The Tour de l'Avenir opens with a flat stage. Favourites are Brits Luke Rowe and Adam Blythe, plus Aussies Leigh Howard and Michael Matthews. Irishman Sam Bennett aswell. Flat stages are going to be very anglo-friendly!
A couple of early breakaway attempts failed, before a 10 man group finally got clear.
Quaade
La Lavandier
Arabuli
McLay
Kuphaldt
Vlatos
Fukata
Jungels
Durbridge
Andersen
Jurka Arabuli beat McLay and Jungels at the first intermediate sprint - giving the Armavia rider the virtual lead of the race!
Soon after we have the only King of the Mountains prime of the day - the winner gets the jersey. Quaade, Fukata, Jungels, Andersen and Arabuli all go for it.
And Hiroyuki Fukata takes it.
With 20km to go, the Milka led peloton are closing in. But Jungels leads attacks as the break splits up.
The 2nd sprint is just 2km away, and Dan McLay uses it to catch Jungels and win the sprint - ahead of Fukata and Arabuli
They keep trying to stay away, but Milka are having none of it. The sprint is on.
But this is a race for the inexperienced and many of those aiming at the sprint have not really had the opportunity to compete in many mass sprints before.
The guilty rider here is Michael Matthews, who smashes into the ground, bringing others with him.
A road block is caused. Including Matthews, 24 riders actually crash - but others, including Andrew Talansky, are held up and likely to lose time now aswell.
The full list of those who crashed is:
Aberlardo Ablenado
California Giant Berry Farms-Specialized
David Talbott
California Giant Berry Farms-Specialized
Amaro Antunes
Cerne
Bruno Borges
Cerne
Luis Afonso
Cerne
Filip Rada
East Block
Giuseppe Fonzi
Ferrari - ERG
Michael Matthews
Festina - Conec
Mikel Landa
Festina - Conec
Panagiotis Vlatos
Festina - Conec
King Lok Cheung
Oz Cycling Project
Michael Vink
Oz Cycling Project
Indalecio Lagrou
Team Armavia
Manuel Palumbo
Team Armavia
Alfredo Balloni
Team B&O
Jan Polanc
Team Bpost
Jasper Stuyven
Team Bpost
Mike De Bie
Team Bpost
Daniel Vesely
Team Rothaus - Aegon
Franz Schiewer
Team Rothaus - Aegon
Maximillian Schachmann
Team Rothaus - Aegon
Adam Semple
Wikipedia
Serafin José Blanco
Wikipedia
Its particularly bad news for Bruno Borges - and the Control Team team leader Julian Kern. Their race is over - nightmare for Kern in his one race to impress after being snubbed by the various German CT teams this season.
Time to focus on the sprint though. Hosek has strung things out, and we're almost ready to go.
Reinhardt
Howard
Blythe
Rowe
Bennett
Yamamoto
Schoch
McLay
Zabel
Coutinho
Stallaert
Steigmiller
Kirsch
Kennaugh
Sagan
Reinhardt launches the sprint, and Howard tries to catch out his rivals by launching on the final turn - but theres still a long way to the finish line.
Also forced to go early is Zabel - he had the wheel of McLay who is clear tired from his breakaway efforts, and couldnt keep up with Schoch in front of him.
Up front, only Blythe and Rowe have been able to live with Howard's pace, but the Aussie has gone too early, the stage win is heading to Britain
Blythe vs Rowe. Rowe has the speed, but Blythe has the headstart.
It's going to be tight!
Luke Rowe takes the victory ... just!
Blythe is 2nd, with Howard forced to settle for 3rd.
Then we have Bennett, Yamamoto, Stallaert, Schoch, Coutinho, Zabel and Reinhardt completing the Top 10.
Talansky's group loses 4 minutes, to confirm that Wikipedia's GC hopes are all on Pinot, while those who actually crashed (except Matthews) lose 5 minutes.
