This race was young Raphael Visconti`s first race as a defender, seeing as how he won last year against Zdenke Stybar here. Citigroup – Cannondale’s strategy for the pave was easy enough: Keep your riders up there and see who can work something.

With Kristjan Koren in the breakaway, Citigroup – Cannondale was relieved from all cha sing duties. Belkin & Omega Pharma though worked together to keep the lead at all times low. Koren’s breakaway group was rather large.


At 40 kilometers left, Raphael Visconti set a first call out to the competition, by attacking on a hill, right as the rain came down. As no one was following him, Visconti rode clear. He got later joined by the two SKY riders Geraint Thomas and Bernhard Eisel. One of them a compatriot, while the other a known face for Raphael. Despite Raphael’s reluctance to help SKY, Bernie Eisel convinced him to help the effort. At the same time, Tom Boonen broke free of the peloton and was now set out to join the riders.


When Raphael and his two SKY buddies reached the breakaway upfront, it was Two for Two, with Koren still up there too. As Boonen joined later, the Ex-World Champion and Flanders’ King Tommeke immediately attacked to show everybody his strength. Only Geraint Thomas was strong enough to follow at that point. Visconti and Koren set everything in motion, as Oscar Gatto joins from behind too now. Visconti is flat-out exhausted and done for the day, while Kristjan Koren can still put up an incredible performance this late in the race after having spent all day in the breakaway. Thanks to Koren’s help, the group keeps the peloton at bay and thus enables Gatto to get away too.

Gerain Thomas actually meanwhile looked like the winner of Dwars door Vlaanderen after having slipped away from Boonen, but Tommeke got the Welshman in the sprint and took the win. Oscar Gatto finishes third, which is another podium place here for the team. The doors of Flanders are wide open for Citigroup – Cannondale. Visconti and Koren finish 11th and 14th in their former group.


Dwars door Vlaanderen, Results

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Tom Boonen	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	4h27'46
2	Geraint Thomas	Team Sky	s.t.
3	Oscar Gatto	Citigroup - Cannondale	s.t.
4	Borut Božic	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
5	Nick Nuyens	Garmin Sharp	s.t.
6	Maarten Wynants	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	+ 1'16
7	Sébastien Hinault	IAM Cycling	s.t.
8	Bernhard Eisel	Team Sky	s.t.
9	Yohan Offredo	FDJ.fr	s.t.
10	Bryan Coquard	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
11	Raphael Visconti	Citigroup - Cannondale	s.t.
12	Thor Hushovd	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
13	Sebastian Langeveld	Garmin Sharp	s.t.
14	Kristjan Koren	Citigroup - Cannondale	s.t.
15	Maarten Tjallingii	Team Giant - Shimano	s.t.

Journalist X: “Oscar, that was a great race from you today. You would have almost caught up to Boonen and Thomas in the finish there.”
Oscar Gatto: “It only looks like it though. We got the same time but in truth, there was quite some distance. I’m glad I won my sprint against Bozic and Nuyens. It was a tough race, compliment to my team and especially Kristjan and Raphael did great today.”
Journalist X: “You have won here two years before for your old team, last year Raphael won Dwars. This year a podium. It certainly that the Dwars door Vlaanderen favor Italian specialists?”
Oscar Gatto: “The race rewards attacking and smart riding. It’s not so much about your pure quality on the pave, but also how you use it. I think that’s why it suits us.”

In an intense race, Citigroup- Cannondale has undermined its spring classics dreams by providing much to the race’s excitement. With Raphael Visconti initiating the breakaway, the day started well in Harelbeke. However, too many riders joined and this was too big for the taste of the peloton. Only after 50 kilometers of chasing, the peloton eventually let the breakaway be and allowed them to get for the first time more than 2 minutes advantage.


With some talent at his side, riders such as Ulissi, Navardauskas and Bakelants, the breakaway with Visconti achieved up to 6 minutes but those started decreasing quickly when it was still 120 kilometers left. As Veelers from Giant-Shimano and Roulston from Trek join in later to the breakaway, Visconti and his two new companions took over the lion’s share of working then and there was finally a good harmony going on, especially on the pave.

