Big stage today. Similar but a bit shorter than Paris Roubaix and this in a 8-stage race. Crazy stuff here. First stage which have been hilly took care for first time gaps. Today many expect the biggest time gaps bringing riders like Cancellara, Boonen, Gusev, Ballan or Bewley into an excellent position.
But sure riders like Gilbert, Pozzato or Posthuma want to give anything they can to hang on to this guys.
A group of five trying their luck in the breakaway. Pretty tough on a course like this but for some teams the only chance to be seen today. For other teams most probably a relais station for their leaders. Bagdonas, Heijboer Kittel Sys Chtioui
Interesting to see two Bacardi riders here. With Burghardt and Steegmans they have two options.
Festina seems pretty content with this group as Sys is best placed with more than 13min behind. So their 3 pace makers also relax and the gap widens.
Coming to the pavement sections it`s Wikipedia doing the pace now. Most likely they work for Summerhill as Van Garderen is not a great cobbler plus due to bad luck he wasn`t able to get an advance on the first stage.
130km and almsot 8min gap. Mainly Eeckhout is working now and this of course is already a bad sign for a lot of riders, who don`t feel well on the cobbles.
25km later it`s surprisingly Fenn riding from the front. The cobble specialist is already 27min back but actually the best chance for a stage win for his team today and there is not really a leader, for whom he needs to work for. We might see the sense of this tactic later I guess.
Coming to the famous passage through the forest of Arenberg it`s still the Wiggle rider doing the pace. 90km and down to 5min while many riders struggle now on one of the hardest pavement in professional cycling.
Also Kittel and Chtioui lost contact to the breakaway but try to come back on the asphalt again. They are no cobblers and can`t follow someone like Sys on his territory.
90km to go and now we have some movement behind. Baugnies attacks and Kolesnikov immediately follows.
Both already lost some time but especially first one is an excellent cobbler and shouldn`t be ignored.
The Arenberg typically brings huge splits with it. Today is no exception and so we see lots of small groups behind a 40 rider peloton.
Also big names can be found behind, who might have been surprised by Fenn`s acceleration.
A closer view in a moment. The cameras need to find all the rider`s groups first.
Meanwhile Sys won the sprint ahead of Heijboer and Bagdonas while Kittel at least found contact again making it a group of 4.
Now. Baugnies still in front of the peloton solo 2'30 behind the breakaway with Chtioui in between.
Kolesnikov already lost 1'30 to him but still 1min ahead of the peloton with 33 riders.
A group of 14 riders is following 44s later including big names like Bewley, Hoogerland, Boonen, Gusev or Summerhill. So probably some of the best cobblers have been surprised on their strength.
A group of 21 comes another 40s later with Steegmans and Steurs being the most surprising names there while the next groups don`t contain any big cobblers or top10 race favourites but Franzoi, who already lost much time and obviously again today. So except for the mentioned riders all others like Cancellara, Pozzato, Gilbert, Posthuma, Devolder etc. all are in the first 33 rider group.
With 68km left Baugnies joined the breakaway. Strong performance by him while Kittel again has to let them go.
Kolesnikov comes 4'30 later while the peloton is another minute behind. But good news for some teams. All cobblers found their way back so that the peloton contains 128 riders again but the hardest part still ahead.
And just I told you the groups came together again I have to show you the next split.
57 riders in front but some unexpected behind:
Fenn, who worked hard for some reason missed the split just like Franzoi and De Vocht again. So this time the biggest favourites have been more concentrated.
With 64km left Pendleton sees the danger by Baugnies and accelerates with Mouries and Thomas, who has to work for Gilbert today.
Baugnies takes the intermediate ahead of Sys and Heijboer, whos teammate Bagdonas couldn`t follow longer.
Geraint Thomas really thins the peloton another time and this on the asphalt.
We can see Boonen, Summerhill, Burghardt, Steegmans, Hoogerland, De Vocht, Gusev and Steurs all with a small gap to the rest.
We see Baugnies and Heijboer riding together but where is Sys? Obviously Sys is ahead of them leading the race again.
Baugnies has some injuries on his left side, so obviously he just crashed. Hopefully he isn`t injured as he was having an excellent ride so far.
Thomas continues to pull and not many riders are left with the group.
But for the first time it seems like only the best are left in this group and no one got blocked or missed out.
Only two riders are a bit behind, who might have been expected in this group:
Steegmans and Devolder are a few seconds back fighting to come back.
And togehter they reach the end of the field. Well done and now they should be more attentive.
Baugnies obviously has no injuries at all and probably even a bit adrenaline. Easily he got rid of Heijboer, overtook Sys and is now leading the race solo.
24km left and he is 2min ahead of Sys and another 30s ahead of the peloton, so very close.
Nothing to be seen from Kolesnikov or the former breakaway who are all caught by the peloton already.
Bad day for the hilly specialists today. Riders like Van Garderen, Hoogerland or the Tinkoff riders already are 4min behind the cobblers. So obviously the Tour of Northern Europe is a race for allrounders but in first line for the cobblers.
