The elite cobblers showed up for the first cobbled classic of the PT season. There are so many similar riders so it`s hard to predict any possible outcome.
Maybe a bit ahead of the others are Boonen and Bewley due to their sprint advantage and Cancellara and Burghardt as best cobblers.
But lots of other teams have their outside favourite and it wouldn`t be such a huge surprise if one of them wins instead of these quartet as the greatest cobblers are so close in the Pro Tour.
And although we mustn`t forget the wildcard team. Bpost is known for their huge focus on these races and of course they also belong to the teams sending a favourite here.
Dockx is the first rider attacking out of the peloton. Their leader Vanmarcke belongs to the very outside favourites and so it`s a smart move to send a guy into the break.
He is joined by 4 more riders: Einsle Insausti Martens Juul-Jensen
None of those teams is really a top contender. Santander`s Insausti actually is already their teams leader and is the best cobbler of these together with Juul-Jensen.
A bit later Burke is reaching them after a solo ride. Blythe`s team mate is taking pressure of their team.
Simply Red Bull, Milka, Bpost, Pokerstars. All the big cobbler teams are seen working on the front.
No more attacks and so the breakaway is allowed to go. The gap is at 3'30 now with still 156km to go.
Juul-Jensen and Insausti do the most work in the group and lead them over the first pavement of the PT season. The weather is looking nice. So the crash danger is less worse than with heavy rain. Therefore we have a bit wind which might influence the race.
With Bacardi and Pendleton`s two more teams with good cobblers in Burghardt and Gusev are doing some work now. Obviously there are enough teams willing to work today.
Bad luck for Paul Martens. He crashes and will need to work a lot to come back to the breakaway now.
92km and a gap of 5'40.
Time for some more serious attacks. It`s Kruijswijk and Verbist. Interesting move by both of them. While first is the team`s leader, second might be Bewley`s best helper on the cobbles.
Martens is back in the group. Good news as he is obviously not injured and it was more the shock in the first moment.
81km and the gap is down to less than 5min mainly due to the hard work by Pokerstars with top favourite Tom Boonen.
The late attackers are somewhere in the middle.
This must have hurt. Steurs on the ground. Their bad luck with crashes obviously took over from the last season and they surely need to train their riders better in these situations.
He at least comes back and stays in the peloton but this doesn`t look good at all.
With 73km to go the two attackers join the breakaway and have a 4'20 gap now.
Obviously they are taking over the main part of pace making now. Still the peloton is coming closer. They lost ~50s on the last 12km.
Next to Pokerstars, who were doing the most work so far it`s Pendletons now. Their top rider Gusev surely is a candidate today even though he doesn`t belong to the very best.
The breakaway did split on the last section. Kruijswijk, Verbist, Insausti and surprisingly Einsle and not Juul-Jensen are in the first group.
Also the peloton did split now. A group of more than 40 is behind and probably won`t come back as the gap is widening with every meter. Good for the favourites that all of them are in the first group, while Rosseler might be the only mentionable name behind.
Juul-Jensen is back in the first group. So he was just not concentrated the last time.
Behind the quintett it`s Martens solo and Dockx and Burke already with a bigger gap.
40km left and the hardest part starts. Pokerstars mainly and Simply Red Bull are working now and the gap is down to 2'20.
Bad moment for a crash. It`s Albert this time. Another quality cobbler and this might hurt the team a lot as he was Vanspeybrouck`s best helper.
He is at the very end of the peloton now as he got back on his bike very quick, but it will still be hard to come to the front again as De Vocht and Nolf took over now. Last one could easily lead a team on his own here as well.
Nolf is going very fast and we already see some riders splitting behind. Boonen really got a luxury helper in his squad.
A huge split in the peloton with Boonen, Bewley, Gusev, Nuyens and Vanmarcke being the only team leaders in the first group of 21 while all others are in the next group.
But no problem for the later group. Simply Red Bull accelerated a bit and soon they were back in the front group again. So nothing serious happened here.
With 30km to go the gap is down to 1'10 and soon the breakaway will be caught.
Pokerstars with 7 riders at the front now and most surprising to see Boonen in the first position on the pavement before. Now he is going back into 3rd-4th position behind his team mates.
