Nice to see Debusschere in a different role
Shame Roelandts couldn't follow the rest, but 12th is still a good result in spite of failing our top 3 goal
Good to see McDermott with such an active race, though annoying to finish 11th after having done all the work. Guess he would have finished even further down had he refused to work seeing the lack of time gaps.
Don't have time for the report tomorrow likely, so... yeah.
Gent - Wevelgem
The third classic in a row of the flemish spring campaign is here. Gent-Wevelgem isn’t too hard and is usually up for grabs for some fast men but we hope we get an entertaining race either way. Decisive Hellingen will be the Casselberg and the Kemmelberg. From the last climb, the Temmeberg, it’s roughly 40 kms to the finish. Again some clouds on the sky, will we see rain? Some might hope for it in order to get an exciting race but we should be glad if the crashes keep at a minimum today.
Euskaltel – Euskadi have heavily invested in their cobblez squad during off-season and Iriziar is the first rider to attack. Felline is quick on his wheel, followed by Amorison who has been active already in E3. Boivin from Cannondale is another name to join up from behind.
Different to E3 prior, the BOTD establishes itself quickly and without any hassle. Traksel and Van Dijk are other names to join up, as is Kaas for AG2R La Mondiale. Löwenherz tried a move from the peloton out but quickly realized that this was an ungrateful move he was planning to make and pulled back. After just 20 kilometers, the lead is already over 4 minutes.
We enjoy a event full of nothing happening. Grab a beer and tune in when the action starts we’d say, or go out for a ride yourself. With little rain dropping down ahead of the Casselberg, it could have gotten dangerous but no – the rain has stopped just in time. Maybe the roads are still slightly wet. About 100 kilometers left to race, and the break heads into the Casselberg with a lead of roughly 5 minutes.
Good action up this first Hellingen. SKY, Omega Pharma and Trek are already increasing the pace, much to the joy of the bystanders.
Breschel has been successful, kinda, with the tactic at E3. Now he makes another similar move compared to Harelbeke. Far out attack and hoping he’ll make it to the finish. Some splits in the peloton have meanwhile found out some riders, including Rudy Veboven but he’ll likely return to the big bunch of 50 riders. Stybar, Farrar, Greipel, Roelandts, Boasson Hagen, Flecha are further down. Likely about two minutes we estimate.
70 kilometers out, Demare and Breschel have joined up with the break. Both of them do some solid work. And both their moves might be key to success, this way they can maybe survive the onslaught back in the peloton, where SKY, Omega Pharma and Trek are trenching the field.
Apparently the pace isn’t high enough for Boonen. Tommeke comes flying past the car and many other riders to join up with leading man Vandewalle. Cancellara is behind Boonen and likely has seen what Boonen is planning to do. Indeed, we see a quick exchange of words between the two Quicksteppers and – off they go! Vandewalle picks up the pace here at the Kemmelberg, Tommeke and Cance on his wheel.
Pedersen & Pal are quick to react. For now, they can’t bridge the gap though. Curious how this move will pan out. Stuvyven is doing here some work for Vanmarcke, who is quite a bit further down. A big cluster of SKY riders heads back to the front to help their captain but they can’t reach him and soon look at other teams to do the work.
Attack by Sagan out of the peloton. Likely going to plan to catch up to Pedersen & Pal. Behind him the group is roughly 27 riders strong. We also receive word that Group Boonen/Cancellara has caught up with the BOTD. Immediately Vandewalle takes charge of the pacing.
Here we see now Sagan catching up with the front group as well. Pedersen and Pal have made the connection just a few seconds earlier. Cancellara is already planning his next move but rethinks it. He may not like Sagan and wants to make life tough on him but that’s no reason to throw out your energy just yet.
Andrew Fenn is confirming his selection by bringing back the next group to the front group. In it are Kristoff, Van Avermaet, Vanmarcke, Khamphan, McDermott, Boom and several domestiques. No Degenkolb. He is back in the big bunch, roughly 2 minutes down. As the two groups are together now, Belkin and Omega Pharma take over pacing ahead of the last Hellingen.
The second time Temmelberg is fun just like the first one. Boom has been leading up ahead of Thwaties and Eisel, then Cancellara makes a move and flies by those boys. The peloton reconnected to the front group just for a second before thousand minor splits occur in the peloton. Hard to keep overview obviously but we try to pinpoint Boonen who is with Pedersen and Boom in a five man group just 15 seconds down on Cance. Stannard and Eisel are doing the chasing there. Strong SKY performance today.
