Most of the PCT/CT's elite cobblers participate at one of the toughest remaining cobbled-races and the list of top-favorites therefore features the big guns:
Vanspeybrouck, Baugnies, Maes, E3-winner Eisel or teammate Breschel, Steegmans or Thomas should be mentioned again.
But of course there are Gaudin, Jacobs or Veelers as well.
The race kicks off with two domestiques of top-teams attacking: Robby Meul and Stijn Vandenbergh are the first to break clear!
They were joined by some more riders a few moments later: Christoph Taubel, Bart Veyt, Christopher Stevenson and Rik Kavsek.
And interesting group, as we have some decent cobblers already in this first breakaway attempt.
And with still 189km to go, two more riders catch up to the break: Tim Declerq and Antonio Bucciero.
The 8-men-group already established a 3'55"-lead and it seems to be the break of the day.
With most of the top-teams (Bpost, HTC, Allianz, Boeing, AMEX or Banco) sending decent cobblers into this early break, the pressure is definitely on Volkswagen and Bouygues now.
It's of course a long and tough day still ahead, so the gap's increasing quickly:
with 137km remaining, the break leads by 8'50" as there's no sign of a harder chase now.
No sign of a chase, but there's even more interesting news back in the bunch!
Pieter Jacobs attacks with still 115km to go! That's an unexpected move, but somehow great for the race's tactics: Jacobs does prevent his team from being in the position to chase hard, while he now puts the pressure back to the top-teams, which could wait and relax til now.
But of course it's a long way to go for Jacobs, soloing away from the bunch so early.
He's looking strong, at least. 100km before finish, the Belgian managed to bridge the gap to the early break.
This gap is down to 5'35" meanwhile, so the pursuit has begun..
.. HTC and AMEX did react on Jacob's move quickly and they now lead the peloton through the rather hilly race.
With 76km to go and the first cobblestones still not being raced, the pack is 4'10" in arrears, led by two strong teams.
And here we go, the first lap of the finish-circuit and therefore the first cobbles-sector, 63km remaining.
Jacobs hasn't tried to attack the eight early escapees by now, as the group still works well, but seeing the gap melting down to 2'30"..
The first cobbles are always a test for the equipment and Niels Albert has bad luck with a puncture!
He finds himself in a group of 23 riders, who were dropped by the chasing bunch of favorites! Grashev is also in this group, without bad luck though..
..but it's also Grashev, who leads this group (16 riders) back to the remaining group of favorites (27 riders).
So good news for BPost, as Albert is back where he was expected to be.. still 54km left.
Let's have a look at the front of the peloton: Matti Breschel joined HTC's domestiques in their pursuit, but maybe due to the moment of shock/split, nothing has changed with 48km to go, as the bunch (43 riders) is 2'20" behind.
33km remaining and the breakaway group starts to split as well: Meul and Declerq try to go on their own!
And of course, it's an attempt to hold off the nearing pack, which is at 1.20 by now.
The two couldn't break clear and so it's Vandenbergh with a next attack! Still no move by Jacobs though..
..and as you may notice, the group of top-favorites (which splitted again, 24 riders.. Grashev as the best cobbler to be dropped again) is coming closer with every km: + 35" only.
With 24km to go, the breakaway has been caught! It's still HTC and AMEX at the front of the bunch, with 28 riders left:
Baugnies (De Haes, Vanbilsen) Eisel, Breschel, Taillefour (Kurth, Bush) Vanspeybrouck, Albert, Vansummeren (Broers, Stallaert) Maes, Coyot (Okrouhlicky) Thomas, Sparling (and Grashev, who fought back once again!) Veelers, Knees Jacobs, Lhotellerie Gaudin, Sieberg Steegmans (Kopp) Saramotins
So Jacobs didn't try to attack the break and the question is, how much energy he has left.. at least he made the top-teams chasing hard this way, but HTC and AMEX look strong anyway.
And of course this means we'll see the favorites in action from now on: on another cobbled sector, 9 riders got a small gap for:
Eisel, Breschel, Taillefour and Kurth (who paced hard) Vanspeybrouck, Vansummren Baugnies, Vanbilsen, De Haes
The remaing group of favorites is not too far behind, but it's a perfect moment for Eisel to attack! 19km to go.
A powerful move by the Austrian, who seems to be in great shape after taking out the E3 Prijs a few days ago.
He quickly established a 22"-gap on group Baugnies.
And of course the other top-favorites do have to react now: the first chasing group is now led by Baugnies and Vanspeybroeck!
But where's the bigger group?
With 15km to go, the dropped group of favorites looks indifferent.. who's going to lead riders like Steegmans or Thomas back to the leading groups?
A tough situation, as the gap's increasing with every km raced:
Eisel
Baugnies Vanspeybrouck at 0.32
Taillefour and Breschel Vanbilsen and De Haes at 0.43
Vansummeren Kurth at 1.15
Thomas, Grashev Steegmans Gaudin Albert Maes, Coyot Jacobs, Lhotellerie Veelers at 2.23
And as already mentioned, Baugnies and Vanspeybrouck build a 2-men-group, 33" behind Eisle with 14km remaining. Final lap!
10km to go: the bigger group of favorites finally starts chasing harder, but it's Steegmans himself who leads this group, which is still 2'40" in arrears (swallowing the riders in between the leading three and them).
In the meantime, Baugnies and Vanspeybrouck managed to catch up to Eisel with 9.5km left!
And some action behind: Maes, Steegmans, Gaudin and Thomas attacked the chasing group and try to join the battle for podium. 6km left:
Baugnies Vanspeybrouck Eisel
Maes Steegmans Gaudin Thomas at 1.40
E3 (12 riders) at 2.18
It's Maes, who seems to have the best legs of the chasing four, as he drops his companions and goes solo for the final 4km.
He still has to bridge a 54"-gap to the leading three, though.
But it's a tough challenge for Maes, as he may have attacked too late: just as he cut down the gap to 30", the sprint for the win kicked off!
Eisel and Vanspeybrouck push early and Baugnies (who might wanted to wait for the uphill-finish) is already a few bike length behind!
It's definitely a perfect finish for Baugnies, but he kicked too late it seems!
At least, he has to climb this final 600 meters in style, as Eisel/Vanspeybrouck established a 6"-gap!
And Eisel looks again super-strong! He easily dropped Vanspeybrouck, who suffers on this uphill-finish and now faces a battle against Baugnies..
Another big win for AmeX Bernhard Eisel and his team, which finally has reasons to cheer: a perfect sprint made Eisel winning this race against the two top-favorites!
So no win for one of the top-seeded favorites, but finishing on podium may please their managers anyway.
Nikolas Maes had a strong final lap, too. He comes in 4th, 1'02" later. A great result for the CT-team.
And we got a rather surprising 5th for Tom Veelers! The late-attacking group Steegmans (9th), Thomas (8th), Gaudin (13th) were caught a few minutes after Maes went clear.
Breschel completes the Top-10, ahead of the strongest domestiques and a rather disappointing Gaudin.. Ekspla's best is Saramotins as 28th.
And we have to mention a late crash, with Zepuntke, Declerq and Kavsek being involved. The latter had to abandon the race, just a few meters before finish.