This did split the group another time and it`s down to 48 riders with Steurs being the only favourite behind. Obviously the earlier crash was worse than expected as he often goes to the doc at the moment. Very bad luck for Festina.
Nuyens realizes that he won`t win a sprint against Boonen, Bewley or even Cancellara, Burghardt etc. so he attacks with 25km to go.
But 4km later it`s all caught again. Not only Nuyens but also the early breakaway.
More and more riders falling out of the group now with Van Avermaet, Jelloul, Kruopis and Einsle being the last.
2km later another attack. This time by Gusev and Blythe.
Difficult for them as Simply Red Bull took over from Pokerstars now and it`S Cancellara himself chasing them so they don`t have any chance.
This looks far more serious. Tom Boonen initiates a new wave of attacks even though the Belgium could easily wait for the sprint actually.
He is followed by a few riders such as Nuyens, Franzoi, Bewley and Fenn.
But again some top cobblers are coming to the front and highering the pace. It`s Burghardt this time chasing them together with Cancellara`s team mate Sibilla.
Lots of riders lose contact now as the pace is incredibly fast. Luke Rowe and Kvist probably the best of these.
Boonen was the strongest and still has a gap while all others are in the pack of 30 again. 17s gap for him with 13km to go.
It will be tough for him as almost all top cobblers are personally chasing him such as Franzoi, Cancellara, Burghardt, Bewley, Gusev, Vanspeybroeck...
They really work together very well here.
Still the Belgium has a 20s gap with 5km to go. No matter how fast they chase behind the gap isn`t becoming smaller at the moment. Great efford by him.
3km left and Boonen seems to suffer a bit more now. They almost caught him and then it will be very hard for him to win today.
Burghardt, Gusev and Franzoi are doing the first moves and start the sprint.
Behind them Bewley, Cancellara, Blythe, Pozzato, Nuyens and Vanspeybrouck probably in the best position.
2km left and Boonen is caught by Burghardt. Franzoi is struggling a lot now and also Gusev is slowing down a bit. Bewley seems the top favourite now as he is still hiding behind Franzoi. But also the others are still waiting for their real move.
Burghardt is still leading but it`s a long way to the finish and he is already in the wind for quite some time now. Bewley flies past Boonen, who had the wrong tactic today. Pozzato is perfectly leading out Cancellara with Blythe behind him.
Burghardt also went too early as he is falling back now. Cancellara has still not doing his final move but Ballan is coming fast in the middle as well.
Bewley is still leading but Cancellara past Pozzato and is being the fastest at the moment as also Summerhill, who is coming in the middle. It seems as if Ballan and Pozzato will only fight for the 4th.
What an acceleration by the Swissman. Who should stop him now. Bewley is still in 2nd but it will be very close between him and Summerhill.
In the end a deserved win for Spartacus. His team was doing quite a lot over the day and he was always chasing hard when other favourites were attacking. Surely the strongest today. Big win for Simply Red Bull.
Photo finish between the next. A mm decision but it`s Kiwi Bewley being 2nd ahead of a very strong Summerhill today.
Not that close between the next. Pozzato with a strong 4th today ahead of Ballan and surprisingly Vanmarcke already. Strong result for him and the Venchi squad.
Wildcard rider Vanspeybrouck as 7th with a solid result ahead of disappointing Burghardt, who surely expected more but went far too early and Blythe.
Boonen still holds on to 10th but this could have been far better for him today and it must be a disappointment for him. At least his team mates Nolf (11.), Kluge (14.), De Vocht (18.) will give the team some points.
Drucker as 12. another huge surprise ahead of some disappointing riders: Gusev (13.), Franzoi (17.), Nuyens (22.).
Steurs really suffered in the end and was almost falling out of his group and finishes as 71. more than 7min behind. Tough race for him but it can just become better for him.
Only one rider did not finish the race with Kiel Reijnen.
Result
1
Fabian Cancellara
Simply Red Bull
4h53'57
2
Sam Bewley
Milka - AVG
s.t.
3
Danny Summerhill
Wikipedia
s.t.
4
Filippo Pozzato
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
