Edvald Boasson Hagen from Team Sky took the british team’s first cobblestone victory of the season, and thus surprised quite a lot of doubters and nay-sayers in the feuilleton. Boasson Hagen dared an early move when the cobblestones around Harelbeke arrived. Alongside his companions, he gained a lead on the hard-working peloton, leaded by Omega Pharma, Cannondale and Trek. The Norwegian held his ground until the final sprint where Boonen and Sagan performed a thrilling chase and nearly would have caught him on the last meters.
Raphael Visconti:
Harbinger of Pain
As the most recent winner of Dwaars door Vlaanderen, I couldn’t wait to race some more of those fabulous races in this territory. However, there’s still some difference between a lucky punch and a established chain of command. I’m still way down there and thus returned to my usual domestique services. Note, I wasn’t particularly fond of that, but when you have Sagan, Gatto and Marcato on your team, the pecking order is rather clear.
I got a feel of that early on, when I was ordered to bring some pain onto the peloton. When I paced, quite some gaps appeared and some riders were caught unaware of the situation. Such unfortunate calibers like Turgot, Pozzatto and Stybar. As a result of that, Boasson Hagen must have decided that he didn’t want to be the plaything of Cannondale’s good will and forceful pacing and instead tried to catch up with the break upfront in one of the quieter seconds. We didn’t want to let him go too far since we knew about the danger he posed but eventually we got his desired meters of gap and flew away; the race is more important than a single rider, I thought back then.
Green, Green and more Green here!
Our efforts made the race even tougher. This may have been the toughest selection of E3 Prijs in most recent years. Huge gaps split the peloton. For some time I was the only rider in the break alongside Gatto, Viviani, Koren and Sagan in a 10-men group. Of course we tried to keep the advantage of such circumstances. We meant to force our luck here. Keep it painful. Anything to turn it to Sagan’s advantage.
However, Cancellara and Boonen of coruse returned back into our group at one of the Hellingen. Too bad, but I suppose when you want to take advantage of such circumstances you need riders like Boonen and Spartacus upfront, so that their teams refrain from chasing. We still held number superiority and were eager to make it count. We were throwing all into to help Sagan, but the break upfront with Boasson Hagen was still going strong.
As the kilometers ran down and we kept pushing ourselves together with the other chasers, Boonen attacked. It was close to the finish, about 10 kilometers supposedly. Sagan was quick to react. This meant, I could pull of my legs and just follow now. Rejoice! I had done really enough work for today and so I was just naturally empty. I showed myself again and showed everybody that Dwaars door Vlaanderen wasn’t a fluke…
The finale was incredible I was told. Boasson Hagen kept his spirits alive on the last kilometers, while Sagan and Boonen kept pushing each other forward. Cancellara was over a minute behind them, while doing lots of work. Oscar Gatto was in the group as well, resting of course and not contributing to the chase. Muravyvev and Bak were two further surviving soulds from the break's early effort.
In the end, Sagan outsprinted Boonen and came in 2nd. For Sky, it was their biggest victory of the season so far. Obviously with such a team, there are likely many more to follow. I finished in a large pack 33rd. Surprisingly we got the same time as Group Cancellara, but nevermind.
Impressions
Spoiler
Making the race tough. Meter for meter, cobblestone for cobblestone.
@sutty68: Cannondale pushed hard throughout the race and made it quite a stunner to watch I reckon.
@baia: Thank you a lot. Of course Dwaars door Vlaanderen was a high-note of this story so far but I like to think that the story keeps itself interesting enough with all those domestique and helper duties.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
@admir: That's the plan, that he eventually turns into a great rider but speaking of winning...
Gent – Wevelgem When all the work pays off…
Cannondale once more provided a race full of chasing for their captain Peter Sagan, as they hunted down the escapees, including Luca Paolini and Guarnieri. Alongside Omega Pharma, they managed to drop various riders and entered in a scattered finale of the race, where Peter Sagan completed his team’s masterful l performance by coming from behind and snatching away the break’s victory, whose survival none other than Tom Boonen ensured on the last kilometers.
