GP de Wallonie
:
Welcome to the 53rd GP de Wallonie, a race with a grand history, first won by Gustaaf de Greef and in this races history, only 19 editions have been won by other nations.
As for this edition, Sky looks dominant, despite not having a Belgian in their line-up, with Henao, Sithembile, Cataldo, Siutsou, their team is very strong. BMC is also a good shot at winning, with Gilbert and Van Avermaet, Cristobel Riquelme is very likely to win a sprint for Belkin and Rudy Verboven could be a surprise for Euskatel, Rajesh Kakhi can definetly cotend it and Bardiani's Italians are surprisingly strong, a podium or even victory won't be out of reach for Enrico Battaglin and Francesco Bongiorno. Really, this race is anyone's for the taking.
STARTLIST
Spoiler
AG2R
A. Domont
J. Berard
H. Houle
S. Minard
L. Mondory
S. Chainel
Astana
Bozic Borut
Gavazzi Francesco
Grivko Andriy
Guarnieri Jacopo
Huffman Evan
Kamyshev Arman
Lutsenko Alexey
Ponzi Simone
Belkin
Cristobal Riquelme
Leezer
Martens
Tanner
Tjallingii
Van Emden
Vanmarcke
Wynants
BMC
Eijssen
Gilbert
Hushovd
Lodewyck
Oss
Van Avermaet
Warbasse
Wyss
Euskaltel
Bilbao, Pello
Chaoufi, Tarik
GarcÃa, Ricardo
Kocjan, Jure
MÃnguez, Miguel
Pérez, Ruben
Urtasun, Pablo
Verboven, Rudy
Lotto
De Clercq, Bart
Debusschere, Jens
Dehaes, Kenny
Fischer, Alex
Roelandts, Jurgen
Sieberg, Marcel
van der Sande, Tosh
van Leijen, Joost
Omega Pharma
Julien Vermote
Nicolas Maes
Stijn Vandenbergh
Gert Steegmans
Kristof Vandewalle
Serge Pauwels
Sky
Dario Cataldo
Sergio Henao
David Lopez
Salvatore Puccio
Thabo Jango Sithembile
Kanstantsin Siutsou
Accent Jobs
Cappelle
Jans
Van Goolen
Pauwels
Vantornout
Drucker
Bardiani
Barbin
Battaglin
Colbrelli
Bongiorno
Fortin
Canola
Mucelli
Baggio
Bretagne
Bideau
Delpech
Dion
Gerard
Giullou
Jarrier
Champion System
Matthew Brammeier
Chun Feng
Chan Jae Jang
Rajesh Kakhi
Mart Ojavee
Ryan Roth
Bobbie Traksel
Kin San Wu
Cofidis
De la Montagne
Arblaster
Garcia
Zingle
Sijmens
Valetin
Crelan
Amorison
Delfosse
Hovelynck
Nys
Planckaert
Peeters
Sojasun
Feunard
Sinaga
Laborie
Paiani
Poux
Tortelier
Topsport
Devreese
Mertens
Van Asbroeck
Van Hecke
Van Staeyen
Wallays
Favourites:
***Thabo Jango Sithembile Sky
***Sergio Henoa Sky
***Phillipe Gilbert BMC
***Greg Van Avermaet BMC
**Jorge Cristobel Riquelme Belkin
**Rudy Verboven Euskatel
**Rajesh Kakhi Champion System
**Dario Cataldo Sky
*Enrico Battaglin Bardiani
*Francesco Bongirono Bardiani
*Bart de Clerq Lotto-Bellisol
*Kanstanstin Suitsou Sky
The race starts, Cristobel Riquelme (Belkin) and Sithembile (Sky) are already near the front.
Huffman (Astana) is the first away, he is quickly followed by Minard (Ag2r), Fortin (Bardiani) and Brammier (Champion System) they will be hoping to make it stick.
BMC and Sky, pull the break back, maybe the next one can stay away.
After a number of attempts, a break stays at 160km to go, containing Nys (Crelan), Van der Sande (Lotto), Van Staeyen (Top-Sport Vlaanderen), and Guarnieri (Astana). Sky and BMC have taken a break from chasing.
The break peaks at 7 minutes and 36 seconds, before it starts to decline with 120km to go, hopefully it pulls back out again.
BMC won't let anything go today, they have brought the break back to 3 minutes with 50km to go, with some help from Sky.
ATTACK!! GILBERT AND HENAO HAVE ATTACKED!!!!!!!! The race favourites, from BMC and Sky will beinfit from not having the strongest teams chasing. Verboven (Euskatel) follows.
With 18km to go, the current situation is: Breakaway-55 seconds-Gilbert, Henao-19 seconds-Verboven-14 seconds-peloton.
Note: Apologizes for the interface.