With narrow roads, occasional rain with changing weather conditions and the demanding paved sections, the race was very open to attacks and changing sizes of various groups. As the finish drew closer, Citigroup-Cannondale got more and more into motion, with Gatto holding a good place in the chasing group. Visconti meanwhile did a crazy job upfront in the break, riding like he was just set free for the first time, like he was out of chains. Roulston refused work now and then on his Team’s orders and fee into tactical games, but he soon snapped out of it. Pverall both Roulston and Veelers helped a lot Visconti’s effort. The other riders were at this point just trying to hang onto the three riders in the group.


Eventually, Sagan makes the jump out of the peloton and attacks as the rain kicked in once again. When Sagan joined the group, he didn’t spend much time resting. He attacked and Visconti almost busted himself by attempting to follow. For a few kilometers, he managed but then Sagan left his former teammate behind him, dropped his once luxury domestique like it was nothing. For Raphael, this was surely a bitter moment. And Citigroup-Cannondale’s Raphael saw Greg Van Avermaet and later Fabian Cancellara passing him too. On the wheel of Spartacus, he came over the finish line. Fourth. An achievement for this young Italian-Austrian cyclists but a disappointment at first after such a harsh day out on the road.

Oscar Gatto finished 5th, securing yet another good result for the team. Although missing out so close on the podium, the team can be satisfied with such a performance in the first paved WT classic of the season.


E3 Prijs Harelbeke, Results

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Peter Sagan	Team Sky	4h44'55
2	Greg Van Avermaet	BMC Racing Team	+ 52
3	Fabian Cancellara	Trek Factory Racing	+ 1'45
4	Raphael Visconti	Citigroup - Cannondale	s.t.
5	Oscar Gatto	Citigroup - Cannondale	+ 2'05
6	Philippe Gilbert	BMC Racing Team	+ 3'04
7	Tom Veelers	Team Giant - Shimano	s.t.
8	Hayden Roulston	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
9	Sebastian Langeveld	Garmin Sharp	s.t.
10	Filippo Pozzato	Lampre - Merida	+ 6'28

Journalist X: “Well, you look torn and muddy and like straight out of a battlefield. How are you?”
Raphael: “Tired. Just really mostly tired. It was a long day in the breakaway and then I spent the last 40 kilometers trying to hold onto Sagan, and then onto Cancellara. The last 10 kilometers, I thought I had to puke, I really fought against that urge and only kept on pedaling. That was the only thing I was good at… Cancellara told me, I should do some relay-work but I just thought: Man, can you please shut up and let me wheelsuck?! [laughs] I really felt that bad. As long as I could concentrate on his wheel, I felt good.”

Journalist X: “So, Cancellara dragged you the finish…”
Raphael: “Well, I’m sure he knew at that point that I wasn’t going to cause much trouble and so he just let be me there, let me ride on his wheel. No need to worry about flies, when you have to catch someone much faster, such as Sagan.”

Journalist X: “You’ve shown some great performances at the pave so far. Are you satisfied with today, after all you have won two stages at Eneco and Dwars door Vlaanderen last year. What have you planned for the remaining cobbled classics?”
Raphael: “It’s alright. I have a long- season in my legs still with little rest since August. I’m good for what I’ve been through and I think I didn’t do anything wrong today. It wasn’t enough in the end, but I did all I could. I don’t know how the next races will be though, but I surely will help the team at Gent-Wevelgem first now since I'm not the type of rider to win Gent-Wevelgem anytime soon. We have Marcato and Gatto for that though.”

Journalist X: “A word on Sagan?”
Raphael: “Yeah, he was really strong. When he joined our group, he set let’s go to me. Unfortunately by following him, I went over my limits and I couldn’t recover in the remaining time. That’s how GVA passed me so easily. When I dropped from Sagan, I knew I had lost the race… maybe that’s why I thought I had to puke so much.”