Destroying the peloton in this race surely wasn’t an easy task at all. Gent-Wevelgem is best suited for sprinters and sprinter teams like to keep the race compact. Unfortunately for them, we like to make the race as tough as possible, so we really put some effort into the Kasseien and Hellingen on the road to Wevelgem. I was one of the riders taking multiple turns half-way through the race and alongside Koren it’s just a joy to pace. Both of us had some great moments so far in providing help to our captains, but today we really outdid ourselves. An extra round of applause for Koren, he’s worth it!
Our plan succeeded in that we dropped guys like Pozzato, Vanmarcke and Degenkolb and kept them out of competition, put them into a position of chasing throughout the race. They did come back though, but our efforts made them realize that the race was just beginning, and in further return, they thus made the race tougher too by trying to keep upfront. It was a sweet devil’s circle we had going.
After the second Kemmelberg passage, we had a great position for us. The break upfront with strong riders like Paolini, Demare, Slagter and Guarnieri demanded from Omega Pharma to work with us. Except for Nizzolo and Boasson Hagen we had dropped all great sprinters too, so all prepared for a Sagan show? Not quite.
Boonen surprised us when attacking and I was by then quite on the limit. My last deed of the day was to bring some bottles upfront to my guys. Marcato and Gatto were left to do the chasing, while Spartacus himself put in some true monster turns and thus took control of the race. There was some real hectic when Boonen attacked and rode away. Eventually, when the sprint was coming closer and I was just sitting back there, Sagan launched his attack. Another full front assault. He came from behind into Group Boonen, where the breakaway riders were putting all their hopes on outsmarting the flemish iconic legend. However, no one must have really expected Sagan at that point and he just took a single breather on their wheels and then launched his sprint in glorious fashion.
The rest was for Cannondale to celebrate after another successful week in Belgium with two victories!
Impressions
Spoiler
Sagan attack!
The sprint for the win, Sagan is coming up from behind!
Ronde van Vlaanderen It’s my birthday and I suffer if I want to The last kilometer & me: It took forever...
and it will last even longer in my memory.
One day before I turn 21, I’ll ride for the first time the Ronde van Vlaanderen. I couldn’t think of a better, premature birthday gift to myself. This is truly a race I’ve ever wanted to take on. A challenge worth to embrace, an event so glorious to participate in. And with riders such as Sagan and Gatto on my side, I feel like we have a true shot here.
Now the race may have been something special for me, but my job was the same as usual: Get bottles, protect Sagan or Gatto, keep aware, spend the better part of your life in the wind. It was all the same, but I felt slighty different. Can you love a race? If so, I think I had butterflies in my stomache throughout the entire race. That was until the butterflies died of exhaustion.
Trek, Omega Pharma and early on Lampre did most of the work today until we arrived the cobblestones. The Kasseien and Hellingen provided a fabulous view today from those VIP tents. Major part of the action happened before though, when already various big names of the northern classics were dropped. I was sent upfront alongside Koren to take advantage of that. Unfortunately we couldn’t keep them all at bay. Notably Greg Van Avermaet returned into the peloton.
After 150 km roughly 55 men remained in the front peloton. I suppose we did a good job at that point and with 100 km left, we still had plenty of ground to cover and much time left to drop Boonen, Cancellara and the others. Omega Pharma, Trek and Cannondale were eager to never give any of the favourites a single second to rest.
However, tactics rarely work out as planned. Omega Pharma got the jump on us when Boonen, Cancellara and Van Avermaet attacked from far out. Pozzatto and Turgot were quick to join them. Sagan just went too late. There were still about 50 kilometers left, I don’t know how much… I forgot to count as I kept striking my pedals and I turned deaf as my DS kept shouting in the earpiece. “Dai! Dai! Dai!” Yeah, I got it… I had to keep going, bring Sagan back onto striking distance. It was Gatto, Marcato, Koren and me. However, there’s only so much you can do when the best northern specialists are far ahead and gain time on you kilometer by kilometer. So we may have not given up, but we wern't inclinced to do desperatly our work for no cause.