De Clerq (Lotto) attacks! He is quickly followed by Kakhi (Champion System), Sithembile (Sky), Battaglin (Bardiani), Van Avermaet (BMC), Bongirono (Bardiani) and Martens (Belkin) With 13km to go and on the 2nd last climb, the situation is: The break- 36 seconds-Gilbert, Verboven, Henao-42 seconds-De Clerq group-25 seconds-peloton. This is anyone's game!!
Note: The above pictures are with 50 metres of each other.
The peloton is led by Cristobel Riquelme, it's hard for him to chase with a teammate up front.
Guarini (Astana) attacks, he is followed by Nys (Crelan). Nobody else can follow.
11km to go, near the top of the second last climb, the race is so close, at the front are Guarini and Nys (far left) just behind them are their break away companions, Van der Sande and Van Staeyen. Another virtually inexistent gap seperates Gilbert, Verboven and Henao, currently the favoured group, next is the group led by De Clerq, containing Sithmbile, Van Avermaet, Battaglin, Bongiorno, Kakhi and Martens. Just behind that is the peloton, with Vanmarke leading, with Cristobel Riquelme on his wheel, this group contains a number of reasonable riders for the win, including López, Cataldo, Gavazi, Ponzi, Siutsou, Tjallingii, Vandewalle, Bozic and De La Montangne. This is anyone's race, with over 100 riders in contention and 24 riders have a serious chance, with 11km to go!!!!
Henao and Gilbert catch the break and attack, the original break is back together, with Verboven, 2nd on the road, The second chase splits in two.
RACE SITUATION WITH 10km TO GO:
Henao, Gilbert-12 seconds- Guarieni, Verboven, Nys, Van der Sande and Van Staeyen- 40 seconds-De Clerq, Martens, Van Avermaet, Battaglin-23 seconds-Bongiorno, Sithembile, Cristobel Riquelme, Kakhi, Cataldo-28 seconds-Peloton.
An interesting thought is that the Astana boys, Gavazi Ponzi and Bozic all look very strong in the peloton.
Just 1km later, Van Avermaet and Cristobel Riquelme attack in union, Cristobel Riquelme joins the De Clerq group, while Van Avermaet chases the Verboven group.
The Verboven group are second on the road, eager to catch Henao and Gilbert, Van Avermaet can be seen catching.
3km to go GILBERT ATTACKS HENAO!!!! This could be the race, right here, as Gilbert pulls away, it looks like the peloton are too far back to win, at 2 minutes 30 seconds.
HE DOES IT!!!! GILBERT BEATS HENAO (background) BY A FEW SECONDS!!!!!
The sprint for third, De Clerq looks to have this won.
De Clerq crosses the line 3rd, but it's a 5-way sprint for 4th.
A ridiculously close sprint for 4th, the photo gives us the order, 4th Battaglin (Bardiani) ,5th Verboven (Euskatel), 6th Martens (Belkin), who edges out his team mate Cristobel Riquelme (Belkin), 8th Van Avermaet (BMC), too tired too sprint, the original break finish with the same time as Battaglin, 9th Van Staeten, 10th Guarieni, 11th Nys and Van Der Sande 12. Sithembile finishes 13th and Bongiorno is right on his wheel in 14th, Bozic leads the peloton home for 15th.
Phillipe Gilbert, the 53rd winner of GP De Wallonie.
Note: Apologizes for the weird picture.
Thanks to Gilbert and Van Avermaet, BMC were also the fastest team today.
1st Philippe Gilbert BMC
@17 seconds
2nd Sergio Henao Sky
@1 minute 13 seconds
3rd Bart De Clerq Lotto-Bellisol
@1 minute 20 seconds
4th Enrico Battaglin Bardiani
5th Rudy Verboven Euskatel
6th Paul Martens Belkin
7th Jorge Cristobel Riquelme Belkin
8th Greg Van Avermaet BMC
9th Michael Van Staeyen Topsport-Vlaanderen
10th J Guarnieri Astana
11th Sven Nys Crelan
12th Tosh Van Der Sande Lotto-Bellisol
@2 minutes 27 seconds
13th Thabo Jango Sithembile Sky
14th Francesco Bongirono Bardiani
@2 minutes 46 seconds
15th Borut Bozic Astana
16th Dario Cataldo Sky
17th Serge Pauwels Omega Pharma
18th Rajesh Kakhi Champion System
19th Daniel Oss BMC
20th Kanstantsin Siutou Sky
21st Thor Hushovd BMC
22nd Kristoff Vandewalle Omega Pharma
23rd Fancesco Gavazi Astana
24th Florian Guillou Bretange-Seche
25th David Lopez Sky
Combatitivity
1st J Guarnieri Astana
2nd Bart De Clerq Lotto
3rd Sven Nys Crelan
NOTE: This is my first time reporting, so if I made any mistakes, I'm open to constructive feedback.
The ai may set Hagen as lead sprinter 
