Already at the top of the Turchino, the break of the day with 6 riders gone clear. However still quite some distance to the finish still it would take a real miscalculation from the peloton to see one of the 6 leaders take the win today, but still nice TV exposure for the 6 teams represented.
Trek, putting on the pressure at the front of the race
With just under 20km to go, the breakaway has been caught and Elia Viviani's teammates head to the front to keep the pace nice and high for their leader. Viviani should be able to survive the hills today, and he is obviously feeling good.
The sprinters start their charge for the line
After no successful moves over the Cipressa and Poggio we will see the sprinters battle it out for the victory, a nice change after last years breakaway win. Deceuninck have Jasper Stuyven in perfect position, but Jakobsen cant seem to make his way through the peloton and reach his teammates train, so Stuyven will be the leader today. Jakobsen looked fresh, so it was just a matter of positioning which will hurt his chances today. Van Avermaet and Van der Poel are also on the left side of the road charging for the line, but Colbrelli is also right behind Styuven, and Gaviria is starting to come around the others too!
Gaviria takes the win!
Gaviria started his sprint really early, but he held off Colbrelli and Stuyven to take the win. Styuven gained quite a lot on Gaviria at the end, but in the final 100m he just couldn't close the gap anymore, and had to settle for 3rd. Perhaps if that was Jakobsen, Deceuninck would be the ones celebrating on the day, but instead they sit on the podium, but not the top step for the 2nd year in a row.
Julius Johansen finished 11th in his first ever monument, which is one of his biggest results of his career so far!
@ Freitas - Thanks, I knew it would take some luck to win it in a sprint with Stuyven. Yeah, I think he's going to be really handy rider, although not sure he'll ever be a leader, Im not sure on his potential
@ Tamijo - Thanks! PCM explorer says its the 2018 edition, so pretty sure its the same one I raced last season, although the Poggio really didn't seem as difficult and Alaphilippe couldn't get away at all this year so perhaps its a different variant.
Deceuninck crossing the line in the TTT as the winners on the day
Deceuninck - Quick Step
+00:00
Team Ineos
+00:00
Trek - Segafredo
+01:03
Mitchelton - Scott
+01:16
Astana Pro Team
+01:31
Stage 3
Porte wins the sprint up the mountain
Deceuninck had a very strong day, with 3 in the Top 11 but Mas couldn't close the deal, as Porte wins, although Mas moves into the GC lead.
1
Richie Porte
Trek - Segafredo
+00:00
2
Enric Mas
Deceuninck - Quick Step
+00:00
3
Esteban Cháves
Mitchelton - Scott
+00:14
4
Mark Padun
Deceuninck - Quick Step
+00:14
5
Pello Bilbao
Astana Pro Team
+00:14
6
Fabio Aru
UAE - Team Emirates
+00:26
7
Sam Oomen
Team Sunweb
+00:26
8
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Team Ineos
+00:40
9
Jack Haig
Mitchelton - Scott
+00:59
10
Benjamin King
Team Dimension Data
+00:59
11
Bjorg Lambrecht
Deceuninck - Quick Step
+00:59
12
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
+00:59
13
Michal Kwiatkowski
Team Ineos
+01:15
14
Ilnur Zakarin
Team Sunweb
+01:28
15
Antwan Tolhoek
Team Jumbo - Visma
+01:46
Stage 4
The GC situation at the start of Stage 4, with one Mountain stage still to go
Breakaway fends off the peloton to win stage 4
Mas was able to sneak away in the sprint and nearly surprise the leaders for the win, but the breakaway held him off! Ewan brings in the peloton to get the same time despite a visible gap.
1
Benjamin Declercq
Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise
+00:00
2
Thymen Arensman
Roompot - Charles
+00:00
3
Enric Mas
Deceuninck - Quick Step
+00:00
4
Lachlan Morton
EF Education First Pro Cycling Team
+00:00
5
Caleb Ewan
Lotto - Soudal
+00:00
Stage 5
Tough day for the Quickstep guys, as even Mas cracks and loses time to the main competitor, Richie Porte, but Porte only gains minimal time, so Mas will hold on to his lead.