Action in the favourite group. After catching Sys Cancellara attacks with 20km to go and a 2min gap to Baugnies. Who is gonna follow the Swissman?
Tom Boonen of course. Was this already the race deciding scene or will they be pulled back by the others, who all are staying in the peloton?
Some riders lose contact. Sentjens and Mourey are helpers but with Posthuma one of the very hot bet can`t follow. Sure, he is a decent cobbler, but in first line he is a time trial specialist and can`t follow the calibers of a Cancellara or Boonen.
Thomas is doing an impressive work for Gilbert, who might be the weakest cobbler in this group now and comparable to Posthuma.
He pulls everything back but Cancellara and Boonen attack again and this time they have big support by Burghart.
16km and only 1'07 left for Baugnies, whos chances melt and melt.
And there we have the next victims. Gilbert can`t follow and also De Vocht is gone.
What is Thomas doing now? The Brit is still in the group of 10 including: Pozzato, Summerhill, Gusev, Steegmans, Thomas, Bewley, Ballan, Steurs, Devolder and also Lhotellerie. So good for Bacardi, Carmeuse, Festina and Spyker, who have 2 in the top14 now.
The group was too strong. So we again have a group of 12 including Boonen and Cancellara with Burghardt having some seconds and Baugnies not far ahead as well. Boonen is pulling hard now.
Gilbert still only 44s back but the high pace is not helping him now.
And there the next attacks. Again Boonen and he is followed by Ballan, Summerhill and also Steegmans. Bacardi playing their advantage now.
Tactic change at Pendleton`s with 11km to go. Thomas is given the okay to follow them to win a stage. not sure if this was the right decision as he had worked hard today and might not be strong enough to beat the others and Gilbert surely is their GC guy, who might need some support here.
8.6km: Baugnies fought hard but in the end probably without a big win. he is joined by Burghardt and also Ballan, Summerhill and a bit behind Steegmans. Perfect situation for Bacardi now having the best cobbler and the best sprinter in the group. Boonen surprisingly felt back into the group as he obviously spent too much energy in his attacks and the previous stages.
But it`s actually just 36s between these groups so still a chance for them.
Gilbert is already 2min behind with Posthuma being at 3min, so still not too bad.
The last short cobbled part before we come into the velodrome and everything is together. 14 riders fighting for the win. No one was able to attack successful. Too strong the best riders and too similar to make a big attack. It`s no classic and the riders need to handle their energy for 8 days. This surely has an influence on todays race.
Devoldre with a last try to get rid of the sprinters with 4km to go. With Boonen, Bewley, Pozzato and Steegmans the others obviously have less chances in a sprint...
But an even stronger attack by Burghardt, who really has a big push.
None of the sprinters wants to go into the wind early and none of them has a helper left but Pozzato in Steurs. Steegmans obviously won`t do anything although he has the best position in 2nd behind Baugnies, who is still doing the pace.
Boonen somehow in an awful position. Obviously he has one of his weaker days. Also Pozzato is having a small gap to the rest, where Bewley is still doing well in 7th position.
This all favours Burghardt of course as Steurs can`t higher the pace. With 1,2km to go he has a nice gap and is riding towards a great victory for a somewhat disappointing season for him so far.
Who is doing the first move. It must come soon otherwise Burghardt can`t be caught. All 13 are in one row again and Steegmans in 2nd surely will do the first sprinting.
Boonen is coming first from far behind. Bewley somehow seems to be not interested in sprinting yet and no one is really following him.
But far too late. Burghardt is enjoying this great win with a lapped rider. Congrats to Bacardi, who played their advantage perfectly in the final.
Boonen comes in 2nd losing 18s on the German with Bewley, Pozzato and Steegmans coming next. All 13 riders finish with the same time, so the pure cobblers couldn`t gain a lot of time on the time trialists or the allrounders like Pozzato.
Bilbert being one of todays "loser" finishes 3'27 behind Burghardt, but still holding a top10 overall.
Also Posthuma lost 5'18 in the end falling down to 14th but with his great time trial skills he should improve a bit in the next stages.
And as excpected lots of riders had to abandon the race after this horror stage for them:
Gretsch, Caldeira, Mottin (Nestle)
Nozzolo (Pearl)
Montoya, Rodriguez Parra, Bennett (Columbia)
Khallikhikorashani (Webeffect)
Kittel (Vesuvio)
Moreno, Serrano (Santander)
Kondrotas (Bacardi)
Sinelobov, Chtioui, Signorini, Frei (UBS)
Zeits (Spyker)
Cleaver (Wikipedia)
Gallopin (Carmeuse)
Tiernan-Locke (Wiggle)
Markov (Tinkoff)
Small note: Fenn and Wiggle somehow had a horrible race here. Doing the work and splitting the group for lots of kilometers. Then being in later groups. In the end even the control team was better in the daily team ranking than Wiggle and I just had 3 riders in the finish and wasn`t taking care at all as long as they get it in the time limit.
