Gent - Wevelgem is a mix of cobbled classic and sprinter classic. The hardest part is in the 2nd half with the crossing of the Casselberg and Kemmelberg. Here the race is normally decided.
The weather forecast brings us a mix of clouds and sun but at least almost no rain in the second half.
Quite early a group of six is getting a 2min advance.
Gallego Martin
Reckweg
Ghyllebert
Juul-Jensen
Lavoine
Dockx
These are mainly the helpers of the outside favourites like Kruijswijk or Vanmarcke. But Heineken and Festina also take the pressure from Steurs and Pozzato.
Bacardi, Red Bull and Koenigsegg are the 3 teams doing the early work. Burghardt, Cancellara and Ballan surely belong to the favourites here and the most experienced riders in the field.
Bad luck for Gallego Martin as he punctures on the first cobbled section on the day. It`s still very early and he will have enough time to come back. But it will cost him more energy.
Same place, different rider. Lindeman crashes but can continue the race. He is one of Ballan`s best helper here and is hopefully not injured.
It should be a warning for the favourites at least.
As expected Gallego Martin is soon rejoining the breakaway making it 6 riders again.
Now coming to the most interesting part of todays race. 10 Hellingen with the higlights surely being the two early Casselberg climbs and the two climbs on the Kemmelberg. Tough and cobbled slopes will really show who can win this race.
Going up the first real hill of the day. With 100km left the group has already lost 1-2 minutes of their maximum advantage. 6min are left and it`s definitely not looking ideal for them.
Early attack by a Puma rider. It`s Wynants. Maybe a good tactic as their leader Nuyens doesn`t belong to the best sprinters and so this race isn`t suiting him that much.
Climbing the Casselberg from the other side we see another attack. One of Wiggle`s three cobblers attacks. Andrew Fenn is their second best cobbler but weakest sprinter of this trio. So probably the best option to send in a long mid-stage attack.
Pendletons, Red Bull, Pokerstars and Bacardi are controlling the pack without becoming too nervous about the recent attacks.
Fenn already has a 1'20min gap while Wynants is even 1min further ahead. The breakaway has a gap of 5'20 to the peloton. So everything is under control with 86km to go.
Strong performance by Wynants. Already on the 3rd Helling he is almost reaching the breakaway.
One Helling later also Fenn is joining them. 73km left and a gap of 4min. The teams behind need to do a bit more obviously as these two riders give the breakaway much more quality.
5/10 Hellingen climbed and a group of 46 riders lose contact to the peloton. None of the leaders or better cobblers is seen behind and the helpers here will have a relaxed day now riding in their own pace.
The breakaway reaches the Kemmelberg for the first time. It might be the deciding hill in this race as it`s pretty steep, cobbled and ridden twice. Wynants is highering the pace and Dockx is the first victim and falls back.
The peloton is led by Pokerstar`s Kluge and a Red Bull`s Sibilla. Both are doing a great job going a high speed over the cobbles. Several riders start to struggle in the back.
Huge selection by Pokerstars. Only 11 riders in the first group after the Kemmelberg with 5 riders being from Pokerstars.
Boonen, Nolf, Degenkolb, Van Impe, Kluge
Burghardt
Drucker, Kruijswijk
Franzoi
Rosseler
Wyss
Unfortunately for Simply Red Bull their leader lost contact here while most helpers were in this group first as well. So they were dropping back to the next group containing 37 riders with most other favourites.
A few good cobblers couldn`t even stay in this 2nd group and are further behind in a group of 25. These unlucky riders are: Rowe, Ballan, Pozzato/Langeveld, Vanmarcke/Van Avermaet, Sinkeldam.
Breakaway
<3'38>
Gr. Boonen (11)
<0'30>
Gr. Cancellara (37)
<0'55>
Gr. Pozzato (25)
Simply Red Bull did realize the situation very quick and worked hard to bring Cancellara back to the Boonen group. After a few chasing kilometers they find contact again with 58km to go, while the Pozzato group lost a few more seconds being 1'28 behind this 46 rider group. But they definitely are still trying and not giving up.
It`s quite normal that cobbled leaders take over the pace towards the end of these classics. But in such a big field with 50km left? Either Tom Boonen is feeling really strong or they are riding for Nolf today...
At least he is leading the group now by himself even though there are at least 5 other Pokerstars riders in there with Nolf sitting comfortably further behind in the pack.
Maybe he is a bit afraid of the Pozzato group to come back as well as they start to gain a few seconds again.
But definitely a weird tactic here.
This attack probably could have been expected today. Marcus Burghardt definitely belongs to the very best cobblers but somehow can`t really deliver solid results. Last year was a disaster and today his only real chance is by attacking as he won`t be able to beat Boonen, Bewley or Cancellara in a normal sprint.
He is attacking with 46km to go on the 2nd cross of the Kemmelberg.
Also good news for the later group with Pozzato and Ballan. They have found contact again as several teams like Koenigsegg, Heineken or Venchi were working hard. But now they are far behind and we have seen how selective this Helling can be.
Again we see a selection with 22 riders being in the first group. Again Cancellara missed the jump different to his team mates, who even did the high pace on this climb and he is in the second group again...
Breakaway
<0'44>
Burghardt
<1'19>
22 riders
<0'40>
18 riders
<0'38>
10 riders
Boonen
Cancellara
Rowe
Nolf
Summerhill
Sinkeldam
Gusev
Blythe
Rosseler
Bewley
Pozzato
Kluge
Franzoi
Ballan
Steurs
Langeveld
Nuyens
Trentin
Sibilla
Vanmarcke
De Vocht
Different to the last time we see the rejoining quite early this time. With 40km left we have a 40 rider group containing more or less all favourites.