I was long time gone from the chasing group when Sagan made his move and went on his own. He was tired of dragging others on his wheel, and he managed all by himself to reel in at least Pozzato and Turgot. He achieved a 4th place, while Tom Boonen landed his 5th Ronde triumph ahead of Van Avermaet and Spartacus.
At some point, when I dropped out of the groups, I realized that I was still far ahead of many riders we have dropped. All the work would pay off if I just kept going. My lungs were burning despite the fine weather, my legs were goddamn tired, but I just kept going. Just ignore it, that's the easiest thing you can do then. And I kept going and going, and nevermind your heartbeat and forget all the others and who cares about your time? Keep going and you'll just make it to get a great result out of all this...
I came in 23rd, which was a fantastic result for me and I’m quite proud of it somehow.
If you love a race, it may just love you back.
Ronde van Vlaanderen, Results
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Tom Boonen
Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team
6h10'08
2
Greg Van Avermaet
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
3
Fabian Cancellara
Trek Factory Racing
+ 3
4
Peter Sagan
Cannondale
+ 3'27
5
Filippo Pozzato
Lampre - Merida
+ 3'40
6
Sébastien Turgot
AG2R La Mondiale
+ 3'48
7
Sebastian Langeveld
Garmin Sharp
+ 4'42
8
Sylvain Chavanel
IAM Cycling
+ 5'10
9
Zdenek Stybar
Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team
+ 7'14
10
Oscar Gatto
Cannondale
+ 7'41
11
Niki Terpstra
Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team
s.t.
12
Jürgen Roelandts
Lotto Belisol
+ 7'50
13
Lars Boom
Belkin Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
14
Matteo Tosatto
Tinkoff - Saxo
+ 7'59
15
Maxim Iglinskiy
Astana Pro Team
+ 8'31
16
Nick Nuyens
Garmin Sharp
+ 9'44
17
Jens Keukeleire
Orica GreenEdge
+ 10'05
18
Ramon Sinkeldam
Team Giant - Shimano
+ 10'49
19
Vincent Jérôme
Team Europcar
+ 10'53
20
Marcel Sieberg
Lotto Belisol
+ 10'58
21
Damien Gaudin
AG2R La Mondiale
+ 13'44
22
Heinrich Haussler
IAM Cycling
+ 15'22
23
Raphael Visconti
Cannondale
+ 15'32
24
Philippe Gilbert
BMC Racing Team
+ 17'53
25
Luca Paolini
Team Katusha
+ 17'56
Spoiler
226
Sep Vanmarcke
Belkin Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
27
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Team Sky
+ 18'03
28
André Greipel
Lotto Belisol
s.t.
29
Geraint Thomas
Team Sky
s.t.
30
Yohan Offredo
FDJ.fr
s.t.
31
Borut Božic
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
32
Martin Elmiger
IAM Cycling
s.t.
33
Matthew Hayman
Orica GreenEdge
s.t.
34
Maarten Wynants
Belkin Pro Cycling Team
+ 18'16
35
Björn Leukemans
Wanty - Groupe Gobert
s.t.
36
Michael Schär
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
37
Stijn Vandenbergh
Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team
s.t.
38
Tom Veelers
Team Giant - Shimano
s.t.
39
Alexandre Pichot
Team Europcar
+ 18'36
40
Ion Izagirre
Movistar Team
s.t.
41
Marco Bandiera
Androni Giocattoli
+ 18'41
42
Mickaël Delage
FDJ.fr
+ 19'34
43
Jacopo Guarnieri
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
44
Marco Marcato
Cannondale
+ 19'40
45
Kristjan Koren
Cannondale
+ 19'44
46
Elia Favilli
Lampre - Merida
s.t.
47
Dries Devenyns
Team Giant - Shimano
+ 19'48
48
Manuel Quinziato
BMC Racing Team
+ 19'54
49
Gustav Erik Larsson
IAM Cycling
+ 20'01
50
Danilo Hondo
Trek Factory Racing
+ 20'06
51
Matthew Goss
Orica GreenEdge
+ 21'05
52
Dylan van Baarle
Garmin Sharp
s.t.
