The Schwarzwald Classic is soon to kick off and the packed field is already in Freiburg, waiting for the action to begin.
Top-favorites will be local hero Flügel, Ginanni, Roche, Froome and also Bellis or Sinkewitz. Of course several more riders are capable of making the Top-5/10 today. Check the discussion thread for detailed infos.
4 riders went clear early and lead the race, just entering today's first ascent:
King, Edet, De Bie and Afonso
So two favorite-teams (ING, Vueling) managed to get a rider in this breakaway attempt.
The group struggles to increase the 1'00"-gap, as in the field the attacking continues, leading to a higher pace.
Nielsen joins the escapees with still 162km to go. Is the race finally settled?
At least for the attacking, yes. The breakaway is allowed to stay clear.
But we've some shocking news in the pack: Wegmann punctures with 124km remaining!
It's just a moment of shock though, as the German is quickly brought back by two of his teammates. Thanks to the now slower pace in the bunch, it's unlikely Wegmann spent too much energy here.
Halfway through the race (87km to go) and the breakaway's lead peaks at 5'30".
Now it's time for the chase to begin, with the following teams taking care of it: Vespa, Volkswagen and also Jaguar.
Of course we're already in the final circuit, which has to be raced 6 times in total. With now 3 laps to go, two riders attack the peloton:
Niemiec and Zeits try their luck witha sometimes so dangerous mid-race-attack!
The two join the early escapees with 48km remaining, leading by 2'50" on the chasing peloton!
One more lap has been raced: Jaguar and Vueling take things serious now, leading the pursuit and pacing hard.
The gap is down to 1'40" with 27km to go.
And only a few moments later the penultimate climb seems to be several favorites' chance to make a crucial move:
Flügel was the first to make his move and several other top-favorites followed immediately! With 23km left, the race has reached the decisive stage!
Flügel was joined by 8 more riders to build a super-strong chasing group:
The group is now only 1 minute down on the breakaway.
15km to go and with the group of top-favorites already catching up to the escapees, it's time to take a look at how the whole situation is looking:
E1 (16)
Zeits Niemiec Nielsen De Bie Afonso Edet
joined by Roche Flügel Froome Bellis Kolobnev Scarponi Sinkewitz Ginanni Wegmann
E2 (1) at 0.28
Roy
E3 (4) at 0.56
Hoogerland Bole Mehr-Wenige Mendes
E4 (1) at 1.40
Barredo
So especially Hoogerland and local hero Mehr-Wenige face a tough finish, as they need to catch up to the now rather big leading group quickly.
Niemiec ain't done, he attacks the leading group with 9km to go!
The veteran seems to prefer a surprising attack rather than facing a sprint/finish with the very best here! For a moment it looks like the group won't care too much..
And yes, Niemiec's move wasn't too dangerous yet. He's pulled back with 6km remaining and as Roy managed to catch up to the leading group, that's how it's going:
E1 (17)
with Ginanni, Froome, Flügel, Kolobnev, Roche, Bellis, Sinkewitz, Wegmann
E2 (4) at 0.36
Mendes, Bole, Mehr-Wenige, Hoogerland
E3 (1) at 1.32
Barredo
The chasing group Mehr-Wenige/Hoogerland struggles to narrow the gap, it seems we will see the 17-men-group battling for the victory..
3km to go.. nothing has changed yet. No one of the top-favorites tried to attack yet. The final km will be steep, do they wait for a crucial move there?
Yes, the favorites keep shadowing each other and now it's only 2km to go! As group Hoogerland/Mehr-Wenige is still 36" behind, we may have a look at who has got the best position in the leading group:
Flügel is in the leading position and with Ginanni Froome Roche Sinkewitz/Edet Kolobnev being right behind, the top-favorites moved forward for the finish-climb.
Bellis and Wegmann are a bit behind though.
As the sprint kicks off under the kite, Flügel and Ginanni take advantage of their leading positions, powering to a small gap!
Froome, Roche and Sinkewitz also got a small gap on the remaining group!
500meters to go.. so far it's looking like Flügel and Ginanni will battle for the win, with the latter overtaking the former!
Group Roche/Froome/Sinkewitz is already 8" behind and so is the following group..
..where Scarponi leads Bellis, Wegmann, Roy and Kolobnev up the steep climb!
200meters.. Ginanni drops Flügel!
The German can't keep Ginanni's speed, now also facing a strong finish by both Roche and Sinkewitz, who overtook Froome!
Francesco Ginanni takes out the Schwarzwald Classic! He had the perfect position behind Aleksandar Flügel (who finishes 2nd) and knew how to take advantage of it.
Nicolas Roche completes the podium, with local hero Patrik Sinkewitz sprinting for a good 4th.. Aleksandr Kolobnev had the fastest finish though, beating Chris Froome for 5th place. He came from rather far behind, but proved his speed once again.
20" behind Jonathan Bellis comes in as 7th, ahead of Michele Scarponi and Fabian Wegmann.. Bellis and Wegmann both will blame themselves for their bad positiniong close to the finish-climb, but at least they scored some points.. Scarponi will be pleased as he finishes as best-placed CT-rider.
The early escapees also got their honours today: Zeits, Edet, Afonso and Nielsen all managed to finish within Top-15, which is completed by Mehr-Wenige. The German definitely would have hoped for a better result and may (once again) regret his decision to race a C1-classic.
Also disappointing: Hoogerland (19th) and Barredo (22nd).. Gerdemann (24th) and Geschke (25th) won the sprint of the sitting up peloton, failing to add some possible points for their teams.