With the breakaway all but sealing the victory on the day, Deceuninck try to create gaps on the last climb of the day, and over the top. During the descent a crash causes a major split with only the 4 Quickstep riders getting clear, and so they keep up their pace, looking to get Padun and Lambrecht back into the Top 5, after their no-shows on Stage 5 in the mountains. Initially other riders had made the split with the Quickstep quartet, but they all decided to drop off to help their crashed teammates, despite no major leaders being involved in the crash. The QS quartet end up getting more than a minute back on their other rivals, with Valverde the first of the GC group to cross the line.
It came down to a sprint and Gaviria was the fastest
1
Alexander Kristoff
UAE - Team Emirates
+00:00
2
Elia Viviani
Trek - Segafredo
+00:00
3
Andrea Guardini
Bardiani - CSF
+00:00
4
Jasper Stuyven
Deceuninck - Quick Step
+00:00
5
Jens Keukeleire
Deceuninck - Quick Step
+00:00
6
Thomas Boudat
Total Direct Energie
+00:00
7
Yves Lampaert
Deceuninck - Quick Step
+00:00
8
Ivan Garcia Cortina
Team Bahrain Merida
+00:00
9
Mads Pedersen
Team Sunweb
+00:00
10
Rick Zabel
Team Katusha - Alpecin
+00:00
11
Mathieu Van der Poel
Lotto - Soudal
+00:00
12
Oliver Naesen
AG2R La Mondiale
+00:00
13
Nils Politt
Lotto - Soudal
+00:00
14
Baptiste Planckaert
WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic
+00:00
15
Zdenek Stybar
Deceuninck - Quick Step
+00:00
E3 BinckBank Classic (1.UWT) 2020
The race situation with 40km to go. A break of 12 riders, with many dangerous riders is clear, but the favorites group is chasing constantly
The break is almost caught with under 25km to go
The leaders have nearly reached the front riders, but the most of the favourites are now drained! Could the breakaway riders upset the favourites?
A group of 16 with 3km to go
The eventual winner will come from this group. Its a mix of the initial break and the favourites. Colbrelli, Amador, Roosen, De Buyst and Lutsenko are probably the strongest from the break, while Pedersen, Gaviria, Van Avermaet, Van Aert and Stuyven are from the favourites group.
Pedersen wins in the sprint
No one really had much energy left, but the Dane was able to take his first classic of the season and will look to carry his form to RVV and Roubaix.
1
Mads Pedersen
Team Sunweb
+00:00
2
Greg Van Avermaet
CCC Team
+00:00
3
Wout Van Aert
Team Jumbo - Visma
+00:00
4
Jurgen Roelandts
Team Katusha - Alpecin
+00:00
5
Fernando Gaviria
UAE - Team Emirates
+00:00
6
Andrey Amador
Movistar Team
+00:00
7
Jasper Stuyven
Deceuninck - Quick Step
+00:00
8
Sonny Colbrelli
Team Bahrain Merida
+00:00
9
Jasper De Buyst
Lotto - Soudal
+00:00
10
Timo Roosen
Team Ineos
+00:00
11
Imanol Erviti
Movistar Team
+00:00
12
Alexey Lutsenko
Astana Pro Team
+00:00
13
Yves Lampaert
Deceuninck - Quick Step
+00:00
14
Peter Sagan
BORA - hansgrohe
+00:00
15
Kasper Asgreen
Deceuninck - Quick Step
+00:00
Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields (1.UWT) 2020
Wout Van Aert makes his move with less than 10km left
With all the cobble sectors behind the riders, a large group is heading towards the finish. Knowing it wont suit him the best, Van Aert makes an attackand gains a gap of 17 seconds.
Pedersen tries his luck
Van Aert is brought back, but Pedersen immediately makes an attack hoping to catch the others sleeping. His gap gets up to 20 seconds, with only 3km left. This could be a great move, and would give him his 2nd classic victory this week.