53
Jasper Stuyven
Trek Factory Racing
s.t.
54
Maciej Bodnar
Cannondale
s.t.
55
Francis Mourey
FDJ.fr
s.t.
56
Pieter Vanspeybrouck
Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise
s.t.
57
Jarl Salomein
Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise
s.t.
58
Kevyn Ista
IAM Cycling
s.t.
59
Mitchell Docker
Orica GreenEdge
s.t.
60
Paul Voss
Team NetApp - Endura
s.t.
61
Bryan Coquard
Team Europcar
s.t.
62
Preben Van Hecke
Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise
s.t.
63
Kristof Vandewalle
Trek Factory Racing
s.t.
64
Karsten Kroon
Tinkoff - Saxo
s.t.
65
Björn Thurau
Team Europcar
s.t.
66
Lars Ytting Bak
Lotto Belisol
s.t.
67
Andrey Amador
Movistar Team
s.t.
68
Christian Knees
Team Sky
s.t.
69
Yaroslav Popovych
Trek Factory Racing
s.t.
70
Martijn Maaskant
UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
71
Jan Bakelants
Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team
s.t.
72
Tom Dumoulin
Team Giant - Shimano
s.t.
73
Frederik Willems
Lotto Belisol
s.t.
74
Bob Jungels
Trek Factory Racing
s.t.
75
Johnny Hoogerland
Androni Giocattoli
s.t.
76
Aleksandr Kuschynski
Team Katusha
s.t.
77
Yauheni Hutarovich
AG2R La Mondiale
+ 21'20
78
Klaas Lodewyck
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
79
Murilo Fischer
FDJ.fr
s.t.
80
Svein Tuft
Orica GreenEdge
+ 21'24
81
Wesley Kreder
Wanty - Groupe Gobert
+ 21'27
82
Daniele Bennati
Tinkoff - Saxo
+ 21'39
83
Tom Leezer
Belkin Pro Cycling Team
+ 21'42
84
Arthur Vichot
FDJ.fr
s.t.
85
Julien Vermote
Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team
s.t.
86
Markel Irizar
Trek Factory Racing
s.t.
87
Mauro Finetto
YellowFluo
s.t.
88
Paul Martens
Belkin Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
89
Nico Sijmens
Wanty - Groupe Gobert
s.t.
90
Christopher Sutton
Team Sky
s.t.
91
David Boucher
FDJ.fr
+ 21'53
92
Bart De Clercq
Lotto Belisol
s.t.
93
Laurens De Vreese
Wanty - Groupe Gobert
+ 22'06
94
Marko Kump
Tinkoff - Saxo
+ 22'18
95
Tosh Van der Sande
Lotto Belisol
s.t.
96
Dominic Klemme
IAM Cycling
s.t.
97
Pieter Serry
Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team
+ 23'18
98
Ben Hermans
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
99
Alexis Vuillermoz
AG2R La Mondiale
+ 23'22
100
Rohan Dennis
Garmin Sharp
s.t.
101
Jérôme Cousin
Team Europcar
+ 24'07
102
Yannick Eijssen
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
103
Mattia Cattaneo
Lampre - Merida
s.t.
104
Giovanni Visconti
Movistar Team
+ 24'41
105
Tim Declercq
Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise
s.t.
106
Davide Malacarne
Team Europcar
+ 25'01
107
Kenny Van Hummel
Androni Giocattoli
s.t.
108
Marc De Maar
UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
109
Iván Gutiérrez
Movistar Team
s.t.
110
Stef Clement
Belkin Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
111
Axel Domont
AG2R La Mondiale
+ 26'02
112
Marc Goos
Belkin Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
113
Vicente Reynès
IAM Cycling
+ 26'19
114
Jérôme Baugnies
Wanty - Groupe Gobert
s.t.
115
Eliot Lietaer
Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise
s.t.
116
Zico Waeytens
Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise
s.t.
117
Gorka Izagirre
Movistar Team
s.t.
118
Tim De Troyer
Wanty - Groupe Gobert
s.t.
119
Yury Trofimov
Team Katusha
s.t.
