for the win. Kristoff set the pace at the Knokteberg. Meanwhile big names such as Benoot, Boom, Lutsenko and Stannard were just watching. At that very point Costa Rican Angel Cerezo was our best rider, being involved in the E6.

Nothing happened at the final climb, the Tiegemberg. Bu after that one, Terpstra attacked, an act that dropped multiple guys. Stybar, Helling, Stannard, Kristoff and Roelandts'd have to wait for the next edition.

At the 5km-to-go-banner it was Benoot's turn to accelerate. His move came at a perfect moment. Everyone kept staring at each other while he kept extending his gap. Things looked really good for the Belgian...

And finally Benoot added a first cobbled classic to his palmares, after several top 10 and podium finishes. Behind him Lutsenko sprinted to a second place, while Keukeleire had to settle for the final podium place.

A few minutes, later Angel Cerezo was the first Ruralvía rider to cross the finish line, totally drained. A 29th place is below team expectations, but Cerezo did better than our highly disappointed team leader Lature.

sutty68 wrote:
Cerezo battled well

After two brutal mountain stages here's a new chance for the sprinters. We will have to see how Molano coped with the numberless climbs we have faced over the last two days. Hopefully he has a thing left in him.

Early in the race seven riders created a breakaway. Biggest names in there were Serry and Ignatenko. That'd be the only activity in a while.

That's until GC leader Contador and some other top 20 riders crashed in a descent. After a short pursuit, they would all make it back though.

The chase however didn't go that well. When the seven still had around a minute inside the last three kilometers Pieter Serry attacked. Tomio tried to follow at first, but eventually he wouldn't succeed in doing that.

Trains were formed but it was clear the breakaway would battle for the stage win. Seba Molano could still sprint for a place of honour though.

Serry's move made it to the finish as he secured his first victory since a stage win in the Tour of Oman last year. Alex Edmondson was beat for second place by Cannondale's Giacomo Tomio, in a narrow sprint.

Molano could rely on an outstanding leadout train today and concluded the peloton sprint in second which meant 7th place in the stage results.

sutty68 wrote:
Nice to see Molano up there challenging

Penultimate stage and probably the last chance for GC guys looking to improve their GC position. We'll be more than happy if Henao is strong enough to keep his current spot, which is the final one with the best 20.

The breakaway was a very interesting one. Shalunov, Zardini, Bailly, Schachmann and Latour are above-average climbers and cooperated well. In the peloton Contador's Movistar Team were dictating the pace.

No attacks at the first main climb as Zardini grabbed enough points in order to jump into the third place in the King of Mountain classification.

The five-man group got shattered at the final climb. Schachmann and Shalunov were the strongest but GC 5th Poels attacked from the pack and seemed to bridge while Zardini sat behind him, glued to his wheel.

The two duos joined forces but their ship stranded at the home stretch. As Molano and Henao had been dropped on the last climb, our chance of a stage triumph vanished into thin air as sprint trains took the stage.

GC 7th Morton executed an almost impeccable leadout for Matthews, who had Niccolò Bonifazio and Eduard-Michael Grosu on his wheel.

Almost impeccable as in Matthews did miss out on finishing it off due to launching way too late. Grosu won over Bonifazio and J.A. Pardo.

purepasd wrote:
The team is taking a lot of responsibility in their first cobble season. Nice to see. Is Lature the man to go for in the harder races?

sutty68 wrote:
Good top ten for Barbero at Gent - Wevelgem