The sprint starts
Pedersen is still holding on to his lead, but the sprinters are coming. Greoenewegan, Gaviria and Sagan and Jakobsen are the strongest left.
Jakobsen wins!
Fabio Jakobsen times his sprint perfectly, as he just gets his wheel ahead of Groenewegans meters before the line.
1
Fabio Jakobsen
Deceuninck - Quick Step
+00:00
2
Dylan Groenewegen
Team Jumbo - Visma
+00:00
3
Peter Sagan
BORA - hansgrohe
+00:00
4
Philippe Gilbert
Trek - Segafredo
+00:00
5
Jasper Stuyven
Deceuninck - Quick Step
+00:00
6
Tiesj Benoot
Team Ineos
+00:00
7
Niki Terpstra
Total Direct Energie
+00:00
8
Bob Jungels
Deceuninck - Quick Step
+00:00
9
Mads Pedersen
Team Sunweb
+00:00
10
Christophe Laporte
Team Katusha - Alpecin
+00:00
11
Fernando Gaviria
UAE - Team Emirates
+00:00
12
Elia Viviani
Trek - Segafredo
+00:00
13
Sep Vanmarcke
EF Education First Pro Cycling Team
+00:00
14
Wout Van Aert
Team Jumbo - Visma
+00:00
15
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Team Dimension Data
+00:00
Dwars door Vlaanderen (1.UWT) 2020
The situation with just over half the day gone. A dangerous break again, could we see a repeat of E3?
The front of the race, reduced to only 30 odd riders
No such luck for the break today. Swept up, and most couldn't hold on as the pace set by Deceuninck was too strong. Unfortunately its a beautiful day out, making the cobble conditions just that little bit better.
Garcia Cortina and Van Poppel make an attack from the group. Both were from the initial break, and seemed the strongest of the group which was brought back by the peloton.
Now with still one cobble sector to go, we have been reduced even further to just a group of 9 riders, with 4 from Quickstep. They will certainly have the added tactical leverage over the rest of the group, so long as the riders have the energy....
The leaders
Sagan attacks
6km to go, and Sagan, who hasn't looked the strongest to this point of the classics season makes a huge attack, which no one can follow! Hes looking strong for the win.
Sagan wins
He stays away thanks to the nice downhill run in to the finish, as 3 DQT riders were coming fast, but they will only hold the bottom two steps of the podium as Stybar and Stuyven were not fast enough to challenge Sagan in the sprint.
Driedaagse: Quick Step not having a top sprinter in this race, fine result with 2 in top 5
E3: Ugly weather – huge breakaway – hard race for Jasper.
Gent: Quick Step plays the strongest team card – to perfection congratz
DdV: Quickstep again dominates the race as so often in the spring races, but Sagan is a beast on his best days. Ohh-shit in the situation – retrospectively a good result with two on the podium.
Tamijo wrote:
Driedaagse: Quick Step not having a top sprinter in this race, fine result with 2 in top 5
E3: Ugly weather – huge breakaway – hard race for Jasper.
Gent: Quick Step plays the strongest team card – to perfection congratz
DdV: Quickstep again dominates the race as so often in the spring races, but Sagan is a beast on his best days. Ohh-shit in the situation – retrospectively a good result with two on the podium.
Thanks! Gent the plan worked out perfectly, as was different to the rest as we tried to make the race easy in order for Jakobsen to survive in the front and it worked perfectly. The others I just cant seem to time my sprints correctly from a small group with an underdog (in terms of sprint stat)
sutty68 wrote:
A mixture of good and bad results for the team with Jakobsen winning Gent-Wevelgem the only winner, but hopefully that will change for the better
Thanks. I dont think any of the results were bad, our worst result was 7th, but we would have liked to do better obviously. Gent was really a great race though, but hopefully we can be even stronger for Rvv
Its already time for the 2nd Monument of the season, Ronde van Vlaanderen or the Tour of Flanders. Its the most important single day of cycling in Belgium and one of the oldest races in the world, already with over 100 editions, this years being the 104th.
