Time for the first cobbled criterium in this Profronden van Belgie, as we have a visit to the beautiful city of Aalst.
This crit is hard to predict though. There's only one short sector of cobbles (the finishing straight), so it will be interesting to see wether the cobblers will take today's victory or a bunch-sprint will happen.
Given that it's a race for the cobblers only, we have a lot of potential favorites. Some top-favorites are worth a mention though: local heros Maarten Wynants, Pieter Mertens, Jonas Vangenechten, Roy Sentjens or Kenneth Vanbilsen should stand good chances.
And Laurens Ten Dam or Bas Giling look like the strongest dutchmen. There are also a couple of international cobblers, headed by Arnaud Coyot or Ruben Zepuntke, while others would deserve a mention as well.
"Oranje" is the first color to be shown today, as Wilco Kelderman launched an early attack for Netherland's U23-team. He's followed by Øystein Stake Laengen and Francis Mourey.
Quite interesting start, as both Laengen and Mourey are decent cobblers.
More riders jumped behind, we're still in the first lap: Tim Declerq, Iljo Keisse, Wesley Kreder and another decent cobbler with Marcos Altur.
Plus some even more interesting names: Kenny Van Hummel (yesterday's 6th), Jurgen Van Loocke (who failed yesterday) and Nico Schinker, who finished 2nd in Lommel! So we have three (four, with Keisse) strong sprinters in here.
They chasing group(s) catch up to the first attackers in the second lap and with still 38km to go, the 10-men-breakaway leads by 2'20" on the bunch.
Cyclingteam Force leads the bunch and starts chasing early, cutting down the gap to 1'40" with 30km to go. The team seems to have no faith in Iljo Keisse, who's in the breakaway. Or do they fear the trio Schinker/Van Loocke/Van Hummel?
Bad luck for one of the stronger cobblers: Guillame Blot punctures with now just 3 laps (18km) to go! The bunch is already chasing hard and he won't stand a chance to fight back, as he joins the early-dropped Theo Bos and Tom Dumoulin.
The leading group holds on to a 1'10"-lead with now 2 laps remaining.
Time for the cobblers to react: Mauricio Sanz (Force) shows, why his team worked hard on the chase, as he's the first of the favorites to attack the bunch. Several riders will follow..
Top-favorite Maarten Wynants (Lotto), accompanied by Klaas Sys (Accent), close up to Sanz just a few moments later and the breakaway's lead is down to 42".
We're in the decisive stage of this race and several cobblers jump behind group Sanz/Wynants/Sys: Marc Machado, Roy Sentjens, Ruben Zepuntke and Arnaud Coyot! They join group Wynants just ahead of the bell-lap as we have just 7km to go and the following situation:
E1 (10)/ Mourey, Kreder, Laengen, Kelderman, Altur, Van Hummel, Declerq, Keisse, Schinker, Van Loocke
P (43)/ Vanbilsen, Mertens, Ten Dam, Vangenechten, Giling, Flecha at 1.21
The chasing group features the strongest cobblers here and narrows the gap to 29" with now 5km remaining..
The peloton hasn't gave up yet, though. Laurens Ten Dam (Metec) sits at the front, leading the chase. Flecha (Rabo), Minoungou (Crelan) and Stybar (Telenet) are also to be seen there.
They still hold chances, too:
E1 <- 22" -> E2 <- 20" -> P (28 riders)
2.5km before finish, the chasing group Wynants/Machado/Sentjens catches up to the leading ten, where Mourey and Van Loocke already kick for the finish.
This now 17 riders will fight for today's victory, as the second bigger group is still 21" behind with less than two km to go.
Van Loocke dropped Mourey easily and takes the lead. Cyclingteam Force's Keisse and Sanz both look strong, too! Wynants is already a few meters behind.
And here they come down the stretch and things have changed again: a super-strong Wesley Kreder overtook Van Loocke, who seems to suffer from his early move.
Keisse passes him, too, and Nico Schinker has a nice position at his wheel! Sys (Accent) and Van Hummel (Jo Piels) try to hang on, while Mourey loses speed.
It's going to be yet another close one: Schinker, Keisse and Kreder appear to be the strongest. Van Loocke's still on 4th position as all other riders struggle to catch up.
With the finish-line in sight, nothing has changed at the front (except of Keisse taking the leading position).
Behind it's top-favorites like Coyot (Bodysol), Sys (Accent) and Zepuntke (Jong Vlaanderen) closing up to Van Hummel, who suffers more and more.
Iljo Keisse takes the win! And in the end, it looked easy. The chasing group of top-favorites obviously caught up too late to get in good position.
Wesley Kreder sprints for a totally unexpected 2nd place. He could be a real threat for the overall now, as he will stand good chances in tomorrow's hilly stage.
Jurgen Van Loocke managed to pass Nico Schinker, completing the podium. Schinker's still today's biggest winner, as he adds another 7 points.
The cobblers may have expected more though: Sys (5th), Coyot (6th), Zepuntke (7th) and Sanz (8th) will be all satisfied to beat top-favorite Wynants (10th), who couldn't take advantage of his nice result yesterday.
Kenny Van Hummel completes the Top-10 as 9th. Schinker and him were the only ones to score on both days.
Maarten Wynants, Pieter Mertens, Jonas Vangenechten, Roy Sentjens or Kenneth Vanbilsen should stand good chances.
Laurens Ten Dam or Bas Giling look like the strongest dutchmen. There are also a couple of international cobblers, headed by 
Arnaud Coyot or 
Ruben Zepuntke, while others would deserve a mention as well.
Nico Schinker
Mauricio Sanz
