One of the best races I've ever raced in PCM and my apologies if something worth mentioning is not mentioned in this report but it's hard to pay attention to everything that happened in this race.
The first attack start with 121km to the finish line. Appelby and Murray (100% Me), Peeters (Ultimate), Lemoine (Acqua & Sapone), Hanson (Kenda), Euser (Molteni), Brolin (IKEA), Shimada (Ultra Adventure), Di Nucci (M&M) and Williams (Jack Wolfskin) try to form the breakaway of the day.
By the next lap, the break already has 2 minutes over the pack. But Brolin and Hanson have to recover 30 seconds if they want to be a part of the front group.
And they manage to do it quickly.
A fall took place in the peloton with 100km to go. It's Nazon, a sprinter from M&M and De Romijn, Nokia-Nike rider.
They would get back in the peloton, though.
Hanson is only rider who is not relaying in an coordinate breakaway. With 70km to go, 5'45'' is the advantage...
... because Kenda and, sometimes, Wiggle seem to be controlling the race.
Moments later, Kenda increases the pace. And despite this being a criterium, the wind has its role as the peloton streches through the route.
Things don't look good for the breakaway because the gap is decreasing. 2'15'' and still 40km to run.
With an high pace and a strong wind, the peloton splits!
In the second group, the most notable names are: Haidar Anuawar, Castañeda, Vaitkus, Haussler, Bazajev, Baumann and Lorenzetto.
But there is another group, far behind. Westling, Galdos and Van Stayen are there.
Westling and Nilsson manage to get to the second group.
A group of six (Mourey, Boucher, Ghyllebert, Vaitkus, Muravjev and Ivanov) clears from that second group. They want to catch the first group which is closing in on the breakaway riders.
With 10km to go, it's clear that the winner will be a rider from this first group, in which Boucher (and only him) had entered. There are still three remaining riders from the breakaway, but they seem to be within reach.
Brolin and Murray are the last to be caught, with 7km to the finish.
With 4km to the line, Boucher attacks. Brolin tries to follow, but he can't. But Sony Ericsson makes a sprint train composed by Meyer, Granjel Cabrera and Grillo. Forero follows Vanderarden.
Luke Rowe also attacks. 3km to the line!
Boucher and Rowe are not sprinting but they are still ahead of the rest with 1km to go.
Rowe closes in Boucher, now they are both accelerating. But, Granjel cabrera and Grillo are coming fast! 500 meters!
Rowe wins! Fantastic race! Granjel Cabrera and Grillo manage to pass Boucher, who came from a group behind to take and incredible fourth place.
Full Results:
c
Luke Rowe
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
3h12'02
2
Raúl Granjel Cabrera
Sony Ericsson
s.t.
3
Paride Grillo
Sony Ericsson
s.t.
4
David Boucher
Molteni
s.t.
5
Juan Pablo Forero
Kenda Pro Cycling P/B Spinergy
s.t.
6
Matthew Goss
Jack Wolfskin
s.t.
7
Jean-Patrick Nazon
M&M Cycling
s.t.
8
Gerald Ciolek
Team LEGO - Capri-Sonne
s.t.
9
Cameron Meyer
Sony Ericsson
s.t.
10
Robbie Williams
Jack Wolfskin
s.t.
11
Joseph Cooper
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
12
Michael Vanderaerden
Kenda Pro Cycling P/B Spinergy
s.t.
13
Dale Appleby
100% ME
s.t.
14
Hans Dekkers
Jack Wolfskin
s.t.
15
Nikolai Trusov
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
16
Kevin Peeters
Team Ultimate
s.t.
17
Paolo Locatelli
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
18
Yoshiaki Shimada
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
s.t.
19
Cyril Lemoine
Acqua & Sapone
s.t.
20
Isaac Speirs
Kenda Pro Cycling P/B Spinergy
s.t.
21
Nicolas Brolin
Team IKEA - Bianchi
s.t.
22
Matt Rowe
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
23
Daniele Di Nucci
M&M Cycling
s.t.
24
Russell Hampton
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
25
Lucas Euser
Molteni
s.t.
