The final day of the Profronden van Belgie and Antwerp is a perfect place to conclude this Crits Series. The riders face a tough profile today: 20km of paved roads. After riding a circuit through the centre of Antwerp, the final km will be raced in a Velodrome.
The top-favorites for the cobbles remain the same as in Aalst, but Maarten Wynants definitely has something to prove (only 3 points in total). He won't have a chance to win the GC though, so let's focus on those, who still have this chance:
Alexandre Aulas (7) could take the overall with a win here and he is both strong on the pavement and fast in a sprint. Klaas Sys (6) could do the same, while Arnaud Coyot and Laurens Ten Dam (5) could equalize the GC-lead with a win only (which basically would lead to a trio sharing the overall win).
Alex Kirsch (Lux) is the first to go, followed by several riders, including a decent cobbler with Francis Mourey (Accent) and Wilco Kelderman (Ned U23), who's got 3 points in total.
Mourey was the only one of those to stay clear. Several more attacks made this first lap a chaotic race.
Now it's 5 riders in the leading group: Mourey, Joeri Stallaert (Crelan, 4 points), Jens Keuleleire (Accent), Kenny Van Hummel (Jo Piels), Marcos Altur (Lotto) and race-leader Igor Abakomouv (Telenet)!
It's maybe the only chance for Abakoumov to score points this way, so a good move. Especially as he got some decent cobblers (Mourey, Altur, Stallaert) as companions.
This group actually had success to stay clear from the pack and with now 28km to go (halftime), they lead by 2'00".
The bunch is now led by Bodysol, which has a strong duo of favorites (Coyot/Aulas). The team chases hard now and the gap is down to 1'30" with only 12km to go! Is there another chance for a breakaway?
Just a few moments later, we see the first attacks out of the chasing pack: Guillame Blot (Topsport) tries to break clear. Does he stand a chance against a hard pacing bunch?
He didn't. But maybe the next in the line will do: Pieter Mertens (Accent), Jonas Vangenechten (Nomadesk), Maarten Wynants (Lotto) and Alexandre Aulas (Bodysol)!
It's the first group of top-favorites to go on the attack today. Crunch time, folks!
A strong chasing group won't be long in coming: Arnaud Coyot (Bodysol), Kevyn Ista (Accent) and again Guillame Blot try to jump behind group Wynants with 7km remaining.
As we enter the final cobbled sector, we have the following situation:
E1 (5)/ Altur, Stallaert, Keukeleire, Abakoumov, Van Hummel
E2 (4)/ Aulas, Wynants, Vangenechten, Mertens at 0.28
E3 (3)/ Ista, Blot, Coyot at 0.49
P (45)/ with Machado, Sys, Sanz, Ten Dam, Sentjens at 1.20
As soon as the first chasing group Wynants/Aulas caught up to the breakaway, they launched another attack, led by Aulas!
Group Coyot is still 26" in arrears, while the bunch is down by 60" with 6km left.
So group Wynants/Aulas/Vangenechten/Mertens take the lead with 5km remaining. They still hold on to a 21"-gap on the chasing group (early escapees and group Coyot).
The peloton is 50" in arrears and will face one tough challenge to narrow this gap.
Guillame Blot with yet another attack! The Frenchman is today's most aggressive, that's for sure. He moves ahead of the chasing group and tries to close the gap to the leading four, just as the riders entered the velodrome!
2.8km to go: Coyot and Ista struggle to follow Blot, who almost caught up to group Wynants in the meantime!
E1 (5)/ Aulas, Mertens, Vangenechten, Wynants, Blot
E2 (2)/ Coyot, Ista at 0.32
P (28)/ with Machado, Sentjens, Sys, Ten Dam at 0.43
Blot can't hang on though, as he falls behind as soon as the leading group starts to sprint! Aulas has a rather bad position at the front.
Just as a reminder: Aulas can win the Final GC here by winning today's race. He's the only one of this 4 riders who still can win the whole Series.
Zdenek Stybar (Telenet) attacked the bunch and now tries to catch up to Blot at least. The leading group seems out of reach with 16" and only 600 meters to go.
Vangenechten accelerated and passes Aulas! While both Wynants and Mertens struggle to do the same.
And so it's a close win for Jonas Vangenechten ahead of Alexandre Aulas, who might have done better if he hadn't been up the front right before the sprint.
Still, the Frenchman deserves some credit here and even if he failed to win both race and the overall, he at least grabs a podium spot in final GC.
Maarten Wynants managed to hold off Pieter Mertens for today's last podium.
A few seconds later, Zdenek Stybar overtook Guillame Blot for 5th place. A nice effort by Stybar, who looked strong in the velodrome.
Another seconds later a bigger group of (top-) favorites battled for the last points: Minoungou, Sentjens, Coyot and Stallaert complete today's Top-10.
So, we have a shared overall win here at the Profronden van Belgie. Both Igor Abakoumov and Theo Bos finished with 18 points (and 1 race-win each). Aulas and Nico Schinker share the 3rd place as well, as both have 17 points without a stage-win.
Hope you enjoyed this Crits Series. If you did, you may follow the next on in the line: the Nederlands Wielerdagen, where we may see many of the riders, who've raced here in Belgium.
Maarten Wynants definitely has something to prove (only 3 points in total). He won't have a chance to win the GC though, so let's focus on those, who still have this chance:
Tomas Okrouhlicky (11) and 
Grégory Rast (8) scored in the hilly race, but could be in the mix for today.
Alexandre Aulas (7) could take the overall with a win here and he is both strong on the pavement and fast in a sprint. 
Laurens Ten Dam (5) could equalize the GC-lead with a win only (which basically would lead to a trio sharing the overall win).
Nico Schinker share the 3rd place as well, as both have 17 points without a stage-win.
Oumaru Minoungou