120
Oliver Zaugg
Tinkoff - Saxo
s.t.
121
Frederik Veuchelen
Wanty - Groupe Gobert
s.t.
122
Alex Howes
Garmin Sharp
s.t.
123
Jens Mouris
Orica GreenEdge
+ 27'46
124
Kevin Reza
Team Europcar
+ 28'02
125
Mikhail Ignatiev
Team Katusha
+ 28'11
126
Dimitry Kozontchuk
Team Katusha
s.t.
127
Scott Thwaites
Team NetApp - Endura
+ 28'51
128
Francesco Chicchi
YellowFluo
s.t.
129
Gatis Smukulis
Team Katusha
s.t.
130
Alexis Gougeard
AG2R La Mondiale
+ 29'24
131
Roberto De Patre
YellowFluo
s.t.
132
Adriano Malori
Movistar Team
+ 29'48
133
Alessandro Bazzana
UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
134
Fredrik Kessiakoff
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
135
Warren Barguil
Team Giant - Shimano
+ 30'06
136
Thomas Damuseau
Team Giant - Shimano
s.t.
137
Reto Hollenstein
IAM Cycling
s.t.
138
Rory Sutherland
Tinkoff - Saxo
s.t.
139
Christophe Kern
Team Europcar
s.t.
140
Sérgio Paulinho
Tinkoff - Saxo
s.t.
141
Elia Viviani
Cannondale
+ 30'15
142
Janier Acevedo
Garmin Sharp
+ 31'23
143
Kevin De Weert
Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team
s.t.
144
Hubert Dupont
AG2R La Mondiale
+ 31'28
145
Winner Anacona
Lampre - Merida
s.t.
146
Chris Anker Sørensen
Tinkoff - Saxo
+ 31'36
147
David De la Cruz
Team NetApp - Endura
+ 32'00
148
Chad Haga
Team Giant - Shimano
s.t.
149
Jan Barta
Team NetApp - Endura
s.t.
150
Olivier Kaisen
Lotto Belisol
s.t.
151
Anton Vorobyev
Team Katusha
+ 32'36
152
Valerio Agnoli
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
153
Jackson Rodríguez
Androni Giocattoli
s.t.
154
Edward Theuns
Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise
+ 33'18
155
Kristijan Durasek
Lampre - Merida
+ 33'23
156
Eduard Vorganov
Team Katusha
+ 34'36
157
Luke Keough
UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
158
Edward King
Cannondale
s.t.
159
Arnold Jeannesson
FDJ.fr
s.t.
160
Sam Bewley
Orica GreenEdge
+ 34'47
161
Manuele Mori
Lampre - Merida
+ 35'13
162
Nathan Earle
Team Sky
+ 35'26
163
Diego Rosa
Androni Giocattoli
s.t.
164
Maxime Bouet
AG2R La Mondiale
s.t.
165
Alexey Lutsenko
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
166
André Cardoso
Garmin Sharp
s.t.
167
Joshua Edmondson
Team Sky
s.t.
168
Juan Manuel Gárate
Belkin Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
169
José Serpa
Lampre - Merida
s.t.
170
Moreno De Pauw
Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise
s.t.
171
Jussi Veikkanen
FDJ.fr
s.t.
172
Nicola Testi
Androni Giocattoli
s.t.
173
Mirko Tedeschi
YellowFluo
s.t.
174
Alexsandr Dyachenko
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
175
Tom Danielson
Garmin Sharp
+ 35'49
176
Danny Pate
Team Sky
s.t.
Shock News – Sagan Injury
A few days later, bad news hit our camp in Belgium as we learned that Peter Sagan injured himself during a training ride: A fracture will put him out of action until May. That means he will miss all remaining classics. From Paris-Roubaix to Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
This is a huge blow and set-back to our plans, ambitions and squad. However, for guys like Gatto, Moser and maybe even me it can be an opportunity. See, I'm just trying to see remain positive about this...
Our first test as a unit without Sagan will be Gran Prix de Cerami.
See you there,
Raphael
Edited by Shonak on 25-03-2014 22:46