Biggest names being missed out here are Rowe, Kluge, Sinkeldam, Van Avermaet, who are more than 1'30 behind.
On the last Helling, the Monteberg, Burghardt is joining the breakaway. With Wynants and Fenn here as well they have three great cobblers now.
But the favourite group is still going a high pace being just 1'40 behind.
The helpers obviously are exhausted and the favourites take over. Surprisingly Blythe is also doing the pace although his team mate Fenn is in a good position. All the other favourites like Steurs, Boonen, Cancellara, Ballan, Bewley, Gusev, Franzoi, Nuyens or Summerhill are helping in the pace making and so the gap is soon becoming very small.
Weird that a top cobbler and normally a perfect team mate for Boonen, Nolf, is still doing nothing for the pace. He obviously has a bit more than a free role here.
With 32,5km left the breakaway is already caught. How much energy did Burghardt spend with his attack?
5km later the next attacks. Nolf the initiator with Nuyens, Gusev and once again Burghardt following. All 4 of them are no sprinters and need to attack to have any chance today.
And normally Pokerstars with a smart move here sending Nolf with Boonen saving energy in the pack. Well, normally as Boonen already did far more work than all other favourites.
As if the race did just start, Simply Red Bull shows their strength on the cobbles leading the group of favourites with almost their whole team trying to catch the attackers again.
Nuyens distanced his companions a bit and goes solo now.
But he just has a 30s gap to the favourite group, which is down to 32 as several team mates such as Aulas or Degenkolb lose contact now.
16km left and we have a 33 rider group in front now with all late attackers being caught.
With former breakaway rider Gallego Martin the last Santander rider also lost contact now and won`t deliver a surprising result for the Spanish climbing team.
Again Nolf is the initiator of another wave of attack. He is followed by Franzoi, Bewley, Steurs, Summerhill and Ballan.
None of them was really going all-in so they couldn`t really get a gap. Gusev is the next with a try. Only 7km left for him and this is looking pretty powerful.
Again Tom Boonen is the rider doing the main work behind, while Nolf haven`t done a single second of pace making yet. At least this is making it very difficult for Gusev to survive this attack.
3km left and Tom Boonen in the worst position leading the group with the sprint "preparations" starting.
Cancellara, Bewley and Pozzato are right behind him and have the perfect position.
Cancellara is doing the first move. Bewley just follows him while the others aren`t doing much yet. Pozzato still waits behind Boonen just like most other riders.
1,8km left and Bewley goes past Cancellara. Was this too early or is it enough?
Pozzato and Summerhill were the first to follow as also a bit surprising Wyss on the right. Ballan and Joseph a bit behind coming next.
Last kilometer and Cancellara is struggling as Pozzato overtakes him coming closer to Bewley with every meter. Also Summerhill is fighting for the podium against Cancellara.
Bewley and Pozzato seem to be the first two. But will the Italian be able to still overtake him for the big win?
Behind a close battle for the 3rd with Cancellara, Summerhill and Ballan being almost on one line. Wyss starts to struggle a bit with Steurs and Blythe coming very fast from behind.
Great win for Bewley. The Kiwi takes the 2nd classic this season ahead of Pozzato, who once again has a great result here. It looked pretty bad for Heineken after the first Hellingen but somehow they continue their consistency on the cobbles.
What a battle for the last podium spot today.
In the end Cancellara takes it by a few millimeters and is rewarded for his early move. As 4th surprisingly Steurs, who is finally able to show his strength. Summerhilly as 5th with another good result ahead of Ballan and Wyss as next. Great result for the Suisse as this surely couldn`t have been expected.
Blythe started his sprint too late and finishes as 8th. Not the worst result for him but actually he could have been better.
Kruijswijk and Joseph with good results complete the top 10.
Burghardt as 11th once again outside the top10 but at least he did try. Franzoi (12.), completely disappointing Boonen (14.), Nuyens (15.), Nolf (19.), Vanmarcke (21.), Gusev (22.) probably the riders who had expected far more here.
Result
1
Sam Bewley
Milka - AVG
5h42'59
2
Filippo Pozzato
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
s.t.
3
Fabian Cancellara
Simply Red Bull
s.t.
4
Geert Steurs
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
5
Danny Summerhill
Wikipedia
s.t.
6
Alessandro Ballan
Koenigsegg
s.t.
7
Danilo Wyss
UBS - BMC
s.t.
8
Adam Blythe
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
9
Steven Kruijswijk
Team B&O
s.t.
10
Stijn Joseph
Pearl Adidas
s.t.
11
Marcus Burghardt
Team Bacardi
s.t.
12
Enrico Franzoi
Pearl Adidas
s.t.
13
Kevin Van Impe
Pokerstars.com
s.t.
14
Tom Boonen
Pokerstars.com
s.t.
15
Nick Nuyens
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
16
Maarten Wynants
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
17
Michel Sibilla
Simply Red Bull
s.t.
18
Jempy Drucker
Team B&O
s.t.
19
Frederik Nolf
Pokerstars.com
s.t.
20
Juan Van Heerden
Simply Red Bull
s.t.
21
Sep Vanmarcke
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
s.t.
22
Vladimir Gusev
Pendleton's
s.t.
23
Pieter Ghyllebert
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
s.t.
24
Andrew Fenn
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
s.t.
25
Sebastian Langeveld
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
