We are here in the East Midlands for the first British cobbled race of the season, All the stars are out in force for this HC race, the favourites being, as always, Vanspeybrouck, Gusev, Steegmans and home favourite Blythe.
As you can see the weather is awful, but that's not going to stop these riders as they fight it out for victory today.
An eight rider break establishes itself: Finning, Ardila Cano, Polito, Cleaver, Shatskikh, Remme, Ratto and Hirschlein
50km to go and Ardila Cano punctures and is caught by the peleton, the rest of the break has 2 minutes
35km to go and the combination of gale force winds and tired legs cause a split in the peleton, Telenor are the big losers with nearly all their riders missing out.
And while Ikea are concentrating on reeling in the break Rowe, Hushovd, Verbist, Van Impe and Blythe all attack
Blythe pushes on past the break
and with 25km to go the situation is:
Blythe solo
Hushovd, Thomas and Verbist 27 seconds back
The Ikea lead peleton at 1 minute
20km to go and Thomas has left his companions behind and used a motorbike to get up to his leader
at 48 seconds and 22 seconds behind Hushovd and Verbist we now have 5 riders: Gusev, Vanspeybrouck, Steegmans, Eisel and Rowe
Verbist manages to catch the lead duo
Gusev, Rowe and Vanspeybrouck now catch Hushovd. The leaders are in their sights, only 15km to go
We now have a lead group of 7 as it comes together
Rowe and Vanspeybrouck go clear
and Rowe pushes on alone, will he bring home the British victory?
8km to go and Vanspeybroucke is back on his wheel, it's going to be between these two for victory now.
In the battle for third Gusev goes down, and brings Blythe down with him.
We now have a 4 rider chase group, Albert, Verbist, Steegmans and Eisel, they are 33 seconds behind the leaders
Behind them we have Hushovd, Quinziato and Thomas
5km to go and our leaders have 20 seconds of a gap on Eisel and Steegmans
3.5km to go and Rowe has pulled out a small gap, the home crowd are going crazy
and as they reach the final straight with 2 km to go Rowe looks like soloing to victory
Excellent ride by the Wiggle rider, taking the biggest win of his career in front of the adoring home fans.
Vanspeybrouck comes in second
Steegmans holds off Eisel for third
Verbist just beats Albert into 5th spot
Thomas sprints to 7th ahead of Hushovd and Quinziato, who rounds off an excelent day for Vespa in 9th
Pokerstars take 4 of the next five places with Kluge, Geslin, Van Impe and Ingels only interupted by Blythe who got back on his bike to finish 13th
Gusev is next and no doubt dissapointed as solid shot at 3rd turned into 15th.
Today belongs to Great Britain and Wiggle however as Rowe has jump started their season with an excellent result.
Results:
