The organizers think Assa Abloy have multiple very strong cards to play:
With about 13k gone there are 8 riders off the front. Their lead is 1’09, not clear if the peloton is happy with this or whether others will be allowed to bridge up. The 8 are: Vanthourenhout, Delco, Firdaus, Forbes, Maciejuk, Broxham, Bakke Christophersen, and John.
That does prove to be the break of the day, there are a few more attacks but the peloton shuts them down. The lead maxes at about 5’40 but with 150k to go it is back down to 5’07 with cycleYorkshire (Buttigieg), Puma (Heidemann), Cedevita (Currie), Assa Abloy (Taubel), ISA-Hexacta (Jurado) and Polar (Brockhoff) all working.
The lead holds steady for a while but with 90k to go the peloton has the gap down to 2’57. Similar riders working but Oxxo also contributing with Abolaji. It has been raining the whole day so far.
50k now. Peloton can see the break across the fields. Gap is 1’43. On the front for the peloton are Zalgiris (Raugala), Polar (Brockhoff), Assa Abloy (Kolev, Matsumoto), cycleYorkshire (Dujardin), Oxxo (Abolaji), Cedevita (Currie), and Puma (Hollman). Ewan pretty isolated right now in about 8th wheel with Jurado dropping back and other teammates not yet up to him.
32k to go and we have the first sustained splits triggered by a couple of small climb a few K ago. 32 riders off the front right now being led by Mraouni. Debesay working to close the small gap. Breakaway has 1’08 on the leading chase group. The same set of climbs re-occurs in the last 17k of the race.
23k to go, Delco and Vanthourenhout have 11 seconds on their breakaway companions and 52 seconds on the peloton. The big guns in the chase now with Ruiz on the front and Siric just having completed a big turn. The peloton situation is fluid with 119 in the main chase right now. The important riders at the back are primarily leadout guys like Giro-hero Szarka and Contreras.
17k to go, the breakaway, except for Delco and Vanthourenhout is caught on the first of the two small climbs. 44 riders in the front group. The second group being led by Lidl (Thoms and Dekker) and Grieg (Van Gestel and Bohli) although both of those team’s leaders are up front. Wohler is the fifth rider in the second group, he needs to get back up front if he is going to on the attack.
14k to go, a 30-rider front group has emerged. Dainese 2nd wheel with super-domestique Wisniowski ahead of him trying to close down the 32 seconds to the two breakaway survivors. Important riders not in the 30-man group include Wohler, Jakobsen, Ovsyannikov, Antonijevic, and Quispe
12k to go and the first attack comes from some predictable names: Konychev, Nych, and Katrasnik
Under 10k go to, the three attackers catch the break but Vanthourenhout counters and Katrasnik and Konychev bridge across to him. They have 8 seconds on Nych and Delco and 35 seconds on a 56-rider chase group. Some hesitation in that group allowed the dropped riders mentioned to all rejoin. Kortsidakis briefly came to the front but he looks spent and now they are looking for another domestique to take over.
The second small climb does for the two breakaway riders and Katrasnik gets a small gap over Konychev who has been joined by Nych. Peloton has swelled to 78 riders but are now 48 seconds back as the sprinters on the front look for help with the chase.
6k to go the three rouleurs are back together. The race hangs in the balance, their gap is 1’08 so the win is there for the taking but if they mark each other out they could be caught. Right now, Halvorsen is a little off the front of the peloton, not clear if he is attacking or trying to get the chase working.
Under the 5k banner, the roulers are playing chicken with each other. Halvorsen was attacking and has made it up to the two breakaway survivors 32 seconds down on the leaders. The pack is another 22 seconds back. Hansen and Castrillo on the front.
3k to go. Konychev still riding a gentle tempo up front, but that means fairly hard by anyone else’s standard. Halvorsent at 20 seconds and flagging, the peloton at 36 seconds, being led by Dekker now but he isn’t going that hard.
Halvorsen bridges up to the front three just as Nych launches. There is still 1.9k to go. Andersen leading the peloton around the corner 35 seconds down.
1k banner, Nych still leading. Halvorsen is in the perfect position if he has anything left for the sprint. Konychev is the 2nd best sprinter in the front 4 and he has the luxury of having Dainese behind. Lampawog now leading the peloton, the gap is official 29 seconds.
700 meters. Halvorsen launches, it doesn’t look like the chase group with catch them, these four will fight for the podium.
500 meters. Halvorsen burned too many matches getting across he is fading. Konychev alongside Nych now. Lampawog is 5th on the road and has a small gap on the rest.
Konychev continues the winning streak for the roulers and takes his 2nd win in Veenendaal - Veenendaal. Katrasnik is 2nd and Nych third. A brave ride by Halvorsen secures him 4th and title of the best sprinter, although he did it like a Rouleur. Lampawog leading Van der Lijke behind but they have a ways to go still.
A great lead out by Lampawog yields 5th for Van der Lijke with the Phillipine rider hanging on for 6th.
Ewan is best of the rest followed by Kanter, Boutopoulos and Cullaigh.
Veenendaal - Veenendaal 
