Time to kick off this flat classic. It started raining a few moments ago, so in addition to some tricky 199km, the riders face slick roads and tough conditions.
Top-favorites for today are Steegmans, Dekkers, Rizza, Lay or maybe local favorites like Papok or Kankovsky.
And that's what the crowd wanted to see: Credexbank is the first team going for a breakaway attempt!
Bazhkou and Tratnik
attack right from the start!
It's looking good for the two - they quickly established a 2-minutes gap on the bunch! They are also joined by 2 more riders for the break of the day:
Bazhkou Tratnik Bratashcuk Mager
Halfway through the race, the escapees still lead by 5'45" (while the gap peaked at 8 minutes).
Allianz and Banco already start sharing the work in the chase, slowly gaining seconds on the leading four!
Slowly, but steady.. and 199km is quite a way to go, so it has always been a tough challenge for the rather small breakaway.
We're already in the final 20km of the race and the escapees lead by only 1'10" right now.. no time to enjoy the beautiful landscape in the background.
Allianz definitely did most of the work so far and it's the German team, which also leads the peloton into the final 7.5km!
Tratnik is the last remaining escapee trying to hold on to his lead, but he's soon to swallowed by the bunch.
It's the expected mass-sprint! The hills did not make any difference so far, even though we yet have to see wether the sprinters suffered from those short ascents.
Allianz keeps controlling the race and it's the only team with some kind of a train: Havik is leading out Thorsen! No sign of Dekkers!
Havik already kicks with 2km to go and behind it's riders like Papok, Jorgensen, Lay, Day and also Steegmans is in the mix..
800 meters remaining and it seems Havik kicked quite early, as he already loses a lot of speed..
Havik
Steegmans
Thorsen
Anton Martin
Polivoda
Papok
Jorgensen
Lay
Mironov
Day
Abakoumov
Clarke
Bozic
Thorsen also seems in trouble to leave his teammate's wheel.. and both Steegmans and Polivoda seem to fly pass the Allianz-train!
Yes, Havik/Thorsen are totally empty, falling behind as fast as fast can..
Steegmans and Anton Martin battle for the lead now, with only Polivoda managing to hang on!
Already a few meters behind, Mironov and also Lay are much faster than a suffering Jorgensen..
It looks like a close battle between Steegmans and Anton Martin, who now tries to move forward!
The winner is... Gert Steegmans! A close one, but thanks to a perfect timing, he takes out the Zimnyanya GP ahead of a strong Anton Martin and Polivoda!
Mironov and Day complete the Top-5, ahead of the likes of Abakoumov, Lay, Clarke, Bozic and Cardoso.
Bad luck for Papok, who choosed the wrong wheel, as both Havik and Thorsen went way too early and later blocked Papok, who didn't manage to find a way through.