In a race of unbelievable strong crosswinds, with occasional headwind, a daring attack by Greg Van Avermaet saw the BMC-rider take enough lead 20 kilometers from the finish to triumph at the finish line.


For Citigroup, the race has been disappointing. Unable to hold up, various riders dropped at some point. Only Marco Marcato and his protecting man, Raphael Visconti, prevailed throughout at the front of the race. An attack by Daniel Oss proved useless. When Van Averameat, Ladagnous, Vandenbergh, Roelandts and Sagan attacked from the peloton, in response of a courageous earlier attack by Boonen, Citigroup-Cannondale was left to the chasing with Visconti and Koren. Marcato then, without further support, came only 12th, where Greipel won the group sprint by coming in fourth. Too little reward for way too much work.

With three stage wins, the race of De Panne was a huge success for Citigroup-Cannondale. Although the team lost their domination in the Time Trial on the last day, the winning streak of Visconti and Viviani, puts the team into a great position for the upcoming Monuments.

With a daring solo-attack 30 kilometers from the finish, Raphael Visconti rode over the last segment of pave and into Zottegem as a winner. Meersman was one of his toughest followers and the Belgian would be the main contender in the coming days too. Visconti was exhausted at the finish-line, but once again, a brave attack by him saw a great reward.



With Visconti in the white leader jersey, the team continued to show excellence. The lead-out of Marcato and Sabatini worked perfect for Viviani on the two remaining flat stages, and Elia scored two victories, his fourth and fifth of the season. Gianni Meersman claimed the leaders’ jersey on that third day thanks to time-bonus though.



The finale Time Trial was then a confirmation of Citigroup-Squad’s current weakness. This is a team of one-day specialists and thus lack in the Time Trial department. Visconti lost for example over a minute, Marco Marcato (who was third in the rankings) lost even more… and so forth.

Stage	Name	Team	Leader’s Jersey
1, HL/CBS	Raphael Visconti	Citigroup-Cannondale	Raphael Visconti
2, FL	Elia Viviani	Citigroup-Cannondale	Raphael Visconti
3, FL	Elia Viviani	Citigroup-Cannondale	Gianni Meersman
4, TT	Taylor Phinney	BMC	Taylor Phinney

Final Classification

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Taylor Phinney	BMC Racing Team	11h06'33
2	Jesse Sergent	Trek Factory Racing	+ 19
3	Johan Le Bon	FDJ.fr	+ 27
4	Bob Jungels	Trek Factory Racing	+ 29
5	Jan Bakelants	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	+ 30
6	Stijn Devolder	Trek Factory Racing	+ 32
7	Maarten Tjallingii	Team Giant - Shimano	+ 35
8	Manuel Quinziato	BMC Racing Team	+ 39
9	Vladimir Gusev	Team Katusha	+ 40
10	Alexandre Geniez	FDJ.fr	s.t.

Journalist X: “Raphael, those days in De Panne have been very satisfying for the team and you personally?”
Raphael: “After leading and dominating the race with three stage wins, we had hoped to win the overall classification too. But that hope was dumb, we're too weak at Time Trialing. I am too weak still. But now, all three jerseys went to Taylor Phinney and uhm… that’s a bit disappointing. But it’s a good sign for the Monuments, that our legs are good.”

Journalist X: “Your first stage win of the season. Do you ride easier now?”
Raphael: “I always ride to win and it’s good to come back into winning ways after being close a couple of times, like at Strade or E3. It was very close too when I won at stage 1, but that’s the beauty of the sport. You can fight for an entire day and win nothing, and on another day, you fight again for a long, long time – and then you come out on top. Cycling is a sport of losing, it feels great when you win something once or twice in the season.”

Journalist X: "Your ambition for the Monuments?"
Raphael: "First and foremost, I want to surive them. Get healthy over the finish line. We'll see what we can do when the racing starts."