26
Ken Hanson
Kenda Pro Cycling P/B Spinergy
s.t.
27
Tomas Vaitkus
M&M Cycling
+ 1'17
28
Jaime Alberto Castañeda
Nokia-Nike
s.t.
29
Sergei Ivanov
Molteni
s.t.
30
Pieter Ghyllebert
Team Ultimate
s.t.
31
Dmitri Muravjev
Sony Ericsson
s.t.
32
Gian Marco Fanfani
Nokia-Nike
s.t.
33
Thomas Murray
100% ME
s.t.
34
Marcel Sieberg
Jack Wolfskin
s.t.
35
Stuart O'Grady
Team LEGO - Capri-Sonne
s.t.
36
Sven Vanthourenhout
Molteni
s.t.
37
Gorik Gardeyn
Nokia-Nike
s.t.
38
Markus Eichler
Team LEGO - Capri-Sonne
s.t.
39
Björn Schröder
Team LEGO - Capri-Sonne
s.t.
40
Heinrich Haussler
Nokia-Nike
s.t.
41
Matti Pajari
Kenda Pro Cycling P/B Spinergy
s.t.
42
Saïd Haddou
Kenda Pro Cycling P/B Spinergy
s.t.
43
Damion Drapac
Nokia-Nike
s.t.
44
Aleksandr Usov
Kenda Pro Cycling P/B Spinergy
s.t.
45
Nicolas Roche
100% ME
s.t.
46
Staf Scheirlinckx
Sony Ericsson
s.t.
47
Assan Bazajev
Sony Ericsson
s.t.
48
Joe Hicks
Acqua & Sapone
s.t.
49
Roy Sentjens
Jack Wolfskin
s.t.
50
Daniel Lloyd
100% ME
s.t.
51
Francis Mourey
Molteni
s.t.
52
Hayden Godfrey
Acqua & Sapone
s.t.
53
John Nilsson
Team IKEA - Bianchi
s.t.
54
Geoffroy Lequatre
Team LEGO - Capri-Sonne
s.t.
55
Mirko Lorenzetto
M&M Cycling
s.t.
56
Eric Baumann
Team LEGO - Capri-Sonne
s.t.
57
Ahmad Haidar Anuawar
M&M Cycling
s.t.
58
Brett Lancaster
Team LEGO - Capri-Sonne
s.t.
59
Mattias Westling
Team IKEA - Bianchi
s.t.
60
Fredrik Johansson
Sony Ericsson
s.t.
61
Mikhail Bourgoin
Jack Wolfskin
s.t.
62
Fonne Woortman
Team Ultimate
s.t.
63
Michael Van Stayen
Jack Wolfskin
s.t.
64
Fons de Romijn
Nokia-Nike
+ 3'54
65
Evgeny Wacker
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
s.t.
66
Remco Broers
Team Ultimate
s.t.
67
Abdelkader Belmokhtar
Acqua & Sapone
s.t.
68
Daniel Martin
100% ME
+ 4'20
69
Wang-yip Tang
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
s.t.
70
Jan Ghyselinck
Nokia-Nike
s.t.
71
Aitor Galdos
Molteni
s.t.
72
Santos Gonzalez Capilla
Acqua & Sapone
s.t.
73
Simon Gaywood
100% ME
s.t.
74
Ludvig Lundberg
Team IKEA - Bianchi
s.t.
75
Fumiyuki Beppu
M&M Cycling
s.t.
76
Marcel Wyss
Team IKEA - Bianchi
s.t.
77
Danilo Kupfernagel
Team IKEA - Bianchi
s.t.
78
Kevin Eeckhout
Team Ultimate
s.t.
79
John Murphy
Acqua & Sapone
s.t.
80
Deni Rizio
Team Ultimate
s.t.
81
Hassen Ben Nasser
100% ME
s.t.
82
Behnam Khalilikhosroshani
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
s.t.
83
Bobby Lea
Acqua & Sapone
s.t.
84
Nicolas Vogondy
Molteni
s.t.
85
Kazuki Aoyanagi
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
s.t.
86
Junya Sano
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