Sagan a bit ahead, and then GVA and Kristoff attack in order to bridge the gap. Hondo is somehow finished with today, at least for now at the side here. Vanmarcke and McDermott, two of the most active riders back in E3, sit surprisingly calm back in the group behind. However Vanmarcke has Boom upfront.
This group looks solid for now. But the SKY riders have to do all the work and this clearly plays in Cancellara’s favour, who is putting in a huge gear. He put in 30 seconds in the last kilometers or so. Surely the moments of organization in the break helped him, but if the top favourites here combine forces, even he might face some serious problem. 40 km to go as we have the Monteberg behind us. From here on, it’s flat time. Boom, Sagan, Kristoff and even GVA are good sprinters or at least can hold their own in a sprint. We don’t have to talk about Boonen’s talents in such a race. Pedersen and SKY are actually at a bit of a disadvantage. They have to chase but Pedersen isn’t as fast as Eisel, not by far. SKY management understands this as well and we see Pedersen chasing, whilst Eisel falls back a bit to enjoy slipstream.
Another quick rundown of the chasers: Peter Pal is a bit in no man’s land with roughly a minute down onthem. Then follow McDermott and Demare. The Danish cobbler ends up dragging Demare again. This has happened just prior in E3 where he got outsprinted by the likes of Breschel and Jacobs. Again he is racing but well. Vanmarcke is following a bit down, roughly 15 seconds on McDermott and he soon catches up to him for good. Khamphan is the last rider who might play a role here today. The bunch further back has practically given up chasing. In total, Vanmarcke is 1’20 down on Group Boonen.
Ex-World Champion Boonen doesn’t play an easy game here for SKY. He attacks. Pedersen follows as Eisel is immediately dropped. Sagan and Boom look fit too. Kristoff and Van Avermaet have problems following the initial move.
20 kilometers out, Cancellara still has about 30 seconds lead. And well, will you look at that: In a few more kilometers, he increases it to a minute. Is it a second lung? No. Because Boonen couldn’t drop the others, he decided to look at them. This is flat road now. They should work together but with so many fast men in the group (Kristoff, Sagan, Boonen, Van Avermaet) they all prefer to let the other do the work. Except no one is willing to do it. So Ian Stannard has to take over again. Of course, seeing as Stannard catches up to them again, is a clear sign that they have basically fucked it up.
Great ride by Pal who is close to bridging the gap for good here on his own! After this effort, he’ll likely get dropped at the next attack but it’s worth a shout-out all the same.
Those guys are racing for second place now. Cancellara is gone for good, there’s no getting him back. Boom and Sagan make a move, GVA is quick to follow. When they feel like they have done enough, they sit back to watch, and what they see: Boonen blasts past them, clearly annoyed at this race situation. With a string of accelerations, Van Avermaet & Co. try to follow but there’s a gap already established.
As we near the 10 kilometers, Sagan has done the same as Boonen and managed to drop the pretenders. Kristoff was the last one hanging one, but enough was enough there. Sagan is riding really strong. Boonen has already reduced the gap to Cancellara but they won’t catch Cance anymore. It’s now a fight for second place. Boonen doesn’t give up chasing though, so Sagan practically gets a free ride to the finish here until 5 kilometers out, when Boonen decides to reduce the speed and save energy for the final. But watch out, Pedersen, Boom and Kristoff aren’t too far off… and here we go, the group is back together:
Meanwhile, Cancellara can celebrate his impressive solo victory of Gent - Wevelgem, in fact it's his debut victory here and in what a magnificient way only Cance knows how to pull off.
Sagan is outsprinting - outdominating - everybody in the final and takes a huge gap on the others. Lars Boom overtakes Boonen just by the line and claims third.
That was a mental race! And didn't i say keep an eye on Demare Top10 would have been nice but Three in the Top20 ain't half bad and best of the PCT teams yet again
That's more like it. Goal completed and looking a bit better for the big races now. Fenn extremely impressive. Disappointed with the performance of some of my team but it's not their fault that the game tells them to completely stop riding I guess.
Also, Quinziato in a solid last place. I believe that's the first last place I've ever had.
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Slightly less performance by Vanmarcke today, but great to see Lars Boom stepping up. The Hammer and the Anvil combine for a 2nd and a 3rd place in these 2 very important races.
Kristoff in 5th is his best classics result so that's okay, even though he could've done way better in the final sprint.
But look on 21st, the first position where no points are awarded. Of course it's a Katusha rider. Really just totally suck but don't always miss points by such a tiny margin.
Gent - Wevelgem
