The ZLM Tour kicks off with one of two rather easy flat stages, even though this opener features a short (and also not too steep) climb 25km before the finish in Sittard/Geleen (the place where I was born, btw - the reporter).
So it's expected to be a day for the sprinters: Kennaugh, Vantomme, local hero Kip, as well as Kupfernagel, Guarnieri or Kreder should be today's most promising riders.
4 riders set the agenda early in the race, trying to break clear from the peloton twice. The second try looks promising:
Michael Kurth Joon Yong Seo Jan Hopman Jorge Adelbo Soto Pereira
And yes, those four will build today's breakaway, establishing a lead of 6 minutes when reaching the first Intermediate Sprint with 91km to go:
IM#1
Kurth
6
6
Hopman
4
4
Seo
2
2
Halfway through the race, ING is doing the pace back in the bunch, looking in control of the race. The gap peaked at 7 minutes and is down to 5'10" with now 75km remaining.
37km before finish, the escapees reach today's second Intermediate, and it's again Kurth, who takes out the full points:
IM#2
Kurth
6
12
Hopman
4
8
Seo
2
4
The group also reaches the only KoM-sprint ahead of the nearing pack (+ 1'39" with now 24km to go), so who is going to be the first KoM-leader?
KoM#1
Seo
6
6
Pereira
4
4
Kurth
2
2
It's Seo for the JapKor Cycling Project! A nice achievement, he will wear the polka dot tomorrow!
But no stage-honours for the esapees today, as the bunch reeles them in with 7.5km to go!
Vueling and Rothaus led the chase late in the race, with also Vespa more and more showing their colors at the front.
And those three teams also build today's three sprint-trains for their captains! And all of the trains look strong with two leadouts each:
Reimer
Bosiso
Tendero
Pedersen
Gatto
Cucinotta
Kennaugh
Guarnieri
Vantomme
Gajek
Krasnov
Kupfernagel
Van Loocke
Weylandt
Gavazzi
Bennett
Kreder
Galymzyanov
Almost the same situation under the kite: the three trains still perform on same level, with the first leadout already gone.
Some minor changes though: Kreder jumped behind Guarnieri, where Krasnov lost contact!
And here they come down the stretch! A slightly uphill-finish, but not worth a mention..
Guarnieri took advantage of a nice leadout by Gatto, leading the sprinting bunch with the finish already approaching!
Behind it's Gavazzi, who found his wheel after leaving Vantomme behind.. on the left side, Kennaugh struggles to accelerate, same goes for Vantomme on the right side!
Also Kreder once again changed his position, now getting boxed in by Gatto!
It's looking good for Guarnieri! Gavazzi struggles to attack his compatriot!
Kennaugh is now coming fast from the left side, with Van Loocke at his wheel.
Vantomme and Kupfernagel also found some speed, but face a tough time.
No one could fight back for the win, which is taken by Jacopo Guarnieri! Thanks to a great leadout, he could hold on to his lead on final 500metres!
Peter Kennaugh sprinted for 2nd in a close photo ahead of Francesco Gavazzi. Galimzyanov and a strong Van Loocke complete the Top-5, just ahead of a rather disappointing Vantomme.
The latter did better than the likes of Kupfernagel (8th), Kreder (10th) or Kip (15th) though, who need more speed on next days!
Final Results Stage 1/
(For some reason, the results were not exported.. never happened to me with PCM12 before, but fortunately I took a screen of the results - the stage-results, at least).