Spoiler
Rank Name Team Time
1 Luke Rowe Wiggle - San Pellegrino 4h17'40
2 Pieter Vanspeybrouck Team IKEA - Bianchi + 16
3 Gert Steegmans Vespa-Caffrey's + 27
4 Bernhard Eisel Bimbo Nutella s.t.
5 Evert Verbist Vespa-Caffrey's + 1'07
6 Niels Albert Team IKEA - Bianchi s.t.
7 Geraint Thomas 100% Me + 1'19
8 Thor Hushovd Milka + 1'34
9 Manuel Quinziato Vespa-Caffrey's s.t.
10 Roger Kluge Team Pokerstars.com s.t.
11 Anthony Geslin Team Pokerstars.com s.t.
12 Kevin Van Impe Team Pokerstars.com s.t.
13 Adam Blythe 100% Me s.t.
14 Nick Ingels Team Pokerstars.com s.t.
15 Vladimir Gusev Cillit Bang - IT-Factory powered by The Moon X + 3'07
16 Jérome Giaux Team IKEA - Bianchi + 4'13
17 Lars Andersson Team IKEA - Bianchi s.t.
18 Mark Scanlon Vespa-Caffrey's s.t.
19 Per-Ola Edenholm Team IKEA - Bianchi + 4'44
20 Jonas Vangenechten Bimbo Nutella + 4'58
21 David Boucher Team Pokerstars.com s.t.
22 Tomas Vaitkus Team Telenor-SAS s.t.
23 Niki Østergaard Team Telenor-SAS + 5'23
24 Paolo Bettini Vespa-Caffrey's s.t.
25 Andreas Klier Team Telenor-SAS s.t.
26 Johan Lindgren Team IKEA - Bianchi s.t.
27 Daniele Ratto Wiggle - San Pellegrino s.t.
28 Jimmy Engoulvent Team Pokerstars.com s.t.
29 Fabrice Jeandesbosz Bbox - Bouygoues Télécom s.t.
30 Oscar Gatto Vespa-Caffrey's s.t.
31 Ciaran Cassidy Vespa-Caffrey's s.t.
32 Francis De Greef Highroad-TomTom s.t.
33 Yannick Stoltz Cillit Bang - IT-Factory powered by The Moon X s.t.
34 Vojtech Hacecký Cillit Bang - IT-Factory powered by The Moon X s.t.
35 Petter Renäng Team IKEA - Bianchi s.t.
36 Jurgen Van Loocke Team Pokerstars.com s.t.
37 Maciej Ulanowski Cillit Bang - IT-Factory powered by The Moon X s.t.
38 Stian Remme Team Telenor-SAS s.t.
39 Blaz Jarc Milka s.t.
40 Sam Bennett 100% Me s.t.
41 Greg Van Avermaet Bimbo Nutella s.t.
42 Davronjan Shatskikh Cillit Bang - IT-Factory powered by The Moon X s.t.
43 Andy Cappelle Vespa-Caffrey's s.t.
44 Ole Hirschlein Milka s.t.
45 Richard Cleaver 100% Me s.t.
46 Ludvig Lundberg Team IKEA - Bianchi s.t.
47 Egbert Reekers Cillit Bang - IT-Factory powered by The Moon X s.t.
48 Juliano Polito Bbox - Bouygoues Télécom s.t.
49 Grégory Rast EL AL - IDF s.t.
50 Michael Rasmussen Cillit Bang - IT-Factory powered by The Moon X s.t.
51 Zdenek Stybar Milka s.t.
52 Laurent Lefèvre Cillit Bang - IT-Factory powered by The Moon X s.t.
53 Aleksei Saramotins Team Pokerstars.com s.t.
54 Sean Finning Highroad-TomTom + 6'46
55 Paulo Lucas Martins Bimbo Nutella s.t.
56 Fabio Sabatini Team Telenor-SAS + 7'12
57 Javier Benitez Sport Lisboa e Benfica s.t.
58 Sebastian Batchelor THE CONTROLTEAM s.t.
59 Richard Tanguy Wiggle - San Pellegrino s.t.
60 Urban Monks 100% Me s.t.
61 Paolo Locatelli Wiggle - San Pellegrino s.t.
62 Saïd Haddou Milka s.t.
63 Kevin De Weert Highroad-TomTom s.t.
64 Remco Te Brake Team Telenor-SAS s.t.
65 Iljo Keisse Milka s.t.
66 Davide Appollonio Wiggle - San Pellegrino s.t.
67 Rui Costa Sport Lisboa e Benfica s.t.
68 Jan Ghyselinck Highroad-TomTom s.t.
69 Daniel Foder Team Telenor-SAS s.t.
70 Bram Tankink Bbox - Bouygoues Télécom s.t.
71 Ricki Nelson Bimbo Nutella s.t.
72 Yvo Kusters Highroad-TomTom s.t.
73 Krzysztof Szczawinski Milka s.t.
74 David Veilleux Bbox - Bouygoues Télécom s.t.
75 Maxim Burlutsky EL AL - IDF s.t.
76 Moreno Hofland Bimbo Nutella s.t.
77 Jesse Sergent 100% Me s.t.
78 Noam Cohen EL AL - IDF s.t.
79 Amos Wolff EL AL - IDF s.t.
80 Adrian Malori Milka s.t.
81 Florian Stalder Bbox - Bouygoues Télécom + 7'55
82 Sergej Fuchs Bimbo Nutella + 8'10
83 Bruno Lima Sport Lisboa e Benfica s.t.
84 Connor McConvey 100% Me s.t.
85 Julien Berard Bimbo Nutella s.t.
86 Stefano Locatelli Wiggle - San Pellegrino s.t.
87 Joseph Perrett 100% Me s.t.
88 Saydou Sow THE CONTROLTEAM + 8'40
89 Dor Dviri EL AL - IDF s.t.
90 Tom Diggle Wiggle - San Pellegrino s.t.
91 Yuan Wei Bbox - Bouygoues Télécom s.t.
92 Nizan Margalit EL AL - IDF s.t.
93 Kazuo Inoue EL AL - IDF s.t.
94 Ole Haavardsholm Team Telenor-SAS s.t.
95 Rubén Darío Laverde Velez Sport Lisboa e Benfica s.t.
96 Russell Hampton Wiggle - San Pellegrino s.t.
97 Sérgio Paulinho Bbox - Bouygoues Télécom s.t.
98 Nuno Ribeiro Sport Lisboa e Benfica s.t.
99 Kris Boeckmans Highroad-TomTom s.t.
100 Mikayil Krasnoperov Sport Lisboa e Benfica s.t.
101 Carlos Sastre Highroad-TomTom s.t.
102 Shlomi Haimy EL AL - IDF s.t.
103 Darwin Atapuma Highroad-TomTom s.t.
104 Justo Mayo Bbox - Bouygoues Télécom s.t.
105 Kim Michely THE CONTROLTEAM s.t.
106 Fader Andres Ardila Cano Sport Lisboa e Benfica s.t.
107 Magno Nazaret Sport Lisboa e Benfica + 9'53
108 Thurakit Boonratanathanakorn THE CONTROLTEAM + 11'58
[url=www.pcmdaily.com/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=33182]Team Santander Media Thread[/url]