As has been the case the last few years the race will be 256km, with hills and cobble sectors which should be enough to reduce the group at the end to a handful of the strongest riders on the day, that is if a solo attack hasn't gone clear, which is not that uncommon either. The Oude Kwaremont is climbed 3 times, and is often the decisive moment in the race, atleast by the 3rd time the riders reach the famous climb.
The Favourites
Van Avermaet has been in good form, with a 2nd at E3 and 5th at Omloop Het Niewsblad, and is the bookies favourite to win the race. Mads Pedersen is another rider in very good form, after having a great build up to the Tour of Flanders with a win at E3 and nearly winning Gent Wevelgem.
Our best hope is Jasper Stuyven who is the big transfer signing from the offseason, and despite not winning, he's finished several classics already this year inside the Top 5. However it really all comes down to this. Perhaps Paris Roubaix will suit him better but he should still be seen as a Top 5 favourite, and if he can make it to the finish in the lead group, he has a much quicker finish than most other riders. If Styuven should fail the team has Lampaert and Stybar to fall back on, and Stybar at the age of 34 now is still looking for his first ever classic (but a monument would be even better).
The team will no doubt try to make the race difficult and back our strongest leader on the day, but keep our options open as well. We have the strongest team, but Sagan, GVA, Pedersen, Terpstra, and Benoot are all probably better riders than Stuyven, so tactics will be important for us to get the win and having more teammates than the aforementioned riders late into the race will also be important.
Stybar gets a puncture after the first cobble sector
The split after the first pass of the Oude Kwaremont
Quickstep put on a rapid pace on the Oude Kwaremont and it demolishes the field, a group of 8, plus 6 from Quickstep are now the 2nd group on the course with only the morning break ahead. Many favourites have been caught out by this move.
2nd puncture for Stybar
But disaster strikes for Quicksteps leader as Stybar punctures again. Stybar must have walked under a ladder on his way to the start line this morning
Because of the puncture, Quickstep slow up significantly, and the riders regroup somewhat, although still many favourites behind, VDP quite far behind for a race that should suit him quite well. The 2nd favoruites group is almost 1.5 minutes behind the QS group and may never get back to the first group.
Sagan attacks
With under 60km to go, Sagan attacks from the leaders group.
Pedersen attacks from the front group
After seeing Sagan maintain a gap of 15 seconds for nearly 20km, Pedersen tries his luck on the 2nd passing of the Oude Kwaremont
Quickstep had to respond, with 7 riders in the group, Longuet and Asgreen do much of the pace setting to catch up to the two dangerous escapees, but now the breakaway is looking worryingly dangerous now, with some strong riders in the group a minute ahead still with only a few cobble sectors remaining.
The now chasing group, containing most of the leaders previously in the QS group
On the Paterberg, Quickstep put on the pressure again and only Pedersen and Sagan can stick with them.
The Quickstep group catches the breakaway now
Sagan cracks!
Just after the Kruisberg, Sagan cant keep up with the pace of the Quickstep riders. Maybe the earlier attack took more out of him than he'd have liked.
Two QS riders attack on the final Oude Kwaremont passing, Styuven and Stybar. This looks like it could be the winning move!
Now Stybar is all alone
With all the cobble sectors behind them, Styuven and Stybar ride with the Pedersen group chasing behind, which is now joined with Van Avermaet, and Gilbert, which helps them increase the pace. As the two leaders reach the flat, Styuven cracks and can no longer stay with Stybar, so he drops back to the chasers, who have brought the gap down from 45 seconds to 30. Stybar is not safe just yet.
Stybar barely hanging on as he goes under the kite.
GVA and Grondahl Jansen can see Stybar but it looks like it wont be enough to catch him.
Stybar wins!
A great solo effort in the final 10km for Stybar who gets his first classic win, after moving to road cycling over 10 years ago now. Quickstep got their tactics perfect today and caught a lot of the favourites napping. Perhaps that ladder Stybar walked under this morning was good luck after-all.
Milano San Remo (1.UWT) 2020
Volta Ciclista a Catalunya (2.UWT) 2020
Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne (1.UWT)
congratz
