Welcome to the Philadelphia, where the big name sprinters are once again preparing to do battle with each other. The weather has decided to make its own mark on today’s proceedings and it is absolutely pouring rain. The favourites will have to be careful to stay upright over the course of the day.
The day is started off by Georg Preidler and Bruno Pires.
Neither team has a particularly big name sprinter here, so this will at least absolve them from chasing and gives them another chance at victory. Other teams notice this too and so quite a number of other riders attack off the front. They are:
Haidar Anuawr in particular is a bit of a surprise here given his sprinting talent, but Oz have brought quite a few potentially strong riders today so this could well be a clever move.
Some of the teams are unhappy with the makeup of this break, particularly with Selander representing the Hollister team of the favourite Serebriakov. As such Aker, Pokerstars and Puma bring it all back together and keep the pace high for a little while. This discourages any further attacks for the next 20km, until Rizza goes off the front.
Clearly a number of riders have been waiting for hits attack and so quite a few riders start attacking in twos and threes. They are:
There are a number of strong sprinters here again, such as Park, Gatto and Haidar Anuawar again. Clearly they aren’t confident in their ability to win a bunch sprint, so would rather try their hand in a small group.
Hollister’s presence once again annoys some teams and so the pack chases hard. Thios time it is Aker and Puma once again, this time with assistance from Jayco. Their combined effort is enough to catch the break at the beginning of the second ascent of the climb of the day. This is the perfect opportunity to take a good look at it.
As can be seen it isn’t particularly long, but there is a fairly steep section right at the summit. No one looks to stretch things out though, so the pack continues together.
About half way through the third lap of the race, a new attack goes. This time it is Patrick Bercz who goes with the impossible to spell Abilphez Ajewole. Both men are promising youngsters who could potentially have a future as puncheurs, so this is a chance for them to prove something.
A couple of other riders come up. They are McLay and Cerne’s leader Biondo. The group of 4 riders now have 1’30” on the pack that seems content with this group.
The rain claims its first casualty as William Ford, Oz’s star signing, goes down. It doesn’t look too bad and the team manage to pace him up, but it is still wasted energy on a long day like this.
But far more importantly, just as Ford comes in, one of the pre-race favourites goes down. The race radio crackles into life and announces that it is Daryl Impey who has hit the ground!
He manages to get back up onto his bike and he doesn’t look too bad, but it won’t be possible to tell until the finishing line approaches.
Taking advantage of the confusion in the pack two riders attack. They are Sambris and Keukeleire. Both make their way up and Hollister have finally managed to get a man into the break.
Just after the start of the 4th lap, with 162km still to ride Bianchi decide that it is time to show their hand, as Juan Jose Cobo attacks out of the pack. A superb puncheur who will have no trouble over this sort of distance, Cobo is the sort of man that the pack will have to be careful about. They don’t seem interested, however, and Puma and VW just keep tapping out a steady rhythm.
Cobo has no trouble bridging the gap up to the leaders, and soon after they are joined by yet another rider as Novak bridges up on his own. This is a great effort by the Czech rider, who ensures that Rothaus have an option up front if Iglinski is unable to perform in the sprint. At the start of the 6th of 10 climbs, the group has a 5’30” lead. Cobo comes to the front and paces them up, happy to set an easy pace.
The gap goes out to 7’00” after the 7th ascent of the day’s only difficulty, with 94km left to ride. In the peleton Bol falls in the rain while setting the pace. Miraculously, no one goes down with him and he seems totally fine, getting straight back on the front and pacing. Similarly Calzati falls, and he also gets back in. The Red Bull riders are having trouble staying upright today.
Several teams are setting the pace on the front now. Puma are working, but they have the help of Red Bull, Pokerstars and Vespa. Vespa are clearly hoping that Gatto is still ready for a sprint finish, despite his earlier attempt to get into the day’s break.
These teams start to exert some pressure and the gap is down to 5’30” after the 8th time over the top of the climb. With 53km to go a couple of riders decide to try their luck with a long attack, as Kozontchuk and Lequatre go. If Lequatre can get up front he could be a tremendous help for Cobo.
Delage and Gerrans work together for their leaders, however, and they manage to peg these two intrepid riders and bring them back into the fold.
There is yet another crash as this time as Beppu falls off at the base of the 9th climb. This is bad timing as he can’t get back into the bunch and will have to ride his own way in. The pace is now quite high and over the top of this climb the gap is down to 3’29”
As the pack enters the 10th climb, the break is clearly in their sights. The gap is down to 1’56” with 24km to go. Ajewole is dropped from the leaders, as Cobo really cranks up the pace on the climb.
With 20km remaining, the attack that everyone knew would come finally materialises. Cobo launches away from his breakaway companions and sets off alone. He would probably prefer there to be more hills ahead of him, but there are a couple of lumpy sections that he should like, including a 300m climb in the circuit that makes up the finale.
Cobo quickly builds a minute on his former companions, and the gap extends beyond the 2 minute mark again. Behind, the chase is incredibly disorganised as Red Bull and Puma seem to have used up their domestiques. Pokerstars don’t want to take it up, as they are wary of raising the pace too high in case Mohs can’t follow any more.
With 10km remaining, things are looking good for Cobo. The situation is:
1’37”
1’02”
2’39”
Cobo
--->
6 Chasers
--->
Pack
And then the pack is slowed down even more, as there is a mass pile up that begins towards the front, causing absolute chaos.
Most of the big names are okay, and the biggest names that either crash or are held up are Forster, Jorgensen, Lorenzetto, Trusov, Rizza, Park, D’Amore, Korzh, Sabatini, Iglinski, Arashiro, Gatto and Lucas Haedo. Aker with both their leaders hitting the ground here.
In addition, 4 Pokerstars riders go down, thankfully not including Mohs. Further confounding Red Bull’s bad day is the news that Mori is injured and must withdraw.
A group of 41 riders forms out of the remnants of the bunch, with most of the team leaders in here and Puma with a second wind now pushing the pace on really hard. Sensing an opportunity for an attack, and with his team’s lead sprinter held up by the crash, Quinziato attacks off the front of the group.
Puma manage to pull him back, and in the process they get overhaul the breakaway riders, except for Cobo, who now has a lead of over 1’30” and is looking comfortable up front.
With only 4 kilometres left, another attack goes. This time it is Mandri, whose Cyclevox team doesn’t really have a sprinter here.
Quinziato, Rabon, Bernuccci and Brutt try to follow him. Quinziato is clearly tired from his previous attempt and falls off the pace. Bernucci and Rabon manage to get up to Cyclevox’s Estonian and pull straight past him, getting a small gap.
Up front Cobo catches up to a group of crashed riders and celebrates amongst them. A well deserved victory after a risky long-range attack.
And behind, Rabon and Bernucci sprint side-by-side. Can Rabon make this a 1-2 for Bianchi?
In a photo finish Rabon is declared second place! What a magnificent result for Bianchi, whose puncheur-heavy strategy really paid off here. This should put them really close to Red Bull and Rapha in the CT rankings.
Behind, the battle for 4th is hot as both Brutt and Mandri desperately reach for the line whilst fending off the charging pack.
Mandri somehow still has something left, and he overhauls Brutt. Both of them are beaten by another man, the pre-race favourite Bennati, who will have to be content with 4th place. Mandi holds on for a surprising 5th. Haussler is in a strong 6th place, ahead of Daryl Impey in 7th, who clearly managed to overcome his earlier crash. Brutt can only get 8th but he still beats Mohs, who is 9th. Loddo rounds out the top 10.
