The Profronden van Belgie kick off with a flat criterium in Lommel, a first chance for the sprinters to take advantage over the cobblers/puncheurs.
We have a couple of favorites for this flat crits here. The Belgian teams will hope for the likes of Michael Vanderaerden, Wouter Weylandt, Igor Abakoumov or Jurgen Van Loocke to perform well.
The Dutch sprinters Ismaël Kip, Kenny Van Hummel and maybe Theo Bos join this list, while Nico Schinker for Luxembourg should be mentioned as well.
The first move comes by one of the Internationals though: Guillame Blot (Topsport) attacked right from the start, followed by Joeri Adams (Lotto), Tim Declerq (Telenet) and Øystein Stake Laengen (Crelan).
The early attackers quickly established a 2'00"-gap and as the group looks strong, more riders break clear from the bunch and try to jump behind:
Nick Clesen (Luxembourg), Tom Dumoulin (NED U23) and Pieter Mertens (Accent). The spectators go crazy now, as Mertens was born here in Lommel and seems to be top-motivated. That's what his fans and family wanted to see.
Halfthrough the race, the leading group still has a 45"-gap on the chasing group and 1'45" on the bunch.
It took the three purseurs a while to catch up to the leading four, and with 19km to go, they finally managed to close up. The now 7-men-group leads by 1'30" on the bunch. Here's the overview of who's in the break:
Adams, Declerq, Mertens Dumoulin Clesen Blot Laengen
Gert Dockx (Jong Vlaanderen) meanwhile can't wait for the bunch to close the gap and he attacks with 15km remaining. A rather surprising move by the young Belgian, who definitely has the skills to compete in a bunch-sprint. But that's a Crit and that's where the riders can try everything.
Dockx's attack was short-lived though and he's swallowed by the bunch with now 12km to go. The leading group holds on to a 40"-gap, but several teams (Nomadesk, Rabobank, Metec) already started to chase hard.
But the breakaway works well and maintains the lead as they enter the bell-lap (7km to go). The gap is at 45" right now. It's looking good.
The Dutch teams Rabobank and Metec now take control of the pursuit. Rabobank? Theo Bos? Yes, he's still at the front of the bunch and as his team works hard, he may feel good.
It's too early to talk about a bunch-sprint though. Just as the pack narrows the gap - 35" with 4km to go - Roy Sentjens (Nomadesk) tries to break clear! He's one of the most promising cobblers here and is also known for his aggressive racing. Can he fool the sprinters?
He easily passed the breakaway, which is caught by the bunch with 3.5km remaining, and Sentjens created a 10"-gap. Behind it's Laurens Ten Dam (Metec) with another attack, empty-handed.
Still a 8"-lead for Sentjens with 2km to go. The top-sprinters have already found their positions and look ready to kick: Weylandt, Bos, Kip, Vanderaerden, Abakoumov and Schenker.
Ten Dam's still fighting, but suffers as he sees the "train" passing.
Sentjens won't make it. As soon as Weylandt opened the sprint, he can't hold on to his lead.. Van Hummel and Wynants meanwhile moved forward and join the battle for today's victory.
And Van Hummel had a super-strong kick here! Cobbles-favorite Wynants is still at his wheel and Steven Tronet (Force) also accelerated and catches up to the leading sprinters.
Van Hummel suffers and may have accelerated too early. Now It's Vanderaerden with his final push for the win, followed by Kip, Abakoumov, Schinker and Bos!
This going to be a close finish! Bos can't hang on, but Vanderaerden, Kip, Abakoumov and Schinker perform at eye level with only a few moments left..
And the winner is... well.. we got a photo-finish, obviously. Abakaoumov or Schinker? And who's taking the last podium-spot?
Second try: and the winner is... can you guess it? The photo-finish is as close as a photo-finish could be. Anyway, it took the judges several minutes to decide..
Igor Abakoumov got it! What a close decision. Nico Schinker 2nd, Kip took the 3rd ahead of Vanderaerden in a similar close photo.
Theo Bos survived as 5th, while Van Hummel (6th) went too early. Some interesting news behind: Maarten Wynants (9th) and Roy Sentjens (10th) could score some points in this flat race. A small advantage for those cobblers.
Weylandt and Tronet round up the Top-10 as 7th and 8th. Weylandt may have expected more here, but there's still some races left.
Belgian teams will hope for the likes of Michael Vanderaerden, Wouter Weylandt, Igor Abakoumov or Jurgen Van Loocke to perform well.
Dutch sprinters Ismaël Kip, Kenny Van Hummel and maybe Theo Bos join this list, while 
Nico Schinker for Luxembourg should be mentioned as well.
Blot
Laengen
