The prestigious cobblec classic in Lincoln is just about to start. It'S a rainless day here in Britain and the riders can't await to kick off.
The favorites will be Maes, Steegmans, local hero Thomas or aggressive riders like Ostergaard and Vangenechten.
A first group of escapees tried it's luck right from the start, establishing a 44"-gap with a few km being raced:
Tyron Giogieri Yoeri Havik Soufiane Haddi Dan McLay Kristof Goddaert Michael Wolf
One lap later (still 130km to go) a chasing group of 4 riders managed to bridge the gap, making the breakaway a group of 10, leading by alreay 5'00".
Joining the break are
Simon Yates Sondre Holst Enger Michal Golas
and Deiber Esquivel.
So 10 out of 12 teams made this breakaway group, only missing teams are Ekspla and Boeing.
So it's a slow pace back in the bunch, where the favorited teams Allianz, Banco and also Boeing show their colors.
With 95km remaining, the gap is almost at 10'00" as the first cobbled sectors caused a first minor split (21 riders dropped, no notable names though).
And just as Boeing started to take control of the chase (the gap's down to 9'30" with 77km to go), the team without any rider in the break attacks the peloton:
Antonio Bucciero goes clear and faces a long way to the leading ten.. also the field continues to split in pieces, as 27 riders remain the first bunch with all favorites!
It keeps splitting, as Ekspla now had to chase hard and try to pull the several escapees back to 6'00".
53km remaining and now we got the first major splits with also some pre-race favorites suffering Ekspla's brutal pace:
So especially favorites like Thomas and Ostergaard have to fight hard to not lose any chance for a good result. While Thomas ain't too far behind group Maes/Steegmans, Ostergaard definitely failed some crucial splits.
Steegmans won't care, he attacks his group with 46km to go! The early escapees see their gap melting down to now 3'00"..
Oh, that's a real bummer for Steegmans! Only a few moments later he falls on a tricky descent! He seems to have taken too much risks here.
He sees group Maes passing, but at least he can continue the race. Any chance to fight back?
Fortunately yes. Steegmans re-joins the group with 35km remaining! It seems that he's not injured, as he had to fight back from a 1'30"-gap.
So as Bucciero is brought back by group Maes, we've the following situation:
E1/ 10 riders
E2/ 10 riders, including Maes, Coyto, Steegmans, Stevenson, Saramotins, David at 1.06
E3/ Thomas at 1.30 (soon to catch up to E2)
E4/ several groups at 7.30
So riders like Ostergaard won't stand a chance to move forward.
25km before finish, the chasing group of top-favorites catches up the 10-men-break.
Thanks to teams like Ekspla and Boeing, we've an all-open race now, with 20 riders keeping their chances.
And now it's Maes, who tries to attack the group, with Steegmans and also Stevenson following immediately!
24km to go and it seems the top-favorites will set the agenda from now on!
18km remaining and David managed to join the attacking group! A strong effort by the young gun:
E1 (4)/
Maes Steegmans Stevenson David
E2 (14)/
Thomas, Bucciero Coyot, Havik Saramotins Esquivel McLay Yates, Vennell Haddi Golas Giogieri Enger Goddaert at 0.56
E3 (3)/
Kopp Striska Wolf at 3.05
E4 (2)/
Ostergaard Grashev at 7.57
Stevenson shows why his team worked so hard today: he tries to attack the strong leading group on the penultimate climb with 12km to go!
The four leading riders established a gap of 1'12" on the chasing group with now one lap remaining.
Stevenson couldn't break clear and was pulled back quickly.
Either because of the leading four shadowing each other or because of them underestimating the chasing group, their minute-gap is cut down to 24" with now only 4km to go!
8 riders managed to narrow the gap to group Maes:
E1 (4)/
Maes Steegmans Stevenson David
E2 (8)/
Thomas Coyot, Havik Saramotins Vennell, Yates McLay Haddi at 0.24
E3 (1)/
Bucciero at 1.11
So some of the early escapees still hang on! And group Maes forgot to maintain their quickly established gap..
And yes, the chasing group closed the gap with 3km remaining. So 12 riders will enter the final kms as one group.
Coyot attacks as soon as he caught up though! has 3 riders (Coyot, Maes, Havik) in the mix, so attacking seems logical!
David and Stevenson jump behind immediately!
And those three enter the final km with a small advantage on the remaining nine!
Stevenson overtakes Coyot, who also faces a strong finishing David..
..and as they reach the finishing climb Michaelsgate, Stevenson got a nice gap already! David dropped Coyot, who seems to suffer now.
But ain't done, as top-favorite Maes is still there! The rest of the best - like Steegmans - is already too far behind to battle for today's win.
And so are all others, as Christopher Stevenson was simply too strong today! He takes a great victory for his team, beating some great cobblers. Ekspla worked hard the whole day, but they did everything right.
Another surprise: Tom David managed to hold off Nikolas Maes! What a race for the young Kiwi, who seems to be in shape.
Maes missed this late attack, but did well in the end, at least securing a podium-spot for his team.
Gert Steegmans sprinted for 4th, 27" behind Stevenson, with Simon Yates (5th) and Jeremy Vennell (8th) making it a great race for their team.
Arnaud Coyot as 6th and a disappointing Geraint Thomas as 10th might have expected more today.
While Dan McLay (7th) and Soufiane Haddi (9th) grab some unexpected points for their teams.
The biggest disappointments definitely may be Die Berg (Giogieri 15th, Ostergaard 20th) and Gazelle (Goddaert 17th, Sentjens 45th)!
